VarietyLA DVFLA091012 : Page 1

OF CHINA GREAT DRAW PLUS Marich FILM FINANCE FORUM EAST Highlights A.M. Y: 9:30 – 10:45 THE INDUSTR STATE OF SINGLE PICTURE FINANCING TODAY’S MARKET IN deal DEALS investor models, Growing By Robert VOD outfits bump up the price for Hollywood product new capital Addressing understanding and issues. structures Gersh , among other structure Cohen, the TOR: Jay MODERA Agency S: Teddy PANELIST Black Schwarzman, Bear Pictures , Benaroya Michael Pictures Benaroya Crime Adam Ripp, t Scene Pictures OddLot Entertainmen Bill Lischak, P.M. – 12:30 11:15 A.M. R ing a bursting the predict involved in see ather than business ac-executives bubble, China movie form, taking booming business at the Film Fi-a rational by Winston to panelists at the cording East presented with Variety Forum nance festival. in association Toronto cite the fact Baker Several money is V P PLUS: Film Finance Forum East (p. 8) as films such — Ghost Hollywood Impossible above, “Mission: ” clockwise from Avengers” Protocol, 3D” and “The “Titanic China STRATEGY: INDEPENDENT OF PROJECT THE ART AND DEVELOPMENT g, identifyin PACKAGING right partners, plus reps, Finding the talent and securing t. e hbudge FilmEngin ® 5 OF 6 MOND A Y , SEPTEMBER 10, 2012 B.O. reaches lowest tally in U.S. since ’01 By Andrew Stewart How low can it go, box office observers wondered at the start of the weekend. It turned out the domestic box office could go very low indeed, ending up with the lowest domes-tic three-day tally in more than a decade, just north of $60 million. Wide openers “The Words” and “The Cold Light of Day” turned in forgettable bows, while Lions-gate’s horror holdover “The Pos-session” continued to haunt the No. 1 slot with $9.5 million. Expectations for this weekend were low to begin with, as the post-Labor Day frame traditionally is one of the weakest B.O. seshes of the year. But the severe lack of inter-est in moviegoing this weekend is causing concern in Hollywood.“The industry has a real problem,” said CBS Films distribution topper Ste-ven Friedlander. “The concept of the pie being relatively constant is a fallacy. Now, more than ever, we have to give (moviegoers) a reason to leave the house.” Three-day totals are the lowest of any weekend since Sept. 21-23, 2001, when the domestic B.O. rang up $59.7 million just 10 days after 9/11, when no films were able to crack $10 million. “The Words,” which CBS Films acquired for $2 million, underper-formed with $5 million from 2,801 engagements, while Summit’s $20 million-budgeted “The Cold Light of Day” (at 1,511 locations) tallied just $1.8 million through Sunday. The weekend’s newcomers failed to make up for the absence of War-ner Bros.’ “Gangster Squad,” which originally was slated to bow Friday See BOX OFFICE page 9 “The Place Beyond the Pines” has sold; “Imogene” is among titles that have Toronto buyers buzzing. SALES BLITZ BREWS ‘Pines’ falls, Toronto forest to follow By Dave McNary and Jeff Sneider With Focus Features closing a deal for U.S. dis-tribution rights to “The Place Beyond the Pines,” the acquisition dam at Toronto is poised to break, as hungry buyers who missed out on the fest’s hot-test title take their checkbooks elsewhere. WME Global head Graham Taylor noted that the deal for “The Place Beyond the Pines” began taking shape shortly after Friday night’s world premiere at the Princess of Wales Theater — which reinforced the belief that the remainder of the fest should see an elevated pace. The price of “Pines,” which closed sometime early Sunday morning, is estimated at $3 million. Among the titles expected to sell within the next 24-to-48 hours are Stuart Blumberg’s sex addiction comedy “Thanks for Sharing”; Noah Baumbach’s black-and-white Greta Gerwig starrer “Frances Ha”; Neil Jordan’s supernatural vampire drama “Byzantium”; Kristen Wiig comedy “Imogene”; and the Alexander Skarsgard-Julianne Moore fam-ily drama “What Maisie Knew.” See TORONTO page 14 GALA PRESENTATIONS Silver Linings Playbook Risky moves, bold choices Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook” By Jon Weisman So, how do I put this? We crave originality in the arts. We crave ambition. Playing it safe, in and of itself, wins you no prizes and puts you in jeop-ardy of dishonor. Bold moves are exciting, invigo-rating, and inher-ently laudable. At the same time, risk-taking is also less important than the simple achieve-ment of executing a good movie. A See THE VOTE page 14 ‘PLAYBOOK’ FOR LOVE By Justin Chang N ever one to shy away from unlikely sources of comedy, David O. Russell tackles mental illness, marital failure and the curative powers of football with bracingly sharp and satisfying results in “Silver Linings Playbook.” Again bringing an invigorating edge to whip-smart mainstream fare a la “The Fighter,” the writer-director employs a twitchy visual syntax to match the dazzling verbal acumen of his two screw-loose leads, Turn to page 13 Olga Kurylenko and Ben Affleck star in Terrence Malick’s “To the Wonder,” which plays tonight at the Toronto Film Fest. Variety senior film critic Justin Chang writes that Malick “finds tenderness and beauty in a whisper-thin story of passion, marriage and betrayal that all but erases the line between the secular and the sacred.” Review, page 12.

B.O. Reaches Lowest Tally In U.S. Since '01

Andrew Stewart

How low can it go, box office observers wondered at the start of the weekend. It turned out the domestic box office could go very low indeed, ending up with the lowest domestic three-day tally in more than a decade, just north of $60 million. Wide openers “The Words” and “The Cold Light of Day” turned in forgettable bows, while Lionsgate’s horror holdover “The Possession” continued to haunt the No. 1 slot with $9.5 million. Expectations for this weekend were low to begin with, as the post- Labor Day frame traditionally is one of the weakest B.O. seshes of the year. But the severe lack of interest in moviegoing this weekend is causing concern in Hollywood.“The industry has a real problem,” said CBS Films distribution topper Steven Friedlander. “The concept of the pie being relatively constant is a fallacy. Now, more than ever, we have to give (moviegoers) a reason to leave the house.” Three-day totals are the lowest of any weekend since Sept. 21- 23, 2001, when the domestic B.O. rang up $59.7 million just 10 days after 9/11, when no films were able to crack $10 million. “The Words,” which CBS Films acquired for $2 million, underperformed with $5 million from 2,801 engagements, while Summit’s $20 million-budgeted “The Cold Light of Day” (at 1,511 locations) tallied just $1.8 million through Sunday. The weekend’s newcomers failed to make up for the absence of Warner Bros.’ “Gangster Squad,” which originally was slated to bow Friday but moved to 2013 after the July 20 shootings at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. While none of the frame’s domestic players were expected to hit double-digits, “Possession” held far better than expected (especially for a horror pic), down just 46%. “Possession” so far has tallied $33.3 million domestically. In second place domestically, the Weinstein Co.’s “Lawless” grossed $6 million, off 40% in its second outing, for a Stateside cume of $23.5 million. Friedlander described this weekend as a kind of double whammy because “we don’t put our big films on this date, also kids are back in school, and football.” He added that on-demand television is a growing — underestimated — form of competition for the film industry. “Films that look like good television have to be better than television,” Friedlander said. Sundance slew A few specialty players fought against the weekend’s overall moviegoing malaise, notably, Sundance comedy “Bachelorette,” which debuted at 47 domestic runs and grossed $191,033 for a per-screen average of $4,065. “Bachelorette” is the first release for TWC’s Radius banner, and raked in an estimated $4 million on VOD before its theatrical launch. Loki Films’ “Detropia,” which won the documentary editing prize at Sundance, launched solidly at New York’s IFC Center with an estimated $18,350. The docu was bumped up into a larger auditorium after selling out multiple showtimes throughout the weekend. While some Sundance titles are sprinkled through summer, the bulk of titles acquired in Park City tend to roll out around this time each year, though six in one weekend is a noteworthy coincidence. This weekend’s remaining Sundance titles included Todd Louiso’s Melanie Lynskey starrer “Hello I Must Be Going,” which grossed a solid $13,382 per-screen average from two locations, as well as Tribeca Films’ “For Ellen” and gay-themed pic “Keep the Lights On,” from Music Box. “The Words” was the Sundance pack’s only wide release. CBS Films launched the film this weekend hoping it would develop a following among femmes. And while it received an OK B CinemaScore, the film’s playability is less than certain since it’s been getting mostly negative reviews. Pic, which stars Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana, played overwhelmingly (78%) toward auds over 25, which is largely why it rose 31% from Friday to Saturday. Summit’s “Cold Light of Day,” meanwhile, was originally slated for a limited bow this weekend, but exhibitors requested that Summit go wide with it after “Gangster Squad” left a large vacancy. The thriller, toplining Henry Cavill, Sigourney Weaver and Bruce Willis, was cofinanced by Intrepid Pictures. Investors reduced financial risk through international licensing and pre-sales, as well as Spanish production subsidies. Sluggish o’seas sesh The B.O.’s early fall blues also hit overseas results. “The Expendables 2” won the frame with an estimated $14 million, according to Rentrak, followed by “The Bourne Legacy” and “The Dark Knight Rises,” which collected $13 million each. “Dark Knight Rises” fell a staggering 74% from last weekend, almost entirely due to the film’s steep 60% soph-sesh decline in China. But “The Amazing Spider-Man” fell even further during its second outing at the Chinese B.O., down 73%. “Rises” grossed $5.7 million this weekend locally vs. $3.6 million for “Spider-Man” in China.

'Playbook' For Love

Justin Chang

GALA PRESENTATIONS Silver Linings Playbook Never one to shy away from unlikely sources of comedy, David O. Russell tackles mental illness, marital failure and the curative powers of football with bracingly sharp and satisfying results in “Silver Linings Playbook.” Again bringing an invigorating edge to whip-smart mainstream fare a la “The Fighter,” the writer-director employs a twitchy visual syntax to match the dazzling verbal acumen of his two screw-loose leads, terrifically played by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Strong reviews and word of mouth should make this boisterous and heartfelt loser love story a year-end winner for the Weinstein Co. In adapting Matthew Quick’s 2008 novel, Russell doesn’t merely aim to tell the story of Pat Solatano (Cooper), a former substitute teacher and cuckolded husband who’s just emerged from eight months in a mental institution. From d.p. Tasanobu Takayanagi’s whooshing, zooming handheld camerawork to editor Jay Cassidy’s jumpy, hypercaffeinated rhythms, the intent is clearly to bring the viewer into close identification with Pat’s troubled but weirdly upbeat mindset. At the same time, this ensemble laffer manages to take a longer view of the character’s recovery, a journey aided in significant and quite unexpected ways by his friends and family. Returning to his family’s home in Philly suburbia, Pat reassures his warily supportive parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) that he no longer needs medication, he’s in the best shape of his life, and he’s determined to woo back his wife, Nikki, who left him around the time of his confinement. But despite his persistent belief in silver linings (“Excelsior!” he’s fond of repeating to himself), it’s not long before Pat’s bipolar disorder, already apparent in his delusional tendencies and lack of anything resembling a verbal filter, begins to violently reassert itself. Because the film’s immersive approach has little use for straightforward exposition, it takes a while before the reasons for Pat’s meltdown and Nikki’s subsequent restraining order against him become entirely clear. Around the same time, Pat strikes up an unusual friendship with abrasive, darkhaired widow Tiffany (Lawrence), a self-described “crazy slut with a dead husband,” and apparently the sole neighborhood resident capable of relating to the local wacko. CREDITS: A Weinstein Co. release and presentation. Produced by Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen, Jonathan Gordon. Executive producers, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, George Para, Michelle Raimo, Bradley Cooper. Co-producer, Mark Kamine. Directed, written by David O. Russell. Camera (Technicolor, widescreen), Masanobu Takayanagi; editor, Jay Cassidy; music, Danny Elfman; music supervisor, Sue Jacobs; production designer, Judy Becker; art director, Jesse Rosenthal; set decorator, Heather Loeffler; costume designer, Mark Bridges; sound (Datasat/Dolby Digital), Tom Nelson; supervising sound editor/designer, Odin Benitez; rerecording mixers, John Ross, Myron Nettinga; special effects coordinator, Drew Jiritano; visual effects supervisor, Edwardo Mendez; visual effects producer, David James; visual effects, Dive; choreographer, Mandy Moore; stunt coordinator, Ben Bray; assistant director, Michelle “Shelley” Ziegler; casting, Mary Vernieu, Lindsay Graham. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Gala Presentations), Sept. 8, 2012. Running time: 122 MIN. Pat ..................................... Bradley Cooper Tiffany .......................... Jennifer Lawrence Pat Sr. ................................ Robert De Niro Dolores .................................. Jacki Weaver Danny ..................................... Chris Tucker Dr. Cliff Patel ...................... Anupam Kher With: Julia Stiles, John Ortiz, Paul Herman, Dash Mihok, Shea Whigham.

Sales Blitz Brews

Dave Mcnary And Jeff Sneider

‘Pines’ falls, Toronto forest to follow With Focus Features closing a deal for U.S. distribution rights to “The Place Beyond the Pines,” the acquisition dam at Toronto is poised to break, as hungry buyers who missed out on the fest’s hottest title take their checkbooks elsewhere. WME Global head Graham Taylor noted that the deal for “The Place Beyond the Pines” began taking shape shortly after Friday night’s world premiere at the Princess of Wales Theater — which reinforced the belief that the remainder of the fest should see an elevated pace. The price of “Pines,” which closed sometime early Sunday morning, is estimated at $3 million. Among the titles expected to sell within the next 24-to-48 hours are Stuart Blumberg’s sex addiction comedy “Thanks for Sharing”; Noah Baumbach’s black-and-white Greta Gerwig starrer “Frances Ha”; Neil Jordan’s supernatural vampire drama “Byzantium”; Kristen Wiig comedy “Imogene”; and the Alexander Skarsgard-Julianne Moore family drama “What Maisie Knew.” Other Toronto titles, such as “The Iceman” and “Kon-Tiki,” have led to studio interest in filmmakers, with Warner Bros. High on the latter pic’s Norwegian helmers Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg, and Sony set to meet with the former’s co-writer/ director Ariel Vromen to discuss its upcoming Denzel Washington vehicle “The Equalizer,” which also has Nicolas Winding Refn (“Drive”) and Gavin O’Connor (“Warrior”) circling. The Weinstein Co. is one of several distribs that have expressed serious interest in “Kon-Tiki.” Other films that have buyers interested include Joss Whedon’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” Sally Potter’s “Ginger and Rosa” and Sarah Polley’s documentary “Stories We Tell.” Smaller titles that could be snapped up before the end of the week include “Liverpool,” “A Hijacking” and the documentary “How to Make Money Selling Drugs.” Micah Green, co-head of the CAA Film Finance Group, notes that distributors have been reacting positively to a large number of available films, including many of the more traditional arthouse films. “We are expecting to see several more deals this week, and at strong prices given the nature of those films,” he adds. Polley’s Venice and Telluride darling “Stories We Tell,” a personal docu about truth and memory, closed the weekend in a very competitive multiple-offer situation for the U.S., with numerous offers for international territories on the table. Pic is repped by the National Film Board of Canada. Janet Tobias’ Holocaust survival docu “No Place on Earth,” repped by Submarine, received a positive response following its Saturday industry screening, and now has U.S. offers on the table. The fest’s first big deal came on Friday when FilmDistrict acquired U. S. distribution rights to Good Universe’s “Oldboy,” Spike Lee’s remake of the South Korean suspenser. Good Universe topper Joe Drake told Variety that negotiations with Peter Schlessel of FilmDistrict were fairly uncomplicated, citing Schlessel’s strong track record in handling releases of an array of titles. Drake also said that the deal underlines the improving outlook for sellers, with a growing number of viable distributors: “I think it shows that there’s a robust domestic community that’s become quite healthy,” he added. Indeed, buyers for high-profile titles have included Anchor Bay (“Jayne Mansfield’s Car”), newly launched Outsource Media Group (“Great Expectations”) and 108 Media/Paladin (“The We and I”). And two days before Toronto started, one of the more intriguing purchases went through, when Annapurna Pictures bought the U.S. distribution rights to Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers,” starring James Franco — even though Annapurna does not yet have a distribution arm. The company said in its announcement that details about distribution would be disclosed at a later date, leading to speculation that Annapurna topper Megan Ellison will partner with an existing distributor on the pic. Insiders still believe that this year’s market, following a year of solid sales activity at Berlin, Sundance and Cannes, will see dealmaking increase over last year’s TIFF — when the biggest deal was CBS Films’ $5 million purchase of “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.

Risky Moves, Bold Choices

Jon Weisman

So, how do I put this? We crave originality in the arts. We crave ambition. Playing it safe, in and of itself, wins you no prizes and puts you in jeopardy of dishonor. Bold moves are exciting, invigorating, and inherently laudable. At the same time, risk-taking is also less important than the simple achievement of executing a good movie. A well-told story on familiar ground beats an impenetrable leap every time. Five hours of my life were spent Saturday at the Toronto Film Fest watching two of the more ambitious, original, caution-to-the-wind films you’ll see get major awards attention, “Anna Karenina” and “Cloud Atlas.” Five hours spent watching, as far as I’m concerned, the fallibilities of directors who over-reached. “Anna” helmer Joe Wright will rise again. So will Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, the trio behind the “Cloud Atlas” adaptation. In fact, my disenchantment with their films may well be a minority opinion: At the Saturday world premiere of “Atlas” in Toronto, a warm standing ovation was offered (though tweets in the aftermath indicated a polarized response), and Peter Debruge of Variety gave a socko review. Similarly, Leslie Felperin was essentially positive in her review for Variety of “Anna.” But each review offered merits beyond just plain ambition. What I saw was ambition gone awry. In “Anna,” I saw a well-intentioned, unique, stylized take on the Tolstoy classic, with the story introduced as if it were taking place on a stage — as if reality was itself a form of performance art. It’s an approach that offers excitement and promise, particularly with awards voters. But the initial strokes are so broad that it’s impossible to take events seriously; and then, when Wright apparently does want us to take things seriously, he pushes much of the stylization aside, moving us into natural interiors and exteriors. At that point, it’s too late. Wright has not allowed me to invest in the characters as real people, and then, by his forsaking the stage conceit, makes it seem like an ill-fated experiment. I get the distinction he’s trying to make between the real and the put-on, but like it or not, these are all human lives at stake, and he’s undermining the ability to care about more than half of them. I admire Wright for his courage, but — while making the necessary acknowledgment that he’ll forget more about film than I’ll ever know — I remain perplexed at the idea that his movie works. If enough voters share the same uncertainty, that could spell trouble on the awards circuit. “Cloud Atlas” certainly never retreats an inch from its bust-the-world-open palate, crisscrossing time, space and reality to unite countless storytelling threads in service of the point that we’re all connected, that each life has an impact, that breakthroughs depend on conceiving the impossible as possible. Yet the film is troubled from minute one, when the first of 97 or so different characters played by Tom Hanks, resembling what he might have looked like had he never been rescued from “Cast Away,” comes on the screen and is a figure hard to take seriously. The film offers countless characters and storylines, ranging from the corny and trite, to the corny or trite, to the “OK, that one isn’t so bad, but still … .” The forward thinking that went into the film’s visuals, some of which are just incredible, was absent in plotlines. Similarly, the connections that are made are superficial, and there’s nothing earthshattering about the message. Give Rod Serling the same target, and he’d knock it out in 25 minutes and have you watching it in reruns five decades later. No doubt, an advantage goes to the readers of David Mitchell’s novel, but the movie still has to stand on its own. “It’s an experimental film in many ways,” Lana Wachowski said of “Cloud Atlas” during the gala introductions. And for venturing into the lab, I offer my respect. But if you see these films falter during awards season, don’t assume it’s because voters are afraid of the radical. Maybe it’s just that they didn’t think the films worked.

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