August 23, 2013
Affleck to play Batman in ‘Man of Steel’ sequel
By Derrik J. Lang, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ben Affleck will don Batman’s cape and cowl.
Warner Bros. announced Thursday that the 41-year-old actor-director will star as a new incarnation of the Dark Knight in a film bringing Batman and Superman together.
The studio said Affleck will star opposite 30-year-old Henry Cavill, who will reprise his role as Superman from “Man of Steel.” The movie will also feature “Man of Steel” stars Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White and Diane Lane as Martha Kent.
The big-screen DC Comics superhero mash-up was first revealed by director Zack Snyder at last month’s Comic-Con International in San Diego.
Snyder, who will direct the sequel written by “Man of Steel” screenwriter David S. Goyer, said in a statement that Affleck will provide an “interesting counter-balance” to Cavill’s Clark Kent.
“(Affleck) has the acting chops to create a layered portrayal of a man who is older and wiser than Clark Kent and bears the scars of a seasoned crime fighter, but retain the charm that the world sees in billionaire Bruce Wayne,” said Snyder. “I can’t wait to work with him.”
Production on the as-yet-untitled film is expected to begin in 2014 for release July 17, 2015.
It won’t be Affleck’s first time in superhero garb. He played a blind Marvel crime fighter in 2003’s “Daredevil” and portrayed 1950s Superman actor George Reeves in 2006’s “Hollywoodland.”
Affleck’s “Argo,” which he starred in and directed, won the Academy Award for best picture earlier this year.
Christian Bale most recently played Batman in director Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy.
Yahoo passed Google in US Web visitors in JulyNEW YORK (AP) — For the first time in more than two years, more Americans visited Yahoo’s websites than Google’s in July, according to data from research firm comScore Inc.
ComScore said Wednesday that Yahoo Inc.’s websites saw 196.6 million unique U.S. visitors last month, while Google’s sites had 192.3 million. The last time Yahoo was ahead of Google was in May 2011, according to comScore.
That said, Yahoo is still far behind Google in making money from the people who visit its websites. After stripping out ad commissions, Yahoo’s revenue came to $1.07 billion in the April-June quarter. Google’s, meanwhile, was $11.1 billion by the same measure.
Research firm eMarketer estimates that Google will generate $38.83 billion in worldwide digital advertising revenue this year, more than any other company. Facebook Inc. is at No. 2 with an estimated $5.89 billion, while Yahoo is No. 3 with $3.63 billion expected. EMarketer’s figures include mobile ads, which comScore does not count in its Web visitor figures.
It’s hard to say if July’s figures are a blip or the start of an upward trend for Yahoo. The company is in the midst of a turnaround orchestrated by CEO Marissa Mayer. Mayer, who recently clocked in a year at the helm of the Internet company, has described her plan for Yahoo as a “series of sprints” that will take several years to finish.
Film Society of Lincoln Center to honor Blanchett, FiennesNEW YORK–The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced that Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes will be the subjects of this year’s NYFF Gala Tributes. The Gala Tribute to Cate Blanchett will take place on Wednesday, October 2, and the Gala Tribute to Ralph Fiennes will take place on Wednesday, October 9, in conjunction with the screening of his film “The Invisible Woman,” which was previously announced as a Main Slate Official Selection.
The NYFF Gala Tributes celebrate the work of individuals working in film who have made significant artistic contributions to film culture in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Past honorees include Pedro Almod๏ฟฝvar, David Cronenberg, Nicole Kidman and Richard Pe๏ฟฝa. As part of the Gala Tributes, Film Society hosts intimate Gala Dinners following the tributes/screenings with attendees including that evening’s honorees and other VIP guests
Regarding the Gala Tribute honoring Cate Blanchett, FSLC’s executive director, Rose Kuo said, “In the year that many critics are hailing her most recent–and perhaps greatest–performance (in “Blue Jasmine”), the Film Society is delighted to celebrate the career of Cate Blanchett. Since her breakthrough in “Oscar and Lucinda” in 1997, Ms. Blanchett has consistently mesmerized audiences with some of the boldest screen performances of the past twenty years, with roles as diverse as Queen Elizabeth I and Bob Dylan.”
Regarding Ralph Fiennes, Kuo added, “In just his third screen role, Ralph Fiennes’s performance as the monstrous Amon Goeth in Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” terrified audiences with its personification of evil. Since then, Mr. Fiennes has brilliantly embodied the larger-than-life creations of writers such as Shakespeare, Dickens, and Graham Greene, among others, and given us an extraordinary body of work to celebrate. The Film Society is excited to honor him at this year’s New York Film Festival not only as an actor, but as the director of “The Invisible Woman,” truly one of the noteworthy films of the year.”
Toby Brockhurst joins Chemical Effects
SANTA MONICA, Calif.–Toby Brockhurst has joined boutique visual effects house Chemical Effects as head of 2D. Originally hailing from London, Brockhurst has spent the last two-and-a-half years at Method Studios working as a VFX supervisor and Flame artist. Before joining Method Studios, Brockhurst spent a combined 13 years as sr. Flame artist/VFX supervisor at The Mill, MPC, Glassworks and Framestore in London and New York, working with noted directors Tarsem, Gerard De Thame, Michel Gondry and Howard Greenhalgh. Brockhurst has garnered international recognition with multiple BTAA Gold, Silver, Bronze awards, and a Cannes Bronze Lion.
“When recruiting talent, I’ve always looked to the UK,” Sandy Beladino, president of Chemical Effect, explained. “I find that British visual effects artists have an amazing sense of creativity, craftsmanship and passion.”
The Santa Monica-based Chemical Effects offers CGI/3D design and animation, on set shoot supervision, motion graphics, character animation, offline, online, and compositing services to the advertising industry. Brockhurst joins an ensemble of talent that includes Flame artist Shauna Prescott, head of 3D Matthew Stevens, and creative directors Nick Piper and Tony Smoller.
Firehouse ups Greg Hunter to group creative director/principalDALLAS–Independent advertising agency Firehouse has promoted Greg Hunter to group creative director/principal. Hunter will continue to report to executive creative director and partner Tripp Westbrook.
Hunter has spent more than three years at Dallas-based Firehouse, most recently as an associate creative director and copywriter. During his tenure, he has worked with brands such as Interstate Batteries, Stripes Convenience Stores, WGU Texas and the Dallas Farmers Market Friends. In his new role, Hunter will lead creative strategy and execution for clients including Service King, Taco Cabana and the National Cheerleader’s Association.
Prior to Firehouse, Greg spent three years at Mother New York as a copywriter, developing content for Sour Patch Kids, SPIKE TV, Full Throttle, Dell and K-Y brands.
The promotion comes on the heels of several new business wins for Firehouse this year, including Taco Cabana, Service King Collision Repair Centers and Blackmon Mooring.
WFF’s Maverick Lifetime Achievement honoree: Bogdanovich
WOODSTOCK, NY–Director, actor, producer, film historian and writer Peter Bogdanovich will receive the honorary Maverick Lifetime Achievement Award at the 14th annual Woodstock Film Festival (WFF). The award will be presented to Bogdanovich on Saturday, October 5 at the annual Maverick Awards Gala at Backstage Studio Productions in his hometown of Kingston, NY. In addition to accepting this honor, Bogdanovich will star in the film Cold Turkey by Will Slocombe, which will make its New York premiere at this year’s festival. Bogdanovich will also participate in a special talk separate from the screening.
Bogdanovich will join Mira Nair among this year’s notable honorary award recipients.
Bogdanovich was part of the wave of “New Hollywood” directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino and Francis Ford Coppola. His most critically acclaimed film is The Last Picture Show (1971). He currently discusses past films and their filmmakers online at Blogdanovich.
After spending most of his teens studying acting with the legendary Stella Adler, and working as an actor in live TV and various theaters around the country, including the New York and the American Shakespeare Festivals, Bogdanovich at age 20 began directing plays off-Broadway and in N.Y. summer theater. He also wrote for the Museum of Modern Art a series of three monographs on Orson Welles, Howard Hawks, and Alfred Hitchcock, the first such retrospective studies of these directors in America. He also began writing a classic series of feature articles and profiles for Esquire, doing the ground-breaking Humphrey Bogart tribute, as well as definitive pieces on James Stewart, Jerry Lewis, and John Ford, among others.
This Woodstock Festival will take place from October 2-6 in Woodstock, NY and the neighboring towns of Kingston, Saugerties, Rhinebeck and Rosendale.
Facebook aims to get more people online
By Barbara Ortutay, Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook wants to get more of the world’s more than 7 billion people — all of them, actually — online through a partnership with some of the world’s largest mobile technology companies.
Facebook Inc. announced a partnership called Internet.org on Wednesday. In addition to the world’s biggest online social network, the group also includes Korean electronics giant Samsung, Finnish handset maker Nokia and wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc.
Facebook said the group’s goal is to “make Internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected” — about 5 billion people.
The group’s plans include developing cheaper smartphones and tools that would reduce the amount of data required to run apps. For Facebook, the move would certainly add more users to its current 1.15 billion, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg paints it as something bigger.
“For nine years, we’ve been on a mission to connect the world. We now connect more than 1 billion people, but to connect the next 5 billion we must solve a much bigger problem: the vast majority of people don’t have access to the internet,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page along with a paper titled “Is Connectivity A Human Right?”
He points out that the people who already use Facebook “have way more money than the rest of the world combined.” That means it may “not actually be pro?table for us to serve the next few billion people for a very long time, if ever. But we believe everyone deserves to be connected.”
Javier Olivan, vice president of growth and analytics at Facebook, said the move continues what the company has already been doing to get more people online. This includes “Facebook For Every Phone,” an app that launched in 2011 to let people with simple, non-smartphones use Facebook.
Wireless equipment company Ericsson, Web browser developer Opera Software and MediaTek, another wireless semiconductor company, are also founding members of Internet.org.
Google Inc., which is not a part of the Internet.org effort, launched a similar undertaking earlier this year with the goal of getting everyone on Earth online. Called Project Loon, the project launched Internet-beaming antennas abroad giant helium balloons into the stratosphere.
Netflix strikes movie deal with Weinstein Co.BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — In a drive to add subscribers, Netflix has expanded on a movie licensing deal with The Weinstein Co. that will add more films to its Internet video service beginning in 2016.
The multi-year agreement announced Tuesday builds upon a partnership that Netflix Inc. forged with Weinstein Co. last year. That deal gave it the streaming rights to the Oscar-winning film, “The Artist,” as well other foreign films and documentaries from the 8-year-old studio.
The new deal gives Netflix the rights to show all movies released by Weinstein Co. and its subsidiary, Dimension Films, before they appear on pay-TV channels. That makes it more competitive with channels like HBO and Showtime that have traditionally been the first place to see films after their theatrical runs.
Investors applauded Netflix’s latest coup as the company’s stock surged to a new two-year high of $273.53 before retreating slightly. The shares rose $13.51, or more than 5 percent, to finish at $273.29 on Tuesday.
Netflix’s exclusive arrangement with Weinstein Co. begins with films released in theaters during 2016. That’s around the same time Netflix will begin showing films for the first time outside a movie theater from The Walt Disney Co., part of an agreement announced last year.
Financial terms of the latest Weinstein deal weren’t disclosed.
Netflix has been spending heavily to gain exclusive content licensing rights and finance its own original programming. CEO Reed Hastings wants to attract 60 million to 90 million U.S. subscribers to the company’s $8-per-month service. Netflix ended June with nearly 30 million subscribers in the U.S. and 7.75 million international customers scattered through 39 other countries.
The company, which is based in Los Gatos, Calif., is spending about $2 billion annually to stock its Internet video library as it vies for viewers against premium cable channels such as Time Warner Inc.’s HBO and other online services, including rapidly expanding offering from Amazon.com Inc.
Weinstein Co. was launched in 2005 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979. Since then, Weinstein Co. has released two films that have won an Academy Award for Best Picture, “The Artist” and “The King’s Speech.”
“We look forward to reinventing the pay TV window with the Weinsteins,” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer.
Ubisoft Connects With Sony, New Regency For Watch Dogs Film
CULVER CITY, Calif.–At the Sony Computer Entertainment press conference at GamesCom, Ubisoft announced that its film and television division, Ubisoft Motion Pictures, is collaborating with Sony Pictures Entertainment and New Regency on development of a feature film based on Watch Dogs, Ubisoft’s highly anticipated open world action-adventure video game, available for Sony’s PlayStation 4 this holiday.
Hannah Minghella, president of Production for Columbia Pictures, said, “The themes and open gameplay of ‘Watch Dogs’ lends itself perfectly to the big screen. The game has intense action and adventure, but the story focuses on information and the control of information, which we think will lead to an exciting thriller. It has tremendous potential as a motion picture and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work closely with Ubisoft’s internal creative team on the development of the project.”
Watch Dogs centers on Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker bent on revenge and inflicting his own brand of justice after a violent family tragedy. Using all of his skills, Pearce hacks into Chicago’s Central Operating System (ctOS), which controls the city’s infrastructure, including security cameras, traffic lights, and public transportation, as well as databases containing key information on the city’s residents. In the game, Pearce turns the entire city of Chicago into his ultimate weapon. The game received many awards at E3 2012, including Best of Show from Gaming Excellence and three awards (Biggest Surprise, Best New Franchise and Best PC Game) from IGN. The game also won GameSpot’s People’s Choice Most Exciting Game of E3 2013.
The project will be overseen at Ubisoft by Ubisoft Motion Pictures. At Columbia, Minghella and Sam Dickerman will oversee development while Alexandra Milchan and Andrew Calof will work on the forthcoming film for New Regency.
Cannes hits highlight New York Film Fest lineupNEW YORK (AP) — This year’s New York Film Festival will draw heavily from the Cannes Film Festival.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the festival lineup Monday. Many films that premiered in May at Cannes will fill the festival’s slate, including Alexander Payne’s Midwest road trip “Nebraska,” the Coen brothers’ folk revival “Inside Llewyn Davis,” James Gray’s period drama “The Immigrant” and Jim Jarmusch’s vampire tale “Only Lovers Left Alive.”
The Film Society announced earlier that Paul Greengrass’ “Captain Phillips” would be the festival opener, Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” the centerpiece and Spike Jonze’s “Her” the festival closer.
Other notables include Frederick Wiseman’s “At Berkeley” documentary and the big screen debut of Steve Coogan’s “Alan Partridge.”
The festival runs Sept. 27 through Oct. 13.
Canon names 20 finalists in film contest
MELVILLE, N.Y.–Canon U.S.A., Inc., has announced 20 finalists from the “Project Imaginat10n” Film Contest where amateurs and hobbyists were invited to sit in the director’s chair, showcasing their storytelling abilities by creating a short film inspired by a series of crowdsourced photographs. The project, helmed by two-time Academy Award winner Ron Howard, is the next phase in the “Project Imaginat10n”creative exercise proving Ron’s very own words that “we’re all creative.” Eva Longoria (film and TV actress), Jamie Foxx (Academy Award๏ฟฝ winner), Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter), Georgina Chapman (designer and co-founder of Marchesa) and James Murphy (founder of LCD SOUNDSYSTEM) all directed short films inspired by 10 consumer photographs earlier this year.
In the coming weeks, Ron Howard and Bryce Dallas Howard, the first “graduating” director of the Project Imagin8ion experiment, will narrow the finalists down to five winning directors. Packaged together as “A Ron Howard Presentation,” the five consumer and five celebrity films will be featured at Canon’s Project Imaginat10n Film Festival in fall 2013.
“Project Imaginat10n has enabled artistry among filmmakers of all levels and inspired people in the most contrasting disciplines to pursue filmmaking, completely redefining ‘art’ and proving that ‘we’re all creative,'” said Ron Howard. “For year two, it was important to me to open the experiment to the masses, especially at film schools where Bryce had the opportunity to share her experience.”
“This exercise continues to prove that creativity and collaboration generate endless possibilities that mark the state of our time,” said Bryce Dallas Howard. “All you need is some basic equipment, an imagination and a burning desire to tell a story.”
The Finalists chosen include:
* Arrius Sorbonne of Salt Lake City, UT with “Dominus”
* Arron Marie Fenton of North Hollywood, CA with “Static”
* Brad Watts of Trenton, NJ with “MASK”
* Damon Colquhoun of New York, NY with “Transporter”
* Dan Foley of Westerville, OH with “Tied Up”
* Geneva Arena of Oxford, KS with “The Donor”
* Iva Antioco of Redondo Beach, CA with “Auburn”
* Jared Nelson of Rancho Cucamonga, CA with “Chucked”
* Jasmine Johnson of West Hollywood, CA with “Sugar”
* Jon Abrahams of Virginia Beach, VA with “Will Power”
* Joshua James Kolozsy of Nashville, TN with “BLAME”
* Jules Bianchi of Oakland, CA with “Apocolypso”
* Julian Higgins of Los Angeles, CA with “Here and Now”
* Kalman Apple of Los Angeles, CA with “A Day in the Country”
* Kellie Madison of Los Angeles, CA with “THE CAUL”
* Lee Cipolla of Hollywood, CA with “Reflection”
* Michael Kuznar of Eau Claire, WI with “Day 43”
* R.W. Perkins of Fort Collins, CO with “The Big Wait”
* Ronnie Allman of San Francisco, CA with “Filter”
* Sammie Saxon of Columbus, GA with “Shoot Me”
The consumer directed films can be seen at www.imagination.usa.canon.com. The five winning filmmakers will be announced in September 2013.
Motion Picture Editors Guild to honor Donald O. Mitchell
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.–The Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG) will honor veteran sound re-recording mixer Donald O. Mitchell with its prestigious Fellowship and Service Award on October 5, at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. The Fellowship and Service Award was established seven years ago by the Guild to recognize an individual who embodies the values that the Guild holds most dear: Professionalism, Collaboration, Mentorship, Generosity of Spirit and a Commitment to the Labor Movement.
“Don Mitchell’s career as a re-recording mixer spans more than 40 years. During this time he has consistently exemplified the qualities that this award has been created to recognize,” said MPEG Board president John Trask. “By his example he has inspired present and future sound personnel, contributing a legacy to our craft that will last well into the future.”
Previous recipients of this distinguished honor include Donn Cambern, A.C.E.; Dede Allen, A.C.E.; IATSE International President Emeritus Thomas C. Short; Carol Littleton, A.C.E.; and Don Hall, MPSE.
Mitchell’s first film at Fox, “The Paper Chase,” garnered him his first of 14 nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS). Mitchell’s resume contains 120 films that span a career as a re-recording mixer that began in 1973 and ended in 1998, the year of his retirement. In 1989, he won the Academy Award with fellow mixers Gregg Rudloff and Elliott Tyson for Best Sound for Edward Zwick’s Glory. He has also been nominated 13 more times in the same category for “The Paper Chase” (1973), “Silver Streak” (1976), “Raging Bull” (1980), “Terms of Endearment” (1983), “Silverado” (1985), “A Chorus Line” (1985), “Top Gun” (1986), “Black Rain” (1989), “Days of Thunder” (1990), “Under Siege” (1992), “The Fugitive” (1993), “Clear and Present Danger” (1994) and “Batman Forever” (1995). Mitchell’s work on “The Fugitive” also earned him a BAFTA Award for Sound from the British Academy of Film & Television Arts and a CAS Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Feature Film from the Cinema Audio Society.
As a re-recording mixer, Mitchell was a member of IATSE Local 695, the Sound Technicians local. Less than a year before his retirement in November 1998, he and his fellow post-production mixers in 695 were brought into the Editors Guild, on January 1, 1998. An active member of the AMPAS Sound Branch Executive Committee for a number of years, Mitchell served three terms on its Board of Governors and, with sound editor Kay Rose, he successfully advocated to keep the Sound Editing and Mixing awards as part of the televised Academy Awards when there was a proposal to move them to the non-televised Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony.
1D goes 3-D in boy band’s debut feature filmLONDON (AP) — In the tradition of great music movies, One Direction’s feature-film debut has sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll — just without the sex or the drugs.
The Morgan Spurlock-directed documentary “One Direction: This Is Us” hangs out with Harry, Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn at home and on the road and comes to the conclusion that the five lads who have conquered the world are, well, pretty nice.
Spurlock — who made his name with socially engaged documentaries such as “Super Size Me” — is on a mission to convert unbelievers into One Direction fans.
“These boys are so charming and so fantastic, I challenge you to go to the movie and not like them after the film is done,” Spurlock said Monday.
The movie premieres Tuesday in London.
Judge OKs LA County condom requirements for porn
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles County law requiring adult film performers to wear condoms is constitutional, a federal judge has ruled.
The decision is a setback to porn producers who filed a lawsuit to block the implementation of the Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act, or Measure B, which was approved by voters last November. It was sponsored by five individuals affiliated with the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
In the ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson wrote that supporters presented sufficient evidence of the health risks the measure seeks to reduce.
The law “will in fact alleviate those harms in a direct and material way,” Pregerson wrote.
The decision was cheered by AHF president Michael Weinstein, one of the five individuals affiliated with the foundation who were the official proponents of Measure B. After county officials declined to defend the measure, the foundation was granted “intervener” status to defend it.
The porn industry later tried to have the group removed, but the motion was denied.
“Today’s ruling … is just a tremendous, tremendous victory, one that will go a long way to safeguard the health and safety of those adult performers working in the industry,” Weinstein said Friday.
Vivid Entertainment and Califa Productions and porn performers Kayden Kross and Logan Pierce sued the county in January to prevent the implementation of the new law.
Vivid Co-Chairman Steven Hirsch expressed disappointment in the ruling.
“We continue to believe this unfunded mandate infringes upon our freedom of speech, and we will continue our fight by filing an immediate appeal to this portion of the court’s ruling,” Hirsch said in a statement Saturday.
Since the law’s adoption, Los Angeles County health officials have confirmed they are investigating at least one alleged violation.
