In a further indication of how strict the producers are about maintaining secrecy around all aspects of the production, Rashbook subsequently deleted all his tweets related to Maleficent and the photo. It is just the latest instance of a crew or cast member taking down posts they made related to the film. Observers have already noted that security around the set and Angelina's whereabouts is unusually tight.
Brad has his WWZ reshoots coming up after which his slate is clear, while she has Salt 2. Since they haven't yet named a director and pre-production hasn't started, Salt 2 probably won't be ready to go into production before the Spring of 2013.
Ang Lee's Life of Pi premieres during the opening night of the NY Film Fest later this month and we should get word via the usual Q&As if there has been any further progress on talks to get him for Cleopatra. It's worth noting that Life of Pi is the most eagerly anticipated Awards contender coming out this Fall as tickets to its NYFF screenings sold out within hours of being made available to NYFC members. The chance to direct a big-budget prestige project like Cleopatra should be extremely exciting for Ang Lee. While known as an auteur, he already previously tried his hand at directing a blockbuster film with 2003's Hulk.
If Sony yanked David Fincher from Cleopatra for the Dragon sequel, I imagine they must now be striving to make it up to Angelina in other ways. Salt ($293M ww gross on $110M cost) is a more profitable franchise for Sony than Dragon Tattoo ($232M on $90M).
Angelina may arguably be the most valuable franchise star Sony has given the disappointing run Adam Sandler's had lately and their limited profits from MIB3. The MIB3 production was a long and rocky one and while it made $623M, Sony had projected $800M to justify its reported $225M cost + the rich backend for Will Smith.
Studios are always desperately looking for profitable franchises since they can feed off previous marketing efforts that created brand awareness. Both Universal's Battleship ($302M on $209M) and Disney's John Carter ($282M on $250M) were intended as franchise starters but both bombed spectacularly. Total Recall ($175M so far on $125M) is a similarly sizable loss for Sony -- and strengthens the case against keeping Kurt Wimmer on Salt 2.
Given the difficulty of successfully launching a franchise, even films that are just modestly successful are being given sequels. Universal recently announced a sequel to the Denzel Washngton-led thriller Safe House which was only a modest success with $202M on a $85M budget.
Sony knows it can easily make at least $300M from Salt 2 and so they must be very eager to get production started. Angelina had previously refused to sign off on Wimmer's script and to get her on board and to keep her happy, they will have to go after top directors and writers for both Cleopatra and Salt 2 that meet with her approval.
Nice present from
adam rashbrook
MaleficentMovieFans
RT @KusasaProject a day spent with Sharlto Copley, a former pupil of Jacquie's, who is currently filming a... http://fb.me/1dLoTtpXV
Its
1am in London, 2am in South Africa, I think we better go - we must be
up early tomorrow because we are going on a private tour of Pinewood
Film Studios courtesy of a great friend of The Kusasa Projects,
Hollywood actor Sharlto Copley.
Pinewood Studios - a day spent with Sharlto Copley, a former pupil of Jacquie's, who is currently filming a blockbuster 'Maleficent'. Thank you Sharlto for a fantatsic and mindblowing tour of the sets and for the time you spent with us showing us around. He introduced us to the star of the film Angelina Jolie who spent 20 minutes with us and who was wonderful, friendly, open, warm and very interested in the kids.
And so the adventure continues!!!!
Non-Profit Organization
THE OFFICIAL PAGE OF THE KUSASA PROJECT. We seek to stimulate children’s
minds & aspirations to a future beyond the shacks & poverty in
which they now live – a brighter & healthier tomo
Gemma Richardson
Good luck to Marcus, Harry W, Polly, Erin and Emily on their auditions for Maleficent this afternoon!
