TheWeinsteinCompany Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The trailer for The Road (which now has a release date of October 16) has hit the net courtesy of Yahoo! Movies but we've got an embed here thanks to Trailer Addict. For those who read the Cormac McCarthy book (and I haven't, but I was told the entire thing by a "helpful" friend), you're going to notice what looks like a lot of changes to the story. The mysterious disaster is made explicit, Charlize Theron is given a lot more screen time than the wife ever had in the book, and the action is upped ten times over.

However, this trailer has caused a lot of controversy already with people who have seen the film. Esquire just published a review this week, and noted that the Weinstein Company was falling prey to the temptation to cut a trailer that looked like a post-apocalyptic action movie. According to Esquire, John Hillcoat's film is (and other reviews have borne this out) as quiet, harrowing, and bleak as the novel is, and may just be "the most important film of the year". Unfortunately, the Weinsteins feel no one will see it unless there's an "explanation" and a hook of kick ass action, even if the film itself lacks the things the trailer sells.

But at least you get a glimpse of the real film underneath, which is enough to cause you to choke up. I think we're promised one hell of a gut-wrenching performance from Viggo Mortensen. Just look at his eyes.

Sin City is the series that just can't catch a break. Last week, IESB.net was reporting that the Weinstein Company / Dimension had lost the rights to Sin City, and that the franchise was being quietly shopped around. The rumors were hotly denied by the Weinsteins ... but now The Hollywood Reporter is saying the same darn thing.

While the Weinsteins continue to maintain that they hold the rights, producers all around town are saying that Frank Miller's "estate" has been shopping around those same rights. It's unclear if they have lapsed due to the failure to renew or move on the property, but it seems strange that they could have expired so soon.

This is a rumor that I think we all hope comes true. I'd like to see Sin City land at a studio willing to actually put A Dame to Kill For into production instead of just talking about it. It's been four (count 'em, four) years since Sin City, with "production starting in a matter of weeks!" reports being issued every three months or so. The talent remains enthusiastic and attached. Fans are clamoring for the rest of the sleazy series. It's a no brainer for any other studio, but the Weinstein Company seems to believe delaying films until the end of the world is a sound business principle.

What would you like to see ultimately happen with the next Sin City movie, and who do you think would take the best care of it?

If nothing else I guess you can never say that Kevin Smith doesn't learn from his past. Just a couple of days after Erik brought us the news that Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan were rumored to be starring in Smith's action comedy, A Couple of Dicks, Variety has confirmed that Willis and Morgan are on board, but there's been a slight change. The film has now been given the much more 'billboard friendly' title of A Couple of Cops (doesn't exactly have the same ring to it, now does it?). I mean, we're all adults here, has it really gotten to the point where even a pun as vanilla as a variation on 'Private Dicks' is too much for audiences?

I would've thought after all of the MPAA's prudishness over Zack and Miri Make a Porno that Smith would surely be headed for another battle royale. Remember, last summer, there were fights over Zack and Miri posters, the title, and even the film itself. Heck, there was even trouble when it came out on DVD thanks to the family-minded folks at Wal-Mart. But I guess Smith (and Warner Bros., for that matter) isn't interested in another fight with theater owners or enraged special interest groups, and this time he's just going to go with the flow (or maybe this time he's just a little tired of tilting at windmills). But, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise if you consider the fact that he's making a lot of changes in his career lately. Not only is he directing someone else's script, but he's working with a major studio and his longstanding relationship with The Weinstein Co. seems to be a little on the rocks.

Just as the Inglourious Basterds teaser talk died down, and "I want my scalps!" faded from Facebook and Twitter updates comes "Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France ..."

Yep, Basterds has a new tagline, and we've got something else to whet your appetite for Nazi carnage, as three brand new bloody posters have debuted online. Their origin is a little murky -- Empire is claiming them as an exclusive, as is IGN and Ain't It Cool News, but they're here now, and can be found in our Basterds gallery:





Striking, aren't they? Everyone will have a favorite! (Mine's the rifle.) Whatever you think of the teaser, you can't deny that they're a little bit brilliant. Quentin Tarantino's posters are always things of beauty, and especially welcome in a world of increasingly bland and Photoshopped floating heads. Will these become staples of dorm rooms and film fanatic dens like the Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Kill Bill posters have? In fact, if you're one of those who still has Pulp Fiction framed on your wall, I suggest you replace it with one (or all) of these. Not only will guests assume that by idolizing Tarantino you know buckets about grindhouse cinema and spaghetti westerns, they'll also realize you're in favor of Nazi smackdowns and scalpings. You'll be the coolest person they know.

UPDATE 3: The full trailer is now online over at Yahoo!

UPDATE 2: A much better HD version of the ET trailer is over here.

UPDATE: Entertainment Tonight premiered the first trailer earlier this evening, and so until it arrives online, here's one of those cruddy bootleg versions to keep you entertained.

What does it mean when we crave footage so much that we post a preview of a trailer? Granted, this is a Quentin Tarantino movie, and it is one that we've been teased with for ten years. I think we can be forgiven for salivating over snippets of footage ... especially when even the tease is fun to watch.

While the official Inglourious Basterds trailer hits Entertainment Tonight later , The Movie Box managed to get a snippet and put it on YouTube in the wee hours of the morning. If you want a big, high-definition version, that's where you should click. But just in case you don't want to leave the cozy confines of Cinematical, we've embedded above. Tell them thanks as you enjoy Brad Pitt's crazy ass accent -- and remember, it's only a few more hours until you get to see the whole damn thing.

Interviews with Viggo Mortensen are a rather rare and wonderful thing -- or at least ones that don't get all coy and snarky over his remarkable intelligence and publishing company. So, when I saw Capone's interview with Mortensen over at Ain't It Cool News, I had to share it with you all.

His thoughts on the upcoming Good are too long and interesting to crop and paste here -- but what I will post is his disappointment over The Road being delayed. Despite starring in the film, he is unsure what's going on with it. "My understanding is that they know that they've got a story that a lot of people want to see, because of the book. And, the people that read the book, which are many, were very moved by it and by this relationship between this boy and this man, in particular, in that setting. And, I think that they are really aware of the fact that they've got one chance to do it, and if there's any little things that they still want to work on a little more, to get it just right, whether it's the music --I don't know what it is -- a variety of things, they want to do it right. And, if you rush it out before you feel in good conscience it's there ... So, I am disappointed. I wanted to see it. I want to see how it is."

He's also concerned that the film might be released at the wrong time of year, and is hoping for a fall release. "What I hope they don't do is then just put it out in February or something. I hope they wait and do it at the right time. I don't know." (Yes, Weinstein Co. Release The Road in the fall, please. No February or March dump!)

I think this'll be my last Outlander post for a while; you're probably sick of hearing about it by now. But I think I owe you this one as a matter of follow-through. You see, the buzz on the internets is that, as feared, the Weinstein Company is sending the nearly $50 million dollar Vikings-fight-aliens adventure film to direct-to-DVD oblivion.

The source of this semi-substantiated rumor is that a couple of online DVD retailers, such as Movies Unlimited and Amazon have listed a November 18th, 2008 release date for the movie, with Movies Unlimited now accepting pre-orders. No theatrical release date was ever announced, and needless to say, if the DVD release date is accurate, it rules out any sort of theatrical appearance.

I guess I'm a little surprised at the dump, simply because the movie's so darn expensive. But it's the Weinsteins, theatrical releases themselves cost a lot of money, and this was more of a cult item from the start anyway. In any case, November is certainly sooner than I expected to be able to see the thing.

Important to note that there's no official confirmation from the distributor on the DVD release, so this could all be one big mistake. But it doesn't look good.

[via SlashFilm]

When two movies with similar plots hit theaters around the same time, it usually just reveals the vapidity of Hollywood formula (as was the case when Deep Impact and Armageddon came out a few months apart). The situation changes, however, when the subject matter has far more thematic weight. Defamer's S.T. VanAirsdale points out the potential conflict brewing now that The Weinstein Company has picked up U.S. theatrical, DVD and television rights to the 2004 German film Operation Valykrie, a dramatization of the failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hilter during World War II. Sound familiar? That's because Bryan Singer's upcoming 2009 release, Valkyrie, tells precisely the same story, with Tom Cruise in the role of would-be assassin Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg. In the German movie, the character is played by Sebastian Koch, the debonair star of The Lives of Others and Paul Verhoeven's Black Book.

In addition to the overlapping content, VanAirsdale points out another potential conflict: Koch's female co-star in Black Book, the alluring Carice van Houten, stars opposite Cruise in Valkyrie, creating the sort of meaty overlap that money can buy. Harvey Weinstein's no slouch when it comes to instigating controversy, but his company hasn't exactly had the best of luck with its recent daring titles (few turned out for Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?). Personal drama has impacted Cruise's films before, but this might be the rare case where he would have nothing to do with it.

Those Weinsteins don't waste a minute! IndieWIRE reports that the Weinstein Company has bought the Toronto International Film Festival entry Boy A before it even screens there. The deal was finalized Friday; the film premieres Saturday. Talk about beating the rush.

Based on a novel by Jonathan Trigell, Boy A is a drama about a young man released from prison after spending most of his life there for a serious crime he committed when he was a child. The director is John Crowley, his second theatrical feature after 2003's ensemble comedy Intermission, which played out like a violent version of Love Actually. Boy A's cast includes Andrew Garfield, Peter Mullan, Katie Lyons, and Shaun Evans.

The Weinsteins' luck has been bad the last couple years, with very few hits and a lot of box office flops. But one thing they've generally been good at is sniffing out winners at film festivals. Buying Boy A before it even premieres suggests they spotted a good one and didn't want to risk someone else grabbing it -- that, or they're getting desperate. Hopefully we'll have some insight from our crew members in Toronto after the film screens there.