FEBRUARY, 4


ATHENA

Adventure / Epic

The Cast: Angelina Jolie, Michael Fassbender, Joaquin Phoenix, Jonathan Rhys-Meyer, Sean Connery, Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Ciaran Hinds, Emily Blunt

The Director and Producer: Zack Snyder
The Screenwriters: James Bradley & Joey Stark

The Plot:

Tinia (S.Connery), King of the lands known as Olympus, known as the King Of Gods – as Olympus is considered by his citizens the home of the Gods -, is married with the mean and ambitious Hera (G.Close). They have no descendants, as Hera seems to be sterile. They both have many lovers and their marriage is nothing more than a political agreement.

In fact, Tinia already has a bastard son, Heracles (M.Fassbender). Hera knows that and she obliged Tinia to keep Heracles away from their Royal Palace since he was born. Heracles is growing up in a small village being taken care by a modest family of farmers.

When Hera discovers that Tinia has had now a daughter with another one of his lovers, she gets so mad. The mother of the girl suddenly dies from strong fevers in mysterious circumstances – in fact, she is poisoned by Hera - and the girl, Athena (A.Jolie), is sent out of the Palace to live with her half-brother Heracles. Also, Hera tries all kind of fertility potions and she finally gets pregnant of one of her young lovers. Hera gives birth to a boy, Hephaestus (J.Phoenix). She makes Tinia believe that the boy is his son so Hephaestus is officially considered the heir of King Tinia.

Years go by. Heracles and Athena turn adults living a very modest life in the village. Heracles is a strong, healthy and happy man. His best friend is another farmer, Pirithous J.Rhys-Meyer), and he has a beautiful girlfriend, Helena (E.Blunt). Athena and Pirithous are also beginning to feel something for each other.

After decades without watching them, one day their father, King Tinia, claims the presence of Heracles and Athena at the Palace. Tinia is very ill and seems close to death. When Hera hears about the visit of the two bastards, she is afraid Tinia may appoint Heracles as his heir. The king has never liked his son and official heir, Hephaestus. Hephaestus is a mean and cruel man. He is also an ugly one-eye and lame man. So Hera decides she will do anything to avoid Heracles from becoming the heir.

But Tinia only wanted to see Heracles and Athena before he dies. After a few days in the Palace, the siblings return to their home at the village. And a few nights after their return, something terrible happens. One morning, the beautiful Helena is found death at her bed with her throat cut. The mayor of the village – having been previously bribed by Heras - says that the night before Heracles was seen visiting Helena’s home. Helena was there with Pirithous and Heracles got so mad to discover than his best friend and his girlfriend were lovers that he killed Helena. Of course, the story is untrue.

Pirithous has disappeared. The mayor says that maybe Heracles murdered him too and then he got rid of his body somewhere. The people from the village believe their mayor’s story and Heracles is officially accused of the murder of Helena and Pirithous.

When Heracles knows all this, he decides to run away before being imprisoned. And Athena runs away with him. They both become fugitives.

For two long years, Heracles and Athena will live hiding in the woods and they will survive stealing food and clothes from the farmers’ houses.

Meanwhile, at the Palace, King Tinia has died. Hephaestus has been crowned as new King of Olympus. Hera is the Regent Queen. But the citizens do not accept the new King. Hephaestus behaves in such a cruel way and the rumor of him not being biological son of Tinia has spread all over. Soon, a civil war explodes in the Kingdom of Olympus.

Poseidon (J.alkovich), King of the Islands, old enemy of Tinia, watching the weakness of Hephaestus also declares war to Olympus planning to invade the kingdom.

While all this happens, Heracles and Athena have a plan to prove Heracles is innocent of the death of Helena. They return to their hometown and assault the mayor’s home at night. Threaten by them, the mayor confesses about the conspiracy leaded by Hera. They ask him where Pirithous is, and the mayor tells them that he was sent as a prisoner to the Lands Of Underworld, a dark and mysterious territory where many convicts and criminals are sent to become slaves of the evil Hades (C.Hinds), ruler of the Lands.

Heracles and Athena decide to travel to the Lands of Underworld to rescue Pirithous.

The Lands of Underworld are ruled by the dark magic of Hades and all kind of strange creatures are said to inhabit them. Nobody dares to visit the Underworld as it is said that nobody returns alive from there.

Heracles and Athena will travel through the Underworld facing all kind of dangers. They fight with swords against the Lions of Nemea – fierce lions with three heads and six legs. They will also survive to the attack of the aggressive giant Cicno. And they will find their way through the labyrinth of the nymphs, a strange forest where beautiful melodies confuse human’s mind trapping them there forever.

Finally, they will reach Hade’s castle and they will rescue there Pirithous after a wild and bloody fight against Hades and his soldiers.

But once back to the Kingdom of Olympus, they are captured by the troops of King Hephaestus while sleeping. Heracles and Pirithous are taken prisoners. Athena gets to escape.

The news of Heracles, the bastard son of King Tinia, having been imprisoned by King Hephaestus runs all over the kingdom. Many citizens consider Heracles as the legitimate heir of King Tinia instead of the mean Hephaestus. Due to this, Hephaestus decides to get rid of Heracles by quickly sentencing him to death.

Athena, now by herself, visits some villages where she knows she can find the rebel army against Hephaestus. When she tells the rebels she is the daughter of King Tinia, the rebels join her. Soon, she becomes the leader of her own army of rebels.

The day that Heracles is going to be executed at the central courtyard of the Royal Palace, Athena and her army assault the Palace. A fierce and bloody battle takes place between Athena’s army and Hephaestus’ army. Heracles is freed by Athena and he joins the fight. So does Pirithous.

It all ends up with a duel between Hephaestus and Heracles. Heracles finally kills Hephaestus with his sword. Heras runs away from the Palace. Hephaestus’ forces surrender now that he is dead and Athena’s army wins the battle.

But Pirithous has been wounded during the fight. And he finally dies in the arms of Athena. She is heartbroken as she had loved him since she was a girl.

Next morning, Heracles is crowned as the new King of Olympus. Civil war is over. But the threat of Poseidon’s army invading the kingdom is still there.

Heracles and Athena try to reorganize the forces of the kingdom after the civil war. But Poseidon’s army keeps advancing and they are not yet ready to face it. Soon, Poseidon’s army besieges the capital city of the kingdom, known as Olympus City, where the Royal Palace is.

Heracles and Athena agree that they cannot wait anymore. They have to battle Poseidon’s army.

But the night before the battle will begin, a professional murderer sent by Hera stabs Heracles. Heracles does not die but he is so severely wounded that he cannot lead his army. Athena decides that it is too late to cancel the attack and she decides to lead the army herself.

A huge battle takes place at Olympus City. Athena proves to be a brave fighter and a great leader. Hundreds of soldiers of both sides die during the three long days that the battle lasts.

But finally, Athena’s army defeat Poseidon’s army and Poseidon retreats. Olympus City has been liberated. War is over.

King Heracles recovers from his wounds. A big party takes place to celebrate the victory. During the event, Heracles announces that Olympus City will be known since that day as ‘Athens’ as a homage to his sister, Athena, who leaded the army in such a brave way to defeat Poseidon.

And Athena announces that she will personally lead the reconstruction of the Kingdom after all the damage caused by the civil war and the war against Poseidon. She will personally take care of making out of Olympus again the prosperous and peaceful land it was during the times of King Tinia.


Stark’s Comment:
In CMP’s history, including the word ‘epic’ when describing the genre of a movie has usually been box office’s poison. But I am going to keep the faith and cross my fingers. It’s been a very expensive production so I hope it works in box office.

Behind The Scenes:
-It is the first time that Zack Snyder not only directs but also produces a movie in CMP. Snyder’s previous directional work in CMP was the record-breaker ‘Metroid’ past Season.
-Stark and Bradley have co-written before ‘The Funeral Drum’. They won the Best Screenplay GMA for it in Season 8.
-In the first cast proposal, Daniel Craig was going to play Heracles while Michael Fassbender would play Pirithous. Later, it was decided that Fassbender would play Heracles. Craig was out of the cast then and Jonathan Rhys-Meyer was cast to play Pirithous.
-Tim Roth was initially considered to play Hephaestus. Finally, it was decided to cast Phoenix.
-In case Sean Connery would have not accepted to play King Tinia, Anthony Hopkins was plan B.
-‘Tinia’ is the way the old Spartans named Zeus.
-The budget of CGI for the movie has been very high. The crowded armies seen in the movie are digitally generated.
-Phoenix had to go through very complex make up sessions every day to make him look as ugly as he is seen on screen.
-Angelina Jolie and Joaquin Phoenix have worked together before in CMP in Paul Verhoeven’s ‘Goldmine Killers’.

LOVE LOST

Drama

The Cast: Charlize Theron, Hayden Panettiere, Joshua Jackson, Michael Cera, James Gandolfini

The Director: James Mangold
The Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards

The Plot:

A 30 something woman (C.Theron) wakes up in the morning to an empty bed. She reaches for the empty side of it and feels the surprisingly cold sheets. The woman looks at the closed bathroom door, hears the faint sound of water running and the light dimly cracking through the bottom of the door matching the sunrise peering through the window. She rolls out of bed, showing off her beautiful lingerie and body as she grabs her gown. The woman walks downstairs and makes an extravagant breakfast, fit for a King. She grabs a piece of toast and walks to the downstairs bathroom. Once she sits down, licks her lips, and finally speaks. Yelling through the bathroom door letting her words barely echo throughout the home. "Breakfast is on the table! Happy Anniversary!"

She finishes up in the bathroom and walks back to the kitchen. The food is still there, but the rest of the toast is gone. She smiles, and begins to eat while the food is still relatively warm. As she eats, she writes her grocery list. Hours go by, the woman has eaten lunch, cleaned the house and is headed out to the grocery store. On the way there she decides to call her husband’s office. "Hello Gwen, is my husband available?" she says to the secretary (H.Panettiere). Split screen of the woman and the young secretary. "I'm sorry Miss Taylor, but..." The woman, now known as Ms. Taylor, interrupts telling her that its not important, so don't bother him. We see the lower half of a man (J.Jackson) appear behind Gwen, and place his hand gently down her chest, before she hangs up the phone.

Ms. Taylor gets to the grocery store, finds the items on her list fairly quickly. She mentions to the cashier (M.Cera)that tonight will be beautiful. "Love is beautiful" he replies. She arrives home, cooks another fantastic and delicious meal. Only for him to let the food get cold once more. She assumes he was stuck at work, and will still be home in time for their magical night. She goes upstairs, slips into something a lot sexier and waits on the bed. She falls asleep waiting...When she wakes up, she stares the bathroom door, the light a lot brighter with no sun. The faint sound of water running once more, and she looks to the dresser where a picture of her husband sits, in his United States Marine uniform next to a folded American flag and Purple Heart Badge of Military Merit. BLACK.

We hear, "I'm sorry Miss Taylor, but..." We then see Gwen the secretary with a man's hand down her shirt. The man offers to take this back to his office, and Gwen follows. The two start to pull each others clothes off and shove files and folders off the desk. As they start having sex, the phone rings and Gwen's elbow knocks the phone off the hook. They move from the desk to the wall, and from there to the floor. After they finish, Gwen tells her boss that she could get used to this. He simply smiles and starts to get dressed. Doing so, he tells her that they should probably stop this. She laughs thinking that he was joking, but when he leaves her alone in the office she starts to cry.

We see the boss turn around after hearing her sobs. He reenters the room and shouts that she needs to get her act together and realize that this is reality. He continues to yell at her, but all sound is gone. The tears continue to run down her face but she seems much more calm. The phone starts ringing once more. She starts getting dressed when her hand slides over some scissors, and she immediately jumps up and stabs her boss in the neck. She runs out of the office, and into the elevator to leave. She slides down to the floor crying once more. The elevator doors then close. BLACK.

We heard the familiar voice Ms. Taylor, "Tonight is going to be so beautiful. Its a very special night for us." We then see from behind, Ms. Taylor walking out the store. The camera spins around to show the young cashier who stands alone smiling. He pulls out his cell phone calls someone. As he holds the phone with his head and shoulder, he continues swiping the groceries of costumers. "She usually doesn't take this long to answer." he says nervously to a costumer who definitely did not ask about his phone call. The phone continues to ring, and as it does his line grows longer because he's moving at a slower pace. His manager (J.Gandolfini) comes over and screams "What's the problem here Donnie?!" Which of course causes Donnie to drop the phone, which goes on speakerphone letting everyone hear his phone continue to ring. But just as he picks it up, loud moans begin to come through. He recognizes the voice, the moans of his girlfriend Gwen.

Everything comes to a stop for Donnie. The disgusted customers, the manager telling him that he's about to get fired, the man in aisle ten who's stealing crackers, all of it has stopped. Donnie screams. He tries to push his manager out of his way but he moved out of the way causing Donnie to push nothing but air. Donnie hears a few laughs, and begins yelling at the customers but stumbling over his words. He tells them that they are only laughing because they haven't had the misfortune of having their heartbroken unintentionally over the phone. He runs past the man stealing crackers and screams "Take the damn crackers but please be just a tad more obvious. I don't think the three cameras above you or the old lady at check out can see you!" Donnie starts knocking items off the shelves and stomping on them. As he looks up from the mess he just caused to see his manager and a cop standing there. Donnie calls Gwen once more, and the cop asks him just what he is doing. No answer on the phone, and Donnie looks straight ahead at the cop, his rage now calmed and says

"When the one you need, doesn't need you...What do you do when love is lost?"


Stark’s Comment:
The good thing of this kind of movies is that they are not too expensive to produce so it can make net gains as soon as it works decently enough at box office. Dramas are doing well lately at box office so I don’t feel too worried about how this one will turnout.

Behind The Scenes:
-James Mangold and Dawson Edwards have teamed up before in ‘Superman: Last Son’. Before that, Mangold directed the acclaimed Josh Colllins’ drama ‘Fireflies In The Jelly-Jars’.
-This is the sixth time that Joshua Jackson works in a Dawson Edwards’ movie. The last times were past Season: ‘What You Deserve’ and ‘Packing Up London’.
-Emma Watson was considered to play Gwen. But she could not find time to do it as she has moved from the shooting of ‘Snow’ to the shooting of ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’.

LITTLE MISS DOLLFACE

Comedy

The Cast: Mackenzie Vega, Madison Pettis, Madeline Carroll, Catherine O’Hara, Taraji P. Henson, Amanda Peet, Jeffrey Wright, Eugene Levy, Jimmy Bennett, Fred Willard

The Director: Christopher Guest
The Screenwriter: Josh Collins

The Plot:

The film follows three young girls in particular, and their crazy pageant parents. Taylor (M.Vega) is the girl whose been winning pageants since she was a baby and has well over a hundred tiaras and trophies. She would be the kind of girl everyone hates who is the snobbish, better than everyone type of girl who believes strongly that she is the shoo-in to win yet again, also has the help of a routine instructor. She hardly ever tries anymore because she just knows that she'll walk on stage and win. She and her mother (C.O’Hara) spend more time worrying about routines and contests than school work. Her mother is the one mostly instilling all of this onto her kid. There isn't a problem with having self confidence, but there is a thing called over-confidence. She is the type of mother who never got to be a pageant and so she pushes it all on her kid. The girl has an older brother (J.Bennett) who seems to be most normal in the family, but also is the most ignored. In one of his private interviews, he says, "Sometimes I wish I was a girl so that I could be dolled up and made to look pretty and enter these stupid contests. At least I would get some attention in this family."

The next pageant, Mandy (M.Pettis) is a beginner, not as experienced as Taylor and she is slightly average looking. She still has a chance to get out while she can but her mother apparently has different plans for her. Her mother (T.P.Henson) is just one of those strange 'out there' mothers who you just have to see to believe. The girl's father (J.Wright) is divorced from her mother and is rather normal. In one of his interviews he says, "I wanted our daughter to get a real job, make something of herself. Our wife apparently wants her gawked at and put in playboy when she's older. But I'm just the father, so I have no say in how to raise our kid."

Ashleigh (M.Carroll) is the one that doesn't like doing these pageants, is always pushed into them by everyone in her family because the females in her family(mother, sisters, aunts, cousins, etc) have all done pageants. Has fake sad smiles, no energy and usually has lost many of the contests because the judges sense she's just not into these things. She is basically saying what most of the audiences are thinking.

The film walks us through the processes the families go through spending weeks on routines and the parents getting frustrated when they screw things up. They also go through countless hours and money forking out the best outfits to stick their kids into and the mothers justify what they're doing trying to pull off the sad emotional tears, all the crazy shenanigans and gags ensue throughout.

So it all comes to a head at the pageant where many more crazy kids and their crazier parents are. As they get up behind the judges and dance around and coach their child to smile big and do the routine moves to make sure their kid doesn't forget anything. With an outwardly homosexual, closet pedophile host (F.Willard) singing creepy disturbing songs about flowers and rainbows and getting all into the girls' faces with a strange smile. When it's all said and done none of the main girls win the pageant. Ashleigh and Mandy are finalists but don't win the crown. Taylor doesn't even place in the finals. This upsets her mother so much she goes and gets herself into a fist fight with the winning pageant right in front of the rest of the families backstage.

Mandy's dad appears with a lawyer and he threatens the mother, saying he will sue her for custody and the mother says 'Well why didn't you do that in the first place, I would've just let you have her." Ashleigh is wandering the hallway with her family and her mother (A.Peet) says happily, "You're getting closer to winning that crown. Maybe next time!" to which the girl groans and rolls her eyes in response.


Stark’s Comment:
Mockumentaries have worked well in CMP. ‘No More Bush!’ and ‘The Critic’ made nice box offices. So this one may work nicely too. But I admit I don’t feel 100% confident about it.

Behind The Scenes:
-Josh Collins has described this movie as ‘Little Miss Sunshine meets Best In Show’.
-Mackenzie Vega has worked with Collins before in ‘Woodland Creatures’.
-Madeline Carroll has worked with Collins before in ‘The Fantastic Island’.
-Jimmy Bennett has worked with Collins before in ‘Babes In Toyland’, ‘A Man Called Dan’ and ‘The Lovers Stages’.
-Jeffrey Wright has worked with Collins before in ‘Fireflies In The Jelly-Jars’.
-Catharine O’Hara, Fred Willard and Eugene Levy are regulars in Christopher Guest’s films.
-Taraji P. Henson has already been seen this Season in Spike Lee’s ‘The Cool’.


A MURDER OF CROWS: Kim Bassinger returns to CMP after her latest work for the Studio in the acclaimed comedy ‘The Bus’ with this action thriller written by Richard Franzwa. She is playing Harvey Keitel’s wife and member of his band of bank robbers. And Giovanni Ribisi makes his debut in CMP with this movie playing a mob’s money man. Franzwa is making his debut as movie director with this movie produced by Sean Penn.

F-ZERO GX: Here’s at last the sequel of ‘F-Zero’. This animated movie, based on a console games series, was released in Season 13 and it made a great box office of 108 millions. Karyn Kusama is again directing the sequel and Dawson Edwards has written again the screenplay. Also, some talents are returning giving their voice to the main characters of the saga, like Josh Hartnett, Fanke Jansen or John Malkovich. Edwards has already announced that he plans to release at least two more installments of this franchise.

THE RESPECTED: Lea Michele, who joined this saga in the second installment of it, ‘The Resurrected’, returns in this third one. Lea plays Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s new love interest replacing Michelle Williams in his heart. Nicole Kidman, seen past week in ‘The Show’, shows up also in this movie. She retakes the character she already played in the original trilogy ‘The Heirs’, the lover of Robert De Niro and the impossible love of Sean Penn.

THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS: In 1987, John Carpenter directed ‘Prince Of Darkness’. This low budget horror movie was eaten alive by movie critics and it didn’t work particularly well at box office either. But new CMP’s screenwriter D.R.Cobb has decided to make a remake of it for his debut in the Studio. Cobb has chosen Scott Derrickson as director. Derrickson, who will also make his debut in CMP with this movie, is better known for being the director of ‘The Exorcism Of Emily Rose’ and the 2008’s remake of ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’. This movie will be one of the first releases of Season 17.

MODERN WARFARE: Clancy Brown, the unforgettable mean guard of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, makes his debut in CMP in this console game adaptation written by Chad Taylor and being directed by Peter Berg. Chris Pine, seen in ‘Housatlantavegas’, also joins the cast. Same as Sam Worthington, already seen this Season in ‘Silver Sable and the Ultimate Alliance’. Worthington refused the offer to be in ‘Deep Silence 3’ as he preferred to be in this one.

WHATEVER HAPPENED WITH HOLDEN CAULFIELD?: They were the starring couple of the Sam Raimi’s Spiderman saga. Now they are meeting again in a completely different movie. Tobey Maguire and James Franco are the only cast members of this story written by Josh Collins and directed by Wes Anderson focused on the very peculiar relationship between a famous and enigmatic writer (Franco) and a more modest author (Maguire). James Franco has just starred for CMP ‘Dark Shadows’ while Maguire was seen making a cameo this Season in ‘Silver Sable and the Ultimate Alliance’.

THE SHIELD: Matt Kubrick returns to a territory he knows so well: a horror slasher movie. Midnight Movies develops this production about a slasher serial killer that is driving crazy NYC’s police with his crimes. And the names leading the credits are – to say the less – pretty peculiar. The ex martial arts star Lexi Alexander is directing the movie. And the ex football player Vinnie Jones and the ex Playboy girl Kelly Brook play the main characters of the story. Kubrick has already stated that this movie could be the beginning of a new CMP’s saga.

DEEP SILENCE 3: ‘Dexter’ tv series star, Michael C. Hall, seen before in CMP in ‘Innerturmoil’, joins the cast of this movie directed by Matt Kubrick and co-written by him and Dawson Edwards. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who already worked with Kubrick in ‘Suicide Squad’, and the CMP’s debutante Walton Goggins will also face the underwater creatures together with him.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES: This James Bradley and Tim Burton’s movie is not focused in zombies as much as in the very British Bennett family. And to play the parents of the romantic Bennett sisters, the chosen ones are Emma Thompson, whose last work for CMP was ‘Hallelujah’, and Alan Rickman. Rickman is going through a busy CMP’s Season. He has already been seen in ‘Snow’ and it is rumored that he still has one more work to do before the Season ends besides this one.

MIRROR’S EDGE: Jon Voight, seen before in the CMP’s movies ‘Captain America: Destiny’ and ‘John And Tommie’, returns to the Studio to play the mean Mayor of the futuristic city where the story of this Doug Liman’s movie takes place. And Sean Bean, not seen in CMP since ‘Assassin’s Creed’, will play the man who taught Megan Fox everything she knows about jumping from one skyscraper to the next.


HARRY STARK

Special interview this week. We are not talking this time with any CMP’s screenwriter but with the Big Boss himself, the President of CMP Harry Stark. It’s been some time that we haven’t heard from him at this blog so we have made him some general questions about the Studio.

1.Most of CMP’s movies are working so well lately at box office. In fact, it seems easier to reach the 200 millions at box office now than it used to be…

Yeah, I know. And I swear I just don’t know why. As I always say, nothing has changed in the way we manage the releases. For a few Seasons – I think it was between Season 11 to 14 or something like that – it became really hard to even reach the 100 millions and it was literally impossible to reach the 200 millions. And, suddenly, that changed without any specific reason and now we reach the 200 millions a few times per Season and we are breaking our old records. The reason why is a mystery to me… And I have no idea of how long this lucky time will last. But it’s nice anyway!

2.There is a high number of new screenwriters joining the Studio lately. Where do they come from?

Harvard University? *laughs* I don’t know. In only one month four or five new screenwriters have joined us after quite some time without any new authors showing up. It’s surprising. I don’t know if there’s any link between them. But anyway, it’s great having new blood on board. As you know, writers always come and go in CMP’s world. You have a very active writer for a few Seasons and then he suddenly disappears… We have gone through that a few times. So it’s really great having new people keeping CMP alive. Anyway, to be honest, I am not sure right now how many of these newbies will finally become regular writers for the Studio, as most of them have only sent one pitch so far.

3.After more than four years managing the Studio, what is the hardest part of your job?

To be absolutely honest, translating Bradley and Connors’ screenplays… I wished they’d finally learn English enough! Translating takes a lot of time. But I very much want to keep having them around because I love their stories, so I’ll keep doing it. Besides that, putting up the GMA ceremony is a pretty hard work too.

4.Do you think that the quality of CMP’s movies has increased along these years?

No doubt. Look at the first screenplays and look at the ones we are releasing now. They are much more elaborated. I specially love watching how veteran authors have become better writers movie after movie. People like Kubrick, Collins, Franzwa… They’ve been around for some years now and you can notice how much they have grown up as writers. That’s something I love about CMP. It’s a great creative experience.

5.Tell me a secret: what movies do you like and what movies do you hate in CMP?

I am the head of the Studio. My objective is to make every movie profitable. I do my best to make every movie work at box office, no matter if I like it or not. I don’t let my personal preferences to interfere in my job. Sometimes I agree with what the critics say at their reviews, sometimes I don’t. I try not to reveal what my personal opinion is. If a movie makes more than 100 millions at box office or at least it makes net gains, I like it. That’s all I’m going to say… *laughs*


CHARLIZE THERON

Some of us never get tired of looking at her. But Charlize Theron is much more than only a beautiful woman. In fact, her beauty can make us forget the wonderful actress she is. Along her CMP’s career, she has made almost everything: drama, comedy, action… and she has proven how well she adapts to any kind of genre. This week, GMA Winner Charlize releases ‘Love Lost’, her eighth work for the Studio.


CATHEDRAL
Season 2
Peter Weir / James Bradley
B.O.: 131 mill. / N.G.: 172 mill.
Charlize made a splendid debut in CMP with this story about a man (Russell Crowe) obsessed with the idea of building up a cathedral in the middle of Africa. Charlize played Crowe’s wife and her work took her to win the Best Supporting Actress GMA.

THE HEIRS – PART 3
Season 4
Martin Scorsese / Joey Stark
B.O.: 63 mill. / N.G.: 31 mill
Charlize joined ‘The Heirs’ saga in its third and last installment. She played Sean Penn’s new lover, an undercovered FBI agent pretending to be a model. She ended up being killed by Sean Penn when he discovered her true identity.

LIEUTENANT USA AND HIS WARM STEEL GANG
Season 5
David Zucker / John Daws
B.O.: 132 mill. / N.G.: 173
Second ‘100’ in Charlize’s career. She could be seen in this iconic CMP’s comedy where met some of the most popular comedians in CMP’s world: Steve Carell, Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Zach Braff, Owen Wilson. This funny spoof of CMP’s movies had a less successful sequel but Charlize didn’t show up in it.

DAMNATION ROAD
Season 7
Rob Zombie / Matt Kubrick
B.O.: 24 mill. / N.G.: 15 mill.
Charlize has never been afraid to take risks. She accepted to star this ultraviolent exploitation movie. And, although it wasn’t a box office’s success, time has turned it into a cult movie. CMP also released later a DVD version of it with added sequences. Many critics and fans still consider ‘Damnation Road’ as one of the best films coming from Matt Kubrick and Midnight Movies.

NATHAN ZACHARY AND THE PILFERED PROTOTYPE
Season 12
Jack Hammer / Jack Hammer
B.O.: 41 mill. / N.L.: 12 mill.
This sequel of ‘Nathan Zachary and Drake’s Gold’ was an unexpected flop at box office. After the impact of ‘Damnation Road’ and the controversy it created due to its graphic violence, it seemed like CMP’s authors were afraid to cast Charlize. Five Seasons after that movie, she returned to CMP making a cameo here. The idea was that her character would gain presence in the third installment of the franchise. But the box office’s flop of this sequel meant the end of the saga. It’s the only CMP’s movie with Charlize in it that has not made net gains.

METROID
Season 15
Zack Snyder / Josh Collins
B.O.: 279 mill. / N.G.: 406 mill.
Collins resurrected Charlize for CMP with another game adaptation. She was the lead star of this record-breaker blockbuster. ‘Metroid’ is the top 5 highest box office ever in CMP and the top 4 release with highest net gains. It is presumed that some day Collins will develop a sequel of this mega-success.

FANTASY WORLD
Season 15
David Zucker / Steve Connors
B.O.: 108 mill. / N.G.: 60 mill.
Charlize accepted to play the egocentric princess in this parody of fantasy worlds’ movies so happy to meet again with her friends from ‘Lieutenant USA’: David Zucker, Steve Carell and Jack Black. The movie meant the fourth time that she overcomes the 100 millions’ landmark in CMP.

LOVE LOST
Season 16
James Mangold / Dawson Edwards
Awaiting release
Back to drama. Charlize has a chance here to prove once more her versatility as an actress. As a curiosity, Edwards is the eighth CMP’s author that has wanted to have her in one of his movies. And that proves that Charlize is a CMP’s favorite that will probably keep working for the Studio for a very long time.


Again, CMP’s stars are demanded by the best magazines in the world for promotional photo sessions. This week is the turn for Angelina Jolie and Michael Fassbender, starring couple of the upcoming ‘Athena’. Here are Angie and Michael in what might be considered as a sexy reinterpretation of Beauty and the Beast.



It may be something never done before in CMP. The Studio has made plenty of remakes so far. But it has never made a remake of an own movie… More than a remake, it could be a reboot. It’s only a rumor but I have been told that Chad Taylor and Josh Collins might be working on this surprising project: making a new version of ‘LA Wolf’. As you may remember (well, I know you don’t…) ‘LA Wolf’ was a cop movie written by Collins and directed by David Fincher. The movie was released in Season 10. It didn’t make a specially remarkable box office but still Collins developed a sequel in Season 13. The sequel flopped in box office killing the franchise. Well, the rumor is that Taylor and Collins would be planning this remake / reboot / revamp. You wonder why? Me too.

And another remake might be on its way. To twist things even more, this time it would be a remake of a remake already made by CMP. In Season 3, Steve Connors and Michael Bay updated the 1973’s sci-fi movie ‘Westworld’. The original ‘Westworld’ told the story of an amusement park where visitors could interact with robots. Bay and Connors changed that. In their remake, the lead character played by David Duchovny interacted with clones of famous movie characters (Angelina Jolie / Lara Croft, Anthony Hopkins / Hannibal Lecter, Halle Berry / Storm). The movie made an excellent box office of 150 millions (and I must say it was a most original and entertaining concept). This time, the rumor is that D.R.Cobb is interested in writing another remake of the original ‘Westworld’. His idea is to retake the original concept: a theme park with human looking robots. And again you wonder why… And again me too…

It seems like this week I am writing a ‘Weird Ideas Special’… Let’s go with the next one… This one is related to the famous saga ‘Reform School Girls’. Yes, that saga that keeps going on although any of its installments gets to work in box office (You wonder why for the third time? Me too for the third time too). Joey Stark has already announced that he will write a fourth installment focused on the final duel between the characters played by Michelle Rodriguez and Eliza Dushku. But Kubrick (who was the original creator of the saga and writer of its first movie) wants to go even further. Kubrick would like to go on with the franchise with a fifth movie placing Dushku’s character in a futuristic world. You wonder… ah, well, forget it.

Let’s move to more reasonable news… A recurrent issue. I’ve got to know about another movie being produced by another Hollywood’s Studio based on a concept previously seen in CMP. This time it’s the turn for the console game ‘Uncharted’. Steve Connors already adapted that game in a movie directed by Stephen Sommers and starred by Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel. The movie made a weak box office of 69 millions in Season 12 and Connors talked about a sequel that has not been written yet. So when another Hollywood’s Studio releases its own version of ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’, remember again: CMP was there first!

And I end up with another recurrent issue. CMP’s release schedule for Season 17 is almost closed. For what I know, there’s not too much room left for more movies. But if you are one of those writers that have not sent any screenplay to Harry lately, hurry up and he might still find a place for your pitch in the schedule… or you will have to wait to see it developed at least until Season 18.