'The British Patient' Producer Saul Zaentz Sues Disney, Miramax for $20 Million (Exclusive)

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images The Saul Zaentz Co., producer in the 1996 best picture champion The British Patient, has punished distributor Miramax which is former owner the Wally Disney Co. for $20 million in profits within the hit drama. The suit, filed Thursday in La Superior Court, alleges a years-extended plan among Miramax, then run by Harvey Weinstein, which is former owner Disney to pay for revenue, improperly allocate and take away expenses and charges and take part in self-dealing concerning the film. British Patient made greater than $300 million worldwide, furthermore to sweeping the Academy awards in 1996. "To this day, no matter the good success in the film, [Zaentz] has not even received from Miramax payment sufficient to recoup [Zaentz's] costs of making The British Patient," the suit alleges. It states Miramax has saved 100s of vast amounts that was designed to visit Zaentz. This isn't the first time Zaentz has punished inside the film. The dispute remains happening for just about any decade, and Zaentz punished in 2006, making similar arguments based on an audit in the film's books and records. But that situation was overlooked in 2008 as well as the new suit states the parties have observed a tolling agreement (to prevent statute of limitations issues) in place. The suit alleges a conspiracy "to keep the look in the paper loss position to make sure that no matter the amount of money The Engligh Patient acquired, Miramax and Disney would reap all of the profits while" Zaentz wouldn't be area of the success. Zaentz states his company ponied up $15.75 million within the own money and deferred compensation to obtain the film made but got assurances from Miramax it might get yourself a better profits definition when compared to a standard deal. The sale allegedly gave Zaentz 10% of modified gross receipts, which rose to fifteenPercent after break-even, plus 60% of internet profits. However, Zaentz states Miramax later tried to keep his company with a a more compact amount favorable profits definition and contains been not wanting to create credits. Disney offered Miramax this season to many traders including businessman Ron Tutor and Colony Capital. Weinstein had left the business years before to start the Weinstein Co. The suit, filed by Marty Singer at Lavely & Singer, alleges causes of action including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and seeks an accounting and declaratory relief. We've showed up at to Disney for comment. Email: Matthew.Belloni@thr.com

REVIEW: Kenneth Lonergan's Flawed But Glorious Margaret Somehow Hits the Mark

There’s always been a soft spot in my heart for grand, uncompromising, crazy-eyed acts of directorial ambition/foll — films like Southland Tales and The Fountain, Heaven’s Gate and One From The Heart — that are either disaster or genius depending on who you talk to but that could never be described as restrained. Margaret, playwright Kenneth Lonergan’s second turn as a director after 2000’s very good You Can Count on Me, joins these titles after spending years in post-production purgatory as Lonergan reportedly struggled over a final cut, following lawsuits and studio battles and delays upon delays. (Among those listed in the opening credits are two people who’ve passed away since production began, executive producer Anthony Minghella and producer Sydney Pollack.) That’s a lot of baggage for what’s fundamentally a two-and-a-half hour film about a Manhattan high school student adrift after witnessing a bus accident, but Margaret bears the weight, a messy, vexing, rewarding work of both great shrillness and great humanism. It’s not a film that’s easy to love, but like a song you at first can’t stand but then end up humming all day, it works its way past your defenses and curls in close. Margaret is the story of Lisa Cohen (Anna Paquin), who belongs squarely to two groups known for their capacity for noisy self-centeredness and unthinking entitlement — NYers and teenagers. How nuanced and dead-on a portrait of Lisa the film offers accounts in many ways for how initially exasperating it is. Pretty, smart and outspoken, Lisa’s in full adolescent chaos, hormones raging, moods swinging, never letting how little she knows of the world stop her from making grand pronouncements about it. The volume is turned up on her turmoil by a gruesome incident early in the film — chasing after a bus and trying to get the attention of the driver (Mark Ruffalo), Lisa distracts him enough that he runs the light, hitting a woman at the intersection, Monica (Allison Janney), who’s headed home from the grocery store. Maimed and bleeding out, she dies in Lisa’s arms as a crowd gathers, all the while asking about her daughter. For everything that Margaret is about — mortality, 9/11, the roles fate and chance play in our lives, justice and responsibility — it is foremost a wonderful and complex look at the splendor and awfulness of being 17. The title refers to the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem “Spring and Fall,” a fragment of which (“Margaret, are you grieving/Over Goldengrove unleaving?”) is read in one of the classroom scenes that dapple the film, offering our heroine opportunities to battle a classmate (Hina Abdullah) over issues in the Middle East, to take in literature from her English teacher (Matthew Broderick) and start a mild flirtation with her math instructor (Matt Damon). Like the child in Hopkins’ piece, Lisa is in the grip of distress she can’t fully articulate, some of it brought on by feelings of guilt over Monica’s death, some of it by the way the world fails to stop for the woman’s passing, and some of it just by life not being exactly as she’d wish it. Lonergan, with the help of what turns out to be a very fine performance from Paquin after a shaky start, captures with exquisite clarity the rawness of emotions at that age, the vulnerability and self-righteousness, what it’s like to be able to declare and absolutely believe that no one understands you. Lisa begins digging into Monica’s life, finding the deceased’s best friend Emily (Jeannie Berlin) and working with her toward what, it’s clear, is going to be an unsatisfying quest to hold someone responsible for the accident. Meanwhile, the film keeps spiraling out to larger shots of the city and pulling in the ragtag ends of surrounding stories. Lisa’s divorced mother (J. Smith-Cameron), a slightly neurotic actress, has a new play going up and a new man in her life, the suave, international Ramon (Jean Reno). Lisa’s father (Lonergan), who lives in California, is trying to organize, over the phone, some kind of horseback riding vacation with his children while his latest wife gives him a hard time. Lisa may, in the tradition of many a teenager, make everything about her, but Margaret is infused with a broad empathy for all of its characters that gives them an unusual roundness — they’re not just adornments on Lisa’s journey, they’re protagonists in their own only hinted-at stories, from the tears a classmate with a crush on Lisa sheds after she tells him she doesn’t feel like talking, to the way the camera hovers behind Broderick’s head as he walks away from finding two students getting high in the park, their mocking words ringing out after him. Margaret is the opposite of effortless — the pacing is haphazard and, though it didn’t feel overlong to me, the film does come down to an epic character study, the narrative developments all secondary and unresolved. Lonergan’s gifts as a filmmaker are in writing and in working with actors, and not so much in the way scenes are staged and shot. Though the film is well-performed, its repeated use of scenes in which characters talk over each other in circular arguments, getting louder and more defensive, are like nails on a chalkboard (one in which Lisa calls someone “strident,” and then tries to backtrack while refusing to apologize, is a stand-out). But Margaret’s clutter and the room it insists on taking for its aspirations are glorious things, and while it overreaches, it hits its mark more. It feels like a film that’s been years in the making, and something this rich is worth the wait.

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Scribes score Steinbergs

Lisa D'Amour and Melissa James Gibson have scored the Steinberg Playwright Award. Presenters of the kudo, nicknamed the Mimi and now in its fourth year, alternate between bestowing it upon a single high-profile playwright and handing out multiple honors to up-and-comers. Last year Lynn Nottage ("Ruined") won the distinguished scribe prize. D'Amour and Gibson each get a cash prize of $50,000. D'Amour's play "Detroit" was seen in a well-received Chicago production in 2010, and a team of commercial producers has announced they would bring the play to Broadway (although no ETA has been set). Her play "The Cataract" got a run a few seasons ago at the Women's Project, and the scribe's collaborative, site-specific work "How to Build a Forest" had a Gotham stint in June. Gibson logged a 2009 hit with "This" at Playwrights Horizons. Others credits include "[sic]," "Suitcase, or Those That Resemble Flies From a Distance" and "Current Nobody." Selections were made by a team of legiters including Oskar Eustis, Todd London and Lynne Meadow. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

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Chelsea Clinton Joins IAC's Board of Company directors

NEW You are able to -- Chelsea Clinton has became a member of the board of company directors of IAC/InterActiveCorp, media mogul Craig Diller's Internet holding company.our editor recommendsChelsea Clinton Interviews Mother, Hillary, at Clinton Global Initiative Craig Diller: IAC's Media Companies Will Turn ProfitableBarry Diller Defends His Plans For IAC On Stand Clinton, 31, is really a doctoral student at Oxford College and dealing at NY College. She's also dealing with the Clinton Foundation and also the Clinton Global Initiative, IAC stated on Monday. Formerly, she's labored at McKinsey & Co. and Avenue Capital. IAC, which is the owner of websites for example Match.com and Citysearch, also named Sonali P Rycker, 38, to its board. She's someone at investment capital firm Accel Partners working in london. The 2 additions expand IAC's board to 14 people from 12. Clinton and P Rycker aren't changing anybody. IAC/InteractiveCorp shares rose 62 cents, or 1.five percent, to $41.11 in morning buying and selling Tuesday. Related Subjects Craig Diller

Controversial 'Red Dawn' Remake Finally Getting a Release Date

China is a huge market for American films, so what do you do with a movie that could potentially offend the people that live there? Change all the Chinese characters to North Koreans, of course! At least that's what the producers of 'Red Dawn' did, after MGM decided to pass on the film in 2009. Now, according to the LA Times, the movie has reportedly found a distributor in FilmDistrict. 'Red Dawn' is a remake of the 1984 invasion movie starring Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen (the enemies in that flick were the Soviet Union). The new version stars Chris Hemsworth, 'Hunger Games' star Josh Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and likely won't hit theaters until 2012. [via LA Times] 16 Upcoming Movie Remakes You can't seem to go a day without hearing about a new Hollywood remake. Ahead, a brief list of 16 films headed to theaters, again, in the near future. FootlooseWarGamesThe Wild BunchTop GunTotal RecallTeenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesShort CircuitRoboCopJudge DreddHighlanderThe CrowA Star is BornOldboyRed DawnPoint BreakDirty Dancing See All Moviefone Galleries »

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Disney eyes overseas growth

The Mouse House has set its sights on growing the Disney brand in foreign markets and will devote much of its corporate spending to deals in territories where it doesn't yet have a strong presence. That especially includes India and China, according to Disney chief financial officer Jay Rasulo, during a session at Goldman Sachs' Communacopia Conference in NY City on Wednesday."Over the last year and a half, we really have taken large steps to take a bigger footprint" in other countries, Rasulo said. In July, Disney bought out the shares in India media conglom UTV that it didn't already own for around $454 million. "Our brand awareness for Disney is fairly low in India," Rasulo said. "Taking control of a company like UTV can accelerate" Disney's exposure there.That includes exploiting the growing mobile market in India and China, among other countries, under the oversight of Disney's Interactive Media Group.Disney has already taken advantage of the cellphone market in Japan. "The amount of content that can be downloaded and interacted with even on a $50 mobile phone in the developing world is incredible and was a shock to us," Rasulo said after visiting India with Disney topper Bob Iger last week.Rasulo said that with 700 million cellphones in India alone and a million more being added every month, Disney will take advantage of the growing market for mobile content moving forward.Overall, Disney invests "a substantial amount of capital behind the perpetuation of our brands and properties," with 60% of cash flow spent to grow Disney's businesses and another 20% spent on new opportunities, Rasulo said.In China, Rasulo cited the $4.4 billion the Mouse House is spending in Shanghai to build its sixth resort, which will open in 2015, and take advantage of growing leisure travel in the region. "We know that when we have a theme park in a market, it moves our brand very rapidly," Rasulo said.He also said the company is "aggressive" about the "exploding" theatrical market in Russia. The company hosted a premiere of the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" entry there this summer.Rasulo also noted that the Disney Channel has regional networks in 100 markets and serves as "a powerful device" to spread the Disney brand; then there's the 2,700 books in the Disney Princess line that are helping to grow that $4 billion biz.The multiple platforms to distribute Disney's "creative content" are "fundamental for our success," Rasulo said.Given "Avatar's" world domination at the box office, Rasulo was high on the planned themed lands inside Disney's Animal Kingdom park to help attract foreign guests -- despite the hefty $500 million pricetag for construction. Rasulo said the company already had plans to upgrade the park with new attractions, but after the "Avatar" license was brokered, "We just won't do something else we were going to do."The exec said Disney wasn't upgrading its parks just because they're getting older -- the Magic Kingdom, the company's most popular park, is turning 40 this year and hadn't seen a major facelift since its opening until the expansion of its Fantasyland, set to be fully open by 2013."I don't believe that as a park gets older it necessarily needs more refurbishment or more capital to stay alive," Rasulo said. "Fundamentally, we look toward major additions that will move the needle" of park attendance. He called "Avatar" one of those needle movers given its box office haul, its rich world and upcoming sequels."The consumer is coming back. They're certainly not all the way back," Rasulo said of current attendance levels at Disney's parks. "The consumer's wobbly, a little hesitant, but still buying."As for the interactive arena, Rasulo said he's often asked, "Why are you even in the games business?"But the exec said, "We know our consumers are there. We see this space as having great growth potential and one we should play in."Acquiring Playdom and tapping John Pleasants and James Pitaro as co-presidents to run the games group were ways to refocus the division. The execs aim to be profitable by 2013, Rasulo said, by focusing on key franchises, which include Marvel, Toy Box, Mickey Mouse and what's termed "Disney Imagination," which includes fantasy worlds like Club Penguin."If we want to be a cross-the-board, fully integrated entertainment company taking our franchises as far as they can be, we should be in console games, casual games," Rasulo said. "Historically, we overfocused on the console side of the business and fully neglected the social side and somewhat neglected the casual side ... which was growing at a rapid rate.The holy grail is an integrated system where you play Club Penguin, there's a mobile version, an online version and a console version," Rasulo added. "We haven't had this integrated strategy before."On tapping Bob Chapek as Disney's new head of consumer products and folding the distribution of homevideo titles into the group, Rasulo said the move was made because "we have a lot of touchpoints at retail and we thought we'd take this opportunity to recognize we are one company (whose divisions have) similar goals and strategies in how we position ourselves at retail." Chapek will now give Disney "one voice and one organization that will handle all of the products that we distribute."While Disney has been creative in how it packages its discs, through the addition of DVDs and digital copies with Blu-rays, "the whole home entertainment business in the physical sense is a melting ice cube," Rasulo said. "We're maximizing what's left in the physical channel ... but in general, this is a market that is moving over time to digital." Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com

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TV tacks in new direction

'Crematorium'Over this year's-11 season, Spain's entry into original series production remains one of the finest steps forward for local TV in the decade.To start with, Paybox Canal Plus plowed into quality TV fiction production with two skeins: David Trueba's black comedy series "Que fue p Jorge Sanz?" and Jorge Sanchez Cabezudo's withering social portrait of recent The nation, "Crematorium."Turner's TNT bowed Mariano Barroso's edgy series "Todas las mujeres" last October. As well as, since June, TNT remains airing "Adult Frolic in the water Created in the united states.InchSibel Intl. Channels The nation co-produced "Mentes en Shock" with Fox Latin America, a The the spanish language language redo of U.S. drama "Mental," which launched in April.Such moves have elevated the bar for local fiction series. They've been readily received through the the spanish language language testers, who recognized the creative protections of latest pay TV productions in marked contrast for the frequently-careful productions from the the spanish language language free-to-air market.In contrast for the relaxation from the Eu, The the spanish language language pay TV features a limited impact, given its low 30% transmission, the brand new skeins surpassed funnel anticipation, reinforcing brand identity.Operating in the united states since 1990, Canal Plus has typically driven subs via its movie and soccer options. Now it's exploring new territory."It's very crucial that you keep a extended-term production way of this to produce sense," states Canal Plus director Miguel Salvat. "It is important money for hard times within our brand."An infrequent-for-The nation, nearly half-hour six-seg comedy, "Que fue" pictures real-existence The the spanish language language thesp Jorge Sanz's pathetic attempts to reboot a allegedly flagging career, aided by his unflaggingly positive tyro agent. Each episode can be a litany of disappointments.Treading just a little distinction between fiction and reality, "Que fue" was allotted around 100,000 ($144,000) per episode and shot with just one HD camera. "Canal Plus advised us to respect the first idea. The fact the funnel desired to behave different will be a large boost for people,In . Trueba states.Both "Que fue" and "Crematorium" illustrate a talent increase from cinema into TV production. Like Trueba and Barroso, Sanchez-Cabezudo made his title just like a feature film director.Occur the imaginary Mediterranean capital of scotland - Misent, "Crematorium" notifies the story from the property developer (The the spanish language language actor Jose Sancho), who amasses lots of money by greasing local politicos' palms.Unlike previous The the spanish language language TV series, "Crematorium" was shot almost mainly on location, using two production models, and, further aiding its theatrical feel, a 4k digital image, using the Mediterranean's colors and light-weight.Furthermore, it treats some delicate issues -- sex, corruption -- with unusual candor."The series was produced enhancing just what the story needed, without conditioning factors," states producer Fernando Bovaira, founding father of Mod Prods. It cost around $720,000 per 50-minute episode -- round the greater finish for just about any The the spanish language language drama.Cinemax Latin America has acquired "Crematorium" for just about any 2012 broadcast slot on its premium TV service. Provided by Vicente Canales's Barcelona-based sales company Film Factory Entertainment, the series has furthermore been bought for Scandinavia by NonStop and Vapet in Czech Republic. Imagina/Televisa-controlled web LaSexta has already established The the spanish language language free-to-air TV rights. "The world companies are showing an important approach to recoup investment," Bovaira states. "But continue, we have to explore new techniques for cooperating on projects with European and Latin American tv producers.InchRecoupment is really a factor. Engaging in fiction, many pay TV players are generating important from necessity since Spain's General Audiovisual Law, approved this season, obliges private-sector systems to obtain a the least 2% from the annual revenues in TV series, minis or docus.Original series could also create a greater empathy with local audience, that's what we should are trying to find, states Pablo Vinuales, mind of programming for Fox Intl. Channels The nation.Company-production also allows Fox to get into exclusive dramas, and then sell on the rights."Generally, The the spanish language language TV series have a very great future in areas such as the Hispanic U.S. and Latin America, despite the fact that some plans only have The the spanish language language market potential," states Turner The nation gm Domingo Corral.Joining with Barcelona-based outfit El Terrat, TNT is creating sitcom "Zombies," toplining The the spanish language language TV showman Berto Romero. TNT also plans to create a one-hour TV drama, Corral states."Local series productions will occupy a larger space inside our schedule, but without sidelining amazing current U.S. fiction," states Corral, while Bovaira notes that "The nation needs distinctive, innovative pay TV production, that's edgier and more personal and much more personal than free-to-air TV production." In creating it, Spain's pay TV operators make a good start. WORLD REPORT: SPAINPlay for your match TV tacks in new direction Fest Traveler: San SebastianRookie bow scores large Genre fare reborn under Rebordinos The best way to Shoot in SpainFair-weather filmmaking Studio aims for parity with Euro rivals Key players Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Snoop Dogg heads up Fillmore Slim biopic

Rapper Snoop Dogg has been cast as Fillmore Slim in a biopic of the legendary blues singer and guitarist's life.Is this the best casting since Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch? Not for the blues singing and guitar playing but because Slim - AKA Clarence Sims - was also a well-known pimp in San Francisco during the '60s and '70s.Not that we're suggesting Snoop Dogg is, or ever has been, an actual pimp. Actual pimps are probably pretty grim. But in the rap world, being a pimp means you're good with girls, apparently. And Snoop occasionally refers to himself as one. That's why it's good casting. Look, we never claimed to be rap experts.Co-producer Alan Ames is writing the screenplay with Carole Parker, while Hawthorne James will direct.Ames says he was approached by Sims' daughter Rebecca to work on the project."This film will span decades from Slim's emergence as a musician, to his fascination with the fast life, through his years of incarceration and his redemption," Ames told Deadline.com.The Legend Of Fillmore Slim begins filming in March 2012.

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Frederick Gordon-Levitts Premium Hurry trailer speeds online

The very first trailer for Premium Hurry has showed up online.Starring Frederick Gordon-Levitt like a daredevil bike courier, Premium Hurry is directed by David Koepp, who's most likely better referred to as a blockbuster author (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Guy) than the usual director (Stir Of Echoes, Ghost Town).Could Premium Hurry change that though? Thinking about he's made cycle couriering really look quite awesome, the solution may be yes.JGL may be the delivery boy who eventually ends up wanting he had not taken responsibility for just one particular parcel when he eventually ends up with Michael Shannon's seedy cop on his tail.There's frenetic action aplenty, neat pictures, and Gordon-Levitt being all awesome and stuff, which means this has got the potential to become a dark equine from the 2012 multiplex scene.Browse the trailer here:Premium Hurry opens 3 Feb 2012.

J.J. Abrams Beams Around 'Star Trek 2' Director's Chair

FROM MTV MOVIES: Sometimes, in the event you wait extended enough (and blog with sufficient contentration), the planet will hear your cries of anguish and soothe these with a sizable glass of thirst-quenching Romulan Ale. Or, better still, provide confirmation that J.J. Abrams has finally dedicated to pointing the "Star Trek" follow-up. Either in situation, you're pretty psyched. After showing he used to be up up about pointing the anticipated follow-up to his very effective reboot in the space franchise, NY Magazine's Vulture blog is verifying that Abrams is onboard which pre-production is showed up. Stating not named affiliates familiar with the "Super 8" director's plans, Vulture reported the script is predicted to become completed by month's finish which shooting could begin this winter. Entertainment Weekly confirmed what is the news on Wednesday (September 14). Abrams recently finished shooting the fourth "Mission: Impossible" movie, "Ghost Protocol" which again stars Tom Cruise, as well as Ving Rhames, Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway and Paula Patton has hedged formerly about whether he'd occupy another tour concerning the Enterprise before a killer script reaches place. In August, he told Collider, "Whenever you say, 'We're ready, but we don't use a finished script yet,' or, 'I'm pointing the main one factor and here's the release date, but we don't use a finished script,' what starts to happen is always that you're out of the blue in production about the movie where you stand thinking, 'Oh my God, i was not necessarily ready!' " See the full story at MTV Movies!