Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

Thanks to my friend Marshall for this list. Here are his recommendations, based on critics’ awards, industry buzz and personal opinion.

1.    12 Years a Slave

2.    American Hustle

3.    Gravity

4.    Captain Phillips

5.    Nebraska

6.    Inside Llewyn Davis

7.    The Wolf of Wall Street

8.    Her

9.    Saving Mr. Banks

10.  Dallas Buyers Club

11.  Lee Daniel’s The Butler

12.  Philomena

13.  August: Osage County

14.  Blue Jasmine

15.  Rush

16.  All is Lost

17.  Fruitvale Station

18.  Frozen

19.  Enough Said

20.  Before Midnight

21.  The Great Gatsby

22.  Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

23.  Short Term 12

24.  Prisoners

25.  The Wind Rises

26.  Frances Ha

27.  Labor Day

28.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

29.  Lone Survivor

30.  Blue is the Warmest Color

31.  Iron Man 3

32.  The Book Thief

33.  Pacific Rim

34.  Monsters University

35.  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

36.  Spring Breakers

37.  Mud

38.  The Croods

39.  Oz: The Great and Powerful

40.  Stories We Tell

41.  The Invisible Woman

42.  Despicable Me 2

43.  Star Trek: Into Darkness

44.  The Lone Ranger

45.  Ernest & Celestine

46.  The Past

47.  20 Feet from Stardom

48.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

49.  Blackfish

50.  Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

Awards Show Schedule:

People’s Choice Awards – Wednesday, January 8th (CBS)
Golden Globes – Sunday, January 12th (NBC)
Critics Choice (BFCA) Awards – Thursday, January 16th (The CW)
Screen Actors Guild Awards – Saturday, January 18th (TNT / TBS)
The Grammys – Sunday, January 26th (CBS)
BAFTA Awards – Sunday, February 16th (BBC America)

Independent Spirit Awards – Saturday, March 1st (IFC)
Academy Awards – Sunday, March 2nd (ABC)

We have extended our deadline for both endorsement submissions and film festival submissions to December 15. That’s right, you have a little just a few more days to get your films, DVDs, web series, apps and audios into us for 2013 endorsements and film festival inclusion.

Remember, unlike awards programs that limit the number of awards given out, any title that meets our endorsement criteria and is deemed to be child friendly, gets an endorsement. If it’s not endorsed, we even tell you exactly why. That way, you can fix it and re-submit.

You have until December 15 to submit your audio recordings, films, DVD, apps, web series and games.  Screenplays are accepted year round.

Also, we have reduced our application fees! How cool is that.

Our member fees are only $100 per title for films, DVDs, audio, games and web series. Apps and screenplays are $55. Non-member fees are slightly more.

Check it out at  http://www.kidsfirst.org/submit-a-title/

Send us your wonderful children’s media.  We are ready and waiting!

Results will be published about 30 days after each deadline.

As vacations wind down, school supplies stack up and everyone begins to get back into the school-year routine, Netflix has even more to offer families as they head back to school. Recently, Netflix Inc. and Scholastic Media, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, announced a distribution agreement that will make popular television series and video content produced by Scholastic Media available to Netflix subscribers in the United States, Canada, UK, Ireland and Latin America.  This is the first time many of the Scholastic titles have been available in the streaming format.

Starting on Aug. 15, The Magic School Bus® (seasons 1-4; all 52 episodes), will be available exclusively for SVOD to Netflix members in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and Latin America.  Additionally, Goosebumps® (seasons 1-4; all 74 episodes) will be available in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland.  The deal also includes several non-exclusive titles based on award-winning and best-selling books from the Scholastic Storybook Treasures™ line – including such classics as Harry the Dirty Dog, Danny and the Dinosaur, Chrysanthemum, The Snowy Day and The Mouse and The Motorcycle, and movies such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories and Stellaluna, which are now available in the US and Canada. Many of the titles have never been previously available to consumers on TV or online.

“When we first added The Magic School Bus and Goosebumps for our members in the US and Canada earlier this summer we knew they would perform well, but after seeing just how popular they were we decided to expand our relationship with Scholastic and bring these great shows to more of our markets,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer for Netflix.  “We are very happy to be the streaming home for popular classics from Scholastic Media.”

“We are delighted Netflix has recognized the power of Scholastic’s iconic and award-winning global brands,” said Deborah Forte, President of Scholastic Media and Executive Vice President of Scholastic Inc. “We are thrilled to see the shows are as popular as ever – which is validated by the Netflix subscribers we’re so happy to serve.”

Additional series that are available in the U.S. and Canada as part of the agreement include I SPY®, The Baby-Sitters Club®, Dear America®, Horrible Histories®, Dragon™, Turbo Dogs™ and Sammy’s Story Shop.
For more information, go to  www.netflix.com and  www.scholastic.com.

A new online study, commissioned by the Industry Trust for IP Awareness in partnership with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), finds that a quarter of children and teens download or stream movies from unofficial sources that offer no guidance on age ratings.

The study asked 1,000 U.K. consumers, ages 11 to 15, about their online viewing habits. A third (37 percent) of younger children, ages 11 and 12, admit to having recently downloaded or streamed a film rated for ages 15+ from a pirate website. One in five of those 11 to 15 (21 percent) say they use pirate websites to keep up with what friends and older siblings are watching. More than a quarter in the same age group (27 percent) say their parents don’t know what films they are watching online, and a third (32 percent) wouldn’t feel comfortable with younger siblings copying their viewing behavior. For more info, go to http://worldscreen.com/articles/display/40504

Hub Network has set Saturday, Oct. 26, as the date for its inaugural Halloween Bash. The newest kids net didn’t waste much time jumping on the signature-event bandwagon–and it’s going big. The live-to-tape special will take place at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, be exec-produced by Bob Bain (Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards and Fox’s Teen Choice Awards) and produced by Paul Flattery, and air five to seven times around the holiday. A “spooktacular” event is the perfect dovetail with Hub’s cache of safe-scary programming including Goosebumps and RL Stine’s The Haunting Hour. The Halloween Bash will include entertainment, plus a nationwide costume competition with finalists from every state. “We’re trying to celebrate all kinds of families, stimulate imagination and creativity and I think we’re going to be blown away by the level of what we see and the creativity,” Hub president/CEO Margaret Loesch tells CynKids exclusively. “Think about it–a whole class of from a school in southern Illinois [where I lived for a while when I was a child] could be the winner. Or a couple, or an individual. We want it to be very egalitarian. Anybody can win if they have the best costume. They don’t have to sing or dance; they just have to have a great imagination.” Celeb host, presenters, judges and musical acts are sure to be in abundance and will be announced shortly.

Are you a morning person? Sprout is giving aspiring actors and fans the opportunity to audition for the role of live morning show host with its launch of a national competition to find the next great preschool TV host. Now through August 31, hosting hopefuls can upload a 60-second audition video including their rendition of Sprout’s “Happy Birthday Song” at SproutOnline.com. Each day in August, Sprout will put the most notable videos on its YouTube channel, giving fans the opportunity to watch and participate in the Sprout Host Hunt. A live event will be held in LA on Aug. 23 at Universal CityWalk where Carly, one of The Sunny Side Up Show co-hosts, will join Chica – the world’s most famous chicken–to entertain fans and help prepare contestants for their audition. Three finalists will be flown to the set of The Sunny Side Up Show in Philadelphia in September, where they will have the chance to audition with Chica live in front of the show’s producers. The Sprout Host Hunt winner will be announced in December.