The Hunger Games Media Ho Down
Negotiating in the press is one of the last attractive reflections of how malleable allegedly independent journalists have become in this era. To be fair, it really took off in the LA Times more than a decade ago. But the New Media has taken this idiocy to a new level.
Gary Ross wants to get paid for the THG sequel in a way commensurate with the success of THG. SummitGate, having played the rotating directors game with Twilight to absolutely no box office effect, knows they can hire a competent director for around a million to do the sequels. it is good for your career to have a mega-hit on your resume. My guess would be $10m – $15m is is ask. (Remember, Ross wrote and directed the first film in the franchise. The lovely & talented & Oscar-winning Simon Beaufoy was brought in on the sequel so Ross could focus on directing and not slow the release date for the sequel.)
Maybe – MAYBE – they offered in $3m for the sequel. He said “fuck off,” and went on “a family vacation.” That story got into the trades.
Then Ross, who is very press sensitive, countered through The Playlist (through his people) that it wasn’t just about money. He is an artist and h e doesn’t like to repeat himself.
Yeah.
The turn came today as a bald publicist who would prefer not to be named, who’s written about 15% of everything you’ve ever read Nikki Finke byline, put forward SummitGate’s current thinking. They really want to have Ross back. They don’t really want to pay him what he’s asking. But they really want him, not only because is is good and already up to speed, but also, no doubt, because Jennifer Lawrence is a good, loyal person and doesn’t want to end up making the sequel with someone she’s not already comfortable with. It’s also worth considering that SummitGate intends to be an ongoing business beyond Hunger and Twilight, so getting/extending their rep as anti-director won’t help them. So we get the Puppet Finke mouthing SummitGate’s argument.
First, she (sharing byline with Fleming) offers the laugher of trying to diminish the Playlist piece as, “these internet reports,” a mockery offered in a 100% internet report. But trust Nikki to tell you that what Playlist was told by Team Ross is “simply not accurate.” After all, she was told by Summit. And unlike those guys on that blog at Indiewire, she was one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Successful Hermits.
The SummitGate Argument:
Ross “knows the benefit of riding in a winner and not switching horses midstream.”
Ross “developed several serious historical dramatic projects under his deal at Universal that didn’t get off the ground.” (emphasis added by me)
“Ross developed a tight bond with everyone involved in the film, including cast.”
Well, duh.
The simple truth is that both sides want to continue this marriage. Obviously, with almost 2 billion in theatrical grosses and a net return of at least $1 billion likely to fill SummitGate coffers through the life of this franchise, Gary Ross no doubt thinks $40 million would, at minimum, be fair as his take home for building the four-film machine for them. Yes, he makes a lot of money doing rewrites and in development. But $17-20 million in his personal bank account (agents, lawyers, taxes, and others would eat the difference) gives him some real security.
And for the director/co-writer of four films to be paid, at best, 2.5% of the NET revenues on a franchise like this does not seem excessive or abusively demanding.
One thing Nikki and her masters are right about is that, in the end, this will probably come together. Summit was lucky to land Bill Condon to do the last two Twilight movies… but it worked for him as well. That was threading the needle. If the ongoing perception of SummitGate is that they will show you the door as soon as they make some money on your work, the list of directors who fit their aspirations will get smaller and smaller. This remains, greatly, a business of relationships.
And if Gary Ross has to settle for 5 years of his professional life going for $20 million… $25 million… well… ya know… he’d have a legacy… he might improve as a director (he’s a decent director, but still a writer first)… he’d have the career lesson of a steady, defined gig, and the money doesn’t exactly suck.
In an industry of few sure things, one thing is sure. We know that SummitGate is NOT going to lose money on paying Gary Ross $40 million for the next 3 films. Step up. Stop being greedy pigs. Do it like the grown up studios. And get on with it already.
And Deadline & Playlist… you should both be embarrassed.
Haven’t seen The Hunger Games yet, but the general consensus seems to be that the directing is OK at best. The movie still made tons of money. The sequels will make tons of money. The vast majority of viewers have no clue who Gary Ross is. From SummitGate’s perspective, how vital should it have been to get him to direct the second one?
DP – are you predicting the last film of the series makes
at least 250 million ? a lot of things can happen in next 4-5 years …
aside from whoever the next director is – how about
the rest of the cast ? how much can they make ?
that includes all the minor roles ….
this whole things reminds me of Entourage tv series
which now seems more real …
Ari Gold fires a person – 1 minute video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LNITt85-Rc&feature=related
You haven’t seen the Hunger Games? Don’t you review movies? How’d that work?
Also, again, let me point out that they need to get Kathryn Bigelow on the phone. The next two films need a stronger hand then Ross has ever shown to have on film. They need someone like Bigelow who will make the action look better and will just frame that world better.
Why they decided to go with a man to direct this property, even if he is a more sensitive fellow, is just another example of what’s wrong out there.
“Rotting directors?” Was that perhaps supposed to be “rotating directors?”
I wouldn’t mess with the Lawrence, Ross, Palen formula. Not if SLG want to replicate this success in 18 months. I wanted to believe The Playlist’s heartwarming story about diversifying. I bet it came from the filmmaker’s people. In that case, the blog is a pawn exploited for negotiations. Speaks to the veracity of the reporting, but that shouldn’t be a surprise given it’s The Playlist. They routinely report half-truths.
Deadline is a bully, surprise surprise. They got the most important part right: this is about money. And it should be, Ross is really talented and worth it. SLG is insane to let him walk if it comes to that.
Remember after HURT LOCKER Bigelow was attached (or dreamed about) for EVERY big franchise. I know she’s been tied in legal hell with her new film but jeeez….way to take forever to follow up your hit.
Also-
Many people gripe about the shaky cam/GRAPES OF WRATH shots in the beginning of HUNGER GAMES. Were those done by Soderberg as 2nd Unit? Has anyone figured out what he shot in the film exactly? Just curious mostly.
They should really step up and pay Gary what he wants or at least make a better compermise with him. Because without him their prob. gonna lose money anyway bc ppl dont want to see it more than once because it wasnt directed as well as the first one. Im not saying that he is the only good director im just saying he has a view for these movies that is perfect and rare. And the camera was supposed to be shaky at the beginning of the first one because they were moving the camera around to let you see all the people and have that intense feeling. But i admit it was kinda stupid and annoying. It just seemed shaky bc they were moving the cameras around a lot. Its kind of funny bc Jen is practicaly the boss. They need to make her happy or she could leave and we wont have Katniss. Imagine Jen ordering them around. Lol
So what, this film is based on a series and there weren’t already bumps in pay on the sequels negotiated from the beginning? What did both sides think was going to happen??
Considering the success of the Twilight series, I’m surprised Ross’ peeps wouldn’t have accounted for somewhat similar numbers to use as a platform for what their boy should make if the pic reached certain thresholds. It’s not like Ross is an inexperienced commodity.
That said, if they’re making movies for 13 year old girls, I could see why they wouldn’t pay a premium on quality. Not that they should be cheap or just throw anything on the screen regardless of story or effort, I could just see how they could stick to a model and not deviate.
What I’d like to know is if it’s really a case of lowball/highball offers or is it one where they bothare sorta on board but where SumGate knew they were gonna have to pony up some bucks but Ross was looking to break the bank? Taking things public just as tactic to shave a couple mill isn’t such a rare move. Then again, it could’ve been Ross’ plan all along to opt out of a deal if the opening grosses merited a huge payday that they couldn’t have negotiated when he first came on board. Did anyone really have an preconceived notions of what this film was going to look like based on Ross being the director? It’s not to say the guy doesn’t have skillz, I just do think he’s bringing an identity. From what I know of the property and people’s affinity for it, it seemed to me that they could go as wide as from Burton to (a then unknown) Nolan and not really missed a step based on skepticism.
Lionsgate should not in any circumstance pay Ross that much money. He’s not worth it based on his directing of the first film, in which most action sequences were almost incomprehensibly filmed. He’s a mediocre director at best and there’s no reason not to go with someone else who will be cheaper and deliver a product on par or even better than what Ross generated.
I also found the direction on Hunger Games weak, but I wouldn’t call Ross mediocre, and would argue more that this just isn’t his kind of film. He did a great job on Pleasantville (especially considering it was his debut), and Seabiscuit wouldn’t have been any better with Ron Howard behind the camera.
My advice is for the producers to find someone else for the sequel, and for Ross to develop something else a little closer to his own sensibilities, preferably another original screenplay. The success of this film, even if he wasn’t the driving force behind it, has to give him SOME clout, no? Just because he couldn’t get a “historical drama” off the ground doesn’t mean he’s stuck.
It wasn’t just the directing that was weak on Hunger Games, the writing and editing could have been a lot tighter, too. This wasn’t a movie that needed to be 2 hours and twenty minutes long, especially in all the pre-game Capitol stuff.
Also, does anyone really think the success of Hunger Games is because it was made so well? This thing was hyped full steam a full year in advance. Lionsgate is best served by coming up with a side deal for Ross on something else and moving on to some other director.
Maybe they can get andrew Stanton or david fincher to clean up the mediocre shamble Gary ross made. they’ll hype it and make billions.
The girls who swoon over THG would watch it even if that old drunken lout Alan Smithee was at the helm.
This is probably a silly question, but did you write “ho down” as a commentary on media whores? Or did you simply misspell the word hoedown? I am curious.
The former.
Really? You weren’t sure?