Mpi Media Group has acquired North American rights to Michele and Kieran Mulroney's comedy-drama "Paper Man," starring Jeff Daniels, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone and Lisa Kudrow.
"Man" features Daniels as a blocked writer, who converses with an imaginary superhero, played by Reynolds, and who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a Long Island teenager, played by Stone.
The film was produced by FilmColony's Richard Gladstein, Film 360's Guymon Casady and Artfire Films' Art Spigel and Ara Katz, who fully financed the production. Executive producers include Dan Fireman of Fireman Capital Partners, and partner in Artfire, and Darin Friedman of Film 360.
It is a co-production of FilmColony; Film 360, the production division of Management 360; and Artfire Films.
A late spring theatrical release is planned.
The distribution deal was negotiated by Greg Newman, executive vp of Mpi Media Group and Dina Kuperstock of CAA.
"Man" features Daniels as a blocked writer, who converses with an imaginary superhero, played by Reynolds, and who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a Long Island teenager, played by Stone.
The film was produced by FilmColony's Richard Gladstein, Film 360's Guymon Casady and Artfire Films' Art Spigel and Ara Katz, who fully financed the production. Executive producers include Dan Fireman of Fireman Capital Partners, and partner in Artfire, and Darin Friedman of Film 360.
It is a co-production of FilmColony; Film 360, the production division of Management 360; and Artfire Films.
A late spring theatrical release is planned.
The distribution deal was negotiated by Greg Newman, executive vp of Mpi Media Group and Dina Kuperstock of CAA.
- 1/25/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
One of the revelations in the earlier announcement of titles for this year's Toronto International Film Fest is that George A. Romero's ...Of The Dead has an official title.
Survival Of The Dead will make it's World Premiere at the Festival as a part of it's Midnight Madness Screenings (see the full announcement here), and thanks to the festival website (currently down for maintenance, but promising a relaunch tomorrow), we've got several new pics and additional details to share.
George A. Romero'S Survival Of The Dead
Production Company: Blank of the Dead Productions Inc.
Executive Producer: Peter Grunwald, Art Spigel, Dan Fireman, Ara Katz, Michael Doherty, DJ Carson, Bryan Gliserman
Producer: Paula Devonshire
Screenplay: George A. Romero
Production Designer: Arv Greywal
Cinematographer: Adam Swica
Editor: Michael Doherty
Sound: Stephen Barden, Jill Purdy
Music: Robert Carli
Principal Cast: Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Devon Bostick, Kathleen Munroe, Richard Fitzpatrick...
Survival Of The Dead will make it's World Premiere at the Festival as a part of it's Midnight Madness Screenings (see the full announcement here), and thanks to the festival website (currently down for maintenance, but promising a relaunch tomorrow), we've got several new pics and additional details to share.
George A. Romero'S Survival Of The Dead
Production Company: Blank of the Dead Productions Inc.
Executive Producer: Peter Grunwald, Art Spigel, Dan Fireman, Ara Katz, Michael Doherty, DJ Carson, Bryan Gliserman
Producer: Paula Devonshire
Screenplay: George A. Romero
Production Designer: Arv Greywal
Cinematographer: Adam Swica
Editor: Michael Doherty
Sound: Stephen Barden, Jill Purdy
Music: Robert Carli
Principal Cast: Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Devon Bostick, Kathleen Munroe, Richard Fitzpatrick...
- 7/21/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (James Zahn)
- Fangoria
George A. Romero has finally filled in the blank at the beginning of the title of his latest zombie-filled tale of corpses and carnage. ... of the Dead is now being called Survival of the Dead, and it will be playing at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.
From the press release
Legendary filmmaker George A. Romero ended the chorus of fan speculation today by announcing the title of his latest film, George A. Romero’S Survival Of The Dead, which he had jokingly been calling ’Blank’ Of The Dead since production began late last year.
The film will premiere at the prestigious 2009 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the celebrated “Midnight Madness” series, spotlighting the ten best new horror movies from around the world.
“We’re overjoyed to welcome George back into the dark hallowed halls of Midnight Madness,” says International Programmer Colin Geddes. “And on a personal note,...
From the press release
Legendary filmmaker George A. Romero ended the chorus of fan speculation today by announcing the title of his latest film, George A. Romero’S Survival Of The Dead, which he had jokingly been calling ’Blank’ Of The Dead since production began late last year.
The film will premiere at the prestigious 2009 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the celebrated “Midnight Madness” series, spotlighting the ten best new horror movies from around the world.
“We’re overjoyed to welcome George back into the dark hallowed halls of Midnight Madness,” says International Programmer Colin Geddes. “And on a personal note,...
- 7/21/2009
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Michele and Kieran Mulroney's "Paper Man" has been selected to serve as the opening night film at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival, which kicks off June 18 at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood.
A genuine indie -- the film hasn't yet been picked up for distribution -- "Paper" stars Jeff Daniels has a middle-aged writer, dealing with both the demands of his wife (Lisa Kudrow) and an imaginary superhero (Ryan Reynolds), who strikes up a friendship with a teenager played by Emma Stone.
A husband-and-wife team, the Mulroneys wrote the feature, which marks their directorial debut. Their other writing projects include Warner Bros.' "Justice League."
The project was produced by Richard Gladstein through his FilmColony, Guymon Casady through his Film 360, and Art Spigel and Ara Katz through their Artfire Films, who also fully financed the production. Exec producers include Dan Fireman from Artfire and Fireman Capital Partners, and...
A genuine indie -- the film hasn't yet been picked up for distribution -- "Paper" stars Jeff Daniels has a middle-aged writer, dealing with both the demands of his wife (Lisa Kudrow) and an imaginary superhero (Ryan Reynolds), who strikes up a friendship with a teenager played by Emma Stone.
A husband-and-wife team, the Mulroneys wrote the feature, which marks their directorial debut. Their other writing projects include Warner Bros.' "Justice League."
The project was produced by Richard Gladstein through his FilmColony, Guymon Casady through his Film 360, and Art Spigel and Ara Katz through their Artfire Films, who also fully financed the production. Exec producers include Dan Fireman from Artfire and Fireman Capital Partners, and...
- 5/28/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Although George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead won't be released until next year, Artfire Films and Romero-Grunwald Prods. have greenlighted a sequel that Romero will direct from his screenplay.
The instant sequel, which will be offered at the American Film Market, will pick up where the first film ends. Fighting their way out of a mansion through a horde of ravenous zombies, the survivors of Diary escape to a remote island only to be plunged into another battle with the dead.
Principal photography is set to begin in the spring.
Romero-Grunwald's Peter Grunwald will produce with Artfire Films' Artur Spigel and Ara Katz. Dan Fireman of Artfire and Sam Englebardt will serve as executive producers. Voltage Pictures and Cinetic Media will oversee foreign and domestic sales, respectively, for the Artfire/RGP alliance.
Diary premiered at September's Toronto International Film Festival, where Cinetic sold North American and Mexican rights to the Weinstein Co.
The instant sequel, which will be offered at the American Film Market, will pick up where the first film ends. Fighting their way out of a mansion through a horde of ravenous zombies, the survivors of Diary escape to a remote island only to be plunged into another battle with the dead.
Principal photography is set to begin in the spring.
Romero-Grunwald's Peter Grunwald will produce with Artfire Films' Artur Spigel and Ara Katz. Dan Fireman of Artfire and Sam Englebardt will serve as executive producers. Voltage Pictures and Cinetic Media will oversee foreign and domestic sales, respectively, for the Artfire/RGP alliance.
Diary premiered at September's Toronto International Film Festival, where Cinetic sold North American and Mexican rights to the Weinstein Co.
- 10/31/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Not ready to let sleeping zombies lie, George A. Romero, who was thought to have concluded his Living Dead trilogy with the critically-acclaimed fourth installment, 2005's Land of the Dead, is back for more.
The reconceptualized George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead is a stripped-down take on those earlier movies, which both harkens back to the no-frills 1968 original and repositions those flesh-eating corpses along today's information superhighway.
But while the Romero movies were always as much social commentaries as they were gore fests, in this case all the overt hi-tech references to uploading video and blogging are at the expense of any palpable dread or real scares.
Give him props for trying to do something different, but this Living Dead exercise delivers far less monstrosity and a great deal of pomposity, not to mention dull characters who aren't nearly as lively as those dead guys.
While the film was acquired at the Toronto International Film Festival by the Weinstein Co., its theatrical potential remains questionable.
Even though Romero has his loyal fan base, this would seem to be a better bet for DVD, given the recent proliferation of zombie movies which have had mixed boxoffice results.
Taking the form of a documentary being made by a group of Pennsylvania college students driving a beat-up Winnebago past all those temporary corpses, Diary is just that, with no-nonsense Debra Michelle Morgan) providing a running commentary as part of the on-line blog component.
In between all those redundant observations, Debra, director Jason (Joshua Close) and their shrinking crew do manage to blow up their fair share of zombie brains, but most of the time they sit around doing a lot of navel-gazing.
There are still the occasional sparks, like when the group encounters a mute Amish farmer.
And Romero manages to get a sly jab in at all those movies with new, improved fast-moving zombies when one of the characters notes that if one of the undead actually tried to walk any faster they'd break their ankles.
But at the end of the day, Romero's most recent final installment goes nowhere, fast or slow.
No doubt, the dead will live again.
GEORGE A ROMERO'S DIARY OF THE DEAD
Artfire Films/Romero-Grunwald Prods.
Credits:
Director-writer: George A. Romero
Producers: Peter Grunwald, Art Spigel, Sam Englebardt, Ara Katz
Executive producers: Dan Fireman, John Harrison, Steve Barnett
Director of photography: Adam Swica
Production designer: Rupert Lazarus
Music: Norman Orenstein
Costume designer: Alex Kavanagh
Editor: Michael Doherty
Cast:
Debra: Michelle Morgan
Jason: Joshua Close
Tony: Shawn Roberts
Tracy: Amy Lalonde
Eliot: Joe Dinico
Maxwell: Scott Wentworth
Running time -- 95 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The reconceptualized George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead is a stripped-down take on those earlier movies, which both harkens back to the no-frills 1968 original and repositions those flesh-eating corpses along today's information superhighway.
But while the Romero movies were always as much social commentaries as they were gore fests, in this case all the overt hi-tech references to uploading video and blogging are at the expense of any palpable dread or real scares.
Give him props for trying to do something different, but this Living Dead exercise delivers far less monstrosity and a great deal of pomposity, not to mention dull characters who aren't nearly as lively as those dead guys.
While the film was acquired at the Toronto International Film Festival by the Weinstein Co., its theatrical potential remains questionable.
Even though Romero has his loyal fan base, this would seem to be a better bet for DVD, given the recent proliferation of zombie movies which have had mixed boxoffice results.
Taking the form of a documentary being made by a group of Pennsylvania college students driving a beat-up Winnebago past all those temporary corpses, Diary is just that, with no-nonsense Debra Michelle Morgan) providing a running commentary as part of the on-line blog component.
In between all those redundant observations, Debra, director Jason (Joshua Close) and their shrinking crew do manage to blow up their fair share of zombie brains, but most of the time they sit around doing a lot of navel-gazing.
There are still the occasional sparks, like when the group encounters a mute Amish farmer.
And Romero manages to get a sly jab in at all those movies with new, improved fast-moving zombies when one of the characters notes that if one of the undead actually tried to walk any faster they'd break their ankles.
But at the end of the day, Romero's most recent final installment goes nowhere, fast or slow.
No doubt, the dead will live again.
GEORGE A ROMERO'S DIARY OF THE DEAD
Artfire Films/Romero-Grunwald Prods.
Credits:
Director-writer: George A. Romero
Producers: Peter Grunwald, Art Spigel, Sam Englebardt, Ara Katz
Executive producers: Dan Fireman, John Harrison, Steve Barnett
Director of photography: Adam Swica
Production designer: Rupert Lazarus
Music: Norman Orenstein
Costume designer: Alex Kavanagh
Editor: Michael Doherty
Cast:
Debra: Michelle Morgan
Jason: Joshua Close
Tony: Shawn Roberts
Tracy: Amy Lalonde
Eliot: Joe Dinico
Maxwell: Scott Wentworth
Running time -- 95 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/13/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
More Toronto fest news
Toronto fest reviews
TORONTO -- The dead have risen. In a sale that once seemed as slow as a zombie, Weinstein Co. stepped up and bought North American and Mexican rights to "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead" for $2 million-$2.5 million.
The latest sequel to Romero's 1968 horror classic "Night of the Living Dead" closed Tuesday night after several offers were considered, including some for video-only distribution. The Weinstein Co. deal includes a theatrical commitment.
While R-rated horror movies didn't perform well at the boxoffice earlier this summer, the Weinstein Co.'s "Halloween", released by MGM, bucked the trend with a record-breaking Labor Day opening. "Dead" premiered late Saturday in the Midnight Madness section at Toronto and spooked out crowds.
The Artfire Films/Romero-Grunwald Prods. film was written and directed by Romero, produced by Peter Grunwald, Art Spigel, Sam Englebardt and Ara Katz, and executive produced by Dan Fireman, John Harrison and Steve Barnett.
Cinetic Media repped the filmmakers in the sale.
Toronto fest reviews
TORONTO -- The dead have risen. In a sale that once seemed as slow as a zombie, Weinstein Co. stepped up and bought North American and Mexican rights to "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead" for $2 million-$2.5 million.
The latest sequel to Romero's 1968 horror classic "Night of the Living Dead" closed Tuesday night after several offers were considered, including some for video-only distribution. The Weinstein Co. deal includes a theatrical commitment.
While R-rated horror movies didn't perform well at the boxoffice earlier this summer, the Weinstein Co.'s "Halloween", released by MGM, bucked the trend with a record-breaking Labor Day opening. "Dead" premiered late Saturday in the Midnight Madness section at Toronto and spooked out crowds.
The Artfire Films/Romero-Grunwald Prods. film was written and directed by Romero, produced by Peter Grunwald, Art Spigel, Sam Englebardt and Ara Katz, and executive produced by Dan Fireman, John Harrison and Steve Barnett.
Cinetic Media repped the filmmakers in the sale.
- 9/12/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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