By Steven Zeitchik

It’s official on New Line, and while it’s not shuttered, it’s not great either. Shaye and Lynne are out, and the company is being folded into Warners Bros. Production, distribution and marketing will presumably remain separate entities, with respective toppers reporting to Alan Horn and/or Barry Meyer. News comes on the eve of its big Will Ferrell release “Semi-Pro.”

Open questions: Bob Berney and Picturehouse (could it be merged with Warner Independent?), slimming of the slate (we’re imagining biggies like “Hobbit” stay while smaller ones go) and direction of the slate (we’re hearing genre). And how to classify this rejiggered, Shaye- and Lynne-less division? As a hybrid. More than a label, not quite a studio.

We’ve got a first version up now, complete with Jeff Bewkes giving the “moving quickly to improve our business performance” quote. Shaye and Lynne offer that “New Line has been our respective life’s work as well as our second family.” Keep refreshing, this one’s live.

By Steven Zeitchik

Boarding the plane from L.A. to New York Monday evening and who do we run into but two of the New York film world’s finer film execs, Miramax’s Daniel Battsek and ThinkFilm’s Mark Urman. It was a successful trip for both — Miramax went six for seven in the categories in which it was nominated while Think went one for one — and each wore that complicated expression mixing satisfaction and fatigue, the kind that says “it was great but please don’t make me do this again anytime soon,” that may be unique on this planet only to the day after the Oscars and the morning after the running of the bulls.

Seeing Battsek and Urman reminded us — and not to get all New York Roolz on you here…though okay, maybe a little — that in addition to this being the first time in four decades that all four acting prizes went to foreigners, it was also the first time in a long while that so many major prizes went to people (execs and talent) who call Gotham home.

Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Doc, Best Foreign — between all the distribs associated with the winning films and of course the Coens themselves, it was a pretty good showing for the city. Jon Stewart helped too, though the Kodak audience’s response to his subversive and funny material was dispritingly moribund; we’ve seen iPod-clad hipsters on the L train show more emotion.

Yes yes, Hollywood is still the epicenter. (Well, except for all places in Europe where all the awards recipients seem to come from, but that’s another post.) But to those who still consider New York the provinces of the film universe, or who see the health of the city’s film biz as riding mainly on the performance of the Weinsteins, the world has moved on.

Of course the brothers may yet have a comeback in ‘09. But when it comes to awards, the wilderness from which they burst a little more than a decade ago is now a full-fledged metropolis. In other words, it’s great to have them. But the truth of it is that New York doesn’t need them the same way it once did.

Okay, soapbox dismounted. Go Jets.

It’s all about Miramax and Vantage. Two years ago the divisions were being reassembled from remnants of their former selves. In 2008 they’re atop the Oscar pile. Check out our full take on them here.

Basically, the idea is that through some savvy exec hiring and shuffling — and some solid awards spending — the two companies have made it look easy, even though it’s anything but.

Of course now the question concerns the future: will Miramax and Vantage continue to look this way, say, two years from now? After all, the specialty world changes faster than a Jon Stewart facial expression. Just ask the people who used to run Miramax and Par Classics.

By Steven Zeitchik and Borys Kit

Despite the abundance of Heath Ledger tributes at the Spirits yesterday, there was a paucity of them at the Oscars — though he did close out the tribute of notables who passed this year. And while Cate Blanchett and Todd Haynes paid their homages to the late actor yesterday, one nominee revealed at the Shutters afterparty that they were planning a different speech had they gone to the podium.

“I want to dedicate this to a free and independent thinker, someone who embodied the spirit of creativity and energy that was embodied by Bob Dylan, whose great talent will be sorely missed. Brad Renfro, this is for you,” said this nominee, re-enacting what would have been their winning speech.

By Steven Zeitchik

OK, we’re back — and since there aren’t a whole lot of postparties, we gots nothing but time to blog (until we overdose on caffeine and/or awards coverage, which ever comes first).

First, the Coens. Our full piece is on the Hollywood Reporter Web site, but let’s just poach a little from ourselves to say that the scoring of three major awards solidifies their transition from cult directors to Oscar power players. Recalling the home movies they shot as children at the Minneapolis airport, Joel Coen, upon receiving the best director prize, said, “What we do now doesn’t feel that much different from what we were doing then.”

Of course for moviegoers, the Coens’ career began a little later — in 1985, specifically, with “Blood Simple,” the bloody chase-noir that, come to think of it, in many ways resembles “No Country.”

Despite the Coens’ reputation as filmmakers with a distinct, and distinctly dark, view of humanity, their career has been marked by a surprising diversity. Dramatic tales like “Miller’s Crossing” have
mixed with black comedies like “Raising Arizona” and “Barton Fink,” genre hybrids like “Fargo” and screwball fare like “The Big Lebowski.” Scattered awards success has visited the brothers over the years, but consistent mainstream recognition has been more elusive. Most characteristic of their career have been movies like 1994’s “The Hudsucker Proxy” — acclaimed films with defined but small followings (the movie earned $3 million) and no Oscar noms.

With the wins, the Coens are decidedly mainstream players. The brothers pulled off the feat by molding a movie whose sensibility fits the times — a story of violence and paranoia laced with themes of border, the conflict between modernity and tradition etc. — and also by, in a sense, having the times come to them.

But don’t expect a lot of change, as the brothers prep quirky projects like “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.” “We’re thankful to all of you out there for letting us play in our corner of the sandbox,” Joel Coen said on accepting best pic. Translation: we’re going to continue doing what we’re doing, but with a lot more freedom. And thank you for that.

We’re banging out stories for that other vehicle, the print paper. Final take as soon as we’re done with that.

We’re starting to get some real juice — the docu short intro-ed by soldiers around the world, and some emotion from the winners, the directors of “Freeheld.”

And then “Taxi to the Dark Side” as the expected but nonetheless political statement from voters. Alex Gibney gave the shortest but one of the most impassioned speeches of the night. “The truth is, my dear wife Ann was hoping I’d make a romantic comedy,” he said. “After Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, extraordinary rendition that was certainly not possible,” and then dedicated the film to the protag of the film and his father, a Navy commander, and “his fury about what was being done to the rule of law.”

And the kicker: “Let’s hope we can turn this country around and away from the dark side and toward the light.”

We’ll see if there’s a homevid bounce — the movie only made $90k in theaters.

Nothing against “The Counterfeiters,” an entirely solid film that deserves as much recognition as it can get, and its worthy parents Barker/Bernard at Sony Classics. But we’re still bitter about the shunning of “4 Months” to work up the usual excitement for the category. Blergh.

And now, another musical number that could have been staged in 1954. Where’s a pimp when you need him?

At least “The Frames” frontman Hansard won…though at what point does a movie evolve from a scrappy indie “sleeper” to a movie that surprises no one? It’s made millions, been everywhere, and won a ton of prizes. It’s awake!