The Morning Fix: Lionsgate ready to ‘Kick-Ass’! The other brothers bidding for Miramax. Dauman’s new deal. Cannes unveils lineup
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After the coffee. Before realizing Friday marks one year with the L.A. Times.
‘Kick-Ass’ poised to do just that. Lionsgate executives can get a brief reprieve this weekend from investor Carl Icahn’s push to take over the studio when its offbeat action/comedy/comic book movie ‘Kick-Ass’ opens. The film is generating a lot of buzz and controversy as one of its lead characters is a little girl whose mouth gives Andrew Dice Clay a run for the money (yes, I’m showing my age with that reference). USA Today and the Los Angeles Times take a look behind-the-scenes of what could very well be this weekend’s No. 1 movie. Prediction: Sequel will happen and will be bad.
The other brothers bidding for Miramax. The Wrap takes a look at Alec and Tom Gores, the brothers who are making their own run for Miramax against the Weinstein brothers, Bob and Harvey. Both of the Gores are ranked on Forbes’ rich list, and each runs his own investment firm, and their younger brother runs the talent agency Paradigm. The brothers may also have shared more than just blood, but for that you’ll have to read the story because frankly it’s too early in the morning for me to see what’s libel and what’s not.
New deal for Dauman. Not really a surprise, but Viacom Inc. gave a new five-year deal to CEO Philippe Dauman. Dauman is one of Sumner Redstone’s most trusted employees. Of course, so was Tom Freston. More from the Hollywood Reporter.
Cannes announces lineup. The Cannes Film Festival unveiled its lineup Thursday morning, and the only American movie in the competition is Doug Liman’s political thriller, ‘Fair Game,’ based on the Valerie Plame spy case and starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. The list from Variety.
Broadband bashing. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski took a little heat on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for elements of the agency’s plan to strengthen broadband and mobile across the country. Some debate is underway about what the FCC can and can’t regulate when it comes to the Internet and whether broadband falls under a Title I or Title II service. Right now, it’s Title I and no, we’re not talking NCAA sports titles here. Anyway, if you want to make your head swim, you can read more in the Wall Street Journal and Broadcasting & Cable. Ultimately when all this is worked out, it will matter a lot to the media industry.
Surviving development hell. The New York Times looks at the long road that ‘Knight and Day’ had to travel before ending with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The film, a hybrid of romance and action, had numerous lives over the last several years and apparently is proof that every now and then a film makes it out of development hell alive. You’d think, though, that with all those changes in cast and producers that they would’ve renamed the movie too, because ‘Knight and Day’ sounds like a bad 1970s cop buddy show.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes tells us why he thinks the troubled video rental chain can survive. John Horn on how Neil LaBute ended up as director of ‘Death at a Funeral.’ Disney is closing its Nashville label, Lyric Street.
-- Joe Flint
