MARCH, 28

MOVIES RELEASED

1-WILD CARDS 2: ACES HIGH

Sci-fi / Action
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Produced by Matt Kubrick
Starring Kenneth Branagh, Angelina Jolie, Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Matt Dillon, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McKellen

Box Office: 80 mill.
Net Gains: 46 mill.

CMP Reaction: Great! The first movie lost only 1 mill, so the franchise has become definitely worth it. So good, cause the Studio’s President loves it.

2-SPACE QUEST II: THE LOST UNIVERSE

Sci-fi / Action
Directed and Produced by Roland Emmerich
Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Rachel Weisz, Morgan Freeman, Milla Jovovich, Matthew McGouneghy, Gabriel Byrne
Box Office: 67 mill.
Net Gains: 37 mill.

CMP Reaction: Another franchise reviving! Now, everyone feels more confident with the third episode, already produced.

THE THUMBS AND THE STARS

1-WILD CARDS 2: ACES HIGH

“The first ‘Wild Cards’ movie created a pretty weird universe. Tarantino has gone even further and has risen it to a really freak world. Appealing and entertaining. But the screenplay of the sequel was less elaborated than the original one. Although the movie is visually outstanding, the different stories do not advance much and situations remain a bit static. If they want to keep this franchise going up, some more work on the plots should be needed.”
-Jack Carter, ‘The Critics Corner’

“It’s John Travolta’s show! He works tough creating two very different characters: the mean and disturbing candidate to US Presidency and the excessive Jube. Trantino has always known to take the best from Travolta and he does it again this time.”
-Amy Ratched, ‘The Critics Corner’

“It’s Tarantino’s reunion with his old mates from ‘Pulp Fiction’. Travolta, Willis, Jackson… They are all here. Maybe that’s why this movie is a kind of wild version of a pulp story. The visual show is perfect, but maybe it hides a certain emptiness behind it.”
-Roy Winslow, ‘The Critics Corner’

“A slam bang super hero movie that bursts off the screen and hits you like a punch in the face. The movie takes some time to get going and it sets itself nicely with a huge pay off that ends with a scenes that must be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated. Thousands of aces battling in the skies with an alien menace. There is more going on in the movie including John travolta playing an evil presidential candidate and some lame comedy involving chrysallis and popinjay. That is the only thing that keeps this movie from being great.”
-Sam Elliot, ‘The Blog Reviews’

2-SPACE QUEST II: THE LOST UNIVERSE

“This saga was created as an alternative to Star Wars (mainly ‘Tales Of The Jedi’ at the time). But, after the poor results of the first movie, Emmerich has understood he cannot compete with Lucas’ universe. So this sequel, produced with an obvious lower budget than the original movie, has directly and deliberately fallen in a B-Series sci-fi movie, heir of old 50’s episodic pictures. At the end, reducing its aspirations works well for the movie and it becomes a nice and modest space adventure pleasant to watch.”
-Charlie Kiggs, ‘The Critics Corner’

“This saga won’t get into the History of Sci-Fi. It has too many references to the Star Wars’ classic elements to consider it innovative enough. But, in this second movie, the characters have gained a certain depth and the already produced third picture can be expected with optimism and curiosity to see how the whole story ends.”
-Bill Feldshaw, ‘The Critics Corner’

“A rocking sci fi adventure with a bit of old school fun thrown in. This in many ways is better than the original movie itself Ships flying pass the screen, epic battles, a cool plot all make this a good time at the theatre. I hope this movie succeeds and makes more than the first one did. Look out Star Wars there is a new player in town and it is called Space Quest.”
-Sam Elliot, ‘The Blog Reviews’


AWAITING RELEASE

1-THE GREAT WAR SERIES: DARKENING SKIES

The Cast: Colin Farrell, Christian Bale, Claire Danes, Hayden Christiansen, Jeremy Irons

The Director: Peter Weir

The Plot: 1914 – Britain, as the Great War begins the Armstrongs are drawn into the conflict. Thomas (C.Bale) is the Naval Lieutenant, already a skilled professional at 27, Gunnery officer of the battlecruiser HMS Inflexible. Phillip (C.Farrell) is the tough as nails hell-raiser who enlists in the Army as a Lieutenant of infantry. George (H.Christensen), just out of University, is the bon vivant who joins the Royal Flying Corps. Anne (C. Danes) is the nurse pledged to ease the suffering of the war’s victims. And Richard (J.Irons) is the one-eyed former Brigadier re-called to a position with the General Staff.

As autumn turns to winter and winter to spring it becomes apparent to all that this war will be unlike any other in both scope and carnage. While Thomas chases the elusive Graf von Spee and Germany’s crack East Asia Cruiser Squadron across half the world, his father, Richard, settles into his post in London. But Richard's strategies are of a different age and ill suited to this new kind of warfare. In Hampshire Anne sees the bloody harvest of war as hundreds wounded in the desperate battles against the Huns in France are given over to her care.

As the Allied Powers fall back before the German advance it is the heroism of Phillip and his men that helps stem the tide of German grays rushing headlong toward them, while in his Yank built Curtiss NC-4 flying boat George hunts the elusive U-boats in the Irish Sea that threaten to starve England into submission. Finally catching and destroying the German Squadron after months at sea Thomas expects a return to home waters but HMS Inflexible is diverted to provide supporting fire for the campaign at Gallipoli, where Phillip is now fighting for his life against determined Turkish infantry, whose German machine guns turn the beaches, hills and cliffs of Turkey into bloody killing fields that consume men by the thousands.

The five Armstrongs are held together by the bonds of family and a tradition of service that goes back over a thousand years. But will even that sustain them through the firestorm that rages across the globe?

The Comment: A mega-production that pretends to be the first episode of a new Jack Hammer’s trilogy. Only box office will tell if it will become so. After the box office of the second Hitman, Colin Farrell seems to be a trustable guarantee of success.


2-MINOS

The Cast: Val Kilmer, Cameron Diaz, James Cromwell, Fanke Jansen, Michael Chiklis

The Director: Paul Verhoeven
The Producer: James Cameron

The Plot: Summer, modern day, and a cruise ship is touring the Mediterranean sea. On board are people from several countries enjoying a summer holiday. One of the usual stops for the cruise is a small deserted island off the coast of Crete. On that island is a ruined temple and only one beach where the ship can dock on the small jetty present.
Upon arrival the tourists roam, exploring and soaking up the sun. The ship stays there overnight to allow a beach party and barbecue food. One of the crew, the cook, gets drunk and takes one of the maids to the ruin. As he seduces her however he opens a secret passage that has not yet been discovered and released a creature long thought to be myth. This creature, on a deserted island, has no where to go but to the ship....the next day the ship sets sail again with two less crew and one extra 'tourist'. On board the tourists and crew suddenly find themselves caught in the ships maze of corridors with the creature.

Cast Of Characters:

-Val Kilmer: First Officer of the ship, he will face the creature to try to save passengers’ life.
-Cameron Diaz: Doctor of the ship and Val Kilmer’s major support in his fight against the creature
-James Cromwell: Captain of the ship
-Famke Jansen: a femme fatale who tries to seduce Kilmer and also get him in troubles
-Michael Chiklis: a passenger, a NYC fireman that helps Kilmer.

The Comment: A high budget horror movie. With the talents involved in it, it will be hard to miss the target. Top quality Special Effects for a terrifying and appealing adventure.


SPECIAL REPORT: ARE SEQUELS WORTHY?

The eternal debate. Now that CMP’s Season 3 is almost over, it is a good time to reach some conclusions about it. Sequels may not be good for creativity, but they seem to be definitely worthy for the piggy bank. Are they worthy? In Season 3, 6 out of 8 sequels made profits and 4 out of 8 made a better box office than the original movie. Here is a revision to Season 3 sequels.

CAPTAIN AMERICA VS SUPERMAN (B.O.: 134 mill. / Net Gains: 134 mill.): Much better than the first movie. The idea of an evil Superman, played by Nicholas Cage, added a lot to the saga. 100% worthy. An a third movie, in which Captain America could die, has been already rumoured.

CORSAIRS: THE SEARCH FOR NANTAYALAH (B.O.: 67 mill. / Net Gains: 45 mill.): Not as successful as expected, the corsairs returned with a decent result, much lower than the first movie. Worthy enough, but maybe not enough to return with a third adventure.

ACE BANNER 2 (B.O.: 30 mill. / Net Loss: 3 mill.): Not a big flop, but the second Ace Banner’s adventure did not attract audiences enough. Director John McTiernan didn’t know what to do with the hero lost in an Asian jungle and the story just didn’t work. Probable farewell for Banner / Jackman.

T.Y.M.: THE SECOND CHANCE (B.O.: 65 mill. / Net Gains: 64 mill.): A difficult challenge. The starring couple of the first movie (Tobey Maguire and Jessica Alba) rejected to return. So Brendan Fraser and Jennifer Love Hewitt took over the saga from them. And they saved the function with a nice box office. Return is not guaranteed.

UNCOMMON VALOUR: BROAD PENDANT (B.O.: 36 mill. / Net Loss: 0.8 mill.): A surprising flop. The movie had it all to succeed. The previous one had won the GMA for Best Picture. And a new top star (Leo Dicaprio) joined the cast. But it wasn’t enough. The third movie is already produced and will try to save the saga from a shipwreck.

HITMAN: TWO WAYS TO DIE (B.O.: 125 mill. / Net Gains: 113 mill.): The sequel did even better than the original movie. The future of the franchise is guaranteed and will see Hitman killing another few more people in the near future. The only question is if the franchise will survive to Keira Knightley’s death.

WILD CARDS 2: ACES HIGH (B.O.: 80 / Net Gains: 46): Sweet breakdown for a beloved franchise. Tarantino and Kubrick made better than Kubrick and Michael Bay. And no-one doubts that Harry Stark, number one fan of the saga, will be willing to keep on going with it.

SPACE QUEST II: THE LOST UNIVERSE (B.O.: 67 mill / Net Gains: 37 mill): A second flop would have been a reason to worry, as CMP has already spent a huge amount of money in a third episode already released. But CMP Production Division CEO, Julian Jones, always kept the faith on this concept and finally time proved he was right.

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

THE LIBRARY: Marcus Trax’s new major production already has a director and a star. Anthony Minghella will be behind the cameras and GMA winner Anthony Hopkins (‘Captain America’, ‘Happy Hamsters’, ‘Westworld’) will be in front of them playing a roman scholar in the ancient Alexandria.

THE CURE: Let’s go with another name for this neverending cast. Billy Bob Thornton (‘Hot Iron’) will play an agent in charged of avoiding Leonardo DiCaprio to find that mysterious cure.

CALVIN AND HOBBES: Vince Vaughn (‘Singles’) will finally team up with Owen Wilson (‘Styx and Stones’) substituting Ben Stiller. Other voices to be heard in the movie will come from Kirsten Dunst (‘Singles’) and Dakota Fanning (‘Fear The Darkness’, ‘Alice In Wonderland’, ‘September’s Gone’).

ULTRAMAN’S REVENGE: Eddie Murphy will also be the producer of the sequel. And he has already found a director to substitute his ex-friend Chris Columbus. Harold Ramis will try to keep happy Murphy taking care of the cameras.

ROBOTECH 3: Maggie Gyllenhaal returns to CMP giving her voice to the same character that had Cameron Diaz’s voice in the previous episode. Gyllenhaal had not worked for CMP since she was a member of ‘The Women Club’.

THE LAW: Uma Thurman, who played Brad Pitt’s ex wife in ‘Hot Iron’, won’t be returning in the sequel. Does it have something to do with the recent disaster of ‘Outer Eye’, her previous movie for CMP? Pitt will have another female co-star in this one whose name hasn’t been made public yet.

SOUTH EAST: Greenlight for the new John Daws’ screenplay. Originally, it was going to be directed by Quentin Tarantino, but he abandoned the project when accepted to take care of ‘Wild Cards 2’. Now, it seems like Neil Jordan could be directing this story about a young guy getting in trouble with gangs.

THE HEIRS – PART 3: Delays in this production. Nicole Kidman suffered an accident when shooting an action scene and broke a rib. Some scenes will have to wait for her recovery to be shot.

CASUAL DAY: New action comedy greenlighted. Matthew Perry, who already had a hit for CMP with ‘Singles’, returns to the Studio. Cameron Diaz was going to co-star this comedy, but internal sources from CMP have confirmed that she won’t be finally in it, as she’s committed to the promotional tour of the upcoming ‘Minos’.

PIECE OF MY HEART: Buz Luhrmann has explained that all the music that will be heard in his movie will be covers from the 60’s and 70’s, although the story takes place in our days. In fact, the main characters of the story will also be inspired in some idols from those decades. The idea is to adapt those goldies and make them sound different, the same way he did with the soundtrack pieces of ‘Moulin Rouge’.

COMING SOON - THE ADD


RUMOURS AND GOSSIPS

From screens to pages. Usually, it is the other way around, but CMP has sold the rights of the ‘Fear The Darkness’ franchise to American writer Anthony Williams, who will transform Darkman in the star of a saga of books.

Bryan Singer could return to CMP, after rejecting to direct the sequels of ‘T.Y.M.’ and ‘Captain America’. Singer could become the director of a future CMP’s saga, ‘Visionaires’, written by Marcus Trax. It seems like the old differences between Singer and the Studio have been overcome.

Battle in the Space. In a recent interview for ‘Variety’, Roland Emmerich has confirmed the rumours about bad relationships in the set of ‘Space Quest’. ‘Kiefer and Rachel just hated each other and McGouneghy was complaining about everything all the time. Morgan Freeman was the only one that stayed calmed. But the shootage was a hell of a nightmare for me. I know certain stars I will never work with again”, said Emmerich.

INSIDE CMP

So yes, Julian Jones was right. Sequels of non-profitable movies can be profitable. End of the debate. Sequels of ‘Wild Cards’ and ‘Space Quest’ have proved Jones’ strategy was right. Now, Jones expects that ‘Uncommon Valour 3’ and ‘The Law’ (Hot Iron 2) will follow the same destiny.

And another one about sequels. Season 3 was ‘Sequelmania Season’? Forget it. Only 8 sequels were released. According to the CMP’s provisional production schedule for Season 4, a dozen sequels could be released. It would mean that 40% of the movies of Season 4 will be sequels. Isn’t it too much? Where are the original ideas?