Santa Monica-based Area 51 Films has named staff executive producers Preston Lee and Phyllis Koenig to serve as its co-management team. They succeed managing director Mark Thomas, who is exiting the company. Lee joined Area 51 a year ago while Koenig came aboard in early 2003 with director Craig Henderson….London agency Mother is opening a Gotham office….Visual effects/CGI studio Quiet Man, New York, has promoted producer Dave Moore to head of production, a newly created position at the company. Also, Inferno artist Peter Amante has been upped to head of Quiet Man’s compositing department. The promotions free company co-owner/compositor Johnnie Semerad to spend more time on the Inferno, working hands-on in the visual effects arena….The Blue Rock Editing Company, New York, has added editor Eric Bruggemann. He had been with Final Cut, New York….FilmCore, Santa Monica, has promoted Tiffany Burchard to editor. She had been an assistant to editor Paul Norling for the past five years, and has worked as an editor for the last four years at Green, Santa Monica, FilmCore’s boutique for young talent. FilmCore and Green also maintain San Francisco offices….Sydney-headquartered animation/visual effects house Animal Logic has named executive producer Maury Strong to head its Venice, Calif. office. She replaces Brad Steinwede who is leaving the company to pursue other interests in the ad industry. Prior to Animal Logic, Steinwede served as head of production at J. Walter Thompson, Sydney…Boston-based post house Pisces has launched a design unit, headed by recently hired creative director Chris Goveia, formerly of since-closed Hatmaker. Pisces will be building a roster of designers. Additionally, Smoke artist Chris Palazini has returned to Pisces following a stint at Universal Studios, Orlando, Fla….Santa Monica-based Moneyshots, a visual effects design facility best known for its work in music videos, has formed a commercial division. The shop has kicked off its spot operation with a pair of :30s for Reebok/Footlocker, directed by Benny Boom of bicoastal HSI Productions for The Arnell Group, New York; and a California Lottery ad helmed by Brian Aldrich of bicoastal Coppos Films for Grey, Los Angeles…Reelworks Animation Studio, Minneapolis, has added veteran animation/effects director Mark Mariutto and designer/animator Todd Hemker to its roster….
“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