-
trade roundup
If Will Smith Won't Come to Manhattan, Manhattan Will Come to Will Smith
Today there is news of: Will Smith and a new awful-sounding sappy movie, New Line's new lady policy, a Steppenwolf legend going to TV, and Michael Moore has made a big fat new movie about fat cats. More » -
new line cinema
New Line's Survivor Party: We regret overlooking this story Tuesday afternoon, but the news that New Line plans its annual summer party despite pink-slipping its founders (and more than 500 other staffers) in April can't really get old, can it? Especially not with the party coming up tomorrow night at SkyBar of all places — a $35,000 fete for 45 people, according to Nikki Finke, with whom "studio insiders" debate the figure and argue that "[e]ven in the worst years New Line always had that party. ... Toby [Emmerich] felt like the summer party is part of New Line's DNA and to change that is a mistake." OK, but this is the last time: Expect Warner Bros. to absorb the party planning and invitation distribution duties in 2009, only to push the event back to 2010 when its other parties that year threaten to underperform. [DHD] -
mike myers
The Death of 'Austin Powers' (And Six More Hobbled Franchises Worth Putting Down)
After the unfortunate reception for The Love Guru, it's just too easy to write off New Line's prospective Austin Powers revival (which Mike Myers is reportedly working on for New Line with former series collaborator Mike McCullers) as yet another ill-advised folly belching the black smoke of Myers's career. In fact, taken as merely a part of the larger phenomenon we at Defamer like to call The End of Ideas, the Powers franchise is but a speck of the shit on Hollywood's collective bathroom wall — a tableau diligently studied today by the haz-mat crew at Entertainment Weekly. More » -
trade roundup
'Mad Men' Gives AMC Gains In Attractive 'Anyone Watching At All' Demo
· Mad Men's second season opened to a strong start for AMC, pulling in 1.9 million aspiring womanizers and the pregnant secretaries who love them. [Variety] More » -
doll house
Ladies Up, WB Down as 'American Girl' Gets Ready to Storm Box Office
The universe is piling on Warner Bros. today, with the studio bracing itself for its second straight summer misfire while the output from its recently euthanized offshoots New Line and Picturehouse achieved phenomenal successes in consecutive weeks. But NL's opening windfall for Sex and the City and Picturehouse's $27K-per-screen average last weekend for Mongol — the biggest art-house launch of the year to date — might not have anything on the 'House's toy-based, girly-girl follow-up, reports The NY Times: More » -
monday morning box office
Hollywood 2: Dawn Of The Ladies
The Brazilian wax you scheduled to coincide with your Sex and the City opening night party may have now given way to the discomforting condition known as a Bolivian rash—but luckily for you there exists no better topical salve than the weekend's boffo numbers: More » -
strictly business
Breaking: WB Mothership Cuts Off Picturehouse and Warner Independent
As first foreseen here last week, bad news rolled into Picturehouse HQ today in the form of a batch of pink slips. Warner Bros, is shuttering the art-house/indie/foreign distribution arm in the wake of its belt-tightening at Picturehouse's parent company New Line; we're a little more surprised, however, to read that Warners is also closing shop at Warner Independent Pictures. We knew Jeff Robinov and Alan Horn were unhappy with the boutique business, but Jesus. Picturehouse chief Bob Berney and WIP boss Polly Cohen, tagged for a possible (if implausible) power-sharing arrangement as recently as last week, are both being shown the door, as are both offices' staffs in New York and Los Angeles. We'll be following up later with word on that rumored independent venture of Berney's, but in the meantime, the full press release from Warner Bros. follows after the jump. More » -
strictly business
Two Months After Its Oscar Win, Could Picturehouse Be Closing Its Doors?
A few notes kicked under the door at Defamer HQ hint that the end may be near for Picturehouse, the Oscar-winning art house shingle plunged into limbo in February after its parent company New Line was absorbed by the Warner Bros. mothership. We have yet to hear where company president Bob Berney will wind up, though a popular rumor has him sharing power at Warners' other struggling boutique outpost, Warner Independent Pictures, with current WIP boss Polly Cohen. We posit at least one more underdog alternative as well — plus a prognosis for the remaining Picturehouse output — after the jump. More » -
-
between the one-sheets
The Top Three Reasons Why The Official 'SATC' Movie Poster Sucks
For what seems like an entire century, ladies and ladyboys have been anxiously awaiting the release of the ultimate "chick flick," Sex And The City: The Movie (have we mentioned how godawful that title is by the way?). In any case, yesterday we had the privilege of seeing the final one-sheet for the film which is set to open next month. And almost immediately, we began griping about it (annoyingly, just the way Carrie Bradshaw whined over her column's bus ad during the first season). After the jump, we discuss all the various problems with this image, from that dress to that font to, well, almost everything, boiled down into three primary points: More » -
defamer
New Line Set To Slash 90% Of Its Workforce
Sad news to report. The rumors that we heard earlier this afternoon about impending layoffs at The House That Freddy Built have come to fruition. Variety is reporting that Time Warner is pinkslipping 450 New Line staffers, a number that equates to nearly 90% of their current payroll, as the newly scaled-down shingle merges into the larger Warner Bros fold. The worst part? Although notifications of the dismissals began earlier this afternoon, they won't be completed until tomorrow, which means that a number of employees will be spending the evening unsure as to whether or not they'll even have a job at this time tomorrow. Synergy just ain't what it used to be. If you hear or see anything else (memos, etc.), please send 'em our way. [Variety] -
defamer
Is Today the Day For Dreaded New Line Pink Slips?
A tip into Defamer HQ suggests that today may be the last for the majority of remaining employees at New Line Cinema, the Time Warner subsidiary that has spent the last month transitioning from a stand-alone operation to a genre cog in the Warner Bros. machine. The speculation trickled down a little bit ago from a few private industry message boards; it would be the culmination of news expected since co-founders Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne made their own departures public Feb. 28. Production head Toby Emmerich surprised most observers last month by staying on as president and COO, but he's in the minority likely to stay on as the labels consolidate. Let us know if you've heard the same — you know where to find us. -
defamer
Boyter Flees New Line as MGM Bulks Up For The Future
The first New Line refugee has officially landed at MGM, where new president Mary Parent hired ex-NL development exec Cale Boyter to help iron out the resurgent studio's forthcoming production slate. The move signaled the latest hint that MGM chief operating officer Rick Sands — whose short-lived emphasis on library outsourcing and new media development was made essentially irrelevant by Parent's own recruitment two weeks ago — is himself looking for a new gig. More » -
no sir
Ian McKellen Surfaces on Web with 'Hobbit' News and Not-Needed Castmate Sexuality Updates
Even though the Warner Bros. ax has yet to fall around New Line headquarters and the Tolkien family still wants its cash for The Lord of the Rings saga, Sir Ian McKellen took to his blog (We know! We're as stunned as you are) Wednesday to confirm he's "keeping [his] diary open for 2009" to reprise his role as Gandalf in The Hobbit. But that's only the half of McKellen's big gay update, which also includes hot nose-tweaking action and yawning confirmations of his LOTR co-stars' heterosexuality: More » -
defamer
Mourning Bob Shaye, Last Of The Great Indie Mogulsaurs
With the recent absorption by tractor beam of sputtering starship New Line Cinema into the immense Warner Borg, the LAT takes a moment to reassess the legacy left behind by its founder, Bob Shaye. Shaye was the last of a dying breed of Honchos With Heart—lumbering, larger-than-life mogulsaurs, pounding their deep footprints into the early indie landscape, and scooping smaller talents into their gaping mandibles along the way. His only crime: that sometimes he cared too much: More » -
defamer
Breaking: Troubled New Line Absorbed Into Warner Borg
This just in! Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, the heads of troubled™ studio New Line, having learned the hard way of what comes of placing too many eggs into flying-reptile and fighting-polar-bear baskets, have just issued an e-mail to all of their employees. In it, they announce with resignation that the plucky mid-sized studio is now "a unit" of faceless entertainment multiconglomerate Warner Bros. The Co-CEOs will also be stepping down, and with the New New Line being a "much smaller operation than in the past," we suspect many staffers will be doing the same, whether they want to or not. The full e-mail begins below, and continues after the jump. More » -
free advertising dept
Will Ferrell Admirably Unafraid To Use His Body To Sell Some Tickets
Sure, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue spread showing Will Ferrell pawing at a bikini- clad Heidi Klum was a mildly titillating stab at selling the movie with skin, but we suppose the magazine's decency standards prevented New Line's marketing team from doing what they really needed to do to push Semi-Pro: strip Ferrell to his tube socks, blow out his thicket of chest hair, and hand him a genital-obscuring, ABA-regulation prop. Mercifully, basketball doesn't employ the kind of phallus-shaped equipment that might have tempted the studio to take the photo in a more tumescent direction. More » -
will ferrell
Will Ferrell Takes 'Semi-Pro' Crossover Tour To 'SI' Swimsuit Issue
Following up his memorable turn in the Super Bowl's multimillion dollar crossover ad "Jackie Moon Enjoys A Frosty, Colon-Clearing Bud Light," Will Ferrell has taken the campaign for Semi-Pro to the pages of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue, confident that he can raise awareness of his latest arrogant-dumb-guy sports comedy by fondling a scantily clad Heidi Klum while wearing a variety of amusing 70s-era costumes. More » -
lord of the rings
Everybody's Suing Everybody Day continues! Accusing New Line of employing the kind of "Hollywood accounting" practices that could secret billions of dollars of Lord of the Rings revenues in suspicious budget lines like "Hair/Make-up Hobbitscaping Services," "Elijah Wood Eye-Desparkling Effects," and "Hide all profits here! Sssssh!," representatives from J.R.R. Tolkein's charitable trust and the author's heirs have filed suit against the studio, looking to be paid their claimed $150 million share of the LOTR bounty: "I think that it's going to be extremely interesting to see how New Line is going to explain to a jury that these films grossed $6 billion and yet by their calculations the creators' heirs are not going to get even a single penny." Given that New Line was rumored to have paid previous profit-seeker Peter Jackson a $40 million settlement to keep their two The Hobbit films on track, Tolkien's heirs can probably convince the company to comb through their allegedly cooked books to shake loose eight-figures' worth of make-nice money before things devolve into ugliness. [NY Times] -
defamer
Michael Bay Ready To Ruin 'Nightmare On Elm Street' For A New Generation Of Horror Fans
Continuing his obsessive quest to take the finest slasher films the 1970s and 80s had to offer and update them for an ADD-addled teen audience eager to see the stars of their favorite The CW melodramas eviscerated in a budget-conscious fashion on their local multiplex's big screen, leading Hollywood re-envisionary Michael Bay has convinced New Line to allow him to run the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise through his Platinum Dunes dream-despoiling factory. More » -
defamer
New Line, MGM Hope To Appease 'Hobbit' Fans By Throwing Big Bag Of Money At Guillermo Del Toro
Having recently buried the $40 million hatchet with Peter Jackson to bring to an end that ugly feud over Lord of the Rings profits, New Line (and partner MGM) can now turn its attention to the crucial matter of finding a suitable director (Jackson, as you surely remember, is executive producing) for its two planned Hobbit movies, knowing that making a hasty, ill-considered choice could, as THR notes, "put billions of dollars at stake...and could turn off an audience that encompasses millions of passionate readers, Tolkien fans and obsessive geeks." More » -
new line
Nikki Finke reports that New Line's Michael Lynne and Bob Shaye will soon be having a heart-to-heart with Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes about their expiring contracts, which her sources are "virtually certain" will end with the men leaving the building with cardboard boxes brimming with their favorite Lord of the Rings memorabilia. Though their tenure has recently been marred by disasters like The Last Mimzy and that little feud with Peter Jackson, we prefer to remember what is inarguably their greatest accomplishment at the studio: empowering a certain visionary to make his oft-controversial Art, no matter how many many Rush Hour installments it took to reach the limits of his hacky powers. [DHD] -
trade roundup
Reese Witherspoon Dumped, Quickly Scooped Up On The Rebound
· With plenty of time on their hands these days to evaluate their relationships, studios have start dropping (and/or not renewing) first-look deals with partners with whom they've fallen out of love. Not even America's Sweetheart Reese Witherspoon (and her Type A shingle) has been immune from this recent caprice, though New Line was more than happy to climb into bed with her after a recent dumping. [Variety] More » -
peter jackson
Yesterday, there was much rejoicing in Fanboy Middle Earth following the announcement that director Peter Jackson would return to produce two The Hobbit movies for New Line after settling his dispute over the Lord of the Rings profits the filmmaker said the studio owed him. But how much money did it take for Jackson to rescind his onetime pledge to "feed the greedy [NL co-chairman] Bob Shaye's lifeless body to a hungry Gollum and toss what's left of his well-gnawed remains into the hottest volcano in Mordor before I begin to even think about doing another hairy-midget flick"? About $40 million, according to two people involved. [NY Times] -
defamer
In a Christmas miracle sure to have Lord of the Rings fans putting on their official Bilbo Baggins Furry Feet™ and dancing in unselfconscious joy around the replica Shires they've lovingly constructed in their basements, the once-feuding Peter Jackson and New Line have announced they've buried the hatchet (read: a big bag of LOTR settlment money is quietly being delivered to the director's New Zealand compound) and will move forward (with MGM) on two The Hobbit live-action films. Huzzah! Says Jackson about the dentente that will allow everyone to grow wealthier together without involving the courts: "I'm very pleased that we've been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. 'The Lord of the Rings' is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth." [Var] -
his confusing materials
'Golden Compass' A Guaranteed Better Time At The Movies Than Last Kidman-Craig Adventure
At long last, The Golden Compass, New Line's high-stakes attempt at launching yet another massively profitable fantasy franchise, opens today, though the buzz on the Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig movie is lukewarm at best (currently a 44% Tomatometer score). Will director Chris Weitz prove he can effectively trade in pastry-penetration for shiny magical trinkets and talking CGI polar bears, or would the overstuffed and overlong epic, as frigid as Kidman after a cosmetic emotion-removal procedure, not even manage to inspire Andy Samberg to roll out of bed this Sunday with a box of freshly baked cupcakes for a matinée showing? A sampling of what the critics are saying: More » -
defamer
Writers Strike May Soon Deprive TV Reporters Of Winter Press Tour Parties
· NBC drops out of the Television Critics Association winter press tour due to the writers strike, a move that will rob reporters of the chance to witness a retaliatory beatdown of Peacock perfect storm Ben Silverman by the network-running rivals he recently disparaged as "D-girls". [Variety] More » -
defamer
Forest Whitaker Sells Out To Mountain Dew To Prove Someone Is Willing To Pay For Online Content
·The future of online entertainment is now, and Forest Whitaker is stepping boldly into the brave, new world of selling out interactively: the Oscar winner is teaming with Pepsi for a web-based fantasy game called Dewmocracy, in which players will ultimately help create a new, totally extreme flavor of The Dew . [Variety] More » -
trade roundup
Warner Bros. Wants To Get Even Deeper Into The Tyra Banks Business
· Universal and New Line join the list of those who strenuously object to the WGA's strike rules, warning writers in their employ that complying with their union's demands to validate the scripts they're trying to turn in before tomorrow's deadline will put them in breach of contract. [Variety] More » -
defamer
What Really Went Down With New Line's Severed-Finger Special Delivery
And Hollywood Rumor of the Week honors go to the one currently catapulting around town and into our inbox, concerning a suspicious package sent to New Line president of production Toby Emmerich that reportedly contained a severed finger, resulting in their offices shutting down for a police investigation. What actually happened, as best as we can piece together, is described in the following e-mail from an operative: More » -
trade roundup
Rat-Pack-Worshipping Brett Ratner Takes On Sinatra Project
· What showbiz name evokes Rat Pack-era Hollywood cool more than any other? That's right: Brett Ratner. The singularly hacky Rush Hour 3 director, continuing his ongoing mission to diminish the legacies of legends whose lifestyles he desperately wishes to emulate, will reteam with screechy muse Chris Tucker for an adaptation of Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra, a tell-all bio about Sinatra's relationship with his valet. "I think [Ratner's] channeling Frank sometimes," says one the book's authors, rolling around in a pile of New Line's option cash. [Variety] More » -
defamer
Sex And The City: The First Photo Of The First Day Of Production
Truth be told, we were never big fans of the Sex and the City TV show, as the dramatization of high-end shoe-shopping and the sex lives of aging cougar nymphomaniacs didn't hold much interest for us. Today, however, we're inexplicably excited about the forthcoming feature adaptation of the beloved HBO series, as New Line has issued a press release celebrating the movie's first day of production, one that includes this first-ever photo from the set to further commemorate this special occasion. More » -
defamer
The LA Times Is Doing Exciting Things In The Cake-Scented Movie Promotion Space
With the family-friendly nature of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium probably precluding the possibility of a cutting-edge web campaign featuring clips of Dustin Hoffman trying to blow away the child patrons of his magical toy store with a gun made of enchanted Tinker Toys, the marketers at Fox Walden have decided to instead gently push the envelope of the print medium, bringing the first! ever! ad that uses scented ink to simulate the smell of cake for understimulated LAT readers. Adorable! More » -
defamer
New Line Would Like To Help You Bullet Proof Your Baby
In an inspired online promotion guaranteed to be warmly embraced by both new parents and gun-control enthusiasts alike, the always-innovative, viral-happy New Line marketing team has has produced the tie-in site Bullet Proof Baby for their upcoming Shoot 'Em Up, where potential moviegoers can dream about purchasing a wide array of consumer goods (toddler-tazers, armored cribs, My First Gas Mask) that might protect their newborn children against the kind of comically hyperbolic violence they'll soon enjoy at their local multiplex. While the site lacks the immersive interactivity of New Line's infamous "Go Down On Paul Walker's Virtual Wife" game, watching a proud mom fire a machine gun at a crib does provide a higher entertainment level overall; and, unlike its misguided Number 23 campaign, at least the baby survives this time. More » -
defamer
Balls Are So Huge Right Now
As pointed out to us by a reader, the movie posters for this weekend's release Balls of Fury and mid-September's Mr. Woodcock demonstrate that there's no hotter trend in one-sheet design than testicular imagery that subtly reinforces the "ballsiness" of either a movie's concept or its characters. In the case of Mr. Woodcock, however, we assume that this was the studio's fallback version; while the MPAA let the Balls marketers go forward with their nonthreatening wooden phallus, they probably were never going to allow the public to see Billy Bob Thorton dangling a more conceptually appropriate, 34-inch Louisville Slugger between his legs. More » -
monday morning box office
America Might Finally Be Tiring Of Chris Tucker Shouting At Jackie Chan
There are perhaps no harder Monday mornings than the ones of mid-to-late August, when we all know we're showing up for work weeks where nothing interesting can possibly happen. Distract yourself from the drudgery with the weekend box office numbers, then put your head down and nap until Friday afternoon: More » -
defamer
Facing A 'Midlife Crisis,' New Line Publicly Dedicated To Getting Its Shit Together
Having signalled the beginning of a difficult revitalization process through the ceremonial sacrifice of their longtime marketing chief to the Hollywood gods earlier this week (in fairness, you try and sell something called The Last Mimzy), embattled New Line executives Bob Shaye and Tobey Emmerich sat down with the LAT's Patrick Goldstein to discuss What Went Wrong during their recent, flop-riddled run—Hairspray notwithstanding—and to share their vision for the studio's future. In a refreshing change of course, Emmerich reveals that they're ready to recognize that a screenplay is only as good as the one-sheet that condenses its ideas into a single, multiplex-lobby-friendly image and the test marketing audience that will recognize its third act problems at a fraction of the cost of a roomful of clueless development execs. Reports Goldstein: More » -
trade roundup
Zellweger To Be Sassy, Tough In Western
· Renee Zellweger will star with Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris in the western Appaloosa, which we hope will provide ample opportunity for a spunky, bonnet-rocking Zellweger to fire a shotgun and exclaim, "You git outta my town, ya hear?" in the direction of the movie's "renegade rancher" antagonist. We love it when she does period gritty. [Variety] More » -
revelations
Open-Minded Brett Ratner Amused By Prankster Tranny Who Blew Him
The near-constant attention that's accompanying the imminent opening of Rush Hour 3 seems to have turned the already unedited Brett Ratner into something of a chronic oversharer. A couple of days ago, Ratner offhandedly informed the audience at Chinese Theatre know that he lost his virginity at a precocious 13, and in an interview posted on The Advocate's website today, the director deflects accusations that his new movie features some cheap, homophobic jokes by falling back on the time-worn defense [along the lines of—see clarification immediately following!], "Some of the best blowjobs I've ever gotten were by dudes pretending to be chicks." [Ed.note—Allow us to clarify that we are not saying that Mr. Ratner ever spoke these words. They are an apparently confusing attempt to parody the "Some of my best friends "are of x race/sexual persuasion/religion" defense used when an open-minded individual is accused of bias. Also, we in no way mean to imply that the act described to the Advocate below was among the best he's received. Thanks for staying with us during this joke-killing Defamer Clarification.] Wait, what? Ratner explains: More » -
defamer
Johnny Depp To Live Out Childhood Dreams Of Kitschy Vampirism
· Johnny Depp may get to fulfill his childhood fantasy of becoming the "vampire patriarch" of the 60s bloodsucker soap opera Dark Shadows, as he's developing a feature based on the series for Warner Bros. [Variety] More »





































