Friday April 25, 2008

BOX OFFICE

 

Daily

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 (*millions)

	FILM	GROSS	TOTAL*
1	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	$1,538,495	$22.5657
2	Forbidden Kingdom, The	$1,228,867	$25.7986
3	88 Minutes	$496,251	$8.5653
4	21	$437,675	$71.3376
5	Prom Night	$362,430	$33.3296
6	Street Kings	$358,707	$21.2120
7	Nim’s Island	$345,978	$34.0447
8	Horton Hears A Who	$236,532	$145.1939
9	Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed	$234,596	$3.6714
10	Leatherheads	$209,995	$27.2364

PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

• Paramount Pictures has purchased Jay Dyer’s spec “Hot for Teacher,” with J.J. Abrams to produce via his studio-based Bad Robot shingle.  Story revolves around three high school boys who vow to have sex before they graduate; one of the teens plots to seduce a hot teacher.  Bad Robot most recently delivered the monster film “Cloverfield” for the studio. The shingle also has a number of projects in various stages of development and production with Paramount, including “Star Trek,” “Morning Glory” and “Men Making Music.”  Dyer is a supervising producer on Showtime series “Californication.” He previously sold to New Line the spec “Multiple Mary,” which Scot Armstrong is attached to direct.

• Rogue Pictures has preemptively picked up Gregory Anderson’s spec “Drill Team” for low six figures.  Project is described as a female-driven teen dance movie set in the competitive world of high school drill teams.  Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot are producing via their Offspring banner. Tri Destined Films, where Anderson is a partner, is also producing. Matthew Mizel brought the material into Offspring.   Anderson’s credits include “Stomp the Yard.”

• Warner Independent Pictures has signed “House” executive producers Garrett Lerner and Russel Friend to adapt Brock Clarke’s best-seller “An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England.” The dark comedy from John Wells Prods. centers on Sam Pulsifer, a man who accidentally burns down Emily Dickinson’s home and kills two people in the process. After 10 years in prison and a series of personal and professional disasters, he returns home to live with his parents, only to discover that he’s suspected in a series of nearby fires at historical landmarks. He attempts to find the real criminal and uncovers some family secrets as the mystery unfolds. Lerner and Friend’s experience writing many “House” episodes seems to make them a perfect fit for the material, given the Fox series’ witty take on crime mysteries. Lerner also co-wrote the upcoming sci-fi feature “Repossession Mambo” for Universal and producer Scott Stuber. JWP’s John Wells and Claire Rudnick Polstein are producing, and Lisa Morales is exec producing. WIP’s Lauren Craniotes and Richard Gold are overseeing it for the studio. Lerner and Friend are repped by UTA.

• James L. White and Boom Studios have attached Mekhi Phifer’s Facilitator Films to produce “Hunter’s Moon,” a live-action version of White’s graphic novel, with Phifer in the lead role.
  White is in final negotiations to adapt “Moon” as his first feature screenplay since the biopic “Ray.”Phifer (NBC’s “ER”) will play a stockbroker who takes his son on a weekend hunting trip in the woods. The teen is kidnapped, forcing the father to do the criminals’ bidding to save the boy’s life. Boom co-founders Andrew Cosby and Ross Richie will produce under their Boom Entertainment banner with Phifer and his Facilitator partner Ronnie Warner. White (who co-owns the project with Boom) published “Moon” as a five-part comic series last year and released it in novel form this month via the Boom label.

PROJECT UPDATES

• In a major step forward on “The Hobbit,” Guillermo del Toro has signed on to direct the New Line-MGM tentpole and its sequel. The widely expected announcement — which had been rumored for several weeks — came Thursday afternoon jointly from exec producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich, and Mary Parent, newly named chief of MGM’s Worldwide Motion Picture Group. Del Toro’s moving to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Jackson and his Wingnut and Weta production teams. He’ll direct the two films back to back, with the sequel dealing with the 60-year period between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. New Line is overseeing development and will manage production. Both pics are being co-produced and co-financed by New Line Cinema and MGM, with Warner Bros. distributing domestically and MGM handling international. Del Toro won’t leave for New Zealand immediately as he’s still in post-production on U’s “Hellboy 2,” due out in July. His previous pic, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” was released through New Line’s Picturehouse and set a record as the highest grossing Spanish language film in U.S. box office history. The official signing of Del Toro comes four months after New Line settled a lawsuit with Jackson over “The Lord of the Rings” and announced that it had agreed with MGM to turn J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Hobbit” into two live-action films. Sam Raimi had been preceived as the initial front-runner as director but Del Toro had emerged in recent months as the likely candidate. The studios didn’t give a start date on production and don’t yet have a script. Though no screenplay deal’s been set, it’s expected that the “LOTR” scripting team of Jackson, Walsh and Philippa Boyens will collaborate with Del Toro. With Del Toro blocking out four years for the project, it’s likely that the studios are aiming at starting shooting next year and releasing the films in late 2011 and 2012. Jackson’s WETA stages, post-production and visual effects facilities — built for “The Lord of the Rings” — will be used for both films. And New Zealand will again be the site of Middle-earth, with the story centering on Bilbo Baggins taking the Ring of Power from Gollum.

• Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer has nabbed the female lead opposite Tom Hanks in Columbia Pictures‘ “Da Vinci Code” prequel “Angels & Demons.” Ewan McGregor is in talks to join the thriller, which is based on the Dan Brown best-seller. McGregor is set to take on the role of a powerful Vatican insider who assists Langdon. Story centers on religious art scholar Robert Langdon (Hanks), who once again finds himself entangled with powerful forces with ancient roots: the Illuminati — the most powerful underground organization in history — and the Catholic Church. Zurer will play Vittoria Vetra, an Italian scientist who joins forces with Langdon. Ron Howard is directing from an Akiva Goldsman script. Zurer is best known in her native Israel, where she has starred in “Nina’s Tragedies” and the TV series “In Treatment,” which was recently adapted in the U.S. by HBO. Her U.S. film credits include “Munich” and Columbia’s “Vantage Point.” She will next be seen in the Samuel Goldwyn release “Fugitive Pieces.”

• Christian Slater and Wes Bentley are set to headline and Emmanuelle Vaugier will play the female lead in an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story “Dolan’s Cadillac,” Film Bridge International said Thursday.”Dolan’s Cadillac” is a thriller about a man (Bentley), who plots to avenge the murder of his wife (Vaugier) by notorious and untouchable Las Vegas mob boss Jimmy Dolan (Slater).Erik Canuel is directing “Dolan’s Cadillac” from an adaptation written by Richard Dooling. Production is scheduled to begin May 14.  Film Bridge is overseeing the financing and handling worldwide distribution. Slater (”Bobby”) is repped by CAA. Bentley (”Ghost Rider”) is repped by WMA and Untitled Entertainment. Vaugier (”Saw IV”) is repped by APA and Evolution Entertainment.

• Tilda Swinton will star in Italo helmer Luca Guadagnino’s “Io sono l’amore” (I Am Love), a romantic drama in which she will play a foreign society matron in Milan who falls for a young chef. Guadagnino, whose previous credits include Swinton starrer “The Protagonists” and Sony’s “Melissa P.,” will start shooting the Italo-language pic in Milan this summer. “L’amore” is about “the irreparable consequences brought about by love in a high-bourgeois family,” Guadagnino said. Attached alongside Swinton is Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher. Other cast is still being decided. Pic is being co-produced by Guadagnino’s First Sun shingle and Mikado, with some financing from the Italian government.

• Indie shingle Bold Films has signed Joseph Ruben to direct medical thriller “Jack,” with shooting expected to begin this fall.  Bold Film co-prexies Michel Litvak and David Lancaster are producing with Alexandra Milchan and Marc Sternberg. Bold’s Gary Michael Walters will exec produce the feature, with Garrick Dion co-producing.  “Jack,” penned by David Venable, centers on a doctor who rehabilitates and ultimately falls for an accident victim with memory loss, unaware that he is actually a killer.  Ruben previously directed “Sleeping With the Enemy,” “The Good Son” and “The Forgotten.” Litvak, Walters and Lancaster previously collaborated on “Bobby” and are in post on “Legion” and “Starship Troopers 3.”  Bold produced “Mini’s First Time,” “Slingshot” and “Come Early Morning.” 

ACQUISITIONS/ FESTIVAL NEWS

• Orange County’s Newport Beach Film Festival may be only a relatively short limo ride away from Hollywood but far enough that a visit to the 9-year-old fest feels like a vacation. Already a solid hit with well-heeled locals (more than 41,500 tickets were sold in 2007), the festival made its mark with the 2005 premiere of “Crash.” The fest programs both indie and studio fare, striving to present the best of classic and contempo filmmaking to its sophisticated auds, says fest exec director Gregg Schwenk. With more than 360 films, the fest offers 160 feature narratives, docs, shorts, children’s fare and an action sports sidebar plus international film showcases and an annual salute to O.C. favorite son John Wayne. (A new print of 1948’s “Red River” will screen at the fest.) Universities, from USC to Chapman and Orange Coast College, bring student films to screen in a professional setting. While the similarity to Cannes is apparent (yacht parties, the beach, the moneyed setting), the fest is still reaching for that prized A-list Hollywood synergy that’s taken other fests, like Palm Springs and Santa Barbara, decades to achieve. Many Newport selections launched at other fests — opening-nighter “Sherman’s Way” was an audience award prizewinner at San Jose’s Cinequest, while others, like “Good Dick” and Nanette Burstein’s “American Teen,” were culled from Sundance — but the fest, and its numerous after-parties and galas, is a major event on the O.C.’s cultural calendar. Among the countries spotlighted this year: Sweden, Germany and Ireland. Below-the-line players participate in the popular free weekend seminars. At the Cine Forum, expect cinematographers Daniel Pearl and Michael Goi. Other program standouts include a look at Disney animation with Roy E. Disney and a night of classic Disney tunes with songwriter and Academy Award winner Richard Sherman. Saturday night’s showcase film, the world premiere of “Lie to Me,” boasts a local connection. Newport Beach events inspired part of the script, and many of the cast and crew are from the area.  

BUSINESS NEWS

• Universal’s “Baby Mama” and New Line/Warner Bros.’ “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay” will vie for the loudest laugh when opening at the domestic box office today in what’s shaping up to be a battle of the sexes at the multiplexes. The other new wide release of the weekend — the final frame before the summer box office officially starts — is New Regency’s thriller “Deception,” which isn’t supposed to make much of a dent despite the star billing of Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams. Fox opens the pic in 2,001 locations. “Baby Mama,” starring comedic duo Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, should prove fertile ground for woman of all ages, particularly younger ones. Pic, which pokes fun at America’s obsession with babies and surrogate motherhood, is rated PG-13 and opens in 2,543 runs. Stoner comedy “Harold & Kumar,” starring John Cho and Kal Penn, is tracking strongest among younger men. Next up are older males. The R-rated pic, an irreverent look at the Bush Administration’s post-9/11 policies and a follow-up to DVD cult fave “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” opens in 2,510. “Harold & Kumar” is the first New Line film released by Warner since New Line was disbanded as a standalone mini-major and made a label within the WB fold. The first “Harold & Kumar” film, released in 2004, cumed only $18 million at theaters but went on to become a DVD hit. “Baby Mama” marks back-to-back comedy releases by Universal. Last weekend, U opened the Judd Apatow-produced “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” to $17.7 million. Pic placed No. 2 for the frame after Lionsgate’s Jet Li-Jackie Chan starrer “Forbidden Kingdom,” which opened to $21.4 million. Universal has insisted that “Baby Mama” won’t take auds away from “Sarah Marshall.” Nor does the studio expect “Harold & Kumar” to pose a problem, saying the marketplace can shoulder three wide comedies. Through Wednesday, “Sarah Marshall” grossed $22.6 million, “Forbidden Kingdom” $25.8 million. On the specialty side, ThinkFilm bows dramedy “Then She Found Me,” directed by Helen Hunt, in nine theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Hunt stars alongside Colin Firth, Bette Midler and Matthew Broderick. Samuel Goldwyn bows French crime suspenser “Roman de Gare” in two theaters in New York and L.A. Opening wider, in 50 theaters, is Gil Cates Jr.’s poker drama “Deal,” starring Burt Reynolds and Bret Harrison. MGM is distributing. Caroline Zelder’s family pic “A Plumm Summer,” which NewStyle is distributing, opens in 58. Cast includes Jeff Daniels, William Baldwin and Henry Winkler. Several documentaries open, including Errol Morris‘ “Standard Operating Procedure,” about the Abu Ghraib prisoner photographs taken by American military officers. Sony Pictures Classics debuts the film in two theaters in Gotham and Los Angeles. Indican debuts Jeremy Dean’s docu “Dare Not Walk Alone,” about the impact of the civil rights movement on St. Augustine, Fla., in three runs. On the foreign front, prospects are moderate, with new releases limited to a few targeted markets. Studios have opted to hold off on openings in recent frames ahead of next week’s launch of “Iron Man,” starting with France, Italy and South Korea on Wednesday. Pic opens domestically May 2. Sony’s “21″ may be able to rack up its second win in a row after taking in $10 million last weekend even though its only expansion is coming in Middle East markets. The gambling thriller’s cumed about $25 million early in its foreign run. Fox’s “Horton Hears a Who!” will also be a player via holdover biz, with foreign grosses at about $120 million. Prehistoric actioner “10,000 B.C.” could be a contender for the top slot as it goes into Japan long after completing most of its foreign run with $160 million — the biggest international cume of any 2008 title this year. “Deception” is the only domestic opener going day-and-date in international markets with launches in Australia, Russia and the U.K. Other openers include “27 Dresses” in France, “Fool’s Gold” in Italy and Spain, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” in Russia and the U.K., “Leatherheads” in France, “The Spiderwick Chronicles” in Japan, “Street Kings” in Spain and “Stop-Loss” in the U.K.

STRIKE NEWS/ LABOR ISSUES

• Fear of an actors strike pushed first-quarter feature production in Hollywood up by 11%, but TV production plunged due to the WGA strike, according to permitting agency FilmL.A. Off-lot feature production improved to 2,065 days for the quarter amid uncertainty over whether the Screen Actors Guild will make a new deal with the majors by the June 30 expiration of its contract. Still, the film activity was 62% below the record level reached in the same quarter of 2001, when permitted days totaled 3,339 as studios ramped up for a possible SAG strike. TV production, which has been booming in recent years, took a 45% plunge in the first quarter to 3,557 days due to the WGA strike, which ended Feb. 12. During the first quarter of 2007, off-lot smallscreen activity in Hollywood set a record of 6,478 days — 500 days above the second-busiest period, achieved during the third quarter of last year.  FilmL.A. said strike-affected TV dramas saw activity fall 68%, while sitcoms plunged 72% and pilots slid 77%. Reality TV declined 29%.  FilmL.A. also said strike-related production losses continued after the strike ended. In the last seven weeks of the quarter, volume for TV dramas was down 35% compared to the same period last year while sitcoms were off 51% and pilots declined 70%.

INDUSTRY MOVES

• Lisa Judson is exiting as head of Warner Bros. Animation after only 10 months in the position, with her responsibilities to be consolidated under Warner Bros. Television prexy Peter Roth.   Studio confirmed the shift, saying Judson intended to return to New York, from which she relocated to take the job. The gig had represented a significant leap for Judson, who prior to Warner Bros. served as senior VP of marketing at AOL. Before that she worked for Nickelodeon.  In addition to the studio’s primetime production and Warner Horizon Television, Roth will add oversight of all non-feature animation to his plate. That includes series such as “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” for the Time Warner-owned Cartoon Network, straight-to-DVD projects, online/new media animation, and creating live-action series based on WB’s animated franchises.  Warner Bros. is currently producing fewer original animated series than in the past. That’s in part because the CW network — of which WB owns half — is joining the trend of outsourcing its Saturday-morning children’s programming by brokering the time to an outside supplier.  Still, the company’s ownership of DC Comics and Cartoon Network — as well as the lucrative merchandising of those characters — continues to make animation a priority. In September, Warner Bros. announced plans for a “fully immersive and customizable online world,” called T-Works, to showcase and leverage those assets. That venture is expected to officially launch at the end of this month.   For Roth, the expansion of duties marks a sort-of return to his roots. One of the exec’s first jobs was in children’s programming during a decade-long stint at ABC, beginning in the mid-1970s. The studio noted that Roth wouldn’t officially start with animation until  June 1, allowing him to focus on primetime development in advance of the major networks’ upfront presentations in May.

• ThinkFilm chair David Bergstein has tapped theatrical topper Mark Urman to take over as prexy in the wake of Think co-founder and prexy Jeff Sackman’s abrupt departure last week. Company HQ will now reside in Urman’s home base of Gotham.  Urman and Sackman transitioned together from Lionsgate to found Think with a small coterie in 2001, maintaining dual headquarters in Gotham and Toronto. When David Bergstein and Ron Tutor’s Capco bought Think in 2006, they made it a division of Capitol Films and opened a branch in Hollywood. Ever since, there’s been a gradual but steady shift from operations in Toronto to the two U.S.-based offices, capped by Sackman’s exit and the closure of the Canadian site. The Canadian outpost had been hobbled by Canada’s regulations governing foreign ownership once the company was American-owned. ThinkFilm made an exclusive output deal with Canuck distrib Entertainment One and affiliate Seville Pictures that included an impressive library.  Still, Urman has been the company’s public face since the beginning and is generally viewed as the shingle’s spokesman.  With Capco providing a substantially bigger bank, ThinkFilm’s new direction will likely be evident in the form of heftier acquisition sums, enhanced marketing coin and more deals with international distributors. Urman said recent staff additions and changes had been brewing for some time. In the past few months, its Gotham publicity and marketing team doubled, and there are plans to hire business affairs and delivery staff, positions shifted from Canada. ThinkFilm’s slate includes tyro helmer Helen Hunt’s “Then She Found Me,” opening today; Ellen Page starrer “The Tracey Fragments”; and Tim Robbins starrer “Noise,” bowing May 9. Before joining Think, Urman was co-prexy of Lionsgate Films Releasing.

 TECHNOLOGY/ MULT-PLATFORM CONTENT

• Lionsgate has hired longtime CinemaNow CEO Curt Marvis as president of digital media, a newly created position at the studio. Marvis will oversee digital distribution at all Lionsgate divisions including home entertainment, television, film and music and the company’s stakes in online video hub Break.com, multiplatform brand FearNet and the premium cable venture recently announced with Viacom, MGM and Paramount. Marvis, who co-founded CinemaNow nine years ago, will remain chairman of the online movie download service. He is expected to name his replacement shortly.Lionsgate did not have to look far for a top digital exec; the company has been a lead investor in CinemaNow since its start in 1999. Lionsgate co-chairman/CEO Jon Feltheimer and vice chairman Michael Burns, who serve on CinemaNow’s board, asked that he come aboard as the need for a dedicated executive in the sector became apparent.  Marvis, will report to Feltheimer and Steve Beeks, president and COO of Lionsgate. Other investors in CinemaNow include Echostar, Microsoft and venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, which is the largest stakeholder. Marvis will lead exploitation efforts on Internet, mobile and VOD for Lionsgate’s library of 12,000 titles, including Showtime series “Weeds” and Oscar-winning film “Crash.”While Lionsgate had no single exec overseeing digital, it had been an active player in the space. Digital distribution deals were in place with leading outposts ranging from Microsoft’s XBox Live Marketplace to Apple’s iTunes, which recently began accepting Lionsgate film DVDs embedded with files that could be played on iTunes.  As long as CinemaNow has been active online, it has been a slow-growth story for its investors. While maintaining a wide range of licensing deals with content companies, consumer uptake has never quite boomed. However, the service has evolved significantly over the years, not only moving from strictly rentals to purchases, but embracing a wide range of devices where content could be downloaded. Before launching CinemaNow, Marvis was president of game developer 7th Level. He had previously been active in the music video and CD-ROM industries.

• Pauly Shore is launching a new web series on Ripe TV on Friday.   Netco will preview the first of 22 webisodes in “Pauly Shore’s America,” then launch the skein next week. In the first episode, “Pauly Shore… In Search of the Polygamist,” the comic visits the Yearning for Zion Ranch in San Angelo, Texas, weighing in on the media frenzy at the site.  Each webisode will run 5 to 7 minutes long. Besides the Ripe TV website, “Pauly Shore’s America” will air on demand for Time Warner and Comcast cable subscribers in coming weeks.

WEBSITES TO WATCH

 

Popular podcasting network PodShow, co-founded by former MTV VJ Adam Curry, has officially relaunched as Mevio, adding new features including a tool that allows podcasters to program channels of content to send to other users.
 
HungryManTV, the home of shows such as Phistophicles, completed a new Flash-powered redesign, improving the interface and adding more social features.

 

SOURCES:

 

www.variety.com

www.cynopsis.com

www.hollywoodreporter.com