JUNE 3

MOVIES RELEASED

1-THE GREAT WAR SERIES: STORM BREAKS

Action / Epic
Directed by Peter Weir
Starring Colin Farell, Christian Bale, Claire Danes, Hayden Christensen, Jeremy Irons, Adrien Brody
Box Office: 188 mill.
Net Gains: 205 mill.

CMP’s Reaction: The magic of this saga is back! Outstanding box office, outstanding DVD sales! Euphoria is the word to describe CMP’s reaction to this brilliant (and so profitable) release.

2-MCMILLAN AND WIFE

Action / Comedy
Directed by Ron Howard
Starring Harrison Ford, Rene Russo, Kathy Bates, Jeff Goldblum
Box Office: 120 mill.
Net Gains: 118 mill.

CMP’s Reaction: WOW! Nobody expected such a great breakdown for this one! One of those nice surprises that some times this industry brings.

THE CRITICS CORNER

1-THE GREAT WAR SERIES: STORM BREAKS

“The epic drama returns at its best. Once again, using Hammer’s brilliant material, Peter Weir has set up a bigger than life story that moves and entertains. The Armstrong saga proves that quality attracts audiences even if there is not a big FXs show going on. Here is a classic story that fill up theatres to watch a movie made the way big movies used to be made. In a few years, people will have forgotten all those pop corn sophisticated shows. But they will still remember ‘The Great War Series’.
-Charlie Kiggs

“Simply, a masterpiece. Some times, no more words are needed to describe a film.”
-Jackie C. O’Callaghan

“I love this story. My only question is: were three movies needed to tell us the Armstrong family story? According to box office, it looks as the right choice. But, as it happened with ‘Uncommon Valour’, I just wonder if audiences won’t get a bit exhausted. We’ll see what happens with the next episode. But, right now, there’s no doubt that this saga is an audience’s favourite. And it deserves it.”
-Paul Benton

2-MCMILLAN AND WIFE

“More than a movie version of the old tv series, this movie looks in fact as a tv series episode. There’s no attempt of going beyond the spirit of the tv series itself, as it did ‘Charlie’s Angels’ movies, or facing it from another perspective, as it did the kind of parody ‘Starsky and Hutch’ movie. This one only updates the tv series to the looks of our days. The result is a nice to watch movie as forgettable as any tv series episode”
-Roy Winslow

“The whole movie is based on the comedic talent of Rene Russo, playing a clumsy investigators couple together with Kathy Bates, while Harrison Ford stays on a second close-up. In that sense, this is more a ‘Wife & McMillan’ movie than a ‘McMillan & Wife’ movie. And Rene Russo makes an efficient comedy work enough to sustain the whole show”.
-Lilly Stevens

“I’m so surprised with the success of this movie. And I’m not really sure if it deserves it. This one is okay for a tv afternoon on a boring Sunday. But maybe audiences are getting tired of big epic fantasy productions. Or maybe middle age audiences are more important than Studios executives think.”
-Wayne Hart

AWAITING RELEASE

1-CAROUSEL

The Cast: Jim Carrey, Claire Danes, James Franco, Dakota Fanning, Alexis Bledel, William H. Macy, Kathy Bates

The Director: Sam Mendes
The Screenwriter: Ted Froats

The Plot: Based on the musical by Rodgers & Hammerstein. Billy Bigelow (Jim Carrey) is a carnival barker, spending his meager earnings on cheap booze and cheaper women...until one night at the carousel he meets innocent and naive millworkers Julie Jordan (Claire Danes) and Carrie Pipperidge (A.Bledel). Although he originally only plans to seduce Julie and steal her money, he soon finds himself falling in love with her because she isn't afraid of him like all the women before. Carrie tries to talk sense into Julie, but is distracted by her own upcoming wedding to the much older but also much wealthier Enoch Snow (William H. Macy.) Julie decides to give up her job to spend the night with Billy. Billy also ends up losing his job because his boss, the widowed Mrs. Mullins (Kathy Bates) is jealous of the way Billy acts with Julie.

Fast forward several weeks...Julie and Billy, both unemployed, have eloped. The marriage is an unhappy one, with Billy drinking and staying out all night...and his frustrations over being unemployed and unable to give Julie the life she deserves leads him to occasionally beat her. Meanwhile, Billy has fallen in with a no-good whaler Jigger Craigin (James Franco) and is still being pursued by Mrs. Mullin, who both try to get him to leave Julie. He agrees, and begins to tell Julie that he's leaving...but she interrupts him with news of her own.

She's pregnant.

At first dumbfounded, then excited about all the things he could do with a son, then panicking about what a terrible father he'll be if the baby turns out to be a girl, Billy decides to stay with Julie and be the best father he can be. But he'll need money...which is why he agrees to Jigger's scheme to rob the owner of the local mill.

Billy and Jigger, each armed with a knife, then lie in wait for the local mill owner to head to the bank with his cash. The mill owner arrives, and Billy distracts him while Jigger attacks from behind. The owner wrestles Jigger's knife away and pins him. Billy tries to help, but the mill owner pulls a gun and shoots Jigger, killing him, then turns the gun on Billy.

Billy tries to escape but is soon cornered by police. Unwilling to go to jail, he uses his knife to stab himself. Julie, Enoch, Carrie, Mrs. Mullin, and the rest of the cast arrive at that moment in time to see Billy die. Billy tries to tell Julie that he loves her, but dies before he can get the words out.

Billy arrives in heaven...but at the back door, because he hasn't earned the right to go through the front door. Billy refuses to go through the back door, demanding to speak directly to God. An angel tells him that he can be granted one last chance to do some good on Earth...but if he fails, he won't get into heaven at all. Billy accepts, and returns to Earth...fourteen years after his death.
He discovers that the baby was a girl, Louise Bigelow (Dakota Fanning). Louise, now 14 years old, has turned out to be just like Billy. She is anti-social, rambunctious, and easily hurt. Louise begins to consider running away with a local carnival barker that looks and acts just like Billy, seemingly destined to repeat her mother's mistakes.

Billy approaches and begins to talk to her, pretending to be a friend of her father's. He tries to tell her good things about himself, but she interrupts and tells him all of the (true) terrible things that others have told her. He continues to try talking to her, but gets frustrated that she's not listening, and hits her. She runs into the house, and he hides in shame.

From his hiding spot, he sees Julie, 14 years older but still just as beautiful, run out into the yard with Louise, looking for the stranger. Julie seems to understand that it was Billy's ghost, and tells Louise that it's possible that when someone hits you, it's because they really love you. Billy is devestated to hear her say that, realizing that he was never good enough for either Julie or Louise, and he has ruined both their lives. He assumes that he is going to hell...but instead discovers that he is suddenly at Louise's high school graduation.

At the graduation, while invisible, Billy finally whispers fatherly advice into Louise's ear. "Stand up for yourself, don't let others get you down, you're just as good as anyone else, if not better." Louise seems to hear this advice and sits up straight, suddenly seeming to be proud of herself. He then walks over to Julie and whispers into her ear "I love you Julie...know that I always loved you." Julie also seems to hear this and holds herself higher as well.

Having finally done right, Billy is granted access through the front gates of Heaven.

The Comment: Third musical of the season. This one is based on a classic piece. Musicals have proved to be a tough genre for good box office, but expectations are kept alive for this one.


2- THE GROTTO

The Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, Danny Trejo, Freddie Highmore

The Director: John Carpenter
The Producer: Wes Craven
The Screenwriter: Marcus Trax

The Plot: It is coming up to Christmas time and George Harrison decides, after much harassment to take his child to Santa's grotto in the local shopping center. Meanwhile police are finding more and more mangled bodies of children, thought to be wild animals. At the Grotto though things seem suspicious when the Elves pay a lot of attention to the children and Santa himself seems... odd. Soon George finds himself in a battle against time when his son is kidnapped out of his bedroom and evidence suggests a link to the Grotto. Santa is a feral like and the elves are conscipted to work for him to feed him and the spawn that live under the shopping center.

The Comment: Looking for another ‘Cursed Neverland’ and not another ‘London Underground’. Horror genre is always a hit or miss. This one looks promising, but who knows…


THE INTERVIEW SERIES – STEVE CONNORS
By Amy Ratched

The official sci-fi writer of CMP. Connors was the brain behind the Space Quest trilogy. He also laughed at his own favourite genre with the Ultraman’s movies. And he was the author of the brilliant remake of ‘Westworld’, one of the most successful CMP’s movies ever. He has also written for next season a new sci-fi screenplay that is expected to be a major hit, as Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise have already showed their interest to be in it.

A.R.: It looks as if you are only interested in sci-fi stories, right?
S.C.: I’m interested in fantasy any way you may understand it. That doesn’t mean sci-fi. But yes, I like all kind of stories that go beyond reality.

A.R.: You wrote the trilogy of ‘Space Quest’. Were you disappointed with box office results?
S.C.: To be honest, yes. I think Roland Emmerich and the whole team made a great job and it deserved something more. But you never know with audiences. The second movie did right but the movies never were the blockbuster I expected.

A.R.: What about another of your creations, Ultraman?
S.C.: What can I say? Ultraman was only a big parody. I wanted to make a laugh about all those superhero movies. I’m sorry the movies were not big blockbusters because I would love to go on with that.

A.R.: There will be more Space Quest or Ultraman?
S.C.: I’m not sure. The movies did not lose money after all so maybe a sequel would be worth. I have ideas for new movies but I haven’t decided yet if I want to go back to that or try new things.

A.R.: I feel that you would have loved to get involved with franchises such as Star Wars or Dungeons & Dragons.
S.C.: Not really. I prefer to develop my own original ideas. Space Quest was like my own Star Wars. I didn’t mind to be compared with Star Wars. The idea was to create my own space universe with that huge spaceship The Conqueror travelling across the galaxy and a hologram ruling the spaceship and all that. I know there was a big influence of Star Wars and Star Trek in all that but that was exactly what I wanted.

A.R.: Let’s talk about Westworld, another one of your stories… That was a remake. Why did you decide to write a remake?
S.C.: Because I think the original Westworld is a great sci-fi story to be discovered by new audiences. I changed it a bit though. I read that someone is also planning to make a remake of Westworld in Hollywood. Hope so.

A.R.: Will there be a sequel of Westworld?
S.C: I’d love too. But I just don’t have any idea of how the story could go on (laughs).

A.R.: What other CMP movies do you like, besides yours?
S.C.: I love Star Wars. I think they are doing a great job with the new episodes.

A.R.: Any plan of becoming a director?
S.C.: No. I will let the cameras to the people that know what to do with them.

A.R.: Tell us about future projects.
S.C.: CMP already has my last screenplay. It is titled ‘The Guardians’ and I have been said that Steven Spielberg is interested in getting involved in the production. That would be great. It is a dark sci-fi story with references to Blade Runner and Minority Report. I hope production begins soon.

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

FLASHES OF LIFE: The last GMA Best Starring Couple Winners, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman, are back together again. They are starring this drama – and you bet it is a drama – written by Ted Froats. Gyllenhaal had to reject the starring role in Syndrome in order to work in this one.

GAME BOY: Lucas and Zemeckis are looking for famous voices to be in their fantasy adventure. Daniel Radcliffe, the only human character in the movie, will hear the voices of major stars such as Will Smith (voice of Sonic) and Keira Knightley (voice of Princess Zelda).

NAGASAKI DAYDREAMS: The whole cast of the new Eastwood’s movie will be asian talents. Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li are the first names announced to be shooting this dramatic story. Gong Li worked previously for CMP in ‘Tales Of The Jedi’. Bad antecedent.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: DESTINY: Extreme security measures around this shooting. Tim Burton does not want anyone to know how will be Captain America’s death. Only the crew can access to the settings in order to avoid any filtration.

NO EVIL: Tea Leoni (‘Turning Point’) will play Edward Norton’s wife in this family drama. And another new related to it: Marcus Trax showed his story to Tom Hanks, asking him to direct it. But Hanks had to reject it as he is already working in another movie he’s going to direct for CMP in Season 5.

CROOKS: Martin Campbell, director of the two Corsairs movies starred by Antonio Banderas for CMP, is already directing in locations in Las Vegas this production that will mean a try in comedy for this usually action movies director.

SYNDROME: PARADISE LOST: As Jake Gyllenhaal finally decided not to make this one, CMP has decided to replace him with Ben Affleck. It will finally be the first Affleck’s movie in CMP after he fought and lost to be Captain America, beaten by Heath Ledger. Welcome, Ben.

KING OF THE WORLD: Director Andrew Bergman and Matthew Perry made a good team in ‘Casual Day’. That’s why Bergman is again directing him in this one. It seems like Bergman and Perry may be considered as a regular winning couple for CMP if this one works.

WELCOME TO SUMMER CAMP: CMP has not made too many movies for children. So this Matt Kubrick’s story will be a novelty for the Studio. Steve Martin (‘The Perfect Candidate’, ‘The Women Club’) is back taking care of a group of youngsters in this family movie.

22:01: Finally confirmed. Tarantino will direct this one and Robert De Niro will be in it. A very Tarantino-esque story, the storyline focuses in an almost exclusive way in a gunshot between two mobsters gangs. Expect blood.

COMING SOON – THE ADD


RUMOURS AND GOSSIPS

Jake Hammer is already working in what is expected to be one of the major CMP’s franchises: the adaptation of the pc games ‘Crimson Skies’. No less than five movies are planned for this franchise. Hammer is so thrilled with the project that has decided to get involved in it not only as screenwriter but also as director and producer. Something big can be expected.

And CMP’s family keeps growing… Joshua Collins will make his debut as CMP’s writer next Season. Harry Stark has already received his first drafts and it is said that he is enchanted with the originality and appeal of his brilliant storylines.

Next Season, CMP wants to try luck with more dramas. If Season 4 was Musicmania Season, Season 5 could become Dramamania Season as writers as Marcus Trax or Ted Froats have written moving stories like ‘No Evil’ or ‘Flashes Of Life’ far away from the big action shows.

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN… OR HELL

HEAVEN

JACK HAMMER: The second episode of his war saga has almost repeated the outstanding success of the first one. Not everyone at CMP was sure it would happen. So Hammer must feel in heaven. Will this time the GMA finally reward this epic and brilliant story? Remember that ‘Darkening Skies’ got 5 nominations and not a single award in the last GMA edition.

HARRISON FORD: Someone said old? Ford has proved to be in good shape in ‘McMillan and Wife’. He has showed he still keeps his appeal for audiences in a movie not oriented to teen audiences that has reached a surprising box office superior to 100 mill.

HELL

THE GREAT WAR SERIES: Colin Farell's character has died in the second episode. Will the third episode survive to his death or will Farell’s fans abandon the saga? It’s going to be hell to make the third movie work as well as the two previous ones.


PRODUCTION REPORTS: A nightmare for all CMP’s screenwriters. Julian Jones’ Production Reports are feared by everyone developing a movie as they usually mean one thing: bad news.

INSIDE CMP

John Daws has seen himself involuntarily involved in the latest controversy about copyrights and adaptations. So he has decided to make the following public statement: “I want to make it categorically clear that the hitman films share the name Hitman with a popular PC Game. I have taken time to find out about these games since these revelations and from what i see hitman is not the same. The reason I called it Hitman was simply to give the films identity. it would be harder to remeber the films as the myth of... and thicker blood and so on...people can simply say hitman series. Why hitman?? Because thats his job.If I had called it assasin would that be a remake of the Sylvester Stallone film?? I think not!”

Seven movies in a row with net gains is such a great streak for CMP. Although it seems like no movie will reach the 200 mill. landmark this season (maybe the new Captain America as the last hope?), Harry Stark has said that finally he feels satisfied: ‘The beginning of this Season was awful, with quite a few movies losing money, but right now we can say we are facing the end of the Season with renewed optimism’, has said CMP’s President.

Presenters are already being contacted for the next GMA ceremony. And the location has been already chosen: the 4th Golden Moon Awards ceremony will take place in just a few weeks in New York City, after previous editions took place in Los Angeles (twice) and London. The scenario? A classic: Radio City Music Hall.