LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Troubled star Lindsay Lohan arrived late for Monday's start of her trial on charges of reckless driving and lying to police over a June car crash, after she flew to Los Angeles from New York overnight.
Lohan, wearing a white and pink pants suit, turned up in court more than 45 minutes late after a morning dash from Los Angeles International Airport to the courthouse following a private jet flight from New York.
A bystander threw glitter at her as she walked into court through a phalanx of photographers and camera crews.
Lohan, 26, has pleaded not guilty to reckless driving, obstructing police, and lying to police when she said she was not behind the wheel when her Porsche sports car smashed into a truck on June 8, 2012, in Santa Monica, California.
The actress, who is still on probation for a 2011 conviction for stealing a necklace, faces the prospect of being sent to jail if she is convicted on the latest charges, or if she is deemed to have violated the terms of her probation.
The three misdemeanor charges each carry potential jail terms ranging from three months to a year. But even if Lohan is not convicted, the judge has the power to sentence her to jail for more than 200 days if he determines the actress violated her probation in the 2011 jewelry case.
Monday's trial went ahead after the failure of weeks of behind the scenes negotiations over a possible plea bargain for the 'Mean Girls' actress, who has been to jail for brief periods and entered rehabilitation for drinking and drug problems multiple times since 2007.
Lohan's new attorney, Mark Heller, told reporters earlier this month that Lohan had started a new round of psychotherapy and wanted to give inspirational speeches to school kids in a bid to turn her life around.
However, it's not clear if either of those projects have gotten underway. Lohan has spent much of the three months since being charged over the Santa Monica car crash in New York, where she has been photographed at nightclubs, concerts, and fashion and charity events.
Lohan's once promising Hollywood career has been seriously damaged by her numerous legal troubles. A comeback performance as late screen legend Elizabeth Taylor in the TV movie 'Liz & Dick' in November was largely panned by critics.
(Reporting By Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Beech)
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Disney's "Oz" keeps magic spell on movie box office
(Reuters) - Walt Disney Co's 'Oz the Great and Powerful' reigned over movie box offices in its second weekend, following up its strong debut a week earlier with $42.2 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters.
The 'Wizard of Oz' prequel starring James Franco beat newcomer 'The Call,' a thriller about a 911 operator trying to save a kidnapped girl. The movie starring Halle Berry earned $17.1 million from Friday through Sunday, according to studio estimates.
'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,' a comedy featuring Steve Carrell and Jim Carrey as dueling Las Vegas magicians, finished the weekend in third place. It conjured up $10.3 million.
Sony Corp's movie studio released 'The Call.' 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone' was distributed by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Chris Michaud; Editing by Will Dunham)
The 'Wizard of Oz' prequel starring James Franco beat newcomer 'The Call,' a thriller about a 911 operator trying to save a kidnapped girl. The movie starring Halle Berry earned $17.1 million from Friday through Sunday, according to studio estimates.
'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,' a comedy featuring Steve Carrell and Jim Carrey as dueling Las Vegas magicians, finished the weekend in third place. It conjured up $10.3 million.
Sony Corp's movie studio released 'The Call.' 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone' was distributed by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Chris Michaud; Editing by Will Dunham)
Friday, March 15, 2013
Universal picks newcomer Trevorrow to direct "Jurassic Park 4"
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood newcomer Colin Trevorrow was named the director of the long-awaited fourth installment of dinosaur movie franchise 'Jurassic Park' on Thursday.
Universal Pictures said that Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two movies in the $1.9 billion worldwide franchise, would be the executive producer of 'Jurassic Park 4,' but he would not direct.
Trevorrow, 36, is little known in Hollywood. He made his feature film directorial debut with the independent time travel comedy 'Safety Not Guaranteed,' shown at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and has made a TV movie and documentary.
Universal said 'Jurassic Park 4' would be made in 3D and was scheduled for release on June 13, 2014.
Spielberg announced in 2011 that a fourth film was in development, and speculation had been rife about whether he would direct it.
'Jurassic Park III,' directed by Joe Johnston, was released 12 years ago, but its $368 million worldwide box-office take was well below that of the first two films.
The original 'Jurassic Park,' first released in 1993, will return to U.S. movie theaters in April in a 3D conversion.
Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp, gave no details of casting or the plot for 'Jurassic Park 4.'
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Dan Grebler and Peter Cooney)
Universal Pictures said that Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two movies in the $1.9 billion worldwide franchise, would be the executive producer of 'Jurassic Park 4,' but he would not direct.
Trevorrow, 36, is little known in Hollywood. He made his feature film directorial debut with the independent time travel comedy 'Safety Not Guaranteed,' shown at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and has made a TV movie and documentary.
Universal said 'Jurassic Park 4' would be made in 3D and was scheduled for release on June 13, 2014.
Spielberg announced in 2011 that a fourth film was in development, and speculation had been rife about whether he would direct it.
'Jurassic Park III,' directed by Joe Johnston, was released 12 years ago, but its $368 million worldwide box-office take was well below that of the first two films.
The original 'Jurassic Park,' first released in 1993, will return to U.S. movie theaters in April in a 3D conversion.
Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp, gave no details of casting or the plot for 'Jurassic Park 4.'
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Dan Grebler and Peter Cooney)
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Universal picks newcomer Trevorrow to direct 'Jurassic Park 4'
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood newcomer Colin Trevorrow was named on Thursday as the director of the long-awaited fourth installment of dinosaur movie franchise 'Jurassic Park.'
Universal Pictures said that Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two movies in the $1.9 billion worldwide franchise, will be the executive producer of 'Jurassic Park 4' will not direct.
Trevorrow, 36, is little known in Hollywood. He directed the independent movie 'Safety Not Guaranteed,' shown at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and had previously made a TV movie and documentary.
Universal said that 'Jurassic Park 4' will be made in 3D but did not announce a release date.
Spielberg announced in 2011 that a fourth film was in development, and speculation had been rife about whether he would direct it.
The original 'Jurassic Park,' first released in 1993, will return to U.S. movie theaters in April in a 3D conversion.
Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp, gave no details of casting or the plot for 'Jurassic Park 4.'
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Universal Pictures said that Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two movies in the $1.9 billion worldwide franchise, will be the executive producer of 'Jurassic Park 4' will not direct.
Trevorrow, 36, is little known in Hollywood. He directed the independent movie 'Safety Not Guaranteed,' shown at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and had previously made a TV movie and documentary.
Universal said that 'Jurassic Park 4' will be made in 3D but did not announce a release date.
Spielberg announced in 2011 that a fourth film was in development, and speculation had been rife about whether he would direct it.
The original 'Jurassic Park,' first released in 1993, will return to U.S. movie theaters in April in a 3D conversion.
Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp, gave no details of casting or the plot for 'Jurassic Park 4.'
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Miyazaki father and son team up for 'From Up on Poppy Hill' film
By Zorianna Kit
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli have, under their belt, some of Japan's biggest global anime movie successes, including 'Princess Mononoke' and 'Spirited Away,' which won an Academy Award in 2003.
Far less known, until now, was Miyazaki's son Goro, who worked as a landscaper for years so as not to compete with his famous father, but later designed the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo and debuted as a director in 2006 with 'Tales from Earthsea.'
Now, for the first time, the pair has teamed up on a film, with Hayao, 72, as co-writer and 46-year-old Goro as director, overcoming a contentious relationship stretching back years.
'From Up on Poppy Hill,' opening in U.S. movie theaters on Friday, is set in Japan in 1963 and focuses on a high school romance threatened by a secret.
Goro Miyazaki talked to Reuters recently, via a translator, about working with his father, a man he was once estranged from.
Q: Umi, the female protagonist in 'Poppy Hill,' has been raising flags for a decade for her deceased father. While yours is very much alive and well, did Umi's longing for her dad stir up anything for you when it comes to your own famous father?
A: The common thread between myself and the character is that the dad was always out working and was never really around. I'd be lying to you if I didn't say that there were times when I thought that maybe my dad should have died a little earlier, just as the character did. I feel like I can really empathize with a child's longing for an absent father.
Q: Now that you're working together, how closely was your father involved in the making of 'Poppy Hill?'
A: He said, 'I will take care of the planning and the screenplay and everything else is your responsibility.' That was the agreement on the roles. But once we began work, he would come around, wander into the room and instead of talking to me directly, he would start looking at the artwork on the walls and mutter suggestions on how to do things a little bit this way, a little bit that way. He never came and talked to me directly.
Q: Did you have to accept his suggestions?
A: More often than not, his advice really hit the mark. So begrudgingly, I often had to take it.
Q: You seem like reluctant working partners. How long does this date back to?
A: Shortly after I started making my first film, I had a huge fight with my father. For a long time we didn't talk. He was opposed to the idea of me directing a film. He felt that it would be ridiculous for somebody with no experience to, all of a sudden, go into directing. He would tell me about how much he had to struggle in his days to get to that place where he could have the opportunity.
Q: What helped you reconcile?
A: Having my (now four-year old) son - his grandson - allowed us to start talking again.
Q: Has your last name been a help or hindrance in your career?
A: Both. The opportunity I received to make this film obviously had something to do with the family name. But once you make the film and it goes out into the world, that name becomes a heavy burden.
Q: Because you're judged by the standards set by your father's work?
A: I think that is true. But it all comes down to how I deal with it. Until recently, I was very jaded about that whole thing, but now (I've turned the corner) and the reason for that actually ties in to my next project, which unfortunately I can't disclose at the moment.
Q: How similar are you and your father?
A: We're both short-tempered and also a little bit dark when it comes down to it, way down deep.
Q: How are you not alike?
A: This may be partly due to the different worlds that we were born into and the different generations, but Hayao Miyazaki is an idealist. He thinks in terms of how people should be, how the world should be.
Q: Where does that stem from?
A: That comes from the fact that he grew up in this post-war period where things were changing and people had this strong ideal about how society should behave. Those of us who were born during a time when that society was much more structured already, we can't share that same sentiment.
Q: This post-war period is exactly the time period 'Poppy Hill' is set in. Why do you think he wrote it for you to direct?
A: It was a time that most Japanese look fondly upon as the one time things were just right. It's after the war and the ravages. It's that point in history where Japan was able to enjoy a brief moment of peace.
(Editing by Elaine Lies and Bernadette Baum)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli have, under their belt, some of Japan's biggest global anime movie successes, including 'Princess Mononoke' and 'Spirited Away,' which won an Academy Award in 2003.
Far less known, until now, was Miyazaki's son Goro, who worked as a landscaper for years so as not to compete with his famous father, but later designed the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo and debuted as a director in 2006 with 'Tales from Earthsea.'
Now, for the first time, the pair has teamed up on a film, with Hayao, 72, as co-writer and 46-year-old Goro as director, overcoming a contentious relationship stretching back years.
'From Up on Poppy Hill,' opening in U.S. movie theaters on Friday, is set in Japan in 1963 and focuses on a high school romance threatened by a secret.
Goro Miyazaki talked to Reuters recently, via a translator, about working with his father, a man he was once estranged from.
Q: Umi, the female protagonist in 'Poppy Hill,' has been raising flags for a decade for her deceased father. While yours is very much alive and well, did Umi's longing for her dad stir up anything for you when it comes to your own famous father?
A: The common thread between myself and the character is that the dad was always out working and was never really around. I'd be lying to you if I didn't say that there were times when I thought that maybe my dad should have died a little earlier, just as the character did. I feel like I can really empathize with a child's longing for an absent father.
Q: Now that you're working together, how closely was your father involved in the making of 'Poppy Hill?'
A: He said, 'I will take care of the planning and the screenplay and everything else is your responsibility.' That was the agreement on the roles. But once we began work, he would come around, wander into the room and instead of talking to me directly, he would start looking at the artwork on the walls and mutter suggestions on how to do things a little bit this way, a little bit that way. He never came and talked to me directly.
Q: Did you have to accept his suggestions?
A: More often than not, his advice really hit the mark. So begrudgingly, I often had to take it.
Q: You seem like reluctant working partners. How long does this date back to?
A: Shortly after I started making my first film, I had a huge fight with my father. For a long time we didn't talk. He was opposed to the idea of me directing a film. He felt that it would be ridiculous for somebody with no experience to, all of a sudden, go into directing. He would tell me about how much he had to struggle in his days to get to that place where he could have the opportunity.
Q: What helped you reconcile?
A: Having my (now four-year old) son - his grandson - allowed us to start talking again.
Q: Has your last name been a help or hindrance in your career?
A: Both. The opportunity I received to make this film obviously had something to do with the family name. But once you make the film and it goes out into the world, that name becomes a heavy burden.
Q: Because you're judged by the standards set by your father's work?
A: I think that is true. But it all comes down to how I deal with it. Until recently, I was very jaded about that whole thing, but now (I've turned the corner) and the reason for that actually ties in to my next project, which unfortunately I can't disclose at the moment.
Q: How similar are you and your father?
A: We're both short-tempered and also a little bit dark when it comes down to it, way down deep.
Q: How are you not alike?
A: This may be partly due to the different worlds that we were born into and the different generations, but Hayao Miyazaki is an idealist. He thinks in terms of how people should be, how the world should be.
Q: Where does that stem from?
A: That comes from the fact that he grew up in this post-war period where things were changing and people had this strong ideal about how society should behave. Those of us who were born during a time when that society was much more structured already, we can't share that same sentiment.
Q: This post-war period is exactly the time period 'Poppy Hill' is set in. Why do you think he wrote it for you to direct?
A: It was a time that most Japanese look fondly upon as the one time things were just right. It's after the war and the ravages. It's that point in history where Japan was able to enjoy a brief moment of peace.
(Editing by Elaine Lies and Bernadette Baum)
"The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" review: this magician comedy has almost nothing up its sleeve
By Alonso Duralde
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Desperate for publicity, old-school Vegas magicians Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carrell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) decide to spend a week locked inside a plexiglass box suspended over the Vegas strip. 'Remember,' advises their assistant Jane (Olivia Wilde), 'all you have to do is nothing.'
It's a funny line, but one also suspects it was the production motto for 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,' a movie that always seems poised to deliver big laughs but, once the smoke and the pigeons clear, leaves you only with a mild chuckle or two.
The film falls squarely into the formula that Will Ferrell popularized - let's find something dorky and look at characters who take it totally seriously - but 'Burt Wonderstone' can't decide if it wants to bury glitzy, cornball, Vegas-style magic or to praise it, resulting in a comedy that occasionally talks tough but ultimately reveals a bland, mushy center.
Our hero is introduced as an unpopular, bullied child; Lyle Workman's score goes into minor-key overdrive when poor little Albert (Mason Cook) gets beaten up on his birthday, only to come home to an empty house, a note from his working mom, a box of cake mix and one present. But that present turns out to be a magic kit endorsed by the legendary Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin), and the kid is hooked. (Any resemblance between Rance Holloway and Harry Blackstone Sr. is entirely intentional.)
Magic not only stimulates Albert's imagination, it's a way for him to bond with fellow outcast Anton, and the two become inseparable. A few decades later, they're headlining in Vegas with a show that spotlights their 'Magical Friendship' - except that off-stage, they're hardly speaking. Burt has become absurdly vain and pompous, and their show, while still popular, is stale and repetitive.
Stealing their spotlight is Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), a 'street magician' of the David Blaine-Criss Angel school, and while his shtick is more about self-mortification and less a matter of prestidigitation, audiences go wild for his TV show, 'Mind Rape.' Which leads to the Plexiglass-box incident, and after that goes awry, Anton leaves the act, leaving Burt to try to do the same show by himself, with no one filling in the other half of the dialogue.
Canned by hotel mogul Doug Munny (James Gandolfini), Burt is reduced to living in a shabby motel and entertaining at an old folks' home. (There's no transition from top of the heap to bottom of the barrel; the words 'Reno,' 'Laughlin' and 'Branson' are never spoken.) Will a chance encounter with the aged Rance Holloway help Burt get his magical mojo back?
Take a wild guess. Obviously, in a movie like this, it's about the journey and not the destination, but screenwriters Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley ('Horrible Bosses') and director Don Scardino keep the proceedings mild when they could be wild. Worse, they assign each character one or two defining traits, and then we see them indulge those flaws over and over and over again until they're not remotely funny anymore.
Carrell and Carrey are operating in their wheelhouses with these absurd showmen, but they're hemmed in by the script's limited parameters and they quickly grow tedious. Their redundant cartoonishness becomes so wearying that Wilde and Arkin wind up stealing the movie by underplaying.
We know from 'The Prestige' and any number of other movies about magic that illusion is all about what you do while you're distracting the audience. It's too easy to look right through 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,' which means it can never really dazzle us.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Desperate for publicity, old-school Vegas magicians Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carrell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) decide to spend a week locked inside a plexiglass box suspended over the Vegas strip. 'Remember,' advises their assistant Jane (Olivia Wilde), 'all you have to do is nothing.'
It's a funny line, but one also suspects it was the production motto for 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,' a movie that always seems poised to deliver big laughs but, once the smoke and the pigeons clear, leaves you only with a mild chuckle or two.
The film falls squarely into the formula that Will Ferrell popularized - let's find something dorky and look at characters who take it totally seriously - but 'Burt Wonderstone' can't decide if it wants to bury glitzy, cornball, Vegas-style magic or to praise it, resulting in a comedy that occasionally talks tough but ultimately reveals a bland, mushy center.
Our hero is introduced as an unpopular, bullied child; Lyle Workman's score goes into minor-key overdrive when poor little Albert (Mason Cook) gets beaten up on his birthday, only to come home to an empty house, a note from his working mom, a box of cake mix and one present. But that present turns out to be a magic kit endorsed by the legendary Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin), and the kid is hooked. (Any resemblance between Rance Holloway and Harry Blackstone Sr. is entirely intentional.)
Magic not only stimulates Albert's imagination, it's a way for him to bond with fellow outcast Anton, and the two become inseparable. A few decades later, they're headlining in Vegas with a show that spotlights their 'Magical Friendship' - except that off-stage, they're hardly speaking. Burt has become absurdly vain and pompous, and their show, while still popular, is stale and repetitive.
Stealing their spotlight is Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), a 'street magician' of the David Blaine-Criss Angel school, and while his shtick is more about self-mortification and less a matter of prestidigitation, audiences go wild for his TV show, 'Mind Rape.' Which leads to the Plexiglass-box incident, and after that goes awry, Anton leaves the act, leaving Burt to try to do the same show by himself, with no one filling in the other half of the dialogue.
Canned by hotel mogul Doug Munny (James Gandolfini), Burt is reduced to living in a shabby motel and entertaining at an old folks' home. (There's no transition from top of the heap to bottom of the barrel; the words 'Reno,' 'Laughlin' and 'Branson' are never spoken.) Will a chance encounter with the aged Rance Holloway help Burt get his magical mojo back?
Take a wild guess. Obviously, in a movie like this, it's about the journey and not the destination, but screenwriters Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley ('Horrible Bosses') and director Don Scardino keep the proceedings mild when they could be wild. Worse, they assign each character one or two defining traits, and then we see them indulge those flaws over and over and over again until they're not remotely funny anymore.
Carrell and Carrey are operating in their wheelhouses with these absurd showmen, but they're hemmed in by the script's limited parameters and they quickly grow tedious. Their redundant cartoonishness becomes so wearying that Wilde and Arkin wind up stealing the movie by underplaying.
We know from 'The Prestige' and any number of other movies about magic that illusion is all about what you do while you're distracting the audience. It's too easy to look right through 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,' which means it can never really dazzle us.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
"Veronica Mars" movie? It could happen - thanks to Kickstarter
By Brent Lang
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Fans have been craving a 'Veronica Mars' big-screen adventure ever since the cult series finished up its CW run six years ago.
Thanks to the power of crowd-sourcing, the youthful sleuth so memorably played by Kristen Bell may finally make her movie debut.
Bell and creator Rob Thomas have launched a Kickstarter page with the goal of raising $2 million in a month. If they get it, they say that Warner Bros., which owns the rights to the series, has agreed to pick up the cost of marketing and distribution if they're able to show enough fan interest.
'I am currently the happiest blonde in a hamster ball the world has ever seen,' Bell writes on the Kickstarter page. 'We have been waiting so long to make this movie dream a movie reality, and it's because of YOUR commitment, YOUR persistence, that we finally have a chance. We just have one more step to go. You have banded together like the sassy little honey badgers you are and made this possibility happen.'
And she promises that 'if we hit our goal, we will make the sleuthiest, snarkiest, it's-all-fun-and-games-'til-one-of-you-gets-my-foot-up-your-ass movie we possibly can.'\
For the uninitiated, the noirish 'Veronica Mars' followed an aspiring private investigator through high school and later college as she was tutored in the art of deduction by her detective father. It was never a ratings blockbuster, but it did inspire a passionate following.
Thomas said that if the goal is reached, the movie will be shot over the summer and post-production will happen in the fall, with a 2014 release date. Backers of the film will get digital copies within days of its release.
To entice fans to open their wallets, the 'Veronica Mars' team is promising set visits, premiere tickets, DVDs of the show's first three seasons and video greetings and voicemails from the cast. The size of the gift is dependent on the size of the donation.
So far it seems to be working. In less than 24 hours, the project has raised more than $400,000 from more than 5,000 backers.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Fans have been craving a 'Veronica Mars' big-screen adventure ever since the cult series finished up its CW run six years ago.
Thanks to the power of crowd-sourcing, the youthful sleuth so memorably played by Kristen Bell may finally make her movie debut.
Bell and creator Rob Thomas have launched a Kickstarter page with the goal of raising $2 million in a month. If they get it, they say that Warner Bros., which owns the rights to the series, has agreed to pick up the cost of marketing and distribution if they're able to show enough fan interest.
'I am currently the happiest blonde in a hamster ball the world has ever seen,' Bell writes on the Kickstarter page. 'We have been waiting so long to make this movie dream a movie reality, and it's because of YOUR commitment, YOUR persistence, that we finally have a chance. We just have one more step to go. You have banded together like the sassy little honey badgers you are and made this possibility happen.'
And she promises that 'if we hit our goal, we will make the sleuthiest, snarkiest, it's-all-fun-and-games-'til-one-of-you-gets-my-foot-up-your-ass movie we possibly can.'\
For the uninitiated, the noirish 'Veronica Mars' followed an aspiring private investigator through high school and later college as she was tutored in the art of deduction by her detective father. It was never a ratings blockbuster, but it did inspire a passionate following.
Thomas said that if the goal is reached, the movie will be shot over the summer and post-production will happen in the fall, with a 2014 release date. Backers of the film will get digital copies within days of its release.
To entice fans to open their wallets, the 'Veronica Mars' team is promising set visits, premiere tickets, DVDs of the show's first three seasons and video greetings and voicemails from the cast. The size of the gift is dependent on the size of the donation.
So far it seems to be working. In less than 24 hours, the project has raised more than $400,000 from more than 5,000 backers.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" to open Cannes film festival
LONDON (Reuters) - Australian director Baz Luhrmann's 'The Great Gatsby' will open the 2013 Cannes film festival, the world's most important cinema showcase, organizers said on Tuesday.
The adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's account of 'Roaring Twenties' America combines serious literary heritage and A-list star power, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role.
DiCaprio will make an appearance at the festival on the famous Croisette waterfront for the first time since 2007.
The opening gala, preceded by a glitzy red carpet fashion parade and followed by parties along the palm-lined Riviera, will also be attended by Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan and U.S. rapper Jay-Z.
'It is a great honor for all those who have worked on The Great Gatsby to open the Cannes film festival,' Luhrmann, whose first film Strictly Ballroom was screened there 21 years ago, said in a statement.
'F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside St. Raphael,' he added.
DiCaprio plays Jay Gatsby in the 3D movie, Carey Mulligan is Daisy Buchanan and Tobey Maguire is Nick Carraway, the narrator.
The festival runs from May 15 to 26 and U.S. director Steven Spielberg is head of this year's jury.
Last year's winner of the coveted Palme d'Or for best picture was Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke for the drama Amour.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Erica Billingham)
The adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's account of 'Roaring Twenties' America combines serious literary heritage and A-list star power, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role.
DiCaprio will make an appearance at the festival on the famous Croisette waterfront for the first time since 2007.
The opening gala, preceded by a glitzy red carpet fashion parade and followed by parties along the palm-lined Riviera, will also be attended by Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan and U.S. rapper Jay-Z.
'It is a great honor for all those who have worked on The Great Gatsby to open the Cannes film festival,' Luhrmann, whose first film Strictly Ballroom was screened there 21 years ago, said in a statement.
'F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside St. Raphael,' he added.
DiCaprio plays Jay Gatsby in the 3D movie, Carey Mulligan is Daisy Buchanan and Tobey Maguire is Nick Carraway, the narrator.
The festival runs from May 15 to 26 and U.S. director Steven Spielberg is head of this year's jury.
Last year's winner of the coveted Palme d'Or for best picture was Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke for the drama Amour.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Erica Billingham)
Monday, March 11, 2013
Disney's "Oz" prequel scores box office gold
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - There was no place like 'Oz' at the weekend box office.
Walt Disney Co's big-budget 3D movie 'Oz the Great and Powerful' amassed $80.3 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, the biggest domestic debut of 2013. The prequel starring James Franco added $69.9 million in international markets, Disney said, for a combined $150.2 million opening around the world.
'Oz' dominated all other movies over the weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. Another family film, 'Jack the Giant Slayer,' finished a distant No. 2 with $10 million domestically during its second weekend. Melissa McCarthy comedy 'Identity Thief' landed third with $6.3 million from Friday through Sunday.
The opening numbers for 'Oz' provided a strong start for the $200-million production, a prequel to 1939 Hollywood classic 'The Wizard of Oz.' The movie stars Franco as a small-time magician who is whisked by hot-air balloon to a magical land where he is mistaken for a wizard. Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz play three witches the wizard encounters on his journey.
Disney spent up to $100 million on a marketing campaign that featured the cross-country tour of a bright blue, Oz-themed hot-air balloon, a commercial during the Super Bowl, and movie-related fashions sold on shopping channel HSN. [ID:nL1N0BRAKB]
The expensive gamble paid off as families turned out to see the story of how the famous wizard came to lead the colorful land of Oz.
Disney's executive vice president for motion picture distribution Dave Hollis said the film hit a 'sweet spot' in terms of timing; over the next few weeks, there will be little competition in the family film market, and many kids in the United States will be on school breaks and thus more likely to head to theaters.
He was mum on reports of a sequel. 'It's too early to say too much,' Hollis said. 'I'm not really a part of that conversation at this time.'
Before the weekend, Disney had projected domestic sales of around $70 million, while some box-office analysts saw receipts hitting as much as $85 million.
The big debut for 'Oz' outshined the sluggish opening a week earlier for 'Jack the Giant Slayer,' another family-oriented film that puts a modern spin on a classic children's tale. The new take on 'Jack and the Beanstalk,' which cost $189 million to produce, pulled in $27.2 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters during its first three days.
Through Sunday, 'Jack' had earned a total of $43.8 million domestically, plus $22.6 million from international markets.
The weekend's other new release, thriller 'Dead Man Down,' landed in fourth place on North American charts with $5.4 million. The movie stars Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace as two strangers who join together to seek revenge against a New York crime lord.
Drug drama 'Snitch' took fifth place with $5.1 million in domestic sales.
Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, released 'Jack the Giant Slayer.' 'Identity Thief' was distributed by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp. Privately held FilmDistrict released 'Dead Man Down.' '21 and Over' was released by privately held Relativity Media.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Bill Trott and Christopher Wilson)
Walt Disney Co's big-budget 3D movie 'Oz the Great and Powerful' amassed $80.3 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, the biggest domestic debut of 2013. The prequel starring James Franco added $69.9 million in international markets, Disney said, for a combined $150.2 million opening around the world.
'Oz' dominated all other movies over the weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. Another family film, 'Jack the Giant Slayer,' finished a distant No. 2 with $10 million domestically during its second weekend. Melissa McCarthy comedy 'Identity Thief' landed third with $6.3 million from Friday through Sunday.
The opening numbers for 'Oz' provided a strong start for the $200-million production, a prequel to 1939 Hollywood classic 'The Wizard of Oz.' The movie stars Franco as a small-time magician who is whisked by hot-air balloon to a magical land where he is mistaken for a wizard. Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz play three witches the wizard encounters on his journey.
Disney spent up to $100 million on a marketing campaign that featured the cross-country tour of a bright blue, Oz-themed hot-air balloon, a commercial during the Super Bowl, and movie-related fashions sold on shopping channel HSN. [ID:nL1N0BRAKB]
The expensive gamble paid off as families turned out to see the story of how the famous wizard came to lead the colorful land of Oz.
Disney's executive vice president for motion picture distribution Dave Hollis said the film hit a 'sweet spot' in terms of timing; over the next few weeks, there will be little competition in the family film market, and many kids in the United States will be on school breaks and thus more likely to head to theaters.
He was mum on reports of a sequel. 'It's too early to say too much,' Hollis said. 'I'm not really a part of that conversation at this time.'
Before the weekend, Disney had projected domestic sales of around $70 million, while some box-office analysts saw receipts hitting as much as $85 million.
The big debut for 'Oz' outshined the sluggish opening a week earlier for 'Jack the Giant Slayer,' another family-oriented film that puts a modern spin on a classic children's tale. The new take on 'Jack and the Beanstalk,' which cost $189 million to produce, pulled in $27.2 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters during its first three days.
Through Sunday, 'Jack' had earned a total of $43.8 million domestically, plus $22.6 million from international markets.
The weekend's other new release, thriller 'Dead Man Down,' landed in fourth place on North American charts with $5.4 million. The movie stars Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace as two strangers who join together to seek revenge against a New York crime lord.
Drug drama 'Snitch' took fifth place with $5.1 million in domestic sales.
Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, released 'Jack the Giant Slayer.' 'Identity Thief' was distributed by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp. Privately held FilmDistrict released 'Dead Man Down.' '21 and Over' was released by privately held Relativity Media.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Bill Trott and Christopher Wilson)
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Jim Carrey, Steve Carell bring "Burt Wonderstone" magic to SXSW
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Comedians Jim Carrey and Steve Carell brought a touch of magic to the opening day of the South by Southwest Conferences & Festivals in Austin, Texas on Friday, with the premiere of their new film 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.'
'Burt Wonderstone,' out in U.S. theaters on March 15, tells the tale of childhood friends Burt (Carell) and Anton (Steve Buscemi) who bond over their love of magic, growing up to become a world-famous magician duo.
They soon find their skills and friendship tested in a constantly evolving world of magic and entertainment, as audiences demand something new with the arrival of edgy illusionist Steve Gray (Carrey).
Carrey, decked out in a red jacket and silver shoes on Friday's red carpet, said that despite playing a magician, he resented magic. 'I've always had this weird relationship with magic. I think it's fascinating and yet it annoys me because I can't figure it out,' Carrey said.
The funnyman was joined by co-stars Carell, who wore jeans, and Olivia Wilde, who wore a striped navy and white dress and signed autographs for fans.
Carell said he learned a bit of magic for the tricks that were shown up close in the film. 'Some of those things you just can't fake,' Carell said on the red carpet.
Inside the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin, audience members laughed loudly throughout the film, and the stars answered their questions afterward.
Carell told the audience his character's orangey glow was achieved through weekly spray-tanning. He said it wasn't until the final days of shooting that he realized that only his face and chest showed in the film, meaning he had gotten repeatedly sprayed from head to toe for 'no reason whatsoever.'
The world premiere marked the opening of the film portion of South by Southwest, where creative types from all over the world converge in the Texas capital to swap ideas about film, music and technology.
SXSW, which began as a music event in 1987, runs for 10 days. The Interactive portion runs March 8-12, and the Music portion runs March 12-17. Film events run until March 16.
More than 60,000 people registered for SXSW conferences last year, and SXSW officials estimate the growth for 2013 to be in the 5-8 percent range.
Featured speakers at this year's SXSW include former Vice President Al Gore, actor Matthew McConaughey, retired basketball star Shaquille O'Neal and Dave Grohl, the former Nirvana drummer who founded the Foo Fighters.
Headliner films include the world premiere of 'Evil Dead,' starring Jane Levy and Shiloh Fernandez, while Green Day, Depeche Mode and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are among the musical performers slated.
(Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan; Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Todd Eastham)
'Burt Wonderstone,' out in U.S. theaters on March 15, tells the tale of childhood friends Burt (Carell) and Anton (Steve Buscemi) who bond over their love of magic, growing up to become a world-famous magician duo.
They soon find their skills and friendship tested in a constantly evolving world of magic and entertainment, as audiences demand something new with the arrival of edgy illusionist Steve Gray (Carrey).
Carrey, decked out in a red jacket and silver shoes on Friday's red carpet, said that despite playing a magician, he resented magic. 'I've always had this weird relationship with magic. I think it's fascinating and yet it annoys me because I can't figure it out,' Carrey said.
The funnyman was joined by co-stars Carell, who wore jeans, and Olivia Wilde, who wore a striped navy and white dress and signed autographs for fans.
Carell said he learned a bit of magic for the tricks that were shown up close in the film. 'Some of those things you just can't fake,' Carell said on the red carpet.
Inside the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin, audience members laughed loudly throughout the film, and the stars answered their questions afterward.
Carell told the audience his character's orangey glow was achieved through weekly spray-tanning. He said it wasn't until the final days of shooting that he realized that only his face and chest showed in the film, meaning he had gotten repeatedly sprayed from head to toe for 'no reason whatsoever.'
The world premiere marked the opening of the film portion of South by Southwest, where creative types from all over the world converge in the Texas capital to swap ideas about film, music and technology.
SXSW, which began as a music event in 1987, runs for 10 days. The Interactive portion runs March 8-12, and the Music portion runs March 12-17. Film events run until March 16.
More than 60,000 people registered for SXSW conferences last year, and SXSW officials estimate the growth for 2013 to be in the 5-8 percent range.
Featured speakers at this year's SXSW include former Vice President Al Gore, actor Matthew McConaughey, retired basketball star Shaquille O'Neal and Dave Grohl, the former Nirvana drummer who founded the Foo Fighters.
Headliner films include the world premiere of 'Evil Dead,' starring Jane Levy and Shiloh Fernandez, while Green Day, Depeche Mode and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are among the musical performers slated.
(Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan; Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Todd Eastham)
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Ford, Fisher, Hamill in talks for new "Star Wars": source
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - 'Star Wars' original cast members Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill are in talks to join the next installment of the science-fiction franchise, a person with knowledge of plans for the new film told Reuters on Thursday.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said lawyers had the contracts for all three actors and that an announcement would be made soon.
Representatives for Ford, who played Han Solo in the first three films, declined to comment.
Reuters was unable to reach representatives for Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker from 1977 to 1983.
Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the first 'Star Wars' trilogy, got the rumor mills buzzing this week after saying she would reprise her role in the new film, due in theaters in 2015, in an interview with U.S. magazine Palm Beach Illustrated.
Fisher's spokeswoman, Carol Marshall, would not comment to Reuters on Fisher's involvement in the upcoming film.
Disney bought George Lucas' Lucasfilm company in October 2012 for $4.05 billion, and announced three new installments of the widely popular 'Star Wars' franchise, which has grossed more than $4.4 billion at the global box office.
Fans of the franchise have been eager to know whether any of the original cast members would be back.
Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday first reported in an interview with Lucas that the trio were in negotiations to join the new film.
Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynn Hale was unable to confirm whether all three stars would be returning for 'Star Wars: Episode VII.'
The new film will be helmed by 'Star Trek' director J.J. Abrams, and will be written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt.
(Reporting By Eric Kelsey and Ronald Grover, additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said lawyers had the contracts for all three actors and that an announcement would be made soon.
Representatives for Ford, who played Han Solo in the first three films, declined to comment.
Reuters was unable to reach representatives for Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker from 1977 to 1983.
Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the first 'Star Wars' trilogy, got the rumor mills buzzing this week after saying she would reprise her role in the new film, due in theaters in 2015, in an interview with U.S. magazine Palm Beach Illustrated.
Fisher's spokeswoman, Carol Marshall, would not comment to Reuters on Fisher's involvement in the upcoming film.
Disney bought George Lucas' Lucasfilm company in October 2012 for $4.05 billion, and announced three new installments of the widely popular 'Star Wars' franchise, which has grossed more than $4.4 billion at the global box office.
Fans of the franchise have been eager to know whether any of the original cast members would be back.
Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday first reported in an interview with Lucas that the trio were in negotiations to join the new film.
Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynn Hale was unable to confirm whether all three stars would be returning for 'Star Wars: Episode VII.'
The new film will be helmed by 'Star Trek' director J.J. Abrams, and will be written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt.
(Reporting By Eric Kelsey and Ronald Grover, additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
James Franco aiming for broadway in "Of Mice and Men" - Will Stephen Colbert join him?
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - James Franco says he is planning to star in 'Of Mice and Men' on Broadway - and he'd like Stephen Colbert to join him in the cast.
Appearing on 'The Colbert Report' Tuesday to promote his new film, 'Oz the Great and Powerful,' Franco mentioned his plans for the project, adding: 'There's a character, Slim. We haven't cast him yet ... You could do it.'
'Is it a big time commitment? Because I've got this show to do,' Colbert responded, laughing.
Franco later told Colbert he will play George in the stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel - and again tried to coax the talk show host to join him.
'If you want to play Lenny ..., ' he added.
No official word on when (or if) this production will really happen, and Franco's representatives did not immediately respond to TheWrap's requests for comment.
Appearing on 'The Colbert Report' Tuesday to promote his new film, 'Oz the Great and Powerful,' Franco mentioned his plans for the project, adding: 'There's a character, Slim. We haven't cast him yet ... You could do it.'
'Is it a big time commitment? Because I've got this show to do,' Colbert responded, laughing.
Franco later told Colbert he will play George in the stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel - and again tried to coax the talk show host to join him.
'If you want to play Lenny ..., ' he added.
No official word on when (or if) this production will really happen, and Franco's representatives did not immediately respond to TheWrap's requests for comment.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Tom Cruise sci-fi movie "Oblivion" Imax release pushed back a week
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Universal Pictures has pushed the Imax release date for the Tom Cruise sci-fi movie 'Oblivion' from April 12 to April 19, the studio announced Tuesday.
The shift allows Universal to maximize Cruise's international publicity efforts, expanding in several territories overseas where the film starts rolling out the weekend of April 12 and returning in time to promote the film in the U.S.
The shift also gives the 3D re-release of 'Jurassic Park' an additional weekend to play in Imax theaters before 'Oblivion' movies in.
The April 19 date puts 'Oblivion' up against 'jOBS,' the Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher from Open Road Pictures.
The shift allows Universal to maximize Cruise's international publicity efforts, expanding in several territories overseas where the film starts rolling out the weekend of April 12 and returning in time to promote the film in the U.S.
The shift also gives the 3D re-release of 'Jurassic Park' an additional weekend to play in Imax theaters before 'Oblivion' movies in.
The April 19 date puts 'Oblivion' up against 'jOBS,' the Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher from Open Road Pictures.
Actor James Franco protests Australian ban of gay film
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Actor James Franco, star of Disney's new film 'Oz the Great and Powerful', has launched an online appeal after censors banned a gay film from screening at Australian film festivals.
The film 'I Want Your Love,' by director Travis Mathews, is the story of a gay man who has sex with his best friend while partying in Los Angeles. It has been screened at the Toronto LGBT Film Festival and other overseas festivals.
But the Australian Classification Board refused to exempt the film from classification rules to allow its screening at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival in March and the Brisbane Queer Film Festival in April, citing 'explicit sexual activity'.
Franco, 34, who co-directed a bondage film with Mathews that was shown at this year's Sundance Film Festival in the United States, said the ban was 'hypocritical' as sex was used in a sophisticated way in the film.
'This is such a disappointment to me and it just seems really silly,' Franco said in YouTube video that notched up more than 17,000 views on Tuesday.
'Sex is such a big part of our lives .. it's how we create children, it's how we connect ... I don't think we'd be having this conversation if he'd made a very violent film.'
Australian Classification Board officials said an application was made to exempt the film from classification under rules specific to film festivals but it ruled against this due to the content of the film.
'In this case, the film contains detailed and prolonged scenes of actual explicit sexual activity,' board officials said in a statement.
Lisa Daniel, festival director of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, said the move was embarrassing for Australia.
'It just makes us look like a cultural backwater, I think. It's pretty embarrassing given the film has screened all over the world and never been banned before,' she said.
Franco backed Mathew's petition to the Australian Classification Board to review its decision and allow the film. He collaborated with Mathews on the bondage film 'Interior. Leather Bar'.
'Frankly adults should be able to choose,' said Franco, who plays the Wizard of Oz in the new blockbuster Disney movie.
'They're not going in blind. I don't know why in this day in age something like this, a film that's using sex not for titillation but to talk about being human, is being banned,' she said.
(Reporting by Thuy Ong, editing by Elaine Lies and Belinda Goldsmith)
The film 'I Want Your Love,' by director Travis Mathews, is the story of a gay man who has sex with his best friend while partying in Los Angeles. It has been screened at the Toronto LGBT Film Festival and other overseas festivals.
But the Australian Classification Board refused to exempt the film from classification rules to allow its screening at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival in March and the Brisbane Queer Film Festival in April, citing 'explicit sexual activity'.
Franco, 34, who co-directed a bondage film with Mathews that was shown at this year's Sundance Film Festival in the United States, said the ban was 'hypocritical' as sex was used in a sophisticated way in the film.
'This is such a disappointment to me and it just seems really silly,' Franco said in YouTube video that notched up more than 17,000 views on Tuesday.
'Sex is such a big part of our lives .. it's how we create children, it's how we connect ... I don't think we'd be having this conversation if he'd made a very violent film.'
Australian Classification Board officials said an application was made to exempt the film from classification under rules specific to film festivals but it ruled against this due to the content of the film.
'In this case, the film contains detailed and prolonged scenes of actual explicit sexual activity,' board officials said in a statement.
Lisa Daniel, festival director of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, said the move was embarrassing for Australia.
'It just makes us look like a cultural backwater, I think. It's pretty embarrassing given the film has screened all over the world and never been banned before,' she said.
Franco backed Mathew's petition to the Australian Classification Board to review its decision and allow the film. He collaborated with Mathews on the bondage film 'Interior. Leather Bar'.
'Frankly adults should be able to choose,' said Franco, who plays the Wizard of Oz in the new blockbuster Disney movie.
'They're not going in blind. I don't know why in this day in age something like this, a film that's using sex not for titillation but to talk about being human, is being banned,' she said.
(Reporting by Thuy Ong, editing by Elaine Lies and Belinda Goldsmith)
Monday, March 4, 2013
Will pricey "Oz" stay on track after "Jack" got whacked at box office?
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - If the box office were baseball, Warner Bros and Disney would be sluggers, the kind of hitters that hush the crowd, take a mighty rip and then hit it out of the park.
Or strike out. That whooshing sound you heard over the weekend was WB swinging and missing with its costly and effects-laden fairy tale 'Jack the Giant Slayer.' Next up, Disney, with its own pricey CGI fantasy, 'The Great and Powerful Oz.,' which opens Friday.
When you spend about $200 million producing a movie - and half that much more marketing it - as they did on 'Jack' and 'Oz,' you're not looking for a single or a double. You're looking for a home run. Or even a grand slam, like the one Disney and Marvel hit last year with 'The Avengers.' It not only made $1.5 billion at the box office, it will bring in further billions to Disney over the next years via merchandising, rights deals and sequels.
These two studios have had more mega-budget hits than any others. They dominate the list of the biggest global earners - each has seven films in the top 20 - and the biggest budgets, with each having four in the top ten.
They both know their way around the blockbuster when it comes to fantasy, too.
Disney has scored big with its $3.7 billion 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise and 'Alice in Wonderland,' which made $1 billion in 2010. Warner Bros. and New Line are behind the 'Harry Potter' and Lord of the Rings' franchises, which have taken in $7.7 billion and $3.9 billion respectively. 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' just crossed the $1 billion worldwide mark this weekend.
The high-risk, high-reward strategy is a part of two studios' DNA at this point and both know that striking out with one of these mega-productions can affect the corporate bottom line for months. Disney had to write down $200 million when 'John Carter' tanked last March and Warners will find out just how big a toll 'Jack' will take on the bottom line once it's completed its foreign run.
The misfire on 'Jack' was an anomaly for Warner Bros., and few were surprised when it came in with such a soft opening. Most observers knew 'Jack' was way too long in development (it was launched in 2005), switched directors four years into the process and then traded a summer release date last year for this past weekend.
Comparisons between 'Oz' and 'Jack' seem inevitable because of their budgets, fantasy themes and most of all, the proximity of their release dates. Advance tracking shows 'Oz' heading for an opening far better - with maybe $70 million - than the $27 million 'Jack' managed.
But with that $200 million budget, it's no lock that 'Oz,' which stars James Franco, will wind up a major money earner.
Selling the movie going public on a redo - make that a prequel - of what may be America's most beloved movie ever, 'The Wizard of Oz,' is by nature tricky. And ironically, the fact that Warner Bros. controls the rights to the original 1939 film complicates things for Disney. In marketing the film, it can't use certain 'iconic imagery' - the ruby slippers, for example - either in the movie or the promotional materials.
Even if 'Oz' does pull off an opening in line with its strong tracking, it will be nowhere in the range of last year's March hit, 'The Hunger Games,' and that's bad news for an overall box office that has started the year very poorly.
Last year, with Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Eberdeen, Lionsgate opened the action fantasy (budget: $78 million) to $150 million. Weeks earlier, Universal had debuted its animated paean to ecology, 'The Lorax,' to a stunning $70 million, and those two drove the March 2012 box office to a record $940 million.
DreamWorks Animation has 'The Croods' opening on March 22nd and Paramount brings in 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' on March 29th, but this month won't match last March. With Universal's 'Identity Thief' still the year's only $100 million movie, the total domestic box office in February was $617 million, according to Box Office Mojo. That's 24 percent down from last year.
For the year, the box office is down roughly 13 percent from 2012, and barring a major surprise, it's going to get worse before it gets better.
But Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. executive vice president of domestic distribution, didn't sound discouraged.
'There's no mystery as to why the box office is down,' Goldstein said. 'It's the movies. They just haven't done it for audiences, but that's the saving grace, too. A couple of hits and things will be back on track.'
Or strike out. That whooshing sound you heard over the weekend was WB swinging and missing with its costly and effects-laden fairy tale 'Jack the Giant Slayer.' Next up, Disney, with its own pricey CGI fantasy, 'The Great and Powerful Oz.,' which opens Friday.
When you spend about $200 million producing a movie - and half that much more marketing it - as they did on 'Jack' and 'Oz,' you're not looking for a single or a double. You're looking for a home run. Or even a grand slam, like the one Disney and Marvel hit last year with 'The Avengers.' It not only made $1.5 billion at the box office, it will bring in further billions to Disney over the next years via merchandising, rights deals and sequels.
These two studios have had more mega-budget hits than any others. They dominate the list of the biggest global earners - each has seven films in the top 20 - and the biggest budgets, with each having four in the top ten.
They both know their way around the blockbuster when it comes to fantasy, too.
Disney has scored big with its $3.7 billion 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise and 'Alice in Wonderland,' which made $1 billion in 2010. Warner Bros. and New Line are behind the 'Harry Potter' and Lord of the Rings' franchises, which have taken in $7.7 billion and $3.9 billion respectively. 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' just crossed the $1 billion worldwide mark this weekend.
The high-risk, high-reward strategy is a part of two studios' DNA at this point and both know that striking out with one of these mega-productions can affect the corporate bottom line for months. Disney had to write down $200 million when 'John Carter' tanked last March and Warners will find out just how big a toll 'Jack' will take on the bottom line once it's completed its foreign run.
The misfire on 'Jack' was an anomaly for Warner Bros., and few were surprised when it came in with such a soft opening. Most observers knew 'Jack' was way too long in development (it was launched in 2005), switched directors four years into the process and then traded a summer release date last year for this past weekend.
Comparisons between 'Oz' and 'Jack' seem inevitable because of their budgets, fantasy themes and most of all, the proximity of their release dates. Advance tracking shows 'Oz' heading for an opening far better - with maybe $70 million - than the $27 million 'Jack' managed.
But with that $200 million budget, it's no lock that 'Oz,' which stars James Franco, will wind up a major money earner.
Selling the movie going public on a redo - make that a prequel - of what may be America's most beloved movie ever, 'The Wizard of Oz,' is by nature tricky. And ironically, the fact that Warner Bros. controls the rights to the original 1939 film complicates things for Disney. In marketing the film, it can't use certain 'iconic imagery' - the ruby slippers, for example - either in the movie or the promotional materials.
Even if 'Oz' does pull off an opening in line with its strong tracking, it will be nowhere in the range of last year's March hit, 'The Hunger Games,' and that's bad news for an overall box office that has started the year very poorly.
Last year, with Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Eberdeen, Lionsgate opened the action fantasy (budget: $78 million) to $150 million. Weeks earlier, Universal had debuted its animated paean to ecology, 'The Lorax,' to a stunning $70 million, and those two drove the March 2012 box office to a record $940 million.
DreamWorks Animation has 'The Croods' opening on March 22nd and Paramount brings in 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' on March 29th, but this month won't match last March. With Universal's 'Identity Thief' still the year's only $100 million movie, the total domestic box office in February was $617 million, according to Box Office Mojo. That's 24 percent down from last year.
For the year, the box office is down roughly 13 percent from 2012, and barring a major surprise, it's going to get worse before it gets better.
But Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. executive vice president of domestic distribution, didn't sound discouraged.
'There's no mystery as to why the box office is down,' Goldstein said. 'It's the movies. They just haven't done it for audiences, but that's the saving grace, too. A couple of hits and things will be back on track.'
Sunday, March 3, 2013
No box office killing for big-budget "Jack the Giant Slayer"
(Reuters) - 'Jack the Giant Slayer,' the first big-budget action film of the year, was anything but a killer at the weekend box office.
'Jack,' a retelling of the 'Jack and the Beanstalk' fairy tale, earned the No. 1 spot on domestic box office charts with $28 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters on Sunday. But that was an underwhelming start for a 3D movie that cost $189 million to produce, plus tens of millions more to market.
Comedy 'Identity Thief' took in $9.7 million to capture second place and new adult comedy '21 and Over' finished in third place on domestic charts with $9 million in ticket sales from Friday through Sunday.
Low-budget horror sequel 'The Last Exorcism Part II' took the No. 4 slot with $8 million, according to studio estimates.
'Jack' clearly was not a great opening by any means, said Phil Contrino, vice president/chief analyst with Boxoffice.com.
'But I wouldn't rush to call the film a financial flop just yet because overseas growth can really save a movie, and I feel that this is a movie that could do really well in other territories and make up for the fact that the North American haul was a little bit underwhelming.'
The movie stars Nicholas Hoult as a young farmer who ventures into the land of the giants to save a kidnapped princess. The film received a mixed reception from critics. As of Friday, 49 percent of reviews recommended the movie on aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.
Warner Bros. believes 'Jack' will perform well in overseas markets as it opens in more countries in the coming weeks. International sales, particularly for action movies, can run twice as high or more.
'It was within the range of our expectations,' Jeff Goldstein, vice president theatrical distributions at Warner Bros., said about the film's domestic weekend performance.
'We know that this is a global picture and the technology and the special effects will really drive this movie internationally,' he added.
'Jack the Giant Slayer' was produced by Time Warner Inc-owned Warner Brothers and Legendary Entertainment, which partnered with Warner on hits including 'The Dark Knight' trilogy and 'The Hangover' series.
Two of last year's films with bigger budgets flopped - Walt Disney Co's $250 million Mars epic 'John Carter' and the $209 million action movie 'Battleship' from Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures - forcing the companies to acknowledge financial losses.
'John Carter,' released in March last year, opened with $30.2 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Tony Wible, who compiles a database to project film performance, had estimated 'Jack' would need to open with at least $25 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters to make back its budget, not including marketing costs.
'21 and Over,' produced for $13 million, is a college party comedy about three friends who celebrate a 21st birthday on the night before a big exam. It was written by the screenwriters of 'The Hangover.'
The 'Last Exorcism' sequel follows the 2010 original about a minister who lets his demon-fighting be filmed by a documentary crew. In the new movie, the story resumes with the girl who was previously freed from an evil force running into more trouble. Distributor CBS Films, a unit of CBS Corp, acquired the sequel for about $3 million.
Rounding out the top five films was 'Snitch,' which brought in $7.7 million.
Another new release, 'Phantom,' failed to finish in the top 10 performing films. The movie stars Ed Harris and David Duchovny in the story of a Soviet submarine captain leading a secret mission.
'Identity Thief' was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast. 'Snitch' was distributed by Summit Entertainment, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment 'Phantom' was released by privately held RCR Distribution.
(Reporting By Lisa Richwine and Patricia Reaney; Editing by Bill Trott)
'Jack,' a retelling of the 'Jack and the Beanstalk' fairy tale, earned the No. 1 spot on domestic box office charts with $28 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters on Sunday. But that was an underwhelming start for a 3D movie that cost $189 million to produce, plus tens of millions more to market.
Comedy 'Identity Thief' took in $9.7 million to capture second place and new adult comedy '21 and Over' finished in third place on domestic charts with $9 million in ticket sales from Friday through Sunday.
Low-budget horror sequel 'The Last Exorcism Part II' took the No. 4 slot with $8 million, according to studio estimates.
'Jack' clearly was not a great opening by any means, said Phil Contrino, vice president/chief analyst with Boxoffice.com.
'But I wouldn't rush to call the film a financial flop just yet because overseas growth can really save a movie, and I feel that this is a movie that could do really well in other territories and make up for the fact that the North American haul was a little bit underwhelming.'
The movie stars Nicholas Hoult as a young farmer who ventures into the land of the giants to save a kidnapped princess. The film received a mixed reception from critics. As of Friday, 49 percent of reviews recommended the movie on aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.
Warner Bros. believes 'Jack' will perform well in overseas markets as it opens in more countries in the coming weeks. International sales, particularly for action movies, can run twice as high or more.
'It was within the range of our expectations,' Jeff Goldstein, vice president theatrical distributions at Warner Bros., said about the film's domestic weekend performance.
'We know that this is a global picture and the technology and the special effects will really drive this movie internationally,' he added.
'Jack the Giant Slayer' was produced by Time Warner Inc-owned Warner Brothers and Legendary Entertainment, which partnered with Warner on hits including 'The Dark Knight' trilogy and 'The Hangover' series.
Two of last year's films with bigger budgets flopped - Walt Disney Co's $250 million Mars epic 'John Carter' and the $209 million action movie 'Battleship' from Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures - forcing the companies to acknowledge financial losses.
'John Carter,' released in March last year, opened with $30.2 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Tony Wible, who compiles a database to project film performance, had estimated 'Jack' would need to open with at least $25 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters to make back its budget, not including marketing costs.
'21 and Over,' produced for $13 million, is a college party comedy about three friends who celebrate a 21st birthday on the night before a big exam. It was written by the screenwriters of 'The Hangover.'
The 'Last Exorcism' sequel follows the 2010 original about a minister who lets his demon-fighting be filmed by a documentary crew. In the new movie, the story resumes with the girl who was previously freed from an evil force running into more trouble. Distributor CBS Films, a unit of CBS Corp, acquired the sequel for about $3 million.
Rounding out the top five films was 'Snitch,' which brought in $7.7 million.
Another new release, 'Phantom,' failed to finish in the top 10 performing films. The movie stars Ed Harris and David Duchovny in the story of a Soviet submarine captain leading a secret mission.
'Identity Thief' was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast. 'Snitch' was distributed by Summit Entertainment, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment 'Phantom' was released by privately held RCR Distribution.
(Reporting By Lisa Richwine and Patricia Reaney; Editing by Bill Trott)
Friday, March 1, 2013
Richard Burton immortalized in Hollywood next to Taylor
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British actor Richard Burton finally received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next to that of his two-time wife, Elizabeth Taylor, on Friday, nearly 30 years after his death.
Welsh-born Burton, who died in 1984, received the career honor as part of the 50th anniversary of ancient Egypt movie drama 'Cleopatra,' in which he and co-star Taylor began their storied and tumultuous love affair.
The couple's adopted daughter, Maria Burton, accepted the honor of the iconic terrazzo and brass star along Hollywood Boulevard in the historical heart of the U.S. film industry.
Burton was nominated for an Oscar seven times between 1953 and 1978 but never won the prize.
Actor and fellow Welshman Michael Sheen spoke at the unveiling and recalled the awe he felt when Burton and Taylor, one of Hollywood's most famous couples, visited the village where Sheen grew up.
'The same beach that I built my boyhood sand castles (on) and learned to failingly swim - it was that same beach, that one legendary day, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor descended from the heavens, like gods from Olympus, in a helicopter ... and landed on those sands,' Sheen said.
'They stepped out swathed in luxurious fur coats - it was the '70s - and walked among us for too short a time,' he added.
Burton, whose star is the 2,941th installed, starred in 11 films with Taylor, including 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' in 1966 and 'The Taming of the Shrew' in 1967.
The couple's scandalous love affair during 1964's 'Cleopatra' was made into a U.S. television movie 'Liz & Dick,' starring Lindsay Lohan, last year.
Burton and Taylor wed for the first time in 1964 and divorced in 1974. They remarried the following year, but that marriage lasted just nine months.
Burton, who was born Richard Jenkins, was married five times and died in 1984 from a cerebral hemorrhage at age 58. Taylor, who married eight times, died in 2011 at age 79.
(Reporting by Alan Devall; Writing by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Sandra Maler)
Welsh-born Burton, who died in 1984, received the career honor as part of the 50th anniversary of ancient Egypt movie drama 'Cleopatra,' in which he and co-star Taylor began their storied and tumultuous love affair.
The couple's adopted daughter, Maria Burton, accepted the honor of the iconic terrazzo and brass star along Hollywood Boulevard in the historical heart of the U.S. film industry.
Burton was nominated for an Oscar seven times between 1953 and 1978 but never won the prize.
Actor and fellow Welshman Michael Sheen spoke at the unveiling and recalled the awe he felt when Burton and Taylor, one of Hollywood's most famous couples, visited the village where Sheen grew up.
'The same beach that I built my boyhood sand castles (on) and learned to failingly swim - it was that same beach, that one legendary day, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor descended from the heavens, like gods from Olympus, in a helicopter ... and landed on those sands,' Sheen said.
'They stepped out swathed in luxurious fur coats - it was the '70s - and walked among us for too short a time,' he added.
Burton, whose star is the 2,941th installed, starred in 11 films with Taylor, including 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' in 1966 and 'The Taming of the Shrew' in 1967.
The couple's scandalous love affair during 1964's 'Cleopatra' was made into a U.S. television movie 'Liz & Dick,' starring Lindsay Lohan, last year.
Burton and Taylor wed for the first time in 1964 and divorced in 1974. They remarried the following year, but that marriage lasted just nine months.
Burton, who was born Richard Jenkins, was married five times and died in 1984 from a cerebral hemorrhage at age 58. Taylor, who married eight times, died in 2011 at age 79.
(Reporting by Alan Devall; Writing by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Sandra Maler)
Actress Jennifer Lawrence's "Silver Linings" clothes fetch $12,000
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Clothing worn by Jennifer Lawrence in her Oscar-winning role as an outspoken young widow in 'Silver Linings Playbook' beat expectations by taking in about $12,000 at auction.
The wool, full-length winter coat worn by Lawrence in the Oscar-nominated comedy topped all items, selling for $4,652 in the three-day online auction, Los Angeles auction house Nate D. Sanders said on Friday.
The memorabilia dealer had expected the items to fetch between $500 and $1,500 each following the 22-year-old's Best Actress win at the Academy Awards on Sunday.
Lawrence also won awards from the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild in January for her 'Silver Linings Playbook' performance.
The custom-tailored white pants Lawrence wore during the film's climactic ballroom dance scene with co-star Bradley Cooper went for $3,493, and a package of a teal sports bra and blue long-sleeved shirt sold for $3,175.
A black tank top from Lawrence's wardrobe, but not worn in the film, fetched $624.
Movie studios often hand off costumes to auction houses, where even small outfits can bring in high prices from fans and collectors.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Xavier Briand)
The wool, full-length winter coat worn by Lawrence in the Oscar-nominated comedy topped all items, selling for $4,652 in the three-day online auction, Los Angeles auction house Nate D. Sanders said on Friday.
The memorabilia dealer had expected the items to fetch between $500 and $1,500 each following the 22-year-old's Best Actress win at the Academy Awards on Sunday.
Lawrence also won awards from the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild in January for her 'Silver Linings Playbook' performance.
The custom-tailored white pants Lawrence wore during the film's climactic ballroom dance scene with co-star Bradley Cooper went for $3,493, and a package of a teal sports bra and blue long-sleeved shirt sold for $3,175.
A black tank top from Lawrence's wardrobe, but not worn in the film, fetched $624.
Movie studios often hand off costumes to auction houses, where even small outfits can bring in high prices from fans and collectors.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Xavier Briand)
Balloon blitz promotes Disney's 'Oz,' studio franchise strategy
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A bright blue hot-air balloon whisked James Franco to the premiere of his new Walt Disney Co movie, 'Oz the Great and Powerful,' delivering the star to Hollywood Boulevard where he walked an emerald green carpet with a yellow-brick road into the El Capitan Theatre.
The high-flying, and headline-grabbing, entrance last month was the signature event of a Disney marketing blitz on major TV broadcasts, social media and at Disney parks to stoke interest in 'Oz,' a $200 million production that is its first release of an expensive 2013 film slate. It debuts in theaters March 8.
The 3D 'Oz' also debuts the first full year of Disney CEO Bob Iger's strategy of investing in films with hefty budgets that the media giant can turn into 'brands' that bring in box office receipts, spawn movie sequels, drive toy sales and inspire theme-park rides.
After 'Oz' lands in theaters, the Burbank-based company scheduled three movies with budgets of more than $185 million for release through July 3, which is when it expects to unveil the $225 million film 'The Lone Ranger,' starring Johnny Depp as the masked man's sidekick Tonto.
'If anyone else tried it, it would be a very risky strategy,' said Peter Sealey, former head of marketing at Columbia Pictures and founder of The Sausalito Group.
'They're the only ones who could do it, based on the breadth of their company, the movies they have and their ability to squeeze money out of any film they make,' Sealey added. 'I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have an Oz ride opening next week in Orlando.'
Following 'Oz,' Disney is scheduled to release on May 3 the third installment of its Marvel unit's giant hit 'Iron Man' movies starring Robert Downey Jr. On June 21, it debuts 'Monsters University,' a 'prequel' to Pixar's 2001 blockbuster 'Monsters, Inc.' that generated $562 million in worldwide tickets sales.
The Disney version of 'Oz' is a prequel to the 1939 classic 'The Wizard of Oz' and tells the story a small-time magician played by Franco who is mistaken for a wizard and becomes the leader of the land of munchkins and witches.
'Oz' looks like a hit, said Phil Contrino, chief analyst for Boxoffice.com. He projects U.S. and Canadian ticket sales of $65 million over the first three days, placing it among the industry's biggest March openings.
Nostalgia surrounding the original film will help bring families to theaters, he said.
'Look at success of 'Wicked' on Broadway,' he said. 'People are open to the idea of the 'Wizard of Oz' being played around with and new approaches taken.'
Disney is taking no chances, and is spending up to $100 million on marketing to supplement nostalgia. The company launched a New Year's campaign with a social media sweepstakes urging fans to tweet resolutions with the #DisneyOz hashtag.
The 'Oz' hot-air balloon, emblazoned with #DisneyOZ, made stops at the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California, and the Daytona 500, where Franco was grand marshal. It is heading to Central Park next week and an appearance on 'Good Morning America' on Disney-owned ABC.
Television promotions for the film have been hard to miss. Disney ran a pricey commercial during the CBS telecast of the Super Bowl. It also enlisted Mariah Carey to sing a song from the film on Fox singing contest 'American Idol,' according to producer Joe Roth.
On ABC's 'The Bachelor,' host Chris Harrison interrupted the dating competition to introduce a brief appearance by Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz, the actresses who play the film's three witches. A pair of Dorothy's red slippers from the original 'Wizard of Oz' made an appearance at ABC's Academy Awards broadcast in a glass case, which was covered until red carpet host Kristin Chenoweth unveiled it.
Disney experienced the expensive downside of its big-budget film strategy last year, when the $250 million film 'John Carter' became one of Hollywood's costliest flops, saddling Disney's studio with an operating loss of $84 million for the fiscal second quarter.
Only a couple months later, Disney saw the other side of releasing a big-budget movie when Marvel superhero mashup 'The Avengers' recorded the biggest domestic debut of all time and earned more than $1.5 billion around the world.
After 'John Carter' bombed, Disney named a new studio head, Alan Horn, a former Warner Bros. executive with a record of success managing 'Harry Potter,' 'The Dark Knight' and other major film franchises.
It also geared up its vaunted marketing machine, partnering with the HSN shopping network on an Oz-inspired fashion line and setting up a 'Land of Oz' garden at Epcot, on top of the millions it spent elsewhere.
'You have to hand it to Disney,' said Jeff Bock, box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. 'They do go all out. They're going to spend $200 or $250 million on these productions and make a real spectacle.'
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
The high-flying, and headline-grabbing, entrance last month was the signature event of a Disney marketing blitz on major TV broadcasts, social media and at Disney parks to stoke interest in 'Oz,' a $200 million production that is its first release of an expensive 2013 film slate. It debuts in theaters March 8.
The 3D 'Oz' also debuts the first full year of Disney CEO Bob Iger's strategy of investing in films with hefty budgets that the media giant can turn into 'brands' that bring in box office receipts, spawn movie sequels, drive toy sales and inspire theme-park rides.
After 'Oz' lands in theaters, the Burbank-based company scheduled three movies with budgets of more than $185 million for release through July 3, which is when it expects to unveil the $225 million film 'The Lone Ranger,' starring Johnny Depp as the masked man's sidekick Tonto.
'If anyone else tried it, it would be a very risky strategy,' said Peter Sealey, former head of marketing at Columbia Pictures and founder of The Sausalito Group.
'They're the only ones who could do it, based on the breadth of their company, the movies they have and their ability to squeeze money out of any film they make,' Sealey added. 'I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have an Oz ride opening next week in Orlando.'
Following 'Oz,' Disney is scheduled to release on May 3 the third installment of its Marvel unit's giant hit 'Iron Man' movies starring Robert Downey Jr. On June 21, it debuts 'Monsters University,' a 'prequel' to Pixar's 2001 blockbuster 'Monsters, Inc.' that generated $562 million in worldwide tickets sales.
The Disney version of 'Oz' is a prequel to the 1939 classic 'The Wizard of Oz' and tells the story a small-time magician played by Franco who is mistaken for a wizard and becomes the leader of the land of munchkins and witches.
'Oz' looks like a hit, said Phil Contrino, chief analyst for Boxoffice.com. He projects U.S. and Canadian ticket sales of $65 million over the first three days, placing it among the industry's biggest March openings.
Nostalgia surrounding the original film will help bring families to theaters, he said.
'Look at success of 'Wicked' on Broadway,' he said. 'People are open to the idea of the 'Wizard of Oz' being played around with and new approaches taken.'
Disney is taking no chances, and is spending up to $100 million on marketing to supplement nostalgia. The company launched a New Year's campaign with a social media sweepstakes urging fans to tweet resolutions with the #DisneyOz hashtag.
The 'Oz' hot-air balloon, emblazoned with #DisneyOZ, made stops at the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California, and the Daytona 500, where Franco was grand marshal. It is heading to Central Park next week and an appearance on 'Good Morning America' on Disney-owned ABC.
Television promotions for the film have been hard to miss. Disney ran a pricey commercial during the CBS telecast of the Super Bowl. It also enlisted Mariah Carey to sing a song from the film on Fox singing contest 'American Idol,' according to producer Joe Roth.
On ABC's 'The Bachelor,' host Chris Harrison interrupted the dating competition to introduce a brief appearance by Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz, the actresses who play the film's three witches. A pair of Dorothy's red slippers from the original 'Wizard of Oz' made an appearance at ABC's Academy Awards broadcast in a glass case, which was covered until red carpet host Kristin Chenoweth unveiled it.
Disney experienced the expensive downside of its big-budget film strategy last year, when the $250 million film 'John Carter' became one of Hollywood's costliest flops, saddling Disney's studio with an operating loss of $84 million for the fiscal second quarter.
Only a couple months later, Disney saw the other side of releasing a big-budget movie when Marvel superhero mashup 'The Avengers' recorded the biggest domestic debut of all time and earned more than $1.5 billion around the world.
After 'John Carter' bombed, Disney named a new studio head, Alan Horn, a former Warner Bros. executive with a record of success managing 'Harry Potter,' 'The Dark Knight' and other major film franchises.
It also geared up its vaunted marketing machine, partnering with the HSN shopping network on an Oz-inspired fashion line and setting up a 'Land of Oz' garden at Epcot, on top of the millions it spent elsewhere.
'You have to hand it to Disney,' said Jeff Bock, box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. 'They do go all out. They're going to spend $200 or $250 million on these productions and make a real spectacle.'
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Final movie in 'Hobbit' trilogy moves to December 2014
(Reuters) - The final installment of 'The Hobbit' film trilogy will be released on December 17, 2014, five months later than planned, Warner Bros. said on Thursday.
'The Hobbit: There and Back Again' had been set to debut in July 2014. It will follow 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,' which came out in December 2012, and 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,' which reached theaters in December 2013.
'We're excited to complete the trilogy the same way we started it, as a holiday treat for moviegoers everywhere,' said Dan Fellman, president of distribution for Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc.
'The Hobbit' series is a prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy 'The Lord of the Rings,' which director Peter Jackson made into three Oscar-winning films about a decade ago.
The first 'Hobbit' film was a blockbuster with global sales of $981 million, according to the Box Office Mojo website. The trilogy is financed by Warner Bros. New Line Cinema and MGM.
(Reporting By Lisa Richwine; Editing by Stacey Joyce)
'The Hobbit: There and Back Again' had been set to debut in July 2014. It will follow 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,' which came out in December 2012, and 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,' which reached theaters in December 2013.
'We're excited to complete the trilogy the same way we started it, as a holiday treat for moviegoers everywhere,' said Dan Fellman, president of distribution for Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc.
'The Hobbit' series is a prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy 'The Lord of the Rings,' which director Peter Jackson made into three Oscar-winning films about a decade ago.
The first 'Hobbit' film was a blockbuster with global sales of $981 million, according to the Box Office Mojo website. The trilogy is financed by Warner Bros. New Line Cinema and MGM.
(Reporting By Lisa Richwine; Editing by Stacey Joyce)
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