Thompson On Hollywood

Summer Movies: Women Want Sex and the City

The NYT's Manohla Dargis seems to think that there aren't many women's pictures coming out this summer. True, much of the summer movie advance buzz and online hype is about what the fanboys are interested in. The women's pictures, which appeal to one or two audience quadrants and don't necessarily target men, won't be blockbusters. That's one issue. (Another is the current phobia about putting sex in movies, like Speed Racer and Iron Man, because it will scare off men and younger folks. Please.)

But several movies in theaters now and still to come are aimed at women, from Made of Honor and What Happens in Vegas to the Meryl Streep Abba musical Mamma Mia! and Sex and the City. Even Get Smart, starring Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway, is going to pull women. And don't mess with Wanted's Angelina Jolie: she can kick ass on-screen as well as any male action star.

Finally, some marketing is starting to hit on Sex and the City, from Parker hyping her role as a mother on the cover of Parade, to early raves from Oprah and Fox News' Roger Friedman. Cinematical and Women and Hollywood debate Sex and the City's b.o. mettle. Carrie Bradshaw's getting married to Mr. Big? It will be huge.

Do I agree with Dargis that we could use more and better movies targeted at women? Fuck yeah!

Cyrus Reps Make Big Misstep

What were they thinking? Vanity Fair can shoot 15-year-old Disney pop star Miley Cyrus in a silk bedsheet if they want to. Clearly, mighty star photographer Annie Leibovitz was persuasive; Cyrus thought she was participating in something "artistic," she told People.com, adding that from now on she would "trust my support team."

But the reps behind the Hannah Montana family brand should be ashamed of themselves, not only for showcasing their teen star as a sex object, but misreading her fanbase. It's obvious and stupid. According to Vanity Fair's statement to E.T., Cyrus's parents were at the shoot. Here's the NYT and Reuters:

"For Vanity Fair, I was so honored and thrilled to work with Annie. I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed," Cyrus said in a statement published on People magazine's Web site.

The Disney Channel backed up the rising star saying in a statement that "a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines."

No one from Vanity Fair was immediately available to comment.

But in a statement to the TV show "Entertainment Tonight," Vanity Fair defended itself.

"Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day. Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley," said the magazine's statement.

Regarding the photos on the Internet, Cyrus said these were "silly, inappropriate shots" and she was sorry if she had disappointed anyone.

"I appreciate all the support of my fans, and hope they understand that along the way I am going to make mistakes and I am not perfect," she said.

"Most of all, I have let myself down. I will learn from my mistakes and trust my support team. My family and my faith will guide me through my life's journey."

UPDATE: MCN's David Poland sees nothing to make a fuss about. The LAT's Mary McNamara. And Kim Masters on NPR.

Lohan Boosted NYMag.com to 9.6 million uniques

If anyone needs proof that media investing in online can pay off handsomely, New York Magazine is the poster child. Their February fashion issue featured Lindsay Lohan channeling Marilyn Monroe with no clothes on. That month NYmag.com's online traffic skyrocketed to 9.6 million unique views, a 120% gain.

Iron Man Mexico Press Conference

Iron Man was first unveiled to the Latin American media. UPDATE: And premiered in Sydney, Australia.

The movie was also screened for exhibitors last week. Paramount is expecting to get very good terms, using Indiana Jones as further leverage. If the studio is downplaying expectations for Iron Man's opening weekend ($45 to $50 million) based on the movie not being a sequel, the studio still has high long-term expectations for both films well exceeding $200 million.

Here's the press conference in Mexico.

Here's a report from an exhib who saw Iron Man, along with some footage from other summer pics:

I saw IRON MAN yesterday. I have never read the comic and know almost nothing about the character. But I had seen some clips of Downey developing the suit and was amused. Well I can report the movie is terrific. It is a thinking person's superhero film with more character development than special effects and action scenes (though there are plenty of those which are nicely balanced so we get involved in the story rather than bored by non-stop effects.). Downey is terrific...funny, smart and charming...and very buff. Paltrow seems right out of 60's superhero comics or Money Penny from early Bond: proper and subservient assistant who is smart below the surface and more than a little enamored of her boss.

It should be a hit but 200 million is a long way to go when it is undercut in subsequent weeks by more blockbusters.

The opening robbery scene from DARK KNIGHT promised a terrific, critical hit, a ten minute scene from HANCOCK promises a very different superhero movie with Will Smith but footage from THE INCREDIBLE HULK played very flat.

By the way, also saw about 15 minutes of TROPIC THUNDER. Hilarious plus a mock trailer called SATAN'S ALLEY with a Searchlight logo a featuring Downey and Tobey Maguire is very funny and evidently one of 3 fakes trailers, each with non Paramount logos.

UPDATE: Here are some other updates.

Little Miss Sunshine's Dayton and Faris Boost NBA

Little Miss Sunshine directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris helped out the NBA with their new Dwight Howard/Chris Paul There Can Only Be One campaign spots.

Here's one, and another.

The campaign will feature a series of 20-plus commercials that will display split screens of two rival NBA stars reciting the same script about remembrance, fear, believing, respect, hard work and the dream of winning a championship (during the playoffs these rivals will be decided based on the playoff match ups). It will debut on ESPN on ABC this Sunday during the Toronto v. Detroit (1pm ET on ABC) and Lakers vs. Spurs (3:30 p.m. ET on ABC) games.

UA Pushes Back Cruise and Singer's Valkyrie

In retrospect, the MGM-UA idea is starting to look suspect.

When movie star Tom Cruise and partner Paula Wagner had a producing pact at Paramount, a studio controlled the purse strings, with the power to say no.

But put Cruise and Wagner in charge of a studio, and you have Wagner assembling a slate on the one hand, but who does she answer to? Cruise! And CAA (and husband Rick Nicita) are helping to package projects like Lions for Lambs, which was doomed to be a noble failure from the start. From Cruise/Wagner's perspective, coming from big-studio projects, at $35 million Lambs probably seemed like a modest effort. But it was still too expensive for what it was. Its $15 million domestic gross (of which less than half is returned to the studio) didn't cover its marketing costs. It also earned $42 million overseas. The just-launched DVD release will have to bring the movie into the black.

And Valkyrie is a perfect storm. I hear that director Bryan Singer, who has runaway director tendencies anyway, has run up a $90-million negative tab, which probably seemed reasonable to him, since he was coming off the $200-million Superman Returns. Because Cruise had to promote the opening of Lions for Lambs, Singer postponed three key scenes of the Valkyrie shoot, including one big battle sequence in North Africa. (That's when Cruise's Nazi officer loses his right hand, plus two fingers from his left hand, and an eye.)

But pushing the movie's release date back twice has made it look like tainted goods. Cruise and Wagner took a calculated risk pushing it back to February, knowing that an October date was facing off against the looming Presidential election. As soon as Wolfman and the Pink Panther sequel moved off of Presidents Day, UA jumped on the date. Their October weekend usually yields a b.o. of about $55 million, the thinking went, as opposed to Prexy Day, which usually generates about three times that. Singer and Cruise signed off on the promise of a possible Superbowl spot, Berlin Film Fest launch, and a bigger boxoffice bonanza.

They must have known how the town would react. When you say: "No, we don't have a summer movie, it's a fall movie," it really means: "we don't have a commercial movie that will stand up to the competition in wide release, but a quality smart film with possible Oscar potential that needs critics, so we'll go for fall." But push that same movie again into February, and it conjures up All the Kings Men, which was too weak to earn rave reviews and had no identifiable core audience.

The trouble with the whole MGM construct is that a decision about making or picking up a movie for release has to be based on a slew of market equations. Targeting your audience is crucial. Just because Hot Director Bryan Singer and Major Star Tom Cruise want to make a period movie about a Nazi hero doesn't make it worth $90-million (not to mention marketing costs). (Much as I loved it, Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men shouldn't have cost that much either. Who was the audience?)

MGM CEO Harry Sloan was smart to hire Mary Parent to run MGM. She will run studio production, marketing and distribution. (That's why Rick Sands is out.) She will be damn sure to pick movies she can market. That's half the battle. And Hollywood sat up and took notice of this move, because they know that Parent gets it.

Pitt Fires PR, Decides to Go It Alone

Radar reports that Brad Pitt has let go his long-time PR rep Cindy Guagenti. He's going to take it alone, like his partner Angelina Jolie. I've long thought that Pitt's PR was well-handled; we'll see where it goes from here. Remember what happened when Tom Cruise and Pat Kingsley parted ways?

Here's Pitt's latest announcement.

Indy 4: Good for All Indiana Jones DVD Sales

Over the spring break, my college freshman daughter Nora watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. And she wants to catch up with all the Indy Jones pics. Raiders of the Lost Ark came out in 1981, long before she was born. So she wants to be up to speed when the highly anticipated first installment in 18 years comes out.

Paramount is well aware. They sent to press around the country a mailer full of posters of all the Indiana Jones movies. They also sent out leather whips. Boomers saw these movies as they came out. They are fond of them, and will take their kids to the new one. Folks all over the world will be ordering the three-pic Indiana Jones DVD set before the May 22 opening --many of them from Lucasfilm's handy-dandy Indy Jones store on the Indiana Jones site, which offers the Young Indiana Jones series on DVD as well.

Paramount has posted the latest Indy 4 TV spot at the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull website.

Dark Knight Viral Marketing Continues

Here's an email informant on the latest Dark Knight viral marketing efforts, this time focused on Gotham district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart):

By the way, I forgot to tell you guys that yesterday I saw these guys pull up on a corner, in a van right in the middle of downtown with big signs and bullhorns shouting to people to vote for Harvey Dent as D.A. The van was covered with Harvey Dent posters with Aaron Eckhart's picture. Of course people had NO idea what they were talking about. They probably thought it was a real campaign. Below is a picture of a similar van I found on-line. The PR hype for The Dark Knight has BEGUN!

Bond 22's Quantum of Solace Is a Bad Title

What's in a movie title? Well, according to guest essayist Jack Lechner, a New York-based author, producer and music theater maven, a great deal. Inspired by what he considers to be a terrible title for Bond 22, Quantum of Solace, Lechner argues that bad titles can kill good movies. While I agree with Jack on just about everything he says in this piece--a bad title didn't help, for example, A Mighty Heart--I suspect that even a godawful title like this can't sink the Bond franchise. After all, Star Wars survived even Episode 1--The Phantom Menace.

QUANTUM OF CINDERELLA By Jack Lechner

It’s official: The next James Bond film will be called Quantum of Solace. This announcement has already caused much head-scratching throughout the world – or at least the part of the world that cares about James Bond, which is a significant fraction of same. Apparently, Quantum of Solace is the title of a short story by Bond creator Ian Fleming, and after 21 movies, the Bond producers have used every other Fleming title except for his non-fiction books Thrilling Cities and The Diamond Smugglers. Either of which, by the way, would be a better title for a James Bond movie than Quantum of Solace.

I used to work for the director Alan Parker, who once told me that “A good title is the title of a successful movie.” His point was that if the movie works, it carries the title along with it. Of course, he made this point while explaining why he wouldn’t change the title of his film Come See The Paradise, despite the fact that it had only a vague connection to the story. Did the title keep the movie from connecting with its audience? Sir Alan may still disagree, but I think it did.

What makes a title bad? It’s usually one of these factors:

1) It’s incomprehensible until you see the movie – but not intriguing enough to make you want to see it. Examples: A Stir Of Echoes, The Astronaut Farmer -- and, alas, Come See The Paradise. This strikes me as the trap for Quantum of Solace as well. Like most of the bad titles in this category, it aims for poetry, but settles for awkward prose.

2) It sends a misleading signal about tone or content. The classic example here is Cinderella Man. Back in 2005, there were all kinds of theories about why this textbook crowd-pleaser didn’t perform up to expectations. Was it too serious for a summer release? Perhaps the audience had no further appetite for boxing movies after seeing Million Dollar Baby? Or did Russell Crowe alienate America when he hurled a telephone at a concierge?

To my amazement, nobody mentioned the title. Maybe it’s because I have a young daughter, but I can’t be the only person for whom the title Cinderella Man evoked the image of Russell Crowe in a frilly pink dress with sparkly glass slippers. My take is that men thought it was a chick flick, while women preferred their Cinderellas in more traditional ballroom attire.

Of course, the producers and studio executives never thought to blame the title, because it had become invisible to them. The project was in development for years, and it was called Cinderella Man from the beginning. Everyone involved with it had long since forgotten that the title actually meant something to people who hadn’t seen the film -- that it had overtones, connotations, baggage. Even Humpty Dumpty’s mother thought his name sounded like music.

3) It's just boring. Which is why, despite great reviews and numerous Oscar nominations, Michael Clayton has stubbornly refused to cross the $50 million mark at the box office. Having seen and loved the film, I'm convinced it would have done considerably better with a title like The Price of Death, or even (with apologies to Bernard Malamud) The Fixer. The title Michael Clayton tells you nothing useful about the movie -- unlike other full-name titles like Annie Hall (Woody Allen makes his first movie about real people!) or Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts plays an unconventional character!). All Michael Clayton tells you is that George Clooney is playing ... some guy. Some enticement.

4) It’s Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever.

ShoWest: DreamWorks Animation Goes 3D

The future is 3D, declared DreamWorks animation czar Jeffrey Katzenberg on Tuesday before showing the first piece of 3D footage created by DreamWorks--a redo of an entire scene from the upcoming 2D movie Kung Fu Panda in RealD. (Everyone seems to like these cool RealD glasses better than the clunkier Dolby ones.)

The Theatre des Arts crowd at the Paris donned their 3D glasses and dug the intense action sequence. Then Katzenberg previewed a funny scene from the upcoming Monsters vs. Aliens, featuring a confrontation between the president, played by Stephen Colbert, and a just-landed alien. Here's the casting story.

It's all 3D all the time for DreamWorks Animation from now on, Katzenberg declared, exhorting the exhibs to upgrade to digital 3D. 2009 is the big year when some 10 to 12 digital 3D pics will hit screens--and there aren't enough of them yet--about 1000-- to handle a wide 3D release. UPDATE: Disney distribution and marketing chief Mark Zoradi on Wednesday predicts 4 to 5,000 3D screens by 2010. "In the next 24 months we'll reach a tipping point," he said. And exhibs are finally ready to step up and invest now that they see competitors doing better with Beowulf and Hannah Montana in 3D. Here's more on the impact of Hannah Montana on the biz.

Later in the day, Katzenberg showed Kung Fu Panda in all its CG 2D glory. The crowd ate it up. Katzenberg has this family formula down--it'll play for kids, young males, families, the works.

The pic boasts a lovable central character, the tubby panda (Jack Black) who adores kung fu and must channel his inner strength and purpose and listen to his master teacher (Dustin Hoffman) to become a great fighter and save the day. But the five kung fu heroes our young panda worships are not as well-developed as they might have been. No question this pic will score big this summer (June 6).

Lohan Channels Sad, Nude Monroe

The person at New York Magazine who came up with the idea of shooting tragic ingenue Lindsay Lohan as late great Hollywood sexpot Marilyn Monroe should get a raise. (The issue will sell like hotcakes and traffic on the site will surge.) Like it or not, the girl can act and putting her and photographer Bert Stern together to recreate Monroe's last nude photo session was genius. It works. And Lohan's got the right stuff. (I just hope she's not heading toward a similar fate.)

Actually, folks in the office were passing around a poll that asks: If you had to be stranded on a desert island with Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan, who would you pick? To a person, everyone picked Lohan. Why? Messed up and badly parented as she may be, at least she has talent and a glimmer of intelligence to hang onto. The others are truly lost souls. (Thank God The Hottie and the Nottie tanked.)

More sexy nude photos on the jump. [Hat tip Gawker.]

Super Bowl Movie Spots

I still don't get why it's worth it to a studio to spend $2.7 million on a 30 second Super Bowl spot. Yes, it announces, "we're behind this movie," especially when a major star is involved in a picture that doesn't look overtly commercial (like George Clooney's Leatherheads). According to this USA Today poll, the movie spots didn't rank all that high with viewers. UPDATE: Here's Brian Lowry's rundown.

You can see the spots at iFilm.

Here's Iron Man. And Wall-E. And Prince Caspian. And Leatherheads.

Let's test the effectiveness of the spots:

Which Super Bowl Movie Would You Most LIke to See?
	Drillbit Taylor
	Iron Man
	Wanted
	You Don't Mess with the Zohan
	Leatherheads
	Wall-E
	Jumper
	Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Super Bowl Movie Ads Include Iron Man and Jumper

On Super Bowl Sunday the studios are set to air ten ads costing about $2.7 million per 30-second spot. The New England Patriots vs. New York Giants event is expected to attract as much as 100 million viewers. Here's USA Today's lineup of Super Bowl ads.

Disney will likely show either both the Pixar comedy Wall E orand the next Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian; Fox will sell Doug Liman's sci-fi adventure Jumper; New Line Cinema will likely promote Semi-Pro with Will Ferrell; Paramount will showcase Robert Downey, Jr. as comic-book superhero Iron Man; Universal will show Leatherheads, Wanted and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins; and Sony Pictures will flog You Don't Mess With the Zohan, starring Adam Sandler. I'll be curious to see if Warners throws up a Dark Knight ad in the aftermath of Heath Ledger's death. UPDATE: Movie Marketing Madness has more details.

Diary of the Dead Horror Shorts Contest

From January 30 through February 29th, MySpace Film members who submit their horror shorts via the Diary of the Dead MySpace profile can try to win a spot on George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead DVD. Visitors to the Diary of the Dead MySpace profile can vote for their favorite short films; the top ten will be judged by Romero, who will pick the five best for inclusion on the DVD. (The film, which was reviewed out of Toronto, hits theaters on February 15.)

Here's the Diary of the Dead trailer.

Juno Passes $100 Million

After just eight weeks in release, Juno is the first Fox Searchlight movie to cross the magic $100 million milestone. The previous record, $71.5 million, was set by Sideways in 2004. Juno is also the first platformed Searchlight movie to go into such wide release in 2534 situations. Juno has been among the top ten highest grossing movies for six consecutive weekends.

That this particular movie is doing so well is not a surprise, given its entertainment value ; it plays like a broad family comedy. And obviously, Searchlight mounted a canny marketing campaign; now that the pic has four Oscar noms, it's a must-see. And the Oscar noms clearly fed the Juno soundtrack's climb up the Billboard charts. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart.

The Wire Tackles Journalism; So does The Simpsons

It usually makes me cringe when movies or TV try to show journalists on the job. So I was slightly nervous about The Wire creator David Simon delving into the inner workings of a metropolitan daily this season. I needn't have worried. The guy worked thirteen years as a police reporter at The Baltimore Sun; it rings true.

But plenty of folks from the paper beg to differ. Here are features on The Wire:

NPR
The LAT
The New Yorker
The A.P.

Simon responds to criticism on Romenesko.

The Simpsons even takes a swipe at print journalism.

Selling Be Kind Rewind

This LAT story about the off-beat marketing behind Michel Gondry's upcoming fable about vidstore clerks recreating hit movies is fun.

Best and Worst Online Marketing Gimmicks

The LAT has assembled a photo gallery of the best and worst online marketing gimmicks of 2007. Here's my Simpsons avatar.

MPAA Rejects Taxi to the Dark Side Poster

The MPAA has deemed the one-sheet for Alex Gibney's doc Taxi to the Dark Side, which ThinkFilm will release January 11, as inappropriate. The doc tracks the practice of torture from Afghanistan to Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo. The poster (right) shows a docu photograph of soldiers with a hooded prisoner.

"Not permitting us to use an image of a hooded man that comes from a documentary photograph is censorship, pure and simple," said producer, writer and director Gibney. "Intentional or not, the MPAA's disapproval of the poster is a political act, undermining legitimate criticism of the Bush administration. I agree that the image is offensive; it's also real."

Here's A.J. Schack's story.

Dark Knight: Posters

Kris Tapley has the new Dark Knight posters. Splendid.

Indiana Jones and the Online Marketing

Wander over to indianajones.com and you will see 1) a sophisticated Lucasfilm on-line marketing apparatus crammed with images like this new poster (complete with alien face) and video promoting the new movie, and 2) a fun assemblage of Indy wrap videos featuring Spielberg calling it quits on each of the Indy movies and offering hugs all around.

Sweeney and Charlie Q & As

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton talk to New York Magazine about the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. And Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman talk to Time about Charlie Wilson's War.

[Photos: Hoffman, Roberts and Hanks for Time; Depp and Burton for New York]

Atonement: Long Shot

The new marketing trend this season seems to be flooding YouTube with film clips. For Sweeney Todd, the thinking was, let's get audiences accustomed to the idea of Johnny Depp singing. Here is one of many shots from Atonement: a bravura five-minute tracking shot showing the thousands of soldiers who retreated to the beach at Dunkirk. Here's American Cinematographer on how D.P. Seamus McGarvey pulled it off.

Like many things about this movie--which played well to mixed response at the Academy yesterday, many love it, some don't, just like the critics--this shot has its admirers and detractors. It's a stunning shot, but does it take the viewer out of the movie, or serve a dramatic purpose? It makes you say, 'Wow, what a long shot! Look what Joe Wright did with the camera! Look how complex this is!' I for one get a kick out of bravura shots like this, whether it's Martin Scorsese, Brian DePalma, Robert Altman, Orson Welles, Antonioni or Alfonso Cuaron.

Sweeney Todd Clips

Interestingly, DreamWorks is drumming up interest in Tim Burton's movie take on Stephen Sondheim's musical by making a whopping nine clips, mostly musical numbers, available on the web. That's a lot!

Golden Compass: First Five Minutes

Here's the first five minutes of The Golden Compass.

Sweeney Todd: Depp Sings

DreamWorks/Paramount are parceling out the info on Sweeney Todd, trying hard to keep this very strange musical aimed squarely at the mainstream. The rest of us will go along for the ride, they figure. Here's some behind-the-scenes footage of Johnny Depp prepping the music for the movie:

Movie Marketing Moves Online

Movie marketing is moving online, writes Forbes, but the studios haven't jumped on board as quickly as they might:

"The tools for people to use social networking and collaborative Web site building are now so commonplace that we have to find new ways to stay on top of those trends," Dwight Caines, Columbia Tristar's executive vice president of worldwide digital marketing, said. "We want to be on those Web sites, really getting into people's digital lifestyles, figuring out where they are communicating with friends and loved ones."

Surprisingly, as more and more advertising dollars have migrated to the Web, the film industry has lagged. Online advertising accounted for about 5.9% of total U.S. ad expenditures in 2006, but only about 3.7% of U.S. ad spending by film studios, according to market-research firm eMarketer. By 2011, film studios are expected to spend about 11% of their ad dollars on Internet marketing, vs. 13.6% for all U.S. advertisers, eMarketer says.

Searchlight Takes Wilson to Web

Fox Searchlight is injecting some life into Wes Anderson's Darjeeling Limited. One, the studio has finally added the Hotel Chevalier short to the movie, which was probably their plan all along. Until now it had been available as a free iTunes download. And while recovering star Owen Wilson, who had checked into a hospital following a suicide attempt, showed up at an Academy screening of the movie, he is now going to promote the pic. But not via the usual route, the press. No, Wilson will be interviewed by Anderson as part of MySpace's Artist on Artist series, reports USA Today.

The interview will be posted online at midnight Friday as part of MySpace.com’s Artist on Artist series, according to Fox Searchlight, the studio that released the pair's most recent film, The Darjeeling Limited. Anderson and Wilson have worked together on all of Anderson’s movies -- Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It’s unclear how far the interview, recorded today, will delve into Wilson’s recent personal struggles –- if at all.

In other words, Searchlight is using the Internet to go direct to fans.

UPDATE: Here's the video. Pretty dull stuff. (ABC reports.) Although it's cool that Anderson was in NYC and Wilson was in Culver City.

Robinov Still in Chick Flick Biz

It's silly to suggest that a major studio would turn its back on movies starring women. Here's Warner prexy Jeff Robinov's response:

Poor execution and bad timing at the end of the most recent horror cycle were part of the poor reception for the horrific "The Reaping" and "The Invasion," which both Kidman and co-star Daniel Craig refused to promote. As for Neil Jordan's brainy twist on the vigilante genre, "The Brave One," Robinov said he is "proud of the movie," which Foster continues to support around the world. "It's tricky," he said. "It may have been too rough for women, and we didn't get the reviews we had expected."

Action features starring women remain a hard sell for many moviegoers. But Robinov said he is still willing to put a femme star into an action role. "But, like any other movie, it has to be the right movie with the right actor and the right filmmaker at the right time," he said.

Jeffrey Wells makes an important distinction in his story about the unsubstantiated rumors that Robinov had put a halt to movies with women stars:

Would Robinov be saying "no more movies with women in the lead" if WB had recently made a film as good and successful as The Silence of the Lambs, Aliens, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Kill Bill? Not likely. If a sweeping statement is required, Robinov should actually be saying that Warner Bros. "is no longer doing female-starring thrillers and actioners produced by Joel Silver." Silver, after all, produced The Brave One, The Invasion, Gothika and The Reaping.

Agreed. Warners greenlit three violent action pics starring female stars with femme appeal--Jodie Foster, Hilary Swank and Nicole Kidman, respectively--and then marketed the movies like Joel Silver movies. There are myriad reasons why each of these pics failed to thrive. A brainy twist on the vigilante genre, The Brave One may have been too disturbing for moviegoers, who remain uncomfortable with realistic stories about women with guns or angry women who take revenge on violent men. (Angelina Jolie with guns in a fantasy action pic is another matter.) The Brave One required careful handling and may have needed a slower release plan. Selling Foster as some kind of action hero may not have been the best approach. Audiences did buy her in Panic Room and Flight Plan, probably because in both she was a frightened mother defending her child. That's one of the only ways that audiences will forgive a woman with a gun.

The Reaping and The Invasion were both expensive B-pictures that were poor vehicles for any star, and were badly timed at the tail end of the recent horror cycle. Their fate had nothing to do with Swank or Kidman's performances. One thing that Warners and Silver should keep in mind with any movie aimed at women--they tend to be more discerning, read reviews, don't show up en masse opening weekend, and look for movies to be well-executed. Ouch.

UPDATE: Many many responses to this story, which has struck a nerve. Sasha Stone weighs in. And here's Carrie Rickey. Salon. Huffington Post. Spout. And New York.

Not an Iraq Movie! The Kingdom Opening Sequence

It's an odd choice as a marketing ploy. But Universal has posted the opening sequence for The Kingdom, which is basically a quickie history lesson on the U.S. relationship to Saudi Arabia worthy of Syriana, on Yahoo. Newsweek's David Ansen didn't like the movie as much as I did. While he isn't yet in the class of his producer, Michael Mann, Peter Berg is shaping up to be a damned fine director.

It is almost risible how much studio marketing departments are trying to distance themselves from the Iraq movie label--because based on the poor showings of Home of the Brave, A Mighty Heart and In the Valley of Elah, the media has jumped all over the "Iraq War genre" as a failure. (I have been interviewed at least four times on this topic.)

Thus, The Kingdom is an actioner set in Saudi Arabia, Lions for Lambs is a thought-provoking examination of war, from Vietnam to Iraq, Grace is Gone, Stop Loss and In the Valley of Elah deal with the war's aftermath in the U.S., and The Kite Runner is firmly placed in Afghanistan. As for Redacted, Brian DePalma's politically-charged anti-Iraq diatribe, there's no way to distance that movie. It is what it is.

As an example of current trends, Columbia put Richard Clarke's Against All Enemies in turnaround, partly because of its Iraq war subject matter, even though it's an All the President's Men-style investigation of the inner workings of Washington--in fact producer John Calley is hoping to reunite with Robert Redford as director, and CAA is helping him to raise financing via Capitol Films.

Into the Wild Trip Giveaway

Lonely Planet TV, in partnership with the National Outdoor Leadership School and Travelwork, is offering people a chance to win an unforgettable trip ---to promote Sean Penn's adaptation of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, natch. The winners get to trek through the Wyoming wilderness, ski in Idaho, mountaineer through the North Cascades or sea kayak in Alaska.

Those interested in such a wilderness adventure should submit a 2-minute video "of a moment where you felt truly free or connected to nature."

No Country for Old Men: Banners to Hit Web

Miramax Films is taking a two-pronged approach to its marketing of Joel and Ethan Coen's lauded Cannes and Toronto hit No Country for Old Men, which opens in November. It's on the long hard Oscar track; so far so good.

Because the pic, which stars action stalwart Tommy Lee Jones, breakout Josh Brolin and ultra-bad-ass Javier Bardem, boasts "genre" action elements, the company is selling the pic to the action crowd as well as the Coens' usual "smart-house" core. Check out these online "banners" for the film, which are set to hit the Internet soon.

UPDATE: I came across this very similar poster for 3:10 to Yuma: