The comedy "Surfer, Dude," starring Matthew McConaughey as a soul-searching surfer who's experiencing an existential crisis, is set for a summer release.
Starz Media subsidiary Anchor Bay Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film and plans to release it theatrically in late summer.
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]]>Steven Spielberg loves
billboards. That's the simple explanation for those giant
double-billboard promos for "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of
the Crystal Skull" throughout Los Angeles, as well as the huge
Indy messages plastered around all four sides of Madison Square
Garden in New York.
Paramount mounted a big outdoor-advertising campaign in
2007 for the Spielberg-produced "Transformers," and when the
studio was strategizing how to scream "event pic!" in marketing
the Spielberg-directed Indy sequel, the creative hyphenate had
just one suggestion: more.
"Steven said, 'I know they always do big billboards in L.A., but let's do them all over,"' said Steve Siskind, executive vice president advertising and marketing at Paramount.
That enthusiasm led to the MSG placements adjacent to commuter-nexus Penn Station as well as major billboard "dominations" -- that's what the industry calls it when you really "own" a site, Siskind noted -- in Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas and elsewhere. Airports were targeted in several hub markets.
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Craig Cove
BINGO: The 2003 romantic comedy "Something's Gotta Give," starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, was named after the classic Johnny Mercer tune. Did the title help the film gross $267 million worldwide? Probably didn't hurt.
When they met last year with executives at New Line Cinema, marketing consultants Seth Lockhart and Jamil Barrie pitched their 10 favorite alternative titles for "Pride and Glory," a police drama starring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell. Then they passed around a report with dozens of others that didn't make their cut.
"One of Our Own" caught the eye of Russell Schwartz, New Line's marketing chief at the time, who asked, "What's wrong with this one?"
That's when Lockhart, who hated "One of Our Own" because it sounded to him like a tag line, gave a kick under the table to Barrie -- who thought it perfectly suited the tale of cops betrayed by a corrupt colleague. When even the partners who call their consulting firm TitleDoctors disagree, it's clear the business of naming movies can be tricky.
"When movie titles don't work, studios are leaving potential earnings on the table," Lockhart says.
One of the most notorious examples of a missed opportunity because of an ill-chosen title was "The Shawshank Redemption," the 1994 prison drama starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. The film was lauded by critics but landed with a thud at the box office. More recently, the Russell Crowe boxing saga "Cinderella Man" and the futuristic thriller "Children of Men" also failed to capitalize on strong reviews, in part because of titles widely seen as turn-offs.
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The answer might be: Be a Marvel character.
This week, hot off Iron Man's $102-million opening weekend, Marvel issued a "partial" list of eight upcoming superhero movies, everything from Iron Man 2 to Thor. All but Ant-Man had scheduled release dates.
Meanwhile, rival DC Comics' characters, from Aquaman to Wonder Woman, and with the very large exception of Batman, remain in various stages of, if you'll pardon the vulgar Hollywood expression, development.
"I really don't see a big difference between the potential of Marvel versus DC characters on the big screen," wrote Mike Voiles, editor of Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics, in an email interview.
Well, actually, there is one big difference, as comic experts like Voiles are quick point out: Marvel is its own entity, cutting its own deals, and even financing its own movies. DC Comics is a subsidiary of Warner Bros.
"Even higher profile DC properties have to fight through other Warner priorities and projects to get made," Voiles wrote.
To Jim Littler, webmaster of ComicBookMovie.com, the long-planned Wonder Woman movie is a prime example of the superhuman challenges a DC superhero can face.
"Warner Bros. was able to get Joss Whedon at the helm—AND THEN THEY REJECTED HIS SCRIPT! Joss Whedon of Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more!" Littler wrote in an email. "I'll bet the DC people were crying when that fell apart."
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Not so fast! Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall were shocked—shocked—when they actually couldn't collect their fashionable duds.
"It's in the contract that we get to keep our outfits, which is a fantastic thing, except that, for me, all of my outfits were samples," Davis told E! News this week, at the movie's press day. "I kept my running pants, which I love and wear them a lot, but I was like, Where are my clothes?"
She also kept some shoes and a yellow Biba dress, and the wardrobe department, feeling guilty, snagged her a Chanel bag.
Read Full NewsA standard origin story, “Iron Man” stays faithful to its comic-book roots while making necessary upgrades that enhance the characters’ rich history. Favreau and his screenwriters follow shortcuts instituted by the superior “Batman Begins” and the inferior “Spider-Man.” The first half establishes our hero outside of his costume. The second half ramps up the action as it confronts a central villain and lays groundwork for potential sequels.
Iron Man's true identity is Tony Stark (Downey), the genius son of a renowned weapons manufacturer whose family business, Stark Industries, provides cutting-edge technologies for our military's defense systems. In the comics, Stark was wounded while attending an armed-forces demonstration in Vietnam. Favreau comments on our current political landscape by shifting his action to Afghanistan, but he keeps the outcome the same. When Stark's convoy is attacked, he catches a near-fatal chunk of shrapnel with his chest. While detained by terrorists, the inventor builds an armor-plated suit that simultaneously keeps the metal away from his heart as it assists in his escape.
Casting makes or breaks a superhero movie — Christopher Reeve embodied Superman's hopeful ideals, but Ben Affleck made for a dull Daredevil. “Iron Man” gets off on the right foot because Downey is Stark. The actor comes equipped with a billionaire's unchecked self-confidence. And while Downey hedges when conveying the role's heroics, that uncertainty actually reflects Stark's own hesitancy embracing his newfound calling.
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Movie Review: Iron Man Marks the Return of First-Rate Superhero Movies
Thank you, Marvel Studios. Thank you, Jon Favreau. Thank you, Robert Downey Jr. Thank you for not only making the first good comic book superhero movie since 2005's Batman Begins, but also for restoring my dormant enthusiasm for what had become a favourite sub-genre of mine. I grew up reading comic books, so once they started coming out with quality adaptations of comic book heroes, beginning with 2000's X-Men, I generally had a few movies a year to get geeked up about in anticipation.
I loved the first two X-Men films, the first two Spider-Man films, and even the underappreciated Hulk film. But following the triumphant Batman Begins, the genre spit out three years of dreck, beginning with the mediocre but fun Fantastic Four, followed by the abysmal X-Men: The Last Stand, the bloodless Superman Returns, the embarrassing Ghost Rider, and the disappointing Spider-Man 3, which became a microcosm of the genre as a bloated mess that drowned in its own excesses.
The result was that I no longer greeted the announcement of a new superhero adaptation with excitement, but instead dreaded what Hollywood had in store (with the lone exception being this summer's The Dark Knight). If they could screw up the Spider-Man franchise with the same players in place from the earlier two films, there wasn't much reason to suspect that they'd get new franchises right, particularly since the properties were being handed over to hacks like Brett Ratner and Mark Steven Johnson, and roles being populated by affordable non-stars like Brandon Routh.
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Here are the release dates of upcoming movies. Remember: These dates are like long-term weather forecasts - subject to change.
"Redbelt" Writer-director David Mamet continues to assay the male psyche with a mixed martial-arts drama, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor.
"Speed Racer" Film of Japanese cartoon series about a boy race-car driver. With Emile Hirsch. By Larry and Andy Wachowski, writer-directors of the "Matrix" films.
"What Happens in Vegas" Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz as strangers who wake up to find they are married and that one of them has won a jackpot.
"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" Based on the novel by C.S. Lewis. Sequel to "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe."
"Midnight Meat Train" Based on Clive Barker horror story about a photographer tracking a serial killer.
"My Blueberry Nights" A woman takes a road trip across America. By Wong Kar-wai, director of the visually stunning "In the Mood for Love." With Norah Jones, Natalie Portman, Jude Law.
"Son of Rambow" The life of a sheltered youth is changed when he is exposed to "Rambo: First Blood."
"Standard Operating Procedure" Errol Morris pushes the boundaries of the documentary with dramatic re-creations of events in Abu Ghraib prison.
"Redbelt" Writer-director David Mamet continues to assay the male psyche with a mixed martial-arts drama, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor.
"Speed Racer" Film of Japanese cartoon series about a boy race-car driver. With Emile Hirsch. By Larry and Andy Wachowski, writer-directors of the "Matrix" films.
"What Happens in Vegas" Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz as strangers who wake up to find they are married and that one of them has won a jackpot.
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THE SUMMER of 2008 is shaping up as an unusual one for me. I'm actually
looking forward to seeing several of the films on offer.
After all, who wouldn't want to see the first Indiana Jones film in nearly 20 years, the wonders the gifted Guillermo del Toro has cooked up for "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," Russian director Timur Bekmambetov's American debut in "Wanted" or what director Christopher Nolan and Batman Christian Bale have in store for "The Dark Knight"?
Even comedies are looking more promising than usual. Will Smith as a terminally grumpy superhero in "Hancock," Steve Carell as secret agent Maxwell Smart in "Get Smart" and Adam Sandler as a Mossad assassin turned Manhattan hairdresser in "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" look to be ideally cast (fingers crossed, of course, about the movies themselves). And a new picture from Pixar (this one's about a robot named WALL-E) is always the best bet of any season.
It used to be that every summer held this high degree of anticipation for me. In fact, I used to look forward to everything coming out, no matter what the season. Though critics are often derided as people who don't like films, the truth is you couldn't have this job unless you cared passionately enough about movies to sit through the waves of nonsense that routinely get tossed at today's audiences.
But over the last few years, I've noticed a change in what the studios were doing with the summer, the season Hollywood counts on for making most of its money. In a business in which the average cost of making and marketing a studio film is more than $100 million, the summer movies have been tailored more and more to the mindlessness often associated with the tastes of young males, still Hollywood's most loyal audience.
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Gwyneth Paltrow isn't used to signing up for an acting job, sight unseen.
But that essentially is what happened to her with Iron Man.
She knew the film opening Friday was based on a Marvel Comics comic strip about a billionaire weapons manufacturer named Tony Stark -- an eccentric genius who builds himself an iron-plated suit which also contains a lethal armoury capable of vanquishing the most vicious of adversaries. She knew she would be playing Pepper Potts, Tony's superbly efficient secretary who has unfulfilled romantic yearnings for her unpredictable boss. And she knew she would be playing opposite Robert Downey Jr. and that Jon Favreau would direct.
But that's about all she knew."It was weird signing up for something and thinking: wait a minute -- I have to sign for three at a time? It was such a very new experience for me."
But it was weirder not knowing anything about the story line.
"I'm
so glad I did it because even though it was a genre I had never done
before, I was curious about how it was all going to work -- especially
since Jon wouldn't let me read the script."
Instead, Paltrow had to sign on the basis of a few pages.
"It was terrible because he would not let me read it," she giggles. Then Favreau muddied the waters even more, telling her the script that did exist at this point was not the movie he intended to make. He did pledge that the characters would be "specific and well-drawn" and that she would have a lot of fun making it. Which she did.
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