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9 articles from 2009

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Warner Brothers, Paramount Pass On Soderbergh’s Moneyball

23 June 2009 10:30 AM, PDT | From /Film | See recent /Film news

Over the weekend, the biggest news in Hollywood was that Sony chief Amy Pascal had put the brakes on Steven Soderbergh's baseball stats movie Moneyball, which had been set to begin shooting yesterday with Brad Pitt in the lead. Soderbergh was given the option to shop the movie to other studios over the weekend -- 'limited turnaround' was the phrase used -- and now thanks to the La Times, we know that Warner Brothers and Paramount both passed. What it means for the movie, after the jump. After Friday, when Paramount's Film Group President John Lesher was axed, there was little to no chance that the film would find a home there. But Warner Brothers wasn't interested, either. Both studios cited concerns about the nearly $60m budget and the niche appeal. A baseball stats movie is going to have a small audience even in America, and the sport doesn't draw overseas.

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Russ Fischer

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Transformers Gets Off To A Solid Start Overseas

22 June 2009 12:51 PM, PDT | From Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news

The opening of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in Japan and the U.K. raked in an estimated $20 million -- beating the opening take for the original movie by 71 percent, according to Britain's Empire magazine. Reviewing the film in the London Independent, critic Nicholas Barber wrote that the movie "is the pretentious, nonsensical, sexist, jingoistic, militaristic, CGI-dependent, product-placement-packed, hectically edited, punishingly loud, wearyingly long, eye-wateringly expensive, and, I predict, phenomenally profitable exemplar of everything that is most repulsive about Hollywood today." In the Mirror, David Edwards wrote similarly, "Big, loud and definitely not clever, it's a giant, lumbering idiot of a movie that, were it not for all the explosions, would send the most devoted action fans to sleep." The movie, which opens domestically on Wednesday, had been greenlit by John Lesher and Brad Weston, who were ousted from their positions on Friday and replaced by Adam Goodman. Moreover, Paramount's Transformers release came at about the same time it was reported that director Michael Bay had sent a hotly worded letter to top Paramount executives, including Lesher and Weston, complaining about the publicity campaign for the movie. "I cannot figure if this is a cash issue with your company? Is there some clever idea why we are not spending? I'm not sure," he said. Meanwhile, Viacom, the corporate parent of Paramount, has denied increasing speculation that it is negotiating a sale of the studio -- possibly to competitor Universal. "Paramount is not for sale," a Viacom spokesman told the New York Post.

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Why Did Brad Pitt, Steven Soderbergh, and Moneyball Strike Out?

22 June 2009 7:30 AM, PDT | From Movieline | See recent Movieline news

Speculation surges this morning as to why Sony would pull the plug on Moneyball, Steven Soderbergh and Brad Pitt's adaptation of the best-selling baseball tome, mere days before it was scheduled to begin principal photography. One theory suggests studio boss Amy Pascal wasn't happy with Soderbergh's latest script draft; another says she simply wanted to prove she could say "no" in the deadliest economic era in generations. (A strategy that worked out so well for John Lesher at Paramount, but I digress.) There's something to both ideas, but I can think of at least a few others that would make my own inner mogul flash the hold sign.

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Michael Bay attacks studio over Transformers marketing

22 June 2009 7:20 AM, PDT | From The Geek Files | See recent The Geek Files news

The Director of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has blasted bosses at Paramount Pictures over the marketing of the sci-fi sequel.

Michael Bay (pictured above, on far right, alongside Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox at the film's London premiere) criticised the studio's promotional efforts in a memo sent on May 4 and published on TMZ.

In the scathing email, Bay complained that there was no buzz surrounding the Transformers film.

He told executives: "You all talk so glowingly about Transformers being the movie of the summer but unfortunately this has not gotten to the public. I still run into so many people even this weekend with kids that ask 'is that movie coming out this year'.

"Right now we are not an event. We are just a sequel, which is very different. There is no anticipation. Remember back to Spider-Man 2 - it was everywhere,'' he wrote.

He said print

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David Bentley

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Analysis: When is the drama at Paramount going to end?

20 June 2009 3:11 PM, PDT | From Hitfix.com | See recent Hitfix news

  I have nothing personal against Brad Grey.  I've never met the guy, but after yesterday's dramatic development's at Paramount Pictures, a question that is no doubt percolating through Hollywood's elite has to be asked: should Brad Grey still be the studio's CEO?On Friday, Grey dismissed his second president of the studio, John Lesher, in four years.  This follows his axing of Donald DeLine upon his arrival in 2005 and the short reign of Gail "in over her head" Berman which ended in 2007.  Lesher, a former Grey colleague who had previously spearheaded the studio's prestige fare with the launch of...

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Reports: John Lesher, Vantage Staff Out at Paramount

19 June 2009 6:40 PM, PDT | From Movieline | See recent Movieline news

John Lesher's short, turbulent ride in the cockpit of the Paramount Film Group has reportedly come to an end today, and with it, that of the co-president of production, Brad Weston. Production boss Adam Goodman is set to replace Lesher. Observers detected engine trouble for months now, not so long after Lesher's prodigious spending drove Paramount Vantage to awards-season glory (No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, An Inconvenient Truth, Babel) and massive cash woes. Nikki Finke, who broke the story, points to Lesher's indecision on the greenlighting front (and inefficiency in developing fare including Beverly Hills Cop 4) among the primary reasons for his ouster, but off he goes with a production deal on the lot. Weston, too, will work his connections with a production deal at the 'Mount.

Meanwhile, another unconfirmed report from inside the studio notes that the entire remaining Vantage staff is out as well,

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Lesher Out, Goodman Upped at Paramount

19 June 2009 5:02 PM, PDT | From The Wrap | See recent The Wrap news

Co-chief of production chief Brad Weston shifting gears.

By Sharon Waxman

On the eve of the opening of its huge summer blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," Paramount fired two of its top film executives on Friday, and promoted Adam Goodman to head the studio's film group instead.

 

John Lesher was fired as President of Paramount’s Film Group on Friday afternoon, as was the co-chief of production Brad Weston. Both have been offered producton deals on the Pa...

Lew Harris

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Michael Moore’s new film about capitalism opens October 2, 2009

22 May 2009 1:50 PM, PDT | From The Scorecard Review | See recent Scorecard Review news

Here is the official news release about the next film from documentary filmmaker, and Rush Limbaugh’s best friend, Michael Moore.

Overture Films and Paramount Vantage have announced that Oscar-winner Michael Moore’s new documentary feature will be released domestically on October 2, 2009. The as-yet-untitled film will explore the root causes of the global economic meltdown and take a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore has described as “the biggest robbery in the history of this country” – the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions.

On this, the 20-year anniversary of his masterpiece Roger & Me, Moore returns to the issue that began his career: the disastrous impact that corporate dominance and out-of-control profit motives have on the lives of Americans and citizens of the world. But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene far wider than Flint,

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Jeff Bayer

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Michael Moore's New Documentary Gets a Release Date

21 May 2009 9:25 AM, PDT | From MovieWeb | See recent MovieWeb news

Overture Films and Paramount Vantage have announced that Oscar-winner Michael Moore's new documentary feature will be released domestically on October 2, 2009. The as-yet-untitled film will explore the root causes of the global economic meltdown and take a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore has described as "the biggest robbery in the history of this country" - the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions.

On this, the 20-year anniversary of his masterpiece Roger & Me, Moore returns to the issue that began his career: the disastrous impact that corporate dominance and out-of-control profit motives have on the lives of Americans and citizens of the world. But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene far wider than Flint, Michigan.

Says Moore: "The wealthy, at some point, decided they didn't have enough wealth. They wanted more -- a lot more.

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2009 | 2008 | 2004

9 articles from 2009

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