Thompson on Hollywood

Weekend Box Office: Green Lantern Opens Soft, Will Lose Money

The trick with any studio launch of a $200-million would-be franchise--especially one freighted by $100 million in marketing--is to open well enough to make your money back, and then some. At an estimated $52.7 million, Green Lantern opened soft: Anthony D'Alessandro explains why.The box-office strength of Warner Bros. $200-million tentpole Green Lantern dimmed from green to yellow as the DC comic book adaptation finally beamed in $52.7 million -- about 9% below the studio’s conservative projection. The frame’s second wide entry, Fox’s Jim Carrey family vehicle Mr. Popper’s Penguins, bested its $12-$15 million estimate with $18.2 million, a figure that’s in sync with the comedic actor’s last studio live-action debut Yes Man, which ultimately totaled nearly $100 million. (Indie grosses are here.)

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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June 19, 2011 4:31 AM
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Madonna's W.E. Goes to Weinsteins for 2011 Release

W.E., Madonna's sophomore directorial outing, will be released by The Weinstein Co. this year. Madonna also co-wrote the romantic comedy with Alek Keshishian, who co-directed Miramax's Truth or Dare, which Harvey Weinstein memorably debuted at Cannes in 1991. Madonna co-produced W.E. with Scott Franklin (Black Swan). Abbie Cornish, Oscar Isaac, James D'Arcy, Andrea Riseborough, Natalie Dormer, Richard Coyle, James Fox and Laurence star. IM Global handled foreign sales.

By Sophia Savage
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June 13, 2011 7:24 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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Academy Presents 30th Anniversary Digital Screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark June 17 (UPDATE)

It's hard to believe that I sat in a screening room at Paramount's New York headquarters 30 years ago to watch Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark. Needless to say, it blew my head off. I made my first trip to the west coast to interview producer George Lucas at his Lucasfilm headquarters in Marin, California, for Film Comment Magazine (the archives don't go back that far, alas). The Lawrence Kasdan/George Lucas/Steven Spielberg original turned into a blockbuster and spawned a franchise. The concept of remaking a 40s adventure serial was novel; so was producing an action-packed period romantic comedy (with 6,000 live reptiles). And Harrison Ford nailed Indiana Jones, needless to say.

By Anne Thompson
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June 10, 2011 8:31 AM
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Scorsese's Furious Love for Taylor & Burton: The Impossible Casting, Love Letters, Video

Martin Scorsese and Paramount have won the bidding to develop a film about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's tumultuous and passionate romance, based on Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger's book, Furious Love. Should Taylor's estate give its blessing (as Burton's has), Scorsese will then choose a screenwriter to kick things off. Deadline says others who chased rights to the book include Oscar-winners Natalie Portman and screenwriter David Seidler (The King's Speech). [Deadline]

By Sophia Savage
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June 2, 2011 4:19 AM
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Paramount, Fox, Cameron Relaunch Titanic Again in Retro-3-D

I know that James Cameron is invested in the future of 3-D, but it pains me that having set the highest possible 3-D standard with the glorious global blockbuster Avatar, the filmmaker is making Paramount and his home studio Twentieth Century Fox happy by retro-fitting the second-highest-grossing film of all time, 1997's Titanic, in 3-D. The studios plan a worldwide rerelease on April 6, 2012 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the ship's sailing.

By Anne Thompson
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May 19, 2011 12:12 PM
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BBC Films Develops Music and Silence with Director Lone Scherfig

Following up An Education and the upcoming romantic adaptation One Day, starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess (Focus, August 19), director Lone Scherfig is developing another book, Music and Silence, with BBC Films.

By Anne Thompson
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May 15, 2011 5:29 AM
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Sony Pictures Classics' Barker and Bernard: Kings of the Croisette

So far so good for Sony Pictures Classics co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard. They opened the festival with Woody Allen's best-received movie in years, Midnight in Paris, which they have been blitzing all over the media because they want to ride a Cannes wave of buzz into theaters on May 20.

By Anne Thompson
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May 12, 2011 4:23 AM
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Producer Hilary Swank Talks Something Borrowed, May Star in You're Not You, Opposite Jeremy Renner

Like many actresses these days, Hilary Swank has started a production company, 2S, with producing partner Molly Smith. One of their first optioned projects, the Emily Giffin wedding novel Something Borrowed, is the first film out of the gate, starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson and Colin Egglesfield. "The business is ever elusive, always exciting, always frustrating.," she says. "I want to make movies that people talk about. There are only so many stories I can tell as an actor. I wanted to progress to be a producer."