Matthew Perry is hoping to be there for you again with a new comedy series.
The 40-year-old will star in, co-write and executive-produce the yet-untitled project to be produced by Sony Pictures TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Perry will play a self-involved manager of a sports arena who starts to rethink his life as he hits The Big Four-O.
The show will reteam him with director and executive producer Thomas Schlamme, with whom Perry worked on Friends, The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
Perry, who recently starred in the Showtime comedy pilot The End of Steve, is pitching the project to networks this week. Should one snap it up, he would be the third Friend returning to TV, following Courteney Cox in Cougar Town and Matt LeBlanc in the upcoming Showtime/BBC series Episodes.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Lennon and Garant Creating New NBC Comedy
Two months after he broke the news of his Comedy Central show "Reno 911!" coming to an end, series star/co-creator Thomas Lennon is headlining a new comedy project at NBC.
The broadcast network has handed a pilot commitment with penalty to the multicamera comedy he will write with Robert Ben Garant, his "Reno" co-creator/co-star and frequent collaborator.
The two also will executive produce the project, whose premise is being kept under wraps, with Peter Principato and Paul Young. Lennon will star; Garant will play a supporting role.
Additionally, NBC and sibling Universal Media Studios, which is producing the Lennon/Garant project, has inked a talent holding deal with Lennon that includes his show with Garant.
NBC and UMS moved quickly to lock in Lennon and Garant following "Reno's" August cancellation after a six-season run.
"Our entire team has long been fans of the work Lennon and Garant have done on 'Reno 911!' as well as their comedy films," NBC president of primetime entertainment Angela Bromstad said, noting that network brass will look for the duo "to come up with a comedy hit."
Lennon and Garant, co-founders of New York-based sketch comedy troupe the State, have written such features as the two "Night at the Museum" films, "Reno 911!: Miami," "Balls of Fury" and "The Pacifier."
The pair, who recently signed a writing deal with Spyglass Entertainment, have several film projects in the pipeline: "How to Survive a Robot Uprising" at Paramount, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and "The Devil You Know" at Fox and "The Incredible Shrinking Man" for Universal and Imagine.
In front of the camera, Lennon recently appeared in "I Love You, Man" and "17 Again."
Lennon and Garant are repped by CAA, Principato-Young and attorney Karl Austen.
The broadcast network has handed a pilot commitment with penalty to the multicamera comedy he will write with Robert Ben Garant, his "Reno" co-creator/co-star and frequent collaborator.
The two also will executive produce the project, whose premise is being kept under wraps, with Peter Principato and Paul Young. Lennon will star; Garant will play a supporting role.
Additionally, NBC and sibling Universal Media Studios, which is producing the Lennon/Garant project, has inked a talent holding deal with Lennon that includes his show with Garant.
NBC and UMS moved quickly to lock in Lennon and Garant following "Reno's" August cancellation after a six-season run.
"Our entire team has long been fans of the work Lennon and Garant have done on 'Reno 911!' as well as their comedy films," NBC president of primetime entertainment Angela Bromstad said, noting that network brass will look for the duo "to come up with a comedy hit."
Lennon and Garant, co-founders of New York-based sketch comedy troupe the State, have written such features as the two "Night at the Museum" films, "Reno 911!: Miami," "Balls of Fury" and "The Pacifier."
The pair, who recently signed a writing deal with Spyglass Entertainment, have several film projects in the pipeline: "How to Survive a Robot Uprising" at Paramount, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and "The Devil You Know" at Fox and "The Incredible Shrinking Man" for Universal and Imagine.
In front of the camera, Lennon recently appeared in "I Love You, Man" and "17 Again."
Lennon and Garant are repped by CAA, Principato-Young and attorney Karl Austen.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Roland Emmerich on Independence Day 2
Latino Review got a chance to ask 2012 director Roland Emmerich if there's still a chance we'll see a sequel to 1996's Independence Day at some point. After all, the blockbuster made a massive $817.4 million at the worldwide box office that year. Emmerich gave an interesting response...
Dean Devlin and I are still set to make a sequel likely because we've found some sort of idea and we approached FOX and FOX has not quite figured out how to incorporate Dean's and my deal, and Will's (Smith) deal. Will wants to do it in some sort of a package they can live with. So it's just been in negations now since forever, and naturally FOX says "Why don't you do it without Will Smith?" I said Will is essential for us, for this movie and actually for the audience too. And, so, it's in limbo and lately the studios are fighting. Like gross players, and Will is a gross player and is probably the only gross player right now who's worth his gross. So we'll see what happens. I would love to do it..
Dean Devlin and I are still set to make a sequel likely because we've found some sort of idea and we approached FOX and FOX has not quite figured out how to incorporate Dean's and my deal, and Will's (Smith) deal. Will wants to do it in some sort of a package they can live with. So it's just been in negations now since forever, and naturally FOX says "Why don't you do it without Will Smith?" I said Will is essential for us, for this movie and actually for the audience too. And, so, it's in limbo and lately the studios are fighting. Like gross players, and Will is a gross player and is probably the only gross player right now who's worth his gross. So we'll see what happens. I would love to do it..
FlashForward Picked Up for Full Season
ABC has picked up FlashForward for a full season, the network announced Monday.
The order comes on the heels of pickups for ABC's Cougar Town, Modern Family and The Middle.
The sci-fi series has been a solid performer in the 8 p.m. Thursday slot and is the season's top new drama in the 18-to-34 demographic. DVR numbers also show FlashForward's season premiere gained 2 million viewers to bring its total to 14.5 million.
FlashForward is the seventh new series to earn a full-season order, following the ABC comedies, NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife on CBS and Glee on Fox.
The order comes on the heels of pickups for ABC's Cougar Town, Modern Family and The Middle.
The sci-fi series has been a solid performer in the 8 p.m. Thursday slot and is the season's top new drama in the 18-to-34 demographic. DVR numbers also show FlashForward's season premiere gained 2 million viewers to bring its total to 14.5 million.
FlashForward is the seventh new series to earn a full-season order, following the ABC comedies, NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife on CBS and Glee on Fox.
Bryan Singer Interested in More X-Men
Bryan Singer said Sunday he's interested in making another "X-Men" movie and has discussed the possibility with 20th Century Fox, according to The Associated Press.
"I'm still looking to possibly returning to the 'X-Men' franchise. I've been talking to Fox about it," the X-Men and X2: X-Men United director said at South Korea's Pusan International Film Festival. "I love Hugh Jackman. I love the cast."
Singer said the "X-Men" series is about tolerance and social structures. He said he likes to "trick audiences into thinking they're seeing fireworks, but they're learning about themselves and listening to what I have to say."
"The excitement about working in science fiction and fantasy is — the stories, if they are good, are about the human condition," he added.
"I'm still looking to possibly returning to the 'X-Men' franchise. I've been talking to Fox about it," the X-Men and X2: X-Men United director said at South Korea's Pusan International Film Festival. "I love Hugh Jackman. I love the cast."
Singer said the "X-Men" series is about tolerance and social structures. He said he likes to "trick audiences into thinking they're seeing fireworks, but they're learning about themselves and listening to what I have to say."
"The excitement about working in science fiction and fantasy is — the stories, if they are good, are about the human condition," he added.
20th Century Fox Retelling the Story of Moses
Variety reports that 20th Century Fox will develop a retelling of the story of Moses, from his near death as an infant to his adoption into the Egyptian royal family, his defiance of the Pharaoh and deliverance of the Hebrews from enslavement.
The script will be written by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, who recently completed a scripted retelling of Herman Melville's Moby Dick for director Timur Bekmambetov at Universal.
Moby Dick was pitched as a 300-like reimagining of the Melville story as a visually stunning action piece, and the story of Moses is conceived similarly.
The trade adds that the goal is to give a Braveheart feel to a story most famously captured in Cecil B. DeMille's1956 film The Ten Commandments. Peter Chernin will produce with Dylan Clark.
The script will be written by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, who recently completed a scripted retelling of Herman Melville's Moby Dick for director Timur Bekmambetov at Universal.
Moby Dick was pitched as a 300-like reimagining of the Melville story as a visually stunning action piece, and the story of Moses is conceived similarly.
The trade adds that the goal is to give a Braveheart feel to a story most famously captured in Cecil B. DeMille's1956 film The Ten Commandments. Peter Chernin will produce with Dylan Clark.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Couples Retreat Enjoys Holiday in the Box Office Sun
The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.
After Martin Scorsese's thriller Shutter Island was pushed back to 2010, there was a shake-up in the October release schedule, which ended up leaving Vince Vaughn's tropical vacation comedy Couples Retreat as the only wide release, and it certainly paid off, as the movie opened with an estimated $35.3 million this weekend in 3,000 theaters, making it the sixth biggest opener for the month. Despite horrendous reviews, audiences were looking for laughs and the $70 million budget comedy brought together a strong ensemble comedy cast, not only teaming Vaughn with his long-time collaborators Peter Billingsley, making his directorial debut, and Jon Favreau, but surrounding them with the likes of Jason Bateman, Malin Akerman, Kristin Bell and Kristen Davis. Audiences reporting to CinemaScore rated the movie a B, similar to Four Christmases, Vaughn's last movie with Reese Witherspoon,
Dropping to second place with a marginal 40% from its #1 opening, Sony's Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg, made $15 million in its second weekend bringing its total to $47.8 million. Sony also held third place with their hit animated comedy Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which added another $12 million to its box office total of $96.2 million.
Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 3D Double Feature took in $7.7 million for fourth place in its second weekend of limited release in Disney Digital 3D theaters. It has grossed $22.7 million in ten days with no word whether its run might be extended.
The biggest surprise of the weekend had to be the explosive success of Oren Peli's low-budget horror flick Paranormal Activity (Paramount), as it jumped into the Top 10 at #5 with $7.1 million in just 159 theaters, an astounding per-theater average of over $44k per venue. That is similar to the record theater average set by Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds last year, although that was in nearly four times as many theaters. Produced for roughly $11,000 two years ago, the movie has been given one of the most innovative marketing and distribution campaigns ever via Paramount's Demand It! site, which opened the movie in cities that received the most demands. After two weeks playing midnight-only shows in those cities, Paramount gave the movie a full release in over 40 cities, and by Friday night, the movie had attained the company's mandated "one million demands" in order to warrant a wide release. Paramount plans on opening it nationwide this coming Friday, October 16, although it hasn't been revealed yet how many theaters/cities will get it.
In sixth place, the Bruce Willis action flick Surrogates (Disney/Touchstone) added another $4.1 million to its box office total of $32.5 million, still less than half its reported $80 million budget. The comedy The Invention of Lying (Warner Bros.), starring Ricky Gervais, dropped to seventh place, down 52% from its opening to make $3.4 million with a total of $12.3 million.
Drew Barrymore's Whip It, Michael Moore's doc Capitalism: A Love Story (Overture Films) and the remake of Fame (MGM) followed with $2.8, 2.7 and 2.6 million respectively for eighth through tenth place.
The Top 10 grossed roughly $92.6 million, up 14% from the same weekend last year where Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua retained the top spot with $17.5 million.
Some of the highlights in limited release include Chris Rock's comedy doc Good Hair, which opened in 14th place by grossing $1.1 million in 186 theaters. Opening in four theaters in New York and L.A., the critically-lauded An Education (Sony Pictures Classics), starring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina, grossed approximately $162 thousand or an average of $40k per site. By comparison, Michael Sheen's soccer biopic The Damned United (Sony Pictures Classics) took in $36 thousand in 6 theaters, while "High School Musical" star Corbin Bleu's movie Free Style (Samuel Goldwyn) bombed by grossing just over $100 thousand in 261 theaters. (That's less than $500 per site.)
After Martin Scorsese's thriller Shutter Island was pushed back to 2010, there was a shake-up in the October release schedule, which ended up leaving Vince Vaughn's tropical vacation comedy Couples Retreat as the only wide release, and it certainly paid off, as the movie opened with an estimated $35.3 million this weekend in 3,000 theaters, making it the sixth biggest opener for the month. Despite horrendous reviews, audiences were looking for laughs and the $70 million budget comedy brought together a strong ensemble comedy cast, not only teaming Vaughn with his long-time collaborators Peter Billingsley, making his directorial debut, and Jon Favreau, but surrounding them with the likes of Jason Bateman, Malin Akerman, Kristin Bell and Kristen Davis. Audiences reporting to CinemaScore rated the movie a B, similar to Four Christmases, Vaughn's last movie with Reese Witherspoon,
Dropping to second place with a marginal 40% from its #1 opening, Sony's Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg, made $15 million in its second weekend bringing its total to $47.8 million. Sony also held third place with their hit animated comedy Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which added another $12 million to its box office total of $96.2 million.
Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 3D Double Feature took in $7.7 million for fourth place in its second weekend of limited release in Disney Digital 3D theaters. It has grossed $22.7 million in ten days with no word whether its run might be extended.
The biggest surprise of the weekend had to be the explosive success of Oren Peli's low-budget horror flick Paranormal Activity (Paramount), as it jumped into the Top 10 at #5 with $7.1 million in just 159 theaters, an astounding per-theater average of over $44k per venue. That is similar to the record theater average set by Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds last year, although that was in nearly four times as many theaters. Produced for roughly $11,000 two years ago, the movie has been given one of the most innovative marketing and distribution campaigns ever via Paramount's Demand It! site, which opened the movie in cities that received the most demands. After two weeks playing midnight-only shows in those cities, Paramount gave the movie a full release in over 40 cities, and by Friday night, the movie had attained the company's mandated "one million demands" in order to warrant a wide release. Paramount plans on opening it nationwide this coming Friday, October 16, although it hasn't been revealed yet how many theaters/cities will get it.
In sixth place, the Bruce Willis action flick Surrogates (Disney/Touchstone) added another $4.1 million to its box office total of $32.5 million, still less than half its reported $80 million budget. The comedy The Invention of Lying (Warner Bros.), starring Ricky Gervais, dropped to seventh place, down 52% from its opening to make $3.4 million with a total of $12.3 million.
Drew Barrymore's Whip It, Michael Moore's doc Capitalism: A Love Story (Overture Films) and the remake of Fame (MGM) followed with $2.8, 2.7 and 2.6 million respectively for eighth through tenth place.
The Top 10 grossed roughly $92.6 million, up 14% from the same weekend last year where Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua retained the top spot with $17.5 million.
Some of the highlights in limited release include Chris Rock's comedy doc Good Hair, which opened in 14th place by grossing $1.1 million in 186 theaters. Opening in four theaters in New York and L.A., the critically-lauded An Education (Sony Pictures Classics), starring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina, grossed approximately $162 thousand or an average of $40k per site. By comparison, Michael Sheen's soccer biopic The Damned United (Sony Pictures Classics) took in $36 thousand in 6 theaters, while "High School Musical" star Corbin Bleu's movie Free Style (Samuel Goldwyn) bombed by grossing just over $100 thousand in 261 theaters. (That's less than $500 per site.)
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Iverson could miss 3 weeks with partial tear in hamstring
Memphis Grizzlies guard Allen Iverson could miss three weeks after an MRI revealed a partial tear in his left hamstring.
The Grizzlies made the announcement before Wednesday night's exhibition game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the timetable is correct, Iverson would miss all of preseason, and his status for the season opener at home against the Detroit Pistons on Oct. 28 would be in jeopardy.
"The way I see it, I'm glad it's happening right now rather than in the season," Iverson said in a pregame press conference. "That's the only positive thing I can take out of the whole thing."
Iverson, declaring himself a quick healer, said he expects to be back in time for the opener. He was hurt during the Grizzlies' training camp in Birmingham, Ala. last week and said he was just starting to get into shape after not playing basketball for five months waiting to see where he was going to land for this season.
"My legs were starting to feel a lot better than they had the first three or four days," Iverson said. "Then, just like that, I hurt the hamstring."
Entering his 14th season, the four-time NBA scoring champ signed with the Grizzlies last month, the biggest name ever to join the franchise. Iverson said he has never dealt with hamstring problems in his career and wants to make sure he is completely healed before returning to the court.
"My whole thing is to work as hard as I can to try and get back to 100 percent," Iverson said. "I don't want to try and come back too early and have this thing lingering on throughout the whole season."
The Grizzlies made the announcement before Wednesday night's exhibition game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the timetable is correct, Iverson would miss all of preseason, and his status for the season opener at home against the Detroit Pistons on Oct. 28 would be in jeopardy.
"The way I see it, I'm glad it's happening right now rather than in the season," Iverson said in a pregame press conference. "That's the only positive thing I can take out of the whole thing."
Iverson, declaring himself a quick healer, said he expects to be back in time for the opener. He was hurt during the Grizzlies' training camp in Birmingham, Ala. last week and said he was just starting to get into shape after not playing basketball for five months waiting to see where he was going to land for this season.
"My legs were starting to feel a lot better than they had the first three or four days," Iverson said. "Then, just like that, I hurt the hamstring."
Entering his 14th season, the four-time NBA scoring champ signed with the Grizzlies last month, the biggest name ever to join the franchise. Iverson said he has never dealt with hamstring problems in his career and wants to make sure he is completely healed before returning to the court.
"My whole thing is to work as hard as I can to try and get back to 100 percent," Iverson said. "I don't want to try and come back too early and have this thing lingering on throughout the whole season."
Stern forsees NBA expanding into European cities one day
The NBA envisions having franchise teams in European cities, although commissioner David Stern said Thursday there was no timetable for the move.
Stern was speaking in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, before the first ever NBA exhibition game on the island.
"There's some good possibility over the course of many years, that if there's appropriate arena development in Europe, there could be actual NBA franchises in Europe," he said. "That's the way we see the development of basketball in the world."
Earlier this week, Stern said the league was also planning a regular-season game in London sometime before the city hosts the 2012 Olympics.
The only regular NBA games ever staged outside North America were in Japan in the early 1990s.
In addition to European expansion, Stern said the NBA also sees affiliated leagues in other continents.
"The model in Asia, probably in Latin America, possibly in Africa will lead us -- if there's adequate arena development -- to having NBA affiliated leagues, with partners in local basketball federations," Stern said.
In Thursday's Taipei exhibition, the Denver Nuggets take on the Indiana Pacers. A capacity crowd of 13,000 is expected.
Stern was speaking in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, before the first ever NBA exhibition game on the island.
"There's some good possibility over the course of many years, that if there's appropriate arena development in Europe, there could be actual NBA franchises in Europe," he said. "That's the way we see the development of basketball in the world."
Earlier this week, Stern said the league was also planning a regular-season game in London sometime before the city hosts the 2012 Olympics.
The only regular NBA games ever staged outside North America were in Japan in the early 1990s.
In addition to European expansion, Stern said the NBA also sees affiliated leagues in other continents.
"The model in Asia, probably in Latin America, possibly in Africa will lead us -- if there's adequate arena development -- to having NBA affiliated leagues, with partners in local basketball federations," Stern said.
In Thursday's Taipei exhibition, the Denver Nuggets take on the Indiana Pacers. A capacity crowd of 13,000 is expected.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Gary Ross To Write/Direct Venom Movie
Sony has been developing a Marvel Comics spin-off of the Spider-Man villain Venom for some time now, but I never actually believed it would happen. Screenwriting team Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese had written two drafts on the character before moving on to Zombieland. And before Wernick/Reese, the company had previously commissioned Jacob Estes (Mean Creek) to pen a take. It seemed like one of those projects that was just doomed to development heck. Apparently not…
But BFDealMemo has learned that Sony is talks with Spider-Man 4 scribe Gary Ross to rewrite the script and possibly even direct the Venom spin-off. Ross plans to begin the rewrite as soon as he finishes up work on Spidey 4. I enjoyed the hell out of Zombieland, and was actually really interested to see Wernick/Reese’s version. At the same time, I’m also interested to see what Ross will bring to the table. Ross’ screenwriting credits include Big, Mr. Baseball, Dave, Lassie, as well as his two-directorial efforts Pleasentville and Seabiscuit.
Even though the character appeared in Spider-Man 3 with actor Topher Grace playing his human counterpart, the intention is to completely reboot the character in this spin-off. And I think hiring someone other than Topher for the role is a smart move as they really need to do everything they can to differentiate the spin-off from what many believe to be a lackluster third film.
When I was younger, and had more time to read comics, Venom was one of my favorites. But never once did I actually buy an issue of the Venom spin-off series, because I never thought it would be that interesting. And my thoughts are virtually the same on a Venom spin-off film. Venom is one of those baddies who is only as interesting as his opponent. And I’m pretty sure this project would be Spidey-free.
Sony has announced a May 6th 2011 release date for the fourth installment of the Spider-Man series. No word on if the Venom film would somehow be related or connected to that fourth story. Heatvision reports that the studio had no comment on Grace’s involvement nor on Ross writing the project.
But BFDealMemo has learned that Sony is talks with Spider-Man 4 scribe Gary Ross to rewrite the script and possibly even direct the Venom spin-off. Ross plans to begin the rewrite as soon as he finishes up work on Spidey 4. I enjoyed the hell out of Zombieland, and was actually really interested to see Wernick/Reese’s version. At the same time, I’m also interested to see what Ross will bring to the table. Ross’ screenwriting credits include Big, Mr. Baseball, Dave, Lassie, as well as his two-directorial efforts Pleasentville and Seabiscuit.
Even though the character appeared in Spider-Man 3 with actor Topher Grace playing his human counterpart, the intention is to completely reboot the character in this spin-off. And I think hiring someone other than Topher for the role is a smart move as they really need to do everything they can to differentiate the spin-off from what many believe to be a lackluster third film.
When I was younger, and had more time to read comics, Venom was one of my favorites. But never once did I actually buy an issue of the Venom spin-off series, because I never thought it would be that interesting. And my thoughts are virtually the same on a Venom spin-off film. Venom is one of those baddies who is only as interesting as his opponent. And I’m pretty sure this project would be Spidey-free.
Sony has announced a May 6th 2011 release date for the fourth installment of the Spider-Man series. No word on if the Venom film would somehow be related or connected to that fourth story. Heatvision reports that the studio had no comment on Grace’s involvement nor on Ross writing the project.
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