Paula Wagner to step down from United Artists

Paula Wagner, who with longtime producing partner Tom Cruise was was recruited in 2006 to revive the moribund United Artists studio, is planning to step aside as chief executive, people close to the matter said today.

Her departure throws into question the fate of the struggling movie unit, which is majority owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.

Wagner has been feuding with MGM over creative and financial issues and has been in negotiations to leave her job for several weeks, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Times. Friction between Wagner and MGM Chairman Harry Sloan has developed over the lack of movies that have been greenlighted for production since she arrived, the person said.

Wagner will retain her stake in UA. She and Cruise together own about 30% of the studio; MGM owns the remainder. Wagner plans to continue producing some movies for UA as well as independently under her own label.

She is expected to exit shortly. The Wall Street Journal first reported the development on its website today.

-- Claudia Eller

Warner's Cohen sells 23% of his stake

The music biz still pays, at least if you're in an executive role.

Lyor Cohen, the chairman and chief executive of Warner Recorded Music, North America, sold 23% of his shares in the company, according to a Reuters story.

This apparently netted the exec a cool $6.8 million. After news of the high-profile sale from a principle exec hit the wires, the company's shares had fallen about 10% by late afternoon.

With questions arising as to the long-term viability of recorded music, selling 23% of the company is not always a morale-boosting move. But the story quotes what it says is a statement from Cohen: "This sale reflects nothing more than a normal need for liquid assets for personal expenses, as well as my financial advisor's recommendation that I diversify my portfolio for tax and estate planning,"

The New York Post reported a few months ago that Cohen was spending about $6.8 million for a teardown in the Hamptons.

It's also far from a firesale for Cohen, as he retains ownership of 2.6 million shares. Cohen is reported to have renewed his Warners contract earlier this year through March 2013.

-- Todd Martens

Credit: WMG

Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin back dissidents in SAG fight

The fight for control of the Screen Actors Guild took a dramatic turn today, when Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin and Sally Field joined several other high-profile actors in endorsing a group of dissidents mounting an election challenge to leaders of Hollywood’s largest union.

A group known as Unite for Strength said it had lined up support from several dozen high-profile backers for a slate of candidates who are seeking to fill 11 Hollywood division seats on the national board of the Screen Actors Guild, plus 22 seats for those who serve as alternate board members.

The challengers are taking direct aim at Membership First, the Hollywood-based political group within SAG that holds a slight majority on the national board and came to power in 2005 vowing to take a harder line in negotiations with the studios.

They accuse the incumbents of mishandling the current contract negotiations and waging a misguided campaign to discredit the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which recently reached a new three-year contract with the studios.

In an e-mail message distributed to 38,000 Hollywood SAG members, Field, who won an Oscar for “Norma Rae” and currently stars in the TV series “Brothers & Sisters,” urged her colleagues to support the dissidents in order “to end the senseless war with AFTRA and start building a united front of actors to fight for more working opportunities and better pay.”

The Sept. 18 election could be pivotal in charting the union's course and determining whether, and how soon, the stalemate with the studios ends.

Membership First has lined up its share of top-drawer backers and candidates. The candidates include Joely Fisher, star of the sitcom " 'Til Death"; Keith Carradine, who played a special agent in the "Dexter" TV series; and Scott Bakula, known for his role as the captain in "Star Trek: Enterprise."

Membership First, which has made issues affecting so-called middle-class actors a priority issue, opposes merging the two unions, contending that AFTRA has too many nonactors as members.

-- Richard Verrier

Photo: AFP / Getty Images

Questions? Comments? E-mail richard.verrier@latimes.com.

Evil Iguana vs. Catherine Hardwicke: Whose 'Twilight' short is funnier?

Evil Iguana Productions, otherwise known as the kids who brought you that "Dark Knight" trailer parody making the rounds online, have just taken on the teaser for "Twilight":

At the same time, Catherine Hardwicke, who directed December's big-screen adaption of "Twilight" movie, seems to have been trapped in the editing room for too long. She posted this short on the movie's official blog involving an earthquake hitting the movie's production offices. (For the record, we're not sure we get it yet):

So far, die-hard "Twilight" fans are enjoying Evil Iguana's send-up. (And we have to say, they certainly did their homework, from the costumes and locations to the silly dialogue. It's safe to say at least one of them has read the series. Brownie points for knocking Nickelback.)

TwilightMOMS.com posted the spoof, pronouncing it "hysterical," and so did Kimmy at HisGoldenEyes.com. "This seriously made me laugh SO HARD," she writes. It's "genius."

We have yet to see any fan site love for Hardwicke's short. Hmmm, good thing "Twilight" is not a comedy.

-- Denise Martin

'Pineapple Express': Is that stoner shirt stolen, James Franco?

Even Nikki Finke is on this one.

Brooklyn-based T-shirt designer WOWCH is quite angry with the folks behind stoner comedy "Pineapple Express." On its website's blog, it's claiming that film's director David Gordon Green "ripped off" one of its designs featuring a cat in the mouth of a shark, available at Urban Outfitters stores circa 2005.

James Franco's character wears a strikingly similar T-shirt throughout the entire movie. It can also be seen on the poster for the film.

The New York Daily News took it upon themselves to ask Franco himself whether or not it was a coincidence:

"What? That's ridiculous," Franco exclaimed. "We completely created that shirt and that shark. David wanted me to wear a purple Monterey Bay T-shirt with a whale on it. I said I wasn't into the whale shirt, so he came up with his own design, which was the shark."

Gawker does a nice close-up comparison of the two shirts. What do you think?

If you still think the shirt is cool, you can get the original for $25 at WOWCH's website.

-- Denise Martin

Photo credit: Sony

Countdown to a curse: How long until Madden NFL coverboy Brett Favre is screwed?

Are the New York Jets in for a surprise?

Brett "Gunslinger" Favre, Green Bay Packer icon, recently announced he was joining the Jets after a storied 16-year run with the Packers.

But was New York's score ill-timed?

On Aug. 12, Madden NFL '09 comes out with Favre on the cover. And we all know what that means...he's doomed.

Last year's cover model Tennessee Titans' Vince Young told Jimmy Kimmel that he prayed about not falling victim to the Madden NFL curse, which is said to take down some of the league's finest in injury or performance stats.

Seattle Seahawks' Shaun Alexander, 2007, foot injury; Philadelphia Eagles' Donovan McNabb, 2006, sports hernia; Baltimore Raven's Ray Lewis, 2005, broken wrist; Atlanta Falcons' Michael Vick, 2004, injured fibula and is now serving time for hosting a dog-fighting ring.

The list goes on.

Poor Jets. Poor Favre. Will the 38-year-old's rifle arm come out of its socket? Or will his new AFC rivals, the Patriots and Colts, inflict some hideous damage that will ruin his perfect attendance record?

The countdown is on ...

-- Denise Martin and Jevon Phillips

Related:

Photo Gallery: 10 Worst Pop Culture Curses

And below we posted one of our favorite Brett Favre movie cameos, on screen with Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon and Cameron Diaz in "There's Something About Mary."

Scene Stealer: How 'The Mummy' got its army

The terra cotta warriors uncovered in China's Shaanxi province number in the thousands. The replica army created for "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" by production designer Nigel Phelps, head set decorator Anne Kuljian and sculptor Lucie Fournier was significantly smaller: 500 warriors divided into five types, 12 cavalry horses, 16 chariot horses and four emperor's horses. And while every warrior in China was carved with a unique face, the "Mummy" production settled for 20 different head styles. A crew of 20 spent 3 1/2  months building hard plaster warriors using cement re-creations from China. "They had to be light enough to move," Kuljian said. But even still, the warriors weighed around 70 pounds apiece and each had to be screwed into the ground when placed in formation. "If we didn't have them screwed in, it would be like the domino effect. . . . When we dressed the set, someone knocked one and four fell down. That's when we added the screws."

-- Patrick Kevin Day

'Twilight': What does the 'Breaking Dawn' backlash bode for the movie?

The word is out on "Breaking Dawn," the final book in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" saga. And it’s not all good.

Of the 1,237 reviews on Amazon.com this morning, 364 give it one star, and another 145 give it just two. That suggests about 42% of "Twilight's" audience was ultimately disappointed in the series ender, which gave Bella and Edward –- spoilers ahead –- their happy ending.

The majority of Amazon users labeled the following one-star critique from a reviewer named Eventide as "helpful." (It’s listed first on the book’s page):

I loved the first three books. I have always been a fan of Bella and Edward, but I liked how Meyer introduced the Jacob/Bella dynamic to show the complexity of relationships, and that love means SACRIFICE and making a CHOICE…Now I don’t know what message the author wanted to say or what she was thinking.

The second and third most "helpful" reviews also give the book one star. The latter, written by Sonja Scheffer "scrapprincess," went so far as to say:

It did not feel like Stephenie Meyer was writing the story…I honestly would have stopped reading this book except I was curious to see how much more bizarre it could get.

Here on the Los Angeles Times' Entertainment News & Buzz blog, where the comments are about 50-50 good and bad, Dawn wrote: "This was a horrible ending to a wonderful series. As I do every Monday, I took the garbage out and returned my book!" Marrisa followed up: "It really was like a crappy movie ending."

How this fan backlash might affect the upcoming movie, due out Dec. 12, is anyone’s guess. The reception at last month's Comic-Con was insane, and “Breaking Dawn” sold a big 1.3 million copies on Saturday alone, according to USA Today. The first three books also have already sold 7.5 million copies in the United States alone.

But even "Twilight" devotees are taking issue. The predominant thinking seems to be that the love story triangle of Bella, Edward and Jacob is wrapped up too early, the succeeding plotline –- about the child of Edward and Bella -– isn’t satisfying, and everything is tied up a little too neatly. (Even Bella’s lonely father is paired with a lady friend in a throwaway line near the end). 

In one of the Twilight Lexicon discussions forums -- the biggest of the "Twilight" fan sites and one endorsed by Meyer herself -- more than a third of the comments are lukewarm. A fifth are flat-out negative. "I felt like I was reading a poorly written fan-fiction," commenter takemybreathaway wrote.

Another, identified as Raccontareunabellastoria was even more dramatically affected: "My world has imploded. I'm probably being dramatic, but really. I invested my heart and soul into these books. I feel tremendously betrayed."

Thoughts? Will you still see the movie? (For the record, I'm still going to see the movie.)

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Summit Entertainment

Harry Sloan signs new three-year deal at MGM

Ever since Harry Sloan was hired to run MGM studios in the fall of 2005, Hollywood has wondered whether the former lawyer and media entrepreneur would be able to transform the beleaguered studio into a viable competitor in the movie business.

So far that hasn’t happened at MGM nor at its smaller sister studio, United Artists, headed by Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner. Rumors have continued to plague the hit-starved, debt- ridden MGM that its investors are restless and unhappy with the poor results and that Sloan’s job may be in jeopardy. Yet, despite all the nagging speculation, it was announced today that Sloan signed a new three-year deal to continue as chairman and chief executive of MGM.

In a statement, Jonathan Nelson, chief executive of MGM lead investor Providence Equity Partners, said “We appreciate Harry’s commitment to building value at MGM and believe he is executing the right strategy for the company." Providence was part of a consortium of investors, including Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp. of America and cable giant Comcast Corp. that bought the then 80-year-old studio from billionaire Kirk Kerkorian for about $5 billion in 2005.

The investors appear to be banking on Sloan’s latest strategy to shift MGM from a mere distributor of movies made by outside production outfits, such as the Weinstein Co. -- a plan that has largely been disastrous -- to a financier and producer of its own films, including sequels and remakes culled from its vast library of titles that include “The Thomas Crown Affair” and “Fame.” To that end, Sloan recently hired former Universal Pictures movie executive Mary Parent, who has been aggressively buying up scripts, books and movie pitches in hopes of turning around MGM’s sagging fortunes. The problem is, Sloan has had trouble securing the hundreds of millions of dollars of new film financing that MGM desperately needs to fund Parent’s ambitious plans.

Earlier, Sloan succeeded in raising a $500 million revolving fund for United Artists after bringing in Cruise and Wagner to revitalize the label. But, UA, which releases its movies through MGM, is also struggling. The company’s debut picture, “Lions For Lambs,” a political drama directed by Robert Redford and starring Cruise and Meryl Streep, was an embarrassing bomb, grossing just $14.9 million domestically. The studio’s next movie, “Valkyrie,” also starring Cruise, was a troubled production whose original summer ‘08 release has been back pushed to next year.

Meanwhile, MGM has managed to maintain an awful track record at the box office with such recent losers as “Charlie Bartlett,” starring Robert Downey Jr. which grossed $3.9 million in the U.S., and the limited releases “Pathology,” which took in $108,662, and “Deal,”  which had ticket sales of $57,180. No, those are not typos.

To his credit, Sloan was instrumental in successfully leading sticky negotiations to move forward the production of two movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic novel “The Hobbit” in partnership with New Line Cinema, now under Warner Bros.; for landing an international theatrical and worldwide DVD distribution deal with 20th Century Fox for MGM movies; and for setting up a global TV sales force.

In partnership with Sony, MGM also has new James Bond and "Pink Panther" sequels due in theaters this year.

So, now that Sloan has just bought himself more time to prove himself, the pressure is on to accomplish what has so far eluded him: making MGM and UA bona fide players in Hollywood. Sloan has never run a major studio before, though he had success in the past investing and leading three media companies, SBS Broadcasting, Lionsgate Entertainment Corp. and New World Entertainment.

Come on Harry, show us your stuff.

-- Claudia Eller

Photo: Harry Sloan

Credit: Associated Press

Questions? Comments? Email: claudia.eller@latimes.com

'Twilight': A snap judgment on 'Breaking Dawn'

(This is spoiler-heavy. Consider yourself warned.)

It’s virtually impossible not to draw parallels between "Breaking Dawn," the concluding installment in the “Twilight” series, and the final “Harry Potter” book. Both involve revolve around mythic worlds and young, ill-prepared protagonists headed toward a supernatural showdown between good and evil. 

The problem is Stephenie Meyer is no J.K. Rowling. We who’ve enjoyed the work of both authors have known this since we picked up “Twilight.” (I like Edward too, but there’s only so many times I can read how “beautiful,” “perfect” and “dazzling” he is.) But with these final chapters, in which both authors really swung for the epic, Meyer’s bunted.

Things looked promising at first. The pace is swift and the curve balls surprising and frequent: Bella and Edward finally get busy, we get inside Jacob’s head, Bella joins the Cullens in immortality, Jacob finds his mate.

But all the while, a larger story arc is missing. The love triangle is, sadly, summarily dealt with, and once the romance is over we’re left only with Edward and Bella’s child Renesmee -- even the name, well, it’s no Hermione is it -- and all the conflicts she so quickly and disappointingly resolves. Edward versus Jacob? Over and done with. Vampires versus werewolves? One big happy family. Bella being a ravenous newborn? She’s not going to eat her kid!

So what to when you’ve written yourself into a corner? Meyer is forced to more or less start over and she spends the second half of “Breaking Dawn” going for outright thriller. The second half of the book singularly involves the mystery of Renesmee and shielding her from the threat of the Volturi, an enemy initially so full of literary potential. Bella, Jacob, Edward and the rest of the “Twilight” characters become little more than Renesmee’s anxious protectors. 

Bogged down in the new, too convenient mythology -- Bella’s new power is the only one that will matter -- the book winds up faltering under its own weighty aspirations. Bella’s covert operation, the additions to the Cullen camp, the unique powers of the new vampires are explained so thoroughly yet serve so little dramatic effect that “Breaking Dawn” could easily have trimmed off 200 pages and reached the same anticlimactic ending. What’s worse, the new guys are there merely to populate the side of good for a battle that -- the big spoiler -- never happens. That's right. No blood shed. No deaths of loved ones to kill readers in the gripping way Rowling did in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

At least when you get to page 735 -- where you’ll find the resolution neatly tied up -- it’s more a confirmation of what you saw coming rather than simply a letdown. And as for the final scene, Meyer writes this one like she's already imagined it on the big screen, with the swelling of sappy love song and a fade to black.

We would have much preferred the whole thing to end in book three, "Eclipse," with yes, some happiness for Bella, but also some angst, some heartbreak, and a dark, ominous future looming.

-- Denise Martin

Related:

'Twilight' video: Jacob and Edward fans sound off

'Twilight': Scenes from the 'Breaking Dawn' release party