Director Paul Middleditch, and two of the members of Icelandic band GusGus—helmers Arni and Kinski—have signed with bicoastal HSI Productions. All three were formerly with Public Works, Santa Monica….Director Luca Maroni, well established in European commercialmaking, has joined Plum Productions, Santa Monica, and wrapped his first assignment for that shop: a three-spot Saturn campaign out of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco…. Director Francisco Pugliese, best known for his work in the Hispanic market, has launched his own production house, Santa Monica-headquartered D’Avant-Garde Media. He comes over from Atlas Pictures, Santa Monica…..Agency creative Richard Yelland, founder of Curtis Birch Advertising, Venice, Calif., has signed with Roaring Tiger Films, San Francisco, for exclusive representation as a director…..Editor Pat Caballero has joined Pomegranit, San Francisco….Digital studio Radium, Los Angeles, has added executive producer Darby Walker-Curts, formerly of R!OT Santa Monica, and operations manager Paul Abatemarco, an alumnus of R!OT and Venice-based Digital Domain. Both will work closely with Radium’s team in San Francisco, headed by exec producer Anastacia Feldman…..Organizers of the Cannes International Advertising Festival said they do not intend to create a special category for scam ads. The idea of creating a scam category in order to discourage agencies from entering such ads in the mainstream competition had been floated, but was ultimately shot down by Cannes Fest leadership. The competition will continue to be confined to real-world ads for actual clients…..
“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