JANUARY, 3rd

MOVIES RELEASED

1-THE AVENGER

Action
Directed by John Woo
Starring Eric Bana, Elisha Cuthbert, Gary Oldman, Michael Rappaport
Box Office: 56 mill.
Net Gains: 31 mill.

CMP Reaction: Not much of a blockbuster, as it was expected by the Studio. A bit disappointing for a movie that wasn’t looking for quality but just for easy money.

2-DIRTY SANCHEZ

Action / Spoof / Lampoon
Directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly
Starring Jack Black, Jennifer Lopez, Dennis Hopper, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Box Office: 39 mill.
Net Gains: 28 mill.

CMP Reaction: Not much than that was expected by the Studio. Well, maybe a bit more… Anyway, a correct result for a low budget movie without more pretensions.


THE MOVING THUMBS

1-The Avenger

“Does anyone know what is John Woo’s prestige as director based in? He might have done some interesting Japanese movies in the past, but what decent movie has he done since he came to America? Not this one…”
-Andrew Kiggs, ‘Variety’

“A dark hero, a sexy girl, extreme violence and an unbelievable plot… B-series is here to stay. Probably, this one could have been a hit back in the 80’s, but we have grown up, you know…”
-Jared Jones, ‘Entertainment Weekly’

“A feast of testosterone. At least, I liked the Harley Davidson…”
-Lilly Stevens, ‘Today’

2-Dirty Sanchez

“The movie is offensive for Spanish, afro-americans, women, cops, Clint Eastwood, good taste, disabled people… It is so politically incorrect that I just could not avoid to love it!”
-Charles Kerrigan, ‘The New Yorker’

“If you like the Farrelly’s sense of humour, this is your movie. If you hated their previous movies, run away from this one. As simple as that”
-Helen Wade, ‘The Washington Post’

“I’m not sure if Jennifer Lopez should go on singing and forget about acting or if it should be the other way around… Ok, she’s sexy if you like her kind of woman, but I can’t find no talent around any of the things she does”
-Bill Willer, ‘People’

HE SAID, SHE SAID

‘I’ve never liked awards ceremonies. I can’t understand why Sydney Pollack was not even nominated for GMA’s Best Director”.
-Susan Sarandon, GMA’s Best Supporting Actress Winner

“We had a movie produced, directed and starred by women. And the CMP’s Awards simply ignored it. It sounds so male chauvinist to me…”
-Maggie Gyllenhal, about ‘The Women Club’

“I don’t care about awards. I wasn’t going to spend an evening attending to one of those boring galas.”
-Russell Crowe, absent at the GMA’s ceremony

“I’m just scared. I can imagine all those fans writing in their sites that we have made a shitty movie that has nothing to do with the saga”
-Orlando Bloom, ‘Tales of the Jedi’

“Making a simple movie about a man living in the country and spending time with some nice people makes me feel like an alien in CMP”
-Tom Hanks, ‘September’s Gone’

“Probably, if De Niro and Jolie and the rest would have been the stars and John and I would have just been the cameos, the movie would have been a smash hit”
-Tim Roth, about ‘Sam & Twitch’ flop.

AWAITING RELEASE

1-TALES OF THE JEDI

The Cast: Jennifer Garner, Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons, Viggo Mortensen, Gong Li, Paul Bettany, Sean Connery (cameo).

The Director and Producer: Peter Jackson

The Plot: Hundreds of years before Skywalker times, Garner plays a waitress in a cantina at Tatooine. She was an abandoned baby that grew up in an orphanage. Her whole life will change when a mysterious man (Mortenssen) appears at the cantina. He tells her he’s a Jedi Knight and he’s been looking for her for years. Garner is the only descendant of a powerful Jedi’s lineage. His father was a legendary Jedi (Connery) that left him in the orphanage to protect her identity before he died. And a legend says that she will save the Galaxy from the dark powers of the Siths one day. Because of that, the Siths have always wanted to find her and kill her. Garner does not believe him, but that night she has a vision of her father telling her that she must follow her destiny as Jedi. She accepts to go with Mortenssen to become a Jedi novice.
Meanwhile, the Lord of the Siths (J.Irons) has discovered the hidden tomb of Connery and has taken from it energies and powers long time hidden. Iron initiates a rebellion against the Republic. It’s war. And he sends his most prepared Sith (P.Bettany) to look for Garner.
At the Jedi Academy, Garner meets another novice (O.Bloom), who becomes her best friend, and a mysterious tutor (Gong Li), that introduces her in the secrets of the Force.
But war is going on and there’s no time to learn more. Bettany finds Garner and she will have to run away together with Bloom, Mortenssen and Li as the Academy is destroyed by Siths and everyone but them are murdered. They become fugitives and have to get involved in the war between the Republic and the Siths.

The Comment: Everyone in CMP is keeping their fingers crossed… The biggest bet ever done by the Studio. Based on a Matt Kubrick’s premise, all the CMP’s home screenwriters have worked on this story. Getting involved in such a beloved saga is full of risks and the Studio trusts that Peter Jackson can face the challenge with guarantees of success.

2-ROBOTECH 2

The Cast: Voices of Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Heath Ledger

The Director: Tony Scott
The Producer: Michael Bay

The Plot: The earth/Zentroni war rages on and the government makes the controversial decision to send the crew of the SDF1 out into deep space in hopes of luring the Zentroni away from earth but this puts the crew into a life and death struggle as they play a games of cat and mouse with the enemy. Meanwhile Mimi Rick Hunter's girlfriend is left behind earth and her pop singing career begins to take off amid the war and helps raises the spirit of the people of earth.

The Comment: The first Robotech movie was a solid success, so the Studio considers that there’s no reason why the fans of the saga would not go to theatres for this second one.

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

UNCOMMON VALOUR: THE FRIGATE CAPTAIN: Tough work for Scott and his guys. The budget has risen to the sky after constructing three replicas of the original American frigates. Shooting in the Pacific Ocean has also been quite a nightmare. And the Studio is pressing him to contain costs as the movie will have to be a big hit to make any profit.

SEPTEMBER’S GONE: A different kind of risk here. A very low budget movie that will have a hard time trying to attract audiences. One of those prestige operations from CMP…

SPACE QUEST: THE HEART OF THE CONQUEROR: Costs are getting higher and higher in this Roland Emmerich’s mega-production. Here’s the complete cast: Kiefer Sutherland ('The Crusades'), Rachel Weisz, Morgan Freeman ('Dead Man's Song'), Milla Jovovich, Matthew McGouneghy and Gabriel Byrne.

THE RETURN OF ULTRAMAN: Eddie Murphy will not only star but has also become the producer of this sci-fi comedy. And his first decision may sound pretty shocking as he has hired for one of the main roles not other than Pamela Anderson (!?). Beyonce Knowles has also confirmed she will be in the movie. Murphy has not found a director yet.

DON’T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME: Zach Braff returns after the mega-hit ‘The Mogulers’. Nick Cassavettes is going to direct him and Heather Graham in this comedy that takes place in a high-class girls private school.

TURNING POINT: Jonathan Demme has agreed to direct this drama, starring Michelle Pfeiffer. No other members of the cast have been hired yet, as pre-production is going pretty slow.

WILD CARDS: A new saga greenlighted by CMP based on a sci-fi and superheroes comic anthology series set in a shared universe. The comic series was created by a group of New Mexico science fiction authors, and mostly edited by George R. R. Martin. Matt Kubrick (‘Vorhees: The early years’, ‘Sam & Twitch’) will asume the direction.

THE GOLDEN MOON AWARDS CEREMONY GOSSIPS
Comments by Special Guest Writter Amy Ratched from ‘Today’

No clear winner. Awards split between the three favourites movies: 'The Crusades', 'The Heirs' and 'Deadly Sins'. After the ceremony, it is hard to say which one can be considered as the night winner. Well, 'The Crusades' took Best Picture, which is much more than I expected for it (better than 'The Heirs'?), but the other two also achieved recognitions in main categories, so it can be considered as a tie.

Did anyone have any doubt that Robin Williams would get Best Actor? Nicole Kidman's award was more surprising to me. I would consider her work in The Heirs as a supporting role, but it seems like everybody wanted her up there, instead of my personal favourite, Halle Berry. But, Halle, traditionally it's hard to win an award with a character that makes nude scenes. Don't ask me why.

It is funny that the award for Most Wanted Sequel was won by 'The Crusades'. Harry Stark has repeatedly said that CMP has no intention of making that sequel.

It was the night of the necklines. It seemed like every actress in the gala wanted to show as much as possible. Salma Hayek looked as if she had been inflated. Susan Sarandon proved that it is not embarrassing to be over 50. But the most outstanding dress was, without doubt, Jennifer Lopez's.

Worst dressed, clear winners. Both Best Actor and Best Actress also won my award for Worst Dressed. In a sexy night, Nicole Kidman surprised everyone dressed up with a boring man's suit designed by her worst enemy. And what about Robin Williams' shirt? Luckily, he changed it for the afterwards party.

I'm surprised that 2 out of the 3 nominees for Best Starring Couple were male couples. I thought I was in some kind of Gay Festival. Why everybody forgot Heath Ledger/Kate Beckinsale from 'Captain America' or 'Jason Biggs/Sharon Stone' from 'Entertaining Mrs. Sullivan'? Ah, it's a men's world...

It is said that Sandra Bullock did not show up at the gala cause she was so mad that the movie she produced and starred, 'The Women Club', did not get a single nomination. Well, someone missed her?

Hugh Jackman and Dakota Fanning made the nicest couple of hosts. The chemistry between them was great. Maybe, screenwriters should invent a daughter for Ace Banner in a sequel.

Looking at attractive Jennifer Garner on stage, I had no doubt that her leading role in 'Tales Of The Jedi' will take her to the A-League of female stars.

And here is my hall of fame:
The most serious host: Jennifer Connelly (why is it so hard for her to smile?).
The most excited: Antonio Banderas (why? Antonio, calm down, the winner was Ben Kingsley, not you).
The kitsch moment: Lopez and Garner appearing under a golden halo (what had smoked the guy that had the idea?).
The best dressed: Hillary Swank (you don't need to be inflated to look great, Hillary).
The most embarrassed: Bill Murray (after the recent and tremendous flop of his latest movie, 'The Tempting Diamond').
The most deserved award: Martin Scorsese for Best Director
The less deserved award: Sorry, Nicole (but it's just my opinion).
The worst couple: Spielberg and Jackson trying to act like a couple of showmen.
The classy couple: Brossnan and Witherspoon (They were there and they were great, no matter if their movie 'The Women Club' wasn't).
The most missed: Tom Hanks (he was expected to introduce the Best Movie Award, but he's so busy with the edition of his new movie, 'September's Gone', that he finally didn't come).
The bet for the future: Cathedral, Uncommon Valour and September's Gone.

INSIDE CMP

‘Tales of the Jedi’, ‘Uncommon Valour’ and ‘Space Quest’ are the three most expensive movies ever produced by CMP. In fact, if they do not work out as expected, the Studio may have its first financial problems since it was created by Harry Stark.

‘Ace Banner 2’ won’t be greenlighted by the moment after Michael Bay rejected to direct it. As CMP’s production schedule is pretty busy by the moment, the Studio has decided to postpone this one as no director could be found to take care of it.

The CMP’s screenwriters team is working on a very secret and challenging story that could face two of the most popular superheroes ever. More news about it coming soon.

COMING SOON – THE ADD