Director Michael Haussman has signed with bicoastal HSI Productions for stateside commercial representation. He continues to maintain Serious Pictures, London, as his U.K. roost…. Director Ray Lawrence has come aboard bicoastal Bedford Falls for commercial representation. He was most recently with bicoastal Cohn+Company…. Director Henry Holtzman is joining BeachHouse Films, the Santa Monica shop headed by executive producers Patti and David Coulter, for exclusive spot representation….Bicoastal Tool of North America has signed up-and-coming director Jonnie Ross, whose Levi’s spec spot "The Jumps" made SHOOT’s "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery last September….New York post shop Nice Shoes has launched Guava, a visual effects and design division.…Director Jack Tinsley has joined Alphawolf Entertainment, Celebration, Fla.….Charlotte, N.C.-based production shop Blvd. Films has signed the directing team Mortimer Jones for spot work….Via recently launched bicoastal house Smuggler, director Ivan Zacharias is slated to work on Levi’s first American campaign from Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York. The job is scheduled to begin shooting next month. Smuggler, a satellite of bicoastal Villains, also plans to add a U.S.-based helmer in the coming weeks. The shop’s roster consists of Zacharias, Brian Beletic, Neil Harris, Martin Schmid, Laurence Hamburger, Goldigger and Ben Mor….Two companies with spotworld ties were affected by the powerful explosion in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood on Thurs., 4/25. The blast, which occurred at 121 W. 19th Street, injured over 50 people. New York-based production company Registered Films and animation shop Zander’s Animation Parlour both have office and studio space in the damaged building. Representatives from both companies say they are continuing full-scale operations from alternate locations, until the building is repaired….
“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