201 replies to this topic

[steveuk]

MGM Takes A Loss On ‘Dragon Tattoo’ And Seeks Better Terms For Sequels

If you think that The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was a hit, then talk to MGM Holdings CEO Gary Barber. His company co-financed the film, and although it has generated about $231M at worldwide box offices he tells investors who own MGM’s unlisted shares that “it is below our expectations and we booked a modest loss.” The company wouldn’t say how much it wrote down, but Barber notes that execs ”were hoping we’d do 10% more than we did.” MGM has an option to co-finance the other two films in the trilogy and is talking to Sony about following through “assuming we can achieve better economics.” He was much more upbeat about the early performance of 21 Jump Street, which MGM also co-financed. “We expect it to be profitable,” Barber says. He adds that ”MGM has entered 2012 as a revitalized company.” He declined to describe MGM’s strategy but says it is “evaluating all options.”

The call followed the release of the company’s annual report which dropped a few interesting tidbits about the company that emerged from bankruptcy protection toward the end of December 2010. Last year MGM spent $30.3M to repurchase about 1.5M shares, and ended the year with net income of $37.8M on revenues of $699.1M. The company disclosed that it acquired 100% of United Artists late last year, giving it the rights to Hot Tub Time Machine, Fame, Valkyrie, and Lions for Lambs. MGM says that it “may resume using the United Artists banner to develop and produce new films.” Meanwhile, MGM is co-financing New Line’s two films based on The Hobbit. It also appears to be tight with several studios including Viacom as a financing partner for Paramount’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, and MTV Networks’ TV series Teen Wolf. MGM also names the members of its board, a lot of people with the word “former” in their titles. Former Fox and Discovery exec Peter Liguori’s on it. The lead director is Ann Mather, who was Pixar’s CFO and now also sits on the boards of Google and Netflix. There’s also former MySpace co-president Jason Hirschhorn and former CBS CFO Fredric Reynolds, as well representatives of major backers including Anchorage Capital, Highland Capital and Icahn Capital.

http://www.deadline....ms-for-sequels/

[Johnny Henning]

Good thing that bum Fincher is going to NETFLIX streaming.

I can see why it underperformed, though. It actually wasn't much better than the Swedish film and I felt it was less effective at delivering the sense of "evil" which in turn undercut Lisbeth's climactic moment - certainly in comparison. Then it really stretched out everything that came after to unnecessary lengths.

[steveuk]

Good thing that bum Fincher is going to NETFLIX streaming.

I can see why it underperformed, though. It actually wasn't much better than the Swedish film and I felt it was less effective at delivering the sense of "evil" which in turn undercut Lisbeth's climactic moment - certainly in comparison. Then it really stretched out everything that came after to unnecessary lengths.

I liked it, but I do prefer some things from the Swedish version. I liked the performance of the killer a lot better for a start.

No disrespect to the actor in the American version (staying spoiler free here) who is a fine actor but the Swedish version felt more real.

The American film is smarter though, with better dialogue (ok, so I watched the Swedish one with subtitles, which might not be as erudite as the film really was) and I do prefer the American Lisbeth. She's much more brittle in many ways but still with a backbone of solid steel.

I'm glad I saw both. I got something good from both of them.

[Johnny Henning]

Yeah, the American film brought out a few elements the original could've used - the actual murder investigation was a bit more streamlined (unfortunately, after that was sewed up, it dragged out everything else). At the same time, it shortchanged the detective story and undercut the dramatic and moral choices the characters made in the original.

Still, honestly, I think the source novel has a lot more problems than the films did, and it was obscenely successful.

[stephanie familiar]

http://www.deadline....ms-for-sequels/

only in this ridiculous world is 231 million a loss.

I liked it, but I do prefer some things from the Swedish version. I liked the performance of the killer a lot better for a start.

No disrespect to the actor in the American version (staying spoiler free here) who is a fine actor but the Swedish version felt more real.

The American film is smarter though, with better dialogue (ok, so I watched the Swedish one with subtitles, which might not be as erudite as the film really was) and I do prefer the American Lisbeth. She's much more brittle in many ways but still with a backbone of solid steel.

I'm glad I saw both. I got something good from both of them.

i'm glad i saw both as well. in the swedish version, lisbeth didn't have the fragility and fierceness that made rooney mara's portrayal so remarkable. also, the initial sex scene between lisbeth and what's-his-name makes sense in the american version. not so much in the swedish one.

[steveuk]

Meyer; not so interesting. Niccol; a bit more so.

[Steve Sensible]

James Cameron goes into the abyss.

Few men are fortunate enough to have pockets as deep as their ambitions, but yesterday the film director James Cameron embarked on a dive to the lowest point on Earth. He travelled alone into the 6.8-mile-deep Mariana Trench, nine hours each way, hunched in a tiny submersible built to withstand 1,000 times the pressure at sea level. In doing so, the multimillionaire behind Titanic and Avatar became only the third person to have visited Challenger Deep, the lowest point in this Pacific abyss.

I've been following this for a while now. It's a hell of an achievement - more men have walked on the moon than have reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

[Nicholas Taggart]

only in this ridiculous world is 231 million a loss.

They shouldn't have spent so much money on it

[garjones]

...and $231m is gross, they don't see all that money, the cinemas, taxman, marketing firms and all see over half of it.

Hollywood is full of dodgy accounting but I can't help but feel this one wasn't far from the truth.

[steveuk]

...and $231m is gross, they don't see all that money, the cinemas, taxman, marketing firms and all see over half of it.

Hollywood is full of dodgy accounting but I can't help but feel this one wasn't far from the truth.

All true, but it is a crazy world too.

I'm sure I'm not the only one finds it is odd that it takes $90m to make a film with no ghosts, monsters, aliens, or giant robots in it. You have to wonder how much it cost for Rooney Mara to get her hair cut etc.?

[Nicholas Taggart]

Apparently Fincher gets paid $5 million if they replace him on the next film (which MGM are rumoured to want to do), so I assume he got paid a lot of money for the first one. But it is pretty crazy that the movie cost as much as it did. Some people were getting paid too much to do something, that is for sure.

[Steve Sensible]

Fincher goes to great lengths to achieve the look he's after. The bird's-eye-view of the taxi being followed through the streets in Zodiac for instance, was 100% CGI, and no doubt took weeks to complete. Even something as simple as someone pointing a gun into a car and shooting involved visual FX, blue-screen, the works.

He's a great director, but his methods are expensive.

[Steve Sensible]

The Sweatbox.

You may have seen Disney's Emperor's New Groove— the 2000 movie based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, centering on a bratty teenage monarch — but you probably missed the movie's interesting backstory. In 1997, Tantric gigolo and musician Sting was asked to compose the soundtrack for New Groove(the movie formerly known as Kingdom of the Sun). As part of his contract, Trudie Styler — Sting's wife — came on board as a documentarian, along with filmmaker John-Paul Davidson. The production process doesn't sound like it was a joyride by any stretch of the imagination.

The Sweatbox premiered at TIFF in 2002. Disney snatched up the rights to the film and since then it hasn't been released for public viewing. Thankfully, someone was kind enough to upload the video on YouTube...

[steveuk]

The Sweatbox.

It's gone already.

[Steve Sensible]

It's gone already.

I have it saved if you're interested. That said, it's not terribly interesting. Obviously, as it's directed by Trudie Styler, it focuses a lot on Sting - never a good thing - but once Roger Allers leaves the production, his replacement comes across as a complete sh*t, and aside from feeling sympathy for some of the animators, you stop giving a damn about the whole thing.

[Christian U]

Meyer; not so interesting. Niccol; a bit more so.

Nice teaser. Nice idea for an alien invasion movie, too, to start with the aliens having taken over everything. I hope the movie's a bit different from what the novel's summary sounds (which seems to have an emphasis on romantic angles), but judging from synopses isn't fair, anyway. It's an interesting concept, and Niccol is an interesting director, so I'll definitely keep an eye on this.

[steveuk]

I have it saved if you're interested. That said, it's not terribly interesting. Obviously, as it's directed by Trudie Styler, it focuses a lot on Sting - never a good thing - but once Roger Allers leaves the production, his replacement comes across as a complete sh*t, and aside from feeling sympathy for some of the animators, you stop giving a damn about the whole thing.

I quite like the movie. It's not a classic, but its a good bit of fun for a Sunday afternoon.

The documentary is probably slanted, given it's pedigree. Styler must've been nuts to think Disney would release it?

Nice teaser. Nice idea for an alien invasion movie, too, to start with the aliens having taken over everything. I hope the movie's a bit different from what the novel's summary sounds (which seems to have an emphasis on romantic angles), but judging from synopses isn't fair, anyway. It's an interesting concept, and Niccol is an interesting director, so I'll definitely keep an eye on this.

The idea can go any number of ways, but I agree its probably gone more for the romance since that's what Meyer's known for. Her own brand of it anyway.

[Steve Sensible]

My friend just posted this Facebook. It's from the set of Skyfall which is filming nearby him in Godalming in Surrey:



No idea what location it's doubling for, but that's all built out of wood and fibreglass.

[Rory Abel]

I have it saved if you're interested. That said, it's not terribly interesting. Obviously, as it's directed by Trudie Styler, it focuses a lot on Sting - never a good thing - but once Roger Allers leaves the production, his replacement comes across as a complete sh*t, and aside from feeling sympathy for some of the animators, you stop giving a damn about the whole thing.

I found it pretty fascinating the whole way through but I like the finished film quite a bit too. Sting comes off as a giant asshole through out. Honestly its not that stanted. The beauty and the beast documentary is pretty similar except that the finished film became a classic.

[steveuk]

My friend just posted this Facebook. It's from the set of Skyfall which is filming nearby him in Godalming in Surrey:



No idea what location it's doubling for, but that's all built out of wood and fibreglass.

Hogsmeade?



Somewhere Scottish anyway.