BYOB Archive for January, 2008
BYOB – Jan 31
It’s yet another travel day… here is some room to roam…
39 Comments »BYOB – Jan 29
Before I leave it to you, a couple quickies…
1. All this talk about the WGA talks being tied to Oscar is ticking me off. Does anyone really think that The Oscars are more important to The Writers than that little thing called, “going back to work?” I have said repeatedly that “Hollywood” will not stand for Oscar being shuttered. But it feels almost as though this is yet another effort by Gil Cates to make the negotiation appear to be bigger than the Negotiating Committee. It is not. Had the AMPTP put this deal on the table in October, this strike would likely have never happened. And this leads to the real question… how much did AMPTP really want the strike to happen so they could force majeur the decks clear?
2. I happened to chat with Anjelica Huston the day of the Oscar nods. There was no coyness about who Daniel Day-Lewis is channeling in his performance. See her here.
3. Juno, which just crossed $100 million, will be amongst the 10 most profitable films of 2007, along with 300, Knocked Up, Superbad, The Simpsons, and Ratatouille.
Now, your turn…
BYOB – Weekender
The return to LA is about to begin. I am looking forward to sitting down, without the mania around me, and considering the fullness of this last 10 days. There are movies to discuss (Hamlet 2, Man On Wire, In Prison All My Life, Choke, Momma’s Man, and others), business to consider, and the future of indie to think about.
Meanwhile, discussions about strike discussions are fruitless. The deal will soon be done, barring insanity on either side. The deal will be, as it always was going to be, what the studio side was willing to do. The difficult question of whether the strike was necessary will forever be conjecture. (There are pressures brought to bear that go beyond deal points. “How profitable was the strike to the AMPTP side?” is a story that will be hard to write.) But we all need perspective, not inflamatory gossip, right now.
In any case, I have miles and miles to go before I stop drivng. Box office stuff should be up on MCN soon. Have at it all…
BYOB – January 24
I know… many of you are bored with Sundance coverage… or frustrated that I haven’t had enough time to write in more depth.
Either way, roll your own here…
BYOB – January 18
I know… some of you are already bored with Sundance coverage and want to discuss how badly 27 Dresses will cannibalize Cloverfield and why both these powerfully marketed niche films are opening on the same day, forcing the teens and 20s to decide whether she is going to be dutiful or if he is going to get laid on Saturday night.
Cloverfield will win the weekend, but I think 27 Dresses, which I hadn’t taken into account in my previous guess that the monster mess will crack the January record, will cost it at least $10 million this weekend. And the lizard lump will have legs much like the movie monster’s… short in comparison to the overall body.
And it will be interesting to see how the expansion of There Will Be Blood, smartly held until after Oscar noms closed, will do.
But hey… discuss whatever you like. It doesn’t have to be box office. I am on the run and will try to check in… but until then, the floor is yours…
BYOB – Travelling
I’m on the road to Park City all day, so be nice to each other and I’ll see you on the other side.
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