Press Releases Archive for March, 2013

“THE ACADEMY TO HOST A “WAYNE’S WORLD” REUNION… NO WAY. WAY.”

March 27, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Producer Lorne Michaels, writer-actor Mike Myers, actor Dana Carvey and director Penelope Spheeris will reunite for a panel discussion and screening of “Wayne’s World” on Tuesday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly…

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PARTICIPANT MEDIA TURNS TO TELEVISION WITH THE LAUNCH OF pivot

New Network’s Disruptive Model Celebrates Core Audience of Millennials “TV That Matters For The New Greatest Generation” Includes: Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Open Source Variety Show, ‘HitRECord on TV!’; ‘TakePart Live,’ LIVE Topical Talk Nightly; Shakespeare 2.0 tale ‘Will’ From Craig Pearce & Cineflix Studios; ‘Raising McCain’ starring Meghan McCain; Romeo and Juliet Reality, ‘Jersey Strong’; Bilingual…

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RHYTHM & HUES ACQUIRED BY AFFILIATE OF PRANA STUDIOS, INC.

 New Operating Co. to Provide Capital and Digital Partnership LOS ANGELES (March 29, 2013) – Academy Award®-winning visual effects and animation studio Rhythm & Hues was acquired out of bankruptcy today by a wholly-owned affiliate of Los Angeles-based Prana Studios, Inc.  At a hearing held today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, Judge Neil…

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30TH ANNIVERSARY RESTORATION OF THE KING OF COMEDY TO CLOSE 2013 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL ON APRIL 27

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY – March 28, 2013 – The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by American Express, announced today that the 30th Anniversary of Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, restored in association with The Film Foundation, Regency Enterprises and Twentieth Century Fox, will close its 12th edition on Saturday, April 27. Closing night…

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STATEMENT REGARDING THE PASSING OF FORMER ACADEMY PRESIDENT FAY KANIN

March 27, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Academy is deeply saddened by the passing of our beloved former president and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Fay Kanin. She was committed to the Academy’s preservation work and instrumental in expanding our public programming. A tireless mentor and inspiration to countless filmmakers, Fay’s passion for film…

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THE CHICAGO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION presents CHICAGO CRITICS FILM FESTIVAL

The inaugural festival.

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THE ACADEMY SELECTS 2014 AND 2015 SHOW DATES: KEY DATES ANNOUNCED FOR THE OSCARS®

March 25, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ABC Television Network today announced the dates for the 86th and 87th Oscar® presentations. The 86th and 87th Academy Awards® will air live on ABC on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, and February 22, 2015,…

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SCREEN MEDIA, FOCUS WORLD TEAM TO ACQUIRE U.S. RIGHTS TO THE LIFEGUARD, STARRING KRISTEN BELL

NEW YORK, March 22, 2013 – Focus World, the alternative distribution initiative owned and operated by Focus Features, and Screen Media Films have partnered on acquiring U.S. rights to The Lifeguard, starring Kristen Bell following its debut in competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Screen Media and Focus World will release The Lifeguard in theaters and on digital…

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Wilmington on DVDs: Heaven’s Gate

It’s past time to resuscitate the reputation of Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate. Remember how they shot it down? It was known after its release (before its release too, actually) as Cimino’s Folly, Cimino’s Trainwreck, the out-of-control, over-expensive epic that all but bankrupted United Artists and made a laughingstock out of its Oscar-winning filmmaker.

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L.A. Metro is Open for Filming

HOLLYWOOD LOCATIONS AWARDED METRO FILMING LIAISON CONTRACT LOS ANGELES, March 19, 2013  — Hollywood Locations is now representing the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority when film, television and commercial productions wish to utilize METRO owned property. Hollywood Locations has represented and marketed the regional transit hub, Los Angeles Union Station, for over the last…

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MAGNOLIA PICTURES TAKES NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS TO JOE SWANBERG’S DRINKING BUDDIES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY (March 19, 2013) – The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today that they have acquired North American distribution rights to writer-director Joe Swanberg’s DRINKING BUDDIES, starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston. Produced by Dark Arts’ Alicia Van Couvering and Andrea Roa; Burn Later’s Paul M….

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SONY PICTURES CLASSICS ACQUIRES MIKE LEIGH’S LATEST FILM

a portrait of England’s greatest artist JMW Turner

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A24’s Double-Barreled Weekend

PRESS RELEASE A24 is thrilled to report the weekend estimates for our films, Ginger & Rosa (Sally Potter), and Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine). GINGER & ROSA – Bolstered by fantastic reviews, particularly for Elle Fanning’s devastating performance (AO Scott said: “Elle Fanning shows a nearly Meryl Streep-ian mixture of poise, intensity and technical precision”) Sally Potter’s…

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SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT INKS DEAL FOR NEXT FILM FROM WRITER-DIRECTOR NANCY MEYERS

CULVER CITY, Calif., March 11, 2013 – Sony Pictures Entertainment has closed a deal with Nancy Meyers to direct an untitled film to be produced by Matt Tolmach and Nancy Meyers, it was announced today by Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, and Hannah Minghella, president of Production for the studio.  Meyers rewrote a screenplay…

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DON JON No Longer Addicted

It’s now called… DON JON. I decided to change it, first of all, because DON JON is just so short and simple, and if you know me, you know I’m a fan of brevity.

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Christopher Nolan’s “INTERSTELLAR” To Be Co-Produced And Jointly Distributed By Paramount Pictures And Warner Bros. Pictures

Paramount To Distribute Domestically, Warner Bros. Pictures Internationally FILM WILL BE RELEASED IN THEATERS AND IMAX ON NOVEMBER 7, 2014 HOLLYWOOD, Calif., March 8, 2013 —Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures jointly announced today that writer/director Christopher Nolan’s “INTERSTELLAR” will be co-produced and distributed by the two studios, with Paramount Pictures handling Domestic distribution and Warner Bros. Pictures…

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MAGNOLIA PICTURES GETS “TOUCHY FEELY” FOR THE WORLD WITH LYNN SHELTON’S LATEST

Shelton And Magnolia Reunite Following Successful Collaboration On Hit Comedy “Humpday” NEW YORK, NY (March 7, 2013) – The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today that they’ve acquired world distribution rights to TOUCHY FEELY, the latest film from acclaimed writer/director Lynn Shelton.  The acquisition marks a reunion between Shelton and Magnolia, the distributor of Shelton’s hit…

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FULL FRAME ANNOUNCES COMPLETE PROGRAM LINEUP & OPENING NIGHT FILM FOR 16TH ANNUAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

Durham, NC – Thursday, March 7, 2013 – The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival announced its full program lineup of new feature and short films. Filmmaker Dawn Porter’s critically-acclaimed “Gideon’s Army” will be the Opening Night Film on Thursday, April 4th. Specific screening times and venues will be announced with the overall schedule on March…

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BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA CELEBRATES SUCCESSFUL 1ST YEAR WHILE MARKING THE VENUE’S 100TH YEAR AS A CINEMA

Toronto, March 7, 2013 – The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema is thrilled to celebrate two key milestones during 2013, its successful first year of operation as a theatre, and the venue’s hundredth year as a cinema. The building officially opened as the Madison Theatre on December 23, 1913 and had various names over the years….

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WOMEN IN FILM FOUNDATION OPENS APPLICATIONS FOR 2013 FILM FINISHING FUND GRANTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Past Grant Winners like Cynthia Wade and Freida  Mock have gone on to win Academy® Awards Los Angeles, CA, March 5. Applications are now being accepted for the Women In Film Foundation’s 2013 Film Finishing Fund grants, it was announced today by FFF Committee Co-Chairs Betsy Pollock and Nancy Rae Stone.  The…

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Press Releases

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon