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April 14, 2008
Turn Out The Lights, The New Line's Over...
Today was the day. Variety ran the story first, at 3:30p.
Is there really anything more to say?
They're going to squeeze out a few summer movies - not the ones that Time-Warner sees real potential for - and anyone with a contract (and a few people managed to re-up just before the bloodletting began) will either run the string out at the Robertson offices, at home, or in reassignment to what is sure to be a less-than-thrilled-to-see-them Burbank.
New Line will never be New LIne without Shaye and Lynne. And that's fine. Old, rich, and able to get over their short-term embarrassment, I'm sure.
And so it goes... tears already shed.
It's been that kind of year. Fox Atomic... IFC theatrical... Sidney Kimmel...HD-DVD... and dead or dying, with more bodies to drop. Speaking of which, there is some buzz growing that Picturehouse - unmentioned in today's NL announcements - is not in as good a place with Time-Warner parents as they thought... take that with a big grain of salt, but take it as balance...
My biggest hope is that with New Line clearing out, someone will take this opportunity to knock down that eye sore of a 1968-style building on Robertson and without building a monstrosity, putting something worth looking at in its place.
Posted by poland at April 14, 2008 06:04 PM
Comments
BOOGIE NIGHTS = LEX'S 2ND FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME. (After THE SHINING.)
R.I.P. LINE.
Posted by: LexG
at April 14, 2008 10:53 PM
i remember attending the ny junket for 'married to it' back in the very early '90s amidst rumors that orion was about to fold (and they did less than a week later).....last weeks junket for 'harold & kumar 2' had much the same vibe.... very sad, this...(and kind of a shame they had to go out on 'h&k2')......
Posted by: scooterzz
at April 14, 2008 11:31 PM
ORION 4 LIFE.
I miss their gloomy gray sheen with the eggnog flesh tones. To this day, you can retroactively tell an ORION MOVIE by their STUDIO SHEEN.
CADILLAC MAN, ORION.
LOST ANGELS, ORION.
COLORS, ORION.
BULL DURHAM, ORION.
MARRIED TO THE MOB, totally fucking ORION.
YEP YEP BLUE SKY AND THE FAVOR ORION SWAN SONG KNOW IT.
Posted by: LexG
at April 15, 2008 12:31 AM
Too bad, and looking at DP's 'death list' up there it's really a lot more depressing, to me at least, than I think he's giving it credit for. I know David is usually all 'whatever' (sorry, I mean 'what else is there to say') about companies folding and businesses not working out and people losing their jobs while the powers that be retire in comfort, but...yeah.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at April 15, 2008 12:59 AM
If Warner Bros doesn't see potential in the Sex and the City movie, they need to give up the movie game... seriously... I strongly believe that movie will be this year's "Devil Wears Prada"/"Hairspray"
Posted by: EDouglas
at April 15, 2008 04:48 AM
You know, J-Mc... f*** off on that.
I actually deal with all of these people who are losing their jobs and dealing with their futures week after week, year after year. I have made a concious decision NOT to be in the business of reporting who is about to die because it has been too damned ugly. You stand on death watch at Paramount for years and then you tell me how blase' you are.
And the list, pal, is a lot longer than the one I offered, but many of them are still walking dead and me running their company on that list would do nothing but cause aggravation inside of their offices... for no reason other than for me to be clever and show how much I know. If it doesn't move the story forward, I'm not running that kind of stuff... I don't need to have "toldja" anything.
Why this situation is "what else is there to say" in this case because I already reported all of this and this is just the other foot dropping. You want to know who is leaving what week and who is getting what job at WB? Believe me, you won't give two shits about those individuals next week and again, writing about it publicly makes the transition harder.
Finally, the "comfortable" here are not only the two retirees... because there are only two. And only one of them is likely to take a seriously retired position in future.
You have something to say about everything, J-Mc. But you really need to consider whether you know what you are tlaking about - as opposed to simply having an opposing view - before you start throwing around your ideas of what others think.
I appreciate that you try to add to this blog, but you badly overreach way too often.
Posted by: David Poland
at April 15, 2008 10:59 AM
I'm sorry, DP, but you misunderstand me. And that's partially my fault for not being clearer, and it's partially not.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at April 15, 2008 02:57 PM
All I am saying, J-Mc, is be more careful when you decide to state what you believe to be what others believe as fact.
You do it often and sometimes, it is simply offensive.
Talk about what YOU think, not what you think I (or others) think.
And before you start yapping about me doing the same, remember that the mechanics behind what I write are not driven primarily by my opinion, but by a lot of reporting, the strings of which I consider it my job not to show you.
Posted by: David Poland
at April 15, 2008 03:03 PM
I think I should elaborate: I sympathize if you're actually dealing with these people and issues 24/7, and making conscious decisions to not write about stories like a vulture, (I really don't care about the 'person x is about to be fired stories' those are indeed the definition of ghoulish).
But the result of that (apparently, to me) becomes this weird disconnect where the only things you actually _do_ write about them are pieces like the above, where, again to my eyes, you sound incredibly blase and indifferent. Maybe that's just how you come off on the blog and there are other pieces elsewhere that I'm not reading, maybe that's the omnipresent failure of online talk to express tone, maybe I'm overly sensitive because I actually have a good friend at New Line, but that's my perception. Apologies if it's an incomplete one... but again I don't think I can be blamed for not being able to read your mind.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at April 15, 2008 03:07 PM
Only for thinking you can.
Posted by: David Poland
at April 15, 2008 05:44 PM
If you say so. I'm just going by the words on the page. The ones that say "tears already shed".
Posted by: jeffmcm
at April 15, 2008 06:37 PM
So David, does this explain what the crappy one sheet (based on an ad in the current issue of The Advocate)for "Sex In the City?" Just highlights SJP and not at her best either.
At least the other girls get above-the-title billing.
Posted by: samguy
at April 16, 2008 11:07 AM
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