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EXCLUSIVE: My scoop today comes with a big TOLDJA! Back on January 11th, I reported that three top producers including Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes were circling Taylor Lautner to star in their movies for 2012 and beyond. Now Bay’s aggressive courting of tay-tay has paid off, and last night the two filmmakers sent out a script for auction to all the major studios. 
I’ve learned that already this morning studios have begun bidding on a Bay-Lautner project. Like them or not, they’re individually successfully. But the duo didn’t do a dog-and-pony show to accompany the presentation as so many producers, directors, and stars are these days. Still, both Bay and Lautner (who’s on a brief break from shooting Breaking Dawn Part 2) are in town and available if any of the majors want a face-to-face. Bay and Lautner are not discussing the script’s story, but insiders tell me “it’s Mr & Mrs. Smith meets Wanted”. WME reps Lautner and Bay, while CAA reps the screenwriter Jason Hall who was handpicked by the duo.
Lautner continues very much in demand because of his enormous Twi-hard fan base and aggressive promotion of his films, and not because of any solo box office which the 19-year-old action star has done yet. (Lionsgate releases his thriller Abduction on September 23rd.) Tay-Tay started off 2011 by producing and starring in two new studio tentpoles, Incarceron at Fox 2000, and the Untitled Spy Project at New Regency, for 8-digit paychecks each. Not only was the 8-pack-abs teen heartthrob last year’s highest paid teenage actor (for a reported $7.5 million pay day in Universal’s Stretch Armstrong with Hasbro and Imagine) but he also just reached #9 on Vanity Fair‘s highest paid adult list, too. Taylor is scheduled to finish shooting the Twilight Saga’s Breaking Dawn this spring, and Fox 2000 and New Regency grabbed his two available slots for 2011. So Bay moved quickly to make a movie with Taylor’s limited availability for 2012. In addition to Transformers 3 with DreamWorks and Paramount, Bay’s Platinum Dunes produced I Am Number 4 with DreamWorks that opens this Friday for Disney.
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so far it’s clearly the emperor’s new clothes. if anyone noticed, he was totally stiff in that Twilight movie and he’s really strange looking, kind of like a new version of Tom Cruise but it’s not Tom Cruise. It’s just a joke on Hollywood talking itself into something that doesn’t exist. It’s happened before, remember the next big thing from the fast and the furious, and I guess it will happen again.
Don’t forget that Michael Bay hand picked Will Smith, Ben Affleck and Shia LaBeouf when they were all just starting out. The guy KNOWS what mass audiences want. And he wouldnt hitch his wagon to Taylor based solely onTwilight. He knows the kid has IT.
But important difference is that neither of those stars rubbed guys the wrong way because of some teen girl franchise. Tay Tay is trying a genre that is popular with demographics that hates Twilight`s guts (and that hate extends to Twi actors). last time I checked, Orlando Bloom`s solo flight into epic genre (Kingdon of Heaven) ended with a take off crash because demographics that is into historical epics didn`t care for him. So far, Tay tay scored big only in romance (Twilight and valentine`s Day) and neither was on his name alone. Now he`s trying to sell himself as action man and that might prove a tough sell. We`ll see.
Ben Affleck was already an Oscar nominee and Will Smith was already a huge tv star with Bad Boys on his resume when Bay “discovered” them. Not to mention, there’s no indication that he plans on directing this. And if he’s just producing, well, I give you Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, and The Unborn.
Pretty sure Michael Bay directed ‘Bad Boys’ you nitwit. Will Smith had an average rated TV show and a bit part in a movie starring Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson (and i’m purposely leaving out that Six Degrees of Separation farce). So in essence, Bay did discover him, or at the very least, made him a box office presence. Ben Affleck may have been an Oscar winner, but he was still just the skinny/funny guy from Good Will Hunting until Bay put him in Armageddon (not counting Kevin Smith movies). And we all know how the Shia LeBeouf story goes; guy becomes household name after MB put him in Transformers. I’m not saying that Taylor Lautner is going to be the next of any of the previously mentioned actors. But I am saying that Michael Bay knows what he is doing when he casts leads in his movies.
Credit to his publicist and agent, this kid is pulling off the most profitable bluff in Hollywood history. He’s ridden the coattails of the Twilight franchise into huge paydays without actually filming anything. Every movie he’s been supposedly signed for has been shelved or he’s dropped out. Twilight was released in 2008 and Lautner’s first project to be released will be in late September — and he’s filmed nothing outside that besides a cameo in Valentine’s Day.
Whatever our opinions on the talents (or lack thereof) of the other Twilight franchise actors, they at least work consistently rather than scam.
Firstly, Taylor Lautner didn’t have a leading role in Twilight. His big break didn’t come until November 2009 with New Moon. And secondly, he spent all of last summer filming Abduction. And he will be filming new movies for all of 2011. So really the only gap he had was in Spring 2010. So he hasn’t exactly been looking for things to do.
And also ‘scam’? How has he scammed people? Because he’s done well for himself and lived the dream? What a cheap shot. Don’t be jealous because he’s done better than you. Why do you haters always hate on this lovely person? What’s he ever done to you?
Well good luck with all those future big budget movies. Specially when Lautner’s first movie will bomb. Which probably will. Since as Pattinsons and Stewarts all movies outside Twilight bombed. And their fan base is more bigger then Lautners.
He doesn’t have a fanbase to bring it to movie theaters. I liked Taylor at first but now he just annoys me. Because he doesn’t have a personality. Young Tom Cruise had a personality. Even that I Am Number Four guy has a personality. When Taylor goes to any event or interview he looks like a plastic Ken doll. I can’t see any ordinary people who will come to his movie. Adults will be embarrassed to go to “that Twilight actor” movie.
Robert Pattinson movie didn’t bomb.
it disappointed. 20 mil domestic wasn’t good for its projected outcome, also not good with its budget.
Dissappointed? One of more profitable movies in 2010? How?
Taylor Lautner is the most bankable star of the Twilight movies. Hell yes his movies will be successful. I’d be willing to put money on it. Pattinson and Stewart flopped because no-one wants to see them if they aren’t in a movie together. They just aren’t interesting when they’re apart. Who do you think was responsible for the ‘Team Jacob’ hysteria? That’s right, Taylor Lautner. He single-handedly turned an unpopular character into a popular one. That takes real likability and star presence. He’ll be a huge movie star, because people love him when he’s on screen. No-one cares about an actors personality. It doesn’t matter.
“Mr & Mrs. Smith meets Wanted”????!
Without Angelegend it’s nothing! Taylor Lautner is a hack actor and hasn’t proven himself as a box office draw. We’ll see how demand he is if “Abduction” flops. Sept 23 release… it’s likely.
Do we still have to call him the highest paid teenager if Stretch Armstrong never gets made? Because it’s looking more and more possible.
This kid needs to get signed on for something with a director and a shooting start date, because the pile of abandoned and in development projects keeps growing and growing.
just ask a question at all that hate Taylor with 19 you had half the success he has? jealousy is something terrible!
You’re actually suggesting that out of all the billions of people in this planet, only those who have higher net worth can judge Lautner? And that jealousy is the main reason for not liking him? or that we actually base success on how much we earn as actors?
Are you kidding me?
I wouldn’t worry about Lautner. After his movies tank, he can join the cast of BIG BANG THEORY as Penny’s new boyfriend.
This kid is over paid, the studios are stupid. Avatar, Cameron went for ” quality ” work, cast semi known leads, who didn’t even get close to what this kid is demanding and Cameron delivered a great movie, the movie groosed over 3 billion dollars wolrd wide….this is what I call ” smart investments “. They went for quality as opposed to ” hype ” and they made $$$! Taylor Lautner will not last long as an actor, I don’t find him good looking or have any substance! He’s weird looking! That’s why Cameron is a genius and the rest are idiots!!! Cameron showed the most money in the worst recession of all time:) the studios should learn from him!!
All the haters can you hear me say..Hell yeah!!! I love Taylor Lautner and Michael Bay’s movie’s! And that’s all I have to say about that.(smile)
He was only in a handful of scenes in the first Twilight and was this close to being replaced in the following ones. 2+ years later he’s co-producing every film he’s attached to besides getting a hefty paycheck. The youngest & least experienced one of the main cast is turning out to be the most savvy one. Who would’ve thunk? Well done, boy!
Totally agree! Good for him!
Hmm. Two people who both have become successful in their careers by producing mind-numbing dreck. Marriage made in heaven? You bet.
In any case, so long as they don’t try to sell whatever this film is to guys, they’ll be fine. Rely on the idiot masses of Twihards. Because if you try selling whatever you end up creating to men, your movie will crash and burn – guaranteed.
They’re saying july start date. This year, 2011 not 2012. It sounds real
I’m not a fan of any of these Twilight kids but I have to sit back and laugh at people lumping Pattinson in the same pile with Stewart and Laughtner anytime a conversation comes up about box office.
Newsflash but Pattinson’s movie wasn’t the flop everyone seems so fond of blabbering on about. In fact, Pattinson is the only one out of the three that has actually proven anything box-office wise.
Last time I checked, $58 million on a $16 million budget isn’t a flop. In some circles that would even be fairly respectable given that particular film’s storyline and shitty marketing by the studio behind it. If the guy wasn’t in Twilight and irrationally hated by half the continent, no one would be laughing at that number.
So to lay it out there we have:
Taylor Laughtner – ZERO Individual box office results
Kristen Stewart – Welcome to the Rileys and the Runaways disappointments or in somem circles, flops
and Pattinson – $58 million on a tough sell drama with a small budget
Like I said, I’m no fan but even I’m brainy enough to know that Eddie Cullen has definitely proven something with that.
AGAIN, it disappointed. it only made like 20 mill domestic which barely returned a profit. It had to go oversees to make more money. A disappointment for American studios.
and it’s not like 16 mil = indie. It was a smaller budger than normal but the film didn’t call for a huge budget. It should have returned more in the states with his ridiculous fanbse.
*budget
If Taylor has a director with great imagination and a good story, he can develop to be a very credible actor. I hope he does not try to emulate Tom Cruise (4 marriages to actresses,Scientology) or any other actor personally. His publicists/agents have managed his career, scripted the interviews, etc., but how he maintains his relationship with his family will affect him the most.
Twilight is not a good barometer to measure acting.
I wish him the best.
Wow. Lot of haters on this board. Listen, even though the guy is not a proven box office draw, he and his team have done an incredible job of marketing and landing huge paydays. I would love to bring in the type of dough that guy is making and I’m sure every one on this board, if given the chance, would take advantage of the opportunities that have been presented to him.
This made me laugh out loud! Made my day… would love to read a Purple Identity script. Fantastic.
Per box office mojo and Variety, Pattinson’s solo venture Remember Me made nearly $60m on a $16m budget and was in the top thirty money earners of 2010. Hardly unsuccessful.
What a perfect pairing!
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you:
The Scorsese/DiCaprio of stupid action movies!
Michael Bay blowing shit up while Taylor and his million dollar abs save the world! In 3D!
Thor Bradwell is killing it with this kid. Didn’t know he had it in him.
I don’t know how this guy get’s work? His acting is likepetrified wood, no carisma. Yet everybody wants him??????? Channing Tatum anyone????????
re: pattinson. TAKE OUT FOREIGN BOX OFFICE. 20 million domestic on a 16 million budget with a twilight fanbase behind it is a disappointment. not a failure, but not a success either.
domestic box office WAS a disappointment, any producer in the industry will tell you that. It was expected to do better, WAY better, given his huge fanbase.
Maybe you should consider the fact this film isn’t aimed on Twilight fanbase. It isn’t fantasie story with vampires, werewolves and fairies; it is a family drama. It would be lame and unprofessional to wait Twilight saga box office numbers. I am sure producers know that.
pattinson only signed up for Remember Me when he was filming the first Twilight film so how could it have been expected to do WAY better because of his fanbase when the ‘Huge’ fanbase wasn’t actually there yet??!! Check your facts!
And after realease… It did do WAY better because of his fanbase. Did you actually see the film? It wouldn’t have done half as well if he hadn’t of starred in it trust me!
J, there’s no reason to dismiss RM’s foreign box office numbers. If you’re saying how much a film grossed, count the TOTAL. (See, I can use shouty caps, too.)
So: 58 million total on a 16 million budget is not a bad return on an investor’s dollar. I’d be pretty happy to hand someone a dollar and get 3.60 back.
The next Tom Cruise — failing upwards? Window-dressing wife in 3, 2, 1…
I am crazy in love with taylor luatner. i would just love to be his girlfriend. there is a saying that i say.. and thats never give up on the one you cant go a day with out thinking about. and i cant go a day with out thinking about him..so im not given up..