Leftovers

In this Thanksgiving weekend edition of Cinema Stew: A remake of a remake is headed our way; An update on that tug of war over The Hobbit movie; Get ready for a different kind of film about a team in the National Hockey League; Borat's finds himself in more legal trouble over his hit film; and there's even more of a reason to "hate" Warner Bros. than there was yesterday...

Variety via IGN had this story on November 17th, 2006:

Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment are hooking up to bring a remake of John Carpenter's The Thing to the big screen, reports Variety ['s Michael Fleming]

The script for the new movie will be written by Battlestar Galactica executive producer-writer Ronald D. Moore. Moore is a veteran of sci-fi TV, having written and produced numerous episodes of recent Star Trek series and Roswell.

Original producer David Foster will executive produce the new movie. Strike partners Marc Abraham and Eric Newman will produce and the company will co-finance the picture.

Producers are actually calling the newly planned film "a companion piece" to Carpenter's 1982 movie that deals with a shape-shifting creature from outer space that terrorizes researchers at an Antarctic facility.

Carpenter's film was itself an indirect continuation of the 1951 Howard Hawkes pic The Thing from Another World. Both movies were inspired by the John W. Campbell, Jr. novella "Who Goes There "

I am a huge fan of both John Carpenter's The Thing and The Thing From Another World from 1951. And even though I can't seem to get into the latest version of Battlestar Galactica...I have great respect for Ronald D. Moore just the same...I'm a little puzzled by the term "companion piece" Just what does that mean? They better not screw this one up..

The World Entertainment News Network has the next 3 items:

Zaentz Rings in Jackson for Prequels

As Lord of the Rings fans mounted a protest following word that New Line had dropped Peter Jackson from consideration as director of The Hobbit and another Lord of the Rings prequel, producer Saul Zaentz has given assurances that Jackson will indeed direct the two films.

A German website, Elbenwald.de, posted an interview with Zaentz, who acquired the rights to the works of the late Rings writer, J.R.R. Tolkien, in 1976 (the Saul Zaentz Company owns Tolkien Enterprises), in which Zaentz says, "It will definitely be shot by Peter Jackson. ... Next year The Hobbit rights will fall back to my company.

I suppose that Peter will wait because he knows that he will make the best deal with us. And he is fed up with the studios: to get his profit share on the Rings trilogy he had to sue New Line. With us, in contrast, he knows that he will be paid fairly and artistically supported without reservation." (The preceding quotation is a translation that appeared on TheHobbit-Movie.com from the German interview posted on Elbenwald.de.)

Sounds pretty definitive to me...Don't ya think?...I'll keep you in the loop...

Maple Leafs Allow Film About Gay Hockey Player

The Toronto Maple Leafs, one of hockey's preeminent teams, has agreed to cooperate in the production of Breakfast With Scot, about the coming-out of a gay player, the Toronto Star reported (last Friday)  The team's approval -- they'll allow their uniforms to be worn by the film's actors -- came after the script was green-lighted by the National Hockey League. Leafs general manager John Ferguson told the newspaper: "On our end, we're certainly not trying to make a statement. ... We agreed to host them and we're comfortable with it." The Star described team captain Mats Sundin as "taken aback" by the notion of the movie and quoted him as saying, "There's never been a gay hockey player come out that I know of. ... I'm sure it's going to be talked about".

The fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs are cooperating is a good thing...It lends even more realism to the project, that otherwise, would be difficult to create..

Cohen Hit with Further Legal Trouble

British funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen is facing further legal woes after a US woman who featured in his latest movie claims she was misled. Cindy Streit, who owns an etiquette business, filed a complaint on Thursday with California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, requesting an investigation into possible violations of the California Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Streit was approached by a representative from a Los Angeles-based company called Springland Films wishing to arrange an etiquette session for an "international guest from Belarus Television", which later featured in Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan.

Streit said she arranged both a sit-down session with Borat, played by Cohen, and a dinner party with some of her friends. Clips of both meetings appear in the movie, including an embarrassing toilet incident. She recalls, "I had taught him to excuse himself. He did that correctly and went upstairs. The next thing that happened is that he came down the stairs holding this plastic bag with whatever was in it. My horror was that he had brought a bag of faeces to my dinner table."
Gloria Allred, Streit's lawyer, insists her client was told the episode "will be filmed as part of a documentary for Belarus Television and for those purposes only." However, a spokesman for the movie's distributor, 20th Century Fox, brands the claims "nonsense."

What's this--like the third "Borat" related lawsuit since the movie opened? I hope Cohen saved some of his money from the film--So that he can pay all of his mounting legal bills...

Finally Geoff Boucher of the LA Times wrote an excellent article about the Tuesday release of Superman II - The Richard Donner Cut:

...What's truly historic here is that Donner was given Warner Bros. resources and the blessing of his old foe, Ilya Salkind, to recut and reimagine a movie that was once a poisoned memory. Warner Bros. has even bundled it with the Reeve movies in a giant boxed set of "Superman" DVDs, giving Donner's revisionism more credibility. One thing they didn't give him was a paycheck.

"I didn't negotiate it at the beginning of the talks to do all this, so they said it was too late once we were underway," said Donner, whose next project is slated to be "Sam & George," starring Mel Gibson. "In the old days, when there was honor, they would have taken care of me. It's ridiculous and shows a lack of class."

Warner Bros. execs say they are laying out big money for the re-edit, advertising, marketing, etc. But really, the most compelling subplot in all this is that Salkind will make more money off "The Donner Cut" than the man whose name is in the title.

The entire article can be found here...

Sure, Richard Donner could have, and probably should have, negotiated with WB for some cash on this... But when he didn't the studio should have given him something for his troubles--just the same. Oh wait! That's right, the money that they would have paid Donner with--went instead , to those folks making sure that The Ultimate Superman Collection 14 disc set left the plant free of any problems. It sure is a good thing that the studio had enough money to do that...Yes indeed--a damn good thi--oh...

...This afternoon, it's the Chicago Bears verses QB Tom Brady and the New England Patriots....