Thursday May 1, 2008

PROJECTS ANNOUNCE

• MGM’s going on a journey with “Executive VP David M. Murch’s Adventures in Zametherea,” snapping up the comedy spec from the writing team of Michael M.B. Galvin and Peter Speakman. Project — seen as a modern-day “Wizard of Oz” — has been set up with Rick Benattar (”Shoot ‘Em Up”), Jim Wedaa and Rick Alexander.

• Senator Entertainment has come aboard to produce a feature version of Capcom’s videogame “Clock Tower,” with Martin Weisz (”The Hills Have Eyes 2″) to direct. Eric Poppen (”Borderland”) wrote the script. While the movie combines elements present in all of the games, the story centers on “Clock Tower 2: The Struggle Within,” in which the protag finds herself committed to an insane asylum and haunted by a horror she does not understand. The project is being fast-tracked, with Senator CEO Marco Weber and production head Vanessa Coifman producing. Capcom’s Haruhiro Tsujimoto is exec producing with the Mayhem Project’s Anthony Mosawi and Brad Luff along with Tim Kwok, Nicole Rocklin and Wendy Rhoades. The Weinstein Co. is selling international rights.

PROJECT UPDATES

• Javier Bardem has stepped out of the lead role of “Nine,” the musical that “Chicago” helmer Rob Marshall will direct for the Weinstein Co. Bardem was expected to play Guido Contini, a film director who experiences personal and creative crisis trying to balance all the women in his life. Though his camp said that Bardem loved the script and the idea of working with Marshall, he pulled out because he is exhausted from work and awards season, and will take as long as a year to recharge his batteries.

ACQUISITIONS/ FESTIVAL NEWS

• ThinkFilm has scooped up domestic theatrical and homevid rights to hot Sundance doc “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired” from HBO. Marina Zenovich’s documentary about the scandal that led the legendary director to flee America into exile more than three decades ago was much sought after in Park City, with bidders that included Magnolia Pictures and ThinkFilm, and its acquisition was the first high-profile sale of the fest. HBO ponied up nearly $1 million for the doc, and the Weinstein Co. took international rights. HBO’s initial output could prove a smart business deal between cable auds and ThinkFilm’s fee, which could be near the mid-six-figure range, an insider estimates.

• Miramax Films has acquired worldwide rights to Matthew Vaughn’s “The Debt.”Pic is an English-language remake of Israeli thriller “Ha-hov,” about three Israeli Mossad agents tracking down a Nazi war criminal over 30 years. Vaughn is re-uniting with “Stardust” co-writer Jane Goldman to pen the script and is producing it through his U.K.-based shingle Marv Films, which he tops along with Kris Thykier. Vaughn will not, however, direct the pic, which should start lensing by the end of the year. Cast and crew, including the project’s helmer, are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Marv Films has a three-year first-look deal with Sony Pictures.

• Samuel Goldwyn Films and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group teamed up to nab domestic rights to Lakeshore Entertainment’s drama “Elegy” starring Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsley. Red Envelope Entertainment picked up Netflix rights for their subscription service. Spanish helmer Isabel Coixet (”My Life Without Me”) worked from an adaptation by Nicholas Meyer of Philip Roth’s short novel “The Dying Animal.” Story follows an impassioned relationship between a professor (Kingsley) and a young woman (Cruz) as it shifts from a quest to hold dominion over the other into a love story. Cast also includes Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard and Deborah Harry. Drama was produced by Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi and Andre Lamal. Deal was negotiated by Goldwyn prexy Meyer Gottlieb and acquisitions veep Peter Goldwyn, SPWAG acquisitions veep Scott Shooman, Lakeshore marketing prexy David Dinerstein, and Netflix head of business and legal Thom Zadra.

• Magnolia Pictures picked up North American rights to writer-director Peter Tolan’s “Finding Amanda,” which had its world preem in the Tribeca Film Festival. Semiautobiographical dark comedy from Emmy winner Tolan (”Rescue Me”) stars Matthew Broderick as a drinking and gambling TV producer who’s trying to mend his ways and goes to Vegas to get his niece (Brittany Snow) to enter rehab in hopes of winning back his estranged wife (Maura Tierney). Release is slated for mid-June via HDNet’s Ultra VOD program; theatrical bow is set for June 27 in eight markets, with a wider platform to follow. Magnolia’s pickup of “Amanda” was negotiated prior to its preem. “Amanda” was produced by Wayne Rice and Richard Heller. Magnolia Pictures and HDNet are both part of the Wagner/Cuban collection of media properties headed by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban.

BUSINESS NEWS

• Countering remarks by DreamWorks Animation topper Jeffrey Katzenberg, National Assn. of Theater Owners prexy John Fithian said exhibs aren’t to blame for holding up the transition to digital movie screens –some of the major studios are. Fithian will address the thorny issue of digital conversion today when speaking at exhib confab ShowCanada in Banff, Alberta. On Tuesday, DreamWorks Animation topper Jeffrey Katzenberg broke from his generally upbeat view on the digital transition in suggesting that the three largest U.S. theater chains — Regal, AMC and Cinemark — aren’t moving fast enough, considering the plethora of digital 3-D projects set for release next year by Hollywood studios (Daily Variety, April 30). More than one option Fithian countered that some of the studios can’t agree on what they’ll pay the top three circuits in virtual print fees and that circuits need to have those fees in place before they can make the costly investment. He wouldn’t name names, but industry insiders say that Disney, 20th Century Fox and Paramount are close to agreement with exhibs, while Warner Bros. is far behind. Universal and Sony are still in talks.

• Media titans used to obsess about piracy. Nowadays, they are more likely to fixate on ubiquity. News Corp. prexy-chief operating officer Peter Chernin repeatedly invoked the need to distribute content as widely as possible during Wednesday afternoon’s Milken Institute panel on the consequences of the digital revolution. Fellow panelists Terry Semel, studio chief-turned-digital convert, and BBC director general Mark Thompson picked up the theme during the sesh. “We’re consistently on the march to distribute content as ubiquitously as possible,” Chernin said, citing the desire to allow consumers to access it any time, any way and any place they desire. The key, Chernin said, is making sure the content is available for a reasonable price. That way, there’s less incentive for piracy. Thompson was similarly bullish about cross-distribution strategies, noting that the BBC has provided YouTube with massive amounts of content to no ill effect. His view: Short video clips on sites like YouTube are “a way of marketing longform content and drawing people to it.” The panelists, who also included Activision chair-CEO Bobby Kotick, argued that enabling viral distribution provides content owners with greater pop and potential ad coin. The key, Thompson said, is to treat interactive media and more traditional passive entertainment as parallel businesses that can each flourish. And Chernin cautioned that digital distribution — be it over the Internet or mobile phones — should not necessarily be considered a replacement for traditional media but “mildly additive.”

STRIKE NEWS/ LABOR ISSUES

• The gloves have come off in the contract negotiations between the majors and Screen Actors Guild. With the SAG talks going nowhere fast, the majors have gone on the offensive by criticizing the guild’s demands as unreasonable and unrealistic. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers made the assertion at midday Wednesday in a negotiations update to members titled “Setting the record straight” posted on the AMPTP website. Though the language was more measured and respectful than the harsh tone often employed by the majors during the writers strike, the AMPTP’s message was clear: Unless SAG backs off its demands on DVD and new media soon, it can forget about a deal even if thesps go on strike. The AMPTP’s decision to go public with the sticking points in the talks so far appears to be aimed at provoking SAG moderates to pressure guild leaders to make a deal as soon as possible rather than stringing out negotiations toward the June 30 expiration. The current round of talks, which launched April 15, are scheduled to conclude Friday. SAG hasn’t yet asked its 120,000 members for a strike authorization, and it’s uncertain when it would return to the bargaining table after this week. AFTRA’s viewed as much more likely than SAG to sign a deal as its leaders are less assertive than SAG’s, and it has already incorporated some of the WGA and DGA new-media terms into its network code deal, signed in early March.

INDUSTRY MOVES

• Mark Ross has been named VP of production at CBS Films. Ross will supervise the development and production of films for the fledgling division of CBS Corp. He will report directly to prexy-CEO Amy Baer. Ross joins CBS from Tobey Maguire’s Sony-based Maguire Entertainment, where he oversaw development since the shingle’s inception in 2003.

TECHNOLOGY/ MULT-PLATFORM CONTENT

• Seeking to capitalize on the era of flux and consumer dissatisfaction with TV and homevid offerings, a new company launching Thursday believes it has the next-gen solution. Sezmi is backed by a consortium of venture capital funds and features execs and board members with experience at Sony, Viacom, NBC, Bell Labs and other companies. It features a single set-top box and remote that bring together broadcast, cable, movies and Internet videos. Using an iPod-like track wheel, the remote allows the user to scroll through options, while the box uses an antenna to pull in wireless signals from cable and Web sources. The interface also encourages social networking by allowing users to recommend shows, movies or videos to friends. The system differs from Internet Protocol TV, or IPTV, in that it does not require major investment in infrastructure. The company, formerly known as Building B, expects pilot market tests to start later this year.

• Horror pic prodco Platinum Dunes has joined forces with website Bloody-Disgusting.com to host the shingle’s new blog. Bloody-Disgusting, which claims to be the most trafficked horror site, with a avid community of genre fans, is owned by the management/production company the Collective, which uses the independently-run site to help identify new talent. Blog (bloody-disgusting.com/platinumdunes) is written by Platinum Dunes partner Brad Fuller, and includes news and set visits for upcoming productions such as “The Unborn,” “Friday the 13th,” “The Birds” and “Rosemary’s Baby.”

• There’s been much debate about whether or not audiences will watch entire TV show episodes on their mobile phones. What about feature films? Online movie service CinemaNow launched a new option powered by uVUMobile allowing users to preview and download full movies to their WAP-enabled handsets. Purchased movies can be ported to other devices connected through CinemaNow’s Media Manager software, including PCs, set-top boxes and portable media players.

• The mobile content platform market grew by 20% to $3.4 billion worldwide in 2007 as mobile users reached for more entertainment content including ringtones, music, mobile games and video, according to MultiMedia Intelligence. The researcher says North America is rapidly transitioning to an “off deck” dominated content market but noted further growth is being stymied by the difficulty of content discovery and purchasing.

WEBSITES TO WATCH

www.Kongregate.com

Kongregate is a gaming site that understands online gaming is much more fun when it’s a social experience. Billing itself as a “YouTube of games,” the site offers over 4,000 ad supported games and clever ways to allow users to challenge friends and build communities. Launched in March of 2007, the site is attracting the best and brightest game developers by offering them a share of the ad revenue and full ownership of the games they design. Kongregate is building momentum fast. It racked up 1.7 million unique visitors in March (according to comScore) who spent an average of 82 minutes on the site per month. TechCruch reports Amazon founder Jeff Bezos just invested another $3 million in the company. Also, Kongregate is planning to launch a series of Facebook apps next month to allow users to play its most popular games on the platform, including Dolphin Olympics, Jump Cat and Super Crazy Guitar Maniac.

SOURCES:

www.variety.com
www.cynopsis.com