Doug Liman Reacts To ‘I Just Want My Pants Back’ Cancellation: “I’m Not Done Fighting’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 5:43pm PDTTags: I Just Want My Pants Back
Nellie Andreeva

A day after MTV‘s surprising cancellation of comedy I Just Want My Pants Back after one season, the series’ driving force, executive producer/director Doug Liman says the news still hasn’t sunk in because no one at the show saw it coming. “They were so bullish on the show. MTV’s (head of programming) David Janollari told me that for an executive, this kind of shows come only a few times in a career. That was a month ago.”

Related: MTV Cancels ‘I Just Want My Pants Back; Comedy Series Looks For New Home

Liman said that his team was already working on Season 2 when the cancellation news came. “When the head of the network tells tells you how passionate he is and that he is bringing back the show, and when the studio tells you how profitable the show is, you start to work on next season.”

“I’m no stranger to disappointment,” he added, pointing out how the Sundance festival passed on his cult 1996 movie Swingers. He also noted that he’s worked on shows that didn’t work and has accepted their demise. But Pants is different. “It’s really upsetting, not only because of how hard we worked but because of the way the series was received — it was one of MTV’s best reviewed shows ever. It also had solid ratings given its 11 PM slot. When a show works like this you don’t cancel it, it makes no sense.” READ MORE »

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Fox Makes ‘Playdate’ With ‘Hop’ Helmer Tim Hill

By MIKE FLEMING | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 5:29pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Nicky Weinstock, Playdate, Tim Hill
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Fox is making a deal to acquire Playdate, a pitch that Tim Hill and Dave Johnson will write, as a directing vehicle for Hill, who directe Hop and Alvin and the Chipmunks. The plot of the family film is being kept under wraps, but the title is somewhat self explanatory. The film will be produced by Nicky Weinstock through his Fox-based Invention Films. Hill’s repped by Gersh and Principato-Young, and Johnson by Principato-Young.

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Disney Sets Jesse Wigutow To Script ‘Peter And The Starcatchers’

By MIKE FLEMING | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 5:21pm PDTTags: Disney, Jesse Wigutow, Peter And The Starcatchers
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Disney has hired writer Jesse Wigutow to adapt the best-selling children’s novel, Peter and the Starcatchers, the 2004 book published by Disney’s Hyperion which gives the backstory for the iconic Peter Pan character.

Co-authored by Dave Barry and Ridley Pierson, the book has become a hot property, with the current Broadway adaptation having just nabbed nine Tony Award nominations, including Best Play. Peter and the Starcatchers is the first in a series of books by the authors, giving franchise potential to the project.

Wigutow’s adaptation of the Robert Ludlum thriller Osterman Weekend is in development with Brian Kirk directing at Summit, The Crow with F. Javier Gutierrez attached to direct at Relativity Media, and the Steve McQueen biopic at Cross Creek.

Wigutow is repped by UTA, attorney Warren Dern, and Benderspink.

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‘Dirt’ Director Seeks To Find Lost Jungle City in New Doc

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 4:35pm PDTTags: Bill Benenson, Ciudad Blanca, Dirt! The Movie, Documentaries, PBS, Steve Elkins, Sundance Film Festival

Bill Benenson has teamed with cinematographer Steve Elkins for the documentary The Search For Ciudad Blanca In The Point Cloud. The Dirt! The Movie filmmaker and the Emmy-winning Elkins will co-direct and co-produce the documentary. Venture Technologies Investment Group founder Gary Spire will executive produce. Shot over two decades in Honduras, the doc also utilizes recently developed aerial laser imaging to survey the vast Mosquitia jungle region. The LiDAR tech was able to see through the thick rain forest growth. The result, Benenson tells Deadline, reveals “hidden manmade structures” and “lost remains” in the area rumored to once have been the home of the fabled city of Ciudad Blanca. The legend of the Mosquito Coast river valley’s White City, so named for its supposed white rock buildings, has grown over the centuries since conquistador Hernan Cortes first heard of it in 1526. Benenson’s feature film Dirt! The Movie, narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, was a 2009 Sundance Film Festival Selection. The film had its TV premiere on Earth Day 2010 on PBS’s Independent Lens. The film recently played at the Beijing International Film Festival as one of only two chosen American documentaries.

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Weinstein Co Acquires ‘The Oath Of Tobruk’: Cannes

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 4:01pm PDTTags: Cannes Film Festival, The Oath of Tobruk, The Weinstein Company

The Bernard-Henri Levy documentary The Oath Of Tobruk was a late entry into the Cannes Film Festival. The Weinstein Company has acquired U.S. rights to the film, which was made over the eight-month period of conflict that put an end to Muammar Gaddafi’s reign in Libya. “American audiences will get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how our government and the French government worked together to stop the slaughter of innocent civilians and brilliantly handled the overthrow of a government.” Harvey Weinstein said in the release announcing the deal. The festival has set a special screening of the doc May 25, when key figures from the revolution will attend as guests of Levy, the French philosopher-journalist. The film was produced by Studio 37, a financier of last year’s Cannes darling and Best Picture Oscar winner The Artist, also a Weinstein film; Margo Cinema; and Arté. Rezo is selling remaining territories at the Cannes market.

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Anthony Mackie In Step With ‘Runner Runner’

By MIKE FLEMING | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 3:59pm PDTTags: Anthony Mackie, Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake, New Regency, Runner Runner
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Anthony Mackie is in talks to join Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck in Runner Runner, the New Regency drama to be directed by Lincoln Lawyer helmer Brad Furman. Production begins next month.

The drama revolves around the world of offshore online gaming and an increasingly tense relationship between a business founder and his protege. The film is being co-financed by Stone Village, and produced by Appian Way. The script was written by David Levien and Brian Koppelman. Mackie stars in the upcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and just wrapped the Ruben Fleischer-directed Gangster Squad. He’s shooting the Michael Bay-directed Pain and Gain and is repped by UTA and Inspire Entertainment.

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Should You Buy Facebook? A Few Things To Consider Before Tomorrow’s Frenzy

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 3:55pm PDT

Facebook will go public tomorrow at $38 a share, valuing the social network company at more than $100B. That will make it the biggest Internet IPO ever — and one of the toughest stocks to analyze. Fans see it as the opportunity of a lifetime to own of piece of company that’s becoming central to the world’s digital future. Critics warn that Facebook’s shrewd owners and bankers aren’t doing anybody a favor: Buyers could discover that they’ve been caught up in a faith-based craze over a young company that lacks a track record of strong earnings, or even a clear strategy for consistent profit growth. What to do? Here are some arguments to consider: Read More »

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‘Blade Runner’ Scribe Hampton Fancher Returning For Ridley Scott-Directed Sequel

By MIKE FLEMING | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 3:46pm PDTTags: Alcon Entertainment, Blade Runner, Hampton Fancher, Ridley Scott
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Hampton Fancher is in talks to join director Ridley Scott in developing a new version of Blade Runner for Alcon Entertainment. Alcon is acknowledging the film is a sequel, and that it takes place some years after the first film concluded. Fancher cowrote the original Blade Runner, based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Alcon Entertainment had the rights to the 1982 science fiction classic that starred Harrison Ford, but excitement on the project really escalated once Deadline revealed last August that Scott would come back and revisit the source material as director. Scott’s next film is Prometheus, a film that started as a prequel to his classic Alien, which he and Fox consider to be an original film. That’s different from Blade Runner, which at this point is being considered a sequel, even though Alcon has gone on record that the next movie won’t focus on Ford’s character, who hunted replicants until he fell in love with one. According to Alcon, Scott and Fancher intended Blade Runner to be the first in a series of films, but that didn’t happen. Now they are taking their crack at the second installment.

Scott is producing with Alcon cofounders Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, as well as Bud Yorkin and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin. Thunderbirg Films’ Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble are exec producing. Fancher is repped by APA.

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A&E’s ‘Breakout Kings’ Cancelled After Two Seasons

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 3:45pm PDTTags: A&E, Breakout Kings
Nellie Andreeva

Breakout Kings CancelledEXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that A&E has just cancelled drama Breakout Kings two weeks after the show’s second season ended its run. The series was co-created/executive produced by Matt Olmstead and Nick Santora. Olmstead just signed up for a new gig, running the new NBC drama series Chicago Fire. For Breakout Kings, this is still two seasons more than many expected it would go after Fox passed on the pilot in 2010 despite strong testing. A&E then stepped in and, after lengthy negotiation with producing studio 20th Century TV, it picked it up, with 20th TV’s cable division Fox21 producing. The series, about a squad of U.S. marshals who team up with cons to work together on tracking down prison escapees in exchange for getting time off their sentences, starred Domenick Lombardozzi, Laz Alonso and Jimmi Simpson.

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Alex Proyas To Direct ‘Gods Of Egypt’ For Summit

By MIKE FLEMING | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 3:27pm PDTTags: Alex Proyas, Gods Of Egypt, Summit Entertainment
Mike Fleming

Alex Proyas Gods Of EgyptAlex Proyas is making a deal to direct Gods Of Egypt for Summit Entertainment, and write the script with Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. Set amongst the pyramids and sphinxes, the film is the story of a common thief and a god on a magical quest. Basil Iwanyk is producing through Thunder Road with Proyas and his Mystery Clock Cinema banner.

Proyas is casting his next project, The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, for Red Granite. He previously directed Knowing for Summit. He has also helmed I, Robot and Dark City. The scribes’ credits include Dracula Year Zero and a futuristic Jungle Book.

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Image Lands Rights To Ray Liotta Starrer ‘The Devil’s In The Details’: Cannes

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 2:48pm PDTTags: Cannes Film Festival, Image Entertainment, Ray Liotta, The Devil's In The Details

CANNES, FRANCE – Image Entertainment, Inc. (OTCQB: DISK) has acquired all U.S. rights, including the theatrical, home entertainment, digital, VOD and broadcast, to the new action thriller, THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS. Written and directed by debut feature helmer, Waymon Boone, and starring Ray Liotta (Breathless, Goodfellas), THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS has just wrapped principal photography. The announcement was made today at the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival by Image Entertainment’s Chief Acquisitions Officer, Bill Bromiley.

Read More »

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TV Teaser: USA’s ‘Political Animals’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 2:40pm PDTTags: Political Animals, Sigourney Weaver, USA Network

USA Network showed during its upfront today a first look at its Sigourney Weaver-starring drama Political Animals. The six-episode series from Greg Berlanti, Laurence Mark and Warner Horizon is slated to debut July 15 and air in the Sunday 10 PM slot.

Related: ‘WWE Monday Raw’ Expands To Three Hours, USA Puts Talent Upfront At Upfront Event

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TOLDJA! Relativity Acquires ‘Paranoia’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 2:33pm PDTTags: Cannes Film Festival, Paranoia, Relativity Media

Deadline reported this earlier today. Relativity Media makes it official below:

(Beverly Hills, Calif.) May 17, 2012 – Relativity Media announced today that it has acquired U.S. rights to market and distribute IM Global’s currently-titled Paranoia, directed by Robert Luketic (21) and starring Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games), Oscar®-nominee Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight), Oscar®-nominee Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones) and Lucas Till (X-Men: First Class). Production is targeted to begin this summer and the film will release in theatres on September 27, 2013. IM Global will handle international distribution.

Read More »

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‘Cloud Atlas’, ‘Dredd’, ‘Looper,’ ‘Magic Mike’ Screen Early For Distributors: Cannes

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 2:01pm PDTTags: Cannes Film Festival, Cloud Atlas, Dredd, Looper

In the past few days, buyers at the Cannes Film Festival have had a first look at some high-profile pics they’ve already bought. Focus Features International screened Cloud Atlas on Tuesday for its distributors, and IM Global gave theirs a full showing of Dredd this afternoon. FilmNation also held screenings of three of its upcoming pics to get folks excited early.

Related: Hot Film Titles For U.S. Buyers: Cannes 2012

Cloud Atlas, directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and Hugh Grant. It’s based on David Mitchell’s book that consists of six interconnected stories. Warner Bros will release domestically, but the studio did not finance the $100M film. Producer Grant Hill tells me when it became clear that Warner Bros couldn’t see how to make it within the studio system, the filmmakers chose a different route. That included a combination of equity from Asian sources and some rights deals. “We were lucky it went very well and got us the money we needed,” says Hill, adding, “When we had raised the amount we needed, we were feeling pretty good about it so we said why don’t we wait and hold back 3 or 4 territories.” The territories remaining are the UK, France, Japan and Spain. The screening could lead to deals closing soon. “There’s a lot of people talking to a lot of people… The nice part about having potential buyers in the screening is that they got to sit with people who had already bought the film and who were enthusiastic. But, you can’t control the situation, it could easily have gone the other way.” The financing structure “is a model I’d try again,” he says, “but it’s not a model that’s a fit for all situations.” Read More »

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WWE Monday Raw Expands To Three Hours, USA Puts Talent Upfront At Its Upfront Event

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 1:53pm PDTTags: Monday Night Raw, USA
Nellie Andreeva

In its first upfront event during the traditional broadcast upfront week, USA Network kept it casual, with a party vibe — cocktails on the way in, a music performance to start, a whole music set to close the presentation, which was followed by more drinks, and no executives taking the stage. Instead, the network kept its tradition of having the stars of its series present the new shows and talk up its ratings performance.

The network also made some news, with WWE star John Cena announcing that, starting with WWE Monday Night Raw‘s 1000th episode on July 23, the show will permanently expand to three hours. Read More »

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Comcast’s New Broadband Price Tests Raise Questions For Video Streaming

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 1:52pm PDTTags: Comcast, Xfinity

This is a subject that chills web video companies and customers — especially the day after Verizon Wireless announced that it will eliminate its unlimited data subscriptions for 4G customers. Comcast, the No. 1 broadband provider, said in a blog post that it’s “time to begin to move to a new plan” for its Internet service. As you might expect, the post clearly describes changes consumers might like, including one that raises the residential usage cap to 300 gigabytes a month from 250 GB. But the post is vague about potentially unpopular changes — leaving open the possibility that Comcast might dramatically raise the price users pay if they exceed the cap. Comcast says it must “address the realities of managing a network that services more than 20 million customers.” But Internet activists fear that a hefty new fee could deter consumers from subscribing to rival services such as Netflix which use a lot of bandwidth to stream movies and TV shows. The possible change “illustrates that Comcast is really trying to discourage subscribers from experimenting with online video alternatives,” Free Press Policy Adviser Joel Kelsey says. “We call on Comcast to drop the caps and these exorbitant overage fees entirely.” Read More »

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2012-13 Fall Broadcast Primetime Grid

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 1:40pm PDTTags: 2012-13 schedule
Nellie Andreeva

UPDATED: With all five English-language broadcast networks reporting, here is how they stack up against each other in the fall. New shows in red. (Click on the chart for larger view.)

Related: Single-Camera Comedy Mayhem: ABC, NBC & Fox To Clash In Tuesday 9-10 Hour In Fall
Fall TV Show Schedule 2012

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Hot Trailer: ‘The Words’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 1:38pm PDTTags: Bradley Cooper, CBS Films, The Words

Bradley Cooper doesn’t have his Hangover pals to get him out of trouble in The Words, a CBS Films romantic drama about a frustrated writer who claims another author’s long-lost work as his own. Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid and Jeremy Irons co-star. The film has a September 21 release date.

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Katherine Heigl Signs With CAA

By MIKE FLEMING | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 12:37pm PDTTags: CAA, Katherine Heigl
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Exactly a week after exiting Paradigm, actress Katherine Heigl has signed with CAA. Heigl left Paradigm following the exit of her longtime agent Norm Aladjem, who moved to Levity Entertainment Group. Heigl is a two-time Golden Globe nominee and Emmy-winning actress for Grey’s Anatomy and starred in Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up, Anne Fletcher’s 27 Dresses and Robert Luketic’s The Ugly Truth. She will next be seen starring in The Wedding with Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. She remains with attorney Stephen Barnes at Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein & Kohner.

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