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Archive for February, 2012

Michael Sucsy in talks to helm Beach Boys musical

Feb 28th

Michael Sucsy in talks to helm Beach Boys musical
‘The Vow’ director will steer fictional story set to band’s music

Variety
By JEFF SNEIDER
“The Vow” helmer Michael Sucsy is in negotiations to direct Fox 2000′s untitled musical scripted by Susannah Grant (“Erin Brockovich”) that will be set to the music of The Beach Boys.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the team behind successful bigscreen musicals “Hairspray” and “Chicago,” will produce with John Stamos.

The original musical, which is based on a fictional story and characters created by Grant, will be driven by the music of The Beach Boys.

Script was circulated to a handful of helmers several weeks ago, and Sucsy responded to the material. He recently sat down with Grant to discuss the project, which he has committed to direct.

Studio acquired rights to use The Beach Boys’ music in a bidding war with Universal back in October 2010.

Meron and Zadan exec produced ABC’s 2000 telepic “The Beach Boys: An American Family” with Stamos, who played with and remains close to the legendary band.

Recent music-driven projects have a mixed track record at the box office, with Universal’s ABBA-driven “Mamma Mia!” grossing $610 million worldwide, and Sony’s Beatles-inspired “Across the Universe” earning only $29 million worldwide.

Sucsy’s feature helming debut “The Vow” has grossed over $100 million domestically for Screen Gems. He’s currently developing “Rosaline” at Fox 2000, and previously directed HBO’s award-winning telepic “Grey Gardens,” which garnered him an Emmy win as well as nominations for co-writing and directing.

Sucsy is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content.

‘Voice’ loud, ‘Smash’ strong for NBC

Feb 7th

Variety

By: RICK KISSELL

Net dominates in demos on night after Super Bowl

NBC’s Broadway-themed drama “Smash” opened to good numbers Monday, airing behind the timeslot debut of “The Voice,” which followed up its monster post-Super Bowl premiere one night earlier with very impressive numbers. The shows combined for easily the net’s top non-sports scores this season.

It will take a while to see where both shows settle, but NBC has to be pleased with the launch of “Smash,” which averaged a 3.8 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 and 11.5 million viewers overall, according to affiliate-based preliminary estimates from Nielsen. Though it fell off in its second half-hour as expected (from 4.2 to 3.4 in 18-49), “Smash” led its hour over competing dramas “Hawaii Five-0″ on CBS (2.7/7 in 18-49, 9.8 million viewers overall) and “Castle” on ABC (2.0/5 in 18-49, 8.7 million viewers overall).

“Smash” generated perhaps the best reviews of any drama this season. The show, whose exec producers include Steven Spielberg, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, stars Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston and Katharine McPhee

Meanwhile, “The Voice” (6.6/16 in 18-49, 17.9 million viewers overall) ruled its two-hour timeslot, easily surpassing its first-season highs last spring in both 18-49 (5.7/15) and total viewers (14.4 million). The NBC music competition opened within shouting distance of Fox’s “American Idol,” which kicked off its season last month with a 7.4/19 in 18-49 and 21.93 million viewers overall – low by its standards. NBC hasn’t done better from 8 to 10 p.m. on Monday with regular series since 2004.

NBC won Monday, a night on which it has really struggled this season, in all key categories including adults 18-49 (5.7/14). One year earlier, with a lineup of “Chuck,” “Cape” and “Harry’s Law,” the net averaged a mere 1.6/4 in the demo.

Elsewhere, CBS and ABC held up well, with the Eye getting more good comedy scores from “How I Met Your Mother” (4.0/11 in 18-49, 10.0 million viewers overall), “2 Broke Girls” (4.3/11 in 18-49, 11.4 million viewers overall) and “Two and a Half Men” (4.2/10 in 18-49, 16.8 million viewers overall) and the Alphabet paced by “The Bachelor” (2.6/6 in 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall), which was flat week to week despite the stronger NBC competition.

Fox’s drama combo of “House” (2.4/6 in 18-49, 7.2 million viewers overall) and “Alcatraz” (2.2/5 in 18-49, 6.8 million viewers overall) suffered the most and placing fourth from 8 to 10.

Lifetime’s ‘Blue Lagoon’ Reboot Casts Leads

Feb 6th

 

Deadline

By NELLIE ANDREEVA

EXCLUSIVE: Young Australian actors Brenton Thwaites and Indiana Evans are following in the footsteps of Christopher Atkins & Brooke Shields and Brian Krause & Milla Jovovich as the leads of The Blue Lagoon, Lifetime’s contemporary remake of the 1980 romance/adventure movie starring Shields and Atkins. (Jovovich and Krause toplined the 1991 sequel.) In the story, which echoes the biblical tale of Adam and Eve and is based on the novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, Thwaites and Evans will play Dane and Emma, a boy and a girl marooned on a tropical island where they grow up together, fall in love and discover sexuality. The Sony TV-produced project has been in the works at Lifetime since 2004 with Heather Rutman and Matt Heller as writers. Filming is slated to begin this month in Puerto Rico. Neil Meron, Craig Zadan and Judith Verno are executive producing. Sony and Verno were also behind the recent hit Lifetime movie Untouchable: The Drew Peterson Story. The Blue Lagoon franchise is known for giving young actors their big break. The 1980 film made Shields a household name, while the 1991 sequel Return To The Blue Lagoon launched the career of Milla Jovovich. Thwaites, managed by Industry Entertainment, and Evans have both co-starred on the popular Australian soap opera Home And Away.