As Tomorrow Never Dies approaches (12/17), the battle for Bond heats up. Variety’s Michael Fleming is reporting buzz that Sony (the new franchisee) is looking to bring Sean Connery back to Bond again under the ID4/Godzilla team of Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. This isn’t just a slap for MGM/UA (the long term franchise holder), but for Fox, which is anxious to get the directing/producing duo back in the fold for the Independence Day sequel A.S.A.P., preferably in time for the summer of 2000 between Star Wars pictures. Meanwhile, someone overheard Pierce Brosnan asking Martin Scorsese to take the helm for a Bond. Bond goes to Brooklyn? Bond would never survive Joe Pesci as “Boombach. Vinny Boombach.” Pesci would never leave Bond to a tank full of sharks when he could just beat him to death with a baseball bat and take the Bond girl.
Mousehunt and Mr. Magoo must be tracking like two dead dogs. Disney reports that exhibitors are requesting a re-re-release of The Little Mermaid for mid-December. Just what America needs in a grotesquely overcrowded December marketplace. Ironically enough, December is actually worse than the summer rush, when studios will actually move of a competitive date. This week there are four major releases. Next week it’s Bond and Titanic. On Christmas Day there are five major releases. Can you say “massacre?”
Role-ing, Role-ing, Role-ing: People’s The Sexiest Man Alive for 1997 (George Clooney) drops the Wild Wild West and who do they go to? This year’s favorite closet-buster, Kevin Kline. And they couldn’t have made a better choice. Artemus Gordon was known for being clever, not pretty. And Kline is a world class actor capable of almost anything. Meanwhile, Bette Midler has dropped out of the Lisa Douglas role in the upcoming Green Acres just as Ben Stiller has come on board. The two moves may or may not be related. So, when this movie stiffs, will Stiller complain (as he did with The Cable Guy) that the media just doesn’t appreciate his dark vision of “Green Acres?” Here’s a hint, Ben. If Arnold dates a pig, people will like it. If Arnold dates a human, they won’t.
Lots of room for opinions with this week’s openings (read: David could really be wrong!) Join the growing crowd of box office guessers by e-mail.
Posts Tagged ‘Mousehunt’
Bond vs. Titanic
Saturday, December 13th, 1997Tags: Dean Devlin, Joe Pesci, Martin Scorsese, Mousehunt, Sony, The Little Mermaid, Titanic, Tomorrow Never Dies
Posted in Hot Button, Old MCN Blogs | Comments Off on Bond vs. Titanic
DreamWorks Continues to Break Weird Ground With Its New Slate of Films
Tuesday, December 2nd, 1997This Christmas’ Mousehunt seems to be Home Alone with the rodent as McCauley Culkin. Next, it’s Alien Dog, the Terminator-esque story of two aliens chasing each other on earth, only the hero alien misunderstands nature’s hierarchy of earth and disguises himself as a dog instead of a human. Can you see the headlines on the reviews? If so, e-mail me a good one and I’ll print it Thursday.
The cool new gadget in the upcoming James Bond flick, Tomorrow Never Dies, is a mobile phone that blows stuff up, sees around corners, and operates a brand new BMW by remote. Of course, in Los Angeles, cell phones already make a trip to the market feel like a Bond chase scene. Ericsson’s phone is just one of what seems like a million Bond product placement and promotion deals. No “McDonalds Moneypenny Meals” for Bond. Bond has joined Bob Dole as one of the funniest and one of the least appropriate spokesmen for Visa. BMW has a major hit with the Z3 from GoldenEye, so budgets to promote the new Bond Beemer are soaring. And of course, there are the liquor ads. I guess Bond always was a whore. The whole thing leaves me stirred, but not shaken. I’m still looking forward to the film.
Finally, Meg Ryan tells People that she doesn’t see the resemblance between herself and the animated version of her in Anastasia. “Just some of the bad hair days,” she jokes. Kind of like trying to see the resemblance between Anastasia and Disney product. It’s occurred to me that the difference between the great Disney animated hits and the “misses” is the music. Do any of you remember a song from Hunchback? Did anyone love Michael Bolton‘s tepid version of Hercules’ “Go The Distance?” Likewise, I can’t think of a song I’ll remember from Anastasia. Pretty pictures though.
Tags: Alien Dog, Anastasia, Goldeneye, Home Alone, McCauley Culkin, Meg Ryan, Mousehunt
Posted in Hot Button, Old MCN Blogs | Comments Off on DreamWorks Continues to Break Weird Ground With Its New Slate of Films
