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November, 2007 Archives | Homepage
End of the Journey for Journeyman? The time travel series Journeyman may be coming to an end soon. Kevin Falls, creator of NBC's time-traveling series Journeyman, told the Premium Hollywood Web site that it's possible the freshman show will end with Episode 12, the last one produced, given the show's low ratings and the ongoing writers' strike. "Episode 12 is the end of our order," Falls told the site. "And let's not kid ourselves. It's a long shot that we would get a back nine, given the strike and our questionable numbers." Falls referred to the additional nine episodes NBC would have to order to constitute a full season.We've been watching the show all season. We really like Kevin McKidd, but the show has trouble with its mythology. We have no idea why he travels or how, nor does he. He doesn't have a guide -- his ex-fiancee is a traveler but she seems to know as little as he does. And we absolutely despise the character of Dan's brother, the annoyingly stupid busybody cop. He needs to be dropped down a black hole, pronto. Journeyman airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. Posted on November 30, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati  IMAX Corporation and Paramount Pictures have announced that The Spiderwick Chronicles will be released simultaneously to both IMAX and conventional theatres in February, 2008. The film is based on the children's fantasy books authored by Holly Black and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi. Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black are also executive producers of the film.
"The Spiderwick Chronicles is an ideal fit for the IMAX brand and our audience, and it is a terrific way to launch our slate for 2008," said IMAX Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. "Paramount Pictures' continued enthusiasm towards IMAX theatres as a distribution platform is adding to the strength of our release schedule, which contributes to the growing popularity of The IMAX Experience, and ultimately the growth of the IMAX theatre network."Martin Short will play the voice of Thimbletack (pictured on the top right), one of the enchanted creatures living in the walls of Arthur Spiderwick's secluded old house. The film will also star Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright and David Strathairn. Mark Waters will direct. Screenwriters include Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum and John Sayles. The film's official website can be found here. Posted on November 29, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Carson Daly Thumbs Nose at Writers' Strike Carson Daly broke ranks with his late night talk show brethren and crossed the WGA picket line. Carson is not a member of the WGA, but all the other late night talk show hosts have respected the writers' strike and have put their shows into reruns. NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly is about to become the first late-night talk show to defy the writers strike and resume production. Daly, who is not a member of the Writers Guild, will begin taping new episodes of his Burbank-based show this week for airing next week, an NBC spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.The Writers Guild Of America issued this statement: "We're disappointed at Carson Daly's decision to return to work. Mr. Daly is not a writer and not a member of the WGA, unlike other late-night hosts Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Kimmel, who have all resisted network pressure and honored our writers' picket lines. We hope he'll change his mind and follow the lead of the other late-night hosts." Bad Carson. Bad talk show host. May all his dialogue be perpetually unfunny. Come to think of it, he's not funny even with professional writers. Posted on November 27, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati  Disney's new film Enchanted
laid a spell on moviegoers over the holiday weekend. It topped the box office for the three day weekend, making $35,332,000. The film made $50,048,000 over the five day weekend. In second place was This Christmas which made $18,600,000. In third place was Beowulf, which made $16,240,000. That brings its take so far to $56,361,000.
In fourth place was Fox's Hitman which shook off its terrible reviews to make $13,035,000. In fifth place was Bee Movie, which made another $12,010,000. That brings its total take to date to $112,069,000. Clearly, moviegoers are in a family-friendly frame of mind when it comes to filmgoing. Posted on November 25, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Brad Pitt Walks Out on State of Play Brad Pitt pulled out of the political thriller State of Play because of his concerns over the script. The script can't be changed now because of the writers' strike. The move comes after a couple of weeks of meetings between Pitt and director Kevin Macdonald ("The Last King of Scotland") in an attempt to iron out the concerns. The script cannot be worked on because of the Hollywood screenwriters' strike.Universal issued a statement confirming that Pitt is no longer attached to the film and used language that it is reserving all its rights in the matter. In other words, Pitt may be getting sued for backing out of the project. Posted on November 23, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Major American studios have banded together to sue a Chinese site that allows its viewers to download American movies without permission from the copyright holders. The site also pays no royalties to writers, directors, producers or anyone else. Beijing-based Jeboo.com and an Internet cafe in Shanghai face a legal showdown with Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and Universal Studios, the Xinhua news agency reported. The film-makers allege Jeboo.com created software the cafe used to run a movie download business, and they are demanding 3.2 million yuan ($432,000) in compensation, Xinhua said. Jeboo.com promotes itself as "My on-line cinema" and claims to be China's biggest film download provider with close to 30,000 movies and television series customers can copy onto computers.The massive piracy of American films by China really has to stop; the WTO has been far too lax on this issue. They want to be part of the WTO, then they need to abide by American and European intellectual property laws. And it's not just films that are counterfeited: it's drugs, tires and other items that are knockoffs of the originals. Buying a pirated copy of Night at the Museum won't kill anyone, but buying a fake prescription for a cancer drug will. Posted on November 22, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati One Studio Head's Heartfelt Thoughts Fred Armisen from Saturday Night Live plays a studio executive who shares his heartfelt thoughts about the writers' strike and why the writers really need to allow the studios to decide what is fair pay for writers. He then goes undercover as a WGA member. Posted on November 21, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Beowulf Slays Box Office Rivals  Beowulf
topped
the box office this past weekend, in what was a lackluster performance for movies overall. The remaking of the epic poem took in $27,515,871, which will surely build based on the excellent reviews and breathtaking imagery. In second place was Bee Movie, which took in another $14,008,444, bringing its cumulative to date to $93,570,695. In third place was American Gangster which made $12,875,250. That brings its box office total to date to $100,650,615.
In fourth place was Fred Claus which made $11,914,323. In a dismal fifth place was Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium which elicited $9,630,085 in its opening weekend. Another dud that opened this past weekend was Love in the Time of Cholera, which made only $1,924,860. Even an Oprah assist couldn't save that one. Posted on November 20, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Talks between the WGA and the AMPTP will resume on Monday, November 26th. The strike will continue during the talks. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and studio reps will head back to the bargaining table on November 26 after back-channel dialogue facilitated by Creative Artists Agency partner Bryan Lourd helped put the parties onto a more productive track. The WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) put out brief, identical statements Friday night.It's good news that talks are resuming. But the studios are going to have give something to the writers on the issue of Internet residuals, or the talks are going nowhere. Posted on November 19, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Angels & Demons Pushed to 2009 The film version of Dan Brown's Angels & Demons has been put on hold because of the writers' strike. Here's the official word from Sony via Nikki Finke. "With the strike nearing its third week, Columbia Pictures has postponed production of Angels & Demons. While the filmmakers and the studio feel the screenplay is very strong, we do not believe it is the fully-realized production draft required of this ambitious project. At this time, there is no new start date for Angels & Demons, but we are setting a release date of May 15, 2009 and are hopeful to deliver the movie worldwide to theaters on that date. We do not expect any other film on our 2008 slate to be affected."This is just the beginning. It's looking like the worst year in movie history is about to land in 2008. Guess we'll all be spending more time outside next summer. Or reading a lot more. Or surfing the Net. Or gaming. Or catching up on any rentals we've missed. Posted on November 16, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Leave the AMPTP Alone! Here is a new Writers Strike video from the Colbert Report writers and United Hollywood. "Very successful entertainment executive, who is also quite young for his position, on why scribes' strike is asinine. Not tooting own horn or anything but he is very connected-- squash, Iger-- has inside dope. And 'hung' not an exaggeration. Rare example of humility in biz. Also makes squash-playing very challenging. If he can't change this description later, you'll never work in this town again, Youtube." Direct video link Posted on November 15, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati ABC's Nightline Benefits From Strike  Many of your favorite shows are running out of episodes and the late night shows have all gone dark thanks to the Writers' Strike, which has now lasted ten days with no sign of any negotiating between the WGA and the AMPTP. There are some shows the strike benefits and those are TV newsmagazines. ABC's Nightline was seen by the largest number of households during the first week of the strike -- beating out reruns of Letterman and Leno.
Indeed, "Nightline," which introduced a new anchor team two years ago, already has enjoyed an immediate lift. During the first week of the writers' strike, the usually third-place program drew the largest number of households, according to early Nielsen data of 56 metered markets. The newsmagazine pulled an average of 2.8 million households, while Letterman had 2.7 million and Leno had 2.6 million.If the strike lingers you may see more news shows on the networks. There will also be lots of reality tv, game shows and reruns of other shows. Posted on November 14, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati The Voices of Uncertainty Seem Awfully Certain About Web Profits The AMPTP says that the future of the Internet is just too uncertain for them to agree to share any revenues with the writers. They say they don't even know if the medium will make money. But in this hilarious short video entitled "Voices of Uncertainty" we see the major AMPTP execs crowing about how much money they'll make off of the Internet and digital downloads. Crowing about your profits on film while you argue that you can't pay writers for new media because it's too new and confusing? All in a day's work for the AMPTP boys. Posted on November 13, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Bee Movie Wins the Weekend  Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie buzzed into the top box office spot in its second week of release, making an estimated $26,000,000. That brings the animated film's gross to date to $72,214,000. In second place is last weekend's box office winner, American Gangster, which made another $24,319,000, bringing its cumulative to $80,679,000.
In third place was Fred Claus, which made $19,225,000 and a surprisingly decent (considering the awful reviews) $5,335 per theater. In fourth place was Lions for Lambs, which opened with a disappointing $6,710,000. The film stars Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, but moviegoers are staying away from Iraq War-themed movies in droves. In fifth place was Dan in Real Life which made another $5,872,000, bringing its total take to date to $30,678,000. The horror thriller P2 opened in eighth place, making $2,200,000. Posted on November 12, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Ellen DeGeneres Not Welcome In New York  The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) is
very unhappy with Ellen DeGeneres, who is continuing to film her show, even though other talk show hosts such as Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel are refusing to cross the picket lines to film. Ellen is now not welcome in New York! Here's what they said:
Ellen DeGeneres went back on the air this week after honoring only one day of the writers strike. In anticipation of her plans to tape shows in New York City on November 19th and 20th, the Writers Guild of America, East is extremely disappointed to see that Ellen has chosen not to stand with writers during the strike. Ellen's peers who host comedy/variety shows have chosen to support the writers and help them get a fair contract, Ellen has not. On her first show back, Ellen said she loves and supports her writers, but her actions prove otherwise.Ellen's publicist issued a namby pamby response about how it's sweeps week and it will cost them money not to film and she's daytime, not nighttime etc etc, even though she is a comedian who writes material as well an as actress. So, cry us a river, Ellen. Oh, right -- you already did that over Iggy. But somehow you can't seem to show the same consideration for the writers who create all your material for your show. Everyone is losing money on a strike; that's the entire point. Writers deserve a fair wage and that's worth sacrificing for. Posted on November 9, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo Support the Writers' Strike Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo of Gray's Anatomy talk about the writers' strike and why they fully support it in this short video. You can find breaking news, updates, links and explanations of what the strike is all about at our sister site Writerswrite.com's special Writers' Strike section. Posted on November 8, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati American Gangster Rules the Box Office  Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe delivered a knockout punch to Jerry Seinfeld and his bees this past weekend; American Gangster topped the box office making $43,565,115 with an excellent per theater showing of $14,264. Bee Movie came in second making $38,021,044, with a per theater take of $9,679.
In third place was Saw IV, which made another $10,348,646. In fourth place was Dan in Real Life which made $7,870,196. In fifth place was The Game Plan, which made another $3,931,491, bringing the family-friendly comedy's gross to a whopping $82,035,100. John Cusack had a disastrous opening with Martian Child,which made only $3,376,669. Posted on November 6, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Heroes May Shoot Alternative Ending For December 3rd Episode  New York Magazine's Vulture blog and TV Guide are reporting that an alternative ending will be shot for the December 3rd episode of Heroes. This alternative ending could be used as a finale in case the writers' strike prevents new episodes from being shot.
TV Guide reports that the struggling Heroes is planning to shoot an alternate ending for its December 3 episode, which would serve as a season finale in case the writers strike scuttles further production. We have to say that this sounds like the smartest idea Heroes has had in a while; offering actual story closure where other shows are going to be stuck in the middle of their seasons might make the show satisfying again.It is sad that there may not be as many Heroes episodes but at least watchers won't be left hanging. Unlike some people, we think Heroes has been great this year. Posted on November 5, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Writers Strike Will Cripple Hollywood The Writers Guild goes on strike this Monday, November 5th at 12:01 a.m. Hollywood will be crippled by the strike. All writing for television and film projects will stop. The talk shows will go into reruns. The soap operas, and scripted dramas and comedies will stop after producers air the finished episodes that they have. Generally, it means we'll have good tv until December, then it's going to be a virtual wasteland. Reality shows will be unaffected, as will news. Film projects without a completed script will grind to a halt. One bright spot in February will be Lost. The producers have been shooting until June, and they already have 14 episodes in the can. So that's one bright spot. But some of our favorite shows -- Ugly Betty, Chuck, 24, Grey's Anatomy, Eureka, Psych -- will all stop production. Unless there's a last minute deal this weekend, the strike is on. You can find out more about the strike and what it all means on Writers Write's Writers' Strike resource. Posted on November 2, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati Heroes: Origins Cancelled The planned Heroes spinoff mini-series called Origins has been shelved. NBC has shelved plans for Heroes: Origins, a spinoff series of its hit show, and the possibility of a writers' strike contributed to the decision, Variety reported. Production has been halted indefinitely on the planned six-episode spinoff. It had attracted such talent as feature directors Eli Roth and Kevin Smith and writer Michael Dougherty (Superman Returns). NBC had planned to debut the show while Heroes was on hiatus.The Writers Guild is meeting tonight to decide whether to call a strike. Heroes: Origins is just the first casualty in what could be a protracted war between the WGA and the producers. Posted on November 1, 2007 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati |
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