'The Artist,' 'Hugo' big winners at Academy Awards

"The Artist" become only the second silent film ever to win best picture at tonight's 84th annual Academy Awards, during which the movie picked up five awards, as did Martin Scorsese's "Hugo."

"The Artist" was named best picture.

The star-studded ceremony, led by host Billy Crystal, was held tonight in the location formerly known as the Kodak Theatre. Crystal, as he has apt to do, opened the show with a pre-taped segment in which he was inserted in many of this year's nominated films.

The show, which seemed to maintain a quick pace throughout, was punctuated by mostly short speeches and mostly funny interludes.

In addition to best picture, "The Artist" won for best director (Michel Hazanavicius) while French actor Jean Dujardin beat out a tough line-up of nominees led by George Clooney. Also taking home Oscars for their work on the film were Ludovic Bource for original score and Mark Bridges for costume design.

Meanwhile, "Hugo" was awarded for cinematography, art direction, sound mixing, sound editing and visual effects.

In another hotly contested race, 17-time nominee Meryl Streep took home the Oscar for best lead actress for her portrayal of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher over Viola Davis, who was nominated for her work in "The Help."

Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, who were tasked with transforming Streep into Thatcher, were honored  with the best makeup Academy Award.

The supporting actor and actress categories both went to the perceived frontrunners in Christopher Plummer for "The Beginners" and Octavia Spencer for "The Help."

'Harry Potter,' 'Hugo,' 'Dragon Tattoo' win at Art Director Guild awards

The Art Directors Guild (ADG) presented its awards Saturday night helping to set two clear front runners for the Art Direction Academy Award.

"Harry Potter" was among the winners.

The guild splits its feature awards into three categories: period, fantasy and contemporary.

"Hugo" took home the award for period films, while "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" was awarded in the fantasy category and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" in the contemporary category.

"Hugo" and "Harry Potter" are among the five nominees for Best Art Direction at the Academy Awards along with "The Artist" as well as "War Horse" and "Midnight in Paris," neither of which were nominated by the guild.

In addition to Saturday night's win in the fantasy category, this year’s Art Directors Guild Cinematic Imagery Award was presented to the principal team behind the Harry Potter films as a whole, including producers David Heyman and David Barron; director David Yates; creator and author J.K. Rowling; screenwriter Steve Kloves; production designer Stuart Craig; art director Neil Lamont; and set decorator Stephenie McMillan.

In the realm of television, HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" was awarded for One-Hour Single Camera Television Series and ABC's "Modern Family" for Episode of a Half Hour Single-Camera Television Series. HBO's "Mildred Pierce" took home the prize for Television Movie or Mini-Series.

The black-tie ceremony announcing winners took place at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills with Paula Poundstone serving as host for the third consecutive year.

A Lifetime Achievement Award went to Emmy Award winning production designer Tony Walton. In addition, the ADG inducted the following legendary production designers from the past into its Hall of Fame: Robert Boyle, William Darling and Alfred Junge.

See below for a full list of nominees and winners.

'The Devil Inside' possesses weekend box office

The new year got off to a surprisingly fast start thanks to an over-performing horror film that's getting decided mixed reviews from audiences.

The surprise winner earned $34.5 million.

The low budget, found-footage horror film "The Devil Inside" dominated the weekend box office, grossing an estimated $34.5 million, good for the third highest grossing January weekend ever behind 2008's "Cloverfield" and the 1997 re-release of "Star Wars."

Paramount picked up the film for only $1 million and managed to make its money back on the Thursday midnight showings alone. The downside was the incredibly poor reception from those who did see the movie, leading to a rare "F" CinemaScore.

Following in second place was "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol," which picked up $20.5 million in its fourth weekend.

"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" also performed dutifully in its fourth weekend, bringing in slightly more than $14 million.

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" had the smallest weekend to weekend drop-off of any returning film in the top 10, finishing with $11.3 million. It still has some ground to make up with a total gross over three weeks of $76 million compared to its $90 million production budget.

Rounding out the top five was "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" with $9.5 million.

Meanwhile, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" expanded into a semi-wide release on some 800 screens, grossing $5.7 million and placing ninth in its fifth week.

The top 10 grossing films were:

1. "The Devil Inside," $34.5 million (New)
2. "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol," $20.5 million ($170.2 million) 
3. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," $14 million ($157.4 million) 
4. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," $11.3 million (Total: $76.8 million)
5. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," $9.5 million ($111.5 million) 
6. "War Horse," $8.6 million ($56.8 million)
7. "We Bought a Zoo," $8.4 million (Total: $56.5 million)
8. "The Adventures of Tintin," $6.6 million ($61.8 million) 
9. "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," $5.7 million (Total: $10.4 million)
10. "New Year's Eve," $3.2 million ($52 million)

Work continues on 'The Girl Who Played With Fire'

Despite less than stellar returns at the box office for David Fincher's English-language adaptation of the best seller "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," work continues on the film's sequel, "The Girl Who Played With Fire."

Entertainment Weekly quoted a source from Sony as stating, "['Dragon Tattoo'] continues to do strong business and nothing has changed with respect to development of the next book."

The sequel is targeting a 2013 release.

To date, the first film in the potential trilogy has grossed about $59 million at the domestic box office on a reported production budget of $90 million, though it has yet to open in most overseas markets.

According to EW's source, "development continues" on the sequel, which is expected to be released in late 2013. Screenwriter Steven Zaillian is working on the script although Fincher has yet to confirm he will return.

Stars Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig have already signed on for both sequels should they come to fruitition.

Tuesday was a good day for the film, as it picked up nominations for Producer of the Year from the Producers Guild and Best Art Direction for a Contemporary Film from the Art Directors Guild.