Sony's Gamble & The Bond Problem
Sony's Gamble & The Bond Problem
The high stakes of Sony's Kraven, Daisy Ridley goes dark, the legendary Gena Rowlands and Netflix’s Octopus obsession.
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
A cover story on the high-sakes of Kraven: The Hunter for both Sony, post-Madame Web, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, #1 contender for Bond.
In The Industry News, we’ll cover a big payday for Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate CEO and Netflix’s Octopus obsession. In The Industry News tidbits, we look at Family Guy’s new home.
In Actor’s Spotlight, we pay tribute to A Woman Under The Influence’s legendary Gena Rowlands.
In Festivals, we break out three spotlight films coming to NYFF, including an absurdist Cate Blanchett movie we’ve been dying to see.
For Indie Filmmaker Spotlight, we honor Winsome Sinclair, a casting director for Spike Lee. We also examine a rare 35mm genre film and a Daisy Ridley psychological thriller as she continues to push her work darker.
In International News, we check out a Cannes Critics Week official selection that will make you lose sleep.
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Kraven is Sony's last chance:
Sony can't have another Madame Web on their hands.
After the continuous critical and box office bombs of its Spiderman-less Spiderman universe, with even Venom's sequel not hitting its marks. Sony had its back up against the wall when they introduced their next big villain film Kraven: The Hunter with a redband trailer a year previous.
While it earned its R rating, upped the blood and violence, and showed a capable star in Aaron Taylor-Johnson, something seemed off; there were some baffling lore decisions and some garish CGI.
It looked like, once again, Sony had missed the plot.
So, after Madame Web flailed soon after, it was no surprise that Kraven was delayed and went through some heavy reshoots.
What emerged is… better, objectively the newest trailer is tighter, still bloody, but a bit more thought out, spurred upon by a badass Johnny Cash cut, which you will either be appalled or delighted by.
It's important to point out that with the Bond rumors surrounding Taylor-Johnson this could potentially be one of the last things he does before suiting up, it's kind of important on many different fronts that he doesn't completely bomb out right before his next big gig.
He really seems to be giving this his all, and it looks like that dedication and the passion from Director J.C. Chandor, who fought for the reshoots, could be what lets Kraven: The Hunter hit its mark.
Sony seems happy greenlighting another murder mystery project from J.C. Chandor.
Are we expecting anything amazing from Sony's newest universe?
No, not really. There are already some weird choices being made about this Kraven that are making webheads nervous: magical lion blood, a slightly off-looking CGI villain being standouts, and turning one of Spider-Man's most callus villains into an anti-hero is a big swing.
Hopefully, for everyone involved, it ends up being an actual movie and not whatever Madame Web was.
For More:
Compare the trailers back to back:
Last Years Red Band trailer here
V.S.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Lionsgate CEO, Jon Feltheimer gets a big pay day. Feltheimer’s contract to lead the company has been extended through 2029.
Here’s a breakout of his compensation:
$1.5 M base salary/year
$7.5 M - $15 M performance bonus
Vested shares, equity awards, benefits program (worth millions)
Depending on where the shares, equity, and benefits land, it’s on the lower end of the top studio CEO pay packages:
$49.8 M - Ted Sarandos (CEO: Netflix)
$49.7 M - David Zaslav (CEO: Warner Bros. Discovery)
$31.6 M Bob Iger (CEO: Disney)
Lionsgate recently faced declining revenue but a slightly lower net loss than previous years.
Netflix’s Octopus obsession. Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) director Olivia Newman, is back with another book to film, but this time with Shelby Van Pelt’s widely successful friendship story, Remarkably Bright Creatures, for Netflix.
Steel Magnolias star Sally Field has been in talks to star as the lead in Van Pelt’s viral novel, which tells the unique relationship between a lonely aquarium janitor whose son was lost at sea and a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus living at the facility who helps her deduce what happened to her son.
Although this is magical realism, after watching My Octopus Teacher (2020, trailer), you may start to believe.
Newman will also be penning the script alongside Netflix’s When We First Met (2018) writer John Whittington.
Actress turned director Clea DuVall to write and direct Perfume and Paris series adaption for Legendary Television.
Based on the witty 2024 novel of the same name by Anna Dorn. The book is described as:
A sexy and twister character drama following a hopelessly romantic and equally reckless sapphic novelist on the verge of superstardom and simultaneously total self-destruction - depending which way the wind blows and what pill she pops next.
Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, founders of Killer Films, will produce.
Tidbit:
Lucky There's a Family Guy: For the first time since its inception, Family Guy will not be on Fox's fall lineup. This comes after a midseason movie early this year. Now, with Paramount floundering a bit financially, it seems more willing to strike licensing deals. Family Guy will be joining Comedy Central's adult animated block, which has had a renaissance of sorts recently with renewals of legacy shows like Beavis and Butthead and Futurama, alongside the always-dominating South Park.
Family Guy starts airing on Comedy Central on September 2nd.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Gena Rowlands, legendary star of A Woman Under the Influence has passed away at 94. She had an electric energy that boiled over into a wonderful on-screen manicness that was magnetizing.
She has many great roles: Faces (1968) as a blasé prostitute (blah blah blah clip), The Notebook (2004) as the aged and forgetful but still longing for love Allie Hamilton (clip), and Gloria (1980), as an off-kilter but motherly gangster (trailer, when she pulls out the gun to shoot the car, it’s just perfection).
But the piece-de-resistance is, of course, the star of A Woman Under the Influence (1974).
It is one of the great independent films of all time.
Here is the under-baked synopsis:
Peter Falk is a blue collar man trying to deal with his wife's (Rowlands) mental instability. He fights to keep a semblance of normality in the face of her bizarre behavior, but when her actions affect their children, he has her committed.
Watch how she fills the frame with her raw eccentric portrayal of an unhinged wife, trying to fulfill the role of “wife” but unsure how to hit the mark, hungry for her love. Scene.
She was Oscar-nominated for the performance—a performance that will never be replicated on screen.
During an interview, Rowlands stated:
“It’s the people who aren’t artists who sacrifice… Artists somehow stumble onto the best life in the world, and I have no complaints.”
She will be deeply missed.