Thompson on Hollywood

Washington to Star in Zemeckis's Flight for Paramount

Denzel Washington will topline director Robert Zemeckis's return to live action filmmaking, Flight, for Paramount and producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald under Zemeckis, Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke's ImageMovers banner. It's the first pairing for the star and the director. The movie is set to begin shooting this October in Atlanta, GA.

By Anne Thompson
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September 9, 2011 10:28 AM
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Studios Rethink Big-Budget Producers and Their Pricey Tentpoles--and Westerns

Blame Cowboys & Aliens.

By Anne Thompson
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August 19, 2011 3:14 AM
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Paramount's Grey Gets Tough with DreamWorks Animation's Katzenberg, Launches Paramount Animation

One of the reasons that Paramount Pictures ventured into its first CG animated movie, Rango, with Gore Verbinski and ILM, was to back itself up in case Jeffrey Katzenberg's DreamWorks Animation chose not to renew its distribution deal, which expires at the end of 2012. Since 2000, when DreamWorks Animation was created out of DreamWorks SKG, the label's 20 releases have grossed more than $8.2 billion worldwide. This summer's Kung Fu Panda 2 has grossed $535 million worldwide. Katzenberg has been shopping for a new home; the most logical place is Warner Bros.; the other studios have their own animation units.

By Anne Thompson
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July 6, 2011 7:14 AM
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News Wrap: Hamm Talks Mad Men, Hanks Releases New Larry Crowne Trailer, In Talks with Zemeckis

“I think it should end. Everything should end.” So states Mad Men star Jon Hamm in this interview with the BBC, during which he also criticized AMC studio bosses for the hold up of Mad Men’s fifth season: “When billionaires fight it tends to take a lot longer than when normal people do."

By Maggie Lange
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June 13, 2011 5:35 AM
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Holiday Movie Wrap: Avatar Beats Sherlock Holmes, Nine Flops

Over the holiday weekend, the two most popular topics on my Twitter feed were Avatar and Sherlock Holmes. While there was debate on Sherlock Holmes's merits, most of my tweeters approved of Cameron's blockbuster (as did critics--it scored 83 on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic). Avatar looks to challenge, if not beat, Titanic's box office records, based on its extraordinary performance in North America so far: $75 million over the holiday and $212 million to date. (Here's the LAT's box office report, and David Poland's analysis.)

By Anne Thompson
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December 27, 2009 5:46 AM
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Disney's Next Move: Who Will Replace Cook?

Something had to give at Disney. But motion picture chief Dick Cook was such a fixture at the studio that despite Disney chairman Robert Iger's public complaints about the quality of the movies, I figured production chief Oren Aviv would be the target. Disney's output has been suspect ever since Aviv replaced Nina Jacobson at the studio. Cook, who over 38 years rose up through the ranks to run distribution before he took over running movies, was clearly comfortable with Aviv, who came from the marketing side, but had written the high-concept hit, National Treasure. So Cook and Aviv were both strong marketers, but hit a rough box office patch in the last year.

By Anne Thompson
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September 20, 2009 8:48 AM
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Comic-Con: Disney 3-D Panel Showcases Burton, Depp, Zemeckis, Tron Legacy

Thursday was a long day. The official Comic-Con movie program began in Hall H with Disney's 3-D panel. "A lot of you are going to stay here all day," said host Patton Oswalt. The 6000-strong crowd roared. Bob Zemeckis broke his Comic-Con cherry with footage from the start of Christmas Carol, which stars Jim Carrey in five roles. Instead of heavy make-up, it's the Zemeckis brand of motion capture (in 3D and IMAX 3D), which I find stilted. (People tell me that seeing Polar Express in IMAX was transformative.) The audience went "Ooooh" when they first put on their 3D glasses as Scrooge inspected Marley's dead body and was visited by his green, chained ghost. "It's a ghost story," Zemeckis said.