Hollywood Blog

Hollywood Actors’ Issue Gets Heated

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Writers And Actors With Disabilities Join Writers Guild Picket

I suppose it’s a sign of the times. Everyone is hard up and not ready to make any concessions. We have heard of this issue about the tiff between the Screen Actors Guild and the studios – it has been going on for quite some time. Now, instead of things becoming better and instead of the two sides reaching an agreement, rumor has it that they are pointing fingers at each other! Trust Hollywood to turn something already dramatic into something even more dramatic!

The news has reached even the farthest points of the earth – here is a feature article over at Xinhua News:

Hollywood studios and the major actors union of the U.S. entertainment industry are pointing fingers at each other after the two sides failed to reach a new labor contract and an industry-wide strike is looming again in Tinseltown.

Movie studios on Monday used a full-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times accusing the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), which has a membership of about 120,000 film and television actors, of jeopardizing the work of other unions in the industry by threatening a strike.

In a “open letter” singed by chief executives of eight major studios, Hollywood’s top management said SAG was demanding the entire industry literally throw out all its hard work because the union believed it deserves more than the 230,000 other people working in the industry.

So now, they are at an impasse once again, with the possibility of an industry-wide strike on the horizon. Not a good way to end the year, if you ask me.
What are your thoughts on this issue?

Originally posted on December 3, 2008 @ 4:29 am

Newman Charity Function A Success

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It is always heartwarming to see a good cause succeed. We all recently heard about the passing away of Hollywood icon Paul Newman. I am sure that if he had any way of knowing what is happening after his passing away, he would be quite happy. An annual fundraiser for a children’s camp for those with life-threatening diseases was held on Monday and the support that it received from the who’s who of Hollywood was overwhelming. More than actually turning up to help raise money for a good cause, the people also turned up to pay their own tribute to Paul Newman. The Associate Press has this report:

The lineup for a dramatic reading of “The World of Nick Adams” on Monday night at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall already was set when the acting legend died of cancer Sept. 26 at the age of 83. The event benefited The Painted Turtle, a camp for children with life-threatening illnesses, that was started by Newman in 1999.

“We expected Paul to be with us and so this kind of turned into kind of a tribute,” said Danny Glover, who joined Jack Nicholson, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty, Sean Penn and other big names in the reading. “This is the first time we are doing this without Paul — there is a void there, without a doubt.”

Some 2,500 people attended the star-studded benefit, which began with a video in which Newman discussed his work with the Association of Hole in The Wall Camps, which runs 11 camps around the world including The Painted Turtle.

Just take note of those names mentioned above and you will understand how big the event turned up to be. I am sure that the children involved – and Paul Newman, if he were alive – would deeply appreciate the gesture.

Originally posted on October 29, 2008 @ 4:37 pm

Hollywood Gets An Infusion Of Cash

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What? Isn’t it steeped enough in cash already? Yeah, I know, I was thinking the same thing initially. However, if you think about it, they do spend billions of dollars on big budget movies. This means that they need some sort of cash infusion before they can create more big budget films.

Well it seems that Hollywood has no problems in this regard. The news is that the oil rich country, United Arab Emirates, is continuing to infuse cash into the coffers of Hollywood. The LA Times reports:

Furthering the links between the United Arab Emirates and Hollywood, a venture controlled by the government of Abu Dhabi is launching a production company with a $1-billion-plus fund to make movies and digital content in partnership with three as-yet-unnamed Los Angeles producers and other international filmmakers.

Abu Dhabi Media Co., through a newly formed subsidiary called Imagenation Abu Dhabi, plans to make eight films a year over the next five years, primarily for the English-speaking market. Imagenation will announce the first of its production deals next week at the Toronto Film Festival. The U.S. companies plan to open offices in Abu Dhabi.

Imagenation will now also assume oversight of Abu Dhabi Media’s year-old entertainment partnership with Warner Bros., which has had little to show for itself since it was announced with fanfare last September.

The parties said at the time that they would each contribute to a $1-billion fund to produce films and video games.

That is a whole lot of money! Then again, I am sure we will all see the results in movies and video games. Keep the money coming in, guys!

Originally posted on September 9, 2008 @ 4:45 am

Wachowski Brothers

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Having recently seen Speed Racer I now feel the need to write about two of my favorite writers/ producers/ directors. The Wachowski brothers, Andy and Larry, has a pretty good list of films both as writers and producers. Although they only have relatively few films between them (15 as writers, 9 as producers, and 8 as directors) you’ll be surprised at the number of awards they have earned, although I’d say that if you saw any of their films you shouldn’t be surprised at all. In fact so far they’ve already been nominated 9 times for various awards and won 6 out of the 5 nominations.

Films and video games done by the Wachowski Brothers include:

Speed Racer (2008) – writers, producers, and directors
V for Vendetta (2005) – writers, producers
The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005 – video game) – writers, directors
The Matrix Online (2005 – video game) – writers, directors
The Matrix Revolutions (2003) – writers, executive producers, and directors
Enter the Matrix (2003 – video game) – writers, directors
The Matrix Reloaded (2003) – writers, executive producers, and directors
The Animatrix (2003) – segment writers; producers
The Matrix (1999) – writers, producers, and directors
Bound (1996) – writers, executive producers, and directors
Assassins (1995) – writers

They are also producers of a film currently filming – Ninja Assassin.

The mark of the Wachowski brothers are one-of-a-kind surreal films that somehow feel familiar and believable. From machines taking over the world to race car drivers winning a fixed race the recurring theme is changing the world despite impossible odds. Hmmm. Sounds corny? Somehow the Wachowski brothers put it together to make it far from corny. Cool beans its another Wachowski film in the making!

Originally posted on May 12, 2008 @ 11:55 pm

Hollywood’s hottest films

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vantage-point.jpg

So how are the bevy of movie releases doing at the theaters? Vantage Point takes, the well, vantage point, grossing at $22,874,936. This is followed by Spiderwick Chronicles (a far second at $13,100,192) and Jumper ($12,708,768). Step up 2 The Streets and Fools Gold take the fourth and fifth place.

Originally posted on March 17, 2008 @ 11:11 pm