The Hot Blog Archive for February, 2010
PRESS RELEASE – The Hurt Locker, Up, The Cove Ace The ACEs
The Conservative Final WW BO Figure On Avatar Now Is…
$2.7 billion
And Fox’s fantasy figure? $2.963b. That would be the #2 film, Titanic, and the #3 all-time, Lord of the Rings: Return Of The King, combined.
I know… it’s still just 300 million tickets or so (based on half-educated guesses)… and in 1939 dollars, that’s only $69m… or 3 times what Gone With The Wind grossed WORLDWIDE in it’s first run, which was a year and a half long (at least, according to Time Magazine in 1940, updated – and upped by $3m – by the NY Times in 1941.)
BYOB
I’m heading up to Santa Barbara again… and between being on the road and doing interviews (I’ll be doing an in-person Q&A with Oliver Stone along with the premiere of his new doc, sure to be Fox News’ favorite, South of The Border), I don’t know that I will be online, even by iPhone, all day.
So please, have at it…
Well, That Took Long Enough: The Soros Scam
Four years ago, when George Soros allegedly purchased the DreamWorks library for an insanely overpriced $900 million, I was already questioning whether it was being bought with, “real money or “Weinstein money.”
I’ve had plenty of arguments over the years about the $900 million… which didn’t make sense when it happened… and didn’t make sense until today… when it turned out to be a no-interest loan that Soros was presumably hoping would increase in value.
Soros, it seems, never actually paid $900 million, but $400 million for 51% of the rights revenues coming off of the library. And now, he has it back. Little or no profit. But with the value of libraries dropping like a stone, the ONLY reason why Paramount would be eating this $400 million now – all added debt – is because that was always the deal.
Unlike Sony in the MGM affair or those chasing the Miramax library – anything less than $750 million makes it the stupidest sell-off in modern studio history – Soros had no reason to want the library for strategic purposes. It never made sense… and the media just played along as though it was business as usual.
Besides patting myself on the back for observing the obvious – and I am, since I was alone in doing so in this case – the point I hope you all take away from this is… Think For Yourself. Entertainment journalists are not actually doing their jobs, in terms of unearthing truth. Press releases are being regurgitated and most people now think that “First!” is the measure of journalism. It is not.
And I can’t count the number of times I toldja this.
I’m not saying that I am the greatest journalist in the world. Far from it. My choices are not the choices I would expect mainstream reporters and editors to make. I am not deluding myself into thinking otherwise. But I do know when I am being lied to by a studio… when we are all being told that 10+14 = 279. And you all should, as Mamet would say, go and do likewise, gents, go and do likewise.
APOCALYPSE POOH AND THE BIRTH OF THE VIDEO MASHUP
Ant Timpson was kind enough to allow MCN to house his interview with an originator of the video mashup, Todd Graham.
I had some suggestions from friends but it was a solo effort. One of the first things I found when I brought together Apocalypse Now and Pooh was that the opening helicopter sequence was the exact same length of the Winnie The Pooh instrumental theme. It was too perfect I couldn
PRESS RELEASE – Laura Kim, Paul Federbush & Ron Stein Are Back, Waving The Red Flag As A New Home indie
RED FLAG RELEASING (RFR) PICKS UP SUNDANCE ENTRY,
8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION
Deal Marks First Acquisition and Sale for Red Flag, IP Advisors
Los Angeles, CA (February 10, 2010)
The Fearful Tale Behind Posner's Resignation From The Daily Beast
“The core of my problem was in shifting from that of a book writer
9 Comments »PRESS RELEASE – Spider-Manned Up
SPIDER-MAN SWINGS INTO THEATERS IN 3D
ON
JULY 3, 2012
CULVER CITY, Calif., February 10, 2010
Interesting Disney Move…
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Disney is seeking approval from exhibitors for a June 1 release of the Alice In Wonderland DVD, just 13 weeks after the film is released into theaters.
It may be that Disney is trying to shorten the DVD window, as it has threatened to do in the past. (Industry suicide, if you ask me.) But I have a different theory.
Prince of Persia: The Disney Death Star.
Why did Dick Cook get slaughtered so swiftly… even before his successor could figure out how he was going to handle his key support job for the future, a marketing chief? I wondered then whether it was Prince of Persia, too expensive, too crappy looking.
Here is how the Alice effort may fit in… Alice does decent business in March, along with some decent profit on The Last Song. But maybe not a massive smash. So you don’t want to take your writedown on Persia in Q2.
Persia premieres in Q3, as does Toy Story 3, though it opens just 10 days before the quarter closes. When In Rome and Princess & The Frog will go to DVD in Q3, but it’s not quite enough to cover the expected loss. So… enter Alice on DVD, which would be released in Disney’s Q4 if relased in the normal window. Realistically, most movies play out by Week 10, though they are still on screens. Besides The Blind Side phenom and three Oscar films, the highest grossing film on the charts of over 9 weekends last weekend was New Moon, which did $277k last weekend in 26th place.
In T4, Disney has most of the TS3 revenue plus a Step Up sequel, plus The Last Song‘s DVD to cover if The Sorcerer’s Apprentice doesn’t do well.
So, look for the 3 DVDs, 10 days of TS3, and maybe the Miramax sale – which I still lean towards “won’t happen” on – will all happen in Q3 to cover for Prince of Persia.
But it’s just a theory…
On The Other Hand, This Ad Is Beautiful And No Story Neccessary
And for more on the spot, including a “making of” and a YouTube video that you can change the camera angle on, click through to YouTube.
I Don't Know If The Story Is Great, But It Sure Is Pretty
Reasons to Hate Finke #274,538 – Bashing Carno
In the only interesting for trades readers category, Joe Carnahan is leaving WMEndeavor for CAA.
And on the Inevitable Events list, Endeavor’s Publicist, Ms Finke, is out bad-mouthing their now-former client. But at least she is spinning lies while doing it.
For instance, in EndeavorLand, it is Carnahan’s fault that he didn’t end up directing Mission:Impossible III… as opposed to Tom Cruise futzing around for two years, keeping Carnahan, who had never directed anything with a budget over $3 million, from making projects off of his heat from Narc, and then deciding to go a different way. That would include Killing Pablo, which was close to being fully funded until Carnahan had to stop it to stick to Cruise for years. It’s not that pre-production stopped because Cruise wasn’t happy with the script and chose to make Spielberg’s War of The Worlds before shooting M:I3.
Of course, Carnahan has little that’s really bad to say about Cruise. But there is no question that Carnahan stalled because of M:I3.
Likewise, at NFEndeavor, White Jazz was not a victim of Clooney’s break-up with Warners and the closing of WIP… it was Wild Joe Carnahan. Nevermind that WIP never made or released a single film made by the division after In The Valley of Elah opened.
Amazingly, Finkedeavor didn’t blame Carnahan for Killing Pablo stalling, perhaps more angry at the now-out-of-business Bob Yari than they are at a director who is finally making a mainstream summer entertainment and is leaving the agency at the same time.
I have nothing against Phil Raskind and I haven’t spoken to Joe in over two years, so I have no idea why he’s leaving. But I HATE this crap when Nikki pretends she is running news when all she is doing is shilling for her handlers at Endeavor. No question, Joe can be a handful and he can be his own worst enemy. But if Endeavor wants to kick him as he exits, they probably should be taking responsibility for his still-thin resume’ instead of lamely trying to take credit only for him getting The A-Team. After all, Carnahan had worked with Scott Free, who brought him onto The A-Team, for a number of years on commercials, the mutual respect starting with the first BMW series and continuing into the second.
