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Despite Reports, Carl Rinsch Is Still Working On ’47 Ronin’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday September 27, 2012 @ 11:23am PDTTags: 47 Ronin, Carl Rinsch, Keanu Reeves, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

Despite reports that 47 Ronin was taken away from first-time feature director Carl Rinsch because of a budget that swelled to $225 million, I can tell you that Rinsch has been in the editing room all week, working side by side with the studio on the challenged Universal picture. And studio sources swear the budget will not cross the $200 million mark, despite a reshoot (that Rinsch himself directed) and despite the fact Universal has twice moved the release date of this Keanu Reeves-starrer.

At the risk of seeming like a studio apologist, I hate how difficulties in the process of putting together big-budget movies has been turned into bloodsport reporting, particularly when it is sort of accurate but exaggerated. Look, we all know that when stories crop up about films that do reshoots or extra shooting, it is not a good sign.

Sometimes, as was the case on Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, a rumored tough shoot and post-production process manifests itself into a remarkable film. Exaggerating the situation on a movie, when it is in production or in the editing room, seems unfair, almost like criticizing an artist’s painting before it is finished. I think that it encourages reviewers and audiences to discount the movie, even subliminally, and they evaluate it at least a little bit on the basis of perceived troubles.

Universal was not commenting but here’s what’s going on now: The studio has taken a more active hand in the editing process on the Universal lot, which is unusual for that particular studio but hardly unheard of with a first-time director who doesn’t have final cut. Rinsch, a respected commercials and short film helmer who had the job of directing the Alien prequel until Ridley Scott took it and turned it into Prometheus, has opinions as strong as his visual sense. That doesn’t endear one to the crew, which is probably how these rumors get started. He’s new to the game of mounting a huge film and the studio has every right to protect an investment that is at least a $175 million 3D film. But the reports he has been removed from the editing room and that he had 47 Ronin taken away from him are wrong, as far as I can see. And the studio is hardly trying to hide a bomb, not when it chose December 25, 2013 as the new release date. READ MORE »

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Universal Sets And Shuffles 2013 Pics, Pushes ’47 Ronin’ Again

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday August 15, 2012 @ 7:41am PDTTags: 47 Ronin, Jurassic Park 3D, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Universal Pictures has shuffled the release dates of several of its major upcoming films and set release dates for several others. Most noticeable on that list is that the studio has pushed the Keanu Reeves-starrer 47 Ronin from February … Read More »

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Universal Moving ’47 Ronin’ Release To February 8, 2013

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday April 25, 2012 @ 10:35am PDTTags: 47 Ronin, Carl Rinsch, Keanu Reeves, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Universal Pictures has switched the Keanu Reeves-starrer 47 Ronin from its November 21 date to February 8, 2013. We’ve heard rumblings the film would move, and that the big-ticket film was undergoing reshoots. Studio insiders deny this, saying they … Read More »

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‘Fast Five’ Writer Gets Uni Production Deal

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday April 19, 2011 @ 9:02am PDTTags: 47 Ronin, Chris Morgan, Fast Five, Production Deal, Screenwriter, Universal Pictures

Universal announced today it has made a two-year term deal with Fast Five screenwriter Chris Morgan, who also penned the studio’s hits The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, and Wanted. Morgan most recently penned Universal’s upcoming … Read More »

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Universal Sets Film Slate Release Dates

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 29, 2010 @ 7:52am PDTTags: 47 Ronin, Adam Fogelson, Contraband Universal, Donna Langley, Judd Apatow 2012 Release Date, Larry Crowne, Movies, Safe House, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Bourne Legacy, The Dark Tower, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

Universal has locked in release dates for some of its most ambitious films hatched by the team of Adam Fogelson and Donna Langley. Add these to previously set releases that include The Fast and The Furious sequel Fast Five (June … Read More »

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