Day: August 14, 2008

Peter Lauria‘s 8.14 report in the N.Y. Post‘s business section about the downfall of Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner within the MGM corporate family (Harry Sloan, Mary Parent, etc.) is the clearest and most concise-sounding assessment I’ve read so far. Having reached the conclusion that Cruise-Wagner “don’t know what they’re doing,” Sloan essentially “wants to get his hands on $500 million in financing that UA raised from Merrill Lynch last year so that he can help fund MGM movies,” and putting Parent in charge of the whole magillah is key to his strategy.
Lauria’s main points: (a) Cruise is “on the verge of getting fired yet again” as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer CEO Harry Sloan looks to bring Cruise’s United Artists studio under the control of MGM production chief Mary Parent; (b)
a source saying that Sloan “made a mistake in backing those two, and now he’s trying to figure out how to rectify it”; (c) Wagner’s departure from UA is due to Sloan has having “effectively neutered Cruise and Wagner by putting Parent — a well-regarded Hollywood talent who MGM hired in March to oversee theatrical productions — in charge of UA”; (d) Wagner’s decision to leave is therefore a “protest” move, and that “her ego won’t stand for Parent being put in charge]…she’d be humiliated if she stayed there”; and (e) Sloan is likely to extend a feather-smoothing production deal to Wagner, meaning that UA would “continue to operate as an independent company” blah, blah, and that the “current management structure for UA has not changed…Tom and Paula are still running the day-to-day operations.”

Yesterday’s $7 million haul means that Tropic Thunder‘s 5-day projection has been downgraded to $38 to $40 million instead of $45 million, which is what Fantasy Moguls‘ Steve Mason was forecasting a day or so ago. The c.w. says Thunder wont be earning as much as Pineapple Express did over the first few days because (a) it plays to a somewhat older and more city-sophisticated crowd (whereas any amoeba in baggy shorts can laugh at a good stoner comedy) and (b) satire that plays to people with an IQ over 50 always faces a bit more of a challenge, no matter the subject. Of course, the notion that Tropic Thunder is loonier, funnier and more off-the-wall surreal has been kicking around also.

This Body of Lies trailer is slightly more complex than the one I posted two or three weeks ago, but a lot of the clips and a good amount of the dialogue are the same so whaddaya-whaddaya?