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‘The Jungle Book’ Tops in TV Ad Spending
30 minutes ago
In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by iSpot.tv, Walt Disney claims the top spot in TV ad spending with “The Jungle Book.”
Ads placed for the live-action/CGI remake of the 1967 Disney animated classic had an estimated media value of $5.78 million through Sunday, for 1,040 national ad airings across 35 networks. Just behind it in second place: Universal’s “The Huntsman: Winter’s War,” which saw 836 national ad airings across 34 networks, with an estimated media value of $5.59 million.
TV ad placements for Universal’s “The Boss” (Emv: $4.93 million), Lionsgate’s “Criminal” ($4.83 million) and Warner Bros.’ “Keanu” ($3.34 million) round out the chart.
Top Movie Commercials by Weekly TV Spend Powered by iSpot.tv $5.78M – The Jungle Book Online Activity: 1.84% within the movie category* National Airings: 1,040 Networks: 35 Most Spend On: Disney Channel, Disney Xd Creative Versions: 29 Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $19.53M Studio: Walt Disney Pictures Started Airing: »
- iSpot.tv
Channing Tatum Joins the Cast of ‘Kingsman’ Sequel
1 hour ago
Channing Tatum is joining the cast of “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” tweeting the news on Wednesday evening.
I'm about to get all up in that Golden Circle. #Kingsman pic.twitter.com/LqCPJ6monO
— Channing Tatum (@channingtatum) April 14, 2016
Sources also tell Variety that Elton John is in talks for a key role.
Matthew Vaughn is returning to direct from a script he co-wrote with Jane Goldman. The 2014 original, “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” was based on the comic-book “The Secret Service,” created by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar, and follows the training of a potential secret agent to take on a global threat from Samuel L. Jackson’s Richmond Valentine.
Vaughn also produced the original, which grossed a surprisingly healthy $415 million worldwide. Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Michael Caine also starred.
Halle Berry has been in talks to star as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Strong and Firth are also »
- Justin Kroll
‘Jason Bourne’ Features Best Chase of Series, Says Producer
1 hour ago
The chase sequence is a Jason Bourne staple.
Audiences who flock to the spy thrillers are accustomed to seeing the amnesiac former black ops agent scaling walls and dodging traffic while pursued by shadowy government agents across cities, mountains and even, spectacularly, along the roof of a bazaar. But that’s just a warm up.
Producer Frank Marshall promised a CinemaCon crowd Wednesday that the next installment, entitled “Jason Bourne,” will feature the greatest getaway of all.
Matt Damon’s title character travels the globe but ends up right in the front yard of this week’s movie exhibitors confab — the Las Vegas Strip — for the big pursuit. A small snippet showed cars roaring past showgirls and right into a casino’s front door. “We are staging what I think is the best Bourne chase ever,” said Marshall, “so we have that to look forward to.”
The film brings back director Paul Greengrass, »
- James Rainey
Kevin Hart Says He May Be Done With Stand-Up Touring
2 hours ago
Kevin Hart may be done with touring.
After performing 156 shows on his most recent stint on the road, and journeying across 112 cities, 13 countries and five continents, the comedian says be may put the suitcase in storage. He has nothing left to prove.
“I don’t know if I’m ever going to go out and do it again,” Hart told theater owners at CinemaCon on Wednesday, adding that it was “my last fucking tour.”
Hart may be the most successful stand-up comic of his generation, commanding the kind of crowds that Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin did in their prime. Fans of the comedian can take solace in Hart’s upcoming movie, “What Now?” It features Hart in the midst of his global road-trip, culminating in his sell-out show at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.
Instead of a “Last Waltz”-like rumination on the grind of the road, »
- Brent Lang
Doug Jones to Star in ‘Nosferatu’ Remake
2 hours ago
Filming has begun on the remake of the iconic German expressionist horror film “Nosferatu” with Doug Jones starring in the title role.
F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film is considered the first true vampire film ever made. It follows a young woman’s supernatural quest to not only save her true love’s soul, but in fact the entire world from the shadow of infernal darkness.
Director David Lee Fisher (“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”) is creating a remix of the original film with a mixture of live-action combined with colorized digital backgrounds recreated from the original film.
The film, shot in 1921, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” with names changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel.
Jones has played such characters as Abe Sapien in the two “Hellboy” movies, the Pale Man from “Pan’s Labyrinth” and the Silver Surfer in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer »
- Dave McNary
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Dominates All Three Disc Charts
2 hours ago
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the biggest movie of all time at the domestic box office, not only debuted at No. 1 on both national home video sales charts, but also on Home Media Magazine’s rental chart for the week ending April 10.
The film, distributed to the home video market by Walt Disney Studios, also outsold all 19 other Blu-ray Disc and DVD releases in the Top 20 on the Npd VideoScan overall disc sales chart by a margin of 5 to 1.
Second-ranked “The Hateful Eight,” from Anchor Bay Entertainment, which debuted at No. 1 the prior week, sold fewer than 4% as many copies as the new “Star Wars” movie.
The release of “The Force Awakens” also sent both the original “Star Wars” trilogy and the prequel trilogy back into the Top 20.
Other than that, it was a noneventful week, with not a single major new release arriving in stores.
Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games »
- Thomas K. Arnold
Benedict Cumberbatch to Voice the Grinch in ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’
3 hours ago
Benedict Cumberbatch is moving from “Doctor Strange” to Dr. Seuss.
The actor has been tapped to voice the Grinch in Illumination’s new retelling of the classic Dr. Seuss children’s book “The Grinch That Stole Christmas.”
Illumination has also set Trey Parker to play the villain Balthazar Bratt, a former child star who’s grown up to become obsessed with the character he played in the ’80s in “Despicable Me 3.” The announcement was made at Universal’s CinemaCon presentation Wednesday with Illumination chairman Christopher Meledandri breaking the news.
Set to bow this November, “The Grinch That Stole Christmas” tells the tale of the Grinch who plots to ruin Christmas for the residents of his neighboring village of Whoville. Pete Candeland and and Yarrow Cheney are directing.
Michael LeSieur is adapting the script with Meledandri, Janet Healy and Scott Mosier producing. Audrey Geisel and Chris Renaud exec produce.
Cumberbatch is represented by UTA, »
- Justin Kroll
Screening Room Study: Interest Is High, But Price Is a Problem
4 hours ago
Consumers are interested in paying to watch theatrical releases in their home, but there is a hard cap on how much money they are willing to shell out to check out new releases from their couch, according to a new study by MarketCast.
The report from the tracking and research service represents the first public study on the popular appeal of Screening Room, the new start-up that wants to offer movies in the home the same day they debut on big screens. The study, released Wednesday at CinemaCon, did not mention Screening Room by name.
Screening Room is the brainchild of Sean Parker (pictured above) and Prem Akkaraju. It wants to offer movies for rental for $50, plans to share profits with theater owners and studios and has attracted the support of filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Peter Jackson, but studios and filmmakers such as Todd Phillips have blasted the proposal. »
- Brent Lang and Dave McNary
David Oyelowo to Star in ‘A Day in the Death of America’
4 hours ago
David Oyelowo will star in and produce the movie “A Day in the Death of America,” which focuses on the ten children killed by guns on Nov. 23, 2013.
Production companies are the Allegiance Theater, headed by Daniel Dubiecki and Lara Alameddine, and Eric Eisner’s Double E Pictures. They have acquired exclusive feature film and life rights to Gary Younge’s non-fiction book of the same name.
The ten victims ranged in age from nine to 19 and the deaths took place in suburbs, hamlets and ghettos with none making the national news. There is an average of seven children and teens killed by guns daily and Younge picked this day at random, searched for their families and told their stories.
Eisner will produce and finance through his Double E Pictures. Oyelowo will produce through his Yoruba Saxon Productions. The Allegiance Theater’s Tim Crane and Younge serve as executive producers.
The »
- Dave McNary
AMC Entertainment CEO Open to Allowing Texting in Some Theaters
5 hours ago
Adam Aron has been head of AMC Entertainment for less than four months, but in that short time he’s already orchestrated one of the most significant deals in the country’s history. In February, AMC announced that it has an agreement to buy Carmike, propelling it from being the second-biggest exhibitor in the country to the world’s top movie theater chain.
Aron has a diverse resume, having been head of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, CEO and co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team, chairman and CEO of Vail Resorts and president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line. But in an industry dominated by lifers, he is a newcomer to the exhibition space.
That’s giving him a willingness to experiment. He’s pushing to expand AMC’s food options, bolster its loyalty program and market more aggressively. Some moves may ruffle feathers. In a bid to attract younger, »
- Brent Lang
Actress Anne Jackson, Widow of Eli Wallach, Dies at 90
5 hours ago
Anne Jackson, who collaborated extensively with husband Eli Wallach, together comprising one of the best-known acting couples of the American theater, died Tuesday at her home in Manhattan. She was 90.
As a couple, Jackson and Wallach (together above) came close to the level of celebrity of Lunt and Fontanne or, later, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. For five decades beginning in the early 1950s and ending in 2000, when they starred Off Broadway in Anne Meara’s comedy “Down the Garden Paths,” they energized theater audiences with a wide range of synergistic emotions, from loving to combative.
While Wallach had his own big-screen career (he died on June 24, 2014, at age 98) that included “Baby Doll” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” Jackson had a stage carer that was impressive all on its own. She was critically hailed for her range of chracterizations in David V. Robison’s “Promenade, All!” (1972) and »
- Variety Staff
Warren Beatty Eyeing ‘Dick Tracy’ Sequel, Howard Hughes Movie Gets Release Date
5 hours ago
Updated: More than a quarter century after he brought Dick Tracy to the screen, Warren Beatty is considering making a sequel.
The news was revealed by Arnon Milchan on Wednesday at CinemaCon, as the producer accepted the Legends of Cinema Award from Beatty.
Asked after the lunch ceremony about the project, Beatty confirmed, “I’m serious about it, but I am slow about these things.” He was whisked away by a crowd of admirers before he could make any additional comments. But Milchan also confirmed that a project is being discussed and could be completed within two years.
Beatty is already at work on a film in which he plays the aged billionaire Howard Hughes. That movie is also for Milchan’s New Regency Productions, the powerhouse production company that won best picture awards for “12 Years a Slave” and “Birdman.” They expect a fall or winter release for Beatty’s long-gestating passion project, »
- James Rainey
Michael Keaton Eyed to Play Villain in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (Exclusive)
6 hours ago
Michael Keaton could be returning to the superhero universe — but this time, as a villain.
Sources tell Variety that Keaton is in early talks to play a villain in the Marvel and Sony co-production “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” starring Tom Holland as the latest Spidey.
Marvel and Sony had no comment on the casting.
For Keaton, it also marks a switch from DC Comics to Marvel. The Oscar nominee famously played the Caped Crusader in Tim Burton’s “Batman” in 1989, skyrocketing his career.
Marisa Tomei is currently set to play Aunt May, and Zendaya is also on board in a mystery role. The villain Keaton is being eyed to play is also being kept under wraps.
Jon Watts is directing the film from a script by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal are producing the movie, which focuses on a teenage Peter Parker’s high school days. »
- Justin Kroll
Film Review: ‘Captain America: Civil War’
6 hours ago
The shaming of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” will continue apace — or better still, be forgotten entirely — in the wake of “Captain America: Civil War,” a decisively superior hero-vs.-hero extravaganza that also ranks as the most mature and substantive picture to have yet emerged from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Very much an “Avengers” movie in scope and ambition if not title (the conspicuous absence of Thor and Hulk notwithstanding), this chronicle of an epic clash between two equally noble factions, led by Captain America and Iron Man, proves as remarkable for its dramatic coherence and thematic unity as for its dizzyingly inventive action sequences; viewers who have grown weary of seeing cities blow up ad nauseam will scarcely believe their luck at the relative restraint and ingenuity on display. Buoyed by hearty critical support, 3D ticket premiums and enormous fan-ticipation, Disney’s May 6 release should have little trouble »
- Justin Chang
Kevin Pollak’s ‘Late Bloomer’ Bought by Momentum Pictures (Exclusive)
7 hours ago
Momentum Pictures has acquired North American theatrical distribution right to Kevin Pollak’s “The Late Bloomer,” Variety has learned exclusively.
Johnny Simmons stars as a 30-year-old sex therapist who has never gone through puberty. His world turns upside-down after the removal of a benign brain tumor.
The film — Pollak’s feature directorial debut — also stars J.K. Simmons, Maria Bello, Brittany Snow, Jane Lynch, Kumail Nanjiani, Beck Bennett, Paul Wesley, Ken Marino, Illeana Douglas, Charlotte McKinney, Vanessa Ragland, Blake Cooper and Lenora Crichlow.
“Late Bloomer” is loosely based on Ken Baker’s 2001 memoir “Man Made: A Memoir of My Body.” The book recounts the E! news correspondent’s experience of going through puberty for the first time at age 30 after having a pituitary tumor removed.
“Dateline NBC” profiled Baker in 2008, when his memoir hit stores. Raphael Kryszek’s Ineffable Pictures optioned the rights to Baker’s book. In 2007, Heidi Jo Markel »
- Dave McNary
Disney’s Live-Action ‘Peter Pan’ Movie Finds Director in David Lowery
7 hours ago
David Lowery, who has already directed a remake of Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon,” has come on to helm a live-action adaptation of “Peter Pan.” Toby Hallbrooks is penning the script.
Disney’s 1953 animated classic is still the most successful adaptation of the J.M. Barrie novel about the boy who couldn’t age. Sony’s “Hook,” starring Robin Williams and directed by Steven Spielberg, underperformed in 1991, considering the players involved, and last year’s “Pan” bombed.
Disney seems like the right choice to pull off the live-action retelling, given its success of late in turning its animated classics into live-action hits. “Cinderella,” “Maleficent” and “Alice in Wonderland” all dominated box office charts.
“Pete’s Dragon” bows on Aug. 12, and Lowery is also developing “The Old Man and the Gun” with Robert Redford. He is repped by Wme and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood. »
- Justin Kroll
First Look at Emma Stone, Steve Carell in Sports Biopic ‘Battle of the Sexes’
7 hours ago
Fox Searchlight has released a preview photo of its upcoming sports drama “Battle of the Sexes.”
Starring Emma Stone as Billie Jean King and Steve Carell as Bobby Riggs, the film will document the tennis players’ highly publicized 1973 exhibition match — which was dubbed the Battle of the Sexes — along with the personal battles they were facing off the tennis courts. The famed competition sparked a global conversation, when at 29, the No. 2 ranked King beat the 55-year-old retired former Wimbledon champion Riggs.
See below the first look.
“Battle of the Sexes” also stars Sarah Silverman,who will play World Tennis magazine founder Gladys Heldman. Heldman also helped organize female tennis players into a women’s only circuit when they felt they weren’t receiving pay that equaled that of their male counterparts. Alan Cumming, Andrea Riseborough, Elisabeth Shue, Eric Christian Olsen, Natalie Morales,Austin Stowell, Wallace Langham and Jessica McNamee are also set to star. »
- Alyssa Sage
Buyer’s Guide to Tribeca Titles With Buzz
7 hours ago
Major theatrical acquisitions are rare at Tribeca, but the festival has supplied a steady stream of product (some 400 films in its history) to a host of buyers, including, most recently, A24, Saban Films, IFC and the Orchard. Here are a dozen target titles.
Olivia Thirlby stars in this romantic dramedy about an L.A. couple on the rocks. Featuring Adam Goldberg, Peter Bogdanovich and Lesley Ann Warren.
Sales: CAA
A doc following hedge fund titan Bill Ackman’s crusade to expose global nutritional giant Herbalife as the largest pyramid scheme in history.
Sales: Cinetic
“Custody”
Starring Viola Davis as a beleaguered judge, this courtroom drama from Tony Award winner James Lapine (“Into the Woods”) focuses on a high-stakes child custody battle.
Sales: CAA
“Keep Quiet”
A doc about an anti-Semitic Hungarian politician who later discovered he was Jewish.
Sales: The Film
Sales Co.
“King Cobra »
- Anthony Kaufman
Tribeca Carves Out Identity as Next Gen New Media Fest
8 hours ago
At this year’s 15th Tribeca Film Festival, attendees can lose themselves in a virtual-reality psychedelic dance party, learn about living in a wireless future, or watch the complete 7½-hour miniseries of “O.J.: Made in America” — oh yeah, and watch some movies, too.
Don’t call it simply a film festival — call it a “storytelling” festival, say Tff organizers of the event running April 13-24.
Originally founded in 2002 to reenergize a moribund Lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11, Tribeca has gone through many iterations over the years (i.e., red-carpet magnet, VOD acquisition market, documentary launchpad). But it may have finally carved out an identity of its own as a next-gen new-media haven.
“It’s not just defining what Tribeca is now,” says Paula Weinstein, exec VP of Tribeca Enterprises. “It’s illuminating where storytelling is going.”
Tribeca still shows about 100 feature films, which matches previous years, but »
- Anthony Kaufman
Bill Pullman, Austin Stowell Join Emma Stone in ‘Battle of the Sexes’
8 hours ago
“Whiplash” actor Austin Stowell and Bill Pullman have rounded out the cast of Fox Searchlight’s “Battle of the Sexes,” starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell.
Andrea Riseborough also recently joined the movie from “Little Miss Sunshine” filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. Simon Beaufoy wrote the screenplay.
Danny Boyle is producing under his Decibel Films banner along with Christian Colson and his company Cloud Eight.
The movie will follow the competition between tennis pros Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, which captured the zeitgeist back in 1973 when, at 29, the No. 2 ranked King beat the 55-year-old retired former Wimbledon champion Riggs. Stone is playing King, while Carell is portraying Riggs. Elizabeth Shue is Riggs’ wife in the pic.
“Battle of the Sexes” is one of three projects revolving around the famous tennis match; the other two are HBO and Playtone’s “Proof,” which stars Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti; and »
- Justin Kroll
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