The UBS Evening Movie News 07.31.08

Posted by George H. Sirois on 07.31.2008

The “Superheroes at the Gate” Edition…



Welcome everyone to the latest edition of The UBS Evening Movie News. I'm George H. Sirois, and as expected, we got a lot of Dark Knight-related columns here at 411Mania. Seems everyone just can't get enough of it, even to the point where Bryan is getting slammed for not liking it enough. Although he and I simply agree to disagree when it comes to Batman Begins, I'm sure he and I could have a hearty back-and-forth when it comes to The Dark Knight since his issues made me think of how I saw them differently. You can see what he has to say HERE.

Mike did a great Top 10 list in "Babes, Bombs & Blockbusters" that covered the possible directions the third film could potentially go. The sky's literally the limit when it comes to what Nolan & Co. could do in the next chapter, but I'm admittedly scared just thinking about the third one, since a lot of other can't miss franchises had their Part 3's and failed to live up to their potential. You can check out that list HERE.

Chad, you got me beat when it comes to the Batman timeline. There are a lot of the later shows – specifically "The Batman" – that have escaped me. I see that a few readers slammed you for the lower than expected rating that "Batman: The Animated Series" got, but I can see where you're coming from with it. Yeah, there are a good amount of clunkers during the series' run. I especially remember their mis-handling of Bane during the second season. But I'll be a bit more generous and give it a 7.5 out of 10, since it usually took about two or three bad ones to offset one of the good ones. (The Two-Face two-parter was magnificent.) You can argue with Chad HERE.

And Jason Chamberlain did an awesome job breaking down the four villains seen in the two Christopher Nolan films. His analysis on Harvey Dent / Two-Face is particularly good, especially since he recognizes that Harvey has not only lost all sense of reason, but wants to take as many people with him that he can. Nobody else seems to notice that Harvey's acting so quickly that he is aware that he doesn't have much time. (If you really want to think that Nolan's going for a more realistic approach, you have to believe that with the damage done to his face, if he doesn't get killed, the likely infections a skinless face would get would do him in. You can see what I'm talking about HERE.

Okay, with all that said and done, let's get on with it…


TOP STORY

Lionsgate has landed a $340 million credit facility in an extremely tough lending environment.

The mega-indie wrapped the five-year borrowing base pact led by JPMorgan with help from Wachovia Bank. It can be upped to $500 million and replaces the previous $215 million credit facility, also with JPMorgan.

Not only is the deal done, but the terms are more favorable than the previous go-round. Five years ago, the company secured a London interbank offered rate plus 2.75%; this time it's 2.25%.

"When everybody said deals couldn't get done, this shows that people are recognizing what we have created," said company vice chairman Michael Burns. "We have diversified into so many areas and continue to have no corporate bank debt, more than a billion dollars in annual revenue and a good amount of cash."

At the end of fiscal 2008, Lionsgate had $371 million in cash and cash equivalents. Long-term subordinate debt was locked in at a rate of 3.31%. The company plans to report fiscal first quarter results next month.

"It is a testament to Lionsgate's senior management team, business plan, financial strength and track record of growth and success that this facility closed so quickly in the current market environment," said Christa Thomas, managing director of JPMorgan. "The facility was actually oversubscribed, as participating banks saw Lionsgate's unique vision for monetizing their content leadership."

The last time around, the five-year term ended without Lionsgate tapping the credit facility. With cash flow generally strong and a $100 million cap on share buybacks, plans do not automatically call for major spending that would require use of the credit line.
Lionsgate has not hoarded its resources, however, spending more than $150 million to expand its reach over the past three years. Specific deals have included the acquisition of Redbus Film Distributors in the U.K., Mandate Pictures, a 42% investment in top male Web destination Break.com and a 43% investment in indie producer and distributor Roadside Attractions.

Last week, Lionsgate solidified ties with prolific film and TV creator Tyler Perry. It has a piece of "Mad Men," the Emmy-nominated AMC series whose second season premiered Sunday. And it has another solid late-year film slate — new "Saw," "Punisher" and "Transporter" installments, plus Oliver Stone's "W.," Bill Maher's "Religulous" and drama "The Lucky Ones."


Just take a look at what Lionsgate has on their horizon this year and next year, and you can see that this is a studio that clearly knows what it's doing. They're taking chances on certain projects – the fact that it's partly invested in "Mad Men" has been working wonders for them so far – but the chances they've taken have cost them relatively little. The first Saw film must have cost them, what, 10 million at the most? And now look at them, they're already up to the fifth one and the series consistently reaches number 1 at the box office.

Speaking of number 1 at the box office, they practically struck gold by getting in the Tyler Perry business. Whatever your opinion on his films, you have to admit that he knows exactly what his audience is, and creates material that caters to them. And it's that audience that makes his movies number 1 on their opening weekends.

Even the first Punisher, which turned off a lot of people, myself included, just about broke even at the box office since it had a much lower budget than the other comic book films of its day. And with the money they're making, they could afford to invest in larger projects like an Oliver Stone movie, so I give Lionsgate a good tip of the hat for sticking to their business plan and making it work. Now that they have this extra line of credit, it'll be interesting to see where they go from here.

Credit: Variety


SYBIL THE SOOTHSAYER

UPCOMING FILMS

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: In the Far East, trouble-seeking father-and-son duo Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford) unearth the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin.

I don't think I'll be going to this one. I got a kick out of the first one and liked the second one a bit more than others did (I became a fan when they showed the flashback from the first film that revealed Evie as a reincarnation of Nefertiti.), but this one just looks…. meh, which is a shame because I really like Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio's writing. Oh well.


Swing Vote: In a remarkable turn-of-events, the result of the presidential election comes down to one man's (Kevin Costner) vote.

Seems like a fun little political satire, but I'm not sure how well it's going to work. It's possible that some region of the country is going to take offense somehow and it's going to get blown out of proportion and Hollywood will get the usual "elitist" jabs thrown at them… you know the drill.

Credit: TheMovieBox.net


DVD NEWS

Wow, it only took a week before I got some more information about the eventual DVD release of Iron Man on September 30.

I believe this is the info about the 2-Disc Special Edition (the one I'll be getting). Features are said to include screen tests, a making-of featurette, a few smaller featurettes about the character, the effects, and the "actor's process," image galleries, deleted scenes (those should be fun) and a video from The Onion that I'm looking forward to seeing.

There is also a single-disc edition coming out at the same time.

Credit: DVDReview.com


MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince




JIM WEBBING AND HIS IT'S-THE-HONEST-TRUTH-DEPARTMENT

This will be the only time anyone can actually cheer for cancer: In response to pressure from the online community, the cancer subplot prevails in "Fanboys," a raunchy, rough-around-the-edges comedy about five "Star Wars" nuts who fulfill a childhood pact by breaking into Skywalker Ranch for an early look at "Episode I."

It's a qualified victory for a project with nearly as many alternate edits as "Blade Runner," since the version set to open in September may satisfy the peanut gallery and preserve director Kyle Newman's vision. The resulting publicity should attract a decent geek-centric audience…


I give the Weinsteins a lot of crap for their handling of some of their films, but I'll give them a lot of credit here for doing the right thing and keeping the subplot intact. The fact that audiences now know why they are breaking into Skywalker Ranch should give the finished film that extra bit of heart that it would have terribly lacked if they had broken in just for the hell of it. The review on Variety is pretty mixed, but I'm still looking forward to checking it out.

Credit: Variety


A Tribute Fit for a King: George Carlin never played Just for Laughs, a detail that might loom large this year given the legendary comedian's death on June 22. Why he failed to perform there is a mystery: He was invited numerous times but was unable to commit, according to his agent, Steve Levine at ICM.

Levine speculates that Carlin's longtime affiliation with HBO and its sponsorship of the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (now dubbed the Comedy Festival) "may have been a contributing factor."

But Carlin will certainly be on hand in spirit on Friday, July 18, when comedian Paul Provenza (who directed 2005's "The Aristocrats") will present a tribute to Carlin at the Cabaret Juste Pour Rire.

Provenza had yet to finalize the participants at press time, but he described the event as "a bunch of comedians and myself participating in a free-flowing conversation about Carlin, where there are no limits to the language. It's going to sound like the way we talk backstage, and we're allowing the audience to listen in. We'll be talking about how this great man affected us so much individually as comedians and why we respected him. But that's all it's going to be: No stand-up -- just sharing thoughts and memories."

Provenza's personal history with Carlin was restricted to a few conversations, though he included him among the comics interviewed for "The Aristocrats." But, he says, "There aren't many comedians of my generation who weren't profoundly affected by Carlin's work and style. His art, his integrity, they were the standard for all of us. I thought the best way to honor what this guy did for comedy would be to gather people whom he in some way impacted and celebrate him in words."


I remember when HBO would air highlights of "Just for Laughs" about 20 years ago. The first year they did it, John Candy hosted it, and the next year, Rick Ducommun (Art from The Burbs) was the host. So that makes me wonder why George Carlin was never involved in the festival since there was a period of time when HBO was involved. It's possible there was an eventual falling out, but I would really like to see more specials like this on television. From what I remember, they were a lot of fun to watch, especially Rowan Atkinson's act from the 1989 special, where he showed the right way and the wrong way to go on a date. That was fantastic.

Carlin's appearance on The Aristocrats was definitely very funny, but my favorite moment in his segment was when he broke down what made the joke work. He was a true master of his craft, and what Provenza says about him is dead-on accurate. A festival like this is a great place for a proper tribute to the man's life and his work.

Credit: Hollywood Reporter


Another Way to Do the Next Bond Theme: Alicia Keys and the White Stripes' Jack White will record the theme song to "Quantum of Solace," the 22nd James Bond film, which hits U.S. theaters Nov. 7.

The song, "Another Way to Die," will be the first duet in Bond soundtrack history. White wrote and produced the song, and also will play drums. The soundtrack to the movie will be released Oct. 28.

The score for the film will be composed by David Arnold.

Amy Winehouse and Leona Lewis had previously been rumored as the vocalists for the latest Bond theme.


Okay, that's not a bad alternative. I'm very interested in hearing what Keys and White have in mind, and I'm sure Alicia Keys will provide a damn good voice for the theme. At the same time, I do hope that Amy Winehouse gets her shit together soon so she could do a Bond theme in the future.

I'll definitely give them this: that's a very Bond-esque song title.

Credit: Hollywood Reporter


FILM MUSIC NEWS

** DISCOVERY AND APM RELEASE SCORE LIBRARY; NO SYNC FEES FOR COMPOSERS: Media giant Discovery Communications and leading music library APM Music have released "Discovery Studios Tracks," a 5-CD set including over 200 tracks of score music selected from shows on Discovery's cable channels, however Discovery has confirmed that composers who wrote the music on the CDs will not be sharing in the sync and license fees generated from the release

** KARLIN TRIBUTE GAINS SUPPORT AT ASCAP: Veteran ASCAP Board Member Doug Wood has indicated he "completely supports" adding Fred Karlin's name to the title of the ASCAP film scoring workshop to honor Karlin, the legendary composer who created the workshop in 1988.

** LOCAL 47 WITHHOLDS $10K AFM NATIONAL DUES: Pursuant to a court order in the lawsuit brought by Los Angeles recording musicians against Local 47 and the American Federation of Musicians, Local 47 has withheld $10,094.71 of dues payable to the AFM national office for June union musician wages

** STEINBERG SHIPS SEQUEL 2 AND ADD-ON CONTENT: Steinberg North America announced the shipping of Sequel 2, a new version of Steinberg's music creation and live performance software.

** TREVOR RABIN WILL SCORE "RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN"

** "W." GETS ORIGINAL SCORE BY PAUL CANTELON

** THEODORE SHAPIRO SIGNED FOR "JENNIFER'S BODY"

** "PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME" ASSIGNED TO HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS

** THE CHART DOCTOR - CREATING IN SPITE OF YOUR COMPUTER: Ron Hess talks about computers and the creative process

** FINAL NOTE: 10 QUESTIONS FOR COMPOSERS INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY: Mark Northam lists 10 questions every composer should ask manufacturers of technology they're considering investing in for their studios

** CD REVIEW: WANTED / HELLBOY II: Daniel Schweiger reviews Danny Elfman's scores for the
films "Wanted" and "Hellboy II"

** ON THE SCORE - COMPOSER DANNY ELFMAN: Daniel Schweiger's exclusive interview with composer Danny Elfman

Download This Week's Issue at:
www.filmmusicweekly.com.


VOX POPULI

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: July 25 - 27, 2008

1. The Dark Knight: $75,166,466
Total: $313,781,677
2. Step Brothers: $30,940,732
Total: $30,940,732
3. Mamma Mia!: $17,746,725
Total: $62,595,465
4. The X-Files: I Want to Believe: $10,021,753
Total: $10,021,753
5. Journey to the Center of the Earth: $9,717,217
Total: $60,487,455
6. Hancock: $8,311,123
Total: $206,482,007
7. WALL•E: $6,422,186
Total: $195,308,076
8. Hellboy II: The Golden Army: $5,100,305
Total: $66,059,925
9. Space Chimps: $4,536,838
Total: $16,167,380
10. Wanted: $2,738,550
Total: $128,627,405

Credit: BoxOfficeGuru.com

Click here to take part in the latest discussions in the Past/Current Movies Thread at the 411Movies/TV Forum.


THE INTERACTIVE BABE PHOTO NEWS BRIEF WITH ANDY CRITCHELL

Hello friends, and welcome to the Babe Photo News Brief. This week I am fulfilling the first request I got when I took this gig, that of fellow 411mania writer Matt Adamson! Matt's a hell of a guy and we chat quite a bit and once I told him what I was going to be doing here at UBS right away he came with the request of Emma Stone, aka Jules from last summer's comedy hit Superbad. I asked him, "Jules? Really?" Personally I thought the gal that played Becca was way cuter but Matt said Jules. And boy, am I glad he did. Through the power of the intertubes I was able to find some very stunning pictures of Miss Stone which I now present for your viewing pleasure:

Pretty nice, huh? Yeah, I wasn't expecting it either, but that just goes to show how Matt is a great, great man. As is George. As am I.

Anyhoo, if you want to be great too then make your voice heard and request your own gal for review in the comment section below! Last week I received requests for Rachel Bilson and Mila Kunis so they are already on the list, but in this hottie lifeboat, there is always room for more.


AND NOW, A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR

JOIN THE 411 MYSPACE COMMUNITY HERE!

CHECK OUT MY INTERVIEW WITH HIDDEN HIGHLIGHTS' OWN JAMES "JT" THOMLISON HERE!
We miss you, JT! Come back soon!

THERE'S ALSO MY INTERVIEW OF ANDY CRITCHELL HERE!

AND THERE'S ALSO DAN OWEN'S INTERVIEW OF ME HERE!

AND MY INTERVIEW WITH RECORDING ARTIST STAN BUSH HERE!

SHOP AT THE 411MANIA MALL HERE!



LISTEN TO THE POLITICAL UNIVERSE ON BLOG TALK RADIO HERE!

CHECK OUT AARON BRAUNSTEIN'S SHOW "WISEGUYS, BLACK GUYS AND RABBIS" MONDAY – THURSDAY 6PM – 7PM HERE!

JOIN THE REVOLUTION! WILL HELM FOR LATE NIGHT IN '09!


And check out these other areas of 411Mania while you're at it…

The 411 Wrestling Zone
The 411 Music Zone
The 411 Politics Zone
The 411 Games Zone
The 411 Sports Zone


MAD PROPHET OF THE AIRWAVES

It's been a long time coming for this genre, hasn't it? Ever since the first big-budget tentpole film based on a comic book character hit the big screen in December of 1978, we've seen comic books become a permanent staple in the film industry. Not only has it become a big part of summer – and in some cases, winter – release dates, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has been giving the films a bit of notice.

At the 1979 Oscars, Superman was given three Academy Award nominations for Best Sound, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score. Although it won none of them, the film was given a Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects. Over ten years later, at the 1990 Oscars, Batman was given an Oscar for Best Art Direction and there have been many others since then that have been recognized either by a nomination or an award for their effects or sound or score or make-up or any of the other technical categories.

While fans may think otherwise, the films themselves have not been recognized by the Academy as being worthy of a nomination in their more recognized categories. We've delighted in the performances that these very well-known actors have given to the films and characters for which we have a lot of affection, but they have always been looked down upon by the Academy as just comic book movies. They're great for the summer and they bring in boatloads of cash (when they're done right), but when it comes to awards, they'd much rather give their top statues to the historical epics, the indies, the biopics and the dramas.

The Academy has gotten close to bringing in the comic book audience when films like Road to Perdition and A History of Violence were nominated in the acting categories, but while they are both based on graphic novels, there's not a single super power to be found among them.

The Oscars followed their recent trends last year, when Michael Clayton, Juno, There Will Be Blood, Atonement and No Country for Old Men were up for Best Picture. All of them were very good to great, and definitely deserved to be recognized – especially No Country for Old Men - but the general public decided to tune out of the broadcast. Their primary complaint was that they had not seen any of the 5 nominees, and so last year's numbers were the lowest in the history of the show's television broadcast.

What can the Academy do to reverse this trend and get people to give a damn about their awards show again? It's simple. All they have to do is let the comic book characters that have carried this summer to historic numbers break through the glass ceiling and let them join the adults at the main table.

The time has come for our heroes to crash the Oscar party.

Now, before the Oscar elitists turn up their noses again at the sight of Batman or Iron Man sitting too close to them at the Kodak Theater, let me just say that there's a difference between honoring these two heroes for what they have done this year and honoring, say, Jessica Alba for playing Susan Storm. BIG difference!

I'm not saying we should let them all in, only the ones that truly deserve it. Would this be lowering Oscar's standards? Absolutely not! This would be the perfect way to show everyone that the comic book genre has raised the bar. Just like when Johnny Depp got a Best Actor nomination for playing the lead role in a film based on a theme park ride, we have seen our share of surprises on the show and both Iron Man and The Dark Knight qualify as surprises in the eyes of the Academy.

Take a look at the reviews both of these films have gotten, and not just from online writers like myself. Both films got 4-star ratings from Roger Ebert. Both of them were praised for not only their entertainment value, but for the depth of their characters. And both of them rightfully laid out heaps of adoration for the actors involved. So consider this my plea to the Academy (and you should listen up too, Golden Globes!): make one of your Best Actor nominees Robert Downey, Jr. for Iron Man.

What makes a Best Actor in the minds of the Academy? Well, if they're not only the main character in the film, but if the character they are playing is multi-layered and if the performance is so captivating that you can't get enough of them. We definitely saw that in Daniel Day Lewis' performance for There Will Be Blood and we saw plenty of it in Downey, Jr's performance as Tony Stark. Now, am I saying he should win? No. If there's a better performance out there, then give it to him. But giving him this much deserved recognition would be right up there with giving Sigourney Weaver a Best Actress nomination for Aliens. It would just be a great thing for everyone involved.

And speaking of a great thing, let's take a look at The Dark Knight. Here we have a summer blockbuster – a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins - that is not only re-writing the box office history books with each passing day, but critics are practically falling over themselves to sing their praises for it. Just by looking at the first two weeks' numbers, you can sense there is something else going on that is far different from your average summer flick.

This is more than your average comic book film. This is a crime epic; it is not your average good vs evil story. It is a success on every level – the acting, the writing, the directing, the cinematography, the tight editing, the production design, the score – and it should be recognized as such. Even if they are only willing to do it to bring the ratings on their show up a few notches, they can't deny that Heath Ledger's performance is worthy of a posthumous Best Supporting Actor nomination. (Hell, they could even give a nomination to Aaron Eckhart, who deserves it just as much.)

But I wouldn't stop there. Call me a shill for the franchise – I've heard worse – but I wouldn't mind seeing nominations for Nathan Crowley for Production Design, Wally Pfister for Cinematography, Lee Smith for Editing, Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard for Original Score, Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer for Best Original Screenplay, Christopher Nolan for Best Director, and… why not? The Dark Knight for Best Picture.

Yes, I would give it the big nomination. Speaking as both a fan and a movie lover, I think this film deserves the ultimate form of recognition from the industry as the pinnacle of comic book adaptations and as a film that transcends its genre. We've seen the Academy make moves like this before, when Star Wars was nominated for Best Picture of 1977, when Raiders of the Lost Ark was nominated in 1981, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial was nominated the next year, and when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King scored a clean sweep with 11 Oscars (one for each ending).

Giving these two films recognition like this allows the general public to be more interested in seeing if their favorite films defy the odds and get to the stage with their acceptance speeches in hand. The Academy can feel good for awarding them since the critical response is overwhelmingly positive, so they wouldn't feel like they're just throwing a bone to a couple genre flicks. Plus, the genre itself would now have something to look up to, to aspire to match, and all this would produce is better films. The Academy wins for higher ratings. The filmmakers win for getting the recognition they deserve. The films themselves win for the added notoriety they'll get. And most importantly, the audiences win because they'll wind up with better films to pay their $12 to see.

$16 if they went to the IMAX.




And that's a wrap for Chapter 71 of The UBS Evening News. For Andy Critchell, I'm George H. Sirois, and we'll see you next week!