Hollywood New Media Copyright Deal

News reports say Microsoft, Walt Disney Co., CBS and other technology and media companies agreed on principle to prevent the unauthorized use of copyrighted videos by Internet users. walt-disney-logo-corporate.jpgThe companies said in a statement today they agreed to use technology that eliminates files posted on Web sites without permission. The group also agreed to identify and remove links to sites that are mostly using content without permission, develop ways to promptly address claims that content was blocked in error, and promote legitimate online services. cbscorplogo.jpgThis is all part of the effort by media companies seeking to increase revenue from online advertising to step up efforts to prevent Web sites they don't own from using unauthorized content. GE's NBC Universal unit, News Corp's Fox and MySpace units, Viacom Inc., Veoh Networks Inc and Dailymotion SA support the initiative. But not Google, which is being sued by Viacom for copyright infringement on its YouTube video-sharing site. To avoid additional lawsuits, Google introduced this week a technology that flags clips posted by YouTube users who don't have copyrights on the content.

News Corp Re-Signs MySpace Founders

dewolfe_anderson.jpgSo MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson have agreed to a new contract with News Corp after waging a very aggressive (some would term it rather fanciful) compensation proposal to owner News Corp. I reported back in June they were asking Peter Chernin and Rupert Murdoch for a 2-year deal worth $50 million total. That comes out to $25 million each, or $12.5 million a year. Plus, the pair want a development fund of $15 million to invest in internet companies. Even though MySpace is probably the most integral part of News Corp's overall corporate strategy, no one had obviously told DeWolfe or Anderson that News Corp is also one of the cheapest companies on earth when it comes to executive compensation. They know it now. I'm not yet privy to the particulars of the new contract, cherninmurdoch.jpgbut I was told by News Corp insiders back then that the chances of DeWolfe and Anderson getting what they wanted pay-wise was "slim to none" and "highly unlikely". I understood News Corp countered with an offer of $15 million each spread over 2 years --- still more than every suit at News Corp except Ailes. Rupe also gave the duo equity in MySpace China, so they already got a deal unlike anyone else's. See my previous, MySpace Pair Looking To Loot News Corp

Morgan Stanley Dumps NY Times Stake

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So this is what happens on Wall Street when the boys get angry with media stocks: they take back their toys and stomp off. Bloomberg is reporting that Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest shareholder in New York Times Co., sold its entire 7.3% stake today, sending the stock to its lowest price in more than 10 years. This extreme move follows an unsuccessful 2 1/2-year challenge by Hassan Elmasry of Morgan Stanley Investment Management to the Sulzberger family's control of the newspaper empire. pinchsulzberger.jpg(This guy has really been a thorn in Pinch's side in particular.) The clan utilizes a super-voting stock that allows them to appoint nine of the company's 13 directors. Elmasry helped convince shareholders owning 42% of the company to withhold support for directors at the publisher's April annual meeting. The Morgan Stanley stock sale hasn't been made public yet, but Bloomberg said a $183 million block trade of 10 million New York Times shares took place this morning. At one point in today's trading, the stock price fell as low as $18.24, a level not seen since January 1997. Other newspaper stocks are also trading at 10-year lows because of the loss of advertising to new media and the decline in classified ads linked to tumbling housing sales. The New York Times Co reports third-quarter results on October 23.

SHOCKER: Is Writers Strike Now Averted?

Not just at the Writers Guild of America but all over Hollywood today a deep sigh of relief resounded when the news broke that the movie studios strikelogo.JPGand TV networks withdrew the proposal to let them recoup certain costs before making residual payments. This huge concession occurred one day after the trades were filled with pessimism because the WGA's new hardline strike rules had resulted in a declaration of war from the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers president Nick Counter.

amptp_logo_new.jpgThis is exactly why I have been delaying any posting of strike news until today. Because there's been so much huffing, and puffing, and most of all bluffing going on that it's been near impossible to get a real sense of where things stood. You can't believe the posturing from the WGA side, just as you can't believe anything said by Counter. The truth lies in the executive suites and palatial homes of the top Hollywood moguls, who have been letting their labor lackeys keep track of the negotiations to date and don't even have a meeting planned amongst themselves for another week. Let's not mince words: They're the ones who are really going to decide if this strike gets averted, and we all know it. And today's news means that's increasingly likely.

toiletlew.JPGJeez, I'm sick to death of hearing the Hollywood bigwigs repeat that old saw about residuals supposedly said by Lew Wasserman to the effect that "My plumber doesn't charge me every time I flush the toilet".  Yeah, and years ago a lot more screenwriters in the motion picture business were regularly employed than, say, the Top 25 working today. Go back and read my Screenwriters In The Shit column in LA Weekly from a year ago to know just how horrible things are out there for formerly successful scribblers. They're selling the family home, taking kids out of private school, moving out of Los Angeles because their film careers are over. For these so-called schmucks with Underwoods, residuals are keeping the mortgage paid and food on the table. The same is true, of course, for writers in television. Which is why any change in the formula for sharing profit from homevideos and television reruns and pay television between the writers and producers became a huge sticking point in the contract talks with that October 31st deadline fast approaching and a strike authorization pending. Now, the AMPTP expects the guild to dump its demand for doubling DVD residuals in exchange for at most a mild cost-of-living increase adjusted for inflation. Finally, there's progress.

new-media.jpgRemaining issues that need to be ironed out for the 12,000-member Writers Guild include New Media compensation. Look, that's a fairly simple one to solve. Since nobody yet has a handle on how much money the Internet, mobile phones and the next tech and toys will yield, create a blue-ribbon panel to study the matter. Let it report back in two years' time when all the guessing finally firms into realistic estimates. Then fight it out.

Finally, the studios and networks need to do something bold to get the guilds off their backs and stem a revolutionary revamp of residuals and New Media payments. Producers need to help the WGA's and SAG's eroding health care plans by bumping up contributions or finding some financing mechanism to shore up benefits.  

Don't get me wrong. The moguls are now ready for a strike, even though the WGA's quick-on-the-draw timing to cripple TV pilot season and next year's movies did catch the studios and networks by surprise. The majors are quietly announcing no more overtime as well as hiring freezes, which are expanded to include no more temps, contractors, or consultants (excluding those approved in conjunction with capital projects). And producers have started making quiet calls to convince certain writers to finish scripts or start new ones as "consultants". Others in Hollywood are tightening their belts as well. Agencies are cutting expenses even deeper and warning secretaries and assistants there could be layoffs or a total shutdown. mrfreeze.jpgSome tenpercenteries are even bandying about that dreaded term "force majeure" to avoid having to pay agents if a long strike drags on and on. And all the ancillary businesses that depend on Hollywood will be hurt; they'll disappear altogether or get bought out at bargain prices.

Finally, I don't care if the moguls don't want Warner Bros' Barry Meyer or News Corp's Peter Chernin, both of whom have taken a clear leadership role behind the scenes, to drag them out of the muck and mire. I don't care if the producers don't want to take up Jeffrey Katzenberg's offer to play the hero. (Heck, he's got to find something challenging to occupy his time since DreamWorks Animation only makes at most two films a year.) I don't even care if the moguls call in that Republican louse Arnold Schwarzenegger to mediate with the guilds. (After all, Hollywood Democrats contributed to his re-election campaign. It's time to call in a favor.) All I care is that no strike happens. Because I'll fucking lose my mind if I have to post a labor story daily starting October 31st. That I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

Chinese Films Made For Chinese Market

woo.jpgBloomberg has a must-read story all about how Hong Kong's movie industry is booming again. Thanks to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc, which together are bankrolling Hong Kong filmmakers to tap the Chinese market which should grow 30% annually over the next decade. Several other film funds have started on the mainland with American and other money to produce movies also aimed at the Chinese market. China's box-office receipts jumped by a third to $349 million last year, and sales will continue to rise as theaters open in smaller cities. "I believe in Chinese cinema,'' director John Woo is quoted as saying. "Expect great movies from China and Hong Kong in the years ahead."

CBS Re-Ups Les Moonves Through 2011

moonves12.jpgToday's news that CBS Inc has extended CEO Les Moonves' contract through September 2011 has set off a spate of rumors that Sumner Redstone will resign soon. I find that hard to believe since the old coot keeps claiming at age 84 he'll live forever and they'll have to carry him out of his Viacom office feet first. Or was it that people merely misinterpreted the headline saying "Redstone Re-Signs Moonves"?

cbscorporation_logo.gifRedstone is linking Les' compensation to stock performance. Moonves gets an option to buy 5 million CBS shares over four years. He'll also receive $7.6 million a year in restricted stock. Moonves's salary rises to $3.5 million a year from $3 million, excluding $2.9 million in deferred pay. CBS is also providing Moonves with unspecified incentives to stay with the company beyond his employment contact. Moonves has overseen a 22% rise in CBS shares since the company split from Viacom in January 2006. CBS has more than tripled the quarterly dividend to $.25 a share from $.07 and repurchased at least $3.1 billion of stock.

Moonves' new contract comes after Redstone cut his own salary and linked his total pay to the stock price at Viacom Inc. CBS rose 7 cents to $29.36 at 4:17 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have fallen 5.8% this year.

CAA's Latest Pricey Menu Offering: Itself

caa1.jpgOver-extended CAA is fishing for capital. I'm told the talent agency is putting on dog and pony shows for venture capitalists at its Century City mausoleum and asking whether they're interested in buying a piece of CAA for their very own. This is the direct result of the cash crunch at CAA I've been reporting for many months now. Now I understand why that Fortune magazine article went only a millimeter deep about problems at the agency; it clearly was a prospectus for CAA and should have been labeled as such. Only problem is, I doubt the inexperienced reporter even knew he was being played. caa.bmpWhereas Fortune assistant managing editor John Brodie has been Hollywood's (and CAA's) official publicist -- actually, more like apologist -- since his incompetent Variety days. Still, I'm amazed not only that CAA's partners have spent themselves into such a humiliating position as to need financial backers, but that they have the chutzpah to solicit the suckers within weeks of an inevitable strike. 

craft.jpgOf course, if the red ink continues to flow, CAA might think about further raising the already obscene prices at Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio's new in-house eatery Craft whose menu is all a la carte. On the one hand, CAA agents can no longer fly first class. On the other, they can waste $88 on the Wagyu 12 oz. rib-eye steak, $96 on a 6 oz Wagyu sirloin, and $92 on roasted and braised baby lamb. Did I mention that even the side dish of assorted mushrooms is $21? But only the best for our Bryan. (After all, Lourd fathered Craft's $8 million arrival here with the Trammell Crow real estate developers. All so that stars can sneak in through the kitchen to the specially reserved rear booth...) Because of the price revulsion, Craft finally introduced two sandwiches and a prix fixe $38 three course meal at lunch. So I can't understand why Endeavor's Ari Emanuel would allow himself to be seen there.

patrickwhitesell.JPGAnd, finally, the rumor du jour has it that Endeavor's Patrick Whitesell is in the midst of trying to seduce CAA agent Brandt Joel to jump. Wagging tongues say the main sticking point is that Joel can't be certain of which clients would follow him. Yet an Endeavor source insists to me the rumor is not true and may have started because Whitesell and Joel are good friends. "But they keep business separate,"  I'm told.

UPDATED: I hear motion picture lit agent Michael Peretzian is leaving CAA. He reps Anthony Minghella, Peter Hedges, John Madden, Christopher Hampton, Nick Hytner, Richard Eyre

Would 'Halo' Have Been A Film Flop Or Fab Franchise? One Expert Analyzes...

halo3b.jpgHigh time to look at the nexus of Hollywood and Halo 3. So I defer to video game biz expert Keith Boesky, who today wonders whether last week's Biggest Entertainment Day In History -- i.e. the launch of Halo 3 -- could jumpstart the stalled Halo film franchise. (When last I checked, Universal & Fox were fighting over Halo development money.) Why listen to Boesky? He's the former Eidos Interactive president turned video game agent whose Boesky & Company closes more gaming development deals than any other agency in the world and whose client list includes the Robert Ludlum estate, Clive Barker, Spark Unlimited, Liquid Entertainment and GDH. Boesky runs the numbers and compares Halo 3 The Game to Spidey 3 The Movie. What he finds may surprise you:

"Even though the media trumpeted how the launch of Halo 3 was the largest single day financial event in entertainment history, the articles fail to address how much larger. The retail vs. box office numbers show revenue for first day sales of Halo was about 13% higher than Spider-Man 3, this year's biggest movie opening weekend. This is pretty cool. However, when you compare the bottom lines, it is beyond pretty cool. It is really f'ing cool and cannot even be touched by the movie business. When you consider the nearly 50% audience growth over Halo 2 despite a nearly 50% smaller installed console base, it is even more incredible. Even Steve Jobs has to be eyeing those margins...

"We know that Spider-Man 3 had an opening weekend of $151,116,516 and a total gross of $336,530,303. Considering the average price of $6.58 for the film, roughly 23 million tickets were sold opening weekend, or, roughly 5 1/2 times the number of Halo 3 purchasers. This would render Halo very uninteresting if the Halo consumer didn't spend a little more than 9 times as much on the product...

"We can assume Sony received 90% of the rental from the opening weekend for Spider-Man 3. This would equate to return of $136,004,864. Relative to the gross national product of many countries that is a lot of money, but relative to the $270 million production cost (that's if we accept Sony's number; some say it is well over $300 million) and $100 million plus of marketing, they have a long way to go before the investment is recouped. It is even longer when you consider the first-dollar gross participants who get a piece of the revenue even before the studio recoups. Sure, this is the launch of a 20+ year equity, and sure there are trailing revenue streams, but those revenue streams are now factored in to support the production cost. These ancillary revenue streams are no longer a windfall...

"Now take a look at Halo 3. The projected retail revenue for the first week of release is $252,000,000. Microsoft will sell the game for a wholesale price of $49.99 (I know there are special editions out there, but I am keeping the single price). They will likely not deduct the technology license fee, which is otherwise paid by third party publishers, and likely have some pretty good manufacturing discounts based on their scale. Moreover, they own Bungie, so there is likely no per unit royalty paid to the developer or for the IP (Does anyone remember that Microsoft bought Halo from Take Two for $4 million?) A generous characterization of manufacturing expenses, and factoring in a 15% return allowance, would indicate that Microsoft would take roughly $40 to the bottom line, roughly, $168,000,000. Even assuming a ridiculously expensive production and marketing budget, Microsoft is still more than $100 million into profit at launch. Realizing that Halo 3 sales will likely continue at full price for a long time, sales could easily hit 10 million units, or $400 million in revenue to Microsoft. After all, Halo 2 sold 7.5 million copies in the first six weeks. The Halo bottom line revenue and potential profit could exceed the box office of Spider-Man 3's entire domestic run...

"Oh yeah, and there are all those other opportunities for ancillary revenue like novelization, action figures, graphic novels, related merchandise, they are all there, contributing incremental revenue. There is even a film. Most of the articles are reporting the film is dead...but is it?...

"Hollywood cannot ignore something that makes this much money. They will not look at the audience size; they will see the numbers and immediately start discussing the Halo film. But it would be only marginally less relevant to discuss Halo's impact on the cure for cancer. The film died last year when the projected budget for the already expensive acquisition was much more than Fox and Universal were willing to spend. A film greenlighting decision is about risk mitigation, and the audience for Halo, even with Peter Jackson's involvement, is simply not big enough to justify the expenditure--especially when the lead character wears a mask most of the movie...

"While the 4.2 million units equate to major profit for Microsoft, that same audience would amount to major failure for Fox and Universal. If each of the roughly 11 million Xbox 360 owners buys two tickets to the film, it is still a bust. Of course, a film would be made to appeal to a larger audience, but despite best intentions, that rarely happens. Absent a significant leap of faith, or hubris, Halo may never be a film. For Halo fans, that could be a good thing. It could even be a good thing for Microsoft. Games are a stand-alone medium. Financially, compared to film, they are a much better one."

Abu Dhabi Shows Warner Bros The Money

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Lore has it that, if a sucker is born every minute, all eventually land in Hollywood. After exhausting the German dentist money, then the American tycoon scion money, then the Greenwich hedge fund money, now Tinseltown is exploiting the Abu Dhabi real estate money. warnerbroslogo-200.jpgWarner Bros announced today a "long-term, multi-faceted strategic alliance" calling for a theme park, hotel, multiplex cinemas and joint fund to finance films, develop video games, and build out the infrastructure for Abu Dhabi's new media. UPDATE: I'm told this is a multibillion dollar deal, with the film and video game funds alone worth $500 million each. The Warner pact is with Abu Dhabi’s leading real estate developer ALDAR and the newly established Abu Dhabi Media Company. According to the studio's PR, the deal was unveiled today by Barry Meyer and Alan Horn with Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Chairman and Ronald Barrott, CEO, ALDAR; Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Chairman and Riyad Al Mubarak, CEO, Abu Dhabi Media Co.; and Hunt Lowry, who brought the two parties together and will serve as the CEO of the yet-to-be-named film company formed by this venture. For the hotel and theme park project, Warner Bros. Entertainment will draw on select properties from its live-action and animated libraries to provide themes for the overall project as well as individual attractions. The film production fund, a 50-50 venture, calls for the development and production of broad-appeal films, with Warner Bros. retaining worldwide distribution options/rights. Separate from this arrangement, Warner Bros. Pictures International will work with Abu Dhabi Media Company to develop and produce a slate of Arabic-language films for local and pan-Arabic distribution.

The Dog Ate New Line's Balance Sheets...

new-line.jpgWhat a scumbag studio New Line Cinema is turning out to be. Because of this nugget buried in that legal victory which Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson just won during the discovery phase of his 2005 lawsuit to enforce the audit provision of his contract: Back in October 2006, New Line's counsel produced only "one third of a box" of audit documents for Jackson's discovery process and claimed that's all there was. This, even though Jackson's side had requested communications and documents from profit participant audits on any New Line property: film, television, sound tracks or video games. peterjackson.jpgBut, in a deposition, New Line auditor Ken Horowitz described five to 10 cabinets filled with audit records. (I haven't seen discovery this egregious since the Disney vs Slesinger Winnie The Pooh royalty case.) The federal magistrate on September 18th blasted New Line's "persistent disregard" of not just the U.S. District Court's discovery orders, but Jackson's right to documents "that the court has already determined are relevant to the claims and defenses in this action. Without the true facts, there can be no just result." The magistrate sanctioned New Line $125,000 and ordered the studio to produce all third-party audits, as well as any internal audits of licensees from The Fellowship Of The Ring, the first in the Rings trilogy which grossed nearly $3 billion at the worldwide box office. A week earlier, the court refused to grant 8 out of 11 summary judgments that New Line had brought in the case. The great irony here is that, while New Line and Jackson litigate, the two sides continue to work on a diplomatic track to solve their differences. "The ice is thawing, meaning the first focus is on having consistent civil dialogue," an insider tells me. "They're not near a settlement yet, but there is dialogue." Yet I have to ask: how can anyone negotiate with prick Bob Shaye? A source concurs: "A PR picture is beginning to be painted, not by Peter's side, but by the courts."

  1. Bob Shaye's Mea Culpa Too Little Too Late
  2. It's Official! Carlisle To New Line
  3. Is This Russell's New Line Replacement?
  4. Another Reason Why Bob Shaye Is A Prick
  5. Bob Shaye Looks Like Even Bigger Idiot...
  6. Studios To Fight Over Unusual Peter Jackson Pic Deal (But Not New Line) 
  7. Bombs Away: Shaye's 'Mimzy' Tracking 0
  8. Peter Jackson Answers Lord Of The Rants

Is Endeavor Playing Into IMG's Hands?

The story behind the story of the Ari Emanuel-brokered move by the scandal plagued ex-HBO head Chris Albrecht to IMG is that it conceivably puts the Endeavor talent agency in play again. endeavor-ari.JPGA lot of speculation is sizzling around Hollywood that Ari could finally broker a deal for Endeavor to cash out or bulk up now that his big buddy has that big job as head of the global media unit at the sports /fashion /entertainment /media marketing and management giant. (See my Ari Emanuel Defends Fired Chris Albrecht.) No one here has forgotten that, back in 2004, the ink wasn't even dry on private equity firm Forstmann Little's $750 mil acquisition of IMG when financier Teddy Forstmann and Emanuel held talks about acquiring or investing in the 12-year-old boutique talent agency. Nor is it a secret that Endeavor for some time has been considering some kind of merger while Forstmann has been scouting a Tinseltown deal. After all, Albrecht will also be a special limited partner in Forstmann Little and he and Teddy will raise a $250 million fund for investments in media and entertainment content. I'm told that after Albrecht was pushed from HBO last May, Emanuel called Forstmann, the chairman of IMG, to set up a meeting inside of a month. imgalbrecht.JPG"They actually had their lunch at Wimbledon," an insider told me. (IMG does business with major tennis stars: HBO used to broadcast the major tourney.) So Emanuel's yearly attendance at Teddy's's heavyweight economic and political Aspen get-together may finally pay off. Less well known than "Camp Allen" which is Allen & Co's summer investment conference for corporate plutocrats in Sun Valley, "Camp Forstmann" every September features heads of state, tycoons, and entertainers discuss the pressing matters of the day inbetween hiking and golfing. But unlike Camp Allen which gets plenty of publicity, Camp Forstmann's organizers refuse to even confirm the event exists. (Which no doubt is why its attendees last year included Iraqi President Jalai Talabani and other security nightmares.) As it happens, Camp Forstmann is coming up: I've learned it will be held during the last week in September headquartered at the base of Aspen Mountain in the St. Regis Resort.

  1. UPDATE: Endeavor Cutting 25% Of Clients
  2. HBO Needs To Wise Up, Or Get Whacked
  3. Now Rumors Begin What Chris'll Do Next
  4. Ari Emanuel Defends Fired Chris Albrecht
  5. HKO'ed! Scandal-Plagued Chris Albrecht Dumped Before TW Shareholders Meeting
  6. Chris Albrecht Blames Alcohol & Takes Leave From HBO After Las Vegas Arrest
  7. What Happens In HBO, Stays In HBO... But Should It? 

Putting Summer 2007 On The Couch...

Hollywood has no institutional memory. One of the reasons that the vast majority of its execs aren’t in therapy, and should be, is because they don’t want to talk about the past even if it’s prologue. They’re purposefully amnesiac. Otherwise, they’d have to confront the lunatic decisions they make over and over again (since repeating the same behavior and expecting different results is one definition of insanity). Which is why I want to revisit Summer 2007 whose $4.18 billion worth of threequels and blockbusters smashed the May 1st through Labor Day domestic box office gross record. (Not adjusted for inflation or ticket prices, however, which is why Hollywood stats have as many asterisks these days as does baseball.) It’s not that Hollywood denizens started doing everything right. It’s more like they just started doing less things wrong. The product is still terrible. The process is still tainted. The system is still broken. Feed it with praise and its players will never engage in the introspection necessary to ask, “What the hell are we doing even playing this rotten game?” So let me review what Hollywood learned during its summer vacation:

Don’t make threequels with cast and director intact: So the first Spider-Man and Pirates Of The Caribbean and Rush Hour were humongous hits. And the sequels made even more moolah than the originals primarily because original stars Tobey Maguire, Johnny Depp and Chris Tucker were on board as well as repeat helmers Sam Raimi, Gore Verbinski and, yes, even Brett Ratner. samraimi.jpgThe consistency certainly helped make the pics into profitable franchises in the first place. But by the time the threequels rolled around, the budgets became as bloated as the talent's salaries. Chris Tucker shook down New Line for a new pay record on Rush Hour 3, while Brett Ratner brought the studio to its knees when he went wildly overbudget. And both Spidey 3 and Pirates 3 broke the $300 mil cost barrier not counting marketing costs. Then again, directors Raimi and Verbinski respectively were allowed to do pretty much anything they wanted, even making absurdly ass-numbingly long pics, because the studios were so desperate to keep the franchises going. No one wants to get off the gravy train, but if the fourquels are ever going to see the light of day, hire hungrier helmers whom the studios can more easily bludgeon into obedience and/or hotter younger stars to freshen the franchises.

Don’t make expensive comedies: The whole point of greenlighting laughers is supposed to be because they’re cheap. They’re the K-Mart of motion pictures, not the Neiman Marcus (aka Needless Mark-Up). Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up cost only $30 mil. His Superbad was only $20 mil. tomjesus.JPGConstrast that to Evan Almighty’s $210 mil. If a comedy has to rely on CGI for humor instead of spittakes and pratfalls, don’t make that script.

Don’t go after the religious market: There’s no surer guarantee of box office disaster than to make a movie aimed at appealing to The Passion Of The Christ audience. Look, that pic evolved from Mel Gibson’s deeply felt religious beliefs – not from a pitch meeting. Universal moguls dragged out every trick in the Christian playbook to Hail Mary make and market Evan Almighty's tired Noah’s Ark retelling. But the Passion crowd wants stories based on the New Testament. Heathen Hollywood didn’t comprehend that.

chef_remy.jpgDon’t forget that the toys are more important than the toons: Granted, summer kiddie matinees are one of Hollywood’s most profitable traditions. But Sony still lost $50 mil on its underperforming Surf’s Up animated pic this summer. Then again, Pixar films have lost their magic and each keeps earning less than the previous one. At least last summer’s Cars was a merchandising bonanza. Not so with this summer’s Ratatouille because even Disney can't market a kitchen rat. I still don’t understand why Remy wasn’t transformed into Lucy Lapin or Gary Grenouille.

Don’t expect niche audience pics to gross over $200 mil: One of the reasons so many tentpoles did so well this summer is that they appealed simultaneously to several generations of moviegoers. Of course, wide demos went to see Spidey 3 and Pirates 3 and Shrek The Third. But also Transformers whose toys and toons were first introduced back in 1984. So not only did today’s tykes, tweens and teens want to see the bots battle, but so did guys in their 20s and 30s and 40s for whom nostalgia was the big draw.

Don’t bank on stale mythologies: Just as 300 breathed new life into tiresome toga tales, so did Pirates of the Caribbean provide a fresh take on what long hair, eye makeup and nice jewelry can do for a guy at sea. elianimation.gifThis summer’s handful of original pics helped reinvent the anti-hero, whether robots or Seth Rogan or EPA head Russ Cargill. Of course, I keep waiting in vain for comic book films to flop, but then I don’t do geek.

Don’t think the public wants torture porn: Gore icon Eli Roth is blaming piracy and critics for his Hostel Part II’s lousy box office, warning that the R-rated horror film is in serious jeopardy. But he got it all wrong even before the summer started when he wished in interviews that "hopefully we'll get to a point where there are absolutely no restrictions on any kind of violence in movies”. Horror flicks are alive and well as long as they don’t venture into torture porn hell. Problem is, Hollywood filmmakers are such an inbred bunch that they make films more for each other than for the audience so they always want to push the boundaries set by their rivals. In the case of torture porn, don’t. It’s icky.

joliepearl.jpgDon’t believe in summer counterprogramming: The chances were nil that an adult-oriented downer movie like A Mighty Heart could do well, especially when sexy star Angelina Jolie dresses down and dons a horrible wig, if the alternatives at the megaplex are super robots, super heroes and super sperm. Talk about idiocy. Release those small, important, politically-themed Oscar hopeful films in the fall.

Don’t make chick flicks that even chicks won’t go to see: When I saw the ads for Evening and Georgia Rule and No Reservations and Lucky You, I gagged. Hey, I love a good romance,. But don’t stretch credulity and cast a real-life glamour gal like Catherine Zeta-Jones as a working single mother with boyfriend problems.

Don’t make movies starring Lindsay Lohan: This summer provided proof her act has worn thin. Moviegoers gave an "F" to Lindsay Lohan's horror flick I Know Who Killed Me. lindsaylohan.jpgAnd 70-year-old Jane Fonda beat the 20-year-old head-to-head at the box office while starring in the same movie when exit polls showed 53% of the audience for Georgia Rule went to see Jane Fonda (even though she was channeling her father Henry), and only 34% went to see Lindsay Lohan (whose price quote sank by half after this summer).

Don’t make commercial movies with Nicole Kidman: When John Cusack can open a horror film (1408), and Nicole can’t (The Invasion), this actress has officially become box office poison. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Nicole should be paying film companies to hire her, not the other way around. I don’t care if she can act: she’s the female equivalent of Sean Penn. Let her finance her own films from now on.

Don’t think you can skate with a lousy trailer: Ads will always be the bedrock of a movie’s marketing campaign, and they’ve never been more important because of all the competition and clutter. Rush Hour 3 and I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry would have been stillborn had it not been for summer trailers funnier than the pics themselves. Stardust and Balls of Fury had terrible trailers and were flops at the box office.

judd_apatow.jpgDon’t forget that Judd Apatow is officially now a mogul: More bowing and scraping to him is therefore called for. And a bigger bonus than the $1 mil Universal forked over. I hear Amy Pascal is serious about having Sony buy him his own country.

Don’t expect the international box office to save Hollywood summers forever: Yeah, French and Russian TV sucks worse than NBC. But one of these days, and probably sooner rather than later, entertainment choices in Bolivia and Bahrain will become as myriad as those in the U.S., and foreigners will find better ways to amuse themselves than sitting through American crap like Daddy Day Camp.

Harry Potter Biggest Film Franchise Ever!

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With the success of this summer's Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix, Warner Bros announced today that its five Harry Potter films have combined to become the top-grossing film franchise worldwide in history. It surpasses even the box office total of all 22 James Bond and 6 Star Wars franchises, with two films yet to come -- Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallowshp5a1.jpgThe combined worldwide box office gross for the five Harry Potter films to date is in excess of $4.47 billion even as The Order Of The Phoenix is still going strong in theaters around the globe. In addition to holding the franchise box office record, all five of the Harry Potter films are among the 20 top-grossing box office hits of all time. The next Harry Potter film, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, will open on November 21, 2008. The seventh and final film, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, is planned for a 2010 release. None of this comes as much of a surprise since the Harry Potter films have truly been a cut above in terms of production and casting with perfect plotting provided by J.K. Rowling. Still, the studio should be congratulated for keeping up the quality. And Warner Bros Entertainment and Universal Orlando Resort have "The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter" coming to Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park in late 2009.   

David Geffen NOT Selling Warner Estate

geffenestate.jpgI can tell you that David Geffen is denying a throwaway line inside a Wall Street Journal article today about big ticket homes for sale claiming that he "has quietly shopped his historic 9.4-acre Los Angeles estate for $100 million, according to a broker who has shown the property". Indeed, sources tell me that Geffen turns down offers, including those in excess of $100 mil, all the time for the famed Beverly Hills mansion that was formerly owned by Hollywood mogul Jack Warner in the 1930s. Geffen purchased it for $47.5 mil and spent another $45 million renovating it, including $20 million on landscaping. (As one journalist wrote, "He may be the only mogul who has ever made Xanadu smaller.) Since Geffen has owned it, the house has played a pivotal role in the charitable and political life of Los Angeles: the mansion that Bill Clinton stayed in has most recently been used for Barack Obama's fundraising.

Death Deal For Tribune Pensions OKayed

News reports say Tribune Co shareholders today formally voted to approve an $8.2 billion plan to take the company private. The company said 97% of the shares cast OKed the $34-a-share buyout led by a group that includes Chicago real estate tycoon Sam Zell. Half the company's shares were already bought back at the $34 price. Wall Street is liking this deal less and less, and Tribune stock fell below $26 in last week's rdownturn. tribdeal1.JPGAs to questions whether the funding will remain in place, chief executive Dennis FitzSimons told shareholders the buyout accord has a "tightly written" clause governing any pullout by the financing group that's based on adverse developments in the newspaper industry as a whole, rather than just at Tribune. Because of that, FitzSimons said, "we don't anticipate, nor do our financing sources anticipate, an invocation of that clause." FitzSimons reiterated that Tribune expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter, pending approval by federal regulators, and he added that Tribune's isn't planning to shed any newspaper assets as part of the buyout. Today's stock price is right near $28. Meanwhile, I still say that Tribune's 20,000 employees including those at the Los Angeles Times will get screwed by the Zell/ESOP plan which depends upon cash flow results to pay down the massive debt.