Linked in today’s round-up is a piece from the LA Times’ Steven Zeitchik asking what went wrong at the box office for “50/50.” It’s a shame, really, the instant analysis and diagnosis of films that hit and land a bit softly at the box office in opening week. “50/50” strikes me as a film that will build a bit of interest through word of mouth and maybe stack some more dollars in its favor. Then again, I thought “Warrior” would have been the same, but it started low and went further down the box office drain.

The point is, I think it’s unfortunate that the popular identity of a film has to be made or broken in the media based on first weekend numbers. Look at something like “The Help,” which didn’t even open in the top spot but soon claimed it and stayed there for three weeks straight. Let a film find that identity before assigning one to it. Anyway, let’s see what’s going on in the Oscarweb today…

Steven Zeitchik attempts a postmortem box office assessment on “50/50.” [24 Frames]

Anne Thompson takes note of Netflix’s Oscar-dominated top rentals. [Thompson on Hollywood]

20,000+ defendants dismissed from massive “Hurt Locker” torrent lawsuit. [Venture Beat]

The original ending of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” revealed at Visual Effects Society summit. [Hollywood Reporter]

Brian Salisbury chats with Oscar nominee Robert Forster on the occasion of today’s Blu-ray release of Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown.” [Badass Digest]

Charlie Kaufman takes a moment to tell you how to write a story. [The Guardian]

Scott Feinberg offers up what he sees as the five reasons for releasing an Oscar hopeful in December. [The Race]

Jeffrey Wright talks “The Ides of March” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” [Collider]