To Our Readers
We wanted to thank you for being loyal readers over the years by sending out a full newsletter today. Also, we have to ask, do you miss us? If so, please show your support by heading to the website and signing up for the daily newsletter again. It is only $4.99 per month (which averages out to less than 25 cents each day), and is specially gathered and curated for your daily reading pleasure.
The Oscars
So, yeah, in case you missed it, all those big awards were handed out last night. The Big Winner? "The Artist," of course. But if you want a complete list, head on over to the Hollywood Reporter for the full skinny.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-winners-list-academy-awards-295127
Box Office
Weekend Estimate
February 24-26, 2012 (*millions)
FILM GROSS/CUMULATIVE TOTAL
1 Act of Valor (2012) $24.7M/$24.7M
2 Good Deeds (2012) $16M/$16M
3 Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) $13.5M/$76.7M
4 Safe House (2012) $11.4M/$98.1M
5 The Vow (2012) $10M/$103M
6 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011) $8.8M/$37.8M
7 This Means War (2012) $8.5M/$33.6M
8 Wanderlust (2012) $6.63M/$6.63M
9 Gone (2012) $5M/$5M
10 The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) $4.5M/$14.7M
Projects Announced
Christian Bales Into The “Furnace” Revenge drama “Out Of The Furnace” has enjoyed a fast rise among the big names of Hollywood. Brad Ingelsby’s spec script (back when it was called “The Low Dweller” in 2008) immediately hit the radar of Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio. And while they’re no longer directly involved aside from helping it along as producers, the film now has a director in “Crazy Heart”’s Scott Cooper and a star, with Christian Bale hopping aboard. Movie follows a man released from prison after serving four years. While he initially hopes to stick to the straight and narrow and enjoy some peace and quiet are ruined by his plan to find out who murdered his younger brother and avenge the man’s killing. http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=33234 Add Emma Thompson To The List Of Actresses Playing The Queen Emma Thompson is set to play the Queen in a new Sky Arts TV drama about the day she was confronted with an intruder in her bedroom at Buckingham Palace. Based on the real Palace break-in that took place 1982, Eddie Marsan will play intruder Michael Fagan, who was 31 at the time. Fagan broke into the Queen’s bedroom while the Queen was sleeping and the two are understood to have talked for a period of time before the monarch was able to raise an alarm. The half-hour drama “Walking The Dogs” has been re-imagined by writer Helen Greaves and is part of a Sky Arts strand of one-off dramas called Playhouse Presents. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/emma-thompson-walking-the-dogs-294807 Paul Walker’s Universal Deal Spits Out First Flick Now that Paul Walker and his Lacuna Ridge Pictures shingle has just inked a two-year, first look production deal with Universal, the first gig has been announced. It will be “Skyscraper,” a perfectly preposterous Walker-esque project. Based on a idea by Mike Sobel pitched and sold to Universal way back in 2008, the movie is essentially “The Towering Inferno” for our modern era, telling the story of an ambitious Donald Trump-esque developer who tries to build a mile-high building in Chicago, but when it starts to fall over, the crew has to save the city. Walker will take the lead and produce the picture as well. http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/paul-walker-to-star-in-disaster-pic-skyscraper-narrate-imax-doc-air-racers Could It Be? Are They Finally Bringing “The Prophet” To The Big Screen? It was first published in 1923 and remains one of the best-selling books of all time, so it seems extraordinary that nobody has attempted a film adaptation of Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” before. That’s about to change, in an ambitious project being shepherded by Salma Hayek and producers Clark Peterson and Ron Senkowski. Gibran’s book is a long-form poem, the narrative of which sees the prophet Al-Nabi about to embark on an ocean voyage, but waylaid on his way to the docks by a succession of people who prompt him into discussions of life, the universe and everything. As a film, the plan is to make an animated anthology delivered by multiple directors. Among the contributors are Marjane Satrapi, Tomm Moore, Nina Paley, Joan Gratz, Mohammed Saeed Harib and Bill Plympton. Each will take a chapter, and the linking story will be courtesy of Roger Allers. http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=33229 Project Updates
If You’ve Been Waiting For Casting News About A Tori Spelling TV Movie, Today Is Your Lucky Day ABC Family is ramping up its holiday programming. “State of Georgia actor Jason Rogel has been cast in the network’s original Christmas television movie, “The Mistle-Tones,” starring Tori Spelling and Tia Mowry. Rogel, who had a recurring role on “Georgia” as physics grad student Leo and on ABC’s “Man Up!” as Henry, will play Larry, Holly’s (Mowry) office-mate and a member of her musical group The Mistle-Tones. Jonathan Patrick Moore (“Savages,” “The L.A. Complex”), Reginald VelJohnson (“Family Matters”) and Tammy Townsend (“Switched at Birth,” “Sherri”) co-star. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/the-mistle-tones-jason-rogel-abc-family-294674 Yeah, So Much For Seeing That New Sly Film In April We know you must have been tearing your hair out about this for months — which movie would you choose to see first on the weekend of April 13th. Would you go with Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon’s intriguing “The Cabin in the Woods,” the eagerly anticipated (by Razzies voters) “The Three Stooges,” or Sly Stallone’s latest steroid-fest “Bullet To The Head”? Well, Warner Bros have decided to make it slightly easier for us as they’ve delivered a bullet to the head of Stallone’s film, temporarily at least, by pulling it from the schedule. There’s no news yet as to when we will eventually see the film but we wouldn’t be surprised if it was now held back until just after “The Expendables 2″ is released on August 17th. http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/warner-bros-puts-a-bullet-to-the-head-of-sly-stallones-film-gets-taken-off-the-calendar The Rock And Marky Mark Get More Company In “Pain And Gain” The ensemble for Michael Bay’s first film in ages free of giant robots bashing into each other, “Pain And Gain,” keeps growing. Now Anthony Mackie is in talks to join up. Film already features Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg, Ed Harris and Rob Corddry in a crime story that has its roots in a real-life tale told by the Miami New Times. Wahlberg and Johnson will be bodybuilders who concoct a scheme including kidnapping, extortion and, ultimately murder. Naturally, nothing quite goes to plan. Harris is on to play a private detective named Ed Du Bois who digs into the case, while Corddry is John Mese, the former accountant who owns the gym where Wahlberg works. http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=33221 It Appears That We May Very Well Have Our New “Robocop” While he burst on to the international scene playing a man caught up in crime in Daniel Espinosa’s “Snabba Cash,” Joel Kinnaman has been spending a lot of his time acting as a police detective in the US telly remake of “The Killing.” All that law enforcement experience might yet come in handy, as MGM has offered him the lead in the “Robocop” reboot. “Elite Squad” director Jose Padilha is still aboard to call the shots and he’s been flipping through the usual go-to list looking for the right star to fill Alex Murphy’s metal helmet. There were brief, unsubstantiated rumours floating around about Russell Crowe, and Michael Fassbender was said to be in the running. http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=33235 Apparently, Every Actor In Hollywood Will Help “Kill Bin Laden” On the back of an offer out to Joel Kinnanman to take on the titular role in Jose Padhida’s “Robocop” reboot, it looks like another acting protege of young Swedish helmer Daniel Espinosa is making waves in Hollywood. After featuring in both “Snabba Cash” films and “Safe House,” the memorably named Fares Fares has now been cast in Kathryn Bigelow’s upcoming Osama Bin Laden flick formerly known as “Kill Bin Laden.” No word just yet on the exact role Fares will be playing but it’s noted to be a “good guy” with the actor joining the stellar cast already in place, including Joel Edgerton, Jessica Chastain, Edgar Ramirez, Kyle Chandler, Mark Strong, Chris Pratt, Jason Clarke, Harold Perrineau, Nash Edgerton and Jennifer Ehle. http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/snabba-cash-star-fares-fares-joins-kathryn-bigelow-mark-boals-kill-bin-laden Ralph Fiennes’ Second Helming Effort Is Still Casting Most recently seen as cross-dressing assassin Isaacs in Joe Wright’s “Hanna,” character actor Tom Hollander is now the latest addition to Ralph Fiennes’ sophomore directorial effort, an adaptation of Claire Tomalin’s Charles Dickens-Nelly Ternan love story, “The Invisible Woman.” Hollander will play fellow novelist Wilkie Collins, a frequent collaborator of Dickens whose play “The Frozen Deep” was the catalyst of Dickens and Ternan’s first meeting. Fiennes will play Dickens himself, with rising star Felicity Jones as Ternan and Kristin Scott Thomas as Dickens’ wife Catherine. Fiennes and baby-faced Jones, you ask? Yeah, Dickens was 45 when he began his relationship with the 18-year-old Ternan, who was actually a year younger than Dickens’ eldest daughter, Mary. Fiennes will direct from a script by Abi Morgan. http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/tom-hollander-goes-literary-for-ralph-fiennes-charles-dickens-love-story-invisible-woman There’s, Like, A Battle Royale To Co-Star With Michael Fassbender In That Ridley Scott Flick Could Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt be teaming on Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor” before they work on “Twelve Years A Slave”? If everything shakes out, that could very well be the case. Pitt, Jeremy Renner and Javier Bardem are reportedly circling the villain the same role in the upcoming Cormac McCarthy-penned film. Earlier this week Fassbender got locked in for the film at which time there was word that several “high-profile actors” were being sought. And this certainly seems to be the case. The script is said to be an amped up “No Country For Old Men”-esque tale that follows a lawyer who naively gets involved in the drug trade and finds himself caught up in a desperate situation. This is all early days and who knows who will finally sign on the line. http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/javier-bardem-jeremy-renner-brad-pitt-circling-ridley-scotts-the-counselor Pilot Season
Sixteen Years Later, Bill Pullman Is Playing The President Again Cue “Hail to the Chief” because TV has found its president. Bill Pullman, who famously took on the role of head of state in the 1996 blockbuster “Independence Day,” has signed on to play the US leader in NBC’s White House comedy “1600 Penn.” Pullman joins former “American Dreams” star Brittany Snow (playing his Type A daughter) and “The Book of Mormon’s” Josh Gad (playing his spacey son) in the single-camera pilot about a dysfunctional first family. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/25/bill-pullman-plays-presid_n_1300978.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Ftvsquad+%28TV+Squad%29 Good News, Peeps! Martin Lawrence Is, Wait For It, RETURNING TO TV!!! CBS has given a green light to a still-untitled comedy starring Martin Lawrence. The project, Mike Lisbe and Nate Reger, will star Marty Mar as “a widowed father of two teenagers who, after losing his job in construction, decides to go to the police academy and become a cop at the age of 46.” This new CBS series will mark his return to TV-dom since his hit show “Martin” went off the air in 1997. http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/martin-lawrence-and-cbs-finally-settle-on-a-new-series-network-gives-greenlight-to-family-comedy A Plethora Of Updates About Pilot Season Doris Roberts is getting some “Counter Culture” with ABC. The Emmy-winning former matriarch of “Everybody Loves Raymond” has signed on to play Aunt Lee on the ABC comedy, which follows three aging sisters who own a West Texas family diner together. “Lost” alum Emilie de Ravin has joined the cast of “Americana.” The actress will head to the ABC soapy drama about a famous fashion industry family, joining Anthony LaPaglia, who’s already been cast as the fashion icon/family patriarch Robert Soulter. “Brothers & Sisters” alum Ken Olin and “The Descent’s” Natalie Mendoza are also set to star in the drama. “Beauty And The Beast” has cast Darius Campbell to fill the role of the latter title character. “Twilight” werewolf Chaske Spencer is heading West to NBC’s “The Frontier.” Spencer will star in NBC’s Western drama pilot, playing optimist Eli, who’s traveling with his mentally unstable aunt, Lisa. “Brotherhood” star Ethan Embry and “Boardwalk Empire’s” Megan Ferguson are among the other travelers who’ve already been cast. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/25/bill-pullman-plays-presid_n_1300978.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Ftvsquad+%28TV+Squad%29 Another Person Enters “White Man Van” Pilot Edi Gathegi has signed up to co-star opposite Kyle Bornheimer in ABC’s comedy pilot called “White Man Van,” which centers on Jack (Bornheimer) “who is forced to put his dreams on hold in order to take over the family handyman business from his father Tony” (played by J.K. Simmons). Gathegi will play Darren, one of Tony’s workers. http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/edi-gathegi-set-to-co-star-in-abc-pilot-white-man-van A Trio Of Actors Take A Trip To Shondaland Matt Long, Maury Sterling and Brigid Brannagh have jumped aboard Shonda Rhimes’ ABC period pilot “Gilded Lilys.” The drama centers on the opening of the first luxury hotel in New York City in 1895 and the stories of love, treachery and disdain between the classes set against a backdrop of vicious family rivalries, scandalous secrets and conflict and co-mingling of the classes. The Lily family has reigned over New York’s elite for decades but a recent family scandal has undermined their fortunes both financially and societally. Long nabbed the coveted lead role of John Kidd, a lower-class survivor with an adventurous spirit and a romantic soul. Sterling will take on the role of Jasper, while Brannagh is set to play Elizabeth, the beautiful matriarch of the Lily family. The trio join previously cast Brian F. O’Byrne, Blythe Danner, Sarah Bolger and Madeline Zima.
“Gossip Girl” scribe K.J. Steinberg is penning the project, with Rhimes and her Shondaland partner Betsy Beers executive producing for ABC Studios. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/shonda-rhimes-pilot-gilded-lilys-blythe-danner-294802 “Hunger Games”-Like Pilot Brings In Some Hollywood Royalty The CW has found its prince and he’s the grandson of an Academy Award winner. Gregory Peck’s grandson Ethan Peck has been tapped to star opposite “Friday Night Lights”‘ Aimee Teegarden in “The Selection,” the youth-skewing network’s “Hunger Games”-ish drama pilot. Based on the forthcoming series of books by Kiera Cass, the series is described as an epic romance set 300 years in the future. “The Vampire Diaries”‘ Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain will write and executive produce the drama, which hails from Warner Bros. Television. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/ethan-peck-the-selection-cw-pilot-hunger-games-295032 You Cannot Stop Larry Wilmore, You Can Only Hope To Contain Him Funnyman Larry Wilmore has a few new TV projects on the horizon. First, Wilmore has signed on to co-star opposite Mike Vogel in a new Fox comedy pilot titled “Living Loaded.” Said to be based on a book of the same name by Dan Dunn, show centers on Dan (Vogel), “the loose partying blogger of the popular Living Loaded blog who is forced to change his career plans when he becomes an NPR radio host.” Wilmore will play a character named Leonard, “a thoughtful and reserved Black intellectual whose dream of hosting his own NPR show is crushed when Dan is brought in as his co-host.” Donald Sutherland also co-stars, although no word on what his role will be. Second, Wilmore reportedly penned a comedy script for CBS as a potential starring vehicle for Martin Lawrence (likely one of the 2 CBS projects Lawrence has been mulling over); although no movement on that yet. And finally, Wilmore is said to be prepping a comedy special for the Showtime cable TV network. http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/larry-wilmore-loads-up-on-tv-projects-one-co-starring-anna-maria-horsford And, Yes, Another Oscar Winner Turns To TV Mira Sorvino is on the cusp of getting her TV series badge. The “Mighty Aphrodite” Academy Award winner is in final negotiations to join CBS’ Jerry Bruckheimer drama pilot “Trooper.” In the project, which hails from Warner Bros. Television, Sorvino would star as a common-sense mother-turned-New York state trooper. Aron Eli Coleite (“Heroes”) will pen the pilot and executive produce alongside Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman. KristieAnne Reed will serve as co-EP, with Craig Gillespe on board to direct. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/mira-sorvino-cbs-trooper-jerry-bruckheimer-294637 Craig Zisk Toplines ABC’s List Of Pilot Directors ABC is rounding out its pilot directors. Craig Zisk (“United States of Tara”) has been tapped to helm the network’s untitled Kari Lizer project. In addition, the network has also tapped the following pilot directors: Beth McCarthy-Miller will helm its Judy Greer comedy “American Judy,” Ted Wass will direct the Stephnie Weir comedy “Counter Culture” as well as the John Leguizamo comedy “Only Fools and Horses,” Julie Anne Robinson will helm “How to Live With Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life,” starring Sarah Chalke and Jon Dore, John Pasquin will direct the network’s Reba McEntire comedy “Malibu Country,” Luke Greenfield will helm “Prairie Dogs,” which stars Kal Penn and Dan Fogler, Mark Pellington will direct “Penoza,” the drama from Twilight’s “Melissa Rosenberg” that stars Lee Tergesen, and Pierre Morel will helm spy thriller drama “Zero Hour,” from writer/EP Paul Scheuring. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/craig-zisk-abc-pilot-directors-294655 Bradley Whitford Back On TV? Yes, Please! Fox’s spy drama “The Asset” is adding “The West Wing”’s Bradley Whitford. The Emmy-winning actor, who more recently starred in Fox’s short-lived drama “The Good Guys,” signed on to the Josh Friedman drama. The project, which hails from 20th Century Fox, revolves around a female agent set in the New York office of the CIA. Whitford, who recently guested on such shows as “Law & Order: Los Angeles,” “The Mentalist” and USA’s “In Plain Sight,” will play the New York CIA station chief opposite Ali Larter’s CIA field operative character. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bradley-whitford-fox-the-asset-294564 “Cleveland” Spinoff Finds A Show Runner TV Land has tapped industry veteran Phoef Sutton to oversee its “Hot in Cleveland” spinoff. Tentatively titled “Have Faith,” the series stars Cedric the Entertainer as Rev. Boyce and was co-written by Cedric and Cleveland creator Suzanne Martin. TV Land ordered the Cedric-fronted project to series after the concept originated in the flagship series. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-land-hot-in-cleveland-cedric-the-entertainer-spinoff-showrunner-294617 Acquisitions/Film Festivals
Rome Festival Has Itself A Brand New Boss International Rome Film Festival President Gian Luigi Rondi stepped down Friday, ending weeks of speculation over the fate of the festival and almost surely clearing the way for former Venice Film Festival artistic director Marco Mueller to be appointed as Rome’s artistic director. The debate over whether Mueller or incumbent artistic director Piera Detassis would be tapped as artistic director waged for nearly two months, since Mueller was ousted from Venice Dec. 27. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/marco-mueller-rome-film-festival-294816 David Ayers’ Latest Finds A Home On The Open Road After the box office success of Joe Carnahan’s “The Grey” starring Liam Neeson, it looks like distribution shingle Open Road Films has a bit of cash to splash now reportedly in final negotiations to acquire David Ayer’s third directorial effort in cop-drama “End Of Watch.” The film teams Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena together as “two longtime LAPD partners confronting marriage, love, fatherhood and the harsh realities of the Los Angeles streets” with Anna Kendrick and Natalie Martinez playing their respective love interests. Frank Grillo, America Ferrera, Cody Horn and David Harbour also co-star. http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/open-road-films-set-to-acquire-david-ayers-cop-drama-end-of-watch-starring-jake-gyllenhaal-michael-pena Did You Know There’s A Sidney Poitier Film Festival? Because We Didn’t The Sidney Poitier Film Festival kicks off in The Bahamas on February 29th, and will run through March 4th. It was established by the School of English Studies at The College of The Bahamas as a means of honoring the achievements of a great Bahamian actor and filmmaker, Sir Sidney Poitier. The festival states that it hopes to preserve his legacy for future generations of Bahamians. The festival takes place each year in late February. All films screenings are FREE and open to the public and take place at The College of The Bahamas Nassau Campus, Oakes Field. http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/third-annual-sidney-poitier-film-festival-to-be-held-february-29-march-4-in-the-bahamas The Magnanimous Kevin Spacey Gives A Young Filmmaker A Shot (Of Jameson) All the best film puns have to do with booze, don’t they? Trigger Street Productions announced the U.S. winner of their Jameson First Shot competition — that’s right, Jameson, as in the famous Irish whiskey named after its creative, John Jameson. Benjamin Leavitt, who won the competition in the U.S., is a director and editor who graduated from NYU in 2004. His winning film, “The Ventriloquist,” follows a taciturn ventriloquist who tries to outwit his gregarious marionette. Two other winners from South African and Russia will join Leavitt as winners from a pool of over 700 entries. Trigger Street, of course, is Kevin Spacey’s production company, and part of the winners’ prize is the opportunity to shoot their script in LA with Spacey playing the lead role. http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/kevin-spaceys-trigger-street-announces-u-s-winner-of-jameson-first-shot-competition
Business/Legal News ABC Studios Wants To Be In the Daniel Chun Bidness “The Office”’s Daniel Chun has inked an overall deal with ABC Studios. As part of the arrangement, “The Office” head writer and co-executive producer will be tasked with developing and producing comedy projects for the studio both as a writer and producer. The news of Chun signing such a pact with a rival studio to “The Office”’s Universal Television comes mere weeks after his fellow “Office” writer and star Mindy Kaling had her comedy project ordered to series at Fox. If the latter is ultimately picked up to series, Kaling, whose Universal Television deal expires in June, is expected to depart the long-running NBC series and focus instead on the new effort. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/the-office-daniel-chun-abc-studios-294684 The Questions About Who Will Play The Villain In Season Three Of “Walking Dead” Has Been Answered AMC’s “The Walking Dead” has found its Governor. British actor David Morrissey has been cast to play the evil villain in the third season of the zombie drama based on the comics by Robert Kirkman, the network announced Friday. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/the-walking-dead-governor_n_1300417.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Ftvsquad+%28TV+Squad%29 Rick Schroeder Takes A Pair of Producers To Court Rick Schroder is having trouble trouble finding a distributor for his feature film directorial debut, “Wild Hearts.” In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Schroder blames two producers who purportedly tried to extort him after he backed away from their project. According to the lawsuit, Joseph and Jack Nasser at the Nasser Entertainment Group intended to make a film entitled “Black Stallion,” an adaptation of 1938 film, “King of the Sierras.” Schroder entered into discussion with the Nassers in 2010 to write the script and direct and star in it, but when financing didn’t come through, Schroeder backed off, never having signed a deal memorandum. Afterward, Schroder began a new film project, titled “Wild Hearts,” which he says he wrote himself and used his own funds to make. Schroder then says he got an “extortionate letter,” where the Nassers claimed ownership on his new film. As a result of the legal dispute, Schroder goes on to say that other distributors “withdrew their interest” in his film. He’s now seeking a declaratory judgment about his rights and also suing the defendants for extortion, conversion, fraud and negligent misrepresentation. Nasser has not responded to requests for comment. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/ricky-schroder-lawsuit-black-stallion-wild-hearts-294793 California Continues To Want Your Film And Television Business A bill that would extend the state of California’s Film and Television Tax Credit program for an additional five years was officially introduced Thursday in the state Assembly by a bipartisan group led by Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes. This follows a battle last year to extend the law which provides $100 million a year in tax credits to help keep movie, TV and commercial production in California. At the end of the legislative session last year, the bill was caught up in political battles and was reduced to a single year extension. This new bill is an effort to go back to a longer mandate, which is seen by supporters as important so that producers can be confident as they plan that the credits will continue to be available. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/california-film-tv-tax-credits-294638 Colombia Also Wants Your Film And TV Business Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos attended the opening of the Cartagena film festival Thursday night and announced his full support for the new Film Bill 814, which is now in Congress and is expected to pass before June. In his speech, Santos — a self-proclaimed film buff — explained the new legislation aims to “turn Colombia into a main location for both local and foreign high-budget films through a series of investment benefits.” http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/juan-manuel-santos-columbia-president-cartagena-film-festival-294810 Nothing Safe About This: Former Cop Says “Safe House” Stolen From Him Former Chicago police officer Marty Christopher Lawson is attempting to get an injunction to stop Universal from further distributing the hit film “Safe House.” Why? The former cop, who says he was forced to retire under duress, says the plot, characters, theme, etc. of the film were ripped from his book, “Truth or Treason,” as well as a series of videos he posted on YouTube. The complaint doesn’t spell out the similarities, nor does it suggest how Universal saw his work, but it implies that the movie carried analogous elements to his efforts to uncover $100 million of alleged conspiratorial financial fraud upon the Chicago Police Pension Fund. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/safe-house-chicago-police-officer-lawsuit-294799 Clooney And Katzenberg Team Up As Fundraisers The Motion Picture & Television Fund is launching a three-year $350 million fundraising campaign–with $238 million already committed by Hollywood heavyweights. MPTF Foundation Committee chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg and board member George Clooney announced the campaign Thursday at a breakfast at the Beverly Hills Hotel. They are partners on the project. Katzenberg and MPTF CEO Bob Beitcher said the money raised will guarantee a future for the charity as more and more baby boomers age (Clooney, who was born at the tail end of the baby boomer generation, smiled). http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/clooney-katzenberg-fundraising-350-million-steven-spielberg-tom-cruise-steve-bing-jj-abrams-294590 James Patterson Novels Are The Latest Reason Someone Is Being Sued Six years after Viacom and CBS split, a dispute has erupted that calls into question how the companies intermingled properties during their time together and unwinded assets thereafter. At stake are rights to develop a film adaptation of James Patterson’s novel, Virgin. The question posed in a new lawsuit filed on Tuesday in California federal court is whether rights passed through Paramount Pictures, which remained with Viacom, or whether rights still belong to CBS Corporation, which spun off from Viacom in 2006. The plaintiff in the case is Balagan Enterprises, a production company that says it acquired film rights to the novel and has made considerable expense developing a new adaptation only to be threatened with a copyright infringement lawsuit by CBS. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/viacom-cbs-james-patterson-virgin-lawsuit-294557 Industry Moves
Meanwhile, Entertainment One Has Another Exec Shake Up Ten days after Canadian indie producer Entertainment One pulled plans to sell the company, Noreen Halpern, the Los Angeles-based president of dramatic programming, announced she is exiting the company. Halpern also is parting ways with John Morayniss, with whom she co-founded Blueprint Entertainment in 2002. They sold the company and joined Entertainment One in 2008. Entertainment One said Halpern’s departure was “amicable” and that she would remain with the company through a transition period. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/noreen-halpern-leaving-entertainment-one-294618 Around The Web
All Kidding Aside, We're Starting To Think EVERYONE Should See "Bully" — Indiewire
In Case You Were Wondering Why Guys Love "The Walking Dead" — TV Squad
Also, About Those Similarities Between "Wanderlust" And "Martha Marcy May Marlene" — Moviefone
Care To See Some Behind The Scenes Stuff Of Whitney Houston In "Sparkle"? Saddle Up! — Indiewire
Even More About The "Impending Disaster" That Is "John Carter" — THR.com
Website to Watch
http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Generic/Red-Bulletin-iFrame-Generic-ipad-021243143792941?CategoryName=Red+Bulletin+Magazine&p=1243143795076
This month, Red Bulletin Magazine's iPad app shines a light on the Red Bull Stratos Project. In an action sports event that is likely to terrify anyone with a fear of heights, BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner will be going up more than 120,000 feet in the air via a stratospheric balloon, only to freefall back down to Earth at a supersonic speed. The jump is slated for later this year. The iPad app offers an assortment of multimedia content, including interviews with Baumgartner and footage of his mental and physical preparation for the daring feat. Other content available in this month's app include interviews with actresses Charlotte Gainsbourg ("Melancholia") and Jennifer Lawrence ("The Hunger Games"), as well as exclusive images from the Red Bull Signature Series programming block that airs on NBC and NBC Sports Network. The Red Bulletin Magazine is Red Bull Media House's monthly lifestyle publication and it, along with the app, is available for free. Additional Source:
www.cynopsis.com
FNB Editorial
Why No One Was Even Remotely Excited For Last Night’s Oscars As we’re writing this, the Academy Awards haven’t happened yet, and that’s on purpose, because this little ditty has nothing to do with who ultimately won or lost the 24 statuettes being handed out at the Kodak Theater. We covered this last week while also discussing the people and films we thought would take home the gold. But we also mentioned that this week we were planning to talk about why we were — and continue to be — lacking excitement about something that usually has us more a tingle at this time of year. The thing is, there’s no drama about this year’s ceremony because the march toward it is so completely endless. We’re not just talking about the release of the films over the course of months, because that is something we actually like. The Christmas season gets a little hairy for us, because we end up spending so much money seeing so many movies in such a short amount of time (though, admittedly, $57 of that was spent seeing “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” on IMAX, because yes, it really was worth seeing three times). On the contrary, we think the Oscar releasing season really should be an all-year affair. Space ‘em out a bit and let us deal with the flicks with plenty of time in between. No, the problem is that, over the past few years, there have been more and more ceremonies added, more chances for people to dress up and accept awards, and all they do is the opposite of what they intend. The point of the mass of critics’ societies handing out hardware and the Golden Globes and … well, who can keep track of them all? The point of them is supposed to be a long, slow build to the Oscars. But that’s not what happens at all. Instead, it sucks all the air out of the proverbial room, and takes all the drama, intrigue and excitement with it. Do you think, if the Oscars happened before all this other mishegas occurred, we’d have so many of these categories as foregone conclusions? Judging by the way it used to be in these parts, we’re going to go ahead and guess no. Not much we can do about it now, but we are pointing it out that this can be fixed, if anyone really cares. The question that we need to ask, though, is does anyone? Really? We’re not so sure anymore. Editor@filmnewsbriefs.com | 
No comments:
Post a Comment