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Week Of August 13, 2007 - Macho Fri
August 20, 2007
Looking Back
It’s Anniversary Week here at the Hot Button. On Wednesday, THB will be 10 years old… or 70 in Columnist Years. This leaves me thinking big picture a bit too much for anyone’s own good.
I’ll save my birthday thoughts for Thursday, but damn, it is amazing how much things have changed over a decade on the internet. I took AOL’s takeover of Time-Warner (which shut down roughcut.com in its wake) less than five years to dissolve. It took Inside.com less than 18 months to threaten the existence of all the other film oriented websites… then fold its tent and go home. Studios have gotten into the web biz in all kinds of ways, many of which have come and gone in this last decade. DreamWorks came and went to Paramount.
Only Sony has its top movie brass, excepting the exit of John Calley, pretty much in place… thought every single studio has changed marketing chiefs in the decade. MGM has become a shell of its shell of its former self. There was no Paramount Classics/Vantage, Warner Indie, Screen Gems, or Focus, much less Rogue or Fox Atomic… United Artists was on hiatus and Fox Searchlight was under Lindsay Law. However, there was a Fine Line, an October, a Gramercy, an Orion AND an Orion Classics, a Triumph, an Artisan, and a Live (when Menendez wasn’t a famous name). And Lions Gate released only one horror film and their top film was a gay hockey film called Les Boys that grossed under $5 million.
Here is the McDonald’s website in 1997. Here’s the cutting edge Disney.com page, the you-can-play-Jeopardy Sony page, Warner’s idea of how to sell a movie online, Universal’s helpful site, and Fox circa 1996.
Here is the roughcut.com page… and it was only a page… in October 1997 (with some missing graphics). And here is The Hot Button for that day, which oddly, I don’t see on the archived roughcut.com page.
Back then, in my first week of columns, there were Anna Nicole Smith jokes ("The Drudge Report tells us that New Line will make Him, a movie about a female biologist who tracks down an alien microbe that possesses and kills males. Studio legal eagles must have shot down the more obvious title, The Anna Nicole Smith Story," WGA labor strife bits ( “WGA West presidential candidate Lynn Roth on unfairness to screenwriters: "They wind up writing a first draft, second draft, studio draft, network draft, director draft, actor draft," she said. "Same pay, too many drafts." As usual, the most important draft is forgotten. The good one.”), the death of Princess Di in the second week, and even a bit on New Line's marketing of a Chris Tucker/Brett Ratner movie ("The box office story was so weak this weekend that making jokes would seem cruel. Why kick a conquered Kull? Why tease Alicia about being excess baggage? Why rip Charlie Sheen (even the studio dropped Sheen to the background and put money man Chris Tucker front and center in the new ads) when Money Talks is doing so well? Why? Cause it's my job! (Mom's so proud!)").
Aside from the schtick, nothing changes, I guess..
Week Of April 3, 2006 - Life In the Bubble - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 10, 2006 - List Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 17, 2006 - Review Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 24, 2006 - Overlooked Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 1, 2006 - Mystery Week - Tue / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 8, 2006 - How We Watch Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 15, 2006 - Premature Week - Oscar Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 22, 2006 - B-13 Mon / Inconvenient Wed / Fri
Week Of May 29, 2006 - Wed / Fri
Week Of June 5, 2006 - 666 Tue / Iraq Doc Wed / Seattle Fri
Week Of June 12, 2006 - SIFF Mon / SIFF Wed / Fri
Week Of June 19, 2006 - Cinevegas Mon/Deliver Us Wed/Prada Fri
Week Of June 26, 2006 - Pirates Mon / Super Again Wed / Fri
Week Of July 5, 2006 - Wed
Week Of July 12, 2006 - M. Night Mon | You, Me & Wed | Monster House Fri
Week Of July 17, 2006 - 8 A Year Mon / Water Wed / Revamp Fri
Week Of July 24, 2006 - Comic-Con Mon / Gossip Wed / Fri
Week Of July 31, 2006 - Mel G Mon / Talladega Wed / Fri
Week Of August 7, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of August 14, 2006 - No Column Mon / Wed / Snakes Fri
Week Of August 21, 2006 - Snakey Mon / Anniversary Wed / Scoundrels Fri
Week Of August 28, 2006 - Mon Love / Berloff Wed / Fri
Week Of September 4, 2006 - Thur
Week Of September 11, 2006 - TIFF Mon / Bobby Wed / Fr
Week Of September 18, 2006 - Mon / TIFF 1 Wed / TIFF 2 Fri
Week Of September 25, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of October 2, 2006 - Atonement Mon / Wed / Indie Fri
Week Of October 9, 2006 - Flags Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of October 16, 2006 - Mon / Epagogix Wed
Week Of October 23, 2006 - TCIFF Mon / Wed / Catch A Fri
Week Of October 30, 2006 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of November 6, 2006 - Mon / Dead Girl Wed / Fri
Week Of November 13, 2006 - Bond Mon / Wed / TomKat Fri
Week Of November 20, 2006 - Mon / Thankful Wed
Week Of November 27, 2006 - Mon / Auteur Wed / Blood D Fri
Week Of December 4, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of December 11, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of December 18, 2006 - Mon / Wed / COM Fri
Week Of December 27, 2006 - Wed / Worst of 2006 Fri
Week Of Janiuary 3, 2007 - Best Of 2006 Wed
Week Of Janiuary 8, 2007 - Mon / COM Book Wed
Week Of January 17, 2007 - Little Red Writing Hood Wed
Week Of January 29, 2007 - Mon
Week Of February 5, 2007 -This Thing We Do Wk - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of February 12, 2007 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of February 26, 2007 - Rough Oscars Mon / Zodiac Wed / Doc & Foreign Fri
Week Of March 5, 2007 - Mon / Fri
March 14 / March 21/ March 28
Week Of April 4, 2007 - Wed / Grindhouse Fri
Week Of April 9, 2007 - Indie Distirbution Mon / Star Ranking Wed / Top 20 Fri
Week Of April 16, 2007 - Mon / Piaf Wed
Week Of April 23, 2007 - Mon / Tribeca Wed / Costner Fri
Week Of April 30, 2007 - Spider Mon
Week Of May 7, 2007 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 14, 2007 - 10 Thing Studios Don't Want Wed / Fri
Week Of May 21, 2007 - Mon / Pirates Fri
Week Of May 28, 2007 - Knocked Up Friday
Week Of June 4, 2007 - Hostel 2 Mon / Ocean's Wed / Seattle Fri
Week Of June 11, 2007 - Sopranos Mon
Week Of June 18, 2007 - Mon / Sicko Wed
Week Of July 2, 2007 - Xanadu Fri
Week Of July 9, 2007 - Mon / Hairspray Fri
Week Of July 23, 2007 - Bourne Mon / Superbad Wed
Week Of July 30, 2007 - Shoot Em Up Mon / Fri
Week Of August 6, 2007 - Wed / New Line Fri
