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Village Roadshow Boards The Wachowskis’ ‘Jupiter Ascending’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday February 20, 2013 @ 11:49pm PSTTags: Andy Wachowski, Jupiter Ascending, Lana Wachowski, Village Roadshow, Warner Bros

Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney.

Village Roadshow is extending its collaboration with Lana and Andy Wachowski, joining Warner Bros. to co-produce the action sci-fier starring Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis and Sean Bean. That will be VR Entertainment Group’s fourth collaboration with the Wachowski siblings following The Matrix trilogy and Speed Racer. VREG is also partnered with WB on The Great Gatsby, All You Need is Kill and Fury Road. Village Roadshow Ltd. today announced net profit after tax of $A33.5 million ($34.3 million) in the half year to December 31, up 18.4%. The main drivers were theme parks in Australia, Arizona and Hawaii ($44.2 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization), film distribution in Australia ($27.2 million) and cinemas in Australia and Singapore ($25.5 million).  The firm’s Gold Class Cinemas in the U.S. recorded a small loss but managing director Graham Burke tells Deadline that business is growing strongly. VREG is committed to co-produce 6-8 Hollywood films per year after renewing its joint venture with WB for five years and increasing its U.S. credit facility to $1.1 billion last November. VRL draws an annual dividend of $5 million from its 47% stake in VREG, as Burke notes the firm continues to build the library, now at 72 titles.

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OSCARS Q&A: Wachowskis And Tykwer

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday November 23, 2012 @ 6:06pm PSTTags: Andy Wachowski, Awardsline, Cloud Atlas, Oscars, Tom Tykwer

Anthony D’Alessandro is Managing Editor of AwardsLine.

If there’s one memorable takeaway this awards season, it’s the day directors Andy and Lana Wachowski came to town. During the height of their success with The Matrix franchise, which propelled the entire sci-fi genre beyond its Star Wars standards, rumors abounded about the siblings’ private lives, in particular Lana’s. But the Chicago natives arrived in Hollywood last month, ready to hug us with their new $100-million-plus epic Cloud Atlas, tri-directed with their new BFF, German director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run). And the press hugged back: Lana boldly discussed her decision to become transgendered, while bloggers delighted in unpretentious conversations with the trio.

An adaptation of David Mitchell’s labyrinthine 2004 novel, Cloud Atlas follows the power of karma throughout various souls and eras, from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future. While the trio assembled an all-star cast that includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and Hugh Grant, the major studios and indie financiers balked at the risky project, which employed a plethora of production crews throughout Germany, San Francisco, Scotland, and Majorca. But the Wachowskis and Tykwer were vying for something more than a mere tentpole. Much like their celluloid forefathers Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey), Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now), and Michael Cimino (Heaven’s Gate), who were labeled crazy with their epics and are now lauded as geniuses, the trio was set on blowing up the big-screen canvas with Cloud Atlas. Time likewise may be on Cloud Atlas’ side, and the film has potential for crafts awards, too. But this is the first time — and probably last — that three directors have banded together to mount a breathless epic.

Awardsline: After Natalie Portman referred the book to you during V for Vendetta, was there any kind of bidding war? Or were your agents like, “Oh, no don’t option that!”
Andy Wachowski: No. This was right before Speed Racer so we still had some pull with Warner Bros. Joel (Silver) swept in and bought the property for Warner Bros., and I think that somebody was trying to negotiate the price down at the time, and they came in and just paid full price, so there was no real bidding war. After we broke from Joel, it was more of our project, and he let us have it. Read More »

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Hot TV Spot: ‘Cloud Atlas’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday September 22, 2012 @ 1:11pm PDTTags: Andy Wachowski, Cloud Atlas, Lana Wachowski

Here’s a TV spot for Tom Twyker and Andy and Lana Wachowski’s Cloud Atlas. The centuries-spanning tale based on the novel by David Mitchell stars Tom Hanks, Jim Broadbent, Halle Berry, Ben Whishaw, Jim Sturgess, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant and many others. The Warner Bros movie opens … Read More »

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Lana Wachowski Comes Out For New Film

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday July 30, 2012 @ 9:23pm PDTTags: Andy Wachowski, Cloud Atlas, Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer

Related: Hot Trailer: ‘Cloud Atlas’

We all know filmmakers will go to great lengths to publicize their movies. So The Advocate today pointed us to this recent video of a rare on-camera appearance by Lana Wachowski, who nearly a decade ago first announced her transition from Larry Wachowski. With Lana … Read More »

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