Monday and Tuesday saw the ax of a few hundred New Line employs in both New York and Los Angeles. What started as the small film studio being leafed under the bigger Warner Bros., ends as the total dissolvement of the studio. Not surprised. Warner Bros. will be in charge of all films that are scheduled to release this year. This concerns me as there were alot of promising films set to hit theaters from New Line and I wonder if Warner Bros. will care for these films as much as they do with their own original projects or will they just do whatever with them to get them out of the way. He’s Not That Into You is already feeling the affects. Life and Style is reporting that the August release date has been changed to October. Good sign or Bad sign?
Asked if it’s true that the release date of Jen’s film has been pushed back from Aug. 1 to Oct. 24, a New Line rep confirms to Life & Style,“That is the tentative new release date, though I don’t believe its 100 percent official yet. It’s definitely no longer August 1.”
Sister Hood of the Traveling Pants 2(Warner Bros.) is set to release August 8th and can’t have these two female audience driven films competing against each other can we. Seventeen Again staring Matthew Perry/Zac Efron went from a 2009 release date to an August 15, 2008 date a few months ago before the official announcement. Keep in mind the movie basically just wrapped. Also there were talks of changing Journey To the Center of the Earth starring Brendan Frasier from it’s July 11th release date because Bros. were thinking about it conflicting with their big budget movie The Dark Night. I am not even mentioning the numerous films New Line has in production or pre-production status. The fate of those films have yet to be seen including the much anticipated The Hobbit.
List of other New Line Releases for 2008
Four Christmases~ Vince Vaughn Reese Witherspoon 11/26
Sex and the City ~Sarah Jessica Parker Cynthia Nixon 5/30
The Time Traveler’s Wife ~Eric Bana Rachel McAdams 9/19
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay ~John Cho Kal Penn 4/25
Supposedly James Caan has walked off the set of his new movie “Nailed” filming in South Carolina. Caan’s reps are saying creative differences. When will actors learn that with Russell it’s his way or no way.
This should be a required training video for all actors signing on to a David O. Russell film.
Halle Berry will star in and produce psychological drama “Frankie and Alice” for indie shingle Access Motion Pictures in association with Reality Pictures in Motion.
Story follows a young woman struggling with multiple personality disorder and torn between who she is and a racist Caucasian alter-personality that preys upon her mind. No production start date has been set.
“Frankie and Alice” is the second independent production for Toronto-based Access Motion Pictures, which recently completed “Phantom Punch,” a Sonny Liston biopic starring Ving Rhames and directed by Robert Townsend.
Film sales company Cinesavvy will handle worldwide sales.
The Washington Post which happens to also be my local paper, had an article about filmmakers and them wanting to use the transit system or as we here call it the Metro. Problem is the rules Metro imposes on them is so stringent they most times have to substitute the Baltimore trains for the real thing. I found the article interesting. I knew that Metro runs a tight ship, but I didn’t know it was that deep. I think Metro is doing the D.C. Film business a disservice by imposing such ridiculous rules. I understand wanting to stay true to life but it’s a movie for goodness sakes. It’s not reality. Our transportation system here in the D.C. Metro area is truly one of a kind and it’s a disappointment that most films have to shoot elsewhere just because Metro says no. Most films that shoot here want to capture that part of D.C. Ugh. On the brighter side for all you local stalkers, you should be able to spot Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck around town. The producer, E. Bennett Walsh, of their new film being shot here ” State of Play” (the one Brad Pitt dropped) says that there are no plans to move filming anywhere else if they hit a Metro road-block. Good for them.
Tobey Maguire has signed up to star and produce Afterburn based on the the comic published by Red 5 comics. Read more about it over at Hollywood Reporter. Afterburn hit shelves for the first time this past January.
Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio will reteam for a dark thriller titled “The Low Dweller” that Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media has bought after a heated bidding war.
Scott and DiCaprio will produce the film, with DiCaprio attached to star and Scott eyeing to direct. The project has echoes of “The History of Violence” and “No Country for Old Men,” is a spec from first-time writer Brad Ingelsby, a twentysomething working as an insurance salesman in Pennsylvania.
Ingelsby had been working on the script in his spare time and has yet to step foot in Hollywood. But he has hit the spec jackpot, with the project selling for $650,000 against $1.1 million.
Just when fanatics were beginning to dread the final two movies bringing an end to Harry Potter mania Warner Bros. milks it for all it’s worth. Well not really…. ok yeah they are. Warner Bros. will be breaking the final installment of Harry Potter,Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,into a 2 part film with each being 6 months apart.( Think the Matrix and Pirates movies who both had installments released months apart) Since I have fallen victim to J.K. Rowlings’ spell, I will be one of those plopping down $10 twice. Hopefully the director doesn’t screw it up and make it as bad as Order of the Phoenix. Read all about this over at Variety. While you wait Harry Potter and the Half Blooded Prince hits theaters November 21, 2008. Here’s to hoping Dobby will not be forgotten again.
Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull staring Harrison Ford will debut at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival on May 18th. It hits theaters on May 22nd. Below is the movie poster. I love how it remains true to the other Indian Jones posters.
The ending of the strike brought about the reassigning of release dates from studios. Paramount’s The Curios Case of Benjamin Buttonstaring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett was moved from November 28th to a release date of December 19th competing against Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road. That move bumped Marley and Me staring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson from December 19th to December 25th which bumped Star Trek staring Eric Bana and Tyler Perry to a release date of May 9, 2009 instead of Christmas Day. Still with me?
