Female-filmmakers | SpoutBlog

Hardwicke Off Twilight Sequels. Trade Roughage 12/08/08

By Christopher Campbell posted 11 months ago

In a huge blow to women in film, Catherine Harwicke was officially announced to be exiting the Twilight franchise after a weekend of rumors. Summit Entertainment’s press release politely claims the decision was rather mutual because the first sequel, New Moon, is being rushed into production yet Hardwicke desired more prep time. Gossip in the blogs, however, says it had more to do with the director being difficult during the first film’s shoot. Whatever the reason, Summit will be pressured to hire another female filmmaker. I bet Lexi Alexander could use the gig after her miserable weekend.
Alexander’s Punisher: War Zone “fired blanks” at the box office over the weekend, placing 8th with only $4 million, which was less than a third the opening of the last Punisher in 2004. As for other new releases, Cadillac Records grossed $3.5 million, though on far fewer screens, and Frost/Nixon made $180,000 from only 3 locations, earning it a per-screen average of $60,000! And from a mostly 35+ audience. Four Christmases kept its top spot on the box office chart with another $18 million.
In foreign box office news, Madagascar 2 finally knocked Quantum of Solace off its throne. The Bond installment enjoyed five weeks at #1, internationally, but animation is evidently quite popular overseas. Just look at how Chinese authorities are treating their country’s opening of Bolt 3-D.
Due to the troubled economy, a number of producer deals at Paramount and Universal will not be renewed, including that of the prestigious duo of Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. Though The Hollywood Reporter claims the producers will continue prepping Jurassic Park IV at the studio, ComingSoon.net just heard from them directly that the sequel has died with Michael Crichton’s recent passing.
Uwe Boll and Luke Perry could be a craptacular match made in heaven.

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Hollywood

Strike Hysteria, Chapter 2: Trade Roughage, 08/08/07

By Karina Longworth posted 2 years ago

The Hollywood Reporter has two full stories this morning on the apparent hysteria leading up to an expected November writers strike, and a possible actors and directors strike next June. Borys Kit says agents are scrambling to get A-listers booked solid for the next ten months; Carl DiOrio warns that the studios’ effort to ramp up pre-strike production is almost sure to lead to a decline in overall quality.
One of those A-listers apparently has no intention of working for the sake of working. While his compatriots suffer through strike fever, George Clooney has signed on to produce and narrate a documentary on Darfur for HBO.
Lured by the state’s tax incentives, Pacifica Ventures is planning to build a $75 million film studio in Pennsylvania.
General Motors has teamed up with Women in Film to offer a grant to five emerging female filmmakers. According to Variety, the grant recipients will be “chosen by a WIF committee of professional filmmakers and entertainment industry executives,” and in addition to a cash award, they’ll also have access to “a six-day, full-immersion mentoring program.” The application deadline is August 31, and more information can be found here.