Month: January 2012

Members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus are reteaming for “Absolutely Anything,” a sci-fi farce combining CGI and live action, with Terry Jones to direct and Mike Medavoy to produce.

Plans are for filming to begin in the U.K. this spring, with the Pythons voicing key roles as a a group of aliens who endow an earthling with the power to do “absolutely anything” to see what a mess he’ll make of things — which is precisely what happens. There’s also a talking dog named Dennis who seems to understand more about the mayhem that ensues than anyone else does. Robin Williams will voice the character…

https://www.variety.com/article/VR1118049265

The changes in entrance rules and initiation fees will be of great interest to current and prospective members of both unions and close off a key route to a SAG card.

AFTRA’s open door policy – which allows anyone to join the union online by paying the initiation fee – will end if SAG and AFTRA merge…

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sag-aftra-merger-dual-membership-cost-284453

The filmmaker says he’s retiring the franchise: “Why would I make any more, when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”…

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/george-lucas-star-wars-red-tails-282905

Several investment institutions that put up money for Paramount’s first Melrose slate of films, including ‘War of the Worlds,’ ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘Mission Impossible II,’ can go forward with claims that the studio’s “risk mitigation techniques” were baloney…

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/paramount-lawsuit-melrose-mean-girls-war-of-the-worlds-280910

Remember ‘The Adventures of Pluto Nash’? ‘From Justin to Kelly’? ‘Battlefield Earth’? Neither do we. Sometimes, movies are surrounded by so much media buildup before their release, and then – womp, womp, womp – they just can’t live up to the hype … ‘THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO,’ 2011: In 2011, You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about the Daniel Craig/Rooney Mara remake based on the high-successful Swedish version. Sadly, not even Mara’s nipple piercing for the role could entice audiences to shell out $13.50. The flick only made $13 million its opening weekend, and considering it cost nearly $90 million to make, it’s not looking good for Lisbeth Salander. ‘A debut of $13 million over the holiday season is equivalent to a lump of coal, especially for a film that brings along this much fanfare,’ Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations told E!online…