• Jackie Chan learns the Art of War
• Depp, Dafoe finish off Rodriguez trilogy
• Matt Damon Keeps Low Profile in Greece
• Joe Pesci returns to the mob
• Emmett/Furla Films and Bigel/Mailer Films Get a "Night Job"
• Hanson play themselves in PI film
• Steve Oedekerk's Original Animated Film 'Santa vs. The Snowman' to Be Repurposed Into IMAX 3D
• Defining moment for Disney
• Emma Thompson puts career on hold for charity

Jackie Chan learns the Art of War

 Jackie Chan is to star in and produce an adaptation of "The Art of War", the legendary warrior treatise written around 2,000 years ago by Sun Tzu. The big budget feature isn't the only film being made about Sun Tzu as acclaimed director Gordon Chan (no relation) is also said to be planning a feature based on the ancient fighter's writings.

It is understood that Jackie Chan's film is part of a two-picture deal for Golden Harvest, the other feature being a sequel to Operation Condor in Mandarin.

All being well, the production should capitalise on the massive worldwide market for ancient Eastern combat established by Ang Lee's hit, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

While adapting the book will not be easy (it is a series of essays and eschews traditional narrative form) the language should not be a problem. According to research, Western audiences who flocked to see Crouching Tiger were so engrossed in the story they were unable to recall weeks later that the film was not in English.

Meanwhile, Elliot Tong, head of distribution and international affairs at EMG, which is handling Gordon Chan's project, said adapting the book has been Chan's dream. "This book could be the basis for many movies. Like The Bible there are many stories and elements to be drawn from it. It has been Gordon's dream for many years to adapt this for the big screen."

Editorial Reviews Written in China over two thousand years ago, Sun Tzu's The Art of War provides the first known attempt to formulate a rational basis for the planning and conduct of military operations. These wise, aphoristic essays contain principles acted upon by such twentieth-century Chinese generals as Mao Tse Tung. Samuel Griffith offers a much-needed translation of this classic which makes it even more relevant to the modern world. Including an explanatory introduction and selected commentaries on the work, this edition makes Sun Tzu's timeless classic extremely accessible to students of Chinese history and culture, as well as to anyone interested in the highly volatile military and political issues in present-day China.

Depp, Dafoe finish off Rodriguez trilogy

 The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Johnny Depp and Willem Dafoe have joined Antonio Banderas on the Robert Rodriguez feature, Once Upon a Time in Mexico. The film, which is loosely based on Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly , completes Rodriguez's trilogy, the previous two instalments being El Mariachi and Desperado, which also starred Banderas. The film is due to start filming in Mexico this week.

Damon Keeps Low Profile in Greece

Matt Damon plays a man with amnesia in his next movie, but he's not forgotten about his star power. Damon and the rest of the cast of "The Bourne Identity" are trying to keep a low profile on the holiday island of Mykonos to avoid a crush of fans. Still, word leaked out and photos of the Oscar winner appeared in celebrity pages of Greek newspapers Wednesday.

The movie is based on a Robert Ludlum novel about an international terrorist who is shot in the head and loses his memory. The movie also stars Julia Stiles and Clive Owen. Damon won an Oscar with his best friend Ben Affleck for the screenplay of 1997's "Good Will Hunting."

Editorial Reviews; In this best-selling novel by Robert Ludlum, a man is shot, left for dead, later rescued from the sea. Surviving but with no memory, he is given a name: Jason Bourne. Physically and mentally agile, he retraces his past through a harrowing personal labyrinth. The discovery: He was a trained killer, and now in turn is being hunted by assassins. "His characters are complex and credible, his sleight of plot as cunning as any terrorist conspiracy. It is a Bourne from which no traveler returns unsatisfied." (Time)

Pesci returns to the mob

Joe Pesci, everyone's favourite film nutter, is said to be getting ready to rumble in a new Mafia thriller, Don't Say a Word. The GoodFellas star will be directed by Roland Joffe in the a biopic of the supergrass Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano, who entered the FBI's witness protection programme after spilling the beans about his bosses. An insider told EIOL: "Joe wants to work with Roland and loves the story. But he wants to cut down on the violence. He feels the bloodshed has been getting in the way of his career." The project is due to go into production in the autumn.

Emmett/Furla Films and Bigel/Mailer Films Get a "Night Job"

Emmett/Furla Films, a subsidiary of Family Room Entertainment Corp. (OTCBB:FMLY ), announced their partnership with Gotham-based production company Bigel/Mailer Films on the motion picture project "The Night Job."

Michael Mailer and Daniel Bigel will produce the picture along with Randall Emmett and George Furla, who will exec produce. Mercy Santos and M. Dal Walton, III will co-executive produce.

"The Night Job," based on an original screenplay by James O'Hanlon, is the story of an ex-con out on parole who is drawn back into the life he left behind by a crooked cop trying to corner a flamboyant mobster who is running an international art smuggling ring. This tale of one man's murder, one woman's lust, another man's betrayal and their violent redemption is set against the ominous skyline of New York City at night.

Dennis Hopper is set to direct and star as the cop, with Val Kilmer set to play the mobster. The producers are currently casting the ex-con. Hopper has appeared in more than one hundred movies, including the classic "Easy Rider," which he also directed. Other directorial efforts include "Colors" with Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. Kilmer, whose credits include "The Doors" and "Red Planet," will next star in Warner Brothers' "The Salton Sea" with Vincent D'Onofrio.

Bigel/Mailer Films is currently in production on "Lost Junction," a small-town romantic comedy starring Neve Campbell, Billy Burke and Jake Busey, with Peter Masterson ("The Trip to Bountiful," starring Geraldine Page) directing. Upcoming releases include "Empire," starring John Leguizamo, Peter Sarsgaard and Denise Richards, and James Toback's "Harvard Man," starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Joey Lauren Adams, Adrian Grenier and Eric Stoltz.

Emmett/Furla recently announced a 10-picture non-exclusive distribution/financing arrangement with Millennium Films. Under that arrangement is "In God We Trust," currently in production, starring Christian Slater, Val Kilmer, Daryl Hannah, Bokeem Woodbine and Vern Troyer. Peter Antonijevic ("Savior," starring Dennis Quaid) is helming the project. Also falling under this arrangement is the recently wrapped "Behind the Sun" by writer/director Robby Henson. Billy Bob Thornton and Patricia Arquette star in this dark, twisting tale of corruption and love in backwoods of Louisiana.

Hopper is repped by Artists Management Group and Kilmer by Creative Artists Agency. The co-production was negotiated by Steven Beer on behalf of Bigel/Mailer and Walton and Rick Rosenthal, Esq. of Grakal, Root & Rosenthal for Emmett/Furla.

Hanson play themselves in PI film

Pop star brothers Hanson are to appear in a film starring as themselves. Radioundercover.com reports that the mmm bop squealers will appear in Frank McKlusky, C.I, starring Randy Quaid, Andy Richter and Scott "Chachi" Baio. In the film, a private eye will trace a fraud suspect to a Hanson gig. The band of brothers previously had a small part in Being John Malkovich, where they also played themselves.

Steve Oedekerk's Original Animated Film 'Santa vs. The Snowman' to Be Repurposed Into IMAX 3D

Larger-Than-Life IMAX(R) 3D Film to Anchor IMAX's Winter 2002 Holiday Program

In a move that confirms its commitment to bringing high-quality films to the worldwide IMAX® theatre network, IMAX Corporation (Nasdaq: IMAX ; TSE: IMX ) today announced that Steve Oedekerk's original animated film, "Santa vs. The Snowman," will be reformatted into IMAX 3D and anchor a special IMAX holiday film program to be launched in November 2002. Produced by Oedekerk's O Entertainment, animated by DNA productions with additional footage being animated by Omation, a division of O Entertainment, the film features the voices of Oedekerk, celebrated Emmy© Award-winning comic Jonathan Winters, Ben Stein and Victoria Jackson.

"I'm excited that 'Santa' will lead the launch of IMAX's holiday family programming. When I saw the animation come alive in 3D, I couldn't believe it and I'm sure that audiences will have the same reaction. This is the perfect format for this classic holiday story and I'm very excited to be working with IMAX on this and potential future projects," said Steve Oedekerk, president of O Entertainment.

"'Santa' is a fantastic movie and I'm proud that Steve not only shares our desire to bring innovative IMAX 3D entertainment to audiences worldwide, but that he is taking the lead in partnering with us to repurpose his terrific animated film for the giant IMAX screen," said IMAX's President, Filmed Entertainment Greg Foster. "Early renderings of 'Santa' have shown that it's the perfect vehicle to demonstrate IMAX's proprietary repurposing technology and the phenomenal 3D images it can produce from other material."

"Santa vs. The Snowman" tells the story of a lonely Snowman who at first is swept away by the magical wonders of Santa's Village, only to ultimately wage war on Santa because he's jealous of all the attention Santa gets during Christmas time. An epic-scale polar war develops. The hilarious battle features such holiday defense mechanisms as hot chocolate squirt guns, giant Igloo Robot Walkers and even a 50-foot tall toy soldier manned by Santa himself. An updated version of IMAX's award-winning SANDDE(TM) short "Paint Misbehavin"' will also be featured in this holiday program.

Steve Oedekerk's multi-faceted career includes writing, directing, acting, stand-up comedy and animation technology. Oedekerk has written and directed films that have grossed over $1 billion in worldwide box office including: "Patch Adams," "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," "Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls" and "The Nutty Professor" and is the guiding force behind Nickelodeon's "Jimmy Neutron" franchise. He is also directing and starring in the wild martial arts spoof, "Enter The Fist" for 20th Century Fox, due late 2001. He has appeared in the top comedy clubs in America, starred in his own specials, appeared in numerous films and created TV specials for NBC, ABC and UPN. In the world of animation, he has created original programming and supports them with ground-breaking technology.

Defining moment for Disney

If the $135m Pearl Harbor bombs at the box office, America's best known media company will be in deep water

John Cassy The Guardian
As corporate shindigs go, last week's US premiere of Pearl Harbor takes a lot of beating. Two thousand guests were flown into Hawaii for a screening aboard a US Navy aircraft carrier that had been refitted for the event.

Hawaii National Guard's air wing flew formations overhead, country singer Faith Hill sang the national anthem and, as he walked up the 900ft red carpet, Disney chairman Michael Eisner could have been forgiven for feeling that times were rather good, despite the $5m party price.

Pearl Harbor is tipped to become the biggest blockbuster of the summer and may even break all previous box office records after an impressive first weekend on release, according to some analysts. "I've been telling anybody who would listen that this will be our biggest live action film ever," the 59-year-old chairman told staff.

Back in mainland US, Walt Disney Corporation's legions of small shareholders will be hoping that Eisner's predictions are more than bravado and that he has not spent $135m - twice the budget of an average Hollywood film - on a dud.

Shares in the US's best known media company have underperformed their sector this year as the economic slowdown in the US starts to bite into advertising revenues at its ABC television network and to hit ticket sales at its flagship theme parks. Disney pulled the plug on its high profile internet venture Go.com, taking a £540m hit on the bottom line. In one of the biggest corporate restructuring seen in the US media, Disney announced 4,000 job losses in March.

If Pearl Harbor bombs, investors fear that the US's most famous media company and its flamboyant boss Eisner, who took home $570m in 1997, could be heading for an uncomfortable landing.

Critics have savaged the film. The Wall Street Journal's writer, Joe Morgenstein, described it as "a blockheaded, hollow-hearted industrial enterprise that rises to its subject's solemn grandeur only once".

Finger on the pulse

But Eisner, who started working as a clerk at NBC and rose to the top after 20 years, reckons he knows what America wants. Wall Street analysts also point out the revitalising effects of a successful Hollywood blockbuster. "Beauty and the Beast helped to change the psychology of Disney's stock in the last recession in 1990-1991 despite the company's weak fundamentals," says Jill Krutick, an analyst at Salomon Smith Barney. "The stock surged 44% within three months of Beauty's release."

At stake is more than the cash that Disney has invested as sole backer. Success or failure could affect Disney's earnings for the next two years, analysts say. It may also be a defining moment for Disney production, hit by $600m of cuts recently. Krutick believes that a positive reaction could add 14% to the Disney share price and that the film could go on to gross as much as $1.5bn. Spencer Wang, an analyst with ABN Amro in New York, describes it as a "critical variable for Disney's fiscal 2001 financial performance".

Nowhere within Eisner's empire will Pearl Harbor's box office success be felt more keenly than at the flagship theme parks - Disneyland in Los Angeles and Disney World in Orlando. Families are starting to stay away because of fears of a recession, and analysts do not think visitor numbers will pick up until Disney starts to trumpet Walt Disney's 100th birthday at Disney World next year.

In New York, the ABC television network, which together with theme parks accounts for 84% of group revenues, has been hit by the slowdown in advertising spend and weak ratings. "Disney is more dependent on performance from studio entertainment for growth in the near term," said Wang. The omens look good. Pearl Harbor raked in $75.1m over 3,214 screens in Canada and the US, the second biggest Memorial Day weekend opening.

Krutick predicts that it could match the success of Titanic, which in commercial terms proved the critics wrong, grossing more than £1bn. "Should Pearl Harbor prove to be the next Titanic we estimate this could add $0.25 per share over the next couple of years," she said. Wang's figure is more conservative, at $623m, and he stresses that it could be several years be fore the film's real financial impact can be measured. He says the film will have to gross at least $140m at the US box office to break even for Disney. "Anything less would be a pending write-off."

International theatrical takings, video, pay TV, network and other television distribution also have to be taken into account and offset against costs like production, printing and advertising fees, payments to the actors and the manufacture of videotapes and DVDs.

Based on the Memorial Day weekend takings of previous films like Mission Impossible 2, Phantom Menace, and Godzilla and their contribution to total takings, Wang believes Pearl Harbor will take around $200m at US cinemas. Movie theatre owners will take about 50% of that, leaving Disney with $100m. International performance is a "bit of a wild card", Wang adds. "Ticket sales from Japan, one of the largest international theatrical markets, may not be as high as with other broader themed action films."

Disney appears to have gone out of its way to placate Japan. In one scene, male lead Ben Affleck observes that the Japanese were "honourable people with a certain point of view". Saving Private Ryan is probably the best comparison to Pearl Harbor - 55% of its takings came from outside the US, suggesting the new film will make around $240m internationally. Added to that are revenues from video sales and rentals ($325m ABN Amro estimates), pay-TV fees ($29.5m) and then network TV revenues from players such as ABC and NBC ($23.6m.)

Costs are easier to reconcile. The film has cost around $135m to make, even after Mr Eisner cut $40m from the budget. A further $120m will be spent advertising on billboards and television worldwide.

The biggest variable will be fees for director Michael Bay, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Affleck. All have opted for a percentage of profits and the first two could take as much as 15 to 17%, netting $75m between them. Eisner believes it is more prudent to release fewer but higher profile and bigger budget films, increasing the overall chance of profitability.

On the eve of the bombing on December 7 1941, Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese fleet, reflected: "I fear all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant and aroused it to a terrible fury." Shareholders will be hoping that Disney responds to Pearl Harbor in a similar way.

Emma Thompson puts career on hold for charity

Audrey Hepburn did it. Sophia Loren and Michael Douglas did it. Now Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson is to follow in the footsteps of a long line of charitable thespians by travelling around Africa with her family for a year's voluntary work.

The 42-year-old star of Howards End and Sense and Sensibility plans to put her career on hold for the sabbatical, which could see her working on AIDS projects in desperately poor regions like Mozambique and the Gambia.

Speaking at a campaign launch by the charity ActionAid yesterday, Thompson said: "It's something I have always wanted to do. I just think we have got to go out and do it." She said she planned to travel round the continent with her partner Greg Wise, daughter Gaia and her mother, the actress Phyllida Law.

Thompson has always had a strong interest in health and women's issues and is understood to be meeting with ActionAid officers next week to draw up a schedule for the trip. Apart from health work, a spokeswoman for the charity said Thompson could end up working on educational projects for children or advising farmers on agricultural techniques.

The trip will not start until at least next year while Thompson honours several acting commitments. The British actress has won numerous awards for her performances, including the Best Actress Oscar in 1993 for Howards End and the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Sense and Sensibility in 1996. She has also been receiving rave reviews for her latest performance in Wit, the film version of the award-winning play about a woman struggling with ovarian cancer.