TheWeinsteinCo Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Who knows what finally convinced Neve Campbell to return to the Scream franchise, but according to Variety (and Bob Weinstein), she'll join both Courteney Cox and David Arquette in a fourth installment set to begin production in April or May. This fourth installment will be the first in a new trilogy, and The Weinstein Co. is in talks with Wes Craven to helm at least the first film. No word on whether Campbell and the Cox-Arquette duo will stay on past the first flick or be hacked up five minutes in (I'd vote for the latter).

The Weinstein Co. have been battling rumors of money trouble for awhile now, letting go of employees and delaying films due to lack of funds and manpower. Now, though, Bob Weinstein says the company will be returning to some of the franchises that helped produce box office, and in addition to three new Scream films, they're bringing Robert Rodriguez back to write and direct Spy Kids IV in 3D, with production on that set to begin in March of 2010 (so much for Sin City 2 ...). Also on the agenda for Weinstein is a third Halloween movie in 3D, as well as remakes of Hellraiser, Scanners (in 3D), Short Circuit and American Werewolf in London. On whether Weinstein will be able to handle all these films without bankrupting the company or delaying release dates for years on end, Bob notes, " ... there is no question that financing is readily available to produce and market these films."

Guess we'll see about that ...

My favorite part of attending a film festival comes when you discover a smaller film that hits you in a way that almost forces you to throw up everything you know about the flick whenever someone asks. They could be, like, "So, how ya feeling today?" And then you can't help but answer, "I'm good ... but you HAVE to see this friggin' film. It's called (insert the title) and it's unbelievable -- easiest the best thing I've seen in the history of best things I've seen ... times a gabillion!"

Okay, maybe you don't flip out like that -- but you get the idea. So far this year I've hit up Sundance, Slamdance and SXSW, with plans to soon visit the Gen Art Film Festival here in New York, as well as Tribeca soon after. Thankfully, I've seen two films that absolutely rocked my world, and if I could use every other post just to write about them -- in the hopes all of you will go see these films, and champion them -- I would. But I can't. So from time to time, I will pop in, mention the titles and hope something sticks. As of right now, these are the two films I am championing this year: The Hottie and the Nottie and ... just kidding. Kidding, people. I'm KIDDING! God! Chill out.

AnyWAY, here are the two films: Dear Zachary: a letter to a son about his father (Slamdance) and The Promotion (SXSW). The first is a gripping, tear-jerker of a documentary from a very cool dude named Kurt Kuenne. Alex from First Showing went to see Zachary at SXSW on my recommendation and it blew him away. It will blow you away. Fingers crossed a deal comes soon ... and you bet I'll be back telling you all about it.

The Promotion, on the other hand, is all the way on the other end of the spectrum. It's a comedy. A dry comedy ... where Seann William Scott plays the straight man -- go figure. Not sure if the Weinstein Co. know they have a little gem in their basket; hopefully Kirk Honeycutt didn't scare them stupid. This one is set to come out on June 6, so make sure you're there.

Which films are you absolutely nutty about this year -- to the point where you stop random strangers in the street to tell them all about it?

Last November, when I interviewed Melissa George for the horror film Turistas, we ended up talking about another project on her horizon, the psychological thriller Waz, with Stellan Skarsgard. George said the film had a "genius storyline" but sort of went around the world when describing it, not wanting to be pinned down on an actual plot description. "It's about altruism in nature and whether you'd kill someone you love in order to survive yourself," she said. When pressed, she gave me a monkey analogy. "In nature there are some animals who will put themselves on the front line to be killed in order to save the kingdom, because they are the same gene pool. They don't care. They just want to survive. One monkey will go out in front of another and get killed in order to save 300 of them behind him. You know what I mean? Whereas, humans, we're a separate gene pool." Hmmm ...

Anyway, the trades are reporting that just as the Cannes fest was closing, the Weinsteins made a couple of last-minute deals, and one of them was to pick up North American home video rights to Waz. The film, which is described in the article as "the story of a detective (Skarsgard) stalked by a serial killer," will be released through the Genius home video label, although when hasn't been specified. In addition to Waz, the Weinsteins also picked up North American rights to the Joy Division biopic Control and Australian rights to the animated film Persepolis -- both of the latter were reviewed by our own James at Cannes.

Honestly, I will not be surprised if, any day now, The Weinstein Bros. decide to come out with their own brand of movie theater popcorn and candy, if only to tap into one more market. The Weinstein Co. has already gone urban, they're interested in converting to Catholicism (strictly for the box office numbers) and now they're going after your kids -- parents beware!

Together with their Weinstein Books division (anyone else having flashbacks of the Olsen Twins' commercial empire?), TWC has snatched up two books, which are part of a new children's series, as well as a film option on all novels and a "rolling option" for all print prequels and sequels. Someone wants to discover the next Harry Potter and The Weinsteins desperately want to be that special someone. The first title, Alex and the Ironic Gentleman (written by newbie Adrienne Kress), will be published next fall and follows 10-year-old orphan Alex Morningside on a quest to save her schoolteacher from a bunch of evil pirates.

The idea seems fun enough, but does it have all the correct ingredients to make up a successful franchise? Let's see: Pirates? Check. A lovable young orphan as the main character? Check. Super-human powers? Um ... don't see any of those in the description. Regardless, the second book is due out in the fall of 2008, and if it catches on, look for more and more of them (not all Pirate-related) to land on bookshelves amongst a host of other kid-type fantasy stuff -- all of them trying to grab the attention of that oh-so-important Potter audience who will lose their greatest friend next year ... forever???

Get ready to file this one into your WTF folder, folks. According to Variety, The Weinstein Co. has sealed a four-year deal with Blockbuster for them to be the exclusive rental outfit for all Weinstein releases. Yes, that means folks like Netflix will not be allowed to carry any films from the company starting in January. Once again, WTF?

So, to put this in simpler terms, if you're one of those people who might want to wait to watch flicks like Bobby, Shut Up and Sing or School for Scoundrels on DVD, and you only watch films through Netflix, then you're sh*t out of luck. Sure, it seems like a fabulous deal for Blockbuster (who are constantly trying to one-up their rival), but what does The Weinstein Co. get out of this? Well, it appears Blockbuster will market the hell out of all their releases, which includes a slew of front-of-store advertisements. However, while advertisements are great and all, they're now making it that much harder for people to catch their films on DVD. Those friends of mine who rent through Netflix will not sign up or switch to a Blockbuster account just to watch, say, The Dixie Chicks. So, The Weinstein Co. could potentially lose a lot of money here -- a gamble they're willing to take, I suppose.

What do you think?