November 12, 2002

Of course, as soon as I wrote that I was taking a break from 8 Mile-ing, The O’Reilly Report found me….

By the time the show aired twice, I was “a liberal basher,” “ignorant” and “looked intelligent on air.”  (Thanks, mom.)   The most ironic thing was that I went on as the guy against 8 Mile and ended up defending the film far more aggressively than my “pro” 8 Mile counterpart.  Funny.

I spent the evening with About A Boy and The Weitz Bros., whom I guided through an after-screening Q&A.  That was fun.  I really like the movie so much.  The more times I see it, the less I am able to find any flaws.  And the evolution from American Pie and Down To Earth to this film is just breathtaking.  The only thing I’ve seen that compares is Joe Carnahan’s leap to Narc from his $70,000 feature.  The guys are very direct, self-deprecating and funny.  Most directors these days don’t look you in the eye when you chat.  These guys were right there.  And their truthfulness about the process was refreshing as hell.

I got a great call in between events from a publicist who told me that Fernando Mierelles is in town to promote the Brazilian Oscar entry City of God, which is premiering locally at the AFI festival.  Thrilled to meet him – and hopefully Katia Lund as well. 

Speaking of City of God, it got a real boost by Spain’s nominating committee, which didn’t put Pedro Almodovar’s Talk To Her up for Oscar.  The boys at Sony Classics have to be ready to go over there and bash in some heads. 

Finally, when I got home, I saw that Alan Cumming has committed to co-star in a Steve Martin-produced detective show for ABC called Mr. And Mr. Nash, centered around a gay couple that works in interior design and solves crimes on the side.  Sounds fabulous!  (And I mean that in a very butch way.)

GOING TO THE MOVIES IN L.A.:  Movie City News ran a letter from a reader yesterday about a potential sale of a popular Los Angeles theater.  That brought all kinds of perspective out of the woodwork.  If you live in Los Angeles, you will be interested in this stuff because it will effect how you see movies.  And if you don’t, the machinations may sound very familiar to things that have happened in your town.

The Westside of Los Angeles is broken into five major regions: Santa Monica, Century City/West L.A., Westwood, West Hollywood and Hollywood.  (There are a total of four screens in all of Beverly Hills.)  On the mainstream front, there are three multiplexes in Santa Monica, all on the same street.  Century City has two multis.  Westwood has four quality screens, one multi and two crap houses. West Hollywood has three multis.  And Hollywood also has three.  By this time next year, four of those twelve multis will probably be closed, with one set to be re-opened another year later.  Another multi will have switched hands.  If you take Santa Monica out of the equation… five of nine multiplexes will be in play in the next year.

To be more specific, AMC, which has bought GCC, will likely buy the super-hot Grove Theaters and shut down the nearby and broken down Beverly Connection and Galaxy theaters.  They are also planning on shutting down the AMC Century City 14 and replacing it with 24 theaters… that will take over a year to complete. 

Pacific, which has been struggling with their super-premium Arclight Cinemas, will have nothing but the Arclight and their co-owned single screens in Hollywood and Westwood, virtually taking them out of the Westside market.

Loews/Cineplex is also changing directions with the closing of both their previously region dominant Century City and Beverly Center multiplexes.  All they will have left in L.A. is their freshly purchased Landmark Theater screens, which are all arthouse screens.

Regal has already dumped out of this market, closing the only United Artists theater still in the area. 

And Mann has is landmark theaters, The Chinese, The National, The Village and The Bruin.  But Westwood is dead and Hollywood is dying… again.  We’ll see how long that drama lasts. 

So, AMC becomes dominant/exclusive in Century City and West Hollywood, Mann owns Westwood with just AMC four-screen and a small Pacific/Disney house against them and Mann & Pacific share Hollywood.  Only Santa Monica remains really competitive.  And don’t be surprised if Loews/Cineplex drops out of that troika, leaving the battle to AMC vs. Mann. 

Five multiplexes shall rule them all.  And AMC will own three of the five, plus the four-plex in Westwood.  The world gets smaller.

READER OF THE DAY:  Mathew Hitzik, Miramax’s Sr. V.P., Corporate Communications was a New York Times ROTD:  “While generously comparing the forthcoming film "Chicago" to "Shakespeare in Love," "Miramax's Big Screen Test" (Business Day, Nov. 4) didn't include significant facts that would have provided proper context.

The characterization of our year as "lukewarm" cited only our missteps. "In the Bedroom" and the French sensation "Amélie" ($3 million total acquisition costs, $70 million total box office gross, five Academy Award nominations each) show that focusing on big-budget films does not give the whole story.

Separating video and DVD revenues from our overall profitability is misleading. This diversification of revenue sources contributes to all film companies' bottom lines, and highlights the ever-increasing value of our library of more than 500 films.

Miramax greatly values the seal of approval that award nominations bestow. These honors translate into higher box office receipts and greater exposure for our films. Such successes clearly refute the petty snipings by unnamed "rival studios." Ultimately, the films speak for themselves.”

CHERI writes:  “First off I just wanted to say that your opinions are completely uneducated. Your saying that all the women and black people in the movie 8 Mile are portrayed in a bad way, I am from Pontiac Mi not far from 8 mile rd and Detroit and I think that they are portrayed very real so if you have an opinion about how the women in the movie act and the black people as well, then go to a dirty city like that and do some research of your own and then you will find out what it is really like. and you will see that they did an amazing job at putting this movie together in fact they did the best job since Boys in the Hood. So until you do take the time to understand that this is real and stop bitching about this movie (as we all know its because Eminem is in it).”

COP OUT writes:  “Just wondering if you are waiting until next week to make any comments regarding the two milestones MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING will have passed by that point: last week it became the highest grossing film never to have been No 1 (beating DANCES WITH WOLVES, somewhere around $182M) and after next weekend it should clip the $200M marker.

And no, I still haven't seen it LOL. I just keep hearing such mediocre things about it that I'm afraid if I do it will remove the charm the film has as a Cinderella/quasi-indendant success story. Not to mention the fun I have needling you about it...:-)”

E ME:  Why?  Oh why?!?!