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Tom Rothman Goes Indie While Juggling ‘Die Hard’ Start And ‘We Bought A Zoo’ Sneak

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday December 2, 2011 @ 2:03pm PSTTags: Ang Lee, Bruce Willis, Cameron Crowe, Gotham Awards, John Moore, Tilda Swinton, Tom Rothman
Mike Fleming

It wasn’t lost on many in the crowd of independent film distributors and agents at this week’s Gotham Awards that the whole evening seemed full of contradictions. Indie film is a down and dirty, low budget affair, and yet the event was held in the cavernous confines of Cipriani at 55 Wall Street, where attendees dined on filet mignon and champagne, just around the corner from the Occupy Wall Street crowd. No one personified this dichotomy more than Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chairman Tom Rothman, the only executive given a tribute award. Rothman’s roots are in the indie game, even though he now spends most of his time these days as the hands-on manager of big ticket films like A Good Day To Die Hard and readying the next installments of Rise of the Apes and X-Men: First Class and The Wolverine.

Rothman said he still has a soft spot for the indies, and he was touched by Ang Lee’s recollection of Rothman begging him not to “fry the kid” in Ice Storm, and then being supportive when Lee did it anyway, electrocuting Elijah Wood’s character in a gamble that worked out. Rothman said he felt like he’d come out on the winning side on another gamble, sneaking Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo all over the country. “I can’t recall any movie snuck like this a month early on a national wide basis, before the advertising hit,” Rothman said. He’s now  confident that the word of mouth will give the film a leg up during a brutal holiday period. “It’s a completely un-cynical film, something that is good for this time, given all that’s going on,” Rothman said. “It was a risky move, but we had many sellouts, and it’s a reminder you should never underestimate the power of emotion.”

On the big budget film front, Rothman told me that they have pushed the start date of the John Moore-directed A Good Day To Die Hard until the last week of April, to accommodate star Bruce Willis. They’re shooting in Budapest and Moscow but Rothman was certain they will still have the film ready for release Valentine’s Day, 2013. The series has always eschewed relying on visual effects, so the extra prep time will be helpful, said Rothman. He added that no decision has been made yet on who’ll play John McClane Jr., and they still haven’t done the tests that will determine who gets the job.

As for the Gotham Awards, it always feels like an unpolished event and it’s haunted by the fact that the industry crowd never stops talking at their tables, and winners never stop talking at the podium. This year’s hosts, Oliver Platt and Edie Falco, weren’t given much to work with and proved to be a bland teaming. The Spirit Awards are much better coordinated, with filmed comic bits and musical performances and a feeling of subversiveness. One thing that Gotham Award organizers might consider: beg Tilda Swinton to host. She took the stage to present an award, and made off the cuff observations that were hilarious. She’s a natural.

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‘Die Hard’ Search For Bruce Willis’ Son Down To Four Actors

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday November 4, 2011 @ 1:43pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, A Good Day To Die Hard, Aaron Paul, Bruce Willis, James Badge Dale, John Moore, Liam Hemsworth
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: In the young actor category, a role to die for is John McClane Jr, the son of Bruce Willis’ indestructible cop character in A Good Day To Die Hard, … Read More »

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Catherine Zeta-Jones Heads To ‘Broken City’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday October 20, 2011 @ 2:52pm PDTTags: Adam Shankman, Alec Baldwin, Brian Tucker, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dennis Quaid, Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Mark Wahlberg, Randall Emmett, Russell Brand, Russell Crowe, Stephen Frears, Stephen Levinson, Tom Cruise, Vince Vaughn
Mike Fleming

Catherine Zeta-Jones has closed her deal to star in Broken City, joining Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe in the Allen Hughes-directed drama. Zeta-Jones will play the philandering wife of the mayor of New York (Crowe).  When a Brooklyn detective (Wahlberg) … Read More »

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‘Zombieland’ Scribe Team Tackles Hasbro’s ‘Micronauts’ For JJ Abrams And Paramount

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday October 17, 2011 @ 4:03pm PDTTags: Brian Goldner, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, JJ Abrams, Jon M. Chu, Paramount, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, Ryan Reynolds
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese are getting the job turning the Hasbro toyline Micronauts into a feature film for JJ Abrams and Paramount Pictures. Along with the prospect of another Transformers film, Micronauts was one of the Hasbro brands … Read More »

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Fox Sets ‘Die Hard 5′ For February 14, 2013; Schedules Other Tentpole Release Dates Too

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday October 12, 2011 @ 10:30am PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, A Good Day To Die Hard, Bette Midler, Billy Crystal, Bruce Willis, Curtis Hanson, Gerard Butler, Liam Neeson, Taken 2, Walking With Dinosaurs
Mike Fleming

20th Century Fox has set A Good Day To Die Hard for a February 14, 2013 release, the highlight of several pictures the studio has just dated on its release calendar. Bruce Willis is set to reprise his role as … Read More »

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Toronto: Emmett-Furla And Envision Set $250 Million Film Fund

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday September 9, 2011 @ 4:00am PDTTags: Allen Hughes, Anna Kendrick, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Curtis Jackson, David Ayer, Forest Whitaker, George Furla, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Cusack, Mark Wahlberg, Nicolas Cage, Randall Emmett, Rebecca Hall, Remington Chase, Robert De Niro, Russell Crowe, Stephen Frears, Vince Vaughn
Mike Fleming

Emmett/Furla Films, a company that has been growing more ambitious in the film financing and production arena, has teamed with Stepan Martirosyan and Remington Chase’s Envision Entertainment to establish a new $250 million revolving equity and debt fund to finance a new slate of star-driven commercial films. The fund was announced as EFF principal Randall Emmett comes to Toronto to make deals on films that include the Allen Hughes-directed political corruption drama Broken City, which stars Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe, and Frozen Ground, the fact-based thriller about a serial killer in Alaska that will star Nicolas Cage and John Cusack. Martirosyan and Chase are executive producers on the latter.

The fund carries no set restrictions on how and where capital is allocated, but it will continue EFF’s momentum. The company recently financed the Stephen Frears-directed Lay The Favorite — with a cast that includes Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, Vince Vaughn and Catherine Zeta-Jones — with films in the works that include the David Ayer-directed crime drama End of Watch with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Kendrick; Fire with Josh Duhamel, Willis and Rosario Dawson; and Freelancers, a drama that stars Robert De Niro, Forest Whitaker and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. EFF’s Emmett continues to be Jackson’s partner in Cheetah Vision Films, which has a deal at Lionsgate. EFF will make nine films this year. Read More »

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2011 Toronto: ‘Shame’ Will Start Dealmaking Flurry, But Buyers Wait To Be Blown Away

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday September 7, 2011 @ 5:03pm PDTTags: 2011 Toronto Film Festival, Adam Scott, Alexis Bledel, Allen Hughes, Allison Janney, Anthony Hopkins, Anthony Mackie, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ben Foster, Bruce Beresford, Bruce Willis, Carey Mulligan, Catherine Keener, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum, Christian Bale, Danny Trejo, Eduardo Sanchez, Elizabeth Olsen, Ewan McGregor, Geoffrey Fletcher, Harvey Weinstein, Hugh Laurie, Ice Cube, James Gandolfini, Jamie Linden, Jane Fonda, Jon Hamm, Jonathan Teplitzky, Jude Law, Justin Long, Kate Mara, Kristen Wiig, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lasse Hallström, Luc Besson, Mark Wahlberg, Matthew Goode, Maya Rudolph, Megan Fox, Mia Farrow, Michael Fassbender, Michelle Williams, Michelle Yeoh, Mickey Rourke, Oliver Platt, Peter Morgan, Peter Schlessel, Rachel Weisz, Rebecca Hall, Robert Redford, Robin Wright, Rosario Dawson, Russell Crowe, Saoirse Ronan, Sarah Polley, Sarah Silverman, Selma Blair, Seth Rogen, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Frears, Steve McQueen, Terence Davies, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Zhang Yimou
Mike Fleming

Last year’s Toronto Film Festival started slow for acquisitions, but finished with a flurry of modest distribution deals that served notice the specialty film business had finally pulled out of its nosedive. This year’s festival hasn’t started and … Read More »

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‘Expendables 2′ Sets Action Dream Trio: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis Join Sly Stallone

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday September 6, 2011 @ 3:27pm PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Lionsgate, Mickey Rourke, Millennium Films, Simon West, Sylvester Stallone, Terry Crews, The Expendables 2
Mike Fleming

After The Expendables turned in a surprisingly strong $275 million worldwide gross, many have wondered what they would do for an encore. How’s this? Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis have just closed deals to take “substantial” roles in The Expendables … Read More »

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John Moore Last Man Standing In ‘Die Hard 5′ Directing Derby; Now Who’ll Helm ‘Red 2′?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday August 31, 2011 @ 2:28pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Bruce Willis, Die Hard 5, Gary Fleder, Joe Cornish, John Moore, Justin Lin, Mikael Hafstrom, Nicolas Winding Refn, Noam Murro, Skip Woods
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: After a long search process, 20th Century Fox and Bruce Willis have just chosen John Moore to direct Die Hard 5. The film will shoot in Russia, and the hope is to make it before Willis moves on to shoot a Red sequel for Summit Entertainment. In fact, Willis has just begun going through the same director search with Summit on a sequel to the 2010 hit Red. Robert Schwentke is busy helming Universal’s R.I.P.D. with Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds. They’ve just begun casting the dragnet for directors on that film. Names like Breck Eisner are being floated, but other shooters are being considered.

As for Die Hard 5, Moore is in final negotiations and was in the running through the entire search as Fox tried to find a filmmaker that pleased Willis and the studio execs that have to shoot this movie in Russia and bring it in on a budget and a tight schedule. Fox has been looking for a new director since Noam Murro left the picture after he got the job helming 300: Battle Of Artemisia for Warner Bros. The studio started with a wish list of directors to helm the script by Skip Woods that included Joe Cornish (who directed Attack the Block), Fast Five helmer Justin Lin, Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn, and Moore. More recently, I’d heard Fox had conversations with helmers that included Gary Fleder, Paul McGuigan and 1408 helmer Mikael Hafstrom. Read More »

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Bruce Willis Drafted For ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday August 10, 2011 @ 1:50am PDTTags: Adrianne Palicki, Bruce Willis, Die Hard, John Moore, Jon M. Chu, Justin Lin, Nicolas Winding Refn
Mike Fleming

Hardly a big revelation, the report that Bruce Willis is negotiating to play the original G.I. Joe, Joe Colton, in Paramount’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation. This courtship has been going on for about six weeks or more, and Deadline was the … Read More »

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Russell Crowe Signs On For Mayoral Run In ‘Broken City’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 8, 2011 @ 11:10am PDTTags: Allen Hughes, Brian Tucker, Broken City, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Curtis Jackson, David Ayer, George Furla, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Cusack, Josh Duhamel, Mark Wahlberg, Nicolas Cage, Randall Emmett, Rebecca Hall, Russell Crowe, Scott Walker, Stephen Frears, Stephen Levinson, Vince Vaughn
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Russell Crowe is set to star alongside Mark Wahlberg in the Allen Hughes-directed independently financed noir drama Broken City. Production begins in November. Wahlberg plays an ex-cop-turned-private detective who is hired by the mayor (the role Crowe will play) to see if his wife is cheating on him. The private eye confirms those suspicions, and when the mayor’s wife’s cheating partner ends up dead, the private eye immerses himself in the mayor’s business and uncovers a real estate scandal that involves the pol dealing himself choice city-owned properties. The script by Brian Tucker made the 2008 Black List. The $60 million film will be financed by Emmett/Furla Films.

Wahlberg is producing through his Closest to the Hole banner; Stephen Levinson through Leverage; and Randall Emmett, George Furla and Hughes are also producing. Wahlberg and Levinson, partners on Entourage and Boardwalk Empire, just wrapped the drama Contraband. Crowe is costarring as Jor-El in the Superman reboot Man of Steel and just wrapped The Man With The Iron Fists. Read More »

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Fox Moving Fast On ‘Die Hard 5′ With Short List Of Directors Vying To Shoot In Russia

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 1, 2011 @ 11:13am PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Bruce Willis, Die Hard 5, Joe Cornish, John Moore, Justin Lin, Nicolas Winding Refn, Noam Murro, Skip Woods
Mike Fleming

20th Century Fox is turning up the heat on Die Hard 5, even though its attached director, Noam Murro, left the picture after he got the job helming 300: Battle Of Artemisia for Warner Bros. I’m told that the studio has come up with a short list of directors who’ll meet to potentially helm the film scripted by Skip Woods. They are: Joe Cornish (who directed Attack the Block), Fast Five helmer Justin Lin, Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn and Max Payne helmer John Moore. The film brings the always-in-the-wrong-place cop John McClane to Russia. Bruce Willis is ready to reprise his signature role as early as this fall.

The surprise on the list is Cornish. While his feature directorial debut Attack the Block had a budget probably less than the catering bill on last weekend’s other alien invasion film opener Cowboys & Aliens, the movie has become a critical darling as it opened to $130,000 in eight theaters (it has grossed $4.3 million overseas). It would be a big jump to Die Hard 5, but remember the studio had attached Murro, whose debut was the 2008 character comedy Smart People.

Lin is hot off Fast Five, and is expected to do another The Fast and the Furious installment and is attached to the package to finish The Terminator franchise that was acquired by Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures.

Refn has much momentum for Drive, the drama that played Cannes and opens in September. Refn reteamed with Ryan Gosling for Only God Forgives, another action film that shoots late summer in Thailand, and which FilmDistrict acquired for U.S. distribution late last month. Refn is also booked to remake Logan’s Run with Gosling. Then there is Moore, the Irish helmer who has  directed all of his features – Max Payne, The Omen, Flight of the Phoenix and Behind Enemy Lines — for Fox. A web report indicated that Moore already had the job, but I’m told that the filmmaker meetings haven’t started yet, so that might be jumping the gun. Read More »

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Adrianne Palicki Joins ‘G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday July 1, 2011 @ 9:01am PDTTags: Adrianne Palicki, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes, Jon M. Chu, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Rhett Reese
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Friday Nights Lights series star Adrianne Palicki will play the female lead in the Paramount sequel to G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes. She’ll play Lady Jaye and joins a cast that includes Channing Tatum, as well as Dwayne Johnson, who … Read More »

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FilmDistrict Near U.S. Distribution Deal For Ryan Gosling-Nic Refn ‘Only God Forgives’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday June 29, 2011 @ 8:31pm PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, Anthony Mackie, Bob Berney, Bruce Willis, Chuck Russell, Derek Cianfrance, FilmDistrict, Gerard Butler, Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Brolin, Julianne Moore, Liam Hemsworth, Logan's Run, Nicolas Winding Refn, Peter Schlessel, Ruben Fleischer, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Steve Carell, Taylor Hackford
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: In a low-seven-figure minimum guarantee deal, FilmDistrict has acquired U.S. rights to Only God Forgives, a drama that will reteam Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn with Ryan Gosling. Several distributors were in the mix, but FilmDistrict’s Peter Schlessel had … Read More »

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Mark Wahlberg, Allen Hughes Plot Trip To ‘Broken City’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday June 27, 2011 @ 9:46am PDTTags: Allen Hughes, Brian Tucker, Broken City, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Curtis Jackson, David Ayer, George Furla, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Duhamel, Mark Wahlberg, Randall Emmett, Rebecca Hall, Stephen Frears, Stephen Levinson, Vince Vaughn
Mike Fleming

Mark Wahlberg and Allen Hughes are in early talks to team on Broken City, a noir-style drama about an ex-cop-turned-private detective who is hired by the mayor to see if his wife is cheating on him. When the mayor’s wife’s … Read More »

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CANNES: FilmDistrict Acquires U.S. Rights To Joe Gordon-Levitt/Bruce Willis Sci-Fi Action Film ‘Looper’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Saturday May 14, 2011 @ 2:41pm PDTTags: Amy Pascal, Bruce Willis, CAA, Cannes, Emily Blunt, Gary Oldman, James Stern, Jeff Daniels, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Megan Ellison, Michael Benaroya, Paul Dano, Peter Schlessel, Piper Perabo, Rian Johnson, Shia la Beouf, Tom Hardy
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: A frenzied Saturday auction on the Croisette has ended with FilmDistrict in final negotiations for U.S. distribution rights to Looper, the Rian Johnson-directed science fiction film that stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt and Bruce Willis. There were at least six bidders spanning major studios and independents, and it sounds like some serious upfront money was paid. But the intriguing part is that the deal orchestrated between CAA and FilmDistrict’s Peter Schlessel will likely end in FilmDistrict using an option with Sony Pictures, which would release and market the film through the TriStar label. That replicates the distribution structure of District 9, which Schlessel acquired while he was at Sony. The picture has a similarly brainy construct and is also reminiscent of the first Terminator.

Johnson wrote the script, about a contract killer who works for the mob of the future, and who kills victims  that are sent back in time 30 years, so there is no trace of the crime in the future. It’s a great gig, until the killer (Gordon-Levitt) recognizes that one of his targets (Willis) is a futuristic version of himself. Piper Perabo, Paul Dano and Jeff Daniels also star. The film was financed by Endgame’s James Stern, who produced with Johnson’s partner Ram Bergman.

CAA still has to paper the deal, but that likely gives Sony and Amy Pascal its second release schedule addition in the last 24 hours. As Deadline revealed early Saturday, the studio acquired the David Frankel-directed Great Hope Springs with Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell starring. Read More »

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Vince Vaughn Joins ‘Lay The Favorite’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday May 5, 2011 @ 7:22pm PDTTags: Beth Raymer, Bruce Willis, Lay The Favorite, Stephen Frears, Vince Vaughn
Mike Fleming

Vince Vaughn has joined the cast of the Stephen Frears-directed Lay The Favorite. Emmett Furla Films and Wild Bunch are financing the Random House Films project, which has just gotten underway. Stephen Frears is directing the adaptation of the … Read More »

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Focus Features Acquires Worldwide Rights To Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday May 2, 2011 @ 4:33pm PDTTags: Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Indian Paintbrush, Owen Wilson, Wes Anderson
Mike Fleming

Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights from Indian Paintbrush on Moonrise Kingdom, the Wes Anderson-directed film that stars Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Fran McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman. Anderson has begun filming, from a script he wrote with … Read More »

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Sly Stallone: I’m Not Directing ‘Expendables’ Sequel!

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday April 18, 2011 @ 10:00am PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Sylvester Stallone, Terry Crews, The Expendables
Mike Fleming

Sylvester Stallone wants it known that despite reports to the contrary, he will not be directing the sequel to The Expendables. Stallone, who directed and starred in the crowd-pleasing original that grossed around $275 million for Millennium and Lionsgate, is … Read More »

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