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beautiful awards
Can Studios Salvage Next Year's Oscars?
Another year, another lackluster awards-season showing for Hollywood studios. And while their art-house affiliates more than picked up the slack, could 2009 be the year the majors finally reclaim the Oscars for themselves? More »
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By STVComment by SunnydaZe10 is BANNED!: I am going to miss your intelligent and informative posts, Mr. VanAirsdale. Looks like you have managed to dumbfound the... 5 Responses | Other threads
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mel gibson
Warner Bros. Claims Rights To Mel Gibson's Next PR Debacle
After seven years away and one epically hatey meltdown, Mel Gibson's big-screen comeback finally has a studio backer. More »
2,790
By STVComment by NotReadyForPrimeTime: I hope that all the Jews in Boston have good alibis. 1 Responses | Other threads
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defamer connections
Happy Endings Offered to Disney, Warners Execs
The Age of the Easily Expensed Job-Perk (Assistant: "You want me to submit a receipt that says, 'Lunch withhookerRatner?'" Agent: "Yeah, that's fine. Throw 'er in there with the rest...") are long over. More »
3,903
By SethComment by Kitten_Witawip: I wonder what he's got against Universal? 1 Responses | Other threads
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oscars
How To Best Campaign For a Dead Oscar Nominee? Don't
Just because Heath Ledger was a favorite to claim this year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar since before The Dark Knight even opened, that doesn't mean he can't use a gentle, posthumous awards-season studio nudge. More » -
warner bros
WB To Outsource 800 Jobs To Poland's Notoriously Unsympathetic I.T. Industry
Warners heads Barry Meyer and Alan Horn issued a memo today breaking news that 10% of their workforce would be laid off. That's about 800, mostly accounting and IT personnel that keep the machinery running. More » -
timelines
Grab A Fanboy And Kiss Them: It's 'Watchmen' V-J Day!
The superstudio showdown that pit Fox against Warners over a long-forgotten Watchmen rights claim discovered behind a potted ficus by an after-hours cleaning woman (who's since been upped VP Business Affairs) is finally over! More »
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By SethComment by torpor: Kiss a fanboy? Make sure you keep your eyes open, or you'll miss the panicked, shameful look that crosses their... 2 Responses | Other threads
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watchmen
Fox And WB To Join In 'Watchmen' Matrimony Tomorrow Morning
In the penultimate episode of their Watchmen soap opera, lawyers for Fox and Warner Bros. have filed a motion of settlement that will resolve the film's ongoing rights battle Friday morning. More » -
watchmen
Shocker: 'Watchmen' Settlement on the Way
The day after heartfelt if hopeless pseudo-legal judicial appeals from Watchmen co-producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin, Fox and Warner Bros. today hinted at a more binding resolution in their copyright case. More » -
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watchmen
'Watchmen' Producer's Emotional Appeal Fails to Grasp Basic Contract Law
In the latest stakes-upping gesture to emerge from the Watchmen legal tussle, one of the film's producers has issued an open letter arguing Warner Bros.' "morally right" claim to the film. Good luck with that! More »
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By STVComment by TylerHb: "Moral Rights" are a European concept that imply that a work's creator has a moral right to their creation stemming... 1 Responses | Other threads
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watchmen
'Watchmen'Gate Update: Warner Gambles, Geeks Revolt
There's still not much to report from the front lines of World War Watchmen, where a smattering of fire today has nevertheless nudged half a million angry refugee fanboys into comics-genre exile. -
watchmen
Warner Bros. Slaps Back at Fox, Preps For 'Watchmen' Trial
Now that Fox and Warner Bros. no longer have SAG to engage in their quest for mutually assured destruction, they've officially entered the saber-rattling stage of their own legal wrangle over the rights to Watchmen.
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By STVComment by WorldOfHurt: Maybe if the fanboys elaborately fake an alien invasion of the Fox and Warners lots, the studios will put aside... 1 Responses | Other threads
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watchmen
Fox Takes WB's Rights to 'Watchmen' in High-End Studio Gift Exchange
Fox wanted a pony for Christmas, and it got a lovely one Wednesday when a judge ruled that the studio owns a copyright interest in Warner Bros.' mega-budget blockbuster hopeful Watchmen.
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By STVComment by Colander: This is so shady. I hate when wealthy motion picture studios make me feel kinda bad for them, but here... 1 Responses | Other threads
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lawsuits
Stiffed Warner Bros. Sues CBS Over 'Two and a Half Men'
Throwing a litigious lump of coal in its friend's stocking, Warner Bros. TV leveled a breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS seeking $49 million in unpaid license fees and production costs for Two and a Half Men.
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By STVComment by ge90036: I should sue all of them for putting that pathetic excuse of a sitcom on the air in the first... 1 Responses | Other threads
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the dark knight
Fans Pick Up Oscar Slack as Warner Bros. Kills 'Dark Knight' Re-Release
The Dark Knight isn't making the Oscar impression many thought it would by this point in the year, which may be why Warner Bros. reportedly confirmed today that it spiked its planned IMAX re-release for next month. And in any case, it's definitely why the mouthbreathing legions of Bat-supporters have gone guerrilla for their hero's awards-season sake. -
where the wild things are
Spike Jonze Relates 'Wild Things' Delays to Bad Case of Gender Confusion
Where the Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze recently gave his most expansive interview yet about his troubled, tortured, presumed-dead and reanimated fantasy epic, which Warner Bros. is now committed to opening Oct. 19, 2009. And while light-treading Jonze makes his biggest statement about the delay by offering virtually no statement at all, a teasing philosophical aside about his young star Max Records summarizes pretty much all you need to know about Jonze v. Warners: More »
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By STVComment by Sloan: Just fuck you, Warner Brothers. Just fuck you. Jonze, get your head out of your ass and... 4 Responses | Other threads
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daniel craig
Is An Obama World Ready For A Black 007 Or A Bootylicious Wonder Woman?
As exit strategies go, Daniel Craig's long view on stepping away from James Bond is the most progressive we've encountered in some time: At a Quantum of Solace press conference last week in Rome, Craig suggested that Barack Obama's election win had perhaps laid the groundwork for a black 007. Admittedly, we hadn't yet considered the "action-movie franchise" component of Obama's social influence, but at least one critic opened the discussion online — and this only days after Beyoncé Knowles made a public appeal for the role of Wonder Woman in the long-delayed (and presumed dead) comic-book adaptation. And so begins America's next essential civil rights debate: Have our blockbuster heroes moved beyond race? More »
1,488
By STVComment by Miss d: Um - Cleopatra Jones anyone? Shaft, Foxy Brown? So after a historic victory - Obama is now responsible for bringing Blaxploitation... 2 Responses | Other threads
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proposition 8
Guinness Confirms 'Yes On 8' Skywriting Campaign Is Biggest Hate Message On Earth
A reader sent Towleroad this snapshot of the sky above Warner Bros. in Burbank, probably the largest and most nausea-inducing "Yes on 8" sign yet erected in the ongoing, Mormon-underwritten campaign to strip gay Californians of their Constitutional right to marry. Luckily, God got one look at the message and blew it away: More » -
warner bros
New Web Drama 'Children's Hospital' Like 'Patch Adams' With More Sex
The Daily Show's Rob Corddry created a new web series for TheWB.com (it lives! Online! So there, The CW) called Children's Hospital. We find it hard to believe they're actually producing this thing, but we've been assured by reps from Warners' online arm Studio 2.0 that about a dozen episodes are on the way. Based on the trailer above—packed with an impressively pedigreed cast including The State's Ken Marino and David Wain, Jason Sudeikis, Ed Helms and Megan Mullally—this thing might actually be worth sneaking in before lunch while your boss isn't looking. More » -
leonardo dicaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio's Sinking Ship 'Body of Lies' Readies the Lifeboats
Tracking on Body of Lies isn't dazzling anyone today at Warner Bros., which has spent the last two months trying to push Ridley Scott's $100 million Leonardo DiCaprio/Russell Crowe war-on-terror thriller onto the top of this weekend's congested slate of new releases. Most forecasts place its opening gross around $17 million — likely enough to dispatch mildly aromatic new competition like Quarantine, City of Ember and The Express, but not nearly enough to guarantee a first-place finish ahead of Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Not. Acceptable. Is it too early to ask what the hell happened here? More » -
harry potter
Spirited Fans Move to Death-Threat and Hate-Mail Phase of 'Harry Potter' Fever
We don't traffic in empathy much around here — especially for studio heads — but you can't help but feel a bit sorry for Alan Horn these days, who has been reduced to peering under his car in a paranoid state before each trip to and from the Warners lot, searching for some Harry Potter fan's homemade peat-moss explosive affixed to his gas tank with frog spit and the hovering air of revenge. Surely he knew what he was getting into when he pushed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from this November to July 2009 (he's already apologized), but still, no one deserves to live under the type of shrieking death-threat duress graphically laid out by The Wall Street Journal: More » -
where the wild things are
When the Wild Things Are: For those waiting for a shred of good news to emerge from the long industrial nightmare that is the Where the Wild Things Are release date saga, today might be your day. Warner Bros has reportedly announced Spike Jonze's troubled fantasy will finally land in theaters on Oct. 19, 2009 — almost a year after its original date, which Warners scuttled for re-shoots that didn't seem help matters much as they dragged on. It's too long a wait for us to hold our breath, but we'll keep quiet from here lest some WTWTA curse abides. You can never be too careful. [Coming Soon via Vulture] -
watchmen
'Watchmen' Studio Death Match Coming in January to a Court Near You
The Watchmen copyright squabbles plaguing Fox and Warner Bros. will go in front of a judge next year on Jan. 6, exactly two months before the graphic novel adaptation is scheduled to open in the US. The good news for Warners and the fanboy community mouthbreathing in anticipation: Fox's quest to block the film's release is unlikely to come through that close to opening day — which in turn relegates that Wolverine boycott/piracy revenge threat to the Dustbin of Unnecessary Ideas once and for all. Alas, a trial date means someone's probably getting busted — which is where the bad news comes in. More » -
towelhead
'Towelhead' Apologies Break New Ground in Studio Cynicism
If it's the last thing it ever does — and it probably will be — Warner Independent Pictures is bound and determined to wring every last bit of notoriety out of the $1.5 million it spent last year on Alan Ball's merde du jour directing debut Towelhead. And almost a full 12 months after the film met its Toronto Film Festival premiere audience with a splat heard 'round the world, the doomed mini-major's quest to culturally salvage what's left of the rape-and-racism coming-of-age drama has tapped into yet another free-publicity boon: The Council on American-Islam Relations finally came around the other day to condemn the title Towelhead and urge a name change. We know nobody saw that coming. More »
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By STVComment by Lysergic Asset: If I were an Arab-American woman, I would change my name from Arian ASAP. 3 Responses | Other threads
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harry potter
Breaking the Spell: As we mentioned last week, the soul-shattering news that Warner Bros. planned to bump Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to Summer 2009 was met with instant derision, scorn and boycott petitions in the global Potter fan community. In between counting his Dark Knight cash and More » -
watchmen
Geek Onslaught Threatens Fox as 'Watchmen' Lawsuit Backlash Strengthens
The Watchmen Studio Blood Feud pitting Fox against Warner Bros. in a copyright scuffle to the death is turning more shrill by the minute, with outraged fanboys filling the public space from which studio lawyers retreated on Tuesday. One war-zone observer filed a particularly harrowing dispatch this morning, describing the spillover onto the Web and the violent counterattack calling for a boycott of Fox should its claim to Watchmen's rights delay the film's release. A more militant protest suggested pirating Fox's own troubled summer offering Wolverine instead, leaving an exasperated Fox spokesman to swat defensively as mouthbreathers descended from all sides: More »
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By STVComment by TurdBlossom: Hell hath no fury like an obsessed fan-boy dissapointed. And by that I mean as threatening as a bowl of... more » | Other threads
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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] -
watchmen
The 'Watchmen' Studio Blood Feud: How Bad Is It?
What looked vaguely at first like a garden-variety Hollywood legal squabble escalated late Monday into the Cuban Missile Crisis of fanboydom: A judge upheld Fox's pending lawsuit claiming that they, not Warner Bros., own the distribution rights to Zack Snyder's forthcoming graphic-novel adaptation Watchmen. The resulting mess is thick, deep and aromatic, with not just two but three studios slogging through a paper trail nearly two decades long. And perhaps the best part: Fox says it doesn't even want to be bought off, instead publicly suggesting they'd rather file an injunction against the breathlessly anticipated film's release next March than not get what it has coming. More » -
superman
High On 'Dark Knight,' Warners Contemplates Next Steps For McBoringface Superman
With The Dark Knight now the second-highest domestically grossing film of all time, some of Batman's friends and co-workers are having trouble convincingly faking their delight over his success. First and foremost among that group would be Superman, with one source claiming the Kryptonian native had gotten "catty" with the cowled vigilante recently, demanding to know if he'd "remembered to celebrate Mother's Day this year," before adding, "Come on, Flash. Let's go play Wii Fit," and storming out of the Justice League cafeteria. It's no secret what the source of that animosity is— Bryan Singer's uninspiring take on the Superman mythos fizzled at the box office, failing to capture the public's imagination—and according to Variety, the very fate of the failed franchise reboot now hangs in the balance: More » -
the dark knight
Blockbuster Reality Check: 'Dark Knight' Only $1 Billion Off Record Pace
Big ups to The Dark Knight, which surpassed the first Star Wars film over the weekend to become the second-highest-grossing film ever. Sort of, anyway: That number-two figure on which the industry has had its eye for the last month since TDK's release — $471 million, still a cruise ship shy of Titanic's $600 million — remains quite the impressive number domestically, but isn't really threatening anyone globally. It's a bit of an open, underreported secret, but after the jump, behold the only number that really matters: your 19th-highest-grossing film of all time — only $64 million behind Finding Nemo! More » -
harry potter
Fox News Blames Daniel Radcliffe's Magic Wand for 'Harry Potter' Delay
Won't anybody listen to the "content kings" over at Warner Bros.? Despite the fact that they actually have plausible reasons for bumping Harry Potter to next year — i.e the writers' strike had left them with a summer 2009 slate that lacked a single tentpole release besides Terminator: Salvation — tongues are clucking that there simply must be ulterior motives at play. The latest to toss out a conspiracy theory is daffy Fox News columnist Roger Friedman, who puts the blame squarely on Daniel Radcliffe's barely legal shoulders: More »
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Comment by hummingpenguin: Did I need to see Harry Potter's treasure trail while eating my lunch? No, I did not. more » | Other threads
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harry potter
Fans' Wizard Hats Droop With Anger, Sorrow as Warners Pushes Back 'Harry Potter 6'
Warner Bros. sent surprising word today that it has bumped Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from a release this November all the way back to July 17, 2009 — a savvy numerological strategy landing Potter exactly one year's worth of Fridays from its opening day for The Dark Knight. Studio boss Alan Horn officially attributed the move to more practical considerations, however, namely the fact that Warners' vibrant content chain is missing a few links next summer thanks to the writer's strike. But don't get any ideas about Jonze-esque hold-ups or other snags, added Jeff Robinov: More »
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By STVComment by shaunfather: My only question is, did they fail to look ahead at the movies that are coming out next summer? Someone... more » | Other threads
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RocknRolla
Joel Silver, 'Rocknrolla' Among the Inventory on Display at Warner Bros. Fire Sale
Add another "maybe" to our speculation about Joel Silver's future at Warner Bros.: Reports today indicate that the slumping superproducer is shopping around Guy Ritchie's Rocknrolla, a Dark Castle project scheduled for release by WB in October. Maybe. Now Lionsgate and Sony are supposedly in talks to pick up the action/crime thriller lest Warners overextend itself this fall with titles inherited from New Line (Pride and Glory), Picturehouse (The Women) and Warner Independent (Slumdog Millionaire, Towelhead). More »
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By STVComment by The-Flashing-Scribe: "I don't think it's broadly commercial." Hmm. In the same way that a Joel Silver/Shane Black buddy movie (lemme see...off... more » | Other threads
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george lucas
Capote-Sounding 'Star Wars' Character Only As Gay As You Want Him to Be
We thought all discussion of The Clone Wars ended yesterday with the discovery that if Harry Knowles hates it — enough even forGeorge LucasWarner Bros. to swoop in and kill his embargo-shattering review — it must be some kind of radioactively awful. But new revelations have surfaced this afternoon about Ziro the Hutt, the fringe character whom Knowles described as sounding like "a racist take on a Black New Orleans Crack-Dealing Whore." Not quite, Harry — not even close, in fact, according to an interview published today at MTV Movies: More »
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By STVComment by WGARefugee: @Baronzemo: well there's always TXH1138. It was pretty darn non-commercial. more » | Other threads
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warner bros
5 Burning Questions We Still Have For 'Content Kings' at Warner Bros.
We took the better part of two days to process the NYT's recent recognition of Warner Bros. as the crown jewel at Time Warner, where Jeff Bewkes, Barry Meyer, Alan Horn and Co. are venerated at length for emphasizing "content" (i.e. their film and TV properties) ahead of "distribution" outlets like AOL, DVD and on-demand services. It's an oddly situational success story; in fact, it opens with WB chairman Meyer literally inhaling the incoming fax telling him The Dark Knight made $66 million on opening day, and namechecks Two and a Half Men among a handful of TV series that are finding lucrative traction internationally. There's also the HBO factor and the Turner channels' flourishing as well. More » -
trade roundup
Warners Buys 'Drink, Play, F@&k' On Strength Of Title Alone
· Warner Bros. purchased the rights to the upcoming book Drink, Play, F@#K, a parody of chick-lit bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, in which a man "goes on a bender in Ireland, takes a gambling jaunt to Las Vegas and a embarks on a sex-tourism trip to Thailand." The hope is to launch a new guy-friendly franchise, with a sequel—Puke, Broke, AIDS—already in the works. [THR] More »
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By SethComment by adminslave: Yeah, um, another drop in the ocean: you're fucking funny, Seth. more » | Other threads
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the dark knight
BREAKING BATNEWS: Word just over the transom says The Dark Knight has broken $400 million in domestic box office in just its 18th day of release — a new record surpassing Shrek 2's previous 43-day milestone. Defamer sources attribute yesterday's nudge to Al Gorman, a 44-year old plumber from Columbus, Ohio, in whose name Warner Bros. commemorated "the Gorman Seat" at the AMC Lennox Town Center 24 with a special plaque and new black upholstery. Gorman's health insurer, meanwhile, promptly canceled his coverage on account of his newly accursed exposure to drug overdoses, car rolling and kin-assaults. [Variety] -
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By SethComment by pumpkinsoup: *grabby hands* *wants* @Decebal: Yes, more Draco and more Snape, please. Although I could care less about Ginny, frankly. Mmmm... have we... more » | Other threads
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the dark knight
How 'Dark Knight' Will Sink 'Titanic' For All-Time Box-Office Glory
With its enshrinement as The Greatest Film Ever Made safely assured and its box-office trajectory soaring ever upward, The Dark Knight is now being groomed for a spot so exclusive that it only changes hands once per decade: The highest-grossing film in history. Feel free to take the news with a grain of salt, seeing as it came from the notably math-challenged John Horn in today's LA Times; even so, it's hard to argue when Knight is looking at $400 million by this weekend and Titanic sits idle at the dock with $600 million. More » -
mario lopez
Topless Mario Lopez To Rehash Day's Celebrity News For Floundering 'Extra'
Mario Lopez, the dimple-cheeked actor who first rose to prominence playing the deeply conflicted Albert Clifford 'A.C.' Slater on the Chekhovian scholastics drama Saved by the Bell, has been announced as the new host of Extra. As we mentioned yesterday, ratings were declining steadily for the syndicated celebrity newsbite service; Warner Bros. was therefore looking to drop its current hosts (Mark McGrath, former lead singer of the Afro-Caribbean-flavored pop outfit Sugar Ray, and Dayna Devon, who apparently is not Nancy O'Dell) in favor of something fresher, absier, and more Eva Longoria-accessible. Weekend co-host Lopez fit that bill: "'He will be a fresh and dynamic presence, and we can't wait for him to assume his new role,' said senior exec producer Lisa Gregorish-Dempsey." Look for new features like the VitaminWater presents Extra's Live! From the DKNY Beach House!, and the Mario Lopez's Knockout Fitness Gym Couture Fashion Report. More » -
where the wild things are
Spike Jonze Wild Things-Watch, Vol. XXIV. Perhaps the City of Ember Blowjob Train was good for something other than fanboy condescension after all: A few of the bloggers on the journey to Comic-Con had a word with Ember producer Gary Goetzman, whose Tom Hanks-owned Playtone shingle is also among the interests behind the forever-delayed Where the Wild Things Are. Goetzman assured his interrogators that the troubled Spike Jonze production, which Warners recently pulled off its upcoming release slate, is coming along just fine; those rumors of a lousy performance by young Max Records and Jonze potentially losing the film are "100% untrue." "I think that Warner Bros.' vision and Spike Jonze's vision may be a little different," Goetzman said, also insisting that Jonze retains final cut. "Warner Bros. has no intention of bringing down the hammer on anyone." Here's hoping they can continue this chat on the Wild Things Train to Comic-Con in 2010. [AICN via Vulture]
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By STVComment by itmustbeken: This is going to be a mess. That scene was beyond awful but the large puppets were actually a nice touch. Now... more » | Other threads
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