The folks behind the annual Oscars telecast did the best damage control possible when they hired Billy Crystal to replace Eddie Murphy as this year’s emcee.

The move returned Crystal, arguably the best Oscar host of the modern era, back where he belongs. And the imbroglio following former show producer Brett Ratner’s vile anti-gay comments seemed forgotten, if but for a moment.

Turns out the public may not be eager to forget that the dust up ever happened.

A new poll commissioned by The Hollywood Reporter reveals viewers wish Murphy were still hosting the event.

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Daily Caller:

This week, movie producer Brett Ratner was forced out as the producer of the Oscars telecast after using a gay slur on Howard Stern’s radio show. Let me begin by pointing out that Brett Ratner is an idiot. Anyone who uses the slur he used in an interview — even an interview with Howard Stern — is an idiot. However, the real story here isn’t that some idiot in Hollywood said something stupid. The real story is the situational morality and selective outrage of the left — and in particular the gay left.

Where was the left’s outrage when an actor like Orlando Jones joked about killing Sarah Palin? Where is the left’s outrage when Rosie O’Donnell talks about 9/11 being an inside job? Was Jones blacklisted in Hollywood? Was Rosie forced to walk across broken glass and hot coals to beg for forgiveness? No, these and other Hollywood idiots get a free pass because they chose to bash a person or group that the left has decided is worthy of hate and scorn. The hypocrisy is stunning and no group is more stunning in its hypocrisy and its selective outrage than the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Definition (GLAAD).

GLAAD is the leading mouthpiece for the gay Gestapo in this country. While pretending to be the vanguard for tolerance and diversity, the gay Gestapo is actually committed to stomping out anyone who doesn’t buy into their radical left-wing political agenda. For all the talk of “tolerance” and “diversity,” it is clear that there is zero tolerance for ideological diversity with the gay Gestapo.

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The film industry is getting a lesson on morality from … shock jock extraordinaire Howard Stern?

The self-described King of All Media lashed out via his SiriusXM radio show at the pressure put on director Brett Ratner to abandon his perch as the Oscar telecast producer after Ratner used the word “fags” in public.

Stern, who learned of Ratner’s “fag” slur from The Hollywood Reporter, said he stopped using that word a while ago, but that Ratner wasn’t gay-bashing when he used it, therefore he shouldn’t have lost his job as producer of the 84^th Academy Awards telecast …

Then he laid into Hollywood, calling it “a town where people have to run around closeted for many different things.”

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Eddie Murphy is a complicated man and it’s impossible to know his precise motivations for jettisoning his Oscar hosting gig just a day after the Hollywood P.C. Thought Police took out his friend and creative partner Brett Ratner, but it certainly looks like a rebuke of the repressive “tolerance” mandate that has eroded Hollywood and the art it attempts to create.

Related: Murphy upset over Ratner departure (The Wrap).

(AFP) Veteran star Eddie Murphy has quit as host of next year’s Oscars show, following his long-time producer Brett Ratner who resigned after making an anti-gay slur, organizers said Wednesday.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak announced Murphy’s departure a day after Ratner — director of current box office hit “Tower Heist,” in which Murphy stars — quit as producer of the February show.

“I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well,” said Sherak in a statement. (more…)

Keep in mind that all this hoopla, phony outrage, and McCarthyism is over the following:

“Rehearsal is for fags.”

And now, because artistic freedom is dead in Hollywood, Brett Ratner is going to get the Tracy Morgan treatment — a THREE YEAR re-education tour:

Following meetings with GLAAD as well as outrage from community members and allies, Ratner issued an apology and today resigned as producer of the 84yth Annual Academy Awards. GLAAD and Ratner are working to convene public discussions featuring leaders in the entertainment industry about promoting fair and accurate inclusions of LGBT people and stories. The discussions will address anti-LGBT jokes and slurs in films and on television today as well as their trickle-down effect into popular culture. The first event will take place in coming weeks with additional discussions to take place over the next three years. Additional details to follow.

“When we sat down with Brett today, he seemed very sincere in his desire to use this experience as a way to begin speaking out against anti-gay language in popular culture,” said Herndon Graddick, Senior Director of Programs and Communications at GLAAD. “We believe his resignation is just the first step and will be announcing a series of concrete actions with Brett in coming days and weeks.”

Actually, this is McCarthyism on steroids. During the witch hunts of the 1950s, at least some fought back and spoke out, but today no one in the industry has the courage to to even squeak in protest. They’re either silent or on board. And someday, if this great Republic of ours survives long enough, honest people will write the history of this era of Hollywood and it will be covered in shame.

Like I said yesterday, this fascistic push has nothing to do with sensitivity or anti-gay bullying or concern for others. Every day, Hollywood defames and roars with bigoted pride against Christians, conservatives and Southerners. This isn’t about bigotry; this is about control.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Brett Ratner resigned Tuesday as producer of next year’s Academy Awards, one day after apologizing for using a gay slur at a screening of his latest film.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed Ratner’s departure. President Tom Sherak said in a statement that the 42-year-old filmmaker “did the right thing for the academy and for himself.”

“Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable,” Sherak said.

Ratner used a pejorative term for gay men during a question-and-answer session at a screening of his film “Tower Heist.” He also discussed his sexual exploits on a recent episode of “The Howard Stern Show.”

Ratner issued a lengthy statement Tuesday apologizing for his behavior and explaining his resignation as producer of the 2012 Oscar telecast. The academy had announced in August that Ratner would produce the show with TV veteran Don Mischer, who helmed the 2011 broadcast.

In a letter beginning, “Dear Colleagues,” Ratner apologized for “the hurtful and stupid things I said in a number of recent media appearances.” (more…)

I don’t approve of, like, or use the word “fag,” but I know a raging double standard when I see one, and I also know a bunch of humorless prudes who make the Church Lady look like Hugh Hefner. We’ve spent years watching leftist Hollywood attack the identity, values, beliefs and everything held dear by over half of this country. For decades they’ve mocked, lied, demeaned, snarked, stereotyped, and flown their flag of bigotry like the Hollywood résumé enhancer it is.

And never ever forget that leftist Hollywood has celebrated, defended, and bestowed honors upon a craven piece of scum who drugged, raped, and sodomized a 13 year-old girl.

But here’s what finally has these same hypocrites in a sanctimonious tizzy:  “Rehearsal is for fags.”

Remember that in leftist Hollywood, you can call the Pope a Nazi, joke about killing a mother of five named Sarah Palin, and relentlessly mock and stereotype Southerners as toothless, inbred sister-humpers eager to make you squeal like a pig. Oh, and feature films can revolve around the mocking of Christians. But, BY GOD, don’t you dare tell a joke that includes a gay slur.

Spare me, you hypocritical bigots.

Spare.

Me.

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You can call back the search parties; the funny Eddie Murphy has been found and is alive, well and part of the crack ensemble comedy “Tower Heist.”

No fat suits, kiddie co-stars or superfluous sequels. Just Murphy being Murphy – fast talking, lightning fast and utterly captivating.

But Murphy’s renaissance isn’t all that’s right with “Tower Heist.” Much maligned director Brett Ratner (the “Rush Hour” trilogy) squeezes everything out of his cast to make this a rare treat – a mainstream action comedy that doesn’t insult the audience.

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Ben Stiller stars as Josh Kovacs, a dedicated hotel manager who knows precisely how to make every guest happy. He’s especially clued into the building’s resident millionaire, Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda). The two play chess via their computers, and Josh makes it his business to see that all of Arthur’s material needs are met.

Arthur insists he’s still just a kid from Astoria, even if he swims in a rooftop pool every evening. It’s a nice pose, one that has the hotel workers fooled … for a while.

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Eddie Murphy To Host Oscars

Late today. Catching up after being away for a few days, and part of that is always the good, long cry that occurs after a glimpse of my email inbox.

Choosing Eddie Murphy is why I was excited about bringing Brett Ratner on board to produce the Oscars. Murphy is a brilliant choice; funny, unpredictable and filled with a healthy dislike of the industry that made him so wealthy.  Best of all, he’s not going to sit there and allow bad jokes and writing to stand. Because he doesn’t care about anything but how well he’ll do, he’ll fight for what he wants against the lazies entrenched in the Oscar writing room and likely with Ratner having his back.

This is one of those inspired choices that’s so simple you can’t believe YOU didn’t think of it.

On a scale of 1 to 10, my interest in watching the telecast just went from DREAD to a good, solid 4.5.

More on how the deal came together here.

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QUICK HITS

THE FUTURE ACCORDING TO THE MOVIES

INSIDE LEIGH BRACKETT’S ORIGINAL DRAFT OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK…

…AND WHY IT WORKED SO WELL

A NEW WESTERN FROM JOHN CARPENTER?

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NOTE: Y’all. That’s North Carolinian for “all of you.”

–BRETT RATNER TO PRODUCE OSCAR TELECAST–

This is a SUPERB idea. Truly. Other than the fact that we don’t like most of the people who show up to present and receive Oscars (hey, they started it), for years the problem with the telecast has been structure and pacing. The show just lies there for four hours in fits of starts and stops and never feels like it’s building towards anything. Any surge in momentum or anticipation is always snuffed by pointless montages and dance numbers no one, and I mean NO ONE, likes.

Who better to solve this problem than an action director. Especially an unpretentious one well known for his love of Old Hollywood. After last year’s disastrous telecast, I had suggested a reality-show producer take over, someone who knows how to craft and structure a compelling story out of nothing. This is actually a better idea.

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–REDBOX REVENUES SOAR–

Not that I personally rent from Redbox all that often, but that doesn’t mean I don’t admire a brilliantly simple concept so well executed it’s a wonder no one came up with it before. I remember VHS kiosks back in the day, but for some reason those never took off. Simplicity, however, is difficult to conceive and even harder to execute. But once you got it, you got it — and Redbox has got it and then some.

The effect Redbox is having on the business of Hollywood is very similar to the destruction Napster caused in the music industry. Unlike the music biz, though, Hollywood will find a way to adapt. Still, it’s a fascinating phenomenon to watch (at least for me) and the winner is — as is always the case with capitalism — the customer; the little guy.

–BRETT RATNER’S “TOWER HEIST”: MY KIND OF MOVIE–

For starters, Brett Ratner is one of the most unfairly maligned directors out there. Why? I don’t know. But “Rush Hour” and “Family Man” are not only two terrific films — two of my favorites from the last ten years or so, but they’re VERY well directed. And if you ask me on the right day I’ll tell you “Money Talks” is the greatest movie ever made. Yes, Ratner has a few misses on his resume, but I’ll take Ratner’s post-1997 canon over Scorsese’s.

There.

I said it.

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This, the fourth entry into one of my favorite ongoing film franchises, more than does the job in satisfying those of us who count the days to the next chapter documenting the post-apocalyptic adventures of Alice (Milla Jovovich) as she marauds her way through oceans of mutant zombies in a righteous quest for vengeance against the evil Umbrella Corporation; the multi-national responsible for the virus that caused the end of the world. With the returning help of curvy Claire (Ali Larter), there’s just nothing not to like about bodacious babes brazenly blowing bad guys to hell.

“Resident Evil: Afterlife” opens to keep the promise made by its predecessor. Like unbelievably hot Godzillas with all kinds of sexy speaking voices, Alice and her lethal clones rampage through Tokyo to deliver a bloody reckoning on the underground facility housing an operational branch of Umbrella. Lifting heavily from “The Matrix” (never a bad thing), including an Agent Smith-like low talking arch-villain with a fondness for sunglasses, this stunner of a sequence ends with Alice losing those powers given to her by the T-Virus. Don’t worry, though. She can still handle herself just fine without the super strength and burgeoning telekinesis.

Hoping to meet up with those who survived the previous film, Alice does an Amelia Earhart and sets off for Arcadia, Alaska. A place advertised as the Promised Land, out of reach of the virus, undead and Umbrella. The many abandoned planes prove that she’s not the only one who had hoped to start a new life here.  But she’s all alone until a Claire she hardly recognizes appears. (more…)

In my Final Weekend Tracking column posted on Wednesday, I predicted that X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) would reach $92M on opening weekend, despite soft reviews (now only 38% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). My first fearless forecast of the 2009 summer blockbuster season appears to be close to dead-on (missed by only 5%).

Star-turned-producer Hugh Jackman has scored his second-biggest opening ever and, easily, his biggest as a solo star. Wolverine has mauled the competition with a massive $34.75M opening day (including $5M or so in Thursday midnight sales). That could translate to a 3-day of $86.8M, getting Hollywood’s most lucrative season off to a spectacular start.

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The great thing about a sequel is that it has a built-in audience. The problem with sequels is that, as the numbers after the title go up, so does the production budget. Very hard to know for sure, but sources have told me that the production budget for X-Men was in the $75M range. X-2: X-Men United may have had a budget of about $110M, while the cost of X-Men: The Last Stand was, in all likelihood, as much as $210M. Why doesn’t it make sense to just churn out X-Men 4?

Look at these numbers.

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