MARCH, 21

MOVIES RELEASED

1-HITMAN: TWO WAYS TO DIE

Action
Directed by Tony Scott
Starring Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley, Gary Oldman, Patrick Stewart, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy
Box Office: 125 mill.
Net Gains: 113 mill.

CMP Reaction: Spectacular breakdown. Hitman climbs on top of the most profitable CMP’s franchises. A third movie guaranteed.

2-THE TOYMAKER

Historical Adventure
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Produced by Martin Scorsese
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger, John Malkovich, Robert De Niro, Sophie Marceau, Monica Bellucci
Box Office: 62 mill.
Net Gains: 48 mill.

CMP Reaction: A risky production. But it made money after all the costs… A beautiful and epic movie. The Studio feels so proud of it.

THE THUMBS AND THE STARS

1-HITMAN: TWO WAYS TO DIE

“Farrell looks so comfortable playing this tortured and violent character. Scott knows how to take the best of him to build up an action show, unrealistic and excessive in some moments, but attractive all the time for fans of action movies”
-Charlie Kiggs, ‘The Critics Corner’

“Too many gratuitous violence. The scene where Farrell kills Keira Knightley to avoid her from more pain was just more than enough for me. The kind of movie that should not be shown in schools as an educative piece of art. A third Hitman’s movie? Don’t count on me”
-Amy Ratched, ‘The Critics Corner’

“In the hands of any other director, this movie could have become an absurd show of testosterone and violence. But Tony Scott knows how to deal with this kind of material. He knows how to control a story that could have gone too far to make instead a brave movie based on revenge and poetic justice without any kind of ‘political correction’ complex. Great.”
-Roy Winslow, ‘The Critics Corner’

2-THE TOYMAKER

“Here is an intelligent screenplay. It takes a minor anecdote (a toy maker builds a little flying machine) and transforms it in the reason why the French Revolution started. Of course, Bradley’s story spurns any kind of historical rigor. But who cares? It’s an entertaining epic adventure with hypnotizing performances from all the cast, specially De Niro, as the fanatical archbishop, and Malkovich, as the weak and manipulated King.”
-Rob Carter, ‘The Critics Corner’

“Sofia should learn from dad. The old master has made a brilliant movie. Coppola is as excessive as always but he’s just a master mixing intimate human feelings (ambition, family feelings, fanaticism, obsessions) with crowd scenes and magnificent settings. In some ways, the same he did before in ‘The Godfather’ or ‘Apocalypse Now’. It’s great to have him back.”
-Anne Roman, ‘The Critics Corner’

“My favourite movie of the season. Although it has the look of a major production, there’s an internal lack of pey in this story that just looks for entertainment based on an old fashioned adventure spirit. Hoffman is at his best.”
-Robert Hart, ‘The Critics Corner’

THE PICS SEQUENCE

A funny anecdote happened to Sophie Marceau during the premiere of ‘The Toymaker’. The event took place in Paris, where the story is located, and most of the cast attended to it. Only producer Martin Scorsese and star Robert De Niro missed it, as they are both already working on the filming of ‘The Heirs – Part 3’. While walking down the red carpet, French star Sophie Marceau had a little accident with the strap of her dress. And although most of the people didn’t notice it, a photographer was there to immortalize the moment. Oops!


AWAITING RELEASE

1-OUTER EYE

The Cast: John Cusack, Uma Thurman, Ashley Judd, Jeff Bridges, Oliver Platt

The Director: John Cusack

The Plot: This film charts the story of one man as seen through his own video diary. Edward Steeples (J.Cusack) is a normal man, works a normal job when he loses his job due to cuts. This puts pressure on him and his family and girlfriend (A.Judd) When his girlfriend leaves him he goes into depression and an arc of drug abuse and drink eventually pulled out of it by friends and family. He initiates a relation with an eccentric woman (U.Thurman) and tries to avoid the bad influence of his best friend (O.Platt), while attending to therapy with Jeff Bridges. When his girlfriend tells him to get back together, he will have to decide if he wants to rebuild part of his lost past. A story of one man’s life as he shows it, through the recordings he takes of events around him and monologues he gives to his diary.

The Comment: A drama with a touch of dark humour. The introspective travel of a man of our time facing maturity, addictions and love relationships. And a peculiar way of telling a story, through John Cusack’s character monologues told to a cam recorder. Another low budget production from the Studio looking for prestige instead of money.


2-CONTRACT KILLING FOR DUMMIES

The Cast: Zach Braff, Sean William Scott, John Goodman, Jason Schwartzman, Christina Ricci

The Director: Zach Braff

The Plot: Braff and Scott are best friends, roommates, and students at the same small town university. Both are fired from their jobs on the same day (Braff works at the university library and is fired for sleeping on the job again, Scott works for the local butcher but is fired for "accidentally" turning the store's window display into a re-creation of the Nativity Scene out of raw beef..."then the flies came"), and learn that their landlord is about to throw them out because their rent is overdue. In a panic, they get in their car and drive to ask Braff's ditzy girlfriend (C.Ricci) for a temporary loan, but can't get a word in to her because of her constantly ditzy ramblings, and get back in the car. As Braff begins to back out of his parking space, he hears a bump. Thinking he hit another car, he gets out...only to discover that he's actually hit a man and killed him despite the fact that he was only backing up ("I was only going TWO!").
Braff and Scott panic and attempt to ditch the body on the train tracks so it will look like he was hit by a train...only to discover there is already a body there. On further inspection, they realize the body is very much alive...it's Schwartzman, who's obsession with death has made him decide to lay down on the tracks until the train comes...just to see what happens.

When he realizes that they have a dead body, he quickly befriends them and promises to help them with their situation. The three of them quickly realize that this dead body could be the solution to their original problem...how to pay their rent. All they have to do is figure out who the dead guy is, find someone who would be willing to pay them to kill him (since he's already dead, but nobody knows it), and then deliver the dead body, get the money, and pay their rent.

Of course...that's when things start to get really weird.

Bodies begin to stack up, the panic results in even further zaniness including a failed suicide attempt that just adds another person to the body count, and the university rent-a-cop (J.Goodman) who dreams of becoming a world-reknown detective begins an investigation into the recent string of missing persons reports.

The Comment: To be honest, the Studio does not feel too confident about the future of this one. Zach Braff returns after the tremendous flop of ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ and an 80’s looking comedy lampoon may not be too appealing for wide audiences. We’ll see…


THE STAR PROFILE – MULTIEMPLOYED STARS

It comes a time in all major stars’ life when they want to get more involved in the movie making process. Acting is not enough for their egos, their ambition or their talent. So they become directors or producers in order to expand their creativity or to gain more control in their movies. CMP favours that chances and some stars have already become multi-employed for the Studio.

SANDRA BULLOCK (Producer - ‘The Women Club’, B.O.: 164 mill.): A big hit in old HM’s version. Bullock starred and also produced the movie, a feminist comedy of revenge against men where Bullock, Witherspoon and Maggie Gyllenhaal became a mixture between Charlie’s Angels and Desperate Housewives.

GEORGE CLOONEY (Director – ‘Dead Man’s Song’, B.O.: 99 mill; Producer – ‘The Little Sister’, B.O.: 41 mill.): Two film noirs in a row for Clooney. He proved to be a talented director in the glamorous ‘Dead Man’s Song’ and audiences responded massively. Then, he was tempted by Jack Hammer to reincarnate Philip Marlowe, but he demanded to become producer of the event. And the movie was profitable enough.

TOM HANKS (Director – ‘September’s Gone’, B.O.: 55 mill.; Director – ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’, B.O.: 122 mill.): Two experiences behind the Camera with CMP. The first one, an intimate dramedy was nominated for GMA Best Picture. The second, a period drama, has been one of the surprising hits of Season 3. Hanks is a director to trust by CMP.

EDDIE MURPHY (Producer – ‘The Return Of Ultraman’, B.O.: 52 mill.): Dealing with Eddie Murphy as star wasn’t easy for CMP. Dealing with Murphy as star and producer was quite a challenge for the Studio’s patience. But the movie made money and rumours about a sequel keep floating through CMP’s Offices.

DEMI MOORE (Producer – ‘Red Light’, B.O.: 29 mill.): Murphy’s caprices were nothing compare to Moore’s. Jane Fonda promised she would never work with her again. But she finally saved the movie from disaster and, after all, it even gained some money. It was all spent in tranquilizers pills by CMP’s executives after the experience of dealing with Demi.

ZACH BRAFF (Director – ‘Contract Killing For Dummies’, awaiting release): Braff starred in one of the first CMP’s biggest hits, ‘The Mogulers’. Then he starred in one of CMP’s biggest flops, ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’. This third movie will break the tie and probably decide if Braff has any future in CMP.

JOHN CUSACK (Director – ‘Outer Eye’, awaiting release): Cusack has worked before for CMP. It was in ‘The Clown Smile’, the first major flop of the Studio. He has waited quite a time to return, hoping that it was forgotten. Here, he has the chance to recover prestige….. or forget about CMP for another while.

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

WILD CARDS 2: ACES HIGH: Tarantino has come out with one of his surprising ideas. He could not find the right actor to play Jube, the walrus-looking villain of the movie. Until he realized the best option was in front of him. John Travolta. This way, Travolta will be playing two different characters in the movie: Puppetman, the ambitious Ace that wants to become President of the US, and the alien Jube. To play this one, Travolta will work under something like a ton of make up and latex prosthesis. It looks as if he’s going to deserve his salary.

PIECE OF MY HEART: It looks like awarded writer James Bradley is decided to bite in all kind of genres. After the historical and epic ‘The Toymaker’, he has written this musical about the rise and fall of an imaginary rock star, slightly based in the life of real singer Janis Joplin. Buz Luhrmann will create a whole visual show with the story in the line of his previous works ‘Moulin Rouge’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

MINOS: So we finally have a starring couple. Val Kilmer (‘Taurus 3’) and Cameron Diaz (voice in ‘Robotech 2’), will deal with a mythological creature that has been designed by the legendary Rick Baker. Shooting is already going on in the island of Crete.

ROBOTECH 3: As Cameron Diaz is too busy shooting ‘Minos’, her voice won’t be heard again in this saga. Matt Damon, after the long and exhausting shooting of ‘Home’, has also denied the chance to return. So Michael Bay is looking for some new voices for his movie.

THE GREAT WAR: DARKENING SKIES: Clarie Danes plays the main female character of Peter Weir’s epic saga, after Kate Winslet, who is releasing ‘The Toymaker’ this week, was considered for the role and rejected it. Hayden Christensen has also joined the cast in his first work for CMP.

SPACE QUEST II: THE LOST UNIVERSE: Roland Emmerich is already editing his movie after what can be described as, at least, a ‘tense’ shootage. The third episode of the space opera has been shot simultaneously so, luckily, the cast won’t have to be reunited again.

THE HEIRS – PART 3: First new name for the final chapter of Scorsese’s mob saga. Charlize Theron, GMA Best Supporting Actress winner for ‘Cathedral’, wil be the new Sean Penn’s lover after his (both fictious and real life) wife Robin Wright was killed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the previous movie.

THE LAW: ‘Hot Iron’ was an unexpected flop last season. But it won the Most Wanted Sequel GMA and Harry Stark agreed to develop the sequel. And here it is. Christopher Nolan will direct again Brad Pitt in this new movie written by Jack Hammer.

THE CURE: It seems that here comes another allstars cast. Robert Redford is said to play the brain behind the conspiracy in Doug Liman’s thriller starred by Leonardo DiCaprio, Jodie Foster and Natalie Portman. More names coming up soon.


CALVIN AND HOBBES: Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson may have the chance to work together again giving their voices to the kid and the tiger. Director and Producer James L. Brooks has said that an agreement with both has not been closed yet.

COMING SOON – THE ADD


RUMOURS AND GOSSIPS

The first screenplay based in ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ has been already delivered at CMP’s offices. The movie will be produced during Season 4 and everyone at CMP hopes it will become the beginning of a new saga. In fact, Stark is already looking for the right director to be in command of the project. About a possible second screenplay based on the franchise, Julian Jones has stated that he will accept to consider it as soon as it is received, and it could be feasible to develop both stories in parallel.

INSIDE CMP

Sequels based on not successful movies. Crazy? That is the main debate at the moment inside CMP. ‘Uncommon Valour’, ‘Hot Iron’, ‘Wild Cards’ or ‘Space Quest’ were not major financial hits at all. But Production Division CEO, Julian Jones, has greenlighted sequels for all of them. In the case of ‘Uncommon Valour’ and ‘Space Quest’, he has even agreed to produce two sequels simultaneously (and the first one for ‘Uncommon Valour’ already had a net loss of a few millions). Is this the right way to manage a big Studio? Future will tell if Jones keeps his employment with this risky strategy.

City chosen. Next GMA Ceremony will take place in London. If you see recent top 10 lists, most of CMP’s movies make more money in Europe than in America, so Harry Stark wants to make a wink to the European market bringing his awards to the old Europe. Now, CMP is looking for the best auditorium to host the gala.