Thompson on Hollywood

The Help: Mainstream Crowd-Pleaser, Not Oscar Contender

At the Academy premiere of The Help Tuesday night, DreamWorks' Stacey Snider, Participant's Jeff Skoll and Ricky Strauss, and Disney's Rich Ross presided over an industry unveiling that yielded plenty of tears and applause. The crowd was packed with Colleen Camp's Academy list, from producers Norman Lear, Laura Bickford and Larry Gordon to rising actor Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom). The movie is a mainstream crowd pleaser. Summit's Patrick Wachsberger is right to compare it to Driving Miss Daisy, in more ways than one, suggesting that it will perform similarly well overseas. And Ross was smart to demur when trade reporters asked him about the studio's Oscar strategy. It's wise to wait and see how it does.

By Anne Thompson
|
August 10, 2011 12:06 PM
|
10 Comments

More:

Comic-Con: DreamWorks' 3-D Fright Night, Vampires, Colin Farrell's Career & Underworld Awakening

DreamWorks' Fright Night panel started off with more Twilight bashing as moderator Chris Gore called it the "badass blood-thirsty panel." True vampire fans aren't necessarily Twilight fans, it's clear. Underworld: Awakening screened footage (also in 3-D) before the Fright Night panel, with "Grandmother of Vampires" Kate Beckinsale (she gladly wears the title) talking about her "shiny bottom": no Twilight glitter. The moderator thanked her for appearing naked in the footage. And that's all we'll say about that franchise. Len Wiseman is also directing wife Beckinsale and Fright Night star Colin Farrell in Total Recall, along with Bryan Cranston, John Cho, Ethan Hawke and Bill Nighy.

By Sophia Savage
|
July 23, 2011 1:15 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Spielberg & Abrams: Working Together On Super 8 Was "Crazy Good," What's Next

How was it working with Steven Spielberg on Super 8? "Crazy good," says director J.J. Abrams. "Working with Steven Spielberg was a dream, and I was kind of nervous about it because he was like a hero of mine since I was a kid." Will they work together again? Given how successful Super 8 should prove to be, their already longstanding relationship should continue. Back in February we listed 7 Reasons to be Excited About Super 8. They're still true, but the movie's even better than we'd hoped.

By Sophia Savage
|
June 9, 2011 8:17 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

In the Works: Eisenberg's Magician Heist Pic, Liman Meets Cooper for Luna, McCarthy's Home Movies

The Social Networks's Jesse Eisenberg will do magic for Summit Entertainment's Now You See Me, to be directed by Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans). Jake Gyllenhaal is being eyed to play the second lead and Melanie Laurent has been offered a role. The fun goes like this: A group of the world's top illusionists perform a series of bank heists during their performances and share the riches with their audiences. Of course, when the FBI gets word, the movie turns into a thriller. Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt wrote the script. Variety reports that Summit considered Colin Firth, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jim Carrey and Hugh Grant before settling on these younger men. While an Eisenberg/Gyllenhaal duo is appealing, a Firth/Cohen pairing is even sexier.

By Sophia Savage
|
June 8, 2011 8:26 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Box Office Breaks Memorial Day Weekend Record, Hangover Part II Leads Holiday Surge

The 2011 box office slump is a distant memory as summer hit full stride with two mighty Memorial Day Weekend sequels, The Hangover Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2. Anthony D'Alessandro reports.Grossing $118.1 million in four days, Warner Bros.’ The Hangover Part II wasn't a drunken delusion, but a Memorial Day box office record worth remembering. Like a cup of coffee after an evening’s stupor, Hangover 2 jolted this year’s under-25 set wide awake as they spent an estimated $280 million overall at the cinema this weekend –an all-time record that surpasses 2007’s $255.6 million and puts 2010's atrocious $192.7 million Memorial Day B.O. out of mind.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
|
May 29, 2011 2:42 AM
|
2 Comments

More:

Cannes: Paramount Screens Super 8 and Puss In Boots Footage, Kung Fu Panda 2

Paramount's marketing co-chief Megan Colligan has been mulling taking advantage of the world press in attendance at Cannes for a sneak peak at J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg's Super 8. Now the studio has invited press to see 40 minutes of footage on Thursday, UPDATE: but it turns out that it's the same 20 minutes they showed to key press in New York and at the CinemaCon exhibitor convention in Las Vegas. Get your facts together people.

By Anne Thompson
|
May 10, 2011 10:31 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Cannes Adds Kung Fu Panda 2, Pirates 4; Allen Controls Opener, Adds Baldwin to Rome Film

No reviews of Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, which does for the City of Light what Manhattan did for New York, will run ahead of its unveiling opening night at Cannes (6 PM Croisette time) on May 11. That means there will be no advance press screening that day. Much like the last Indiana Jones installment, Cannes critics will leap from their chairs to file ASAP. The press conference will take place the following day.

By Anne Thompson
|
April 12, 2011 5:41 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

CinemaCon Video: Hugh Jackman & Shawn Levy Talk Real Steel, The Wolverine

At CinemaCon, CinemaBlend chats up Real Steel's director Shawn Levy (Date Night) and star Hugh Jackman on the futuristic boxing sci-fi drama. Jackman also talks about his training for The Wolverine, a character he's prepared to play "for the rest of his life." Disney's Real Steel hits theatres October 7.

By Sophia Savage
|
March 31, 2011 6:14 AM
|
2 Comments

More:

CinemaCon Update: James Cameron, George Lucas, Jeff Katzenberg Talk Cinema's Digital Future

Stunts, legendary studio executives and name auteurs with an eye on the digital future were de rigueur during Wednesday’s CinemaCon. Anthony D'Alessandro digests the latest news from Las Vegas. In a CinemaCon 3-D powwow with directors George Lucas, James Cameron and DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, the trio continued to tub-thump the visual format, while warning attendees that 3-D shouldn’t be used frivolously by the studios to pad grosses. Cameron soapboxed the same philosophy about wasteful 3-D pics that he has been vocalizing since last summer, when he attacked Weinstein Co.’s Piranha 3D. The Wrap reported Cameron's lament: “I’m concerned about things that erode the market. Bad 3-D is one of them.” Haste leads to waste, Katzenberg further pointed out, using Warner Bros.' last-minute transformation of Clash of the Titans as an example. Good 3-D transformations take from six to eight months, not weeks.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
|
March 31, 2011 5:31 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

CinemaCon: DreamWorks and Disney/Pixar Previews, Fithian Pins B.O. Recovery Hopes on 3-D, Summer

Here's a quick overview of news coming out of CinemaCon, the annual theater owners' convention in Las Vegas, from Anthony D'Alessandro: Following new MPAA Chairman Christopher Dodd’s speech Tuesday, National Association of Theatre Owners President and CEO John Fithian gave his State of the Industry address to CinemaCon attendees, insisting that all exhibitors must convert to digital. He also presented stats about the ever-expanding moviegoing audience--despite 2011’s low admissions. An astonishing 34 3-D films will unspool this year versus 2010's 25, Fithian said: