Magnolia Takes US Rights to Fernando Meirelles’ "360"

 

The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today they have acquired US rights to 360, the sweeping new film from two acclaimed artists: director Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) and writer Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon). With a stellar international cast that includes Rachel Weisz, Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, Ben Foster, Jamel Debbouze and Moritz Bleibtreu, 360 is a moving and exciting dramatic thriller that dazzlingly weaves together the stories of an array of people from disparate social backgrounds through their intersecting relationships.
 
360 was produced by Andrew Eaton and David Linde with Chris Hanley, Danny Krausz and Emanuel Michael. The European premiere for the film took place earlier this month when it received the prestigious honor of being chosen as the Opening Night Gala Film at the BFI 55th London Film Festival.
 
A truly international film, 360 was shot on location in Vienna, Paris, London, Bratislava and Rio de Janeiro.  Jude Law plays a travelling businessman who is contemplating a liaison with a prostitute;  Rachel Weisz, a married woman  who is breaking off a relationship with a younger man; Anthony Hopkins, a man searching for his missing daughter; Ben Foster, a sex offender recently released from prison.
 
"Fernando Meirelles and Peter Morgan are two exceptional talents that have crafted a unique and truly special picture," said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. "360 is a stunningly well made film, and a fantastic showcase for some of the most talented actors from around the world."
 
Said producers Andrew Eaton and David Linde: “From the beginning, Eamonn and his team expressed an immense amount of commitment, both creative and financial, to the film. We’re thrilled that this truly global film has found its American home at Magnolia.”
 
Magnolia plans a theatrical release in 2012 in all major US markets, bolstered by a prominent film festival presence leading up to release. 360 will be distributed through Magnolia’s successful Ultra VOD program.
 
The deal was negotiated for Magnolia by SVP of Acquisitions Dori Begley and Head of Legal and Business Affairs Chris Matson, with UTA Independent Film Group for the filmmakers.

AMC Hungry for More Walking Dead – Renews It for Third Season

Ever since AMC decided to be dicks to Frank Darabont firing the guy responsible for their legitimately successful horror series (Great as Mad Men and Breaking Bad are, they're not ratings-winners), many have been looking to hate on The Walking Dead's sophomore season.

Not that there weren't issues with season one. That season ender with Noah Emmerich was a real divider amongst fans. But there's been some fear the epic zombie-apocalyptic show will be another "One Season Wonder" where the freshman year everyone has a love affair with it and then the moment the second year starts, reality sets in. You can look to recent examples like Heroes (Remember when everyone bitched about that?) and Glee.

Two episodes in and the overall reception seems to be the premiere lacked focus given its extra running length (Read: it sucked) and last Sunday's episode was a considerable improvement. Nevertheless the ratings are still kicking ass and AMC has officially renewed The Walking Dead for a third season.

We still have eleven more episodes before we can even think about next season. Hopefully the quality doesn't continue wobbling and they're able to manage without Darabont.

Harry Potter Getting Shoved into the WB Vaults

Disney has a long history of pulling this "We're throwing the classics you grew up loving back into the vault and throwing away the key never to be released again!" Then a few years down the line when you've collected a hunger to revisit Bambi or Pinocchio, the Mouse miraculously puts them back on the home video market where they go on to earn a fortune - rinse, lather and repeat.

Warner Brothers has been paying close attention and announced they plan to do the same for their lucrative Harry Potter franchise:

"Harry Potter, the #1 motion picture franchise of all time, will soon disappear from shelves, as Warner Bros. stops shipping all Harry Potter theatrical film titles (including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ – Part 2, and Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection) as of December 29, 2011 (moratorium does not include digital – Electronic Sell-Through & VOD – or games). The Harry Potter franchise has grossed more than $12.1 billion for Warner Bros. Entertainment – with $7 billion at the worldwide box office for Warner Bros. Pictures and $5.1 billion for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment."

Funny thing is the studio has pushed out so many DVDs, Blu-Rays and so on, it's not like you, good consumer, will immediately see the effects after December 29. You'll still see tons of copies filling shelves at your local Wal-Mart and EBay.

Before you know it, WB will throw all eight Harry Potters back in print with superior picture/sound transfers and more supplementary features. And we'll all buy them. Because we're suckers.

New Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Poster!

Yahoo! Movies

The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in a global terrorist bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization's name. No help, no contact, off the grid. You have never seen a mission grittier and more intense than this.

Michael Shannon Promises Differences in The Man of Steel Compared to Earlier Films

We know The Man of Steel will be a new interpretation of the origin story; Zack Snyder's 2013 answer to Richard Donner's 1978 Superman: the Movie, if you will.

Oh sure there are similarities like another chubby guy as Supes' pops, General Zod as the heavy and set pictures leaking the tombstones of certain adoptive fathers played by Kevin Costner. But there will be differences, kids, we swear! From the looks of those same set pics, Henry Cavill will look like Hugh Jackman's Wolverine stand-in at some point during the story, Amy Adams looks less Margot Kidder, more...Amy Adams and of course there's Laurence Fishburne playing the first non-Caucasian Perry White for you racist assholes out there.

According to Michael Shannon (aka Zod) during this sit-down chat with Sky Sports you can also expect differences with the set-up for the Phantom Zone (Translation: there won't be one):

Well, he doesn't exactly say there won't be another floating mirror prison. But the thing is his statements gel with what we’d heard would go down. No Phantom Zone per say, more like "Krypton is to Earth what England was to Australia" as we were told with Zod acting more as a Kryptonian refugee in search for other survivors...like our red-and-blue suit-wearing hero.

In that case, Shannon is correct. That is different!

New "Girl With The Dragon Tatoo" Poster

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first film in Columbia Pictures’ three-picture adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s literary blockbuster The Millennium Trilogy. Directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, the film is based on the first novel in the trilogy, which altogether have sold 50 million copies in 46 countries and become a worldwide phenomenon. The screenplay is by Steven Zaillian.

MouthTapedShut

WB Smells Money – Hires Writer for Sherlock Holmes 3

Two months shy of release and Warner Brothers is confident everyone will flock to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows when it opens on December 16. Doesn't matter if it's because we all legitimately want to see Guy Ritchie's sequel to his popular Robert Downey Jr./Jude Law-starring action-oriented Sir Arthur Conan Doyle affair or we're willing to go anywhere offering indoor heating – a case of all of the above, I'd say.

THR reports the studio, in a move echoing what they did the summer before Sherlock Holmes opened on Christmas Day 2009, is already thinking on Movie #3 with the hiring of Drew Pearce for writing duties.

Pearce is currently on rewrites for that other Downey franchise and I'm sure the conversation went something like, "Hey when you're done with Iron Man 3 I got this other thing..."

Weekend Box Office - October 21-23

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Paranormal Activity 3 - $54 million

2.  Real Steel - $11.3 million

3.  Footloose - $10.8 million

4.  The Three Musketeers - $8.8 million

5.  The Ides of March - $4.9 million

6.  Dolphin Tale - $4.2 million

7.  Moneyball - $4 million

8.  Johnny English Reborn - $3.8 million

9.  The Thing - $3.1 million

10.  50/50 - $2.8 million

So I think it goes without saying that at this time next year, we'll be writing a similar article about Paranormal Activity 4. 

Defying the rule that all horror movie franchises dwindle at the box office with every sequel, Paranormal Activity 3 ruled the box office big time this weekend, earning a franchise-best $54 million.  The found-footage thriller (which I will always thank for finally beating down the Saw franchise) started strong out of the gate, earning $8 million at midnight screenings to go on to $26 million on Friday alone.  Obviously, it's totally front-loaded, but with a reported $5 million budget, it's already made its money back nearly 10 times over.  Even more than that, when you count in the $26 million it made overseas as well.

So again, we'll be seeing another Paranormal Activity movie this time next year, that's for sure.

The weekend's other new releases paled in comparison, with Johnny English Reborn outright flopping with just $3.8 million, and The Three Musketeers only generating a mild interest with $8.8 million.  Both have done gangbusters overseas - with Three Musketeers already earning $64 million, and Johnny English earning $104 million. 

Second and third place looked almost like a repeat of last weekend, as Real Steel took second with $11.3 million, and the Footloose remake taking third with $10.8 million.  Both only dropped 30% from last week, so they remained a fairly popular destination for audiences this weekend (yes, even Footloose).  The remake of The Thing, however was not popular at all.  That dropped 63% from last weekend. 

Next weekend should be a good one for Puss in Boots (admit it, this is hilarious), and will also see the releases of Johnny Depp's The Rum Diary, as well as the Shakespeare-was-a-fraud thriller Anonymous. 

Magnolia Pictures Takes US Rights To Sarah Polley’s "Take This Waltz"

The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today they have acquired US rights to TAKE THIS WALTZ, the eagerly anticipated new film written, directed and produced by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and acclaimed actress Sarah Polley. Starring two-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby and Sarah Silverman, TAKE THIS WALTZ is an insightful, sophisticated film about a young woman struggling to choose between a husband that she loves and another man that she has fallen passionately in love with. Magnolia did the deal with TF1 International.
 
TAKE THIS WALTZ was produced by Susan Cavan along with Sarah Polley, and premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival. Michelle Williams plays twenty-eight-year-old Margot, happily married to Lou (Seth Rogen), a good-natured cookbook author. But when Margot meets Daniel (Luke Kirby), a handsome artist that lives across the street, their mutual attraction is undeniable. Warmly human, funny and bittersweet, TAKE THIS WALTZ deftly avoids romantic clichés and paints an unusually true and unsentimental portrait of adult relationships.
 
Magnolia plans a robust theatrical release in early summer 2012 in all major US markets, bolstered by a prominent film festival presence in regional fests leading up to the release. Additionally, TAKE THIS WALTZ will be distributed through Magnolia’s successful Ultra VOD program.
 
“With TAKE THIS WALTZ, Sarah Polley has more than lived up to the promise of the wonderful Away From Her, and proven herself a masterful, sensitive chronicler of the human condition,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “The entire cast is revelatory in unexpected ways and we think audiences will be surprised and delighted by this very special film.”
 
Said Sarah Polley: "Magnolia has distributed some of my favourite films of the last few years. It is an honour to have our film counted among their incredible list of titles. Their enthusiasm for the film is very exciting and we can't wait to begin working with them."
 
The deal was negotiated for Magnolia by SVP of Acquisitions Dori Begley and Head of Legal and Business Affairs Chris Matson, with Gregory Chambet of TF1 International.

"Hostel 3" Trailer

High stakes gambling takes on a sinister new meaning in this third chapter of the terrifying HOSTEL series. While attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas, four friends are enticed by two sexy escorts to join them at a private party way off the Strip. Once there, they are horrified to find themselves the subjects of a perverse game of torture, where members of the Elite Hunting Club are hosting the most sadistic show in town.