Screener

Movie-related Twitters more bark than bite

Twitter has been this year's media darling, especially among influencers like media personalities, celebrities, and journalists.  But the 140-character updates on whereabouts, opinions, and random thoughts haven't really changed how people choose what movies to see.

A recent survey of Movietickets.com customers who had just bought tickets online and were Twitter users revealed a modest effect.  When asked, "Did Twitter affect your desire to see any of the following films in the past year?," New Moon ranked highest, with 52% responding yes.

According to Joel Cohen, VP of MovieTickets.com, Twitter added to the buzz of the New Moon campaign.  The studio would release a new trailer, posters, or clips every few weeks, encouraging the Internet community to weigh in on the new information.  "Twitter gives people the ability to share what they think, and let it spread quickly," he explained.

However, the second film on the list received half the amount of "yes" votes.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earned just 23% of the vote.  The much-hyped Bruno, which many said was felled by negative Twitter buzz?  Only 8% said it influenced their desire to see the film one way or the other.  Twitter, it turns out, has a fairly limited impact on box office, a view shared by Cohen.  "I don’t think you’re going to have a change in moviegoing if  people read something on Twitter that is the opposite of what they were going to do anyway or what they were feeling already."  Instead, it reflects the general consensus of whether a film is "good" or "bad."

Cohen also gave Screener a sneak peak at how Avatar is doing.  So far, 78% of the buyers have been male.  The vast majority of ticket buyers fall into the over 25 range--though all this information reflects the people taking initiative and punching in their credit card numbers, and not any additional tickets they may have bought for friends, significant others, and children.

Over 90% of the tickets have been purchased for 3D screenings.  "This will be the first time a lot of adults have seen 3D," Cohen explained, since most 3D titles have been animated films.  Their embrace of the medium, sight unseen, bodes well for Avatar, especially given the premium prices on 3D and IMAX tickets.

However, the mega-budget tentpole hasn't even cracked their top ten of bestsellers, despite a lead time of over four months (tickets went on sale in August). "It just doesn't have the built-in fan base we see in a lot films in our top ten," Cohen explained, which include literary properties like Harry Potter and Twilight.

When Avatar hits theatres tomorrow, the Twitterati should not be feared.  They're just another form of word-of-mouth--available to all the eyes on the Internet but mattering to very few.

'The Blind Side' pays it forward with more do-gooder tales

One way to measure The Blind Side's success is to keep track of the projects that try to emulate it.  Today, two such projects cropped up.

Method #1: Substitute one downbeat character for another.  Make sure they actually exist.  Instead of an illiterate, homeless teenager, Alcon Entertainment, which produced The Blind Side,  decided to follow up with the story of a tail-less dolphin.  After losing its appendage in a crab trap, it is taken in by an aquarium and given a prosthetic tail.  Lest audiences protest all the misfortunes suffered by the dolphin, this tail-less Flipper actually swims around in a Florida aquarium.  The punning title?  A Dolphin's Tale.  While this treacly story is a nice counterpoint to the morning coffee (the story first appeared on the "Today" show), I'll take The Cove any day.

Method #2:  Keep the Christian do-gooder.  Keep the football-playing black kid, but multiply him into a team of jailed criminals.  "Prison Break" actor Lane Garrison is penning the screenplay One Heart, which is being billed as take-off of The Blind Side.  It's the story of a losing football team populated by juvenile offenders attending Texas' Gainesville State School.  When they play against private Faith Christian School, the coach enlists community members to cheer for the other team (though they still lose, just not as badly).   Whether this project receives financing or not, however, depends on how forgiving people are of Garrison.  He just served an eighteen-month prison sentence for driving while under the influence of alcohol and cocaine.  One of his passengers died and two were injured when he crashed into a tree.  In fact, his move from acting to writing (his first) may be more a play to repair his reputation and artistically atone for his misdeeds.  Whatever the reason, it's all a sign of The Blind Side's success at the box office.  With the film wielding so much influence, I may just have to see it myself.

Studios rattle the DVD windows

How long should a movie be out of the picture between its theatrical run and its DVD debut?

When I was growing up, that time period between theatrical release and home video release could be agonizing.  Some movies were "must-sees" in theatres, and others I could wait to rent at the video store, but a lot of them fell in between.  I frequently missed seeing a movie in a theatre,  because there were simply too many other good films out or I didn't have enough time (I also had a thing against seeing a movie once it had been out for months--you might as well just wait to see it at home).

Now, this same theatrical window that vexed me as a child is causing exhibitors and studios to draw their swords once again.  While exhibitors want to maintain a long window to preserve the sacredness of theatrical release, studios want to make money on the pent-up demand caused by a film going dark--being unavailable in theatres or on DVD--for a few months.  A month ago, Sony's decision to make the film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs available earlier for those that bought a special Sony television led exhibitors to pull the film from their theatres.  Even as studios are trying to release films on DVD earlier, they're also fighting RedBox, which rents new releases for $1.  They're in the odd position of trying to break new ground in one area and preserve the status quo in another.

Most of the studios' home-grown proposals for shorter windows involve charging a premium for the privilege of seeing a movie in this "in-between" time--up to $50 for in-home viewing.   I don't buy that this will work.  I personally would never see a film for such a high price tag, not even if I were one of the targeted demographics, living in a "geographically isolated" area with an expansive brethren and laid out with a bad back.  The stereotype in my head of the perfect family for this proposal, The Duggar Family of TLC's "18 Kids and Counting", would never spring for a $50 rental, even though it would cost them $200 to go to a movie theatre.  This is the same family that has a recipe for discount laundry detergent on their website.  I think theatres are overestimating the value of their product, especially in a market saturated with media choices (why not just surf Hulu for free?).  Plus, going to a theatre has a unique value of its own: there are fewer distractions, a bigger image, and the enjoyment of seeing a picture with an audience, to name a few reasons.  While seeing a film at home shortly after its theatrical release may present a value for large groups, the only thing justifying the price point is being able to see a movie in sync with its water cooler hype.  You still miss out on the fun of going out to the movies.

The fight on both ends is far from over.  Just today, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., which receives donations from film studios, released a study that was proposed by an "unnamed" guild, saying that cheap DVD rentals will cost the region thousands of jobs.  While the special interests close to the study make its findings suspect, it shows how seriously film studios are taking this threat, and the lengths that they will go to fight it.

Anderson signs up Hoffman to play 'The Master'

That other young Anderson director, Paul Thomas Anderson, has revealed details about his next project, as well as his star: Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Hoffman will play The Master (which may end up being the title of the film), a charismatic person who starts a spiritual organization that quickly gathers followers and turns into a religion itself.  It's told through a relationship between the Master and his mentor, Freddie, who is increasingly skeptical of the whole project.

While so far it's being billed as entirely fictional, and explicitly stated as not inspired by Scientology or Mormonism, the Vulture Blog noted that the drama is set in 1952, the same year Scientology was founded.  That makes the statement "the scrutiny isn't specifically directed toward faith-based movements like Scientology or Mormonism" sound like a preemptive defense against Scientology and its practitioners, many of whom are prominent in the Hollywood community.  Case in point? When "South Park" broadcast its famous "Trapped in the Closet" episode parodying Scientology, a Scientologist cast member quit the show.  A rebroadcast was canceled, leading to media reports that Tom Cruise, another Scientologist, had allegedly threatened to back out of his publicity obligations for Mission Impossible 3 (both were owned by parent company Viacom) if his demand was not met.  He later denied the claims.  And that was a television show.  If Anderson's work draws the ire of Scientologists, it might have a rough time getting made in Hollywood.  However, if the project is distancing itself from Scientology, it would seem wise for the religion to follow suit, rather than open itself up to any religious criticism in the script.

Potential Scientology controversy aside, the pairing of Hoffman and Anderson is the best thing this project has going for it.  Hoffman has appeared in virtually all of Anderson's movies, though not in a leading role.  He's also an old hand at religious leader parts, playing a priest in Doubt and a reverend in Cold Mountain.  Besides ensemble-piece Magnolia, Anderson has a record of giving meaty, stand-out roles to his leading men (Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love, Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights).  Hoffman's an unforgettable actor (and I once spied him at an ATM in the West Village on my way to work!) and this is just the kind of role that could add another Oscar to his bookshelf.

Slow but steady future for 3D films, says PricewaterhouseCoopers

The move to 3D, in terms of film history, should play out more like color than sound.  All films transitioned from silent to sound in a snap--just a few years.  To not convert was to become a box-office failure.  But color, like 3D, was reserved for specific genres, like historical epics, fantasy, and children's movies, before becoming more widespread.  I took a few of PricewaterhouseCoopers' predictions on the future of 3D movies and gave my own take on how it will all play out.

"Most 3D live-action production will be limited to sci-fi, horror and concert genres"  Yes, but this is changing.  Avatar is sci-fi, but it's also a tentpole, an awards hopeful, a James Cameron movie and an action/environmental/romance movie.  As films with multiple genre identities are made in 3D, it will become easier for those "romance/action/comedy" movies to be made.  Just today, Variety announced that the sequel to Zombieland, a horror/comedy will be filmed in 3D.  The next Jackass sequel, a documentary/action/comedy, will be made in 3D.  With its emphasis on live, improv events, Jackass is a cousin of the concert film, a popular choice for 3D, but certainty not part of the genre itself.

"3D-animated slates at Disney and DreamWorks will be closely scrutinized by rivals."  Maybe.  As far as I'm concerned, animation is already a lock for 3D.  Animation is a medium grounded in fantasy, not reality, making 3D a very natural variation.  I would worry if these animation studios decided to make a movie in 2D, which would indicate a slipping in 3D's profitability.  As it stands, both Pixar and DreamWorks Animation are committed to producing all their upcoming films in 3D.

"Slow growth through 2014...because of lingering budgetary and creative concerns"  You can look at this from the production side, but the audience side is just as important.  A lot of people are resistant to seeing 3D movies because of their stereotype as a gimmicky concept that takes away from the narrative.  That's not the case.  As a former skeptic myself, watching movies like Coraline, Up, and even The Jonas Brothers 3D Concert Experience "glasses on" made those movies better.  In the case of concert movies, 3D helps amp up the spectacle and gives a heightened sense of reality.  No, you don't actually feel like you're there, but the dimensionality gives you a sense of the landscape, and the camera movements always make sure you have the best seat in the house.  Up, compared to Coraline or Monsters vs. Aliens, uses very restrained 3D.  The filmmakers either didn't author it in 3D from start to finish, but added it in later, or they chose to avoid having the images pop up and behind in a striking (and perhaps detracting) way.  Takeaway point: 3D is flexible.  It's not always about making you think something is coming right at you, but subtly adding depth of field.  If 3D is adopted by dramas, comedies, and romances, I suspect this restrained look will be the norm.  Regardless, watching a film with glasses is on its way to becoming a normal part of the moviegoing experience.

No one wants 'New Moon' to end

The success of New Moon has brought the Twilight franchise to a whole new level.  Among franchises, there are the ones that do better the second time around (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) and then there are the ones that do worse.  By amassing a two-week total that exceeds the gross of the first film, New Moon is firmly among the franchise winners.  Predictably, Summit is trying to stretch out the amount of Twilight movies it can make, and supernatural romances are in hot demand.

Today, for example, Warner Bros. picked up a series of five books in the "supernatural romance" category--the first one was just released today.  Richard LaGravanese (writer/director of P.S. I Love You) is set to write and direct the first in the series, entitled Beautiful Creatures.  An extension of Harry Potter and Twilight, the novel is told from the perspective of a popular high school boy in the South who secretly wants to get out of his small town.  He has dreams of a girl, who suddenly arrives as a transfer student.  They go through all the usual motions of falling in love, but she is the heir to a terrible family curse (not revealed in synopses) that gets in the way of their love.  It sounds like a winning plot, but the success of Twilight and Harry Potter over, say, The Golden Compass has to do with fanbase.  Is this project going to remain in a holding pattern until it ignites among young adult audiences?  Or will it be moved swiftly into production before (or even if) the series turns into a phenomenon?

The other news on the supernatural romance front is Summit's proposal to extend the success of the Twilight series by splitting Breaking Dawn, the 756-page finale to the series, into two movies.  That would bring the total amount of movies to five.  It's an expensive move that will require raises among cast and crew (the Harry Potter series went through the same series of renegotiations), but the payoff could be big.  Summit has already made a smart move by releasing the movies in quick succession.  The Twilight Saga: Eclipse will come out not next Thanksgiving but this summer (June 30th).  While the Twilight series, like the Harry Potter series, is strong enough to bring in new fans as older ones age out of the series, holding onto an audience is always a concern.  Teen girls are only teen girls for so long.  I've heard of kids who were into Star Wars but lost interest by the time the third film was released.  As for myself, after seeing the first five Harry Potter movies on opening day, I missed the sixth one in theatres (though I'm anxiously awaiting its DVD release).  It just wasn't as much of a priority anymore.  Summit will be counting on the "Twihards" to retain their fanaticism for at least a few more years.

'Winnie' and 'Selma' to highlight black history

With Precious and Invictus, come Selma and Winnie.

Now that Lee Daniels' Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire is steaming ahead and showing all signs of being a breakout hit, the director has lined up his next project.  He is in final negotiations to direct Selma, which is based on three civil rights marches led by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965.  After three attempts (the first dubbed "Bloody Sunday" for its violent police action), demonstrators finally marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.  The five-day march, in support of black voting rights, is considered the apex of the civil rights movement. 

The project has a lot going for it. Paul Webb, who wrote the script for Steven Spielberg's long-gestating Lincoln, penned Selma.  While it has no cast, the movie already has a production start date set for this spring.  Finally, Christian Colson, who produced big winner Slumdog Millionaire, will be heading up production.  With a producer, director, and solid screenplay, this movie only needs a cast (which certainly will flock to the promising project) to get off the ground.

American audiences will see Invictus this December, which stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela.  Now, Mandela's wife will get a turn.  Jennifer Hudson announced she will star in Winnie, a biopic about Nelson Mandela's wife.  While Mandela is almost universally beloved, Winnie doesn't have the same reputation.  The couple separated after she was unfaithful, and her methods to abolish apartheid were considerably more violent.  She almost served six years in jail after her bodyguard said she ordered him to kill a 14-year-old informer, but the sentence was later reduced to a fine.  The contrast between Winnie and her husband is striking, and the filmmakers plan on showing her good and bad side.  The project has a production start date of May 30th.  Director Darrell J. Roodt has a South African pedigree, having helmed films such as Cry, the Beloved Country and Sarafina!

While Hollywood has been criticitzed for its portrayal (or lack of portrayal) of black characters over the years, these two projects, which come on the heels of two more high-profile films starring black actors, belie this notion.  Three of the four are historical adaptations: Selma, Winnie and Invictus.  Could this be the new trend?  Because they're based in fact, they can be safer projects.  By comparison, literary-based Precious is universal but controversial, difficult to watch, and has led many to cries of racism, stereotyping, and negative portrayals of black people, even as they commend the movie in other ways.   But if Precious were a real person, I doubt these complaints of racism would be levied.  Spike Lee's WWII box-office flop Miracle of St. Anna notwithstanding, historically based films may be the safest way to create a universal movie featuring black characters without having to deal with controversy that can swing the wrong way.

Len Wiseman goes from ‘Underworld’ to ‘Nocturne’

Len Wiseman, who has been floating around different projects for the past year or so, is in talks to direct a pitch for 20th Century Fox “based on an original idea about a group of people who survive the end of the world and the mystery surrounding how they got to that position,” tentatively called Nocturne.

The idea doesn’t sound original at all.  In fairness, they may be withholding the secret sauce.  Considering the project is looking for writers, it’s also possible they haven’t figured out exactly what will be in the secret sauce either.  Because Wiseman’s been attached to a number of projects that haven’t come to fruition (out of proportion, I think, to the amount of films he’s actually directed), I’m skeptical of this project.  Last year, for example, he was attached to direct Motorcade with Tom Cruise starring, but now that project will star Ryan Reynolds with Jon Cassar directing.  He was also supposed to direct a video game adaptation Gears of War and Atlantis Rising, in which the famed city of Atlantis declares war on the world.  However, this announcement does provide a good opportunity to rehash all the movies/television shows/books that have used the same plot point as Nocturne.

“Flash Forward”:  This brand new ABC show centers on an event where almost every person in the world has a vision of themselves six months in the future.  Everyone abandons all activity and tries to figure out what their clue meant.  It borrows a little bit from “Lost” and sounds strongly apocalyptic.  It also is a little too similar to the “mystery surrounding how they got to that position” part of Nocturne’s plot description.

2012: It’s coming out this Friday, and has a soft spot for those that enjoy the architectural demolition derbies that come along with the apocalypse.

“Left Behind” series:  There’s a reason The Passion of the Christ earned so much money.  A religion angle is not only plausible, but profitable.  This popular Christian series, which was made into a movie starring Kirk Cameron, follows a group of sinners who are left behind after the Rapture for being unbelievers.  It takes them some time to figure out what happened, and then to identify and usurp the Antichrist.

The Road: Coming out this fall.  The apocalypse, but with two people against man-hungry cannibals with a side of post-apocalyptic depression.

The most interesting part of this spare plot description is that the characters themselves seem to be flummoxed about their position.  Were they knocked out and woke up in a nuclear bunker?  Did they get unplugged like in The Matrix?  If it weren’t for the fact that the “mystery” part was just used in “Flash Forward,” I would be more forgiving of this pickup, but it will be up to the assigned writers to prove me wrong.

Zhang Ziyi to star in book club hit 'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a novel about a secret language, nu shu, used by women in China.  Often written on fans, the language provided a rare opportunity for women to interact with each other in 19th-century China, since the women's feet were bound, they remained cloistered in their homes, and were subject to their husband and sons.  Written by Chinese-American writer Lisa See, the novel follows two such women who were chosen as laotong (old sames) by a matchmaker, a rare form of friendship that requires being born on the same day, in the same birth order, and having other complementary characteristics.

The novel's historic setting and theme of friendship made it a big hit on the book club circuit.  So perhaps it's no surprise that two middle-aged wives, the book club stereotype, are producing a film based on the book, though they bring some unusually high-powered connections to the table.  The producers behind it?  Wendi Murdoch, wife of Rupert Murdoch (the president and CEO of Newscorp.), and Florence Sloan, wife of Harry Sloan (the chairman of MGM).  They just added actress Zhang Ziyi to their list of producers.  The star of Memoirs of a Geisha, another book club hit, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has a rare appeal that extends across cultural boundaries.  Her role in production could also help the film get past China's film quota, which limits the amount of foreign films that are exhibited each year.  Wendi Murdoch is Chinese-born, and Florence Sloan is Malaysian and Chinese.  For a cross-cultural, Chinese-based production like this, their cultural fluency will be a prized asset.

The project is in search of a distributors and backers at the American Film Market, though the production has already set a start date for next year.  While the project is commercial and has a global audience, it's worth noting that so far it is being produced outside the studio system.  Certainly those currently on the project are uniquely suited to the task, but was Memoirs of a Geisha's $162 million gross on an $85 million budget just not good enough for the big studios?  Or did the producers of the project snag the rights before anyone else?

George Clooney and Alexander Payne could pair up for 'The Descendants'

George Clooney under the direction of Alexander Payne?  Sounds like a winning combination to me.  Clooney is known for choosing atypical comedies, and Payne's movies are darkly comedic, yet embraced by a wide range of viewers.   He now plans to direct The Descendants, an adaptation of the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings.  This will be the first project he's directed in five years, and the first film he has directed without also receiving a writing credit.  He previously wrote and directed four films within the span of eight years: Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt and Sideways.

The plot, as provided by Variety, "centers on a wealthy landowner who takes his two daughters on a search for his wife's lover in the hopes of keeping his family together."  A look at a summary of the source novel, however, reveals more nuance as well as the trademark dark comedy tone Payne is so adept at handling.

Clooney will play the landowner who is descended from a Hawaiian princess and a haole (white person/foreigner).  He's had a life of leisure and is married to a beautiful, adventurous woman, now in a terminal coma after a catamaran accident.  His 10 and 17-year-old daughters are strangers to him, and his relationship with them is awkward at best.  He's also mulling over a business deal that would involve him selling his family land to a real estate developer.  As he's contemplating pulling the plug on his wife, he finds out that she has been having an affair for some time with a real estate broker.  He gathers his children (the eldest sent from her boarding school) in  search of his wife's lover.

Among his other talents, Payne is a director of actors.  He exacted an amazing performance from Reese Witherspoon (pre-Legally Blonde) when she was an up-and-comer in Election.  In his past two high-profile films, he directed his actors to Oscar-nominated roles (with the exception of Paul Giamatti, who still deserved one).  Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates were nominated in About Schmidt, and Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen were nominated in Sideways.  Is Clooney angling for an Oscar follow-up to Syriana?

The movie will start shooting in February in Hawaii.  Clooney is currently in Spain shooting The American while three of his films debut this fall: The Men Who Stare at Goats, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Up in the Air.