Back Seat Producers

Studio briefing reports Director Spike Lee and Miracle at St. Anna screenwriter James McBride fielded questions and comments Monday from Italian journalists who accused the pair of presenting historical inaccuracies. Writer McBride sounded apologetic as he reminded reporters at a Rome news conference that the story was fiction and then remarked, “I am very sorry if I have offended the [anti-fascist] partisans. I have enormous respect for them. As a black American, we understand what it’s like for someone to tell your history, and they are not you.” Lee took a different tone, saying “I am not apologizing for anything,” “I think these questions are evidence that there is still a lot about your history during the war that you [Italians] have got to come to grips with. This film is no clear picture of what happened. It is our interpretation, and I stand behind it.” The movie has fared no better with critics in Italy, where it is due to open on Friday, than it did with critics in America. Marcia Yarrow, writing in the English-language The American, calls the plot heavy-handed and suggests that it caricatures the Italians, especially the character played by Valentina Cervi, whom Yarrow describes as the “I’m Italian, so just-let-me-just-take-off-my-clothes partisan.”

Also from Studio Briefing: In an open letter sent to the AMPTP and the news media on Monday and published as an advertisement in today’s Daily Variety, SAG President Alan Rosenberg and National Executive Director Doug Allen proposed that the two sides focus on three issues, one involving “force majeure” protection and the two others involving new media. The letter warned, “If your intransigence continues, however, our choices become harder and fewer.” Late in the day, AMPTP President Nick Counter responded, saying that talks would not be productive unless SAG is prepared to change its position on those issues, essentially tossing the “intransigence” accusation back into SAG’s lap. “We do not believe that it would be productive to resume negotiations at this time given SAG’s continued insistence on terms which the companies have repeatedly rejected.”

HBO has announced the development of Americatown, a new drama series project from writer Bradford Winters and producers Tom Fontana, Barry Levinson, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy says Comicmix. Americatown is “set 25-40 years into the future when the precipitous decline of the U.S. leads to a mass exodus of its citizens,” says The Hollywood Reporter. The show focuses on newly arrived American immigrants in a large foreign city. “By presenting Americans as immigrants in the near future, as both underdog and hero in the drama of global dislocation, we substitute a mirror for the rancor that informs much of the partisan debates on immigration,” Winters said of the series. The show focuses both on immigration and on potential financial meltdown, which is quite topical given current circumstances.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, James Bond’s latest adventure, Quantum Of Solace, will open in India before the film has even had its U.S. red carpet premiere. Solace, which first shows in the U.K. on Oct. 31, hits Indian theaters a week later on Nov. 7 and then bows in North American theaters on Nov. 14. The move by Sony marks the first time that a major U.S. film has opened in India before hitting theaters Stateside. As you may remember, Solace was initially set to storm into theaters across America on Nov. 7, but Sony pushed the release date back a week when Warner Bros. decided to give a certain boy wizard the year off, pushing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to summer.

BloodyDisgusting says that Michael De Luca announced that the he has partnered with Alison Rosenzweig and Michael Gaeta to develop a bigscreen remake of the film Angel Heart. Producers optioned remake rights from a private U.K. firm, which owns the rights to the original film, which was produced by Carolco and distributed by TriStar. De Luca, Rosenzweig and Gaeta also optioned the underlying book rights to William Hjortsberg’s novel “Falling Angel,” from which original film was adapted.

Ridley Scott’s Nottingham project has taken an odd turn according to Comicmix as Russell Crowe confirmed for MTV that he remained not only committed to the film but was likely to play both Robin Hood and the Sheriff as  “a good old clever adjustment of characters. One becomes the other. It changes.” As development got bogged down, production was delayed an entire year, derailing Universal’s plans for a major film for 2009. The studio acquired the rights to Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris’s spec script in an aggressive bidding contest then assigned it to Scott. Early rumors had Christian Bale to play Robin Hood to Crowe’s Sheriff with reports indicating the Sheriff’s role was actually the heroic one. Crowe playing both roles apparently is causing massive script rewrites, according to Chud, so no production dates have been set.

ToxciShock says Kirsten Dunst recently leaked to MTV that she will return for both Spider-Man 4 and Spider-Man 5. “I’m in” is all she said, before quickly changing her response to, “I’m not saying anything.” Dunst in the past has been the most difficult actor in the series to bring back to film additional installments, including the recent sequels. Director/Producer Sam Raimi and Spider-Man himself, Tobey Maguire, announced the fourth and fifth Spider-Man films back in early September. Maguire has signed a contract deal for $50 Million for both sequels. Actress Bryce Dallas Howard was added to the cast, playing Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker’s “first true love” in the comic series. Worldwide, the Spider-Man series has earned over $2.5 Billion.

Big-screen newcomer Danielle Panabaker has signed on to join Chuck Russell’s upcoming action flick Prodigy, according to the Hollywood Reporter. In the film, an elite school promises to turn teenagers into geniuses via an unconventional treatment. The school’s methods and program, however, comes into question when a rebellious student is linked to the sudden deaths of several alumni. Panabaker is set to play the gifted daughter of a senator who starts to criticize the head of the school. Also on board in the role of the disobedient youngster is Max Theriot, whose credits include Nancy Drew, Jumper and the recent Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. Russell is directing a script by Dave Kalstein, who adapted his own novel. The project is set to kick into production gear in October. Panabaker kicked off her big-screen career in 2005’s Sky High. She also recently starred in Yours, Mine and Ours and Mr. Brooks.

Firstshowing.net says that Kenneth Branagh has been hired to direct J. Michael Straczynski’s Thor for Marvel Studios and Staczynski seems to approve saying “Honestly, I can’t imagine anyone better suited to this.”

MTV spoke to Barry Levine who gave a little bit of info about Peter Berg’s upcoming movie, Hercules: The Thracian Wars. “It’s a whole lot darker,” says Radical president and publisher Barry Levine. He expects this version, to be produced and directed by Peter Berg, to be more “300? than “Troy” or “Alexander.” “It’s all about taste,” Levine said.

According to Screeninglog Universal’s Mamma Mia! is still dominating the big screen overseas, clinging to the top spot for the fourth consecutive weekend with an estimated $15.3 million in ticket sales, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The hit musical starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, among others, lifted its international total to $356.4 million, a far better performance than its $142.2 million domestic take. 

Joblo.co sayas that Jack Black has decided to re-team with Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, the writing team behind KUNG-FU PANDA. This time around, the film will be a live action parody of the Bourne films, in which Jack will play an American who finds himself washed up on the shores of Cuba with complete and utter amnesia. He comes to the conclusion that he must be a superspy, which is exactly what he is not. A director or release date are yet to be announced.

George Lucas has found a director for his long talked about fighter pilot movie according to CinemaBlend. Red Tails is the story of the Tuskegee Airmen overcoming racism in World War II to become the first black fighter pilots in American history. At one point Lucas was actually rumored to be considering Samuel L. Jackson to direct it. Instead Variety says he’s hired Anthony Hemingway. Hemingway’s directorial career has been spent entirely on television, behind episodes of shows like CSI, ER, and Battlestar Galactica. He only did one episode of BSG, but perhaps that gives him at least a little experience dealing with fighter pilots, of a sort. Whether it’s in outer space shooting robots or flying through cumulous clouds on Earth to shoot Nazis, fighter pilots are all the same amped up adrenaline junkies. The movie’s title comes from the paint job on the planes of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Sources:

Comicmix

THR

Studio Briefing

MTV.com 

ToxicShock

Filmonic

Joblo

Cinema Blend

 

#1 Eagle Eye from Paramount takes #1 this weekend bringing in $29.2 million. Eye showed in 3510 theaters and cost $80 million to make.

#1 Nights In Rodanthe from Warner Bros. debuts at #2 this weekend bringing in $13.5 million. Nights showed in 2704 theaters, its budget is unknown.

#3 Lakeview Terrace from Screen Gems drops to #3 this weekend bringing in $7 million, a 53% drop, and has earned a total of $25.7 million . Terrace showed in 2467 theaters, up 3 over last week and cost $20 million to make.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

#4 Fireproof: Weekend Gross: $6,514,000 / Theaters: 839 / Gross:$6,514,000 / Budget Unknown

#5 Burn After Reading: Weekend Gross: $6,169,000, down 44% / Theaters: 2649, down 8 / Gross:$45,540,000 / Budget $37 million

#6 Igor: Weekend Gross: $5,500,000, down 29% / Theaters: 2341, up 2 / Gross: $14,339,000 / Budget: $30 million

#7 Righteous Kill: Weekend Gross: $3,803,000, down 48% / Theaters: 3011, down 141 / Gross:$34,805,000 / Budget $60 million

#8 My Best Friend’s Girl: Weekend Gross: $3,800,000, down 54% / Theaters: 2636, up 32 / Gross: $14,529,000 / Budget $20 million

#9 Miracle At St. Anna: Weekend Gross: $3,501,000 / Theaters: 1185 / Gross: $3,501,000 / Budget $45 million

#10 Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys: Weekend Gross: $3,160,000, down 56% / Theaters: 1604, down 466 / Gross: $32,796,000 / Budget: Unknown

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

According to Studio Briefing the Coppola Restoration of The Godfather is being released today (Tuesday) as a five-disc collection of all three Godfather films, as well as two discs of bonus features, on DVD ($73.00) and Blu-ray disc ($120.00). In an interview with USA Today Francis Ford Coppola, who directed the original ’70s films, said that when he saw the 1972 classic on its 25th anniversary in 1997 he was disappointed in the quality and learned that the negative had deteriorated after being used to strike so many prints over the years. He said that he eventually appealed to Steven Spielberg, who had been instrumental in the restoration of Lawrence of Arabia, to seek funding for a Godfather restoration at Paramount, which had acquired Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio. In the end, not only was the film restored to its original luster but problem scenes in the original footage were corrected. All of the work, incidentally, was performed not at Paramount but at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imagine in Burbank. Paramount post-production executive Marty Cohen told USA Today: “This is about rebuilding to some degree and putting new paint on the house.”

Simon Pegg and his Shaun Of The Dead co-star Nick Frost may be being lined up to play the Thompson Twins in the Steven Spielberg / Peter Jackson adaptation of TinTin, according to the Sunday Times. It seems that Pegg and Spielberg had a conversation about the film during a recent meeting…
“Steven’s smoking a stogy, cap on head, like he’s always been since I was a baby,” said Pegg to the newspaper. “I shook his hand and chatted about films. He gave me the mo-cap (motion-capture) camera, and I had a play around with it. Then he said, ‘Hey, maybe you and Nick Frost could play the Thompson Twins.’ In Tintin. A Spielberg movie. To work with him is beyond…”
The film is reportedly looking for financing elsewhere.

Studio Briefing reports Discovery Communications and Sony Electronics are planning a co-promotion under which consumers who purchase Sony Blu-ray Disc players this fall will receive coupons redeemable for a Blu-ray Disc sampler featuring episodes from Discovery’s Fearless Planet and Sunrise Earth. In a statement, Chris Fawcett, head of marketing for Sony’s home video unit, said, “Discovery’s high-quality programs are a tailor-made showcase for Blu-ray Disc and a great first experience for a consumer new to the format.”

Actor Kirk Cameron forced movie bosses to cast his wife Chelsea as a smooching stand-in for his new film Fireproof, because he refused to kiss his onscreen wife according to WENN. In the movie, Cameron plays a firefighter battling to save his marriage to his wife, played by Erin Bethea. But the 37 year old had made a vow to Chelsea – his wife of 17 years and the mother of his six children – that he would never kiss another woman on or off-screen, so she was brought onto the set for a romantic scene. Cameron, a partner in evangelical Christian ministry The Way of the Master, explains, “In Fireproof, there is a romantic and touching scene where he (character) kisses his wife. “Because I have a commitment not to kiss any other woman, my wife Chelsea came in to the set and wore the dress my character’s wife wore. We shot the scene in silhouette, so when I kiss my wife, I’m actually kissing my wife and honouring our marriage.

Also from WENN, British actress Keira Knightley is in talks to play Zelda Fitzgerald in The Beautiful And The Damned, according to reports. Leonardo Di Caprio is being touted as a possible co-star in the biopic, based on the life of Great Gatsby novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife. The film is set in the 1920s when the pair were known as Hollywood’s golden couple. They had a tempestuous relationship and parted, with both of them writing books about their time together. Zelda was diagnosed as a schizophrenic aged 30 and died in 1948 when the hospital she had been a patient in caught fire.

Cinematical says that American Psycho, based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, is being turned into a stage musical. According to a press release, “The Johnson-Roessler Company, The Collective and XYZ Films have partnered to acquire, develop and produce the live stage version.” The 2000 film starring Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, a wealthy New York investment banker whose sadistic alter ego exposes itself some some rather imaginative ways. While Bale had been acting since a very young age, it was his role in American Psycho that catapulted him into the spotlight. There’s no word on who they’ll get to play Bateman on the stage. As far as music goes, it will “revive the nostalgia of the 80’s alongside celebrated hits from the era.” Look for tunes from Talking Heads, Genesis and Huey Lewis and The News to make an appearance.

Lionsgate has acquired Gideon Raff’s Train, the quasi-remake of the Jamie Lee Curtis screamer from 1980 Terror Train according to Bloody Disgusting. No word yet on if the film will hit theaters or go direct-to-DVD/Blu-ray, but what we did learn is that the MPAA awarded the film with an NC-17. Raff, who also penned the film, will be heading back into the editing bay to trim the film for an R-rating. Those of you in Los Angeles can check out the film at next month’s Screamfest on Thursday, October 16th. The premise; In Europe, a group of American college athletes unknowingly board a train that will become one deadly ride.

From Digital Spy: Hammer Films is to make its first horror movie in more than 30 years. The legendary studio announced that it will make The Wake Wood from a script by David Keating and Brendan McCarthy. Keating will direct while McCarthy will co-produce. The film tells the story of grieving parents Patrick and Louise, whose nine-year-old daughter Alice was killed by a savage dog. When the couple move to the remote town of Wake Wood, they learn of a pagan ritual that will allow them three more days with their child. Aidan Gillen (The Wire) and Eva Birthistle (Middletown) will star alongside Timothy Spall in the movie. Principal photography began yesterday in County Donegal, Ireland. Hammer’s last horror outing was 1976’s The Devil’s Daughter.

Billy Crystal is set to return to live-action film for an appearance in Michael Lembeck’s comedy Tooth Fairy, according to Variety. Crystal joins Dwayne Johnson, who plays a minor-league hockey player who carries the nickname ‘Tooth Fairy’ because he takes pleasure in knocking out his opponents’ teeth and Julie Andrews, who plays an actual tooth fairy. In a sudden turn of events, however, he is ordered to real tooth fairy duty, which includes wearing wings, makeup, a wand and tutu. Also on board are Ashley Judd, Ryan Sheckler and Stephen Merchant. The last time we saw Crystal on the big screen was in 2002’s comedy “Analyze That.” After that, he did some voice work on “Cars” and the English version of “Howl’s Moving Castle.”

According to Variety Dwayne Johnson is heading into space for a Walt Disney flick inspired by the theme park’s Tomorrowland section, though Disney apparently denies the film has anything to do with Tomorrowland. Jon Lucas and Scott Moore will handle the script of the film, which at this stage is described only as a big space adventure. The rumor is that this is being tooled to this turn into a new franchise a la Pirates of the Caribbean? Johnson is a Disney regular now. Last year he starred in the The Game Plan, a movie that was well received by children but generally panned by adults, and he recently wrapped Andy Fickman’s upcoming family adventure Race to Witch Mountain also for Disney. As for Moore and Lucas, they recently wrote the screenplay for Mark Waters’ comedy The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and The Hangover for Todd Phillips.

ScreenRant says Astro Boy is coming to theaters courtesy of Imagi Studios (V For Vendetta) and Summit Entertainment. It will feature the voice work of Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy, with Freddie Highmore (The Spiderwick Chronicles) in the title role. Hottie Kristin Bell will voice the part of Astro Boy’s love interest. David Bowers (Flushed Away) is directing and the script was written by Timothy Harris (Trading Places, Kindergarten Cop). Astro Boy was created in the 1950’s by Osamu Tezuka–a man affectionately referred to as the “god of manga” and the “father of anime.” The character of Astro Boy has been featured in three television series aired worldwide since that time. The heart of the upcoming film will be Astro Boy’s quest to find acceptance in a human world–especially the acceptance of his “father,” Dr. Tenma (Nicholas Cage), who rejects his creation when it becomes clear that the powerful robot will never be a sutible replacement for the son he lost. Along that emotional journey Astro Boy will battle robot gladiators and other villains who threaten his home of Metro City, thereby earning his place as a hero, as well as his father’s love.

Sources:
The Hollywood News
Studio Briefing
IMDB
WENN
Cinematical
Bloody-Disgusting
Digital Spy
Screeninglog
ScreenRant

#1 Lakeview Terrace from Screen Gems takes #1 this weekend bringing in $15.6 million. Terrace showed in 2464 theaters and cost $20 million to make.

#2 Burn After Reading from Focus drops to #2 taking in $11.2 million, down 41%, in 2657 theaters, up 6 over last. Burn has grossed $36,401,000 and cost $37 million.

#3 My Best Friend’s Girl from Lionsgate comes in at #3 this weekend bringing in $8,3 million. Girl showed in 2604 theaters and cost $20 million to make.

#4 Igor from MGM debuts at #4 this weekend bringing in $8 million for the weekend. Igor showed in 2339 theaters, and cost roughly $30 million.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

#5 Righteous Kill: Weekend Gross: $7,700,000, down 52% / Theaters: 3152 / Gross:$28,810,000 / Budget $60 million

#6 Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys: Weekend Gross: $7,500,000, down 56% / Theaters: 2070 / Gross: $28,356,000 / Budget: Unknown

#7 The Women: Weekend Gross: $5,306,000, down 45% / Theaters: 2995, up 33 / Gross: $19,209,000 / Budget $16 million

#8 Ghost Town: Weekend Gross: $5,171,000 / Theaters 1505 / Gross: $5,171,000 / Budget $20 million

#9 The Dark Knight: Weekend Gross: $2,950,000, down 28% / Theaters: 1905, down 286 / Gross: $521,925,000 / Budget: $185 million

#10 The House Bunny: Weekend Gross: $2,800,000, down 32% / Theaters: 2,675, down 88 / Gross: $45,724,000 / Budget $25 million

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo