Colin Firth + Geoffrey Rush + Weinsteins = Oscar Gold

Bob and Harvey Weinstein have had some tough slogging with their Weinstein Company over the past few years – Nine was an expensive flop, The Road and Youth In Revolt were likewise heavily-marketed box office no-shows, the staff was downsized, the budgets cut -- and every few months there'd be a report in the trades or the business pages of the Times or Nikki Finke's deadline site that the movie-making brothers were in dire straits.

Tell that to the guys who have a debt restructuring deal in place, a slate of new projects, and a certified Oscar magnet on their hands in the form of The King's Speech. A huge festival crowd-pleaser (it premiered in Toronto), and a beautifully crafted film from British director Tom Hooper (The Damned United, John Adams), the drama about King George VI, the monarch who reigned during World War II, describes the improbable friendship between an eccentric Australian speech therapist -- Geoffrey Rush -- and a reluctant royal with a stymieing stutter -- Colin Firth. Firth, nominated early this year for his work in A Single Man, is on everyone's list of 2011 best actor nominees – in fact, he's already considered the front runner.