I believe this Hollywood Reporter story on the struggles faced by several American Cannes premieres to find a stateside distributor is the first notice that 2929 Entertainment has decided to give James Gray’s Two Lovers to Magnolia to distribute.
The film famously drew mixed reactions in Cannes; I gave it a thumbs up with some reservations, [...]
Questions: Why are both The Love Guru and Get Smart––broad comedies that should have mainstream appeal, if they actually appeal to anyone––opening on the same day, and how is the competition going to impact each film’s box office? Answers: either because Paramount locked in a bunch of promo deals for The Love Guru before realizing [...]
It’s been all-but-confirmed for awhile, but thisVariety story nails it: Magnolia will self-distribute What Just Happened?, Barry Levinson’s Hollywood satire which the studio produced through 2929 Entertainment but were hoping to unload at either Sundance or Cannes. “There were offers,” Eamonn Bowles told Anne Thompson, “But we can make more money doing it ourselves.” They’re [...]
Proof that a trailer mash-up doesn’t need to be unique nor well-made, here is a combination of The Happening and What’s Happening!!.
Not content to let IFC walk off the Croisette as the big buying ballers of Cannes 2008, Sony Pictures Classics set a number of deals in the last days of the fest, including distribution pacts for the Israeli animated doc Waltz With Bashir, Lorna’s Silence by the Dardenne brothers, and James Toback’s Tyson.
Meanwhile, the people [...]
Confirmation came yesterday afternoon that the films long expected to open and close the Cannes Film Festival, Fernando Meirelles’ Blindness and Barry Levinson’s What Just Happened?, will in fact do so, despite recent rumors that the latter film had been nixed due to its post-Sundance loser taint.
Magnolia has purchased Wayne Wang’s A Thousand Years [...]
The Cannes Film Festival will close with a Sundance leftover, and Catherine Zeta-Jones becomes a pawn in SAG’s contract negotiations with the studios.
January 17, 2008 – 11:14 am
From Sundance to the Oscars, the strike sullies everything it touches.