• Sony antes $70 million for "T3" foreign rights
• 2 DreamWorks roles for Ellen Pompeo
• Bruckheimer's 'Vanished' pilot turns up at CBS
• What Lies Beneath A Potential Split Between Robert Zemeckis And Steven Spielberg?
• USA gives life to 'Dead Zone'
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  • Jan 02

Sony antes $70 million for "T3" foreign rights

Sony Corp. is developing yet another consumer electronics device: the Terminator. The company's movie arm is understood to have forked over $70 million for nearly all of the international distribution rights to "Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The film, whose $170 million budget makes it easily the most expensive film ever greenlit for production, will begin shooting in April under director Jonathan Mostow ("U-571"). Schwarzenegger will receive a $30 million payday.

It is scheduled for North American release via Warner Bros. over the July 4 weekend in 2003, and Sony said it would definitely release the film in its territories at the same time in an effort to defray marketing costs.

Sony will control all foreign territories except for Japan and Korea, which were sold by the producers years ago, and some Eastern European countries, including Croatia, Hungary and Romania. The movie was financed by Intermedia Films, which handled the sale of the rights.

The "T3" story resumes a decade after the sequel, when a twentysomething John Connor reteams with his cyborg protector to battle the TX, an advanced-model "female" terminatrix.

"Terminator 2: Judgment Day," directed by James Cameron, grossed about $520 million worldwide, including $315 million outside North America.

2 DreamWorks roles for Ellen Pompeo

Actress Ellen Pompeo, who will be seen this year in Brad Silberling's "Baby's in Black," is close to snaring two starring roles in back-to-back DreamWorks projects.

First up, Pompeo will film a part in Todd Phillips' "Old School." In the Montecito Pictures production, she will play the lifelong love interest of Luke Wilson in the comedy about three men -- Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell -- who attempt to recapture their college days. Leah Remini and Elisha Cuthbert round out the cast. Production on "Old School" begins Monday.

Following that project, Pompeo is in talks for a role in Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. In "Catch Me," Pompeo will play Marci, a flight attendant who takes the virginity of DiCaprio's character.

"Catch Me," written by Jeff Nathanson ("Scared Guys"), is based on the memoirs of Frank Abagnale Jr., the youngest man to make the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. From 1964-66, he successfully impersonated an airline pilot, a doctor, an assistant attorney general and a history professor.

Pompeo is repped by CAA, Glasser/Black Management and attorney Steve Warren. Her credits include "At the End of the Day" and "In the Weeds."

Bruckheimer's 'Vanished' pilot turns up at CBS

"Vanished," a new drama project from Jerry Bruckheimer and Warner Bros. Television, has become quite visible at CBS.

CBS has issued a drama pilot order for the project from writer Hank Steinberg (HBO's "61*") centering on a division of the FBI that focuses solely on missing persons.

"Vanished" was one of three scripts developed by WBTV-based Bruckheimer Films for CBS for the fall 2002 development season. CBS gave Bruckheimer a 3-for-1 development deal by which three scripts would be fielded against at least one guaranteed pilot order.

Bruckheimer's development pact with CBS comes on the heels of the enormous success of the company's blockbuster drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," which is produced in association with Alliance Atlantis and CBS Prods.

"We're very excited about 'Vanished,' " said Bruckheimer Films president Jonathan Littman, who oversaw development of the project at the company. "CBS has been incredibly supportive of this company, and we hope to deliver them the same success as 'CSI.' "

Director David Nutter, who most recently helmed the pilot of the hit WB Network drama "Smallville," is attached to direct the "Vanished" pilot. Steinberg will co-executive produce.

Bruckheimer Films also produces the CBS reality series "The Amazing Race," which bowed for a 13-week run in the fall and will return this year for a second installment.

What Lies Beneath A Potential Split Between Robert Zemeckis And Steven Spielberg?

The Hollywood trade Daily Variety is reporting that the Oscar-winning directors and longtime friends are on the verge of severing their business ties.

For the past four years, Zemeckis' Imagemovers production company has had a first-look deal with Spielberg's DreamWorks studio. The deal expires next year, and Zemeckis is, according to Variety, "in serious discussions" about moving over to Warner Bros. Pictures.

With Hollywood virtually shutdown over the holidays, studio executives and the filmmakers' agents were not available for comment. Variety reports the information comes from persons familiar with the discussions.

The potential split would be something of a shock considering the long history between the two: They have been buddies and collaborators for close to 30 years. Spielberg, 55, struck up his friendship with Zemeckis, 50, in 1974, when the latter was still in film school at the University of Southern California (both men now serve on the school's Board of Councilors).

Five years later, Spielberg helped develop and then direct 1941, which was written by Zemeckis and fellow USC alum Bob Gale. The comedy, set in World War II-era California, was a huge flop, but their association survived and led to the highly profitable Back to the Future flicks, which Zemeckis directed and cowrote and Spielberg produced through his Amblin Entertainment banner. Zemeckis also directed an episode of Spielberg's short-lived TV series Amazing Stories.

When Zemeckis--who received an Oscar for directing Forrest Gump and also has hits like Contact, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Romancing the Stone on his résumé--went looking for a partner for his Imagemovers in 1997, he was wooed by many studios. But he decided to go with DreamWorks and old pal Spielberg, who at the time said the deal was "the continuation of the best circle I've ever been in."

Of course, from a purely business perspective, DreamWorks' possible split with Imagemovers makes sense. Zemeckis has only made two films for DreamWorks over the past four years: last year's What Lies Beneath and Cast Away. While both were profitable, Spielberg and his DreamWorks partners didn't reap as much as they might have hoped from the high-budget productions because the revenue had to be split with codistributor 20th Century Fox.

Additionally, Imagemovers occupies specially built expensive office space and has reportedly spent millions developing projects that have not come to fruition.

But with no deals done yet, we'll just have to wait and see if Zemeckis and Spielberg choose to go back to leading separate business lives in the future.

USA gives life to 'Dead Zone'

In its richest series deal to date, USA Network has given a 22-episode order to "The Dead Zone," a drama based on Stephen King's novel of the same name that is set to star Anthony Michael Hall.

The Lions Gate Television/Paramount International Television series was originally developed for UPN, which announced the show as a midseason replacement during its upfront presentation in May.

Sources said USA will pay close to $1 million per episode -- the highest license fee ever for the cable network. The fee is close to what UPN was to shell out for the drama, executive produced by Michael Piller, Shawn Piller and Lloyd Segan.

"We were blown away by the pilot," said Jeff Wachtel, USA Network executive vp series and longform programming. "I think original programming and series in particular is the most important way for a network to differentiate itself from its competition, and what better way to do it than with (a project) that we believe in so strongly and that has such a great title and such a great team behind it." He praised the series' showrunner, "Star Trek" producer Michael Pillar, for his "proven track record of taking material to the new level."

Lions Gate will distribute the series domestically, while Paramount will handle the international rights.

The huge international potential for such a high-profile show and King's marquee name are major components in the production model, said Gary Marenzi, president of Paramount International TV. International broadcasters got to see the pilot for the series at the Los Angeles International Screenings in May.

Marenzi said Paramount is fielding "multiple offers" from many of the major European markets. "It was arguably the most popular pilot we ever had at a Los Angeles Screenings event," he said.

"This is truly a great international project that was not developed with solely the U.S. in mind; we developed this step by step with Lions Gate with (international markets) in mind," Marenzi said. "This is the kind of story featuring an Everyman lead with universal appeal that transcends national and cultural boundaries, and we anticipate tremendous response and profitability from key markets around the world."

"Dead Zone," which will be one of the two new drama series USA plans to launch in the summer, is set to begin production in March in Vancouver, British Columbia. The cable network's drama pilots "Monk" and "Red Skies" are contenders for the other slot, along with a few projects in the script stage.

"We're thrilled to be in business with USA, especially given all the new things that are happening there," Lions Gate TV production president Kevin Beggs said. "They have completely believed in the project and have been enthusiastic and really lobbied aggressively for us to make a home at that network for the show."

He said that because UPN and USA are compatible and "similar in their broad skew and appeal and where they're going," very few changes to the concept of the show will be needed.

Lions Gate approached Paramount International TV to join the project because as a distributor of the 1983 movie, Paramount owns some of the rights to the property.

"Dead Zone" centers on Johnny Smith (Hall), who wakes up from a several-years-long deep coma with the power to read people's minds and see their futures. The series co-stars Nicole de Boer as Smith's love interest, a beautiful high school music teacher.

USA and the production team of the series are working on bringing back director Robert Lieberman, who is directing the USA action pilot "Red Skies."