Search Results for: “terminator”

Megan And David Ellison Will Each Pay 33% Of ‘Terminator’ Costs; Paramount Paying The Rest To Bring Arnold Back

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday June 14, 2013 @ 10:15am PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Ellison, Megan Ellison, Paramount Pictures, The Terminator
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE DETAILS: A spate of reports of movement on The Terminator franchise is a good sign that the franchise is finally starting to percolate again. I’ve learned that each Ellison — David and Megan, both scions of Oracle chief Larry Ellison — will finance 33% of the film’s budget, with Paramount finding the remaining third. Arnold Schwarzenegger himself said yesterday during an appearance in Sydney that he’s coming back and the movie will start shooting in January. None of this is really a surprise: Back in December, Megan Ellison, who’d spent $20 million to buy The Terminator sequel rights during 2011 Cannes, partnered on the franchise with her brother David. She makes prestige films and he makes popcorn fare like Star Trek and Mission: Impossible sequels, so the union made sense. The Wrap claimed an exclusive that Paramount would be the distributor. Well, through Skydance Productions, David makes all his movies with Paramount, so it was kind of obvious the films would likely land there. Skydance and Paramount are just coming through the gigantic ordeal of making World War Z, which, despite a massive budget, looks like it will do some serious global business.

As for Schwarzenegger, he’s been attached since back in May 2011, when Megan Ellison beat out Lionsgate and paid around $20 million for the franchise. She bought it from Pacificor, which had paid $29.5 million to pull the property out of bankruptcy. The latest rumor is that Megan Ellison would make a hail mary pass attempt to draft her Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow. That would be a coup, but it’s being denied, which means either that it’s not true, or Bigelow passed already. The project has been director-less since Fast 6‘s Justin Lin bowed out of the project when it was being developed solely by Megan Ellison. I met Lin at Sundance and he made it clear he wouldn’t return because he was not involved in the development of the script. Ellison in January hired Avatar and Shutter Island‘s Laeta Kalogridis and My Bloody Valentine‘s  Patrick Lussier to write the script, so it stands to reason that the film should be ready to shoot by early next year. Read More »

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2013 Produced By Conference: Nancy Daniels, Mark Gordon On Mentor List; Jon Favreau, Roberto Orci Among Speakers

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 14, 2013 @ 12:29pm PDTTags: 2013 Produced By Conference

LOS ANGELES (May 14, 2013) – The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the list of top industry producers and executives who will serve as mentors during the intimate Mentoring Roundtable meetings that will be held throughout the 5th annual Produced By Conference (PBC), June 8-9, at 20th Century Fox Studios in Los Angeles. Confirmed mentors include:

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BREAKING: Arnold Schwarzenegger In Talks To Topline ‘Toxic Avenger’ Reboot

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday May 13, 2013 @ 5:21pm PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Big Deals Film, Cannes Wrap-Up, Steve Pink, The Toxic Avenger

Los Angeles, CA (May, 2013) –Action superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger (TERMINATOR series, TOTAL RECALL) is in negotiations to star in writer/director Steve Pink’s (HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 1 & 2) big budget action comedy THE TOXIC AVENGER produced by Akiva Goldsman (CONSTANTINE, I AM LEGEND, MR AND MRS SMITH), Richard Saperstein (HANCOCK, 1408, SE7EN), Charlie Corwin (HALF NELSON, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE), Stephen Kessler and Michael Benaroya (LAWLESS, MARGIN CALL). Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz will executive produce. The announcement was made today by International Film Trust’s (IFT) President Ariel Veneziano who will handle all international rights to the film alongside IFT’s Head of Sales Christian de Gallegos.

Set to be introduced to buyers at Cannes 2013, THE TOXIC AVENGER is currently in pre-production and scheduled to start principal photography this fall.

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Xosha Roquemore Joins ‘Mindy Project’ As New Regular, Kevin Durand In ‘The Strain’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday April 26, 2013 @ 12:33pm PDTTags: Kevin Durand, The Mindy Project, The Strain, Xosha Roquemore
Nellie Andreeva

Young actress Xosha Roquemore has been added to the cast of Fox’s The Mindy Project as a new regular next season after doing a three-episode arc on the comedy’s current freshman season. Roquemore recently landed a major recurring role on TV Land’s new Kirstie Alley comedy series after guest starring in the pilot, but in light of the Mindy Project opportunity, the cable network let the actress out and will recast her role. Roquemore, repped by SDB Partners, Principal Entertainment and Frank Stewart, co-stars in G.B.F., which is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. Read More »

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Mike Myers & Dana Carvey Use Academy To Bury ‘Wayne’s World’ Hatchet

By JEN YAMATO | Tuesday April 23, 2013 @ 10:17pm PDTTags: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Dana Carvey, Hawk Koch, Mike Myers, Wayne's World

AMPAS President Hawk Koch tonight used the Academy as a promo tool for the 1992 comedy which he exec produced 21 years ago. Wayne’s World has zero to do with prestigious Academy functions, but a rep told me similar screenings are in the works to attract a new audience to AMPAS. Tonight’s event sold out in 90 seconds at $5 a pop.

With Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels (who produced the pic) Koch wrangled stars Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, and director Penelope Spheeris to the event following years of tensions between the trio. In a pre-film panel at the Academy’s Wilshire theater, moderator Koch skirted the infamous squabbles surrounding the Wayne’s World shoot. Those include Myers’ reputed difficult on-set demands. And reports that he Myers and Carvey had fallen out after Myers lifted his Dr. Evil voice from Carvey. Spheeris meanwhile has accused Myers of vetoing her as the sequel’s director because she didn’t listen to his edit requests. (“‘I hated that bastard for years”, she said in a 2008 interview.) No questions were allowed from the at-capacity audience. And the panelists were explicitly instructed not to talk to press at the event. Read More »

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Anchor Bay Acquires Joel Surnow’s ‘Small Time’ Starring Christopher Meloni

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday April 19, 2013 @ 11:24am PDTTags: Anchor Bay Films, Christopher Meloni, Joel Surnow, Small Time

NEW YORK, NY – Anchor Bay Films announced today the acquisition of small time starring Christopher Meloni (42, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” Man of Steel), Bridget Moynahan (I Robot, Lord of War, “Blue Bloods”) and Dean Norris (“Breaking Bad,” Little Miss Sunshine, “Under The Dome”). Written and directed by Joel Surnow, Emmy® Award-winner and co-creator of the hit series “24”, small time is his debut feature film and loosely based on his real life experiences. The agreement with ABF covers all North American rights and today’s announcement was made by Anchor Bay Entertainment’s President, Bill Clark.

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Global Showbiz Briefs: Lovefilm & Warner Bros’ UK Deal; Alex Williams Joins ‘The Reckoning’; Critics’ Week In Cannes

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Saturday, 13 April 2013 05:00 UKTags: Alex Williams, Cannes Film Festival, Lovefilm, Warner Bros

Lovefilm & Warner Bros Strike UK Deal
Netflix competitor Lovefilm has entered what it calls a “milestone” deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution for the UK. From today, library content that includes The West Wing, One Tree Hill, Nip Tuck and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will be available to subscribers. The Amazon-owned streaming service has 2M+ subscribers across Europe. Netflix entered the market in January 2012 where Sky also continues to build its business. The three companies each have deals with the major U.S. studios. In November, Netflix signed its own multi-year pact with WBITD that included shows like The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl. Read More »

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James Wan Is Universal’s Choice To Helm ‘The Fast And The Furious 7′

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday April 10, 2013 @ 7:04pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Fast And The Furious 7, James Wan, Justin Lin, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has begun negotiations with James Wan to direct the seventh installment of the studio’s mega-buck franchise The Fast And The Furious. I expect a deal to be made probably before the week is out.

Justin Lin made it clear back at the Sundance Film Festival in January that he wasn’t going to direct the next pic after revitalizing that franchise and helming its last four installments including the upcoming May 24 opener Fast & Furious 6. He wanted to take a break, and while he wasn’t going back to The Terminator, he still considered the reboot of Highlander a possibility at Summit. Universal Pictures has had plenty of time to consider who’ll take over the race car franchise, and recently they have been working from a very short list. Among the directors they’ve spoken to are Baltazar Kormakur, who helmed Contraband, The Deep and the upcoming 2 Guns with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg (I don’t think Kormakur is available); Kick-Ass 2 helmer Jeff Wadlow; and The Karate Kid helmer Harold Zwart, whose next is The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones. Wan, who helmed the first installment of Saw, more recently directed the horror smash hit Insidious, and has The Conjuring upcoming.

The next film brings back longtime producer Neal H. Moritz of Original Film, and Chris Morgan is returning to write … Read More »

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Jamie Foxx To Write, Direct & Produce Syfy Horror Anthology Series For October Debut

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday April 10, 2013 @ 12:47pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Jamie Foxx, Syfy
Nellie Andreeva

Jamie Foxx Syfy SeriesEXCLUSIVE: At its upfront presentation this evening, Syfy will unveil a high-profile new scripted series from Jamie Foxx and his Foxxhole Prods. The Oscar winner will executive produce, write and direct the five-episode horror anthology series, which will debut during Syfy’s annual 31 Days Of Halloween programming marathon this October. Foxx might also appear on the yet-untitled series, which is produced by Universal Cable Prods.

In the vein of horror classics like Tales From The Crypt and The Twilight Zone, the contemporary series tells creepy morality tales with themes such as envy, jealousy and superficiality. “This is a project that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and I’m so happy to see it come to life,” Foxx said. “Get ready to lose it when some special friends and I bring the scares this October, and who knows… maybe I’ll make a guest appearance or two along the way!” Added Syfy/UCP’s Mark Stern, “Jamie Foxx’s passion and unique perspective will transform these universal insights on the human condition into emotionally potent and truly scary cautionary tales.” Read More »

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IFC Announces Three Comedy Pilots, Eight Half-Hour Projects In Development

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday April 10, 2013 @ 11:02am PDTTags: IFC
Nellie Andreeva

IFC today announced a slate of 11 comedy projects, including three pilot orders. Here are details:

PILOTS

TIMMS INDUSTRIAL PIPING (Pilot; working title)
A scripted comedy set in the fictional town of Timms Valley, Wisconsin, where the lives and livelihoods of its citizens are intertwined with the fate of the town’s biggest employer, Timms Industrial Piping. When the company’s founder and CEO goes missing in a plane crash, the lives of the characters are turned upside down. Shot in stop-motion animation with baby dolls repurposed as an array of adult characters, and modeled on 1980s primetime soaps like Dynasty, the show is written by Steven Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Pursuit of Happyness), and created by Conrad, Jeff Dieter and Tom Glynn. Read More »

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2013 Produced By Conference: JJ Abrams, Tom Cruise, Gale Anne Hurd On Speaker List

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday March 27, 2013 @ 9:23am PDTTags: Gale Anne Hurd, JJ Abrams, Mark Burnett, Produced By Conference, Tom Cruise

LOS ANGELES, CA (March 27, 2013) – The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the initial slate of speakers confirmed to participate in the 5th annual Produced By Conference (PBC). Director and producer J.J. Abrams, producer Mark Burnett, actor and producer Tom Cruise and producer Gale Anne Hurd will participate as featured speakers joining a prestigious list of acclaimed producers and industry leaders in entertainment and digital media. The 2013 Produced By Conference will be hosted by 20th Century Fox Studios on June 8-9.

2013 PBC speakers include some of the entertainment and digital industries’ most renowned producers and visionaries. In alphabetical order:

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S. Epatha Merkerson, Jeffrey Ross, Melinda McGraw Among Pilot Guest Castings

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday March 19, 2013 @ 11:45am PDTTags: Jeff Ross, Melinda McGraw, S. Epatha Merkerson
Nellie Andreeva

In the last wave of pilot castings, the pilots are booking actors for guest starring roles, most of them with potential to recur if the pilots go to series. Here are several notable guest signings:

S. Epatha MerkersonJeffrey RossLaw & Order veteran S. Epatha Merkerson and Comedy Central roast master Jeff Ross, host of The Burn With Jeff Ross, will guest star in Fox’s Boomerang. Merkerson plays a mysterious agency bureaucrat; Ross, repped by Thruline  and WME, plays an agency handler of operatives. Merkerson, repped by ICM Partners and manager Bob McGowan, recurs on NBC’s Deception and just signed on to co-star in the Marvin Gaye biopic.

Melinda McGraw (Men Of A Certain Age) has joined Fox’s drama Delirium after recently recurring on the network’s comedy Ben & Kate. Repped by Domain and McKeon/Myones, she will play Lydia, the image-conscious wife of Thomas Fineman. Read More »

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Justin Lin, Michael De Luca Team At Warner Bros On Patrick Lee Thriller Novel

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday February 19, 2013 @ 6:32pm PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Justin Lin, Michael De Luca, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros won a multiple studio bidding battle for screen rights to an upcoming thriller novel by The Breach author Patrick Lee. Justin Lin is attached to direct and produce with Michael De Luca.

The untitled action thriller was just auctioned in a big pre-emptive, three-book deal that will be published next winter by Macmillan. The book is the first of a series featuring an ex-special operative named Sam Dryden. In the character-driven thriller, Dryden runs into a mysterious young girl who is not quite what she seems, and he embarks on a journey to keep her safe from a powerful government agent intent on hunting her down.

This comes as Lin puts the finishing touches on Fast & Furious 6 for Universal, which he directed and produced. That marks his fourth turn in the high-octane action series he helped revive, and Lin is now looking for other films to do through his Barnstorm Pictures banner. Barnstorm president of production Elaine Chin is also producing with Pouya Shahbazian, who manages the author. Read More »

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Focus Features Seals Pact For LAIKA Pic ‘The Boxtrolls’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday February 7, 2013 @ 9:17am PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Focus Features, LAIKA
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Moments after setting a deal with Random House Studio for Longbourne, Focus Features has locked its third animated movie project with ParaNorman and Coraline partner LAIKA. This one is called The Boxtrolls, which is in production, and Focus will release it October 17th, 2014. Focus has worldwide distribution rights and Universal Pictures International will release the movie overseas (with eOne Distribution handling Canada).

The Boxtrollsis a 3D stop-motion and CG hybrid animated feature based on Alan Snow’s bestselling fantasy adventure novel Here Be Monsters. It’s directed by Anthony Stacchi (co-director of Open Season) and Graham Annable (story artist on Coraline and ParaNorman), and produced by David Ichioka and Mr. Knight. The voice cast includes Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, Toni Collette, Elle Fanning, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Jared Harris, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, and Tracy Morgan.

The Here Be Monsters deal was brokered by Hotchkiss And Associates. Read More »

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SXSW 2013: Abigail Breslin In ‘Haunter’, ‘Lords Of Salem’, ‘You’re Next’, ‘Big Ass Spider’ Lead Midnighters

By JEN YAMATO | Wednesday February 6, 2013 @ 12:00pm PSTTags: haunter, SXSW, You're Next

Sixteen-year-old Abigail Breslin leads her first horror pic in Haunter, from director Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice), which will world-premiere in the Midnight line-up at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival. The slate also reunites Innkeepers (SXSW ’11) duo Pat Healy and Sarah Paxton, who star with Ethan Embry and David Koechner in first-time director E.L. Katz’s Cheap Thrills, while the Greg Grunberg-starring creature feature Big Ass Spider (sold overseas as, ahem, Mega Spider) sends creepy-crawly shivers through the midnight crowd.

Also unveiling for the late-night genre crowd at the fest, held March 8-16 in Austin, are Rob Zombie’s Lords Of Salem, releasing April 19 via Anchor Bay, the festival slasher fave You’re Next, which Lionsgate will open August 23, the anthology sequel V/H/S/2 (re-titled from S-VHS) snapped up by Magnolia last month at Sundance, and Xan Cassavetes’ sexy vampire pic Kiss Of The Damned starring Milo Ventimiglia and Joséphine de La Baume.

Below, descriptions of the nine features in SXSW’s Midnight selection along with the fest’s extensive slate of short films including narrative shorts, doc shorts, and music videos:

MIDNIGHTERS
Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – provocative after-dark features for night owls and the terminally curious.

Haunter (Canada)
Director: Vincenzo Natali, Screenwriter: Brian King
Lisa Johnson is one day shy of her 16th birthday and will be forever. She and her family are doomed to repeat the fateful day before they were all killed in 1985. Cast: Abigail Breslin, Stephen McHattie, Peter Outerbridge, Michelle Nolden, David Hewlett (World Premiere)

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‘The Game’ Scribes Tackle Adaptation Of True Conspiracy Tale ‘Truth Never Dies’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday February 1, 2013 @ 1:15pm PSTTags: Andrew Lazar, Influence
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: John Brancato and Michael Ferris, who’ve scripted The Game and Terminator 3, have been set to write Influence, a thriller that incorporates a true story and terrorism and the dynamics of geopolitical power. Based on Dr. William Chasey’s book, Truth Never Dies, the story details how Chasey, a high-powered Washington lobbyist, took a job representing Muammar al-Gaddafi’s Libya in the wake of the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan AM 103, only to see his life systematically dismantled by the U.S. government.

In his quest to understand why, Chasey discovered a CIA-led conspiracy to conceal the truth behind one of the worst terrorist acts in history. Mad Chance’s Andrew Lazar and Richard Middleton (The Artist) will produce along with the author, Renée George will be exec producer.

This comes a day after producer Scott Stuber has a production start on Kill The Messenger, a Jeremy Renner-starrer about Gary Webb, a journalist who uncovered and reported CIA involvement in the importation of crack cocaine in California. The agency smeared him, he lost his job and committed suicide.

After a short glowing respite with those hunt for Bin Laden movies, we can once again go back to fearing these shadowy government agencies.

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Sony Creative Ad EVP William Loper Exits

By JEN YAMATO | Thursday January 24, 2013 @ 6:06pm PSTTags: Sony

Almost 10 years after rejoining Columbia TriStar as Executive VP of creative advertising in the motion picture division, William Loper is out at Sony Pictures Entertainment following what a company source calls a “restructuring” of the creative department. Industry veteran Loper began his studio career at Universal three decades ago before hopping to MGM, then to Columbia/Tri-Star, where he led marketing on films including Basic Instinct and Terminator 2.  He rejoined Universal in 1994 to head campaigns for titles such as A Beautiful Mind, The Mummy, and Apollo 13. Prior to returning to Columbia/Tri-Star in 2003, he created co-branded film campaigns for the Aspect Group. In recent years Loper’s campaigns for The Tourist, The Other Guys, Salt and District 9 earned Golden Trailer nominations.

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OSCARS: Crafts Categories Get Some Love With Web Series

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday January 24, 2013 @ 10:44am PSTTags: Oscars

Related: OSCARS: 85th Academy Award Nominations

The six-part video series Behind The Ballot that launched today on Oscar.com features panels of experts breaking down what Oscar voters look for in contenders for Production Design, Cinematography, Makeup & Hairstyling, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Costume Design. In the seemingly endless chatter about the marquee categories during an awards season that seems to get longer every year, it’s a refreshing initiative that shines a light on the behind-the-scenes folks that form the backbone of the year’s best movies. A new video will debut each week — the lead-off panel is Cinematography, which features a chat with DPs Daryn Okada, Theo van de Sande and Mandy Walker (check it out below). Here’s the full lineup announced today by the Academy: Read More »

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Small Fire At Universal Studios Now Out, 1 Minor Firefighter Injury Reported

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday January 23, 2013 @ 3:55pm PSTTags: Universal Studios

A small fire broke out today at Universal Studios in a building that formerly housed the Terminator 2 attraction. Firefighters got a call around 1:15 PM that there were flames on upper floors of the three-story building. The fire was knocked down about 45 minutes later. LA County fire says one firefighter received minor injuries. The park and Universal City Walk remained open and no damage was reported. The Terminator 2 attraction closed in December and the space was being renovated for a new attraction.

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