May 20, 2011
Filming begins on Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Writer-director Christopher Nolan has called “Action!” on his latest Batman film.
Warner Bros. Pictures says principal photography began this week on “The Dark Knight Rises,” the conclusion to Nolan’s Batman trilogy.
The film will be shot in India, England, Scotland and the American cities of New York, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh.
Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne and Batman. Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman are also returning to the cast. Newcomers for the third installment in the franchise include Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Gordon-Levitt, Hardy and Cotillard also appeared in Nolan’s 2010 film “Inception.”
“The Dark Knight Rises” is slated for release on July 20, 2012.
‘Titanic’ to be re-released in 3-D next year
NEW YORK (AP) – “Titanic” is coming back to theaters in 3-D.
Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox announced Thursday that James Cameron’s Oscar-winning film will be re-released April 6 next year.
It will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic setting sail on April 10.
Cameron says the film was “painstakingly” converted to 3-D and promises “an epic experience.”
“Titanic” was released in 1997 and won 11 Academy Awards and grossed more than $1.8 billion worldwide. That gross is second only to Cameron’s “Avatar.”
Fletcher Camera & Lenses’ Eric Arndt Moves To Michigan Office
DETROIT–Eric Arndt has transitioned to Fletcher’s Michigan offices to lead the marketing efforts for that operation. He has been part of Fletcher Camera & Lenses’ Chicago team for the past two years.
Arndt began his career at Fletcher in 2009 as a part-time technician in the shipping & receiving department, where his attention to detail and ability to forge strong relationships made him a natural fit for the marketing team. A native of Royal Oak, Mich., Arndt also brings a strong understanding of Detroit’s production community, making him suited to identify the market’s needs.
“Continuing to build our Detroit operation (opened in 2008) is a top priority for us,” said Zoe Borys, general manager of Fletcher Camera & Lenses’ rental division. “Although the Michigan film incentive is currently being reviewed, we are committed to growing and supporting the day-to-day commercial and corporate business in Detroit. It’s our goal to invest long term in this market, providing the latest equipment, technology and educational resources to the area.”
Arndt joins Fletcher Detroit’s long-time film rental house veteran, Steven Oatley, and part-timer Devin Laster in running the Michigan office. Recent inventory additions include Arri ALEXA and Sony F3 cameras with RED Epics coming soon; RedRock Micro DSLR rigs; and additional Angenieux Optimo Zoom lenses. “This office is committed to continue Fletcher’s national reputation of hosting regular educational events for the crew as well as producers,” noted Arndt.
Arndt graduated with honors in 2009 from Columbia College’s film school with a concentration in cinematography. Prior to joining Fletcher, Arndt spent time working for Chicago’s acclaimed Second City.
Producer to sit on California Coastal Commission
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A well-known Los Angeles television producer and environmental activist has been appointed to the California Coastal Commission, the agency that regulates development along the state’s 1,100 miles of coastline.
Dayna Bochco and her husband Steven Bochco run a production company, which has produced such famed shows such as “LA Law” and “Hill Street Blues.” She has also been involved with the Heal the Bay organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Dayna Bochco will replace Sara Wan, who has served on the commission for 15 years.
The 12-member panel is selected by the governor, the state Senate Rules Committee and the speaker of the Assembly and is made up of six elected officials and six members of the public.
Rosie Perez sues producers of ‘Law & Order: SVU’
NEW YORK (AP) – Academy Award-nominated actress Rosie Perez is suing the producers of television’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” alleging she was injured during the filming of a 2009 episode in New York City.
Perez says in the lawsuit filed Wednesday that she was “recklessly pulled, grabbed, yanked, wrenched and/or manhandled” during filming of the “Hardwired” episode on Sept. 9, 2009.
Her attorney, Brian O’Dwyer, tells the New York Daily News that his client is suffering severe pain and has numbness in her arms. He says she has been out of work for about a year.
The lawsuit names the producers of the show, which is broadcast on NBC. Representatives for the network and the show did not immediately respond to email requests for comment.
Son of ‘King’s Speech’ distributor charged in fire
NEW YORK (AP) – The son of the distributor for the Oscar-winning film “The King’s Speech” is among four teenagers who have been arrested on arson charges in a fire at a New York City schoolyard.
The FDNY says Max Layton and three others were arrested Tuesday in the May 8 fire at Brooklyn’s Public School 29. The fire caused $50,000 worth of damage to the school’s jungle gym.
FDNY Chief Robert Byrnes says the boys were planning to pour rubbing alcohol on a slide, then light it on fire and slide down, while filming it to post online. But the blaze got out of control and the boys fled.
Layton’s attorney Samuel Gregory said his client is a good kid. Layton’s father, Charles, is president of Canada-based Alliance Films, which distributed the film.
Gulf oil spill doc ‘The Big Fix’ screens in Cannes
By Jill Lawless
CANNES, France (AP) – A provocative documentary screened Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival argues that the human and environmental devastation of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been covered up by authorities eager to return to business as usual.
“The Big Fix,” by husband-and-wife American directors Josh and Rebecca Tickell, features interviews with Louisiana fishing families whose livelihoods and health have been hit by the spill, then expands into a sweeping critique of American capitalism.
The title cuts two ways: the movie argues the U.S. political and economic system is rigged, and huge changes are required to correct it.
Josh Tickell, whose last film was another oil-related documentary, “Fuel,” said the current movie argues that “screwing in a light bulb or buying a hybrid car are not going to change the relationship between the government, the energy industry and the financial sector.”
“It’s like playing cards, and the house has the deck stacked against you,” Tickell told The Associated Press.
“The Big Fix” has high-profile support from Tim Robbins and Peter Fonda, executive producers on the movie. Fonda also appears in the film, which is sure to be strongly criticized by the energy industry.
The film disputes industry claims that the millions gallons of oil spilled after the April 22, 2010, explosion on the BP PLC-owned Deepwater Horizon rig have largely been cleaned up or dispersed.
It says a huge undersea slick is poisoning the ocean and that chemical dispersants used to break up the oil are harming the region’s residents, many of whom say they have developed blisters, rashes and respiratory problems.
BP and the U.S. government have said the use of the main chemical, Corexit, was the best option in the circumstances.
BP said Tuesday that it “worked hand-in-hand with and under the direction of the Coast Guard and the EPA (the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) on the use of dispersants.”
Made in the polemical documentary style popularized by Michael Moore, “The Big Fix” depicts Louisiana as a petro-state controlled by oil companies, and Washington politicians as in hock to powerful lobbyists.
It includes the voices of Louisiana residents alongside an array of mostly left-of-center writers, journalists, academics and politicians.
The viewpoints of BP or other oil companies are notably absent.
Tickell said he asked for interviews with executives from BP and other companies featured in the film but that all declined.
“The Big Fix” had an official premiere at the French Riviera festival later Tuesday, followed by a beachside party. Tickell acknowledged the irony of launching his plea for social and political change at a glitzy movie extravaganza.
“You can look at a festival like this as an expression of the very power elite and wealth the film criticizes,” he said. “But Cannes has made a platform for politically and socially provocative films. They know it’s not just about red carpets and movie stars. It’s about the human predicament.”
Netflix’s Internet traffic overtakes Web surfing
By Peter Svensson, Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Move over, Web surfing. Netflix movies now take up more of the Internet pipes going into North American homes.
A study published Tuesday by Sandvine Inc. shows that Netflix movies and TV shows account for nearly 30 percent of traffic into homes during peak evening hours, compared with less than 17 percent for Web browsing.
Only about a quarter of homes with broadband subscribe to Netflix, but watching movies and TV shows online takes up a lot of bandwidth compared with Web surfing, email and practically every other Internet activity except file sharing and videoconferencing.
As late as last year, both Web surfing and peer-to-peer file sharing – mainly the illegal trading of copyrighted movies – were each larger than Netflix’s traffic.
Sandvine makes equipment that helps cable and phone-company manage their Internet delivery systems. It collected data from unidentified customers for the survey. It has previously been linked to Comcast Corp., the largest Internet service provider in the U.S. Sandvine says its data should be representative of overall home Internet use.
The number of Netflix customers is growing quickly, to 23.6 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada as of the end of March. The growing use of the streaming service is good news for the company, which is trying to reduce what it spends to mail DVDs.
This year, the number of Netflix subscribers surpassed the number of video subscribers at Comcast. Netflix’s streaming service could put it in competition with cable and satellite companies, but for now, there are few signs of people cancelling their pay-TV subscriptions in favor of Netflix, which doesn’t provide live TV.
The growth in Netflix traffic doesn’t mean overall Internet traffic is growing faster than before. Rather, it means the type of traffic that’s driving growth has shifted, as it has several times before. A few years ago, YouTube traffic was driving the growth of overall Internet traffic. It now accounts for 11 percent of traffic into the home at peak hours, according to Sandvine.
Internet service providers are increasingly placing monthly limits on each subscriber’s data consumption and charging extra when the limit is surpassed. Analysts see this strategy as insurance for the future, in case viewing shifts from traditional services to the Internet.
Disney applies for ‘Seal Team 6’ trademark
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The Walt Disney Co. has applied for a trademark on the name “Seal Team 6,” the name of the unit of specially trained Navy SEALs that killed Osama bin Laden in a raid in Pakistan earlier this month.
Three applications filed May 3 – the day after the raid – with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office by Disney Enterprises Inc. state an intention to use the mark for a range of products, including entertainment and education services, clothing, toys, games and Christmas stockings.
Companies have tried to trademark combat-related terms before. A day after U.S. allied forces entered Iraq in 2003, Sony Corp. applied to trademark the war’s catchphrase, “shock and awe,” for use as the title of a video game. The application was later abandoned.
Coen brothers win $1m Dan David Prize in Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – The moviemaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen have been awarded a prize worth $1 million.
The Dan David Foundation gives three prizes every year, in past, present and future categories.
The Coen brothers won the “present” category for work that was described as “unique in the history of filmmaking.”
Joel Coen said Sunday he had wanted to visit Israel for a long time and mentioned that his mother had lived in Israel.
The Coens have co-written and co-directed well-known films such as The Big Lebowski, Fargo, No Country for Old Men and True Grit.
International businessman and philanthropist Dan David has been granting the awards since 2001. Previous winners include Al Gore, Amos Oz, Tony Blair and Yo-Yo Ma.
Jolie’s directing debut on Bosnia opens Dec. 23
CANNES, France (AP) – Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut has picked up a U.S. distributor.
Her Bosnian War film “In the Land of Blood and Honey” will be released Dec. 23 by FilmDistrict, a subsidiary of GK Films. Announcing the acquisition Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival, GK Films founder Graham King said Jolie’s debut “signals the arrival of a visceral and compelling storyteller.”
The film features a completely local Bosnian cast, most of whom were children during the 1990s war.
Jolie came to the Cannes festival this year to promote “Kung Fu Panda 2” and for romantic partner Brad Pitt’s drama “The Tree of Life,” which premieres Monday.
Disney: There’s no place like Mich. for Oz prequel
By Mike Householder
DETROIT (AP) – Oz is hitting the yellow brick road for Michigan.
A Sam Raimi-directed prequel to the story of “The Wizard of Oz” – called simply “Oz” – will be filmed later this year at a Detroit-area studio that recently opened on the site of a former General Motors truck plant and office complex.
Raleigh Michigan Studios said Friday the Disney film will be the largest feature to shoot in the state, which has been luring some major film projects in recent years thanks to a program that offered some of the most generous tax credits in the nation.
But the announcement comes as uncertainty surrounds Michigan’s film industry.
Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed a limit of $25 million a year on incentives as part of his budget-savings plan. The state’s current incentive program for filmmakers is not capped.
Critics say the incentives come at too high a cost and that much of the money awarded does not remain in Michigan.
The film industry is lobbying hard to keep the current system in place.
Michelle Begnoche, spokeswoman for the Michigan Film Office, said “Oz” was approved last year – before Snyder took office – for a $40 million incentive.
According to the film office’s 2010 annual report, “Oz” expects to spend $104 million in the state.
“Raleigh Michigan Studios is a state-of-the-art facility, and their team has pulled out all the stops to create the right situation for us to shoot in Michigan,” Sean Bailey, president of production at The Walt Disney Studios, said in a statement.
Raleigh Michigan Studios said the project will be the first feature to occupy its just-completed sound stages.
“‘Oz’ was originally written in Holland, Michigan, and so it is fitting that our great state should be part of this new production,” said Michigan Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville.
The film also represents a homecoming for Raimi, who grew up near Detroit and attended Michigan State University. He’s known for such movies as “Spider-Man” and “The Evil Dead.”
“Oz” expects to begin shooting in August and will occupy the Pontiac studio through the remainder of the year.
