Paul Greengrass' "United 93", the docudrama about the doomed flight where passengers sought to retake control from hijackers in September 11th 2001 has opened to glowing reviews (and some outrage) this weekend. The film uses Greengrass' distinctive handheld style, using anecdotal and reported sources to reconstruct what occured on flight United 93 from its takeoff to eventual crash soon after terrorists seized the plane. The timing of the film's release, only five years after the momentous events of 9/11 has given the project a controversial tone early on but critics across the board have praised the film for a dignified, documentarian approach. Others have called it "harrowing" and deeply emotional. Rottentomatoes "Tomatometer" has given the film a 93% rating. Other reviews are mixed, wondering if the audience would really want to be taken back to the feeling of raw terror that only recently was seared into the memory of Americans.

Have you seen "United 93" yet? Are you planning to or not? Give us your opinion in our Vancouverscreenwriters forums.

Other Greengrass films:
The Bourne Supremacy
Bloody Sunday

Posted by Keith Loh at 1:09 PM | Permalink

Starting May 11, UBC will be offering a night course in screenwriting called "Screenwriting Beyond The Conventions." Marlene Rodgers will be the instructor for the course which will run Thursdays 7:00pm to 10:00pm from May 11 to June 15, 2006.

It costs $245 to enroll and will be held at the Neville Scarfe Building, Room 1022, 2125 Main Hall at UBC in Vancouver.

Click Here for More Details

Thanks to Fab Napoleone for submitting this information.

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 4:12 PM | Permalink

Fox has picked up two series for fall already. " 'Til Death" and "Vanished" were both picked up for debut this fall.

"Death" features "Everybody Loves Raymond" star Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher ("Desperate Housewives") as a longtime married couple who live next door to newlyweds, played by Eddie Kaye Thomas ("Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle") and Kat Foster ("The Book of Daniel").

"Vanished" is a one-hour serialized drama chronicling a conspiracy enveloping the disappearance of a senator's wife. The cast features Christopher Egan ("Empire"), Gale Harold ( "Queer as Folk"), Joanne Kelly ("Jeremiah"), John Allen Nelson ("24") and Rebecca Gayheart ("Nip/Tuck").

NBC also renewed the three "Law and Order" series for another series. That will put the original "Law and Order" series into it's 17th season, making it the second-longest running drama series on US TV. Three other NBC dramas, "Medium," "Crossing Jordan" and "Las Vegas," will be back next season, the network also said Friday.

On The Web:
More details at The Hollywood Reporter
Fox
NBC

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 12:09 AM | Permalink

In an interview with the Georgia Straight, the makers of the mercenary documentary "Shadow Company" describe how they were put off by the CBC / Telefilm submission process and went on to spend $100,000 of their own money and credit card debt to put togeth a film now attracting a decent amount of buzz. Nick Bicanic, a former software developer, and Jason Bourque, a VFS grad spent more than a year travelling to places such as Equatorial Guinea and Iraq exploring the murky world of corporate warriors. In describing why they were unable to interest the CBC, Bicanic told the Straight: “CBC had an open bias against private military contractors. They said they were only interested if we showed these guys in a bad light.”

More in the Georgia Straight and www.shadowcompanythemovie.com/ (including a trailer) .

Posted by Keith Loh at 7:34 AM | Permalink

The Observer's movie critic Mark Kermode argues that movie adaptations of video games such as the recent "Silent Hill" have 'lost the plot' as it were because they represent content that thrives on interactivity but when translated to the screen, lose the element they need. He further argues that bowing to audience pressure such as through audience testing or more 'interactivity' will result in more mediocrity.

While popular movies were once dominated by ripe melodramas (All that Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind) and so-called 'women's pictures' (Now, Voyager, Stella Dallas, Mildred Pierce) which offered masterclasses in the art of storytelling, today's boy-friendly blockbusters often boast nothing more than a collection of spectacular interludes assembled in the manner of a catalogue rather than a chronicle. Even kids' movies have fallen foul of this decline. The biggest movie of the season is Ice Age: The Meltdown, a collection of slapstick animated episodes which not even the kindest critic could accuse of having anything vaguely resembling a story.

In the end, Kermode asks, what do you think? Well, what do you think?

Read the rest of the article here >>

Posted by Keith Loh at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It has been a good year for scary movies. The low-budget, low-risk films have filled the coffers of several Hollywood studios even while costlier films have proved, well, costly. On Monday two scary movies led the box-office list. The premiere of Silent Hill, based on the popular video game, led in ticket sales with $20.2 million, while last week's top film, the spoof Scary Movie 4, placed second with $16.8 million. Today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times observes that of this year's 25 top-grossing films, a quarter have been horror films. In an interview with the Times, Exhibitor Relations chief Paul Dergarabedian commented horror films and family films -- another genre that has proved to be successful this year -- get people out of their homes because they are "genres that people don't necessarily want to wait for the DVDs." Paramount Pictures President Gail Berman put it this way, "When you give people something they want, guess what? They come."

From the Internet Movie Database

Posted by Michael Seidelman at 8:03 PM | Permalink

Telefilm's newly hired chief Michael Jenkinson says there's no doubt Canadian movies are world class - he just wants to get more people out to see them.

He will officially become the federal cultural agency's feature film executive on May 15 and views his new job as an opportunity to get Canadian films to advance beyond the mere 1.2 per cent of the movie-theatre market they currently command.

Jenkinson's confident that margin can be improved, although he offered few specifics Monday on how he'll achieve such gains.

"Canadian filmmakers generally enjoy a world-class reputation for originality, vision, craft," he said during a chat with reporters. "The difficulty in reaching Canadian audiences and achieving greater market share, I think there's an excellent base at this point for the solutions to that."

One change that Telefilm has made so far is taking the decision of which English language Canadian-made films get funding away from a committee and giving that responsibility to Jenkinson. Regional directors will still be extremely influential, though.

Last year, Telefilm's total budget for English and French projects was $80 million.

Born in Jamaica and raised in Toronto, Jenkinson graduated from the Canadian Film Centre, has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and Osgoode Hall Law School. He worked at New York's Chase Manhattan Bank before moving to Hollywood where he became a vice-president of production and acquisitions for 20th Century Fox. He also founded his own production company, the Los Angeles-based Urban Entertainment.

On The Web:
Telefilm website

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 9:41 AM | Permalink

The Writers Guild of Canada last night honoured the writers of the series "Corner Gas", "Slings & Arrows", movie of the week "The Man Who Lost Himself", and the feature "Dark Hours" in a gala hosted by Scott Thompson, Gordon Pinsent and Eric Petersen. The 10th anniversary English-language awards is voted on by members.

The Writers Guild of Canada >>

More in the CBC >>

Posted by Keith Loh at 9:12 AM | Permalink

British commercial TV network ITV has snapped up the exclusive UK terrestrial rights to the James Bond movie 'Casino Royale' as well as new runs of the complete 22-title 007 archive. The deal with Sony Pictures Television Internationsl and MGM was secured Friday in what was an apparently tough bidding contest with Channel 4. It ensures ITV will continue its legacy as the traditional home of bond in the UK.

"ITV is delighted to have secured the rights to this hotly contested catalog of movies," said Simon Shaps, ITV director of television. "Films form a key part of the ITV schedules in both peak and off-peak hours, and we are looking forward to building upon the hugely successful relationship we have with Sony Pictures Television International and MGM."

"Casino Royale," penned by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade based on the novel by Ian Fleming, stars Daniel Craig and will be released in November in the UK

On The Web:
Casino Royale site
ITV Website

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 10:44 AM | Permalink

As the hit WB series '7th Heaven' enters it's final stretch of the season, questions linger about it's return next season. This fall the WB will fold and the new CBS/Warner Brothers joint venture "The CW" will launch and there has been on-and-off speculation that the Spelling TV series might continue on the CW for its 11th season.

A month ago key cast members were approached about the possibility of returning for another year on the show, but no formal offers have been made and there haven't been recent inquiries to the cast or their agents.

Industy insiders indicate CW executives are keeping the option to bring back '7th Heaven' on the table. But no final decision will be made until the future network's four drama pilots come in and are evaluated.

"The CW" was created after the sale of Paramount to Viacom (who owns CBS, MTV). The UPN network, owned by Paramount, will also cease operations and become part of the CW. Many WB affiliate stations are also UPN affiliates. Most of the new network's fall schedule will consist of hit WB shows and some new drama series as well.

On The Web:
The WB
The CW announcement on CNN Money
CW Network @ Wikipedia

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 10:23 AM | Permalink

Charles Webb, 66, who wrote the novel on which Calder Willingham and Buck Henry screenplay was based, says that he is days away from being evicted from his flat in East Sussex. Webb originally sold the rights to his novel for $28,000 . "The Graduate" was brought to the screen in 1967 by Mike Nichols and went on to become a film icon. Webb says that he has had to care for his wife who had a nervous breakdown and hasn't been able to publish.

More in the CBC >>

Posted by Keith Loh at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Director Frank Oz (Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Stepford Wives) has signed on to direct the film 'Death At A Funeral' a farcical comedy penned by Dean Craig (Caffeine) and being produced by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment.

The film, starring, Matthew Macfadyen (Pride & Prejudice), Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) and Ewen Bremner (Match Point) is about a dysfunctional British family as they gather to mourn the passing of their patriarch. But when a man threatens to expose the patriarch's secret unless he is paid a princely sum, the man's two sons try to do everything to keep the secret from leaking to the guests, and what should be a heartfelt good-bye turns into a calamity.

He is looking forward to working on his first low-budget feature. "In the low-budget world, there is more pressure on speed but less pressure on the amount of money, meaning when you don't have enough money, you have to shoot faster," Oz said. "When you do have a lot of money, you don't have to shoot as fast, but the pressure is being responsible for the tremendous amount of money at your disposal."

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 9:50 PM | Permalink

Scents are being added to movies in select Japan theatres. Rather than having floral scents scenes that takes place gardens, during The New World with Collin Ferrell for example, a mix of peppermint and rosemary scents will accompany the heartrending moments and an orange and grapefruit citrus scent will symbolize joyful moments

Read the full article here

Posted by Michael Seidelman at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Marvel and DC are really milking their libraries for everything they can get but in a time when comic sales don't make ends meet, I can't blame them. With a few exceptions (The Punisher, Fantastic Four) to name a couple, the quality of comic inspired movies has been high in recent years. Even one shot graphic novels like A History of Violence and V for Vendetta have been adapted well.

Now writer John Cox has been hired to write Sgt. Rock, an adaptation of DC Comics' World War II adventure series. Sgt. Frank Rock was the leader of his infantry unit, Easy Company. He first appeared in a 1959 issue of "Our Army at War." In 1977, with the character's steadily rising popularity, the comic was renamed "Sgt. Rock" and ran until 1988. Many writers such as Brian Helgeland, John Milius, David Peoples, Jeffrey Boam and Steven De Souza have attempted to write adaptations without getting studio approval so it may be a while before we see Sgt. Rock on the big screen.

Read full article at Comingsoon.net

Posted by Michael Seidelman at 12:12 AM | Permalink

For his new film "Down in the Valley" veteran star actor Ed Norton felt he had to ride more miles than his cowboy character in trying to get even independent theatres interested in the small film about an illicit love affair between a modern romantic and a teenage girl. In the New York Times, Norton and director David Jacobsen lament the initial lack of success they had in getting a distributor. Since being premiered at the last Cannes, "Down in the Valley" was passed on by virtually every distributor. The article explains that now small distributors from the true indies to the specialty studios have now become specialized in certain niches, none of which "Down in the Valley" fit.

Read more in the NY Times (free registration required) >>

Posted by Keith Loh at 3:46 PM | Permalink

The film on the life of hockey great Maurice 'The Rocket' Richard is set to hit 115 screens in English Canada April 21st. It's the biggest national release of a French-Canadian film in the history of Alliance Atlantis, the film's distributor. It has already made over $4 million in Quebec, and stands to earn more with a French re-release on 35 screens set to coincide with the English-subtitled debut.

'The Rocket' chronicles Richard's career up until the notorious 1955 riot caused by his NHL suspension. It opens opposite the Ontario-shot Silent Hill, which will launch on some 200 screens across the country.

On the Web:
'The Rocket' Official Site
Alliance Atlantis Website

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 8:06 AM | Permalink

Global might re-run the first season of the nighttime soap 'Falcon Beach' this summer. The Canadian-produced series premieres on the ABC Family network in the US and Global hopes to bank on any publicity that might spill over the border.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the show pulled in a modest average of 250,000 viewers in it's first run. But Barbara Williams, Global's SVP, says those numbers don't paint an accurate picture of the series performance.

"In the first three or four weeks, we were averaging between 350,000 and 400,000," says Williams. "To us, [those] numbers said we have a good show that appeals to the right demo. In the second half of the season we had some scheduling conflicts, so the show didn't grow the way we would have liked it to."

She admits that bouncing the show around the network's schedule might have been responsible for some of the shortfall in audience numbers.

On the web:
More Ratings News at Playback Magazine
Falcon Beach Website
Global TV's Falcon Beach Page

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 6:48 AM | Permalink

Macleans' April 14th edition has a long article by longtime film critic Brian Johnson about the state of the English Canadian film industry. Don't skip it! It's an interesting view of the failure of Telefilm to fund features that Canadians actually want to see. In addition to interviews with the present head of Telefilm Wayne Clarkson, Johnson interviews Paul Gross (one of Canada's few recognizable domestic stars), producers Robert Lantos, Stephen Hegyes and Don Carmody. The article slams Telefilm for continuing to fund art pictures that followed the successes of Atom Egoyan on the festival circuit while refusing to produce more commercial films.

Gross argues that English Canadian cinema is wedded to an auteur model based on the early festival breakthroughs of some "really terrific filmmakers like Atom Egoyan." Then he adds, "It's been stuck in that mode for a while. Festivals are composed of audiences that you never see replicated in a normal theatre. We've hidden behind this intellectual rampart. And we end up in this perverse situation where we assign to any failed film a great deal of intellectual integrity."

These days, Telefilm is under siege from the heart of the industry. Victor Loewy, chairman of Alliance Atlantis's distribution arm, says, "The industry in English Canada is in total disarray. Its relationship with Telefilm is the worst I've seen in 34 years in the business." Robert Lantos, the country's most powerful producer, says Telefilm desperately needs to change its policies to recognize the realities of the marketplace. "Many, many millions of dollars," he says, "are being spent making allegedly theatrical films that don't play in theatres."

The article also reveals that Gross is producing and starring in a big budget WWI movie about Canada's efforts in Passchendaele.

Read it here >>

Posted by Keith Loh at 5:17 PM | Permalink

In an unusual show of unity, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and their affiliate associations plus a major independent TV station owner, Hearst-Argyle have joined forces against the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). They filed notices of appeal in Washington and New York late Thursday and Friday as first steps to challenge the FCC's rules on racy language on television.

"You've got all four networks and all four affiliate organizations and Hearst-Argyle corporation agreeing with each other," said one industry executive. "Most of the time they can't agree on the color of the sky."

In the last few years, under more conservative leadership, the FCC has clamped down on content it deems inappropriate; fining stations for violation of new stricter rules.

It started with the so-called "Nipple-gate" incident where Janet Jackson's nipple popped out in her performance at the Superbowl several years ago. After thousands of complaints from viewers, despite an apology from CBS calling it a "wardrobe malfunction", the FCC imposed six-figure fines to many CBS affiliates. Since then, the FCC has been on a war path leaping at the opportunity to impose fines on stations they say have aired racy material.

While this appeal is not related to that event specifically, it's the broadcasters intent to try to overturn the 2004 FCC decision tightening indecency regulations. The commission decided that virtually any use of certain expletives would be considered profane and indecent, even if it was a slip of the tongue.

"In filing these court appeals we are seeking to overturn the FCC decisions that the broadcast of fleeting, isolated -- and in some cases unintentional -- words rendered these programs indecent," a statement from the broadcasters said. They say the FCC "overstepped its authority" acting arbitrarily as it failed to give the networks a clear standard for objectionable content.

On the Web:
More Details in The Hollywood Reporter
FCC Website

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 1:55 PM | Permalink

"I felt like I was really pressured to settle for something that I didn't necessarily feel like I wanted." says Dave Chapelle in a 10-page spread of Esquire magazine arriving Saturday. Just one of many reasons he decided to leave Comedy Central last May.

His sudden departure left fans and industry insiders scratching their heads and questioning his motives and his sanity.

He told Esquire that putting on "Chappelle's Show" was the best television experience he ever had. He plans to continue telling jokes and entertaining audiences, he says, so long as he can retain a degree of personal and creative freedom.

On the web:
Esquire Magazine
Story at CNN.com

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 12:11 PM | Permalink

Spike Lee, Callie Khouri, Jon Turteltaub and Andy Tennant are just a small handful of the directors frantically shooting or posting projects this weekend to meet studio deadlines. Those projects aren't features, however, but pilots.

It's becoming increasingly more common to see prominent feature directors at the helm of TV pilots. McG got behind the cameras for "Fastlane," Doug Liman did "The O.C." and Bryan Singer helmed "House," all for Fox. But this year, their numbers have reached new highs.

Shows like "The Sopranos," "Sex and The City," and "Six Feet Under," on cable and broadcast network shows like "Desperate Housewives," "Lost," and "CSI" are helping to quash the old adage that feature films are a more intelligent medium and that TV is a sitcom world.

Bigger concepts and better, character-driven writing are contributing to this trend. "We're shooting a lot of pilots that are big ideas that are conceptually challenging but are grounded in really strong character-based drama, and they are all attracted to that," said Maria Crenna, executive vp at CBS Paramount Network TV.

Some directors currently working on pilots: Spike Lee, F. Gary Gray, Tim Story, James Mangold, Frank Darabont, Callie Khouri, Barry Sonnenfeld, Adam Shank-man, Jon Avnet, Joe Carnahan, Peter Berg, Jon Turteltaub, Bruce Beresford, Andy Tennant and Simon West.

Read the Full Story in The Hollywood Reporter

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 4:06 PM | Permalink

Hisao Kurosawa will launch a new filmmaking school in his famous father's name this September which will teach 80 students in 'the spirit' of the famed maker of "The Seven Samurai" and "Rashomon". The Tokyo-based Akira Kurosawa school will invite such film luminaries as Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Abbas Kiarostami to lecture. Longtime Kurosawa contemporaries Tatsuya Nakadai (who is in more than a couple of the films at the current Samurai! festival at the Cinematheque) and screenwriter Teruyo Nogami will supervise.

More in the CBC >>

Posted by Keith Loh at 9:41 AM | Permalink

The June 30th deadline for the Praxis Centre for Screenwriters fall competition is fast approaching. The fall competition, which accepts feature-length screenplays awards 4-6 submitters with a week-long session with veteran screenwriters / producers plus other events. The competition is open to any Canadian citizen or landed immigrant.

The Praxis Centre for Screenwriters is run by SFU's School for Contemporary Arts and is partially funded by Telefilm and other film bodies.

More about the Fall competition here on the Praxis website >>

Full disclosure: the submitter is a past winner of this contest.

Posted by Keith Loh at 11:53 AM | Permalink

Alberta's funding for its Film Development Program has met with criticism from leading Albertan actors, producers and technicians. Although the 2006 budget increases funding by 10 per cent as an outright grant to $14.8 million, Albertan filmmakers were hoping for $20 million. The filmmakers argue that this year a substantial increase in funding applications will drain the fund, even with its increase.

More in the CBC >>

Posted by Keith Loh at 11:49 AM | Permalink

It hasn't been released yet, but the film adaptation of Dan Brown's novel 'The Da Vinci Code' is following in the controversial footsteps of it's written counterpart.

Now a religious group in Korea has applied for a provisional injunction to stop the release of the movie there. The Christian Council of Korea (CCK) filed an application in Seoul against Sony Pictures, the film's distributor, according to Screen International.

They say the film was "an insult and defamation" of the holiness of Jesus Christ and the Bible. Not a new allegation as other Christian groups in Europe also objected to the filming there several months ago.

Dan Brown's novel suggests that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child and their blood line lives on. A theory originally published in the book 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. They recently sued Random House, publisher of both books, for copyright infrigment and lost.

The film version, starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautau and Ian McKellen, is due to be released at Cannes May 17.

On the Web:
BBC New story about the possible ban
BBC News story about the copyright lawsuit
'The Da Vinci Code' film website
Dan Brown's Website
Random House Website

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 1:43 PM | Permalink

The Writers Guild of America has named Julius J. Epistein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch's "Casablanca" the top screenplay of all time. "Casablanca" an adaptation of the play"Everybody Comes to Rick's" by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, topped the list of the WGA's "101 Greatest Screenplays of All Time".

The list was presented at a gala hosted by Premiere magazine. Attending were a who's who of the screenwriting world including Robert Towne, Nora Ephron, Callie Khouri, Curtis Hanson and Buck Henry.

Rounding out the top five are "The Godfather", "Chinatown", "Citizen Kane" and "All About Eve".

The 102 screenplays were voted on by the members of WGA West and WGA East out of 1400 screenplays.

More recent screenplays also on the list include "Memento" by Christopher Nolan at 100, Alexander Payne's "Sideways" (90), M. Night Shamalyan's "The Sixth Sense" (50), and Charlie Kaufman's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" at the 24th position.

The list is available for download as a .pdf on the WGA website here >>

http://imdb.com/title/tt0034583/fullcredits#writers

Posted by Keith Loh at 12:27 PM | Permalink

The co-writer and director of "George Lucas in Love" - Joe Nussbaum - has sold his comedy spec titled "Brad Cutter Ruined My Life...Again" to Warner Brothers Pictures.

Andrew Haas brought the script into De Line Pictures (Donald De Line will produce) while Dan Lin and Matt Reilly are overseeing things for Warner.

Logline: A successful young man's life is turned upside down when Brad Cutter, the cool kid from his high school, is hired at his company and begins to re-create the man's miserable teenage experience.

Nussbaum is represented by Endeavor, Principato-Young and attorney Karl Austen.

On the web:
Joe Nussbaum at Internet Movie Database
Warner Brothers Online

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 11:12 PM | Permalink

Executive producers/co-showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse will stay "Lost" for another season.

They have signed new seven-figure deals with Touchstone Television, the hit series' producer, to continue their jobs during the 2006-07 season.

Damon Lindelof wrote the pilot for "Lost" with J.J. Abrams. Cuse joined the series in October 2004, shortly after the show debuted to big numbers.

The series has received critical acclaim with a Best Drama Series Emmy in 2005 and a Best Drama Series Golden Globe in 2006. Awards that Lindelof and Cuse shared with fellow executive producers J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and Jack Bender and the rest of the 'Lost' production team.

Lindelof is also using his writing skills in other ways. He recently tried his hand at comic book writing in a series of "Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk" for Marvel comics.

On the web:
'Lost' Website (at ABC.com)
Article about Lindelof's Comic book debut
Article on 'Lost' competing for International Audiences

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 10:42 PM | Permalink

A French screenwriter is suing the makers of Oscar-winning oil thriller Syriana over allegations of plagiarism.

Stephanie Vergniault has filed legal action against Warner Bros, George Clooney's production company Section Eight and director Stephen Gaghan.

Ms Vergniault claims Syriana copied entire scenes from a script she wrote called Oversight.

A spokesman for Warner Bros said the case was "without merit", adding: "We will defend our position in court".

Clooney won a best supporting actor Oscar this year for his role in the political thriller about people involved in the oil industry and those affected by the world's need for oil.

Book inspiration

Ms Vergniault says she saw the film after being alerted by a friend and alleges at least 15 scenes were lifted from a script she developed between 1997 and 2003.

She said that she had read the book by CIA agent Robert Baer which director Gaghan said heavily inspired his film. But she added it did not resemble any of the movie's scenes that she claims were copied from her script.

Ms Vergniault said she is "furious" over the alleged plagiarism and is seeking two million euros (£1.4m) in damages.

Gaghan, who wrote the screenplay for Traffic, originally entered the film into the best adapted screenplay Oscar category but organisers moved it to into the original screenplay section.

The director admitted he did veer from Robert Baer's See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism, but he still considered his work to be an adapted screenplay.

From BBC News

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 2:15 AM | Permalink

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The widely hyped merging of the PC and TV is finally taking shape in a way that only a few people imagined in the late 1990s Internet boom.

From independent producers like Mondo Media to big media companies like MTV, and even kids who post videos on community sites like YouTube.com, the World Wide Web is becoming a sort of worldwide TV network for audiences seeking offbeat entertainment not shown on mainstream television.

Mondo's cartoon characters, "Happy Tree Friends," survived the dot-com bust of 2000 and are now a thriving, worldwide phenomenon. And this week a little-known British rocker named Sandi Thom signed a record deal with Sony BMG after building an audience by webcasting her own concerts from her basement.

"I still don't think people have a handle on the fact that, for all intents and purposes, we have a TV network working for us, essentially free, that is worldwide," said John Evershed, co-founder of Mondo Media, which owns "Happy Tree Friends."

The "Friends" are a collection of lovable forest animals with names like Giggles and Lumpy who get into trouble that inevitably leads to violence and death.

San Francisco-based Mondo shows 16 million, two-minute programs monthly on the Web which have spawned the sale of 750,000 DVDs. The "Tree Friends" Web site, its t-shirts, toys, and cell phone episodes are hot items in more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe, North and South America, Mondo Media says.

The "Tree Friends" were a product of the technology boom when venture capital and advertisers chased producers who were delivering TV-like episodes on the Web. When the boom ended, money dried up and only a few players like Mondo remained.

WORLD WIDE TV

Evershed said this new wave of Web video is fueled by the rising number of people with high-speed Internet access which makes video watchable on PCs. Moreover, younger audiences are increasingly accustomed to watching video on PCs and laptops.

Other independent producers building audiences with a TV network on the Web include Joe Cartoon, Homestarrunner and JibJab.

Community building sites like YouTube.com are thriving by making it easy for users to post video clips. Teens also turn to the Web when traditional TV shows get boring.

Seeing this trend, major media companies are getting in on the act so they don't lose viewers and advertising to Web competitors.

Viacom Inc's MTV has started "MTV Overdrive" at MTV.com. E! Entertainment webcasts "The Vine" at eonline.com and The Walt Disney's Co.'s ABC Television Group has plans to stream shows for kids on its Disneychannel.com and Jetix.tv sites in coming months.

As with the "Friends," keys to success for "MTV Overdrive" have been offering short programs and original content that fans do not see on broadcast or cable TV.

That philosophy is a far cry from the late 1990s when the dot-com boom fueled the notion that eventually all TV would be delivered on the Web, on-air broadcasting would become wired webcasting and computers would be the TV sets of the future.

"Really, I had this vision 6 years ago," said Mike Tuinstra, chief executive officer of Joecartoon.com Inc. "It's just now kind of happening."

From Reuters

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 1:02 AM | Permalink

By Cynthia Littleton (Hollywood Reporter)

Last summer, primetime pundits predicted this season would come down to a photo finish among Fox, ABC and CBS in the adults 18-49 demographic. The thoroughbreds in this race have not disappointed.

Most network number-crunchers foresee Fox pulling ahead by a nose in the final stretch next month to win by one-tenth of a rating point, or a mere 130,000 viewers in the key demo, with ABC and CBS right behind. Braggadocio aside, the real story behind the razor-thin margins is that each of those networks generally has had a good season, albeit in different ways.

At Fox, not even the most bullish "American Idol" fans could have predicted that the show would come back in January with such force to become even more dominant than last season. In 2004-05, the Tuesday edition of "Idol" was primetime's most-watched program overall, but it had only a 700,000 viewer edge over CBS' second-ranked "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." So far this season, the Tuesday "Idol" has a 6.8 million viewer lead over third-ranked "CSI." (Wednesday's "Idol" ranks No. 2).

That "Idol" hasn't given Fox more of an advantage at this stage of the game is a testament to how much ground the network had to make up, especially from its postseason baseball coverage in the fall. There was no way Fox could re-create the magic, or the magical Nielsen numbers, of the Boston Red Sox's march to victory in 2004. The introduction of "Prison Break" and the continued heat of the dramas "House" and "24" have helped Fox's cause.

ABC is poised to end the season with the highest gains among the Big Four. As of the week ending March 26, ABC was the only network up over last season in adults 18-49 and in total viewers. The February Super Bowl telecast accounts for some but not all of that momentum.

ABC didn't have the Midas touch with its new shows this season as it did in '04-'05, but "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" have hung tough, given how high the bar was set after their first seasons. Round 2 of "Dancing With the Stars" proved to be another top 10 entry. But the real workhorse of ABC this season has been "Grey's Anatomy," the medical drama that has hit white-hot pop culture status with ratings to match.

What CBS has more than any of the others is fearsome bench strength. CBS' wide lead in total viewers is paced by a stable of solid dramas that are still on the grow: "Without a Trace," "NCIS," "CSI: NY," "Cold Case" and "Numbers," joined this season by rookies "Criminal Minds" and "The Unit."

NBC has endured the kind of season that top management mea culpa-ed for in advance last year during its upfront presentation. But there has been some joy in Burbank. "My Name Is Earl" defied naysayers and worked respectably, if not spectacularly. And the decision to hang in with "The Office" has been rewarded, thank you iTunes.

From The Hollywood Reporter

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 2:44 PM | Permalink

A theatre in New York has pulled the trailer for United 93, the upcoming film about the United Airlines flight that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.

The AMC Loews Lincoln Square 12 theatre in Manhattan made the decision last weekend after receiving complaints from patrons, who felt the movie advertisement was too upsetting.

"I don't think people are ready for this," Kevin Adjodha, the theatre's manager, told U.S. media.

Instead of the trailer, other movie theatres have opted to screen a short promotional feature about the making of United 93.

However, Universal Studios, the studio behind the film, said it would continue to screen the trailer in advance of the film's North American theatrical release date of April 28.

Adam Fogelson, Universal's president of marketing, told the New York Times that the trailer is only to be shown before movies with an R-rating or "grown-up" PG-13 films.

"If I sanitized the trailer beyond what's there, am I suggesting that the experience will be less real than what the movie itself is? We as a company feel comfortable that it is a responsible and fair way to show what's coming," he told the Times.

"The film is not sanitized or softened, it's an honest and real look" at what happened on Flight 93, he said.

Last week, the filmmakers announced that 10 per cent of the box office gross from the movie's first three days in theatres will be donated to an upcoming memorial to the passengers of the flight.

United Airlines Flight 93 crashed as the passengers attempted to seize control of the cockpit from hijackers, who had commandeered the plane as part of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The hijacking has previously been dramatized in the made-for-TV movie Flight 93, which aired on U.S. network A&E in January, and in the documentary The Flight That Fought Back.

Directed by British filmmaker Paul Greengrass, United 93 will premiere on the opening night of the Tribeca Film Festival, which actor Robert DeNiro helped create in 2002 to help Manhattan recover from the Sept. 11 attacks. The festival runs from April 25 through May 7.

United 93 is the first of several films about the Sept. 11 attacks scheduled to hit the big screen this year. Others include the documentary The Saint of 9/11 and the Oliver Stone film World Trade Center.

Read the Original Story at CBC News

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 12:26 PM | Permalink

By Jennifer Netherby from DVD Exclusive

King Kong aped its way to become the top-selling DVD in Universal Studios Home Entertainment history, surpassing sales of $100 million in its first six days in stores, the studio said Monday.

According to Universal, consumers bought 6.5 million discs through Sunday.

Although a record for Universal, the DVD release isn't close to being a record for the industry. Warner Home Video's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire sold 5 million discs its first day in stores.

Peter Jackson's King Kong remake has reached a worldwide theatrical gross of $550 million, making it one of Universal's top films behind Jurassic Park, E.T. and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

"Hands down, Peter Jackson's King Kong ranks as one of Universal's biggest and most successful cinematic triumphs of all time," USHE president Craig Kornblau said in a statement. "Home entertainment consumers recognize the singular-event status of this spectacular breakthrough motion picture, which has been further bolstered by the film's stunning technical achievements including its Oscar win for best visual effects."

Universal released the DVD in a single-disc version and a two-disc special collector's edition backed by a cross-promotional blitz with partners including Papa John's Pizza, Glad, Hostess, Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Microwave Popcorn, Kellogg's, Nestle, Toshiba, Chase and Kodak EasyShare.

Read the original article at the DVD Exclusive website

Posted by Michael Seidelman at 11:50 PM | Permalink

The Munich director is in talks to create a show where aspiring filmmakers vie to direct a movie that he will produce.

A source says, "He's throwing around a lot of ideas. But the basic concept is Project Greenlight meets The Apprentice."

Spielberg's representative confirms the director is looking at the concept, saying, "It may be something further down the line."

Link to the original article on Hollywood.com

Posted by Michael Seidelman at 6:01 PM | Permalink

By BRIDGET BYRNE, For The Associated Press

There's a faint rustling on the set of "Ghost Whisperer." Could it be some troubled spirit trying to get medium Melinda Gordon's attention?

No. It's the frilly bodice of Jennifer Love Hewitt's dress. It seems that each time the actress emotes, it gives off a noise loud enough to worry the sound engineer, consequently requiring several extra takes.

Apparently some fans of the CBS series, in which Hewitt plays a young newlywed with the ability to contact spirits, tune in mainly to see what the winsome star is wearing. But it's the paranormal subject matter that seems to have connected with most viewers, earning the new drama an early pickup for next season.

"We really listen to our audience and they do want scary and low cut dresses," laughs series consultant and executive producer James Van Praagh. The well-known paranormal expert acknowledges some compromises have to be made in the name of entertainment, yet is essentially pleased the show is conveying his message that there's life after death.

"I think especially in a time of war people question beliefs, and I don't think people are going to religions as much for answers. They are going within and being responsible for their own lives and their own quest for understanding," says Van Praagh, who reports that many attending his recent lectures have said their interest was peeked by watching "Ghost Whisperer."

"I love the theme. I definitely feel we are not just our bodies, that we are beings and that we go on," says Anne Archer, who has joined the cast in the recurring role of Beth Gordon, Melinda's mother.

"So from that standpoint, it didn't seem weird to me at all," continues Archer. "I think it's interesting and obviously audiences do, too ... I think there is a sort of emptiness in our look at life in general lately, and think this is a way to explore that."

The episode filming this day at Universal Studios, titled "The Vanishing," airs Friday at 8 p.m EDT.

Hewitt's chest heaves and faux tears flow. It seems a head injury has caused her character, Melinda, to lose her gift for communicating with earthbound spirits and she's devastated. Her loving husband, Jim (David Conrad), is providing sympathy.

Meanwhile, mother Beth is happy. She possesses the same psychic gift as her daughter, but has always viewed it as a curse rather than a blessing. Now, for whatever reason, her gift has vanished, too, but she feels a burden has been lifted.

Archer says the whole story arc has given her something juicy to play beyond the usual standard mom fare often offered to actresses in their 50s.

"It was a whole character coming in with a big problem. I loved that, and then in this episode the gift goes away for both of us and I'm feeling liberated," says the actress as she waits in her dressing room for her scenes to begin. "It's great that they gave me something to act other than, 'Hi, dear, how are you doing?'"

Director and executive producer Ian Sander adds that Archer's good looks are also an attribute, "because the role of Beth demands flashbacks, and she looks utterly convincing playing nearly 20 years younger."

Van Praagh says it's not essential that actors on his show believe in its premise, "but it certainly helps if they are open-minded."

Hewitt said earlier that spending time with Van Praagh and researching for the show has made it hard not to believe.

"What's great and beautiful about this show is that it kind of makes you believe, if you don't already, that the people you love the most maybe don't actually leave you for good, that maybe they kind of look after you and are there to sort of see you through the rest of whatever your journey is."

Archer's thoughts echo that.

"The show has charm because its characters are so likable. Even the ghosts are sympathetic. I think it (the show) hits these buttons in people that ... when you lose someone, very often you are left with these terrible feelings about what you didn't say to them," she says. "It's very honest, because it gets down to what we all wonder about."

Read this AP story at Yahoo

CBS Website

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 2:29 PM | Permalink

Hollywood to Sell Digital Versions of Films Online, a Step Toward Full Distribution Over Internet

By GARY GENTILE
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood studios will start selling digital versions of films such as "Brokeback Mountain" and "King Kong" on the Internet this week, the first time major movies have been available online to own.

The films can't be burned onto a disc for viewing on a DVD player. Still, the move is seen as a step toward full digital distribution of movies over the Internet.

Six studios said Monday that sales will begin through the download Web site Movielink. The site is jointly owned by five of the seven major studios.

Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and MGM will offer some first-run and older titles on Movielink. New films will be priced similar to DVDs between $20 and $30 while older titles will sell for $10 to $20.

In a separate announcement, Sony and Lionsgate said they will sell films through the CinemaNow site.

Films from The Walt Disney Co. will not be available, although both services say talks are ongoing.

"Digital delivery hasn't arrived until the major studios allow home ownership, and now they have and now digital delivery is very real," said Jim Ramo, chief executive at Movielink.

Studios will sell some new films online the same day they become available on DVD. Most films will be made available within 45 days.

Studios began renting films online several years ago as a way to combat illegal downloading. Movies have been available through the Internet 30 to 45 days after hitting video stores, with rentals lasting just 24 hours for viewing primarily on computer screens.

Digital delivery of video grew rapidly after Apple Computer Inc. began selling episodes of TV shows through its iTunes online store last October.

This year, devices powered by new Intel computer chips and TV service delivered over the Internet will allow more consumers to watch Web video on their TVs instead of their computer screens, a key factor in downloading to own, analysts said.

Studios are being cautious about selling films online in part because DVD sales produce more profit than box office receipts.

But studios are also preparing for the day when major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Amazon.com begin offering their own movie download services.

"The important thing is to embrace the future, respect the economics of DVD but move forward into digital delivery," said Ben Feingold, president of Worldwide Home Entertainment at Sony Pictures.

The films available on Movielink can be stored indefinitely on a computer hard drive or transferred to as many as two other computers. The movies can be played on a TV if the computer is part of a home network.

A copy can be burned to a DVD as a backup. Discs can be played on up three PCs authorized by Movielink but cannot be viewed on a standard DVD player because of special security coding.

Consumers will not be able to transfer the films from a PC or laptop to a handheld portable viewing device. But that capability should be available sometime within the next year, Ramo said.

Films on CinemaNow will be playable on just one computer. The company said it eventually expects studios to allow consumers to burn movies on DVD and transfer them to portable devices.

"This is a first step, but it is far from the final model," said Curt Marvis, chief executive of CinemaNow.

Read this AP Story at ABC News

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 2:25 PM | Permalink

The UK film magazine Empire has posted its list of the 50 Greatest "Independent" films on its website. Just making the the top 50 in spot 48 is Vincenzo Natali's Cube (1997), written by Natali and Andre Bijelic as part of the Canadian Film Centre's feature project that year. Cube has proven to be a cult favourite here and overseas. The story of a group of strangers who wake up in a prison that appears to be a series of interconnecting cube-shaped rooms, Cube features a lot of Canadian actors you'll recognize. It also is a hell of a concept and use of limited resources.

Read the rest of the 50 Greatest Independent Films on Empire's website here >>

Learn more about the Canadian Film Centre here >>

Posted by Keith Loh at 11:38 AM | Permalink

20th Century Fox's Ice Age: The Meltdown set a new record for a March opener with a massive $70.5 million from 3,964 theaters for an average of $17,785 per location. The animated-comedy beat the original Ice Age, which previously held the March record with $46.3 million and went on to earn $176 million. If the numbers hold when final figures are released Monday, it would tie The Incredibles for second-best animated debut ever behind the $108 million first weekend of Shrek 2. "The Meltdown" marks the biggest debut of 2006 so far at the North American box. The film features the voices Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Will Arnett, Josh Peck, Jay Leno and Queen Latifah.

Universal Pictures crime-drama Inside Man, starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster, dropped 46% and to the second spot with $5.7 million. Budgeted at about $45 million, the film has collected $52.8 million in two weeks.

Newcomer ATL, from Warner Bros. Pictures, debuted in the third spot with an estimated $12.5 million. The dramedy averaged a strong $7,830 in 1,602 theaters.

Paramount's Failure to Launch remained in the fourth spot, adding $6.6 million in its fourth weekend. The $50 million-budgeted romantic comedy, starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker, has earned an impressive $73.2 million so far.

Warner Bros.' V For Vendetta, starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving, rounded out the top five with $6.5 million. The $54 million-budgeted graphic novel has made $56 million in three weeks.

Two other wide releases bombed out of the gate. Universal's Slither, written and directed by James Gunn, earned just $3.7 million from 1,945 theaters for an average of $1,889, while Sharon Stone sequel Basic Instinct 2 made only $3.2 million from 1,453 locations, an average of $2,202.

The 2005 Sundance Film Festival hit Brick opened strongly in limited release, with $87,524 in two theaters. Focus Features plans to expand the Rian Johnson-directed film to more theaters this Friday.

Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.
Click here for the aricle on Comingsoon.net

Posted by Michael Seidelman at 7:31 PM | Permalink

Twentieth Century Fox has confirmed that popular animated TV series The Simpsons is to be made into a film.

The movie will be released in the United States in July 2007.

A 25-second trailer for the film has been shown to US audiences at screenings of Ice Age: The Meltdown, promising to introduce "the greatest hero in American history".

It then cut to Homer Simpson, wearing only his underwear, who admitted: "I forgot what I was supposed to say."

The Simpsons revolves around the antics of bald, beer-guzzling family man Homer and his spiky-haired son Bart.

It is the longest-running prime-time entertainment series on television in the US and a worldwide hit.

It is currently in its 17th season, and last month, US network Fox confirmed it had commissioned two more series.

This ensured the show would stay on screens until at least 2008.

There has long been speculation about whether it would be turned into a film.

Creator Matt Groening said last year that the animated hit would keep going as long as he and his colleagues could keep generating fresh ideas.

"That's what you're looking for in television - surprise," he added.

Read the original story at BBC News

Posted by Mike Laverdiere at 1:39 AM | Permalink