Just to get those of you who live in a pop culture vacuum up to speed, Valentine’s Day is not just a holiday anymore; it is now also a movie starring very possibly you and almost everyone you know. I wish I were kidding. Ok, maybe it just seems like all of Hollywood has at least 3 minutes of screen time in Valentine’s Day, but Garry Marshall, the prestigious director of Pretty Woman and the man responsible for killing more hours of my childhood than I’d like to admit as creator of such television classics as Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, and Mork and Mindy, has put together a cast that includes not only the Pretty Woman herself, Julia Roberts (who has a whopping 6 or so minutes of screen time in the movie), but also an eclectic cast that somehow includes 2 of Hollywood’s hottest Jessicas (miss Alba and miss Biel – sadly, this movie came about 16 or so years too late to feature one of Hollywood’s most famous Jessicas, miss Tandy, although Shirley MacLaine brings senior citizen love to the film to ensure that all demographics are covered), doctors McDreamy and McSteamy (that’s Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane for your non-Grey’s Anatomy fans out there), Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Garner, Kathy Bates, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Topher Grace, Bradley Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner. And I think I left some people out. The number of Oscar/Grammy nominations/wins held by this cast alone is mind-boggling.

The question that such an all-star cast begs is does providing employment to most of the Screen Actors Guild within one film make that film a good one? But perhaps a better question is with all that star power, does it even matter if the film is good? Well, I actually attended a screening of this epic in the making, and I have the good sense to realize that my opinion as to the quality of this movie does not matter one bit to how this film will perform where it counts, at the cash registers. This film will make a ton of money. Yes, it’s true my 9 year old niece could have written a screenplay that would probably be more sophisticated than the paint by numbers effort on display here, but when you are painting by numbers with such attractive and likeable talent on display, the American viewing public tends to respond. The easiest comparison is to take a look at the box office performance of He’s Just Not That Into You – last year’s connect the dots with a beautiful cast effort – that also came out right around Valentine’s Day. HJNTIY made nearly $28 million in its debut weekend, on its way to total US Box Office of just under $94 million. I think there is a good chance Valentine’s Day may double the opening weekend grosses of HJNTIY over the upcoming 4-day weekend. Credit that to star-power, the power of Warner Brothers’ incessant marketing, and the fact that in this economic recession of ours, a movie date is about the most affordable Valentine’s Day date around. And if you are going to see any one movie this Valentine’s Day, surely it’s going to be Valentine’s Day and not Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (FYI, that last title, which I know really rolls off the tongue, is not something I just made up – it really is a movie coming out this weekend, and it’s based on a children’s book and will also probably make a good amount of money, but nowhere near the results of Valentine’s Day).

With HJNTIY last year and Valentine’s Day this year, do you get the feeling we have a new tradition here? Coming next Valentine’s Day to a theater near you, we will have President’s Day, the movie. I’m hoping that’s only just a bad joke (as much as I’d love to see a film tell the intersecting star-crossed love story of George and Martha, Abe Lincoln, etc.), but I’m fearful as the creative team behind Valentine’s Day has already announced plans for the ensemble romantic comedy New Year’s Eve. This film (also likely a classic in the making) will probably be released next Valentine’s Day, thanks to the Hollywood logic that no one actually goes to the movies on New Year’s Eve and that Valentine’s Day weekend is now a huge movie-going weekend. When you start thinking about other holidays as possible themes for rom-coms, the possibilities are nearly limitless. Please feel free to insert your suggestions for holiday themed movies in the comment section below, or on Twitter @smarthollywood. Just remember that Groundhog Day is already taken, but given how remake-crazy Hollywood is, we might get the all-star remake soon.

So after reading all of the above you might possibly believe I hated the movie right? Actually, no I didn’t. Unless you are a relative of Scrooge or absolutely refute the existence of love as a possibility in this lifetime, it is basically impossible to hate this movie. This is a film that has multiple viewings on cable TV written all over it. I mean, how can you not enjoy spending time watching this group of talent? But then again, I already admitted that I spent much of my youth watching reruns of Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, and Mork and Mindy, so just take that into consideration.

Jonathan Fuhrman is a lawyer and former studio exec who writes the “Smart Hollywood” column for Mediaite. Find him on Twitter @smarthollywood, and reach him at smarthollywood@gmail.com.

John Legend and the Roots had just taken the stage at this intimate gathering of film-making elite. The lucky few hundred party-goers in attendance at one of the hottest events of all of Sundance were about to see John Legend and the legendary Roots crew jam together before a live audience for the very first time (Legend later announced that they would be releasing a collaborative new album later in 2010). As the music swelled and the crowd on the over-packed dance floor swayed to the beat, one figure loomed large over the crowd, dancing atop his VIP banquet. But this was no ordinary man, he was the richest man in the room. Not just this room mind you, but every room on the planet. Yes, Mr. Bill Gates was seriously getting his party on. You may ask what was Bill Gates doing partying so publicly in the middle of Sundance. It’s ok, I asked myself the very same question, and I can assure you he wasn’t there showcasing his dance moves as a public audition for a spot on next season’s Dancing With the Stars – his funky chicken was just a tad too rusty. In any event, I’m pretty certain his important work with the Bill Gates Foundation will keep him from dancing across our TV sets anytime soon.

In fact, Gates’ appearance at the premiere independent film festival in the U.S. was tied to Microsoft’s new web search site Bing serving as one of the primary sponsors of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In many ways Sundance 2010 served as Bing’s big coming out party. You could not walk down Main street without bumping into some Bing imagery, be it the “Bing Bar”, the site of many a film premiere party, or the Bing street marketing crew working the crowds in the street into a frenzy by tossing such Bing-emblazened products as ski caps and scarfs. And yes, as I detailed in an earlier piece here, Bing even sponsored this year’s Sundance party list. While the fear may be that corporate sponsorship by Bing and others could overwhelm such a small prestigious film festival, I’m very happy to report that, Bill Gates dance parties notwithstanding, the celebration of independent film is still very much at the heart of the Sundance experience.

So how best to explain to a newbie what it’s like to visit Park City, Utah during Sundance? Well, have you ever had one of those dreams where you can’t quite place where you are, but you seem to know everyone you bump into, even though these people are from all different aspects of your life, and really would never all be at the same place at the same time? Well Sundance is kind of like that, except add in movie stars and paparazzi. A large portion of the Hollywood community descends into Park City for a week or so, and everywhere you go you bump into someone in the industry who you’ve worked with or met along the way, along with plenty of people you’ve grown up watching on screens big and small. Oh, and I should mention everyone looks a lot less fabulous in heavy winter attire (it pretty much snowed every day at the festival this year). The centralized and intimate nature of the festival certainly leads to some random encounters. One moment I found myself sitting next to David Cross and his girlfriend Amber Tamblyn at Easy Street bar watching the end of the classic Saints-Vikings NFC Championship, and the next I was sharing a bathroom with Josh Duhamel (sorry ladies, I didn’t look). Oh, and for the record, those events didn’t happen sequentially.

>>>NEXT: More than celebrity encounters, Sundance is about the movies. We talk about those next.

]]> http://www.mediaite.com/online/sundance-recap-part-i/feed/ 0 http://www.mediaite.com/columnists/meet-the-party-king-of-sundance/ http://www.mediaite.com/columnists/meet-the-party-king-of-sundance/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:54:43 +0000 Jonathan Fuhrman http://www.mediaite.com/?p=74769 Chris Ryan's Sundance "Party List" has become an essential tool of festivalgoing, the directory all the cocktail parties, premiere parties, gifting suites, press opportunities, and after-hours events taking place in Park City this year. (Yes, there are movies, too.) This year, Bing has sponsored the list, complete with iPhone and Blackberry apps. Mediaite's Jonathan Furhman talks to Ryan about the list and what happens when the Party King of Sundance goes corporate. ]]> As the masses from Hollywood and around the world descend on an idyllic little ski village in Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, one man’s many hours of work behind the scenes will again come to the forefront of the minds of every festivalgoer. I know what you are thinking, not another story about Robert Redford and all of the great work he has done in putting together the most important independent film showcase in the world. That’s ok, this isn’t that story. This is a story about another visionary who for the most part remains behind the scenes, simply as a name at the top of a list. Not just any list, mind you, but the ‘holy grail’ of lists at the Sundance Film Festival, the Party List also known as the Party Grid, also known as any festivalgoer’s essential point of access to the glamorous dinners, cocktail parties, and free shwag that have become a huge part of the Sundance Film Festival experience. (Yes, there are movies at Sundance too). Meet the Party King of Sundance, the keeper of the list, Christopher Ryan.

The origins of Chris Ryan’s party list are simple. But often it is only the visionaries among us who can see the forest through the trees. Five years ago, it seemed that every PR agency connected to the festival compiled their own version of the Sundance party list that they then circulated to their clients, friends etc. These lists contained a day by day breakdown of all the cocktail parties, premiere parties, gifting suites, press opportunities, and after-hours events taking place during the film festival, as well as more importantly, RSVP and contact info in order to get on the guest lists for those events. The problem was a lot of these lists contained incomplete and often inaccurate information. Each PR company that compiled a complete list of events really only had an incentive to make sure the events they were handling were accurately identified. Sensing an opportunity, it was then that Chris Ryan of Oceanside Entertainment (a personal management and marketing company that represents primarily writers and television producers, as well as brands in the world of entertainment marketing) first entered the picture.

Chris took the time to compile a master list from all of the different versions of the party list that were circulating. Chris’ master list caught on immediately. Before the festival the following year, various event producers and PR companies began calling Chris first to make sure their event information was contained on Chris’ list, as his list already was building a reputation for being the most accurate and comprehensive. Flash-forward to Sundance 2010, and Chris’ party list has gone corporate. This year Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine, has sponsored the list. Needless to say to all of the ladies and gentlemen attending this year’s Sundance, the Bing List is the party list you want to get a hold of. According to Chris, all Bing has done with respect to the list is pretty it up from its non-glamorous excel spreadsheet-like origins (the list this year now actually has a colorful background!), and more importantly, Bing is creating iPhone and Blackberry apps to make the list more convenient for the publicist crowd.

I had the opportunity to ask Chris some questions about a variety of topics in connection with his list and Sundance. Enjoy his insight.

Do you enjoy compiling the party list or do you view it as a responsibility/chore at this point?

In early November I start getting the calls from PR agencies, and I’m fine with it being a responsibility. Luckily, by the time I start really working on the list, things are dying down because of the Christmas break. Usually, it’s the week before Sundance that it becomes the busiest.

Can you talk about Bing coming on board to sponsor the list this year?

A PR company talked to Bing about the list. The PR company then approached me and it made sense. The raw list looks the same; it just now takes most of the day to get all the design work done.

(Note: Bing’s spokeswoman Lisa Gurry noting that Bing was the “official decision engine” of Sundance, said: “Bing has a wide range of activities planned at Sundance and we see our involvement as a great opportunity to drive awareness and buzz for Bing, as well as trial of our search service. With Chris’ list, we can introduce Bing in a tangible and useful way – helping people find what they’re looking for at Sundance.”)

It seems to me that thanks to your list, for many people catching new films at Sundance has become something of an afterthought, and it’s now all about the parties and the shwag. Your thoughts?

I think the idea that the party is more important than the films is something that has been floated around by Sundance for the past five years. Is it true? No. Sure there are some celebrities that show up just to attend parties and gifting lounges, but most of the ones I know won’t go to Sundance if they aren’t promoting a film. I’m a good example of an executive who balances enjoying a night out and seeing films in the daytime. I think that describes most people at Sundance. My feeling is that if you are coming to the festival, and have no plans on seeing films, please stay home. I try to see between 2 and 7 films a festival, not all of them at Sundance, but Slamdance as well which usually I have an easier time finding tickets.

Also, let’s look what the parties and cast dinners are really for: to promote the film. The parties are used by the film producers to create buzz so the film can get picked up for distribution. It’s a great way for filmmakers to network
with potential buyers, press and people that could help their careers. For example, 6 years ago, film executive Ellen Huang created the Queer Lounge because she saw a need for a space for GLBT filmmakers to promote their films and network with others who could help their career. This proved to be very popular with filmmakers. I’ve had heard plenty of stories of filmmakers meeting their agent at a Queer Lounge party, or finding another creative soul to develop something new from that venue.

Do you take pride in being master of the list (aka the Party King of Sundance)?

Absolutely.

Have you ever been tempted to plan your own party and throw it on the list?

About 3 years ago, Levis hosted an Oceanside Entertainment party at Sundance. And yes it was on the list.

Has the fact that you are the party list master helped your career in your day job? Any impact?

Good impact. I now have access to more senior level people that can help my clients.

Do you find that all the PR people at Sundance are happy with your list, relying on you to spread the word, or are they cursing you as they get 500 email inquiries a day for these events? [Note: inevitably this list will circulate well beyond the initial intended industry and press-only audience and becomes a must-have possession for any attendee at Sundance]

My list has the cooperation of the event producers and film publicists who give me the information that should be on the list. They also correct the information as it changes and tell me when lists are closed. They know that the list for the most part stays secure for the two months I manage it and it goes to the right people. The list isn’t for public consumption, but for specific types of industry people who have business at the festival: talent publicists (and select talent agents/managers) who have talent attending the festival, film publicists representing the films at the festival, select working press and the event producers themselves. I ask them not to share it with their friends or colleagues to keep it secure. Also, the list usually will have 2 – 3 fake parties on it so I can track who has the list. Last year, I published a list of every name that had the list without my permission.

What party this year do you think will be the one everyone talks about?

I think they all will be good. Was that a good diplomatic answer?

Have you seen a decrease in the number of parties/gift suites this year as a result of the economic downturn?

Yes, there is a decrease this year. I’m still waiting for the list of parties from two major venues, but I think the party list will be about 1/3 shorter than last year. What the trend has been so far is venues that have been separate before combining. For example, House of Hype, Film Lounge and The Supper Club have all combined into one mega-location. Similarly, Gibson Guitar Lodge and The Green Lodge have combined. The economy has hurt both official and unofficial sponsorship during Sundance.

I know that a lot of people are talking about the fact there will be no William Morris Endeavor party this year (Note: the WMA party was always a Monday night staple at the festival, and in 2009 WMA merged with Endeavor). Any comment on that?

I’m going to miss the WME party. That was the industry heavy one of the first weekend (of the festival). My favorite party in the past was the impossible to get into Motorola party – those (parties) were amazing.

Which film(s) are you most looking forward to seeing at this year’s festival?

Howl, Mormon Proposition and Sympathy for Delicious

Have you ever met Robert Redford?

Never have, but his office requested the party list once.

Jonathan Fuhrman is a lawyer and former studio exec who writes the “Smart Hollywood” column for Mediaite. Find him on Twitter @smarthollywood, and reach him at smarthollywood@gmail.com.

p.s. This is just the latest in a series of online viral videos based on a scene from Downfall, wherein Hitler various rants about the financial crisis, finds out that Michael Jackson died, Kiss being left off the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame ballot and is unimpressed with the new iPod touch.

How did this happen, why did this happen? Well, it would be easy to answer these questions in one magical word composed of three consonants and the letter “A”, i.e. “AVATAR“. But that would not do justice to the other films that performed like kings of the box office world over the weekend. But Avatar‘s feat is astonishing in that it made $75 million in its second weekend at the box office, which is only about $3 million shy of what it made in its opening 3 day stanza. (“Stanza” is slang in the box office universe. Opening stanza = opening weekend.) In the business, this is what we call a film that has “legs”, and Hollywood hasn’t seen legs this nice in a long long time.

Certainly not legs this valuable. With a hold so strong, there is no reason not to believe that Avatar will not make another $65 million or so next weekend, which is another 3 day holiday weekend. The sky is the limit. Apparently, Avatar must really have good buzz. Including receipts through December 28th, Avatar‘s box office totals are beyond astounding. It has made $232 million in the US since it opened on December 18th, and its worldwide box office total stands at just about $643 million. At this point James Cameron‘s latest epic is on a course to chase the historic numbers set from his last epic, Titanic. No one expects Avatar to come close to reaching the total box office numbers reached for Titanic ($1.8 Billion world wide), but then again no one expected Avatar‘s totals to be one-third of the way there in a week and a half. What is not in doubt is that Avatar is on course to become the #2 box office performer of all time, sitting right aside its Titanic big brother.

Another contributing factor to the record-breaking weekend that can not be understated is the economics of 3D. If you are one of the millions who has bought a ticket to see Avatar in 3D, you probably noticed that your ticket price was on average $3 to $5 higher than the ticket you may have bought to see Sherlock Holmes banter with the loyal Dr. Watson, or to see a bunch of singing chipmunks (and the box office numbers prove that America loves its singing chipmunks more than any other singing animal in history…but I’ll get to that shortly). This premium 3D pricing played a large co-starring role in Avatar‘s strong performance this past weekend which helped set box office history. When The Dark Knight came out in July 2008, there was no similar 3D pricing effect pumping up its box office receipts. At this point Hollywood has certainly realized that today’s 3D is huge business, and is not the 3D of your parent’s day with cheesy creatures escaping from black lagoons. Even the business of 3D glasses is big business. 2010 is shaping up to be the year 3D is everywhere, even in your homes, as the big electronic giants such as Samsung and Sony are preparing to release 3D television sets to the masses and will be previewing this technology in just a few weeks at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show.

And if you can wait long enough, Christmas 2011 promises Steven Spielberg‘s first ever directed 3D epic entitled “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.” I know that just based on that title alone you may not be feeling an overwhelming “I MUST SEE THIS MOVIE” vibe, but to help build your excitement up a little you should know the following: the screenplay was co-written by Edgar Wright (writer/director of such films as “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz”), the film is being produced by Peter “Lord of the Rings” Jackson, and it stars Daniel Craig and Simon Pegg. I guess if that hasn’t convinced you that this film will be dominating the box office two years from now, I probably should add that Spielberg is using the same exact motion-capture 3D technology that James Cameron pioneered with Avatar. So, yeah, i’ll be seeing Tintin, you?

When you are heading to the movies to see Spielberg’s Tintin two years from now, it’s quite likely it will be competing at the box office with the sequel to Sherlock Holmes and yet another Alvin and the Chipmunks Squeakquel. Both of these films had huge opening weekends. Despite mixed reviews, Sherlock Holmes bowed with a very strong $62 plus million opening weekend at the US box office (and $73.5 million total through December 28th) cementing the fact that Robert Downey Jr. has added another iconic role to his ever-growing repertoire. At times, Sherlock Holmes feels like an extended set up for a sequel, which is in fact already in development and early casting rumors have Brad Pitt‘s name bandied about to play Holmes’ famous nemesis the evil Dr. Moriarty. Warner Brothers (which released the film) has to be happy with Holmes’ debut performance. The film has yet to unspool around the world, but when it does the numbers will not doubt be strong. There is an incredible must-see factor with Downey Jr. in this role exhibiting his charm, wit and of course his Holmesian powers of deduction.

As for Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, what can I really say that I haven’t already said about its ingenious title. You can make fun of that title all you want, but what is clear is that releasing a movie with “Alvin and the Chipmunks” in the title in the 21st century equals a license to print money. In the five days since the Squeakquel opened last Wednesday, the film has brought in just a few chipmunk hairs less than $88 million. For comparison purposes the first Alvin and the Chipmunks (which was released in December 2007 and which i will now refer to as “Classic Alvin”) made $84 million in its first 10 days. So the, ahem, Squeakquel‘s debut shattered the performance of Classic Alvin. And Classic Alvin was no shabby performer at the box office. Its total US gross was $217 million (with International grosses of $143 million added in for a world wide gross for Classic Alvin of $360 million). It’s interesting to note that Classic Alvin was one of the rare box office hits of late where the US grosses clearly outclassed the international box office receipts. Apparently in some foreign countries singing chipmunks have yet to catch on – perhaps that is because singing chipmunks are not indigenous creatures everywhere around the world? Anyway, I have a feeling though that now that Classic Alvin has whetted the appetites of singing chipmunk lovers anywhere and everywhere, that the International receipts for the Squeakquel will be much stronger and equal to or exceed the US box office totals for the Squeakquel.

What does this all mean, besides very happy executives at 20th Century Fox (the studio that produced the Squeakquel)? And of course, besides the inevitable, “Alvin and the Chipmunks 3D” for the next sequel that is? It means that family films marketed correctly continue to be huge performers over the Christmas holiday. The Squeakquel is just the latest strong performer in this release slot, following in the footsteps of Classic Alvin, Night at the Museum, and if you want to go way back in time, the Home Alone movies.

What is clear, now more than ever, is that over the Christmas holidays, no one wants to be left home alone. We would all rather sit in a packed movie theater and escape the realities and stresses of the day for a few hours. And that my friends is the raison d’etre for Hollywood’s existence. This past weekend’s record box office results prove that Hollywood is certainly doing its job.

What was your favorite movie over the holidays? Do you wish you could move to Pandora? Did you think the bad guy in Sherlock Holmes was stolen from a Dan Brown novel? Did you go see Alvin and the Chimpunks: The Squeakquel and you dont even have kids? Let me know your thoughts, find me on Twitter @smarthollywood, and send me an email at smarthollywood@gmail.com.

The film to beat at the box office during the last days of 2009 is a little film called Avatar, written and directed by self-proclaimed ‘king of the world’, James Cameron.  I think perhaps you may have heard of this movie. Ok, at this point it’s impossible not to have heard of it, the buzz around this movie over the last week has been deafening and James Cameron is once again being anointed as the second coming.  (And if you’ve seen Avatar, he probably deserves it – but more on that later). So, how did this happen?

Let’s start at the beginning. Avatar has literally been in the works for over a decade. It is well-documented that Cameron first wrote a screenplay draft back in the 90’s (do you remember the 90’s?) but wasn’t able to actually begin working on the film until 4 years ago when technology finally caught up with his vision.  Technology may have caught up, but not at a cost-effective price – the final reported budget for Avatar runs the gamut from $250 million to half a billion, depending on how all of the investment in the proprietary 3D technology is accounted for and amortized.  Bottom line, this film cost a hell of a lot, with a reported budget more than any other film in history.  And, when you think about it, we shouldn’t expect anything less from the man who gave us Titanic.  But Titanic overcame a tidal wave of bad buzz associated with its huge production budget and became the #1 grossing film of all time with world-wide box office receipts in excess of $1.8 billion. Is Avatar headed for a similar destiny?

I can tell you that the early buzz on Avatar was not very promising.  The first any of the general public saw of finished footage from Avatar was a 20-minute 3D presentation at Comic-Con in San Diego.  Comic-Con, for those of you not familiar, is an annual convention in San Diego which used to be all about comic book nerds gathering in one place so they could try to find a mint copy of Spiderman #1, but which has now turned into the biggest buzz creator Hollywood has to offer.  Each summer at Comic-Con, the studios put together lavish presentations and panels to introduce their upcoming films to eager, hard-core film fans who wait on lines for hours on end in order to gain access to these presentations.   And once the presentations end, the lucky few thousand who attended and got to enjoy (or, equally important, not enjoy) a little taste of Hollywood’s next big thing take to the internet to blog and tweet all about what they saw, what they liked, what they hated, and so on…and so the buzz begins.

In the case of Avatar, the initial buzz was just ok.  And ‘just ok’ buzz usually isn’t good enough, especially when you consider that Cameron was debuting footage of his first new film in YEARS to a captive audience of film fans who worship all of his work from The Terminator and T2, to Aliens and Titanic.  To say he was playing to a home crowd is an understatement.   This audience was told they were going to be the first to see the next big thing, something revolutionary in fact.  Yet after the 20 minutes of footage was screened, the word was simply that it looked like Cameron created a cool 3D world, and from what they could tell of the story, the movie seemed kind of pedestrian.   But Cameron was convinced that screening footage from his film was the key to turning Avatar into a success.   In an unprecedented event this past August, 20^th Century Fox held free sneak previews, in over 100 IMAX theaters around the world, of the footage from Comic-Con, along with an introduction by James Cameron.  The film was still 4 months away from a theatrical release but Cameron was convinced the best way to build the buzz for this movie was to just let people see it (and turns out he was right, but again I’m getting ahead of myself).

Unfortunately, for those of us who were not lucky enough to see the Avatar footage at Comic-Con or during the IMAX sneak preview, the first we saw of any footage was the release of the theatrical trailer in 2D.  It was at this moment, the majority of us first saw the new alien world of Pandora that Cameron had created and inhabited with 10 foot tall blue aliens. The initial response to this footage was underwhelming, at best.  In fact, some of the response was vicious. Trey Parker and Matt Stone savagely parodied “Avatar” in a hilarious episode of “South Park” nearly two months ago when the foul-mouthed Cartman created a movie with a very similar plot to “Avatar” named “Dancing with Smurfs”.   Clearly, people were not warming up to Cameron’s big blue aliens.  But then again, no one had seen the finished movie, and in the end, nothing creates good buzz better than a movie that blows your mind.

So what happened when people finally got to see the finished version of “Avatar” in 3D, the way Cameron intended it to be seen?  Minds were in fact blown  (Be glad this column isn’t written in 3D).  It turns out that Cameron’s strategy of letting people see footage to sell the film really was a sound strategy after all.  The problem was that simply letting people see 20 minutes of “out of context” footage was actually doing a disservice to the beauty of his film and the unprecedented vision of a new world that he created.  To truly sell this film and create the buzz he was seeking all along, people just needed to see the final product, preferably in eye-popping IMAX 3D.  I can pinpoint the moment the buzz on “Avatar” changed for me.  (See my blog entry from December 10.) That’s the day the first industry reviews for Avatar were published and the word was so very, very good.  “Avatar” instantly jumped to the top of my must-see list, and the positive buzz just kept taking off from there.

The film has now been playing in theaters world-wide all of five days and has already racked up total box office receipts in excess of $300 million. While the box office totals that “Titanic” racked up a dozen years ago are just not possible in this day and age dominated by movie-streaming via internet and watching blu-ray dvds in a personal home theater, based on its early performance, “Avatar” certainly looks like it may have what it takes to reach the vaunted levels of $1 billion at the world-wide box office which was last reached in 2008 by “The Dark Knight”.   More surprisingly, “Avatar” has become such an across-the-board critical darling, that it is picking up some serious Oscar heat.  With the Best Picture category at the Oscars expanding to 10 nominees this year,  “Avatar” seems like a lock to pick up one of those Best Picture nods, and the film’s popularity may in fact attract more eyeballs to the Oscar ceremony itself  (validating the very reason that the Academy sought to expand the number of Best Picture nominations to 10, to increase the TV ratings).  Based on the time and effort James Cameron spent executing his vision and bringing Avatar to the screen, he is certainly worthy of an Academy Award Best Director nomination as well.  However, since that category still has only five nominees, it will not be a surprise if his name is left off that list – but without a doubt, based on his accomplishment with “Avatar”, his name should remain in the conversation.

So in case you are wondering, I have seen “Avatar” in IMAX 3D.  In fact, this past weekend, when I showed up to the theater an hour early anticipating that would be early enough to secure a decent seat, I found a line 150 people strong in front of me.  I guess they heard the buzz too.  So should you see it?  It probably doesn’t even matter what I say at this point, the buzz has spoken in a strong affirmative YES.  But I mean come on, this is my column, of course I’m going to tell you what I think.  I found it to be a beautiful movie.  Do not waste your time seeing it in anything other than 3D, and if you are lucky enough to see it in IMAX 3D, you really will experience the beauty and magic of the captivating world Cameron has created.  The key triumph of this film is not its storytelling.  Yes, clichés abound, and those who liken “Avatar”s plot to a retread of 50’s westerns or even “Dances with Wolves” are not very far off in their comparisons – but they are missing the point.  It may be a familiar story, but it is told in a ground-breaking new way and with such magic in its creation of a completely new and fully-realized world, that it is an unforgettable movie-going experience.  It is one that any true lover of cinema should experience in the theater.  Home video will never do this film justice.  Maybe I’ll see you at the theater when I go see it again.

If you want to share your thoughts on “Avatar” with me, you can reach me on Twitter @smarthollywood, or send me an email at smarthollywood@gmail.com.

Since 2004, Universal Studios film executive Franklin Leonard has been compiling a list of the top 100 unproduced screenplays of the year. He named this list the “Black List”. The list is compiled the good old fashioned way in Hollywood – by lots of insiders (executives, financiers, agents, assistants, you name it). Leonard first solicits these exclusive insiders for their top screenplay choices and then compiles the results in one hotly anticipated list. In most cases, if a screenplay cracks the top 10, all the big players in town have already fought over the rights to it and a film based thereon is usually in active development (for example, see this year’s #2 Black List choice “The Social Network” written by Aaron Sorkin – yes, he of “The West Wing” and “A Few Good Men” fame – this is the famous “how Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook” movie, and the film starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake will be a high-profile release by Sony Pictures in 2010).

But the number of screenplays on the list that are already greenlit pictures in production is very low. The true value of the list is that it shines a light on a lot of great not-yet-produced work out there, and if a screenplay does appear on this list, there is a very good shot it will actually get made. (According to the LA Times, 40% of the screenplays on the 2005 Black List were turned into features, and about 30% of those on the 2006 list had the same good fortune – and there are still a number of screenplays from the 2005 and 2006 Black Lists in active development so those percentages should only continue to rise). Some of the more well known films that started out as Black List honorees include “Little Miss Sunshine”, “Juno”, “There Will Be Blood”, and “Hancock”. In fact, Diablo Cody, writer of “Juno”, was pretty much catapulted to the big leagues thanks to “Juno” appearing #2 on the 2006 Black List.

This year’s list looks like it has a TON of potential. I’m very intrigued by the #1 choice “The Muppet Man” written by Christopher Weekes, which is a biopic based on the late, great Jim Henson, and apparently includes some very surreal sequences with the muppets. How can you beat that?

I’ve actually read the #5 choice “Cedar Rapids” by Phil Johnston about a naive small-town Wisconsin guy who takes the place of his deceased mentor and represents his company at a regional insurance conference held in the big city (in this case, the thriving metropolis of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and hence the name of the film). Based on that one sentence description you’d probably think this is going to be one depressing movie. Well, to give you an idea of the tone of the movie which is already in production for a 2010 release, Ed Helms (of “The Hangover” and “The Office” fame) has been cast perfectly in the lead role. So needless to say the film will have a LOT of laughs and a bit of heart to go with it. Further cementing this film as a must see 2010 release is the fact that the duo of Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor who together produced “Sideways” are also producing “Cedar Rapids”.

Click the link above to see Nikki Finke’s coverage of this year’s entire Black List and let me know which ones you are dying to see come to a theater near you. Share your thoughts with me on Twitter @smarthollywood, and via email at smarthollywood@gmail.com.

Related:
The Black List 2009: Full Roster [Deadline Hollywood]

>>>FIRST UP: “Superbad”

The Twilight Saga: New Moon opens in theaters almost exactly one year from the date when the first little Twilight movie entered our lives. You know, the one based on a ‘children’s book’ by Stephenie Meyer (in fact it was named one of Publishers Weekly’s best children’s books of 2005), about a teenage girl who moves to a new town and just happens to fall in love with a vampire (happens all the time), the one that single-handedly turned a tiny indie studio, Summit Entertainment Group — previously best known for partnering with Disney/Touchstone on the “Step Up” franchise — into a force to be reckoned with, and pretty much the envy of all of Hollywood. Aside from the once-a-decade type of phenomenon that is the recently released Paranormal Activity ($15K budget; $100 million-plus box office), has there been a more profitable, franchise-creating film in recent years than that first little Twilight movie? I think upon a glance at the box office returns it’s safe to say the answer is no. Let’s consider the numbers.

The first little Twilight movie had a reported budget of $37 million, and its take at the worldwide box office was over $380 million. Not too shabby a return. And these figures don’t count the receipts from the seemingly endless pieces of Twilight merchandise now flooding our economy – the boatfuls of dvds, lunch boxes, and R-Patz tshirts that are being sold (that’s Robert Pattinson for those of you playing at home). And can you imagine if the studio had a piece of tabloid magazine sales based on coverage of the star-crossed, are-they-a-couple-or-are-they-not stars of the movie series? Then we would be talking some big bucks.

Have I mentioned I have not yet seen that first little Twilight movie? Have I mentioned also that I am not a teenage girl? Well, truth be told I have the Twilight dvd in my possession and I swear I’m going to watch it soon, but I guess the point is it really doesn’t matter if I watch it. Sure, Summit will take my money gladly and I bet they secretly hope I have a crush on R. Patz too (sorry, ladies I just don’t see it), but their little business model for these little Twilight movies doesn’t really need to count on the 18-49 male demographic. Did I just type that and mean that? What other thriving Hollywood franchise of any significance can pretty much ignore the entire male movie-going population? (Sorry, Sisterhood of Traveling Pants 2, based on the performance of your last film, you could use every male eyeball you can get). Don’t get me wrong, I fully realize that many male moviegoers are going to willingly tag along as dates with their female companions to see the next installment of Hollywood’s brand-new powerhouse franchise, and that there are many single men of all sexual orientations who will be lining up at theaters tonight. But none of those men matter.

The male moviegoer takes a rare backseat in the world of that little Twilight movie. In fact, when the first little Twilight movie opened a year ago to box office of $69.6 million during its opening weekend, females made up an astounding 75% of the audience. Well, last night’s midnight shows of New Moon topped all that: The debut set box office history, taking in $26.3 million across 3,514 theaters — in just the midnight showing. Tracking indicates that the second little Twilight movie will deliver grosses this weekend never seen outside of summer. We are talking weekend grosses potentially over $100 million. That’s just the first weekend and just U.S. box office. Wow.

To put an opening weekend of $100M in perspective, let’s compare those potential figures to the box office results for the original Star Wars trilogy (the holy trinity of movie trilogies). Keep in mind that average movie ticket prices back when the first Star Wars film was released in 1977 was $2.23 and grew to a wallet-busting $3.15 by the time the 3rd Star Wars film was released. Star Wars Episode IV (better known as the original Star Wars), released in 1977, actually opened in limited release (only 43 theaters) and made $1.5M its opening weekend (an astounding figure based on the limited opening run). Episode 5 (aka The Empire Strikes Back) earned $4.9M in its opening weekend in 1980. Finally, Episode 6 (aka Return of the Jedi) made $23M in its opening weekend in 1983. So even if we consider that average movie ticket prices have basically quadrupled since 1983, a $100M opening weekend for that second little Twilight movie would not only put it in the same rarified air as the Star War series, but it would even outperform the series opening weekend box office results. Again, wow.

It is the teenage girl who rules the school in this case (including the inner teenage girl among Twilight-obsessed twenty and thirty-something women who fixate over the love triangle that is Edward, Bella and Jacob with an equal passion and fervor). They will compete among themselves to lay claim to who saw the film the most times over opening weekend, they will buy every piece of Twilight merchandise possible, they will read and re-read the books in hot anticipation for the next movie in the series (The third little Twilight movie aka The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is already slated for release on June 30th of next year – start lining up now ladies). Yes these Twi-hards or Twilighters or whatever they are calling themselves have become the Star Wars geeks of this generation and in the process have created a new franchise and single-handedly launched a new Hollywood studio powerhouse.

So, yeah, I won’t be lining up tonight. I don’t think Summit Entertainment Group is losing any sleep. They are too busy steamrolling ahead with their plans for the 3rd little and 4th little Twilight movies. And limbering up their calculator-punching fingers to start tabulating the box office receipts as they begin to roll in this weekend. And thinking up Twilight-based theme park rides and video games and cell phone wall paper and coffee mugs and snuggies and…ok you get the point.

What makes me qualified to write such a column? How’s this: I am an entertainment attorney by profession and have been practicing since 2000, and I spent the past 3 years as a VP of Business & Legal Affairs at a movie studio. It is my hope that this column will stand out from the countless others on these Interwebs because I have actually spent the last decade working in this business and have seen Hollywood’s wheelings and dealings THISCLOSEUP. And I lived to tell the tale. But more than that, I think the qualification that matters most is my passion for the entertainment industry and all of the wonderful, not quite so wonderful and downright tacky ideas, fads, and mass-media influenced beliefs that make up that which we call ‘popular culture’.

I’ve had a passion for the business side of the entertainment industry since I was a teenager. In fact, for my 13th birthday I got a subscription to weekly Variety from my grandmother, and I’ve more or less had that same subscription ever since. (I like to say that because not only is it a sweet heartwarming story — straight out of a Hollywood movie no less — but more importantly, it’s basically true – although my subscription may have lapsed once or twice, but those people at Variety are relentless with their offers to re-up so those lapses never lasted long.)

Being that I was a child of the first generation to grow up with cable TV (sprinkle a dash of the magic that is 1980’s MTV over here, and a dash of the unedited, 24-hour pay TV movie heaven that is HBO over there), it’s not a shock that I became a pop culture junkie. Growing up I had a great passion for movies – many of my favorite childhood memories are those moments where I was sitting in a darkened theater with popcorn in hand, watching trailers unspool for movies that I would then become obsessed with and countdown on the calendar until they were released. From the original Star Wars trilogy to E.T., Indiana Jones to Ghostbusters, I marked milestones in my early years by what was dominating the multiplex at the time. And how could I ever have survived high school without the oeuvre of John Hughes (may he rest in peace). Okay lets be honest, I still wouldn’t be able to survive adulthood without the endless re-runs of those classic flicks on cable. Ferris Bueller is still my hero. What a role model.

As for my love of movies, I must credit my amazing mother – as many of my first memories as a filmgoer are of the Saturday afternoons during the summer when she used to take my brother and I to the movies for Saturday afternoon double features of Disney classics. This same wonderful mom who let me stay up to watch the Oscars for the first time the year that Rocky won best picture, and I’ve never missed an Oscars since. The rest I’ll save for Mother’s Day — but if you want an inkling of where my love for movies came from, I highly recommend you put Cinema Paradiso in your Netflix queue (or, gasp, go to Blockbuster and rent it, if anyone out there actually still does that).

Now to the “SMART” aspect of this column title. I realize that “Smart Hollywood” is a punch line waiting to happen (hmm, could I be intending that? Maybe, maybe not), perhaps the oxymoron of all oxymorons coming from an industry that has perfected the art of endless bad remakes of bad 1980s films and Alvin and The Chipmunk sequels (er, I mean Squeakuel – to channel the great Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler, a “SQUEAKUEL”, really – you couldn’t just call it ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks 2’ and let us get on with our lives, really!! — although I think I just proved right here how smart Hollywood is, because of that bizarre/annoying title the marketing wizards dreamed up, I just used more words talking about an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie in a column entitled “Smart Hollywood” than anyone in their right mind should). I may be stating the obvious (and if so please get used to that), but it takes a lot of smarts to survive in Hollywood and to navigate the ups and downs of this business. Though it helps if you are a Scientologist. My hope is that this column will also provide at least a little bit of insight into that world. Hollywood, not Scientology.

But more literally I’m calling this column “Smart Hollywood” because a) I hope my years in this business will yield some useful insights here, and b) I cant help but be a bit of a smart-ass at times (I mean, I am a lawyer) — and that will no doubt be reflected in the column as well.

So if you’re still reading this (power of positivity!), maybe you’re willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don’t you? It’s Hollywood. (Bonus points for those of you who just felt a Shawshank Redemption flashback – I like you already). And after this self-indulgent introductory column, Hollywood, the iconic industry itself, and all of the various product it creates, is what I intend to write about. Pretty much anything and everything that has to do with the entertainment industry and pop culture will be fair game for this space. I would like to regularly answer reader questions on any related topic, so please feel free to email those questions to me at smarthollywood@gmail.com. Readers can also find me on Twitter at @smarthollywood. Yes, I realize I’m taking a bold leap to assume I might have more than one reader (hi, Mom!), but dare to dream. And to those of you who made it to the end of column numero uno, thanks for staying awake. I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.