Nikki Finke is poised to return to Deadline Hollywood as a columnist as soon as September, TheWrap has learned exclusively. Over the last few weeks, Finke has been telling executives around Hollywood that she is coming back to the entertainment trade website that she founded in March 2006 and from which she was notoriously fired in 2013. Michael Fleming Jr. would remain in charge of the website, according to multiple people with knowledge of the Finke’s advanced negotiations to return — which still could unravel at the last minute given the history of the players involved. Fleming serves as co-editor-in-chief...
- 7/21/2017
- by Tony Maglio and Matt Donnelly
- The Wrap
"Suicide Squad" may be the smartest title on the entire slate of DC Comic movies announced recently by Warner Bros. With David Ayer onboard to direct, this is the story of how some of the nastiest bad guys in the DC Universe are pressed into service to do something for the government. It can play rougher than other DC movies and it would seem appropriate. One of the key characters in any "Suicide Squad" movie should be Harley Quinn, the Joker's psychotic girlfriend, but I'm not sure if they're including her or not. Just because there is a rumor that Margot Robbie is being courted to star in the film, that doesn't mean they're using Quinn. I'd love to see Robbie play her, I think. That sounds terrifying. And sort of awesome. She could also easily be Amanda Waller, the doctor who puts the team together. But that's assuming she's...
- 10/24/2014
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
Nikki Finke is back! And, from the look of her first blog on NikkiFinke.com she is loaded for bear. Finke takes a swipe at her old website she founded, Deadline Hollywood, by dismissively writing: “I barely recognize Dh these days. Some of those bylines I never hired and wouldn’t. (Anita Busch or Peter Bart) She’s batshit crazy and he’s an unethical fart). A lot of those stories I consider a waste of time covering. I never wanted a bland and boring news feed. But that’s what the people running it now want. Dh plans to unveil a redesign next week, and the best thing I can say about what I saw the other day is that it’s generic. (Yes, I just threw up in my mouth a little). She also calls Deadline Hollywood’s film editor Michael Fleming as “Little Lord Fauntleroy” and “Mike...
- 6/12/2014
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
The Publicists of the International Cinematographers Guild (Iatse Local 600) today announced nominees in five categories, with the winners to be announced at their 51st Annual Awards Luncheon to be held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Friday, February 28, 2014. Nominees for the Press Award honoring members of the American media include ComingSoon.net's very own Weekend Warrior Ed Douglas, as well as Deadline's Michael Fleming, Variety's Tim Gray, Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen and Access Hollywood's Scott Mantz. Nominees for the Les Mason Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor they can bestow on one of their members, are Sharon Black, director of written communications, Warner Bros. Pictures; Maureen O.Malley, senior staff publicist, Warner Bros. Pictures...
- 12/16/2013
- Comingsoon.net
Deadline Hollywood founder Nikki Finke has retained attorney William Briggs to represent her in an upcoming arbitration with Jay Penske’s Penske Media, TheWrap has learned. Finke has been sitting on Deadline’s sidelines since Nov. 5, when editors Michael Fleming Jr. and Nellie Andreeva announced she would no longer be writing for the site. Penske Media is looking to enforce a non-compete clause that the company claims Finke agreed to when it bought her site in 2009. The clause would prevent her for writing from another site until 2016, and possibly beyond. Also read: When Nikki Finke Leaves Deadline … Whose Brand Is.
- 12/14/2013
- by Jeff Sneider
- The Wrap
The fourth annual London Underground Film Festival is the first edition of the fest to be run by new caretakers Daniel Fawcett and Clara Pais, two accomplished filmmakers. The festival will run November 14-17 at the legendary avant-garde media center, the Horse Hospital.
Fawcett and Pais have programmed a bold fest, which begins on the 14th with the London-based documentary Grasp the Nettle by Dean Puckett. The film follows the challenges faced by a group of land rights activists fighting for a piece of disused land in West London. Also on opening night is Randy Moore’s Escape From Tomorrow, which was filmed surreptitiously at Disneyland; and Táu by Daniel Castro Zimbrón.
Other films screening at the fest include the award winning doc A Body Without Organs, directed by Steven Graves; Alex Munt’s Warhol homage Poor Little Rich Girls (After Warhol); Irene Lusztig’s history of childbirth, The Motherhood...
Fawcett and Pais have programmed a bold fest, which begins on the 14th with the London-based documentary Grasp the Nettle by Dean Puckett. The film follows the challenges faced by a group of land rights activists fighting for a piece of disused land in West London. Also on opening night is Randy Moore’s Escape From Tomorrow, which was filmed surreptitiously at Disneyland; and Táu by Daniel Castro Zimbrón.
Other films screening at the fest include the award winning doc A Body Without Organs, directed by Steven Graves; Alex Munt’s Warhol homage Poor Little Rich Girls (After Warhol); Irene Lusztig’s history of childbirth, The Motherhood...
- 11/13/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The best way to report this news is to swipe Jeff Wells’ paragraph about the dueling biopics, since he sums it up nicely. There will be two on Martin Luther King,...
- 7/11/2013
- by Sasha Stone
- AwardsDaily.com
The biggest question in the galaxy may be answered at the Who Shot First? Star Wars-themed art show at Ltd. Art Gallery in Seattle. The second annual show kicks off with an opening reception party on Thursday, December 13th from 6 to 10 pm. The art show itself will be on display until Sunday, January 27th, 2013. The show features a bunch of talented artists like Astromech Droid by Steve Thomas above.
Featured Artists:
Steve Thomas, Barry Blankenship, Craig Drake, Michael Fleming, Kim Gordon, Blunt Graffix, Eric Kirchmer, Aaron Jasinksi, Mikeatron!, Augie Pagan, Devi Pellerin, Brian Rood, Wade Schin, Clarke Snyder, Cat Staggs, Suckadelic, Christian Waggoner, Jayson Weidel, Andrew Wilson, and Wednesday Wolf.
Wookiee Rage by Brian Rood
That’s No Moon by Jason Christman
Nerf Herder by Mark McHaley
Stormtrooper by Christian Waggoner
Follow Jim on Twitter and Tumblr
Source: LaughingSquid (http://laughingsquid.com/who-shot-first-a-star-wars-art-show-at-ltd-art-gallery-in-seattle/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed...
Featured Artists:
Steve Thomas, Barry Blankenship, Craig Drake, Michael Fleming, Kim Gordon, Blunt Graffix, Eric Kirchmer, Aaron Jasinksi, Mikeatron!, Augie Pagan, Devi Pellerin, Brian Rood, Wade Schin, Clarke Snyder, Cat Staggs, Suckadelic, Christian Waggoner, Jayson Weidel, Andrew Wilson, and Wednesday Wolf.
Wookiee Rage by Brian Rood
That’s No Moon by Jason Christman
Nerf Herder by Mark McHaley
Stormtrooper by Christian Waggoner
Follow Jim on Twitter and Tumblr
Source: LaughingSquid (http://laughingsquid.com/who-shot-first-a-star-wars-art-show-at-ltd-art-gallery-in-seattle/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed...
- 12/9/2012
- by Jim Napier
- GeekTyrant
It's Sunday afternoon, or: your last chance to read all that stuff you meant to read last week before Monday brings a new deluge of things you will want to read. Below, some of our recommendations: "The Playboy Interview: Quentin Tarantino" by Michael Fleming (Playboy): The filmmaker, pushing 50, explains his creative decision to kill Hitler, who he considered for Django Unchained between Will Smith and Jamie Foxx, and how Leonardo DiCaprio's villain is the first he's ever written and despised. "Soundgarden, Again" by Steven Hyden (Grantland): Parsing out the nature of reunions, and conceding that some classic acts are actually making decent comeback records."Ben Affleck: Filmmaker of the Year 2012" by Chris Heath (GQ): The actor-director discusses, among many topics, making his third film, how he's grown since Good Will Hunting, and adapting Stephen King's The Stand, which is like "Lord of the Rings in America.
- 11/18/2012
- by Zach Dionne
- Vulture
It's the end of an era for Variety, a daily and weekly print publication that has been reporting on the entertainment industry since 1905. Penske Media Corp., a digital media company that also owns online industry news site Deadline Hollywood, announced Tuesday that it had acquired Variety from British publisher Reed Elsevier.
Penske didn't disclose terms, but the Los Angeles Times reports that Variety's price tag was around $25 million.
What the deal means for Variety's staff and editorial direction is unclear.
Leo Wolinsky, a 32-year veteran of the Los Angeles Times and editor of the Daily Variety in 2010, was frank about the challenges Penske will face when it begins revamping the atrophying trade paper.
In a phone interview with The Huffington Post, Wolinsky described Variety at its worst as a "bulletin board" for talent agencies and other parts of the entertainment industry to place announcements.
"Variety needs a lot of work,...
Penske didn't disclose terms, but the Los Angeles Times reports that Variety's price tag was around $25 million.
What the deal means for Variety's staff and editorial direction is unclear.
Leo Wolinsky, a 32-year veteran of the Los Angeles Times and editor of the Daily Variety in 2010, was frank about the challenges Penske will face when it begins revamping the atrophying trade paper.
In a phone interview with The Huffington Post, Wolinsky described Variety at its worst as a "bulletin board" for talent agencies and other parts of the entertainment industry to place announcements.
"Variety needs a lot of work,...
- 10/10/2012
- by Anna Almendrala
- Huffington Post
Tom Cruise chatted with Playboy about his new movie Rock of Ages, but the conversation between the actor and interviewer Michael Fleming got quite personal. No stranger to promoting movies, Tom is happy to discuss his career and ambitions, but rarely talks about his childhood. However, in Playboy, Tom gave a great deal of insight about growing up with his mom and sisters, but not his dad. Tom also spoke about the tough career time he went through in 2005 after PR-unwise interviews on the Today show and Oprah. Tom additionally had nothing but kind words to say about his wife Katie Holmes and their family. Here are highlights: On loving Katie: "She is an extraordinary person, and if you spent five minutes with her, you'd see it. Everything she does, she does with this beautiful creativity. When she becomes interested in something, she doesn't talk about it, she does it.
- 5/15/2012
- by Allie Merriam
- Popsugar.com
What better place to bare all - even as one's 50th birthday approaches - than in the pages of Playboy? Tom Cruise, who hits the half-century mark in July, sat down for a candid and lengthy Q&A that appears in the magazine's June issue, on newsstands May 18. People has been provided an exclusive first look. Asked why he "sued over some particularly personal things that have been written about you and your family," Cruise tells Playboy, "They know I mean it, that if I have to, I will sue." He also says, "Does refuting things help? Not really. There...
- 5/15/2012
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
In news that developed Thursday night, Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin, also known as the “West Memphis 3,” could be freed later today after spending over 18 years in prison for the charge of murdering three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993, though strong evidence over the years has pointed to their innocence. Update: “West Memphis 3″ have been set free.
The subjects of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky‘s landmark Paradise Lost documentaries, the filmmaker’s latest, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, will premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and as its synopsis on the Tiff site states “this new film revisits the case and presents surprising new information.”
Well, that new information is still ongoing as Berlinger and Sinofsky have rushed back down to Arkansas to capture what may be the final chapter of this story that’s been ongoing for the two filmmakers since 1996.
Regardless of the outcome today,...
The subjects of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky‘s landmark Paradise Lost documentaries, the filmmaker’s latest, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, will premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and as its synopsis on the Tiff site states “this new film revisits the case and presents surprising new information.”
Well, that new information is still ongoing as Berlinger and Sinofsky have rushed back down to Arkansas to capture what may be the final chapter of this story that’s been ongoing for the two filmmakers since 1996.
Regardless of the outcome today,...
- 8/21/2011
- by Jason Guerrasio
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
By Roger Friedman
HollywoodNews.com: Michael Fleming worked at Variety as a highly regarded reporter for 20 years. He’s always covered the Academy Awards. He doesn’t much like even going to parties, but he does it. Now his new boss, Nikki Finke, has made a big mistake. And the result is that Fleming will not be at the Kodak today.
Finke managed to get press credentials for Fleming pulled by the Academy. Why? She not only printed the entire list of the planned Oscar broadcast, but she then labeled it a “snorefest.” The story got picked up on the Drudge Report, which is like skywriting it all over the world and putting up billboards in every major city.
Finke finked out on the Oscars. It makes no sense–why does she want to destroy the main event of the business she covers? Yes, she is vicious and angry all the time,...
HollywoodNews.com: Michael Fleming worked at Variety as a highly regarded reporter for 20 years. He’s always covered the Academy Awards. He doesn’t much like even going to parties, but he does it. Now his new boss, Nikki Finke, has made a big mistake. And the result is that Fleming will not be at the Kodak today.
Finke managed to get press credentials for Fleming pulled by the Academy. Why? She not only printed the entire list of the planned Oscar broadcast, but she then labeled it a “snorefest.” The story got picked up on the Drudge Report, which is like skywriting it all over the world and putting up billboards in every major city.
Finke finked out on the Oscars. It makes no sense–why does she want to destroy the main event of the business she covers? Yes, she is vicious and angry all the time,...
- 2/28/2011
- by Roger Friedman
- Hollywoodnews.com
The Motion Picture Academy has banished a writer for the controversial blog Deadline.com from the Oscars ceremony in response to a series of posts revealing details about the upcoming show. Michael Fleming, a New York-based film blogger, had his press credential revoked after his boss, Deadline.com editor Nikki Finke, published a series of Oscar "spoilers," including a full rundown revealing everything planned for the February 27 telecast of the world's top film awards. The spoilers, which were initially published along with derogatory statements suggesting the telecast would be boring (though the derogatory language was later deleted), prompted the Academy to take action against the website. Academy spokesperson Leslie Unger declined to comment on the ousting, but sources confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Fleming's backstage press credential has been revoked as punishment for the breaches of secrecy surrounding the show. The spoilers prompted a backlash of sorts on Twitter,...
- 2/26/2011
- Filmicafe
While Variety TV editor MIchael Schneider was able to resist the approaches of The Hollywood Reporter, he could not say no to TV Guide, which he collected in his room when he was a kid. He's going there as their new La Bureau Chief. Thus Variety loses another valuable player. Luckily, deputy editor Cynthia Littleton, who is running the daily with Brian Cochrane under editor Tim Gray, knows TV and will carry on. And ace TV columnist/critic Brian Lowry is still on board. But Schneider is a huge loss. The paper just bolstered their film department (which lost Michael Fleming, Tatiana Siegel and Pamela McClintock in the past year) with The Wrap's Josh Dickey, who started this week. Now they'll have to do something about TV as well.
- 1/5/2011
- Thompson on Hollywood
Pamela McClintock was in a good mood the other night at a Sundance holiday party at the Soho House, and now I know why. McClintock, with whom I worked at Variety for two years, is one of the paper's senior reporters, a veteran pro who can report, break news, write fast, and get anyone on the phone on any topic. The Hollywood Reporter has hired her away as a senior film reporter, which is a serious loss for Variety, which over the past year has seen vet reporters Michael Fleming defect to Deadline, Tatiana Siegel move to Providence, and Dana Harris move to indieWIRE. Variety has let other talent go in a series of layoffs. Critic Todd McCarthy and party reporter Bill Higgins are now ...
- 12/11/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
There's a lot of movement in the media these days--including hordes of departing Newsweek staffers--and while journalism salaries and full-time jobs continue to decline, some folks are scoring big paydays. In Los Angeles, for instance, Janice Min's about-to-go-weekly The Hollywood Reporter is dangling fat salaries and contracts as the editorial director doubles staff size in a bid to win the cutthroat trade wars against Reed Business's Variety, Sharon Waxman's The Wrap, Emap's Screen International, and Jay Penske's Deadline. At stake: high-end eyeballs, premium endemic ads from studios and networks, and the Holy Grail, luxury ads. Min is chasing established names, luring Kim Masters, Alison Hope Weiner and Degen Pener as well as vet trade critic Todd McCarthy. Deadline scored Variety's Michael Fleming and the Lat''s online ...
- 10/8/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
It’s sort of beautiful, in its way. Like how a mushroom cloud is beautiful. Harry Knowles, commenting on rumors about something to do with whatever the hell is going on with Spider-Man these days and who the hell is gonna direct The Hobbit anyway actually has the nerve to chastise Variety for reporting speculation in these areas because “just because producers are meeting with actors, doesn't mean they're making final offers.” Which is true, of course. But that never stopped Ain’t It Cool News from “reporting” such things and building an Internet empire and shaping the form of reporting on movies in the 21st century. Thank you very much, Harry. But Knowles ain’t done: It is definitely fun to wonder about these mysterious studio deliberations. It is fun to publicly speculate and wonder aloud. But then, I thought that's what disqualified me from being an official journalist.
- 7/2/2010
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Deadline's Michael Fleming is reporting that director Bryan Bertino will be following up his debut on The Strangers (he wrote a script for The Strangers 2, but will not direct it) with the This Man, a film with a fascinating, potential-packed premise behind it. According to Fleming, the film is an adaptation of a web site Ghost House Pictures acquired from an Italian sociologist who, supposedly, created it as a global connection portal for people who claimed to have all seen the face of the man (pictured in the top right) in their dreams. The film, however, won't just be a chronicle of this sociologist's "discoveries", but about the man who has no idea that people the world over are seeing him in their nightmares.
The reason I sound doubtful as to the history of the project is because I don't think it's quite so fact-based as Fleming presents it to be.
The reason I sound doubtful as to the history of the project is because I don't think it's quite so fact-based as Fleming presents it to be.
- 5/6/2010
- by Peter Hall
- Cinematical
Buried in Anne Thompson's survey of the wreckage at Variety, find this startling revelation about the paper's former editor-in-chief and all-around Hollywood insider Peter Bart: "Bart [...] has lost his phone-answering, email-printing assistant and corporate BlackBerry. He used to type his correspondence, columns and blog entries (which he abandoned after Michael Fleming defected to Deadline.com) on a typewriter and have someone else put them on the computer. Now he files from home." Typewritten blog entries! What will he think of next? Anyway, Peter, welcome to the club. Let me know if you need help finding your way around that mouse. [Toh]...
- 3/11/2010
- Movieline
Right now, all eyes are on "Captain America: The First Avenger," which is the last lynchpin in the ongoing road to "The Avengers," and casting rumors are flying. Cinematical first broke the news that John Krasinski was the top choice for the role, and since then, we've seen the full list of names in consideration leak via Michael Fleming. Now word is that Krasinski has tested twice and that Marvel Studios is pretty much sold on him playing the part. And, predictably, fanboys are already gnashing their teeth and angrily posting messages in all caps with several exclamation points afterwards. At what...
- 3/9/2010
- Hitfix
All eyes are on "Captain America: The First Avenger," which is the last lynchpin in the ongoing road to "The Avengers," and casting rumors are flying. Cinematical first broke the news that John Krasinski was the top choice for the role, and since then, we've seen the full list of names in consideration leak via Michael Fleming.
Now word is that Krasinski has tested twice and that Marvel Studios is pretty much sold on him playing the part. And, predictably, fanboys are already gnashing their teeth and angrily posting messages in all caps with several exclamation points afterwards.
At what point does the fanboy nation realize that they are terrible at being casting directors?
Read the full story at HitFix.
Photo credit: Getty Images...
Now word is that Krasinski has tested twice and that Marvel Studios is pretty much sold on him playing the part. And, predictably, fanboys are already gnashing their teeth and angrily posting messages in all caps with several exclamation points afterwards.
At what point does the fanboy nation realize that they are terrible at being casting directors?
Read the full story at HitFix.
Photo credit: Getty Images...
- 3/9/2010
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
// It’s official. Momoa is the new Conan! Last week Michael Fleming on Deadline Hollywood reported that Jason Momoa and Kellan Lutz along with a third more well known name were contenders to topline Conan for Lionsgate. Who was the 3rd well known name which Michael Fleming didn’t mention? It was Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki. Padalecki worked with Marcus Nispel recently on the Friday the 13th reboot. Prior to Padalecki auditioning, Momoa, Lutz, and another unknown actor named John Brotherton went through a series of rigorous screen tests. From those original three, it was Momoa who emerged early on as Marcus Nispel’s top choice with Kellan Lutz a distant second. The folks at Lionsgate wanted to be extra sure, hence why they held off offering the part to Momoa and auditioning Jared Padalecki which took place this week. What was the game changer? Why the change of heart for the studio?...
- 1/22/2010
- LRMonline.com
Ex-Variety staffer and editor Amy Dawes attended Variety’s memorial service for the late great columnist Army Archerd Monday night, attended by Hollywood vets Steven Spielberg, Sidney Poitier, Sharon Stone, Carl Reiner, George Schlatter, Angie Dickinson, Tom Sherak, Arthur Hiller, Hugh O’Brian and Julian Meyers, as well as Variety’s Tim Gray, Peter Bart, Steve Gaydos and Bill Higgins, and ex-Variety staffers Michael Fleming, Michael Speier and Elizabeth Guider, now editor of The Hollywood Reporter. Here’s Dawes’ report and tribute: Journalists spend their lives telling everyone else’s stories, but we rarely hear their own. So it struck me as a rare privilege to get a glimpse into the personal life of renowned showbiz columnist Army Archerd during the tribute hosted by Variety last night at the Saban Theater …...
- 1/20/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
Executive Decision: Or should we call this one "They Were Expendable?" Early in the week, it was announced that the fourth Spider Man film to be directed by Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire was not, in fact, going to happen. Raimi had told the studio he could not deliver the film for its 2011 deadline, and studio head Amy Pascal and Some Dude from Marvel decided not to replace Raimi but rather to "reboot" the franchise à la Batman Begins, or something. Observe Nikki Finke and Michael Fleming, "Immediately, the news brought celebration and consternation equally to webslinger fanboys who say the reboot plot puts Peter Parker back in high school." I don't follow the ins and outs of studio heads and dealmaking as much as I used to, but it's always kind of interesting to observe the semiotics of such situations. In this case, not much outrage resulted.
- 1/15/2010
- MUBI
Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass will be opening this year's South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW), running March 12 through 20. At Twitch, Rodney Perkins, who saw a rough cut at Harry Knowles's Butt-Numb-a-Thon in Austin last month, calls the adaptation of Mark Millar's comic "an ultra-violent superhero homage that lives up to its name."
Aaron Katz (Dance Party USA, Quiet City) returns to SXSW with Cold Weather; click the title for the trailer.
Elektra Luxx, Sebastian Gutierrez's sequel to Women in Trouble, sees its world premiere in Austin. "Elektra Luxx ([Carla] Gugino) is a porn star whose life is turned upside down when she discovers she's pregnant," writes Variety's Michael Fleming. What's more, "Gutierrez is planning a third installment tentatively titled Women in Ecstasy."
James Franco's Saturday Night documents the making of an episode of SNL; Wes Orshoski spent three years making Lemmy, a doc on Moto...
Aaron Katz (Dance Party USA, Quiet City) returns to SXSW with Cold Weather; click the title for the trailer.
Elektra Luxx, Sebastian Gutierrez's sequel to Women in Trouble, sees its world premiere in Austin. "Elektra Luxx ([Carla] Gugino) is a porn star whose life is turned upside down when she discovers she's pregnant," writes Variety's Michael Fleming. What's more, "Gutierrez is planning a third installment tentatively titled Women in Ecstasy."
James Franco's Saturday Night documents the making of an episode of SNL; Wes Orshoski spent three years making Lemmy, a doc on Moto...
- 1/6/2010
- MUBI
The last few days have brought the kind of news that has hailed Bryan Singer as the returning triumphant hero, here to save the X-Men franchise from its malaise. He certainly set the right tone for the franchise while he was in charge of it (although some questioned his take on Superman). Variety spoke to Singer about the X-Men: First Class project and its precocious cast of characters. Article writer Michael Fleming compares the movie to this year’s Star Trek reboot, and Singer kind of echoes those sentiments: “This is the formative years of Xavier and Magneto, and the formation of the school and where there relationship took a wrong turn,” Singer said. “There is a romantic element, and some of the mutants from ‘X-Men’ will figure into the plot, though I don’t want to say which ones. There will be a lot of new mutants and a great villain.
- 12/18/2009
- by Jacob
- Beyond Hollywood
Can't say I'm exactly heartbroken to hear this. According to Michael Fleming, Steven Spielberg has notified 20th Century Fox that he won't be using the soundstages they've had reserved for him in the spring of 2010, as he is no longer interested in making "Harvey," based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Mary Chase. The play was famously filmed once before with Jimmy Stewart in the lead role of Elwood P. Dowd, a small-town laughing stock who carries on conversations with a six-foot-tall invisible rabbit named Harvey. And while I admire the play and the earlier film, I sincerely hope...
- 12/4/2009
- Hitfix
Paul Greengrass, who directed the second and third installments of the $945 million grossing franchise -- The Bourne Supermacy and The Bourne Ultimatum -- has confirmed that he will not be making the fourth film. Greengrass, who also directed the controversial 9/11 drama, United 93, issued this statement: "You won't find a more devoted supporter of the Bourne franchise than me. I will always be grateful to have been the caretaker to Jason Bourne over the course of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. I'm very proud of those films and feel they express everything I most passionately believe about the...
- 12/2/2009
- by EW staff
- EW - Inside Movies
Paramount Pictures scored a solid deal with Oren Peli's surprise horror hit "Paranormal Activity," and the studio has now acquired the distribution rights for the filmmaker's next low-budget project, "Area 51."
"Activity" cost less than $15,000 to make, but it grossed more than $100 million in the U.S. alone. "Area 51," according to Peter Bart and Michael Fleming, cost about $5 million. Peli wrote and directed the pic.
"51" tells the story of three teenagers who experience scary things when they reach Area 51 at the Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert. The film will follow the same style and structure of "Paranormal."...
"Activity" cost less than $15,000 to make, but it grossed more than $100 million in the U.S. alone. "Area 51," according to Peter Bart and Michael Fleming, cost about $5 million. Peli wrote and directed the pic.
"51" tells the story of three teenagers who experience scary things when they reach Area 51 at the Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert. The film will follow the same style and structure of "Paranormal."...
- 11/30/2009
- by Franck Tabouring
- screeninglog.com
Well, I can't say I'm surprised. Michael Fleming has confirmed that both Disney and McG have agreed to suspend work on the film. McG moves on to whatever he's going to do next, and Disney focuses on other projects. They really only pulled the trigger on this film in the first place, announcing the deals and making some noise about it, in order to derail another "20,000 Leagues" project. Disney has had a fairly healthy ownership of the title for about a half-century now, and I think they wanted to keep it a Disney property. Maybe this will kickstart that David...
- 11/17/2009
- Hitfix
Variety’s Michael Fleming has the news: While speculation is running high on who’ll host the Oscars, one name that can be crossed off the list is Hugh Jackman… The thesp, who’s starring on Broadway with Daniel Craig in the drama “A Steady Rain,” quietly turned down the job within the past few weeks, sources said. Jackman drew [...]...
- 10/30/2009
- by Ryan Adams
- AwardsDaily.com
For quite a while now -- at least, ever since the financial success of Spider-Man 3, a film that included the villain Venom (played by Topher Grace), to get a spin-off movie off the ground for Spider-Man's sharp-toothed nemesis. And now we might have some new developments. In April, Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had said that they had been commissioned by Sony to write a script and pitch their idea for the Marvel Comics spin-off. When we talked to them last week, they gave us the impression that they were still working on the project, prepping a second draft for the studio. As far as anyone in the blogosphere could tell, the production of Venom was stalled. Until now... In an interesting twist of events, Michael Fleming has posted an article at BFDealMemo stating that Sony is now in talks with Spider-Man 4 writer Gary Ross. According to the report, the...
- 10/7/2009
- by Neil Miller
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Jeff Bridges is known for many roles, but perhaps none are more iconic than his role as Jeffrey "the Dude" Lebowski in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski. So when you hear the Dude may play a role originated by the Duke it just somehow seems like bigger news than it may actually be. That's the word, though, from Michael Fleming at Variety as Jeff Bridges is said to be in discussions with Paramount to star in Joel and Ethan Coen's redo of True Grit, a film that starred John Wayne as a one-eyed, broken-down marshal in this 1969 adaptation of Charles Portis's bestselling novel. The Coen feature is said to have been redrafted by the brothers to be more faithful to the Portis novel. The story centers on a 14-year-old girl who tags along with an aging U.S. marshal, Rooster Cogburn, and another lawman to track the outlaw who killed her father.
- 9/11/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Photo: Warner Bros. Variety has published an interesting piece with regards to the rights for Terminator 5. Apparently the rights to the follow-up to the upcoming release of Terminator Salvation aren't as yet secured and in all likelihood it seems MGM will be the studio to jump in where they decided not to for Salvation. MGM has a 30-day right of first refusal to finance and distribute the fifth "Terminator" film, a right earned through the settlement of a lawsuit between the studio and Halcyon partners Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson. The 30-day drama will begin once Halcyon delivers its demands to MGM along with a first draft of the screenplay for the Terminator 5. Variety's Michael Fleming has sources telling him MGM has every intention of making a serious play for the franchise, potentially trumping Warner Bros., which is distributing Terminator Salvation as well as Terminator 3 in 2003. MGM passed...
- 5/14/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
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