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‘Wolverine’ Whimpers Weak $55M Domestic Weekend But Roars Big $141.1M Worldwide
28 July 2013 7:06 AM, PDT
Sunday 8:30 Am, 4th Update (worldwide #s below): More disappointment at the domestic box office even though it’s the biggest international opening for an X-Men film ever. Hugh Jackman. The Wolverine. ‘A-’ CinemaScore. No fresh competition. What better is there to say? Twentieth Century Fox seemed as if it couldn’t go wrong with this domestic weekend’s #1 tentpole. Or could it? Fox says this 6th X-Men opened with only $55M for its domestic weekend in 3,924 theaters (3,063 in 3D). That’s way less than the $85.1M which 2009′s X-Men Origin: Wolverine made in its debut. But the older pic opened the first week of summer while this installment is releasing in the crowded 2013 midsummer where in the past 5 weeks no live-action movie has opened over $45M. “We didn’t expect this, either. But there have been times before when audience fatigue from the summer sets in,” a Fox exec explained to me. »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
‘Fast 6′ Scores Universal’s Biggest In China
27 July 2013 8:35 AM, PDT
Exclusive: I’ve just learned that Fast & Furious 6 opened #1 in China on Friday and is on track for a $24 million first weekend which would be that country’s 2nd highest three-day 2013 debut behind Man Of Steel. It also scored Universal’s highest ever opening in that territory after grossing $6.9M Friday. This helps makes up for the studio’s inability to lobby the Chinese to release big toon hit Despicable Me 2 there. China is the 66th territory where Fast 6 opened #1 (including North America). The estimated international cume through Saturday is $485.3M and Fast 6 should cross $500M at the overseas box office tomorrow. Domestically, the cume through the weekend is an estimated $237.6M and the global worldwide gross is projected at $740.8M through Sunday. China is the last stop for the pic which has become Universal’s highest grossing franchise in the studio’s 101-year history. »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
CAA Exits Talent Agent Darren Statt
26 July 2013 7:45 PM, PDT
CAA will only confirm that “he’s no longer an employee with the company” though sources say he was fired today. Sources close to talent agent Darren Statt tell Deadline: “Just a hard hit that was unexpected. He is a hard working agent and by all accounts he meshed well over there. He has learned from his mistakes, become much mellower, and really is a decent man. He is a good agent with good clients who had a bad run recently.” Statt’s career has taken a lot of twists and turns and bumps in the road over recent years. Hot-tempered and immature back in 2002, Statt left Endeavor after being suspended for two weeks by partner Ari Emanuel. That unusual action followed an ugly tirade at the DreamWorks offices where witnesses say the Scotsman directed a profanity-laced tirade at the studio staffers over a scheduling mishap. The fracas caused Steven Spielberg »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
Wgaw Lists 2013 Final Election Candidates: Incumbent President Chris Keyser Still Unopposed
23 July 2013 6:13 PM, PDT
Los Angeles – The Writers Guild of America, West (Wgaw) has announced the final slate of candidates for the 2013 Wgaw Officers and Board of Directors election. The Officer candidates are as follows: President* – Christopher Keyser (inc.); Vice President – Timothy J. Lea, Howard A. Rodman (inc.); Secretary-Treasurer – Dan Wilcox, Carl Gottlieb (inc.). (*The second nominee designated by the nominating committee declined the nomination.) There are 16 candidates nominated to run for eight open seats on the Wgaw’s Board of Directors as follows: Thania St. John (inc.), Andrew Goldberg, Cynthia Riddle, Ari B. Rubin, Carleton Eastlake (inc.), Nancy Miller, Jonathan Fernandez, Henry Alonso Myers, Patric M. Verrone, Billy Ray (inc.), Alfredo Barrios, Jr. (inc.), Flint Dille, Lee Aronsohn, David Maples, Karen Harris, David S. Goyer (inc.). Editors’ note: Wgaw internal rules require candidates to be announced in an order determined by lot; (inc.) denotes an incumbent candidate. The Wgaw will host its annual “Candidates Night” town-hall forum, »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
Paul Greengrass In Final Talks To Direct Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Chicago 7′ Screenplay: DreamWorks Proceeds Without Spielberg
23 July 2013 2:40 PM, PDT
Exclusive: I’ve learned that DreamWorks is finally reviving a once hot project that has barely been touched since its director Steven Spielberg suspended it back in 2008. Conventional wisdom had it that this would be Spielberg’s next Oscar pic. Since then, “every two months it’s been revisited. The title would come up in conversation at production meetings. But it’s just been hanging,” a source tells me. No longer. I’ve learned the studio is moving forward with Paul Greengrass in final talks to direct Aaron Sorkin’s script The Trial Of The Chicago 7. It’s bsed on the infamous 1969 federal conspiracy trial arising out of the protesters vs police violent rioting at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that transfixed the nation because of its counter-culture and leftist mayhem intended to undermine the U.S. government. The modestly budgeted $20M-$30M film will start production probably in January. »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
‘Pacific Rim’ #1 Internationally Over Weekend
22 July 2013 6:25 PM, PDT
Exclusive: Warner Bros has bragging rights today for distributing the Legendary Pictures 3D scifi actioner around the world after co-financing it. I’ve learned the studio discovered this morning that last weekend’s results came in $500K higher than forecast on Sunday. The result is that screenwriter Travis Beacham (who had the idea for the film) and co-scribe/director Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim grossed $35.3M with 4.7M admissions from 9,610 screens in 50 territories. That was just enough to knock off Universal’s 3D toon Despicable Me 2 and become the #1 film internationally over the weekend now that all the numbers are in. No one is saying this movie is going to turn a profit due to its high cost Industrial Light & Magic CGI. But international is a big part of Pacific Rim‘s strategy in a crowded summer marketplace. This brings the expensive $180M-$220M budget pic’s international »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
Wme’s Patrick Whitesell Grilled On Video
22 July 2013 5:51 PM, PDT
Wme Co-ceo Patrick Whitesell is interviewed at the 2013 Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen. He didn’t expect to be grilled on his own: Egon Durban, the agency’s partner in Silver Lake Management was a no-show because of the Dell buyout. Listen to Patrick answer the question, “What’s it like working with Ari? Even he would describe himself as a lunatic.” Here’s the video posted today: »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
Sacha Baron Cohen Exits Freddie Mercury Biopic Over Creative Differences With Queen
22 July 2013 1:40 PM, PDT
Breaking… Exclusive… Sacha Baron Cohen is just not seeing eye to eye with the remaining members of Queen who have script and director approval over that biopic on iconic lead singer Freddie Mercury. That film had Cohen circling the role but I’ve just learned he’s now pulled out. The reason is that the band wanted to make more of a PG movie about Queen while Cohen was counting on a gritty R-rated tell-all centered around the gifted gay singer. Given the astonishing physical resemblance, it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Freddie but Sacha. Cohen had brought in Peter Morgan to write and various directors including David Fincher and Tom Hooper to develop the project for himself. However, none were approved by the band. Film is set at Sony Pictures and Gk Films and Cohen has long been attached to play Mercury. But because of the dispute »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
R.I.P. Dennis Farina
22 July 2013 10:29 AM, PDT
Dennis Farina, the former Chicago cop turned movie and TV tough guy has died in Arizona, according to his publicist. He was 69. The cause of death was not released. Best known for his co-starring role as Det Joe Fontana on NBC’s Law & Order, Farina starred in at least 75 movies or television series but did not start acting until he was 37 years old. He served on the Chicago police force for 18 years. »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
Oscar Prediction Shake-Up? Nate Silver Given New Game-Changing Role By ABC
22 July 2013 5:55 AM, PDT
Updated With More Details: The Academy Awards are important in and around Hollywood for primarily three reasons: the nominations which bring audiences into theaters as a movie marketing tool, the lucrative ‘For Your Consideration’ ads they generate, and the global telecast announcing winners so everybody can bask in their reflected glory. Now ABC is trying to corner the market on all with one move. Not only does the network broadcast the Oscars but its news division is guaranteeing data guru Nate Silver a role. How much of a Hollywood game-changer will this become? Not much of one judging from how little attention his movie awards prognostication has garnered in the past. Twice before, in 2009 and 2011, he sought to predict the Academy Award winners in 6 major categories based on a “mix of statistical factors”. His track record was 9 correct picks in 12 tries, for a 75% success rate. “Not bad, but also not »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
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