Mike Pandolfo, David Logan and Craig Chang have partnered to form Native, a New York-based music shop….Amber Music, London and New York—best known for its work in commercials on both sides of the Atlantic—has signed composer Michael Kamen, who has roots in feature films (i.e. X-Men, Shine) and in composing music for acts such as Aerosmith and Metallica….Chicago-based Steve Ford Music has signed composer/sound designer Joel Corelitz….Pow Wow Productions, a Santa Monica-based animation shop founded last year by director David Smith and exec producer Donna Smith, has added five animation director to its roster: Sheila Aldridge, Tim Biskup, David Brewster, John Corbitt and Miles Thompson….Visual effects artist/designer Kim Harper has joined The Finish Line, Santa Monica. She previously was at Avenue, Santa Monica and Chicago….Colorist Arnold Ramm, formerly of The Syndicate, Santa Monica, has come aboard Hollywood Digital….Meanwhile, colorist Bob Curreri has joined The Syndicate. He comes over from R!OT Santa Monica…. Michael Pollock, executive producer at New York-based Charlex’s interactive division Grain, has exited the company to pursue other interests. Grain will continue to design Web advertising and interactive media for its clients as a counterpart to Charlex’s visual effects work for TV. A replacement for Pollock has not been named…. Actor/director John Turturro has become available to helm commercials via bicoastal Coppos Films. Turturro has just wrapped acting duties on Fear the X, directed by Nicholas Winding Refn, and Secret Passage, directed by Ademir Kenovic. Beginning in late ’02, Turturro is slated to direct a feature with Joel and Ethan Coen as exec producers….
“Mickey 17” Tops Weekend Box Office, But Profitability Is A Long Way Off
"Parasite" filmmaker Bong Joon Ho's original science fiction film "Mickey 17" opened in first place on the North American box office charts. According to studio estimates Sunday, the Robert Pattinson-led film earned $19.1 million in its first weekend in theaters, which was enough to dethrone "Captain America: Brave New World" after a three-week reign.
Overseas, "Mickey 17" has already made $34.2 million, bringing its worldwide total to $53.3 million. But profitability for the film is a long way off: It cost a reported $118 million to produce, which does not account for millions spent on marketing and promotion.
A week following the Oscars, where "Anora" filmmaker Sean Baker made an impassioned speech about the importance of the theatrical experience – for filmmakers to keep making movies for the big screens, for distributors to focus on theatrical releases and for audiences to keep going – "Mickey 17" is perhaps the perfect representation of this moment in the business, or at least an interesting case study. It's an original film from an Oscar-winning director led by a big star that was afforded a blockbuster budget and given a robust theatrical release by Warner Bros., one of the few major studios remaining. But despite all of that, and reviews that were mostly positive (79% on RottenTomatoes), audiences did not treat it as an event movie, and it may ultimately struggle to break even.
Originally set for release in March 2024, Bong Joon Ho's follow-up to the Oscar-winning "Parasite" faced several delays, which he has attributed to extenuating circumstances around the Hollywood strikes. Based on the novel "Mickey7" by Edward Ashton, Pattinson plays an expendable employee who dies on missions and is re-printed time and time again. Steven... Read More