It’s one thing to take an existing company and examine its ups and downs based on a concrete history. It’s a whole other kettle of fish to utilize the same set of standards and apply them to a pair of companies that have no real track record at all, but which have declared themselves as major players in the arena moving forward.
Neil Turitz
On the heels of YouTube Red’s announcement to revive The Karate Kid as a new series with the original film’s stars, Neil Turitz gives a few ideas of where streaming networks should look to find their next reboot hit.
Christopher Nolan is regularly praised for his work, but not everyone is in love. Neil Turitz is ready to go to battle with Nolan fans as he gives some critical words to the acclaimed director.
Exactly a year ago, when we took a look at The Weinstein Company during this Studio Series, we talked about the fact that the company was in the midst of a terrible year, and was strapped for cash. Three hundred and sixty-five days later, little has changed.
In a landscape where big names rule what was once a way to “break in”, Neil Turitz ponders what it means to be an independent film these days.
The master plan Rothman has put in motion to set Sony up for future success might not be working so well at the moment, but the strategy behind it is sound, explains Neil Turitz.
It’s tough to have one’s cake and eat it, too, but Focus is certainly trying. If you doubt it, look at the success of 2016 and, though the first seven months of 2017 have been the company’s worst since 2010, the list of upcoming releases is as impressive as anyone’s. In the 15 years since its creation, Focus it is responsible for some of the very best examples of what independent film is and can be.
In the midst of a mostly humdrum news weekend that was focused primarily on Comic-Con, a story suggested that Ben Affleck’s days are numbered as Batman in the DCEU. Everyone involved denied it, of course, when the question came up at the Justice League panel and presentation in Hall H on Saturday, but the writing has been on the wall for a while now.
Right now, William Shakespeare is as in vogue as he’s been in quite some time. There are two current TV shows about him, a plethora of stage productions (garnering attention for a variety of reasons), and several film adaptations in the works. Want a quality IP? Look no further than this dead English guy.
What’s interesting about Open Road’s history is how much of an outlier a film like Spotlight was, and whether or not anything like it will come from them again anytime soon. Regardless, what is very evident is that the soft grosses of the last couple years can’t persist for too much longer, or else we could see Open Road fall to the second division of indie distributors.
What Disney does is so darn smart. It shares the time and space with no one. While everyone else who might have something fancy to show is holding off until they head a hundred or so miles south, Disney is looking over all it has and holding out maybe one thing to tantalize the comic book crowd.
There’s a big difference between the Emmys and every other major awards show. Besides the TV half of the Golden Globes, only the Emmys allow for repeat nominees and winners, because every year, new content is being created for the same shows. Herein lies the issue. Emmy voters are lazy, and the question has to be asked whether or not the majority of them are even watching the shows for which they’re voting.
A big part of success is finding the right plan and sticking with it to fruition. If we judge Roadside by that measure, and by the quality of the projects they put on screens, then we also have to acknowledge that Roadside Attractions is one of the better examples out there of just what an independent film distributor should be.
What’s amazing about Spider-Man: Homecoming is just how brilliantly the film captures the feeling, the spirit, the tone, the essence of high school, in a way that none of the other five movies featuring the character ever have. It’s at least partly, for this reason, that the movie was such a box office sensation over the weekend, because it was putting a new spin on an old character.
If this is the midterms section of the summer movie season, we’re looking at a D, and that grade is right on the precipice of a D-minus. Because we’re bored. We are bored to tears of the same old, same old. It’s possible that the second half of the summer could surprise us and come up with enough hits to balance things out, but don’t count on it. Truth be told, it’s just too late to save 2017.
Fox Searchlight is not in any trouble, but they need to make sure their miserable 2016 doesn’t become a habit. However, both the company’s history and its upcoming slate suggests the future is far more promising than the past.
Edgar Wright did something right by leaving Marvel. MRC did something right by giving him the chance to do something different with Baby Driver, and Sony did something right by putting it in theaters for us to enjoy as proof that people still desperately want to see original content.
In the world of independent film, and the distributors involved, having a definitive identity is a major part of the battle. It’s a battle that, for now, A24 appears to be winning.
Any studio these days needs anything it can get, in regard to both profit and prestige, but at Warner Bros., new head Toby Emmerich is making various big decisions, such as no longer working with “auteur directors” who have final cut, might not be such a good thing.
Does Lucasfilm have itself a Director Problem? Because let’s face it — at this point, what has become obvious is that the vision to be fulfilled, from here on out, is Kennedy’s, and woe be to any director who thinks differently.
Things aren’t perfect at STX, far from it. But considering how long it’s been around, and how far it’s come in that time, things could be a whole heck of a lot worse, with a future that doesn’t look anywhere near as bright as STX’s does.
Ultimately, any time you’re telling a story based on something that actually happened, it’s a delicate balance. Inherently, there has to be some fictionalization involved, but there should also be an adherence to the spirit of the truth. The use of Jada Pinkett-Smith in All Eyez on Me, instead, feels exploitative.
Recently, a Spider-Man: Homecoming spoiler was revealed thanks to the movie’s novelization. But when a studio like Sony is so secretive about its product, thus buying into the idea of Spoiler Culture, it cannot be nearly as careless about the marketing and licensing attached to said product.
What to make of an outfit like Lionsgate? The company has established itself very firmly as the maker of mid-level films that the studios don’t often make anymore, as well as genre fare and, now and again, the kind of franchises that lead to huge international box office, but it still can’t be lumped in with the Big Six.
The relentless pursuit of video game movie adaptations, despite a proven track record that they don’t work for the most part, falls back on the famed definition of insanity, that being the repetition of behavior and expecting a different result. But at some point doesn’t there have to be a communal understanding these projects don’t work?
Sony announced this week that it will soon be making “Clean Versions” of its movies available to consumers at the same time that the original versions are. The panicked reactions to this new venture, however, are extremely short-sighted.
Universal is chock full of the successful partnerships and franchises so key to success in today’s marketplace that it’s continually vying for the top spot alongside current Hollywood powerhouse Disney. Could it dethrone the Mouse House this year? Not likely, but it’s still set up for a tremendous year nonetheless.
Between WGN canceling Underground and turning away from scripted TV overall as well as Netflix canceling a plethora of shows, the bubble is in the process of bursting, as it had to do. After all, there’s no such thing as permanent growth. But this isn’t the end of quality TV, simply the end of the boom.
It’s tough to imagine that Gal Gadot can break out and where her career will go now, for various reasons, including, quite simply, she is now tied forever to the role that is making her a star. For better or worse, she is Wonder Woman.
Similar to Paramount, Sony hasn’t had the easiest go of things lately and they need to find something major to turn the ship around. Spider-Man: Homecoming will be a good-sized win for the studio but while their film division — made up of Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, and Screen Gems — isn’t going anywhere, it needs to become a more productive part of the company.
