bob shaye Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Love him or hate him, you've got to hand it to Brett Ratner for keeping his career in motion. Variety brings word that the hustling filmmaker plans to take his Rat Entertainment company from New Line, where it first settled in 1996, to a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures. Ratner says the departure of New Line execs Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne in February convinced him it was time to move on. At Paramount, Ratner will probably get bigger budgets and executives more receptive to his blockbuster-ready concepts. Stating the obvious, Ratner told Variety he "will not be pitching art films. I want to make major tentpole movies." You don't say?

Unless you're Scott Foundas, you probably balk at the idea of more Ratner movies populating the mainstream film scene, but the guy does fit the proper archetype of the classic Hollywood powerhouse. A modern day Sammy Glick, he knows how to make movies that bring out the audiences, whether or not they're any good. But maybe that determination means that, one day, Ratner will make a lot of great movies. His planned Hugh Hefner biopic sounds promising -- or at least, appropriate.

Still, that's a little ways off. Encouraged by his experience with X-Men: The Last Stand, Ratner decided he wanted to work on a new superhero franchise, so he's adapting Valiant Comics' Harbinger. Also in his queue: Beverly Hills Cop 4, The Incredible Shrinking Man and The Boys From Brazil. Do these projects get anyone excited? Anyone at all?

There's been lots of talk behind the scenes regarding trouble with New Line Cinema, who took a massive hit late last year with The Golden Compass, and haven't had much luck at the box office throughout the past year. This afternoon, it was officially announced that New Line will now become part of Warner Bros., with New Line chiefs, Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, officially stepping down. There are two announcements floating around: One is a press release, and the other is a note to New Line employees from Bob and Michael which just dropped into my inbox.

According to the internal letter, "New Line will maintain its own identity and will continue to produce, market, and distribute movies. But New Line will now do so as part of Warner Bros. and will probably be a much smaller operation than in the past. Time Warner hopes that operating New Line as a unit of Warner Bros. will allow New Line to focus on the creative side of movie-making, while reducing costs and taking advantage of Warner Bros.' distribution systems. The company will be holding group meeting with New Line employees tomorrow in Los Angeles and New York to discuss this announcement, and is committed to letting employees know as soon as possible about how this change affects them individually."

We here at Cinematical have some good friends over at New Line, and we wish them well in their future endeavors. For more on this, read the official press release here, and the internal letter after the jump ...

At an admitted production cost of $250 million, which may not even include marketing, The Golden Compass needed a smashing domestic opening weekend just to allay fears that it would cause major long-term problems for a struggling New Line Cinema. Instead, it pulled in an alarmingly low $26 million this weekend at a whopping 3,500 theaters, much closer to Eragon's disasterous $23 million opening weekend last Christmas than the $65 million opening weekend for the first Chronicles of Narnia film or the routine $90 and $100 million openings for the Harry Potter films. (The lowest opening weekend for a Lord of the Rings film was $47 million.) With muted buzz at best, expect Golden's numbers to plummet next weekend, especially with a new crowd of pre-Christmas contenders packing in, and total domestic box office to top out at around $80 million. Ouch.

Over at Nikki Finke's blog, she's declaring Golden a "wildly expensive flop" and specifically citing a low per screen average, which is another indicator that this thing will have no legs and certainly won't do well enough to warrant those two sequels. In fact, coming on the heels of other huge disappointments for New Line like Shoot em Up (a $5 million opening weekend) and Rendition (a $4 million opening weekend) and Mr. Woodcock (an $8 million opening weekend), this will likely spell the end for New Line chairman Bob Shaye, who shareholders already want to dump because of his ridiculous feud with golden goose Peter Jackson.

If there's any saving grace for this boondoggle, it will be international box office, which is important for a film like The Golden Compass. Even though the film may need to pull in over $700 million internationally just to be in the black, the Guardian is reporting that first day grosses in British cinemas were very healthy. The film has already grossed $4.3 million in Britain, which is very substantial, and a good indicator of how it will fare across Europe.

When I think of New Line Cinema, my first thought is of Freddy Krueger. Then Lord of the Rings. And then probably Austin Powers. Aside from a stray piece of quality cinema here and there, though, New Line has been pretty darn unreliable lately. (Or very reliable if you're someone who loves bad movies.) Seems they've burned all of the Rings goodwill (and profits) on titles like After the Sunset, Blade: Trinity, Son of the Mask, King's Ransom, Monster-in-Law, The Man, Final Destination 3, Take the Lead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and The Last Mimzy. (On the other hand we have the very amusing Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, the even funnier Wedding Crashers, the silly-but-fun Snakes on a Plane, the excellent Little Children, the dicey Running Scared, the underrated Fracture and this summer's Hairspray.)

But according to this rather illuminating article from the L.A. Times, New Line is looking for an image make-over -- and they want one in a hurry. With longtime marketing chief Russell Schwartz gone and new arrival Chris Carlisle ready to take over, New Line aims to dig itself out of last place, profits-wise. To that end they've been rejiggering a lot of their impending releases (such as Mr. Woodcock, Martian Child and Rendition), but there's really no denying that they spent waaaaaay too much money on Rush Hour 3. But I guess the studio was desperate for a summertime tent-pole of their own -- and boy did they overpay for it. (The studio also has one big hope on the horizon: Their rendition of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass -- oh, and the long-awaited Harold & Kumar sequel, which hits theaters next Spring. Ooh, and I hear Shoot 'Em Up is crazy fun.)

But the news out of New Line that we really care about the most is this: Have Bob Shaye and Peter Jackson been able to kiss and make up? And if so, does that mean Mr. Jackson will be invited back to helm The Hobbit? Well it sure looks like Mr. Shaye is singing a new tune these days: "Notwithstanding our personal quarrels, I really respect and admire Peter and would love for him to be creatively involved in some way in The Hobbit." Hmph, that sounds a whole lot different from "(Jackson) will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I'm still working for the company" -- which is what he said in January.

All things considered, I find myself pulling for New Line. This is a company that was built on the back of a rather cool horror franchise, and while their lame flicks definitely outnumber their quality efforts -- the studio does manage to hit a solid homer every once in a while. Maybe not financially, but I'm just interested in the movies. Plus it'd take a whole lot of awful movies to cancel out the awesomeness of the Rings franchise. Say what you will about New Line, but we wouldn't even have that trilogy if it wasn't for the studio's risk-taking ways. Plus they gave Paul Thomas Anderson free reign to make his masterpiece, so if that doesn't earn them some credit, nothing will. (I know it was a long time ago, but it's just that great a flick.)

While it presents some fantastic ideas and includes enough larger-than-life elements to entertain any kid on a rainy afternoon, The Last Mimzy ultimately leaves your mind feeling like your stomach does twenty minutes after scarfing down a giant helping of Chinese food -- empty, confused and a tad bit guilty. Based on Lewis Padgett's short story, Mimsy were the Borogoves, The Last Mimzy marks Bob Shaye's (New Line's founder, co-CEO and co-chairman) triumphant return to the director's chair after 17 long years. But, unlike the campy Book of Love, Mimzy provided Shaye with more complex material and universal themes that, if pulled off properly, would leave the audience hanging onto the edge of their seats, rooting for two ordinary kids faced with an extraordinary task: to save the world. Sadly, the only thing I was hanging onto was a small piece of the armrest I shared with the little kid who fell asleep next to me.

Noah (Chris O'Neil) and Emma (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn) aren't superheroes or crime-fighting vigilantes; they're your average brother and sister out looking for a little fun as the family -- complete with mom and dad (as played by Joely Richardson and Timothy Hutton) -- arrives at their isolated summer home with a generous portion of rest and relaxation on the agenda. When a clunky black box washes up on shore, the two are immediately intrigued by the mysterious symbols etched into its side. What is this? Where did it come from? And why are there black rocks, a sea shell and a stuffed bunny rabbit inside? It doesn't take long for the kids to figure out that the contents of this box, while unusual, provide those in its possession with strange physical and mental powers. So, naturally, they do what any young kid would do upon discovering a priceless artifact -- hide it from mom and dad.

There's no better way to describe the Jackson/New Line brouhaha than to use the words of Bob Shaye himself. When talking about the relationship between himself and his co-chairman, Michael Lynne, he's said: "I'm emotion. He's reason." Emotion is good and all, but lately it's been stirring up controversy since Peter Jackson sued New Line for not fulfilling their contractual obligations to him from the Lord of the Rings. You might remember Shaye's response to the lawsuit, which fell just short of a flailing, kicking tantrum.

Shaye has told Sci-Fi Wire: "I don't care about Peter Jackson anymore. He wants to have another $100 million or $50 million, whatever he's suing us for. He doesn't want to sit down and talk about it. He thinks that we owe him something after we've paid him over a quarter of a billion dollars." The New York Times followed up by asking him about these remarks. Unsurprisingly, Shaye admits that it was "in a moment of emotion" -- but not one that he regrets. All Shaye regrets is "losing a friend" in Jackson. He could be in the right, or it could be Jackson, but only the latter has been sounding sensible in the media.

Now it seems that he won't specifically say that he's against working with Jackson again. Perhaps Greg Wright was correct with his musings that Shaye could not defeat the power of this particular director. Instead, Shaye is now saying that he refuses to work with difficult directors (the names of which he won't divulge). It sounds like this is the first step to New Line re-opening their arms to Jackson, or at least to giving Shaye some meds to keep his emotions in check.

Greg Wright, the author of Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema's The Lord of the Rings, has just penned an intriguing essay for TheOneRing.net. Let me quote the most salient paragraph in full: "The smart money is on Jackson making both The Hobbit and the other planned film, and making them with New Line. Will that take place on Shaye's watch? Maybe not. But since New Line has corporate masters who may be even more demanding than Shaye, that may just mean bad news for Shaye -- and good news for Tolkien film fans."

The rest of Wright's essay presents a number of points for why Peter Jackson will ultimately prevail over Bob Shaye in this battle of the titans, not the least of which is that The Hobbit is not easy material for just anyone to pick up. It's an "allegorical bildungsroman" that needs the steady hand of someone who clearly understands how to translate Tolkien for modern day, action-crazy audiences. Wright also speculates that Jackson is secretly biding his time until rights to The Hobbit fall back to Saul Zaentz, who claims that he is more than ready to pay Jackson a fair price for his work.

There are only two paths forward, Wright says: one that leaves Jackson's work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy behind and re-imagines a "Curious George version of Middle-earth" aimed squarely at the kids. The other path is one that moves forward with Jackson and all the groundwork he has laid -- one that integrates The Hobbit into the Peter Jackson universe and presumably has a place for the beloved actors from the original Rings trilogy. "Box office potential almost dictates the wisdom of the latter choice," Wright says. No kidding.