FEBRUARY, 9
SILENT HILL: THE RETURN
Horror
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Ray Winstone, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jay Hernandez
Director: Brad Anderson
Screenwriter and Producer: Max Arilius
Box Office: 26 mill.
Net Losses: 11 mill.
Stark’s Reaction: A tremendous difference between the box office’s numbers made by the first movie and this sequel. I feared it would not work as well as the first one, but still this drop is way much bigger than I expected.
THE HELLBOWL
Horror / Comedy
Cast: Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, Michael Cera, John Cho, Christina Ricci, Toni Collette, Luis Guzman, Alec Baldwin
Director: Neil Jordan
Screenwriters: Matt Kubrick & Josh Collins
Producer: Midnight Movies
Box Office: 15 mill.
Net Losses: 28 mill.
Stark’s Reaction: Audiences just didn’t get the joke of it all… It might be a B-series movie but still it was pretty expensive to produce so net losses are particularly high. In fact, it has turned out to be the biggest flop of the Season. A shame. I had a nice time watching it.
FADED
Comedy / Romance
Cast: Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, Mr.T, The Sklar Brothers
Director: Cameron Crowe
Screenwriter: Trent Nielsen
Box Office: 28 mill.
Net Losses: 9 mill.
Stark’s Reaction: Best box office of the week but again a box office’s flop. What can I say? Three flops in a row is a terrible ending for this hard CMP’s Season. I think it had not happened before in CMP that all releases of the week flop. Worrying, very worrying.
SILENT HILL: THE RETURN
‘’Silent Hill’ was like a breeze of fresh air for the horror genre. The horror of the movie was mostly based on psychological basis, on a distressing atmosphere and on the intelligent use of a ‘double universe’ to create a breath-taking suspense. Well, all that is lost in this sequel. One of the main virtues of ‘Silent Hill’ was that it didn’t need to lean on gory sequences nor to abuse of flesh and blood. ‘Silent Hill: The Return’ turns into defects all the virtues of the original movie. The storyline is confusing and hard to follow, acting works are full of excesses, the movie needs to appeal to tons of blood in its failed attempt to scare us… It seems like Brad Anderson has lost control of the story. The movie takes us back to the worst of the genre and makes us miss the less ambitious but more likeable Matt Kubrick’s slashers. It is so sad when a movie turns from a horror movie to a horrible movie.’
-Roy Winslow
‘Dakota, what are you doing in a movie like this? I understand you accepted to be in ‘Raise Of The Darkman’ due to sentimental reasons. What did you need to star another lousy horror movie? While Abigail Breslin keeps growing up in CMP making intelligent choices and moving comfortably
from one genre to another, the once undisputable young queen of CMP seems to have lost the course of her CMP’s career. It is disappointing to see you here. And I won’t mention here Jennifer Jason Leigh’s work… She really looked as if she urgently needed a tranquilizer pill. She made me miss so much her splendid and measured work in CMP’s ‘The Manor’’.
-Jackie O’Callaghan
‘Silent Hill is not Twin Peaks. Or is it? Like it happened with the cult tv series, it all started with a mysterious village and a wonderful premise, it created a highly intriguing and disturbing atmosphere… and then David Lynch (or Brad Anderson and Max Arilius here) didn’t know where to go and what to do with the story. The deep inconsistency of the screenplay together with the excessive directional job have ruined what seemed to be a promising horror franchise. The whole show seems too enslaved to the original source of the story, a console game, and Hollywood industry should have learnt by now that you cannot just move a story from the console screen to the silver screen without conveniently adapting it.’
-Vic Carter
THE HELLBOWL
‘Matt Kubrick and Josh Collins must have suffered an overdose of ‘Zombieland’. ‘The Hellbowl’ recreates and goes even further with the free parodic spirit of the wonderful movie by Ruben Fleisher taking to extremes some of the wildest visual and comedic findings of it. It doesn’t equal the peculiar inventiveness of Fleisher’s movie. The situations here become a bit repetitive at the end as, after all, the story here stays stuck in one only scenario, the fighting arena, which limits the chances to tell something different than one duel between the freaky creatures and the humans after another. But still it is such a wild fun to watch and share with Kubrick and Collins the great time they must have had making this crazy movie.’
-Jake Cobb
‘You are going to kill me for saying this but… I love this movie! ‘The Hellbowl’ is the silliest, senseless, freakiest, most absurd movie I have seen in ages. But, precisely for all that, it is also
one of the funniest ones too. I cannot write a serious review about a movie that does not take seriously itself at all. All I can say is buy a big bucket of popcorns and come into the Hellbowl leaving all your prejudices outside. You won’t be disappointed.’
-Tim Reeve
‘From time to time, Matt Kubrick bets for the riskiest projects imaginable. And it is funny how it is those times when he gives us the best of him. ‘Damnation Road’, ‘Reform School Girls’, the sadly undervalued ‘Sisters’ or even ‘Wild Cards’ were movies I would not have bet a dime for. And, besides box office’s numbers, they all became delicious rarities to enjoy once and again. Now, together with his good friend Josh Collins, Kubrick has put up a wild comedy without complexes and again it is a work full of originality and creativeness. Maybe the cast choices are not the best ones – I will always prefer watching Woody Harrelson killing zombies than Allen, Lawrence or Cera -, but even if it was only to laugh at the private jokes included in the screenplay about some Collins and Kubrick’s stories – like ‘The Dead Walk’ or the ‘Syndrome’ trilogy – it is worthy to pay a ticket to watch this insane and very loutish movie.’
-Andrew Stampton
FADED
‘There’s nothing sadder than watching a comedy where the jokes do not work. And that’s exactly what happens with ‘Faded’. It just don’t take out from you a little smile where it pretends to make you laugh. And the romantic side of the story ends up so diluted in a plot that never finds a tone moving from wild comedy to subtle sense of humor to pleasant romance but not settling down in any of the options. At the end, we have a romantic comedy that fails at both sides, romance and comedy, leaving us not knowing if we have watched a story that pretended to be a funny or a bettersweet tale.’
-Anne Roman
‘You have to jump over too many prejudices when you go to watch a movie with Mr. T in it. I just could not make the huge effort needed to overcome that mental barrier. Paul Rudd is a nice guy – much better when he goes for content works than when he falls into the excesses of stupid
comedies ala Judd Appatow – and Zooey Deschanel is so cute (and she knows it… in fact, she seems sometimes too self-conscious of it) but that’s not enough to stand up a weak story like this. And the presence of Mr. T and the Sklar Brothers did not help to be condescending with a movie that does not get to work the way it pretends at any moment.’
-Lilly Stevens
‘Trent Nielsen has had a busy first Season in CMP. Watching his four works released this Season – the brilliant ‘Running On Empty’, the solid ‘The Princess And The Captain’, the entertaining ‘The Blacksmith’s Sword’ and this failed ‘Faded’ – we can already make an accurate prediction of how his CMP’s career will be. Nielsen does not bet for the most popular genres – no superheroes in the horizon for him yet! – but for modest projects more based on his writing inspiration than on luxurious production designs. And that means a constant hit or miss as inspiration is always a tricky thing. So we can expect from him highly creative, intelligent and solid stories very much based on dialogues, situations and acting works and from time to time we will have to forgive him for building up failed projects like ‘Faded’ (and I fear the worst about his announced upcoming teen comedy…). But I have the feeling that, at the end, the balance will be highly positive and it will be more than worthy to have him on board!’
-Chris Burgess
SEASON 12:
THE BEST, THE WORST AND THE HIDDEN GEMS
By Mr. Thumb
Season 12 breezed by and we've seen the first season with the most GMA contenders. Financially, the season was disappointing. Most of the films we were looking to make it big didn't make the expected box office (Edge of Human/Karate Kat). We were already expecting a lot of films to make net-losses and be lucky if it made net-gains with artsy films.
Writers exposed pieces of themselves in their films. Something the rest of us admired and it showed us that you don't need to make a great story out of a science fiction explosion show. Films such as 'Teenage Wasteland' and 'The Pitiful Plight of Tom Collins' were critically acclaimed and offered something different than what we in CMP are accustomed to.
The debuting Trent Nielsen had a roller-coaster of a debut this season. The Blacksmith's Sword made a hit. Something rare for writer debuts. His next film, The Princess and the Captain flopped with box office and critics, but Trent's credibility as a writer went back up with his artsy 'Running on Empty' which had both a good box office (for a drama) and critical acclaim.
'Artsy' and 'adaptation' seem to go hand in hand in Hollywood. Film makers are always wanting to take books or other sources and give moviegoers something to enjoy. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, American Tabloid are examples. And while on the subject of adaptation, why not an artsy adaptation of real life events? Films such as The Beatles or John and Tommie.
In addition to these artistic turns from the writers, we had the usual big budget action show to help pull the Season out of being a complete financial disaster. 'Daughters of the Dragon', 'The Blacksmith's Sword', 'Being Ben Stiller', and the final Avenger's film were among the movies that helped keep the studio on the line.
Financially, it wasn't the most successful season. But movies in terms of quality have yet to be disappointing.
Now on to the best, worst and hidden gems of the season. Remember the ones that don't get mentioned aren't "bad" if they aren't in the best of, they were good, just didn't manage to make it on the best list.
SEASON 12: BEST OF
Under the Gun: Makalaster continues to impress with this film series. The first 'best' film of the season was the first film to give us a look at what was to come in the upcoming season.
Riders on the Storm: Chad Taylor delivers the best film of his writing career thus far. A film that managed to get away from being called 'Another Rock Star'
Edge of Human: I am still absolutely pissed that audiences didn't respond well to this film. It made net gains anyway.
American Tabloid: One of those has it all films that would leave a best-of list uncompleted if it's not mentioned. Scorsese, how can he go wrong?
Teenage Wasteland: Matt Kubrick delivered a magnificent film and exposed a piece of himself to us. A brave thing for any writer to do. It also gets points for the originality of using music as a major element to the plot.
The Beatles: Chad continued to impress with the biopic of the Fab-Four. I don't think there will ever be a Beatles film as good as this!
Storm at Home: A very well made film with Katrina as a backdrop to a character/story driven film. Dawson made an excellent effort here.
Running on Empty: Trent is a new writer and he's been making great strides to improve on his most recent films. Running on Empty was his first true shot at showing his worth in the studio, and it worked out great for him!
Pitiful Plight of Tom Collins: Another writer to bravely show bits of his personal life, Collins usually has at least one memorable film each season since his debut. This is certainly his best of the season.
John and Tommie: Once again, Taylor makes use of his talent and brings to life this inspirational and dramatic film. This season has definitely been Taylor's.
A Hard Place: I don't recall ever being a time when Franzwa made a bad movie. He's truly the greatest CMP writer. No selling out to make millions with a mediocre blockbuster production. You can tell the guy writes out of enjoyment of the craft.
The Impossible Dream: Joey Stark wrote that bad Daughters of the Dragon script earlier on in the season and we cringed at the thought of Joey losing it, but he managed to regain it with Impossible Dream. It's rare we get films with a commanding lead actress, but when we do, it's gold.
SEASON’S 12: WORST OF THE WORST!
The Mistaken: A film with an okay concept, but the execution was a huge mistake.
Daughters of the Dragon: People can talk about how much money it made all they want, it doesn't make it good. It just shows how many people bought tickets for it.
Booster Gold: Another forgettable superhero film.
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: Typical forgettable adventure film adaptation of a video game.
THE HIDDEN GEMS OF SEASON 12
Trent Neilsen: Everyone is talking about him. CMP's newer writer! Trent has quickly been becoming a household name. His feature films this season are impressive and leave me wanting more.
Kristen Stewart: A girl desperately trying to break out of the Twilight image, Kristen has starred in her second and third CMP features this season and proves to be just as effective an actress as the rest of the 18-25 year old actresses.
Edge of Human: Treated unfairly in the box office, I think this film will get bigger with age as many other classics have been. Including its older brother, Blade Runner.
Jodelle Ferland: A young actress new to the CMP studios, Jodelle made good use of her role as a spirit who doesn't know she's dead.
Alan Arkin: Showing up lately in Josh Collins films, Alan seems to be a go-to for an older actor. He may have hit it big though with his portrayal of Tom Collins in the Pitiful Plight.
Will Smith-The Director: Naysayers of Will should see his directorial debut of John and Tommie. Will has definitely come a long way from being the Fresh Prince.
John Cho: A Korean actor whose managed to stay out of kung fu movies? What has this world come to? John managed to book two roles this season, one as Nck Fury and the other in HellBowl.
Zooey Deschannel: After her impressive work in Hollywood films such as 500 days of summer, Zooey is translating well into CMP films.
SEASON 12: FINAL REPORT
(Brackets: Same data from Season 11)
MOVIES RELEASED: 30 (30)
SEQUELS RELEASED: 6 (11)
ORIGINAL CONCEPTS: 17 (15)
ADAPTATIONS: 13 (15)
MOVIES WITH NET GAINS: 19 (23)
MOVIES WITH NET LOSSES: 11 (7)
NET GAINS TOTAL: 842.8 (2752)
NET LOSS TOTAL: 137 (91.9)
FINAL BALANCE: 705.8 (2660.1)
MOVIES WITH BOX OFFICE SUPERIOR TO 200 MILL.: 0 (4)
MOVIES WITH BOX OFFICE SUPERIOR TO 100 MILL.: 4 (8)
-The Blacksmith’s Sword (Alfonso Cuaron / Trent Nielsen)
-Daughters Of The Dragon (McG / Joey Stark)
-Being Ben Stiller (Shawn Levy / Matt Kubrick)
-The Avengers 4: Civil War (Jon Favreau / Matt Kubrick)
TOP 1 NET GAINS:
DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON – 123
TOP 1 NET LOSSES:
THE HELLBOWL – 28
SCREENWRITERS’ ACTIVITY:
(Number of Movies Released / Best Release)
-JOSH COLLINS: 6 (Karate Kat)
-MATT KUBRICK: 5 (The Avengers 4: Civil War)
-CHAD TAYLOR: 4 (Booster Gold)
-TRENT NIELSEN: 4 (The Blacksmith’s Sword)
-DAWSON EDWARDS: 2 (Storm At Home)
-JOEY STARK: 2 (Daughters Of The Dragon)
-JAMES BRADLEY: 2 (West Flashman)
-STEVE CONNORS: 2 (Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune)
-DAVID MAKALASTER: 1 (Under The Gun)
-RICHARD FRANZWA: 1 (A Hard Place)
-JACK HAMMER: 1 (Nathan Zachary and the Pilfered Prototype)
-MAX ARILIUS: 1 (Silent Hill: The Return)
SOME CONCLUSIONS
By Harry Stark
Well, we knew at CMP that this was going to be a difficult Season. But it has finally turned out even harder than expected. I think it is the first time that 11 movies didn’t make it at box office… Of course, we have stayed very far away from the most profitable CMP’s Season ever, which was Season 10. In fact, I think this has been the CMP’s Season with a lowest net benefit. Anyway, more than 700 millions of benefit as the final balance is more than a nice number to not worrying about the financial future of the Studio.
CMP has released 17 movies based on original ideas, a great number that proves once more the neverending creativity of our screenwriters. We bet strongly this Season for artsy low budget productions and a few of them (’24 Hours To Live’, ‘Riders On The Storm’, ‘The Pitiful Plight Of Tom Collins’, ‘The Curious Incident Of The Dog In the Night-Time’…) were not competitive at box office but still were a nice experience to make them for us in terms of quality and prestige.
Other movies, expected to be major blockbusters, stayed at a lower box office level than expected. ‘Under The Gun’, ‘Edge Of Human’, ‘American Tabloid’, ‘The Beatles’, ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’, ‘Booster Gold’, ‘Nathan Zachary and the Pilfered Prototype’ were movies meant to become big box office’s hits. They weren’t. I don’t have a reason for that. It just happened.
At least, ‘Daughters Of The Dragon’, ‘The Avengers 4’ and ‘Being Ben Stiller’ behaved as well as expected. There were no real ‘sleepers’ or surprising hits this Season. I just felt relief when these movies worked out at least as we expected from them. Obviously, none of the 30 movies released this Season has entered into the alltimes’ top 6 lists.
And, from a more personal point of view, I suffered watching how some of my very personal favourite movies of the Season didn’t work as well as I thought they deserved. And I will include in my list of personal box office’s unfair disappointments movies like ‘Edge Of Human’, ‘Riders On The Storm’, ‘Teenage Wasteland’, ‘American Tabloid’, ‘The Beatles’, ‘Storm At Home’, ‘The Pitiful Plight Of Tom Collins’ and ‘John And Tommie’. I loved all of them and I think they deserved a much better box office. At least, ‘West Flashman’ and ‘The Avengers 4’, two movies from sagas I particularly like so much, worked as well as expected. Oh, and I felt specially proud of how did the brilliant ‘A Hard Place’.
But I don’t want to focus only on negative conclusions. It has been a wonderful Season in terms of creativity. CMP’s authors have taken risks and tried new things. It is not that I am not up for a good superhero movie or an action or horror flick. But I feel very proud and interested when more personal and intimate stories are written. I want to remark here my warm welcome to CMP to Trent Nielsen, whose genre preferences and writing style match very much with my interests as moviegoer. And I encourage the rest of writers to keep taking risks and mixing big productions with more ‘auteur’ works, no matter box office’s respond.
It is so much fun to be ahead of this Studio. Sometimes it’s frustrating and disappointing when you expect a movie to become a big hit and it doesn’t. But most of all it is so challenging and fun.
Let’s get ready for Season 13!
TOP LISTS
SEASON 12
TOP 6 - BOX OFFICE
1.DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON – 187
2.THE AVENGERS 4: CIVIL WAR – 141
3.BEING BEN STILLER – 109
4.THE BLACKSMITH’S SWORD – 101
5.KARATE KAT – 87
6.A HARD PLACE – 81
TOP 6 - NET GAINS
1.DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON – 123
2.THE AVENGERS 4: CIVIL WAR – 95
3.BEING BEN STILLER – 87
4.WEST FLASHMAN – 75
5.BOOSTER GOLD – 75
6.A HARD PLACE – 61
ALLTIMES
TOP 6 - BOX OFFICE
1.SILVER SABLE AND THE WILD PACK – 352
2.THE ICE PRINCESS – 316
3.THE DARK TOWER: THE DRAWING OF THE THREE – 285
4.GAME BOY 2: WARLANDS – 265
5.WOODLAND CREATURES – 262
6.DEVIL TRIGGER – 248
TOP 6 - NET GAINS
1.SILVER SABLE AND THE WILD PACK – 420
2.DEVIL TRIGGER – 382
3.THE DARK TOWER: THE DRAWING OF THE THREE – 349
4.THE ICE PRINCESS – 320
5.THE FANTASTIC MANSION – 282
6.STAR WARS: NEW ORDER – 250
SILENT HILL: THE RETURN
HorrorCast: Dakota Fanning, Ray Winstone, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jay Hernandez
Director: Brad Anderson
Screenwriter and Producer: Max Arilius
Box Office: 26 mill.
Net Losses: 11 mill.
Stark’s Reaction: A tremendous difference between the box office’s numbers made by the first movie and this sequel. I feared it would not work as well as the first one, but still this drop is way much bigger than I expected.
THE HELLBOWL
Horror / ComedyCast: Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, Michael Cera, John Cho, Christina Ricci, Toni Collette, Luis Guzman, Alec Baldwin
Director: Neil Jordan
Screenwriters: Matt Kubrick & Josh Collins
Producer: Midnight Movies
Box Office: 15 mill.
Net Losses: 28 mill.
Stark’s Reaction: Audiences just didn’t get the joke of it all… It might be a B-series movie but still it was pretty expensive to produce so net losses are particularly high. In fact, it has turned out to be the biggest flop of the Season. A shame. I had a nice time watching it.
FADED
Comedy / RomanceCast: Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, Mr.T, The Sklar Brothers
Director: Cameron Crowe
Screenwriter: Trent Nielsen
Box Office: 28 mill.
Net Losses: 9 mill.
Stark’s Reaction: Best box office of the week but again a box office’s flop. What can I say? Three flops in a row is a terrible ending for this hard CMP’s Season. I think it had not happened before in CMP that all releases of the week flop. Worrying, very worrying.
SILENT HILL: THE RETURN
‘’Silent Hill’ was like a breeze of fresh air for the horror genre. The horror of the movie was mostly based on psychological basis, on a distressing atmosphere and on the intelligent use of a ‘double universe’ to create a breath-taking suspense. Well, all that is lost in this sequel. One of the main virtues of ‘Silent Hill’ was that it didn’t need to lean on gory sequences nor to abuse of flesh and blood. ‘Silent Hill: The Return’ turns into defects all the virtues of the original movie. The storyline is confusing and hard to follow, acting works are full of excesses, the movie needs to appeal to tons of blood in its failed attempt to scare us… It seems like Brad Anderson has lost control of the story. The movie takes us back to the worst of the genre and makes us miss the less ambitious but more likeable Matt Kubrick’s slashers. It is so sad when a movie turns from a horror movie to a horrible movie.’-Roy Winslow
‘Dakota, what are you doing in a movie like this? I understand you accepted to be in ‘Raise Of The Darkman’ due to sentimental reasons. What did you need to star another lousy horror movie? While Abigail Breslin keeps growing up in CMP making intelligent choices and moving comfortably
from one genre to another, the once undisputable young queen of CMP seems to have lost the course of her CMP’s career. It is disappointing to see you here. And I won’t mention here Jennifer Jason Leigh’s work… She really looked as if she urgently needed a tranquilizer pill. She made me miss so much her splendid and measured work in CMP’s ‘The Manor’’.-Jackie O’Callaghan
‘Silent Hill is not Twin Peaks. Or is it? Like it happened with the cult tv series, it all started with a mysterious village and a wonderful premise, it created a highly intriguing and disturbing atmosphere… and then David Lynch (or Brad Anderson and Max Arilius here) didn’t know where to go and what to do with the story. The deep inconsistency of the screenplay together with the excessive directional job have ruined what seemed to be a promising horror franchise. The whole show seems too enslaved to the original source of the story, a console game, and Hollywood industry should have learnt by now that you cannot just move a story from the console screen to the silver screen without conveniently adapting it.’
-Vic Carter
THE HELLBOWL
‘Matt Kubrick and Josh Collins must have suffered an overdose of ‘Zombieland’. ‘The Hellbowl’ recreates and goes even further with the free parodic spirit of the wonderful movie by Ruben Fleisher taking to extremes some of the wildest visual and comedic findings of it. It doesn’t equal the peculiar inventiveness of Fleisher’s movie. The situations here become a bit repetitive at the end as, after all, the story here stays stuck in one only scenario, the fighting arena, which limits the chances to tell something different than one duel between the freaky creatures and the humans after another. But still it is such a wild fun to watch and share with Kubrick and Collins the great time they must have had making this crazy movie.’-Jake Cobb
‘You are going to kill me for saying this but… I love this movie! ‘The Hellbowl’ is the silliest, senseless, freakiest, most absurd movie I have seen in ages. But, precisely for all that, it is also
one of the funniest ones too. I cannot write a serious review about a movie that does not take seriously itself at all. All I can say is buy a big bucket of popcorns and come into the Hellbowl leaving all your prejudices outside. You won’t be disappointed.’-Tim Reeve
‘From time to time, Matt Kubrick bets for the riskiest projects imaginable. And it is funny how it is those times when he gives us the best of him. ‘Damnation Road’, ‘Reform School Girls’, the sadly undervalued ‘Sisters’ or even ‘Wild Cards’ were movies I would not have bet a dime for. And, besides box office’s numbers, they all became delicious rarities to enjoy once and again. Now, together with his good friend Josh Collins, Kubrick has put up a wild comedy without complexes and again it is a work full of originality and creativeness. Maybe the cast choices are not the best ones – I will always prefer watching Woody Harrelson killing zombies than Allen, Lawrence or Cera -, but even if it was only to laugh at the private jokes included in the screenplay about some Collins and Kubrick’s stories – like ‘The Dead Walk’ or the ‘Syndrome’ trilogy – it is worthy to pay a ticket to watch this insane and very loutish movie.’
-Andrew Stampton
FADED
‘There’s nothing sadder than watching a comedy where the jokes do not work. And that’s exactly what happens with ‘Faded’. It just don’t take out from you a little smile where it pretends to make you laugh. And the romantic side of the story ends up so diluted in a plot that never finds a tone moving from wild comedy to subtle sense of humor to pleasant romance but not settling down in any of the options. At the end, we have a romantic comedy that fails at both sides, romance and comedy, leaving us not knowing if we have watched a story that pretended to be a funny or a bettersweet tale.’-Anne Roman
‘You have to jump over too many prejudices when you go to watch a movie with Mr. T in it. I just could not make the huge effort needed to overcome that mental barrier. Paul Rudd is a nice guy – much better when he goes for content works than when he falls into the excesses of stupid
comedies ala Judd Appatow – and Zooey Deschanel is so cute (and she knows it… in fact, she seems sometimes too self-conscious of it) but that’s not enough to stand up a weak story like this. And the presence of Mr. T and the Sklar Brothers did not help to be condescending with a movie that does not get to work the way it pretends at any moment.’-Lilly Stevens
‘Trent Nielsen has had a busy first Season in CMP. Watching his four works released this Season – the brilliant ‘Running On Empty’, the solid ‘The Princess And The Captain’, the entertaining ‘The Blacksmith’s Sword’ and this failed ‘Faded’ – we can already make an accurate prediction of how his CMP’s career will be. Nielsen does not bet for the most popular genres – no superheroes in the horizon for him yet! – but for modest projects more based on his writing inspiration than on luxurious production designs. And that means a constant hit or miss as inspiration is always a tricky thing. So we can expect from him highly creative, intelligent and solid stories very much based on dialogues, situations and acting works and from time to time we will have to forgive him for building up failed projects like ‘Faded’ (and I fear the worst about his announced upcoming teen comedy…). But I have the feeling that, at the end, the balance will be highly positive and it will be more than worthy to have him on board!’
-Chris Burgess
SEASON 12:
THE BEST, THE WORST AND THE HIDDEN GEMS
By Mr. Thumb
Season 12 breezed by and we've seen the first season with the most GMA contenders. Financially, the season was disappointing. Most of the films we were looking to make it big didn't make the expected box office (Edge of Human/Karate Kat). We were already expecting a lot of films to make net-losses and be lucky if it made net-gains with artsy films.
Writers exposed pieces of themselves in their films. Something the rest of us admired and it showed us that you don't need to make a great story out of a science fiction explosion show. Films such as 'Teenage Wasteland' and 'The Pitiful Plight of Tom Collins' were critically acclaimed and offered something different than what we in CMP are accustomed to.
The debuting Trent Nielsen had a roller-coaster of a debut this season. The Blacksmith's Sword made a hit. Something rare for writer debuts. His next film, The Princess and the Captain flopped with box office and critics, but Trent's credibility as a writer went back up with his artsy 'Running on Empty' which had both a good box office (for a drama) and critical acclaim.
'Artsy' and 'adaptation' seem to go hand in hand in Hollywood. Film makers are always wanting to take books or other sources and give moviegoers something to enjoy. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, American Tabloid are examples. And while on the subject of adaptation, why not an artsy adaptation of real life events? Films such as The Beatles or John and Tommie.
In addition to these artistic turns from the writers, we had the usual big budget action show to help pull the Season out of being a complete financial disaster. 'Daughters of the Dragon', 'The Blacksmith's Sword', 'Being Ben Stiller', and the final Avenger's film were among the movies that helped keep the studio on the line.
Financially, it wasn't the most successful season. But movies in terms of quality have yet to be disappointing.
Now on to the best, worst and hidden gems of the season. Remember the ones that don't get mentioned aren't "bad" if they aren't in the best of, they were good, just didn't manage to make it on the best list.
SEASON 12: BEST OF
Under the Gun: Makalaster continues to impress with this film series. The first 'best' film of the season was the first film to give us a look at what was to come in the upcoming season.
Riders on the Storm: Chad Taylor delivers the best film of his writing career thus far. A film that managed to get away from being called 'Another Rock Star'
Edge of Human: I am still absolutely pissed that audiences didn't respond well to this film. It made net gains anyway.
American Tabloid: One of those has it all films that would leave a best-of list uncompleted if it's not mentioned. Scorsese, how can he go wrong?
Teenage Wasteland: Matt Kubrick delivered a magnificent film and exposed a piece of himself to us. A brave thing for any writer to do. It also gets points for the originality of using music as a major element to the plot.
The Beatles: Chad continued to impress with the biopic of the Fab-Four. I don't think there will ever be a Beatles film as good as this!
Storm at Home: A very well made film with Katrina as a backdrop to a character/story driven film. Dawson made an excellent effort here.
Running on Empty: Trent is a new writer and he's been making great strides to improve on his most recent films. Running on Empty was his first true shot at showing his worth in the studio, and it worked out great for him!
Pitiful Plight of Tom Collins: Another writer to bravely show bits of his personal life, Collins usually has at least one memorable film each season since his debut. This is certainly his best of the season.
John and Tommie: Once again, Taylor makes use of his talent and brings to life this inspirational and dramatic film. This season has definitely been Taylor's.
A Hard Place: I don't recall ever being a time when Franzwa made a bad movie. He's truly the greatest CMP writer. No selling out to make millions with a mediocre blockbuster production. You can tell the guy writes out of enjoyment of the craft.
The Impossible Dream: Joey Stark wrote that bad Daughters of the Dragon script earlier on in the season and we cringed at the thought of Joey losing it, but he managed to regain it with Impossible Dream. It's rare we get films with a commanding lead actress, but when we do, it's gold.
SEASON’S 12: WORST OF THE WORST!
The Mistaken: A film with an okay concept, but the execution was a huge mistake.
Daughters of the Dragon: People can talk about how much money it made all they want, it doesn't make it good. It just shows how many people bought tickets for it.
Booster Gold: Another forgettable superhero film.
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: Typical forgettable adventure film adaptation of a video game.
THE HIDDEN GEMS OF SEASON 12
Trent Neilsen: Everyone is talking about him. CMP's newer writer! Trent has quickly been becoming a household name. His feature films this season are impressive and leave me wanting more.
Kristen Stewart: A girl desperately trying to break out of the Twilight image, Kristen has starred in her second and third CMP features this season and proves to be just as effective an actress as the rest of the 18-25 year old actresses.
Edge of Human: Treated unfairly in the box office, I think this film will get bigger with age as many other classics have been. Including its older brother, Blade Runner.
Jodelle Ferland: A young actress new to the CMP studios, Jodelle made good use of her role as a spirit who doesn't know she's dead.
Alan Arkin: Showing up lately in Josh Collins films, Alan seems to be a go-to for an older actor. He may have hit it big though with his portrayal of Tom Collins in the Pitiful Plight.
Will Smith-The Director: Naysayers of Will should see his directorial debut of John and Tommie. Will has definitely come a long way from being the Fresh Prince.
John Cho: A Korean actor whose managed to stay out of kung fu movies? What has this world come to? John managed to book two roles this season, one as Nck Fury and the other in HellBowl.
Zooey Deschannel: After her impressive work in Hollywood films such as 500 days of summer, Zooey is translating well into CMP films.
SEASON 12: FINAL REPORT
(Brackets: Same data from Season 11)
MOVIES RELEASED: 30 (30)
SEQUELS RELEASED: 6 (11)
ORIGINAL CONCEPTS: 17 (15)
ADAPTATIONS: 13 (15)
MOVIES WITH NET GAINS: 19 (23)
MOVIES WITH NET LOSSES: 11 (7)
NET GAINS TOTAL: 842.8 (2752)
NET LOSS TOTAL: 137 (91.9)
FINAL BALANCE: 705.8 (2660.1)
MOVIES WITH BOX OFFICE SUPERIOR TO 200 MILL.: 0 (4)
MOVIES WITH BOX OFFICE SUPERIOR TO 100 MILL.: 4 (8)
-The Blacksmith’s Sword (Alfonso Cuaron / Trent Nielsen)
-Daughters Of The Dragon (McG / Joey Stark)
-Being Ben Stiller (Shawn Levy / Matt Kubrick)
-The Avengers 4: Civil War (Jon Favreau / Matt Kubrick)
TOP 1 NET GAINS:
DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON – 123
TOP 1 NET LOSSES:
THE HELLBOWL – 28
SCREENWRITERS’ ACTIVITY:
(Number of Movies Released / Best Release)
-JOSH COLLINS: 6 (Karate Kat)
-MATT KUBRICK: 5 (The Avengers 4: Civil War)
-CHAD TAYLOR: 4 (Booster Gold)
-TRENT NIELSEN: 4 (The Blacksmith’s Sword)
-DAWSON EDWARDS: 2 (Storm At Home)
-JOEY STARK: 2 (Daughters Of The Dragon)
-JAMES BRADLEY: 2 (West Flashman)
-STEVE CONNORS: 2 (Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune)
-DAVID MAKALASTER: 1 (Under The Gun)
-RICHARD FRANZWA: 1 (A Hard Place)
-JACK HAMMER: 1 (Nathan Zachary and the Pilfered Prototype)
-MAX ARILIUS: 1 (Silent Hill: The Return)
SOME CONCLUSIONS
By Harry Stark
Well, we knew at CMP that this was going to be a difficult Season. But it has finally turned out even harder than expected. I think it is the first time that 11 movies didn’t make it at box office… Of course, we have stayed very far away from the most profitable CMP’s Season ever, which was Season 10. In fact, I think this has been the CMP’s Season with a lowest net benefit. Anyway, more than 700 millions of benefit as the final balance is more than a nice number to not worrying about the financial future of the Studio.
CMP has released 17 movies based on original ideas, a great number that proves once more the neverending creativity of our screenwriters. We bet strongly this Season for artsy low budget productions and a few of them (’24 Hours To Live’, ‘Riders On The Storm’, ‘The Pitiful Plight Of Tom Collins’, ‘The Curious Incident Of The Dog In the Night-Time’…) were not competitive at box office but still were a nice experience to make them for us in terms of quality and prestige.
Other movies, expected to be major blockbusters, stayed at a lower box office level than expected. ‘Under The Gun’, ‘Edge Of Human’, ‘American Tabloid’, ‘The Beatles’, ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’, ‘Booster Gold’, ‘Nathan Zachary and the Pilfered Prototype’ were movies meant to become big box office’s hits. They weren’t. I don’t have a reason for that. It just happened.
At least, ‘Daughters Of The Dragon’, ‘The Avengers 4’ and ‘Being Ben Stiller’ behaved as well as expected. There were no real ‘sleepers’ or surprising hits this Season. I just felt relief when these movies worked out at least as we expected from them. Obviously, none of the 30 movies released this Season has entered into the alltimes’ top 6 lists.
And, from a more personal point of view, I suffered watching how some of my very personal favourite movies of the Season didn’t work as well as I thought they deserved. And I will include in my list of personal box office’s unfair disappointments movies like ‘Edge Of Human’, ‘Riders On The Storm’, ‘Teenage Wasteland’, ‘American Tabloid’, ‘The Beatles’, ‘Storm At Home’, ‘The Pitiful Plight Of Tom Collins’ and ‘John And Tommie’. I loved all of them and I think they deserved a much better box office. At least, ‘West Flashman’ and ‘The Avengers 4’, two movies from sagas I particularly like so much, worked as well as expected. Oh, and I felt specially proud of how did the brilliant ‘A Hard Place’.
But I don’t want to focus only on negative conclusions. It has been a wonderful Season in terms of creativity. CMP’s authors have taken risks and tried new things. It is not that I am not up for a good superhero movie or an action or horror flick. But I feel very proud and interested when more personal and intimate stories are written. I want to remark here my warm welcome to CMP to Trent Nielsen, whose genre preferences and writing style match very much with my interests as moviegoer. And I encourage the rest of writers to keep taking risks and mixing big productions with more ‘auteur’ works, no matter box office’s respond.
It is so much fun to be ahead of this Studio. Sometimes it’s frustrating and disappointing when you expect a movie to become a big hit and it doesn’t. But most of all it is so challenging and fun.
Let’s get ready for Season 13!
TOP LISTS
SEASON 12
TOP 6 - BOX OFFICE
1.DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON – 187
2.THE AVENGERS 4: CIVIL WAR – 141
3.BEING BEN STILLER – 109
4.THE BLACKSMITH’S SWORD – 101
5.KARATE KAT – 87
6.A HARD PLACE – 81
TOP 6 - NET GAINS
1.DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON – 123
2.THE AVENGERS 4: CIVIL WAR – 95
3.BEING BEN STILLER – 87
4.WEST FLASHMAN – 75
5.BOOSTER GOLD – 75
6.A HARD PLACE – 61
ALLTIMES
TOP 6 - BOX OFFICE
1.SILVER SABLE AND THE WILD PACK – 352
2.THE ICE PRINCESS – 316
3.THE DARK TOWER: THE DRAWING OF THE THREE – 285
4.GAME BOY 2: WARLANDS – 265
5.WOODLAND CREATURES – 262
6.DEVIL TRIGGER – 248
TOP 6 - NET GAINS
1.SILVER SABLE AND THE WILD PACK – 420
2.DEVIL TRIGGER – 382
3.THE DARK TOWER: THE DRAWING OF THE THREE – 349
4.THE ICE PRINCESS – 320
5.THE FANTASTIC MANSION – 282
6.STAR WARS: NEW ORDER – 250
posted by Harry at
2:00 AM
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