'Where The Wild Things Are' Runs $32.4M 
Oscar Can't Always Get What He Wants 
NBC Bright Spot Of Lousy GE 3Q Earnings; 4Q … 
Oops! Vivendi May Delay 20% NBCU Sale? 
65 Nations Vie For Foreign Language Oscar 
Elle's Women In Hollywood Power List 
HOW BIG IS BIG? AEG Predicts Michael Jackson … 
Sane Debt-Reduction Move By Redstone; But … 
EXCLUSIVE: Comcast Wants NBCU Deal Done … This video by Slate's Jack Shafer is not only entertaining but also rather informative.
You are viewing the Archive for: “October, 2009”
Abu Dhabi Shows Warner Bros The Money
Lore has it that, if a sucker is born every minute, all eventually land in Hollywood. After exhausting the German dentist money, then the American tycoon scion money, then the Greenwich hedge fund money, now Tinseltown is exploiting the Abu Dhabi real estate money. 
Warner Bros announced today a "long-term, multi-faceted strategic alliance" calling for a theme park, hotel, multiplex cinemas and joint fund to finance films, develop video games, and build out the infrastructure for Abu Dhabi's new media. UPDATE: I'm told this is a multibillion dollar deal, with the film and video game funds alone worth $500 million each. The Warner pact is with Abu Dhabi’s leading real estate developer ALDAR and the newly established Abu Dhabi Media Company. According to the studio's PR, the deal was unveiled today by Barry Meyer and Alan Horn with Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Chairman and Ronald Barrott, CEO, ALDAR; Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Chairman and Riyad Al Mubarak, CEO, Abu Dhabi Media Co.; and Hunt Lowry, who brought the two parties together and will serve as the CEO of the yet-to-be-named film company formed by this venture. For the hotel and theme park project, Warner Bros. Entertainment will draw on select properties from its live-action and animated libraries to provide themes for the overall project as well as individual attractions. The film production fund, a 50-50 venture, calls for the development and production of broad-appeal films, with Warner Bros. retaining worldwide distribution options/rights. Separate from this arrangement, Warner Bros. Pictures International will work with Abu Dhabi Media Company to develop and produce a slate of Arabic-language films for local and pan-Arabic distribution.
Disney Digs Out Of Deep Legal Pooh-Pooh
Bob Iger can breathe a sigh of relief at today's legal decision. Since the Disney Channel has My Friends Tigger & Pooh, a re-launch of the company's very profitable Winnie The Pooh franchise. Tens of millions of dollars have been poured into the creation of this new CG TV series, all with the hope of making Pooh & pals more appealing to the SpongeBob generation. And the Mouse House has already lined up dozens of licensees to create My Friends Tigger & Pooh merchandise, which is due to hit store shelves this fall. So it's great timing that the Walt Disney Co today won a California appeals court ruling in that 16-year battle with the Slesinger family over hundreds of millions of dollars in Pooh royalties. The judge's panel affirmed a 2004 trial judge's decision to throw out the Slesingers' long running lawsuit against Disney after concluding that the Slesinger side had illegally obtained evidence by hiring a private dick to go Disney dumpster diving.
In case you've forgotten, Stephen Slesinger acquired the rights to the Winnie The Pooh characters in 1930 from author A.A. Milne, and Slesinger's widow licensed the rights to Disney. Slesinger's company filed a 1991 lawsuit claiming Disney hadn't accurately accounted for hundreds of million in unpaid royalties for sales of Pooh merchandise. In turn, Disney has unsuccessfully tried to terminate Slesinger's rights to the Pooh characters by backing a lawsuit filed by the granddaughters of Milne and illustrator Ernest Shepard. The U.S. Supreme Court last year turned away an appeal by Clare Milne that could have ended Disney's obligation to pay Slesinger royalties. Slesinger filed counterclaims in the federal lawsuit, seeking more than $2 billion in damages for trademark and copyright infringement and for underpaid royalties. That counterclaim is still pending. So, no, this isn't over.
Maya Couldn't, Wouldn't, Will Rejoin SNL
What the hell is going on at Saturday Night Live? First, NBC privately claimed it didn't ask Maya Rudolph back to SNL for an eighth season "to freshen the cast." Then NBC reversed itself and said it was her decision not to return. Now I receive this announcement via NBC from Maya: "It was an agonizing decision, but ultimately, I feel I made the best choice both as a mother and as an actress. I couldn’t be happier to be returning to SNL." And all of this happened in one day. Huh? "While both the previous reports about Maya Rudolph have been accurate at the time they were reported, Maya has had a change of heart and is returning to the show," NBC tells me. 
Not only is this way strange because of the lateness of the decision but also the different reasons. Well, at least SNL won't be winnowing the women on the show down to just two actresses, Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiig. Plus, Maya was known for playing a wide range of races and ethnicities from white to Asian to black to Latina and more and doing dead-on impressions of Oprah Winfrey, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Condoleezza Rice, Paris Hilton, Tyra Banks, Liza Minnelli, Whitney Houston, and Donatella Versace.
Reason No. 789 Why I So Love Hollywood
DreamWorks Animation SKG named Tom Freston to its board of directors today. The former Viacom Inc. president and CEO, who OK'ed the deal to bring DreamWorks into Paramount, was axed by old coot Sumner Redstone a year ago. Nothing like having a common enemy to bring Hollywood types closer together. I should also remind you that, within hours of Freston's firing before his body was even cold, David Geffen called up Redstone and suggested Jeffrey Katzenberg take Tom's place. But Redstone said fuhgeddaboudit.
The Dog Ate New Line's Balance Sheets...
What a scumbag studio New Line Cinema is turning out to be. Because of this nugget buried in that legal victory which Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson just won during the discovery phase of his 2005 lawsuit to enforce the audit provision of his contract: Back in October 2006, New Line's counsel produced only "one third of a box" of audit documents for Jackson's discovery process and claimed that's all there was. This, even though Jackson's side had requested communications and documents from profit participant audits on any New Line property: film, television, sound tracks or video games. 
But, in a deposition, New Line auditor Ken Horowitz described five to 10 cabinets filled with audit records. (I haven't seen discovery this egregious since the Disney vs Slesinger Winnie The Pooh royalty case.) The federal magistrate on September 18th blasted New Line's "persistent disregard" of not just the U.S. District Court's discovery orders, but Jackson's right to documents "that the court has already determined are relevant to the claims and defenses in this action. Without the true facts, there can be no just result." The magistrate sanctioned New Line $125,000 and ordered the studio to produce all third-party audits, as well as any internal audits of licensees from The Fellowship Of The Ring, the first in the Rings trilogy which grossed nearly $3 billion at the worldwide box office. A week earlier, the court refused to grant 8 out of 11 summary judgments that New Line had brought in the case. The great irony here is that, while New Line and Jackson litigate, the two sides continue to work on a diplomatic track to solve their differences. "The ice is thawing, meaning the first focus is on having consistent civil dialogue," an insider tells me. "They're not near a settlement yet, but there is dialogue." Yet I have to ask: how can anyone negotiate with prick Bob Shaye? A source concurs: "A PR picture is beginning to be painted, not by Peter's side, but by the courts."
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Movie Mogul Mayhem: Aviv vs Shmuger
Instead of just two movies competing at the box office this Friday, there are two moguls slugging it out. Vying for No. 1 will be The Game Plan from Disney, and The Kingdom from Universal. But the behind the scenes catfight is what's really interesting because both titles are the first films greenlit by their respective and recently installed (as in 2006) studio chieftains. The Game Plan was part of the trio of films (including Dan in Real Life + National Treasure: Book of Secrets) that Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production Prez Oren Aviv OK'ed for his first slate. At Universal Pictures, The Kingdom was in chairman Marc Shmuger's first slate as well. So there's an undeclared war between them and their signature films for bragging rights. Right now, distribution (between 2,700-2,800 theaters) and marketing money (about $30+ mil each) are even steven. But the pics are apples vs oranges: PG-rated family fare featuring The Rock (and a terrible trailer) vs R-rated action drama starring Jamie Foxx (and a kick ass ad campaign). Awareness for The Game Plan is tracking better than for The Kingdom, but the latter movie (appealing mainly to men older than 25) has Oscar buzz and should stick around longer.
Everyone In Hollywood Is Talking About...
... Ken Burns' The War which began last night on PBS. Let's not forget Tinseltown's small role in this production. Narrated by actor Keith David, the 7-part series also features the first-person voices of Tom Hanks, Josh Lucas, Bobby Cannavale, Samuel L. Jackson, Eli Wallach, Robert Wahlberg, Carolyn McCormack, Adam Arkin, and Kevin Conway. But, sadly, I'm sure there will be no mention of William Morris Agency' legendary leader, Abe Lastfogel, who reluctantly took over, after much prodding, Hollywood’s USO shows. At first in November 1941 he refused to accept a title (he finally accepted the presidency in December 1942), feeling that he couldn't afford to spend enough time away from the Morris office to deserve one. 
But Lastfogel soon devoted himself full-time to the war effort and left the running of the agency to the men below him. (Well, at least those who weren't being drafted, like Johnny Hyde -- Norman Brokaw's uncle -- who had a bad ticker.) Lastfogel's daunting task was to establish order among a number of earnest but bewildered citizens of the entertainment community who were anxious to do their part for every U.S. soldier on every battlefield on every war front. Largely because of Lastfogel, the United States never had to enact Great Britain's and Russia's national service laws which made most performers subject to the wishes of their governments. In all, there were 17 fatalities among these performers known as "soldiers in greasepaint" who forged the largest production entity in the history of the world. After the war, Lastfogel refused all official and military honors, but did accept the nation's highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom, which he received from President Harry Truman.
Pellicano Perp Walk: John McTiernan Sentenced To 4 Months In Prison
Happened today. He plans to appeal. He had been trying to withdraw his guilty plea from before. (See my previous, Big-Time Movie Director Cops Guilty Plea) MORE
More Eli Roth Whining About Anti-Torture Porn Media; Disses EW Female Film Critic
Disgusting filmmaker Eli Roth sounds increasingly desperate. (Recall when he reacted badly to the failure of his Hostel II)? Here's the latest from his MySpace:
"And did anyone read that absurd article by Lisa Schwartzbaum in Entertainment Weekly, about how she'd never watch a "Torture Porn" film? I think it's time for her to hang up her critic's pen. I mean, seriously, I hate to break it to you Lisa, but there is no such thing as "torture porn." It's a made up term, made up by people who don't understand these movies, who are afraid to even watch them, and who feel some bizarre sense of moral obligation to warn the public about them, despite the fact they don't watch them and never would. Lisa Schwartzbaum has let others define for her what the films are - she admits that she's never seen any of the Saw films, and that she never would. Well, why wouldn't you? Because someone else TOLD you that's what they were? Are you that weak minded that you couldn't even decide these things for yourself? What makes me sick is her smug, holier-than-thou attitude, as if to say "I wouldn't watch these films because I don't enjoy torture!" Well, no shit lady, nobody does, but maybe these films are actually making a statement about torture.
Would you not watch Three Kings because there's torture in it? What about Marathon Man? And are you implying that the millions and millions of people who do watch these films actually endorse torture themselves? No, it seems to me you're directly saying it. Well, I have a suggestion: GET ANOTHER JOB. I'm not saying you have to like every movie made, but you do have to see every movie made if you're going to be a critic, and watch them with a critical eye. But you're watching them with a prejudice, a prejudice that was decided for you not by the filmmakers, but by some jealous critic who probably wishes he had the balls to actually write and direct his own movie, but who never would because he's too fucking chickenshit to put himself out there where anyone can take shots at him. It's
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Toldja! NY Friars Club Wins Bicoastal War
So now it's official: the Friars Club of New York did score that legal victory over the Friars of Beverly Hills I reported way back on September 7th. (See my previous, Bicoastal Friars Club War Ends: NY Wins?) The court order was officially signed last week instructing the Friars of Beverly Hills to stop using the Friars’s name. Of course, it took the flacks at Rubenstein 17 days to get back to me on this. Here's the PR:
THE FRIARS CLUB WINS WITH SUMMARY JUDGMENT AGAINST THE FRIARS OF BEVERLY HILLS: Attorneys from Pryor Cashman Prove the Friars of Beverly Hills Violated Trademark Law in Using the Friars’ Name
Los Angeles, CA -- Attorneys for The Friars Club at Pryor Cashman have officially obtained a summary judgment against the Friars of Beverly Hills in a Lanham Act and Anti-Dilution lawsuit, which they filed in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California. The Friars Club, renowned for its legendary Friars “Roasts” and whose members have included entertainment luminaries such as George Burns, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor, claimed that the defendants infringed and diluted The Friars Club’s trademark by operating “Friars of Beverly Hills” and by falsely claiming that it was the successor to the Friars Club of California, a now-defunct former licensee of The Friars Club.
In its decision, the Court found that the name “Friars” was not transferable from the Friars Club of California to the defendants. Furthermore, it found that the evidence clearly demonstrated actual confusion on the part of the consuming public and blurring between the two organizations, and that The Friars Club had acquired “secondary meaning.” The Court concluded that the defendants “may not evade trademark law by adopting” the Friars Club name and then “adding a geographic reference to try and distinguish its name.” Relying on the fact that the defendants admitted that the name “Friars” is a “luxury brand,” that “everybody knows the Friars in the Country,” and that the “Friars” name is “a legacy” and “historic”, the court also concluded that the Defendants “intended to capitalize on the ‘Friars’ name by emulating it in every aspect.”
“In short,” the Court ruled, “Defendants are using a mark (used by The Friars Club for over a hundred years) to identify a social club that is for all
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Oh To Have Been A Fly On The Wall...
... When Brad Grey and Jeff Bewkes lunched together at Michael's in NYC on Friday. Discussing David Chase and a Sopranos movie? Or The Departed sequel? Or the Viacom-DreamWorks debacle? Or just two "very old and close friends"? But if both moguls really had something secret going on, it would be at a dive in Chinatown.
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