22-23 July 2000

3. I Want My Free Movie: The battle to avoid allowing the movie-version of Napster to get another second closer towards movie business anarchy, the MPAA and the Recording Industry Association of America filed a joint suit against Scour.com, a search engine that also offers an exchange program that is apparently being used to exchange music and full length feature films, including some currently in release. One of the grand twists in the tale is that Scour is partially owned by Mike Ovitz, whose client list reads like a who's-getting-ripped-off list from the Scour Exchange. No doubt, the MPAA needs to be out tilting at these windmills at this point. But a real solution seems like it will be years away…though I am almost 100 percent sure that there will be an answer. Why? Because the money to be made out there is still based on respect for copyright. If everything is free, nothing is worth anything. Follow the money.

2. The Future Is Here: The buzz of Summer 2001 is here! The buzz of Summer 2001 is here! With an Adam Sandler comedy from New Line (The Johnson Five) and a John Woo/Nic Cage movie from MGM (Windtalkers) scheduled for the pre-July 4 weekend, Warner Bros. clearly decided that they could take over with their Steven Spielberg futurist flick, A.I. And they are probably right. I'm sure that MGM is high on their project, but given that it's MGM, it will be their only big project of the summer, and going head-to-head with Spielberg is probably a little too intense a gunfight to be getting into for the studio. And an Adam Sandler comedy is good counter programming, not a real threat to beat up A.I. But Fox is also aiming at July 4 as a release date for The Visitor, Tim Burton's take on The Planet of the Apes. But we'll see if they monkey around with that date. One thing that is going to make it all even more interesting…July 4 is on a Wednesday next year. Will this make for a six-day weekend or a mid-week weekend block with people taking Tuesday and Thursday off? The answer to that question will make tens of millions of dollars of difference to these films. So here's the Summer 2001 line-up as it now stands. The Farrellys kick off the summer with their Siamese (Conjoined if you want to be PC) twin comedy, Stuck on You, on May 1. Joe Roth's first post-Disney project, Tomcats, hits on May 4. The Mummy Returns hits a week later than the original remake, on May 11. Memorial Day weekend belongs to Pearl Harbor. And New Line has designs on its first big mid-summer assault in memory, with Sandler as the jab and Freddy vs. Jason as the punch in mid-July. You know, next summer is a year away and it's already looking more interesting to me than this summer. (Spring is also looking loaded, with February offering The Wedding Planner, Bridget Jones' Diary AND Hannibal.)

1. So Many Questions: Still in this summer, the biggest surprise of the week is Fox's decision to push Bedazzled into October and off of its August 11 release date. Every word about the film had been positive until one negative test screening review in Ain't It Cool. Combined, this begins to look like a story about a film that isn't really working. On the other hand, it really reads like a story about a movie that isn't really finished because if Fox had given up on the film, keeping it in summer would be the best way of maximizing profits on a dog. On the third hand, the story looks like a Titan A.E. deal, where it's possible that must-see, just three weeks before the scheduled release, isn't high enough and the studio loves the film and wants to get stronger buzz going rather than leaving it in the heat of the end of summer, fighting The Cell and the four August 4 releases. What's the real story? Not sure yet. Keep tuned. Same Hot Time, Same Hot Channel.

READER OF THE DAY: The Dyslexic BeeGee writes: "I might be checking out What Lies Beneath again. Saw it Wednesday night and absolutely loved it. I realized some people are going to complain about how boring it is but I was actually on the edge of my seat for most of the movie. It was extremely creepy and was fun from beginning to end. Unfortunately on Tuesday I saw Loser. Woof! For me it is the biggest disappointed of the summer. I could not wait to see this movie due to who was involved. I loved Fast Times and Clueless and found both Biggs and Suvari very good in their movies last year. This movie, however, just sat there. Never got 'off the ground' in my book. I could not believe how incredibly awful Suvari was. It was like she thought she was actually acting in Scary Movie. I might check out Chuck and Buck this weekend just because it has gotten such extreme reactions (you and a friend of mine hated it and I have co-workers who loved it). Still haven't seen Croupier or Butterfly so might go that route instead..."

And Wisconsin Police Department writes: "I have seen The In Crowd. I would pay serious cash to get that time back. I have seen almost every teen movie ever made for one reason or another. I try to see everything in the theater. The In Crowd is easily the worst teen movie ever made. It might be the worst movie ever made. Did Warner Bros. really finance this? It seriously looks terrible, like the sets were stolen from 'Dawson's Creek' or bought at a garage sale. It was shot and photographed like a bad TV movie. But worse. The script, well there wasn't one and to say it had one is insulting to anyone that has ever written a screenplay. I have seen better acting on soap operas and in high school plays. I am appalled that the 2 reviews I read (including roughcut's) have been slightly positive. I am dumbfounded. How can anyone like this movie? Sure Susan Ward is hot. But please. The In Crowd is far and away the worst movie of this year. To say the least."

E ME: You can do it! You can do it all night long!