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Friday, January 16
The battle over Watchmen is over. With a settlement to end the legal battle finally agreed upon, the movie will now make its March 6 opening day, Variety reports. "Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have resolved their dispute regarding the rights to the upcoming motion picture Watchmen in a confidential settlement," said a joint release. "Warner Bros. acknowledges that Fox acted in good faith in bringing its claims, which were asserted prior to the start of principal photography. Fox acknowledges that Warner Brothers acted in good faith in defending against those claims. Warner Bros. and Fox, like all Watchmen fans, look forward with great anticipation to this film's March 6 release in theatres."
Warner will still distribute the movie while Fox will enjoy somewhere between 5% and 8.5% of the gross profits. Fox also walks away with a cash payment between $5 million and $10 million, which will cover the $1.4 million they had put into the development of Watchmen, and cover their legal fees as well.
That's not a bad start to 2009 for Fox, which had two of the biggest box-office bombs of 2008 with Meet Dave and Australia.
Posted 1/16/2009 by Ryan
Related: Meet Dave | Watchmen | Australia
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Thursday, November 27
In honor of Thanksgiving, let's take a moment to recount the biggest turkeys Hollywood has turned out this year. The biggest losers of 2008, among major U.S. releases:
*Estimated. Sources: Box Office Mojo and IMDB.
Bear in mind that these numbers represent the biggest turkeys of the year thus far. The remaining days of 2008 could very well yield another flop or two. (We're looking at you, Australia and Valkyrie.)
Posted 11/27/2008 by reelz
Related: City of Ember | Babylon A.D. | Meet Dave | Bangkok Dangerous | Speed Racer
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Tuesday, November 25
The summer blockbuster Hancock, starring Will Smith as a slacker superhero with a public-relations problem, leads this week's crop of new DVD releases. Also debuting today on DVD: Eddie Murphy's ill-fated sci-fi comedy Meet Dave; Vince Vaughn's ill-fated Christmas comedy Fred Claus; and the computer-animated, simian, and yes, also ill-fated, sci-fi comedy Space Chimps.
And just in case you forgot to set your DVR last weekend, 24: Redemption arrives on DVD today -- just two days after it premiered on Fox. Pick it up and watch Jack Bauer singlehandedly save sub-Saharan Africa. Let's see Bono do that!
Posted 11/25/2008 by reelz
Related: Fred Claus | Meet Dave | Hancock | Space Chimps | 24: Redemption
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Tuesday, July 15
Jill Simonian is a correspondent for Dailies (ReelzChannel TV, weeknights @ 6PM ET), and occasionally shares stories from the field. This week: Brian Robbins
And rightfully so.
After 20-plus years of movie-making (directing, writing and producing), Brian Robbins' films have grossed almost $900 million worldwide. Yes, he may soon become a billion dollar man in the next few years, like the recent "Billion Dollar Club" inductee Michael Bay. But how do movie fans know him best? As Eddie Murphy's partner-in-crime who brought us Norbit ... and he also directed Murphy's current fish-out-of-water farce in theatres now: Meet Dave.
I met Robbins for the first time last week at Paramount Pictures. A humble, and quiet -- but very friendly -- guy, he was working on location. And I was dying to ask him what I have been curious to know for almost a year:
"What do you have to say to 'stuffy critics' and 'haters' of your movies?"
I do believe that critics, especially with comedies, should have to sit in a room with an audience of people -- people who actually pay money for the movies -- and watch with them, and then review it. I just don't know how you can sit in a room by yourself and watch a comedy -- and review it -- when you're of "a certain age" ... I think you also have to review things in the context of who they're made for, you know? That's just my opinion.
Well said, Robbins... well said. Here's to making a billion bucks.
Watch the story this week on Dailies.
See Also: Our recent interview with Brian Robbins.
Posted 7/15/2008 by Jill
Related: ReelzChannel Movie News | Brian Robbins | Norbit | Meet Dave
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Thursday, July 10
After directing Eddie Murphy in the both Norbit and Meet Dave (in theaters tomorrow), Brian Robbins is now aiming to complete a trifecta, working with the talented funnyman on the high-concept comedy A Thousand Words.
"A Thousand Words is a curse movie," Robbins told us at the premiere for Meet Dave. "It's about a guy who doesn't shut up, and then he gets a curse put on him and he's gotta shut up. So then you have Eddie Murphy, one of the most gifted verbal comedians of our generation, who stops talking at the end of the first act of the movie and becomes basically Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin for the rest of (it)."
Robbins estimates that Murphy goes speechless for as long as 30 minutes in the film. Without the aid of words, fat suits or other hilarious prosthetics, A Thousand Words could very well be the comedian's greatest challenge yet.
Posted 7/10/2008 by reelz
Related: Brian Robbins | Eddie Murphy | Meet Dave
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Wednesday, July 9
Opening this Friday is the comedy Meet Dave, about a miniature race of aliens who travel to Earth in a spaceship built to resemble a full-size human being (played by funnyman Eddie Murphy). You may recall the film was once known by a different -- and perhaps more apt -- title: Starship Dave. What prompted the change?
"The studio," Meet Dave director Brian Robbins revealed to us yesterday at the film's premiere. "Starship Dave is a better title, I agree. Everybody has their theories, but Fox is really good at what they do, marketing-wise, so it's hard to argue with them."
We'll find out if the change pays off this weekend, when Meet Dave takes on Hellboy II and Journey to the Center of the Earth at the Multi-plex.
Posted 7/9/2008 by reelz
Related: Eddie Murphy | Meet Dave
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Tuesday, July 8
Eddie Murphy is back with another crazy comedy. Meet Dave, opening this Friday, is about a crew of miniature aliens coming to earth in their spaceship, which looks like a normal human.
And lucky you, we've got the stills right here in our Meet Dave photo gallery. You know you want to see them.
Posted 7/8/2008 by reelz
Related: Eddie Murphy | Meet Dave