Thompson on Hollywood

Branagh Takes Helm of New Jack Ryan Flick at Paramount, Starring Chris Pine

News

Kenneth Branagh has taken the helm at Paramount of the long-in-the-works untitled Jack Ryan project, based on Tom Clancy's character. Branagh replaces Jack Bender, who had scheduling issues...

By Anne Thompson
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March 27, 2012 5:08 PM
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Next Tugg Test: Paramount Insurge Launches 'Loved Ones' and Drafthouse Opens 'The FP'

News

The real test for the on-demand Tugg releasing model is films that have not been pre-sold via well-branded theatrical releases with ads and reviews. "The Tree of Life," for example, is well past its first run, and is now reaching more moviegoers via Tugg.

By Anne Thompson
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March 9, 2012 11:00 AM
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IN THE WORKS: Studios Raid Hitchcock Files, First 'Rebecca,' Now 'Suspicion'

News

Joan Fontaine was nominated for the Oscar for two back-to-back Hitchcock masterpieces, 1940's "Rebecca" and 1941's "Suspicion," and won for the latter. In the space of a week it looks like two studios are prepping remakes of those films. Of course, Working Title/DreamWorks and Montecito/Paramount insist that they are returning to the source, Daphne Du Maurier and Francis Iles ("Before the Fact"), respectively. (UPDATE: For more on these Hitchcock films, read Dave Kehr's latest NYT DVD column.)

By Anne Thompson
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February 13, 2012 9:41 PM
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Paramount and Cameron Team with Cirque du Soleil for 'Worlds Away'

News

Paramount and Cirque du Soleil are teaming up to release the "Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away" in 3D. James Cameron exec produced; "Shrek" director Andrew Adamson wrote and directed. Cirque's Jacques Méthé says; “This 3D event brings the spectator beyond what they could see at a show, it takes them on the stage...

By Sophia Savage
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January 10, 2012 5:00 PM
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Foreign Box Office: Spielberg's Adventures of Tintin Opens Big Overseas

Sony and Paramount's move to open Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin overseas months ahead of its December stateside release --where the Herge comic books are beloved--is paying off. The performance capture film opened overseas with an estimated $55.8 million in 19 markets.

By Anne Thompson
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October 30, 2011 5:20 AM
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Brad Bird Talks Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol: IMAX vs. 3-D, Animation vs. Live Action, Trailer

Several animation directors are trying their hand at live action of late, most notably Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille), who talks to Bill Desowitz about Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which boasts a new trailer and featurettes starring daredevil Tom Cruise (below).

By Bill Desowitz
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October 27, 2011 12:11 PM
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Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody's Young Adult Reviewed from Minnesota: Juno's Wicked Step Sister

Slowly, Jason Reitman is emerging from his cocoon after his bout with extreme overexposure on Up in the Air, which ultimately did not yield an Oscar win. He's staging table reads at LACMA with pal Elvis Mitchell; he's back on Twitter, and now Young Adult (trailer here and below), his latest collaboration with Juno writer Diablo Cody, starring Charlize Theron, has debuted in Edina, Minnesota. Here is the first review. On Wednesday the Landmark Edina Cinema was the site of the first U.S. audience screening of "Young Adult," the new film from the "Juno" team of Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody. The much-anticipated new collaboration shares some stylistic notes with their earlier effort -- a pop-saturated soundtrack, a woman-child stuck between adolescence and adulthood, a droll appreciation of daily life in suburbia. It's also a step in a new direction, both for the creative team and for movies, a mature and humane comedy centered on a misanthropic female antihero.

By Anne Thompson
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October 21, 2011 5:42 AM
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Review: Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: Secret Of The Unicorn

Reviews

Our London film critic Matt Mueller reviews The Adventures Of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, which left him out of breath. The film opens overseas starting on October 26; you'll have to wait until December 21 stateside.

By Matt Mueller
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October 16, 2011 5:08 AM
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Oscar Talk: Spielberg's War Horse, My Week with Marilyn's Michelle Williams, Scorsese's Hugo

In this week's Oscar Talk Kris Tapley and I debate Simon Curtis's My Week with Marilyn, which I saw at the New York Film Festival and the Weinsteins have moved to Thanksgiving. "You see a lot working behind those eyes," says Tapley. We agree Williams will make the top five for best actress.

By Anne Thompson
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October 14, 2011 4:12 AM
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My Week in New York: Hugo, War Horse, Turin Horse, Parties, Marilyn, Book of Mormon

Monday night's mystery screening of Martin Scorsese's work-in-progress 3-D Hugo (featurette below) marks my last screening at this year's New York Film Festival. The reason that the movie was shown without completed effects or a final score (by Howard Shore) is that it's a cinephile's dream, and the NYFF audience couldn't have been a more receptive crowd. While the movie should work with families over the Thanksgiving holiday, and producer Graham King (nervously pacing in the rear of the theater as ushers passed out 3-D glasses) assured me that they wouldn't have shown the film if the movie wasn't going to finish on time, Paramount wanted to build buzz for the film via the festival and this was the only way to do it.