Not coming to a theater near you: the original "Planet of the Apes".
BY LEE PFEIFFER
It's no secret to retro movie lovers that Disney has long denied theatrical screenings of most of their older films. The theory is that some classic gems will generate more interest (and revenue) if they are periodically reissued with great fanfare to commemorate a movie's anniversary. That mostly pertains to a handful of animated movies but doesn't explain why the studio's vast catalog of live-action films are routinely denied exhibition on the big screen. Now the situation appears to be exponentially worse with Disney's acquisition of Fox and its classic movie catalog. In an extensive piece on the web site Vulture, writer Matt Zoller Seitz presents a grim situation facing art house and revival cinemas: Disney is cherry-picking where and how some of the most beloved Fox classics of all time will be screened. The scattershot strategy defies easy explanation but the theory is that theaters that show first run movies will not be allowed to show retro Fox movies in the same venue. Disney has remained mum on the issue but theater owners are quite concerned because the interest in seeing older films on the big screen is quite extensive and such revivals are crucial to many smaller theater's survival. What is Disney's overall motive? It is theorized that the studio wants to maximize as many screens as possible in first-run theaters in order to minimize exhibition space for films of rival studios. There are exceptions. Theaters and film festivals that play exclusively older fare will apparently still be able to access the Fox catalog. However, many theaters can only continue to exist by playing a mixture of contemporary and classic fare. Disney now owns most of the major blockbuster film franchises (agent 007 remains a notable holdout) and last year the studio's films accounted for a staggering 40% of the North American boxoffice. Suppressing screenings of cinematic classics will only increase concerns that the house of Mickey Mouse is misusing its power and the unintended consequences might include threatening the survival of some theaters.
Sylvester Stallone was stuck in direct-to-video hell at one time and regarded as a washed-up superstar. But the business-savvy Sly smelled profits in his old hit franchises and- Presto!- before you knew it, Rambo and Rocky were minting new profits from older fans and appreciative new generation movie buffs. With the Rambo franchise now coming to an end, Stallone is now going back to his less-than-stellar achievements to see if there's still gold in them thar hills, as well. He has told the Playlist web site that he wants to make a sequel to his 1989 action flick "Tango & Cash", which cast Sly and Kurt Russell as two trash-talking, bickering cops who are framed for murder. There is one fly in Sly's ointment however: Russell is less-than-enthused about the project even though there is still an audience for '80s-style, largely indistinguishable duo-cop flicks. Presumably, if Russell shows good taste and stays away, Stallone will be launching a reboot of "Over the Top", which can only be described as the most ambitious film about arm-wrestling ever brought to the big screen.
Francis Ford Coppola was used to bucking the studio honchos in terms of fighting to bring his vision of a film to the big screen. There were epic battles behind the scenes on "The Godfather" but his experiences on the ill-fated production of "The Cotton Club" in 1984 broke down his will to resist. The movie, which was set in the legendary Harlem nightclub in the heyday of great artists such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, went far over-budget. There were constantly legal squabbles, shady characters that would have been at home in the film itself, a real-life murder and racist pressure from the studio to cut out footage of the African-American stars, Gregory and Maurice Hines, the famous brothers who gained reach fame with their tandem dance numbers. By the time the film opened, the knives were out for it. The movie became an expensive bomb and Coppola always felt a sense of guilt that he had compromised his own production and the contributions of the Hines brothers. He financed a complete re-edit of the film, adding back key scenes and musical production numbers so that the movie finally resembles the film he originally envisioned. It will premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 5 under the title "The Cotton Club Encore". Word-of-mouth is excellent and Coppola, who likes to amend some of his key films from an artistic standpoint, may finally see the acclaim for the production that he once envisioned. Click here to read more in Vanity Fair.