Computer Generated Imagery, or CGI, is not a new development in the movie industry. In 1973 the first 2D CGI was used in the Yul Brynner movie Westworld.
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Live From Hollywood...
April19
Sony Reportedly in Talks to Join a Bid to Buy Paramount
by Alex Stedman
Sony is reportedly in talks to join a joint bid with investment firm Apollo Global Management to acquire Paramount, according to an article from the New York Times [Thursday].
Per the report, Sony and Apollo Global Management have not yet submitted an official bid, but Sony chief executive Tony Vinciquerra held conversations with the investment firm last week. The terms of the possible bid are still apparently being worked out, but it would essentially offer cash for shares of Paramount, "in effect taking the company private through a joint venture."
The report adds that, if a bid and subsequent acquisition goes through, Sony would likely absorb Paramount's operations and brand it as a label of its own media empire. In addition to Paramount Pictures, the Paramount umbrella includes networks like Nickelodeon, Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central and - perhaps most notably - CBS, as well as Paramount+. In that, Paramount boasts IP like Spongebob Squarepants, Top Gun, Yellowstone, and the Sonic the Hedgehog films.
As Bloomberg, which also reported the news, points out, Sony is the only major entertainment studio without a general streaming service. With that in mind, it's easy to see why Paramount and its vast array of linear TV channels might be appealing for the company.
Today's report comes not long after National Amusements, Paramount's controlling company, signed off on a deal that would merge Paramount with Skydance Media, the production company behind movies like Top Gun: Maverick, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
Hollywood Mourns Participant, the Oscar-Winning Studio that Wanted to Save the World
by Matt Donnelly
End of an era, end of a business model, end of a gravy train, end of the world. There were plenty of mixed emotions this week in response to the closure of Oscar-winning production company Participant, and at the very least the industry has agreed something has come to an end.
When Variety broke the news Tuesday that billionaire Jeff Skoll's 20-year-old company will shut down - after fetching 21 Oscars and introducing a business model that prioritized social impact a bit more than profits – many in the industry were rattled. Not just that mid-level, standalone financier and producer had left the market, but what that means for the viability of movies and TV shows that ask vital questions about justice and the humanity's future.
"The end of Participant Media is devastating news to anyone who cares about documentaries," director Julie Cohen wrote bluntly on X. She's the co-director behind notable nonfiction films like "RBG," "Julia" and "My Name is Pauli Murray." Participant ushered in the era of prestige docs in 2006 with "An Inconvenient Truth," about Al Gore's devotion to climate action, which won the Academy Award for best documentary.
Dozens of industry players mourned the studio in Instagram stories and on group text threads, terrified that Participant's co-productions like "Roma," "Spotlight," "Murderball," "Judas and the Black Messiah" and "Flee" might not get made in a present-day Hollywood obsessed with cost-cutting and mired in a slowed-down streaming revolution.
"It's very sad, but perhaps inevitable," one C-suite Hollywood executive told Variety on the condition of anonymity. The exec, and two other top show business agents, agreed that Participant's output had slowed too dramatically over the pandemic and in the wake of last year's Hollywood labor strikes.
"If you're coming out with one or two movies per year, you'd better blow the roof off like Legendary," one the agents said, referencing the company which financed Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" series and just released the latest hit Godzilla film.
Quentin Tarantino Drops 'The Movie Critic' As His Final Film
Quentin Tarantino at last year's Cannes Film Festival (image courtesy AFP / Getty)
by Justin Kroll
Quentin Tarantino's movies are always full of surprises, and here is one about The Movie Critic we did not expect. Deadline can reveal that Tarantino has dropped the film as his 10th and final project. He simply changed his mind, Deadline has been told.
Tarantino was going to have Brad Pitt as the principal star, which would have marked their third teaming after Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. There were rumors that many from the casts of his past films might take part, and Sony was preparing to make the film after doing such a superb job on the last one.
Word is that Tarantino had rewritten his script, which delayed the start of production. But this is his 10th and final film, and Tarantino simply decided The Movie Critic will not be it.
This is the biggest surprise to Tarantino fans since years back when Deadline revealed he had shelved The Hateful Eight after he gave a small group of actors his script and one of them shared it with their rep. Soon it had been copied and the rough draft was shared all over town and online. Tarantino felt betrayed, but he eventually returned to the project after staging a reading for charity and drawing raves for it.
As for The Movie Critic, originally planned to be his 10th and final film, Tarantino has simply had a change of heart and Deadline hears he will not be moving forward with the project. Sources close to the director said he changed his mind and is going back to the drawing board to figure out what that final movie will be.
Ana de Armas Fans Settle False Advertising Lawsuit Over 'Yesterday' Trailer
Screenshot from original "Yesterday" trailer showing Ana de Armas (image courtesy Universal)
by Tomás Mier
Two men have settled their lawsuit with Universal Pictures following a two-year legal battle after they claimed they were misled into believing Ana de Armas would be in Yesterday because the actress was initially featured in a trailer for the film.
The two men - Peter Michael Rosza and Conor Woulfe - accepted a settlement on Friday, though the terms of the of lawsuit were not disclosed, according to Variety.
The suit, originally filed for false advertisement, unjust enrichment, and violation of unfair competition, noted that "such consumers were not provided with any value for their rental or purchase." The plantiffs said that when they watched the trailer for Yesterday they thought that de Armas played a substantial role in the Beatles-themed romantic comedy, but when they rented it on Amazon Prime for $3.99 each, they discovered that she doesn't show up in the movie.
According to Variety, neither party was happy with the outcome of the lawsuit since Universal believed it spent two years and thousands of dollars on a meaningless lawsuit, while the plaintiffs claimed the California courts favor Hollywood studios.
Back in August, U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson tossed a class action lawsuit, writing that Rosza and Woulfe couldn't pursue their proposed class action because they didn't rely on these alleged misrepresentations when deciding to watch the film. Wilson, however, found that trailers are "commercial speech" and subject to false advertising laws. The class action lawsuit argued that anyone who bought tickets to the movie or rented it had been misled by Universal.
De Armas was cast as a love interest for lead actor Himesh Patel, but her scenes were cut in the final version of the film after test screenings. The trailer very briefly showcased her and Patel on the set of James Corden's talk show. Screenwriter Richard Curtis addressed the cuts in an interview in 2019, saying, "That was a very traumatic cut, because she was brilliant in it."
J.K. Simmons Is a Serial Killer Stalking His Next Victim in 'You Can't Run Forever' Trailer
by Samantha Bergeson
Do not mess with J.K. Simmons.
The Academy Award winner leads action film "You Can't Run Forever," which is directed by his wife Michelle Schumacher, who co-wrote the script with Carolyn Carpenter. Schumacher and Simmons previously collaborated on feature film "I'm Not Here."
"You Can't Run Forever" follows Miranda, a young woman suffering from acute anxiety due to a past tragedy. Well, Miranda faces a new terror when a serial killer (Simmons) chooses her as his new target, the logline reads. "In a harrowing hunt through the woods, Miranda finds strength she never knew she had as she tries to elude her murderous tracker."
Fernanda Urrejola, Allen Leech, Isabelle Anaya, Graham Patrick Martin, and Olivia Simmons, the daughter of J.K. Simmons and Michelle Schumacher, co-star in the thriller. Michelle Schumacher's brother Randle Schumacher produces the film.
J.K. Simmons previously told IndieWire that his collaborations with wife Schumacher was a necessary, logical, and enjoyable step in his career.
"I have been in a position to be able to pick and choose for quite a while now," Simmons said. "It's just fortunately coincided with the times when our kids were born, and family life was the most important thing. Our whole family is involved. Her brother is the producer, our daughter is in the film, our son is currently working on scoring the film. Now it's the ideal combination of work time blended with family time - it doesn't get much better than that."
Box Office: Alex Garland's 'Civil War' Opens No. 1 With History-Making $25.7M for A24
Kirsten Dunst in Alex Garland's "Civil War" (image courtesy A24)
by Pamela McClintock
Alex Garland's dystopian action movie Civil War conquered the domestic box office this weekend with $25.7 million, ahead of expectations and scoring A24's biggest opening ever.
The $50 million movie about a divided America is a big swing for A24 as it tries to produce bigger movies, marking its most expensive production to date.
There are clearly split feelings about the film. Moviegoers only bestowed it with a B- CinemaScore, while PostTrack exits were mixed. Overall, more than two-thirds of the audience was male. Imax runs are a boon for the movie, and are turning in 48 percent of the gross.
The story follows a wartime photojournalist (Kirsten Dunst) and her colleagues as they make their way across a hostile United States of America that has been torn apart under the authoritarian rule of a three-term president (Nick Offerman).
Yet the film shies away from red state/blue state divisions, and the politics behind the conflict are generally left unexplained, other than to say that one of the president's first actions was to disband the FBI in an apparent nod to former President Donald Trump, who has called to "defund" the Bureau.
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With males flocking to see Civil War, Dev Patel's action-laden pic Monkey Man met an unhappy fate in tumbling to No. 6 or No. 7 in only its second weekend, coming behind Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (No. 2, $15.4 million), Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (No. 3, $14 million-plus) and all but tying withDune: Part Two, with around $14 million each.
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