Cut to last weekend, when Twelve–which, in their defense, is laughably bad– opened to a brutal $477 per-theater average and savage reviews. A few days later the company received a cease and desist letter after announcing their plans for an animated Terminator film. Now the bad news keeps coming for Hannover House– Deadline reports that happythankyoumoreplease has severed ties with the distributor, and is negotiating a deal with Anchor Bay Films with an eye toward a theatrical release.
Not to pile on to Hannover in their time of trouble, but the happythankyoumoreplease people are totally justified. There hasn’t been the slightest bit of publicity for the film since Sundance, and given how many of the other festival hits have done well this summer– from the comedic Cyrus to the bleak Winter’s Bone– it would have made perfect sense to have happythankyoumoreplease out in theaters by now. It’s not a perfect movie by any stretch, and sometimes feels more like a sitcom than an actual movie, but it’s an obvious crowd pleaser that could easily make the distributor some cash with some decent marketing. In addition to Radnor it stars Malin Akerman, Kate Mara and Zoe Kazan, all of them up-and-comers who could presumably bring in audiences.
Anchor Bay doesn’t have a particularly stellar track record for bringing films into theaters– their latest releases Solitary Man and City Island had unremarkable theatrical runs– but presumably they’ll at least plan to put the film out there. Hopefully Hannover can take advantage of the moment to regroup a bit and figure out where to go from here– and know better than to ever again tangle with a Joel Schumacher indie. That was a mistake they should have seen coming.
From Cinema Blend
The first official trailer for director Galt Niederhoffer’s The Romantics has finally been released. The film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and it stars Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Elijah Wood, Malin Akerman, Adam Brody, Jeremy Strong, Rebecca Lawrence, Dianna Agron and Candice Bergen.
The Romantics opens in New York and Los Angeles on September 10th, and will expand throughout September.
The Toronto International Film Festival announced 50 films that movie fans can expect to see this year including 15 Gala Presentations and 35 films to be shown as part of the Special Presentations programme. Some of the movies we’ve been following for a while now include Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, The Town with Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner, Buried with Ryan Reynolds, Easy A with Emma Stone, Never Let Me Go with Cary Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley and Stone with Robert De Niro and Edward Norton. And those are just to name a few.
Some Canadian films we’re looking forward to covering at the Festival include The Bang Bang Club with Ryan Phillippe and Malin Akerman, Barney’s Version with Paul Giamatti and Casino Jack with Kevin Spacey. Continue reading for a complete list of the films announced today and be sure to check back as our TIFF 2010 coverage continues.
Galas
The Bang Bang Club (dir. Steven Silver) Canada/South Africa (World Premiere)
The Bang Bang Club was the name given to four young photographers, Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva, whose photographs captured the final bloody days of white rule in South Africa and the final demise of apartheid. The film tells the remarkable and sometimes harrowing story of these young men – and the extraordinary extremes they went to in order to capture their pictures. The film stars Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman, Taylor Kitsch, Neels Van Jaarsveld and Frank Rautenbach.
From Empire Movies
Couple’s Retreat actress Malin Akerman wants to star in the new Avengers movie.
The sexy blonde is rumoured to be battling it out against Sex And The City 2′s Alice Eve for the lead female role in Joss Whedon’s new superhero movie, and while Malin insists it is just a rumour, she admitted she’d love the part.
Malin told E! news: “I saw that [on the internet] and I copied and pasted it to my agent, he was like, ‘Where did you get this?’. He called the studio and it was just a made-up rumour unfortunately.
“Maybe it’ll influence the studio to go ahead and be like, ‘Hey, how about Malin Akerman for the part?’.”
The actress attended the Maui Film Festival screening of Happythankyoumoreplease, an indie drama in which she plays a woman living with alopecia, and she shaved off her eyebrows for the movie.
She revealed: “It was interesting taking a shower because so much more water got in my eyes. You don’t realise how useful your eyebrows are.”
Happythankyoumoreplease, stars How I Met Your Mother’s Josh Radnor, and is also his writing and directing debut.
Malin said: “He’s so intelligent. You’re just stricken by his intellect. He’s well spoken and he has some amazing visions.
“My husband and I were chilling with him the other night. When we walked away my husband goes ‘Wow, that guy thinks a lot’. He really does.”
From the Press Association
Malin Akerman, Bruce Willis, Forest Whitaker and Kate Mara have signed on to star in the indie drama CATCH 44 for first-time director Aaron Harvey. The film follows three Las Vegas woman (Akerman, Mara and one as yet uncast actress) who are approached by a stranger named Mel (Willis) and offered the opportunity to make some cash through a robbery. When they’re set up, they cross paths with a psycho hitman (Whitaker) and other colorful Vegas characters.
The project had previously been set up with Burt Reynolds and Maggie Grace starring in the Willis and Akerman roles. It’s unclear how Harvey was able to so quickly upgrade his cast but there must be something about the script that attracted the actors.
The film is being produced by Emmett/Furla who previously worked with Willis on 16 BLOCKS. Filming is set to begin on the film next month in Shreveport.
From Jo Blo
Paramount Famous Productions has made its first acquisition, taking all US and Canadian rights to Galt Niederhoffer’s Sundance premiere The Romantics.
The Team Todd, Plum Pictures, Benaroya Pictures and Four Of A Kind Productions film features an all-star ensemble of Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Malin Akerman, Adam Brody and Dianna Agron, with Candice Bergen and Elijah Wood.
The film will screen in Cannes and Simon Crowe of SC International is handling foreign sales.
Niederhoffer directed The Romantics from her own screenplay about a tight-knit group of college students who reunite for a wedding or two of their own.
Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd, Michael Benaroya, Ron Stein and Daniel Hendler produced.
“The response to the film has been extraordinary and I am delighted to have Paramount Famous Productions as our domestic distribution partner,” Lundberg said.
“We are thrilled to be in business with the talented team at Plum Pictures and their partners,” Paramount Famous Productions president Louis Feola said. “We have been tracking several of Plum’s projects and The Romantics is a great way to start.”
John Sloss of Cinetic Media negotiated the domestic deals with Paramount Famous.
From Screen Daily
Myriad Pictures will commence international sales in Cannes on Elektra Luxx, Sebastian Gutierrez’s comedy follow-up to Women In Trouble.
The film recently premiered at SXSW and stars Carla Gugino, Timothy Olyphant, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Malin Akerman, Adrianne Palicki, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Kathleen Quinlan, Marley Shelton and Lucy Punch.
The story chronicles the ongoing misadventures of porn star Elektra Luxx (Gugino), now pregnant, as she tries to segue into a normal existence.
Gutierrez wrote, directed and produced Elektra Luxx. CAA broked the deal for Gutierrez with Myriad vice-president of production Amanda Blue.
“We thoroughly enjoyed working with Sebastian on Women In Troubleand are very happy to be handling Elektra Luxx as well,” Myriad president and CEO Kirk D’Amico said. “He has assembled an absolutely amazing cast.
“Carla Gugino is just spectacular as Elektra. She portrays her character with such sweetness and humour it’s a pure joy to watch. We are really looking forward to presenting this film to buyers in Cannes.”
From Screen Daily