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Posts Tagged ‘spielberg’
DreamWorks, Paramount divorce final. Who gets custody of the kids?
Monday, October 06, 2008
Yesterday DreamWorks and Paramount made it official: they are no longer joined at the hip, at least business wise. The move opens the door for DreamWorks to establish a new business operation with Reliance ADA Group, a huge Indian entertainment company that will guarantee $500 million to the movie studio to make — what else? — movies.
But it’s not the end of the road for collaboration between the two studios. Steven Spielberg will remain involved as a producer on Paramount’s Transformers franchise as well as three other movies at the Rock including a remake of When Worlds Collide. The new DreamWorks operation is taking about 200 IPs in various stages of development. About 15 of those will be co-ventures with Paramount. However, while Mom (DreamWorks) and Dad (Paramount) may still be on speaking terms for the sake of the children (the movies), make no mistake that the ex-Mrs. is seeing other people. It’s expected that Spielberg will make an announcement this week that Universal Pictures will distribute all of the new DreamWorks flicks. Steve has had a long and close relationship with Uni dating back to Jaws so for that studio to buddy up and release DreamWorks products makes a lot of business sense.
In the end everyone is happy. Paramount has gotten some good wins through its partnership with DreamWorks including Disturbia, Blades of Glory and the Transformers mega-franchise while Spielberg now gets back to setting his own couse as the mogul of a full-fledged motion picture studio. Sounds great. Now we get to wait and see what the first bona fide hit for the new DreamWorks will be.
Posted at 5:58PM by admin
The Dailies: Spielberg & Tarantino sitting in a tree
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Here is the Wednesday edition of “The Dailies”, keeping you plugged into what’s going on out there in the world of entertainment, just like Entertainment Tonight but without the annoying hosts. Let’s see what’s breaking, shall we?
…Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody is making more heat with news about her new project with Steven Spielberg. The Juno writer is working on a comedy movie screenplay for the Jaws helmer to possibly direct for DreamWorks based on a premise that Spielberg thought up. This isn’t the first job that Cody has done for Steve; she is executive producer on a new Showtime series called The United States of Tara that gelled from an idea that Spielberg had. I know that the backlash against Cody from some quarters of the fan community has been fierce since winning the Oscar for Juno and she’ll probably get some more barbs thrown her way with this latest announcement. If Jennifer’s Body, the next movie to be released that’s based on a Cody script, is a hit then perhaps the criticism will die down and people will finally judge the work on its own merit.
…while The Weinstein Company looks for an investor to split the cost of making Quentin Tarantino’s next, Inglorious Bastards, the word is heard that Q.T. has already approach two A-list actors to play key roles in the World War II pic. Tarantino has asked Brad Pitt, currently living in France and getting to know his new twins, to play the part of one of the Allied soldiers/heroes while Leonardo DiCaprio has been asked if he would be into playing the film’s villain, a German SS officer named Hans Landa. If the two are interested in starring in the film that news hasn’t as yet broken.
…what do you get when you take Predator,a little bit of Highlander and The Lord of the Rings? You get the trailer for Outlander which really doesn’t look all that bad. Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) plays a human-looking alien that crashes to Earth (specifically Scandinavia) in the 10th century. Coming along for the ride on Caviezel’s spaceship is a Moorwen, some kind of big, glowy monster. Guess what happens next? Now you can see how close you were to the reality by watching the film’s bootlegged trailer on YouTube.
OK, I’m out.
Posted at 11:35PM by admin
The Dailies: Spielberg has a new project, who’s for the new actors guild deal and “2012″ gets a bleak review
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Welcome to the Wednesday edition of “The Dailies”, MovieSet’s download to your cerebrum for the latest big scoops and news breaking in showbiz (and our take on the sitrep.) Sorry for the later than usual posting of today’s column but there was a bit of a problem with my internet connection this morning. I’ve replaced the old squirrels with new ones in my laptop so all is well once again with the world.
…Variety is leading with the story that DreamWorks has purchased the screen rights to “The 39 Clues”, a 10-book mystery/adventure series that will land on store shelves this September 9. Written by Rick Riordan, the Scholastic series is being pitched as an multi-platform mystery where young readers will be invited to solve the riddle of the 39 clues for a chance at winning $10,000. A collectible card and interactive website component is also associated with the IP. Steven Spielberg is onboard as a producer and possibly he might even direct the movie (but first he’s got an Abraham Lincoln biopic and the first “Tintin” movie to cross off his to-do list.)
… the defining line between who’s for the new actor’s guild contract that the movie studios and television networks have offered and who’s against the deal is getting clearer now that several high profile celebs have chosen sides. The Hollywood Reporter has a story today stating 67 members of the union, including members such as Jack Nicholson, Martin Steen and Ben Stiller, have come out to say “no deal” to the proposed AFTRA contract. On the other side of the fence are guys like Tom Hanks, James Cromwell and Kevin Spacey who are for the new contract. All of this PR is necessary as the card-carrying members of the actors guild are now voting on whether to accept the new contract or not. The results of the decision are expected to be known by July 8 and if a majority don’t vote in favor of the contract, we’re a big step closer to having a brand-new strike affecting the movie biz.
…and a spoiler-filled review of “2012″, the new sci-fi/adventure film from the director of “The Day After Tomorrow” and “10,000 BC” is up at Latino Review. Don’t click on our link if you don’t want to know the details but here’s a safe, non-spoiler sentence that sums up what the reviewer thought of the draft he read: “It is so steeped in predictability, ridiculousness, and cliché that it borders on self-parody.” Yowza! “2012″ is going to be filming this summer in British Columbia.
Alright, my work here is done for the moment. See you tomorrow for another edition of The Dailies!
Posted at 1:14AM by admin
MovieSet attends the premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
Monday, May 19, 2008
The stars came out for the world premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” at the Cannes Film Festival. Director Steven Spielberg, star Harrison Ford and producer George Lucas were all in attendance wearing their tuxedos, walking down the red carpet and waving to the assembled photographers and fans. And which group just happened to be there with them? If you guessed Ryan Seacrest and his “American Idol” ctew, wrong! It happened to be us, the MovieSet team, and we’ve got the photos that prove it!
This is a photo from the red carpet of “Indy 4″ to give you an idea of what it looks like from ground zero. The lady in the silver dress is Star Jones, former host of “The View”. Oooooh, a celebrity!
This is what the ticket to the premiere looked like. As astute readers will note, it’s in French, the native language spoken in France, except for the part where it tells you what to wear. The French don’t want fashion snafus happening, bless them.
The back of the ticket. It’s a hologram!
No ladies, that isn’t Daniel Craig made up as 007. Instead, this handsome man is Mark Rutledge, MovieSet’s Chief Operating Officer. It’s easy to confuse the two as they both look the same when wearing a tuxedo, a fact that Mark learned firsthand when the producers of the James Bond franchise saw him walking down the red carpet at the premiere and asked him “What the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be filming ‘Quantum of Solace’ in Spain, Craig!”
Just outside the entrance to the theater. So where does a guy go to get some hot buttered popcorn and a jumbo soda around here? The answer: nowhere. This is Cannes, not the Regal 12 Multiplex! (Although the rumor was that someone saw George Lucas sneaking in some freshly popped Orville Redenbacher.)
Once you’re seated inside you pass the time waiting for the show to start by watching who else is arriving thanks to the big screen. Kind of surreal, isn’t it? It gives you a chance to sit there and wonder if anyone was watching you walk down the red carpet as you were walking inside. You can look around inside the theater and yell out “Hey! It’s that hot chick wearing the red dress that we saw on the screen 15 minutes ago!”
Alright, Harrison Ford is outside the theater! That means we’re getting close to when the movie is going to start, right? Right guys?
If you look closely you can see Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf as they make their way to their seats. This also means that everyone around them is going to want to shake their hands and congratulate them on making their movie…which means it’s still going to be a while before the movie starts. But hey, that’s cool, I can totally see down Cate’s dress from up here.
More handshaking, more bodyguards watching closely, more cleavage showing. Why can’t there be any hot buttered popcorn?
This is the closest the MovieSet peeps came to Ford, Calista Flockhart and Lucas, and so ended our dreams of having Mr. Lucas autograph our Jar-Jar action figure. Sigh. Maybe next time at “Indy 5″.
Here ends your photographic journey to the premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. Stay tuned for more photos from Cannes including snapshots of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, whomever they are.
Posted at 6:09AM by admin
