Hollywood Mogul 3 - A Movie Business Simulation Game

JANUARY, 7th

MOVIES RELEASED

1-TALES OF THE JEDI

Action / Sci-Fi
Directed and Produced by Peter Jackson
Starring Jennifer Garner, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, Paul Bettany, Sean Connery
Box Office: 12 mill.
Net Loss: 40 mill.

CMP Reaction: Oh, my God… How this could possibly happen?

2-ROBOTECH 2

Anime / Action / Sci-Fi
Directed by Tony Scott
Produced by Michael Bay
Voices of Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Heath Ledger
Box Office: 121 mill.
Net Gains: 131 mill.

CMP Reaction: Surprise, surprise… This week’s poor relative gave a lesson to the big one. An unexpected megahit the Jedi should learn from. The Studio’s balance sheet has been saved by this Christmas present.

THE MOVING THUMBS

1-Tales of the Jedi

“Why? That’s the question everybody is making now in the movie business. The movie seemed to have it all. Or not? Well, here are a few hints for a possible answer. The story did not connect with the Star Wars universe, as there were no references to the original movies, so SW’s fans just were not interested. The pace of the movie was a bit slow for what was supposed to be an action adventure story. The chemistry between Bloom and Garner didn’t work. And, most of all, audiences are unpredictable”.
-Charlie Kiggs, ‘Hollywood Reporter’

“Peter Jackson hasn’t taken any risk with the movie. Everything is pretty predictable in it and there’s an obvious absence of thrill in the story. The magic of the previous Star Wars’ movies does not show up in any minute of the more than two hours spent in telling a story that could have been told in 90 minutes.”
-Billy Conn, ‘The New York Post’

“It’s easy to make blood now about this movie. But a few things could be saved in it. Bettany makes a great and scary Sith and Gong Li is so intriguing as the ambiguous and mysterious Jedi tutor. The final scenes - a battle that can be defined as ‘Braveheart with lightsabres’ - are perfectly shot and have a wide epic dimension. But the movie just do not trap you and finally the ‘mouth to mouth’ critics kept away audiences from it.”
-Sheilah Graham, ‘Today’

2-ROBOTECH 2

‘The Robotech fans keep growing. Scott and Bay have made an outstanding staging. You get absorbed by the Robotech’s universe from the very first moment and the spaceships battles have been shot with a mastery not often seen on screens. Who needs Jedis if we have Robotech? Perfect.”
-Bob Felton, ‘The New York Post’

‘A simple story. But a wonderful development. Without all the kitsch and silly romance of the female character, the movie would have deserved my five stars”.
-Ryan Loom, ‘ET’

‘Anime is not dead thanks to this Bay’s saga. It is just great to get into a theatre and feel again like a little kid watching your favourite cartoons. I want to repeat the experience. Do it again, guys!”
-Harry Carter, ‘Hollywood Review’

AWAITING RELEASE

1-UNCOMMON VALOUR: THE FRIGATE CAPTAIN

The Cast: Pierce Brossnan, Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, John Cleese.

The Director and Producer: Ridley Scott

The Plot: February 1779. John Sinclair (P.Brossnan) is a senior captain of a frigate, a man well used to service in difficult conditions, but haunted by past demons. William Mason (J.Law) is a young loyalist commander determined to do his duty to King and Country. Tara (K.Knightley) is the beautiful young woman that connects them both. When the two men meet in the North Atlantic their lives become intertwined by a web of French intrigue. A web that threatens to destroy all that both hold dear. John Cleese plays doctor Alfred Bassinford while Johnny Depp is the villain of the story as Sinclair’s main enemy, capitaine Henri-Albere Montaigne.

The Comment: Based on the brilliant John Steven’s books saga, adapted by Jack Hammer, an epic adventure and a classic story turned into a major production for all ages.

2-SPACE QUEST: THE HEART OF THE CONQUEROR

The Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Rachel Weisz, Morgan Freeman, Matthew McGouneghy, Milla Jovovich, Gabriel Byrne.

The Director and Producer: Roland Emmerich

The Plot: Year 3100. ‘The Conqueror’, an enormous spaceship - in fact, a flying city - travels across the space together with the last two thousands human beings that survived to a nuclear war and human looking androids. ‘The Conqueror’ is ruled by a tyrannical dictator, The Major (M.Freeman) who never is seen but as a hologram in giants screens. He is supported by a Security Corp (G.Byrne). The Major has recently executed Arlan’s father for being an activist against the Major’s totalitarian methods. Arlan (K.Sutherland) and his friends, Brit (R.Weisz), Carey (M.McGouneghy) and Hope (M.Jovovich), failed to save Arlan’s father and now have become outlaws. They begin to organize a rebel group named The Survivors. Their main task is to get to The Heart (the centre of The Conqueror, where the Major is supposed to be) to take the Major as a prisoner and end up his tyranny. Once inside The Heart, they are captured. They are going to be executed, but at that very right moment the Zorbgs attack The Conqueror. It's a major spaceships battle. In the middle of the chaos, Arlan, Brit and Hope escape from their cells but Carey remains prisoner. Arlan and friends join an army of battleships to fight Zorbgs, as they cannot allow the destruction of The Conqueror. Zorbgs are finally defeated. Arlan, Brit and Hope remain as outlaws and Carey stays as The Major’s prisoner.

The Comment: A space opera full of FXs, CGI and good old B-Series adventure spirit. The movie pretends to become a mega-hit. But, after some recent bad experiences, who knows…?

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

THE RETURN OF ULTRAMAN: Chris Columbus ('The Clown Smile') is finally directing this superhero parody after producer and star Eddie Murphy rejected other directors proposed by the Studio like Philip Noyce, Harold Ramis or Andrew Bergman. Murphy and Beyonce Knowles are the starring couple while Danny DeVito (‘The Mogulers’) plays the villain and Pamela Anderson and Oliver Platt support the story.

WILD CARDS: Matt Kubrick is already looking for the cast, but no names have been confirmed yet. Michael Bay (‘Robotech 1 & 2’) could join the project as producer.

SEPTEMBER’S GONE: Tom Hanks (‘Court Appeal’) has already finished the editing of this dramedy starred by Helen Hunt ('The Clown Smile'), Dakota Fanning ('Alice in Wonderland', 'Fear The Darkness') and Jack Nicholson together with Hanks himself.

DON’T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME: Nick Cassavettes is directing Zach Braff ('The Mogulers'), Heather Graham and Mena Suvari in this teen comedy about a teacher (Braff) dealing with her teenage pupils.

HOT IRON: Jack Hammer, screenwriter of ‘Uncommon Valour’, is the author of this cops thriller that has been recently greenlighted by CMP. A tough story that will be probably starred by Brad Pitt. No director has been chosen yet to take care of it.

TURNING POINT: New delays for this one. Jonathan Demme has demanded a rewrite of the screenplay. Michelle Pfeiffer keeps waiting to star this drama.

FOOLS GAME: James Bradley, writer of ‘Bill and the Rocket Man’ and ‘Cathedral’, is back with this remake of a popular French movie that was a major hit in that country a few years ago. A group of eccentric and bored millionaires make laughs out of dumb people just to have fun.

CHECKMATE: Edward Norton ('Deadly Sins') is the first name attached to this thriller about a serial killer obsessed with chess.

RUMOURS AND GOSSIPS

Matt Kubrick, responsible of the Fear The Darkness franchise, has announced that there will be two more movies of the saga to come in the near future. The screenplay of the third one, ‘Dark Omens’, is already written and waiting for green light. The fourth one will put an end to the franchise. After the conflictive firing of Wes Craven, it is unknown who will take care of the direction of the new Darkman’s adventures.

A peculiar concept. Bryan Singer has officially announced that there will be a surprising sequel for ‘Captain America’. CMP’s screenwriters are finishing a final draft of a story that will face Captain America with Superman. The most peculiar thing is that Superman will be the villain of the function, after his brain has been controlled by evil forces to transform him in a mean and dark anti-hero. Singer will produce the sequel and it is still unknown if Brett Ratner will return behind the cameras.

Rumours has it that CMP is having quite a rough time with Eddie Murphy. Star and producer of ‘The return of Ultraman’ looks to be a bit fussy. Murphy rejected all the possible directors for the movie proposed by the Studio until he finally accepted Chris Columbus. Also, he demanded a rise in the production budget way too far from what the Studio wanted to expend in it. And his relationships with other cast members, such as Pamela Anderson or Danny DeVito, are said to be - to put it in a soft way – a little distant.

Steven Spielberg keeps working on his Jones’ movie. He won't ask for green light to the Studio until he feels sure about the project. But two new things are known about it: Ewan McGregor could play the young Indiana Jones’ father and ‘Doctor Jones and the Sword of Faith’ could be the title of the movie.

‘Turning Point’ isn’t having an easy development either. Michelle Pfeiffer convinced the Studio to produce this story and even looked for the right director, her good friend Jonathan Demme. But it seems like there are certain ‘creative differences’ now between the star and the director about the story’s scope that keep delaying the beginning of this production.

INSIDE CMP

It happened. Against all expectations, ‘Tales of the Jedi’ has been a major disaster. The biggest budgeted movie ever in CMP has completely failed. And some heads could be cut at CMP’s Executive Board because of it. The big question now is: what will happen with the two sequels already planned for the story? Harry Stark has made public an ambiguous press release about it: ‘Of course, the Studio is disappointed with the results of the movie’, says the press release, ‘But we have decided to give us some time before taking a final decision about what the future of this saga might be’.

Now all hopes are focussed on ‘Space Quest’. The budget of the Roland Emmerich’s movie is almost as high as the one for the Jedis. Everyone is so nervous at CMP and confidence is lost for a while, as these sure bets of the Studio may become sure ruins.

Not erverything is black. After the (surprising) success of ‘Robotech 2’, CMP has decided to create an Anime Division in the Studio, so more anime movies can be produced regularly. Director and Producer Michael Bay has been hired as the head of this Division that will look for new anime ideas to be developed by the Studio.

New deal. CMP has signed a deal with Trax Star Productions. TSP is a renowned TV Production Company that has recently entered in the big screen business. CMP and TSP have agreed to develop a few movies together and some screenplays are already being considered to begin this new partnership.

CMP’S SEASON 2 WORLDWIDE GROSS TOP 5