Originally scheduled to open January 9 in Beijing, it now looks like Memoirs of a Geishamay not open in China at all. The film
was ostensibly pushed back to February 10, but sources say that title is absent from China Film
Group's planned distribution list for the next three months. Rumors have been swirling that a sex scene has the country's censorship board squirming. A Sony exec
confirmed that the scene was being shaved, with the intention of releasing the picture sometime in February, but likely
sometime after the earlier stated date. Geisha's opening in China has been hyped for months: the first major
American film with a cast full of Asian actors to debut on the Mainland, many saw it as a test to see what, if
anything, could bring audiences spoiled by easily accessible bootlegs back to the theaters.
What took so long? A new
venture called Media Matchmakers has been set up to align companies looking for product placement deals with
appropriate film and TV productions based on demographics. From now until March 1st, all
users can join the service for free; in six weeks, a monthly subscription fee will kick in.
Romanian actor Ion Fiscuteanu won an award at the Palm Springs Film Festival last weekend,
for his starring role in one of our 2005 favorites, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. The festival opened with one
of the first screenings of the recut version of Terrence Malick's The New World.
You're Charlize Theron. You have an Oscar. You also starred in
one of 2005's most notorious flops. What do you do
next? you find yourself a prestige project to produce, get the man who got you an Oscar on board, and get the hell on
with that "serious acting career". Ms. Theron is joining forces with Bob
Berney, producer of Monster and current head of Picturehouse, to produce The Ice
at the Bottom of the World. Through an unusual deal, Theron, who has owned the
property for several years, will not only produce and star in the picture – she'll own the final negative. The
film follows the relationship between a grizzled Navy captain and his daughter, played by Theron, "a heroin addict and the single mother of a mixed-race child."
Meanwhile, Lionsgate is putting all its Oscar money on Crash.
They're sending out an astounding 130,000 screeners of Paul Hagis' film – about 10 times the usual screener push.
The mailout will include all members of the Writers and Screen Actors Guilds, and unusual move that will put the
ensemble drama directly in the hands of those professionals most likely to appreciate its strengths and overlook its
weaknesses.
In vaguely related news, former Lionsgate marketing man John Hedgeman has been tapped as COO of
Fox's new youth division. This is interesting: Hedgeman says that the division, which is designed to produce content
for an audience aged 12-24, is open to producing R-rated fare. "Whether it's a comedy
or horror or drama or action, as long as it's speaking to a segment and it's a great piece of material, we'll make
it," Hegeman said.
The New York City tax
incentive program Made in NY has so far
been a rousing success, drawing $600 million in new filmmaking business to the city, and
creating more than 6,000 jobs. The progame has helped pay for a total of 350 film and TV productions this year, and
it's not just about tax credits – the city also offers free advertising on any city-owned media property to
productions that conduct at least 75% of their shoot here, which somewhat explains why I can't leave the house without
seeing an ad for The Producers.
In other non-Hollywood Hollywood
news, Washington state is putting together
its own incentive package to lure film production back to the states from Canada. The project, organized by a group
of Seatlle-based industry leaders and soon to work itself through the Washington legislature, would offer rebates of up
to $1 million per picture (which seems pathetically low for all but the most indie of productions). The state is said to
be smarting over the loss of several recent, Seattle-set films to the more affordable British Columbia.
And now, you've been patient, so here's your Lohan: Fox is moving the young bombshell's
upcoming Just My Luck from March
to May. They're apparently so confident in the film, they're setting it up to compete against Warner Brothers'
huge-money remake, Poseidon.
Paramount has
just seen the first influx of defecting soldiers from recently-conquered Dreamworks: the latter's distrbution chief, Jim Tharp, has replaced Wayne Lewellen at Paramount. Lewellen was one of the last
remaining members of Paramount's "old guard", and he's said to have bickered with the new establishment, led
by Brad Grey.
The Florida critics circle is all about Brokeback
Mountain. The circle of 14 critics gave Ang Lee's film four awards, including best picture, director, screenplay and cinematography. Acting prizes went to Philip Seymour Hoffman
(Capote), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), Amy Adams (Junebug) and Paul Giamatti
(Cinderella Man). The Pauline Kael Breakout Award (?!?!?) went to Terrence
Howard for his dual successes in Hustle & Flow and Crash.
Two historic Los Angeles movie theaters - the Egyptian and the Aero, both owned by the American
Cinematheque – are moving into
digital ticket sales. Through a new deal with Fandango, they hope to "limit lines
and staff costs for the exhibby allowing moviegoers to buy tickets in advance."
Whilst the Big Dumb Christmas Flicks fought out the
top three slots, a handful of "serious" films made a big impact
in limited release over the holiday weekend. Munich opened strong on 500 screens, with exit research
indicating that "politics and history" (read: the so-called controversy) inspired 80% of ticket buyers to pick
Spielberg over the Big Fake Gorilla or the Magical Mystery Closet. Brokeback Mountain continued to expand into the
suburbs, besting Munich's per-screen average even as it dropped out of the top ten. Even Casanova and
The New World opened big, with the latter racking up over $10,000 on each of its 3 screens.
Narnia is kicking Kong's
ass overseas. Buena Vista International is chalking up the success in non-English speaking territories to a trailer
campaign begun in 2004 – which, considering what such a campaign must have cost, makes one wonder if was even
worth it. In a related question, if Kong is rock and Narnia is paper, than what's
scissors?
Peter Bart on Munich:
"I'm not sure Spielberg had a message to send or merely an ambiguity to convey. In any case,
ambiguities aren't great grist for movies."
The home video industry
isn't seeing the big-movie spikes it's used to, and that's a problem. On the other hand, mid-level titles, many of which
failed to make much of an impact at the box office, are doing great. At this point, retailers and distributors alike
have virtually no idea which titles are going to stick – and home entertainment growth is way down as
a result.
Speaking of unpredictability, studio niche arms had a great year. Take a look at Universal:
each weekend as King Kong disappoints Daddy, Brokeback Mountain gives baby sister branch Focus
Features cause for celebration. Heading into the Oscars and Sundance, says Ian Mohr, these studio-sponsored indie
divisions will be the ones to watch.
There is conceivably more news to report from Variety today, but
their website is giving me problems right now.
Hollywood is unloading a
ridiculous number of films this week, some for Oscar consideration (cough Munich cough), some to capitalize
on your children being out of school, and some to clear the coffers in time for Q1. But because Christmas falls on a
Sunday – meaning that most will head to the mall instead of the movies on Saturday afternoon – a less-than
phenomenal holiday weekend is predicted. The article also sneaks in an odd tidbit that backs up my hunch that New Line
has no clue what they're doing with The New World: the studio opens the picture on 3 screens Christmas
Day, audiences will see the 149 minute version of the film that was screened for critics. But Terry Malick is
apparently cutting another, 20-minute shorter version as we speak for the wide release.
Meanwhile, Universal's got nothing but bad news on the Kong front: the Big Fake Gorilla was beat down mid-week
by Narnia, and saw unexpectedly virile competition from Sony's apparent debacle Fun With Dick and
Jane. Tumbleweeds apparently blew through theaters showing quickie kiddie sequel Cheaper by the Dozen
2.
Robert Koehler
has harsh words for The Ringer. "Sometimes veering close to being a promotional
film for the Special Olympics, pic will be applauded by the disability community and its advocates but quickly ignored
by longtime fans of the Farrellys and Knoxville for a subdued B.O.run."
In today's Most Meta Item Involving Convicted
Felons: Folsom State Prison has "invited" (there seems to be something weird about that, no?) 20th
Century Fox to screen their Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line, at the prison for inmates. The film features a
scene depicting Cash's legendary 1968 concert at the penitentiary, but because the $30 million production couldn't
afford to travel, they recreated Folsom on a soundstage in Memphis. The Variety piece is full of blushing praise from
both the filmmakers and prison representatives, in regards to Johnny Cash's "redemptive" potential; still, if
I was in prison and I was "invited" to watch a bunch of actors play-acting my predicament from the safety of a
soundstage, I think the last thing I would feel would be "redeemed".
What is AMPAS's problem? The Academy is
disqualifying candidates for Best Foreign Language Film left and right; they've just felled their eighth victim this
year, Singapore's Be With Me, on grounds that the picture incorporates too many languages. Though much of the
dialogue is in Chinese, Mandarin and even sign language, after a dispute, the picture was timed, proving that the
dominant language in the film is actually English.
AMC and Loews will sell 10 theaters in
six cities in order to satisfy anti-trust concerns arising around their merger-in-progress. Included on the for-sale
list: Loews' E-Walk, a huge complex right across the street from AMC's equally oversized Empire on 42nd street in
Manhattan.
We're not the only ones who love Pride and Prejudice – the latest Austen
adaptation picked up a whopping eight
nominations from the London Critics Circle yesterday, including nods for Keira Knightley and four other actors.
Is King Kong a slow-building, long-burning smash, or a full-on instant
disappointment? Ben Fritz again pimps
that meaningless Friday-to-Saturday 40% increase stat as proof that all hope for a smashing performance has not been
lost, but with Christmas falling on a Sunday, it'll be hard to gauge the big box office picture until after the new
year.
Focus Features is moving to pull out all the stops and expand Brokeback Mountain's release to 400 screens by
January 6. It's currently averaging about $36,000 on less than 70 screens. In addition, they'll move to promote the
picture in places like Texas and Wyoming, the regions it describes.
Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows will finally get a US release. The film was
completed 36 years ago; it has since been restored and will open in the US with new subtitles and a new soundtrack.
Brokeback Mountainexpanded to 69 screens (heh, heh) and
moved into 8th place this weekend, earning as much as $70,000 per screen in gay-friendly (not to mention,
cowboy-friendly) cities such as Los Angeles, but still acquitting itself more than adequately in conservative markets
such as Phoenix ($50.000/screen). Looking at these numbers, Focus is willing to gamble that they can sell this thing
far beyond the gay/girl market; they'll expand to 100 screens ahead of schedule next week.
Deborah Young watches
Albert Brooks' latest, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. "With a
plethora of good lines and absurd situations, Brooks can afford to play smart and straight as a self-deprecating
detective in search of comedy", she writes. "A more serious puzzle is what the
film, which was shot in India, has to do with the Muslim world."
It looks like Warner Brothers is about to lose its status
as Wal-Mart's DVD "category captain". What the hell does that mean, you say? It's a practice, apparently
employed by many large retailers, in order to obtain "exhaustive number crunching" that can then help them
determine marketing, pricing, placement, etc, and the captain in turn "enjoys a unique
relationship with the retailer that can be exploited if the studio suggests a strategy that is part of a favorable
agenda for that studio." It's unsure why Wal-Mart would drop WB at this time – they're currently the leader
in DVD market share – but it's thought that Fox, who is currently captain at Wal-competitor Target, is in line to
take Warners' place.
That Daniel Craig is one smart cookie. The former WMA client left the agency at the height of pre-Bond casting buzz, and it was a gamble that worked: he got the part, and managed to go agentless (and thus avoid a punishing commission) whilst negotiating the 007 deal. Now that that's all settled, he's just signed with Creative Artist Agency for representation in the US.
Now that his pet political cause has reached its logical conclusion, the ubiquitous Jamie Foxx has signed on to star in Paramount's Blood on the Leaves. Based on the novel by Jeff Stetson, Leaves tracks a district attorney (that would by J.F.) as he prosecutes a black professor accused of killing a group of white men in retaliation for hate crimes. Shooting will begin after Foxx finishes shilling his new R & B record, which drops on Tuesday.
Dennis Harvey reviews yet another New York Dolls documentary. But don't yawn just yet; All Dolled Up would appear to be a much-needed antidote to this year's dull, Mormon-centric New York Doll. "Boiling down 40 hours of footage shot over
three years, All Dolled Up is a wonderfully intimate on- and
off-stage portrait that sees the quartet going from brash, optimistic
kids to jaded veterans."
What exactly did Paramount get for the $1.6 billion they're giving Dreamworks? They don't get to keep the animation films after distributing them; they're not holding on to the library. They've got a deal with Spielberg built in, but he hasn't picked his next project. In fact, there are only a handful of films on the current Dreamworks slate: Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers; The Last Kiss, a remake of a fair-to-middling Italian film led by Zach Braff; and the long-percolating Dreamgirls.
Todd McCarthy doesn't have much good to say about Terrence Malick's latest. "The skies surrounding Jamestown in The New
World are almost invariably flat and colorless, a condition that
unfortunately also describes the storytelling and dramatis personae".
Brokeback Mountain throws more critics awards onto the suddenly overwhelming pile, with nods from the San Francisco and New York critics orgs.
Sure, Paramount is spending $1.6 billion to acquire Dreamworks, but it's not all loss: they're planning on selling the 'Works' 59-film live-action library as soon as possible to defray costs of the buyout. Paramount will keep distribution rights on those films, but it's as yet unclear how much profit they could potentially make on the sale of DVD rights. Meanwhile, Dreamworks co-founders Steven Spielberg and David Geffen will keep their offices to the Universal lot, despite that company's failure to successfully acquire their baby. "Due to my very long history and my loyalty to
Universal," Spielberg said in a statement. "I was saddened that after long negotiations and many
compromises we were unable to come to terms with Universal's parent
company, GE."
Thanks to passels of sold-out crowds, Brokeback Mountain broke the year's per-screen earning's record this weekend, and according to Focus Feature's Jack Foley, it was little to do with his company's efforts. "This is the kind of film that is happening to us, as opposed to us driving the film." The picture expands to about 50 screens next week.
Todd McCarthy has seen The Producers, and he's not particularly impressed. "So determinedly old-fashioned it makes a strong claim to being the best film musical of 1959...[The Producers] reproduc[ers] Mel Brooks' still-running Broadway smash so literally you can practically see the proscenium arch."
Rob Cohen, the genius who brought you both XXX and Stealth, has signed on to direct a biopic on that late, legendary purveyor of softcore, Russ Meyer. The film will be based on a book by Jimmy McDonough, calledBig Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film. Cohen is uniquely qualified for the job; as a 23-year-old studio flunky, he was in charge of recutting Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (directed by Meyer and scripted by none other than Roger Ebert) for syndication.
Fox 2000 has picked up the rights to John Nance's as-yet-unpublished novel, Orbit. The story tracks "a civilian who wins the chance to
join a space shuttle flight, only to find himself alone and adrift in
space when the rest of the crew dies." Shelden Turner will write the script, and Jennifer Klein will produce.
All systems are go on Benjamin Ross' Napoleon and Betsy, a film about the deposed French general's final days on St. Helena and the English girl with whom he spends them. Scarlett Johansson is starring as said English girl; though Variety is mum on the matter, I believe this is the project that she and her momager have been pushing through development for several years.
Lunar Park, Bret Easton Ellis' meta-autobiographical latest, has been optioned by Palm-Star Entertainment. The fifth Ellis work to make it to the screen (you forgot about Less Than Zero, didn't you? Shame, shame ...), Park follows a drug guzzling novelist named - wait for it - Bret Easton Ellis, who enters a convenience marriage and quickly heads into Stephen King territory.
Todd McCarthy calls King Kong "almost too much of a good thing": "From the vivid opening montage of
Depression-era New York City, it's evident Jackson intends to paint on
a very broad canvas that will include a thousand-and-one Kong-related
details he's been storing up since childhood...As richly rendered
as all of this is, not all of it is necessary; Jackson's Kong plays
more like a Director's Cut, with scenes that could easily be dispensed
with or tightened." But he admits that box office looks like it could be "even Titanic huge."
Originally scheduled to open January 9 in Beijing, it now looks like Memoirs of a Geisha may not open in China at all. The film
was ostensibly pushed back to February 10, but sources say that title is absent from China Film
Group's planned distribution list for the next three months. Rumors have been swirling that a sex scene has the country's censorship board squirming. A Sony exec
confirmed that the scene was being shaved, with the intention of releasing the picture sometime in February, but likely
sometime after the earlier stated date. Geisha's opening in China has been hyped for months: the first major
American film with a cast full of Asian actors to debut on the Mainland, many saw it as a test to see what, if
anything, could bring audiences spoiled by easily accessible bootlegs back to the theaters.
You're Charlize Theron. You have an Oscar. You also starred in
one of 2005's most notorious flops. What do you do
next? you find yourself a prestige project to produce, get the man who got you an Oscar on board, and get the hell on
with that "serious acting career". Ms. Theron is joining forces with Bob
Berney, producer of Monster and current head of Picturehouse, to produce The Ice
at the Bottom of the World. Through an unusual deal, Theron, who has owned the
property for several years, will not only produce and star in the picture – she'll own the final negative. The
film follows the relationship between a grizzled Navy captain and his daughter, played by Theron, "a heroin addict and the single mother of a mixed-race child." 
The New York City tax
incentive program Made in NY has so far
been a rousing success, drawing $600 million in new filmmaking business to the city, and
creating more than 6,000 jobs. The progame has helped pay for a total of 350 film and TV productions this year, and
it's not just about tax credits – the city also offers free advertising on any city-owned media property to
productions that conduct at least 75% of their shoot here, which somewhat explains why I can't leave the house without
seeing an ad for The Producers.
Paramount has
just seen the first influx of defecting soldiers from recently-conquered Dreamworks: the latter's distrbution chief, Jim Tharp, has replaced Wayne Lewellen at Paramount. Lewellen was one of the last
remaining members of Paramount's "old guard", and he's said to have bickered with the new establishment, led
by Brad Grey. 
Whilst the Big Dumb Christmas Flicks fought out the
top three slots, a handful of "serious" films made a big impact
in limited release over the holiday weekend. Munich opened strong on 500 screens, with exit research
indicating that "politics and history" (read: the so-called controversy) inspired 80% of ticket buyers to pick
Spielberg over the Big Fake Gorilla or the Magical Mystery Closet. Brokeback Mountain continued to expand into the
suburbs, besting Munich's per-screen average even as it dropped out of the top ten. Even Casanova and
The New World opened big, with the latter racking up over $10,000 on each of its 3 screens.
The home video industry
isn't seeing the big-movie spikes it's used to, and that's a problem. On the other hand, mid-level titles, many of which
failed to make much of an impact at the box office, are doing great. At this point, retailers and distributors alike
have virtually no idea which titles are going to stick – and home entertainment growth is way down as
a result.
Hollywood is unloading a
ridiculous number of films this week, some for Oscar consideration (cough Munich cough), some to capitalize
on your children being out of school, and some to clear the coffers in time for Q1. But because Christmas falls on a
Sunday – meaning that most will head to the mall instead of the movies on Saturday afternoon – a less-than
phenomenal holiday weekend is predicted. The article also sneaks in an odd tidbit that backs up my hunch that New Line
has no clue what they're doing with The New World: the studio opens the picture on 3 screens Christmas
Day, audiences will see the 149 minute version of the film that was screened for critics. But Terry Malick is
apparently cutting another, 20-minute shorter version as we speak for the wide release.
In today's Most Meta Item Involving Convicted
Felons: Folsom State Prison has "invited" (there seems to be something weird about that, no?) 20th
Century Fox to screen their Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line, at the prison for inmates. The film features a
scene depicting Cash's legendary 1968 concert at the penitentiary, but because the $30 million production couldn't
afford to travel, they recreated Folsom on a soundstage in Memphis. The Variety piece is full of blushing praise from
both the filmmakers and prison representatives, in regards to Johnny Cash's "redemptive" potential; still, if
I was in prison and I was "invited" to watch a bunch of actors play-acting my predicament from the safety of a
soundstage, I think the last thing I would feel would be "redeemed".
Is King Kong a slow-building, long-burning smash, or a full-on instant
disappointment? Ben Fritz again pimps
that meaningless Friday-to-Saturday 40% increase stat as proof that all hope for a smashing performance has not been
lost, but with Christmas falling on a Sunday, it'll be hard to gauge the big box office picture until after the new
year. 
Brokeback Mountain expanded to 69 screens (heh, heh) and
moved into 8th place this weekend, earning as much as $70,000 per screen in gay-friendly (not to mention,
cowboy-friendly) cities such as Los Angeles, but still acquitting itself more than adequately in conservative markets
such as Phoenix ($50.000/screen). Looking at these numbers, Focus is willing to gamble that they can sell this thing
far beyond the gay/girl market; they'll expand to 100 screens ahead of schedule next week.
That Daniel Craig is one smart cookie. The former WMA client left the agency at the height of pre-Bond casting buzz, and it was a gamble that worked: he got the part, and managed to go agentless (and thus avoid a punishing commission) whilst negotiating the 007 deal. Now that that's all settled, he's just signed with Creative Artist Agency for representation in the US. 
What exactly did Paramount get for the $1.6 billion they're giving Dreamworks? They don't get to keep the animation films after distributing them; they're not holding on to the library. They've got a deal with Spielberg built in, but he hasn't picked his next project. In fact, there are only a handful of films on the current Dreamworks slate: Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers; The Last Kiss, a remake of a fair-to-middling Italian film led by Zach Braff; and the long-percolating Dreamgirls. 
Sure, Paramount is spending $1.6 billion to acquire Dreamworks, but it's not all loss: they're planning on selling the 'Works' 59-film live-action library as soon as possible to defray costs of the buyout. Paramount will keep distribution rights on those films, but it's as yet unclear how much profit they could potentially make on the sale of DVD rights. Meanwhile, Dreamworks co-founders Steven Spielberg and David Geffen will keep their offices to the Universal lot, despite that company's failure to successfully acquire their baby. "Due to my very long history and my loyalty to
Universal," Spielberg said in a statement. "I was saddened that after long negotiations and many
compromises we were unable to come to terms with Universal's parent
company, GE." 
Rob Cohen, the genius who brought you both XXX and Stealth, has signed on to direct a biopic on that late, legendary purveyor of softcore, Russ Meyer. The film will be based on a book by Jimmy McDonough, called Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film. Cohen is uniquely qualified for the job; as a 23-year-old studio flunky, he was in charge of recutting Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (directed by Meyer and scripted by none other than Roger Ebert) for syndication. 
All systems are go on Benjamin Ross' Napoleon and Betsy, a film about the deposed French general's final days on St. Helena and the English girl with whom he spends them. Scarlett Johansson is starring as said English girl; though Variety is mum on the matter, I believe this is the project that she and her momager have been pushing through development for several years. 
