Comment On Friday Report: 'avengers' Amazes With $80.5 Million

New television spots have been released for three movies that will duke it out in theaters this summer for some of that sweet box office gold: PACIFIC RIM, R.I.P.D. and THE LONE RANGER. Each film has the potential to be a big hit but there's also a risk that each film could be a huge bomb. Let's take a look at PACIFIC RIM. The mechs vs giant monster movie from director Guillermo Del Toro Read More

Ari Folman animates Robin Wright in 'The Congress' Associated Press Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 5:07 am, Tuesday, May 21, 2013 Fittingly, Cannes provided the inspiration for the director's dystopian vision of the entertainment business, which stars actress Robin Wright as, well, actress Robin Wright — a 40something performer whose career is on the slide. Folman conceived the kernel of the film when he came to the festival in 2008 with "Waltz With Bashir," his Academy Award-nominated animated film about his experiences as a young Israeli soldier in Lebanon in the 1980s. [] he said the episode gave him a way to realize a long-held dream of adapting "The Futurological Congress," a satirical sci-fi novel by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem in which pharmaceutical overlords keep the population hooked on hallucinogenic drugs. The digital Wright can be endlessly, agelessly used in new movies — the studio makes her "Agent Robin" in a sci-fi action series — while the flesh-and-blood person grows old in obscurity. Once Wright has been digitally scanned, the movie switches to animation as the character visits a conference at a luxury hotel — where her films screen endlessly and she goes unrecognized — and learns of a sinister plot to make the power of celebrity even more addictive. Folman, a genial, bearded 50-year-old sporting a gold medallion and an earring, says he fears the sort of movies that inspired him — the director-driven American cinema of the 1970s — is dying, soon to be found only in cinema museums. "The role of the director is completely different (today)," he said. [] recently the urgency on the set to make a movie was huge.

Core Media Group is said to be testing the market to sell off Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion and rights to images of Presley and Muhammad Ali. The Financial Times reports the assets could fetch over $200M. Citing people familiar with the matter, the FT says Core, which co-produces American Idol, is eyeing bidders in Asia, Europe and the States for Elvis Presley Enterprises and Muhammad Ali Enterprises. The Raine Group has been hired to advise. However, if it is not satisfied with offers, Core could retain the properties. Combined, the assets generate about $60M a year in revenues.

Matt Damon, Michael Douglas and Steven Soderbergh at the photocall for Behind the Candelabra, plus the casts of Seduced and Abandoned and Sophie Prefers to Run

Paris-based Distrib Films recently branched out to U.S. theatrical releases, opening its first film, Col-Coa best documentary winner Becoming Traviata, last week at the New York Film Forum before expanding to San Francisco, LA, Boston and more than 15 other markets. Belgium’s entry for the foreign language Oscar, Our Children, is now set for an August 2 release in NY, and a week later in LA. On both films, Distrib chief François Scippa-Kohn is teamed with Cinema Guild which holds non-theatrical, digital and video rights. For the past few years, Distrib Films has been working solely with French and Italian films in France. Scippa-Kohn sparked to releasing boutique titles in the States because there are “a lot of French films, but there’s no specialized French distributor.” He’s aiming to guarantee a “real release in the U.S.” on about six titles per year and “not just pay for a week.” He’s here in Cannes, but says he’s not throwing himself immediately into competition with other indie players, and rather looking to swoop in up to three months after a film’s principal market. He says, “If I miss some French films, it’s not the end of the world. But the movies I release have to have interest from the press and exhibitors.”