An anti-runaway production initiative—Assembly Bill 2747, which would have established a wage-based tax credit in California, effective July 2004—was killed by the State Senate Appropriations Committee this past weekend (8/31) in Sacramento. The bill’s demise was attributed largely to California’s projected $22 billion deficit for the ’02-’03 fiscal year, as well as opposition from Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco). The measure—which would have provided a 15 percent tax credit applicable to the first $25,000 of a worker’s qualified wages on certain productions (including commercials)—had passed the State Assembly earlier this summer (SHOOT, 7/7, p. 1)…..Rick Fishbein, executive producer of Green Dot Films, Santa Monica, has been elected as Governor of the Commercial Peer Group for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). His two-year term begins in October. Fishbein and Sheila Manning of Sheila Manning Casting, Los Angeles, are ATAS Commercial Peer Group Governors. Manning has a year remaining on her current two-year term…. Editor Karen Knowles has launched kk.e, an editorial boutique in Venice, Calif. She formerly edited at Venice-based King Cut….HD postproduction/production house American Production Services, North Hollywood and Seattle, has changed its moniker to Victory Studios. The company remains under the aegis of CEO Conrad Denke….3-D design and animation facility Phactory Productions, New York, and broadcast design facility Ultraviolet (formerly Liquid Design Group), New York, have merged to form UV Phactory. The new firm will target both broadcast and commercial clients…..Audio post house Sound Lounge, best known for its TV spot work, is expanding into radio advertising production. The New York-based company expects its newly constructed radio production facility—and added staff—to be up and running this month….Saul Joseph "Joe" Hoffman, former chairman of Ingalls Advertising, Boston (now a part of Holland Mark, Boston), has died at 82…David A. Dreschel, who spent the majority of his career at Campbell-Ewald Advertising, Warren, Mich., passed away at the age of 66. The former VP/executive producer had retired from the agency in 2001….
“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