Media Market Journal

Editor Notice: Moving to Screen Fury

Jeff Rosz — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:33:35 +0000

If you want more Media Market Journal content, be sure to visit my new site Screen Fury (screenfury.com.) For the time being, MMJ has been put in a proverbial stasis as I figure out what to do with it; however, most people will find no difference aside from aesthetics when visiting the new location. Coverage is still of television and movie content with talk show interviews, trailers, and clips with about 10-20 posts per weekday.

Thanks for visiting,

Jeff Rosz

First Teaser Trailer for ‘Boardwalk Empire’ Season 4

Jeff Rosz — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:03:57 +0000

A new season of Boardwalk Empire means new characters to replace those who have passed away the previous season. This fall brings Jeffrey Wright of Casino Royale and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire fame on board. As such, he has a pretty prominent role in the year’s first footage-filled teaser opposite Steve Buscemi’s Nucky Thompson.

Teaser Promo for ‘Game of Thrones,’ May 26th Episode

Jeff Rosz — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:00:31 +0000

It is hard to believe, but only two more episodes remain of the third season of Game of Thrones. What’s going to happen in the penultimate episode. Here is a clue from the teaser promo that ran on top of the credits this weekend. The episode will air June 2 after a week off. What will air over Memorial Day Weekend in its place? The Matt Damon-Michael Douglas Liberace movie Behind the Candelabra.

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Debuts to $84 Million Through Sunday

Jeff Rosz — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:18:49 +0000

The studio estimates have come out for the weekend’s box office, and they are a little bit off from the expectations going into the three-day. Star Trek Into Darkness is the culprit of that as Paramount only found about 80% of what they were looking for. The studio was banking on early tracking of $100+ million through four days. Instead they got $84 million and change. This is $2 million south of what the previous film in the franchise did in its four-day debut without the benefit of 3D or IMAX hype.

What we may be seeing is that money does not necessarily make this franchise a bigger draw. Its character development and ongoing themes really helped narrate J.J. Abrams Trek, and now that seems to have taken a back seat to the more intense sci-fi action sequences. That is not to say it is gone, but any hope of capturing a healthy female audience certainly is, leading me to believe Paramount will push for more of Zoe Saldana’s Uhura in round three.

Yes, there will be a round three, but it would seem like $190 million backing the production was a little beyond what this franchise could reasonably support. How many times have we heard that said? Fans should expect a contraction back to $150 million although there is pretty much zero probability of Paramount boxing the series as they continue to look for tentpole programming.

Here is the field:

STAR TREK 2 – $70.6 M / $84.1 M
IRON MAN 3 – $35.2 M / $337.1 M
THE GREAT GATSBY – $23.4 M / $90.2 M
PAIN & GAIN – $3.1 M / $46.6 M
THE CROODS – $2.8 M / $176.8 M
42 – $2.7 M / $88.7 M
OBLIVION – $2.2 M / $85.5 M
PEEPLES – $2.2 M / $7.9 M
THE BIG WEDDING – $1.1 M / $20.2 M
OZ – $0.8 M / $231.2 M

EuropaCorp. Sets Up Chinese Partnership for Another ‘Transporter’ Trilogy

Jeff Rosz — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:17:02 +0000

Just ‘wow.’ It is seldom the case that three films are announced all at once, but this is exactly what we are seeing with the Transporter series over at EuropaCorp. Luc Besson’s production arm has just signed a deal with Fundamental Films that constitutes a portion of their current output deal. As part of the agreement, the two will co-finance, produce and distribute parts 4, 5, and 6 of the Jason Statham-led saga which is expected to stay low-budget. There is no confirmation on Statham’s return, but this appears to be at least more potent than the Cinemax television off-shoot series. The current hope is a capable director is given the gig for round four which sounds imminent.

Highlights From Ben Affleck’s Fifth Time Hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’

Jeff Rosz — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:48:50 +0000

There was no five-timers club, but it was a pretty good episode of Saturday Night Live nonetheless. Some great, non-cookie cutter sketches padded the gaps between Kanye West and a Stefon farewell which is all we could really ask for. Here are those bits starting with the monologue which poked some fun as Ben Affleck’s Oscar speech in February.

‘Weekend Update’ Says Goodbye to Stefon with Style

Jeff Rosz — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:42:39 +0000

Last night’s Ben Affleck-hosted Saturday Night Live meant it was the farewell show for Fred Armisen and Bill Hader. Both have been on the program for many years, and each have a very important place in the sketch variety show’s history. Perhaps the bigger deal though might have been this meant the recurring character of Stefon at the Weekend Update desk would be lost for who knows how long. That said, it was worth the over the top sendoff they did for the character with Seth Meyers last night, and we have the footage here today. Was this better than the Kristen Wiig goodbye last year? Maybe, but that is only because the patrons from all of New York’s hottest clubs showed up.

Ridley Scott’s Moses Pic ‘Exodus’ Set for December 2014

Jeff Rosz — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:10:40 +0000

Get set for a very biblical 2014. Not only is the year playing home to Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan follow-up Noah (a Noah’s ark tale starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly,) but it is also home to Exodus–Ridley Scott’s Moses pic that has been in the works for quite some time. Interestingly enough, we first heard of this pic last year at a time when it became known Steven Spielberg wanted his own Moses feature. That one eventually came off the map as Scott kept on track for with his next production, now dated for December 12 of next year.

Do not worry too much about oversaturation though as the Noah movie will land in March. There will be a pretty sizable gap and therefore plenty to talk about in regards to whether the ‘bible belt’ still bites into large scale features of the sort. They certainly gobbled up History’s mini-series The Bible, but this is different. There is always a concern of redundancy and Hollywood money grubbing at play here that might lead to widespread rejection. This is not exactly a reboot of a superhero movie. It is a reboot of a classic narrative retold for thousands of years.

For Exodus, expect casting on the pic soon. Christian Bale is assumed to be leading the project although that is yet to be confirmed. Schindler’s List and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo scribe Steven Zaillian wrote the script.

Nintendo to Take Ad Revenue From Brand Supporting Channels

Jeff Rosz — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:55:35 +0000

Nintendo: A core brand in video gaming that played a key role in its migration to the home entertain format. No one will ever forget their contributions as that is now part of history. Having said that, they are now a dead in the water company flailing in the water as the Wii U continues to flop in its first half-year of release. Even the once prominent handheld market is having a bit of a hiccup for them, and that is cause for concern. Yes, they are making a slight profit, but that is due to shrewd business practices and not a continued wave of support.

Naturally, the heads of the company are searching for any way possible to make up for lost revenue and the sort as a way of padding the balance sheet by time the next quarterly statement comes around. We see this a lot in the corporate world (particularly when a company’s leadership wants to maximize earnings before resigning–why else do you think the CEO of EA released SimCity before it was ready?) thus introducing a bit of a problem. The tactic is typically short-term in spirit which is exemplified in the Kyoto-based group’s most recent move.

I am talking about how Nintendo is laying copyright claim to all of their content on YouTube now. That is not to take it down from the site as that mostly constitutes free advertisement, but now using some of the site’s tools, the business is pocketing all the revenue which previously went to the websites and various individuals that made a living off promoting some of this content.

The problem with that is blatantly obvious. What this niche group of people do (some with subscribers in the six figures) is essentially offer whiffs of games from Nintendo and other company’s in exchange for the promise of ad revenue. Without that, they lose complete motivation to talk about these products. In other words, they can say goodbye to a large percentage of their free advertisements to their core audience of throwback gamers.

It is a basic question of whether or not advertising and marketing is worth the million or so in revenue Nintendo was forfeiting each year. Clearly, this is a terrible move on their part considering such ad income is not worth it when factoring in lost virtual console sales and the like from decreased awareness. They might be overestimating the desire for people to share and iconize Mario for free, and that is tragic. It is almost as short sighted as their ploy to forgo E3 in favor of Best Buy demos for new games six months out from release. Maybe they did not get the memo that the blue shirt retailer skews much older nowadays, but then again a comparison of Nintendo being behind the times is hardly new.

Michael Fassbender-Led ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Film Due Out May 2015

Jeff Rosz — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:10:09 +0000

Well, they sure showed us. When we first heard Ubisoft had attached Michael Fassbender for Assassin’s Creed: The Movie (my title, not theirs,) it seemed like this was yet another promising film project that would inevitably fail to see the light of day or, even worse, come out half-baked. After trouble with the major studios, the video game company eventually decided to go it their own and develop this one internally with New Regency producing which was another red flag although now we see a release date has been set up.

Ubisoft is partnering with Fox to distribute the pic which has been dated for May 22, 2015. That’s right, two years from now. There are no real details to go off at this time and a director is yet to be chosen, but the scheduling of Assassin’s Creed’s theatrical rollout shows they do believe this thing will inevitably get made. Prince of Denmark scribe Michael Lesslie wrote the first draft and Fassbender is producing, so yes, he does have a reason to remain attached although we are yet to hear the X-Men actor speak on the topic.

For those keeping score at home, this makes four video game to movie converts currently slated for actual release. Aside from Assassin’s Creed, it is expected that Need for Speed, Resident Evil 6, and Ratchet & Clank will arrive in theaters in March 2014, September 2014, and 2015 respectively. Projects merely in the development phase (meaning they could easily disappear) include Warcraft, Mass Effect, Splinter Cell, Shadow of Colossus, Drake’s Fortune, God of War, Spy Hunter, Deus Ex, Metal Gear Solid, Gears of War, and Tomb Raider.