Wednesday April 9, 2008

PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

• Warner Independent and Tobey Maguire’s Maguire Entertainment have acquired book and pic rights to the Atlantic Monthly article “Marry Him! The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough” by NPR commentator Lori Gottlieb. Gottlieb will turn her article, which appeared in the March edition of the magazine, into a book for Dutton, “Marry Him! Finding Mr. Real.” Maguire will produce the pic, and Mark Ross will oversee the project for his shingle. Gottlieb is a 40-year-old single mother who conceived her baby through donor sperm. Hardened by the responsibilities of raising a child alone, she posits that there is no such thing as a dream guy.

• Chloe Sevigny and Zooey Deschanel will star in indie comedy “Divorce Ranch,” produced, directed and written by veteran helmer Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Anne Clements (”Quinceanera”) will produce along with Lindsay-Hogg. Shooting starts in September. “Divorce Ranch” is set in Nevada just after WWII, when a quickie divorce could be granted after residency was established.

• Miramax Films is moving forward with “Man Under,” a spec script by Ann Cherkis. Pic will be produced by Scott Rudin, Alexandra Milchan and Aimee Peyronnet. Miramax optioned the project right before the writers strike ensued in November and has just begun the development process.

• Berlin-based Razor Film and Film4 will produce Hungarian helmer Benedek Fliegauf’s first English-language film, the futuristic drama “Womb.” Fliegauf, whose experimental pic “Milky Way” won a Golden Leopard in Locarno last year, will shoot the new film — a story about the efforts to overcome death by genetic manipulation — in Berlin and on the North Sea coast. Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner of Razor and Film4’s Peter Carlton are producing along with Budapest-based Inforg Studio, which produced “Milky Way,” as well as Paris-based A.S.A.P. Films. Pic is one of an array being funded by Germany’s Filmfoerderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the EU’s Media Program, the Hungarian Film Fund, Script East and Film4.

PROJECT UPDATES

• ‘Korean Wave’ icon Won Bin and veteran actress Kim Hye-Ja have been set as the stars of “The Host” helmer Bong Joon-ho’s new pic “Mother.” Project was presented, without cast, last month at the HAF project mart in Hong Kong by producer and artist management group Barunson. Scripted by Bong and Park Eun-kyo, story sees an asocial loser framed as the perpetrator of an horrific murder and his hard-headed mother has to figure out who really did it to keep her son from prison. Pic will be produced on a $5 million budget by Barunson’s Choi Jae-won and Seo Woo-sik, with lensing in the fall. CJ Entertainment will handle local Korean distribution and international sales.

• Scribe Justin Marks has been tapped to tackle “Hack/Slash,” Rogue Pictures’ adaptation of the Devil’s Due Publishing comicbook Todd Lincoln will helm. Comicbook, created by Tim Seeley and Stefano Caselli, revolves around Cassie Hack, a young woman who travels the country and takes on homicidal maniacs and serial killers along the way. The actioner will be heavy on comedy and horror. Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter, who most recently oversaw “Hitman” at Fox, will produce the project.

• Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is negotiating, and Danny Huston, John Ortiz and Kelli Garner are set to star, in “Spectacular Regret.” The independently financed drama was scripted by Joshua Leonard, who will make his dramatic feature debut as director. Financed through private equity, the film will shoot in July in L.A. Peter Sterling and Mary Pat Bentel are producing and Dolly Hall is exec producer.

• France’s Calt Distribution is teaming with Spanish production company TV ON to co-produce a Spanish version of short-format comedy “Kaamelott,” a comedy centering on the Arthurian legend. Canada’s French-language channel Historia and Poland’s TV4 have inked with Calt for broadcasting rights to “Kaamelott.” Set in 5th century Britanny in France, “Kaamelott” combines the epic imagery of King Arthur’s era with inappropriate daily reality.

• Bai Ling (”Love Ranch”, “Southland Tales”) and Talia Shire have been added to the cast of “Dim Sum Funeral,” a Canuck pic now lensing in Vancouver. Ling plays a free-spirited lesbian and Shire plays a trusted family adviser. Pic is directed by Chinese-American helmer Anna Chi, based on a script by Donald Martin. Cast includes Russell Wong, Kelly Hu, Steph Song, Lisa Lu, Julia Nickson, Francoise Yip and Chang Tseng.

• Daniel Alfredson will helm “The Girl Who Played With Fire,” the second film in the Millennium trilogy, based on the bestselling crime novels by Stieg Larsson. The first, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” is being helmed by Danish director Niels Arden Oplev, with its premiere set for early 2009. Production on No. 2 will start in late 2008. It is still not official who will helm the third one, “The Air Castle That Crumbled.” The first film is for theatrical, while the other two will go straight to DVD and ancillary. The three novels, about an investigating reporter and a female hacker, have sold in more 2.3 million copies in Sweden alone. The books are major hits in countries like France and Germany.

BUSINESS NEWS

• After years of relative reticence, the Mouse House is strutting over its animation slate once again. With Disney chief exec Robert Iger and the investment community looking on in Gotham Tuesday, John Lasseter presented an uncharacteristically detailed road map of the next four years of Pixar and Disney animation. Two years after the pair’s $7.4 billion merger, the Mouse House is eager to tout the lineup and keep Pixar’s momentum going after “Ratatouille” and “Cars.” Studio is also looking to pump up the fortunes of Disney’s own animation unit, now under the control of Lasseter and former Pixar prexy Ed Catmull after suffering a string of disappointments, including last year’s “Meet the Robinsons.” Lineup includes a Pixar film every summer and a Disney Animation Studios toon every holiday season, save for 2011, when Pixar is releasing two films and Disney Animation Studios will take a breather. All of the films starting with this November’s “Bolt” will be released in digital 3-D, except for 2009 Disney toon “The Princess and the Frog,” the only pic being made in traditional 2-D. Disney studio chief Dick Cook said it was the first pure animation presentation for the Mouse House in more than a decade.

• “An Evening with Survivors”? “Apprentice: The Musical”? It could happen under a new pact between reality guru Mark Burnett and AEG to develop live events and TV shows based on each other’s properties. Under the pact, AEG will get first crack at producing stage events developed from Burnett’s catalog of shows. Conversely, Mark Burnett Prods. has a first-look option to create nonscripted programming derived from AEG’s various properties, which range from soccer and hockey teams to the Coachella music festival. In addition, Burnett and AEG will jointly develop projects from scratch that integrate TV and live event components. First project from the partnership is expected to be announced within the next few weeks.

• Lionsgate has sold a 22-title package of movies to the Sundance Channel, including network premieres such as “Starting Out in the Evening” and classic pictures directed by Akira Kurosawa, Luis Bunuel and Federico Fellini. “We’ve become much more aggressive in buying movies in the last year,” said Christina Vesper, senior VP of acquisitions for Sundance Channel, citing last month’s deal with New Line/Picturehouse that included such titles as “La Vie en rose,” “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Little Children.” Rand Stoll, exec VP of television for Lionsgate, said the new deal is “a continuation of our ongoing relationship with Sundance.” Net is running two titles from a previous Lionsgate deal, “A Good Woman,” with Scarlett Johansson, and the documentary “Deliver Us From Evil.” In addition to “Starting Out in the Evening,” Sundance will get the TV premiere of “Wristcutters: A Love Story,” starring Tom Waits; “Fierce People,” with Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland; and “Fido,” starring Billy Connolly. Sundance can start scheduling the movies later this year and then throughout 2009.

• Discovery Communications will launch a wide variety of new series this year across its channel platforms, including original projects for flagship nets Discovery Channel and TLC. Company also gave more programming details for its new Planet Green cabler, set to launch this year. Discovery made the announcements Tuesday at their upfront presentation at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. For TLC prexy Angela Shapiro-Mathes, it was the exec’s first upfront slate since taking over the channel. Roster included new skeins such as “Ashley Paige,” which follows the world of the bikini designer; “The Singing Office,” hosted by Melanie Brown and Joey Fatone; and “Single Moms,” a 10-episode series that follows three women looking for love. Also new: “Napoleon Complex,” which features students of Napoleon Perdis’ makeup academy as they compete to work with him; and “This Is Why You’re Single,” dubbed a “surprising intervention for perpetually single people.” TLC, which recently moved to the West Coast under Shapiro-Mathes, also promoted its new brand to advertisers and revealed a new scheduling strategy: Themed nights. Net will air “real family sitcoms” on Mondays; Fridays will focus on makeovers; Saturdays will continue to center on home and decorating. Nights will also be devoted to relationships, careers and entertaining, Shapiro-Mathes said.

• Image Entertainment has sued Relativity Media for reneging on a 2006 homevid output deal. The 10-year-deal called for Relativity to funnel a steady stream of theatrical fare to the homevid distrib in exchange for stock, but Relativity has yet to supply any pics. Image filed suit Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, charging Relativity with fraud and breach of contract. Image contends Relativity topper Ryan Kavanaugh entered into the deal expecting Image to be taken over by Lionsgate. At the time of the August 2006 pact, Image was fighting over a hostile takeover bid by Lionsgate.

• Canadian non-fiction filmmakers got a financial boost Tuesday with the launch of the C$4 million ($3.94 million) Canwest-Hot Docs Funds to assist in the development and completion of one-off docs. Canwest, Canada’s largest media company, is providing the funds, which consist of a $2.9 million completion fund granting producers with a license from a Canadian broadcaster up to $98,706 and a $987,069 development fund providing no-interest loans to projects in early development. Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market, will administer both funds over the next seven years. Guidelines to apply for the funds will be available June 1 with application deadlines July 15 and Oct. 15

• Universal Pictures Intl. Entertainment has inked an exclusive strategic deal with Alchemy Entertainment to release Alchemy’s slate of skeins and big-budget miniseries on DVD and via video-on-demand platforms around the world. Production budget for Alchemy’s slate tops $100 million, with titles including “The Bounty,” a co-production with Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free for the BBC and ProSieben in Germany; $15 million pic “Diamonds,” starring Judy Davis and Derek Jacobi; “Burn Up,” a $15 million co-production with Kudos starring Neve Campbell and Bradley Whitford for the BBC and Global in Canada; and “Everest,” starring Jason Priestley and William Shatner.

STRIKE NEWS/ LABOR ISSUES

• A bill aimed at regulating self-dealing transactions among the majors cleared its first hurdle in the California state Senate with its passage Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles) and supported by the Writers Guild of America, would mandate that the majors pass the “fair market value” sniff test on all transactions between related entities of a conglom (Daily Variety, Feb. 26). Effort stems from the long line of lawsuits filed by third-party profit participants alleging studios breached fiduciary duties by selling pic and TV program rights to sibling divisions for less than the properties would fetch on the open market. Profit participants could be short-changed in such transactions; in addition, some residual and health and pension fund contributions to unionized showbiz workers are determined by the total revenue generated by a project.

INDUSTRY MOVES

• Former Weinstein Co. exec Spencer Klein has joined Bow Tie Cinemas as chief film officer, where his primary responsibilities are booking films and alternative content for the exhibitor. Klein, previously TWC’s senior veep and general sales manager of domestic distribution, will also scout for potential acquisitions, new cinema locales and marketing opportunities and 3D and digital projects. Prior to TWC, which he joined in 2005, Klein was a film buyer for Loews Cineplex Entertainment for six years. His first foray into the industry was in distribution at New Line Cinema and New Yorker Films.

• UTA partner Sue Naegle could be named HBO entertainment president as soon as Wednesday. Insiders on Tuesday confirmed that Naegle had emerged as the top candidate for the highly sought-after gig. HBO had narrowed its search in recent days, with Naegle — who co-heads the tenpercentary’s TV department — now expected to succeed Carolyn Strauss as HBO’s top series exec. No deal had been signed as of late Tuesday, but HBO execs were hinting that an announcement was imminent

• UTA TV lit agents Dan Erlij and Larry Salz have been named partners at the agency. Tenpercenters, who rep a bevy of showrunners and scribes, are the sixth and seventh TV agents with partner status. With their promotions, UTA now has a total of 18 partners.

• The Argentinean government has appointed helmer-producer Liliana Mazure as prexy of the National Film Institute (Incaa), a key source of financing for the industry. She took office April 7, replacing Jorge Alvarez, who resigned after two years for personal reasons. It is necessary “to support Argentine cinema so that it returns to the country’s screens and is not only seen at festivals,” Mazure said at a press event. She also said she would seek greater distribution outside Argentina, a territory of only 1,000 screens.

TECHNOLOGY/ MULTI-PLATFORM CONTENT NEWS

• Lakeshore Entertainment has scooped up Ernie Cline’s vidgame-themed spec “Thundercade.” Story centers on a videogame junkie who faces a midlife crisis when he discovers a young punk has beaten the world record he has held since his teens. Determined to reclaim his place in gaming history, he and two friends escape their 9-to-5 lives for a shot to win Thundercade, the world’s ultimate gaming championship. Cline is a self-described vidgame addict who owns six different game consoles.

• Less than two months since his last appearance on Capitol Hill, Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin on Tuesday once again assured hand-wringing lawmakers that the nation’s transition to all-digital television is on track. While commending Martin and National Technical Information Administration acting chief Meredith Baker for their efforts so far, numerous members of the Senate Commerce Committee expressed concerns about whether enough is being done to inform viewers most at risk of losing TV reception and whether a government subsidy program will be sufficient. Martin agreed to provide monthly updates on the status of the transition, and Baker announced that at least one rule of the subsidy program would be relaxed to help some viewers.

WEBSITES TO WATCH

http://abc.go.com/community/index?pn=plantatree

ABC.com is expanding its widget offerings adding new embeddable widgets around primetime shows such as The Bachelor: London Calling, Brother’s & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Samantha Who? and Ugly Betty. The applications, which have been averaging 170,000 views/day for previously launched Lost and Dancing with the Stars versions according to ABC, allow viewers to embed and share video clips, photos, news alerts and mobile-optimized content. ABC also has a widget as part of the Start Fresh campaign, promising to plant one tree sapling for every ten videos viewed on the apps.

http://www.weather.com/services/downloads/

Moving beyond meteorology into lifestyle services, The Weather Channel Interactive relaunched its Desktop weather client with a bunch of new bells and whistles. Users can now change the look of the app with swappable skins (including MLB-themed ones) and take advantage of additional features including driving conditions, business travel forecasts, golf course conditions and allergy/pollen levels.

http://www.flow.tv/

The hip-hop parade continues in the online video world. New York DJ Funkmaster Flex stars in Funk Flex TV, a new channel on Ripe Digital’s Flow TV service available on demand on Time Warner, Comcast and Cablevision and online via flow.tv.

http://www.uvlayer.com/

Unknown Vector unveiled a new interface for sharing video collections across social networks called uvLayer. The browser-based application, based on a downloadable version released earlier, allows users to drag and drop videos, create playlists and push thumbnail stacks of content to friends’ profile pages in 13 different languages.

SOURCES:

www.variety.com
www.cynopsis.com