August
13
Wagner Bolting UA; Valkyrie Will Open in December
When Bryan Singer first approached United Artists with the idea of making Valkyrie, he wanted to do it for about $25 million. Then Tom Cruise got interested and the budget exploded. The same thing happened to Lions for Lambs -- to Cruise and Robert Redford, it seemed like a modest little movie; at $35 million plus marketing, it was still too expensive for what it was.
The idea of UA being an indie was impossible with the players involved. Now Valkyrie, which several people I know have seen and liked, has bad buzz and will be judged as a costly star vehicle, which is quite different from a $25 million movie with no marquee star. Finally, MGM has decided to give the pic a shot in late December, after it screened well. It had been pushed back to February. This makes sense; if the movie is a smart arty picture with great performances, year-end award season support is probably just what it needs.
Cruise's long-time producing partner, Paula Wagner, is a fine studio producer and was a great agent, but the nurturing of Cruise and his movies is quite another matter from running a company. With Mary Parent now in charge at MGM, Wagner is transitioning to a producing deal.
Here's her statement:
“I’ve truly relished working with my longtime partner Tom Cruise to revitalize United Artists, and I am proud of all that we’ve accomplished in the past two years, reinvigorating the brand and developing such a strong slate of films,” Ms. Wagner said. “But I always tell my sons, ‘Follow your passion’ – and I’ve got to follow that advice myself. As much as I’ve enjoyed my time as an executive, I have longed to return to my true love, which is making movies, so that’s what I’ve decided to do. I still believe in our vision for UA, and I am confident that Harry Sloan and our colleagues at MGM will see that vision through to reality.”In fact, as a studio player struggling to adapt to making smaller movies, Wagner is not alone in being ill-equipped to understand the true meaning of economies of scale. Producer Bill Horberg was nurtured at the knee of studio filmmaker Sydney Pollack and went indie prod at DreamWorks, where he made The Kite Runner, and then took over production at Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. Horberg is also a producer with taste who never quite wrapped his head around how little some of his artier films needed to cost to turn a profit. Charlie Kaufman is laughing all the way to a directing career for getting SKE to spend $20 million on the resolutely arty Synecdoche, New York, which Sony Pictures Classics picked up for a song just last week. (It didn't help Horberg's slate that SKE forged an ill-matched distrib deal with MGM.) When art film vet Bingham Ray arrived on the scene to run marketing, the folks at SKE began to understand what low-budget might really mean. Horberg eventually moved on, and Ray took over.
UPDATE: The official press release is on the jump:
JOINT STATEMENT FROM METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS INC. (MGM) AND UNITED ARTISTS ENTERTAINMENT LLC (UA)
LOS ANGELES August 13, 2008---Paula Wagner, Chief Executive Officer of UA, has decided to leave her day-to-day responsibilities and return to her first love, which is producing films. As such, MGM and UA confirmed today that Ms. Wagner will transition to the role of a producer under her own independent production shingle and be attached to UA’s most exciting film properties. In November 2006, United Artists was reborn under a partnership formed between Tom Cruise, Ms. Wagner and MGM. Ms. Wagner will continue to be a part owner of UA and hold a significant stake in UA’s future success. Nothing will change in regard to Mr. Cruise’s involvement with UA and he continues to have a substantial ownership interest in the company. Furthermore, Mr. Cruise and Ms. Wagner will continue to work on film projects together.
About United Artists
United Artists Entertainment LLC was formed in November 2006 under a partnership between Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), with Wagner serving as Chief Executive Officer. The historic United Artists brand was initially founded some 85 years ago by movie greats Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and D.W. Griffith and, throughout its history, has appeared on such iconic film franchises as Rocky, The Pink Panther, and James Bond.
About Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is actively engaged in the worldwide production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home video, interactive media, music, and licensed merchandise. The company owns the world's largest library of modern films, comprising around 4,000 titles. Operating units include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., United Artists Films Inc., MGM Television Entertainment Inc., MGM Networks Inc., MGM Distribution Co., MGM International Television Distribution Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC, MGM ON STAGE, MGM Music, MGM Consumer Products and MGM Interactive. In addition, MGM has ownership interests in international TV channels reaching nearly 110 countries. MGM ownership is currently as follows: Providence Equity Partners (29%), TPG (21%), Sony Corporation of America (20%), Comcast (20%), DLJ Merchant Banking Partners (7%) and Quadrangle Group (3%). For more information, visit www.mgm.com.
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So, a $25 million art film explodes to $80 million with the addition of Cruise, then Singer performs his specialty and explodes that into topping $100 million. Now the film is Atlas, struggling to bear up under the weight and be judged upon the criteria of a huge tentpole instead of small indie. Even if Valkyrie now performs as intended as a small critical darling and award magnet, it'll be crushed under its budget and judged on its ability to be a tentpole.
I can't believe the very smart Tom Cruise let himself get into this situation. Cruise should never have banked his comeback on two odd-ball and non-mainstream movies in a row. Now he's dumped the buzzed mainstream actioneer Edwin A Salt too.
Posted by: Come back Tom Terrific! | August 13, 2008 at 06:01 PM
Anne,
I don't share your critique of Bill Horberg on this post, and feel it comes from looking at just one side of the picture. Just recently I had the privilege to work with Bill, on Greg Mottola's ADVENTURELAND, which Anne Carey and I produced at This is that with SKE & Miramax. Despite having a director coming off a hit film, we did this film for an incredibly disciplined budget, designed to both fulfill our director's vision, but also to maximize creative freedom & financial upside while minimalizing market pressures.
I am working again with Bill, but now as a producer and not an executive, on another project with an excellent pedigree and our usual market challenges. I have totally enjoyed watching how Bill balances the aesthetic concerns with financial realities. Our new project, like all of Bill's work, is a tale of complex emotions and realities from a prospective audiences rarely have access to.
Producing and determining budget amounts is a tricky pursuit -- one that is far too easy to judge in hindsight. Audiences demand production value and verisimilitude. Actors and directors need time and time is money (at least on film budgets). International sales agents long ago abandoned the by-the-bootstraps production and want high-profile quality pictures. There's tremendous pressure on all sides ,and neither a few hits or failures determine or define how well someone is negotiating the balance of what determines the correct budget. Some films will never get made simply because producers are unwilling to put in the things that give financiers confidence that the project will sell well. Returns are critical, but so is a film culture that is worthy of being seen.
I don't know a producer around who wouldn't be proud to claim Bill's track record for their own (or part thereof, as I do have particular affection for my own). Producers and executives alike seldom get a chance to initiate or even participate in movies that truly raise the bar -- and Bill does repeatedly.
Charlie Kaufman's SYNECDOCHE was one of the most original and ambitious scripts I have ever encountered (I have not seen the film yet) and Charlie may well be the most refreshing and unique filmmaker of our time. When I first read it, after recovering from the emotional wallop and imaginative tour de force that the pages held, I felt "now here's a movie you can build and drive a slate around". As John August recently captured so well on his blog, the profit a film generates go well beyond the financial side of things (collaborators profit! culture profits! companies' reputations profit!). Yet there are very few films that allow a company to profit in ways that aren't just purely financial; SYNECDOCHE has, and had from the start, that potential -- if one could enact that specific agenda -- but we will never get to see that might have been now. Hopefully, people will vote with their dollars for a world that supports such a once every twenty years vision. People gripe about now versus the 70'sin terms of the work that is supported, but when we get a truly unique vision, where are champions then?
One of things I have enjoyed about being among the community of producers whose work I admire, is a shared acknowledgement and commitment to our common struggle. If This is that's films don't have a reasonable return or better, Killer's, Bona Fide's and other similar companies next projects suffer (and visa versa). Luckily for all, our films generally do! ;-)
Aiming high unites everyone, as much in success as in failure. It's a hard market and we may well be over-saturated, but even with the past decade's surge in independent production, the same few number of good films get made, and regardless of what side of the purse he has sat on, Bill Horberg has, and will continue to be, responsible for far more of these good ones than most producers or executives. Being principled and disciplined on budgets, as I know Bill is,is not as simple as knocking things down.
Most sincerely,
Ted Hope
Posted by: Ted Hope | August 14, 2008 at 09:06 AM
As I say in the post, I consider Horberg to be a gifted producer who has always fought to make quality films. I have always applauded him for that. But because he comes from the studio side, where the numbers are different--as you well know--I think he hit a steep learning curve at Kimmell where the harsh realities of the indie market may not have been crystal clear. And the MGM distribution deal didn't help. Yes, Horberg is one of the good guys. And he hit and unforgiving brick wall.
Posted by: anne Thompson | August 14, 2008 at 10:41 AM