Thompson on Hollywood

Spider-Man Musical Is Media Live Wire; Hits Saturday Night Live

From New York Magazine to 60 Minutes (video below), Julie Taymor's ambitious $60-million musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has been generating as many media stories as stage accidents. Now Saturday Night Live has gotten into the act:

By Anne Thompson
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December 5, 2010 6:52 AM
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Columbia's Tolmach and Belgrad Split; Tolmach Goes Indie Prod with Spider-Man, Belgrad Solo Prexy

The seven-year Columbia tenure of Matt Tolmach and Doug Belgrad has come to an end. Co-president since 2008, Tolmach is moving on to launch a new production company--he has a three-year contract-- and starting in December, will join with Marvel and Laura Ziskin on the next iteration of Spider-Man, a series he has shepherded since 2002. (Not a bad way to launch a solo career.) At the end of November, Belgrad will take over the solo reins at Columbia. He is bringing on Hannah Minghella as his new president of production. She has been president of Sony Pictures Animation since 2008, where she supervised Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the upcoming Arthur Christmas, The Pirates!, and Hotel Transylvania>

By Anne Thompson
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October 29, 2010 5:22 AM
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Rhys Ifans Joins Garfield and Stone for 3-D Spider-Man Reboot

Rhys Ifans will play villain to Spider-Man leads Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Sony's Spider-Man reboot is signing the Welsh supporting player (Greenberg, Notting Hill, Vanity Fair), who also co-stars in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Passion Play, opposite Megan Fox and Mickey Rourke.

By Sophia Savage
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October 11, 2010 6:13 AM
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Easy A Star Emma Stone Lands Spider-Man Lead as Gwen Stacy

If you don't know who Emma Stone is, get thee to a showing of Will Gluck's witty high school comedy Easy A (trailer below), one of those easy-to-digest teen flicks that's delectably smart and high concept enough to play across a wide demo. (That's hard to pull off.) The ingredient that makes it magic is Emma Stone, who popped opposite Jesse Eisenberg in Zombieland and now has landed the plum role as Gwen Stacy opposite Andrew Garfield as the new Peter Parker in Sony/Marvel's reboot of Spider-Man.

By Anne Thompson
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October 5, 2010 10:40 AM
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Superheros Send Wrong Image to Boys, Kristen Bell's Indie Role, Edie Falco on Sopranos Movie

-The identity of the American male is in flux and current superhero movies are sending the wrong image to boys, say researchers at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. There's a difference between today's movie superheros and the past's comic book heros, says Sharon Lamb, PhD: "Today's superhero is too much like an action hero who participates in non-stop violence, he's aggressive, sarcastic and rarely speaks to the virtue of doing good for humanity. When not in superhero costume, these men, like Ironman, exploit women, flaunt bling and convey their manhood with high-powered guns." Past comic book heros were characters that boys could "look up to and learn from because outside of their costumes," she adds, "they were real people with real problems and many vulnerabilities."

By Sophia Savage
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August 16, 2010 9:30 AM
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Sony Casts Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker in Spider-Man 4

Sony Pictures Entertainment has chosen its new Spider-Man. It's Brit Andrew Garfield, perhaps the most mature of the crop of boyish actors the studio was reportedly considering. He'll be 27 in August. And he's a strong actor.

By Anne Thompson
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July 1, 2010 12:06 PM
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Twilight Eclipse Sets Sights on Spider-Man 2 July 4th Weekend Record

What's going to happen this July 4th weekend? Moviegoers are going to wake up and recharge the box office, thanks to the potent power of the Twilight franchise, writes Anthony D'Alessandro, who digs deep into the Twilight numbers. Yes, Eclipse, the third Twilight Saga installment, could challenge Spider-Man 2's $180.2 million opening record, set back in 2004.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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June 29, 2010 7:22 AM
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Peter Parker/Spider-Man Poll

Who will play the next iteration of Peter Parker?

By Anne Thompson
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June 28, 2010 8:19 AM
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Vanity Fair Cover Girl Jolie Talks Home vs. Career, Bier Teases Haevnen, Kick-Ass Power Petites

- Angelina Jolie graces the cover of August's Vanity Fair, amping up for the release of Salt on July 23rd. The mag posted a taste of the interview today. It's not the first time she's said it, but Jolie was clear about acting not being the most important thing to her, and she does not anticipate doing it much longer, even though it helped her to learn about herself while growing up.

By Sophia Savage
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June 28, 2010 3:10 AM
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Raimi Goes to Oz, Jesus Henry Christ, Feds Approve Box Office Trading, Somewhere Trailer

- The acting power house duo of Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon, the under-appreciated The Damned United) and Toni Collette (United States of Tara, Little Miss Sunshine) is joining Dennis Lee's Jesus Henry Christ, reports Variety. The comedy is based on Lee's 2003 Oscar-winning student film of the same name, but as The Playlist points out, its plot resembles Sundance hit The Kids are All Right, which boasts its own power house trio (Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo): children search for biological truth. With Lee's lack of hits (his first feature Fireflies in the Garden hasn't been released, and Rotten Tomatoes 25% isn't a good sign), and The Kids are All Right's high profile, this feature needs Sheen and Collette to reinvent the wheel.