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CAA Signs ‘Robocop’ Joel Kinnaman

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 10:52am PDTTags: CAA, Cannes Film Festival, Joel Kinnaman, RoboCop
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: CAA has signed Joel Kinnaman, the Swedish actor who plays the title role in the Jose Padilha-directed Robocop for MGM. Kinnaman had been repped by UTA. He’s a rising star whose breakout came in the Daniel Espinosa-directed Snabba Cash, and the AMC series The Killing. Kinnaman is in production on Child 44, which Espinosa is directing with Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace for Summit Entertainment, with Scott Free producing. Once he wraps that, he stars with Liam Neeson in Run All Night, the Jaume Collet-Serra-directed thriller for Warner Bros. The Killing returns for Season 3 on June 2. Kinnaman continues to be managed by Shelley Browning of Magnolia Entertainment.

Related: Magnolia Manager Vs UTA, Round Two

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Cannes: Fleming Q&A With Steven Soderbergh: Retirement, Liberace, Legacy

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 10:46am PDTTags: Behind The Candelabra, Cannes Film Festival, Steven Soderbergh
Mike Fleming

Steven Soderbergh tonight unveils what he says is his final feature film Behind The Candelabra. The film explores the secret father/son/lover relationship between Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his valet Scott Thorson. It’s playing in competition here at Cannes, even though HBO will premiere it in the U.S. on Sunday before it gets a traditional overseas theatrical release. If that seems complex, it fits Soderbergh, a true maverick who has always been up for putting himself on the line for disruptive, groundbreaking fare. That began with sex, lies, and videotape. The movie won the Audience Award at Sundance and the Palme d’Or at Cannes before grossing nearly $25 million in 1989 and earning him an original screenplay Oscar nom. It is viewed as the picture that turned indie film into a viable business. “He is the father of this movement,” said Harvey Weinstein, who distributed the film. “Before him, there was no independent movie that did more than $5 million. This was the one that went out, almost wide, in the summer — where they said these films could not play — and broke the art house ghetto.” An Oscar (for directing Traffic) later, and a career that spanned every genre and enterprising release strategy (he aroused the ire of theater owners by road testing the day-and-date release platform that is now a Sundance deal staple), the 50-year-old Soderbergh talks with Deadline about Behind The Candelabra, indie economics and more.

Related: Steven Soderbergh’s State Of Cinema Talk

DEADLINE:  All week, I’ve heard people here debate whether Michael Douglas and Matt Damon will lose possible Oscar nominations because the film plays first on HBO, before a more traditional international theatrical rollout. You intended it originally to be an indie feature. Explain the gyrations that ended up with this unusual release strategy.
SODERBERGH: We were trying to get the last $5 million to finish it off. The movie cost $22 million and change. We’d raised $18 million foreign and we just needed this piece. Superficially it would seem like a no-brainer, but when you look at the realities of the economics of putting a movie into wide release, you have to gross $65 million-$75 million just to get out. People just didn’t have that appetite for this kind of material.

DEADLINE: How different were things back when you conceived it as an indie and took several years to get to it and get a script by Richard LaGravanese?
SODERBERGH: There’s no question in my mind that if it had been five years earlier that we’d probably would have gotten it. But the pressure has gotten so extreme. I talk to people at the studios about it all the time. Somebody told me last week that they are doing a better job controlling movie costs but that marketing costs keep moving at a trajectory faster than everything else. Another terrifying thing is, you used to be able to bank on stars. If you had certain elements in a certain kind of movie, you could bank on doing X. Now you are guaranteed nothing. Read More »

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Hot Trailer: ‘The Lone Ranger’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 10:40am PDTTags: Disney, The Lone Ranger

Looks like Disney wasn’t quite done dropping trailers for the Disney tentpole starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer. The Lone Ranger bows July 3.

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ESPN Layoffs Could Reach 400 As Part Of Latest Disney Cuts

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 10:14am PDTTags: Disney, ESPN

ESPN just released a statement confirming the cuts, which were first reported by Deadspin. Said the company: “We are implementing changes across the company to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing costs. While difficult, we are confident that it will make us more competitive, innovative and productive.” If the language sounds familiar, it’s because it is: ESPN is 80% owned by Disney (Hearst owns the other 20%), which has gone division by division to cut costs over the past month or so. Layoffs have already hit the Walt Disney Studios unit (150 layoffs in film, theatrical and music departments) and shuttered LucasArts, the video game division of Disney’s newly acquired Lucasfilm. Previously, Disney Interactive laid off about 50 employees. Now not even super-profitable ESPN, which has about 7,000 employees overall, is immune to the cost-cutting review, and with recent major purchases of spendy live sports rights (the college football playoffs and U.S. Open tennis among the recent deals) it looks like they’ve been told to tighten the ship.

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Lee Eisenberg & Gene Stupnitsky Sign New Overall Deal With ABC Studios

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 9:41am PDTTags: ABC Studios, Gene Stupnitsky, Hello Ladies, Lee Eisenberg, Trophy Wife
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Writer-producers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky have signed a new two-year overall deal with ABC Studios. The Office alums serve as executive producers/showrunners on two new comedy series sold under their previous deal with the studio, Trophy Wife at ABC and Hello Ladies at HBO. Additionally, Eisenberg and Stupnitsky, who wrote the 2011 feature Bad Teacher, executive produced Sony TV’s comedy pilot adaptation, which nears a midseason series order at CBS. “Lee and Gene are hugely prolific and quite possibly the hardest working comedy writers out there today,” said ABC Studios SVP Development Patrick Moran. “We are thrilled to have them attached to our new comedy Trophy Wife.”

Over the last two years, Eisenberg and Stupnitsky developed projects at ABC, FX, HBO and Comedy Central through their Quantity Entertainment. Emily Brecht, who has been with the company since 2011, is being promoted to Director of Development and will oversee day-to-day operations. She previously worked at the Department of Defense. “As a policy, we always look to hire employees who are smarter than us,” Eisenberg and Stupnitsky said. “That said, we look forward to Quantity’s next chapter as Emily becomes a principal partner and eventually ousts us.” Read More »

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UPDATE: Broadcast Nets Expand Nightly News For Tornado Coverage; NBC To Air Live Special In ‘Voice’ Recap Slot

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 9:40am PDTTags: MSNBC, NBC, The Voice, Today

UPDATED, 9:40 AM: ABC News and NBC News said they will expand their evening newscasts to an hour tonight to cover the aftermath of the Oklahoma tornado that so far has killed 24 including many children stuck in their schools. On CBS, the CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley is expanding to 90 minutes from 6:30-8 PM. ABC also is airing a special edition of Nightline dedicated to tornado coverage, and ABC News’ David Muir, Ginger Zee, and Mike Boettcher will report in from Oklahoma this afternoon on Katie.

PREVIOUS, MONDAY PM: The network and its sister outlets MSNBC and the Weather Channel will focus Tuesday on coverage of today’s massive twister that cut a huge swath of destruction near Oklahoma City. Along with live coverage from devastated Moore, OK, on NBC’s Today and MSNBC’s morning programs, the broadcast network will air a one-hour special hosted by Brian Williams live from the scene at 8 PM ET (delayed in other time zones). That will pre-empt a recap show of The Voice featuring the top 10 performances; a new live episode of the singing competition will air as scheduled in the 9 PM hour. Read More »

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Ricky Gervais Series ‘Derek’ Gets September Netflix Premiere

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 9:40am PDTTags: Derek, Netflix, Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais writes, directs, exec produces, and stars in the original series about a naive man who works in a nursing home, which Netflix will debut at 12:01 AM PT on September 12. Derek already premiered in the UK via Channel 4. The show will launch stateside and in international Netflix territories including Canada, Ireland, Latin America, Brazil and the Nordics in seven 30-minute episodes launching simultaneously. A second season has already been renewed. David Earl, Karl Pilkington and Kerry Godliman star in the comedy-drama series as fellow care workers. Derek is produced by Derek Productions Ltd. for Netflix.

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Cannes: Weinstein Co Acquires Keanu-Reese Sci-Fi Pic ‘Passengers’ In Splashy Deal

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 9:23am PDTTags: Cannes Film Festival, Keanu Reeves, Passengers, Reese Witherspoon, The Weinstein Company
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: The Weinstein Company has won the bidding for the Keanu Reeves-Reese Witherspoon sci-fi romance movie Passengers. I’m hearing the distributor has committed to a multi-million dollar minimum guarantee and a P&A commitment in the $25 million range for a wide release in 2014. I understand FilmDistrict and Open Road were in the mix here in Cannes for the project, which was written by Prometheus scribe Jon Spaihts and will be directed by Game Of Thrones and Reese Witherspoon ArrestBoardwalk Empire helmer Brian Kirk in his major feature film debut. Wayfare Entertainment is financing and producing the pic. The plot: A spacecraft transporting thousands of people to a distant colony planet has a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers. As a result, a single passenger (Reeves) is awakened 90 years before anyone else. Faced with the prospect of growing old and dying alone, he eventually decides to wake up a second passenger (Witherspoon), marking the beginning of what becomes a unique love story. The script was developed by Stephen Hamel and Reeves at their production shingle Company Films. Hamel is producing with Wayfare CEO Ben Browning. Start Media’s Michael Maher and Lynwood Spinks are executive producing. CAA repped domestic sales rights; Exclusive Media has international rights.

Related: Hammond: Weinstein Shows Off 2013 Oscar Contenders

The Weinsteins have been major players at Cannes, having already won the first big bidding battle of the festival by acquiring the Judi Dench movie Philomena — directed by Stephen Frears and co-starring Steve Coogan — based on seven minutes of footage shown to buyers. In addition, TWC landed U.S. and other territories for Suite Française, based on Irene Nemirovsky’s novel about a young woman who lives with her controlling mother-in-law in Nazi-occupied France and ends up falling for a German officer. Michelle Williams, Matthias Schoenaerts and Kristin Scott Thomas star. The company’s alt-distribution label Radius-TWC meanwhile picked up North American rights to Blue Ruin, one of the few U.S. titles screening in the Directors’ Fortnight section. Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Up Strong, ‘Voice’ Hits Low, ‘Hawaii Five-O’ Finale Down, ‘Motive’ Debuts Soft

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 9:08am PDTTags: Dancing With The Stars, Motive, The Goodwin Games, The Voice, TV Ratings

Monday saw a primetime mix of live shows, encores, finales, premieres and prayers for those in the path of the tornado in Oklahoma. On ABC, the last performance show of Dancing With The Stars (2.5/7) before tonight’s Season 16 results finale saw the final four couples strut their stuff once last time. DWTS certainly flexed some muscle as the show was up 25% from its series performance low tie of May 13. The most watched program of the night with 14.73 million viewers, the two-hour show was down 14% from its one-hour May 21, 2012 performance finale and dipped 7% from its last performance show of last season on November 26, 2012. Although the show was up from last week, it appeared last night like the total votes might be down. Online “technical difficulties” saw voting on ABC’s website temporarily suspended, forcing viewers to cast their ballots via text, Facebook and phone. The online voting was restored before the show was over and viewers were encouraged to hit the website to decided who gets the Mirrorball trophy. Afterward, new crime procedural Motive (1.4/4) did not benefit from its lead-in. The Canadian import was down sharply from the 2.2/6 of Castle’s season finale last week and down 30% from Scandal’s April 5, 2012 debut. ABC won the night in total viewers and in adults 18-49.

Related: NBC To Air Tornado Special In Tuesday’s ‘Voice’ Recap Slot Read More »

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VH1 Morning Show ‘The Gossip Table’ Premieres June 3

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 9:00am PDTTags: The Gossip Table, VH1

The daily pop culture series will feature gossip columnists dishing on hot topics in a panel format. The Gossip Table will premiere on VH1 on Monday, June 3 at 9 AM as a summer replacement for Big Morning Buzz Live With Carrie Keagan, which is on summer break. Big Morning Buzz executive producer Shane Farley is exec producing Gossip via his Cypress E Prods.

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Fandango Partner Carmike Cinemas Adds MovieTickets.com For Online Sales

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 7:01am PDTTags: Carmike, Fandango, MovieTickets.com

This is curious: Carmike was a founding partner at Fandango, and last year the companies announced that they had extended their “multi-year strategic agreement.” But it appears that deal wasn’t exclusive — and Carmike wants another option. Today the chain says that it will also use Fandango’s chief rival, MovieTickets.com, to sell tickets online. Carmike is “delighted to forge this new alliance with MovieTickets.com,” the exhibition chain’s CEO David Passman says. “Carmike patrons appreciate flexibility in their advance ticket purchasing and we are pleased to be adding MovieTickets.com.” It’s highly unusual for a chain to offer two online sales options. The Boca Raton-based digital operation already serves the Rave theaters that Carmike recently bought. The new agreement will soon add Carmike’s 2,200 other screens. This is “the single largest domestic addition to our screen count since the company was founded in 2000,” MovieTickets.com CEO Joel Cohen says. “Carmike is highly influential in our industry, we are pleased they chose to join our program and collectively work with us to improve the movie going experience.”

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Hot Trailer: ‘The Wolverine’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 6:10am PDTTags: 2oth Century Fox, Hugh Jackman, The Wolverine

Here’s the newest trailer for Fox‘s The Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman that will begin showing this weekend in theaters attached to Fast & Furious 6. The James Mangold-directed 3D pic opens wide July 26 and this offers the clearest look yet at the Japan-set plot.

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CORE Media Group Seeking Buyers For Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali Rights: FT

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 5:29am PDTTags: American Idol, CORE Media Group, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali

CORE Media Group is said to be testing the market to sell off Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion and rights to images of Presley and Muhammad Ali. The Financial Times reports the assets could fetch more than $200M. Citing people familiar with the matter, the FT says CORE, which co-produces American Idol, is eyeing bidders in Asia, Europe and the U.S. for Elvis Presley Enterprises and Muhammad Ali Enterprises. The Raine Group has been hired to advise. However, if it is not satisfied with offers, CORE could retain the properties. Combined, the assets generate about $60M a year in revenues.

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Cannes: French Indie Label Distrib Films Sets ‘Our Children’ For U.S. Release

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 5:00am PDTTags: Cannes Film Festival, Distrib Films, Our Children

Paris-based Distrib Films recently branched out to U.S. theatrical releases, opening its first film, Col-Coa best documentary winner Becoming Traviata, last week at the New York Film Forum before expanding to San Francisco, LA, Boston and more than 15 other markets. Belgium’s entry for the foreign-language Oscar, Our Children, is now set for an August 2 release in NY, and a week later in LA. On both films, Distrib chief François Scippa-Kohn is teamed with Cinema Guild which holds non-theatrical, digital and video rights. For the past few years, Distrib Films has been working solely with French and Italian films in France. Scippa-Kohn sparked to releasing boutique titles in the States because there are “a lot of French films, but there’s no specialized French distributor.” Read More »

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Cannes Briefs: ‘Love Is In The Air’ For Swipe; IM Global Inks Swiss Ouput Deal; Zentropa Producing ‘The Long Ships’; More

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 2:38am PDTTags: Cannes Film Festival, IM Global, TrustNordisk, Zentropa

Refresh for latest…

UK indie distributor Swipe Films has acquired Alexandre Castagnetti’s Love Is In The Air. The French romantic comedy stars Cannes jury member Ludivine Sagnier. It opened in France via UPI in April. The story sees a volatile former couple meet up on a NY-Paris flight. Swipe will roll the pic out in the UK and Ireland. Gregoire Melin’s Kinology is selling. Read More »

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Consumers Warm Slightly To Cable But Still Prefer Satellite And Telco Video: Study

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday May 20, 2013 @ 9:01pm PDTTags: American Consumer Satisfaction Index, Cable TV, Satellite TV

Despite the growing talk about pay TV cord cutting, providers can feel OK — not great — about consumer attitudes toward them, according to the latest annual measure from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Subscribers gave cable, satellite, and telco video providers the highest overall satisfaction score ACSI has seen in the 13 years it has measured the public’s feelings about subscription TV. The score of 68 is up 3% vs last year, which ACSI calls “a glimmer of good news.” Even so, researchers say that pay TV remains “among the lowest-scoring industries” they study. Annual price hikes of 6% or so and “sporadic reliability” keep the group just slightly ahead of airlines (67) and Internet service providers (65) but well behind TV and video players/recorders (86), soft drinks (84) and autos and light vehicles (83). (Internet news and information services also come out ahead at 73.) Consumer attitudes vary widely by provider. Time Warner Cable took it on the chin with an industry-low score of 60, down 5% from 2012. Moving up we see Comcast (63, +3%), Charter (64, +8%) and Cox (65, +3%). Satellite and telco video providers scored highest with Verizon FiOS leading (73, -1%) followed by DirecTV (72, +6%), AT&T U-verse (71, +4%) and Dish Network (70, +1%). Read More »

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Hey, Academy, I Was Hiding Under The Rug

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday May 20, 2013 @ 7:34pm PDTTags: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Hawk Koch

An insider tells me that, at the most recent and always secret Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences‘ Board Of Governors meeting, president Hawk Koch ”went around the room asking if ‘anybody is friends with Nikki Finke?’ before beginning”. Gotta say, Hawk made my day.

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Ric Robertson Taking Paid Summer Hiatus From Movie Academy In Financial Crunch

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday May 20, 2013 @ 7:01pm PDTTags: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Dawn Hudson, Ric Robertson

EXCLUSIVE: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences COO Ric Robertson is  taking what’s being internally Ric Robertson paid leave AMPAScalled a “sabbatical” from June through August. I have learned this is an unusual paid leave even though the Academy is complaining about a financial crunch. Normally, its staff are restricted to 30 days of unpaid leave (and then only with approval). “He has worked here for 31 years. Doesn’t he deserve it?” an insider told me. “He didn’t tell us what he’ll do. Maybe work on his golf game.” Robertson’s upcoming sabbatical has prompted AMPAS staff to wonder whether he will be pushed out and/or look for another job. In April 2011, he was passed over for Bruce Davis’ executive directorship and now reports to AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson, who was brought in over him. Insiders tell me that Robertson was primarily responsible for this year’s online voting debacle, which Hudson dumped in his lap when the Academy finally decided to implement Oscar balloting electronically — something Robertson and Davis resisted for prior years. (Grumbles one insider: “Dawn gives him anything messy that she doesn’t want to deal with or anything that means a lot of real work or anything that has a potential for failure, like the electronic voting.”) Read More »

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Hot TV Clip: FearNet’s ‘Holliston’ Season 2

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday May 20, 2013 @ 6:27pm PDTTags: Fearnet, Holliston

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a clip from Season 2 of FearNet‘s original comedy series Holliston, which premieres at 10 PM Tuesday, June 4. Starring Adam Green and Joe Lynch, Holliston is set in Green’s real-life hometown of Holliston, MA, and follows the daily exploits of Adam and Joe — two aspiring horror filmmakers, dealing with the struggles of post-college life and relationships while trying to make their big break in the business. Check it out:

rtmp://streaming.deadline.com/ondemand/video/HOLLISTON_201_clip_1.mp4
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