JANUARY, 8


UNCHARTED: DRAKE’S FORTUNE

Adventure / Treasure

The Cast: Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Mark Dacascos, Michael Rooker

The Director: Stephen Sommers
The Screenwriter: Steve Connors

The Plot:

The treasure hunter Nathan "Nate" Drake (G.Butler) has recovered the coffin of the explorer Sir Francis Drake, Nate's ancestor, from the ocean floor, using coordinates inscribed on a ring in Nate's possession. He is assisted by journalist Elena Fisher (J.Biel), who is there to record the events for a documentary. However, the coffin contains only a diary written by Sir Francis Drake, pointing to the location of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold which Sir Francis sought, proving that he faked his death as Nate originally believed.

A band of pirates have been tracking Nate. They bomb Nate’s boat. Victor "Sully" Sullivan (J.D.Morgan), Nate's old friend, who is been waiting for Nate in another boat, gets an SOS signal from him and rescues Nate and Elena.

Following the diary, Nate, Sully and Elena travel to a region in the Amazon. They find ruins of an ancient South American civilization, and clues that El Dorado is a large gold statue, and that it was removed long ago. Searching further, they discover a long-abandoned German U-boat stuck in the Amazon river containing its dead crew, Spanish gold coins with an unknown mint stamp, and a missing page from Sir Francis Drake's diary that points to a southern tropic island where the statue was likely taken.

Before they can leave the island, they are accosted by Gabriel Roman (E.Harris), a competitive treasure hunter who has hired the services of mercenaries led by Atoq Navarro (M.Rooker), Roman's lieutenant and an archaeologist with knowledge of the statue. The two are working together to find El Dorado. Nate refuses to help Roman, who then shoots Sully in the chest. Nate attacks Navarro and at that moment the U-boat explodes from a torpedo Elena accidentally armed. Nate and Elena fly off in Sully's plane to where the statue is believed to be.

Navarro chases them in another plane and shoots them down. Nate and Elena jump from their falling plane and separate. Nate works his way to a fort where he spots Elena's parachute; unable to find her, he continues into the fort, where he finds a message from Sir Francis stating that he had gone to the fort's tower.

Upon arriving at Drake's tower, he is soon captured by the pirates from the beginning of the movie, who are led by Eddy Raja (M.Dacascos). Eddy demands that Nate assists him in finding the treasure. Nate and Elena, who had been captured by the pirates too, are reunited.

Nate and Elena get to escape from the pirates at night. The two work their way through a long-abandoned port city and discover, through a log book in its custom house, that the statue was moved further inland.

As Elena spots the supposedly dead Sully working with Roman and Navarro, heading north, they decide to follow him to a monastery. There they locate hidden passages, and rescue Sully, who survived thanks to Drake's diary blocking the bullet, and played along to fool his captors.

Nate, Sully and Elena find a series of maze-like passages below the monastery. In these tunnels, Nate overhears an argument between Roman, Navarro, and Eddy, who was hired by Roman as well in order to aid in the capture of Nate and the security of the island all with the reward of a share of the gold of El Dorado. Roman doubts Eddy's abilities to do his job further and ignores his superstitious claim that something cursed on the island is killing his men.

Roman dismisses Eddy and his crew, angering Eddy, who draws his gun but is stopped by Navarro. Eddy storms off, cursing. Traveling through more of the underground tunnels, Nate, Sully and Elena find a passage leading to a large treasure vault in which they find Sir Francis Drake's body, assuming that he died on the island searching for the treasure.

Before they move on, they encounter Eddy running for his life, chased by mutated humans possessing incredible speed and strength. After they co-operate with Eddy to fight the creatures, they escape when Eddy is killed, and find themselves in an abandoned German submarine base.

Nate ventures out into the base to restore power to allow them to leave. During his exploration, he discovers that the Germans had sought the statue during World War II but that, like the Spaniards before them, learned that the statue was cursed and became mutated. The creatures attacking them are the mutated descendants of the Germans and Spaniards. Sir Francis, knowing the statue's power, was actually trying to keep it on the island, before he too was killed by the mutants.

Nate attempts to return to Elena and Sully, but finds Elena captured by Roman and Navarro. As Nate follows Roman and Navarro to save her, he reunites with Sully outside of the monastery.

Fighting through Roman's forces, Nate and Sully are captured at gunpoint and find that Roman has the statue. Navarro urges Roman to open it; inside is the Mummy of El Dorado. As Roman opens the statue, he inhales the dust from the rotting corpse and begins to mutate. Roman charges Navarro only to be shot and killed.

Planning all along to steal the statue and sell the mutagen as a weapon, Navarro then has the statue lifted out by helicopter as his mercenaries are attacked by mutants. Nate then jumps onto the net the statue is in. Elena and Sully, held captives in the helicopter, inadvertently cause the death of the pilot when they kick the gunner out of the helicopter and, while still firing his gun, hits the pilot.

The helicopter crashes onto a ship used by Roman, sending Nate flying onto the cargo. A final fight breaks out between Nate and Navarro and his mercenaries. Nate prevails over Navarro in a fistfight, knocking him unconscious. Nate then pulls an injured Elena from the helicopter. As Navarro regains consciousness, Sully warns Nate, who pushes the helicopter off the tanker. The rope connecting the helicopter to the statue, which has become tangled around his leg, plunges Navarro and the statue into the ocean.

Elena returns Nathan's ring and the two lean in to kiss, when they are interrupted by Sully, who was gone and returns taking several boxes of treasure he found in the cave and took from dead pirates. Elena reminds Nate that because she lost her camera, he still owes her a story. As the boat sails towards the horizon, Nate assures her he will not break his promise.


Stark’s Comment:
In this artsy Season, it’s time to make some cash with this top budget adventure movie. It has it all: action, sense of humor, special effects, romance… The spirit of Indiana Jones is very much present in this production. Hope it does not become one of those unpredictable flops.

Behind The Scenes:
-While writing this movie, Steve Connors discovered that another Hollywood’s major is already developing a movie based in this console game. He assured Harry Stark that he didn’t want to investigate who will be starring that version to not being influenced by it.
-A curiosity: this is the second CMP’s movie with references to the treasures of Sir Francis Drake after ‘Nathan Zachary and Drake’s Gold’.
-Connors has the intention of writing an adaptation of the second game of this saga if this one works in box office. Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel have already signed the contract to be in the sequel.
-If you want a hint of how this movie may look like, you can visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r9opp1MsNQ

BOOSTER GOLD

Action / Superhero / Comedy

The Cast: Chad Michael Murray, David Strathairn, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Nikki Reed, Frank Langella. Voice of Michael Sheen. Cameo by Kim Bassinger.

The Director: JJ Abrams
The Screenwriter: Chad Taylor

The Plot:

Michael Jon Carter (Chad Michael Murray) was born on December 29th, in the year 2442. He grew up to be a foolhardy and egotistical man, and his only talents were his showing his notorious silver tongue, and his ability to promote himself. His mother(Kim Basinger) was always worried about the way Booster acted as a kid. Never having been the best student growing up, he took a much deeper liking to sports, and football more specifically. Eventually he acquired a scholarship, and proceeded to become a star of college football, and even gained the nickname 'Booster'. However, being the scheming and selfish man we've all come to know and love, Michael started actually betting on his own games. He was caught rather quickly, and banned from playing the sport altogether. Forced to take a part-time job at the Metropolis Space Museum, Michael 'Booster' Carter was down, out, and on his last leg.

On his nights alone at the museum, Michael began to take an interest in 20th century history, particularly in that time period's Superheroes and Villians. After some time he became completely fed up with where his life was going, and began to concoct a scheme. Through the aid of a museum security robot called Skeets (voiced by Michael Sheen), Michael took a Legion Flight Ring from a display involving the Legion Of Super-Heroes and a Force Field Belt that belonged to Brainiac 5. Also acquiring a power suit that granted him Super Strength and wrist bands that released Force Bolts, he set off using Rip Hunter's Time Machine to go back to the 20th Century along with Skeets (who possessed historical records dating back to pre-20th Century history).

Upon arrival in our time, Michael used a credit card he had taken from the museum and used it to set himself up until he could make a living on his own. He adopted the name Jesus Alvarez on the credit card for a short time telling himself that he would pay him back as soon as he could. After he found a place to stay he quickly made use of his stolen technology from the future and Skeets' knowledge of events to come in order to mould himself into a successful Superhero. His first experience was saving the President's life from a villain named Chiller (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). The President (Frank Langella) honored him with the Medal of Honor. After confusion over Booster, and Goldstar, the President called him Booster Gold.

He sets up Goldstar, Incorporated, in the heart of Metropolis. He hires Trixie Collins (Nikki Reed), who soon develops a crush on him, despite not even knowing him that well.

Meanwhile, back in 2462, a man named Broderick (David Strathairn) investigates the theft of the time machine. We find out he is also a big football fan, and a fan of Booster in his younger days. However, as a detective, he becomes obsessed with capturing Michael. Booster travels back to his time, to see how things are going. However, he is not noticed as a superhero, but as a criminal. Broderick lures him into a trap, and soon drains him of his powers. He interrogates Michael, and tortures him. The police then arrive and are about to take Broderick into custody. Booster, holding Broderick's pistol, says it's okay, and gives him the pistol back. He turns the gun on Booster, but after a few seconds, decides to walk away. Booster travels back to modern time. When Booster arrives in Metropolis, expecting to be the big hero, he finds a man floating in mid-air. All we see is his back, but we can see his red and blue outfit, and his red cape. Booster shakes his head in disappointment as the film ends.


Stark’s Comment:
Even in an artsy Season, a superhero movie is something inevitable in CMP. Chad Taylor joins the long list of CMP’s authors of superheroes movies with this one while we all wait for his hyped ‘Justice League’. This is a more modest production than other superhero movies but still I expect it to behave well at box office.

Behind The Scenes:
-There were a lot of cast changes in this project as many big stars rejected the offer to be in it. People like Sean Penn, Jude Law and Anthony Hopkins refused the offer to be in the movie.
-The director originally chosen by Chad Taylor was also changed. Robert Zemeckis got involved in the pre-production of the movie. But a few weeks before beginning the shootage, Taylor decided to replace him and Abrams took control of the project.
-Abrams threatened with abandoning the project if there were more cast changes or if he wasn’t satisfied with the replacements chosen. Finally, it seems like he was.

THE PITIFUL PLIGHT OF TOM COLLINS

Drama / Comedy

The Cast: Alan Arkin, Judy Davis, Catherine Keener, Helena Bonham-Carter, Kathy Bates

The Director and Screenwriter: Josh Collins
The Producer: Grand Island Movies

The Plot:
Tom Collins(A. Arkin) is an old man living with dementia. He can no longer function on his own and can not be left alone in his house anymore because it is too much of a risk after he had fallen down more than once within a couple of months, one of those falls he broke a hip but managed to keep alive. Tom is confined to a wheelchair he hates and often complains that "he is in a world of giants" because of the height difference between a standing person and him.

One would say Tom Collins died over 40 years ago after his wife passed away and his children spent their lives suffering of not having a father to really truly be there even though he did what he could to raise the children, which really wasn't much. Michelle (J.Davis), the oldest of the siblings, had Tom's house already etched in the will. She moves back to town and ends up staying in the home with her father, but he never really talks anymore unless he has a demand or feels the need to tell Michelle that he spoke to God, whom would tell him "it's time to come home"

Michelle and the other kids of Tom end up hiring an assistant live-in nurse (Tom demanded that it couldn't be a woman because a man nurse might be "funny" a joke the siblings laugh about saying "oh yeah, cause that's just every man-nurse's dream is to look at an 80 + year old man's wrinkly package) to help out and not have Michelle always be the one to deal with Tom since the other children, Kathleen (C.Keener) and Trish H.Bonham-Carter) have their own lives to deal with but they try to split it up evenly...except Trish doesn't always do her share. The live-in nurse (K.Bates) has some issues of her own like her friends involved in drugs and being arrested and there are many times the nurse whose being paid to take care of Tom and live in the house is hardly ever there unless Michelle and the others have to work.

As the film progresses, you understand how sad and pitiful this poor old man has become. He'll say he fought in the War, to which his kids would overrule him and say "you were stationed in Hawaii and you didn't do anything at all" which is true, he may have been in the military during a time of war, but he didn't do any fighting at all where he was stationed. He also enjoyed fishing, going to the beach, playing handball, and cooking. A simple American man who grow through simple American times. But towards the end of his life he had already checked out early and that's really what the daughters are waiting for.

Tom grows sick from pneumonia and dies. But that's only in the beginning of the film. The rest of the film involves the sisters taking a long drive down the road together and sharing humorous stories of Tom and how crazy he was. They also talk about how crazy their entire family is and how they aren't so different from the craze. Kathleen being the one with a morbid sense of humor wanting Michelle to just put a pillow over Tom's head and smother him to death, saying she's all for assistant suicide.

Stories include a car ride that involved Kathleen, Tom and Kathleen's son and Michelle's son on a trip to bring the nephew back home and the car breaking down while Kathleen had a urinary tract infection and Tom wouldn't make a stop, his old cadillac died and left them stranded in the middle of the road and he would insist her to get under the car in a giant ant pile. He would constantly say during the entire trip "after this, we're going to get a beer" a beer that would never actually come because Kathleen grew tired of his crap at that point of the trip.

You learn to laugh and love Tom and his insane antics and you realize your own parents aren't so different from him.


Stark’s Comment:
Another family dramedy from Josh Collins. But a different one: no trace of any suffering girl in this one. Jokes aside, here is a very original story based on true events. Don’t miss the splendid acting work from Alan Arkin. Josh and I know that this is one of those releases hard to make it work in box office but worthy from a creative point of view.

Behind The Scenes:
-This movie was shot in a very short period of time and with a particularly low budget.
-Josh Collins wanted the talents to look as spontaneous as possible so he let them to improvise some of their dialogues and didn’t make more than two or three takes of each sequence.


THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM: Love stories are not something usual in CMP. Joey Stark has decided to leave aside for a moment his superheroines movies and bet for a highly romantic story: the forbidden romance between a college teacher and one of her students. GMA Nominee Michelle Pfeiffer (‘Only In America’, ‘The Land Of Nod’, ‘Kingdom’) will play the teacher. And Emile Hirsh, seen past weeks being Ringo Starr in ‘The Beatles’, will play her pupil and lover. Some steamy sequences between the mature Pfeiffer and the young Hirsh are announced. Stark has made a peculiar choice for the director of this polemic story: the two times GMA Winner Jodie Foster will make her first directional job for CMP with this movie.

SILENT HILL: THE RETURN: Here comes the sequel of the successful ‘Silent Hill’, written by Max Arilius. Again, Arilius has written a screenplay based on the popular saga of games. In this sequel, directed again by Brad Anderson, there will be a brand new cast, although the storyline will have connections with the plot of the first movie.

WEST FLASHMAN: Nick Nolte will play here the eccentric captain of a slave trade ship that always speaks with Latin-quotes. Nolte had not work in CMP for so long: his only previous work for the Studio was back in Season 1 in ‘Court Appeal’. Graham Greene will make his debut in CMP with this movie playing the American Indian historical character of chief Mangas Coloradas.

KARATE KAT: CMP greenlights an animation movie after quite some time. One of the most brilliant talents in the world of animated movies, Andrew Stanton, is going to direct this digital animated feature written by Josh Collins about a kung-fu fighter cat. Stanton has been involved in Pixar’s animation classics such as ‘Toy Story’, ‘Finding Nemo’ and ‘Wall-E’. Ryan Reynolds, seen past Season in ‘Crossovers’, will lend his voice to the heroic cat.

NATHAN ZACHARY AND THE PILFERED PROTOTYPE: Two beautiful ladies join the cast of this adventure movie. Diane Kruger, just seen in ‘The Beatles’, will be the love interest and adventure mate of Thomas Jane. And a nice and awaited return: GMA Winner Charlize Theron will also be seen in the movie making a cameo. Theron had been away from CMP since her daring work in Season 7’s cult exploitation movie ‘Damnation Road’.

JOHN AND TOMMIE: Back in Season 4, he was behind the murder of Captain America in Tim Burton’s ‘Captain America: Destiny’. Angie’s father, Jon Voight, returns 8 Seasons later in this movie playing the head of the International Olympic Committee that suspended the two black athletes played by Derek Luke and Anthony McKie.

COMEDY WARS: Together with comedians very well known in CMP, we will see some new faces in CMP in this wild comedy written by Matt Kubrick and directed by Edgar Wright. Talents never seen before in a CMP’s movie like Simon Pegg, Teri Polo or Rutina Wesley will also take part in the violent war between East and West Coast comedians.

A HARD PLACE: Harrison Ford does not work too often for CMP. He has been in movies like ‘Cursed Neverland’, the McMillan & Wife movies or ‘Civilization M’. Now, he is back with this cops drama written by Richard Franzwa and directed by Clint Eastwood. Ford plays a District Attorney that does not like the methods used by the cop played by John Cusack.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME: As announced, this adaptation of Josh Collins from the bestselling Mark Haddon’s book will have an all-british cast. Stars included in it are: Ralph Fiennes, already seen this Season in ‘Edge Of Human’; Clive Owen, also seen before this Season in ‘The Blacksmith’s Sword’; and Cate Blanchett, whose last work for CMP was Season 10’s ‘Wild Cards: Battle Of The Rox’.


THE AVENGERS 4: CIVIL WAR: GMA Winner Claire Danes played the superhero Black Widow in The Avengers’ spin off ‘Hawkeye. The Prey’. The funny thing was that she already played that character before in ‘The Avengers 3’. But her work in that movie disappeared in the editing room. So it is now when she finally joins The Avengers’ franchise as the Black Widow. This way, Danes, better known lately as the main female star of the ‘Magic – The Gathering’ saga, becomes once again part of another of the main CMP’s franchises.



JOSH COLLINS
THE PITIFUL PLIGHT OF TOM COLLINS

The always very active Josh Collins returns this week with one of his specialties, a family drama. This time, he focuses in the delicate issue of Alzheimer’s disease approaching to it with an intelligent and subtle sense of humor. The main appeal of his new movie is the character built up by Alan Arkin, a grumpy and ill old man both exhausting and adorable based on Collins’ own grandfather. ‘The Pitiful Plight Of Tom Collins’ hits the screens this weekend.

1.Your new movie is an acid and bittersweet dramedy based on your family. How much of it is it based on true events and characters?

The personalities of the sisters are extremely similar to my own mother's and her sisters, especially during the time while they were taking care of my grandfather as he was dying. The eccentric live-in nurse is also based on the live-in nurse they hired so that they wouldn't be stuck with him 24/7. The fact that my grandfather became this being that had totally lost it. Couldn't remember anything, acted like a child 'i want ice cream now!' etc is true. It was sad to see a once hard working, intelligent veteran reduced down to that. Hence the title 'pitiful plight' The trip the girls take on the road while recalling memories is reference to an old personal memory of when Tom and the family would travel down this road. The stories they tell are all true too.

2.What makes to decide directing or not your own screenplays?

It happens randomly. I know the more personal the story is the more I want it to come out of my vision. I have another story down the pipeline that I will be directing as it is loosely based on my own experiences as a kid. I used to want to direct ALL my films when I first started and did 72 Hours and Hollyweird. Then I slowly stepped back and let other directors have a chance and I think that was a great decision. Lately though I don't sign up as director for most of my films and if I do the film holds some sort of importance to me.

3.I was surprised to read somewhere that you don't care anymore about box office...

*laughs* Yeah, I wrote that in one of the blog entries. I've seen so many of my films get the shaft when it comes to box office returns. I'm not saying all of my films deserved to be hits, I'm not perfect and admit I made a few errors in films, but it happens so often that I'm just not worried if it will make money or not anymore. There are plenty of great writers who make the studio lots of cash with their fantasy world, epic science fiction, superhero films and that's great. I've just had the more difficult time getting those kinds of movies to work for me. I've had some luck with hits like Fantastic Mansion, Civilization M, Woodland Creatures and Lyra, but those are few and far between and my artsy films do ok by having small net-gains. Rock Star was a huge critically acclaimed success but did crap in box office. I'd rather make more of those with original concepts and have them flop in box office than a million adaptations of another person's work. And yeah, I know I've adapted stuff and it won't be the last time either. But those too are few and far between.

4.What can you tell us about your upcoming movie 'The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time'?

I've been a fan of reading but I didn't read as much as I would've liked to before reading 'The Curious Incident' I don't know what it was that struck in me, but I've been reading a lot more books since then. I liked the originality of the writing in the book and the whole murder mystery about the dog instead of a person intrigued me as well. The main character(portrayed by Freddie in my film adaptation) is quite eccentric as well. Like for instance if he is walking down the street and sees 4 yellow cars in a row, it's going to be a bad day. But 4 red cars is a great day! He doesn't understand metaphors like 'apple of my eye' and he loves math(chapters in the book are prime numbers)

I really think the most challenging thing about translating the book into film is how deeply the story delves into Christopher's mind. You can't really see that on screen. I can already tell ya that fans of the book aren't going to like the movie but I hope that others find that it's a great attempt and that they realize film and book are different medias and they can't compare.

5.You are going to try luck with animation with 'Karate Kat'...

I've been taking karate since I was a kid and have been wanting to do a story involving it. Now there's quite a few references to karate in a lot of my films. The one I mentioned earlier about my childhood experiences that should show up in a future season, Abigail's character in Dare to Be Perfect studied it and now Karate Kat. I'm torn between being a cat person and a dog person. I like them both but I've felt that cats don't get as many adventure films as dogs do. You can name 20 movies about dogs in 2 minutes and when you're asked to name 20 cat movies in 2 minutes, you probably can't. As adventurous and independent as cats are, you'd think they'd have just as many stories as dogs do.

One fun tidbit is Karate Kat's villain, Dr. N. Sane is actually a villain I came up with for another anthropomorphic superhero lizard. When I was younger I was so much into heroes and villains that I would always write up these ideas, give these character back-stories and even write up comic books that have sadly been lost in time. Karate Kat may also be the first of my films to get a television series and the promotion behind the film is going to be crazy. Burger King wants to put toys in their kid's meals, there's going to be plush dolls and action figures and some movie theaters are going to have Karate Kat dressed up for people to take pics and get autographs.

In addition to the deeply depressing dramas, I seem to find a niche in movies geared towards kids and families. Bird of a Feather, Woodland Creatures and Fantastic Mansion all have been regarded as great family films. It's quite an interesting leap to go from a film like Blink or Fireflies to a film about a cat that studies Katmandu.


GAMES ADAPTATIONS

The subgenre of games adaptations is not as popular in CMP as superheroes movies or fantasy epic adventures. But still the Studio has released quite a bunch of pc and console games adaptations. Many CMP’s authors have decided at some moment of their careers adapting their favorite games to the big screen. This week, CMP releases another one: the top budget adaptation of the very popular ‘Uncharted’, written by Steve Connors. And we take a look at the story of games adaptations in the Studio:

INDIGO PROPHECY
Season 2
Brian Kelley / Brian Kelley
B.O.: 45 mill. / N.G.: 12 mill
It was..: The very first CMP’s game adaptation, written and directed by Brian Kelley, an author that didn’t stay long in CMP. Matt Damon and Kate Beckinsale starred – steamy sex scene included – this action thriller and the recently deceased Brittany Murphy showed up in it.
It became…: A lower hit than expected. But at least it didn’t lose money.
And then…: The premature retirement of Brian Kelley prevented it from any possible sequel.

NATHAN ZACHARY AND DRAKE’S GOLD
Season 5
Jack Hammer / Jack Hammer
B.O.: 72 mill. / N.G.: 77 mill.
It was..: Three Seasons after ‘Indigo Prophecy’, Jack Hammer tried luck again adapting this game full of airplanes and duels in the air. Thomas Jane leaded the cast.
It became…: A discrete success. Surprisingly, this luxurious production didn’t make it at box office as well as expected.
And then…: Seven Seasons later, Jack Hammer is about to release a sequel. If it works, Hammer plans to develop another three movies based on the games.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA
Season 7
Stephen Sommers / Josh Collins
B.O.: 100 mill. / N.G.: 87 mill.
It was..: A young audiences oriented fantasy adventure. George Lucas decided to get involved in this Collins’ project as producer and Kate Bosworth and James McAvoy played the starring couple.
It became…: A nice success. After its release, Sommers and Lucas showed publicly their creative differences.
And then…: A sequel was released in Season 10. This time, Lucas both produced and directed it. And it become more successful than the original movie, making 168 millions in box office and generating 167 millions of net gains for the Studio. Sommers is now the director of this week’s release ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’.

BULLET WITCH
Season 8
McG / David Makalaster
B.O.: 95 mill. / N.G.: 56 mill.
It was..: The adaptation of a shoot’em up game. An action feature starred by Hillary Swank.
It became…: A correct success, although movie critics didn’t get crazy with this spectacular show.
And then…: A sequel – ‘Bullet Witch 0’ - was released in Season 11. In fact, it was a prequel, focused on the character played by Eric Bana in the original movie. Renny Harlin replaced McG behind the cameras. The movie made an outstanding box office of 223 millions and amazing net gains of 249 millions.

FALLOUT
Season 8
Richard Donner / Richard Franzwa
B.O.: 60 mill. / N.G.: 54 mill.
It was..: Another CMP’s author tried luck with games adaptations. Richard Franzwa wrote this action sci-fi movie starred by Hugh Jackman and Robert Downey Jr.
It became…: A correct release, but again, as it happens with many games adaptations, it wasn't as successful as expected.
And then…: A sequel was released in Season 10. Again, the sequel did better than the original: 104 millions in box office and net gains of 92 millions. Stephen Sommers was the director. And it is expected that Franzwa will write an adaptation of the third game of this saga in the future.

METAL GEAR SOLID
Season 9
John Woo / Dawson Edwards
B.O.: 26 mill. / N.L.: 21 mill.
It was..: Dawson Edwards’ turn in the genre. A mega-expensive action production directed by Woo and starred by one of the most popular CMP’s stars, Eric Bana (still recent his success with ‘Bullet Witch 0’).
It became…: One of those unexpected mega-disasters at box office. Something failed with this movie and CMP’s executives are still wondering what was it.
And then…: Harry Stark cut a few heads at the Studio.

GEARS OF WAR
Season 10
Michael Bay / Steve Connors
B.O.: 35 mill. / N.L.: 12 mill.
It was..: An astronomical budget. Michael Bay directing and producing. Will Smith starring. What could go wrong?
It became…: An even more surprising flop than ‘Metal Gear Solid’. Against any logical prediction, the movie became a box office disaster.
And then…: Harry Stark definitely lost his confidence in game adaptations. Steve Connors abandoned his plan of developing sequels. Will Smith decided to make a turn in his career in CMP and has become the director of ‘John and Tommie’. And Michael Bay is still wondering why.

SILENT HILL
Season 11
Brad Anderson / Max Arilius
B.O.: 141 mill. / N.G.: 106 mill.
It was..: A different kind of game adaptation. No sci-fi or action shows but psychological horror. Max Arilius made his debut in CMP with this adaptation and Rupert ‘Flashman’ Everett proved he can do more than a british rogue.
It became…: An unexpected megahit. Arilius proved that horror movies may become blockbusters in CMP.
And then…: A sequel will be released soon. New characters will visit the sick world of Silent Hill looking for another box office’s success.

COMMAND & CONQUER
Season 11
Michael Bay / Ben Tyler
B.O.: 75 mill. / N.G.: 82 mill.
It was..: Michael Bay’s attempt to forget ‘Gears Of War’. Ben Tyler joined the long list of CMP’s screenwriters interested in adapting their favorite games choosing this popular saga. Hugh Jackman and Robert Downey Jr., already experienced in games adaptations with the ‘Fallout’ franchise, leaded a cast full of testosterone.
It became…: A decent hit and an spectacular action show. The movie got 4 GMA nominations, although it didn’t win at any of them.
And then…: It will all depend on Tyler, who is not very active lately at CMP.

UNCHARTED: DRAKE’S FORTUNE
Season 12
Stephen Sommers / Steve Connors
Awaiting release
It was..: An adventure ala Indiana Jones. Sommers confirms himself as an specialist in games adaptations after ‘The Legend Of Zelda’ and ‘Fallout 2’. And Steve Connors tries luck again in the genre of games adaptations after the embarrassing ‘Gears Of War’.
It became…: We’ll see… It is clear by now that games adaptations are always a hit or miss.
And then…: Connors could adapt the second game of this popular saga if this one works.


Jessica Biel does not show up often in CMP. She has only worked three times for the Studio before. It was in ‘Ace Banner’, ‘The Towering Inferno’ and playing a lesbian and dangerous FBI agent in Robert Rodriguez’s ‘Tracks Of Blood’. So we are happy to have back this sexy girl to the Studio turned into a brave adventurer in this week’s release ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’.



I am so curious about what will happen in the next GMA’s edition. Usually, we have two or three artsy movies per Season that can be considered as the favorites to be nominated. But this peculiar Season, after only 15 movies released, we have plenty of movies that could easily become winners in any other CMP’s Season. Movies like ‘Riders On The Storm’, ‘American Tabloid’, ’24 Hours To Live’, ‘The Princess and the Captain’, ‘Teenage Wasteland’, ‘Running On Empty’, ‘Storm At Home’ or ‘The Beatles’ are perfect productions to become multi-awarded. And we are only at the middle of the Season! So voters are going to have a hard time to choose. Big surprises and big disappointments can be expected in the most intriguing GMA’s edition ever.

I remember writing some time ago that the always active Steven Spielberg was looking for new projects to develop under the label of CMP. Well, problem solved. For what I know, Spielberg already has quite a few projects he has decided to get involved in for the next Seasons. He will direct and / or produce movies far away from the action and adventure features he has developed before in CMP, getting more artsy and betting for adult audiences oriented stories. In fact, Joey Stark has announced that he has postponed his plan of writing a third Dr. Jones’ adventure for a while, as Spielberg will stay too busy to get involved in it at least during Seasons 13 and 14.

Let’s go with the usual section of sequels announced. First, Matt Kubrick confirms that there will be a sequel to his old – and flopped – movie ‘Sam & Twitch’. Remember? It was a peculiar cops movie in black and white based on an eccentric couple of characters played by Tim Roth and John Goodman. The movie was based in a cult series of graphic novels. The movie flopped tremendously back in Season 2 and Kubrick has waited more than 10 Seasons to try again and bet for a sequel.

And another unexpected sequel. James Bradley is writing a new story that will retake the lead characters of his acclaimed cops movie ‘The Funeral Drum’. Sean Penn and Julia Roberts will get involved again in a violent story of crime and corruption. Initially, Joey Stark is not co-writing the screenplay with Bradley this time. ‘The Funeral Drum’ became a critics’ success back in Season 8. It got 6 nominations at the GMA and won three of them, including Best Screenplay for Bradley and Stark.

While Bradley and Stark won’t team up again in that movie, two other CMP’s authors announce their first joint adventure: Chad Taylor and Trent Nielsen will be the co-authors of an upcoming dramedy telling a gay love story (and no, it is not autobiographical or anything). Homosexuality has not been a common issue in CMP’s movies. Josh Collins succeeded with ‘A Man Called Dan’, a dramedy about a gay adoptive father played by Aaron Eckhart. And Harry Stark already rejected a previous gay romantic movie written by Nielsen due to its excessive similarities with ‘Brokeback Mountain’.

And talking about games adaptations, Steve Connors has confirmed that he has another one in his waiting list. The author of the legendary flop ‘Gears Of War’ and this week’s ambitious production ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’, has already written another screenplay based on a successful console game. A hint? It involves violent assassinations and templar knights. If things go as expected, this movie would mean the return to CMP of Peter Jackson, not seen in CMP since he directed and produced in Season 9 the megahit ‘The Land Of Nod’.

MID-SEASON’S TOP 5

Harry Stark promised that Season 12 would be a very different kind of Season in CMP. The Studio has decided to leave partially aside blockbusters and bet for more ‘auteur’ projects. That, together with a general drop in box office’s numbers, has made this a very peculiar CMP’s Season. We reach the middle of the Season with very few ‘100’ movies and no ‘200’. So the top list looks this time very different from what we are used to with CMP’s movies. Interesting…

(Box Office / Net Gains)

1.DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON : 187 / 123
2.BEING BEN STILLER: 109 / 87
3.THE BLACKSMITH’S SWORD: 101 / 54
4.AMERICAN TABLOID: 62 / 53
5.EDGE OF HUMAN: 55 / 27