By Katey Rich
I can't believe I'm about to mention "American Idol" here for the second time in two days, but it keeps being relevant to movie news. During the show's finale on Thursday, two commercials for Guitar Hero featured the final contestants acting out the dancing-in-the-underwear scene from Risky Business-- holding Guitar Hero guitars, of course. Turns out that was the brainchild of Brett Ratner, who will be using his expertise in exceedingly commercial filmmaking to make, well, commercials. Variety announced today that he's forming Brett Ratner Brands as a consultancy business, teaching ad execs how to harness the power of the movies to sell who knows what. Turns out, there is no God but money, and Brett Ratner is its messenger.
I was going to say something in the previous item about how it meant the apocalypse was nigh, but I think this next bit of news proves it even better. Uwe Boll, director of the famously loathed Alone in the Dark and In the Name of the King, is working on two new movies based on real stories: Stoic, about a group of prisoners who tortured a fellow inmate, and Janjaweed, about the Sudanese militia groups accused of conducting the Darfur genocide. The Hollywood Reporter quotes Boll as saying, "What can I lose? I got so bashed for my video game adaptations I don't care anymore." I wish I could not care anymore, but right now I'm so depressed at the thought of these movies I want to crawl under my desk.
On to the best news I can scrounge up today: Cannes is actually hosting some sales! The independent film industry isn't dead (yet)! Sony Pictures Classics picked up the rights to the acclaimed documentary Tyson, while Focus and IFC "enjoyed a lot of action," according to Variety. While many foreign entries have been snapped up, some of the highest-profile American films mentioned yesterday-- Two Lovers, Che, and Synecdoche, New York-- remain homeless. Forget that recession, distributors, and get buying!
And finally, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made as much as $30 million yesterday, on a school night, says Fantasy Moguls. What did you do?
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