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Andy Serkis Closes Big ‘Planet Of The Apes’ Deal; Should Fox Campaign For Oscar?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday November 3, 2011 @ 9:26am PDTTags: Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, James Franco, Peter Jackson, Rise of the Planet Of The Apes, Rupert Wyatt, Steven Spielberg
Mike Fleming

UPDATE: Fox informs me that the studio will wage an Oscar campaign for Andy Serkis for Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

EXCLUSIVE: When Rise of the Planet of the Apes‘s $453 million worldwide gross was listed as a bright spot in the quarterly earnings of beleaguered NewsCorp, you know a sequel is a big 20th Century Fox priority. So who did the studio lock in first? No, it wasn’t James Franco or Freida Pinto. The studio just closed what I’m told is a healthy seven-figure deal for Andy Serkis to reprise his role as lead ape Caesar. Serkis had only signed on for one movie, so his reps had leverage in ensuring that he come back to continue leading the ape takeover in multiple future installments of the series.

Director Rupert Wyatt’s original deal came with a sequel option, so he’s locked. So are screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who are producing with Chernin Entertainment’s Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark. The studio is still in the idea stage and the sequel hasn’t been dated for release. As for Franco and Pinto, those decisions will likely be made when the direction of the film crystallizes. The studio certainly has the leverage there; the clever construct of the first film ended with a wallop that makes everyone expendable.

In his quiet way, the chameleonic Serkis has proven to be a valuable commodity in three CG-driven franchises, and he’s being paid quite well for all of them. Serkis had no options for The Hobbit from The Lord of the Rings, and received a windfall payday to reprise his Gollum character in the two films. Serkis has wrapped his acting work on those films, but continues as Peter Jackson’s second unit director. Serkis does have an option deal for the sequel to the Steven Spielberg-directed The Adventures of Tin Tin, and will reprise as Captain Haddock in the sequel that Peter Jackson is scheduled to direct next year.

The big question is whether Fox should break ground and campaign for an Oscar for Serkis’s work in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. That notion was explored in the press when the film was released last summer. Serkis certainly lent a sense of humanity to Caesar and grounded the film. Academy voters haven’t yet paid much attention to actors behind CG performance capture creations, though. Serkis could have been nominated for his groundbreaking work in The Lord of the Rings, and was ignored. He’s repped by Lou Coulson in the UK and Principal Entertainment.

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Toronto: Sundance Selects Lands North American Rights To ‘Trishna’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday September 15, 2011 @ 10:55am PDTTags: Freida Pinto, Michael Winterbottom, Riz Ahmed, Sundance Selects, Toronto Film Festival, Trishna
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: IFC’s Sundance Selects has acquired North American rights to Trishna, the Michael Winterbottom-directed drama that stars Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed. It has been a busy 24 hours for Jonathan Sehring and Arianna Bocco, who add this deal to yesterday’s IFC acquisitions of the Lynn Shelton-directed Toronto title Your Sister’s Sister and the gory Midnight Madness title The Incident, as well as the Abel Ferrara-directed Last Day on Earth. Read More »

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‘Slumdog’ Star Freida Pinto Now Indian ‘Tess’

By TIM ADLER in London | Wednesday February 16, 2011 @ 10:01am PSTTags: Freida Pinto, Michael Winterbottom, Movie Deals, Movies, Riz Ahmed

The Slumdog Millionaire actress starts shooting an Indian version of the classic Thomas Hardy tragic novel on location in Rajasthan and Mumbai on February 28th. Riz Ahmed (Four Lions) will co-star as the son of a wealthy property developer who … Read More »

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Sony About To Recapture James Bond #23; UPDATE: MGM Leverages 007 For Deal On Sony’s ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’

By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday February 7, 2011 @ 9:30pm PSTTags: Amy Pascal, Barbara Broccoli, Daniel Craig, Fox, Freida Pinto, Gary Barber, James Bond, Javier Bardem, MGM, Michael Lynton, Michael Wilson, Paramount, Roger Birnbaum, Sam Mendes, Sony Pictures, Spyglass, Warner Bros

2ND UPDATE:  The new MGM brass, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum managed to leverage the James Bond #23 film for a piece of Sony’s in-the-works big movie based on the Stieg Larsson bestseller, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which has already been shooting in Sweden under director David Fincher and starring Rooney Mara. Deadline has learned that Sony Pictures bosses Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton agreed to give MGM a co-financing deal for the big title and possibly other films already shooting, too, to help the reconstituted studio generate quick cash flow. This allows MGM to have revenue which it hasn’t had in a long time, so the books look better, and more funds for production could be forthcoming. (That’s exactly how Birnbaum and Barber built their Spyglass Entertainment in the first place: by investing in films it didn’t make, like the recently rebooted Star Trek.)

UPDATE: We’re told Paramount dropped out of the Bond bidding when MGM insisted on bringing the distribution fee under 8% and when MGM got “grabby” in wanting a piece of a Paramount established franchise that studio didn’t want to give up.

EXCLUSIVE 5 PM: Deadline hears that Sony Pictures is close to landing distribution rights to MGM’s James Bond franchise again, and specifically for the next untitled Bond #23, even though several studios are still very much in the hunt. Sony Pictures chiefs Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton distributed both Daniel Craig 007 pics, Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace, and now have moved into first position to recapture 007. That’s because Sony is agreeing to allow MGM’s new leadership to leverage the next Bond pic, and indeed the Bond franchise, to create more cash flow for the reconstituted studio post-bankruptcy. The new brass, Spyglass Entertainment co-owners Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum who are now the Co-Chairmen andCEOs of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, are finishing negotiations to co-finance a number of films with Sony. Deadline has learned that Pascal and Lynton have already found a title on the Sony slate for MGM to co-finance. That’s exactly how Birnbaum and Barber built Spyglass in the first place: by investing in films it didn’t make, such as The Sixth Sense and the recently rebooted Star Trek.

There’s no doubt this is a shrewd move by MGM, but Deadline also learned it wasn’t sitting well with the majors. Top execs at Sony and Fox and Paramount and Warner Bros were increasingly frustrated with the way that the Spyglass duo were playing one studio off another — “and enjoying it,” in the words of one exec involved. Sony at the time even described its strategy to win Bond #23 as ”pleading”. Now it looks like that worked along with agreeing to much of MGM’s negotiating terms.

Even though MGM holds sway on where Bond #23 lands, a 007 return to the Sony fold would please EON partners Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson. Amy Pascal in particular has developed a strong personal and professional relationship with Broccoli when they were making the transition from Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig. Broccoli  and Wilson found Craig among a list of possible 007s, and the choice wasn’t popular at first. But Pascal supported Craig. Also Sony has a reputation for spending big to market Bond: for Casino Royale, Sony spent a humongous sum worldwide to introduce the new Bond. MGM was supposed to distribute the 23rd Bond film itself, until the studio was pushed into bankruptcy. Read More »

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Is Jean-Jacques Annaud’s ‘Black Gold’ Biggest Ever Arab-Backed Pic?

By TIM ADLER AND MIKE FLEMING JR. | Friday October 29, 2010 @ 6:35am PDTTags: Antonio Banderas, Black Gold, Black Gold Finance, Black Gold Production, Freida Pinto, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Mark Strong, Movies, Riz Ahmed, Tahar Rahim, Tarak Ben Ammar

Tarak Ben Ammar’s Quinta Communications has brought the Doha Film Institute aboard as a co-producer of Black Gold, the Jean-Jacques Annaud-directed feature that began production in Tunisia on October 18. DFI, making its first foray into a major international feature production, will provide a mix of equity, services and locations. Even though the $55 million picture is directed by a French helmer, Black Gold is shaping up to be groundbreaking for a film that is back by Arabs with subject matter about them. An adaptation of the Hans Reusch novel The Great Thirst, Black Gold stars Antonio Banderas, Tahar Rahim, Mark Strong, Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed and Liya Kebede. The drama is about the rivalry between two Emirs in Arabia in the 1930s, just as oil is being discovered, and the rise of a young dynamic leader who unites the various tribes of the desert kingdoms. The film is being earmarked for Christmas, 2011 release, and Warner Bros has signed on to distribute in France, UK, Latin America and the Middle East, while Universal Pictures International will release it in Germany and Spain and Quinta’s Eagle Pictures has Italy. Read More »

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Antonio Banderas Takes On ‘Black Gold’

By TIM ADLER in London | Wednesday October 13, 2010 @ 10:32am PDTTags: Antonio Banderas, Black Gold, Black Gold Production, Black Gold Tunisia, Freida Pinto, Mark Strong, Movie Deals, Movies, Riz Ahmed, Tahar Rahim, Tarak Ben Ammar

Warner Bros and Universal are sharing territories on Tunisian entrepreneur Tarak Ben Ammar’s next feature Black Gold. The story revolves around the rivalry between Arabian rulers in the 1930s just as oil is being discovered, and the rise of a young, … Read More »

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