Summer Schedule Musical Chairs

Hey folks, Harry here with some updates that I heard about via Hollywood Reporter. First up is that on July 13th, the Ed Norton, Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando film... THE SCORE (directed by Frank Oz) will debut up against LEGALLY BLONDE starring Reese (isn't she cute) Witherspoon and Luke (I should be working with Owen and Wes Anderson on THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS instead of this) Wilson........ and in addition we have my vote for worst new production company slate (TOMCATS, THE ANIMAL) , Revolution Studios' AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS, which is to be directed by ex-Disney Exec God, Joe Roth... whom I adore as an executive, but as a director... REVENGE OF THE NERDS II: NERDS IN PARADISE, COUPE DE VILLE and STREETS OF GOLD.... well I find him lacking, even if he does have a cast worthy of Robert Altman, Steven Soderbergh or Woody Allen... I just... well, let's hope it is good... But my money is on Norton, De Niro and Brando...

BUT... Two days before that on July 11th, we're going to be having FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN opening... yup, on a Wednesday... And frankly it has the most eye-popping trailers of the group thus far, even if Ed Norton, in just the scant few moments he appears in THE SCORE trailer... again shows why he is an acting god at the moment.... I believe that FINAL FANTASY will have a very powerful 5 day weekend... BUT... the movie is more meta-physical than I believe American Audiences will be prepared for, so I don't expect much lasting power... Though I'm hoping, for future digital film's sake, that it performs strongly.

Also on the move is ROLLERBALL, which apparently has been having a 'tight' post-production and that the visual effects work is 'complicated'.... so it is tentatively being moved to August 17th... And they claim it might be moved again. Now I happen to know that currently ROLLERBALL is shooting stunt work in San Francisco, and I've heard rumors and rumblings that the film is in trouble (HELLO!!! I SAID THIS WHEN THEY ABANDONED THEIR FANTASTIC EARLY SCRIPT FOR THE P.O.S. THAT THEY SHOT FROM) So... while it is moved to August 17th... um, this could be jettisoned for late September if the problems persist.

Also, MGM has moved ORIGINAL SIN... the Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie flick by Michael Cristofer to August 3rd... which is just one week before OSMOSIS JONES, the latest animated film from Warner Animation... which... well read the special report from inside about that, also posted today!

Meanwhile, If I played Hollywood Stock Exchange, which I don't, I'd be buying stock in KISS OF THE DRAGON, because frankly... it is my firm belief that this July Fourth weekend, that movie is going to EXPLODE onto the market... Yes, I know that I haven't seen a trailer... that the poster is underwhelming... BUT FOLKS... I tell you, my ample gut is screaming HIT on this one. It is going to be going against CATS AND DOGS which is going to make serious moolah as well, but in a completely different market area.... And SCARY MOVIE 2.... Well, whatever, I think it'll follow in the drunken stumbling footsteps of the other spoof followups like AIRPLANE 2 and NAKED GUN 2.... as opposed to AUSTIN POWERS 2... but I could be wrong... we'll see.... anyway... that's the latest shuffling....

I would also expect someone to counter-program something into the PEARL HARBOR Memorial Day slot... some sort of Romantic Comedy... or Children's thing... Because there will be a huge spill-over audience from the packed screening rooms for PEARL HARBOR... It's funny, a local theater in Austin has a "NOW HIRING STAFF FOR PEARL HARBOR" on the Marquee... hheehehe... I guess that theater is expecting serious business... If anything changes... I'll let ya know...