Frickin' Eh Movie News 9.30.09: Bankruptcy Edition

Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 09.30.2009

Financial woes threaten to jeopardize James Bond and The Hobbit, another cast member confirmed for the new Scream movie, the continuing story of Roman Polanski's arrest, and two new trailers, including the Nightmare on Elm Street teaser and much more!

I've been saddened that two of the movies that I really wanted to be great and succeed have both gotten mixed reviews, at least that I've seen – first 9, and now Surrogates. I still haven't had time to see either, and that doesn't look like it's going to change, so I guess I'll be waiting for the DVD release. Oh well.

I acquired the third season of 30 Rock and the third season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia over the weekend, which made me very happy, and I've been watching them consistently over the week. Such great shows, if you haven't seen them, you should try them out – although I will warn you, It's Always Sunny is definitely a unique show, and has a bit of a learning curve. Just saying. But anyway, let's get into the news . . .


The Mid-Week Box Office Time Machine

So the top of the box office last weekend went to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs yet again, staving off the competition with $25 million. Surrogates opened in second with $14.9 million. Fame took third with $10 million. The Informant! dropped from second to fourth with another $6.6 million. Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself fell two spots to fifth with another $4.8 million. Pandorum opened at sixth with $4.4 million. Love Happens fell from fourth to seventh, Jennifer's Body from fifth to eighth, and 9 inhabits the ninth spot, falling from sixth. Inglorious Basterds rounded out the top ten, dropping from seventh and making another $2.7 million.

If you're in a movie-going mood this weekend, you've got plenty of choices. The first new opener of the weekend is Michael Moore's latest, Capitalism: A Love Story. Sure to be Moore's usual obnoxious documentary, if you like his style and story then you'll like this; if you think he's a left-wing nut then don't go near this one. Or you can check out The Invention of Lying, directed by and starring Ricky Gervais, with Jennifer Garner costarring. This one is a romantic comedy about a world where lying doesn't exist, except for the one guy who can lie, and the consequences of such. Interesting concept, but can it carry an entire movie on that one concept? Both original Toy Story movies are being rereleased as well if you want to see your favourite Pixar film back on the big screen (or if you want to show your kids). Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It, also opens to positive reviews so far. And finally there's Zombieland, Woody Harrelson killing zombies, and it looks pretty fun. So take your pick.


Terminator Rights Shuffling Around; No New Terminators?

The Los Angeles Times has a lengthy and extensive report on the status of Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek's Halcyon Holdings, who bought the rights to the "Terminator" franchise for $25 million in 2007 in order to produce this summer's Terminator Salvation, but who have now hired the financial advisory firm FTI Capital Advisors to look into their options, having filed for bankruptcy. The thought is that the sale of the rights to the franchise could help make the production company solvent again.

For much of the earlier part of the year, there was a lot of talk about there being a Terminator 5, mostly coming from McG, but the poor reaction and box office showing of "Salvation," at least domestically didn't seem to warrant another installment.

The Los Angeles Times report, which you can read here gets further into the history of the franchise, how the rights have changed hands over the 25 years since James Cameron's original movie, as well as some of the debts owed by Halcyon and the various lawsuits surrounding their bankruptcy.

Well that's a sad thing. I have always enjoyed the Terminator movies and I quite enjoyed the latest installment, even if it was a little too Bale-centric. And although I was worried about the direction it sounded like McG wanted to take it in, that doesn't mean I want to see it end now. There's a lot of bankruptcy stuff going on right around now (you'll see another one later in this report) even though supposedly the economy is on the up and up. Strange, huh? Hopefully somebody sees some potential still in this franchise and doesn't let it slip away.


Polanski Arrested in Switzerland

According to Swiss police, Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski is being held in custody on a 31-year-old arrest warrant for fleeing the United States in 1977 after pleading guilty for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski, who has lived in France since running from the trial, was en route to the Zurich Film Festival where he was to receive a tribute for his filmmaking career.

It's somewhat surprising to think that Switzerland might honor a U.S. arrest warrant that's over thirty years old, but currently, Polanski is in "provisional detention" until they determine whether he should be extradited to the United States to face the charges against him. This means that Polanski will have to be put through the Swiss court of justice and will probably try to appeal against any extradition decision.

UPDATE: The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office were aware that Polanski would be leaving France for the Zurich Film Festival and they planned on issuing a provisional arrest warrant to the U.S. Justice department to have Polanski detained in Switzerland.

Polanski's original 1977 case was well-documented in Marina Zenovich's 2008 film Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which included an interview with Polanski's victim Samantha Geimer, who has since gone on the record that the case against Polanski should be thrown out after suing and accepting a settlement.

The Hollywood Reporter has an update on the shocking arrest of director Roman Polanski over the weekend and what it might mean for his upcoming film The Ghost, starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor.

Based on the novel by Robert Harris about a British leader named Adam Lang (played by Brosnan) and the ghostwriter hired to help pen his memoirs, Polanski had finished shooting the movie with Germany taking the place of the book's New England settings. Although the film was mostly edited, a lot of the post-production such as the music scoring and mixing still needed to be finished. While the film, which includes Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, Olivia Williams and James Belushi, didn't have U.S. distribution, it had already set up companies to release it in Germany and Polanski's homeland of France.

I've thrown two stories in there as one, since they're both basically the same subject. My philosophy professor opened the class today with just a little jab at finally arresting Polanski (it was poking fun at the "but he's an artist!" defense). Thirty-one years is a long time to be on the run . . . well, not so much running, just hiding. Still. I'm sure this is plenty controversial, what with the victim saying he should be let go, and the rather strange circumstances of his arrest, or detention, or whatever the hell you want to call it. I don't honestly know enough about the case to weigh one way or the other; he broke the law and should be prosecuted, but there are more factors than just that at work. As for The Ghost, it's obviously not a huge movie for him (despite the fairly impressive cast), and hopefully it does get finished and distributed, but it's a very complex situation, and we'll have to see how it plays out.


Venom Rolling Forward

SCI FI Wire got a chance to talk to Zombieland co-writer Paul Wernick about the script for "Spider-Man" spin-off Venom that he wrote with Rhett Reese.

"We've written two drafts of Venom, and the studio has it, and they're pushing forward in whatever ways they push forward," Wernick said. He was tight-lipped about whether there was a relationship between Spider-Man 4 and the Venom project.

"We can't really talk about that, unfortunately," he added. "Basically, the studio and Marvel and the Arads are taking our drafts and going beyond and figuring out what's the next step."

This doesn't mean a whole lot, there are lots of scripts that get written that amount to nothing. It could be years before we see Venom, and that's if we actually want to. I'd assume there won't be much of a connection between the next Spider-Man and this movie, as I'd assume there will be a bit of a fresh start to the series in some capacity. We'll see how it all plays out.


Campbell Coming Back for Scream 4

Bob Weinstein has confirmed to Variety that Neve Campbell has signed to return as Sidney Prescott in Dimension Films' Scream 4, which will start production in April or May. It will be the first film of a new trilogy and Wes Craven is in talks to direct once again. Campbell is joining returning stars Courteney Cox and David Arquette.

Weinstein also said that Robert Rodriguez is writing Spy Kids 4, which he will direct in 3D. The movie will be made in partnership with Disney and will start shooting in March.

Dimension is also planning to make Halloween 3D for an October 2010 release and is remaking the cult classic Children of the Corn.

Weinstein cited plans to shoot new Hellraiser and Scanners films in 3D. Also on the slate are remakes of Short Circuit and An American Werewolf in London.

Too many remakes! But besides that usual rant, it's a very interesting idea to pull back in all of the original stars. It's definitely going to give a unique and fresh spin on the series. Whether it needed to be rebooted or not, of course, is another debate. But with the original cast and original director, maybe this will be worthwhile.


The Death of James Bond?

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that MGM is needing $20M in short-term cash flow to cover overhead, and an additional $150 million to get through the end of year to stay out of bankruptcy and possibly losing such franchise films as The Hobbit (and its sequel) and James Bond 23. Here's an excerpt from the article:

So the bondhholders said to MGM, in essence, that they were going to let the studio go bankrupt and collect their money since they'd be first in line to get paid. But Cooper explained that this would be the worst possible outcome for the creditors and the company. Because if MGM were forced into bankruptcy, then it would lose James Bond and the studio doesn't think it can stay alive without 007. Also, a lot of other issues would surface that would tremendously hurt MGM.

Also, if MGM goes through bankruptcy, that's a very expensive prospect (where only the lawyers get rich), and extremely disruptive (since who would do business with MGM in the interim) and won't get the creditors what they want which is their money back. It's more than simply MGM losing Bond. The studio could lose a lot of other franchises.

Do you think the creditors will save the day for MGM, or do you think they'll let the studio go into bankruptcy and risk losing such franchises?

Sounds like MGM is going to be right screwed if they don't figure something out quick. Of course, if MGM were forced to sell off Bond, another studio would pick it up and make it their own, and luckily, worries of ruining the franchise through a switch of ownership shouldn't be relevant because they did that two movies ago. Oh, I haven't had the opportunity to bash the new Bond movies in quite a while, have I? But back on topic . . . it's not really in MGM's hands anymore, they've got to hope somebody steps up to the plate and helps them out. Speaking of which, where's the all-powerful Sony with this bankruptcy talk in play? Surely they've got a couple extra dollars from their superior video game systems and technologies to help out their company.

Wow, that came off as a very angry bit.


New Teaser for Nightmare on Elm Street

New Line Cinema has revealed the teaser trailer for A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Directed by Samuel Bayer, the April 30th release stars Jackie Earle Haley as the new Freddy Krueger, as well as Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz, Katie Cassidy and Connie Britton.

I am not the horror aficionada by any means, so my opinion shouldn't matter at all when it comes to this trailer. However, from what I do know, this looks like a pretty faithful re-creation of the original, and I've heard from some people that I work with that think this looks like it will knock the ball out of the park. So take a look at the trailer and see what you, the fans, think.


Book of Eli – New Trailer

The Warner Bros. release stars Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals and Evan Jones.

The Book of Eli revolves around a lone warrior (Washington) who must fight to bring society the knowledge that could be the key to its redemption. Oldman has been set to portray the despot of a small makeshift town who's determined to take possession of the book Eli's guarding.

My first thought? This is Fallout 3 in movie form. My second thought? This is going to be frickin' awesome. The trailer is masterfully done, better than the first trailer for sure, with a lot more action and a lot more Oldman. I'm not a big fan of Denzel Washington but he looks like a great choice for this role, as does Kunis, but Oldman is the one I want to see. Take a peek at the trailer and see what you like.


Rapid-Fire: Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004, starring Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller)

I remember when this movie came out, and it was a good movie back in the day. But how does it fare five years later, when I'm in university instead of junior high? Well, let's see:

To save their favourite gym from corporate takeover (courtesy of Ben Stiller's character, White Goodman), a rag-tag bunch of guys have to win a dodgeball tournament, with the help of a retired dodgeball icon (Rip Torn) and a banker (Taylor). It's a simple, cliché story, but what's random is the sport. This is the movie that started a dodgeball craze, and I remember this as the start of constantly playing dodgeball in junior high and high school gym.

The story's nothing special or exciting or anything. It's predictable, and the twist of the end still results in what you'd expect. But it's not the story that you care about in this movie. It's the characters, and the ridiculousness. The dodgeball games are short, but fun, and some of the take-outs (particularly when they are up against the hip-hop team) are downright hilarious.

Vince Vaughn as Peter La Fleur carries this movie, absolutely. His likable charm and straight acting make him the centerpiece of the movie and it works. The villain, Stiller as White Goodman, is another perfect one. The absolutely ridiculous, over-the-top stupidity and randomness of White Goodman (sticking pizza down his pants?) makes him a villain you want to see lose, but you definitely want to see him go down kicking, too. Taylor as Kate Veatch is a good go-between to Vaughn and husband Stiller, and she mixes well with the cast. Rip Torn as Patches O'Houlihan is downright hilarious, and one of the highest points of the movie. The other phenomenal addition was Jason Bateman as announcer Pepper Brooks for ESPN 8. He is just so hilarious and random, it's a shame he doesn't take more roles like this one. Alan Tudyk, Stephen Root, Chris Williams, they all round out the bunch, and while some of them do better than others, they all play off each other well enough that it works.

This is a very stupid movie, but it's just so much fun, you forgive it for the stupidest parts. The charm of the star and cast, the utterly random plot, and everything else come together to make a fun, mindless romp that you'll enjoy throughout.


Closing Time . . .

My fridge is semi-broken and now has to be defrosted for a couple days, so I've been subsisting on either frozen foods that can be eaten in one or two sittings, or one-time things I grab when I'm out. You don't realize how handy a refrigerator is until you can't use one. It's quite annoying. Anyway, I've got a writing assignment to prepare for Thursday and lots more reading to do, so until next week . . .


[All news, images, and other stuff from www.comingsoon.net, www.imdb.com, www.rottentomatoes.com and www.youtube.com.]