First, the Avatar movie website crashes. Then Fox shows footage to those media who didn't attend Comic-Con. Now, Friday will be "Avatar Day" when audiences worldwide get their first look at selected scenes in 3-D at select cinemas and IMAX theaters as well as the film's trailer. Fox also will take the wraps off its special “3-D”/lenticular one-sheet posters for the film, and Ubisoft will unveil the trailer for their videogame James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game, while Mattel will reveal the action figures for the film’s Avatar and alien Na’vi characters. The extended look at Avatar will unspool for two showings only on the evening of August 21. Information on reserving tickets for these very limited showings will be available are at avatarmovie.com. The film opens everywhere December 18th.

LOS ANGELES – August 17, 2009 – T Asset Acquisition, LLC, and related entities that own the rights to the Terminator movie franchise announced today that they have commenced reorganization proceedings under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in federal Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles. The companies will seek to restructure their financial obligations and resolve related litigation and other matters and emerge from Chapter 11 later this year or early in 2010. Peitzman, Weg & Kempinsky, LLP, is reorganization counsel and Glaser, Weil, Fink, Jacobs, Howard & Shapiro, LLP, is corporate and litigation counsel to the companies.

'Terminator' Producers Accuse Hedge Fund Of Extortion, Bribery, Fraud In Lawsuit

Look at U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler's decision in Delaware yesterday on Universal's motion to dismiss in the Redbox case. (He granted it in part, and denied it in part. The Hollywood studios lined up against Redbox aren't happy that the court allowed Redbox's antitrust claims to continue, but threw out its copyright misuse and tortious interference claims.) But never mind the law or the decision itself. I can't believe the moronic and self-indulgent writing. Because this jerk of a judge imagines it the height of wit to sprinkle his decision with a bunch of bad puns using movie titles. Makes you wonder how seriously he took this. For example: "Redbox maintains that Universal has otherwise failed to 'Do the Right Thing' in seeking to prevent Redbox from buying new release Universal DVDs from other wholesalers and retailers, and in some cases succeeding in those attempts. With the 'Mercury Rising' in the relationship between Redbox and Universal, Redbox employees turned to a 'Cloak and Dagger' exercise, visiting Wal-Mart and Best Buy stores in an attempt to purchase multiple copies of Universal DVDs." Other new and old movie titles used are Duplicity, To Kill A Mockingbird, Hamlet, Great Expectations, Counselor At Law, The 'Burbs, The Fast And The Furious, Legal Eagles, Two For The Money, The Real McCoy, Two For The Money, Brüno, Raising Cain. What is it about Hollywood that makes everyone who comes within 5,000 miles of the place lose major IQ points?

EXCLUSIVE: MGM made a major management re-shuffle this morning as Harry Sloan is pushed aside as CEO but retains his chairman title. Now there's an "Office Of The CEO" filled by three people: Mary Parent, still chairperson of the worldwide motion picture group; Bedi Singh, CFO and president of finance and administration; and Stephen F Cooper, vice chairman and restructure specialist who's the partner of Zolfo Cooper. It's about time: Sloan, who was named to the CEO post in October 2005, was a disaster after inheriting MGM's killer $3.7B debt and couldn't tell the truth about how bad the studio's situation really was. I hear he was naturally upset about being fired as CEO "but has come to terms with his removal". Meanwhile, MGM's owners "went and hired one of the best in the world -- Stephen Cooper -- who's committed to strengthening MGM's capital structure and figuring out how this company survives". Parent and Singh, meanwhile, have kept MGM afloat by making a slate of movies with financial partners. I hear Mary Parent could have had walked out the door with her contract paid off. But she decided to stay and keeo her fingers crossed. "Everyone's linked arms and we're full steam ahead," an MGM insider tells me. "We've got a fighting chance."

UPDATE: Here's the official announcement:

LOS ANGELES, CA, August 18, 2009 – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM) today announced the formation of the Office of the CEO. Mary Parent, Chairperson for Worldwide Motion Picture Group, and Bedi A. Singh, President, Finance and Administration & Chief Financial Officer, have been named members of the Office of the CEO. Ms. Parent and Mr. Singh are joined by Stephen F. Cooper, who has been appointed Vice Chairman and member of the Office of the CEO. The Office of the CEO will report to the Board of Directors.

MGM also announced that Harry E. Sloan, current Chairman of the Board and CEO, will continue with the company as Chairman.

The Board of Directors said, “Both Mary and Bedi have demonstrated strong leadership during their respective tenures at MGM, and we are confident in their ability to ensure the company continues to aggressively pursue its business objectives. We welcome Steve, who brings unique expertise working with a wide variety of companies to improve their financial position. This leadership team offers MGM the ideal combination of talent to best position the company for the long term: industry experience, management continuity and the addition of a proven professional with expertise in strengthening capital structures. We look forward to working together to maximize MGM’s long-term value.”

The Board continued, “Since he joined MGM in October 2005, Harry has been responsible for substantially growing MGM’s existing businesses and leading its expansion into new areas. He has driven important initiatives such as developing our distribution relationship with Fox, reinvigorating MGM’s movie production efforts, launching Epix together with Viacom and Lions Gate Entertainment, relaunching the United Artists brand with new films, rebuilding MGM’s worldwide television distribution, and building other ancillary growth businesses. We are pleased that Harry will serve as Chairman and that MGM will continue to benefit from his contributions.”

Mr. Sloan said, “We have made important progress building MGM’s operations and executing significant growth initiatives over the last four years. MGM can now draw from the excellent team we have assembled and attract top talent such as Steve Cooper to help lead the company through its next phase. As an investor, I firmly believe that the team will work to bolster MGM’s operational and financial strengths during this challenging macroenvironment.”

Ms. Parent was appointed Chairperson of MGM’s Worldwide Motion Picture Group in March 2008 and has driven MGM’s reinvigorated production efforts. Mr. Singh, who joined MGM in May 2008, has extensive worldwide entertainment industry and financial management experience. In addition to their responsibilities as members of the Office of CEO, Ms. Parent and Mr. Singh will continue to perform the duties expected of them in their current roles.

Mr. Cooper has more than 30 years of experience and a demonstrated track record of working with companies’ key stakeholders to preserve and build value. His primary responsibility as Vice Chairman and member of the Office of the CEO will be to lead MGM’s efforts to evaluate alternatives to improve its balance sheet.

The new leadership team looks forward to completing MGM's new production slate, which includes the upcoming release of Fame on September 25, as well as The Cabin In The Woods on February 5, 2010; Hot Tub Time Machine on February 26, 2010; Red Dawn on September 24, 2010; The Zookeeper starring Kevin James on October 8, 2010; and Poltergeist on November 24, 2010. The new iteration of the long-running television franchise Stargate Universe launches on the Syfy Channel on October 2. MGM co-owns and will co-produce The Hobbit with executive producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh and New Line Cinema. MGM will also release the next installment of the James Bond series, which will be produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions Ltd.

The Tribeca Film Festival and Tribeca All Access will run from April 21 to May 2 in New York City and Tribeca Film Institute's Tribeca All Access program from April 19 to 26. The Festival also announced a Call for Submissions for narrative and documentary features as well as for short film entries. TAA has announced a call for qualifying feature length scripts and documentary works-in-progress.

Deadlines to submit U.S. and International films for the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival:
September 14 – SUBMISSIONS OPEN
November 13 – EARLY DEADLINE, FEATURES & SHORTS
December 14 – OFFICIAL DEADLINE, ALL FEATURES AND SHORTS COMPLETED IN 2009
January 11 – LATE DEADLINE, FEATURES STILL IN POST-PRODUCTION AFTER OFFICIAL DEADLINE

Starting September 14, submission forms and complete information regarding eligibility for the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival will be available at www.tribecafilm.com/festival.

Deadlines for U.S.-based filmmakers to submit for the 2010 Tribeca All Access:
September 14 – SUBMISSIONS OPEN
October 26 – EARLY DEADLINE
December 14 – FINAL DEADLINE

Internationally-based filmmakers should apply through one of TAA’s partner organizations (UK Film Council, ScreenAustralia, or the Canadian Film Centre).

Submission forms and complete information regarding eligibility for the 2010 Tribeca All Access program will be available at www.tribecafilminstitute.org starting September 14, 2009.

TOLDJA! UPDATES: DreamWorks About To Announce Debt Financing

Los Angeles, CA (August 17, 2009) - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, chairman of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, the parent company of Reliance Big Entertainment and Reliance BIG Pictures along with Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider, the principal partners of DreamWorks Studios jointly announced today the completion of the first phase of funding for their new motion picture company, based in Los Angeles, California. They further announced that J.P. Morgan Securities arranged the syndication of approximately $325 million of senior debt which Reliance Big Entertainment is matching with its equity commitment. The Walt Disney Studios, who will handle marketing and distribution for the studio, will also extend a loan to DreamWorks as part of the distribution deal.

The debt financing was led by J.P. Morgan, who brought together other lenders to set-up DreamWorks with its first wave of funds. Participants include: Bank of America, City National Bank, Wells Fargo, Comerica, Union Bank of California, SunTrust, California Bank & Trust, and Israel Discount Bank.

Anil Ambani said: “Our partnership with Stacey and Steven is the cornerstone of our Hollywood strategy as we grow our film interests across the globe. Given our faith in the business plan that they presented to us and despite the current economic climate, we were always confident that this day would come. Now Stacey and Steven can focus on producing more of the great films for which they are renowned.”

“This will allow us to move ahead quickly into production with our first group of films, said Stacey Snider and Steven Spielberg in a joint statement. “We wish to thank Anil personally for his foresight and fortitude over the past months. We congratulate J.P. Morgan for their leadership in attracting this funding during today’s most challenging financial environment. Our thanks also to our distribution partner Disney who we look forward to working with in getting our movies out to the global audience.”

Joining Stacey Snider and Steven Spielberg on DreamWorks’ Board of Directors on behalf of the Reliance ADA Group are Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, Vice Chairman, Reliance Capital, and J.P. Morgan’s Alan J. Levine.

Alan J. Levine of J.P. Morgan Entertainment Advisors led the Reliance team in structuring the capital and business plan for the company. Schuyler Moore at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan was Reliance’s counsel. DreamWorks was advised by Skip Brittenham at Ziffren Brittenham LLP, Bruce Ramer and Harold Brown at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore. John Miller and David Shaheen at J.P. Morgan Securities led the senior debt syndication.

“It took great dedication over many months to turn our vision for this company into a reality,” said Jeff Small, President and Chief Operating Officer of DreamWorks Studios. “The time spent by everyone navigating the changing economic waters allowed us to make the most responsible deal for DreamWorks and ensure that our partnership with Reliance, from the very beginning, was built on solid ground. We appreciate the faith our bank group has in our business plan and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with them.”

DreamWorks has a long-term distribution deal with The Walt Disney Studios which will market and distribute approximately six live-action films a year for the company, except for India where Reliance Big Entertainment will retain distribution rights. The first release under Disney’s Touchstone banner is expected in 2010.

LOS ANGELES – August 17, 2009 – In a lawsuit filed in Superior Court here today, The Halcyon Company, which owns the rights to the Terminator movie franchise, accused a former employee of a Santa Barbara hedge fund of fraud and double-dealing, and of conspiring with the fund’s current CEO in a scheme to line their own pockets at Halcyon’s expense.

In a second suit also filed today, Dominion Group, LLC, which is owned by Halcyon principals Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, accused Pacificor of wrongfully filing a lien on certain of Dominion’s assets in order to block it from obtaining vitally-needed financing for Halcyon.

The two lawsuits each seek upwards of $30 million in damages from Santa Barbara-based Pacificor, LLC, and former Pacificor employee Kurt Benjamin. The Benjamin suit alleges that current Pacificor CEO Andy Mitchell conspired with Benjamin to take actions that represented not only a betrayal of Halcyon, but were also a breach of Pacificor’s fiduciary duties to its own investors.

Pacificor originally provided the financing for Halcyon’s acquisition of the motion picture and related rights to the Terminator franchise in May, 2007. Following its acquisition of the rights, Halcyon produced Terminator Salvation, the fourth movie in the Terminator series, which was released earlier this year.

According to the lawsuit against Benjamin, when Benjamin introduced Halcyon principals Anderson and Kubicek to potential financier Pacificor in early 2007, he presented himself as an independent contractor acting on Halcyon’s behalf. In fact, the lawsuit alleges, Benjamin was an employee of Pacificor at the time. Moreover, it says, not only did he not reveal to Halcyon that he was a Pacificor employee, he also did not reveal to Pacificor that he was being separately compensated by Halcyon for arranging the deal.

The Benjamin lawsuit outlines a scheme in which Mitchell and Benjamin took advantage of their knowledge of Halcyon’s confidential business information to manipulate the company into a position where they could threaten to ruin it if their demands for personal under-the-table compensation were not met.

Among other things, the Halcyon complaint against Benjamin accuses him of:

• Forcing Halcyon to pay him $500,000, plus 1.5% of its proceeds from the Terminator franchise for arranging the Pacificor financing deal, while keeping secret from Halcyon his relationship to Pacificor.
• Improperly revealing Halcyon’s trade secrets and confidential business information to Pacificor, so that Pacificor could obtain leverage in negotiating various loan agreements with Halcyon.
• Extorting a monthly salary from Halcyon by threatening to “kill” Halcyon’s various deals with Pacificor.
• Forcing Halcyon to obtain financing exclusively from Pacificor, rather than attempting to find other potential investors, in order to ensure that Pacificor could maintain control over Halcyon.

The complaint against Benjamin also alleges that Benjamin and Mitchell were offered bribes by potential buyers of the Terminator franchise. According to the complaint, “Benjamin, Mitchell, and Pacificor planned on taking the bribes, foreclosing on the Franchise and selling it to the potential buyers even though it likely was a breach of fiduciary duties to Pacificor’s investors.”

The suit against Pacificor alleges that Pacificor wrongfully sought to block Dominion from obtaining vitally-needed financing for Halcyon, by illegally filing a lien against Dominion assets in which Pacificor had not been granted any security interest or other rights.

This was emailed to me by a Bandslam insider who's also a prominent filmmaker (and asked to be anonymous) in response to my box office report that the Walden Media/Summit Entertainment pic had a disastrous $2.3M weekend despite great reviews, and that the marketing/packaging was so young that moviegoers thought it was High School Musical when it was closer to School Of Rock:

"Isn't there a story here? Death by marketing? A movie that gets 80% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes -- 90% from top critics -- won't see the light of day because Summit consistently made some of the worst choices, and their core audience summarily dismissed the movie without seeing it based on their sale.

Start off with the fact that they chose BANDSLAM for a title instead of WILL. They thought WILL was too indie. But that’s what made this movie special. It was an indie voice wrapped up in a high concept. So, instead of selling it quirky and cool (a la Juno) they sold it on the Disney channel's Vanessa Hudgens and Aly Milchaka. Instead of selling the concept, band of outcasts like The Commitments, they Disneyfied this movie with glitter paint. So what is an ironic, smart script with a killer soundtrack was sold like High School Musical meets Phil Of The Future. Instead of embracing it for its quirky-ness, for its unique voice (Will, the lead, calls high school “Guantanamo Bay with a lunch period”) they flattened it out so it looked like everything else. There have been literally dozens and dozens of calls today and e-mails from heads of marketing at different studios saying this may be singly the worst job they've ever seen on a movie whose unique voice deserved to be heard through positioning, title, marketing tie-ins, and knowing your audience. But Rob Freidman and Summit infantalized their audience. They presumed that since HSM was a hit, and the same star was in their movie singing, they should just sell it the same way.

Nancy Kirkpatrick took instructions from Rob. He had this idea in his head to sell it with the Disney slant, and no one could sway him. People tried, trust me. They knew the movie tested through the roof but the materials didn’t. And still he was bullish. He’s just so fucking arrogant. The real problem was that this was [Walden Media] Cary Granat’s baby and when he was let go, and Alex Schwartz was let go – the project got taken over by Summit. Eric Feig was in the middle of TWILIGHT, so it became Rob’s baby. He saw Vanessa singing and he could only could think of one way to sell it. The only problem is, she’s not playing Gabriella from HSM. She’s playing a dark, monotone goth character. And she’s really pretty good. But you wouldn’t know it by the ads. They should have let the audience re-discover her as this Aly Sheedy, Breakfast Club, freak, but instead, they found shots of her smiling, and sold it on that. And even though the movie was so NOT Disney. You’ve got lines like “A Nuremburg rally produced by MTV”, and a whole section that takes place in an abandoned CBGB’s talking about The Killers, The Sex Pistols, Black Flag, The Police, and U2. I mean, come on, this is NOT High School Musical. You’ve got a kid obsessed with David Bowie, writing him letters throughout the movie.

Look at the comments you got in your own section on this, the movie deserved to be seen. Todd Graff wrote and directed a beautiful lyrical film with a killer soundtrack that the Hollywood Reporter critic compared to a cross between Cameron Crowe and John Hughes. Read the Washington Post review. It’s crazy making.

For what it’s worth, Rob is very contrite now. He’s apologizing to everyone. Tail between his legs, that kind of thing. But as the reality hits, it’s too little, way too late. Heartbreaking.

Shame on them. The movie's good. It deserved a chance."

Joe Drake is an important guy inside Lionsgate as co-COO, prez of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, and CEO of Mandate Pictures. When his Mandate Pictures was acquired by Lionsgate August 2007, he began oversight of all areas of the company’s theatrical production, distribution, marketing, acquisition, and international theatrical operations. He's also one of the 4 top guys in the decision-making team of the indie studio. Well, film financing insiders are emailing me furiously that Drake sold 62,500 shares of Lionsgate on July 10th. He sold another 62,500 shares on August 12th and 13th. That's 125,000 shares in the past month -- despite the bullishness of analysts who've issued "buy" ratings on this stock. On August 10th, shares of Lionsgate soared more than 12% before close of market day when Lionsgate released 1st-quarter results of fiscal year 2010 (the period ending June 30th, 2009) that blew past Wall Street projections. 

The mini major reported net earnings per share of 30 cents for the quarter, or 21 cents on an adjusted basis, compared to the loss of 1 cent that analysts forecast. Revenues also rose 30%. And profit rose on higher television revenue and the addition of the TV Guide channel. But what was clear from the latest earnings statement is that Jon Feltheimer, himself a former TV exec, has turned Lionsgate into much more of a small screen company than a big screen play. That's not why Drake sold. The reason is way more boring: "It's what's known as a 10b5 filing, which is a form of structured sale by an insider," Lionsgate tells me. "He filed back in June or July to sell 500,000 shares over a six-month period. It's for estate planning purposes and to pay taxes on stock he received at the time of the Mandate purchase in August 2007. Under that 10b5 filing, he has sold 375,000 shares to date and has 125,000 to go."

Meanwhile, on Friday, Icahn Capital reported it had increased its stake in Lionsgate. Last we knew according to previous filings, Icahn owned about 17.7% of the mini major. And as of July 8th Icahn's entities held 20.7 million shares. He's been fairly quiet ever since Lionsgate management turned down his request for board seats, and then convertible debtholders largely rejected his tender offer for $325 million of convertible debt earlier this year. Just recently, Lionsgate named Mark Rachesky, its largest shareholder and Icahn's former investment protogee to its slate of board nominees which will seek approval from the upcoming September shareholders meeting. Exactly what Icahn, Lionsgate's 2nd largest shareholder, plans to do next is unclear. Run his own slate? Not enough time. Dump his stake? Hardly, not with the stock up.

The twists and turns that creator Matthew Weiner's Season 3 of Mad Men took behind the scenes biz-wise these many months were probably better than any plotting which starts tonight on AMC. (Heck, Weiner almost got replaced, more ads almost meant less show, the top AMC exec overseeing the series exited abruptly, and -- god forbid! -- mainstream media were incredulous that women make up 7 of the 9-member writing staff.) So it's apt that the Lionsgate series is this time around being promoted with the slogan “The World’s Gone Mad” and an ad depicting Jon Hamm's Don Draper sitting in his office, calmly smoking a Lucky Strike, as floodwater rises to his waist. It's 1963, when Beatlemania breaks out, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr marches on Washington, and President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. Will ratings finally reach the high level of hype this season? On a lighter note, the first episode is to be simulcast on the big screen in Times Square along with a costume party where fans can parade their swankiest Sixties attire.

• 'Mad Men' & AMC Settle 2-Minute Dispute
• AMC Squeezing 'Mad Men' In Season 3
• Matthew Weiner Sets The Record Straight
• 'Mad Men' Exec At AMC Abruptly Exits
• SANITY PREVAILS! Matthew Weiner & Lionsgate Agree To More 'Mad Men'
• Lionsgate Execs Look To Replace "Mad Men' Creator Weiner
• 'Mad Men' 2nd Season Finale Tonight
• Summer TV Left Us Maddened And Burned

SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM UPDATE: Sony is reporting its pick-up of Peter Jackson's low-budget indie prod District 9 was big -- right now $14.2M Friday and $12.6M Saturday (-11%) and a projected $10.1M Sunday from 3,049 theaters. So it's a $37M weekend, much higher than rivals thought possible, and a great result considering the sci-fi pic's negative cost is only $30M. Then again, producer Peter Jackson's name means so much to aged 18-49 moviegoers. Comic-Con geeks and movie critic geezers loved it. It was the #1 most tweeted topic Friday night. And Marc Weinstock's viral marketing campaign for a year bore no Sony/Tri-Star logo on purpose so it wouldn't have a big studio's PR machine feel to it. (As if the audience had organically discovered the pic themselves.) There several web sites tied to the film's plot and characters, and an outdoor creative campaign (bus benches, bus sides, billboards, etc) that encouraged people to call a toll-free number to report non-human activity. District 9 played to its core male fan base and exit polls show 64% of the opening weekend audience was male and 57% was 25 or older.

This was a Sony pickup for North America and the English-speaking world, and a number of international territories like Italy, Russia, Portugal, Korea, China, Hong Kong, and much of Africa, for $25 million. Russia just opened the movie huge -- maybe $4M.

Here's how the pic went down: District 9 director Neill Blomkamp was supposed to be Peter Jackson's helmer on Halo, which went down in flames. But Peter and his partner Fran Walsh kept Neill in New Zealand to develop his short film, Alive In Joburg. Jackson then turned it into a hard-cover faux graphic novel. That book went to Peter's longtime manager Ken Kamins to arrange financing and set it up as a film. Ken made the decision to go indie, and contacted his former colleague and current office space roomie Bill Block, who runs QED Intl (Oliver Stone's W) which was given first shot to finance foreign pre-sales. Block, being the wily coyote he is, had to commit to fully financing the movie even before AFM was underway. What a risk -- because there was no star, no budget, no script. When the deal went down that November 2007 and hit Variety, Peter Schlessel at Sony was on the phone to Block two hours later asking for a meeting the next morning at AFM. So Peter looked at the graphic novel, then got on the phone with Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton, who both insisted on a confab with Block that afternoon. Over at AFM, other studios kicked the tires but didn't buy. Finally Sony picked up the domestic (but through Tri-Star, not Columbia). The result is not just another Amy Pascal pic starring Adam or Will but, according to the 88% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, an imaginative, creative, cutting-edge pic made outside the studio system.

Paramount's GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra dropped hard, down -68% (because of last Friday's $2M midnight shows) for $7M and #3 Friday. But the soldier actioner surged Saturday for $8.9M and #2 for a $22.5M weekend in line with studio estimates. Paramount still thinks it can get to $300M worldwide eventually with a $98.7M domestic cume and $91M foreign cume this weekend.

New Line/Warner Bros' The Time Traveler's Wife based on the bestselling book opened to $7.7M and #2 Friday but dropped -17% Saturday for $6.4M and #3. It was a disappointing $19.2M weekend from 2,988 runs. That's hardly the $25M rival studios expected. (Isn't it funny how New Line has gone from pumping out testerone to estrogen? But Eric Bana isn't leading man worthy. Too dull on screen.)

Sony's #4 Julie & Julia did a $12.4M (-40% from last weekend) neighborhood after making $3.6M Friday and $4.8M Saturday from 2,345 theaters. At one point midday Friday, GI Joe even fell behind Julie & Julia "because its audience is so old they are in bed by 6 PM," one studio exec quipped. Its cume is $43.6M.

Disney's secret agent guinea pigs in Jerry Bruckheimer's first 3-D foray G-Force was #5 with $6.9M weekend and $99M cume.

What the studio is saying is the last of the Paramount Vantage titles, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, opened to $2M Friday and $1.8M Saturday at 1,838 dates for #6 and a $5.3M weekend. The comedy stars Jeremy Piven and he's been everywhere plugging it -- even on that WWE wrestling horror Raw.

Warner Bros' Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince limped in at #7 with $1.4M Friday and $2M Saturday for a $5.1M weekend for a $283.3M cume. in 8th place, Sony's Ugly Truth romantic comedy took in $1.4M Friday and $1.7M Saturday for a $4.5M weekend and $77.5M cume.

Disney toon Ponyo is from Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki in 927 dates and debuted at No. 9 with a $3.5M weekend because the kiddies need something fresh in theaters.

Just slipping into the Top 10 was Fox Searchlight's 500 Days Of Summer with a $3M weekend and new cume of $17.9M. But even Fox had ahead Sony/Universal's Funny People which eked out $943K Friday and $1.1M Saturday for also a $3M weekend and very weak $47.9M cume. It looks like $1,700+ separated the two pics. Monday's actuals will decide it.

Falling out of the Top 10 altogether to No. 13 was Walden Media/Summit Entertainment's teen musical playing in 2,121 venues, Bandslam. It opened with only $1M Friday despite the fact Summit paired it with the New Moon theatrical trailer teaser from its Twilight Saga franchise. ("Ooooh, that Taylor Lautner is so hunky." Start gag reflex.) Though its weekend was a disastrous $2.3M from 2,121 theaters, Bandslam is getting great reviews across the country (84% to date on Rotten Tomatoes). But the marketing/packaging was so young that moviegoers think it's High School Musical when it's closer to School Of Rock.

Overall, the weekend looks like $130M, up +10% from last year.

Howard Rodman is running for another term on the Board Of Directors of WGA, West, and asked DHD to post this statement. (All candidate statements welcome):

I would ask you now to remember what our Guild was like at the turn of the century.

Leadership urged us to lower our expectations, and lower them again, lest the conglomerates fail to “take us seriously.” We were discouraged at every turn from working forward from our needs — instead, we were encouraged to work backwards from what the conglomerates had in mind to give us. Negotiation was seen as using best intelligence to suss out the companies’ bottom line, then to meet them there. This is, we were told, what the DGA does. This is, we were told, what “serious” unions do.

If there were tensions, they could be blamed on the evil executive of the WGAE – even as they blamed their troubles on the evil WGAw. Screenwriters and TV writers could blame each other. And while we sniped at ourselves, the conglomerates were left to decide what we were worth. And we, again and again, we took what they offered.

In that era, an active and engaged membership was viewed as an irrelevancy at best, a threat at worst. The Guild’s President and E.D. could take care of business just fine, if we writers would only get out of the way.

If you were an active and engaged writer, this was crazymaking. If you were any kind of writer: it was deeply wrong.

Together with talented and spirited colleagues, I ran for the Board in 2005 and 2007 in hopes of setting things right. Our platform: that the Guild should organize those without; organize those within; organize those beyond.

I can comfortably say we did that, with focus and spirit.

The media conglomerates, used to the Guild’s traditional bluster-and-cave, found a union more engaged, more savvy, more united, than they’d ever faced. Even those on other sides of the table admitted to me, privately, that the strength, energy, inventiveness, and solidarity of our membership were beyond anything they’d seen, far beyond anything they’d expected.

While it took a strike to get what we needed, and while it is my deepest hope that our WGA generation never has to go through that again, let’s look at the things that our membership and leadership, working together for once, have achieved: The absolutely essential foothold in the internet. Countless contracts in cable. Vastly increased political clout. Stronger alliances with fellow guilds and unions.

In my own bailiwick, which is independent film (I’m a four-hundred-dollar-per-screen kind of guy), we’ve brought smaller films into the tent, and in the process, made our Guild larger and stronger.

We’ve signed 131 Low–Budget Agreements, resulting in well over a hundred feature films that would not otherwise have been Guild-covered. We’ve signed six partnership agreements where the writer, after limited and defined investor recoupment, shares in first-dollar gross. We’ve signed four documentary screenplay contracts. And we’ve negotiated retroactive coverage to 13 high-profile independent films.

But to my mind the best and most essential thing to have been gained in the last few years is this: we now have a Guild that, to a far greater extent than has been true in decades, is guided by its membership, with a staff responsive to that membership. We are no longer pitted against each other. And we have a leadership that feels proud of — rather than scared shitless by — the idea that the inmates might actually know something about how to run the asylum.
•••
I welcome the opportunity (with your support) to continue to serve our Guild. I look forward to serving with President Elias Davis, Vice-President Tom Schulman, and Secretary-Treasurer David N. Weiss. And I look forward to serving on the Board with those not this year up for re-election; with my treasured colleagues Patric M. Verrone and Dan Wilcox; and with fine new colleagues, among them Linda Burstyn, Carleton Eastlake, Chip Johannessen, Jan Oxenberg, Luvh Rakhe, Billy Ray, Eric Wallace, Jed Weintrob, David Wyatt. In particular: it was my honor and pleasure to work with Billy Ray and Carl Eastlake during the strike, an experience that convinced me that they are essential to our Guild. Their service, in ways large and small, has more than earned your vote.

If elected, I will work toward the further expansion of our gains. I will work toward the relentless enforcement of what we’ve already gained. And I will work toward a more robust engagement between screen and television, between east and west. I don’t want us to abandon our differences, our contentions, our controversies. Rather, I want us to harness those energies to find what truly unites us. And, building on that, to form a more perfect union.

But mostly: I look forward, and would humbly urge you to do the same. Otherwise, we’re back where we were at the end of the 20th century — wringing our cloth caps, hoping against hope that if we can prove we’re “serious,” if we can prove we’re “reasonable,” the Man with the Power will succumb to moral suasion, will open up his heart, will step into that back room, and when he returns, will somehow deign to ladle out a bit more porridge.

Since July 28th when the Los Angeles County Museum of Art first announced that it would end its 4-decades-old film program in mid-October because of $1 million in losses over the last 10 years, an online protest has been growing. There are now over 2,100 signers of an online petition (including top-level movie critics, artists, dignitaries, and film-lovers from around the world), an active and vocal Facebook group, Twitter feeds, a Youtube video (search save film at lacma) and an email writing campaign. Marty Scorsese jumped into the fray with an open letter to LACMA director Michael Govan and the museum. Now the protest group http://savefilmatlacma.blogspot.com/ has confirmed it will meet with Govan on September 1st. "This so-called "popcorn summit" has as its stated goals to convey the critical importance of the LACMA film program for our community; help find ways to reinstate and enhance the museum's commitment to film; and present Michael Govan with our petition," the grassroots organization says. "The meeting location is still unconfirmed. Present at the meeting will be film scholars, movie critics, film lovers and others deeply affected by the museum's decision. We are pleased Mr. Govan committed to this meeting."

At the same time, SaveFilm@LACMA expresses puzzlement by LACMA's lack of response to Scorsese's passionate letter to preserve the film program and commit to film as an art form. (The director's personal connection to LACMA stretches back almost 40 years to when he lived in LA during the 1970s and regularly attended the film series. It was during a 20th Century Fox retrospective at LACMA that he first became aware of the issue of color film fading and the urgent need for film preservation.) "We wonder about the meaning of LACMA's silence. Given the outpouring of dismay over the cancellation, LACMA owes it to our community to engage in open, honest, civic dialogue. So far we've seen form letters and boilerplates filled with double-speak from LACMA — even on their so-called Discussion Forum. Damage control is not enough. We demand to know what the museum's intentions are for the film program." The museum is telling news outlets it plans to find potential donors to underwrite some future film program that will be curated like the museum's other exhibits.

Also, in case you haven't seen it, here's the protest video:

So which is more pathetic... That Michael Eisner is desperate for personal publicity? That he gets his Hollywood insider information now from reading newspapers? That he's pitching dumb TV shows to his former competitor Viacom and not to Disney? That Nickelodeon TV prez Cyma Zarghami thought Eisner was phoning her looking for a freebie as "another zillionaire too cheap to pony up for a suite at the hotel" despite the more than $1 billion in salary, bonuses, and stock options he raked in during his 21 years as Head Rat at Disney. Or that, in The New York Times today, he appears to take credit for every idea during his tenure?

AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon and National Executive Director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth discussed AFTRA's achievements and future in their reports to more than 250 delegates at the 2009 National Convention in Chicago on August 8. Those reports are now available on AFTRA's Web site for viewing at the following links.
For Reardon's report. For Hedgpeth's report.

Pete Antico is running for the National Board of SAG and asked DHD to post this video statement. (Please make your own candidate statement available):

I hear the deal isn't done yet. Remember how pre-merger he was pushed out by William Morris alpha female Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, and then took all his clients with him. Meanwhile, 3 Arts Entertainment has been trying to recapitalize.

He'll do stand up and sit down. Because if you can't get your friends to appear, then you might as well hang it up. Question is, does anyone still care about Seinfeld anymore? Sure, it was great when his show first went into syndication. But now I haven't bothered with those reruns of the reruns of the reruns in years.

DHD has just received this note from Fisher Stevens:

I have been involved with many films over the years as an actor, director and producer. But working on The Cove has been one of my proudest moments in 28 years of being in the  business. Getting the opportunity to make an exciting film, and one that can actually make a difference, is why I got into filmaking in the first place.

That is why I was so disappointed that our film, after winning awards in the last 13 film festivals it had entered, was rejected by the Tokyo Film Festival, whose theme this year is green. Not that it is that much of a shocker, but the main goal for making the film was to shut down the cove in Taijii, Japan, where 2,300 dolphins are killed every year. Most of the Japanese population has no idea that this is going on. What better way to let them know than to premiere it on the green carpet of this years festival.

We have sold the film in over 20 countries and sadly have yet to find any distributor who will go near the film in Japan.

We will continue to do our best to get the film out in Japan but it is a shame that, after being accepted in festivals all over the world, that we couldn't get into this one.

Sincerely,
Fisher Stevens