eisner Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Why day/date isn't ready to save the day: Laws and Sausages
Filed under: Independent », Deals », Disney », IFC », Magnolia », Distribution », Exhibition », Home Entertainment », Movie Marketing », Mark Cuban », Cinematical Indie »
The most shocking moment of Sunday night's Oscar ceremony came early in the evening, long before Three 6 Mafia or Crash scored their twin victories for mediocrity. An hour or so after losing the night's first award to George Clooney, Jake Gyllenhaal trotted out on stage to ostensibly announce one of the night's many disposable montages. "They're called epics," he near-monotoned. "Extravaganzas. Spectacles." With that last one, Jake's voice took an unexpected up-turn. He went on to list a few (oddly amalgamated for mass cross-generational appeal) examples of the genre in question – "West Side Story. Star Wars. Ben-Hur." – before delivering the kicker: "You can't properly watch these on a television set, and good luck trying to enjoy them on a portable DVD." Gyllenhaal punctuated that embarrassingly over-scripted slice of Academy propaganda with a desperate, self-referential giggle – a composure break that lasted long enough for an insert shot of Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, Gyllenhaal's Brokeback Mountain co-stars, just two members of what sounded like a large chunk of the audience laughing along with him. It was rather amazing, a pure, bumbling moment of transparency that neatly struck down whatever was left of Sid Gannis' sad house of cards. The new takeaway for the evening: If Hollywood can't take its own last-ditch propaganda seriously, how can we?
Superman flies to cable: Variety in 60 Seconds
Filed under: Deals », Executive shifts », Paramount », Universal », Exhibition », Home Entertainment », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
The picture isn't even done yet, but FX has
reportedly snatched broadcast rights to
Superman Returns. For 12% of the film's theatrical
gross (to be capped at about $25 million), the Fox ancillary will have first rights to air the superflick, starting in
2009.- A month after Brad Grey brought the contracts over the Steven Spielberg's Malibu home, the Paramount-Dreamworks deal is far from closed. Right now, the two companies are working on employee integration, and to that end, department heads at both studios have been asked to present lists of their employees, which are now being compared side-by-side to determine whether the current Paramount employee, or the current Dreamworks staffer is more deserving of the final position. Though the trade claims "there is no mandate to cut a certain number of staffers" ... come on, right?
- Meanwhile, deposed Disney CEO Michael Eisner has hopped over to sometime Dreamworks suitor NBC/Universal. No, he's not running the show – he's just running a talk show. CNBC will air a bimonthly interview set to be called ... wait for it ... Conversations With Michael Eisner. If one was to assume this was Eisner's way of making sure his rolodex stays up to date, one wouldn't necessarily be wrong. As he tells Variety: "It will keep me on top of my game in the areas outside the show, because I will be talking to people in industries I am interested in." Bets on how long this venture will last before Eisner talks his way into a new exec role can be sent to karina@cinematical.com.
IFC goes Trans: Variety in 60 Seconds
Filed under: Deals », Disney », IFC », Variety in 60 Seconds », The Weinstein Co. », Weinstein Brothers », Movie Marketing »
IFC is hopping on board with The Weinstein Company to co-distribute Transamerica, the award winning trannie-movie starring Felicity Huffman. Pundits are wondering if this is a sign that the two entities are approaching a larger partnership – it is, after all, their second deal in two months, after they joined to acquire rights on the thriller Unknown.- With all the Michael Ovitz brouhaha (in which former chairman Michael Eisner was accused of operating in a "Machavellian" fashion) finally dying down, Disney took measures yesterday to ammend its board practices, making it "easier to remove directors and tougher to buy off angry shareholders".
- Our own Ryan Stewart has been awaiting Wes Craven's Red Eye with what could only be called bated breath; he'll no doubt rush to defend it from Robert Koehler, who calls the film "negligible" and predicts that a "nonstop vid landing isn't far off."
- Jonathan Bing echoes Kim Voynar's concern that trailers have become misleadingly clean: "At a time when kids are bombarded on all sides with sex and violence, it's easy to sympathize with parents who'd like the multiplex to remain a safe zone. But one has to wonder whether theaters have gone too far in their efforts not to offend."
Is Taylor Lautner Our Next Superhero?
100 Greatest Films Beyond the Canon
'Entourage' Movie in the Works?
Spielberg Backs Out of 'Harvey'
Discuss: Should Gay Actors Stay in the Closet?
_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg)
