The Terminator movie rights went up for auction today, and Sony Pictures and Lionsgate were bidding frantically back and fourth from 3:00pm to 8:00pm tonight. But as the dust cleared, neither movie studio came out the winner. Halcyon accepted a $29.5 million bid from a Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor, the debtholder which pushed the company into bankruptcy.Of course, this is subject to the approval by the bankruptcy court.
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Last week some quotes came out of a Cop Out roundtable interview where Kevin Smith talked about the notion of accepting money donated from fans to finance his movie Red State. Smith said that he would match donations based on the plan that had been considered so far (a point I think a lot of people missed) to bulk up the financing.
I thought the idea was interesting, though possibly so difficult to pull together from a legal perspective that it could never really work. Astoundingly, a lot of the other reactions to this idea were vehemently negative. There was a range of angry response, much of which boiled down to “how dare he ask for money?” based on the idea that Smith would get paid to make the film and would own the final product.
Smith was understandably less than happy with the negative reaction and has addressed the idea and the response to it in a blog post. Read More »
Too bad Russ has already filled the week’s /Film: The Movie quota, because this post is writhing on the floor for our fave bad joke. Director Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Kinsey) is developing and writing a proposed half-hour series for HBO set in the hectic and catty world of Hollywood movie blogging. If the network takes the next step forward, THR reports that Condon would direct the pilot episode, in addition to being the series’ executive-producer.
Oddly titled, Tilda, with no relation to the ivory actress, the lead character is said to be a female, take-no-prisoners veteran writer/blogger, which automatically conjures Deadline’s L.A.-based Nikki Finke, followed by the less polarizing and /Filmcast-friended Anne Thompson. I checked and was disappointed to find that Finke has not yet commented on the series using a characteristic “TOLDJA!” and complimentary clip art of a monitor and a steaming cup of joe.
Sharing writing and producing duties on Tilda is Cynthia Mort, who worked on Will & Grace and created the sexually provocative, short-lived HBO series (and Adam Scott-starrer) Tell Me You Love Me. Regarding Tilda, it could offer a field day for insidery jokes and awkward sweatshirt-clad cameos from West Coast peers. Further blending the worlds of film and high-concept teevee, Condon recently helmed the pilot for Showtime’s cancer-topical comedy series The C Word.
Here’s a quick precis of what we told you so far, then a zinger of a punchline.
Paramount offered the Paranormal Activity 2 directing gig to Saw 6 helmsman Kevin Greutert. As an underhand measure, Lionsgate have exercised their option on the director and obliged him to direct Saw 3D instead. The two films are currently slotted in for the same release date, and the Paranormal sequel would appear to be without a director.
So, how does Greutert feel about this? His first response was relatively polite:
I’m in the middle of something really terrible right now, as anyone who has come to this site probably knows. While I fight for justice in this, the important thing is to avoid giving in to hatred and anger, because these emotions are life killers. Hopefully we will all arrive at an amicable solution. Thank you to everyone who is working with me on this.
His second, less so. It follows after the break.
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Every film festival should have at least one controversial film. The outcry so far this year is coming in response to Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel The Killer Inside Me, starring Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson. Comments so far peg the film as incredibly violent, perhaps on par with previous festival firebrands Irreversible and Antichrist. The worst violence is perpetrated against women, leading to questions of misogyny.
Now Winterbottom has spoken about about the controversy. Read what he’s got to say after the break.
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The ongoing drama between Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, and their NBC overlords reached near-soap operatic levels today when Conan issued a public statement that he won’t continue with the Tonight Show if NBC moved it to a 12:05am time slot. We’ve covered the background of this whole fiasco previously, and I consider that required reading to grasp the full extent of these events. Not only was Conan’s response a calm and rational approach to NBC’s landscape-changing decision to move the Jay Leno show to 11:35pm (he apparently spent all night working on it), it also inspired a maelstrom of social media support for the wronged late night host.
Some excerpts from Conan’s release, along with some choice late night commentary on this whole mess, after the break.
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The big news today involves some last minute casting changes for Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. Stuart Townsend, who was cast as Fandral, has left the film over “creative differences”. In his stead will be Joshua Dallas, a young actor with not much of a profile. Dallas has previously been cast in the sequel to the UK horror classic The Descent, and will also be seen in the upcoming George Lucas-produced Red Tails.
With production for Thor gearing up to start today, the news also brings to mind another famous last-minute casting move involving Townsend — his replacement by Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
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Google have decided to call their new cellphone the Nexus One which suggests it’s a full five… er… Nexuses not as good as those naughty Replicants that gave Rick Deckard such trouble in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, filmed as Blade Runner. This comparison has not been lost on the estate of author Philip K. Dick who have launched a law suit against the company.
There are a great many other products and companies called Nexus this and Nexus that, from a Tyne and Wear subway system to a manufacturer of “custom designed plugs, jacks and switches”. The difference here is that Google have gone for Nexus ‘Number’ and, according to The Wall Street Journal, “the association between the phone and the book are cemented by the fact that the Nexus One runs Google’s Android operating system”. Yes - Android. I think that word is in the book too. Tsk.
Okay, so Google probably are trying to foster associations to Sheep but, really, isn’t this just a vague nod, never likely to confuse consumers into assuming an official endorsement? Should they really be forced to stump up heaps of cash for it? It’s not like a clothing manufacturer hawking Substance D branded “scramble” suits.
There is almost no circumstance under which I would dispense the ridiculous “just turn your brain off” advice with respect to enjoying a movie. As Devin Faraci at CHUD recently discussed, the process of thinking about a film typically gives me far more lasting enjoyment than the act of watching it. The films I can’t think about are the ones that seem dull and pointless. Avatar has its problems, but being dull and pointless aren’t among them.
Equally valuable are the divergent opinions and readings. Avatar has provoked quite a few political readings, from Hunter’s wide-ranging review to the utter right-wing lunacy of the Movie Guide’s take. Check out some blue-skinned provocation after the break. Read More »
Ghostbusters 3 will become a reality only when a thumbs-up is given by each of the franchise’s three main actors, Ivan Reitman, and Columbia Pictures. And while everyone seems game—Dan Ackroyd most of all—if there’s a participating wild card it would be Bill Murray. In recent press rounds for Fantastic Mr. Fox, the actor managed to fire off countless witty quips about the sequel’s status, all of which equated to, “If the script is good,” and none of which conjured Jim Cameron’s, “Stop asking. I’m crowning.” In a new interview via AICN, GB co-star Sigourney Weaver expressed medium interest in a brief reprisal of her character Dana Barrett. And then, cue your Tegan and Sara 7″, she may have given up the ghost…
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