Friday April 4, 2008

PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

• Dimension Films is rewiring “Short Circuit,” acquiring rights to remake the 1986 film. The original introduced Number 5, a robot built by the military to be a highly sophisticated weapon. It developed a conscience and a personality after being hit by lightning, and then needed the help of humans after it was targeted for destruction by its makers, once it became a peacenik. S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, who created the characters and wrote both “Short Circuit” films, have been hired to write the remake. David Foster and Ryan E. Heppe will produce with John Hyde. Deal was made by Dimension co-chairman Bob Weinstein, who called “Short Circuit” a worthy addition to its family film slate. Foster, who produced the original with his partner Lawrence Turman and son Gary Foster, said the film will be similar in theme to the original, but it will factor in advances in technology.

• Italian actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno will play Benito Mussolini’s mistress in helmer Marco Bellocchio’s previously announced “Vincere,” about a child fathered out of wedlock by the 1940s fascist dictator. Mezzogiorno, recently a lead in Mike Newell’s “Love in the Time of Cholera,” will play beautician Ida Dalser, who ran off with Mussolini before he came to power. Their child, also named Benito, was kept hidden by the dictator along with Dalser in asylums where both died before Mussolini’s execution in 1945. Benito fils will be played by Italo thesp Filippo Timi, currently on set with Gabriele Salvatores’ “Come Dio comanda” (As God Commands). Mezzogiorno also stars in Wim Wenders’ upcoming “The Palermo Shooting.”

• Radha Mitchell and Rosamund Pike have signed on to star opposite Bruce Willis in Disney’s sci-fi thriller “The Surrogates.” Jonathan Mostow is directing the film from a Michael Ferris and John Brancato screenplay. Based on a graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, story is set in the near future, where humans live in isolation and interact vicariously through surrogate robots who are better-looking versions of themselves. Shooting is scheduled to start in April in Boston. Mandeville’s David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman are producing alongside Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks.

• Maggie Gyllenhaal and Paul Bettany will topline helmer Shirley Barrett’s “South Solitary,” about a shell-shocked soldier recovering in Tasmania, due to lense in Oz this year. Penned by Barrett and produced by Marian Macgowan’s shingle Macgowan Film and Sarah Radclyffe, pic was to be an Aussie-U.K. co-production. But following the introduction of the Australian Screen Production Incentive tax rebate, pic is wholly Australian. Emile Sherman is executive producer. Icon is Aussie distribber and Maximum is representing internationally. “Solitary” is among 10 features, three TV series, two children’s drama series and numerous documentaries which were part-funded by Aussie federal coin agency the Film Finance Corp. at its final meeting on Wednesday. On July 1, FFC will merge with Film Australia and the Australian Film Commission to make a new super agency called Screen Australia, which will fund pics.

• Warner Bros. has bought adventure-comedy spec “The Treehouse Gang” from Timothy Dowling and set it up with David Heyman’s Heyday Films. Studio completed the deal this week, winning out over multiple offers with a bid of $750,000 against $1.5 million. Heyday produced all five Harry Potter films and is set to contine on the final three pics in the franchise. “Treehouse” centers on four friends, known for their treasure-hunting abilities as kids, who meet up at their high school reunion and join forces for one last adventure while tackling 10-year-old grudges.

• Martin Landau, Armie Hammer and Lindsay Wagner are toplining indie project “Billy: The Early Years,” a Billy Graham biopic with Robbie Benson directing. Shooting started this week in Tennessee with Larry Mortorff, William McKay and Martin Shiel producing. 821 Entertainment CEO Eric Geadelmann and prexy Anastasia Brown exec produce. Hammer, who stars as Batman in the upcoming Warner Bros. “Justice League,” portrays the young Graham. Also starring are Kristopher Polaha, Josh Turner, Stephanie Butler, Jennifer O’Neill and Sierra Hull. Music producer John Carter Cash, composer Scott Brasher and Anastasia Brown are creating the music for the film and soundtrack. McKay and Jana Lynn Rutledge penned “Billy,” centering on the coming of age of a dairy farmer’s son in small-town America, as Graham begins to spearhead the post-World War II faith movement.

PROJECT UPDATES

• Aside from bringing back pro football’s formative days, “Leatherheads” might be remembered as the film that permanently drove a wedge between George Clooney and the Writers Guild of America. Clooney went financial core last fall, after the WGA decided 2-1 in a credit arbitration vote that only Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly deserved screen credit on the picture that Universal opens today. Going fi-core means a member is still technically a member of the WGA, but has limited rights within the guild. Fi-core members have to pay dues and are covered by the health and pension plans. Once you elect to go fi-core, the decision is irreversible.

• Diane Keaton will topline “The Widows’ Adventure,” a road trip dramedy with Gold Circle president Paul Brooks producing with Rosa Entertainment’s Sidney Sherman. Gold Circle is out to directors and pointing for a summer or fall start. Gold Circle’s Scott Niemeyer and Norm Waitt exec produce and the shingle’s Brad Kessell, who brought the project in, will co-produce. Gold Circle has acquired Jason Pomerance’s spec, based on the novel by Charles Dickinson centered on two widowed sisters who embark on an unlikely trip from Chicago to Los Angeles, setting off a comic family odyssey of revelation and reconciliation.

• Frank Langella is in final negotiations to join helmer Andrew Jarecki’s mystery drama “All Good Things.” Lensing begins this month in Gotham and Connecticut. Set in Gotham, plot follows a real estate dynasty scion’s (Ryan Gosling) affair with a girl (Kirsten Dunst) who goes missing. Script is by Marcus Hinchey, Marc Smerling and Jarecki, who makes his narrative debut after critically praised doc “Capturing the Friedmans.” Michael London’s Groundswell is producing. Langella next stars in “Frost/Nixon,” bowing in December, in which he repeats his Tony-winning role.

• Long live the “King of the Hill.” The animated comedy, which has been presumed dead, then quickly revived several times in recent years by Fox and producer 20th Century Fox TV, has now seen its reign extended by another season. Fox confirmed Thursday that it has ordered 13 more episodes of the skein. Pickup hinged on a deal with exec producer and star Mike Judge (who provides the voice of “King” patriarch Hank Hill). With Judge reupped, many of the show’s long-running scribes went back to work last week. “King” wasn’t hit hard by the recent writers strike, thanks to the unusual schedule for animated series: The show’s most recent season had already been written by the fall work stoppage. With so many episodes still in the can from the last production cycle, Fox felt it only needed 13 more segs this go-round. But the net and studio have also left open the door to order additional segs later on.

• Gretchen Mol will star opposite Luke Wilson in Blowtorch Entertainment’s collegiate laffer “Tenure,” about two professors competing for the same permanent spot on the roster. Pic, from tyro writer-director Mike Million, starts shooting next week in Philadelphia. “The Office” regular David Koechner is already on board as Wilson’s sidekick colleague. “Tenure” is produced by Paul Schiff, Tai Duncan and Brendan McDonald.

ACQUISITIONS/ FESTIVAL NEWS

• Palm Pictures has bought North American rights to “Anita O’Day: The Life of a Music Legend.” The doc about the Jezebel of Jazz, who attained fame in the 1940s and remains popular in jazz circles today, will bow theatrically in late May and on DVD in the fall. Co-directors Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden wrapped production just weeks before their subject’s death in 2006 at age 87. O’Day speaks not just about her seven-decade career and gigs with Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge and Stan Kenton, but also of her struggles including alcoholism, drug addiction, rape and jail time. The film also includes some previously unreleased concert footage.

BUSINESS NEWS

• In a carefully orchestrated post-strike raid on the TV talent pool, Sony Pictures Television has quietly signed at least a dozen scribes to its roster in the last month — many of whom were dropped by other studios during the WGA walkout. Pacts are of varying lengths and terms, ranging from blind, two-script commitments to multiyear overall deals in which writers will develop projects and be staffed on existing Sony skeins. Among the scribes-showrunners signing on with Sony: Graham Yost (“Boomtown”); Kevin Falls (“Journeyman”); David Guarascio and Moses Port (“Aliens in America”); Josh Berman (“Vanished”); Jenny Bicks (“Men in Trees”); Bill Martin and Mike Schiff (“Cavemen”); and Will Gluck (“The Loop”).

• As DreamWorks Animation, Disney and other studios ramp up production of 3-D films, a newly formed company called D-mented Entertainment has teamed with Ray-Ban maker Luxottica Group and 3-D technological company Kerner Optical to launch a designer line of 3-D eyewear for the masses. The company is banking on the idea that the public will shell out money for frames that will be higher quality and more stylish than the cardboard tossaways given out free in theaters. The stereoscopically enhanced 3-D glasses will be mounted in Wayfarer frames and should be ready for sale late this year. The technological production of the glasses will be spearheaded by Kerner Optical founding partner Yuska Siuicki, who thinks designer lenses will eventually become as commonplace as cell phones. Siuicki predicts consumers will be able to do much more with the lenses than watch the occasional 3-D theatrical release. Videogame makers will begin turning out 3-D games; audiences will watch shows and sports on 3-D television sets; and computer screens will be 3-D capable. Even film library titles will be candidates for 3-D upgrades: Siuicki said Kerner has developed technology to convert 2-D movies and TV shows to 3-D. The conversion cost, $5 million to $7 million for a film, will shrink as demand and technology improve. Kerner is also a partner in SpectonicIQ, one of several 3-D capable TV sets that will hit the retail marketplace this year.

• John Malone’s Liberty Media, using a characteristically arcane maneuver, has boosted its controlling DirecTV stake to 48% from 41%. The increase, announced Thursday, came via the purchase of 78.3 million shares in the No. 1 U.S. satellite provider. That private transaction was funded by a loan of $1.98 billion. The loan was secured in part by a new “equity collar” on 110 million DirecTV common shares. The equity collar is a series of options to buy or sell stock at set prices that together seeks to preserve the value of DirecTV shares against future volatility. Basically, Malone has bought 110 million puts — or the right to sell shares at a specified price in the future. This guarantees for the lenders of the $2 billion that Malone’s DirectTV stock can be sold at a price that will repay the loan, even if the stock market tanks in the future. Malone, who holds a doctorate in engineering, is known for uncovering methods of pulling off intricately detailed transactions designed to help Liberty dodge major tax hits and build equity in creative ways. Since the 2005 spinoff of Discovery, though, Liberty has started to evolve from a strategic investor to more of an operating company.

• As talent agencies expand into other businesses, some in Hollywood are wondering what William Morris Agency chief Jim Wiatt plans to buy once the agency completes a fund designed to raise between $500 million and $575 million via a wonky vehicle known as a special purpose acquisition corporation. The agency, which would not comment on its filing plans per SEC rules, filed for the SPAC last Dec. 27 for an entity called Performance Acquisition Corporation. The entity is being guided by Citibank. Its president/CEO is acquisitions veteran Jonathan Ledecky; the chairman is Eric Watson, formerly of Endeavor Acquisition, a firm unrelated to the talent agency. The board includes veteran sports broadcaster Jim Gray, Robert Hersov of NetJets Europe, WMA exec veep of corporate development and new ventures John Mass, Carlyle Group exec Edward Mathias and Major League Baseball exec Jimmie Lee Solomon. Most Hollywood agencies are said to be exploring financing opportunities, either to venture into other businesses or even to ease cash flow problems that resulted when commissions dried up during the writers strike. Observers see WMA’s SPAC attack as a bold and inventive strategy, though filing for a SPAC does not mean a deal will be consummated. The move comes against an ominous economic backdrop.

• Sarah Halley Finn and Randi Hiller of Finn/Hiller Casting — one of the major players in the world of feature film casting — are parting ways. The duo formed their L.A.-based company in 2000 and have cast such films as Oscar best picture winner “Crash,” “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” and “Miracle.” Their upcoming credits include “Iron Man” and “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.” The two women are forming their own individual companies, Sarah Finn Co. and Randi Hiller Casting.

• Indie distrib Echo Bridge Entertainment has dramatically beefed up its program vault with the acquisition of the distribution rights to the Alliance Atlantis Intl. Distribution library from Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Deal gives Echo Bridge distribution rights outside of Canada to more than 7,500 titles including the MTV teen soaps “Degrassi: The Next Generation” and “Instant Star,” Canuck dramas “Da Vinci’s Inquest” and “Due South” plus former firstrun syndie actioners “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict” and “Total Recall 2070.” It also includes a slew of longform titles such as “Hitler: The Rise of Evil,” “Nuremberg” and “Haven.” Echo Bridge, headed by syndie vets Michael Rosenblatt and Dan March, plans to begin shopping the library to international buyers at next week’s MipTV confab in Cannes. Acquisition boosts the company’s program library to more than 11,000 TV and pic titles. Rosenblatt, Echo Bridge CEO, said his company has been pursuing the Alliance Atlantis rights for more than three years, before the one-time Canuck powerhouse was sold to Goldman Sachs for $2 billion last year.

• It was as a film director that Luc Besson discovered the abandoned coal-fire power station where La Cite du Cinema will eventually stand. The year was 1993, and Besson, along with a scaled-down crew, snuck inside the power station to shoot some key scenes for his film “Leon.” At a press gathering early last month to publicize La Cite du Cinema, which is set to open in 2010, Besson told journalists that the scenes were shot without obtaining a permit. The anecdote is a good one because it demonstrates that in France the so-called proper channels are not always the best way to get things done. The last time there were any film studios in France worthy of the name was at the beginning of the last century when Pathe and Gaumont were at their pinnacles. It’s taken someone of Besson’s chutzpah and limitless energy to finally get the wheels of France’s film industry in motion once again. La Cite du Cinema is located in Seine-Saint Denis, the Paris suburb with the highest population share of immigrants. Besson has always tried to help the suburbs, regularly holding film screenings there and encouraging youngsters to work on his film productions. He has been having talks with France’s education minister, Xavier Darcos, about the possibility of establishing a film school at La Cite du Cinema. “We could welcome kids from the neighborhood, who would be immersed in cinema all day long,” he said. In a crowded European marketplace, Besson lends La Cite du Cinema the kind of streetwise cachet you can’t buy. Though not prepared to name names, Besson told journalists that La Cite du Cinema’s entire $190 million budget was already accounted for. He also stressed that all the funding was coming from private investors, in line with European Union regulations. The Spanish studio Ciudad de la Luz is currently at the center of an EU probe into the possibility of illegal state funding. Besson added that he was not putting any of his own money into the studio and that he would not be profiting from it in any way. With La Cite du Cinema, Besson said he hoped to target “the $400 (million) to $500 million spent every year by American studios coming to make their films in Europe.” Besson pointed to the first two films in the Jason Bourne trilogy, both of which featured exterior shots on the streets of Paris, but then had to be relocated to Prague for soundstage work. He added that the comparatively lower costs of studios in Munich, Prague or Spain would be offset by “the best technicians in Europe” and the “total comfort” of La Cite du Cinema. The 6.5-hectare (16-acre) studio will house nine soundstages of varying sizes, set, wardrobe and technical workshops, 10 restaurants equipped to feed 1,000 people, a hotel and 30,000 square meters (322,900 square feet) of offices. Much of the office space will be occupied by EuropaCorp, which will be headquartered at La Cite du Cinema. Other companies renting office space include Panavision, Transpalux and Quinta.

• Korea Telecom and Japanese investment company Softbank have teamed up to create a $40 million film and TV content investment fund. The two companies will each invest 20.5 million won ($20 million) in the Global New Media Investment Assn., which will develop and acquire animation, movies, TV drama and educational content to run on KT’s Internet protocol TV service, Mega TV. They plan to expand the fund to $60 million-$100 million later this year. “The fund allows us to plan, finance and produce programs such as high-def and  interactive contents specified for IPTV,” said Jung Man-ho, KT’s director of media business. The fund will be managed by Softbank Ventures Korea, a venture capital subsid of the Softbank Group. South Korea’s largest fixed-line phone operator, KT has diversified into mobile, broadband Internet and terrestrial mobile TV, which counts millions of subscribers in the country. The Korean government recently paved the way for deregulation of IPTV, which is expected to create an explosion of growth in the sector and challenge traditional cable TV. To fuel these new-media ventures with content, KT has invested in media companies and content by acquiring a majority stake in movie shingle SidusFNH and TV producer Olive Nine, while cooperating with Disney, Warner Bros., Fox, Sony, EBS and Naver. KT Thursday announced it would invest $25 million more in a separate fund.

• Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner have extended their relationship with British filmmaker Edgar Wright, signing him to make two more films that will be distributed by Universal Pictures. Wright, who directed the comedies “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” for Working Title, will first write and direct “Baby Driver,” a wild spin on the action/crime genre that will be set in the U.S. He will follow with “The World’s End,” the working title of a comedy that he’ll co-write with Simon Pegg, his writing partner on “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz.” Pegg, who starred in both of those films, will once again topline the pic, which the duo said completes a trilogy of homages to their favorite genres. Pegg, starring in the David Schwimmer-directed “Run Fatboy Run,” is playing Scotty in the J.J. Abrams-directed Paramount film “Star Trek.”

• Japanese production shingle Entertainment Farm plans to launch a film investment fund, located in Singapore, to raise $30 million to $50 million. Fund will begin seeking coin from Asian investors over the next three months to invest in a slate of movies produced in Asia and the U.S. Announcement coincided with the bow of Entertainment Farm’s “The Princess of Nebraska,” by Wayne Wang, which opens the Singapore Film Festival today. Fest runs through April 14. Fund will be introducedto investors through a new Singapore-registered unit, Entertainment Farm Pte., with projects brought to it by Entertainment Farm’s managing director of international, Yukie Kito, and greenlighted by Entertainment Farm topper Yasushi Kotani.

STRIKE NEWS/ LABOR ISSUES

• With high-pressure contract negotiations looming, SAG president Alan Rosenberg has thrown cold water on the idea of any kind of limit on guild member voting. The “qualified voting” issue is expected to be on the agenda of SAG’s April 12 national board meeting, but Rosenberg’s already indicated he’s certain the measure won’t be approved. More than 1,400 actors have signed a petition asking that SAG’s board institute a requirement that would limit those able to vote on the contract to those who — over the past six years — have performed an average of five days principal work or 15 days background work per year; or had average residual earnings per year equivalent to five principal days at scale; or is fully vested in the SAG Producers Pension Plan. Such a move would eliminate a large percentage of the 120,000 SAG members now eligible to vote on the contract and on a strike authorization, if SAG issues such a request. Backers of the petition — including Amy Brenneman, Sally Field and Charlie Sheen — note that less than 20% of SAG members earn at least $7,500 annually. But Rosenberg criticized backers of the proposal for the timing of the initiative with formal negotiations starting April 15. “To make this such a public issue at this time is meant to do nothing but weaken us,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

INDUSTRY MOVES

• Gareth Wigan, a 21-year employee of Columbia Pictures, is stepping down from his post co-running the studio’s international motion pictures production group and will segue to a position as strategic advisor to Sony Pictures Entertainment’s international film business. Prexy Deborah Schindler, with whom Wigan ran the division, will take the reins solo. “While it is the right time to cut back a little bit, I’m not at all thinking about retirement,” Wigan said. “This role will allow me to remain involved in doing what I love, while continuing to add value to the company, which has been such a big part of my life.” Said Sony Pictures CEO and chairman Michael Lynton: “Almost single-handedly, Gareth built up our international film business, making him a real pioneer in our industry. He recognized early on the power of the global market.” Wigan will also relinquish his title of vice chairman of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, a post he has held since 1997.

• BS Entertainment has upped Jodi Roth to senior veepee of specials, a gig that includes oversight of Eye events from the Grammys to the Kennedy Center Honors. Roth will work closely with and report to Jack Sussman, the Eye’s exec VP of specials, music and live events. She had been VP of the department since 2003.

• Stephanie Denton has been appointed president of worldwide distribution at Bold Films. She will oversee all aspects of the Bold Films sales division, including sales, business affairs, marketing, delivery and collections. Denton most recently served as president of international at Lionsgate, overseeing theatrical sales and distribution. Prior to Lionsgate, Denton held positions at Initial Entertainment Group and Lakeshore International.

TECHNOLOGY/ MULTI-PLATFORM CONTENT NEWS

• Is MySpace the cure for what ails the major music labels? Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group hope it is. The three label giants have formed a joint venture with the Internet behemoth to weave their vast catalogs of tunes into the fabric of MySpace’s thriving online community of music enthusiasts. MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe called the deal to create MySpace Music “a historic step” for the music biz in its long struggle to come to grips with the digital era. MySpace Music will be jointly owned by the four partners and have a dedicated management team that will report to DeWolfe and a board comprising reps from Sony BMG, UMG and WMG.

WEBSITES TO WATCH

http://neopets.com/

Rather than just build outposts in existing virtual worlds, Nickelodeon is creating its own online environments for kids to play in. Beyond Nicktropolis, Nick has plans to add a virtual world around its Neopets social media site; one is built around a massive multiplayer game with a working title of Monkey World and one is based on the underwater milieu of SpongeBob Squarepants. The sites will feature games, avatars and social networking features and operate under hybrid business models with ad-supported free sections as well as paid subscription options.

http://www.there.com/

Meanwhile Paramount’s popular Facebook application VooZoo is launching in MTV Networks’ vMTV virtual world and on Makena Technologies’ There.com site sometime in Q2. VooZoo enables users to send video clips for $1 each from Paramount movies called “Voohoos,” representing distinctive emotions represented by memorable one-liners from flicks like Footloose, Flashdance and Zoolander. MTV will introduce its own clips of pop cultural moments through the VooZoo app.

http://www.hulu.com/

The first episode of season 3 of MOJO’s Three Sheets, a comedic travelogue following liquor connoisseur Zane Lamprey in his search for the world’s best alcohol, is now available online  exclusively on Hulu.com, a week before its on-air premiere.

http://www.yardbarker.com/

Sports-themed news & social networking site Yardbarker (old-school slang for a home run) raised $5 million from Draper Fisher Jurveston and a group of angel investors.

http://bebo.com/shareyourdream

Bebo is accepting entires to its Share Your Dream video contest co-sponsored by YouthNoise, awarding $500 to those who best represent the principal of taking action in their communities. The contest was launched to promote the Case Foundation’s Make it Your Own Awards grant program.

SOURCES:

www.variety.com
www.cynopsis.com