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SAG Strike Threat Eliminated. Trade Roughage 01/27/09

By Christopher Campbell posted 9 months ago

Threat of a SAG strike is now nearly eliminated following the guild’s National Board of Directors’ firing of national executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen. Also, the board disbanded the TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee. While we can now rest assured there will be no work stoppage, though, SAG’s lack of unity will unfortunately continue.
Brendan Fraser may have bombed at the box office this past weekend, but his career will always be safe as long as he’s willing to do movies like Furry Vengeance, in which he’ll play a real estate developer battling against “a band of angry critters.”
While film writers are being axed everywhere, at least two are finding other gigs in filmmaking: Latino Review’s Kellvin Chavez and IESB.net’s Robert Sanchez are two of the producers working on the comic adaptation El Zombo Fantasma, which is described as a “Latino Hellboy.”
Anyone who has ever wished to see Hilary Duff gunned down by machine guns rejoice! The former Disney Channel starlet will play Bonnie Parker in a new telling of the story of Bonnie and Clyde, ingeniously titled The Story of Bonnie and Clyde. Transamerica’s Kevin Zegers will play Clyde Barrow.
Fans of Defiance rejoice! Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig will be reunited for Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, in which they’ll play Tintin and Red Rackham, respectively.
Fans of Carl Franklin’s Devil With a Blue Dress rejoice! Denzel Washington will be reunited with Jennifer Beals in the Hughes brothers’ The Book of Eli. She’ll play a blind woman who is both daughter to Mila Kunis and sexual prize of Gary Oldman.
Sundance attendees who loved Sin Nombre rejoice! Director Cary Joji Fukunaga has lined up his next two projects at Universal/Focus Features.

Hollywood, Indies

Hong Kong Erotica to Save 3D. Trade Roughage 01/26/09

By Christopher Campbell posted 10 months ago

While many cinephiles were watching indie films at Sundance and celebrating the nominations of little-seen Oscar-hopefuls, regular moviegoers were buying tickets to Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which topped the box office for a second weekend in a row. With 10-day earnings at $65 million, the comedy has already outgrossed Best Picture shoo-in Slumdog Millionaire. Of course, nearly all major Oscar contenders did at least see a boost in box office following the announcement of nominees (Doubt being the exclusion).
Was anyone else watching the SAG Awards last night and wishing it would turn into a death match, or at least a debate? Well, Variety has a multitude of backstage quotes from actors from both sides of the infighting union. And of course there’s the onstage taboo-breaking prophecy of Tina Fey.
In an admitted attempt to battle piracy and boost the Hong Kong film industry, producer Stephen Shiu Jr. is making a 3D sequel to the 1991 erotic adventure movie Sex and Zen. Simply titled 3D Sex and Zen, it will apparently be the first 3D erotic film ever made. Perhaps this is just what digital 3D needs to get that much-needed rise in interest.
Universal has moved Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno from mid-May to mid-July, reportedly to fill a gap left by 2012, which was pushed back to November. Of course, it also won’t hurt Cohen to avoid getting hammered by Angels & Demons.
And for those of you who missed the additions to our Sundance deals chart, the films Spread, Moon and Art & Copy were all picked up for distribution over the weekend.

Hollywood, Reviews

Sundance News 01/16/09: Redford Offers Hope

By Christopher Campbell posted 10 months ago

Robert Redford’s opening address yesterday offered a hopeful horizon. Though this year’s festival (and independent film in general) may face hard times, at least the Obama presidency is here. “This could be a very inspiring time for artists,” he told the crowd. And the concurrence (not coincidence) of the inauguration happening at the same time as Sundance, “draws attention to the fact that we’re going to be seeing changes coming when it comes to art.”
Focus Features’ James Schamus also brings hope that passion for films could beat the empty wallet woes: “I’ve lost money on movies I’ve loved and acquired and made money on movies I’ve loved and acquired. I’ll overpay this year if I feel like it.”
Update on the SAG controversy: Anne Thompson posts the guild’s response to the waiver “issue.” And if you want it more heated than that, check out the snowballing discussions from Nikki Finke and Patrick Goldstein.
Sundance vet and regular Gregg Araki on the Prop 8 controversy: “a Sundance boycott would end up being a profound disservice to the gay civil rights movement as a whole.” Plus, the filmmaker takes a look at this year’s gay-themed films at the fest.
Sundance and iTunes have gotten together again to make 10 of this year’s festival’s shorts available for free download during the event.
Defamer’s Stu VanAirsdale lists this year’s “10 Celebrities With the Most to Lose,” with Spread star and online Sundance game show host Ashton Kutcher in the most “severe” position.
E! ups the initial buzzed about titles to 25. Anyone want to go to 50?

Festivals, Indies, Sundance 2009

Sundance News 01/14/09: Regifting Swag to Charity

By Christopher Campbell posted 10 months ago

Variety continues the coverage of how “subdued” this year’s festival will be. Reportedly, the cool new trend is regifting swag bags to charity. Meanwhile, IFC’s Arianna Bocco points out the should-be-obvious truth: “If people love something, they will still compete to get it, regardless of the larger economic situation.”
And the Los Angeles Times seems certain there’s a lot to love. Rather than concentrate on the negative ramifications of a recession-set Sundance, Kenneth Turan notes the number of films selected this year is still staggering, the “hubbub” over swag and celebrities is still in full force, and the quality of the films should be as high as usual.
But why worry about the economic troubles of Sundance anyway when, according to Michael Cieply at The Carpetbagger, there are more pressing matters at hand involving a complicated issue with festival films produced under waiver agreements from the Screen Actors Guild. Studios may not legally be able to pick up these films as long as there’s no contract and still threat of a SAG strike.
Fortunately, for those films that aren’t picked up, Anthony Kaufman has a focus on the DIY release alternative over at indieWire.
The Hollywood Reporter highlights the 10 films likely to acquire distribution, as well as five additional, lesser-known titles that may be underdog performers.
Apparently those Sundance attendees on their way to Park City today or tomorrow are already too late to the parties. Last night, Real World Brooklyn cast member Baya Voce kicked things off early at The Star Bar.

Festivals, Sundance 2009

SAG Strike Still Approaching. Trade Roughage 10/01/08

By Christopher Campbell posted 1 year ago

Remember how Hollywood feared a Screen Actors Guild strike earlier this year following the devastating WGA strike? Well, after a summer of fruitless negotiating, a strike from SAG may indeed finally happen. The guild is voting today on whether or not to ask its members for a work stoppage, which could have actors walking out around the same time the writer’s started picketing a year ago.
Adding to my single reason for not switching to a Mac, Netflix’s Watch Instantly service will now stream 1,000 additional movies courtesy of a deal with Starz. Time to finally buy a Roku, if you haven’t already.
Universal was reportedly already the lead candidate to acquire the available distribution partnership with DreamWorks, but just to clinch the deal the studio is offering Spielberg & Co. an additional $150 million financing safety net from parent company NBC Universal.
Hilary Swank has found another Oscar-bait role: the two-time Best Actress winner will star as the title role in Betty Anne Waters, about a high school dropout who becomes a lawyer in order to defend her brother, who has been convicted of murder.

SAG and Sleepers. Trade Roughage 07/01/08

By Karina Longworth posted 1 year ago

The Screen Actors Guild are currently without a contract. The AMPTP offered a “final offer” late yesterday in hopes of nailing the union down before their previous contract expired at midnight, but SAG insisted on giving the “deeply flawed” proposal the once-over before meeting with the studios on Wednesday. They’re probably just stalling until AFTRA votes on their tentative deal with the AMPTP next week.
Variety takes note of the summer’s box office sleepers thus far, including The Strangers, which has quietly crossed $50 million, and What Happens in Vegas, an alleged bomb which nonetheless will almost certainly make close to $100 million.
The Gillian Anderson comeback train rolls on. The X Files star has acquired a biography of Martha Gellhorn for her to star in and her production company to adapt. Gellhorn was a pioneering war correspondant and sometime wife of Ernest Hemingway.
Philip Noyce will likely direct Edwin A Salt, a thriller in which Tom Cruise will play a “CIA officer who’s accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy. He must elude capture long enough to clear his name.” Yes, Tom Cruise has now become so boring that news of his next project is relegated to the bottom of the roundup. Such is the way of the world, I guess.

Trade Roughage 2/13/08

By Karina Longworth posted 1 year ago

Around 7pm PST last night, WGA West president Patrick Varrone made the announement: “The strike is over. Our membership has voted. Writers can go back to work.” Only 283 of 3,775 voting guild members cast a ballot in favor of prolonging the strike.
But the Hollywood Labor Wars are hardly over. The Screen Actors Guild will start negotiating a new contract soon, and a number of super-famous people (including Ben Affleck, Charlie Sheen and Sally Field) are lobbying the guild to make sure only super-famous people are able to vote on the contract that will cover the entire acting caste system.
Steven Spielberg has backed out of its commitment as an “Artistic Advisor” to the Beijing Summer Olympics, on the grounds that China has failed to use its influence to intervene in the genocide in Darfur. “At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies but doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur.” Oh Steve––this is totally the “my dog ate my homework” of socially conscious mogul excuses. You can do better than that.

Trade Roughage 01/28/08

By Karina Longworth posted 1 year ago

Daniel Day-Lewis and Julie Christie continued their winning streaks over the weekend, each picking up the top individual prizes at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The WGA had issued SAG a waver to allow them to produce a telecast with professional writers, which thus made it cool for stars to show up, which thus created the conditions for this photograph of Angelina Jolie in what appears to be a tie-dyed chiffon sack, thus giving credence to recent rumors that she may be carrying two new doses of Pitt spawn.
Of the many “specialty” films which expanded their theater count in hopes of capitalizing on Oscar nominations, only Atonement failed to see a bump in percentage this weekend, with The Savages gaining 2% even as it shed screens. But the real story of weekend in the indie box office realm––which Variety buries at the very bottom of their writeup––is that Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes-winning, Oscar-ignored drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days earned $48,176 across just 2 screens.
Ben Fritz gets off a nice joke about Sylvester Stallone being an “ancient warrior” in his mass-market box office writeup, but it must be little comfort to the team behind Rambo, which opened in second place behind something I had never heard of called Meet the Spartans. Cloverfield dropped almost 70% in its second weekend, which makes sense considering the film’s hype peaked six months ago.