Girls Score at Box Office Again!

Update: 12/6/09 - Blind Side eclipses New Moon at the Box Office. Unheard of...takes the top spot in third week of release.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The weekend box office numbers are rolling in and New Moon continues to dominate. Although it lost 70% in the second week, the first sequel to Twilight has ravaged audiences to the tune of $453 million internationally in just 10 days. Fox has already snagged the broadcast rights to all five movies (including three that haven't been made yet) so Twihards can start marking their calendars.

To me, however, the big news for future development is is how well Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side is performing. Check this out, more the 100 million in U.S. domestic box office in the second week. This makes Blind Side the fastest sports movie in history to score 100 million. Outstanding. Remember this story features what was once considered box office poison, a middle-aged female in the lead.

Of course it helps that Sandra is a hottie working off of a great script based on a true story (and the book The Blind Side: The Evolution of the Game). Another element in the movie's favor is the fact that it involves the backstory of Baltimore Ravens footballer Michael Oher and a seldom seen look at how the game is played. Those things attract the coveted male audience. But still, Hollywood MUST notice this trend. From now on, we're going to be seeing more big movies with female protagonists.

As an aside, it was announced a few weeks back that someone FINALLY put one of my favorite, female-driven stories in development. Christopher Buckley's Florence of Arabia is now officially on track to be a major motion picture.

The Tsarina's Slippers

...also known as Cherevichki, by Tchaikovsky (his only comic opera) is now playing at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The story is based on a folk tale by Nikolai Gogol ...and guess what? It features an everyman character who makes a pact with the devil to win the heart of a witch's daughter. Hmmm (by "hmmm" I refer to my previous post about ideas for development).

Interesting that The Tsarina's Slippers should make its debut in the west for the first time in history THIS WEEK (or if it's not the First time in history then it's certainly close. Most of us have never heard of it). Here's the blurb from the ROH website:

This little-known work is rarely staged outside Russia. Based on a popular story by Gogol, the plot concerns Vakula the blacksmith and his magical quest to steal the Tsarina’s slippers for his sweetheart, the village beauty Oksana. Vakula enlists the help of the devil, who helps him gatecrash the Tsarina's ball in St Petersburg on Christmas Eve.

Even though the main character makes a pact with the devil there is no Faustian retribution; the hero outwits the devil and drives him away. The opera is a comedy, full of humour, romance and fairy tale. Along the way, there is a ballet of water sprites, danced by members of The Royal Ballet, a chorus of wood goblins, a great snow storm, and a mission to steal the moon.

Click on this link to watch the animated video trailer...and if you're interested in more about the storyline click here. It looks fantastic, right in line with what Hollywood would love to make right now. And the whole thing is in public domain. I think they call it synchronicity:)

Vampires, Witches and Wolves

Let me start by saying I'm not doing a piece on New Moon because everybody else on the planet is and from a development perspective, once a movie comes out, it's already old news by a couple of years. But it bears mentioning that the sequel to novelist Stephenie Meyers' first book-turned-movie is posting some record breaking numbers and that DOES impact script development and acquisitions. Nikki Finke has the scoop on the numbers.

To begin with, it seems to me that New Moon sends a pair of messages to the powers that be in Hollywood.

#1 There's a fiercely underfed female audience (about 80% of the NM audience is female). The old adage that the best box office bang for the buck is a male 30-40something lead with the female in the supporting role, has to stand down. For the third time in 18 months this "box office phenomenon" has occured (Sex in the City: The Movie being the first). Sex2, BTW, trips into theatres Memorial Day.

#2 Twilight Saga's blockbuster success bumps up interest in gothic (although not necessarily just horror) - because everybody wants a safe investment. There are already several pics in the pipeline including a remake of the classic horror flick The Wolfman (out February 12, 2010)



Tim Burton's remake of Dark Shadows (with Johnny Depp as Barnabas) promises to be a classic of a classic and as does next summer's Jerry Bruckheimer adventure The Sorcerer's Apprentice (with Nicholas Cage). Here's the Disney animated short, taken from Fantasia, just for grins.



Jerry Bruckheimer's version takes the original short story by Goethe and sets it in urban New York with a simple college student who finds himself working for a wizard and learning the tricks of the trade. Should be fun. It's slated for a late July 2010 release. And this morning stories were already circulating that a sequel for Joe Dante's The Howling is going into development.

Is there room for more? Probably. At this very moment development execs are likely pouring over classics looking for stories in public domain. Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein is already in development at Universal and Guillermo del Toro is on record as wanting to do a remake of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde after he finishes The Hobbit.

Faust, or a story containing Faustian elements is a good bet and possibly something by Edgar Allan Poe. Maybe even a story about Poe himself. He was a very dark, tragic character. Also maybe a modern adaptation of or something around The Tales of Hoffman. Here's hoping for an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's latest book, The Graveyard.

There IS a remake of Little Shop of Horrors in the works. The new film won't be a redo of the Frank Oz musical. It's based on the original 1960Roger Corman flick. Last, but not least, as predicted, Joss Whedon will be making a big studio version of Dr. Horrible. Toldja! Here's a clip from the original...



But the real takeaway here is the hunger for the genre. If you ask me, it's got a lot to do with the need for people to get lost in fantasy. At least the monsters in the movies are tangible, unlike so much of what we face in life. Harry Potter, it seems, was just the tip of the iceberg. And it's only a matter of time before someone does a spoof. Doc Horrible already qualifies for that but there will most likely be at least one more. I just hope they don't remake Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. It'd be awfully hard to top...

David Lynch Documentary on Meditation

If you haven't heard by now, Director David Lynch is making a documentary based on the life and work of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (who passed away in February 2008). The Maharishi taught Trancendental Meditation (aka TM) and was one of the first gurus from India to travel to the west. He was known as The Beatles' guru.

There are many videos online but this makes the most sense to me.



Here's David Lynch speaking to students at a Maharishi University. The yogi spent his life teaching meditation and setting up centers of education to incorporate it.



Mr. Lynch now has a foundation devoted to teaching TM to at-risk-youth (DavidLynchFoundation), which is endorsed by many celebrities, including Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Their goal is to teach a million kids how to meditate to lower stress levels, increase a sense of well being and raise concentration. Here's comprehensive press conference video (about 70 min)if you want to learn more.

It turns out that Donovan has joined Lynch's goal to teach TM to a million children and is heading up the musical wing. This clip is a couple of years old but gives a little window into the subtle way meditative awareness opens us to deeper levels of experience and creativity.



David Lynch's documentary on the life and message of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi goes into production next month in India. The film promises to be fascinating.

The Sixth Sense Redefined

I had not actually intended this post but came across this video in my research today and was so amazed by it I wanted to share it. Please exercise a bit of patience as the speaker/inventor in this video, Pranav Mistry, is from India and (for us westerners) his "accent" is a bit hard to hear. However, if you will make that small effort I think you will find this one of the most amazing discoveries of recent times.



Hollywood, are you listening?

2012: Time for Change

Roland Emmerich's latest blockbuster 2012 may wow the public with special effects and a cinematic experience you can't get on the small screen but there's another film on the horizon that eschews the exploitative, end-times fear it promotes. That, in itself, may spell doomsday for this thoughtful non-fiction piece but only time will tell. 2012: A Time For Change is a speculative documentary produced by Curious Pictures and directed by Emmy nominated Joao Amorim.

According to the website, "the film follows journalist Daniel Pinchbeck, author of the bestselling 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, on a quest for a new paradigm that integrates the archaic wisdom of tribal cultures with the scientific method." It features interviews with anthropologists, physicists and celebrites like Sting, Ellen Page and Gilberto Gil.

Pinchbeck's idea of 2012 is that there is a new age dawning in the evolution of mankind and the Mayan's, Hopi and others have known about it for millenia. This lines up with esoteric Hindu thought, Buckminster Fuller's POV, the popular concepts of The Law of Attraction and books like Ekhart Tolle's "A New Earth".

Joao Amorim on Vimeo.

Amorin (who is also the director/animator of the online animated series Postmodern Times) created this video/interview with Pinchbeck to illustrate his version of what's happening cosmologically right now.



Can't help noticing the sort of retro 60s/Timothy Leary feel. That is, of course, another very hot trend so this may be more interesting to more people than may first be apparent. FYI, Woody Harrelson's character in Roland Emmerich's picture (the long-haired prophet of comical proportions) is said to be a caricature of Daniel Pinchbeck. Interesting.

Virgin Galactic & Moon Town

Sir Richard Branson chats about the imminent unveiling of his first Virgin Galactic ship, which debuts in the Mojave December 7, and possible hotels in space. What a visionary! It also gives some reality to a story idea I have about the colonization of the moon. Great timing what with NASA's recent discovery of water there.



I got so excited about this today, I did a little research and landed on the European Space Agency site, which then took me to a YouTube portal which invites the public to ask the ISS commander Frank de Winne any question you like about space exploration. My video equipment remains primitive, but I was able to ask a video question to assist me in writing my story. He hasn't had time to answer me yet (and there's no guarantee he will) but I've included the ESA trailer/invitation here. We live in an exciting time, no?

Fantastic Mr. Fox

UPDATE 11/15/09 - Mega budget disaster film 2012 in massive worldwide release and dominating the box office in spite of bad buzz and script. Fantastic Mr. Fox, on the other hand, is only out in 2 theatres in NYC and 2 in LA but getting great reviews and high per-screen averages ($65,000 per screen). So out of the gate it's not a fair fight but Fox looks like a winner in the long run.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another stop-motion picture, Fantastic Mr.Fox, (based on a children's book by Roald Dahl) opens today in the U.S. Amazing. Just a year ago only Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks (and Fox for The Simpsons Movie & their Ice Age franchise) but this year there are no less than 20 animated features vying for an Oscar.

Part of this trend has to do with the phenomenal box office return of the big three but others have obviously (finally) grasped the perennial nature of the medium (recyclable every 7 years into perpetuity)and the cross-marketing potential (t-shirts, toys, DVDs, dolls, etc).

Of course this doesn't mean all 20 films are GOOD. Animation is a peculiar animal. Slapping animation over a live-action style script will not produce the box-office results these late-comers are after. Character-based story is king in animation, which is why basing one on a popular children's book is the #1 method. But also adaptations work best when the action remains rooted in pantomime.

Perhaps even more significant, as if that weren't enough, are the technological changes that are pioneering our industry. Compupter generated images (CGI) and 3D and stop-motion combined with a palette of special effects make the "animated film" one of the most creative and interesting to watch. Yesterday, NPR gave director Wes Anderson's new movie a big thumbs up...



Keep your eye on this one. It's likely to surprise at the box office.
Fantastic Mr. Fox opens wide on Thanksgiving.

A&E Going with "Jacksons" Reality Show

"The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty" will be a six-part mini-series that begins airing on A & E December 13 @9/8 central. Not sure how to feel about this move. But I've always wanted to learn "The Moonwalk". And guess what, here's how...

MTV Shows

My question is, why can't they let This is It be, you know, it? Michael's rehearsal film has already made motion picture history as the highest grossing concert film of all time. Here are the numbers, as of November 9, 2009. It's also the #1 album in America and in 16 other countries.



And I guess the answer is, with numbers like that, Hollywood can't resist milking it for more. Maybe they're right. I'm just saying...watching the Jackson dynasty, post Michael, isn't something I want to see.

Twenty Years... After The Fall

There is almost nothing left of the Berlin Wall. AFTER THE FALL, a documentary produced in 2008, is a portrait of Berlin that recounts the story of the creation and disappearance of the most absurd of constructions: the Berlin Wall.

A compelling, well-balanced look at a fractured culture finding its way back to wholeness. It's beautifully shot and edited and punctuated by audio and visual dissonance. Some of the metaphors don't quite work but overall the filmmaker successfully gives us a body of conflicting perspectives that collectively resemble the recovery of a singular soul.



Happy anniversary Berlin.

Impressions of Paranormal Activity

UPDATE: 11/12/09 Paranormal Activity tops the $100 million domestic sales mark making it top grossing "R" thriller of the decade.

Finally saw Paranormal Activity last night and was amazed in spite of my skepticism. After all, how scary could an amateur film that cost $15,000 to produce really be? I came away with some very distinct impressions that I'll leave with you here. If you haven't seen it yet...



Impression number one...you don't need a complicated, highly structured plot to make a scary movie. Paranormal's storyline is an exercise in simplicity. When I was at Universal, we made a little film called Meet the Fockers and learned that lesson for the comedy genre. People just want to have fun. If you take a funny situation and escalate the comedy, you can have a winner.

From an analytical standpoint, Paranormal lacks shading and catharsis but that hasn't hurt it at the box office and most people don't seem to mind the absence of these elements. The faux "news update a la Blair Witch Project" bookend device brackets the film with suprising success.

Impression number two...Writer/director/editor Oren Peli has made a high concept movie on an extreme low budget. It's easy to get your head around and all about the experience. Some people have referred to it as minimalist filmmaking but they don't know what "minimalism" in the film world actually means. It's not minimalist at all. It's pure formula. And it works, even when you know it's hokey. Just place this structural grid (from Robert McKee's book) over the script for proof.



Impression number three...the audience involvement in the picture was AS important and impressive as the film itself. We are living in an interactive environment. Paranormal is a visceral experience that is best seen in a theatre. Outstanding plus because the DVD market has crashed.



The studio obviously picked up on the interactive quality of the film (which I believe is partly due to the "home movie" look and feel of the film) too because it literally became their marketing plan. If you go to this website you too can be a part of "the phenomenon".

Impression number four...As much as I hate to admit it, you don't need a musical score to make a successful feature film either. The only sounds other than dialogue in the entire film are the sound FX. Even those are very primitive. Amazing. That said, I will say that I missed the musical texture of a score and believe it would've filled some of the moments that got a little slow. Having someone like James Horner score the sequel would be a very welcome addition.

So what are you waiting for? It doesn't have to be that complicated. I'm willing to bet that all the studios will be more open to this type of submission now that Paranormal Activity has proven itself at the box office. Here are the US domestic box office numbers as of Nov. 6 2009 (this was initially only released in 12 theatres for the first three of its six week run so far and is now in 2,558 theatres)

BTW, A sequel is on the way.

A Little Comic Relief on Movie Logic

I was doodling around the Twitterverse this morning when I came across a very funny list of comical observations from Emmy award winning director Jon Cassar. Jon is now working on his first feature film for DreamWorks called Motorcade, an action-thriller in pre-production here in L.A. BTW, if you need a script girl...:)

A little clarification here, Jon didn't author all of these. Some come from a pre-existing list that inspired him to sort of riff on with some of his own ideas in an on-going "tweet-series"). Thanks Jon for your insights into some embarassing secrets of the screentrade and whoever else wrote/compiled the list. File this under "movie-logic"... I've included the latest three at the end. So far What We Learn From The Movies boasts 30 oddly logical witticisms and still counting...here's hoping he keeps them coming.

What We Learn From the Movies

1. Large, loft-style apartments in New York City are well within the price range of most people - whether they are employed or not.
2. At least one of a pair of identical twins is born evil.
3. Should you decide to defuse a bomb, don't worry which wire to cut. You will always choose the right one.
4. Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communications system of any invading alien society.
5. It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts - your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.
6. When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in your bedroom will still be clearly visible, just slightly bluish.
7. If you are blonde and pretty, it is possible to become a world expert on nuclear fission at the age of 22.
8. Honest and hard working policemen are traditionally gunned down three days before their retirement.
9. Rather than wasting bullets, megalomaniacs prefer to kill their archenemies using complicated machinery involving fuses, pulley systems, deadly gasses, lasers, and man-eating sharks, which will allow their captives at least 20 minutes to escape.
10. During all police investigations, it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.
11. All beds have special L-shaped cover sheets that reach up to the armpit level on a woman but only to waist level on the man lying beside her.
12. All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread.
13. It's easy for anyone to land a plane providing there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.
14. Once applied, lipstick will never rub off-even while scuba diving.
15. You're very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
16. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German or Russian officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German or Russian accent will do. (It used to be an English accent for the German).
17. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.
18. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
19. If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long.
20. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises in their most revealing underwear.
21. Word processors never display a cursor on screen but will always say: Enter Password Now.
22. Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments.
23. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.
24. A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.
25. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you meet will know all the steps.
26. Police departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their total opposite.
27. When they are alone, all foreign military officers prefer to speak to each other in English.

# # #

Here are the most recent tweets that take the list up to #30 this morning...

28. Children, in no way whatsoever, look like their parents or their siblings

29. If a crazed psychopath is chasing you, you should always stop and look behind you to see if he still is there.

30. Even if your life is in danger and you're being chased, there's still time to start a romantic relationsip with a total stranger.

ALL GOOD TO KNOW IF YOU'RE WRITING A FEATURE AND WANT TO SELL IT IN HOLLYWOOD!

P.S. Just learned that Jon has gotten so much buzz from this little project he's got another series on the way. It's the 2.0 version.Good show! To follow this thread, visit his website here.

There's a New Cat in Town

English animator/director Simon Tofield put out a new cartoon short on YouTube a few weeks ago in celebration of his first book - which is available now worldwide! Gotta love it...



Here's one of the first, it's called 'Cat Man Do'



My kitty actually did a version of this this morning. There's a feature film percolating here...Anybody got an idea for the script?