Good Morning Hollywood, May 28: Killers’ Kiss-Off

Lionsgate hides “Killers,” a hedge fund shops “Terminator,” and DreamWorks stock might be a good buy after all

In this morning’s roundup of movie news ‘n’ notes from around the web, Lionsgate hides “Killers,” a hedge fund shops “Terminator,” and DreamWorks stock might be a good buy after all.

Lionsgate says it won’t screen “Killers” for critics, and then the studio does what studios usually do when they make that decision: they come up with a reason that isn’t “it’s a terrible movie.” Their rationale: "We want to capitalize on the revolution in social media by letting audiences and critics define this film concurrently." Be careful what you wish for, Lionsgate: Twitter users can be every bit as brutal as movie critics. But maybe they’ll be enamored of the film’s co-star Ashton Kutcher (with Katherine Heigl,below), who tweeted that he’s going to “pirate” the first 10 minutes and post it on the web. (The Associated Press via Yahoo! News)

Ashton Kutcher and Katherine HeiglA California hedge fund now owns the rights to the “Terminator” franchise, and the William Morris Endeavor agency is going to help them sell it. So says Reuters, which reports that Pacificor has retained WME as its representative in the sale of film, TV, merchandise and gaming rights to the franchise. The move comes after a February court ruling that Pacificor could obtain the rights after the bankruptcy of the former owner, Halcyon Holding, which bought the franchise in 2007. (Reuters)

David Poland looks at the DreamWorks Animation annual report and concludes: “Pretty consistent. A stable, mature business.” He says it’s the kind of company you’d want to own … which, I guess, is good news for DWA at the end of a week that began with a 10 percent drop in stock value after the opening weekend of “Shrek Forever After” didn’t meet the advance hype. (The Hot Blog)

Revisiting Cannes, Brian Brooks comes up with a dozen “Must See” films from a festival that he says was on a par with 2009’s significantly more acclaimed one. I was already sold on most of these “Another Year,” “Biutiful,” “Carlos,” “Certified Copy,” “Uncle Boonmee” … ), but he makes “Rubber” sound more intriguing (and entertaining) than I’d heard. And I guess Godard’s “Film Socialisme” falls into the category of a movie you have to see just so that you can have an opinion about it. (indieWIRE)

Meanwhile, another Cannes movie (which didn’t make Brooks’ list, but perhaps should have) gets a distribution deal. Kino International, says Peter Knegt, has picked up Lee Chang-dong’s “Poetry,” which won the award for best screenplay at the festival, and stirred up lots of buzz over the performance of Yung Jungee as an elderly woman “coping with the onset of senility.” (indieWIRE)

Xan Brooks sits with Juliette Binoche, who he calls the Queen of Cannes. She talks about encountering five burqa-clad women in Iran who’d seen several of her films, about reaching “a certain age” (she’s 46), and about her award-winning role in “Certified Copy.” And she changes the subject when he asks her about her possibly conspiratorial-minded views about 9/11. (The Guardian)

 

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