« Tony Noms | Main | Cannes-y »
May 13, 2008
Wither Weinstein?
It just screams, "OUCH!"
How bad is it for The Weinsteins when they can't get Michael Moore on board for his next film... which is being called a sequel to Fahrenheit 9/11, but apparently will not be specifically one, avoiding the entanglement with The Weinsteins?
Like Hillary Clinton, The Weinsteins are like Mike Myers in Halloween... every time you think they're dead, should be dead, must be dead, they just keep getting up. (Of course, you rarely get to be the good guy when you keep coming back from the dead.)
But this time... aside from remaining muscular by keeping a ton of balls in the air at the same time... alive, but not the same... not nearly the same...
(Edited 8p - for stupid error on slasher film history.)
Posted by poland at May 13, 2008 04:15 PM
Comments
Why should they care? They've got FRAGGLES!!
Posted by: Wrecktum
at May 13, 2008 04:56 PM
Wrecktum beat me to the punch, word for word.
Half of me wants to say it with sarcasm, the half wants a Fraggle movie that takes off like Transformers.
Posted by: Tofu
at May 13, 2008 05:24 PM
"Of course, you rarely get to be the good guy when you keep coming back from the dead."
...Except for one special dude.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at May 13, 2008 05:28 PM
At the risk of sounding like one of those people, the nag in me is compelled to point out that Jason was in "Friday the 13th" and Michael Myers was in "Halloween"
Oh well, maybe they will be easier to remember when the inevitable Broadway musical versions hit.
I kid.
Posted by: Earl Hofert
at May 13, 2008 05:56 PM
Fried brain... fixing... thanks, Earl.
Posted by: David Poland
at May 13, 2008 07:58 PM
The Weinsteins simply need to focus on making the Miriam Collection a rival to Criterion. It seems some what pointless that they keep this whole charade going on, when everyone knows they should take a breathe for a while. Nevertheless; we live in a world... where even high grossing doc gets a sequel. Oy. Like I need to sit through two hours of a film telling me how much W fucked up in the last four years. I watch Olbermann. I get it already Mike.
Posted by: IOIOIOI
at May 13, 2008 08:48 PM
Must say that I agree 100% with IOIOIOI. A rival to criterion's monopoly right now is perfect timing, especially with BD coming into its own. The brothers need to take a step back and concede needing to re-plan.
Posted by: Aris P
at May 13, 2008 09:05 PM
David, The Weinstein Company is still involved in Michael Moore's next film.
Harvey and Bob Weinstein will be this film's executive producers of this film, and The Weinstein Company will get an "in association with" credit on this film.
(edited by david only to make the url a link)
Posted by: marychan
at May 13, 2008 10:36 PM
Correction for my second sectence in previous message:
Harvey and Bob Weinstein will still be the executive producers of Michael Moore's next film, and The Weinstein Company will get an "in association with" credit on this film.
I'm sorry for the stupid grammar mistake I made.
Posted by: marychan
at May 13, 2008 10:40 PM
Criterion's monopoly on what, movies they have the rights to? I don't think the Weinsteins and their library of Samuel Bronston movies is going to get them ver far.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at May 13, 2008 11:41 PM
I am surprised that it has taken Moore this long to make a sequel to Farenheit...Politics aside....It is the most popular doc of all time and it's main subject has record low approval ratings. Though I think that the timing is off. January. It wouldn't affect the election and by January it would be like beating a dying dog. If he really wants to make a statement(or at least increase the box office) release it during the election.
If you really want to see a GREAT Doc check out No End In Sight.
Posted by: Bennett
at May 14, 2008 02:59 PM
Jeff: Criterion lease the rights to many of their special editions from the studios. There are some films -- I would assume -- that they own, but most of these they lease. The most recent Ice Storm Criterion representing one of those films they lease the rights for from FOX.
So the Brothers should honour their mom's brand by creating special editions for films that either Criterions or the studios do not want to make. Always remember: there are still 1000s of good to great films sitting in a vault somewhere.
Posted by: IOIOIOI
at May 14, 2008 05:51 PM
IOI, the vast bulk of what Criterion puts out are titles from the Janus Films library. This includes all the old Kurosawa, Bergman, Ozu etc. films. A number of their higher-profile titles have come from licensing movies that the studios didn't want to develop and distribute, like Universal and the Lubitsch movies or Disney and the Wes Anderson movies.
I'm unaware that either (a) the Weinstein home-video subdivision is anything special, or (b) that the Weinsteins want to put their energies into specialty home video when they seem to have a real hunger for actually making and marketing movies and winning Oscars.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at May 14, 2008 06:09 PM
Jeff: my boss likes to use the words "CRITERION LASER DISC" on a daily basis. So I know how they are set-up. Hell. He had to tell them that they were about to make more DVDS than Laserdisc. They even sent him a t-shirt because they forgot and were grateful he informed them. So I know how they roll. Nevertheless; The Miriam Collection have put out two serious deluxe editions of El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire over the last few months. So they are serious about the Miriam Collection. It's also something else than can do, that being the point Jeffery.
Posted by: IOIOIOI
at May 14, 2008 07:38 PM
Yeah, but the point is those are a couple of movies they've had sitting around in their possession for years without doing anything about them, which doesn't suggest (a) that they were keen on putting those DVDs out, or (b) that other companies would want to license their films to them. Besides, all of the Weinsteins' films are released on video through partnerships with MGM/UA and Genius Products anyway, so why not cut out the middlemen?
Posted by: jeffmcm
at May 14, 2008 08:35 PM
The "F9/11" sequel would get lots more mileage had Par Vantage been on board for domestic release. Vantage is doing international only, no doubt to please Sumner Redstone.
Speaking of Redstone, ask him why CBS is practicing omerta when it comes to the Pentagon Pimps.
Posted by: Chucky in Jersey
at May 15, 2008 01:41 PM
Still, Par Vantage is the co-financer of this movie; you will still see Par Vantage's logo when this is released in US.
By the way, Harvey's response:
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/05/16/2008-05-16_less_of_michael_moore_for_harvey_weinste.html
[But Weinstein said via a rep: "We have have a great relationship with Michael." He added that he and his brother, Bob, were "flattered" even to have the smaller role of executive producers for the sequel. ]
Posted by: marychan
at May 16, 2008 02:44 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)