The Hot Blog Archive for February, 2010
How Desperate Is WB?
Christopher Nolan is a brilliant filmmaker and an honorable man.
And this idea, which WB sent out via Finke & Flem today, that he will “godfather” the next Superman movie – perhaps WBs biggest failure to launch in the last two decades – is certainly desperate and probably stupid as well.
Didn’t they learn their lesson with Bryan Singer… and Tim Burton… and McG?
There is a lot of chatter in the Mik-ki piece about fan support and critics and… bullshit. These franchises don’t have much to do with fan support or critics, except for the infantile paranoia at studios that make them think that they are doing anything buy cutting their own throats by buying into the idea that there is either a single voice or a voice that can lead them anywhere other than in circles at AICN, other geeks sites, or Comic-Con.
Chris Nolan’s vision fit Batman perfectly. He moved it forward. Tim Burton had another vision… and that had moved Batman forward back then. 15 years from now, some other filmmaker will bring a different voice to a Batman movie… and that will either redefine it or kill it until the next filmmaker finds their perfect tone.
Superman is really hard. And WB is proving that by flailing endlessly with the franchise. Bringing in Singer to save their lunch after investing over $70 million chasing and getting no movie turned out to be a desperate mistake. His vision was not one that any non-geek much wanted and was oddly twisted into Donner and Lester’s previous take.
Another big problem is that these films, while they don’t play as well overseas as here, still depend on international box office for profitability. And Superman is a guy in a red, yellow, and blue tights… he is AMERICA. How does he fit into the America-as-anti-hero world rhetoric of the last decade?
What Superman needs is a director – not Nolan or Goyer – of some vision and style. It needs Bigelow and Boal to create the worldwide battle with co-writing by the (500) Days of Summer screenwriters Scott Neustadter & Michael Weber to bring the modern romance that must be at the core of the story. Or something like that.
There are plenty of action directors out there. But the vision to understand what a 2012 Superman must be… how he loves… whose side he is on… and most importantly, how that power can be contained and unleashed without audiences laughing out loud at him… that is what they need. Chris and Jon Nolan and David Goyer didn’t really change Batman’s motives. And in the second film, they really made him the secondary character to the emotional chaos on the streets, led by The Joker. Brilliant choice… but still in the Bat-window.
Superman is an island. Much harder nut to crack. Do you redo the coming-of-age story and make The Kents into right wingers whose sense of right and wrong create a SuperFoxNewser who needs to learn what the rest of the world is about… and the third act is him becoming more liberal? Do you turn him into Hamlet, unable to act much beyond getting cats out of trees because he is fighting himself about what is right? Do you make his view of the world so small that he can’t see past his own personal baggage… until the third act?
Is the next Superman the first in a trilogy? It’s a real issue, since once Superman is Super, it’s hard to do the next movie. Superman 1 and 2 are really a long single film, storywise. And with good reason. The romance plays through and the “bigger suit” (in that case, 3 suits) is the second half… and there is nowhere much to go after that.
Someone come up with what the modern world is like with Superman in it, then the idea and third act twist times 3 and they should get the series. 3 is the max, in my opinion, for any one vision for this character… or really, almost any character.
How about this? The first movie, Clark Kent is hiding his powers because his parents have taught him to… no matter what happens. He is an adult in the big city. He indulges himself as a child might, sneaking super powers now and again, but never anything publicly heroic. But after a 9/11-like event, his parents realize how much damage their inability to allow him to use his powers has caused and they let him loose to save the world. And he does. He also gets the nice girl from his home town.
Second movie, Superman As King. The world is as peace. Superman is benign. But the demand on him making judgments starts to pile up and by making choices, anti-Superman sentiment grows. And Superman starts to question himself. At the same time, a more sophisticated woman continues to woo him as the sweetness of his home town love doesn’t challenge him. Third act change, Superman does something horribly wrong… and hooks up with the brainy city girl, cheating on his hometown love.
Third movie, Superman Stuck. Time for Superman to grow up. He finds spirituality. He learns that his actions have consequences. He decides to leave the world to its own folly and strength. He becomes the Super Mother Theresa… which bores his sophisticate girlfriend. The world is more united, in part because they all know this super force remains nearby, capable of being set off. Back on the farm, Supes reunites with his farm girl, who still loves his kind soul. And third act, Superman gets called back into action, not for any one country, but simplistically against the new power dictator who emerges in some country, ready to set the world back on edge. Happy ending.
Okay… that took me 20 minutes and I’m not a screenwriter. Many others can do it better. But notice, a break from the idea of rising reporter, living incognito while he does big things, simple ideas of good and bad, and his power being taken by Kryptonite instead of his heart and soul. It’s a very different story, but it allows almost all of the Super gimmicks and makes his power the center of the story, not his power versus some villain trying to match his power.
Anyway…
The Chris Nolan announcement smells of bi-partisan committee led by a senior Senator… especially as Nolan starts work on another Batman. It’s dog paddling. Silly. But this is what execs do to protect themselves when they wake up in a sweat after they realize that they are now at the end of the Harry Potter rainbow. How many sleepless nights before the Lethal Weapon reboot with Mel Gibson as Murtaugh and Taylor Lautner as Riggs gets announced?
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ADD, Wed, 11:16a – Was the Nolan announcement handed to Nikki Finke a form of payment to keep her from slamming the finger-licking puff piece that was coming from the NYT? (All The Rim Jobs Fit To Print. Paramount, Columbia, WB… who’s next on the menu?!?!)
And the real question… is the story real, aside from the informal consulting Nolan already was doing for WB on superheroes? Given the lack of any actual responsibility on Nolan’s part indicated in the piece… well…. hmmm….
Defining Indie 2010: Dependents, Full Indies, Mid-Indies, Micro-Indies & House Indies
As I discussed in a previous post, the indie world is now defining itself, both in methods and semantics.
This morning, indieWIRE broke the news that Jose Lopez is reopening New Yorker Films, sans Dan Talbott. This is the hot model for 2010
HAH!
47-year old industryite writes: “At Monkey Bar for Sandy Bullock party– bringing median age down about 30 years.”
Add, Tues, 11:50a – Translation – A Sandy Bullock party at the Monkey Bar means Oscar gladhanding. Oscar gladhanding, even more in NY than LA, means older people.
Cop Out – Red Band
You know, watching this, I am actually interested in seeing this film… more so than any Kevin Smith movie in a long while, I must say. And what WB is out selling wide… I just can’t tell what movie they are trying to tell me it’s going to be… a Wayans Bros mock of cop movies or God knows what.
But this red band trailer – not safe for work or people who get upset by dick jokes – much, much clearer vision.
PRESS RELEASE – "THE COVE" SET TO LAUNCH IN JAPAN
London, UK
33 Comments »Is Plagiarism The Same When The Journalist Is Respected?
Just curious on this one. Gerald Posner was caught cribbing off the Miami Herald for The Daily Beast this last week. And in this case, it wasn’t a film guide/production notes situation, it was a steal right out of another journalist’s reportage.
Same as Paul Fischer or not? Should Posner get mocked, shunned, and fired?
“There is no excuse,” (Posner) said, repeatedly expressing his regret. “I take full responsibility.”
According to (editor Ed) Felsenthal, Posner will continue to write for the Beast.
“I’m convinced this was an unintentional aberration in an extraordinary career breaking news and doing top quality journalism with high ethical standards,” Felsenthal said.
So is it the game or the player that defines the response?
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On a similar note, here is a story on publicity veteran Lois Smith in the Boston University newspaper (found via Romanesko) Bolding is mine:
“Between celebrity magazines and websites, there
Kevin Smith on Cop Out
Ray Pride ran this story and when I clicked on it, I got a big surprise… Kevin Smith directed Cop Out, the movie being hard sold by WB with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan… with no mention of its famous director.
The piece, worth a read, includes some conversation about how the film is being marketed… which is to say, wider than the Kevin Smith base.
Anyway… I am not picking on Kevin with this. I hope the film is a ton of fun. But as I watched the ads, I kept wondering who directed the thing and why I didn’t at least see it on the outdoor or at the back of the TV spots. Question answered.
Weird business.
DP/30 – Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher
Shot at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival
mp3 of the interview
Do We Really Believe In What "Adjusted Grosses" Mean?
Super Bowl Ads
Not a great year for ads. Google’s search through a life experience was close… very clever. I liked Dorito’s “Play Nice” ad.
I wasn’t a fan of the Megan Fox sexting ad for Motorola. I don’t know that VW’s punch ad, which I mostly liked, needed a kid punching someone in the balls or a joke about Stevie Wonder being blind… distracted from the everyman idea. And what were the odds that there would be back-to-back ads with men running around without pants?
Here’s a way to check out all of the ads via Hulu…
And Here are my 4 favorites… 3 of them after the jump…
This one is yet another case of Leno rebuilding his image…
SNL & Ashton Kutcher Explain Twitter… But It Didn't Make The Show
Weekend Estimate by Klady – Dear Na'vi
Is there more to say?
Hannah Montana The Movie sold more tickets on opening weekend than Dear John.
Oy.
To Paris With Love‘s opening reminds us just how good Fox’s approach on Taken was. And isn’t it ironic that the sequel to Morel’s first film behind the camera, District B13, also opened this weekend… with a thud? (Magnolia made it nearly impossible to see the film… so I guess they thought it had it coming.)
Decent expansion for Crazy Heart. Sherlock crossed $200m. Ajami and The Last Station showed a little nomination bump on an arthouse scale. An Education and Precious also got small bumps, though they can’t be thrilled with their per-screens.
BO Friday
I will eventually post Klady’s chart, but the headline for the weekend will be that Avatar got beat by a girl, as Dear John will likely roll out to business in the low 30s. (Yes, Super Bowl is hard on chick flicks too.)
The more significant storyline will actually be that in Weekend Eight, Avatar may fall back to Titanic‘s weekend numbers for the first time. The “official” Titanic Weekend Eight was $23,027,838. If Avatar drops only 25% , it will still have the Weekend Eight record. But 30% – Super Bowl! – would drop it just below. And Titanic actually went back up the weekend after Super Bowl… to $28.2m… which will surely beat Avatar next weekend, if the Na’vi are not vanquished this weekend.
$262 million of Titanic‘s gross came after Weekend Eight. We shouldn’t expect that of Avatar. But with the legs it’s shown, another $170m to get to $800m domestic, should not shock.
Meanwhile, with over $1.5m in the international bank already, Avatar should pass Titanic‘s worldwide gross of $1.8b in international gross alone, ending up with over #2.6b at the box office. A 45% bump from the previous record and well over double any other film’s worldwide gross. Those who wish to shoot this down as being just about 3D or hype, please start your adjusting/rationalizing engines and know that you should red in the face with embarrassment, not fury.
And if you are looking for Dear John precedent, look no farther than the “same weekend” two years ago… Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour… $31.1m opening… and that was without a lot of women over 20. Simple marketing… give ’em what they want and get out of the way. Smart. Successful.
