The Weinstein Company's soon-to-be-released drama The Company Men is the story of three corporate executives who are downsized as victims of the beaten-down economy. It has a top-flight cast and director, but is America ready to show cinematic sympathy to the villains of the Great Recession?
Film producer Joel Silver, whose credits include Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, is suing Goldman Sachs for $30 million he says is owed to him as part of a production deal.
The latest victim in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's financial melodrama is 007. The 23rd James Bond film, scheduled for release in 2011 or 2012, has been "indefinitely" postponed as a result of MGM's precarious financial position.
Even though the Academy Awards banned official swag bags four years ago (thanks to an IRS decree that actors must pay taxes on the gifts), companies still scramble to get their items into the luxury-laden gift baskets.
In the previous round of the legal battle between author Clive Cussler and the company that produced the 2005 movie Sahara, the author lost and had to pay Bristol Bay Entertainment more than $20 million. This week, an appeals court reversed that ruling.
Vanity Fair today releases its inaugural list of Hollywood's Top 40 Moneymakers of 2009. Topping the list is Michael Bay, director and producer of the blockbuster Transformers series, who pulled in $125 million, beating mogul Steven Spielberg.
