mark cuban Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The New York Post ran a little piece yesterday about hearing a rumor that Mark Cuban's Magnolia pictures has signed to distribute Steven Soderbergh's Che, which James and I saw at Cannes and very much enjoyed. I emailed Cuban earlier to ask whether the rumor is true, and got back from him "working on it," which to me sounds very promising. Cuban's a smart guy and he's not afraid to take risks; now he'll just have to figure out how to package and market the damn thing.

Many of us who loved the film at Cannes pondered over drinks after that screeing who would be brave enough to pick it up for distribution, and whether if it did get picked up it would show in one part in its entirety with an intermission, as we saw it at there, or two separate films, or perhaps one greatly edited shorter film. I'm glad to hear that someone's going to pick it up, and I'm curious now to see which way Cuban will play the release of the film. Any thoughts from those who've seen it as to which you'd prefer?

In what has to be the most ironic post he's ever written, Mark Cuban put a piece up today on his own blog explaining his decision to ban bloggers from the Dallas Mavericks locker room. Now, Cinematical isn't a sports blog, it's a movie blog, but Cuban, of couse, also owns HDNet and Magnolia, companies we work regularly with, and so naturally I found some of the things he's had to say about his decision a bit ... disconcerting.

According to a story on the Dallas Morning News (which should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt, since they currently employ Tim MacMahon, the only blogger banned from the Mavs' locker room thus far), Cuban responded to questions from a reporter about the ban by saying "What I do care about is being fair to all bloggers," and that there's "not enough room in the locker room, nor enough media passes to fairly accommodate everyone." The DMN seems to think Cuban's decision was intended as retribution against MacMahon for writing a piece criticial of Mav's coach Avery Johnson. Cuban says it's not.

SXSW is coming up soon, and they have a great series of "Conversation" sessions lined up, including media mogul/billionaire Mark Cuban interviewing Disney mogul Michael Eisner on Tuesday, March 11. Cool! Also lined up for Conversations: uber-film journalist Elvis Mitchell will moderate the "Conversation with Billy Bob Thornton" (that one should be interesting) and for all you music fans, BMI's Doreen Ringer-Ross will moderate the "Conversation with Moby," both of these will also be March 11.

A couple days earlier, on March 9, they'll have Ain't It Cool News Head Honcho Harry Knowles moderating the "Conversation with Harlan Ellison," and AP reporter Christy Lemire moderating the "Conversation with Helen Hunt." That's a whole lot of "conversation-ing" -- if you're heading down to SXSW, you'll want to make sure to get filled up on some yummy Austin BBQ to sustain yourself. Kudos to the SXSW staff for lining up a great fest this year.

In January, we brought you word of Brian De Palma's newest film, the Iraq war drama called Redacted. Coming from the term used to describe text that has been edited with black bars, the drama details the Al-Mahmudiyah Incident -- where soldiers murdered a young Iraqi girl's parents and younger sister before gang-raping and murdering her as well. The film is currently surfing the film fest circuit, and our Ryan Stewart reviewed it at TIFF. Now the film is being redacted itself.

At the end of his film, the director included disturbing images that were never published by the press, which he had found online. Mark Cuban and Magnolia want them removed. During a recent press conference at the New York Film Festival, IFC captured an argument between De Palma and Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles over the dispute. When De Palma starts to discuss the removal of the images, and his fight to keep them, Bowles jumped in from the back row to argue with him over them, before the film's producer, Jason Kliot, also came on stage to give his two cents. De Palma, meanwhile looks like he can't wait to get out of there and explode.

Ex-Cinematical head and current Spout blogger Karina Longworth contacted Mark Cuban about the argument, and he says: "The film is going to be 'redacted' before we release it. He is using images that have not been cleared... he can absorb 100 percent of the risk and release the film as he sees fit. If he chooses not to, then we will release the movie without the images." But it's not only business, Cuban also swears he won't include them so that family members could accidentally stumble upon the disturbing pictures and see a murdered loved one. I see where he's coming from, but in that case, why would you give De Palma the money to do whatever he wants? It's not like the guy is all about cinnamon hearts and puppies -- this is just like Casualties of War.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, IFC Films is going to release two new star-driven movies in theaters and On Demand on the same day. The films will be released by First Take, the "day-and-date" division of IFC. Previous attempts at day-and-date films have been extremely controversial with theater owners, who often refuse to book the movies, claiming, perhaps rightfully so, "Why would anyone leave the house and come to our theater if they can get the movie in the comfort of their own home?" Currently, Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban's Landmark Theaters are one of the few chains who will book day-and-date films, and even have their own day-and-date program, Sneak Preview. I'll stop saying day-and-date, I promise. You can read genius Cinematical writer Patrick Walsh's report on Steven Soderbergh's adventures with the distribution practice here, and Ryan's interview with Cuban right here.

What are the two new films? The crime drama Savage Grace, directed by Tom Kalin (his first feature-length film since 1992's Leopold and Loeb story Swoon) stars Julianne Moore and Hugh Dancy. Grace tells the "true story of socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland's 1972 murder," and was a $5 million production. Finishing the Game, a Bruce Lee mockumentary, was directed by Justin Lin (the very cool Better Luck Tomorrow, Fast and the Furious 2: Tokyo Drift). Game features cameos by James Franco and...uh...MC Hammer (how'd they get Hammer to sign on? Offer him a hot meal?), and "imagines the recasting of Lee's final role in Game of Death before filming was completed." You can read Scott's generally positive Sundance review of Death here. Grace will premiere in theaters and on IFC next year; Death next month.

Unless I am with hardcore film geeks, it seems like every time a group of friends or relatives talks about movies, they vent about why they don't go out to see movies in theaters as much anymore. It's too expensive, they can rent perfectly good movies at home, babysitters cost way too much, it's not worth dealing with a loud and annoying audience, and by the time they sit through 30 minutes of high-volume commercials and banal previews, they are ready to leave before the movie even begins. Even my sister complains about the pre-movie ads, and she has no problem with watching commercials on TV.

Many big theater chains are fighting the trend to home entertainment. They are against shorter windows between theatrical release and DVD, they snarl the minute they hear the term "day and date," they claim that the problem is that the movies just aren't as good as they used to be. I think that theater owners need to think about innovative ways to get audiences back into theaters, instead of arguing themselves into obsolescence. Fortunately, many theaters are doing just that, so you can still find some places to enjoy a night out at the movies.

Going to the movies is supposed to be fun. Theaters need to make the theatergoing experience special and fun and as hassle-free as possible. There's nothing like seeing the manager or owner of a movie theater right there in the audience with you because he or she can't resist joining in the enjoyable time you're having. I've come up with a list of seven ways in which theaters, both chains of all sizes and indies, can potentially draw people out of their living room home theaters and back into big theaters again. I've included a few examples from my part of the country, but feel free to tell us about other theaters that are innovating to keep audiences returning. And if you have more ideas for theaters yourself, I'd enjoy hearing about them.

While most movie theater chains have been more interested in wooing audiences with material amenities like concession variety or a "Guest Response System," Landmark Theatres has been working on delivering the best picture quality to its customers. This week the art-house chain opens its latest theater in Los Angeles' Westside Pavillion, and the cinema is noteworthy because it is offering the city its first (public) taste of 4K digital projection. Landmark already has 4K projectors, specifically Sony's SXRD, in locations around the country, despite the fact that most content is only digitally available with 2K resolution.

While I'm no expert on digital projection, here is what I understand about the difference between 2K and 4K resolution (aided by Jette's post about digital restoration): 2K is the current standard for both digital cameras and digital projectors. The amount of (picture) information offered by 2K is less than the amount of information offered by film and film prints. 4K offers twice as much information as 2K and it more sufficiently represents the quality of film. While 4K cameras are currently available, most digital features are shot with 2K cameras and most features shot on film are digitally scanned using 2K scanners. So why is it so important for Landmark to have overqualified projectors?

Landmark is co-owned and co-run by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban, the duo that also operates HDNet (and HDNet Films and HDNet Movies). Through HDNet, Wagner/Cuban is currently producing 4K content, which they will be able to distribute to their 4K projectors, as well as to non-theatrical 4K media (like Blu-Ray, HD DVD and HD television, presumably). Cuban also points out that they are simply preparing for when 4K content becomes more common. For now, though, Landmark patrons will only be able to appreciate 4K resolution in the form of pre-show materials provided by Sony. If Wagner and Cuban are smart (which they certainly are), they will also hit up Warner Bros. for newly restored 4K versions of Blade Runner, Cool Hand Luke and Bonnie and Clyde to screen as part of their midnight movies selection.

There aren't a whole lot of WWI veterans left (I think there's less than a handful of Americans), which is a shame with Memorial Day coming up since many people aren't familiar with the significance of that Great War. It certainly hasn't helped that Hollywood -- the history textbook writer for many young Americans -- hasn't been interested in the first World War as a subject for a long time. The studios used to produce great WWI films like Wings, All Quiet on the Western Front and Sergeant York. Then WWII came along and became the more popular war, with its definite villain, Adolph Hitler. Meanwhile the best WWI movie we've gotten in awhile (from the U.S., anyway) is the terribly cartoon-like Flyboys, which actually had to be made independently.

There's hope on the horizon, though, as a new WWI epic is being written by Christopher McQuarrie. The screenwriter of The Usual Suspects and the upcoming WWII movie Valkyrie, McQuarrie is interested in making a film that not only depicts the Great War, but also explains it. His script, titled No Man's Land (not to be confused with the German WWI film Niemandsland or the recent foreign Oscar-winner No Man's Land) focuses on the stories of three soldiers who stand in to illustrate the reasons for their nation's involvement in the war. One is an American who fights first for the French Legion and then for the U.S.; one is a Brit who is wrongly accused of being a coward; and the third is a German trench dweller.

When Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's production company -- 2929 Entertainment -- simultaneously released Steven Soderbergh's Bubble theatrically, on DVD, and on pay TV, the movie business went into an uproar. "They're killing the cinema!" people cried. To silence those haters, Cuban and Wager are now working on making going to the movies the kind of experience that will get butts off of couches nationwide. They plan to put millions of dollars into a theater model that will look more like your living room, complete with VIP chairs, sofas, and beanbags (could be cool). They want to have independent, foreign, and blockbuster films all at the same multiplex, like the Arclight in LA (cheers to that). They want to bring in higher-end food and drink, and are introducing a higher-priced ticket (is that possible?) which will include concessions and let the audiences serve themselves with something called the "Wall of Popcorn." Cuban and Wagner are unveiling their new concepts at three theaters in their Landmark chain -- locations in Baltimore, Denver, and at the Westside Pavilion in Los Angeles.

"Landmark's goal is to be the ultimate night out for grownups. Today's customer has different expectations than the customer of 10 and 20 years ago, and we need to recognize that and respond to it," says Cuban. "In our new Denver theater, we completely removed the concession stands. The original design had the traditional concession stand taking up prime real estate and dominating the look and feel of the theater. We decided that we would rather use that space for amenities, retail sales (movies, books, indie cinema related items), and 'interstitial' type entertainment that complements our 'datenight for grownups' concept in a lounge-like environment. Basically it became a place where you could go on a date, have a drink, food and be entertained before and after seeing a movie." Since theater-owners already hate Cuban after his day-and-date releasing plan, chances are that news of these theaters will not be greeted with open arms. I've got to say I'm all for it. Going to the theater is far too expensive to be as unpleasant as it so often is - why not experiment with the formula?

About a week ago, I went to see a screening of Diggers, which is an ensemble dramedy opening in late April, starring Paul Rudd, Lauren Ambrose and a few other notable names. It's a passable assemblage of talent with a few laughs and a few interesting moments, but I didn't give it much more thought than any of the dozens of other movies I've seen recently. Over the weekend, however, much to my surprise, someone pointed me to a listing on Amazon for the film's DVD, which is dropping in stores in early May! I had completely forgotten that Diggers was a film from Mark Cuban's company, and considering that most day-day style releases have thus far chosen to beat people over the head with their day-dateness, I guess this new strategy of not drawing attention to the day-dateness is a more successful one, since people like me never gave a second's thought to the film's near-simultaneous theatrical-DVD release when watching or evaluating the film.

I'm still a little ambivalent over the whole day-date issue, although I know that companies like Cuban's are out to make legitimate, quality films and not the kind of dreck that we usually associate with 'straight to DVD.' Still, if I were just a movie-goer instead of someone reviewing films for a living, I think my inherent laziness might have made me miss the theatrical release and just wait for the DVD, and I know a lot of other people would make that choice as well. And I do believe it's a sad thing in general that we have that choice, since nothing can come close to replicating the experience of actually going to a movie theater. I will have to give this issue some more weighty thought as I search through my Easter basket for any missed bubble gum.