Bidding farewell to Schamus' Focus

For many still reeling from the news of James Schamus’ recent departure from Focus Features, the company’s latest bulletin has the tenor of a protracted funeral knell. Focus Features International will shut its London offices at the end of the year.  Though cause for hand-wringing and sad-blogging among arthouse aficionados and Hollywood holdouts, this most recent development is by no means unexpected, as the company announced only weeks ago it would close its New York headquarters and relocate all operations to LA. The writing was on a wall that, if slowly crumbling, will soon be rebuilt to the specifications of the new CEO, Peter Schlessel, formerly of FilmDistrict. Under Schlessel, Focus will increase the number of films it releases each year and broaden beyond its characteristic emphasis on specialty fare.

If nothing else, time away from the office is only that much more Schamus can spend with frequent collaborator, Ang Lee. The two have produced some of the best indie films of the past 20 years, including the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain.  The rest of Focus’ output wasn’t too shabby, either. Below, we’ve listed some of the best films released by the production/distribution company. Did we miss anything…?

Top  Films Focus Features Produced:
Far From Heaven (2002)
 
Lost In Translation (2003)
 
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
 
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
 
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
 
Lust, Caution (2007)
 
Eastern Promises (2007)
 
In Bruges (2008)
 
Milk (2008)
 
Coraline (2009)
 
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
 
Somewhere (2010)
 
Jane Eyre (2011)
 

Top Films Focus Features Distributed:
The Pianist (2002)
 
Swimming Pool (2003)
 
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
 
Brick (2005)
 
Atonement (2007)
 
A Serious Man (2009)
 
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
 
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
 

Laika may pick up Henry Selick's abandoned Disney project

One of the big news items from Disney's quarterly report this September was a $50 million writedown on an unnamed movie, which was shut down mid-production. It was quickly revealed that the movie was the stop-motion animation feature from director Henry Selick, who was poached away from Laika, where he directed Coraline.

Now there are signs that Laika might pick up Selick's unfinished project, which was reportedly too
dark for Disney. Since Laika's film credits also include Corpse Bride and ParaNorman, it's safe to say "dark" won't be a problem for the production company. Of course, dark wasn't always a problem for Disney, since Selick's 1990s movies The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach were made under the mouse house. Since Disney recently underwent a change in leadership, with Alan Horn stepping into the role of chairman, it's possible that the writedown was related to new executives who didn't believe in the project.

$50 million does seem like a steep investment for Disney, especially if the project was unfinished. Dark, animated movies appeal to a niche audience. Coraline, a success, earned $75 million at the box office, with a reported budget of $60 million. Compare that to Brave's $233 million (and $185 million budget), just another one of Pixar's all-ages successes. Maybe Disney, so used to its big animated projects, couldn't adapt to making a smaller, cheaper project. Word is that Selick was also behind schedule, and would have been unable to make the planned October 2013 release date.

Selick's work may not be for everyone, but Coraline is up there in my favorite animated films list. Let's hope Laika takes Selick back into their fold and embraces the creepy, dark animated tale.

 

Studios stacking the deck to create 5 nominees for Best Animated Feature

By Sarah Sluis

This year will be the ninth year of the Motion Picture Academy's "Best Animated Feature" category. Between computer animation, 3D premiums, and the incredible quality of films produced by studios like Pixar, the field will be as competitive as ever this year. Because of the volume of submissions this year, the Academy will likely boost the number of nominees from three to five. The bump in nominees happened once before, in 2002, and occurs when the number of eligible films is greater than 16. To be eligible, the movie must have a qualifying release and an Academy-produced average score of 7.5 (but on the odd scale of 6-10).

The 20 submitted features, along with my predictions, are below. The locks for nominations are bolded and underlined. Films with strong chances of being nominated are bolded.

• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: The first one made a surprising amount of money, though it did not secure a nomination. Don't count on the squeakquel receiving one either.



• Astro Boy: Without making a splash at the box office, a critical assent would come as a surprise.



• Battle for Terra: A clunker several years in the making. My guess to be excluded from the running.



• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The crowd-pleaser could surprise with a nomination



• Coraline: A lock for a nomination. Incredible story, visuals, and stop-motion technique. Read the review here.



• Disney's A Christmas Carol: Potential nominee, which would be a first for a film using director Robert Zemeckis' performance-capture technique.



• The Dolphin - Story of a Dreamer: A straight-to-DVD film given a qualifying run to boost the amount of eligible films.



• Fantastic Mr. Fox: Potential nominee. Wes Anderson received an Oscar nomination in 2001 for his screenplay of The Royal Tenenbaums.



• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: The first Ice Age was nominated, but the sequel was not. The third probably won't either, despite its status as the third highest-grossing film in international box-office history..



• Mary and Max: This adult indie film has Philip Seymour Hoffman and the winners of an Oscar-winning short behind it, but it might be too low-profile.



• The Missing Lynx: a small, Spanish film unlikely to receive a nod.



• Monsters vs. Aliens: If Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is nomination-worthy, then so is this film.



• 9: An adult-oriented movie that could receive a nomination



• Planet 51: More likely to be a box-office winner than nominee.



• Ponyo: Disney-released Spirited Away, an anime film, won in 2002, and Howl's Moving Castle was nominated in 2005. Both were directed by Hayao Miyazaki. But some felt Ponyo fell flat.



• The Princess and the Frog: If this movie resonates with viewers and Oscar voters, I predict it will be nominated.



• The Secret of Kells: The trailer animation looks uneven and not up to snuff.



• Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure: Disney's straight-to-DVD release given a qualifying run to boost the chance on the nominees going to five.



• A Town Called Panic: The trailer looks cute, but only Sony Pictures Classics (The Triplets of Belleville and Persepolis) and the aforementioned Miyazaki films have has ever successfully secured a nomination for a foreign animated film.



• Up: a lock for nomination, and in all likelihood the winner. Read the rave review here.

Having an Academy-nominated film can certainly help boost DVD sales and rentals from inquisitive Oscar ceremony viewers (although with the DVD market tanking, maybe not so much). But this year, Up seems like a lock on the Animated Feature category. Press attention could be drawn away from the category as a whole, making nominee status not as valuable. Coraline, to me, is the only likely upset. Plus, with the Academy skewing older, the hero of Up, the old man, is one of their own. What's not to love? Even with five nominees, Pixar shows all signs of continuing their winning streak.

3D movies fighting for scarce space on 3D screens

By Sarah Sluis

During the 3D Entertainment Summit, Henry Selick, director of Coraline, was frank about how the lack of 3D screens hurt his film. The picture made 85% of its revenue on 3D screens, managing to book 600 of 900 available screens, even though the movie released shortly after My Bloody Valentine 3D. It was then pulled out of many theatres three weeks later when Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience released. If there were a steady supply of 3D screens, the film could have done even better.

This year, the 3D screens, limited as they are, accounted for the overall increase in box-office revenue (fewer people went to the movies, but people paid more to see them in 3D). But there still aren't enough.

The big, ominous statistic is "average time of release on 3D screens." In 2008, the average time was 8.7 weeks. This year, it's down to 3.1. That's still feasible for many studios, since they do seven-eighths of their business in the first three weeks. But next year, it could sneak down to 1.8 weeks, severely cutting into the golden period.

Help, though delayed, in on its way. With Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke proclaiming that the recession is over, and more big banks able to open up their pocketbooks to lend money, theatres may finally receive the financing they need to install digital and 3D systems. Last Friday, JP Morgan announced that it was planning to lend $525 million over the next five years to the three largest circuits, which will help fund the transition. Thousands of screens should be converted.

For viewers, there's also a future in which films release exclusively in 3D, creating differences in pricing: imagine choosing between seeing a big animation or action blockbuster in 3D for $15, or a quieter 2D drama for $12. Will those three dollars be enough to sway people's choice of film? Or will they both be considered equally valuable for what they're offering? I think it's too soon to say exactly how viewers will respond, but it will be interesting when it gets to the point that almost everyone has seen a 3D movie. A few weeks ago, I overheard a conversation between a male and female moviegoer, roughly college age. The male was all about 3D, but the female was opposed to it, saying she would never see a 3D film because they were" gimmicky." Once a viewer like her is persuaded, I think 3D will have truly arrived.

Be sure to check Film Journal's Digital Cinema section for further updates on the transition to digital and 3D screens.

PG-rated 'Coraline' and 'Pink Panther 2' provide kid-to-adult fare

By Sarah Sluis

It's been three whole weekends since PG-rated comedy Hotel for Dogs released, and two since the much-maligned PG fantasy Inkheart, so the field is ripe for the two PG-rated pictures releasing this weekend, The Pink Panther 2 (3,243 screens) and Coraline (2,298 screens, half 3D). Debuting the

week before President's Day weekend, when many schoolchildren have the day or the week off (mid-winter break!), these films are banking on strong openings that will generate strong word-of-mouth through the holiday weekend.

Coraline has that difficult problem of being an animated film whose appeal extends beyond--while not entirely including--the "animated" demographic. Sensitive kids will have a hard time with this film, not only because it's suspenseful, but because its world is truly creepy. Henry Selick creates a world, according to our Executive Editor Kevin Lally, that's "anything but standard kids' fare: It's dark, creepy, surreal and



idiosyncratic. But then again, so was Lewis Carroll's Alice's

Adventures in Wonderland." I also had a chance to see the film, which should really be watched in 3D, and had the sense that those button eyes would have given me nightmares as a wee'un. Only half of the theatres will screen in 3D, which, incidentally, can be linked back to the recession. While exhibitors and distributors had rather lengthy negotiations working out who should pay for the conversion to digital projectors, agreements are now in place--but there's no money being lent due to the collapse of the credit markets. With nearly a dozen 3D movies releasing this year, the next up on the list, Monsters vs. Aliens, is especially nervous about lining up adequate 3D venues.

Based on an advice book penned by writers on the television show "Sex and the City," He's Just Not That Into You (3,175 screens) is a fluffy romance about doormats, sexpots, commitment-phobes, etc.,

that's just in time for Valentine's Day, though I suspect many of those attending will be singles "celebrating" by wallowing about being unlucky in love, just like main character Ginnifer Goodwin. While embellished with cutesy flourishes, the film just isn't that funny, and has a squirmy, condescending feel to it carried over from the book. With about the same satiety as one of those boxes of Sweetheart hearts (kindly provided at the screening I attended), you pretty much get what you expect, and a little less.

Superhero movie Push (2,313 screens) also releases this week, and suffers from the worst of errors, according to our Ethan Alter: "a great premise...marred by disastrous execution." Unlike the well thought-out universes it borrows from, like X-Men and The Matrix, the movie has holes you can poke your head through, not the kind you can ignore for the sake of fun.

The Weinstein Company is quietly releasing bomb Fanboys on 44 screens, and it will probably turn up on DVD shortly after. The film has been delayed for over two years, and follows boys on a roadtrip to see The Phantom Menace for the first time. With the fairly "basic Star Wars references that actually condescend to geeks under the guise of celebrating their peculiar culture," Ethan Alter predicted the movie won't even have cult status among those who should love it best.