Bicoastal M-80 Films is now a one-director shop—the resident helmer being Tenney Fairchild, who will continue to team with M-80 executive producer Gregg Stern. M-80 remains part of the Stoney Road family of companies. Stern explained that he and Fairchild wanted to run as a leaner operation. Meanwhile, several other directors who were at M-80 will be part of an as yet unnamed house under the aegis of executive producer Matthew McManus; the new venture will also be a Stoney Road shop…. Bicoastal Coppos Films has signed director Jeffrey Karoff for exclusive spot representation….Bicoastal Zooma Zooma has signed director Sasha Levinson for commercials….Russell Ziecker has been named CEO of Syn America, the newly launched U.S. arm of Tokyo-headquartered Syn Corp. Syn’s U.S. operation will include the formation of a record label and a commercial music production division by the end of 2001….A correction on a recent Street Talk item (8/14, p. 30): Doug Wedeck is maintaining Single Bid, New York, after the departure of Heidi Gottlieb (see story p. 6). Wedeck, who currently holds the title of co-founder at Single Bid, and Gottlieb had been serving as partners/co-presidents at the sales and marketing firm. Single Bid’s roster includes Storyville Pictures, Los Angeles and Atlanta; Spoke Films, Los Angeles and Chicago; Element Music & Sound, Santa Monica; and newly signed Engine Media, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.….
“Captain America: Brave New World” Tops Weak Weekend At The Box Office
"Captain America: Brave New World" kept falling but still hovered above all others at a weak weekend box office.
The latest Disney-Marvel offering brought in another $15 million according to studio estimates Sunday, when most of Hollywood's attention was on the Oscars.
The Anthony Mackie-led "Captain America: Brave New World" opened strong at about $120 million on a three-day weekend last month, but plunged to $28.2 million last week in one of the most significant second-week drops for a Marvel movie. It's earned $163.7 since its release.
It was slammed by many critics and audiences, failing to bring the Marvel reset some had hoped for. That task now falls to May's "Thunderbolts" and July's "Fantastic Four: First Steps." But "Captain America" will face little competition through March, and could remain at No. 1 for a while.
The weekend's only significant new release, Focus Features' "Last Breath," earned just $7.8 million. The based-on-a-true-story adventure starring Woody Harrelson, Simi Liu and Chris Lemons is about a routine deep-sea diving mission that goes terribly wrong when a young diver is stranded some 300 feet below the surface.
It got strong reviews, with Lindsey Bahr of The Associated Press praising the "white-knuckle experience" and "pure suspense and anxiety" it brings.
At No. 3 was Oz Perkins' "The Monkey," which brought in $6.4 million for a two-week total of $24.6 million. It's among the strongest openings for indie distributor Neon, whose film "Anora," and its director Sean Baker could make a major mark at the Oscars later Sunday.
"The Monkey" marks another successful low-budget collaboration between Perkins and Neon, whose "Longlegs" brought in $126.9 million globally last year.
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