IFC Plows In To Some "Dead Snow"

One of my favorite ladies, Anne Thompson has reported on IFC acquiring the U.S. film distribution rights to Norwegian horror comedy Dead Snow. The plot involves; skiiing, zombie Nazis, and co-eds, even though I can't stand the "Zombie Genre" I'm now sold. See the official poster below and head over to Anne Thompson's Blog to view the trailer.

View Trailer Here:

http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2009/01/sundance-ifc-acquires-dead-snow.html

New Street Fighter Poster

Apparently there is a Street Fighter movie happening, yes I really did know about it before, but because I didn't care before...I forgot about it.  Today "Trailer Addict" released a new poster for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. Two reasons I might see this movie: Kristin Kreuk and Kristin Kreuk playing Chun Li. As video games have gotten better in the pixel department so has Chun Li.

New "Up" Poster & Video Clip

I don't know about you but I am "Up" for Disney * Pixar's new animated feature. I'm a sucker for these new animated flicks. I pretty much love them all, except for that "Space Monkeys" one, that just scared me. It was a pretty good concept though, I just might have been vulnerable that night.

See the poster and read the synopsis below and head over to www.latinoreview.com to check out the video clip.

From Disney•Pixar comes "Up," a comedy adventure about 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 9-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. From the Academy Award®-nominated director Pete Docter ("Monsters, Inc."), Disney•Pixar's "Up" invites you on a hilarious journey into a lost world, with the least likely duo on Earth. "Up" will be presented in Disney Digital 3-D™ in select theaters.

Warner Bros: A Message About Pink Slips

A couple of weeks ago the LA Times reported that Time Warner would be cutting jobs at the studio level...

Although details of the layoffs at Warner are still to be determined, they are nonetheless expected to affect scores of "back office" workers in management information systems, finance and accounting.

Many of those jobs will be outsourced, according to people familiar with the situation.

...and today Nikki Finke provides the message from Barry Meyer and Alan Horn themselves. Here are some exerpts:

We’d like to take a moment and provide some follow-up information to the memo you received earlier this month regarding cost containment at the Studio. We are very sad to announce that based on the global economic situation and current business forecasts, the Studio will have to make staff reductions in the coming weeks in order to control costs.

We want to reiterate that these staff reductions and organizational changes, which are being made at every level across both corporate and divisional businesses, were our last resort to help position the company for its future.

You can read the rest at the link below.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/as-expected-warner-bros-announces-layoffs/

You'd think that The Dark Knight made enough money at the box office to pay these poor people, but I guess Batman can't save everybody. Now I'm not trying to make light of a delicate situation, but since this is going to happen under Obama's watch, isn't he going to just pay the people laid off out of pocket? I heard that somewhere.

To be serious, this is going on all over the country at big and small companies. We are all feeling the economic downturn in one way or another. If the highest grossing studio of 08 is making cuts, you can imagine how the "Joe Plumbers" of the world are dealing with this. Let's hope this "change" we have been hearing about takes place sooner rather than later.

I guess the question is how does this effect WB's upcoming movie slate? WB had already previously announced they would be cutting down the number of films they will do per year, which other studios are also doing, not a big surprise. However, it seems that WB is taking their time with their tentpoles, especially their comic book films. Everything coming from WB in regards to comic book films has been as vague as the backstory for Superman Returns. Will Superman in fact return? When? Green Lantern? Batman? 

Brooklyn's Finest First Sale At Sundance

Variety previously reported the first sale at Sundance, and as later reiterated by Anne Thompson, this could be an award winner.

Senator Distribution nabbed North American rights to Antoine Fuqua's cop drama "Brooklyn's Finest" on Saturday night, 24 hours after its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Sources close to the deal said Senator paid under $5 million, but made an eight-figure P&A commitment. Senator says it will release the film in the fourth quarter for awards consideration.

Pic's cast includes Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, and Don Cheadle as cops battling their own ethical and moral dilemmas.

I'm a huge Don Cheadle fan, you put him in anything and I am hooked. Cheadle even had me hooked during that episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where he plays Will's friend from Philly "Ice Tray". Heck I could go for a Philly Cheesesteak right now.

Richard Gere has his ups and downs in my eyes. I'm still trying to figure out when his hair wasn't speckled with gray. I keep thinking back and doing research and I feel like it was always that way. I can picture him in elementary school raising his hand and his teachers swooning as his perfect grayish hair stayed in place. On second thought, Richard Gere is awesome.

Ethan Hawke seems like a pretty cool guy, but right now I just can't think of anything he was in that I loved. I am however looking forward to his performance in What Doesn't Kill You which was filmed in my home town of Boston. People in Boston call cheesesteaks, "steak & cheeses". Bizzare.

For some reason I feel like getting these three guys together is going to be a recipe for success. I know they'll be knocking down my door hoping that I can be their spokesperson, so I better get home.

Brooklyn's Finest Synopsis:

Three unconnected Brooklyn cops wind up at the same deadly location, despite enduring vastly different career paths.

The Watchmen Domino Effect

Now that The Watchmen dispute has been settled, all the "freaks and geeks" of the internet can breath a sigh of relief, including myself. I'm breathing said sigh due to the fact it is good for the film industry that the studios settled, not so much that  The Watchmen is coming out as scheduled. Frankly, I am not all that excited about it, but I hope it does blow my hair back.

Details of the settlement have surfaced via Variety and some of the details involve big name actors and blockbuster films:

Though it was denied by both studios, sources said that in recent weeks that WB and Fox discussed several intriguing horse-trading scenarios after WB choked on Fox’s initial ask of 10% gross and distribution in some overseas territories.

One scenario had WB moving "Terminator Salvation" away from its Memorial Day weekend opening on May 22, because it collides directly with Fox’s launch of "Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian." WB considered that, but there was a major problem. "Terminator Salvation" rights owner Halcyon has that May 22 release date stipulated in its contract. With sci-fi films "Transformers 2" and "Star Trek" due this summer, there is no better berth for "Terminator Salvation" than the four-day holiday weekend, so a moving wasn’t possible.

Another area that was explored involved Steve Carell. Fox wants to pair the actor with Tina Fey in "Date Night," a comedy that Shawn Levy will direct. Fox needs to get that film in production by the spring, because Fey has a small window before resuming her duties of writing and starring in "30 Rock."

WB was in a position to block that, because it held an option on Carell for a "Get Smart" sequel that it could have used to ruin Fox’s "Date Night" dreams. WB didn’t press that, because it has a strong relationship with Carell and it was clear that "The Office" star badly wanted to make the movie with Fey. WB agreed to push "Get Smart 2" to spring 2010, a move made before the studio settled its "Watchmen" dispute.

The Watchmen is sure to effect audiences in the theater as it did with comic book fans years ago but to think it could have delayed WB's Summer blockbuster T4 due to this Watchmen settlement amazes me. It seems Fox was succesful in delaying a possible Get Smart sequel due to WB not wanting to upset Carrell, maybe The Watchmen are much more important than I give them credit for.

I am not sure if there is really a "good guy" or "bad guy" in this situation, like today's films, there is more of a gray area. Warner Bros. and their battalion of lawyers surely knew about the rights issue but went forward anyway to capatalize on the super hero boom. Fox obviously had no intention of going forward with Watchmen any time soon but found an opportunity to stick it to WB.

I'm not sure if Fox and WB are both winners or both losers? I guess fans of The Watchmen are the winners in all of this.

TMT's Movie Moan Podcast: Opening Night

I'm proud to debut the first edition of TMT's Movie Moan podcast hosted by Jamie Williams and Phill Gee. When Jamie and I first thought about opening up a website one of the first moves we wanted to make was securing Phil Gee's Movie Moan to add to our site. I'm happy that Phil and Jamie have decided to move from the Now Live Network to Think Mcfy Think.

Jamie and Phil discuss the Fox & WB Watchmen settlement, the troubled production of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator Salvation, Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man 2, Marvel, The Avengers...and more!

TMT's Movie Moan: Episode 001

Paul Blart "Malls" The Competition

Studio estimates are in and Kevin James has rode his "Segway" to the top of the weekend box office charts. "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" has pulled in an estimated $33,800,000 leaving it's competition in the dust. The antics of Kevin James scored a per theater average of $10,751 on 3,144 screens. With a budget of only 26 Million this is a big win for Sony and Kevin James. Coming in a distant second but still holding strong, is Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino". Eastwood shot his way to a solid $22,235,000 weekend for a total of $73,232,000.

Weekend Estimates (Jan. 16-18)

1 Paul Blart: Mall Cop $33,800,000
2 Gran Torino $22,235,000
3 My Bloody Valentine $21,900,000
4 Notorious (2009) $21,500,000
5 Hotel for Dogs $17,707,000
6 Bride Wars Fox $11,750,000
7 The Unborn (2009) $9,849,000
8 Defiance ParV $9,206,000
9 Marley and Me $6,325,000
10 Slumdog Millionaire $5,900,000

Memory Lane: Super Fuzz

I remember sitting in the family room and flipping through the dials of the television looking for something to watch, and yes I really mean dials. You know the ones that read "VHF" and "UHF", I actually had to use those. The reason, remote controls didn't exist yet. Not only that, the television I was watching at the time was surrounded by wood like an old Buick.

Before this turns into a "Back in my day" style rant let's focus. One glorious day while turning the dials on my ancient television I came across the most wonderful movie. It featured a cop with super powers whose only weakeness was the color red. He walked on water, talked to fish, could run like the wind. If anybody still hasn't gotten it yet I am talking about "Super Fuzz", synopsis and trailer below.

After being accidentally exposed to radiation, a policeman develops super powers. However, whenever he sees the color red, he temporarily loses  his newly acquired abilities.

Paul Blart Shooting At My Mall

It was a fairly warm day towards the end of March when I walked into the Burlington Mall in Burlington MA. When I say walked, I mean really slowly and probably not because I wanted to. I'm assuming my girlfriend wanted to buy some funky shirts or yet another pair of jeans and I'm also assuming I really wasn't all that interested unless coffee was somehow involved. To tell you the truth, I really don't remember.

What I do remember is approaching the center of the mall and being confronted by the strangest of sites. Right there; in the middle of the mall, in the middle of spring, was a set up inspired by the North Pole. That's right, it was Christmas in March. As I approached the giant candy cane riddled display I noticed a small sign that was of course created to look like some sort of scroll. It read something like this:

No you're not dreaming, it is indeed Christmas in the Spring. Please pardon our appearance while we shoot the new Kevin James comedy "Paul Blart: Mall Cop".

I have to say it made me feel midly excited that they were actually filming a movie about 10 minutes away from my house and the fact that Kevin James was involved only made it sweeter. Personally I think Kevin James is one funny man.

Make sure you go to see the mall I am forced to shop at on January 16th.

http://www.paulblartmallcop.com/