The two-week $481 million worldwide gross of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” has put Summit Entertainment into the big leagues.

It has also created high class challenges for toppers Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger. As they come down from blockbuster euphoria, they are going to have to cut checks larger than most indie companies ever do if they move ahead with a plan to break Stephenie Meyer’s finale, “Breaking Dawn,” into two pictures. 

Sources said Summit has so far only gone as far as setting scribe Melissa Rosenberg--who wrote the first three films--to finish the series, but Summit has to clear several hurdles before telling Rosenberg if she should write one scripts or two.   

Among those hurdles is figuring out whether “New Moon” director Chris Weitz will respond favorably to overtures from the film company and the cast to return and shoot two more films, back to back. 

Summit execs would not comment, but multiple sources said that the film company wants to go the two-film route, which means re-opening negotiations and getting approval from the author. It also means making new deals with a principal cast that is only locked up for four films. If “Breaking Dawn” becomes two pictures, all of the key cast members will get fat raises, and the three principals—Rob Pattinson, Kristin Stewart and Taylor Lautner—could land eight-figure paydays. 

That is what happened the key cast members when Warner Bros. extended its blockbuster Harry Potter franchise by turning J.K. Rowling’s last book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” into two films that will be released in November, 2010 and July, 2011.The global success of the franchise made the paydays worthwhile.  

While the solution to most of Summit’s challenges will be determined by its willingness to cut large checks, the prospect of a Weitz return is more complicated.

After feeling violated by New Line’s decision to drastically alter his adaptation of “The Golden Compass,” Weitz said he felt redeemed and reinvigorated by the success of “New Moon.” Yet, just before the film’s release, Weitz was steadfast that he would next direct “The Gardener,” a comparatively tiny film scripted by Eric Eason, with Paul Witt and Christian McLaughlin producing. At the time, he said Summit was in discussions to fund that film.

Summit hasn’t closed a deal for “The Gardener,” probably because the film company wants Weitz to postpone it and work on “Breaking Dawn” instead. Could he possibly resist the chance to finish a global franchise he helped build, even though it will mean more time away from his family for a long shoot? That is the question he and his WME reps will weigh shortly. Though Summit hasn’t officially made Weitz an offer, sources said the job is his if he wants it. After bringing in “New Moon” at around $50 million and keeping the cast happy, he’s the logical choice.

David Slade directed the next installment in the series, “Eclipse,” which bows June 20, 2010.

With Harry Potter and his wizard friends ready to graduate Hogwarts, Warner Bros. has gone back to the cauldron to stir up a new coming-of-age witch franchise.

Studio has acquired “Beautiful Creatures,” the first of a five-novel series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl that is published Dec. 1 by Little, Brown.

Richard LaGravanese is set to write the script and direct the film.

Erwin Stoff will produce.

Ethan Wate, a popular high school student, hates living in a small in South Carolina where nothing happens—until he meets and becomes bewitched by Lena Duchanne, a 16-year old whose family has moved back to town and who wishes for a mundane life.  The star-crossed couple has to confront an age old curse that has haunted her family for generations, as she comes to grips with her powers.

While LaGravanese has written/directed several female-centric films—“P.S. I Love You” is the most recent—this is his first film foray into the supernatural. 

“I love supernatural stories that have well drawn mythologies, and I liked that this book has all the basic elements of a classic first love story with a supernatural layer over it,” LaGravanese said. “So the first time they hear the words boyfriend and girlfriend, they accidentally overhear each other telepathically. Their first kiss comes after he saves her life and their first date is part of a bigger adventure that leads to the unraveling of the mysterious curse that haunts her family.”

LaGravanese most recently scripted “Water for Elephants,” an adaptation of the Sara Gruen novel for Fox 2000 with Francis Lawrence directing and Reese Witherspoon attached to star, and “Liberace,” the Steven Soderbergh-directed pic that has Michael Douglas attached to play the title character and Matt Damon attached to play his lover. Both films are on track to begin production next year.

CAA brokered the book deal with The Gernert Company.
 

David Guillod, who parted ways with UTA over the holidays, is landing at Paradigm.

Guillod had been a partner and  was once co-head of the Motion Picture Talent Department at UTA. until earlier this year. Move is a surprise, as reports had Guillod leaving the representation biz to focus on a venture involving Oni Press, a comic book imprint that the agency represented.  

Paradigm topper Sam Gores issued this memo:

Dear colleagues,

 We are very pleased to announce today that David Guillod will join us at Paradigm.

 David has spent the last 8 years at UTA where he was a partner and the Head of the Motion Picture Talent department and before that was a partner at Handprint. Many of us have known David for several years, going back to his manager days and we are very happy to have him on board.  Even though David has been contemplating a move into the Development Business, he decided after meeting with us over the holiday weekend and some further soul searching that he really loved his clients and being an agent. Last night he decided that the culture and environment at Paradigm is the right place for him to pursue the next chapter of his career.

It is too soon to make any announcements regarding clients but know that David will assume a very senior agent capacity within the agency. 

 David is a great addition to Paradigm’s present and future.  Please join me in welcoming him to the Paradigm family.

 Sam

In an exceptional deal for a director to make his feature helming debut, Ghost House Pictures has made a seven-figure deal with a Uruguayan commercials director to direct his pitch for an alien invasion film.

How did Fede Alvarez score such a million dollar deal when most first-time helmers make $250,000? The heat is based on “Ataque de Panico!” (Panic Attack), a four minute 48 second short film about an apocalyptic robot attack that Alvarez directed through his  commercial production house at a cost between $300-$500. Watch for yourself: http://vodpod.com/watch/2461813-ataque-de-pnico-panic-attack-2009

After the short found its way to the internet and Kanye West featured a link to the film on his blog, a 30-year old who was not on anyone’s radar outside the Uruguayan blurb market suddenly found the biggest agencies in Hollywood in a collective panic attack to sign him. That created a chain reaction of activity over two weeks that led to a trip to Hollywood, where he met with every major agency, management firm and law firm that responded to the short--and a big deal. 

After he signed with CAA, Anonymous Content and attorney Karl Austen, Alvarez made a pre-emptive deal with Ghost House that sets the helmer up to make his first film under the guidance of one of his directing heroes, Sam Raimi, who formed the genre label Ghost House within Mandate Pictures with Rob Tapert, Nathan Kahane and Joe Drake.

Raimi sparked to Alvarez’s short film—which offers a stylized vision of apocalyptic destruction that appears to have been made for far more than Alvarez spent. After Alvarez pitched an original idea for an alien invasion idea to the “Spider-Man 4” director, Ghost House  closed a deal with Alvarez’s new reps that guarantees him a six-figure holding deal to wait while Ghost House hires a high-end scribe to turn the idea into a feature. The six-figure deal will be applied against a seven-figure fee if Ghost House
makes the film.

Raimi will produce with Ghost House partner Tapert, with Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Doug Davison also be involved in producing capacities. Kahane will be exec producer.

The idea that an unknown could put himself on the map by placing his film on the internet shows how much the Hollywood landscape is changing and how hungry financiers and studios are to find a filmmaker who might deliver the next “Paranormal Activity,” “District 9” or “Twilight.” 

While the Thanksgiving weekend showed that stars can still perform—Sandra Bullock has carried the $30 million “The Blind Side” to a $100 million gross in just over one week—Alvarez’s short conjured up a high concept, visually-intriguing film that can be made for a small budget with no gross players by a filmmaker who can plug into a youthful demographic.

The Ghost House deal gives Alvarez the opportunity to make his Hollywood debut that is godfathered by Raimi in a mentoring role similar to the one that Peter Jackson served in Neill Blomkamp’s directing debut on “District 9,” an under $30 million film which has grossed over $180 million worldwide.

Paramount Pictures has landed U.S. distribution rights to “Area 51,” the Oren Peli-directed follow-up to the sleeper hit “Paranormal Activity.”

Deal puts the studio back in business with the creative and financing team behind “Paranormal Activity,” the $11,000 budget film which has grossed more than $106 million since Paramount began rolling it out in September.

Peli had a much larger budget to work with on this extraterrestrial tale than he did for his ghost story, as sources said he brought the film in at a shade under $5 million.

Paramount made a high-seven figure commitment, said sources to become co-financier with Incentive Filmed Entertainment and the Aramid Entertainment Fund. The trio will be co-financing partners going forward on any sequels.

As many as four other bidders wanted the picture, but Paramount Film Group president Adam Goodman had an inside track. He was instrumental in acquiring “Paranormal Activity” while at DreamWorks, and was the hands-on exec at Paramount, which did a superb job at slowly rolling out the film as the picture built word of mouth and became a breakout hit.

Goodman closed the deal with David Molner, chairman of Incentive Filmed Entertainment, Stuart Ford, CEO of IM Global, and CAA.

Just as they did on “Paranormal Activity,” Peli wrote and directed “Area 51” and Jason Blum is producing through his Blumhouse Productions banner. Room 101’s Steven Schneider, IM Global’s Ford and Amir Zbeda are executive producers.

Pic, which completed principal photography three weeks ago, was fully financed by Incentive and the Aramid Entertainment Fund. Latter is a co-financing partner of Paramount’s slate on films that include the “Transformers” films.

The film employs the “found footage” narrative structure that Peli used in “Paranormal Activity” to tell the story of three teens whose curiosity leads them to the notorious Area 51 portion of Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert.

Fueled by the strong grosses of “Paranormal Activity,” “Area 51” was one of the brisk sellers at the American Film Market. It has sold internationally almost everywhere except Japan and certain Eastern European markets where talks are ongoing. Key buyers include Momentum in the U.K., Concorde in Germany, Equilatero/Warners in Spain, Village Roadshow in Australia, Alliance in Canada, Playarte in Brazil, Gussi in Latin America, RCV in Benelux and Svensk in Scandinavia.

Studio and financiers confirmed the deal and said they were pleased to be teaming once again on a film that hasn’t yet set a release date but will surely find its way to theaters some time in 2010.

“Moviegoers everywhere demanded to see Oren Peli’s spectacular debut and we are excited to show them what he’s created next,” said Par’s Goodman.

Peli and Blum said they were “Happy to continue working with with agile and talented production, marketing and distribution teams at Paramount that made `Paranormal Activity’ such a remarkable success.”

Molner said the deal illustrated the fertile ground in creating moderately budgeted franchises that have become some of Hollywood’s biggest hits.

“These films show that real franchises can be successfully launched from the independent side of the business, not something the marketplace necessarily believed five years ago,” he said. “As financiers, we’re very lucky to create value in ownership with major distributors like Paramount Pictures and the enviable talents of Jason, Oren, and IM Global.”

Said IM Global’s Ford: “With the international distribution already set up on the film, bringing Paramount onboard after they did such distinguished work on `Paranormal Activity’ is the perfect finale, and most important piece in the jigsaw.”

As Peli and Blum go into postproduction on “Area 51,” the next deal to be made will be for another installment of “Paranormal Activity,” which will once again be done through Paramount.

Awards season is upon us, and here’s the conundrum: There’s not much out there yet that’s screaming “Oscar!”

This was brought home to me last weekend when I attended the Academy Awards. Well, not the real awards but rather a new black-tie event dubbed the Governors Awards.

The Oscar folks were nervous about their new ceremony — they’re not big on innovation — but their show turned out to be a big hit. So much so that it raised an off-putting question: If the Governors Awards can be spirited and entertaining, why must Oscar night itself be such a stiff?

The Nov. 14 event consisted of a cocktail party and dinner for about 550 Academy members and assorted celebrities, with honorary awards handed out to Lauren Bacall, John Calley, Roger Corman and Gordon Willis. The atmosphere was a throwback to the pre-TV Oscar bacchanalia of decades ago when the Academy was more of a hard-drinking, back-slapping club that gathered for purposes of self-congratulation.

In recent years, however, as the Academy Awards have become a big-bucks TV special, a distinct chill has infiltrated every part of the process. The rules governing many of the awards are tortured, the show itself languid.

At last week’s Governors ceremony, by contrast, the mood was downright ebullient and the audience relaxed. Interestingly, however, no one was talking about possible contenders for the upcoming awards.

To be sure, the conversation of the evening didn’t lack for color. Bacall, upon being handed her statuette, blurted, “At last, a man in my life.” Kirk Douglas lamented he had once made a play for Bacall but lost out to Bogart. Ron Howard acknowledged that the biggest reward for making a successful film for Roger Corman (a producer famously cheap with his budgets) was that he’d never have to work for him again.

Cinematographer Willis recalled his quarrels with Woody Allen, who argued nervously that his jokes wouldn’t play against Willis’s dark backgrounds (Willis went even darker on “The Godfather”).

So here’s the irony: Left to their own devices, the Academy’s governors produced a show about movies and moviemakers who represented the opposite of the elitist fare honored at the Oscar show itself. Corman was the king of the B-pictures, Bacall was a pop icon, Calley ran two major studios and Willis shot hit movies.

So while the Academy voters obsess over arthouse movies year after year, the governors themselves seem to yearn for the time when Hollywood related more felicitously to pop culture.

Maybe that conflict is one explanation why there’s so little “heat” in the awards race thus far. There are 10 slots to fill for “best film,” not the customary five, yet the majors themselves are thus far spending about half as much on their campaigns as they did a year or two ago, as though they, too, are trying to figure out which way the wind is blowing.

Or has it become more like a faint breeze?

A number of producers complain these days that penny-pinching studios aren’t spending enough to promote their movies, but a new documentary has been released that spotlights a producer who had a genius for promotion -- and his stunts were definitely low-budget.

Bill Castle made B pictures, mostly horror movies, and he warned audiences that his movies were so scary that he’d cover them with an insurance policy in case any filmgoer died of fright.

He also hired “nurses” to stand in the lobby to increase the level of apprehension. Buzzers would go off under filmgoers’ seats to shock them. Paper mache ghosts would float over the audience mid-performance. Extras in luminous skeleton garb would be planted on the back of theater seats and women would be warned that, if they didn’t scream when tingled, they might die as a result.

The stunts were cheap to execute, and they produced remarkable results. Most of Bill Castle’s films were hits, even though they cost under $100,000 to produce.

Castle’s story is related in an excellent documentary produced and directed by Jeffrey Schwartz. It’s titled “Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story” with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment distributing.

Castle was as much a carnival barker as a filmmaker. His films had titles like "Macabre," “House on Haunted Hill” and “Strait Jacket.” Castle’s big dream, however, was to make, not another B thriller, but a major movie that would enhance his reputation. To that end he bought the rights to a hot novel called “Rosemary’s Baby,” which he planned to direct. Bob Evans and I bullied him into surrendering the directing job to Roman Polanski, then an up and coming European filmmaker.

Castle always regretted the step, but he still benefited richly from his producing credit. Alas, in an effort to sustain his new reputation as an A filmmaker, he shot an odd film called “Shanks,” starring Marcel Marceau, which died a quick death. Castle himself died shortly thereafter at age 63. Now and then when his thrillers are revived, complete with in-theater stunts, young audiences revel in them.

It’s as though the young filmgoers understand that, in an era of $100 million blockbusters, old fashioned low budget showmanship is still a craft to be respected.

This has been a bad year for that secretive fraternity known as business managers. Talent agents get a lot of attention in the press, but not the financial guys who invest the money. And several members of this fraternity have taken heat lately for having funneled money into Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, among others.

Now the business manager for one star, Nicolas Cage, has done the unthinkable - he’s criticized a star’s spending habits. According to the Associated Press, Samuel J. Levin has filed a suit against his former client in which he charged that Cage was so extravagant he bought castles in England and Bavaria, built up a huge collection of exotic cars and led a lifestyle that required $30 million a year in income to sustain.

Cage, it seems, had previously sued Levin claiming that no financial guru had led Cage “down a path toward financial ruin.” That’s why Levin counter-sued, insisting that the “ruin” scenario was Cage’s doing. Cage’s attorney says Levin has breached the star’s privacy by releasing details of Cage’s problems.

In what has to constitute the shortest retirement in Hollywood history, “New Moon” director Chris Weitz told BFD at a Gotham screening that he has no plans to hang it up at age 40. In fact, Weitz says he never intended to retire in the first place.

Thursday’s New York Post’s Page Six column cited a Moviemaker Magazine interview to report that Weitz was leaving the business after making one more film. He seemed to have rallied since doing that interview. Indeed, he had a vigor comparable to Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre, who has made temporary retirement as much a part of his playbook as the forward pass. 

Weitz said he will start production in March or April on “The Gardener,” but was contemplating a future beyond that. His prospects will surely brighten after the expected monstrous opening weekend for “New Moon.”  

Scripted by Argentinian writer/director Eric Eason, “The Gardener” reunites Weitz with “Twilight”-maker Summit Entertainment. Deals with Weitz and Eason are being negotiated.

“There are no werewolves or vampires, just a Mexican gardener in Los Angeles,” Weitz said at the cast screening held at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema.

Unlike his last book-based film “The Golden Compass,” Weitz said he was energized by the experience of making “New Moon” because Summit and “Twilight” series author Stephenie Meyer trusted him to honor the books that created a ferocious fan base, while adding his own stylistic imprint. He expected the same on “Golden Compass,” and was crushed when heavy-handed editing by New Line eliminated 30 minutes of footage and neutered any of the edge evident in the Phillip Pullman books

“It was an utter violation of my status as a director, and the worst thing that has happened to me professionally,” Weitz said.

The filmmaker said loyalty to the “Golden Compass” cast and crew kept him from speaking out when the film was released.

Said Weitz: “I practically bit through my tongue, but I would be very happy to see `New Moon’ surpass `The Golden Compass.’ Now, that dish is cold, and I’m ready to eat. I was treated badly, it was almost like they never read the books. They seemed frightened of offending the Right. This was a wonderful experience by comparison. I got to work with terrific young actors at the top of their game, and see Taylor Lautner perform so well.”

While Moviemaker quoted Weitz as focusing on surfing and learning Spanish and kung fu, those apparently will remain hobbies. Depth of Field, the company he runs with brother Paul, has a potential Oscar entry in the Tom Ford-directed “A Single Man,” and Paul is off directing “Little Fockers.”

Weitz said he’s learning to be careful about swearing off movies when he’s drained from finishing one, because it’s like a fully dilated pregnant woman swearing off reproduction.

Weitz and Favre aren’t the only ones who haven’t stuck to retirement proclamations.  In 2002, an Entertainment Weekly cover trumpeted the exclusive that Stephen King would soon stop writing books. Subsequently, he has killed more trees than a lumberjack, cranking out fat thrillers. And King had enough words left over to become a columnist for that magazine.

The awards season is getting off to a tepid start. There’s an absence of dark horse contenders. The majors have sharply cut spending on Oscar campaigns and the star presence has also been reduced.

Among the late entries to the race are “Crazy Heart” about a washed up country singer, and “Brothers,” a new film directed by Jim Sheridan. Jeff Bridges, a smart and congenial veteran of the interview circuit, will be a big plus for “Crazy Heart.” Tobey Maguire, who is famously interview-shy, may not be much of a help to “Brothers.”

All of which points up a behind-the-scenes debate about how stars should work the media circuit. One theory among top agents is that stars have been over-exposed to red carpet-type interview snippets that haven’t helped either their reputations or their pictures.

As an example, it’s no secret that bookers have been asking “Where’s George?” -- Clooney has two new pictures in the marketplace and also is the voice of the key character in “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Richard Corliss, Time Magazine’s critic, coincidentally observed this week that “Film stars are the industry’s supersalesman and no one closes a deal with more assurance or grace than George Clooney.”

Clooney worked the festivals for his idiosyncratic stoner film, “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” Though he’s shooting a film in Italy, there are rumors he may deliver an 11th hour boost to his other film, “Up In The Air,” in which he plays a flippant, surreal character who stays permanently airborne. “Air” has gotten good buzz, but still it’s a Christmas picture about a guy whose job it is to fire people -- not the ideal topic for a nation with 10% unemployment.

So will Clooney, Time’s “supersalesman,” hit the interview circuit? Will his brethren follow suit?

Stay tuned.