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DreamWorks Animation Gives ‘Turbo’ Boost to Macau
8 hours ago
New DreamWorks Animation feature “Turbo” will have its Asian regional premiere in Macau on July 13, a few days ahead of its North American commercial release on July 17.
The picture will be screened at a special event at the Venetian Theater, within the giant Venetian Macao casino resort complex, as part of the ongoing launch of The DreamWorks Experience at Cotai Strip Resorts.
Opening on July 1, The DreamWorks Experience is a family-oriented attraction featuring characters from the Dwa movie stable.
The Experience is a joint venture between Dwa and Hong Kong stock market-listed casino operator Sands China. It will include daily parades and meet-and-greets with characters, including Po from “Kung Fu Panda”; Shrek, Fiona and Puss in Boots from “Shrek”; Alex the lion, King Julien and the penguins from “Madagascar”; and Toothless and Hiccup from “How to Train Your Dragon.” From the fourth quarter of 2013, a sound and light show and »
- Variety Staff
Film Review: ‘The Lone Ranger’
8 hours ago
In classic Westerns, the hero rides off into the sunset, but in “The Lone Ranger,” it’s Tonto we see shambling off toward Monument Valley as the credits roll. No longer simply the sidekick, Tonto gets top billing in Disney’s extravagant but exhausting reboot, whose vaguely revisionist origin story partners a heavily face-painted Johnny Depp with the blandly handsome Armie Hammer. Directed by “Pirates of the Caribbean’s” Gore Verbinski, this over-the-top oater delivers all the energy and spectacle audiences have come to expect from a Jerry Bruckheimer production, but sucks out the fun in the process, ensuring sizable returns but denying the novelty value required to support an equivalent franchise.
It’s a testament to Depp’s Lon Chaney-like ability to reinvent himself from role to role that so much of Bruckheimer’s quarter-of-a-billion-dollar gamble rides on whether he can bring some of that Jack Sparrow mojo »
- Peter Debruge
New L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti Vows to End Runaway Production, Hire ‘Film Czar’
10 hours ago
Los Angeles’ newly inaugurated mayor, Eric Garcetti, pledged to be a “salesman-in-chief” for the city, including “ending runaway film and TV production for good.”
After being sworn in at a ceremony on the steps of City Hall on Sunday evening, Garcetti announced a series of goals for his term, much of them focusing on the city’s business climate. The flight of production from the Los Angeles area — from major feature films to NBC’s “Tonight Show” — was part of his focus during the campaign for mayor.
“I’ll lobby hard in Sacramento, and at the county level … and I’ll set an example in L.A., by working to eliminate the tangle of fees and rules that make filming here more like ‘Les Miserables,’ instead of ‘Fast and Furious’ like it ought to be,” Garcetti said, before quipping about the showbiz references in his prepared speech, “We were going to go with ‘Happy Feet, »
- Ted Johnson
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