Director Rob Marshall, whose feature film directing debut, Chicago, won the best motion picture Oscar, is moving into the spot arena. He’s now available to helm commercials via an exclusive deal with bicoastal Moxie Pictures…..PostWorks, New York has entered into an agreement to acquire substantially all the assets of Tapehouse, New York, and its affiliates (Tapehouse Editorial, Tapehouse Digital Film, Tapehouse Broadband, Tapehouse Toons, Photomag, Black Logic and The Anx), as well as the assets of SMA Realtime, New York. Additionally, PostWorks has acquired 50 percent of New York audio post house Caterini Studios. The deals widely expand PostWorks continued growth into high definition, film finishing, visual effects, CG animation, graphic design and audio. In the coming months, PostWorks New York plans to consolidate most of the companies into a new 45,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in the SoHo section of New York—a prime exception being The Anx, which will remain in its current downtown Manhattan facility….Director Jason Harrington has shifted his U.K. representation from London-based Stark Films to Believe Media, London. This consolidates his relationship with Believe globally; he joined bicoastal Believe last summer for U.S. market spots….Bob English has joined R!OT Manhattan as creative director; he continues as creative director at thebritpack, New York, which has scaled back its operations…..Colorist Roger H. Doran has joined Company 3, New York… Editor Lars Fuchs has come aboard Click 3X, New York…..Mitchel Greenspan, formerly of DeWolfe Music Library, New York, has launched American Music Company, a music publishing and library music catalog based in Oceanside, N.Y….Composer/producer Brian Aumueller and producer Chris Gargani have partnered to launch Blue Room Music, New York…..Debbie Brenner has launched SmallFishBigPond, a marketing and competitive strategy consultancy tailored for postproduction houses and other industry facilities. Brenner was formerly director of marketing and product demonstrator/trainer for Quantel, New Canaan, Conn….In last week’s (3/28) "Street Talk" item regarding the promotion of John Garland at J. Walter Thompson (JWT), the incorrect office was stated. Garland is executive VP/creative director of broadcast and development at the New York office of JWT….
“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