03.26.2009 | By Mack Chico |
MGM and the Farrelly brothers are closing in on their cast for “The Three Stooges.”
Studio has set Sean Penn to play Larry, and negotiations are underway with Jim Carrey to play Curly, with the actor already making plans to gain 40 pounds to approximate the physical dimensions of Jerome “Curly” Howard.
The studio is zeroing in on Benicio Del Toro to play Moe.
The film is not a biopic, but rather a comedy built around the antics of the three characters that Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Howard played in the Columbia Pictures shorts.
The quest by the Peter and Bobby Farrelly to harness the project spans more than a decade and three studios. They first tried at Columbia, again at Warner Bros., and finally at MGM, where Worldwide Motion Picture Group chairman Mary Parent championed the cause and bought the WB-owned scripts and made a deal with Stooges rights holders C3.
Production will begin in early fall for a release sometime in 2010. The Farrellys, who wrote the script, are producing with their Conundrum partner Bradley Thomas, and Charlie Wessler.
C3 Entertainment principals Earl and Robert Benjamin will be executive producers.
Project will get underway after Penn completes the Asger Leth-directed Universal/Imagine Entertainment drama “Cartel.” He hasn’t done a comedy since the 1989 laffer “We’re No Angels.”
The Farrellys have long had their eyes on Del Toro to play Moe. Del Toro, who’s coming off “Che,” showed comic chops in the Guy Ritchie-directed “Snatch.”
The surprise is the emergence of Carrey to play Curly. Howard established the character as a seminal physical comedian, from the first time he appeared in the first Stooges short in 1934 until he suffered a stroke on the set in 1946.
03.26.2009 | By Mack Chico |
Nicole Kidman will star in Woody Allen‘s next film, joining the already announced cast of Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto and Naomi Watts.
The as-yet-untitled film is produced by Letty Aronson, Steve Tenenbaum and Jaume Roures. It is financed by Mediapro, the Spain-based company that also funded “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”
Sony Pictures Classics will release Allen’s next completed film, “Whatever Works,” which opens theatrically on June 19.
01.19.2009 | By Pau Brunet |
Sony’s Kevin James laffer “Paul Blart Mall Cop” debuted to an estimated $33.8 million from 3,144 runs in another boom session at the domestic B.O. that saw unexpectedly strong results across the board.
The Martin Luther King. Jr. holiday weekend was up a whopping 31% over last year, and that was only for Friday through Sunday. Studios can look forward to more good business on Monday.
Like “Mall Cop,” Lionsgate’s horror pic “My Bloody Valentine 3-D” and Fox release “Notorious” overperformed in their openings
“Valentine” — the widest 3-D release to date — grossed an estimated $21.9 million from 1,033 3-D locations and 1,501 conventional runs to narrowly beat “Notorious” for third place, according to Rentrak.
“Notorious,” a biopic of slain rap artist Christopher Wallace, aka Notorious B.I.G., grossed an estimated $21.5 million from 1,638 theaters to post the best per-location average — $13,126 — of the weekend. Film was distributed by Fox but produced and marketed by Fox Searchlight. Opening is the biggest ever for the specialty unit.
Warner Bros.’ holdover sleeper hit “Gran Torino,” directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, gunned past “Valentine” and “Notorious” to come in second. Film declined a mere 25% to an estimated $22.2 million in its second weekend in wide release for a cume of $73.2 million.
The other new wide release was Paramount’s family comedy “Hotel for Dogs,” which also came in ahead of expectations with an estimated $17.7 million from 3,271 to place No. 5. Pic was produced by DreamWorks.
Paramount prexy of distribution Jim Tharp said “Hotel for Dogs” could ultimately do three or four times its opening number thanks to the long holiday weekend. Same applies to the other new releases.
“Certainly, ‘Hotel for Dogs’ came in at the top end of anyone’s expectations,” Tharp said.
On the specialty side, Searchlight’s “Slumdog Millionaire” enjoyed a noticeable bump from its Golden Globe wins.
The year-earlier sesh wasn’t weak: Par’s high-profile “Cloverfield” debuted to $40.1 million for the three days and Fox’s “27 Dresses” opened at $23 million. Rather, more films this year did more biz.
Even titles with overlapping auds managed to find their groove. “Mall Cop” and “Hotel for Dogs” both vied for families, although “Mall Cop” generally played to older kids.
“Ultimately, we got everybody,” Sony worldwide prexy of distribution Rory Bruer said.
“Mall Cop” is a victory for James, as it’s the first feature he’s toplined. Comedy was produced by Adam Sandler’s production shingle Happy Madison and cost $26 million to produce. Sony believes the film could hit $40 million by midnight on Monday.
Produced for under $15 million, “Valentine” should bring strong returns for Lionsgate. Most 3-D fare has been family or teen fare, such as “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour.”
Lionsgate said 3-D runs turned in revenues four times greater than conventional runs, thanks to higher ticket prices.
“This is the first time horror fans have gotten something in 3-D,” Lionsgate prexy of distribution Steve Rothenberg said, speaking of the digital iteration of the format. “Notorious,” produced for under $20 million and starring Jamal Woolard as Wallace, crossed over beyond its key demo, according to Fox. Film played slightly more to men.
Fox said the big surprise was that 40% of the audience was under age 25, even though Wallace — also known as Biggie Smalls — was killed more than a decade ago.
“He is a cultural icon that has touched a nerve and resonated with younger auds, proving the impact he’s had on the landscape,” Chris Aronson said.
Among the producers of “Notorious” is Sean Combs.
Elsewhere on the top 10 chart, Fox’s femme comedy “Bride Wars” declined only 44% in its second frame to an estimated $11.8 million from 3,228. Cume is $37.6 million in the pic’s 10th day in release.
Universal/Rogue Picture’s horror title “The Unborn” dipped a respectable 50% in its second weekend to an estimated $9.8 million from 2,359 for a cume of $33.1 million.
Ed Zwick’s drama “Defiance,” a Paramount Vantage release, placed No. 8 as it went wide. Film grossed an estimated $9.2 million from 1,789; cume is $9.5 million.
Christmas hit “Marley and Me,” from Fox, grossed an estimated $6.3 million from 2,952 runs for a cume of $132.7 million in its fourth sesh.
01.15.2009 | By Mack Chico |
Producers Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters are bringing a Steve McQueen biopic to the bigscreen.
The pair have acquired the rights to Marshall Terrill’s biography “Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel.” Project will likely land at Paramount, where Cerenzie-Peters Prods. has a first-look deal.
Project will primarily chronicle McQueen’s Hollywood career, which began in 1956 when the Indiana native got his break in the pic “Somebody Up There Likes Me.”
Cerenzie and Peters are producing alongside Brian Oliver and Chuck Rock of Arthaus Prods.
Tome, which was published in paperback in October, also delves into McQueen’s offscreen penchant for motorcycles, fast cars and drugs. Project will examine his three marriages, including his stormy relationship with Ali McGraw, as well as his battle against lung cancer.
Cerenzie has secured the cooperation of McQueen’s widow, Barbara Minty.
Cerenzie and Peters are close to attaching a director to the project.
Cerenzie, who most recently produced the Philip Seymour Hoffman starrer “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” has several films set up with Peters including the crime drama “Black Mass,” which is also being produced by Arthaus.
Peters (“How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”) is producing “The Friday Night Knitting Club” at Universal with Julia Roberts attached to star.
01.13.2009 | By Jack Rico |
As soon as I heard Cantinflas was announced as a major motion picture film, I immediately thought of colombian actor John Leguizamo as the perfect lead. For those who don’t know who Cantinflas is, he was the greatest film comedian Mexico ever produced. Leguizamo would be an obvious choice and here are the 3 reasons why:
1. He physically looks like him
2. He speaks Spanish (broken Spanish, but he speaks it)
and…
3. He’s a natural comedian
One problem producers will confront from the get go would be his Spanish. He has a Nuyorican accent he can’t shake – have you heard him in Love in the Time of Cholera playing a colombian? He sounds like… you guessed it, a Puerto Rican from New York. Leguizamo, who was born in Bogota, Colombia, will have to master an authentic Mexican accent without sounding like Speedy Gonzalez. If he does that, and Alejandro Gomez Monteverde can write a formidable script, we could see a watershed moment in Leguizamo’s acting career for the better. Salma Hayek did something similar with ‘Frida’ and the results were an Oscar nomination as best actress for that role. I don’t see anyone else with a recognizable name playing the Mexican icon, unless they go with an unknown, which would be a bad business move if the producers go that route. Let’s see what happens, folks!
Here is a pic of Leguizamo with a moustache. What do you think? Leave a comment below.
Below is the Variety report about the Cantinflas biopic:
Latino comic and actor Cantinflas, his real name is Fortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes, who helped usher in the golden era of Mexican filmmaking in the 1940s and ’50s, will be the focus of a biopic by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde.
Alejandro Gomez Monteverde will co-write and direct “Cantinflas,” a biopic about the comedian and actor who helped usher in a golden era of Mexican filmmaking in the ’40s and ’50s.
NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman will serve as an exec producer on the feature film with Monteverde and TV producer Jay Weisleder producing. Monteverde, whose drama “Bella” won the People’s Choice Award at the 2006 Toronto Intl. Film Festival, will co-write the script with Jose Portillo.
Despite his debut to American audiences in “Around the World in 80 Days” (1956), Cantinflas is not well known in the English-speaking world.
After pitching the idea to Silverman, Weisleder told the reluctant exec to ask any Latino about Cantinflas. “The moment he did that he called me from a restaurant and said ‘I got 10 people following me. Everybody knows who he is. We gotta do this,’ ” Weisleder said.
As the founder and former owner of Reveille, Silverman remains attached as an exec producer on several Reveille features projects, which include the Kurt Cobain biopic at Universal and “Staked Plains” at Focus.
Weisleder worked with Silverman at Reveille and has several television projects in development, including the comedy “My Problems With Women,” exec produced by Justin Timberlake. Monteverde and Weisleder secured the rights with the late actor’s son, Mario Moreno Ivanova, who will serve as an associate producer on the project.
12.2.2008 | By Jack Rico |
Paramount Pictures has set Shia LaBeouf to play the title role in the bigscreen version of John Grisham‘s upcoming legal thriller “The Associate,” which the studio has just acquired rights to.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing.
LaBeouf will play a student who’s about to graduate from Yale Law School when he’s manipulated into accepting a job at a prestige law firm and given privileged information about a multibillion-dollar lawsuit.
The novel, Grisham’s first legal thriller since 2005’s “The Broker,” will be published in January by Random House.
Grisham’s longtime rep, David Gernert, shopped the book by giving it to four producers. While some felt that lessened the book’s chances to find a suitor in a tight marketplace, the strategy worked.
Par-based Di Bonaventura, who as an exec worked on the Grisham films “A Time to Kill” and “The Client,” received the book in the Middle East, where he and LaBeouf were shooting “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” There, they agreed to do it together.
Deal gives Paramount another LaBeouf vehicle to follow the “Transformers” films, on which the studio partners with DreamWorks. He last starred for the studio in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”
11.17.2008 | By Pau Brunet |
It’s a Bond market .
“Quantum of Solace,” with Daniel Craig returning as James Bond , easily made for the best opening weekend for the spy franchise, earning more than $67 million at the box office. The series’ first direct sequel opened with nearly $30 million more than its predecessor, 2006’s “Casino Royale.”
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Media By Numbers LLC:
1. “Quantum of Solace,” Sony/MGM, $67,528,882, 3,451 locations, $19,568 average, $67,528,882, one week.
2. ” Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa ,” Paramount, $35,017,301, 4,065 locations, $8,614 average, $116,905,195, two weeks.
3. ” Role Models ,” Universal, $11,150,030, 2,798 locations, $3,985 average, $37,577,245, two weeks.
4. ” High School Musical 3: Senior Year ,” Disney, $5,656,162, 3,202 locations, $1,766 average, $84,169,216, four weeks.
5. ” Changeling ,” Universal, $4,254,080, 1,896 locations, $2,244 average, $27,631,772, four weeks.
6. ” Zack and Miri Make a Porno ,” Weinstein Co., $3,146,312, 2,210 locations, $1,424 average, $26,465,482, three weeks.
7. “Soul Men,” MGM, $2,350,141, 2,048 locations, $1,148 average, $9,370,925, two weeks.
8. “The Secret Life of Bees,” Fox Searchlight, $2,338,279, 1,449 locations, $1,614 average, $33,627,359, five weeks.
9. ” Saw V ,” Lionsgate , $1,767,405, 2,002 locations, $883 average, $55,380,488, four weeks.
10. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua ,” Disney, $1,579,080, 1,617 locations, $977 average, $90,878,127, seven weeks.
11.16.2008 | By Mack Chico |
A new version of “Pinocchio” is on its way to the big screen, this one to be co-directed by acclaimed children’s book illustrator Gris Grimly and executive produced by Guillermo del Toro.
The adaptation, being made by the Jim Henson Co., will be done as a stop-motion animated feature. Henson co-CEOs Brian Henson and Lisa Henson and senior vp feature films Jason Lust are producing.
The aim is to make a dark, twisted retelling of the famous Carlo Collodi fairy tale about the wooden puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy. In the retelling, when Pinocchio comes to life, he turns out not to be that nice of a boy, creating mischief and playing mean tricks. He eventually learns a few lessons. The story and the look of the feature will be based on the 2002 children’s book illustrated by Grimly, who is repped by Gotham Group.
Sitting with Grimly in the director’s chair will be Adam Parrish King, whose “The Wraith of Cobble Hill” won the short filmmaking award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award in the shorts category.
News of del Toro’s involvement initially broke on the horror Web site Bloody-Disgusting.
The new incarnation of “Pinocchio” looks to have better luck than the previous attempt, which involved Francis Ford Coppola. In 1991, Coppola tried to set up a live-action version at Warners; after an impasse emerged, he tried to set it up at Columbia. The project disintegrated in a costly lawsuit.
11.15.2008 | By Mack Chico |
Mark Wahlberg says a possible sequel to The Departed may feature an appearance by either Robert De Niro or Brad Pitt.
The Boogie Nights star, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance as cop Dignam in Martin Scorsese‘s version of the Hong Kong crime drama, told Digital Spy that big names have been bandied about for a sequel.
“They were talking about bringing in a couple of new guys like De Niro, maybe Brad Pitt or someone like that playing the bad guy, a corrupt politician or something,” he said. “Then, like the Hong Kong [Infernal Affairs] trilogy that the movie is based on, come back and do a prequel and bring everyone else back who was in the first.”
Wahlberg added that he would only be interested in appearing in the sequel, “If we can make it better than the first and people are willing to see it”.
11.8.2008 | By Mack Chico |
Flush from the global returns of “Mamma Mia!,” Universal Pictures is tuning up another stage musical transformation. The studio has acquired rights to turn the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “In the Heights” into a feature.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, who created the musical, wrote the lyrics and music and has played the starring role through its Off Broadway and Broadway runs, is expected to reprise his role in the film. Miranda will produce with Meryl Poster.
Quiara Alegria Hudes, who wrote the book for the show, will pen the screen adaptation.
The tuner takes place over three days in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, where a bodega owner (played by Manuel) inherits his late grandmother’s lottery winnings and plans to shutter his store and retire on a beach in the Dominican Republic. Trying to say farewell to the characters who live on the block, he realizes that his neighbors are his real family, and he’s torn about leaving.
Original Broadway producers Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller and Jill Furman will be executive producers of the film.
“In the Heights” launched Off Broadway in early 2007 and moved to Broadway, where it won four Tonys, including musical.
“It is a timeless Everyman story that has a universal appeal,” said Poster who, as an executive at Miramax Films, supervised and exec produced “Chicago.” “In the Heights” is the first feature she has set up under her first-look deal for TV and movie projects with NBC Universal.
U, which has watched “Mamma Mia!” become the highest-grossing musical in history with $558.8 million worldwide, now has another tuner on the boards. The studio and producer Marc Platt are also in the nascent stages of turning the Broadway hit “Wicked” into a feature.
