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| The Sunday News Recap! 3.7.04 |
You wanna know what dog food tastes like? It tastes just like it smells...delicious! |
by Ryan Arthur
This is the Sunday News Recap, where we'll look at the reviews, features, editorials and columns posted this week at HBS/eFC, preview the week ahead, and touch on some of the biggest stories in entertainment news from the last seven days. I'm Ryan, and you got any idea what my life would be worth if certain people found out I checked into a laughing academy? Let's check the news.
The Big Show: Top Stories
The shareholders for the Walt Disney Company met Wednesday, and lodged a strong rebuke against embattled chairman Michael Eisner, with 43 percent of shareholders withholding a vote of support for Eisner. The move was expected to be in the 20 percent range, so analysts were at the very least surprised, while former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, Eisner's harshest critics, were elated, calling for Eisner's ouster: "Michael Eisner must leave now," Gold said. "We see today's meeting as a first step toward saving the company...We are seeking real and meaningful change." Charles Elson, the director at the Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, called the 43 percent withholding figure a "phenomenal number. The board and Mr. Eisner have to step back following something as stunning as that...It means that some sort of change has to take place on the board and at the upper managerial levels." The board had been under pressure to split the chairman and CEO job, both currently held by Eisner, and following the withholding of support, immediately did so. Former US Senator and current board member George Mitchell, who has been criticized by Disney and Gold as being too close to Eisner and not "independent enough," since his law firm has worked for the Disney company in the past, was named chairman. In a statement, the board tried to placate shareholders. "We are aware that some voted for an immediate change in management and in the board," the statement said. "However, taking all these factors into account, we believe the action we have taken today is in the best long-term interest of the shareholders of the company." This move isn't exactly setting everyone at ease: 23 percent of shareholders also withheld support of Mitchell.
The board also formally dismissed an offer by Comcast to take over the company, saying the quoted $54 billion pricetag was too low. Comcast is not expected to make a counteroffer to sweeten the deal. David Cohen, Comcast's executive vice president, said the board should definitely revisit the Comcast offer, saying "We think that a signal has been sent loudly and strongly to the Disney board and the Disney management that the shareholders continue to believe they haven't properly represented shareholders' interests in a variety of ways. One is the way they handled the Comcast proposal. The ball, we think, is very much going to be in Disney's court."
(source: Associated Press)
Remember David Manning, the fictional movie critic who was apparently the only one who liked The Animal? Or called Hollow Man "one hell of a scary ride!"? A class action lawsuit from filmgoers against Sony Pictures Entertainment, the company behind the creation of Manning, can now go to trial, according to a California appeals court. The lawsuit accuses Sony of using false advertising and deceptive practices, which apparently means that everyone who's part of the lawsuit can't think for themselves and has to rely on what they see in ads for movies as to what they see. Sony's argument was that the ads were protected by the state's free speech guarantees. The initial trial judge disagreed, and the state appeals court upheld that ruling, saying in their own ruling: "Although the films themselves enjoy full First Amendment protection, Sony's film advertisements do not." The appeals court was not united in the decision; Justice Reuben Ortega wrote a strongly worded dissent, saying the lawsuit was "a farce" and "the most frivolous case with which I have ever had to deal." Ortega said that if the lawsuit succeeds, "from that day on all persons will be able to absolutely rely on the truth and accuracy of movie ads. No longer will people be seen lurching like mindless zombies toward the movie theater, compelled by a puff piece. What a noble and overwhelming undertaking. The only losers will be those poor souls who do not go to the movies. I cannot see breathing life into this farce." Newsweek broke the Manning story in 2001.
(source: Reuters)
LeBron James...movie star? Could happen. The Cavs rookie is in talks to develop and star in a movie with director Spike Lee. James' agent, Aaron Goodwin, said: "We're still in the planning stages. We don't have a script yet. We have a production team in place. Spike has been interested for months now, and LeBron is excited about the project." Lee couldn't be reached for comment.
(source: Associated Press)
When a copy of The Passion Of The Christ ended up at the New York Post prior to the film's release, Mel Gibson's Icon Productions said they'd look into legal action once it was determined where said copy cam from. Now they know. Icon filed suit on Thursday against Lightning Media (formerly Lightning Dubbs...gosh, what do they do?), claiming that they were responsible for three former employees that copied the film Those three employees were charged February 11 with misdemeanor counts of conspiring to violate federal copyright laws. Authorities say the men copied the film for personal use and for friends, and not for profit, though they still face a year in jail if convicted. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney says there was no evidence to suggest that Lightning was aware of illegal copying at their facilities, and had cooperated with authorities. "When the FBI determined it may have been one or more employees from Lightning, we opened up the doors to them," Lightning CEO Steve Buchbaum said. He also said that Lightning had not yet been notified of the lawsuit.
(source: Associated Press)
The Toho Company is throwing in the towel on the big green guy, at least for now. The Godzilla franchise is celebrating fifty years with this December's Japanese release of Godzilla: Final Wars (due for release in the U.S. next year) before putting the rubber suit into retirement, although probably only temporarily. There have been 28 Godzilla films (not sure if that includes the 1998 American crapfest) since the 1954 premiere of the original. The Toho Company may bring the character back eventually, but not for a few years (expected to be at least ten)...unless Godzilla: Final Wars does well at the Japanese box office, which has shortened previous retirement attempts. That film will feature Godzilla taking on ten other monsters/opponents (some new, some classic) in Shanghai, Paris, Sydney and New York. By the way, Rialto pictures is releasing the original Godzilla to U.S. theaters later this summer, minus the Raymond Burr cut-ins and including the original Japanese subtitles, which I believe is one of the first (only?) times that American audiences will get to see it in that form on the big screen.
(source: Associated Press)
Robert Blake, accused of murdering his wife three years ago, is now on his fourth attorney, and barring any more delays will go to trial September 9. The In Cold Blood star's first two attorneys quit when Blake went against their advice and granted interviews with the media. The third stepped down February 5, literally the eve before the case was scheduled to go to trial, citing "irreconcilable differences" with Blake. The new attorney, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, says he believes Blake's innocence and is confident of his acquittal at trial. The judge in the case had chided Blake after the third attorney quit, saying the problems with his lawyers was Blake's way of avoiding the case going to trial.
(source: Associated Press)
Awards Update: Everything After The Oscars
The NAACP Image Awards were presented Saturday night. In the film related categories, The Fighting Temptations was named best film, while Cuba Gooding, Jr. won best actor for Radio. Queen Latifah was named best actress for Bringing Down The House.
(source: Associated Press)
Screwed, Blued & Reviewed: Reviews From The Past Week
Our writers have run the gamut this week.
Jack Sommersby
Twisted
Josh Gryniewicz
21 Grams
Mystic River
mattmulcahey
In The Cut
Y2McKay
Buffalo Soldiers
Ed Wood
City Of God
Scott Weinberg
Club Dread
Starsky & Hutch
Hidalgo
After The Apocalypse
Chris Parry
Doc Hollywood
Lost In Translation
The Royal Tenenbaums
Mr. Baseball
The Blue Butterfly
Stephen Groenewegen
The Human Stain
Natasha Theobald
101 Ways (The Things A Girl Will Do To Keep Her Volvo) (screened online at Cinemanow.com)
Full Frontal (2001) (screened online at Cinemanow.com)
darkofnight
Mountaintop Motel Massacre
Erik Childress
Hidalgo
Starsky & Hutch
Collin Souter
Starsky & Hutch
Marigold
Party Monster
dionwr
Hidalgo
Eric D. Snider
Hidalgo
Starsky & Hutch
PaulBryant
Lost In Translation
You can view each writer's archive of reviews by clicking on their name. You can also access the reviews in our database by going here or via the search function.
This Week In Features: Editorials, Interviews And Regular Columns
Another week's worth of quality features at HBS/eFC.
Alexandre Paquin takes a look at the 76th Oscars: The Greatest Show On Earth (But Certainly Not The Most Tasteful).
I logged a DVD Review: Queer As Folk: The Complete Third Season.
Alexandre Paquin also gave us another installment of Critical "Expertise": The State And Future Of Film Criticism - - Part 3: Hacks And Vigilantes.
Scott Weinberg hits us with another batch of South By Southwest previews: SXSW Pre-Production: Super Size Me Director Morgan Spurlock. There's an interesting post-script to that story in our forums.
SXSW Pre-Production: Knots Director Greg Lombardo
SXSW Pre-Production: Male Fantasy Director Blaine Thurier
SXSW Pre-Production: Walkentalk Director Phil Zlotorynski
SXSW Pre-Production: Up For Grabs Director Michael Wranovics
SXSW Pre-Production: Hollywood Buddha Director Philipe Caland
SXSW Pre-Production: Public Domain Director Kris Lefcoe
SXSW Pre-Production: Luck Director Peter Wellington
Natasha Theobald has another edition of Titles TIVO Taped: The Awards Show Awards Show, The Medici: Godfathers Of The Renaissance, And More.
Paul Zimmerman files a report from On The Beach: Backstage At The IFP Spirit Awards.
Chris Parry offers a primer on Online DVD Rentals: This Is The Day You Finally Give It A Try.
Scott Weinberg also has Welcome To Philadelphia: Q & A With Jersey Girl Director Kevin Smith.
Natasha Theobald returns with a look at a couple of older catalog soundtracks in a new Sonic Death Monkey Soundtrack Reviews - Undercover Brother And Love Jones.
You can browse the archive of features, editorials and regular columns from our staff here, or by using the search function.
Hollywood News Of The Week: The Scoop
"I take no pleasure in taking life if it's from a person who doesn't care about it."
I am loving this cast. Gary Oldman has joined the cast of Batman Begins as Lt. James Gordon. Not commissioner? No: the story takes place early in the Bat's career as a caped vigilante. Christopher Nolan's directing, and filming got underway this week in Iceland. Oldman can be seen this summer in Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, opening June 4. (source: Hollywood Reporter)
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"Why don't you pass the time with a game of solitaire?"
Angela Lansbury is getting back into movies. In addition to a role in the live action remake of the animated The Last Unicorn, Lansbury is now in talks to join Emma Thompson and Colin Firth in Nanny McPhee. Firth plays the widowed father of "the seven worst children in the world," while Thompson (who developed the script based on the Nurse Matilda children's books) plays the title character, a magical nanny (who, again, is nothing like Mary Poppins or Sharry Bobbins. They swear. No, seriously) who uses her powers to tame the kids. Lansbury would play an aristocratic aunt of the children who threatens to take one of them away to live with her. Filming begins in April, with Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine) directing. (source: Variety)
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"Anyways, you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission...quest...thing."
Creature Corner has confirmed that Lord Of The Rings star Billy Boyd will be lending his voice to Seed Of Chucky, joining The Two Towers costar (and voice of Chucky, natch) Brad Dourif. Boyd will play the offspring of Dourif's Chucky and Jennifer Tilly's Tiffany. Filming is getting underway in Romania later this month, with Don Mancini writing and directing. Seed Of Chucky opens October 29. (source: Creature Corner)
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"There's no secret handshake. There's an IQ prerequisite, but there's no secret handshake."
Ethan Hawke bears the burden of being an actor. And a heavy burden it is. Hawke told ABC's 20/20 on Friday that his marriage to Uma Thurman got "beaten up...It is very difficult for any couple who are married if both people have are very ambitious. I don't know if it's just too hard to be married to a woman that wants to be a movie star. I know that she has that right to want that." I don't get that statement. Hawke, who himself is a movie star, also says that being famous has also made the failed marriage that much more difficult: "While I'm sitting here my marriage is not working. Everybody knows it. You know, you hate to have your grandfather read about it...that's what makes you feel ashamed, you know...It's like, this is our marriage...and now there's all these other voices in the room." Wait, the fact that your grandfather read about is the shameful part, not that you cheated on your wife and the mother of your children with some model? Oh please. It's hard to pity the guy who was married to Uma Thurman, man. Hawke's got two movies coming out this year: Taking Lives on March 19 and Before Sunset on June 25. (source: ABC, Associated Press)
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"Leave it to me. We're checking out."
Jean Reno is signed, and Beyoncé Knowles is in talks to join the cast of Shawn Levy's remake of The Pink Panther, in which Steve Martin will star as Inspector Clouseau. Reno will play Clouseau's driver Ponton, who is actually an undercover cop assigned to keep an eye on Clouseau. Knowles, if she comes on board, would play a pop star named Xania. Xania's boyfriend was in possession of the "pink panther diamond," and now he's dead. Filming will begin in April for release on July 22, 2005. By the way, Blake Edwards, who directed eight of the Pink Panther movies and created the characters, says he's pretty much out of the loop as far as the remake goes. "I'm not advising anybody where the Panther is concerned," Edwards said. "In fact, nobody has really been that interested in whether or not I have any opinions about it." (source: Variety, Associated Press)
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"Oh, I think she stuffs."
Nikki Reed, writer and star of thirteen will reteam with that film's director, Catherine Hardwicke, in Lords Of Dogtown. She'll play the sister of a skater in the fictionalized account of the skateboarding documentary Dogtown And Z-Boys. Heath Ledger and Emile Hirsch are starring. Filming begins in April. (source: Hollywood Reporter)
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"Don't you bring that up again! That's ancient history! I've been saved!"
Diane Ladd and Laura Dern - mother and daughter - will again star in a film together, this time playing the same character. Dern will play the lead in Hot Water Biscuits from age 17 to 38, will Ladd will play the character from the age of 38 to 60. Ladd told The Los Angeles Daily News the project was "kind of like Fried Green Tomatoes and My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Okay. Ladd's currently on television in Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital. Dern can be seen in We Don't Live Here Anymore, which premiered at Sundance this year. (source: Los Angeles Daily News)
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"She's a whale! Tucker, she's a whale!"
Leonardo DiCaprio is circling Martin Scorsese's potential remake of Infernal Affairs, which also may star Brad Pitt, who will produce with Scorsese. This would mark the third film that DiCaprio has made with Scorsese following Gangs Of New York and the upcoming The Aviator. The Aviator opens this November. (source: Hollywood Reporter)
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"No one bothers to take the time to give a really sinister interrogation. It's a lost art."
It appears that the future of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond isn't as cut and dried as most would like to believe. Asked by Variety at a "Oscars Night Before" party if he'd be returning to the role after four previous turns as the superspy, Brosnan said that particular commitment (to the 21st Bond film) was "opaque." Hmm. Brosnan has Laws Of Attraction opening April 30. (source: Variety)
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"You make it through tomorrow without killing anybody, especially me, or yourself, then I'll start trusting you."
Danny Glover has joined the cast of Lars Von Trier's Manderlay, the next film in the director's "U.S.A." trilogy (following Dogville). Glover joins an already packed cast, including Bryce Dallas Howard (daughter of Ron), Isaach De Bankolé, Jeremy Davies, Stellan Skarsgård, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Jean-Marc Barr and Udo Kier. Filming begins in Sweden March 8. Glover's currently in Saw, which premiered at Sundance, and has the Cookout coming out later this year. (source: Intertain Film via Comingsoon.net)
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"Did you just call me a fuckass? You can go suck a fuck."
Secretary cutie Maggie Gyllenhaal has two projects lined up: she'll star with Edie Falco and Tony Shalhoub in The Great New Wonderful, playing a competitive cake decorator. Shooting starts on that project March 17. She'll follow that up in director Don Roos' ensemble comedy Happy Endings, replacing Jennifer Garner as a woman who is involved with both an older man and his son. Filming begins on that film next month. Gyllenhaal can be seen in Mona Lisa Smile, out on video and DVD this week, and in Criminal, out later this year. (source: Hollywood Reporter)
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"I can't think of anything more exhilarating than a trip to London."
It's pretty early in the game for this, so let's call it speculation for now: The Australian Associated Press has reported that Nicole Kidman toured locations in New Zealand where The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe is being filmed, fueling belief that Kidman would join the cast, possibly as the White Witch, who uses her powers to keep the kingdom of Narnia in perpetual winter for one hundred years. But again, nothing's official, nothing's been signed, and looking at Kidman's listing at IMDb, she's got four upcoming films in the pipeline after she finishes filming The Interpreter with Sean Penn, which is filming now. So that's adding to an already packed schedule. Kidman has Birth opening this April, and The Stpeford Wives opening June 11. (source: AAP)
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"You know the first thing they should've taught you at hooker school? You get the money up front!"
Philip Baker Hall joins Michael Gross, Bill Smitrovich, Mary McDonnell, Chloe Sevigny, Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman as additions to the cast of Mrs. Harris, about a girls' school headmistress (Annette Bening)who murdered her ex-boyfriend (Ben Kingsley) during the 1980s. Filming is underway now. (source: Variety)
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"I have a hard booger in my nose, and it makes it...I think it's going to make it bleed."
Jessica Simpson is the most quotable person ever. She talked up some potential projects with MTV, including a turn as Daisy Duke in a big screen Dukes Of Hazzard movie: "I would love to be Daisy Duke. I think that would be so much fun, just to wear the shorts. I would get to have my own car. I think it would be a blast." Simpson says she recently met with producer Bill Gerber to discuss taking a part in the project. "The meeting just went really, really great, so we'll see. I Dream of Jeannie is a little further behind, so the Dukes will be first to go. I honestly don't know when I'll find out, but they start shooting in May or June, so let's keep our fingers crossed." Britney Spears has expressed interest in playing Daisy as well, but that girl's 15 minutes are long since over. Dream casting for Bo and Luke Duke is rumored to be Ashton Kutcher and Paul Walker. Simpson also talked about a rumored film version of Mort The Dead Teenager, currently without a director or a studio, since Dimension is no longer committed to making the movie. "It's an adorable script. I would love to do it. It's the next Back to the Future, it's that cool. I think it'll have a cult-type following. It's a clever, clever script, and the way it could be shot would be really cool." (source: MTV)
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"Ever been bitchslapped?"
Jim Carrey spoke to Comingsoon.net about two of his upcoming projects, playing Count Olaf in Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events and the big screen version of The Six Million Dollar Man. On Snicket: " Oh man, its so much fun. Its such a different way to tell a children's story, its very original. And it's an opportunity for me to show up as this crazed thespian. He's an evil thespian, which is redundant actually... I was not aware of the books before, they asked me to read these books and I did. I thought it was a really original voice. For me it's an opportunity to have fun and throw on disguises and make these characters." Carrey was tentative about his starring role in The Six Million Dollar Man: "You probably shouldn't report on this because I don't even know if it is going to happen or not, it's that far down the line, we're developing that script. It's a whole lotta fun. I love playing ego and insecurity combined. I guess that's the same thing, ego out of control. Six million dollars doesn't get you a lot in this world these days so you can kinda imagine where the plot is going." Todd Phillips (Starsky & Hutch) will direct The Six Million Dollar Man, and he says not to expect a grim and gritty, serious remake. " I like the idea of what we can do with the concept," Phillips told USA Today. "The TV show took itself so seriously. I want to see what happens with a lighter touch." (source: Comingsoon.net, USA Today)
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"I was just thinking what an interesting concept it is to eliminate the writer from the artistic process. If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we've got something here."
Some script, production and direction notes:
* The Walt Disney Company will join Walden Media in co-financing and distributing The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. The move is viewed as a way of moving ahead in a post-Pixar film future, as well as an attempt to establish a Lord Of The Rings-type fantasy franchise (there are seven Narnia books). Shrek's Andrew Adamson is directing. (source: Reuters)
* Sticking with Disney: the company has picked up a pitch from writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (Freddy Vs. Jason and the upcoming Spy Hunter movie), an untitled action-adventure tale about a washed-up Viking legend and "his ragtag team of marauders who are forced to go on an epic quest to save the world from evil. The tale, described as having the tone of Pirates of the Caribbean, comes with characters normally associated with Norse lore, such as sea monsters, giants, Valkyries and beserkers." (source: Hollywood Reporter)
* One more Disney story: the studio will hold off on Antarctica (which was to have starred Josh Duhamel) due to rising production costs caused by logistical problems. Namely, filming was supposed to begin in Greenland (doubling for Antarctica) this spring, but it's now believed that the country would be just too...green. Production has been pushed back to next fall or winter. (source: Variety)
* The sequel to Rob Zombie's House Of 1,000 Corpses has a name. Creature Corner reports that Zombie's assistant has confirmed the title will be The Devil's Rejects, so named because it's "the nickname the media has bestowed upon our favorite band of murderers." The film is currently in pre-production. (source: Creature Corner)
* Bryan Singer is set to direct a remake of Logan's Run, set to follow the novel more closely, about a man hunted by police who hunt down everyone at the age of 21 (it was raised to 30 in the original film) in order to help alleviate an overcrowded population. "I was drawn to X-Men because of its universal issues of tolerance, Singer told Variety. "This deals with a utopian society, but also with the obsession of youth and mortality. I've already started working with my X2 production designer, Guy Dyas, to create a visual world we've never seen before." Joel Silver will produce, and the production has been fast-tracked. Singer will finish Logan's Run before starting work on the next X-Men film. (source: Variety)
* It's official: It was announced Wednesday that the failed TV series Firefly will be made into a feature film at Universal, and creator Joss Whedon will make his feature film directorial debut with Serenity (the name of the ship). A good portion of the cast from the series will appear in the film. Filming is set to begin June 4. (source: Universal Pictures)
* Mark Rosman, who directed Hilary Duff in the upcoming A Cinderella Story, will also direct Duff in The Perfect Man, about a daughter looking for someone to set her mom up with. She can't find anyone who qualifies as "the right guy," so she makes one up. Filming begins in late April. A Cinderella Story opens July 16. (source: Variety)
* Michael Bacall will adapt the Len Williams novel Justice Deferred for Warner Bros. The story is about a man wrongly convicted through Alabama's "three-strikes" law, giving him no chance at parole. The man learns everything he can about the law, escapes from prison, changes his name and becomes a lawyer. Tobey Maguire's Maguire Entertainment will co-produce with the WB. (source: Hollywood Reporter)
* Revolution Studios has picked up the remake rights to the Israeli film 92 Minutes, a dark comedy about a man with an aggressive form of cancer who is told he has just 92 minutes to live. Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio will handle the scriptwriting duties. (source: Variety)
* Life-long comics fan John Singleton is in talks to develop and direct the adaptation of Marvel Comics' Luke Cage, the first black superhero for the comics company. Cage is "about a former gang member who is framed for a crime he didn't commit. In prison, he volunteers for a medical experiment that goes awry, giving him superstrength and bulletproof skin. Using his newfound powers, Cage escapes and becomes a 'hero for hire.'" The project is set up at Columbia Pictures, which is home to the Spider-Man franchise. (source: Hollywood Reporter)
* Speaking of Spidey, Marvel Studios chairman and CEO Avi Arad confirmed during an earnings conference call on Tuesday that "Spider-Man 3 is in development." There's no scipt yet, but Sam Raimi is expected back and Tobey Maguire has reportedly told his agents to make sure his schedule is flexible enough to work on other films around a tentative Spider-Man 3 shooting schedule. Arad said "a contemplated release date will probably be 2007 at this point.." Spider-Man 2 is out July 2. (source: Variety)
* Stuart Baird will direct Posession, described as a supernatural thriller about a man killed in a car crash who reappears to reveal a dark secret to his grieving mother. The film is based on the Peter James novel. James is also writing the screenplay. (source: Variety)
* On the heels of last week's announcement that he'd write and direct Sin City, Robert Rodriguez has been named as director of Princess Of Mars, based on the first book of Edgar Rice Burroughs' 11-book John Carter Of Mars series. The series focuses on "John Carter, a Civil War officer from Virginia who is transported to Mars and finds himself a captive of the savage green men from Thark. Eventually, he rises to become the greatest warrior of all time, marries the beautiful Dejah Thoris, raises a family and embarks on numerous adventures." Mark Protosevich wrote the script. (source: Hollywood Reporter)
* Paramount Pictures has picked up a script from Phil Beauman that spoofs dance movies. The project (currently without a title) will center on "young performers chasing stardom and draw upon the studio's extensive library of similar dance pics such as Fame, Flashdance, Footloose, Grease and Saturday Night Fever." Beuman is no stranger to parody films: he's worked on the scripts to Scary Movie, Not Another Teen Movie and Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. (source: Variety)
* Christian Duguay (The Art Of War) will direct The Runelords for Franchise Pictures. The story is based on the first of three David Farland novels in an epic fantasy series. My, fantasy stories certainly are popular. Filming begins in Prague this July. (source: Hollywood Reporter)
* Universal Pictures has picked up the rights to Mark Millar's independently-produced comic, Wanted. The story is described as " a dark tale with a dearth of good guys. A nebbishy white-collar worker who hates job, girlfriend and life discovers he's the son of the most evil supervillain on Earth. When Dad is assassinated, the angry young man inherits his father's superpowers and starts life among the other super-villains who secretly control the planet." Sounds cool. Marc Platt will produce, and he's currently looking for a writer to pen the script. (source: Variety)
* Kevin Rodney Sullivan (Barbershop 2: Back In Business) is in talks to direct the comedy The Dinner Party, kind of a reverse Guess Who's Coming To Dinner about a white man dating an African-American woman whose dad is having trouble wrapping his brain around the relationship. Ashton Kutcher will play the man, and Bernie Mac will play the father. Filming will start later this spring. (source: Hollywood Reporter)
* Another video game turned movie? Yep. Anthem Pictures has picked up the film rights to Soul Calibur, Namco's popular fighting game. The storyline in the game focuses on two warriors who are chosen by Shaolin monks to recover and destroy a powerful sword that has fallen into the hands of an evil prince, who plans to use it to open the gates of hell and destroy the world. (source: Hollywood Reporter)
* Uber-producer Gale Anne Hurd has picked up the film and TV rights to David Goleman's action/sci-fi novel Events. Hurd says "This project has the tone of Raiders Of The Lost Ark and blends all the wonderful elements essential for a genre tentpole film." Hurd's Valhalla Pictures will develop the project and is currently looking for a screenwriter to adapt the novel, which deals with mankind's struggle against an unearthly being "from a mysterious realm." (source: Variety)
* I'm not sure if I'm liking this trend: following the announcement that there will be a big screen adaptation of the Broadway version of The Producers (itself based on a film), New Line has announced plans to make a film based on the Broadway version of Hairspray...also based on a film. The crew behind the stage version will handle the new film, and hopes Harvey Fierstein will reprise his role as Edna Turnblad. (source: New Line Cinema)
* Don't get your hopes up for Peter Jackson to make a live-action version of The Hobbit anytime soon. Jackson says that while New Line Cinema has the rights to make the film, MGM owns the rights to distribute it. Jackson told reporters " I guess MGM's lawyers and New Line's lawyers are going to have a huge amount of fun over the next few years trying to work it all out. I'm obviously busy for a couple of years on King Kong so those lawyers can just go at it for a long time." Jackson says if he were to make The Hobbit, he'd want it steeped in the Lord Of The Rings universe that he and his crew have already estrablished. "I'd want Ian McKellan to be back as Gandalf," Jackson said. "I'd want it to feel like it was part of the same mythology that we've done with Lord Of The Rings." (source: Associated Press)
* Tom Hanks is set to co-produce and probably narrate Magnificent Desolation, a 3-D documentary for IMAX screens that will document NASA's lunar voyages, using never-before-seen photographs and previously unseen NASA footage. It will be based on "The Lunar Surface Journals," an archival database that chronicles the Moon walks as recounted by the astronauts. Marc Cowen will direct. (source: Reuters)
* Actor Liev Schreiber will make his feature film directorial debut with the big screen adaptation of the Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Everything Is Illuminated. The story deals with a young Jewish-American man who travels to the Ukraine to find the woman who may have saved his grandfather from the Nazis during the Holocaust. Schreiber optioned the rights to the story after reading an excerpt in The New Yorker. He wrote the script and took it to Paramount, who greenlit the project. Shooting will start in June in Prague. Elijah Wood and Jason Schwartzman have expressed an interest in joining the cast, though nothing's official yet. (source: Variety)
Box Office Bonanza~!: The Top Ten
Here's your preliminary top ten for the weekend, with final figures released on Monday.
1. The Passion Of The Christ $51.3 million ($212.0 million total)
2. Starsky & Hutch $29.0 million
3. Hidalgo $19.6 million
4. 50 First Dates $7.7 million ($99.4 million total)
5. Twisted $5.0 million ($16.3 million total)
6. Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen $4.0 million ($21.8 million total)
7. The Return Of The King $3.1 million ($368.3 million total)
8. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights $2.8 million ($10.0 million total)
9. Miracle $2.6 million ($59.9 million total)
10. Monster $2.2 million ($30.0 million total)
The power of Christ compels you...to see The Passion Of The Christ, which posted only a 39 percent drop from last week. Most big blockbuster-type films that open big (as The Passion Of The Christ did with $83.8 million last weekend) typically freefall around 50 percent or more. Newmarket Films, which is distributing the film, expects it to cross the $300 million mark, which would make it the most successful film of Mel Gibson's career, surpassing the $228 million take of Signs, in which Gibson starred - ironically enough - as a pastor with a crisis of faith. That's right: even adjusted for inflation, Lethal Weapon 4 wouldn't be as successful as The Passion Of The Christ.
Warner Bros. and Disney (distributors of Starsky & Hutch and Hidalgo, respectively) have to be happy with their take this weekend in the wake of The Passion Of The Christ juggernaut. And it's not done: most analysts expect estimates for The Passion Of The Christ to be revised upwards when the final tallies are announced, as last week's estimates gained $8 million plus with better than expected Sunday attendance.
Opening March 12: moved up by about six weeks, Johnny Depp stars in Secret Window, based on a Stephen King novella; Frankie Muniz is a secret agent teen in Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London; and Val Kilmer plays cop with William H. Macy in David Mamet's Spartan, all opening wide. NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience and Broken Wings see limited release, while Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself opens in New York and Los Angeles.
Coming Attractions: The Week Ahead
New on DVD this Tuesday is quite the eclectic group of releases: Julia Roberts flashes her Mona Lisa Smile; Steven Speilberg's Schindler's List finally comes to DVD in regular and gift set editions; a Divimax Edition of Romero's original Dawn Of The Dead, plus a Special Collector's Edition of The Ten Commandments; Clive Owen stars in Croupier; two from the Criterion Collection: Onibaba and Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From A Marriage; and the box set Raquel Welch Sex Goddess Collection, which features One Million Years B.C., Bandolero, Myra Breckinridge and Mother, Jugs And Speed. From the TV side of things, my one sure purchase this week will be Futurama: Volume 3: The Complete Third Season.
Randy Muselman was off this week due to family matters. You may or may not see a New On Home Video: March 9, 2004 late Monday. Regardless, I'd also recommend you check out our Upcoming DVD Release Schedule.
Tyler Sciortino should have Thomb's Box Office Report on Thursday or Friday.
Erik Childress maintains Criticwatch, which is updated every Friday.
Michael Collins, no doubt well-rested from his jet-setting, takes over Sonic Death Monkey Soundtrack Reviews on Saturday.
And the recap will be back on your screens late Sunday.
We've reached the end of another edition of the Recap. I'll be back next Sunday with more news and gossip, as well as a look at a week's worth of reviews and features here at HBS/eFC. As always, thanks for reading, and your feedback is appreciated.
link directly to this feature at http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/feature.php?feature=1042
originally posted: 03/07/04 22:12:44
last updated: 03/08/04 14:15:37
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