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HAMMOND: Less Restrictive Rules, Food And Filmmakers Drawing More Academy Members To Screenings

By PETE HAMMOND | Tuesday November 22, 2011 @ 7:41pm PSTTags: Benicio Del Toro, Berenice Bejo, Contagion, Hugo, J.J. Abrams, Martin Scorsese, Michael Douglas, Steven Soderbergh, Super 8, The Artist
Pete Hammond

Throw them a party and they will come.  Or at least a reception with good food and drink. That seems to be the case with the increasingly strong turnouts of Academy members at screenings this season. As with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and other groups studios are discovering a shrimp cocktail can be a powerful magnet for potential voters. The Academy’s new pre-nomination relaxed rules seem to be having a positive effect, at least if the evidence at recent screenings is any indication. And that was exactly the Academy’s point when they announced on September 21 that there would be a loosening of restrictions on the kinds of screenings to which Academy members could be directly invited — at least before nominations. In previous years studios and distributors might have gotten their hands slapped or Oscar tickets taken away if they dared to invite Academy members to screenings that included Q&As, receptions, food, drink and mingling with filmmakers.  Members could only just attend a film, not partake in the side shows or receptions. Period.  Of course consultants got around this by going to guild members instead, and obviously there is a very strong crossover membership between the guilds and the Academy. Now the shackles have been removed and members seem to be turning out in larger numbers to watch, eat and mingle.

Monday night The Weinstein Company drew a packed industry crowd to the Academy’s own 1000 seat-plus Samuel Goldwyn Theatre for a special screening, Q&A and reception of their black and white silent, The Artist. In addition to the guild members the attendance by Academy voters was well into three digits. Several of them including Angie Dickinson and David Ladd among others were seeing it for a second time on the big screen. Harvey Weinstein introduced the film as well as special guests, Carmen and Dolores Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughters who had flown in from Paris just to give the family’s official endorsement of the movie of which they said their grandfather would truly appreciate. A Q&A (which I moderated) followed with writer/director Michel Hazanavicius and co-stars Berenice Bejo, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle and James Cromwell and then an elaborate reception. Uggie, the dog star of the film even showed for a pre-screening photo op but was forbidden by the Academy from taking part in the Q&A. Apparently this ill-conceived rule will also apply to the horse from War Horse and other animal stars this year. At any rate before this year Academy members could never have been invited directly to something like this, especially in their own theatre.

Tuesday night Paramount takes over the Academy for a similar event for their summer hit, Super 8 which they are also Oscar campaigning. It’s billed as a DVD release party but the studio doesn’t have to hide the intent. Filmmaker J.J. Abrams and cast will be present and so will many invited Academy members among other attendees. Several Acad members also attended a screening and Q&A for the film at Paramount on October 29th. One consultant told me “it’s so odd to be able to invite them (the Academy) directly now, but they are definitely coming out”.

In fact Paramount has really gotten into the swing of it with several screenings of Martin Scorsese’s Hugo on both coasts last weekend.  In Los Angeles a planned picnic coinciding with an 11AM screening of the movie at Paramount with a heavy audience of AMPAS members had to be moved into a soundstage due to a torrential downpour Sunday but even that “didn’t effect the turnout – it was a great screening with a very enthusiastic response,” according to a Par awards consultant.

There’s another one with a reception Tuesday night at Paramount hosted by producer/director Irwin Winkler who tells me he thinks Hugo is the year’s Best Picture so far (Winkler produced such Martin Scorsese films as Raging Bull and Goodfellas). Paramount knows the film with its spectacular 3D is best seen on a screen, not a screener. The relaxed rules are helping them draw more members out of their homes and into a theatre to see it the way it was intended to be seen.

Last Friday night Warner Bros. used the presence of director Steven Soderbergh, writer Scott Z. Burns and Producers Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher plus “hosts” Benicio Del Toro  and Jerry Weintraub to lure a crowd to a Beverly Hills screening of Contagion that was preceded by a food and drink reception. At first Warners wasn’t planning a big campaign for this movie about a deadly disease spreading across the globe but the strategy changed when it became a hit. And of course Soderbergh has a strong relationship with the studio although he did drop out of their tentpole hopeful, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. last week, telling me it just wasn’t coming together satisfactorily and it was best to exit now rather than down the line when it would really be damaging. He’s excited about the Liberace biopic he is gonna do for HBO next summer before his self-imposed hiatus and hopes to work another film in before then. He said Michael Douglas just called, very excited, and wants to show him what he has worked up so far with the characterization.

Shamberg, clearly frustrated at not making the list of pundits, pointedly asked me why I thought Contagion was not being taken more seriously as an Oscar contender. Maybe it will if Warners keeps pouring the wine at events like these. The Acad members I spoke to at the pre-reception didn’t even seem to know what the film was about before going in but something lured them there.

Sunday and Monday nights Academy members and specifically members of its foreign language committee turned out to special screenings and receptions  for foreign lingo contenders Monsieur Lahzar from Canada and Miss Bala from Mexico. Both were introduced by their filmmakers who talked to those voting members afterwards. Another one is planned for next Tuesday with the filmmakers of France’s entry, Declaration of War followed by a dinner afterwards at a Japanese restaurant down the street from the Landmark Theatre where the film will screen.  Until this year consultants working on these films could only show them sans food and filmmaker interaction. In fact even at the Academy’s own official foreign language screenings it was the food served between the double bill rather than the movies that at least one voter mentioned to me. “I have to say the catering this year is better than ever at the Academy,” they said.

It’s a new day, the Academy has thankfully loosened up and members are licking their chops in appreciation.

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Casting Directors Under Scrutiny After Investigation Finds Convicted Molestor Hired Child Actors

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday November 19, 2011 @ 4:23pm PSTTags: Casting, J.J. Abrams, J.J. Abrams Super 8, Los Angeles Times, Movie Casting, Super 8, The Three Stooges

Jason James Murphy served a five-year prison term for kidnapping and abusing an 8-year-old boy near Seattle, but has been working for a decade as Jason James hiring kids as a casting assistant for productions including Super 8, Bad … Read More »

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Paramount Awards Screeners Going Online; First Streams Available This Week

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday October 11, 2011 @ 9:37am PDTTags: Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, Like Crazy, Megan Colligan, Paramount, Rango, Super 8

It looks like Paramount will be the first major studio to take its “For Your Consideration” screeners online, announcing today a deal with Deluxe Entertainment Services Group that will provide streams of its awards-season offerings including Rango, Super 8 and … Read More »

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Pirated ‘Super 8′ Print Points Back To Howard Stern Show

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Saturday August 6, 2011 @ 5:37pm PDTTags: Howard Stern, JJ Abrams, Paramount Pictures, Super 8
Mike Fleming

In a bizarre development that I can only imagine will be very embarrassing to Sirius XM’s morning man Howard Stern, a bootlegged copy of the JJ Abrams-directed Super 8 has shown up on content-thieving websites. The print is watermarked with the Paramount Pictures logo, and “H Stern” in the right-hand corner. Film companies and networks like HBO routinely personalize advance screeners to safeguard against piracy. There is widespread speculation the leak came from a DVD sent to the show.

I see that already, the Sternfannetwork.com features an “over/under” asking commenters to decide if Stern got $50,000 for posting the film. That is preposterous. Stern receives advance screeners so he can talk knowledgeably about upcoming films he likes, and because he does superb interviews with directors and stars. He will be upset if his show breached a trust with Abrams, a longtime friend who once thrilled Stern’s daughters by putting them on his series Felicity. That is something a dad never forgets. I recall that Stern interviewed Abrams when the director made the rounds to promote Super 8. Read More »

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Paramount First Studio This Year To Top $1B At Domestic Box Office

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday July 5, 2011 @ 5:49pm PDTTags: Domestic Box Office, Kung Fu Panda 2, Paramount Pictures, Rango, Super 8, Thor, Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Thanks to the bounty from such films as Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Super 8, Thor, Rango and Kung Fu Panda 2, Paramount confirmed today that it has crossed the $1 billion mark at the domestic box office for the year. It … Read More »

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VA VROOM! ‘Cars 2′ Revs $68M Weekend; ‘Bad Teacher’ More Than Good For $31M

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Saturday June 25, 2011 @ 11:01pm PDTTags: Bridesmaids, Cars 2, Green Lantern, Midnight In Paris, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Super 8, The Hangover II, Weekend Box Office, X-Men: First Class

SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM, 5TH UPDATE: After last weekend’s disappointing outcome for Green Lantern, Summer 2011 returns with big-time North American grosses. But both Disney’s Cars 2 and Sony’s Bad Teacher cooled off Saturday after a hot Friday. Expect an overall moviegoing total of $176M, up +6% from last year. Here’s the Top 10.

1. Cars 2 3D (Pixar/Disney) NEW [4,115 Theaters]
Friday $25.7M, Saturday $23.3M, Weekend $68M

Wow, even Pixar’s clunker exceeded expectations, becoming Pixar’s 12th straight No. 1 toon. Strange that the special studio parent/kids’ tracking was only showing a $50M weekend for Cars 2 even with 3D’s higher ticket prices and a very wide U.S. and Canadian release. (Its 4,115 theaters comprise 2,508 3D locations, including 120 IMAX venues.) Other studios at first thought the toon could zoom between $71.5M-$75M for the weekend, but Disney was right to stay conservative with projections of “just” $68M. Surprising that gross was -10% from Friday despite those Saturday kiddie matinees, indicating that word of mouth wasn’t good. It’s still a big bump up from the original’s $60.1M despite far less favorable reviews. Audiences gave Cars 2 a ‘A-’ CinemaScore vs ‘A’ for the first Cars back in 2006 – but critics called the sequel a lemon and Pixar’s worst movie ever because of the lame espionage story and over-use of Larry The Cable Guy (a little of him goes a loooong way). No doubt his good ol’ boy tow truck voiceover will go down well in flyover country. But critics expected better of Pixar CEO John Lasseter, the chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative adviser of Walt Disney Imagineering, who is returning to the director’s chair for the first time since Cars. Still, the moolah puts the sequel #5 on the Pixar food chain.

But the real platinum lining here is all that Cars-branded merchandise parents are going to buy for their kids. Disney has put 300 or so products on the market – Cars Kleenex, anyone? — and Wall Street expects those licensed retail sales to total $10 billion, making it the biggest movie merchandising ever. (Toy Story 3 made about $2.8 billion.) It’s a supremely cynical move — lousy movie, great crap – that includes a video game releasing Tuesday, ice and stage shows, and a 12-acre Cars Land expected to rejuvenate California Adventure next year. On the other hand, the Pixar brand may wind up hurt by its first bout of bad PR for a company whose first 11 feature-length animated films have earned $6.5 billion at the global box office and 29 Academy Awards. ”Families (flyover or not) are deciding for themselves and disregarding reviews,” an unconcerned Disney exec replies to me. “Critics not liking a movie doesn’t seem like it will hurt the Pixar brand in my opinion. It will be their 12th #1 film in a row and will rank near the top for opening weekends. Should I send you a Larry the Cable Guy DVD?”

Besides its licensing bonanza, Cars 2 builds on the original’s brand overseas. Cars 1 made “only” 47.2% of its $462M internationally, so Pixar/Disney decided to rev up the sequel’s foreign appeal by sending its vehicles on a race to Tokyo, Italy, London and Paris after the studio found that the tow truck resonated with kids around the world. (The Japanese washlet toilet scene is sight to behold.) Cars 2 is opening in 18 international markets including Italy, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. Already Russia scored the biggest opening day of all time for a Disney animated film (but there also are more theaters there now than before), while Australia is pitting Cars 2 against Kung Fu Panda 2, and the Pixar film has pulled a little ahead. Even the music is global, with a score by American composer Michael Giacchino, plus alternative rock legend Weezer, country music hitmaker Brad Paisley, best-selling British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams, French superstar Bénabar, and the power pop Japanese girl band Perfume.

2. Bad Teacher (Sony) NEW [3,049 Theaters]
Friday $12.1M, Saturday $10.9M, Weekend $31M

Welcome to the brave new moviemaking world of Bad Gals and raunchy ‘R-rated’ movies starring women. (Hard to believe feminists fought for this kind of film equality, huh?) Exit polling showed the pic attracted 63% female/37% male audiences, while 57% were over age 25/43% under age 25. Given the mega-success of Bridesmaids and now Bad Teacher, expect a lot of clones coming to the megaplex near you. Even though audiences gave foul-mouthed Cameron Diaz et al a ‘C+’ CinemaScore, this sleeper overperformed with Sony expecting a $20+M result. I’m told this under-$20M budgeted comedy was championed internally by Columbia Pictures president Doug Belgrad, and, like so many other films that Sony has successfully released of late, he was able to put the film together with the producers for the right $20M-$40M price. (If you look at the last several years, Sony still overspends on tentpoles but also has developed a solid portfolio of modestly produced films like The Social Network, Superbad, Pineapple Express, Bounty Hunter, Karate Kid, Julie and Julia, Easy A, Vantage Point, The Ugly Truth, etc. These titles, when done right, allow for decent upside…)

Once again, Sony had pitch-perfect marketing thanks to Marc Weinstock, Tommy Gargotta, and of course Jeff Blake. The buzz began developing weeks ago thanks to an irreverent outdoor campaign with Cameron and her desk continuing through the trailers and TV ads that shouted the subversive concept of the film. “We had a lot to work with on this title. From the movie itself to the cast, we used all our assets to build heat and awareness for the film while having fun with the campaign,” a Sony exec tells me. For example, on National Teacher Appreciation Day, the studio sent apples with Post-it notes that read “Eat Me” to top radio DJs in key markets to get a lot of air chatter going. Online, there were initiatives like the Worst Teachers In History Collection on collegehumor.com. Of course, Cameron, Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel all worked the talk-show circuit. On TV, spots aired on many of the more mouthbreather-targeted season finales and premieres, while the two-minute trailer ran during MTV’s Jersey Shore in March to gain early awareness. Sony also had a strong footprint throughout the recent NBA playoffs and finals.

Bad Teacher opened first in the UK where it has done very well, taking in nearly $4M in its first week of play there and holding to a strong -41% Friday. It opens day and date in 25 smaller countries this weekend, including Germany, Holland, New Zealand and Sweden. Read More »

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J.J. Abrams Taking WME Agency Sabbatical: Will Be Repped By Manager And Lawyer

By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 4:16pm PDTTags: Hollywood, JJ Abrams, John Fogelman, Super 8, William Morris Endeavor, WME

EXCLUSIVE: There has been no internal announcement at WME about this. And the feeding frenzy has already started, with manager David Lonner’s phone ringing off the hook with calls from every major agency within minutes of Deadline first scooping the … Read More »

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Paramount Crosses $1B At Intl Box Office

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday June 15, 2011 @ 11:18am PDTTags: International Box Office, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Pictures International, Super 8

Paramount Pictures announced today that the studio has passed the $1 billion mark for the calendar year at the international box office, reaching the milestone on Friday with the debut of Super 8 — that’s four days sooner than last year’s record-setting pace. It’s the fifth year in a row … Read More »

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FX Acquires TV Rights To ‘Super 8′

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday June 14, 2011 @ 9:43am PDTTags: FX, Super 8, TV Rights
Nellie Andreeva

FX is expanding its collection of box-office hits with the acquisition of J.J. Abrams/Steven Spielberg’s Super 8, which opened at No. 1 this past weekend with $36.4 million. The Bad Robot/Amblin/Paramount movie joins the two previous … Read More »

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NBA Finals Takes Big Bite Out Of Box Office

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday June 13, 2011 @ 11:33am PDTTags: NBA Finals, North American box office, Super 8, The Hangover II, X-Men: First Class

If you thought everyone was glued to the tube watching last night’s NBA Finals, you were right. LeBron fans (or foes) took a big bite out of Sunday night’s North American box office numbers. TV ratings were 50% higher … Read More »

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Will More Directors Dabble In Marketing After JJ Abrams’ Hide-The-Creature Ploy Pays Off?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday June 13, 2011 @ 9:46am PDTTags: Daniel Craig, David Fincher, JJ Abrams, Rooney Mara, Super 8
Mike Fleming

Super 8’s $37 million opening weekend was a surprise given last week’s soft tracking numbers that rival marketing execs attributed to JJ Abrams’ insistence on keeping plot reveals — and the creature — out of the TV spots. Those skeptics might argue Super 8 could have posted a larger opening weekend with a more revealing campaign, but it is nice to see a filmmaker — and the studio that backed him — vindicated in their decision to preserve the moviegoing experience by not dishing all the reveals. It’s too bad Abrams wasn’t advising disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner, who also would have benefited by fighting the temptation to unveil the creature. Read More »

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Paramount And JJ Abrams Leak ‘Super 8′ Footage And Their Creature Is Showing

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday June 9, 2011 @ 1:13pm PDTTags: JJ Abrams, Paramount, Steven Spielberg, Super 8
Mike Fleming

Insiders at Paramount said days ago there would be no divulging the creature in Super 8 before Friday, but that was before they pushed up the release one day. Today, director JJ Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg have leaked online … Read More »

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Soft Tracking Be Damned! Studio Saving JJ Abrams’ ‘Super 8′ Plot Secrets Until Friday

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday June 6, 2011 @ 7:28pm PDTTags: JJ Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Super 8
Mike Fleming

When JJ Abrams conceived Super 8, his intention was to replicate those Steven Spielberg films of the 70s and 80s, where he discovered the magic in a movie theater and not by watching every reveal in a commercial. When Spielberg … Read More »

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Hot Clip: J.J. Abrams’ ‘Super 8′

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday May 16, 2011 @ 8:43pm PDTTags: JJ Abrams, Paramount, Steven Spielberg, Super 8

video platform video management video solutions video player

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Hot Interactive Teaser: ‘Super 8′

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday April 20, 2011 @ 5:57am PDTTags: JJ Abrams, Paramount Pictures, Super 8
Mike Fleming

Hollywood’s track record for turning video and computer games into movies is spotty. Top titles like Halo and Bioshock got halted along the way, and many of the hottest games don’t even get set up for films because game designers won’t sell them. But Paramount Pictures found a smart way … Read More »

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New Trailer: ‘Super 8′

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday March 11, 2011 @ 8:00am PSTTags: J.J. Abrams, Paramount, Steven Spielberg, Super 8, Twitter

Paramount Pictures used Twitter this morning to launch the latest movie trailer for Super 8 from writer/director J.J. Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg:

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Super Bowl Spot: J.J. Abrams’ ‘Super 8′

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday February 6, 2011 @ 5:52pm PSTTags: J.J. Abrams, J.J. Abrams Super 8, Movies, Super 8, Super Bowl XLV, Super Bowl XLV Advertising, Super Bowl XLV Broadcast, Trailers, Video

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Super Bowl XLV: Game Day For Movie Ads

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday February 6, 2011 @ 2:22pm PSTTags: Captain America: The First Avenger, Kung Fu Panda 2, Movies, Rango, Super 8, Super Bowl XLV, Super Bowl XLV Advertising, Thor, TV

Universal, Disney, Paramount, and Sony have all bought time for Super Bowl Sunday on Fox which is selling a 30-second commercial for a whopping $3 million this year (up from $2.8 million in 2010). Many more films will be advertised on this … Read More »

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Paramount And IMAX Make Release Pact For ‘Super 8′, ‘Tintin,’ Mission: Impossible’ And ‘Transformers’ Sequels

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday January 12, 2011 @ 5:45am PSTTags: IMAX Corportation, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, Movie Deals, Movies, Paramount Pictures, Super 8, The Adventures of Tintin, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Mike Fleming

Los Angeles – January 12, 2011 – IMAX Corporation (NASDAQ:IMAX; TSX:IMX) today announced an agreement with Paramount Pictures to release four of the studio’s tentpole releases in 2011 – Super 8, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of

… Read More »

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