Which projects are trying to rush into production?
by
Stax
US, August 24, 2007 - It's no secret that Hollywood is bracing for labor strikes and is rushing to make sure they have enough product in the pipeline for the leans months ahead. The Writers Guild's deal with the Hollywood studios expires in October, but a temporary extension is reportedly expected to be reached. Contracts with the Screen Actors Guild and the Director's Guild run out June 30, so the studios will find themselves in a squeeze play as all three unions seek a bigger cut of the new media revenue pie.
The
Los Angeles Times has a great rundown on all the projects that are trying to rush into production -- filming must begin by March 1, 2008 to beat the strikes deadlines -- including genre-friendly projects such as
Justice League of America, Land of the Lost, Fantasy Island, Nottingham and
Angels & Demons. As Paramount production chief Brad Weston tells the paper, "The next four weeks are really critical. ... Movies are coming together and falling apart by the day."
The
Times cites
JLA as an example of a major project that has a tough road ahead of it if it's to make it before cameras in time: "Worried that "JLA" might undercut his Batman sequel,
The Dark Knight, director Chris Nolan isn't thrilled with the current
JLA plans, according to people familiar with his thinking. A spokeswoman for the director said, 'Chris Nolan is knee-deep in production on
The Dark Knight [and] has not commented on a potential
JLA movie or any other project."
Director Ron Howard is expected to segue directly from
Frost/Nixon to the
Da Vinci Code follow-up,
Angels & Demons, while Ridley Scott will be directing back-to-back pics
Body of Lies and
Nottingham. Paul Greengrass, however, may not have time to helm
Imperial Life in the Emerald City with Matt Damon before the star is scheduled to shoot
The Informant for Steven Soderbergh and
The Fighter with Darren Aronofsky.
Damon's certainly not the only star with scheduling issues to be worked out. As the
Times points out, "Some top stars are available for only a few weeks between January and June. [Will] Ferrell, who's booked through February, has a final March slot that he may use for a remake of TV's
Land of the Lost, directed by Brad Silberling, at Universal."
Script revisions are also being cited as a reason for why some projects are being put on hold until there's more time to rewrite them.
Frankie Machine is cited as an example, thus explaining why
Martin Scorsese recently dropped out of directing it.
Some studios are even lacking screenplays for movies they still hope to shoot before the strike, such as with Universal and
The Fast and the Furious 4.
