OCTOBER, 9

ZOIDS

Action / Sci-Fi

The Cast: Jeremy Sumpter, Hayden Pannettiere, Jaime Bell, Jason Patric, Cole Hauser, Meagan Good

The Director: Alfonso Cuaron
The Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards

The Plot: We see a young boy running through the desert sands, his village in the distant background. He's on his hoverboard and he's steadily looking over his shoulder frantically. Then a giant Scorpion like Zoid pops out from underground, almost taking out the boy, Van Flyheight (J.Sumpter).

We learn that he is being chased by some bandits who attacked his village and now are headed for some old ruins. Van hides in the ruins and upon entering, he unlocks a small silver Zoid, which he names Zeke. The Scorpion Zoids begin to rattle the ruins bringing the place down. Van and Zeke run deeper into the ruins, where they find a young girl locked in a capsule. Her name is Fiona (H.Pannettiere) though she can't remember anything else. Somehow, Fiona can understand the small zoid Zeke.

Zeke, who is later found to be an Organoid, helps Van and Fiona escape the bandits by reactivating a broken Shield Liger Zoid and helping Van pilot it out. When Van returns to his village, the gang bandits return and try to take Zeke from Van. To keep his village safe from them, he leaves with Fiona, who starts to speak of something called the Zoid Eve. Van decides to help her get her memory back and find the Zoid Eve.

Shortly afterwards, along their journey he meets Irvine (C.Hauser), who looks as an fierce cold hearted mercenary and skilled pilot of the Command Wolf Zoid. Initially, Van and Irvine are enemies because of Irvine's desire to take Zeke and fuse him with his own Zoid. Van and Irvine's battle destroys the cargo of a smuggler woman named Moonbay (M.Good), who doesn't take that very well. She decides to follow them to Zoid Eve until Van can repay her. Irvine loses the desire to obtain Zeke and accepts Fiona's offer to join them in finding Zoid Eve, during which they become more of family with Fiona and Van showing signs of young love.

Later, the four end up at one of the Republic's army bases, and end up having to help stop an invasion by the Empire orchestrated by Admiral Prozen (J.Patric). After that, Van, Fiona, Irvine and Moonbay preferred to stay out of the war. However, Van ends up getting involved when he meets the Guylos ace pilot Raven (J.Bell), whom he quickly holds a grudge against after seeing Raven's brutal nature after he attacks a village, but proves no match for him their first battle against Raven and his Sabre Tiger, similar to Vans, including an organoid named Shadow who slightly resembles Zeke.

Van later challenges Raven again, loses, and Zeke suffers near-fatal damage, but Van manages to save him. During this time the Imperial army is marching farther and farther in Republican territory but are eventually stopped by the Republic's Gorilla Zoids. Van and the others eventually reach the Republic's capital in hopes of finding information about Zoid Eve, but only end up getting caught up in the Empire's assault on the city. During the battle Van battles Raven, eventually destroying his Sabre Tiger Zoid.


Stark’s Comment: Cuaron returns to CMP after his success with ‘The Fantastic Mansion’ with another movie oriented to young audiences. And Edwards returns after succeeding too with ‘Wonder Woman’. This movie based on an anime tv series looks as an easy product to sell (and full of merchandising possibilities). So both nice box office and nice net gains expected.

Behind The Scenes: Edwards considered different directors before choosing Alfonso Cuaron. The Wachowski Brothers showed some interest in the movie but finally decided not to direct it. Also, there were some changes in the original cast: Jason Patric replaced Aaron Eckhart, who decided not to get involved in another action movie again and Cole Hauser replaced Ryan Reynolds, who did not consider his character interesting enough. Jacob Kogan worked in the movie playing a character named Prince Rudolph. But he won’t be seen on screens. His character disappeared in the editing room.

GOLDMINE KILLERS

Thriller

The Cast: Angelina Jolie, Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Djimon Honsou, Alan Arkin, Adrien Brody, Emily Blunt, Val Kilmer

The Director: Paul Verhoeven
The Producer: Angelina Jolie
The Screenwriter: Josh Collins

The Plot: A. Arkin is retired sitting on a goldmine. His young sexy trophy wife, Angelina Jolie, only really married the man for the money and is having an affair behind Alan's back with Jaoquin Phoenix. Alan's son and daughter (Emily Blunt and Adrien Brody) are on to Angelina and do not trust her.

Emily and Adrien get mixed up in a mess of deceit when Angelina gets tired of waiting for Alan to keel over and pays off a group of men to kill him. She enlists her boyfriend, Jaoquin, Mark Ruffalo, Djimon Hounsou, and Val Kilmer, offering them a bounty.

Emily and Adrien discover the murder plot and do what they can to help stop the assassination, even if Alan doesn't believe them. They thwart the murder-plot at the end of the film but it costs the life of Angelina and Jaoquin, the others are arrested and Adrien is wounded in the showdown.


Stark’s Comment: A movie that seems exclusively designed for the shining of the latest Best Actress GMA winner, Angelina. But still I can find a few interesting things in it: mainly, the return of Paul Verhoeven to CMP after the successful ‘The Crusades’ back in Season 1 and the tremendous flop of the horror thriller ‘Minos’. Also, I am curious about Angelina becoming producer like her husband Brad successfully did recently with ‘Deadly Force’ (after the failed previous experience of ‘Dakota North’). Well, thrillers are always tough at box office, so we'll see if the presence of Angelina is enough to make it work.

Behind The Scenes: Adrien Brody and Angelina Jolie work together for the second time in a row after past Season’s successful drama ‘Tender Is The Night’. Emily Blunt joined the cast replacing Claire Danes, who considered that her character was too minor for her. Blunt worked before with Josh Collins in the acclaimed drama ‘Blink’.

SUSPICIONS AND DISHONORS

Comedy

The Cast: Woody Allen, Annette Benning, Billy Crystal, Scarlett Johansson, Zach Braff, Justin Long

The Director: Woody Allen
The Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick

The Plot: Meet Walter (W.Allen), a somewhat popular novel author. He has written 10 books but his last few books have seen a decrease in sales and he hopes his next book to be his crowning achievement. He has a wife named Alexandria (A.Benning), a daughter named Piper (S.Johansson) and a son named Zack (Z.Braff).

He's a pretty neurotic and paranoid person and is constantly under the belief that his wife is cheating on him with his own brother Corey (B.Crystal). But the times he sees them is always at the worst popular moment. Corey and Alexandria are planning a secret birthday for him.

Meanwhile his daughter Piper is engaged to a wealthy business man named Ash (J.Long). The problem is his daughter is just as neurotic and paranoid as he is. She believes that his soon to be husband is cheating on her as well.

Meanwhile his son Zack is a bit of a slacker and doesn't really have any ambition to do anything in life despite his parents always trying to get him to better himself. He once won a thousand dollars from a scratch off ticket but he ended up losing all the money at a casino in the hopes that his luck would stay steady. He was eventually thrown out of the casino after getting into a fight with some people. It seems that when he stepped away from a gambling machine the person before him won 20,000 dollars and Zack thought he was entitled to the money.

Walter and Piper come up with a scheme to try and reveal that the people they love are cheating on them and try to come up with every possible way to expose them. It is revealed that the lady Piper keeps seeing her boyfriend with is actually his sister and Walter learns about the birthday party and feels guilty about the whole thing.

Life goes on for the family and they all end up going to Piper's wedding. Piper has a slight accident with her dress and falls down the steps but she is ok and the wedding goes as planned, in their own way the family has a happily ever after, even Zack who ends up with a beautiful model and just before the credits role he winks at the camera.


Stark’s Comment: I was the first surprised to see two very different kind of moviemakers like Kubrick and Allen joining forces. And it’s great. I like it when CMP’s authors decide to try new things. Here is a very woodyallen-esque comedy. As it usually happens with all Allen’s movies, it might work better in the foreign market than in the US. But I hope it will work, cause I think it’s a highly funny story.

Behind The Scenes: Zach Braff plays for the second time Woody Allen’s son after doing it before sixteen years ago in ‘Manhattan Murder Mistery’. Scarlett Johansson accepted to lower her usual salary to have the opportunity of working again with her beloved Allen.


GASPIPE: CMP turns its eyes again to the world of mafia. Dawson Edwards is the author of this biopic of the real mob boss Anthony Casso, aka ‘Gaspipe’. Ridley Scott will be directing the movie. Scott, whose movie ‘The Gunpowder Plot’ won past Season’s Best Picture GMA, refused the offer to direct ‘Earth 3K’ to be free for this project. Again, Scott will prove his versatility, always changing from one genre to another. The actor chosen to play Casso is no other than Andy Garcia, seen in CMP’s movies like ‘The Law’ and ‘L.A. Wolf’ and heard in the animated feature ‘Bird Of A Feather’.

THE REVENGERS: So who will be Eddie Murphy / Ultraman’s mate in the new superheroes’ band of two, The Revengers? Well, no other than the other superhero seen in parodies of the genre besides him: yes, Lieutenant USA / Steve Carrell! Steve Connors has decided to resurrect the character created by John Daws in this new action comedy. This way, Carrell will shoot his second movie of the Season and might recover the prestige lost with ‘Crime Stoppers’, playing for the third time his most famous character in his CMP’s career.

THE HOUSE OF SPIRITS (THE SONJA BLUE CHRONICLES 2): Green light for a long awaited pitch. Here is the sequel of the acclaimed Richard Franzwa’s movie ‘The Sonja Blue Chronicles’, released in Season 9 making 79 millions in box office. Although not a major hit, the picture quickly became a cult movie of the vampires’ subgenre. David Cronenberg will repeat as director and Selma Blair will play again Sonja Blue in what promises to be another dark and disturbing story.

EARTH 3K: Although the plot and the ending of the movie have been partially spoiled in Josh Collins’ blog, the Studio still hopes that this will be one of the blockbusters of the Season. Willem Dafoe, who already worked with Collins in his very first pitch, ’72 Hours’, has joined the cast of the movie.

ALTERED STATES: The brilliant actress Julianne Moore does not work very often in CMP’s movies. Her only two previous works for the Studio were released a long time ago: ‘Home’ and ‘No Evil’. But she will finally be back sharing with George Clooney his experiments with mysterious substances in this movie directed by Marc Forster and written by Richard Franzwa.

MAGIC – THE GATHERING: INNOCENT WHITE: Two prestigious talents join the cast of David Makalaster and Martin Campbell’s megaproduction: Judi Dench, last time seen in CMP with ‘Flashman and the Mountain of Light’; and Geoffrey Rush, who also worked in ‘Flashman’s Travels’ and succeeded past Season with ‘The Green Children’.

COMMAND & CONQUER: And here we go with more tough guys for this Tyler and Bay’s production. The two GMA winner Bill Murray has accepted to play a minor role here as a journalist that will tell us about the war going on, while Joseph D. Kucan will be Kane, the popular villain seen in the saga of video games in which the movie is based. It will be Kucan’s debut in a CMP’s movie.

THE ROCK STAR: Green light for another Josh Collins’ intimate story. This time, it is the story of an old rock star in his decadence trying to find a last hope in his friendship with a young woman. This low budget movie will be directed by Sam Mendes, also director of other CMP’s movies like the multi-awarded musical ‘Carousel’ and the teen drama ‘When Dreams Die’. The aged rock star will be played by Jeff Bridges, who could be seen past week playing a completely different character in another Collins’ pitch, ‘Married To The Supervillain’.

THE MIRACLE MEN: Two actresses join the cast of this bittersweet comedy about losers directed by Paul Giamatti and starred by Giamatti and Will Ferrell: Holly Hunter and Emma Stone, seen before in ‘Psycho: Bloodline’. Hunter will play Giamatti’s wife. The curiosity here is that Holly Hunter already played Paul Giamatti’s wife in another James Bradley’s story, ‘Bill and the Rocket Man’. Giamatti has stated that he personally gave Bradley the idea of having Holly as his wife again in this movie.

RAISE OF THE DARKMAN: As this is a movie within another movie, the whole cast of the first Darkman’s adventure will return to this one playing themselves: Dennis Quaid, Laura Linney and Dakota Fanning. Also playing himself, Harry Stark will show up here in his role of producer of ‘Fear The Darkness’. Same as Matt Kubrick, the President of CMP already made a cameo in James Bradley’s ‘Celebutantes’. Also in the cast, playing Matt Kubrick’s girlfriend, will be Danielle Harris, making her debut in CMP.


MATT KUBRICK - 'SUSPICIONS AND DISHONORS'

Matt Kubrick – an author best known for his horror and superheroes movies – surprises everyone this week as the author of the screenplay of the new Woody Allen’s comedy. After a long career in CMP, Kubrick explores new territories as screenwriter with this funny movie about the misadventures of the members of a most peculiar family.

1.I was surprised to see your name related to a Woody Allen's movie. It's not the kind of stories and talents you usually work with...

Yeah, it is kinda strange but Woody Allen hasn't done a lot in CMP really and he hasn't acted in a movie either so I decided it's about time someone did another screenplay for him. So here we go. I wrote something he can direct and star in.

2.After trying almost every genre, how do you feel as a comedy author?

I feel good about it. They are fun to write and I have a few more in the works coming out at some point, one of them starring Ben Stiller, and an action comedy I wrote starring a bunch of popular funny people that I hope Edgar Wright directs.

3.You seem to be leaving aside horror movies lately. No more Kubrick's slashers in the horizon?

No slashers at the moment. But I did turn in a story about a haunted psychiatric hospital and it plays on the fears of the main characters. I'm also going to write a horror movie aimed at kids, it's called Hell Night and it's a reminisent of the 80s flick the Monster Squad. I'm considering Robert Rodrizguez for the director, because he hasn't directed a kids flick for CMP yet.

4.Let's talk about one of your main franchises. Do you still plan to develop 'The Dark Tower' in seven movies?

I hope to turn all of them into movies but right now I've been thinking about combining books 4 and 5 into a movie because there are alot of characters in book 4 and it's a long flashback. So what I have to consider is whether I want to condense the backstory down so it can be told in the beginning of movie 4. The Dark Tower is rich with characters and its history and bringing that to the big screen takes alot of time. I doubt Sam Raimi will want to keep directing Dark Tower movies. It's just a matter of time before we have to find a new director I believe.

5.And the inevitable question: what's the future of 'The Avengers' franchise?

I thought you would never ask! ‘Avengers: Civil War’ has been written and it was turned in awhile ago but the problem is getting everyone together again and finding a new director I was thinking of Rob Cohen. Since some of the major characters don't want to come back I would like to recast whoever doesn't want to rejoin the franchise. Heck if you can have a new James Bond ever 5 or 6 years I don't see the problem. There are alot of characters in Civil war and you will see the Sentinals in this movie as well as several characters from the comic.


UNCOMMON VALOUR

Adventure and romance came to CMP by the hand of this legendary trilogy written by Jack Hammer and based on John Stevens books. Starred by Pierce Brosnan and Keira Knightley, the movies of this memorable saga brought to CMP the spirit of Patrick O’Brian’s books together with the reminiscence of classic heroes played by stars like Errol Flynn or Tyron Power. Ridley Scott was the director of the three movies.


THE 4 DVDs BOX SET

-The three movies.

-Documentary ‘Sailing The Screen’: a look at movies about sea adventures throughout the history of cinema. Narrated by Pierce Brosnan

-From pages to images: Interview with John Stevens, author of the ‘Uncommon Valour’ books.

-Behind The Scenes: Interviews with Ridley Scott, Jack Hammer, Pierce Brosnan, Kiera Knightley and Jude Law.

THE MOVIES

UNCOMMON VALOUR: THE FRIGATE CAPTAIN
Season 2
Ridley Scott / Jack Hammer
Pierce Brosnan, Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, John Cleese
B.O.: 55 mill. Net Gains: 30 mill.
The movie presented the main characters of the story: Captain Sinclair (Brosnan), his love interest Tara (Knightley), his loyal commander (Law) and the french enemy Captain Montaigne (Depp). The modest box office was compensated with a great critical reception and a triumph at that Season’s GMA.
GMA: Four nominations: Picture, Director, Starring Couple, Villain. Three wins: Picture, Director and Villain.

UNCOMMON VALOUR: BROAD PENDANT
Season 3
Ridley Scott / Jack Hammer
Pierce Brosnan, Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Cleese, John Jackson
B.O.: 36 mill. Net Losses: 0.8 mill.
Even more epic than the first one, this second episode showed great sea battles. Sinclair was unfairly accused of treason but he proved it wrong and was promoted to Commodore and married Tara. DiCaprio joined the saga as a new villain. The slight flop of the movie took the Studio by surprise. Critics kept praising the saga anyway.

UNCOMMON VALOUR: A SHOW OF CONFIDENCE
Season 4
Ridley Scott / Jack Hammer
Pierce Brosnan, Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Jake Gyllenhaal, Alan Rickman, John Cleese
B.O.: 71 mill. Net Gains: 41 mill.
Shot simultaneously with the previous episode, this third installment became the most successful one. Jake Gyllenhaal was the new villain. While Sinclair kept fighting against French and Spanish, he kidnapped Tara, who finally defeated him in a classy sword duel. The saga ended with the birth of Tara and Sinclair’s son.
GMA: One nomination for Best Cast.


ZACH BRAFF

Zach Braff returns to CMP this week with his second work of the Season. After the flop of ‘Crime Stoppers’, where Braff played a minor role, he has moved to adult comedy accepting another supporting role, now in the Woody Allen’s production ‘Suspicions and Dishonors’. He has worked for CMP both as actor and director and has two GMA nominations. Braff career in CMP is full of ups and downs. We can find teen and adult comedies and flops and hits in it. But, most of all, he remains as a very demanded talent by CMP’s authors.

THE MOGULERS
Season 1
Ivan Reitman / Daggle
B.O.: 513 mill - N.G.: 402 mill.
Braff made his debut in CMP playing the designer of a Hollywood business simulation game (sounds familiar?) in this action comedy. It was the only CMP’s movie written by Daggle and it became the most successful release of Season 1 (when looking at its amazing numbers, remember that an easier level of Hollywood Mogul was used by the time). Jennifer Love-Hewitt was his co-star.

DON’T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME
Season 2
Nick Casavettes / Joey Stark
B.O.: 12 mill – N.L.: 17 mill.
After the success of ‘The Mogulers’, the Studio quickly considered Braff as the king of comedy. So Joey Stark wrote this vehicle designed for him to shine. It was the story of a teacher at a school of young girls full of hormones. Heather Graham and Mena Suvari were the co-stars. And the movie became both a box office and a critical disaster.

CONTRACT KILLING FOR DUMMIES
Season 3
Zach Braff / Ted Froats
B.O.: 46 mill. – N.G.: 2 mill.
The Studio gave him another chance to prove he could be CMP’s king of comedy. And this time, Braff took full control of the project not only starring but also directing it. In this comedy, he had to deal with a dead body together with his buddy played by Sean William Scott. The production recovered the investment but hardly saved from net losses.

LIEUTENANT USA AND HIS WARM STEEL GANG
Season 5
David Zucker / John Daws
B.O.: 132 mill. – N.G.: 173 mill.
Braff returned to box office’s success with this acclaimed spoof of CMP’s movies that specially laughed at superheroes. He didn’t play the lead role here. The whole cast of this comedy became the official CMP’s Comedy Gang (Steve Carrell, Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, Jack Black and him). The movie is still considered one of the best comedies ever produced by CMP. As a curiosity, Braff’s character disappeared in the sequel of the movie.

SCHROEDINGER’S LITTERBOX
Season 6
Richard Linklater / Ben Tyler
B.O.: 51 mill - N.G.: 22 mill.
Tyler chose Braff to star his debut in CMP. A most peculiar comedy that did not became a box office’s hit but was critically acclaimed. Probably, the best work from Braff for CMP so far. Anne Hathaway was his co-star this time and he met again with Will Ferrell. His prestige as actor grew wildly after this work. And he got a GMA Nomination for Best Actor.

MARY’S DARK SIDE
Season 9
Zach Braff / Steve Connors
B.O.: 35 mill. – N.G.: 24 mill.
After three Seasons away, Braff returned to CMP with his second directional work. Again, a critical success more than a box office’s hit. But, most of all, a personal success for Braff. His prestige as a ‘serious’ comedian kept growing. The movie got 5 GMA nominations. Braff was nominated for Best Starring Couple (with Kate Hudson).

CRIME STOPPERS
Season 11
Kevin Smith / Chad Taylor
B.O.: 4 mill. N.L.: 32 mill.
A step back in Braff’s career. He accepted to play a minor role in this comedy just because he wanted to work again with his old Lit. USA’s mates, Carrell and Wilson. He played a hysterical movie director. And the movie became the worst flop of his career.

SUSPICIONS AND DISHONORS
Season 11
Woody Allen / Matt Kubrick
Awaiting release.
Braff returns to adult comedy and proves that he does not care if he plays a lead or a minor role as long as the movie interests him. It is funny that he has worked with eight different CMP’s authors in his eight CMP’s movies, proving that he is a favorite for everyone. Whatever happens in box office, it seems like Braff’s future in CMP is guaranteed.


The young starring couple of ‘Zoids’, Jeremy Sumpter and Hayden Pannettiere pose at the entrance of the Odeon Theatre in London, where the European premiere of the movie took place.



It seems like Chad Taylor finally has a definitive draft of screenplay for his biopic of The Beatles. For what I know, it’s been a tough work finding the way of telling the story of the Fab Four and quite a few re-writes have been necessary until Taylor has felt satisfied. Now, the following problem is choosing the right cast. One condition made by Taylor: all the stars involved must be British. So the new – and trustable, according to my source – rumor is that Daniel Radcliff could play John Lennon while Jim Sturgess is the main candidate to play Paul McCartney. Taylor is also looking for a – british, please - director to deal with the movie. Names like Danny Boyle, Sam Mendes, Guy Ritchie, Alan Parker or Stephen Frears are included in the candidates list. A complex project, obviously.

A couple of weeks ago, Steve Connors announced that he might develop a new Star Wars movie. But we are used to see how often Connors’ announcements don’t turn true. Now, he has made another one. And a surprising one. Connors has stated that he is finishing the screenplay for a sequel of the sci-fi classic ‘Blade Runner’. Nothing more and nothing less… According to Connors’ words, the story is almost ready to be shot. A daring bet as ‘Blade Runner’ is a cult movie for millions of fans. But Connors has proved his skill writing sci-fi with the recent success of ‘Robots Of Dawn’. We’ll see first if the announcement turns into a reality or not and, then, if he is capable of making a good work with such complex challenge.

Matt Kubrick will keep exploring new territories. After making his debut as lead actor with ‘Raise Of The Darkman’ and writing a comedy for Woody Allen, his new challenge will be writing and directing a story based on his own teenage years. Kubrick has explored the teen world before in movies like ‘Goths. A Love Story’, but now it seems like he will go further with this autobiographical pitch. It is evident that Kubrick is decided to leave behind his slasher and superheroes productions to try luck with new creative experiences.

But Kubrick will return to the superheroes universe at least once more with the already announced ‘The Avengers: Civil War’, probably the last installment of the popular franchise. And this upcoming production has affected another superheroes big production: ‘Justice League’, written by Chad Taylor. CMP’s Executive Board has decided that the Studio does not want a competition between The Avengers and the Justice League. So the plan is to release first the last Avengers movie, probably next Season, and then produce ‘Justice League’, considered by CMP the future replacement of The Avengers as the main superheroes’ franchise of the Studio.

And, although there will be popcorn shows developed like this fourth Avengers movie, my friends from CMP – and you know Harry Stark is not one of them – tell me that Season 12’s list of releases is ‘the most adult one in the Studio’s History’. That means that CMP is designing a Season specially full of movies oriented to adult audiences, with a very low number of sequels and only very few candidates to become major blockbusters. ‘It will be a very different Season from all others’, tells me one of my friends, ‘as if the Studio would be entering in a more mature phase’. I have no idea of what that means. We will have to wait a few weeks to know.