J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg’s Super 8, opening later this month, is certainly starting to generate buzz. The early reviews confirm that the movie has a CE3K mixed with Stand By Me feel. Things blow up but that’s not what the movie is about (thankfully). Paramount Pictures just sent us the following clip for your perusal:
From Nikki Finke:
Viacom’s Nickelodeon announced today it has acquired the global
intellectual property rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from
The Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment. The purchase price was about
$60 million. Nickelodeon also announced plans to develop a new
CG-animated television series based on the popular superhero franchise
for 2012. Also, in partnership with Viacom’s Paramount Pictures, a new
release of a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature film is also planned for 2012. Nickelodeon has also acquired all merchandising rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
and will continue to work with its original and long-standing toy
partner, Playmates Toys, which has been the creative force behind the
TMNT master toy program over the last two decades. The deal was done by
Cyma Zarghami, the president of Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group,
and Adam Goodman, the president of Paramount Pictures.
Not bad for a little black and white comic from the 80s.
And now, the other shoe drops.
Jeff Trexler points to this New York Times piece saying that the Jack Kirby estate sent notice of copyright termination to Marvel, Disney, Sony
Pictures, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and
others who have been making films and other forms of entertainment
based on the characters Jack created or co-created for Marvel.
The Kirby estate lawyer is Marc Toberoff, the man representing the Siegel estate in the Superman copyright case, who has already done an excellent job of raking DC and Warner Brothers over the coals. Toberoff has an impressive winning tally; Nikki Finke reminds us that Toberoff has also won or settled lawsuits on Lassie, Get Smart, The Dukes of Hazzard, and The Wild Wild West.
Kirby battled Marvel for years over the return of the physical artwork to his comics,
and was asked to sign documents that would have irrevocable and
specifically signed away rights to the characters, something he refused
to do. This led to heavy coverage in the industry, including the ad at right from 1986.
Two immediate questions come to mind:
1. Does this potentially sour the Disney-Marvel deal? Disney said in a statement, “The notices involved are an attempt to
terminate rights seven to 10 years from now, and involve claims that
were fully considered in the acquisition.” Really? You think Disney shareholders are ready to spend four billion dollars on intellectual properties they’re prepared to lose in seven years? Related: there’s a $140 million dollar kill fee Marvel has to pay if the deal doesn’t go through. Does this mean that Marvel has an extra 140 million reasons to settle with Jack’s kids?
2. If the copyright reversion is settled with Marvel and/or Disney, does this give them additional leverage in breaking existing contracts with other movie studios? In other words, does that “right to make X-Men movies in perpetuity” hold up if they don’t control the rights to the underlying characters?
I told them they were going to have to spray for those things, now they’re everywhere…
So to promote season 2 of the original Star Trek on BluRay, Paramount is looking for pictures of people with their Tribbles. There’s no way this ends well… the best case scenario is that somebody’s going to grab a few hundred and do this:
The worst case scenario? Tribble porn.
Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max & Dave Fleischer. The seventeen classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released.
In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: “The Man, The Myth, Superman” and “First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series”. The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it
The eagerly awaited trial pitting 20th Century Fox against Warner Bros. over The Watchmen has been delayed from January 6 to January 20, according to Variety. On Monday, Judge Gary Allen Feess declined to “issue a ruling on whether Fox or Warner Bros. controls the rights to the project.”
The delay is a result of the judge having a criminal matter also scheduled for the 6th, which takes precedence over Hollywood behemoths. He declined both sides’ request for summary judgment regarding the rights, saying, “the contracts between Fox and Watchmen producer Larry Gordon are so open to interpretation that a trial is required.”
Warner insists the movie will still open, as scheduled, on March 6.
Watchmen has had a complicated history from when the rights were first sold to Fox in 1986. The rights have been with Warners once before, when Joel Silver and Terry Gilliam were attached to produce and direct, respectively. Universal had the rights for what seem like 15 minutes where they had David Hayter write a draft of the script. Creator Alan Moore praised this draft saying it was, “as close as I could imagine anyone getting to Watchmen.” The Hayter draft was the basis for the version that was eventually filmed. After Universal the project went to Paramount, who dropped the project because of budget issues as management changed from Sherry Lansing to Brad Grey. Paramount has received the international distribution rights in exchange for their turnaround rights.
The issue of contention comes from an agreement between Fox and producer Lawrence Gordon. Gordon has been attached to the project since it’s inception and when his company, Largo International, dissolved he purchased the rights from Fox and moved it around until the film found it’s final home with Warner, parent company to DC Comics which published the maxiseries in the first place. Fox contends that their deal with Gordon required him to resubmit the film to Fox every time there was a changed element. In this context "element" can mean anything from a new subplot to a new starring actor. Fox says that Gordon’s failure to do this when the project moved to Warner and acquired director Zack Snyder means that they retain some of the rights to make this film.
Fox said they spent in excess of $1 million in developing the film before giving up and Gordon has said he has paid nearly $400,000 to Fox to settle that debt.
Warner contends that they have settled all the rights issues through their settlement with Paramount, the previous rights holder. They dispute that Fox has any claim on the property at all.
Fox’s suit, filed in February, contends that it retains distribution rights to the graphic novel penned by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. It asserts that Gordon’s option to acquire Fox’s remaining interest in "Watchmen" was never exercised, thereby leaving Fox with its rights under a 1994 turnaround agreement.
Following the pattern now employed by studios pushing ensemble films to geeks, Paramount Pictures has released the first four one-sheets for next August’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
The pictures seen here spotlight, running clockwise Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Marlon Wayans as Ripcord, Channing Tatum as Duke, and Sienna Miller as Baroness.
Directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy), it was written by Stuart Beattie and set a decade from today and is an origin story for the formation of Cobra and GI Joe’s response to the global threat.
The sprawling cast of good guys and bad guys includes:
G.I. Joe
Channing Tatum as First Sergeant Conrad S. Hauser / Duke
Dennis Quaid as General Clayton M. Abernathy / Hawk
Rachel Nichols as Shana M. O’Hara / Scarlett:
Ray Park as Snake-Eyes
Marlon Wayans as Wallace A. Weems / Ripcord
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Lamont A. Morris / Heavy Duty
Saïd Taghmaoui as Alvin R. Kibbey / Breaker
Karolína Kurková as Courtney A. Kreiger / Cover Girl
Cobra
Christopher Eccleston as James McCullen Destro XXIV
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander:
Sienna Miller as Baroness Anastasia DeCobray / The Baroness
Lee Byung-hun as Storm Shadow
Arnold Vosloo as Zartan
Cameos
Larry Hama
Kevin J. O’Connor
Brendan Fraser
Paramount Pictures and IMAX Corporation announced late Friday that Star Trek, directed by J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, Lost and Alias), will be simultaneously released to both IMAX and conventional theatres worldwide on May 8, 2009. Star Trek, which chronicles the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members, will be digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience with proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology. Paramount Pictures will be the exclusive distributor of the film to IMAX theatres worldwide.
Star Trek is of course one of the world’s most successful science fiction entertainment series and media franchises. Created by Gene Roddenberry, the Star Trek phenomenon has lead to six television series, ten feature films, dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and fan stories, as well as a themed attraction in Las Vegas. Star Trek has also inspired a following of millions of “Trekkies” of all ages that span across the globe.
“We’re excited to share the enhanced IMAX version of this film with the millions of dedicated fans who have been anticipating this release since production began,” said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman, Paramount Pictures in a release. “The IMAX Experience adds that extra level of excitement to an already action-packed film, giving moviegoers a premium ‘event’ at the multiplex.”
Added J.J. Abrams, “I’m thrilled that audiences will be able to experience this new, epic world of Star Trek – with an incredible cast and mind-blowing visual effects – on what is, obviously, the most remarkable film format in the world.”
“Star Trek combines top Hollywood story-telling talent with space exploration, and each is very conducive to The IMAX Experience,” said IMAX Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. “Expanding our relationship with Paramount Pictures to include this film strengthens our 2009 slate, and with the continuing rollout of digital IMAX theatre systems, we will be able to offer the fan-base more locations to experience the epic first journey of the USS Enterprise in the most immersive way.”
“Both Star Trek and IMAX have taken audiences to far away places they would normally not be able to go, and in this case, it’s space – the final frontier,” added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “J.J. Abrams has created a powerful movie that has fans worldwide feverishly anticipating its release. We are thrilled to partner with Paramount Pictures to bring J.J.’S exciting vision of this incredible space adventure to IMAX screens.”
From director J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci (Transformers, MI: III) comes a new vision of the greatest space adventure of all time, Star Trek, featuring a young, new crew venturing boldly where no man has gone before. Star Trek explores the early Starfleet careers of future Enterprise officers Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Amanda Grayson (Winona Ryder), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), McCoy (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), and Chekov (Anton Yelchin). A Romulan, Nero (Eric Bana), and a much older Spock (Leonard Nimoy) are influences, as well as Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood), the first captain of the USS Enterprise.
CHUD quotes one of their readers, who e-mailed the news that Paramount Pictures has exercised their option to Brian Michael Bendis’ Torso. As reported last week, the studio had until the 15th to act or let the material, now called Ness, go elsewhere.
Eric Cordo emailed the site to say, “Todd McFarlane was just on the Bubba the Love Sponge show (sorry to out you as a Bubba the Love Sponge listener, Eric) saying that the film has been greenlit.”
CHUD went on to report, “budgeting is happening right now as we speak. But that isn’t quite the same thing as a green light, and it’s important to note that while this film is off the brink of dissolution (if it even was there in the first place), it’s not exactly ready to go before the cameras. But now it’s in a good position, and Paramount is apparently pretty gung ho about it.”
As a Humphrey Bogart fan, I was exposed to the delight that is [[[Sabrina]]] back in high school and fell in love with the romantic comedy. It has held up to repeated viewings through the years and makes you wonder why Paramount ever bothered to remake it. If you forget, it starred Harrison Ford and was atrocious.
Instead, if you’re unfamiliar with the story hie thee to the store and buy the Centennial Collection edition, which is number three in a new series from Paramount Home Video. The two disc set is a treat.
First, you get the story set in East Egg, I mean Great Neck, when it was where the high society lived in the first half of the 20th century. They were tended to by a full staff, many of who, lived on premises including the chauffeur’s daughter, Sabrina, played with wide-eyed charm by Audrey Hepburn. Her father tends to drive Linus Larrabee (Bogart) to the New York offices of the family business. Linus works all day and worries about the company all night, never seeming to have fun. His opposite is his younger brother David, played by William Holden. He’s all carefree and never thinks about the business, just spending its profits.
Sabrina has just returned from cooking school in Paris and the time away has done her a world of good. She looks older, more mature, and a different girl entirely so the Larrabees all have trouble recognizing her. She, though, continues to have only eyes for David, who is presently engaged, not that that stops him from encouraging a flirtation with “the chauffeur’s daughter”. To keep David focused on the impending wedding; Linus begins spending time with Sabrina. The rest, as they say, is magic.
Interestingly, depending upon which featurette you watch, Bogart either did or did not want to be in the film but certainly was beloved for taking on the part. The extras celebrate a social world that is long gone in Sabrina’s World then a long look at the wonderful supporting cast that enriched this and so many others films of the 1940s and 1950s.
The [[[Audrey Hepburn: Fashion]]] Icon feature looks at how the film turned Hepburn into a fashion icon and spotlighted Hubert de Givenchy’s designs. Although Edith Head got all the credit for the film, Hepburn’s lifelong devotion to Givenchy paid dividends.
Holden gets the full bio treatment in a 24 minute mini-documentary and the [[[Behind the Gates]]] feature this time looks at the camera. Paramount in the ‘50s makes it third appearance in the series and the disc is rounded out with stills and trailers.
These first three films in the series celebrate all that was right with Hollywood i the 1950s when movies could be smart, looked good, and were well acted. And in every case, they were about something while providing entertainment.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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