• 2002 Sundance Film Festival, Competition Entries and Synopses
• Jennifer Connelly Joins The Hulk
• Intertainment Has Taken Back From Filmgroup More Than 75 Titles
• Universal targets Latino market with Arenas Group.
• Sundance unspools new views, problems
• Could "Beach Blanket Britney'' be next?
• Kinowelt Medien May Now Have To File For Insolvency

Previous Days

• Monday Nov 26

Jennifer Connelly Joins The Hulk

Jennifer Connelly has come aboard to star as the female lead in Universal Pictures' big-screen adaptation of the Marvel comic book "The Hulk" to be directed by Oscar-winning helmer Ang Lee. The computer-generated, effects-laden project is targeted for a spring start and a tentpole 2003 release.

"Hulk" reunites Universal with Connelly ("Requiem for a Dream"), who stars in the studio's upcoming Imagine Entertainment feature "A Beautiful Mind," which also stars Russell Crowe.

"Hulk" centers on research scientist Dr. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana), and his monstrous green-skinned alter ego, the Hulk. Lee's version of the film will be set in Berkeley, Calif., with plot points like the misunderstood Hulk being pursued by the military while attempting to ward off threatening evil forces. Meanwhile, there is a love story between Banner and a female colleague, Betty (Connelly), who happens to be the daughter of General Ross, a man in charge of the military base where scientific developments occur. Sources say Nick Nolte is being eyed for the General's role.

"Hulk" is being produced by Gale Anne Hurd, Marvel Studios president Avi Arad and Good Machine co-chairman and Lee's producing partner James Schamus. David Hayter wrote the script, which is being rewritten by Schamus.

"We are exited to have Jennifer and we think she'll be an amazing Betty," Arad told the Hollywood Reporter.

Connelly, repped by ICM, most recently appeared onscreen in the indie feature "Pollock." Her credits also include "Inventing the Abbotts," "Mulholland Falls" and "Higher Learning."

Intertainment Has Taken Back From Filmgroup More Than 75 Titles

Following the insolvency of the UK media company Filmgroup PLC, Germany’s Intertainment has taken back from the company more than 75 titles including The Whole Nine Yards, 3000 Miles To Graceland and Battlefield Earth. News of the termination of the contract came as Intertainment reported a reduced surplus of Euros 4.6m for the first nine months of this year, compared to Euros 12.4m for the same period last year.

The continuing legal action against Franchise Pictures because of allegedly inflated budgets, however, meant that Intertainment’s turnover for the first three quarters totalled only Euros 19.7m (2000: Euros 74.3m), with an EBIT at Euros 6.2m (2000: Euros 32.4m).

Commenting on Intertainment’s nine-month figures, the financial service Boerse Online gave out a "sell" recommendation, declaring that "the management has already disappointed the shareholders on several occasions with forecasts not kept.

Universal targets Latino market with Arenas Group.

The Arenas Group, an advertising, public relations and talent management firm specializing in the U.S. Latino market, has teamed with Universal Pictures to form a new film label, Arenas Entertainment, that hopes to serve as a platform for the burgeoning Latino filmmaking community.

Arenas Group founder and president Santiago Pozo will be CEO of the new venture, which will acquire, produce, finance, market and distribute films tailored to Hispanic audiences worldwide. The label aims to distribute four to five films a year.

Universal Pictures and Marco Polo Investments SCR, the leading Spanish venture-capital firm, will hold an equity stake in Arenas Entertainment. In turn, all productions and acquisitions released under the label will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Arenas Entertainment. The label, based in Hollywood, is developing several feature film projects and looking to acquire new product.

Arenas' current deal is for five years, after which Universal can increase its financial stake in the label.

"This is a strategic investment into a new area of operation which we think is a fertile one," studio vice chairman Marc Shmuger said. "(The Latino market) is one of the largest-growing demographics in the U.S. and the world. In the nature of Hollywood decision-making, (Latinos) have not been an audience the studios have been orientated toward. Tailoring projects specific for them is our main initiative (with this label)."

Pozo said: "There's an old saying in Spanish that reads 'El que da primero da dos veces' (the one that hits first strikes twice). And as the first major Latino-focused film label, Arenas Entertainment opens the doors of an industry where, for too long, Latinos have stood on the sidelines. We feel we have found the ideal partners in Universal Pictures and Marco Polo and are confident this new venture has the leadership, resources and the clout to create a solid bridge for Latinos to access the film industry."

Marco Polo Investments CEO Jorge Galera said: "Our goal is to build upon the vision that Santiago brought to us and to capitalize on the potential of the fast-growing Hispanic market. Arenas' deep roots and expertise in Latino marketing, combined with Universal's positioning and Marco Polo's leadership in Spain, creates a powerful player in Latino filmmaking."

Universal has had a longtime close working relationship with the Arenas Group and Pozo, who worked for the studio's marketing department for three years during the 1980s as director of special markets, where he handled ethnically targeted campaigns for such Universal films as "An American Tail," "Cry Freedom," "Born in East L.A." and the 1985 rerelease of "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial." He left and formed the Arenas Group in 1988 but continued his relationship with the studio, with Arenas consulting on the marketing of several Universal movies to Hispanic audiences, including this year's "The Mummy Returns" and "The Fast and the Furious."

In January, the Arenas Group expanded its services to include a full-scale artist management division, which represents 20 Latino actors and actresses.

The creation of Arenas Entertainment marks the third label for the studio, joining Universal Pictures and the specialty division Universal Focus, created in 1999.

Sundance unspools new views, problems

The competition lineup for the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, which will unspool Jan. 10-20 in Park City, Utah, is marked by "unusual work that is not formulaic or generic, but that pushes limits'' in the way the filmmakers tell their stories, in the view of fest artistic director Geoffrey Gilmore.

After it looked as though the American independent cinema movement was edging closer to the mainstream a few years ago, "It's now clear that there is, once again, a real distinction to what independent films are trying to do. I think this year's festival will recharge the idea of what the independent cinema is about,'' Gilmore said.

Fest organizers are also facing some logistical issues unique to this year, since the upcoming edition of Sundance was moved up by a week to accommodate the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, which will be staged, in part, on the mountains of Park City.

Security matters, a major concern for the Olympics, which run Feb. 8-20, are being addressed in a way that Gilmore believes will make festgoers "feel comfortable while also trying to keep events) on schedule.''

There is a slight chance that the old Holiday Cinema triplex -- the primary home to the documentary competition that is currently being revamped into a two-story fourplex -- will not be ready in time, which would require some venue changes.

The American Spectrum category has been reduced to 11 titles, which will be a relief to many, although a new sidebar, American Showcase -- primarily dedicated to the work of returning and more veteran indie filmmakers that for various reasons doesn't fit comfortably in other slots -- has been added.

Overall, the 753 submissions for the dramatic competition represents a downturn from last year, when 854 indie productions were fielded by Gilmore and his team.

By contrast, the 444 documentary submissions marked a significant increase over the 390 considered for 2001, an uptick Gilmore ascribes entirely to the digital revolution.The number of shorts sent in, 2,300, was down about 200 from last year.

Pressed to generalize about this year's crop of entries, Gilmore and his longtime associate John Cooper noted that there are quite a few films that confidently and successfully push the limits in terms of narrative and treatment of subject matter.

FRESH VIEWS COMING

"It goes beyond being quirky,'' Gilmore said. ''It's genuinely unusual work. There are creative impulses that push you in ways that I think American independent films were prudish about. I don't know how all of these films will play or if they'll be commercial, but they're funny and original and surprising.''

Concurring that a number of pictures "are working on a level that independent films didn't before,'' Cooper added, "There's a return of a lot of actresses to the independent scene who we've seen before -- Parker Posey, Robin Tunney, Sigourney Weaver, Christina Ricci, Lisa Kudrow, Lindsay Crouse, Kathy Bates, Kyra Sedgwick -- doing great work that makes it a really strong year for actresses.''

Both programmers acknowledged that weighing the entries in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks had odd and unanticipated effects on them.

Obviously, nothing about the films themselves reflects the cataclysmic attacks, but Gilmore suspects that "since Sept. 11, the audience may have changed. I think there's a likelihood that there may be an openness and a consideration about the nature of certain work, and not just commercial prognostications. Perhaps people's perceptions have been broadened.''

Cooper said, "Watching films after Sept. 11 provided a certain poignancy about what we used to worry about.''

Gilmore said he has recently received four ''personal witness'' documentaries from New York City about the terrorist assaults and their aftermath and will be selecting about two hours of material for presentation in a special program.

DIGITAL RISING

A significant number of competition titles were shot in digital formats, although not all will necessarily be screened that way. The festival venues have the capability to project in whatever format -- film, digital or video -- the filmmaker requires or prefers, and Gilmore noted that "image quality is being played with in so many ways on both film and video that you really can't tell the difference anymore.''

In terms of ethnicity and content, there are strong Latino and Asian presences in the competition this year, although relatively little from black filmmakers and, in the biggest change from past years, only one gay picture; according to the programmers, nothing else in the latter category "even came close.''

On the other hand, "the American Spectrum is hot,'' said Cooper, with Gilmore adding that at least four Spectrum titles could easily have made the grade as competition entries.

As to security concerns, Gilmore stressed, "We will definitely have added security in place. There will be bag checks, metal detectors and other measures. We're working very closely with Olympics security officials, the state and federal agencies, and I know we'll have enough security. On the other hand, we've tried not to overreact.''

After the disruption of the Toronto Film Festival in September and reductions in corporate attendance at Mifed and the London Screenings, Gilmore hopes that this year's Sundance will be the industry's ''back-to-work festival.''

NEW SALES OFFICE

Among other new aspects of the upcoming event will be a nascent sales office, set up in partnership with Film Finders, as a liaison for buyers and an assist to overseas visitors to get into screenings and otherwise cope with fest logistics.

For the first time, an advance program guide will not be published. It will only be available online, at sundance.org, as of Dec. 10.

Fest administrators acknowledge the inconvenience of this move to some, but stress that much more information about each film will be available and that printing and mail problems this year made the change advisable.

Last year's online festival, which is dedicated to "new forms'' of visual expression and not to the pics in the festival proper, will be launched in late December and will continue through the fest, which will again offer a digital center, as well as the new Zenith Theater, where any digitally made film can be presented.

Possibly due to a combination of the change in dates and financial realities, some ticket packages for the fest are still available, unlike for any recent edition of Sundance at this stage.

Could "Beach Blanket Britney'' be next?

Britney Spears, a former Mousketeer, is at the center of an aggressive drive into the movie business by a handful of young pop stars molded by the music industry and MTV.

Not since the 1960s, when singers like Elvis Presley, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Johnny Cash crooned their way onto movie screens, have studios produced as many star vehicles to showcase the hip-shimmying musical talents of the day's teen idols.

Their holy grail is "The Bodyguard,'' starring Whitney Houston, which grossed $122 million and relaunched a pop song that became a perennial hit. The soundtrack is one of the best selling of all time.

That's why there was much gyrating going on in the corridors of ICM Monday after its film agents signed Spears. The curvy 19-year-old now appears ready to make a full-out attempt at movie stardom she hopes will begin on Feb. 15, when Paramount and MTV Films release the Tamra Davis-directed "Crossroads,'' a film financed by her record company.

Spears has hardly gone unnoticed by Hollywood, and has recently been up for several high-profile parts to help that transition.

She is set to play herself in a small scene opposite Mike Myers in "Austin Powers in Goldmember,'' and she has been vigorously courted by Harvey Weinstein for a small but showy role in Miramax's screen adaptation of the Bob Fosse musical "Chicago.'' While Spears is currently concentrating on promoting her latest disc, an untitled screen vehicle is on the drawing board with writer James V. Hart (''Bram Stoker's Dracula'').

But as any MTV suit knows, not all recording stars play well in two dimensions. And though studios may view these projects as a means to capitalize on the booming soundtrack business, they can't count on music revenues to hedge their bets if the films don't perform.

Film and music licensing rights often are held by rival companies, and synergy between the two industries is tenuous at best. Realizing a profit can be tricky for the agencies, too -- Endeavour formerly represented Spears for film -- given the labyrinthian nature of packaging a crossover project.

Eminem, whose "Untitled Detroit Project'' will be released by Universal next year, is signed to Interscope, a division of Universal Music Group. His film will have an Interscope soundtrack.

But "Crossroads'' won't have a soundtrack at all (three of the film's songs appear on Spears' new album, "Britney,'' from Jive, a division of BMG).

The box office reports are full of pop vehicles that misfired. This fall saw the disappointing film outings of Mariah Carey in Fox's "Glitter'' and members of 'N Sync in Miramax's "On the Line.''

Nevertheless, Paramount has high hopes for "Crossroads'' and Universal is predicting its Eminem film, an Imagine co-production directed by Curtis Hanson, will be a critical and commercial success.

Although "Bones,'' the recent Snoop Dogg horror flick, and "The Wash,'' with Dogg and Dr. Dre, recently opened to dismal results, "Exit Wounds'' made a movie star out of DMX.

And Universal and Jersey Films hope the same will be true of Redman and Method Man, who star in "How High,'' out next month.

These performers have created a cheap labor force for the Hollywood star system as it strains to meet the public's ever widening demand for instant celebs.

"There are more movies than brand-name actors,'' said Jersey co-chair Michael Shamberg. "That's what these actors are, brands.''

Like their '60s counterparts, they're also manufactured entities. Even artists with "street cred,'' such as Eminem and Snoop Dogg, have created a brand or persona through MTV and the hype machine of the music labels.

Many of the new crop of films, like the teen romps of a generation ago, are cheap and safe for a family audience. Pop star salaries are lower than A-list actors', and the 'N Sync, Britney and Mariah films reportedly each cost less than $10 million, an amount the studios are likely to earn back through TV, home video and airplane licensing fees, if not at the box office.

But the sort of exploitation filmmaking that generated huge revenues for Elvis' producers from films such as "Blue Hawaii'' and "Roustabout'' no longer plays in theaters. Today's fickle teens are quick to smell a cynical marketing ploy.

Steven Beer, an indie film veteran and attorney for Spears, O-Town (which was itself assembled over the course of the ABC reality series "Making the Band'') and Aaron Carter, said executives ignore the fundamentals of script and character at their peril.

"Too often agents, managers and artists think there are shortcuts to making great cinematic entertainment,'' Beer said.

"Crossroads'' producer Ann Carli says a movie that rests entirely on a pop star's untested shoulders is a dicey proposition. Spears worked with an ensemble cast on "Crossroads,'' and director Davis kept a writer on the set for emergency rewrites. Excised from Spears' script were improbable lines like, "What's so great about being me?''

These days, pop music trends are arguably even more ephemeral than in the era of crossover stars like Elvis and Frank Sinatra. A year of production delays can doom a studio to release a star vehicle driven by a fading name.

Take "Glitter,'' a film dreamed up as a synergistic product for Columbia Records and the motion picture group. After the studio's interest in the project dimmed and it sold domestic distribution rights to Fox, Carey left the label to ink an $80 million deal with Virgin records, taking the "Glitter'' soundtrack with her. Delayed by the singer's emotional and physical breakdown last summer, the record, and the film, bombed.

At a time of soaring marketing costs, the most a studio can ask is not just that the pop star toplining a film will give it an opening-weekend push, but that the movie itself will have legs to carry it beyond the original buzz.

That's Universal and Imagine's expectation for their Eminem project. By attaching Oscar-nominated ''Wonder Boys'' director Hanson, they hoped to create something that defied formula and might have a life of its own outside the notoriety of Eminem's name.

"It could have been designed exploitatively, but it was not executed that way,'' said Universal Pictures co-chair Stacey Snider. "It came in like 'Rebel Without a Cause.'''

Pop superstar Britney Spears has signed with ICM for representation in all areas except music. Additionally, the singer has formed a production company that has yet to be named and is in final negotiations with screenwriter James V. Hart ("Contact") to write a feature film project for her to star in.

Musically, she also is managed by Wright Entertainment's Larry Rudolph and Johnny Wright. Before signing with ICM, Spears was repped theatrically by Endeavor, but the singer and agency mutually parted ways three weeks ago because of what sources said were disagreements about the direction of her motion picture career.

Hart, repped by CAA, was one of the writers on the upcoming Disney feature "Tuck Everlasting." His writing credits also include "Muppet Treasure Island," "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "Hook."

Kinowelt Medien May Now Have To File For Insolvency

Just four days ahead of the presentation of its nine-month figures on November 30, embattled German media concern Kinowelt Medien may now have to file for insolvency after ABN Amro Bank announced its intention to call in loans of more than $45.1m (DM 100m) to Kinowelt as from November 28.

In an adhoc communique, Kinowelt stated that ABN Amro’s step "comes as a surprise" and pointed out that the company was not in a position to raise the loans’ sum by November 28. If an agreement cannot be reached with the bank at short notice, Kinowelt is likely to have to file for insolvency in order to protect its other creditors. At the same time, it stated that "the [Kinowelt] management is convinced that if this happens, the result for the funding banks will be significantly worse".

Kinowelt has been caught completely off guard by ABN Amro’s move because its funding banks had been kept informed in recent months of the group’s tightening up of its business operations and the achievement of a positive cash flow and "many of them had reacted positively to the news".

"ABN Amro Bank appears to expect to achieve a higher rate of repayment of its loan to Kinowelt through insolvency procedures", the statement declared. "This opinion is not confirmed by experts consulted by Kinowelt. On the contrary, a large proportion of the loan from ABN Amro Bank NV is not collateralised. The action taken by ABN Amro Bank contradicts all economic considerations and, moreover, endangers many jobs at Kinowelt and its suppliers".

News of ABN Amro’s plans sent Kinowelt’s share tumbling by over 30% at the beginning of trading on Monday morning (Nov 26).