VIDEO OF THE WEEK - SOUND OF MY VOICE

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Takes Kids on New Film 'Journey'

By Iain Blair, Reuters

LOS ANGELES – Eat your heart out, Madonna. When it comes to career reinvention, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wins hands-down.

First, the college football champion transitioned into professional wrestling and his alter ego, “The Rock,” became a huge star on the World Wrestling Entertainment circuit. Then Johnson parlayed that success into a movie career, starring in such action hits as “Walking Tall,” “Gridiron Gang” and “Be Cool,” before moving into family comedies such as “Tooth Fairy.”

His newest film opening on Friday, “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”, is another comedy about family relationships and a trip to a mythical island with gigantic creatures hungry for a human supper. Along with the movie, Warner Bros. is showing a short film, “Daffy’s Rhapsody,” aiming to introduce a new set of kids to the studio’s lovable Looney Tunes cartoons.

Johnson spoke to Reuters about making the 3D film, working with veteran Michael Caine, his ukulele playing and possible new career as a singer. There he goes again, with a new career.

• Q: Michael Caine said he did this so his grandkids could see him in a movie. What’s the appeal of family movies for you?
• A: With family movies, I always think of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” where it feels big and adventurous, and this felt the same way to me. For the past two years I’ve played some intense characters who’ve hunted down a lot of bad men and then done some violent things to them, so this was a nice change of pace. When I first began acting 12 years ago, the goal was to have diversity and longevity and work in all different genres, and I love doing this kind of movie when it’s done well.
• Q: You play the patient stepfather trying to relate to a hot-headed teenager. Much of you in him?
• A: A lot. As a teenager I struggled a lot to stay on the right path. I got arrested and into some trouble, so I could really relate to Josh’s character in this, in the way teenagers think they know it all, but they don’t. I was lucky in that the adults in my life saw my potential, and everyone needs that guiding hand when they’re growing up.
• Q: You and Michael Caine share some nice barbed banter on screen. Any surprises working with him?
• A: I’ve always been such an admirer of his, going back to films like “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” when I first realized just how nuanced he is as an actor. And he was even more than I expected. He’s had this epic career, he’s an icon, but he’s so down-to-earth, and all the verbal jabs we had in this movie were so much fun to do.
• Q: You’re obviously still in great shape. Do you still work out?
• A: I change my regimen, depending on the role. But I train every morning and it’s a great way to just get away from everything for a couple of hours and get my sweat on.
• Q: Is it true you’re still involved with wrestling?
• A: Yes. I quietly retired about eight years ago from the WWE, when I was still on top, to focus on acting, but I’m getting back in the ring for one night in April with the goal of creating the biggest match of all time. So, I’m training extra hard right now. For me, those wrestling roots run deep as my grandfather and my dad wrestled, and I love that form of entertainment. That’s where I cut my teeth, getting into the entertainment business and doing it for 10 million fans every week.
• Q: Who’s idea was it to sing “What A Wonderful World” and play the ukulele in the film?
• A: I can humbly tell you it was my arrogant idea. (Laughs) This movie was a like a platform that let me bring all my strengths to the table, including singing to Sir Michael Caine, and we all felt there was this spot where you needed a break from all the action, so it was perfect. And I really do play the ukulele. I grew up in Hawaii, so it was just a part of the culture.
• Q: You’ve dabbled in music in the past. So any plans to also pursue more of a singing career? Give Madonna run for her money?
• A: (Laughs) I don’t know about that, but I’m a big fan of traditional country music and we’re currently developing a biopic of Charlie Pride, the black county star, which I’ll star in and produce. It’s an incredible story and it’ll be an honor to do it.
   

The Found Footage Festival Live in Brooklyn Volume 1

If you like your schlock in tiny tidbits of absurdity, The Found Footage Festival will certainly deliver. Taped live from a Good Friday (March 25) 2005 screening at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, it appeals to the nano-second attention span of most modern audiences.

Host/perpetrators Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher introduce, narrate, spoof, and provide commentary throughout the set of eclectic mini-vids (the longest is six minutes) that include promotional tapes, private home videos, industrial videos, instructional how-to lessons and exercise tapes.

Sometimes hilarious (Zsa Zsa Gabor attempts to break a sweat with fitness partners Mike and Francois) sometimes disturbing (a live fish is skinned and gutted) the footage covers scary staged accidents for an insurance company (even children get creamed) and a McDonald’s industrial video covering the fine points of being a custodian for the chain. Even garbage cans and parking lots are washed by “McC” a super-clean, washing whiz.

If you never thought you’d see Ronald Reagan rhapsodizing over a stallion’s mighty schlong, think again.

The Mrs. Minnesota pageant is a hoot as the gals pick a typical state object to model, from snowflake to cow; Traci Lords shows traces of her past life as a porn star as she rocks a pelvic thrust skyward. This is intercut with a chair exercise video where the average age of the participants seems to be 50+.

Corey Haim prances and postulates for a self-promotional video that would be much funnier if he were still alive. Religious Showdown pits a happy preacher with a penchant for impersonation with a firebrand who rants that certain individuals “will receive orders to go to Hell” as he glares at the camera in disgust.

Jan Terri is an unlikely rock star as you’ll find out from her montage; the audio portion reveals an Elmer Fudd-like speech impediment. The Animal Montage includes a feline bite to the crotch for an unlucky police officer. Memorial Day 2000 and Kirk’s 40th Birthday party will make you want to add lots of chlorine to the gene pool.

Arnold Schwarzenegger gets down and dirty in Rio, while the Ambicor Prosthesis plays a certain “organ” and it’s not in church.

Then there’s Jack Rebney, alternately known as Winnebago Man (on YouTube) who has got to be the most frustrated, potty-mouth salesman in the history of the RV.

The whole 90-minutes, when not focusing on the two guys onstage, comprise a scavenged particle-video that is a sociological study of Earth’s bipeds. It’s also a humorous study in “what were they thinking?”

Pickett and Prueher show us what they’ve found and when you’re not laughing you just might be cringing. Still, it’s worth a gander if only to see what a goose some folks (unknowingly) will make of themselves.

And then there’s that grateful feeling to know that at least you’re not in it.

Or are you?

 

A `JOURNEY' TO A DANGEROUS NOWHERE

Byline: IAN SPELLING

c.2012 Ian Spelling

Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate

  

Vanessa Hudgens said yes to "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" for one simple reason: Michael Caine.

"Any chance you get to work with a legend, the legend being Michael Caine, you take it," Hudgens says. "To be on the same screen as him is such an honor. You've got to work with the greats to learn from the greats."

OK, there were a few other reasons too.

"We filmed it in Hawaii," says the former "High School Musical" starlet, now 23. "I was like, `Seriously, you're going to pay me to be in paradise for two months?' So there was that too. Also, I'd never been in a 3-D action film before, so that was another really great draw."

Set for release on Feb. 10, "The Mysterious Island" is the sequel to the 2008 surprise hit "Journey to the Center of the Earth," which starred Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutcherson. This time around Sean (Hutcherson) receives a distress signal _ sent by his missing grandfather, Alexander (Caine) from an island that shouldn't actually exist. Sure enough, Sean heads off to that island, accompanied by his stepfather (Dwayne Johnson), a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzman) and the pilot's daughter, Kailani (Hudgens). What they find is gloriously beautiful but also thoroughly dangerous, because the island is on the verge of being submerged forever.

"Kailani is fun, hardheaded, and she has a really, really great relationship with her father, which I loved, because I'm very, very close to my family," Hudgens says, speaking by telephone from a hotel in Hawaii. "So being able to play that dynamic and how they really do love each other so much, it's a nice, refreshing thing to see."

The shoot for "The Mysterious Island" was very different from that for "Sucker Punch" (2011), the ambitious but poorly received girl-power fantasy in which Hudgens co-starred last year. The latter film was a visual-effects extravaganza shot entirely on sound stages in Vancouver, British Columbia, and with green screens, using few practical sets or props. For a time "The Mysterious Island" was entirely the opposite experience.

"This film, we did half of it in Oahu, Hawaii, where it was all outdoors, all on the most magnificent locations," Hudgens says. "I would show up to work every day and literally be so moved that I'd be fighting tears. It's just such a spiritual place. The other half of it was shot in North Carolina, where it was on sound stages. So it was a bit of both, but I think the location shooting makes it special.

"It's so beautiful here," she says. "It's just so nice to be outside. Anytime I can be outside, I take the opportunity. I'm outside right now because I don't have to be inside, because I'm on the phone."

Moviegoers will witness Hudgens, Hutcherson et al. interacting with all sorts of creatures. They cradle an adorable baby elephant, ride gigantic bumblebees and run for their lives from massive lizards and a gold-spewing volcano.

All that, of course, is pure movie magic.

"For the most part there was nothing there," Hudgens reports. "Our director, Brad Peyton, was great about keeping us involved with what we're actually running from, what it looks like, but at the end of the day, running from the giant lizards, I was running away from the film crew, because they were behind me filming. So you have to use your imagination.

"I think that's all acting is anyway, at the end of the day, whether you're talking to a live person in front of you or you're running away from a giant lizard."

Hudgens adds that she had a blast making "The Mysterious Island." Best of all, she says, was working with the quartet of men around her: Caine, Guzman, Hutcherson, whom she briefly dated, and Johnson.

"It was amazing," she says. "It was such an interesting hodgepodge of actors they put together. It's definitely not a group that I would think of, but you throw us all together and it was the most amazing time. Dwayne is the biggest sweetheart. He's a Teddy bear and he's really funny. Luis is just hysterical everything that comes out of his mouth just cracks me up. Josh became one of my best friends. We had the best time just being ridiculously silly, singing and dancing all the time.

"And Michael Caine is just a legend," Hudgens enthuses. "Listening to his stories about going to Las Vegas for the first time and having Frank Sinatra take him, it was crazy. Being on the cliff faces with him was pretty amazing too: He's, like, God knows how old, and he was climbing these cliffs with me. Acting underwater with him How many people can say they've acted underwater with Michael Caine? That was pretty cool."

Hudgens, who is due next in the dramas "The Frozen Ground" and "Gimme Shelter," the latter of which ironically co-stars "Journey to the Center of the Earth's" Brendan Fraser _ recently watched "The Mysterious Island" with an audience in a packed theater.

How did it go over?

"Awesome," Hudgens replies promptly. "Everybody loves it. I loved it. It's so funny, because normally I watch a movie and I'm busy critiquing myself, but with this one I could really sit back and enjoy the ride. I was holding my breath when we were underwater, I was jumping whenever anything jumped out at us.

"I was fully taken on the ride."

 

(Ian Spelling is a New York-based freelance writer.)

 

Exclusive Spot set for Relativity’s

Navy SEAL Action-Thriller Act of

Valor During Super Bowl XLVI

 

Studio to Promote its Groundbreaking Film at America’s Largest Media Event of the Year

 

(Beverly Hills, Calif.) January 10, 2012 – Relativity Media announced today that it will promote the Bandito Brothers’ upcoming intense action-thriller Act of Valor, which stars an elite group of active-duty Navy SEALs in a fictionalized composite of actual events, during NBC’s nationally televised coverage of Super Bowl XLVI on February 5, 2012. Four 30-second unique Act of Valor commercials, featuring exclusive content, will run throughout the program including two spots that will air during the pre-game, one spot in game during the fourth quarter and one spot in the post-game show.

Terry Curtin, President, Theatrical Marketing said, “We are proud of this unique and original film that plays fantastically across broad audience segments. Not only is Act of Valor an incredibly entertaining action film, but it is a true testament to the heroism and sacrifice that makes America great. What better place to feature a spot for this movie than on the Super Bowl, which is one of our country’s biggest events.”

In 2010, Relativity promoted its box office hit Limitless during Super Bowl XLV which went on to become the No. 1 movie in America in its theatrical debut.  Super Bowl XLVI will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, and will be the first Super Bowl to be held in Indianapolis. The Super Bowl frequently garners the highest American television ratings yearly and is often one of the most watched programs in the world. Last year, Super Bowl XLV became the most watched American television program in history, drawing an astounding 111 million viewers.

Produced and directed by former Baja 1000 champion Mike “Mouse” McCoy and former stuntman Scott Waugh, Act of Valor goes deep into the secret world of today’s most elite and highly trained group of warriors. When the rescue of a kidnapped CIA operative leads to the discovery of a deadly terrorist plot against the United States, a team of SEALs is dispatched on a worldwide manhunt. As the men of Bandito Platoon race to stop a coordinated attack that could kill and wound thousands of American civilians, they must balance their commitments to country, team, and their families back home. Inspired by true events, the film combines stunning combat sequences, up-to-the minute battlefield technology and heart-pumping emotion for the ultimate action adventure.

The next film on the studio’s growing slate is Oscar®-winner Steven Soderbergh’s dynamic Haywire debuting in theatres January 20, 2012.  This highly anticipated action-thriller stars Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Angarano, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton and introduces mixed martial arts (MMA) star Gina Carano in a demanding lead role that has her performing her own high-adrenaline stunts.  Haywire tells the story of Mallory Kane, a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive. Using her black-ops military training, she devises an ingenious – and dangerous – trap. But when things go haywire, Mallory realizes she’ll be killed in the blink of an eye unless she finds a way to turn the tables on her ruthless adversary.  The release marks Soderbergh’s 25th film.

Relativity’s expansive upcoming slate also includes the magical adventure comedy Mirror Mirror (in theatres March 16, 2012), starring Oscar®-winner Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, Nathan Lane, and Armie Hammer. The studio just wrapped production on the comedy 21 and Over and is currently in pre-production on Nicholas Sparks’ gripping love story Safe Haven and the international espionage thriller Hunter Killer.

For more information about the film please visit http://www.actofvalormovie.com.

 

ABOUT RELATIVITY MEDIA

Relativity Media is a next-generation studio engaged in multiple aspects of entertainment, including full-scale film and television production and distribution, the co-financing of major studio film slates, music publishing, sports management and digital media.  Additionally, the company makes strategic partnerships with, and investments in, media and entertainment-related companies and assets.

To date, Relativity has produced, distributed, and/or structured financing for more than 200 motion pictures.  Released films have accumulated more than $16.9 billion in worldwide box office receipts.  Relativity’s recent films include: Immortals, Tower Heist, Bridesmaids, Hop, Limitless, Anonymous, Machine Gun Preacher, Cowboys & Aliens, Battle: Los Angeles, Season of The Witch, Little Fockers, The Fighter, The Social Network, Salt, Despicable Me, Grown Ups, Dear John, It’s Complicated, Couples Retreat and Zombieland. Upcoming films for Relativity include: Haywire, Act of Valor, The Raven, Mirror Mirror, 21 Jump Street, American Reunion, and The Bourne Legacy.  Thirty-eight of the company’s films have opened to No. 1 at the box office.  Relativity films have earned 60 Oscar® nominations, including nods for The Fighter, The Social Network, The Wolfman, A Serious Man, Frost/Nixon, Atonement, American Gangster and 3:10 to Yuma. Sixty-two of Relativity’s films have each generated more than $100 million in worldwide box-office receipts.

Relativity also owns and operates Rogue Pictures, a company that specializes in films targeted to the 13-25 year old audience, and RogueLife, Relativity’s digital studio which is developing original content for the Web and creating sustainable online platforms and communities. RelativityREAL, Relativity’s television arm, has 67 projects in production, including 17 original series that are currently airing or will air in the upcoming television season including Police Women for TLC, Coming Home for Lifetime and The Great Food Truck Race for Food Network. For additional information, please visit www.relativitymedia.com.

 

Meryl Streep says playing Thatcher was daunting

By Jill Lawless

Associated Press / January 4, 2012

 

LONDON—She's a double Oscar winner with a knack for accents, but Meryl Streep says playing Margaret Thatcher was a challenge -- although her own experience helped her understand the struggles faced by Britain's first female prime minister.

Streep is transformed into the divisive politician who reshaped Britain in "The Iron Lady," which had its European premiere in London on Wednesday, just across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament.

"It was extremely daunting, because I'm from New Jersey," Streep said in an interview ahead of the event. "And yet as an outsider, I felt something of what she might have felt."

Streep, who won Academy Awards for "Kramer Vs. Kramer" and "Sophie's Choice," said her youthful experience as one of a handful of women at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire helped her understand Thatcher's isolation. In 1970, Streep spent a term as an exchange student at the men-only college, which became coeducational in 1972.

"There were 60 of us and 6,000 men, and I had a little flashback to that moment," Streep said. "And so a little bit of my emotional work was done for me."

Streep, 62, has been nominated for a Golden Globe and looks likely to get a 17th Oscar nomination for her spookily accurate performance as Thatcher, who led Britain from 1979 until 1990.

As prime minister, Thatcher fought a war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, saw the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and the implosion of communism and was branded the Iron Lady by Soviet journalists for her steely resolve.

She presided over the decline of Britain's industrial might and trade union power and the birth of a free-market culture with new winners and many new losers.

That historical drama is only glimpsed in "The Iron Lady," which depicts the now 86-year-old Thatcher, widowed after the death of husband Denis (Jim Broadbent), looking back on her life as a provincial grocer's daughter rising to the top of a Conservative Party dominated by wealthy men.

Streep said while the film has been called a political biopic, "I was interested in it precisely because it wasn't really that."

"It's a subjective imagining," she said. "It's not the God's-eye-view chronicling this side, that side, the politics of it. It's a very deep look at a whole life -- from the end of it."

"The Iron Lady" is more a domestic drama than a political one, but Thatcher remains a polarizing figure and the film has been criticized by her enemies and allies alike. Foes feel it is too sympathetic, while supporters and friends dislike its depiction of the former leader as a frail old woman with dementia.

Former Conservative Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd said the film "has a rather ghoulish quality about it."

"All the flashback scenes show a woman suffering from a form of dementia, but that lady is very much alive," he told the Evening Standard newspaper. "That should have given them pause to wait."

Director Phyllida Lloyd ("Mamma Mia!") has defended the film's approach. The script by Abi Morgan ("Shame") was partly inspired by a book by the politician's daughter Carol Thatcher in which she described her mother's mental decline.

Streep said the criticisms were misguided.

"If Margaret Thatcher suffered from a lung problem and I coughed, or if she had something wrong with her legs and I limped, no one would scream," she said. "The particular stigma attached to mental frailty in our culture speaks more about the person who's saying it's shameful.

"Is it shameful? I don't think it is. I don't think things need to be hidden away."

Streep is also fascinated by the venom Thatcher provoked -- she's still either loved or loathed by most Britons -- and the film gently asks viewers to consider whether the fact that she is a woman played a part in the strong responses.

"She was called the most hated woman in Britain because of policies that lots of people who are still in the political world helped her construct, and they don't endure the same hatred," Streep said. "She was hated for her hair and her handbag and her clothes and her manner and the fact that she changed her voice.

"It was really outsized, the bloodlust, and that's interesting."

Streep said the film's most provocative idea is that it asks audiences to regard this iconic political figure as human -- just like ourselves.

"I do think we have historically looked at our own lives through the bodies of kings and queens and important people," she said. "Is 'Hamlet' really about the prince and his princeliness, or is it about his existence? Is 'King Lear' really about a grumpy old man who used to be a despot, or is it about existence?

"That's certainly how I went into it, to find me in this story. And my friends, and my mother -- women of that generation who lived through a change in the way women were regarded and their place in society."

 

On Movies: A golden voice, yet he speaks not a word

By Steven Rea,

Inquirer Columnist / January 08, 2012|

 

Max von Sydow, as the silent Renter, with Thomas Horn, the boy at the heart of "Extremely… (Warner Bros.)

His voice is deep, sonorous, rumbling with quiet gravitas.

Few actors are as readily recognizable by their vocal cords as Max von Sydow, the great Swedish actor who arrived on the international scene in 1957, as a knight who encounters Death - and plays chess with him - in Ingmar Bergman's classic, The Seventh Seal.

Von Sydow would make 10 more films with Bergman ("Without him, I would certainly not have been here today," he says). And he would make his mark in big commercial films, playing a sly assassin in Three Days of the Condor, Jesus Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told, and a demon-chasing priest in The Exorcist. A few years back, von Sydow was riveting as a frail father, confined to his apartment, in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

So here's the irony: In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, opening Jan. 20 at the Ritz Theaters, von Sydow doesn't utter a word. His character, known as The Renter, is a mysterious figure who comes into the life of a young boy on an epic scavenger hunt, looking for the lock that fits a key left to him by his father, a victim of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

Von Sydow's old stranger accompanies the boy - played by newcomer Thomas Horn - on his curious quest across the boroughs of New York. The Renter communicates by scrawling on the pages of a notebook. It is the first time in a career marked by some 140 films and TV movies that von Sydow has not uttered a single word.

"It really wasn't a challenge for me," von Sydow said, sounding just like von Sydow sounds, on the phone from New York recently. "He's a totally normal character in a way - he has just the trauma of tremendous tragedy that he has experienced when he was young, and he decides that he will never again speak in his life, and he sticks to that.

"But for that," von Sydow adds, "he's totally normal. He talks through his writing. So it was not a matter of portraying somebody in a different way, just because he doesn't speak. He was a very interesting character, and I was very happy to be offered the part."

Von Sydow, 82, took the role readily, even though, he says, half-joking, "I really shouldn't do anything - I should really be retired, but every now and then you are tempted."

And it's a temptation that pays off - for the audience, and, perhaps, for von Sydow, too, who has only a single Academy Award nomination on his extensive resume (best actor, for the 1987 Danish film, Pelle the Conqueror). There is a lot of buzz for a supporting actor nomination - Dave Karger, forecasting the Oscars in this week's Entertainment Weekly, picks the stage and screen veteran as one of the likely candidates, noting that von Sydow "expresses so much heartbreak without saying a word." Adapted from the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close stars Tom Hanks as the father (seen in flashbacks), Sandra Bullock as his wife and the boy's mother, and a roster of supporting players that includes Viola Davis, John Goodman, and Jeffrey Wright.

But it all turns on Horn, who was 13 at the time director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliott, The Hours, The Reader) cast him in the lead.

"When I read the script," says von Sydow with a chuckle, "I thought, 'Oh God, I hope they have a good boy for this. If they don't, I shouldn't make the movie.'

"But it turned out that Thomas is an extraordinary young man. He is very bright, very intelligent, and also very - how can I say it? - disciplined, in a positive way.. . . It was like working with a grown-up actor. He knew exactly what he was going to do, and did it very well.

"You would think that a young kid would be sick and tired of repeating himself all the time, and doing retakes and retakes, but no, he did it, and he did it well."

Did von Sydow give this "young kid" any pointers?

"He never asked me anything, and I didn't feel that I should give him advice. It was not needed, and then, of course, Stephen Daldry is a wonderful director who has certainly worked with children before.

"But, no matter, Thomas is not a regular child."

Von Sydow has lived in Paris since the mid-1990s, and became a French citizen in 2002. He met his wife, Catherine Brelet, while he was shooting a film (Time Is Money, with Charlotte Rampling) in the south of France.

"I had divorced, and so I was a free man," explains von Sydow, who spent a good part of his career until then living in Los Angeles. "And after some time we were married, and we live there, and we are very happy. France is a wonderful country."

And so, after the hype and the hoopla of the awards season passes, von Sydow plans to go back to his life of semiretirement in Paris.

"I reluctantly receive scripts," he says, "and, if something really important shows up, I'll do it if I think I can. And I think I've been lucky very recently, because I've been offered good parts - but I don't want to just work for the sake of working. There are other things to do."

 

With a combined box office exceeding $4.7 billion, Warner Bros. is the only studio in history to surpass the $4 billion benchmark for three consecutive years.

 

BURBANK, CA - January 6, 2012 – The Warner Bros. Pictures Group enjoyed another hugely successful year, with a combined worldwide box office gross of more than $4.7 billion, led by 2011’s top-grossing film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.”  The announcement was made today by Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group.

Warner Bros. has now exceeded $4 billion globally for three consecutive years, a milestone no other studio has ever achieved.  In addition, with a domestic box office gross of more than $1.83 billion, Warner Bros. is the only studio to surpass the billion dollar mark eleven years in a row, and, in addition, it has done so 12 out of the last 13 years.  Setting another record, Warner Bros. is the only studio to have topped $1.8 billion domestically for three years running.

There have also been a number of international benchmarks.  The studio has surpassed $1 billion at the international box office a total of 14 times, with four of those years exceeding $2 billion, including 2011.  The studio earned $2.87 billion internationally last year, and was the number one studio in Europe.

In making the announcement, Robinov stated, “Our 2011 slate saw a broad range of hits that encompassed comedy, action, suspense, and, of course, a little magic.  We share these successes with our production partners, as well as all those who worked so hard, not only to make the movies but to bring them to a worldwide audience.”

The cornerstone of the studio’s success in 2011 was the record-breaking finale of the top-grossing Harry Potter film franchise, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” which earned more than $1.33 billion worldwide to become not only the highest-grossing film of the year but also the third-highest-grossing of all time, globally.  Among the numerous records that the film broke during its theatrical run, it had the biggest opening weekend of all time, both domestically and internationally, and, on the international side, it is the highest-grossing Warner Bros. movie of all time.

A wide variety of other Warner Bros. releases that opened in 2011 went on to gross well over $100 million worldwide, just a few of which include “The Hangover Part II” ($586 million), “Horrible Bosses” ($215 million), “Final Destination 5” ($164 million), “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” ($148 million), and “Contagion” ($141 million), as well as the current release “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” which has grossed $286 million worldwide to date, with 25 international markets, including a number of major territories, yet to open.  Warner Bros. also saw nine of its releases open at number one domestically.

Looking ahead to 2012, Warner Bros. Pictures has some of the most anticipated films of the coming year, with just a sample including “Wrath of the Titans,” the sequel to the blockbuster “Clash of the Titans,” starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes; Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows,” with Johnny Depp leading an all-star ensemble cast, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Eva Green; Adam Shankman’s screen version of the hit musical “Rock of Ages,” starring Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Akerman, Mary J. Blige, Bryan Cranston and Alec Baldwin; “The Dark Knight Rises,” Christopher Nolan’s epic conclusion to his Batman trilogy, starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Morgan Freeman; the true-life drama “Argo,” directed by and starring Ben Affleck; the drama “The Gangster Squad,” starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone; Peter Jackson’s return to Middle-earth with “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”; and Baz Luhrmann’s screen adaptation of the classic “The Great Gatsby,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.

 

“SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS”

CONTINUES ITS SUCCESS WORLDWIDE

 

BURBANK, CA, January 4, 2012 – Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” continued its strong run through the holiday frame, with exceptional numbers at both the domestic and international box offices.  The international performance is made even more impressive by the fact that the film is tracking better than 2009’s blockbuster “Sherlock Holmes”—which grossed $315 million internationally and $524 million worldwide—with “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” still to be released in many major international markets.  The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” has earned more than $265 million worldwide, with an estimated $140 million and counting on the domestic side.  Internationally, the box office numbers are pacing ahead of the first “Sherlock Holmes” in the same territories in the same time frame, with the new film yet to open in 25 markets, including Australia, China, Brazil, France, Spain and Japan.

Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as the world’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, and Jude Law returns as his friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, in “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.”

Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room…until now.  There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may give him an advantage over the renowned detective.  Holmes’ investigation into Moriarty’s plot becomes more dangerous as it leads him and Watson out of London to France, Germany and finally Switzerland.  But the cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead, and moving perilously close to completing his sinister plan.  If he succeeds, it will not only bring him immense wealth and power but alter the course of history.

Filmmaker Guy Ritchie returned to direct “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” the follow-up to the smash hit “Sherlock Holmes.”  The sequel reunited producers Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin.  Bruce Berman and Steve Clark-Hall served as executive producers.  The film also stars Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Eddie Marsan, Kelly Reilly, and Rachel McAdams.  “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” was written by Michele Mulroney & Kieran Mulroney.  Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were created by the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and appear in stories and novels by him.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Silver Pictures Production, in association with Wigram Productions, a Guy Ritchie Film, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.”  The film is being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.  The film has been rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action and some drug material. www.sherlockholmes2.com

 

Photo credit: Dave Allocca / Starpix for Paramount Pictures

(Left to right) Asa Butterfield, Director / Producer Martin Scorsese and Chloë Grace Moretz attend the World Premiere of HUGO, from Paramount Pictures and GK Films, at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City on Monday, November 21st, 2011.
 

Follow MIRROR MIRROR on Facebook by "liking" HERE. and see who is the fairest of them all in theaters this March 16th, 2012!

 

Release Date: March 16, 2012

Directed by: Tarsem Singh

Written by: Melisa Wallack, Jason Keller

Cast: Julia Roberts,  Lily Collins, Armie Hammer, Nathan Lane, Mare Winningham, Sean Bean, Michael Lerner

Produced by: Bernie Goldman, Ryan Kavanaugh, Brett Ratner,

 

Executive Producer: John Cheng, Jamie Marshall, Josh Pate, Tucker Tooley, Tommy Turtle, Jeff G. Waxman

 Mirror Mirror is a spectacular reimagining of the classic fairy tale starring Oscar® winner Julia Roberts as the Queen, Lily Collins (The Blind Side) as Snow White, Armie Hammer (The Social Network) as Prince Alcott, Sean Bean ("The Game of Thrones", The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) as the King and Nathan Lane (The Lion King, The Birdcage) as the Queen's hapless and bungling servant, Brighton.  An evil queen steals control of a kingdom and an exiled princess enlists the help of seven resourceful rebels to win back her birthright in a spirited adventure comedy filled with jealousy, romance and betrayal that will capture the imagination of audiences the world over.

Visionary director Tarsem Singh (Immortals) rewrites fairy tale history as a wicked enchantress (Roberts) schemes and scrambles for control of a spirited orphan's (Collins) throne and the attention of a charming prince (Hammer). When Snow White's beauty wins the heart of the prince that she desperately pursues, the Queen banishes her to the forest, where a ravening man-eating beast hungrily awaits. 

Rescued by a band of diminutive highway robbers, Snow White grows into an indomitable young woman determined to take back her realm from the treacherous Queen. With the support of her subjects, she roars into action in an epic battle that blends spectacle, magic and contemporary humor in Singh's signature, jaw-dropping visual style. 
 

 

THE LAST STAND COMMENCES PRODUCTION

Impressive Cast Joins Arnold Schwarzenegger In High Octane Chase Story

 

Santa Monica, CA, October 17, 2011– LIONSGATE® (NYSE: LGF), a leading global entertainment company, is pleased to announce the start of production on Kim Jee-Woon's THE LAST STAND, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The announcement was made by the President of Lionsgate's Motion Picture Group Joe Drake, and President of Production Michael Paseornek.

The shoot, which begins on October 17, 2011, will take place across locations in New Mexico and Nevada.

Rounding out the cast are Zach Gilford (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS), Forest Whitaker (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND), Luis Guzman (CARLITO'S WAY, BOOGIE NIGHTS), Rodrigo Santoro (CHE, I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS), Johnny Knoxville (The JACKASS films), Jaimie Alexander (THOR), Eduardo Noriega (OPEN YOUR EYES), Peter Stormare (FARGO, THE BIG LEBOWSKI) and Harry Dean Stanton (AILIEN, THE GREEN MILE).    

Korean action-suspense master Kim Jee-Woon (A TALE OF TWO SISTERS, THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD) is directing the film, which is based on a spec script by Andrew Knauer that was subsequently rewritten by Jeffrey Nachmanoff.  Lionsgate has domestic and international distribution rights, with the film having pre-sold well in several overseas territories prior to its production.  Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing the film through his di Bonaventura Pictures. 

Schwarzenegger stars as Sheriff Owens, a man who has resigned himself to a life of fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction after leaving his LAPD post following a bungled operation that left him wracked with failure and defeat after his partner was crippled.  After a spectacular escape from an FBI prisoner convoy, the most notorious, wanted drug kingpin in the hemisphere is hurtling toward the border at 200 mph in a specially outfitted car with a hostage and a fierce army of gang members.  He is headed, it turns out, straight for Summerton Junction, where the whole of the U.S. law enforcement will have their last opportunity to make a stand and intercept him before he slips across the border forever.  At first reluctant to become involved, and then counted out because of the perceived ineptitude of his small town force, Owens ultimately accepts responsibility for one of the most daring face offs in cinema history. 

Schwarzenegger, Knoxville and Jee-Woon are represented by CAA.  Santoro and Stormare are represented by ICM, with Guzman represented by the Gersh Agency, and Whitaker and Gilford represented by WME.  Stanton is represented by Bresler-Kelly and Associates. The cast deals were negotiated on behalf of Lionsgate by Robert Melnik, Executive Vice President of Business Affairs.
 

DISNEY AND DISNEY•PIXAR FAVORITES POISED TO RETURN TO THEATERS IN 3D

'Beauty and the Beast,' 'Finding Nemo,' ‘Monsters, Inc.' and ‘The Little Mermaid' Will Make 3D Theatrical Debut in 2012 and 2013 

BURBANK, Calif. – October 4, 2011 – On the heels of the phenomenal success of The Lion King 3D – which will cross the $80 million mark at the domestic box office today – The Walt Disney Studios has announced limited theatrical engagements for four of its classic films for the first time in 3D. The following titles from Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios will be released in 2012 and 2013:

Beauty and the Beast – January 13, 2012

Disney•Pixar's Finding Nemo – September 14, 2012

Disney•Pixar's Monsters, Inc. – January 18, 2013 (Monsters University, a prequel to the original film, arrives in theaters in Disney Digital 3D on June 21, 2013)

The Little Mermaid – September 13, 2013

"Great stories and great characters are timeless, and at Disney we're fortunate to have a treasure trove of both," said Alan Bergman, President, The Walt Disney Studios. "We're thrilled to give audiences of all ages the chance to experience these beloved tales in an exciting new way with 3D – and in the case of younger generations, for the first time on the big screen."

Originally released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast is a classic "tale as old as time" that follows the adventures of Belle, a bright young woman imprisoned in the castle of a mysterious beast and his enchanted staff, who must learn the most important lesson of all – that true beauty comes from within. Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film ever nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Picture, earning an additional five Oscar® nominations and winning two. It has grossed $380.4 million worldwide.

First released in 2003, Disney•Pixar's Finding Nemo takes audiences into a whole new world in this undersea adventure about family, courage and challenges. When Marlin, an overly cautious clownfish living in the Great Barrier Reef, helplessly watches his son get scooped up by a diver, he must put aside his fears of the ocean and leave the safety of his coral enclave to find Nemo. Buoyed by the companionship of Dory, a forgetful but relentlessly optimistic fish, Marlin finds himself the unlikely hero in a seemingly impossible land-and-sea rescue. Finding Nemo won an Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for three others. With a total of $867.6 million worldwide, it was the second highest-grossing film of 2003.

In 2001, Disney•Pixar released Monsters, Inc. Lovable Sulley and his wisecracking sidekick Mike Wazowski are the top scare team at Monsters, Inc., the scream-processing factory in Monstropolis. But when a little girl named Boo wanders into their world, it's up to Sulley and Mike to keep her out of sight and get her back home. Monsters, Inc. shattered every DVD-era home entertainment sales record when 11 million DVD/VHS copies were sold during its first week of release. It won an Academy Award® for Best Song and has grossed $526.9 million worldwide.

Released in 1989, The Little Mermaid, stars Ariel, a fun-loving and mischievous mermaid, off on the adventure of a lifetime with her best friend, the adorable Flounder, and the reggae-singing Caribbean crab Sebastian. But it will take all of her courage and determination to make her dreams come true and save her father's beloved kingdom from the sneaky sea witch Ursula. One of the most celebrated animated films of all time, The Little Mermaid was nominated for three Academy Awards®, winning two. It has grossed $228.9 million worldwide.
 

THE HUNGER GAMES IS A WRAP

Close Of Principal Photography

Confirmed

 

SANTA MONICA, CA (September 15, 2011) - LIONSGATE® (NYSE: LGF), a leading global entertainment company, today announced the close of principal photography on the highly anticipated film adaptation of Suzanne Collins' runaway bestselling novel The Hunger Games.   Lionsgate will release THE HUNGER GAMES on March 23, 2012.  The film is the first in a series that Lionsgate is making based on the book trilogy that has become a worldwide phenomenon. 

Filmed entirely in North Carolina, the locations spanned from a dense forest in which the arena that hosts the games themselves was created to a town that stood in for Katniss' home, District 12, to a sound stage that was the platform for the fantastical sights and sounds of The Capitol, the futuristic capital city of the nation of Panem.  Principal photography on the 84 day production began on May 23rd.

The film pairs Oscar® nominee Jennifer Lawrence (WINTER'S BONE, X-MEN FIRST CLASS) with Josh Hutcherson (THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT) and Liam Hemsworth (THE LAST SONG) in the key young adult roles.  Rounding out the cast is a who's who of acclaimed adult actors: Oscar® nominee Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Oscar® nominee Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Wes Bentley and Toby Jones. 

"It has been an absolute thrill watching THE HUNGER GAMES, a project that has truly become part of Lionsgate's DNA since our acquisition of the book in 2009, come to life.  What I observed on set was impressive on every level, and reinforced my confidence that we have assembled precisely the right team to bring Suzanne Collins' brilliant novel to the big screen," said Joe Drake, Lionsgate's co-COO and Motion Picture Group President.

Although the intensely anticipated sets were closed to press and visitors, Lionsgate and the filmmakers were able to reach out and touch the incredibly eager fans several times during the production process. 

Lionsgate debuted the central cast trio through two Entertainment Weekly covers, featuring Jennifer Lawrence in character as Katniss and Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth in character as Peeta and Gale.  It marked the first time that a studio has revealed a principal cast of film characters on sequential national magazine covers.

Winners of "The Ultimate Hunger Games Fan Sweeps," a global contest where fans entered to win the opportunity to be flown to the set of THE HUNGER GAMES, was the one exception to the film's closed set policy.  In mid August, five winners from around the world and their guests got a glimpse of the sets, observed the filming of a scene and met the cast.

A heavily promoted first look at footage from the film debuted on MTV's 2011 Video Music Awards on August 28th.  The show attracted MTV's biggest audience in the network's history with a record-breaking 12.4 million total viewers.

About THE HUNGER GAMES

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games.  Part twisted entertainment, part government intimidation tactic, the Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which "Tributes" must fight with one another until one survivor remains

Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy.  If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love

THE HUNGER GAMES is directed by Gary Ross, and produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel, from a trilogy that has over 12 million copies in print in the United States alone, has developed a massive global following.  

 

Lionsgate will release THE HUNGER GAMES on March 23, 2012.
 

PARAMOUNT TO RELEASE  "WORLD WAR Z"

ON DECEMBER 21, 2012 
PRODUCTION IS UNDERWAY ON THE BRAD PITT STARRER, WITH MARC FORSTER DIRECTING

 

London, England (August 9, 2011) - Paramount Pictures announced today it has set a release date of December 21st, 2012 for World War Z starring Academy Award-nominee Brad Pitt, with Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) directing. The geo-political thriller from Paramount and Skydance Productions, in association with Hemisphere Media Capital and GK Films, is a Plan B Entertainment/Apparatus Productions production that is shooting in England following initial photography completed in Malta last month. The film will also shoot in Scotland and Hungary.  

Produced by Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Colin Wilson, the screenplay is written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (State of Play) from Max Brooks' best-selling novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Starring Pitt (Moneyball), Mireille Enos (AMC's "The Killing"), Daniella Kertesz in her feature film debut, James Badge Dale (The Departed) and Matthew Fox (“Lost"), the film's Executive Producers are Forster, Brad Simpson, David Ellison, Paul Schwake, Dana Goldberg, Graham King and Tim Headington.

The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.  Enos plays Gerry's wife Karen Lane; Kertesz is his comrade in arms, Segen.

Behind-the-scenes talent includes two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson (The Aviator; JFK), production designer Nigel Phelps (Transformers: Dark of the Moon; Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo (Avatar) and Academy Award-nominated editor Matt Chessè (Finding Neverland).

Pitt and Plan B are repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners and CAA.