JANUARY, 14


SILVER SABLE AND THE ULTIMATE ALLIANCE

Action / Superhero

The Cast: Katherine Heigl, Hugh Jackman, Clive Owen, Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington, Tyrese Gibson, Tara Reid, Bob Hoskins. Cameos by Kurt Russell, Tobey Maguire.

The Director and Producer: Bryan Singer
The Screenwriters: Joey Stark & Matt Kubrick

The Plot:

The movie opens with a peaceful view of the life in a nice village of Symkaria, Silver Sable’s country. Ordinary life is going on when a sudden explosion terrorizes everybody. More explosions follow it, destroying houses and vehicles and killing people. On top of a hill near the village, we see dozen of figures showing up. As the camera approaches, we can see they are soldiers with sophisticated and futuristic armors carrying heavy weapons.

As destruction goes on at the village, that army of soldiers begins to walk down the hill…

CREDITS

An American Congress commission is judging Silver Sable (K.Heigl). Silver has voluntarily appeared before the Comission to respond of the robbery of the alien mineral known as Harmodium, stolen by her from a US military camp (see ‘Silver Sable and the Genesis Coalition’).

Silver confesses to be guilty. She declares she feels remorse for what she did and she wants to pay for it. Considering her previous services to the US Government, she is only sentenced to spend two years in a US military prison.

’8 months later’

Silver is imprisoned. She looks tormented. She can’t heal all the pain for discovering what her father had become and then his death. She lives an isolated life, plunged into her thoughts and pain.

One day, she has a visit. It’s Nick Fury (K.Russell). He tells her the latest news about his home nation, Symkaria. Dr. Doom (C.Owen) has created an army of cyborgs, robots-soldiers that take their strength from the powers of the Harmodium, the mineral she stole for him. With his army, Dr.Doom has taken control of Latveria, the nation where he lives in, and now he is invading the neighbor nation of Symkaria. He wants to take control of the whole East Europe. He has become a major threat for peace not only in Europe but for the whole world.

Fury has an offer to make to Silver. S.H.I.E.L.D. has planned putting up together a group of superheroes to send them to Latveria. Their mission will be destroying the device from where Doom controls his whole army and capturing him, dead or alive. As she knows the territory and Dr.Doom’s hideout so well, Fury offers her to lead the group. If she does, the US Government will acquit her sentence and she will be free.

Silver tells Fury that she does not want to be in any mission again. After what happened with her father, she wants to retire. Once she is released, she just wants to leave a quiet life in Symkaria. But when Fury shows her a recording with images of the destruction of Symkaria, Silver is shocked and finally accepts the mission in her will of liberating her country from Dr. Doom’s invasion.

Fury explains Silver that after the events known as the ‘Civil War’, many superheroes are now reluctant to work for the US Government. Some of them have retired, others are living a new life hiding behind new identities. Silver will have to recruit the group herself because some of them won’t accept working for S.H.I.E.L.D. at this moment. So Fury gives Silver a list of candidates she will have to meet and try to recruit.

We follow Silver as she recruits the group…

First, she looks for Cable (S.Worthington). He was very active at the Civil War (see ‘The Avengers 4: Civil War’). Now, Cable is making his living as a wrestling fighter in poor local shows. First, he rejects Silver’s offer to join him. But when Silver joins him in a wrestling show to fight two big guys and proves her fighting skills, he is impressed. Cable accepts to join the group.

Second visit: Battlestar (T.Gibson). Battlestar also challenges Silver. He tells her that he will join her if she trusts him. Battlestar is working as a pilot in a parachuting company for amateurs. But he is also working secretly in a device that will help him to fly. He is not sure if it works yet. So he asks Silver to fly in his airplane with him and then jump without a parachute. Battlestar will jump after her and will try to fly and rescue her. Silver accepts the challenge. The device works. Battlestar saves Silver and then accepts to join the group.

Next is Ms. Marvel (T.Reid). She’s been going through a hard time after the Civil War. She became alcoholic and now lives a retired life as a waitress in a small Café in Nevada. Silver goes to see her together with Battlestar, good old friend of Ms. Marvel. Both convinced her that she deserves to be in the group and finally Ms. Marvel accepts to join them.

And the last meeting of Silver is the hardest one. She travels to Canada. In a small cabin lost in the middle of a snowcapped woodland lives Wolverine. As soon as Silver shows up, he shows his dislike. He is retired. He does not want to get involved in anything. Silver leaves Wolverine’s home. Night is falling down. She walks through the snowed woods and soon is attacked by a pack of real wolves. Silver faces them and fights them without killing any. She gets to make them run away. Wolverine has been watching the fight. He likes how she fought without killing any animal. Now, he suddenly accepts to join her.

So Silver, Wolverine, Cable, Battlestar and Ms. Marvel meet at a secret camp. To Silver’s surprise, her Uncle Morty (B. Hoskins) is waiting there for them. He is going to train the group. Uncle Morty tells Silver that he and Silver’s cousin, Anna, escaped alive from Sumkaria when the invasion begun. But Silver’s castle was destroyed by the cyborg army.

Now we follow the group as they train for their mission…

There are many internal problems. It is obvious that Silver and Wolverine dislike each other. Cable and Battlestar are also too competitive and that does not make the training easy. Uncle Morty discovers a bottle of whisky in Ms. Marvel’s bedroom and threatens her with expulsion. Wolverine gets mad when he discovers that S.H.I.E.L.D is behind their mission and almost leaves… It’s not an easy time but, finally, Uncle Morty considers that the group is ready. During the farewell dinner, he gives them a name: the Ultimate Alliance.

And their mission begins…

The group flies to East Europe and jump on parachutes on the frontier between Symkaria and Latveria. Battlestar uses his flying device during the jump. And that allows the cyborg guardians at the frontier to detect them with their radars. As soon as the group lands, a platoon of cyborgs is waiting for them. There’s a tough fight between them. The Ultimate Alliance defeats them. But now their presence will be known by Dr. Doom.

The group separates. Cable, Battlestar and Ms. Marvel will go to Symkaria. They’ll try to reach the main military camp of the cyborgs. Their mission is to sabotage their anti-aircraft weapons so US’s air force – waiting for their news in a nearby nation – can enter into Symkaria’s air space and bomb the cyborgs’ units. Meanwhile, Silver and Wolverine will go to Latveria. Their mission is to get into Dr. Doom’s mansion and to disable the cybernetic system from where Doom controls the cyborgs’ army and transmits them the energy generated by the Harmodium.

So now we follow the parallel missions of the Ultimate Alliance…

As expected, Dr. Doom has been informed about their arrival and all his army is put on alert.

Battlestar, Cable and Ms. Marvel will cross the Symkaria’s territory hiding from the cyborgs. Once at their main military camp, an extreme battle takes place. The three of them use their powers at their best to fight the army of cyborgs. At some point, Ms. Marvel panics and thinks that she can’t go on but Cable encourages her to keep fighting. Minutes later, Ms. Marvel will save Cable’s life from a surprise attack of some cyborgs. The three of them fight with big comradeship in a battle full of big explosions, gun shootings and fights…

Meanwhile, Wolverine and Silver have to climb a rocky cliff over the sea to reach Doom’s hideout. They will help each other during the climbing showing their like / dislike relationship. It’s a highly dangerous and difficult climbing. Once inside Doom’s castle, they separate, looking for the Control Center. Soon, the cyborgs at the castle discover their presence and chase them.

Wolverine faces the cyborgs and fight against them until he is finally captured and taken to the presence of Dr. Doom.

Silver is crossing a footbridge over a deep moat in the dark when somebody shows up waiting for her in the middle of the footbridge. It’s no other than Foreigner (G.Butler), her ex boyfriend and old enemy (see previous Silver Sable’s movies). Foreigner tells Silver that after the end of the Genesis Coalition, he joined Dr. Doom as the general of his army of cyborgs.

Silver and Foreigner have a brutal duel at the footbridge. Finally, Silver is defeated. When she is going to fall, Foreigner holds her by her hand. Silver is hanging on the air, only hold by his hand. They look at each other. And Silver sees hesitation in Foreigner’s eyes.

‘If you release my hand, I will die’, tells him Silver, ‘Is that what you really want?’
‘Do I have any alternative?’, asks her Foreigner.
‘Join me’, says Silver, ‘Forget the past. Join the Ultimate Alliance and return to what you were once. If you let me die now, there will be no return for you. And you know it.’
‘Why should I join you?’
‘Because you believed once in what my father and I believed. My father took the wrong decisions and now I cannot do anything to change that. You took the wrong decisions too. But you still have a chance to step back on your mistakes…’

Foreigner hesitates. It seems like he will let Silver fall. But finally he helps her to climb back to the footbridge. Once there, she and Foreigner embrace.

Foreigner guides her to the Control Center avoiding the cyborgs. When they get there, they find Dr. Doom is there with Wolverine and a group of cyborgs. Foreigner and Silver fight them and liberate Wolverine. A big fight takes place. Doom uses his power against them while the cyborgs shoot them. It’s a hard and violent fight where Wolverine, Foreigner and Silver have to use their skills at their best.

Finally, Silver takes one of the cyborgs’ weapons and shoots at the sophisticated computer in the middle of the room. A big explosion takes place.

At that very same moment, in Symkaria, Cable, Battlestar and Ms. Marvel are going through a hard time in their battle. But suddenly the cyborgs seem confused. Something is going wrong with them. Now it is easy to beat them. The central computer has been sabotaged and the cyborgs are not functioning right. So the three of them can put their bombs at the anti-aircraft system room and blow it all.

At Doom’s castle, it’s chaos after the explosion of the Control Centre. Doom tries to escape and Wolverine follows him. Silver looks for Foreigner. He is fallen. Silver sees he’s been shot. His stomach is literally open and bleeding. And Silver realizes that he is going to die.

‘Thank you’, she tells him.
‘You know I always loved you, Silver’, he whispers, ‘I did it all because I was a damned jealous idiot…’
‘You did it well’, tells him Silver, ‘You have helped my nation to be free again… You are a hero…’

Foreigner slowly closes his eyes and dies.

The US Air Force, a squadron of Stealth airplanes, flies Symkaria’s skies. With selective bombings, the cyborgs are destroyed.

Battlestar, Cable and Ms. Marvel are exhausted and wounded after the tough battle. But they feel happy and satisfied.

At Latveria, Silver leaves Doom’s Castle taking with her the Harmodium. She meets Wolverine outside. He tells her that Doom escaped alive. Silver tells Wolverine about Foreigner’s death. While the whole Doom’s Castle burns in flames behind them, Wolverine hugs Silver…

Six Months Later…

Silver is at Symkaria. She has bought a new home, a smaller mansion than the old one. From there, she is helping Symkaria’s Government in the reconstruction of the nation. And she also spends her time taking care of a nice garden… She has decided to retire from any kind of mission.

One sunny morning, she sees the figure of a man coming through her garden. It’s Peter Parker (T.Maguire). Silver looks happily surprised.

‘Last time I saw you, you knocked me down…’ says Peter with a smile (see ‘Silver Sable and the Genesis Coalition’).
‘Oh, Peter…’, she laughs, ‘I am so sorry. You know I had to do it…’
‘I haven’t traveled here to blame you…’, he says, ‘I just thought we needed a new beginning after that…’

They both smile and finally hug.

END CREDITS

We see a short cut of Wolverine’s face. He is talking with somebody we cannot see.

‘I only have one condition to make’, he says, ‘That is not a mission for me alone.’
‘What do you need?’, asks him an off-voice.

After a few seconds in silence, Wolverine finally answers:

‘I want the Ultimate Alliance back.’


Stark’s Comment:
Fourth and final installment of one of the most successful CMP’s franchises ever. Let’s remember the numbers. The three previous movies made 130, 352 and 138 millions at box office. The second installment, ‘Silver Sable and the Wild Pack’, still is the best box office ever made by a CMP’s movie. It is reasonable to expect that this release is going to be a huge hit, maybe even a record breaker.

Behind The Scenes:
-Joey Stark considered creating a new group of Marvel’s superheroes under the name of the ‘Ultimate Alliance’ – a name taken from a console game - since ‘The Avengers’ franchise reached its end. He offered Steve Connors to write the screenplays for this new saga but Connors refused the offer. Then, Matt Kubrick showed his interest in it but no screenplay was finally written. Later, Stark had the idea of introducing the Ultimate Alliance in a Silver Sable’s movie. He asked Kubrick for help and that way Kubrick joined this project.
-The plot of this movie takes into consideration the events told in ‘The Avengers 4: Civil War’ when presenting the members of the Ultimate Alliance.
-Katherine Heigl has said that she won’t play Silver Sable again after this movie and that Silver Sable won’t become a member of the Ultimate Alliance in a possible future franchise.
-Tobey Maguire has stated that his cameo in this movie will be the last time he plays Spiderman in or out of CMP.

A TANGLED WEB

Comedy / Adult

The Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Brad Pitt, John Cusack, Adrien Brody, Merryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Biel, William H. Macy

The Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
The Producer: Scoundrels Productions
The Screenwriter: Richard Franzwa

The Plot:

Gwyneth Paltrow is the wife of wealthy banker Brad Pitt. Feeling bored and tired of constantly being neglected by her husband, she decides to disguise herself as an old woman and rob her husband's bank. While the police, including John Cusack are in a frantic rush to get to the bank, she manages to escape in a red wig and yellow suit. In the guise she donates some of the stolen money to a Salvation Army worker and donates the suit to a second hand thrift shop. As she drops off the suit, two con artists, Meryl Streep and her husband Dustin Hoffman, immediately recognize the suit as the one used in the bank robbery, and purchase it.

Meanwhile, Gwyneth visits her psychiatrist, Adrien Brody, and tells him all about her latest criminal activities. At first he doesn't believe her, but then she shows him the money and he jumps in fright, telling her she could go to jail if she is caught. He asks her how she was first introduced to stealing. She tells him that it began in college (at which point we see a flashback), when a professor, William H. Macy, asked her to stay behind to discuss some mating customs of an African tribe. She quickly discovers that the professor was trying to seduce her and after a comic chase scene, escapes the class wearing only her underwear. She notices that, during the chase she had managed to steal an item of the Professor's, which she forgot to give back.

Then she remarked the next time she stole was during her wedding day (again we see a flashback) when she caught her maid of honor, kissing Pitt. She steals the maid of honor’s earrings and necklace. We also see flashbacks of Gwyneth stealing various items from different associates and work colleagues of Pitt. Brody comments that the reason she is stealing is because she is trying to attract attention from her distant husband.

Just as Cusack begins to suspect that Gwyneth is responsible for robbing the bank, a young women, Jessica Biel, is caught with the money and arrested for being the thief. This is due to Brody, who has confessed he has fallen for Gwyneth, and agreed to return the stolen money to the bank, but quickly left the bag of money on the sidewalk when he heard police cars approaching that Biel then picked up.

Gwyneth confesses that she robbed the bank, and tries to clear the innocent woman's name, but Cusack and her husband don't believe her, thinking she is crazy. Hoffman and Streep pay a visit to Gwyneth’s home, telling her they have proof that she robbed the bank, and try to blackmail her. However, she is delighted, as this is the proof she needs to clear Biel’s name. As Pitt returns home from work, Gwyneth asks Hoffman and Streep to show him the proof, however the two mystified con artists pretend that she is mad and that they have been trying to sell her a dress.

Later that day, she hosts a dinner party where she invites all the guests whom she has stolen from. She tries to return the stolen items to their owners, but they all claim that they have never seen the items before. Confused and frightened, she runs away. The following morning Pitt is frantic with worry as Gwyneth has been missing all night. He finally realizes he has neglected her and begins to see her face everywhere he turns. She again robs his bank, but this time she is crying. Pitt goes to Cusack begging him to find her.

Gwyenth herself goes to Cusack with the stolen money proving to him that she did rob the bank, however she is not arrested, as Cusack knows Pitt would not press charges against his own wife. She goes to visit Brody, and she tells him all that has happened and he explains that the reason the guests at the party denied ever recognizing the stolen items is because they would lose the insurance money they received from the theft. During their session he breaks down and begs her to run away with him, however, she refuses. Then Pitt arrives and the two reunite.


Stark’s Comment:
I love the peculiar sense of humor of the Coen Brothers so I am really happy to see them around in CMP. Maybe this movie won’t be a big blockbuster, but anyway it is a quality and classy comedy I feel very proud to be producing.

Behind The Scenes:
-Richard Franzwa and the Coen Brothers have worked together before in the dark comedy ‘The Awful Truth’.
-This is the third movie produced by Clooney and Pitt’s company, Scoundrels Productions, after ‘To Catch A Thief’ and ‘Asterios Polyp’.
-George Clooney was considered to direct this movie when Scoundrels Productions decided to develop it. But Clooney himself proposed the Coen Brothers as the best option to direct it.
-John Cusack has worked before with Richard Franzwa in Clint Eastwood’s ‘A Hard Place’.
-William H. Macy could be seen in another Franzwa’s story past Season, ‘Turn Of A Friendly Card’.

QUEENS

Comedy

The Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Mark Dacascos, Stanley Tucci, Kevin James. Cameos by Ben Affleck, Scarlet Johansson.

The Director and Screenwriter: James Bradley

The Plot:

Short cut of Ben Affleck. He is talking to the camera with his best smile: ‘Vivian and Maxie? You know, I just can’t choose. It’s always been such a pleasure working with any of them. I just love both.’

An off-voice shouts: ‘Cut!’

Affleck’s smile disappears as he says: ‘Those neurotic bitches… I just can’t choose which one I hate most…’

CREDITS

Meet Vivian Hayley (J.Aniston) and Maxie Robson (S.Bullock). For the last ten years or so they have been considered in Hollywood the undisputable queens of romantic comedy. They have millions of fans all over the world and people simply adore them.

There are rumors about their rivalry and how they hate each other. But that’s all they are: rumors.

Maxie is at Leno’ s show and Jay Leno asks her how really is her relationship with Vivian. Maxie answers with her sweetest smile: ‘I love Vivian. I felt so sorry for her when she was Hugh Grant’s girlfriend and police arrested him with a prostitute from Sunset Boulevard… That was so humiliating for poor Vivian…’

A few days later, Vivian is at Letterman’s show and David Letterman asks her about those words from Maxie. Vivian answers with her sweetest smile: ‘I understand Maxie. My dear Maxie knows very well what humiliation is… After all, she was Charlie Sheen’s girlfriend when he used to be Heide Fless’ best client…’

Both have pretty parallel lives. Vivian got married with the most handsome and sexiest Calvin Klein’s model. Only a few weeks later, Maxie – knowing that she would never find a young man as sexy as Vivian’s husband - married with a 65 years old business man said to be one of the richest men in America. Both marriages failed. Public opinion does not know that Vivian seduced Maxie’s husband. When Vivian took Maxie’s husband to her mansion for a romantic evening, she surprised there Maxie with Vivian’s husband in their own bed. Both couples divorced in the same dates.

Yes, Vivian and Maxie hate each other to death and they have always wanted to have what the other one had.

We can follow the daily live of both stars. They act very similarly. Both live in the most luxurious Beverly Hills’ mansions. Both are always surrounded by a crowd of people ready to satisfy all their wishes. Vivian’s agent, Bill (S.Tucci) and Maxie’s agent, Tom (K.James) live a miserable live dealing all day with their whims, their anger attacks, their bad manners and their frustration for not being even more popular and beloved than they already are.

And we get to know how they behave in public…

Maxie comes into the fanciest Hollywood’s restaurant followed by Tom. As she walks through the tables, everybody applaud her and she answers with her nicest smile. Before arriving to her table, she turns her face and whispers to Tom with anger: ‘I hope those fucking producers give me the job. I’ll fire you if the meeting does not go well, Tom. It is repulsive to have lunch with such group of dirty old men.’ Then Maxie arrives to her table and a few gentlemen stand up to shake her hand. Maxie smiles at them: ‘I am sooooo happy to see you all…’

Vivian is visiting a retirement home. A reporter and a camera is following her as she shakes hands and kisses all the old men and women there. ‘I feel so rewarded doing things like this. My best moments are when I try to bring a little light to people’s lives’, she tells to the reporter. When the visits finishes, she gets into her limousine with Bill and her smiles disappears as she says: ‘Agggg… It is so disgusting touching and kissing all those old skins… I urgently need a shower and my creams…’

But things are not going so well lately for Vivian and Maxie. Their latest movies – always romantic comedies – have not worked as well as usual at box office. It seems like audiences are getting tired of watching them always playing the same kind of characters. And that is turning both crazy…

Both take the same decision. They have to revamp their acting careers. They have to make a change. No more romantic comedies.

So Vivian stars a historical epic movie, a biopic of ‘Joan Of Arc’. And Maxie stars a new big screen adaptation of the classic Tolstoi’s novel ‘Anna Karenina’. Both are CMP’s productions.

And both movies become box office’s disasters. Reviews are particular cruel with their acting works. But both Vivian and Maxie, in a desperate move, put to work all their power, contacts and influences at the industry and they get to be nominated for Best Actress at the next Golden Moon Awards edition.

The Golden Moon Awards ceremony is taking place in Hawaii. The Studio has put to the disposal of both stars a private jet they have to share. The flight takes place under a wild storm. Vivian and Maxie are ignoring each other at the passengers’ cabin when they notice a strange move. They go to the pilots’ cabin. The pilot has just died of a heart attack. The co-pilot informs them that they have lost the route, radio is not working due to the storm, they are lost… and after saying that, the co-pilot also suffers a sudden heart attack and dies.

‘How in hell the two only pilots here can die for the same reason in only five minutes?’, screams Maxie.
‘Maybe it was because they saw you without make up…’ is Vivian’s answer.

Vivian and Maxie realize they have to pilot the jet. After losing a few minutes discussing who should be the pilot and who would be the co-pilot, they realize the jet is falling down and desperately try to lift it up… But they can’t avoid crushing into the ocean.

Vivian and Maxie wake up lying in the sand of a tropical beach.

And only a few minutes later they are captured by a group of natives… that surprisingly speak English although in a funny way.

A kind of witch doctor with a scary mask takes them to the presence of who seems to be the leader of the natives, a man (M.Dacascos) sitting on a throne made with palms and bamboo in the center of a village.

‘My King’, tells him the witch doctor, ‘the Gods have answered my prayers. Your father, the King, died yesterday. You are our new King. And you need a queen. The skies have sent us in an iron bird these two holy women. According to our traditions, in five weeks from now you will have to choose a wife. This is a message from the Gods. They want you to marry one of them.’

The King, who seems to be as sexually attractive as brainless, asks the witch doctor why he can’t marry one of the women of the tribe. And the witch doctor tells him that the Gods would take it as an offense if he does not marry one of the two they have sent from the sky for him.

So Vivian and Maxie have to adapt to their new lives in that primitive village. They know the jet lost the route and nobody will know where they are, captives of a peculiar tribe in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where the natives think they have been sent by the Gods… And, analyzing the weird situation, they reach the same conclusion: after all, if they have to be there, it will be better to become the wife of the King instead of just another ordinary member of the tribe.

Both women will have difficulties to adapt from their glamorous lifestyle in Beverly Hills to that new primitive lifestyle… which generates some comedic situations. But, mainly, both women will do their best to seduce the King to be the chosen one.

Vivian visits the King at his hut and tries to seduce him with a sexy dance. It’s a ridiculous situation. While Vivian tries to look extremely sexy making a kind of striptease show, the King ends up falling asleep.

Maxie will try to seduce the King preparing for him an exotic dinner with all kind of aphrodisiac meals. The result? The King suffers indigestion and ends up vomiting.

Things go on like that for some weeks… until one morning a rescue team shows up at the island. They are a special US Navy unit looking for them. They find Vivian and Maxie without the natives watching them and both leave the island happily.

The Golden Moon Awards ceremony was postponed when they disappeared. Now, the ceremony will finally take place. There’s a big expectation due to the amazing story of the two stars surviving as castaways in an island after the plane’s crash (the natives are not mentioned in the official story).

The moment of the Best Actress award comes… Ben Affleck is on stage. He opens the envelope… And the winner is… Scarlet Johansson!

Scarlet Johanson steps up to the stage to take the award while Maxie and Vivian show their faked smile. Scarlet is the star of the latest and very successful CMP’s romantic comedy.

‘I want to congratulate Vivian and Maxie for their nominations. They are two veteran stars and my generation has a lot to learn from older talents like them…’, says Scarlet in their acceptance speech.

Vivian and Maxie leave the ceremony feeling old and mistreated. Next morning, magazines describe Scarlet as ‘the new queen of romantic comedies’ and even assure that she will star the movie version of Maxie and Vivian’s adventure as castaways.

During the next weeks, Vivian and Maxie feel their decadence. Tom and Bill both resign to their jobs. They are joining Scarlet’s team of agents. Producers show them their reluctance to hire them after the failure of their latest movies. Their accountants tell them that they are close to bankruptcy due to their expensive lifestyles. Their old fans are turning their back on them. Everything goes wrong for Vivian and Maxie…

Months pass.

We see Vivian walking through a beach. She has returned to the island. After all, it’s the only place in the world where she will still be treated as a queen… She meets the witch doctor and asks him: ‘Is the king still single? Cause I have been with the Gods and they have begged me to return…’

The witch doctor tells Vivian there’s a little problem. And the problem is that Maxie has returned too.

The witch doctor finds the solution: ‘You disappeared because the Gods got angry with us. We did not understand their message. The Gods didn’t want the King to choose between the two of you. The Gods wanted the King to marry both of you!’

So the story ends with an exotic and beautiful wedding ceremony. The King is marrying Vivian and Maxie. The two rivals will share a common future now as the two wives of the King. They will live as queens - …and enemies – happily ever after.


Stark’s Comment:
Everybody knows how much I like Bradley’s comedies. He just never disappoints me. I expect the usual nice box office Bradley’s comedies always make without major surprises for the good or for the bad.

Behind The Scenes:
-This is the fifth directional job of James Bradley after ‘Celebutantes’, ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’, ‘Crossovers’ and ‘Nude!’
-Bradley has said that the idea for this movie came to him when he read at the internet a quote from Jennifer Aniston saying: ‘I hate Sandra Bullock. She has everything I want.’
-Sandra Bullock got a Best Supporting Actress GMA’s nod for her previous work with Bradley: ‘The Chinese Bride’.
-Affleck and Johansson accepted to make the cameos in the movie due to their personal friendship with Bradley. Affleck has worked for him in ‘Crossovers’. Johansson has worked with Bradley in ‘Chevrolet’, ‘Paperback Story’, ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’ and ‘Tender Is The Night’. Johansson has won a Best Actress GMA and got another three nominations when working for Bradley.


THE RESPECTED: Green light for the third and probably last installment of Chad Taylor’s saga ‘The Forgotten’. Jonathan Demme will direct again the movie telling us the conclusion of the rivalry between the characters played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Robert Pattinson. As a novelty, Gordon-Levitt will try a new experience with this movie: he is going to be too the producer of it. More faces seen in the two previous movies of this trilogy will be seen again in this third installment.

THE SHOW: Names familiar in James Bradley’s casts work again with him playing supporting roles in this satiric comedy being directed by Jason Reitman. Robert De Niro, who worked with Bradley in ‘The Toymaker’ and ‘American Tabloid’, plays here the President of a TV Channel. Tom Hanks, who also met with Bradley and De Niro in ‘American Tabloid’, plays here an ambitious State Governor looking to run for the US Presidency. And the inevitable Paul Giamatti works with Bradley for the seventh time in his career playing the mayor of the small town where the events take place.

ATHENA: Sean Connery has accepted to temporarily abandon his retirement from the industry to play here King Tinia, father of both Athena (Angelina Jolie) and Heracles (Michael Fassbender). Glenn Close, whose last work for CMP was back in Season 9’s ‘Tales Of The Unexpected’, will play here his mean wife. And John Malkovich, seen past Season in ‘What You Deserve’, will play here Tinia’s biggest enemy, King Poseidon. Zack Snyder is directing this epic adventure.

GAGA: Nathan Lane makes his debut in CMP with this movie written and directed by Chad Taylor playing Lady Gaga’s father (and Ellen Degeneres’ husband). The handsome Rodrigo Santoro, seen in ‘300’ and the tv series ‘Lost’, will play one of Lady Gaga’s love interests.

DARK SHADOWS: The veteran Malcolm McDowell, seen in CMP’s movies like ‘The Avengers’, ‘He-Man. The Power of Greyskull’ or ‘LA Wolf 2’, joins the cast of this gothic story being shot by Nick Cassavettes. Briana Evigan, who made her debut in CMP with the failed ‘Out Partyin’, joins the cast too. And Blair Brown makes her debut in the Studio with this movie.

LITTLE MISS DOLLFACE: CMP has succeeded with the ‘mockumentary’ genre before with ‘No More Bush!’ and ‘The Critic’, both written by John Daws and directed by Rob Reiner. Now, it is Josh Collins who tries luck with this peculiar genre. And to direct it, he has chosen no other than Christopher Guest. This fake documentary will denounce and laugh at the insanity of beauty pageants for young girls. Josh Collins has defined this movie as ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ meets ‘Best In Show’.

SAVAGE STREETS: Kristen Stewart will bravely and violently face a street gang in this remake being directed by Marcus Nispel. She will have the help of her best friend, played by the star from the tv series ‘Kyle XY’, Jaimie Alexander, making her debut in CMP. And the members of the gang will be Shawn Ashmore (‘The Beatles’), the CMP’s debutantes Matt Dallas and Victor Rasuk and Diego Luna, seen this Season in ‘The Dark Tower’.

LOVE LOST: Dawson Edwards has written this emotionally intense drama. Retaking the narrative style he already tried in ’24 Hours To Live’, the story will follow different characters with very little relationship between them. James Mangold, who worked with Edwards past Season directing ‘Superman: Last Son’, will direct this one too. And GMA Winner Charlize Theron, seen past Season in ‘Metroid’ and ‘Fantasy World’, will lead the cast playing a lonely woman trying to survive to her broken heart.

FREEDOM CITY: Jamie Foxx, not seen in CMP since ‘Command & Conquer’, returns playing again a military man in this sci-fi mega-production. He will be the general that leads the human forces of Freedom City. GMA Winner Ian Holm – who has worked before with Steve Connors and Brett Ratner in ‘The Naked Sun’ and also with producer James Cameron in ‘Pompeii’ – plays here a scientist.

FORECLOSED: The young Keke Palmer makes her debut in CMP playing Denzel Washington’s teen daughter in this social drama written by Josh Collins and being directed by Darren Aronofsky.


JOEY STARK
‘SILVER SABLE AND THE ULTIMATE ALLIANCE’

Joey Stark releases this week the fourth and last installment of his most profitable franchise: Silver Sable. Silver Sable’s movies have been a wonderful business for CMP. The second movie of this saga, ‘Silver Sable and the Wild Pack’, still is the top 1 box office in CMP’s history and the top 2 highest net gains. We have talked with Joey about this final adventure of the blond and sexy heroine and other stories coming up from him.

1.When you released ‘Silver Sable and the Genesis Coalition’, you said that was the end of the saga. Why did you decide later to make this fourth installment?

Because of the net gains, of course… *laughs* Seriously, Bryan and I thought that there were still some open questions that demanded an answer. The third movie put an end to the main question of the saga: what had happened with Silver’s father? But still there were a few things to be told: how does the relationship between Silver and Foreigner ends?, what happens with Silver after committing a robbery in the previous movie?, what did Dr. Doom do with the Harmodium?, would she reconcile with Spiderman after their fight? There were enough interesting questions to make a good fourth movie. So we finally decided to make it. But I promise this is definitely the last one.

2.Why putting an end to such a profitable franchise?

I know I could be writing Silver’s adventures forever. But I really think this fourth movie closes the circle. More movies would be just following a formula. I have written two superheroes sagas, Silver and Captain America, and in both cases I knew from the very beginning that I would only write sequels as long as I had something really new to tell. Silver’s movies have been a wonderful and fun experience. But that’s it. I don’t want to exploit the character until audiences get fed up of it.

3.What’s the future of the Ultimate Alliance?

I don’t really know. Matt and I talked about putting up this new group of superheroes and later introducing them in a Silver Sable’s movie looked as a wonderful idea. It added something really new to this fourth installment. Beyond this movie? Well, ask Matt. Personally, I won’t be writing new stories for those characters. I am not interested in getting involved in another superheroes saga at this moment.

4.This Season you are releasing a few co-written stories with both Matt Kubrick (‘Silver Sable and the Ultimate Alliance’ and ‘Savage Streets’) and James Bradley (‘Athena’). Do you like co-writing screenplays?

I like team work, yes. The experience has been very different with Matt and James. I wrote the stories for Silver and ‘Savage Streets’ and then Matt polished then. He chose the heroes to be members of the Ultimate Alliance, for example. With James, we have been exploring and putting together a lot of information about Greek myths and then choosing what characters and events we wanted to use in the movie. It has been a huge previous work of investigation but also a very interesting one. Then, he wrote the story with all that material and I was the one to polish it. Both ways of working are very interesting for me.

5.Just a curiosity: why have you decided to make a remake of a failed movie like ‘Savage Streets’?

That’s a good question… *laughs* Usually, remakes are made of good movies not of lousy ones. I just wanted to write another violent story with bad girls ala ‘Reform School Girls’. I don’t remember now how that took me to ‘Savage Streets’. I had watched the movie on tv many years ago and it was a terrible movie. But I thought that the plot elements were not that bad if we could write a better screenplay and then find a good director and a good actress to make it. We have respected the B-series spirit of the original movie but I honestly think that our remake will be much better than the original.


HUGH JACKMAN

Hugh Jackman returns to CMP this week after a long absence of FIVE Seasons. It was in Season 11, with ‘Command & Conquer’, the last time we saw him in a CMP’s movie. Until then, Jackman had developed a successful career for the Studio, including three ‘100’ releases and making net gains with 7 out of his 8 works for CMP. Now, Jackman finally returns playing his most famous creation out of CMP, the tormented superhero Wolverine, in ‘Silver Sable and the Ultimate Alliance’.

ACE BANNER
Season 1
B.O.: 106 mill. N.G.: 78 mill.
Doug Liman / Matt Kubrick
Jackman made an early debut in CMP. In Season 1, he played the action hero Ace Banner, a character created by Matt Kubrick pretended to be a kind of modern James Bond. Jessica Biel was his sexy co-star and Viggo Mortensen played the villain of the story. The movie meant the first ‘100’ in Jackman’s career.

ACE BANNER 2
Season 3
B.O.: 30 mill. N.L.: 3 mill
John McTiernan / Matt Kubrick
Two Seasons later, Ace Banner returned with a sequel taking place in East Asia. Rebecca Romijn was this time the sexy co-star and Wesley Snipes also showed up on screen. The movie was a surprise flop. The only movie with net losses in Jackman’s career. Later, CMP would produce a third Ace Banner’s movie, directed by no other than Quentin Tarantino, a confessed fan of the saga. But Jackman would be replaced in it by Jason Statham. That would save Jackman of being rersponsible of the disastrous numbers made by the movie.

DIVE IN THE SUN
Season 3
B.O.: 53 mill. N.G.: 20 mill.
Michael Mann / Jack Hammer
That same Season, Jack Hammer recruited Hackman to be one of the members of a brave commando during World War II together with Ewan McGregor, Orlando Bloom and Paul Bettany. ‘Dive In The Sun’ was a quality action adventure movie that deserved a much higher box office.

VISIONARIES
Season 4
B.O.: 102 mill. N.G.: 84 mill.
Bryan Singer and Marcus Trax developed this fantasy movie based on the action figures from Hasbro. Jackman starred this top budget production co-starred by Hillary Swank. The movie made a very nice box office and it was meant to be the beginning of a franchise. But sequels were never developed.

MONOLITH
Season 7
B.O.: 55 mill. N.G.: 18 mill.
Christopher Nolan / Ben Tyler
Hackman leaded the allstars cast of this dark and claustrophobic sci-fi story. This was a very ambitious project of making adult sci-fi. Sadly, audiences did not respond as enthusiastically as expected.

FALLOUT
Season 8
Richard Donner / Richard Franzwa
B.O.: 60 mill. N.G.: 54 mill.
Back to action for Jackman. Robert Downey Jr. and him co-starred this big screen adaptation of the popular console game. Again, box office wasn’t as good as the Studio expected. But at least Jackman kept leading casts of big budget productions.

FALLOUT 2
Season 10
Stephen Sommers / Richard Franzwa
B.O.: 104 mill. N.G.: 92 mill.
Two Seasons later, Jackman starred again the sequel of ‘Fallout’. This time, numbers met expectations. Third ‘100’ in Jackman’s career and the highest net gains in his career so far. Franzwa announced a third movie of this saga but it has never been developed.

COMMAND AND CONQUER
Season 11
Michael Bay / Ben Tyler
B.O.: 75 mill. N.G.: 82 mill.
Another action movie and another console game adaptation for Jackman. And again, a slight disappointment at box office. This war movie full of testosterone – again with Downey Jr. as cast partner – was the last Jackman’s work for CMP for quite a long time. He took a pause in CMP with the feeling that after starring quite a few top budget action movies his big and definitive hit in the Studio is still to come.

SILVER SABLE AND THE ULTIMATE ALLIANCE
Season 16
Awaiting release
Bryan Singer / Joey Stark & Matt Kubrick
Rumors say that it was Bryan Singer, director of ‘X-Men’ and ‘X-Men 2’, who had the idea of having Wolverine in this fourth Silver Sable’s movie. Rumors also say that Hugh Jackman was reluctant at first but a wonderful salary finally convinced him to play his best known creation in it. And now everybody expects that this will be the most successful work of Jackman for CMP by far.


How was the relationship between Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock during the shooting of ‘Queens’? While official sources from CMP state that the two actresses became close friends during the filming, other sources tell that the rivalry to be seen on screen was nothing compared to the one behind the cameras. Truth or not, they have posed looking so friendly in a promotional photo session and here we have one of the pictures of it.



CMP’s Press Office has confirmed that the third installment of John Daws’ ‘New World’ saga won’t be released during this Season as it was originally planned. The reason? There is no screenplay yet. Although the Studio was interested in developing this movie as soon as possible – specially after the wonderful box office made by the second installment of this franchise -, Daws’ delay in finishing the screenplay has obliged the Studio to postpone this production. Now, it is expected that a screenplay will be finally ready to produce the movie in Season 17.

‘New World 3’ is not the only sequel the Studio is waiting a screenplay for. Harry Stark also expects to have in his hands soon the screenplays of the awaited sequels of Dawson Edwards’ Star Wars saga, ‘Metroid’ or ‘Wonder Woman’, among others. And no, it is not that Mr. Stark considers all those sequels as indispensable pieces of art. It is the net gains he expects to make with them what affects his anxiety to produce these movies.

Past two weeks, two new writers made their debut in CMP, Lawrence Abernathy and Michael Banno. But those won’t be the latest additions to CMP’s world for long. Three new names will soon join the list of CMP’s authors: Dayne Creveling, D.R. Cobb (‘thedill’) and Jack Adkins ('Colimar'). It is expected that stories written by them will be produced during Season 17. In fact, Cobb has already presented to Harry Stark a few screenplays and Adkins has already finished his first story while Creveling has announced he will have some stories ready soon. It seems like there’s a new generation of screenwriters coming up to CMP lately.

Robert Rodriguez has mentioned in a recent interview that he is having conversations with Harry Stark to become the director of ‘Reform School Girls 4’ (provisional title). Rodriguez already directed ‘Tracks Of Blood’, second installment of this saga. Rob Cohen replaced him behind the cameras in ‘Vixen’, the third movie of the series. Now, Joey Stark wants Rodriguez back to shoot the final episode, expected to be produced next Season. It is not known if Quentin Tarantino might return as producer of the movies, same way he did with the two first movies of the series.

I should sail the net more often… I have just got to know that there have been plans going on for at least the last four or five years to develop out of CMP a movies trilogy and a tv series based on ‘The Dark Tower’. Names like JJ Abrams and Ron Howard have sounded as attached to these plans. Well, whatever they do, again CMP was there first and it will be very difficult to make a better job adapting Stephen King’s books than the one made by Matt Kubrick and Sam Raimi.