THE MIDWEEK NEWS # 5

MOVIES RELEASED
Meeting old friends

1-Captain America
Action / Superhero
Directed by Brett Rattner
Produced by Bryan Singer
Starring Heath Ledger, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins
Box Office: 198 mill.
Net Gains: 176 mill.

2-The Long Dark Night (Fear The Darkness 2)
Horror / Evil
Directed and Produced by Wes Craven
Starring Michael Keaton, Michelle Monaghan, Benicio Del Toro, Rosario Dawson, Bill Pullman
Box Office: 122 mill.
Net Gains: 81 mill.

THE MOVING THUMBS

1-Captain America

“The movie has the ‘bryan singer’ touch. It has the same retro look than Superman Returns. But the good news is that this one is much more entertaining”
-Jack Baxter, ‘Hollywood Reporter’

“There are two good things in the movie. First, Anthony Hopkins. Kevin Spacey should learn from him how to play a superhero movie’s villain. Second, the nice comic spirit of the picture, far away from the pretentious Superman Returns and the epic of X-Men”
-Ray Winslow, ‘The Los Angeles Times’

2-The Long Dark Night

“More than a sequel, the movie is a complete new concept with no relationship with the original one. Special Effects are the star of the show, with that house turning into a fantasy world. More spectacular, but less scary than Fear The Darkness”
-Amy Ratched, ‘Today’

“It’s Benicio Del Toro Show! His creation of Darkman saves the function. Without him, the movie would have inevitably flopped”
-Andrew Kiggs, ‘Variety’

“Wes Craven and Matt Kubrick have abandoned suspense and fear in this story. They have bet for a sophisticated version of 'Blair Witch’s Project'. The idea of people at their home watching what’s going on in the house and thinking that it is just a tv show is brilliant. But there’s a certain lack of suspense in the plot. Rosario Dawson makes a great job, while it seems like Michelle Monaghan does not know what she has to do in the story”.
-William Stevens, ‘At The Movies’.

HE SAID, SHE SAID

“The funny thing is that, after making the movie, I still have no idea if the Rabi did it or not. That helped me to play my role both as a guilty and as an innocent man”
-Robin Williams

“It’s easier to make nude scenes believing in what you are doing if you have in front of you men like Denzel Washington or Clive Owen. They helped me to get so much into my character.”
-Halle Berry

“I didn’t like much the idea of playing the ordinary superhero’s girlfriend. I only accepted because I’d have the chance to make some scenes with Sir Anthony Hopkins”
-Kate Beckinsale

“Wearing all those armours and holding all those heavy swords was just a nightmare. I could hardly breathe. But Verhoeven didn’t care about it at all. He kept demanding me to sound like a brave knight although I was feeling I was going to faint.”
-Ethan Hawke

“Daniel Craig? Who is Daniel Craig? Oh, yes, he plays that minor character, James Bond, a bad imitation of Ace Banner…”
-Hugh Jackman

AWAITING RELEASE
One for the kids, one for the parents

1-Dark

The Cast: Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Clive Owen, Thandie Newton
The Director and Producer: Michael Mann
The Plot: Berry plays a sexy and mysterious woman that seduces both Washington, the owner of a strip club, and Owen, a homicides inspector. As both men discover her double relationship, a war of jealousy begins between them while the dark past of the three characters begin to rise to the surface. What does that woman want from them? Is she using them for some secret purpose? Or is it any of the men who had it all planned? A thrilling story full of twists where nothing and no-one is what it seems. Sex and suspense get together in a plot that mixes crime and passion.
The Comment: An erotic thriller so far away from the usual CMP’s heroes plots. At last, a movie for adults. In the line of ‘Deadly Sins’, CMP keeps looking for mature audiences and prestige. And it is said to have the most sexy scenes seen on screens for a long time.

2-Alice In Wonderland

The Cast: Dakota Fanning, Jude Law, Queen Latifah. And the voices of Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray and Glenn Close.
The Director: Mike Newell
The Producer: Steven Spielberg
The Plot: The classic story revisited. Far away from the Disney version, this time the movie focuses on the darkest and moral contents of the Lewis Carrol’s tale. Maybe, ‘Alice In Wonderland’ is not so much a story only for kids.
The Comment: A lavish update of Alice’s story. CMP tries to surprise with this elegant and elaborated version, close to the spirit of Spielberg’s ‘Hook’.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
CMP will be moving soon to ‘Hollywood Mogul Finale Version’, abandoning version 28. Once movies already in production phase are released, all future movies will be produced under the finale version. That means that box office and profits may suffer a substantial change in the near future. It is not decided which level will be chosen. Tests are being done both in level 3 and 4 before a final decision is taken.

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT V.28

SINGLES: James L. Brooks produces and directs this urban comedy about a group of friends going through divorce and their return to the world of dating. Tv stars like Matthew Perry, Sarah Jessica Parker and Patrick Dempsey are part of the cast of this generational comedy.

VORHEES: THE EARLY YEARS: Matt Kubrick has already finished the shooting of his ‘opera prima’. Release date has been postponed as CMP did not want to release two horror movies in a row so this one will hit the screens after ‘The Long Dark Night’ completely leaves the theatres.

THE HEIRS – PART 2: Martin Scorsese is re-editing the movie, as CMP does not want it to be rated +17 due to its excessive violence.

THE WOMEN CLUB: Previously known as ‘Desperate Heroes’, this comedic parody goes further than the tv series ‘Desperate Housewives’ in its picture of modern but frustrated women. Sandra Bullock not only stars but also produces the film. Reese Witherspoon and Maggie Gyllenhaal complete the trio of avengers women.

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT V.38

INDIGO PROPHECY: Brian Kelley, screenwriter of the critically acclaimed ‘Deadly Sins’, will debut behind the cameras with this thriller based on a popular computer game. Kate Beckinsale (‘Captain America’) and Jamie Foxx are the first names mentioned related to this project.

PRIEST: John Woo is still designing the cast of this action dark movie that has been recently greenlighted by CMP.

DEEP SILENCE: James Cameron joins the CMP family with this sci/fi thriller that takes place in an underwater scientific station. Tom Figgs, screenwriter of the upcoming thriller ‘Dark’, is the author of the story. No talent has been cast yet.

RUMOURS AND GOSSIPS
Friends and not so friends

After the nice experience of directing the anime movie ‘Robotech’, Michael Bay wants to go on with this saga. His intention is to keep producing future Robotech’s movies, but offering the direction to other colleagues that might want to try the experience of working in an animation movie.

‘Cathedral’, the new and strange story written by James Bradley (‘Bill and the Rocket Man’) has created a silent war between two big stars. Both Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp want to star the movie and are trying to convince CMP’s President, Harry Stark, that they are the perfect actor for the main role. Future will tell who wins this battle.

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg will meet again. Hanks (‘Court Appeal’) wants Spielberg (‘Alice in Wonderland’) to produce a movie he might be directing soon for CMP.

INSIDE CMP
Journey to the unknown

The Studio’s franchises won’t be affected by the change to v38. Stark has made it so clear: planned sequels such as the ones for ‘Robotech’, ‘Corsairs’ and others from movies produced under v28 will go on with v38. They won’t be technically ‘sequels’ but complete new movies based on the previous productions.

Finally, it seems like CMP and Star Wars will be together. Stark has confirmed that he has on his desk a premise for a new galactic saga that he likes enough to take the risk even without George Lucas getting directly involved in it.

CMP’S WORLDWIDE GROSS TOP 5

1. The Mogulers - 233
2. T.Y.M. - 199
3. The Crusades - 199
4. Captain America - 198
5. Corsairs - 169

COMING SOON – THE ADD