The Michael Bay-produced movie reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is due out in Australia on Sept. 11, and Paramount Pictures probably could have picked a better image for the promo poster than the Turtles leaping from an exploding skyscraper.
In the future all movies will either be remakes, reboots, or the millionth sequel of some cartoon or amusement park ride or fairy tale. To prove this sad end of originality, look at the announcement Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman made today.
TV's favorite serial killer is in a contract dispute with his network. Also today: good news about Matt Saracen, weird news about Werner Herzog, nostalgic news from Disney, and half-bad news from NBC.
Paramount and Marvel Studios have a bit of a marketing challenge on their hands with their upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger. Namely, how do you sell a pro-U.S.A superhero movie to the many regions of the globe that can't stand us? Their solution was to play it safe, and release the film in all foreign…
After a disappointing Hollywood summer, it's nice to know we can look forward to a pedigreed, awards-caliber release this weekend with Michael Bay's touching coming-of-age tale, Transformers: Something Something Moon. And it's already breaking records! $20mil on opening day. [Deadline]
Recently, Netflix signed a deal with Epix to bring some new Paramount, MGM, and Lionsgate movies to the Instant Watch library. Today, September 1st, that deal goes live. So what's new?
So soon! They get greedy so easily, don't they. Also today: Conan's TBS move isn't exactly paradise for his writers, friction on the set of the Nikki Finke show sounds about right, and lots of casting news.
The story: A Paramount exec sent an email to a coworker, it was intercepted by Sharon Waxman's Nikke Finke voodoo doll The Wrap, and now everyone has it. Basically it lays out their upcoming slate of movies, and it's bleak.
This is David Ellison. He'd like to be in the movie business. Unfortunately, he's not very good at picking projects. But his dad is the sixth-richest person in the world. So now David Ellison is co-funding movies with Paramount Pictures.
According to Vulture, the fading-to-a-near-invisible-point onetime box office draw will be paid SAG minimum wages to act in Mission Impossible 4: The Fourth Time Around It's Probably Pretty Possible. That's basically the death of clout right there.
In a 1961 address to the National Association of Broadcasters, then FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow famously described TV as a "vast wasteland." Well, it's also a graveyard, filled to the brim with the bloated carcasses of dead networks.
You've laughed at Conan's withering monologue takedowns of NBC and Jay Leno. But Fox is really serious about wanting Conan on their network. It's too bad an almost hilarious contract oversight might rob Conan of his $45 million breach-of-contract award.
• Closures: Design magazine I.D. is shutting down. And while Editor & Publisher revealed last week it's folding, there's now a small chance it'll survive. [E&P]
• More bad news: The New Republic laid off some staff today. [Politico]
• Diane Sawyer's farewell to GMA last week and George Stephanopoulos's debut on Monday…
Perhaps it is due to her trademark faraway stare, but we had our money on Natalie Portman playing a zombie in "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." No: She's playing the lead role in this adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's book.
It was announced today that Disney shelled out $4 billion for Marvel Entertainment, Inc. Not only does it now own Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Iron Man, but is also in business with almost every Hollywood studio. What a tangled web!
• New York Times reporter David Rohde, who was held hostage in Afghanistan for seven months, managed to escape on Friday night. The Taliban had reportedly been seeking $25-30 million in ransom; the newspaper, meanwhile, is rumored to have offered $5 million for his safe release. [NYT, AP, ABC, CQ]
• The negotiations…
It was more than year and a half ago that Paramount chief Brad Grey was served with divorce papers by his wife of 25 years, Jill Grey. The case finally wrapped up last week when the two sides reached a settlement. Just how much Jill walked away with wasn't disclosed in the court docs. Judging by her signature, though,…
The first batch of Watchmen reviews has arrived, drawing the geeks-vs.-trades divide into crisp, predictable relief. And while the critical haters are a minority, it's their box-office forecasts that could most alarm its producers.
The makers of Star Trek have finally caught up with the real-estate vanguard, offering new, 360-degree virtual tours of their lovely, pricey new interstellar property.
Paramount probably could have lived with Jon Stewart's slobbering praise for Slumdog Millionaire last night on The Daily Show. If only it had stopped there.
