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December 18, 1997

New Heroes

OK, gang. Those of you collegiate types who want to make it big in Hollywood
have a couple of new heroes for whom to root. A student at , TriStarUSC, Josh
Schwartz, just sold his autobiographical script, Providence,to
TriStar for over half a million bucks. And a senior at SMU named Bob Corbett
just optioned a story he wrote for the school newspaper for alow six-figure
payday. From the school newspaper! Turns out the guy stole a sorority
rush manual and published it in the paper and hilarity ensued. Which
goes to show, theft and sexism can still make you big bucks. What a country!

Speaking of theft, Steven Spielberg must be having a nightmare for every night
of Hanukkah this year. As a major hit maker, Spielberg is regularly sued
for plagiarism. It's part of the price of success. As The Hot Button
has told you before, every major hit usually gets sued. After the success.
But two suits against Spielberg now have had unusual luck in getting
past the summary judgment stage. First, the Amistadcase. Now,
it's Twister. You may think there was no real story there,just
special effects. But don't tell that to Stephen Kessler, who
issuing Spielberg, the writers and the studios who made the flick for millions.
Don't expect any suits over Mouse Hunt.

You won't have to break the law to get your own piece of Jim Cameron'sTitanic.
Just a full checking account. Twentieth Century Fox is selling stuff
from the movie via the The Whole Picture is all new for the holidays.
But if you're good boys and girls, you will unwrap each section as the
appropriate holiday comes around. Too much Whole Picture at one sitting
will rot your teeth.

E-mail all through the holidays.
I haven't got anything else to do.

Posted by THB Archive at 09:39 AM |

December 04, 1997

The March Of The Superhero Movie Continues

This time, it's Will Smith starring as The Mark, the hero of an original script from comic book superstar Rob Liefeld, which he created specifically for Smith. Liefeld's comic characters, Avengelyne and Badrock, are both on the New Line schedule, but guess which of his three projects will likely make it to the soundstage first? Hint: It's the one with the superstar attached. In other comic book news, Harry Knowles is reporting that Nicolas Cage confirmed to a fan he met in a video store that Superman Reborn is still a firm "go" project. Apparently, Cage has one of the biggest comic book collections around, so this is more than an acting job. The latest rumored meeting for the role of Lois Lane? Sandra Bullock.

Turnabout's fair play. After recommending a read of a good Variety feature, here's a really stupid one about the "demise of sequels." Variety writer Andrew Hinde engages in the kind of simple-minded clich�-building that has made entertainment journalism such a weird profession. As evidence of the end of sequels, Hinde sights Speed 2, Batman & Robin and Alien 3. Problem is, all three of his examples were terrible movies! He sights the failure of Alien: Resurrection by comparing its first weekend to sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. But, though Alien 4 was soft, MK:A will be a big profit center for New Line, probably prompting a third sequel that will again drop the budget and the overall quality. And it will probably make money as well. When Scream 2 opens to massive business, look for the articles about the success of the horror genre and the return of the pulp sequel, using MK:A as a positive example. Don't y'all love show business?

After pushing the boundries of political correctness with Half-Baked, a comic romp through the life of a pothead, comic-turned-actor, Dave Chappelle (Men In Tights/The Nutty Professor), is playing the race card with a comic flair in Rufus. The project from DreamWorks is, I believe, the first slavery comedy. The laughs, of course, come from the fact that the slave gets the better of the master. Ever the trend-setter and flush with the success of its TV-to-screen hits such as McHale's Navy, Universal is prepping the comedy version of their Schindler's List, called Schindler's Grocery List, about a wacky, cannabalistic Nazi who gets sick from undercooked ... no. Not really.

Matt Bailey, from Ohio State University, offered up "Alien Dog Craps on Box Office" as a reaction to a wacky movie headline idea. Yes, your e-mail can make you a star too.


Posted by THB Archive at 06:54 PM |

December 03, 1997

When Are Rights Wrong?

Well, that's going to be up to a judge. The fight is over two competing movie versions of The Bang Bang Club, a real life group of four photographers known for their death-defying war photos. Movie rights are breaking up that old gang of theirs. Emilio Estevez is prepping his version, acquiring rights from the survivors of the two dead members of the club (one died in action, the other committed suicide). Meanwhile, the other two members, still quite alive, sold their rights to a South African filmmaker. Geez. When I saw The Bang Bang Club on the production charts, I assumed it was the story of Emilio's brother, Charlie Sheen.

After switching locations from Israel to Morocco for security reasons (go the distance), Phil Alden Robinson's Age of Aquarius is being held up for a more traditional reason. Money! Universal's Harrison Ford drama is suffering the same problem as their John Travolta starrer, Primary Colors. Universal (and pretty much every other studio in town) won't spend anything over $50 million on anything other than action (if you build it, they will come). Travolta and director Mike Nichols deferred most of their salaries to bring their $70 million budget down to a more reasonable $50 million. At $80 million, Age of Aquarius will demand a lot of concessions from $20 million-plus man Ford if the love story set in Sarajevo is ever to make it on screen. The buzz is that Ford's interest is already waning (feel his pain). Did I mention that Robinson made Field of Dreams?

For those of you who want to know how the business really works, check out the upcoming One Track Mind. A recently sold spec script by Ben Queen, the script tells the story of one script tracker, a studio assistant who finds the perfect script and is ready to claim it for his own after the writer mysteriously dies in a Universal Studios tour tram accident. That is, until other trackers who've read the script turn up. Then he has to kill them too. If you think that's far fetched, how do you think I get my Hot Button copy every day?

Last Tango In Paris was recently sent to the ratings board again and unlike Midnight Cowboy, it's still NC-17. The Hot Button should be so lucky. E-mail me your NC-17 buttons today!

And don't forget The Whole Picture.

Posted by THB Archive at 12:57 PM |

November 25, 1997

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett

My favorite Hollywood couple has gone ahead an killed the wabbit. Jada Pinkett will be doing the heavy lifting and Will Smith will be handing out cigars for the next seven or eight months before the birth of a bouncing baby. News of their impending nuptials took Hollywood by surprise November 13th, as the couple has made their feeling that paperwork was a low priority in their personal bliss well known. So, it's no surprise that they found their motivation when the tab turned pink. Or was that blue?

In other mating news, New York's tabloids are reporting that Val Kilmer is sniffing around Mira Sorvino as they shoot their new project, Sight Unseen. It's about a man (Kilmer) whose world changes when his sight is restored after being blind his entire life. Mira is the love interest. Hmmm, a woman who's deciding between Quentin Tarantino and Val Kilmer. And he's the character that was previously blind? Maybe Mira is just trying to make Paulie a grandparent. The last co-star to reportedly do the Winnebago Mambo with Val, the married Elizabeth Shue, got preggers shortly after finishing The Saint. And before that, it was Bat-rumors about Nicole Kidman, who shortly thereafter got a baby delivered Fed Ex. Wouldn't a baby Tarantino be fun? "You think I'm full of s***? You must think so, cause you're changing my diaper!"

TriStar has picked up Providence from 21-year-old writer Josh Schwartz. The film is described by The Hollywood Reporter as "the story of two high schoolers who fall in love during their senior year but tragically realize that they are going to part when they leave for different colleges." Other hot new and original projects soon expected to hit the studios: From 73-year-old Jack Wacky, Relief, the story of two seniors who discover bran and tragically realize they are out of toilet paper. From 44-year-old Gina Fallone, Bankrupt, the story of a couple who have to pay for their children's college education and tragically realize that it's really expensive. And finally, Worthless, the story of studio executives who tragically realize they've run out of good ideas.

This week, Box Office Preview will run on Wednesday due to the long weekend. So e-mail your predictions to me early so I can have some crow to go with my turkey on Thanksgiving night.

Posted by THB Archive at 10:54 PM |

November 22, 1997

Kate Winslet Took Ill Before Premiere

Kate Winslet took ill just before attending the London premiere of James Cameron's Titanic. This time it wasn't drugged chowder, but apparently a stomach flu she caught on location in Morocco. Cameron got 20th Century Fox to hire 700 doctors, flown in from across the globe and costumed in 19th Century costumes, to hold the bucket while Ms. Winslet vomited. Meanwhile, a crew of 2,000 workers built a replica of a 1926 London hospital Mr. Cameron once saw in a book. The only studio comment was from Paramount, laughing, "Screw Fox! It didn't cost us anything! So, is it time to make another Chris Farley movie yet?"

Fugitive producer Arnold Koppelson has bought "Jenny Hanniver," a thriller about two cryptozoologists -- scientists who search for new species -- who find a new monstrous creature and a woman who has a symbiotic relationship with it. Early reports that Roseanne will be the woman with Tom Arnold as the creature are false, though Warren Beatty is willing to play the creature opposite Annette Bening if the creature turns out to be a 38-year-old stud seen only in soft focus.

And you thought a live-action movie about "Bullwinkle" cartoon villains Boris and Natasha was a bad idea? At least they were humans who spoke. Next up is Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy. You know, those two kinda crow things, one black and one white, who keep blowing each other up, never saying a word. Expect the movie to have almost nothing to do with the comic, except for the idea of competing spies. Then, there's the new DreamWorks project. Imagine Toy Story, but where only the toys are computer animated and everything else is real. That's pretty much the gimmick in Small Soldiers ... Wait a minute! Whatever happened to "don't ask, don't tell?" The weekend is here. Will Monday prove yesterday's predictions were right?

Actors aren't the only Hollywooders who deviously deal. What film industry folk deserve to go to hell? E-mail in your suggestions -- your silence helps no one.


Posted by THB Archive at 10:33 PM |

November 13, 1997

Retro Thursday

With all the talk about Martin Scorsese prepping a Rat Pack movie -- a kind of sequel, combining Casino and Kundun -- now HBO is talking about their own flick, looking at The Chairman of The Board (Frank), The Drunk (Dean) and The One-Eyed Wonder (Sammy) starring Aidan Quinn, Chaz Palminteri and Don Cheadle, babe. Only problem is that they're giving the helm to solid-producer-turned-hack-director Rob Cohen, who brought consecutive disasters Dragonheart and Daylight to the big screen. And keep an eye out for Rob's girlfriend, Dina Meyer, hot off of Starship Troopers, probably playing Ava Gardner. Ring a ding ding.

James Ellroy is moving out of the '50s and into the '90s. His original script, The Night Watchman, is almost ready at Warner Bros. Set in "a post-O.J. Los Angeles," it's another take on cops and robbers with David Fincher taking on directing chores.

"SWAT"! It's back! Twice! Universal is setting up its own story about the birth of L.A.'s Special Weapons and Tactics force following hard on the heels of TriStar's version of the classic '70s TV series. TriStar's been trying to get Oliver Stone to helm their version, so maybe the Universal competition will create enough paranoia to make it interesting enough for him to take on. Even better, Ollie -- the project was set up by former Tri-Star execs who are now at the U. And it turns out that the SWAT team killed Lincoln. And Kennedy. And Elvis. And George Burns.

E-mail makes the button hotter.

Posted by THB Archive at 09:51 PM |

November 12, 1997

Projects of Love - Tarantino, Sorvino

Quentin Tarantino is producing a series or "re-quels" to From Dusk Til Dawn involving a world of vampires. One of them is set in South Africa, where the production crew is now accused of leaving a trail of evil, spreading fake blood over rocks and destroying the local flora. In defense, line producer Michael Murphey claims that all the crew did was cover graffiti to make the cave look more natural. You got it wrong, Mikey. Graffiti is only indigenous to urban America and South Africans are used to real blood on their local rocks. At least they were until Apartheid ended.

QT's squeeze, the mighty Mira Sorvino has joined the $3 million club. After opening two consecutive unimpressive films, Romy & Michele's High School Reunion and Mimic, to the tune of around $7.5 million each, Sorvino has signed to appear opposite Val Kilmer in MGM's Sight Unseen about a man who risks it all to regain his sight. Mira is his girlfriend. First the bug movies are back, now the return of the "Love Story" genre. And Kilmer is fast running out of women quirky enough to play his love interests. Elizabeth Shue, now Mira. Who's left? If you have an idea about who can keep up with Val's quirks, e-mail me.

Finally, a stupid movie idea I can get behind! DreamWorks has kicked in about $3 million to buy Dale Launer's spec script, Bad Dog. It's a comedic werewolf flick about a psychiatrist who finds out the hard way that his full moon-fearing patient isn't really crazy after all. Launer is the scribe behind My Cousin Vinny, Love Potion No. 9, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Blind Date and Ruthless People. Not a real stinker in the group. This should be as fun as American Werewolf in Paris will be forgettable.

Anything on your mind? Don't be shy, e-mail me.

Posted by THB Archive at 09:44 PM |

November 01, 1997

Legal Wranglings

Here's a plotline: A movie producer learns a lesson about life after his child's wish that he can't litigate for two years comes true. Nah! Never'll happen! Aaron Russo, who produced a half a dozen hits in the '80s, is suing Imagine Entertainment for $25 million, claiming that producer Brian Grazer stole his idea for the Jim Carrey smash, Liar, Liar. If the suit goes to court, Russo will have produced more lawsuits (at least one) in the last five years than movies (zero). He has, however, found time to run for the Governorship of Nevada. Aha! He wanted to be a big league politician. And in the land of casino gambling, no less. Call Jim Carrey! I smell a sequel!

Never slowed by lawsuits, Imagine is gearing up behind director/co-owner Ron Howard to make Ed TV, a movie that may finally offer a character stupid enough for Matthew McConaughey to bring to life realistically. The story is about a kind of MTV's "The Real World" spin-off (another lawsuit to come) in which a video store employee named Ed agrees to have his life filmed 24/7 by a cable network. (also sounds like the premise of The Truman Show -- another lawsuit!) Wackiness ensues.

If you're depressed because your lawsuit fails, try calling Dial-A-Wife. It's not only a real business (no, I don't have the number), but it's soon to be a major motion picture. Twentieth Century Fox purchased the rights to a New Yorker article about the business which sends women to perform wifely duties without any emotional connection (in show business, that's just called marriage). They also bought "life rights" to Beth Berg, the proprietor of the business. Fox left her payment on the bedside table and Ms. Berg took it without emotion.

Ever had an idea for a movie that was stolen by a big, bad studio? Let me know via email.

Posted by THB Archive at 08:46 PM |

October 22, 1997

Robert Downey, Jr. in Rehab

You've been arrested for sleeping in your neighbor's bed because you were so high you returned home to the wrong house. You've been arrested, high and drunk, with a loaded weapon in your glove compartment and cocaine and heroin in your pocket. You got special dispensation to take a week-long holiday from your rehab program to host Saturday Night Live, where you used to work high every week. Despite some difficulties with completion insurance and the fact that you've yet to prove that you can draw a dime of box office, your movie career is stronger than ever. What would you do? What would you do? If you were Robert Downey Jr., you'd do some more illegal narcotics. And if you were Judge Lawrence Mira of Malibu, you would revoke Downey's probation -- well, eventually -- and let the poor boy finish his movie first. It's good to be a star.

Mercury Effect is the latest spec script purchase for Warner Bros. The story, in which the FBI investigates some really smart animals who are eventually connected to the monkey sent into space in the Mercury 6 program 35 years ago, was pitched as Jumanji meets Men in Black (sounds more like a Planet of The Apes sequel). Was it coincidental that the executive who agreed to the $450,000 pricetag is exactly 35 years old and has hairy knuckles? You decide!

L.A. Confidential's resident hunk, Russell Crowe, will follow in the footsteps of mega-superstar Emilio Estevez by playing a hockey-playing sheriff of a small Alaskan town who leads the local hockey team against the NHL's New York Rangers in an untitled movie written by TV-kingpin and Michelle Pfieffer spouse David E. Kelley. Titles already passed on include The Mighty *ucks!, The Flighty Schmucks and Sports Underdog Movie Number 1273.

Have a better title? Email me.

Posted by THB Archive at 09:07 PM |

October 14, 1997

Are You a Man-Hater or a Misogynist?

You have your choice with these two hot, hot, hot spec script purchases! You say it's too good to be true? Well, bite into Dog Eat Dog, a romantic comedy about a woman who hires a trainer for her dog and (get this!) her boyfriend. Wacky! And it cost Disney only $250,000 against $500,000. (Do you know what they call a great development exec? A Golden Retriever! Wacka-wacka!) But what about the misogyny, you ask? It's Sony, paying big bucks to Ben Ramsey and Michael McCant for their script, Waiting For That Bitch To Leave. I wonder why they changed the title to Natural Men. Must be the oppression of political correctness. Couldn't be that the guys who wrote it would be seen as flaming a-holes just for plastering that title on the front page of a script, could it?

Looks like Tom and Nicole are finally set to make I Married A Witch at Sony. My personal experience, albeit limited, with the big, red Nicole, tells me that this shouldn't be seen as a "rhymes with" title. But on titles alone, Tom's second movie as producer, partnered with Paula Wagner, may fuel rumors that their marriage is a Mission: Impossible. Meow.

Renny Harlin is almost set for Deep Blue Sea, which Warner Bros has coined "Jurassic-shark." Bio-medical engineers manipulate genetics to create a faster, smarter, more vicious shark so dumb rich guys can hunt them. And of course, it goes wrong. So wrong! (Look for the scene where the shark grows legs and walks past a video store with posters for Cutthroat Island in the window!) The film is racing with Disney's Megalodon about prehistoric sharks. Is prehistory anything before 1977? That's when Jaws came out. The more things change ...

Email me. Talk to Uncle Dave and tell him how you feel.

Posted by THB Archive at 08:28 PM |

October 04, 1997

Polanski, Titanic Release Date

Director Roman Polanski, who has been in exile in France for 20 years to avoid jail time for his sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl in Jack Nicholson's backyard, is rumored to have cut a deal to return to Hollywood. Another great achievement for Los Angeles D.A. Gil Garcetti. Polanski is probably anxious to return to Hollywood before Natalie Portman turns 18.

Another million dollar deal for a classic idea. Former "Mad TV" writer, Stuart Blumberg, sold Columbia Pictures Keeping the Faith, a "romantic drama" about a long-term friendship between a rabbi and a Catholic priest that becomes strained when both men fall in love with the same woman. Drama? All that description makes me think of a joke starting, "A rabbi and a priest walk into a..." Email us your best priest/rabbi jokes and maybe they'll end up in The Hot Button.

Traditionally, the success of big-budget movies on American soil has led the way to foreign box office gold. But 20th Century Fox has held its breath long enough on Titanic, the long-delayed Jim Cameron epic. Scheduled to premiere in the U.S. on December 19 under the Paramount banner (they split rights), Fox has decided to launch Titanic at the Tokyo International Film Festival on November 1. Japan has been a solid audience for Cameron, so if they don't like it, expect to find Fox execs looking for a spot under Godzilla's foot (or hanging from George Lucas' shirttails).

As Janeane Garofalo left the theater during her star turn in The Matchmaker, she said, "I saw my pie face up there and the crow's feet. Have you ever seen your face blown up 10 feet tall? I can't take it." If she can't take that, she should stay off the Web. Inspired by Chris Brandon's Site-ing of last Wednesday, I took a trip to GarofaloLand. My favorite sight was this letter on a Janeanne-loving site. James Ricardo (no relation to Ricky) from Torrance, CA, wrote: "I love Janeane. She is way prettier than Uma Thurman or Lisa or Mira in Romy and Michele. Though my guess is she isn't that good in bed. She seems very much a missionary style-type chick. Long Live Janeane! Bow down to her cute, fat, hairy little legs!!" How could I ever top that?

Come back Monday for a box office round up.

Posted by THB Archive at 08:29 PM |

September 24, 1997

Manhattan is Looking Pretty Dangerous These Days

In the last week, Fox 2000 paid $3 million for The Cobra Event, a story about a killer who releases a deadly virus in Manhattan and the female pathologist who fights the airborne virus and catches the murderer. And Miramax Films purchased So Shoot Me, a comedy about two club-hopping hedonists, Kat and Kitten, who find happiness by catching the Supermodel Serial Killer of Manhattan. As though a virus could survive the New York air or kill a Supermodel.

The U.S. Postal Service has announced that Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, The Phantom of the Opera and The Frankenstein Monster will all be seen on stamps, starting Oct. 1. In Los Angeles, long-jaded to movie monsters, the classic creatures will be replaced by Christian Slater, The Implant, Charlie Sheen, The Phantom of The Mini-Mall and Steven Seagal, the bolt-knecked monster raised from obscurity by Dr. Michael Ovitz.

Producer Jason Kliot says he's obtained access to shoot a film in Vietnam for the first time since the war. Three Seasons is expected to shoot in Nam in late October with Harvey Keitel as the star. The Vietnamese may not understand why a story about a naked pianist who seduces mute women, cleans up after hit men who screw up and grunts a lot, set in Brooklyn, New York, has to shoot in Vietnam. Huh? It's not about that? It's about a G.I. who returns to Vietnam in search of a daughter born out of a liaison with a Vietnamese woman? Oh well. I bet Harvey still grunts a lot.

E-Mail Dave with the issues that get your button hot!

Posted by THB Archive at 06:59 PM |

September 22, 1997

Another By-the-Book Weekend at the Box Office

In & Out was all in, doing $15.3 million and besting last weekend's $14 million opening for The Game, whose second weekend brought a reasonable 36% drop, banking another $9.2 million to take second place. L.A. Confidential, which opened on only 769 screens vs. Out's 1,992, was expected to be the per-screen average winner, but the big-city butch cops got beaten by the small town queens, $7681 to $7152. A good number for L.A.C. (totaling $5.5 million for the fourth slot), but not as OUTstanding as expected. Maybe the platformed release pattern may not have been the best choice.

In the rest of the B.O. news, A Thousand Acres took a hit to its overall Oscar potential, with only $3 million cropping up to take the fifth spot with a $2,483 per-screen average. That's $300 less per screen than Wishmaster (number three with a $6.5 million total) conjured up. The fact that, despite these numbers, Lange and Pfeiffer are still very real candidates for Oscar gold proves just how few great women's roles there are out there. And even worse, the numbers show why there are more films made featuring serial killers than there are about thinking women.

Trimark Pictures has bought the rights to Wayne Wang's next flick, Chinese Box. The question is, "Why?" Wang, the director of Miramax's successful double-bill Smoke/Blue In The Face and Disney's The Joy Luck Club, screened his Jeremy Irons-starring arthouse film at the Venice and Toronto film festivals before settling in with Trimark, the company that brought us Carrot Top in Chairman Of The Board and Angie Everhart taking her clothes off -- does she do anything else? -- in the 9 1/2 Weeks sequel. Another case of Art For Crap's Sake.

In celebrity news, tragedy hit Yaphet Kotto when the limo he was riding in broke its rear axle, lost its right rear wheel, ran up an embankment, and burst into flames. No one was physically hurt, but in a $500,000 lawsuit, Kotto claims "serious bodily injury, emotional trauma, pain and suffering, and economic loss." And worse -- so much worse -- Kotto "has not been able to get back in a limo since that time." Please divert all donations to the Princess Diana or Mother Teresa Trusts to the Caddy For Kotto Fund. We can cure limowreckaphobia in our time.

E-Mail Dave with the issues that get your button hot!

Posted by THB Archive at 06:47 PM |

September 17, 1997

Jodie Foster is set to direct and produce Flora Plum

Jodie Foster is set to direct and produce Flora Plum. Disney describes the picture as All About Eve set in a circus atmosphere. Some sample dialogue: Flora: "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night!" Ringmaster: "That isn't the night. The elephants just walked through here!" OR Flora to the elephants: "I'm still not to be had for the price of a salted peanut!"

READER HOT BUTTON DU JOUR:
From Amy Taylor of the Northwest: One "Hot Button" I personally have, is spec scripts such as Cowboys and Aliens, or Earth Dick (no, not soft porn!), being purchased for six figures. I bet my 8-year-old could come up with a better idea than those, or at least a better title! In all honesty, however, I am certain if they were my clients, I would have laughed all the way to the bank!

Thanks for your thoughts, Amy. You'll be thrilled to read the next item.

The Thunderbirds is being prepped as a live-action film based on the hit 1960s U.K. TV series that featured marionettes as 21st century space heroes. The Hot Button's wooden casting suggestions: Jason Patric as Anyone Who Has To Talk, Shaquille O'Neal as Anyone Who's Not A Freak, Matthew McConaughey as Anyone Smart and Marky Mark Wahlberg's prosthetic device from Boogie Nights as The Ultimate Force Of Nature.

E-Mail Dave with the issues that get your button hot!

Posted by THB Archive at 08:24 PM |