Opening early overseas helped this week’s Battleship quietly amass $215 million before its domestic debut, and a few international markets (including Japan, Hong Kong, and New Zealand) may similarly see emphatic pre-U.S. openings for Sony’s July 3 tent pole The Amazing Spider-Man when it opens in countries like India days before hitting theaters stateside. Shall we call it, as one Sony Pictures India rep suggests, the “neener-neener” bump? “Each of the Spider-Man franchise films has broken records on its release in this territory. We are very confident that Indian audiences will enjoy the new reboot of the franchise even more because they are watching it before the U.S.” [ THR ]
Opening early overseas helped this week’s Battleship quietly amass $215 million before its domestic debut, and a few international markets (including Japan, Hong Kong, and New Zealand) may similarly see emphatic pre-U.S. openings for Sony’s July 3 tent pole The Amazing Spider-Man when it opens in countries like India days before hitting theaters stateside. Shall we call it, as one Sony Pictures India rep suggests, the “neener-neener” bump? “Each of the Spider-Man franchise films has broken records on its release in this territory. We are very confident that Indian audiences will enjoy the new reboot of the franchise even more because they are watching it before the U.S.” [ THR ]
Also in Tuesday afternoon’s Biz Break, Exclusive Media takes rights to Zac Efron/Dennis Quaid starrer; Universal picks up rights to Kathryn Bigelow’s untitled bin Laden film; and with the initial craze over 3-D fading comes scrutiny over the medium. Weinsteins Take Rights to Cannes’ The Sapphires Starring comedian Chris Dowd and Deborah Mailman, The Sapphires will screen at the 65th Cannes Film Festival this Saturday. Wayne Blair directed the feature which is inspired by a true story about four young and talented Australian Aboriginal girls from a remote mission as they learn about love, friendship and war when their all girl group The Sapphires entertains the U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1968. 10 Win 39th Student Academy Awards The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 39th Annual Student Academy Awards were unveiled; the organization will host an awards ceremony June 9th. The winners in the Narrative category: Nani , Justin Tipping (American Film Institute); Narcocorrido , Ryan Prows (American Film Institute); Under , Mark Raso (Columbia University). Documentary: Dying Green , Ellen Tripler (American University); Hiro: A Story of Japanese Internment , Keiko Wright (NYU); Lost Country , Heather Burky (Art Inst. of Jacksonville). Animation: Eyrie , David Wolter (Calif. Institute of the Arts); The Jockstrap Raiders , Mark Nelson (UCLA); My Little Friend , Eric Prah (Ringling College of Art and Design). Alternative: The Reality Clock , Amanda Tasse (USC). Exclusive Media Nabs Rights to Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron Starrer At Any Price The film, directed by Chop Shop director Ramin Bahrani, also stars Kim Dickens and Heather Graham and revolves around rebellious Dean Whipple (Efron), who wants nothing more than to pursue his dream of becoming a professional race car driver, whilst trying to avoid the obligations to his family’s farming empire. But Dean’s ambitious father Henry (Quaid), whose manic pursuit of expansion has alienated the whole family, sets his sights on Dean’s succession. Around the ‘net… How 48 Hours at Large in L.A. Turned Fellini into a Maestro Fellini Black and White is set to explore what may have happened when the celebrated Italian film director Federico Fellini disappeared for 48 hours on his first visit to America, where he was due to attend the Oscar awards. Instead of a smooth trip to the 1957 ceremony, the man who was to make such classics as La Dolce Vita and 8½ almost missed the awards gala after going missing for two days somewhere in Los Angeles, The Guardian reports . Universal Takes International Rights to Kathryn Bigelow’s Untitled Bin Laden Film Universal took select international rights to the true story about the team that hunted and killed Osama bin Laden last year. Sony Pictures will release the film starring Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Mark Strong and Edgar Ramirez in the U.S., Deadline reports . 3-D Comes into Sharper Focus Despite the format’s troubles, 2011 marked another record year for 3-D, with total box office revenue from 3-D movies hitting $6.9 billion, an 18 percent jump, according to provisional figures from Screen Digest, THR reports .
Happens to the best of us: “‘At the beginning people [say], “You’re going to be going to the Oscars ,” and you’re like, “Whatever, doesn’t matter, don’t think so.” But after a while it does penetrate. After a while you’re like, “Anyway, so I’m going to the Oscars…”‘ He laughs. ‘And you start to believe it. And I did. I thought I was going. And then I found out I wasn’t and I was upset. I was very upset by it. The first reaction was “What the fuck…?”‘ He sounds frustrated that he had let himself get sucked in. ‘It’s a vanity thing. It does become important to you. And it shouldn’t.’ On reflection, he decided that he had learned something about misplaced priorities. ‘A good little lesson.'” [ GQ ]
Also in Tuesday morning’s Biz Break: Horizon Movies picks up an ode to ’70s and ’80s thrillers, Martin Scorsese is driving a new Rolls Royce pic, movies are top for consumers, and more… Thunder Run Gets Go Ahead Ahead of Cannes, Freedom Films has partnered with Paradox Entertainment in a “substantial” domestic P&A financing arrangement for the CG 3-D action thriller Thunder Run . Matthew McConaughey, Sam Worthington and Gerard Butler are attached. The story centers on the bloody capture of Baghdad by American forces at the onset of the Iraq War, when three battalions and fewer than a thousand men launched a violent thrust of tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles into the heart of a city of five million, igniting a three-day blitzkrieg, which military professionals often refer to as a lightning strike. Hyde Park International is handling sales at the Cannes Market. Horizon Movies Takes North American Rights to Mr. Hush Kino Lorber’s Horizon Movies label picked up the film, described as an ode to the horror movies of the ’70s and ’80s. Set in an idyllic Pennsylvania town, the film tells the story of Holland Price, a devoted husband and loving father, who, unbeknownst to him, becomes the target of evil and dark forces. Around the ‘net… Consumers Are Pleased with Movies; Other Media Not So Much Respondents to an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) gave motion pictures a score of 76 on a 100-point scale, up from 73 in 2011. Movies scored over broadcast and cable TV news programs, subscription TV and more, Deadline reports . Bully Director: Mitt Romney Apology ‘Fell Short’ Last week the Washington Post reported that while a student at Michigan’s elite Cranbrook Academy, the future presidential candidate and a group of friends confronted a classmate they suspected of being gay and pinned him down to cut off his long hair. “This could be a true presidential moment for Mitt Romney,” Hirsch told THR . “My hope is that he would recognize that we are past framing bullying as horse play or pranking around. We need our leaders to call it as it is.” Martin Scorsese Driving Rolls Royce Pic Martin Scorsese is teaming with Lord Richard Attenborough and Anthony Haas to produce Silver Ghost , a drama based on the true story of the founding of Rolls Royce that will be a co-production between Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions and Zuma Productions, Variety reports . Career Watch: The Commodification of Johnny Depp Johnny Depp’s career has been set on cruise control for years, and it’s worked splendidly. He’s Hollywood’s highest-paid actor along with Will Smith, received not one but two Golden Globe nominations in 2011 (for two of his worst films) and is happy getting paid stupid amounts of money even though he agrees it’s ridiculous and does not find it stimulating, Thompson on Hollywood reports .
Shocker, I know : “Females were ‘dramatically under-represented’ in the United States’ top 100 grossing films last year, accounting for 33% of all characters at a time when they made up nearly 51% of the U.S. population, according to a study being released Tuesday. The report mirrored a study of women’s behind-the-scenes participation that the center released in January, which found that women made up 18% of all directors, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors working on the 250 highest-grossing movies last year. That was only one percentage point higher than when the center began studying employment figures in 1998.” [ LAT ]
The Film : Being John Malkovich (1999), available today on Blu-ray and DVD via The Criterion Collection Why It’s an Inessential Essential : It’s strange to think that a film with John Malkovich’s name in its title isn’t really considered to be “a John Malkovich movie.” Instead, Being John Malkovich is understandably normally associated with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, both of whom really broke out thanks to BJM ’s success. While Jonze reveals on The Criterion Collection’s new audio commentary track that he and Kaufman were dead-set on getting Malkovich for the film, Being John Malkovich could really be about any celebrity. At the same time, that’s one of the many things that’s funny about Being John Malkovich : It’s a metaphysical black comedy about what people projecting things onto celebrities that don’t necessarily have anything to do with those celebrities. Malkovich just happens to be the guy whose mind Schwartz (John Cusack) and his vampish colleague Maxine (Catherine Keener) invade after they inadvertently discover a miniature portal into his head, and so his comic performance is consequently often overlooked in discussions of the film. He’s the biggest butt of Kaufman and Jonze’s jokes (I love when Maxine casually insults him by saying that he has a “too-prominent brow”), but he also reaffirms his fantastic comic timing, as when he cops a feel after ineffectually cooing to Maxine, “Shall we away to the boudoir?” Malkovich also demonstrates a deceptively subtle knack for physical comedy, like when he gives a buffoonishly perplexed look after being told by a date that he’s “creepy.” In a moment’s time, he scratches his head and tucks his lower lip beneath his teeth. It’s pretty hilarious because it’s done with such sly conviction. How the DVD Makes the Case for the Film : Criterion includes a number of great little behind-the-scenes on its new two-disc DVD set. In an interview with comedian John Hodgman, Malkovich reveals that when he was first given the script, “I saw the title and didn’t really think much about it.” He then initially turned the project down at the behest of his producing partner Russ Smith, who wanted Kaufman and Jonze to make the film “about” someone other than Malkovich. Later, Malkovich was taken aside again by Francis Ford Coppola and introduced directly to Jonze, whom Coppola said “everyone would [eventually] be working for.” According to Malkovich, after he signed onto the project, Kaufman apparently cut “some of the worst jokes about me — meaning the most cruelest ones,” from the screenplay. “I like those jokes,” he tells Hodgman nonchalantly. “I think they’re really funny.” Ironically, while Malkovich says that the film, “isn’t at all about me, it’s about people’s perceptions of me,” he apparently suggested that Charlie Sheen play his character’s best friend in Being John Malkovich . (Kevin Bacon had apparently already turned down that role.) But Malkovich had never met Sheen until that point; he just “struck me as the kind of person I would go to in an existential crisis.” Other Interesting Trivia : There’s a really bizarre and hilariously unfocused audio commentary track on disc one, where Michel Gondry, who was originally supposed to direct the film (he would later work with Kaufman on Human Nature before their Oscar-winning collaboration Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ) talks about everything but the film. At one point, he calls Spike Jonze up and jokingly browbeats him to confess that he fell in love with Keener on set. This is after Gondry wonders aloud if the cameraman got a boner when filming a POV shot from Malkovich’s perspective while he has sex with Keener. Gondry dismisses the idea that Malkovich became aroused by Keener but still insists that the cameraman and the director must have gotten sprung. I wonder what Malkovich thinks… PREVIOUS INESSENTIAL ESSENTIALS The Last Temptation of Christ The Sitter Citizen Ruth The Broken Tower Dogville Night Call Nurses Strange Fruit: The Beatles’ Apple Records Jeremiah Johnson Simon Abrams is a NY-based freelance film critic whose work has been featured in outlets like The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Vulture and Esquire. Additionally, some people like his writing, which he collects at Extended Cut .
The Film : Being John Malkovich (1999), available today on Blu-ray and DVD via The Criterion Collection Why It’s an Inessential Essential : It’s strange to think that a film with John Malkovich’s name in its title isn’t really considered to be “a John Malkovich movie.” Instead, Being John Malkovich is understandably normally associated with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, both of whom really broke out thanks to BJM ’s success. While Jonze reveals on The Criterion Collection’s new audio commentary track that he and Kaufman were dead-set on getting Malkovich for the film, Being John Malkovich could really be about any celebrity. At the same time, that’s one of the many things that’s funny about Being John Malkovich : It’s a metaphysical black comedy about what people projecting things onto celebrities that don’t necessarily have anything to do with those celebrities. Malkovich just happens to be the guy whose mind Schwartz (John Cusack) and his vampish colleague Maxine (Catherine Keener) invade after they inadvertently discover a miniature portal into his head, and so his comic performance is consequently often overlooked in discussions of the film. He’s the biggest butt of Kaufman and Jonze’s jokes (I love when Maxine casually insults him by saying that he has a “too-prominent brow”), but he also reaffirms his fantastic comic timing, as when he cops a feel after ineffectually cooing to Maxine, “Shall we away to the boudoir?” Malkovich also demonstrates a deceptively subtle knack for physical comedy, like when he gives a buffoonishly perplexed look after being told by a date that he’s “creepy.” In a moment’s time, he scratches his head and tucks his lower lip beneath his teeth. It’s pretty hilarious because it’s done with such sly conviction. How the DVD Makes the Case for the Film : Criterion includes a number of great little behind-the-scenes on its new two-disc DVD set. In an interview with comedian John Hodgman, Malkovich reveals that when he was first given the script, “I saw the title and didn’t really think much about it.” He then initially turned the project down at the behest of his producing partner Russ Smith, who wanted Kaufman and Jonze to make the film “about” someone other than Malkovich. Later, Malkovich was taken aside again by Francis Ford Coppola and introduced directly to Jonze, whom Coppola said “everyone would [eventually] be working for.” According to Malkovich, after he signed onto the project, Kaufman apparently cut “some of the worst jokes about me — meaning the most cruelest ones,” from the screenplay. “I like those jokes,” he tells Hodgman nonchalantly. “I think they’re really funny.” Ironically, while Malkovich says that the film, “isn’t at all about me, it’s about people’s perceptions of me,” he apparently suggested that Charlie Sheen play his character’s best friend in Being John Malkovich . (Kevin Bacon had apparently already turned down that role.) But Malkovich had never met Sheen until that point; he just “struck me as the kind of person I would go to in an existential crisis.” Other Interesting Trivia : There’s a really bizarre and hilariously unfocused audio commentary track on disc one, where Michel Gondry, who was originally supposed to direct the film (he would later work with Kaufman on Human Nature before their Oscar-winning collaboration Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ) talks about everything but the film. At one point, he calls Spike Jonze up and jokingly browbeats him to confess that he fell in love with Keener on set. This is after Gondry wonders aloud if the cameraman got a boner when filming a POV shot from Malkovich’s perspective while he has sex with Keener. Gondry dismisses the idea that Malkovich became aroused by Keener but still insists that the cameraman and the director must have gotten sprung. I wonder what Malkovich thinks… PREVIOUS INESSENTIAL ESSENTIALS The Last Temptation of Christ The Sitter Citizen Ruth The Broken Tower Dogville Night Call Nurses Strange Fruit: The Beatles’ Apple Records Jeremiah Johnson Simon Abrams is a NY-based freelance film critic whose work has been featured in outlets like The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Vulture and Esquire. Additionally, some people like his writing, which he collects at Extended Cut .
Looks like that first steamy image from Brian DePalma’s femme thriller Passion was just the tip of the erotic iceberg! New images from the film have emerged from Cannes , where the film is seeking buyers, showing more of stars Rachel McAdams as a businesswoman and Noomi Rapace as her assistant, who become locked in a deadly power struggle that will involve lingerie, showers, and kinky masks. If these pics don’t get this movie sold, I don’t know what will. Passion is a remake of the 2010 French film Love Crime , which starred Kristen Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier; it’s DePalma’s first film since 2007’s Redacted , and judging from the stir the first image has created, should mark a return to DePalma’s wheelhouse. And, really: Has there been a single film still in recent memory as immediately enthralling and dangerous and seductive as the Passion mask shot below? Sign me up. The new images were posted to the film’s Facebook page (via The Playlist and De Palma A La Mod ), which adds this synopsis: The offices of a prominent multinational corporation is the setting for this story of a power struggle between two contemporary women. Isabelle has unlimited admiration for her direct superior, Christine, a woman well-schooled in the ways of power. Christine enjoys holding sway over Isabelle, leads her one step at a time and ever more deeply into a game of seduction and manipulation, of dominance and servitude. The game is played for keeps, and there is no turning back. [via The Playlist ]
Looks like that first steamy image from Brian DePalma’s femme thriller Passion was just the tip of the erotic iceberg! New images from the film have emerged from Cannes , where the film is seeking buyers, showing more of stars Rachel McAdams as a businesswoman and Noomi Rapace as her assistant, who become locked in a deadly power struggle that will involve lingerie, showers, and kinky masks. If these pics don’t get this movie sold, I don’t know what will. Passion is a remake of the 2010 French film Love Crime , which starred Kristen Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier; it’s DePalma’s first film since 2007’s Redacted , and judging from the stir the first image has created, should mark a return to DePalma’s wheelhouse. And, really: Has there been a single film still in recent memory as immediately enthralling and dangerous and seductive as the Passion mask shot below? Sign me up. The new images were posted to the film’s Facebook page (via The Playlist and De Palma A La Mod ), which adds this synopsis: The offices of a prominent multinational corporation is the setting for this story of a power struggle between two contemporary women. Isabelle has unlimited admiration for her direct superior, Christine, a woman well-schooled in the ways of power. Christine enjoys holding sway over Isabelle, leads her one step at a time and ever more deeply into a game of seduction and manipulation, of dominance and servitude. The game is played for keeps, and there is no turning back. [via The Playlist ]
