*UPDATE* Sorry Kim Jong-un: Sony to Release 'The Interview' on Christmas Day After All

*UPDATE* Sony has released an official statement confirming The Interview will open on Christmas Day in select theaters. While some exhibitors have stated it would also get a VOD release, that's not mentioned in the statement. So at this point we can probably expect the film to play in about 100 theaters, a big drop off from what it normally would have been. However, that could be made up for if people buy it On Demand.

Sony Pictures Entertainment today announced that The Interview will have a limited theatrical release in the United States on Christmas Day.

“We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day,” said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Entertainment. “At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.”

“I want to thank our talent on The Interview and our employees, who have worked tirelessly through the many challenges we have all faced over the last month. While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.”

Original story is below:

Adding fuel to the fire this whole thing with Sony and The Interview was just one big marketing stunt, Sony is expected to announce today that the film will be released on Christmas Day as originally planned. According to The Wrap and confirmed by a few theater chains already, Sony has authorized release of the controversial Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy that was cancelled after threats by hacker group.

The film is to be released in select theaters and also through VOD, perhaps allowing those who have taken the violent threats seriously to watch it in the safety of their own homes. A number of celebrities, along with some theater owners, were pushing Sony to release the film, and it Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse tweeted theaters will definitely be showing it...

"Breaking news: Sony has authorized screenings of THE INTERVIEW on Christmas Day. We are making shows available within the hour. #Victory"

More details should come soon, like the On Demand service Sony plans to use to distribute the film.

Read More

Sony now says 'The Interview' will be Distributed in some Way

Sony has been engaging in some serious revisionist history over the weekend while everybody has been distracted with Christmas shopping. Perhaps it's due to the backlash by vocal critics like George Clooney and President Barack Obama, who weren't pleased at their decision to cancel The Interview in the wake of terrorist threats posed (presumably, I'm not so certain) by North Korea. While the exhibitors certainly forced Sony's hand, their blanket statement that "Sony Pictures has no further release plans for the film" was pretty clear. And yet they are trying to backtrack on that now. Can someone cue the music from Fame because there's some serious tap dancing going on here.

Sony's lawyer David Boies told Meet the Press "Sony has been fighting to get this picture distributed. It will be distributed. How it's going to be distributed, I don't think anybody knows quite yet. But it's going to be distributed." Boies said Sony merely "delayed" release of the film, which is contradicted by their previous statements.

Despite a story in the New York Post claiming The Interview would be streamed on Sony's Crackle service, that won't be happening. Statements had been made earlier in the week that Sony was having trouble finding a digital partner to put the movie online, but perhaps they have now  found a distributor. Game of Thrones' George RR Martin is one who has been pushing aggressively for Sony to release the film to smaller distributors, just to get the movie out there...

Martin: “I have been in communication with the owners and operators of other independent cinemas and arthouses, and representatives of some of the smaller chains, and I know that hundreds of these venues would gladly screen this film, if only Sony will make it available. Regal and AMC and the megaplexes may have caved, but the independents have not. Sony could have the film on five hundred screens by Christmas, if it wants to.”

With all of the controversy surrounding this ridiculous little film, could you imagine the kind of business The Interview could pull for art house theater chains, and for Sony, if it gets released as Martin hopes? No matter what happens I just want this whole thing to be over with. It's been an embarrassment on multiple levels.

Read More

Hackers Maybe Sorta Okay with Edited Version of 'The Interview'; Obama says Sony made a Mistake

Today the FBI made what we all knew official, confirming that North Korea was behind the cyber attacks that have crippled and embarrassed Sony Pictures. Here is part of the statement:

"As a result of our investigation, and in close collaboration with other U.S. Government departments and agencies, the FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions."

The attacks which led to Sony internal emails, film scripts, salaries, and other damaging information being leaked to the public, were to force the studio to halt release of the comedy, The Interview, for its depiction of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un being assassination in rather glorious fashion.  The film was taken off the schedule after violent threats were made, causing quite the outcry from Hollywood and others critical of the decision. While it looks like the film won't ever see the light of day, if it were to happen it seems the hacker group is of two minds on how to react.

USA Today reported that Guardians of Peace released a statement saying it was okay for Sony to release the James Franco/Seth Rogen comedy, as long as certain edits were made....

This is GOP.
You have suffered through enough threats.
We lift the ban.
The Interview may release now.
But be carful.
September 11 may happen again if you don't comply with the rules.
Rule #1: no death scene of Kim Jong Un being too happy
Rule #2: do not test us again
Rule #3: if you make anything else, we will be here ready to fight

What's interesting is this is the polar opposite to a message they reportedly sent to Sony execs stating they were "very wise" to cancel The Interview, but now the film needed to be done away with utterly...

"Now we want you never let the movie released, distributed or leaked in any form of, for instance, DVD or piracy. And we want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately."

The conflicting messages have left some confused about what the next step could be for Sony, who some have estimated could lose more than $75M on the film. Meanwhile, President Obama has come out against Sony's decision to give in to the terrorist threats, saying...

"I wish they had spoken to me first. I would have told them do not get into a pattern in which you're intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks." He added, "I am sympathetic to the concerns that they face. Having said all that, yes I think they made a mistake."

Read More

George Clooney Calls Out Hollywood for being a Bunch of Cowards

Has there been a story over the last couple of weeks that doesn't touch upon the Sony leaks in some way? If so it certainly doesn't feel like it, and with the studio's decision to yank The Interview out of theaters, giving in to threats from a hacker group linked to North Korea, the ripple effects are still being felt. There has been a vocal backlash against the move to not release the comedy in any form, and one of the loudest voices against it is George Clooney.

While speaking with Deadline, Clooney openly questioned why Hollywood didn't band together to help Sony while they were being publicly bullied day in and day out. He even attempted to circulate a petition rallying some support for the studio, but didn't get many takers because Sony had been so humiliated...

Clooney: "All that it is basically saying is, we’re not going to give in to a ransom. As we watched one group be completely vilified, nobody stood up. Nobody took that stand. Now, I say this is a situation we are going to have to come to terms with, a new paradigm and a new way of handling our business. Because this could happen to an electric company, a car company, a newsroom. It could happen to anybody."

He went on to add...

Clooney:  "This is just where we are right now, how scared this industry has been made. Quite honestly, this would happen in any industry. I don’t know what the answer is, but what happened here is part of a much larger deal. A huge deal. And people are still talking about dumb emails. Understand what is going on right now, because the world just changed on your watch, and you weren’t even paying attention."

And of course Clooney would be the guy to come out and say this. His career as a filmmaker has been about making movies that focus on hot button topics; the kinds of films that may offend some and make studios nervous. He recognizes those kinds of films could be harder to make if distributors are too afraid to release them...

Clooney:  "What’s going to happen is, you’re going to have trouble finding distribution. In general, when you’re doing films like that, the ones that are critical, those aren’t going to be studio films anyway. Most of the movies that got us in trouble, we started out by raising the money independently. But to distribute, you’ve got to go to a studio, because they’re the ones that distribute movies. The truth is, you’re going to have a much harder time finding distribution now. And that’s a chilling effect."

How to resolve this whole thing? Clooney says The Interview needs to be released. Now. And he says Sony's Amy Pascal feels the same way...

Clooney:  "We should be in the position right now of going on offense with this. I just talked to Amy an hour ago. She wants to put that movie out. What do I do? My partner Grant Heslov and I had the conversation with her this morning. Bryan and I had the conversation with her last night. Stick it online. Do whatever you can to get this movie out. Not because everybody has to see the movie, but because I’m not going to be told we can’t see the movie. That’s the most important part. We cannot be told we can’t see something by Kim Jong-un, of all f*cking people."

Clooney's got a bunch of points here that I think are valid and will certainly be discussed more over the coming months, possibly even years. The Interview has now become a historical fixture, whether it ever gets released or not.

Read More

Watch the Face-Melting Scene from 'The Interview' North Korea Hates

And the beat goes on. Sony's decision to yank The Interview off the release calendar has sent ripples throughout Hollywood and affected other studios. Fox shuttered a North Korea-based thriller from Gore Verbinski and Steve Carell because they didn't want to ruffle any feathers. And Paramount is stopping theaters from showing Team America: World Police as a replacement, maybe because they're afraid Kim Jong-il is actually still alive somewhere? And all this because a couple of actors had the temerity to kill his dictatorial son, Kim Jong-un, in a stupid comedy movie. Well, now you can see why North Korea was ready to go to war over it.

The hackers have now leaked a version of Kim Jong-un's fiery death scene in the movie, and damn Rogen was not fu**ing around! It's like something out of Terminator...it's like his head was the Death Star and Luke just tapped into the Force. Because it is officially Sony/Columbia Pictures property we won't be posting it directly, but you can check it from Gawker right here. 

Basically, the scene shows Jong-un dying in a fiery explosion, slowed down so you see every bit of him go up in flames all while a version of Katy Perry's "Firework" plays in the background. The scene caused some tension behind-the-scenes as Rogen, Sony's Amy Pascal (how many emails does she get a day?????), and Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai went back and forth on its graphic nature. Hirai demanded the scene be scaled back significantly, which Rogen complied with, albeit reluctantly. He said in one email dated from October...

"We removed the fire from the hair and the entire wave of secondary head chunks. Please tell us this is over now."

All sides were able to compromise on a toned down version, one with fewer "head chunks".

For Sony there appears to be no end in sight. They probably hoped the decision not to release The Interview would normalize things somewhat, but clearly that is not the case and this will only inflame (no pun intended) the situation further. 

Read More

Steve Carell and Gore Verbinski's North Korea-Set Thriller Canceled

This is why so many have come out strongly against Sony Pictures' decision to pull the release of The Interview after hacker threats and warnings of violence. The effect of the move is beginning to spread to other studios already, as 20th Century Fox have now cancelled a North Korea-set thriller from Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Steve Carell.

The film, titled Pyongyang, was announced earlier this year with a script by Steve Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), and has been described as a paranoia thriller set in North Korea. Due to recent events, insiders at Fox decided the climate to even develop such a film was a bad idea, although they were never officially committed to it in the first place. Verbinski expressed his anger and disappointment in a statement last night:

Getting the facts straight:
Yesterday, I was told by New Regency and Fox that Fox will no longer be distributing the film. Prior to that, the film was green lit and fully funded by New Regency with Fox distributing. I have been told in no uncertain words that based on the situation at Sony, Fox has now decided to not distribute the film. Without a distributor, New Regency was forced to shut the film down.
 My thoughts:
I find it ironic that fear is eliminating the possibility to tell stories that depict our ability to overcome fear.
Gore Verbinski

 Where does this end, exactly? Have we reached the point where a film, even a silly comedy, won't get made because some may not agree with the material? That shuts down a lot of avenues. Say goodbye to movies about religion, abortion, race, anything that could ruffle a few feathers. [Deadline]

Read More

'The Interview' won't Even get a VOD Release; North Korea Linked to Cyber Attack

The Interview is over before it ever truly began. Should've written a cover letter.  After the country's biggest theater chains decided against running the controversial comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, Sony Pictures decided to pull the film from the its Christmas Day release altogether after a threat of violence by cyber-terrorists. That led to some hope it could get a digital release through VOD or some other platform, but that's not going to be happening, either.

According to a Sony spokesperson speaking with Deadline, the studio “has no further release plans for the film”.

This is another surprising decision in a day full of them. Sony left the decision to show the comedy up to the individual exhibitors, and the five biggest quickly dropped out. The film drew the anger of North Korea because the plot has Franco and Rogen attempting to kill a stylized version of Kim Jong-un. But Sony's move to not release the film in any way is especially curious now that senior U.S. officials have drawn a connection between the cyber attacks and North Korea. While they did not reveal details, the conclusion is North Korea orchestrated the hacking that has publicly humiliated Sony since last month. There is some speculation they may have had assistance from insiders within Sony. One U.S. official said “This is of a different nature than past attacks."

And so the saga continues. Chances are we will see The Interview some day in some form once this whole thing dies down. Whether audiences will care at that point is another story. [NYT]

Read More

'The Interview' Release Officially Cancelled by Sony

The cyber attack that has so thoroughly embarrassed Sony Pictures over the last couple of weeks took a dangerous turn when the culprits began issuing threats of 9/11-style violence against theaters showing James Franco/Seth Rogen comedy, The Interview. Two major theater chains pulled the film from their Christmas Day release schedule in response, while press screenings and premieres were cancelled all across the country. And then today Regal Cinemas, AMC Entertainment, Cinemark,  and all major US theater chains decided against showing the film, ultimately forcing Sony's hand to cancel the release completely.

The decision isn't surprising, but it's expected to cost the studio millions in lost marketing and box office receipts. Here is the studio's official statement:

"In light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film The Interview, we have decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release. We respect and understand our partners’ decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theater-goers.

Sony Pictures has been the victim of an unprecedented criminal assault against our employees, our customers, and our business. Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale – all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like. We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public. We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome."

The situation began when the plot of the R-rated comedy became widely known. Rogen and Franco play entertainers hired by the U.S. government to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and of course it goes comedically haywire. The decision to drop the film sets an ugly precedent for a number of reasons. First of all, there is no credible evidence the hacker group has the capability to pull off such an attack, or so says the Department of Homeland Security. So giving in to them only opens the doors to other such situations to arise on any number of controversial subjects. But it also shows the ultimate power of the distributors to control what gets seen and what doesn't. There are only a few major film distributors and if one or two decide a plot is too risque what's to stop them from wielding their strength?

The DHS is still investigating the threats and there is a chance Sony releases the film in a few weeks. Or, perhaps they cut their losses, save a few bucks on distribution fees, and release the film on digital platforms where it's sure to be a hit. 

Read More

9/11-Style Attack Threatened Against Theaters Showing 'The Interview'

While we've all had our share of laughs at the Sony hacking scandal, the issue just took a more serious turn. The perpetrators of the cyber-attack have now warned of 9/11-style attacks against movie theaters showing James Franco and Seth Rogen's comedy, The Interview, which they believe is an "act of war" against North Korea. An excerpt from the message reads:

"Remember the 11th of September 2001.

We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time.
(If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.)"

 This is obviously a huge step up from just leaking embarrassing emails or revealing actor salaries, and we've already seen Sony respond by canceling  the big New York City premiere of the film which was to be held on Thursday. At least two theater chains, Carmike Cinemas and ArcLight Cinemas, have announced they won't show the movie at all due to the threats. We've also seen Franco and Rogen cancel their press commitments for the film in response.

There's little reason to believe the cyber-terrorists, who call themselves the "Guardians of Peace" (???), have the capability to pull an attack like this off, and the Department of Homeland Security says there is no evidence these threats are legitimate. However, if the plan was to get people to stay away from the film out of fear it may have worked.

There is an advance screening of The Interview here in DC tonight, and obviously given the city we live in the threat of a terrorist attack is somewhat heightened.  I'm one of those people who believes you battle terrorism, which all about using fear to progress a political or social agenda, by doing everything you would normally do. So I will be there tonight because that's what I would be doing any other night.  Now do I expect the security to be tighter than just making sure nobody has their IPhone on? It damn well better be. I just find it amazing that any group, whether it's led by North Korea or not, would be offended at such an obviously harmless comedy like The Interview. Kim Jong-un needs to chill out and save his taepodong for some of Sony's more offensive projects. Did he see The Amazing Spider-Man 2, by chance?

Read More

'Star Wars' Details Possibly Revealed by Sony Leak

Sick and tired of all this Sony hacking stuff? Me too, and frankly I hope it all dries up and goes away real soon. The problem is that the stuff getting leaked would be news under any other circumstance, so distasteful thought it may be we're going to post about some of it, especially when the future of Star Wars gets drawn into it. Here come the spoilers, tiny though they may be.

Columbia Pictures' Mike De Luca, who already spilled some info on Warner Bros.' Aquaman movie, has probably drawn the ire of Lucasfilm by possibly revealing what's up with Star Wars. Here's what we think we know already: Rian Johnson is writing and directing Star Wars: Episode VIII and writing Episode IX, while Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank are working on the spinoffs. How much do we know about any of them? Precious little, but here's what De Luca has to say about them in an email with Sony's Amy Pascal...

De Luca: "Star Wars: Any studio would have lost Josh Trank and Rian Johnson to this, it's freaking ‘Star Wars.’ Your ‘After Earth’ writer Gary Whitta is writing Gareth Edwards stand alone Star Wars film. Simon Kinberg is writing Josh Tranks. No one knows what they're about but Boba Fett is rumored to be the subject of one. Rian Johnson as you know is doing the main ones, episodes 8 and 9 of the Luke and Leia story lines, after J.J. [Abrams.] Not sure anything is gained by looking at what Lucasfilm is doing except we are stalking all these people too, except Whitta whom I think blows.”

Points for the dig at Whitta because he is pretty terrible.

So wait, are Episode 8 and 9 about Luke and Leia? Probably not given the ages of Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. Besides, Hamill himself recently stated these movies are about the youngsters, not the original crew. When asked by Yahoo! why he wasn't in the teaser trailer, Hamill said this...

Hamill: “This is about the new generation of characters; I think that’s the most important thing. It’s the opening act of a whole new approach to the storytelling. “I rightly assumed that it wouldn’t be our story. Because we had a beginning, a middle, and an end. This must be our offspring and the current generation, with us there lending the kind of support that Peter Cushing and Alec Guinness did in the original.”

Keep in mind all of this is coming from a guy who doesn't have anything to do with Lucasfilm or Star Wars, so his info could be out of date or just plain wrong. Either way, this probably will get De Luca's name taken off Kathleen Kennedy's Christmas card list.  [TheDailyBeast]

Read More

Sony Hack Reveals Spider-Man Reboot Plans; Avengers-Style Crossover; Possible 'Spider-Man 3' Directors

Besides the nasty comments towards big celebrities, revealed salaries, vaguely racist comments about President Obama, and an apparent gender bias, this Sony hacking thing hasn't been too bad. Just kidding, it's been downright awful, and it isn't getting any better. The floodgates have been opened and nobody has found the valve to shut it off, and what we're learning the most about are Sony's plans for their tanking Spider-Man franchise, of which there are apparently quite a few.

The Daily Beast did the legwork on this one, digging through the emails and discovering Sony is once again eying another Spidey reboot down the line. Just last month Studio 8's Jeff Robinov began a discussion with Sony's Amy Pascal (she has to hate how her name is ALWAYS out there now) about a new phase for Spider-Man in which the character is treated in much the same way as James Bond. Basically, no matter who is under the suit or who is directing the character is treated the same. No more origin stories, none of that. This would all begin with a complete reboot of the character, and the names he has in mind to direct it is a starry bunch: "Brad Bird, Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee (Frozen), Damien Chazelle (Whiplash), Joe Cornish (Attack the Block), Glenn Ficarra & John Requa (Crazy, Stupid, Love), James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), Don Hall & Chris Williams (Big Hero 6), Phil Lord & Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie), Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki), Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World), Edgar Wright, and David Yates."

Good luck with that. He also proposes iconic Spidy story, "Kraven's Last Hunt", as a potential storyline, and considers the idea of depicting Spider-Man as an adult. Y'know, married and boring Peter Parker. The one Marvel Comics twisted themselves into knots to undo some years back. Again, good luck wit that, Robinov, but this probably isn't going to happen.

Colombia Pictures' Michael de Luca seems to have another idea, though, and that's to use a potential Spidey appearance in Captain America: Civil War to springboard future films. We know Sony and Marvel had talks to share the characters' rights, which would lead to someone other than Andrew Garfield in the suit, but whether those discussions continue remains a mystery. In an email from October, de Luca sounds pretty high on the whole idea...

De Luca: “I really feel, in my heart of hearts, that the new spiderman [sic] in cap 3 could just appear in his own film, be it sinister six or a kick ass spidey film of his own, after that intro in cap 3 and people would be cool with it."

He also confirms a rumor from some months ago that 20th Century Fox hopes to team-up their Fantastic Four and X-men franchises in one gigantic superhero extravaganza ala X-men: Days of Future Past or The Avengers, and De Luca thinks Sony can do the same with the "deep" Spider-Man universe...

De Luca:  “[Simon] Kinberg told me fox is steering Xmen and Fantastic Four into an eventual team up film. Seems to me maybe, since the Spider-man universe itself is deep, you guys should look at sinister six, new spidey, female movie and venom as linked pieces leading to eventual mega movie ala Feige and Fox and not stand alone single films. It's early in all these and you can still map out a blueprint for connective tissue.”

Who knows if De Luca's info is accurate here. He says Kinberg told him so he's probably not lying, but doesn't it seem early in the game for Fox to be considering such a move? The Fantastic Four reboot is already a risky venture, and if it flops there most definitely won't be any sequels, much less some huge crossover with the successful X-men franchise.

De Luca also expressed his desire to have Phil Lord and Chris Miller (21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie) direct The Amazing Spider-Man 3 in 2018. They obviously have very close ties with the studio and could be open to it, but they're also supposedly working on an animated Spider-Man comedy series or something. Maybe there's been some miscommunication?

If there's anything these emails prove it's that Sony continues to field just about every idea imaginable to try and get Spider-Man back on track. In a sense that's a good thing because it shows they give a care about it, but until some hard decisions are made the web-head's movies will continue to flounder.

Read More

Jennifer Lawrence could Star in 'Ghostbusters' Reboot along with Emma Stone and Melissa McCarthy

All of the bad mojo surrounding Ghostbusters is gone now that Paul Feig is planning an all-female reboot, and it seems some of Hollywood's top ladies are down to be a part of it. While Bill Murray may have his dream casting for it all thought out, others are throwing their names into the ring. Rebel Wilson recently revealed she had met with Feig about a role, and apparently so has Jennifer Lawrence. In a strange MTV UK video where they ask celebrities their dream cast for Ghostbusters, Lawrence revealed she had met with Feig, too.  She doesn't come right out and say it was for Ghostbusters, but given the context why else would she mention it?


Meanwhile, her name has popped up in relation to the project elsewhere, and of course it's part of the Sony hacking scandal that has exposed everything about the studio. In an email sent from Sony's Amy Pascal to Ivan Reitman, she says Lawrence, Melissa McCarthy, Emma Stone, and others are interested in gearing up their proton packs...

"Paul's movie is gonna be the first one and from what I'm hearing jennifer lawrence and Emma stone and Melissa McCarthy and Amy schumer and liszzy [Lizzy] Kaplan [Caplan] just to name a few have already said thy wanted to be in...."

All of those names make some degree of sense as they have close connections to Feig; not to mention they're all hilarious and extremely talented women who could make this movie pretty amazing.

Pascal also says Feig's Ghostbusters "isn't a sequel to the 80s movies and it is gonna be totally original with completely different characters", which sounds like exactly what a reboot should be. Probably the smart way to go as there wasn't this much excitement for the film until Feig came aboard. But at the same time, Sony knows a lot of people were clamoring for Bill Murray to return, although the actor remained completely uninterested in it. And apparently Sony was considering some heavy legal action to try and force him to come back. In an email from October 2013 between two Sony legal execs, they considered taking an "aggressive" stance against Murray, but feared what would happen if all this came out in the public. Whoops.

“In order to more fully evaluate our position if Bill Murray again declines to engage on ‘Ghostbusters’, AG requested that we identify ‘aggressive’ litigation counsel with whom we can consult to evaluate our alternatives and strategize,” the email read. “[Harkening back to his prior employer, of course, raised the name of David Boies.] Personally, while I’m fine with aggressive, I think we are in much worse shape if this goes public so seems to me we should look for someone who isn’t seeking the spotlight.”

So no go on suing Murray. Wise move. Could you imagine the distraction he'd be on set if forced to be there? Crazy.  [TheDailyBeast]

Read More

Sony Hack Reveals Steve Jobs Biopic Madness as Natalie Portman Turns Down a Role

Remember that stench of doom we sensed around Jane Got a Gun earlier this year as it went through a brutal gauntlet of production issues? Well, that's how the forever-developing, troubled Steve Jobs biopic is starting to look. Penned by Aaron Sorkin and to be directed by Danny Boyle, the film was set up at Sony before they got nervous and dropped it, only for Universal to come to the rescue. When a project of this scope gets dumped there's always a bigger story behind it, and thanks to Sony getting hacked we know just how chaotic things were behind the scenes.

We're not going to post hacked emails or anything like that; leave that to the folks over at Gawker who posted a blistering series of conversations between widely despised producer Scott Rudin and Sony chief Amy Pascal. In them we see the bull-headed twosome fighting over everything, but it's Rudin who looks like a total donkey for ripping into Angelina Jolie, calling her a "minimally talented spoiled brat" amongst other scathing insults. What the heck does Jolie have to do with anything? You may recall she and David Fincher, who was originally supposed to direct Jobs, were going to do a massively-budgeted Cleopatra epic. That project never came together and Fincher bounced, but she apparently was still holding out hope earlier this year, only to have Sony dangle the Steve Jobs film in his face. Of course, that didn't work out for Sony, either. Ironically, Rudin refers to Jolie's massive ego but these emails reveal he needs to check himself in a major way.

Meanwhile, the Jobs film is bumping along over at Universal but still has some problems to iron out. Michael Fassbender is set (for now) to star as the tech giant with Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak. Recently Natalie Portman's (coincidentally of Jane Got a Gun!) name was mentioned for the female lead but now Variety says she's turned it down for unspecified reasons. Perhaps she sensed something was wrong, too? Sorkin could be bringing his The Newsroom star Jeff Daniels in to play Apple CEO John Sculley so maybe things aren't all bad. Then again, let's just wait and see if Fassbender makes the start date. If not, Universal could always turn to Tom Cruise, who was sought by Sony out of desperation.

Read More

Sony Hack Reveals Talks with Marvel Over Spider-Man; Animated Spidey Comedy in the Works

The hack currently exposing all of Sony's deepest, darkest secrets hasn't abated in the least, and some important stuff is getting put out there for everyone to see. No, not crap like the employees thinking Adam Sandler movies are terrible (they are), but deals that very nearly happened. The latest leak is one that's bound to drive Marvel and Spider-Man fans up a wall.

A few weeks ago a rumor surfaced that Sony and Marvel were having talks to possibly share the Spider-Man rights, so the character could appear alongside The Avengers during the Civil War storyline. Turns out those rumors were true. The WSJ dug into the most recent leaked emails and made the discovery, revealing execs were discussing a scenario in which Marvel would produce a trilogy of Spider-Man movies that Sony would retain creative control and distribution over. Marvel was into the idea, too, but the discussions eventually broke down. What it doesn't tell us if Marvel would have recast Spider-Man, but I'm guessing they would have.

That means Sony is going to push full steam ahead on their upcoming Spidery slate, which includes Venom, Sinister Six, a female-led spinoff, and apparently an animated Spider-Man comedy from 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller. That information was also part of the leak but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of details. Either way, the combination of Lord, Miller, and Spider-Man sounds pretty awesome.

So shed a tear, True Believers, at what might have been. We were so close to having Spider-Man and The Avengers playing for the same team.

Read More

Adam Sandler Movies Suck, Just Ask Sony

By now you've probably heard about the cyberattack that struck Sony Pictures, which saw a handful of movies leaked online and has kicked off a massive investigation. Some of the speculation has turned to North Korea as the culprits because of their anger over Seth Rogen and James Franco's comedy, The Interview, which is about an attempt to assassinate Kim Jong-un. Probably not a coincidence that Rogen and Franco's salaries were revealed as part of the hack, along with thousands of celebrity social security numbers. But that's not the only thing the attack revealed, as it also clued us in to how Sony employees really feel about all of those Adam Sandler movies the studio keeps financing. The short answer: they suck.

Digging into the mass of leaked files, Gawker discovered a batch of employee comments on Sony's general direction, and what they discovered is that a lot of people within the studio want that direction to be in the opposite direction of anything Adam Sandler....

Be more focussed and ruthless in directing our resources to businesses that will sustain the long term health of SPE - networks, broadcast TV shows, new movie franchises, digital distibution By the same token, stop or reduce support for areas that have no more value (Sandler movies, DVD)

There is a general "blah-ness" to the films we produce. Althought we manage to produce an innovative film once in awhile, Social Network, Moneyball, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, we continue to be saddled with the mundane, formulaic Adam Sandler films. Let's raise the bar a little on the films we produce, and inspire employees that they are working on the next Social Network. That said, there's a strange dichotomy of encouraging us to be fiscally responsible, but then upper management allows certain talent and filmmakers to bleed us dry with their outlandish requests for private jets, wardrobe and grooming stylists - and are surprised when they are asked to work more than 5 hours to promote their film.

In TV and Theatrical, I hope management looks closely at the money spent on development and term deals to ensure efficiency. There are a lot of term deal personnel as well as creative personnel, yet we only release a dozen or so Columbia Pictures a year, for example. And will we still be paying for Adam Sandler? Why?

It is commendable that SPE understands/supports the importance of risk-taking, particularly in how the we pick films to greenlight. However, the studio needs to change deal structure that has been in place with Happy Madison, as this arrangement has disproportionately benefitted Adam Sandler and his team, relative to SPE.

[T]he studio needs to change deal structure that has been in place with Happy Madison, as this arrangement has disproportionately benefitted Adam Sandler and his team, relative to SPE.

That's just a small sampling, but it's good to know that the grunt workers within Sony are just like us. They don't want to see Blended any more than we do. Not all of the comments are about Sandler, though. Some mention the studio's massive budgets and lack of franchises, lamenting that a movie like Men in Black 3 can make a boat load of money yet still be a loser.


Are you aware that Men In Black 3 may gross $600M at the box office, and yet will lose money for SPE? Shouldn't we question that strategy? Why are some studios making Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Twilight - and we are considering movies like Moneyball, Steve Jobs story, Captain Phillips Story, Evel Knievel story, etc. Are you aware that SPE only has 1 franchise - Spiderman. Yet, it took 5 years to generate a sequel? Spidey 3 was released in summer 2007, #4 in 2012. Don't harry potters come out over 2-3 years? Are you aware that SPE has only 1 franchise - Spidey? Yet we waited 5 years after Spidey 3 (2007) to release #4? Have you read the SEC annual report? Disney will make $300M on Spidey merchandise this year alone. We won't!

It's interesting stuff, not that Sony seems to care. They'll be releasing Sandler's next film, Pixels, on July 24th 2015.

Read More