Showing posts with label Feature Film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feature Film. Show all posts
Feature film about the Battle of New Orleans back on track
"The Battle of New Orleans," a long-stalled historical epic recounting events leading up to and during the historic 1815 clash, is again moving forward. "Kidnap" producer Joey Tufaro and his locally based Gold Star Films have been bought on board to co-produce the film with project founders Fred and Ken Atchity. Their hope is to bring the film before cameras in 2018 and release it into theaters by the end of 2019.
The Atchity brothers first announced their plans for the film -- which they envisioned in the vein of 2000's "The Patriot" and 1995's "Braveheart" -- in January 2015, the battle's bicentennial year. Their ambitious outlook called for filming to begin in 2015 with a release date as early as 2016. Both dates came and went, however, with little movement on the project.
Now, though, with Tufaro and his Gold Star Films partner Todd Trosclair on board -- both fresh off the success of the release in July of "Kidnap," an action-thriller starring Halle Berry -- the project has been given new life. According to Tufaro, negotiations are underway to attract big-name actors to the project, and possibly a high-profile actor-director, although he said it's too early in the process to reveal the names being sought.
"The Battle of New Orleans" will be filmed in the New Orleans area and will be based on author Ron Drez's nonfiction book "The War of 1812: Conflict and Deception," which recounts the against-all-odds story behind the battle. "What most people don't realize about the Battle of New Orleans is how pivotal it actually was in deciding the fate of our young nation," Tufaro said.
Fought as part of the War of 1812 -- which has been characterized as the American Revolution 2.0 -- the Battle of New Orleans saw Gen. Andrew Jackson commanding a ragtag force cobbled together of several factions, from American Indians and Cajun farmers to free men of color and the pirate Jean Lafitte's band of privateers, in an effort to defend the city against the British. The two sides met just downriver from the French Quarter on Jan. 8, 1815, at Chalmette Battlefield. By the time the dust had settled, the British had suffered an estimated 2,600 casualties, compared to about a dozen for the American side, making for a decisive American victory.
While the battle was famously fought after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed to end the war, word of the treaty hadn't yet gotten to the battlefield. Consequently, generations of schoolchildren were taught the battle was unnecessary. But there are those -- including Drez -- who speculate that, had the British won the war and taken New Orleans, the treaty might have been immediately nullified by the British, who would have then taken control of the city -- and thus the Mississippi River.
"Together, (Jackson's forces) defeated the British armada, which enabled The Treaty of Ghent to be ratified by Congress, thus ensuring the continuing independence of the United States of America," Tufaro said.
The resumption of progress on the Atchity brothers' "Battle of New Orleans" project is particularly timely. First, since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has repeatedly cited Jackson as one of his political idols. A portrait of Jackson hangs in Trump's Oval Office, and the president visited Jackson's tomb in Nashville, Tenn., in March.
It also, however, comes at a time in which Jackson's legacy -- including his championing of the brutal Indian Removal Act as president -- has drawn renewed scrutiny. Amid recent calls for removal of Confederate monuments around the country, some have called for Jackson's iconic statue in New Orleans to be removed and his name scrubbed from the public square dedicated in his honor. (For the record, Jackson was never a part of the Confederacy; he died 15 years before the Civil War began.)
Tafaro, however, shrugged off any potential for controversy, pointing out that -- irrespective of Jackson's legacy in other areas -- the battle marked a pivotal point not just in New Orleans' history but in American history.
"Andrew Jackson, like most well-known historical figures, had a polarizing personality and many of his policies would be controversial given today's political climate," Tufaro said Monday (Aug. 21). "Our film concentrates on the tremendous sacrifices he and his men made to shape our country's landscape for generations of Americans to come."
"The Battle of New Orleans" won't be the first film to focus on Jackson, Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans. In 1938, Cecil B. DeMille directed "The Buccaneer," starring Fredric March as Lafitte and Hugh Sothern as Jackson. Two decades later, actor Anthony Quinn directed a 1958 remake, with Charlton Heston playing Jackson and Yul Brynner as Lafitte.
The script for a competing "Battle of New Orleans" project, penned by Daniel Kunka, has also been circulating in Hollywood in recent years, even landing in 2015 on the Black List, an annual ranking of the most liked unproduced screenplays in Hollywood.
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Sandra Siegal's The Charnel House Opens Today!
"The
Charnel House took us by surprise. It has an original story and some truly
stellar acting!"
"...an
original and very well-told story."
Book your tickets asap at, http://www.laemmle.com/films/41439
Rent or buy it at iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-charnel-house/id1163401550
The first production photo from MEG!
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| (Daniel Smith) |
Jason Statham is gonna need a bigger boat.
The giant shark movie Meg began production in New Zealand this week, and Warner Bros. has released the first photo from the project.
Meg sees Statham as a rescue diver named Jonas Taylor. He’s enlisted to save a deep-sea crew left stranded at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean by a 75-foot-long shark called the Megalodon, a prehistoric creature he encountered before. Li Bingbing (Transformers: Age of Extinction) plays Suyin, the daughter of the oceanographer who recruits Jonas, and the two must work together to confront the beast.
MEG'S Long, Long Journey to the Screen
Giant Shark Movie ‘Meg’ Had A Ridiculously Complex Journey To Screens
Macmillan
Meg first pinged Hollywood’s radar in 1997, when the thriller of the same name from prolific thriller author Steve Alten first hit bookstores. Alten’s book was practically designed for Hollywood: It followed Navy SEAL and diving expert Jonas Taylor, who stumbles over a giant shark in the Marianas Trench and is immediately dismissed as a crackpot. He goes back to help retrieve a submersible and a series of accidents unleashes the giant shark on the ocean. Alten’s mix of old-school monster movie and Tom Clancy-esque technothriller was unique, and he’s kept returning to the concept with five other novels.
Alten’s book was, quite literally, optioned before it was printed. Alten’s agent used the plot to tempt Disney into optioning the novel and then turned that around to get Alten a publishing deal. But before Disney could start building sharks, Deep Blue Sea, a movie about sharks with human intelligence eating Samuel L. Jackson, went into production, so Disney held off. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Renny Harlin’s gleeful B-movie did okay at the box office, but wasn’t the globe-spanning hit Disney was hoping to see. Disney threw Meg back, but it didn’t stay in for long, as in 2004, the producers behind Hellboy, along with the editor of CHUD.com at the time, Nick Nunziata, optioned it for Guillermo Del Toro to direct.
Unfortunately, as fans of his many, many abandoned projects can tell you, Del Toro’s eyes are often bigger than his stomach. So, in 2007, it went to another filmmaker, Speed director Jan de Bont. De Bont, by the way, hasn’t directed a movie since 2003’s Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life, and in 2010, Meg was released into the wild yet again.
Aside from a brief mention in 2011 from Alten that the movie was back on track, Meg was dormant until 2015, when it was announced Eli Roth was taking over directorial duties. What changed?
The short answer was that China was interested. Just as The Rock and Matt Damon have turned up in Chinese-funded projects, Meg will largely be paid for by obscure production company Gravity Pictures, which will distribute it in China. But even with the funding on lock, there was still the matter of finding a director, as Roth left and was replaced by National Treasure director Jon Turteltaub.
It seems Meg has finally escaped production hell. In addition to Wilson, Orange is the New Black star Ruby Rose and Chinese megastar/pop singer Fan Bingbing have signed on, and Meg is on track to arrive in March 2018. But, of course, if the giant shark has learned anything from Hollywood, it’s that even a sure thing may be harder to make than it looks.
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Ruby Rose in Talks to Join Jason Statham in MEG!
Ruby Rose is in negotiations to join Fan Bingbing and Jason Statham in MEG.
Jon Turteltaub, best known as helmer of the National Treasure movies, is directing the movie, which has a March 2, 2018, release date.
Statham leads the ensemble, playing a former Naval captain and expert diver recruited to undertake a deep-sea mission to rescue Chinese scientists under attack from a terrifying threat: a Carcharodon Megalodon, the 70-foot, 40-ton prehistoric kin to the great white shark.
Rose will play Jaxx, described as a kick-ass engineering genius and member of the marine research team.
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Jon Turteltaub, best known as helmer of the National Treasure movies, is directing the movie, which has a March 2, 2018, release date.
Statham leads the ensemble, playing a former Naval captain and expert diver recruited to undertake a deep-sea mission to rescue Chinese scientists under attack from a terrifying threat: a Carcharodon Megalodon, the 70-foot, 40-ton prehistoric kin to the great white shark.
Rose will play Jaxx, described as a kick-ass engineering genius and member of the marine research team.
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Jessica McNamee signs on as the female lead in the shark thriller Meg alongside Jason Statham and Chinese actress Bingbing Fan.
(Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Former Sirens actress Jessica McNamee has joined the upcoming shark blockbuster Meg as the female lead, EW has confirmed.
McNamee, who also costars in the upcoming CHiPs big screen adaptation, will star opposite Jason Statham in the Warner Bros. film. Based on Steve Alten’s 1997 novel MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror, the story will follow a former naval captain (Statham) who is tasked with rescuing a group of Chinese scientists trapped in their underwater observation program in the Mariana Trench. The title of the film is derived from “Megalodon,” the ancient shark-like creature.
Jon Turtletaub (National Treasure) will direct the film, which has an expected release date of March 2, 2018.
McNamee can also be seen in the upcoming Emma Stone dramedy Battle of the Sexes.
MEG Production Set to Begin August 29, 2016!
At the same time, Warner Bros. has set a March 2, 2018, release date for the pic, which will be directed Jon Turteltaub, best known as helmer of the National Treasure movies. Gravity will distribute the film in China, while Warners will release it throughout the rest of the world.
Dean Georgaris wrote the latest script for the project, which has been swimming upstream for 20 years in order to adapt the book by Steve Alten. It centers on a Carcharodon Megalodon, the 70-foot, 40-ton prehistoric kin to the great white shark.
The studio put forth the plot of Meg as such:
An international underwater observation program, led by Chinese scientists, is under attack by an unknown danger, and its deep-sea submersible lies disabled and trapped at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. With time running out, former Naval Captain and expert deep sea diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) is recruited by Dr. Zhang Suyin, lead oceanographer of the program, for what is likely a suicide mission.
Years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying threat, which forced him to abort his mission and abandon half his crew, resulting in disgrace and a dishonorable discharge. Now, Taylor must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below … bringing him face to face once more with the apex predator of all time.
Fan’s next English-language movie is Skiptrace, the Renny Harlin-directed action movie starring Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville.
“Meg” Adds Cast
At the same time, Warner Bros. has set a March 2, 2018, release date for the pic, which will be directed Jon Turteltaub, best known as helmer of the National Treasure movies. Gravity will distribute the film in China, while Warners will release it throughout the rest of the world.
Dean Georgaris wrote the latest script for the project, which has been swimming upstream for 20 years in order to adapt the book by Steve Alten. It centers on a Carcharodon Megalodon, the 70-foot, 40-ton prehistoric kin to the great white shark.
The studio put forth the plot of Meg as such:
An international underwater observation program, led by Chinese scientists, is under attack by an unknown danger, and its deep-sea submersible lies disabled and trapped at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. With time running out, former Naval Captain and expert deep sea diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) is recruited by Dr. Zhang Suyin, lead oceanographer of the program, for what is likely a suicide mission.
Years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying threat, which forced him to abort his mission and abandon half his crew, resulting in disgrace and a dishonorable discharge. Now, Taylor must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below … bringing him face to face once more with the apex predator of all time.
‘Meg’ Gets 2018 Release Date
BabiradPicture/REX/Shutterstock
Warner Bros. has set a March 2, 2018, release date for its prehistoric giant shark thriller “Meg.”
“National Treasure” helmer Jon Turtletaub will direct the film and Jason Statham will star with Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.The film will be co-financed by Flagship Entertainment; Gravity Pictures, a division of China Media Capital (CMC); and Warner Bros. Gravity Pictures will distribute the film in China, with Warner Bros. handling the film throughout the rest of the world.
The story is based on Steve Alten’s novel “MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror,” published in 1997 with the title derived from the ancient Megalodon species that has survived while being trapped in the Mariana Trench due to a barrier of cold water.
The “Meg” movie is centered on an international underwater observation program, led by Chinese scientists, being under attack by an unknown danger with its deep-sea submersible disabled and trapped at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Statham will portray a former Naval captain and expert deep-sea diver, who’s recruited for a likely suicide mission — even though he faced the predator years before and was forced him to abort his mission and abandon half his crew.
Statham came on to the project in April. Principal photography will begin later this year in China and New Zealand.
MEG Got her Man!
BabiradPicture/REX/Shutterstock
Jason Statham will star in the Warner Bros. shark action movie “Meg,” sources confirmed to Variety.
“National Treasure” director Jon Turteltaub is helming.
Dean Georgaris is writing the screenplay based on Steve Alten’s novel “Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror.”
The book revolves around two men who band together to fight an ancient shark threatening the California coast. The Megaladon, considered one of the largest and most powerful predators in history, can reach a length of 60 feet.
This time around the shark will be terrorizing the coast of China rather than California — a change that helped in bringing on Gravity Pictures as a co-financier.
Originally set up at Disney in 1997, “Meg” fell into limbo after the studio was unable to get it into production before another shark pic, “Deep Blue Sea,” hit theaters.
Statham was most recently seen in Fox’s action comedy “Spy” and will reprise his role in “Fast 8.” He is repped by CAA, Current Entertainment and Bloom Hergott.
“National Treasure” director Jon Turteltaub is helming.
Dean Georgaris is writing the screenplay based on Steve Alten’s novel “Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror.”
The book revolves around two men who band together to fight an ancient shark threatening the California coast. The Megaladon, considered one of the largest and most powerful predators in history, can reach a length of 60 feet.
This time around the shark will be terrorizing the coast of China rather than California — a change that helped in bringing on Gravity Pictures as a co-financier.
Originally set up at Disney in 1997, “Meg” fell into limbo after the studio was unable to get it into production before another shark pic, “Deep Blue Sea,” hit theaters.
Statham was most recently seen in Fox’s action comedy “Spy” and will reprise his role in “Fast 8.” He is repped by CAA, Current Entertainment and Bloom Hergott.
Warner, CMC announce 12-movie package that includes MEG
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| Jon Turteltaub in talks to direct. |
According to CMC chairman Li Ruigang, the film package would include an adaptation of best-selling science-fiction novel MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten and cost over $100 million to produce. MEG tells the story of a deep-sea diver who while diving in the Mariana Trench is attacked by what he believes to be a megalodon, a gigantic predecessor of modern sharks thought to have been extinct since the Pleistocene era. Nobody believes him, but as the events unfold he encounters more of the creatures, some of which manage to make their way to the surface and wreak havoc.
Read more at Film Journal
Those who can't create, calculate ... ? [via David Angsten]
Solving Equation of a Hit Film Script, With Data
Vinny Bruzzese, chief executive of Worldwide Motion Picture Group, and Miriam Brin, head of script analysis.
LOS ANGELES — Forget zombies. The data crunchers are invading Hollywood.
The same kind of numbers analysis that has reshaped areas like politics and online marketing is increasingly being used by the entertainment industry.
Netflix tells customers what to rent based on algorithms that analyze previous selections, Pandora does the same with music, and studios have started using Facebook “likes” and online trailer views to mold advertising and even films.
Now, the slicing and dicing is seeping into one of the last corners of Hollywood where creativity and old-fashioned instinct still hold sway: the screenplay.
A chain-smoking former statistics professor named Vinny Bruzzese — “the reigning mad scientist of Hollywood,” in the words of one studio customer — has started to aggressively pitch a service he calls script evaluation. For as much as $20,000 per script, Mr. Bruzzese and a team of analysts compare the story structure and genre of a draft script with those of released movies, looking for clues to box-office success. His company, Worldwide Motion Picture Group, also digs into an extensive database of focus group results for similar films and surveys 1,500 potential moviegoers. What do you like? What should be changed?
“Demons in horror movies can target people or be summoned,” Mr. Bruzzese said in a gravelly voice, by way of example. “If it’s a targeting demon, you are likely to have much higher opening-weekend sales than if it’s summoned. So get rid of that Ouija Board scene.”
Bowling scenes tend to pop up in films that fizzle, Mr. Bruzzese, 39, continued. Therefore it is statistically unwise to include one in your script. “A cursed superhero never sells as well as a guardian superhero,” one like Superman who acts as a protector, he added.
His recommendations, delivered in a 20- to 30-page report, might range from minor tightening to substantial rewrites: more people would relate to this character if she had a sympathetic sidekick, for instance.
Script “doctors,” as Hollywood refers to writing consultants, have long worked quietly on movie assembly lines. But many top screenwriters — the kind who attain exalted status in the industry, even if they remain largely unknown to the multiplex masses — reject Mr. Bruzzese’s statistical intrusion into their craft.
“This is my worst nightmare” said Ol Parker, a writer whose film credits include “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” “It’s the enemy of creativity, nothing more than an attempt to mimic that which has worked before. It can only result in an increasingly bland homogenization, a pell-mell rush for the middle of the road.”
Mr. Parker drew a breath. “Look, I’d take a suggestion from my grandmother if I thought it would improve a film I was writing,” he said. “But this feels like the studio would listen to my grandmother before me, and that is terrifying.”
But a lot of producers, studio executives and major film financiers disagree. Already they have quietly hired Mr. Bruzzese’s company to analyze about 100 scripts, including an early treatment for “Oz the Great and Powerful,” which has taken in $484.8 million worldwide.
Mr. Bruzzese (pronounced brew-ZEZ-ee), who is one of a very few if not the only entrepreneur to use this form of script analysis, is plotting to take it to Broadway and television now that he has traction in movies.
“It takes a lot of the risk out of what I do,” said Scott Steindorff, a producer who used Mr. Bruzzese to evaluate the script for “The Lincoln Lawyer,” a hit 2011 crime drama. “Everyone is going to be doing this soon.” Mr. Steindorff added, “The only people who are resistant are the writers: ‘I’m making art, I can’t possibly do this.’ ”
Audience research has been known to save a movie, but it has also famously missed the mark. Opinion surveys — “idiot cards,” as some unimpressed directors call them — indicated that “Fight Club” would be the flop of the century. It took in more than $100 million worldwide.
... “All screenwriters think their babies are beautiful,” he said, taking a chug of Diet Dr Pepper followed by a gulp of Diet Coke and a drag on a Camel. “I’m here to tell it like it is: Some babies are ugly.”
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By BROOKS BARNES
Vinny Bruzzese, chief executive of Worldwide Motion Picture Group, and Miriam Brin, head of script analysis.
LOS ANGELES — Forget zombies. The data crunchers are invading Hollywood.
The same kind of numbers analysis that has reshaped areas like politics and online marketing is increasingly being used by the entertainment industry.
Netflix tells customers what to rent based on algorithms that analyze previous selections, Pandora does the same with music, and studios have started using Facebook “likes” and online trailer views to mold advertising and even films.
Now, the slicing and dicing is seeping into one of the last corners of Hollywood where creativity and old-fashioned instinct still hold sway: the screenplay.
A chain-smoking former statistics professor named Vinny Bruzzese — “the reigning mad scientist of Hollywood,” in the words of one studio customer — has started to aggressively pitch a service he calls script evaluation. For as much as $20,000 per script, Mr. Bruzzese and a team of analysts compare the story structure and genre of a draft script with those of released movies, looking for clues to box-office success. His company, Worldwide Motion Picture Group, also digs into an extensive database of focus group results for similar films and surveys 1,500 potential moviegoers. What do you like? What should be changed?
“Demons in horror movies can target people or be summoned,” Mr. Bruzzese said in a gravelly voice, by way of example. “If it’s a targeting demon, you are likely to have much higher opening-weekend sales than if it’s summoned. So get rid of that Ouija Board scene.”
Bowling scenes tend to pop up in films that fizzle, Mr. Bruzzese, 39, continued. Therefore it is statistically unwise to include one in your script. “A cursed superhero never sells as well as a guardian superhero,” one like Superman who acts as a protector, he added.
His recommendations, delivered in a 20- to 30-page report, might range from minor tightening to substantial rewrites: more people would relate to this character if she had a sympathetic sidekick, for instance.
Script “doctors,” as Hollywood refers to writing consultants, have long worked quietly on movie assembly lines. But many top screenwriters — the kind who attain exalted status in the industry, even if they remain largely unknown to the multiplex masses — reject Mr. Bruzzese’s statistical intrusion into their craft.
“This is my worst nightmare” said Ol Parker, a writer whose film credits include “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” “It’s the enemy of creativity, nothing more than an attempt to mimic that which has worked before. It can only result in an increasingly bland homogenization, a pell-mell rush for the middle of the road.”
Mr. Parker drew a breath. “Look, I’d take a suggestion from my grandmother if I thought it would improve a film I was writing,” he said. “But this feels like the studio would listen to my grandmother before me, and that is terrifying.”
But a lot of producers, studio executives and major film financiers disagree. Already they have quietly hired Mr. Bruzzese’s company to analyze about 100 scripts, including an early treatment for “Oz the Great and Powerful,” which has taken in $484.8 million worldwide.
Mr. Bruzzese (pronounced brew-ZEZ-ee), who is one of a very few if not the only entrepreneur to use this form of script analysis, is plotting to take it to Broadway and television now that he has traction in movies.
“It takes a lot of the risk out of what I do,” said Scott Steindorff, a producer who used Mr. Bruzzese to evaluate the script for “The Lincoln Lawyer,” a hit 2011 crime drama. “Everyone is going to be doing this soon.” Mr. Steindorff added, “The only people who are resistant are the writers: ‘I’m making art, I can’t possibly do this.’ ”
Audience research has been known to save a movie, but it has also famously missed the mark. Opinion surveys — “idiot cards,” as some unimpressed directors call them — indicated that “Fight Club” would be the flop of the century. It took in more than $100 million worldwide.
... “All screenwriters think their babies are beautiful,” he said, taking a chug of Diet Dr Pepper followed by a gulp of Diet Coke and a drag on a Camel. “I’m here to tell it like it is: Some babies are ugly.”
Read More
Stephen Gyllenhaal To Pen, Direct ‘The Kennedy Detail’
Stephen Gyllenhaal has signed as screenwriter and director of The Kennedy Detail, which focuses on the men of the
Secret Service protective detail assigned to President John F. Kennedy.
The project is targeted for a November 2013 release, coinciding with
the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination. “This is the project of a
lifetime and I could not be more excited to be part of it,” said
Gyllenhaal. “Everyone knows how this story ends, but the true stories
told through the eyes of this extraordinary band of brothers, from JFK’s
election to that awful day in Dallas, have never been told. It is time
to share their perspective with the world”. Gyllenhaal has begun work
on the script with his research including interviews with many of the
surviving members of President Kennedy’s protective detail and their
family members. The film will be based on the New York Times
best-selling book The Kennedy Detail by former agent Gerald
Blaine and award-winning journalist Lisa McCubbin, with a foreword by
former agent Clint Hill. Hill has signed as a special advisor to the
project, and McCubbin and Hill will be associate producers. The Kennedy Detail
is being produced by Atchity Entertainment International (AEI) of Los
Angeles, Atchity and Chi-Li Wong producers, and Ramos & Sparks Group
of Tallahassee, Florida, with Richard Ramos and Rober
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