Lancelot Link: Cannes Cannes

Lancelot Link Monday! Everyone in in Cannes this week. Most people think Cannes is a film festival, and it is... but mostly it's a film market. A place where people buy and sell movies. The stars show up to walk the red carpet for the festival, then go pimp their films to buyers at the market. If there was no festival, there would still be a market. We don't really need festivals and awards, but we need markets. Replace movies with food and you'll see how this makes sense. Some foods win awards, and that's great... but we can do without food awards but can't do without the market where we buy food. The Film Market is more important than that Film Festival... While you're thinking about that, here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...




Here are a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Pitch Perfect 2................. $70,300,000
2 Fury Road....................... $44,440,000
3 Age Of Ultron................... $38,837,000
4 Hot Pursuit...................... $5,780,000
5 Blart!........................... $3,600,000
6 Furious 7........................ $3,600,000
7 Adeline.......................... $3,200,000
8 Home............................. $2,700,000
9 Ex Machiua....................... $2,103,000
10 Far From......................... $1,300,000


It might seem strange that PERFECT PITCH beat FURY ROAD this weekend, but PITCH was tracking really well and FURY ROAD seemed to be appealing mostly to older males who are fans of the previous MAD MAX movies. You also have to take into account the other films playing: AVENGERS 2 is still new and FURIOUS 7 is still selling lots of tickets... and those are both probably more appealing to males (as is FURY ROAD). But what's out there for females? ADELINE and FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD both appeal to females, but are also more serious films... and girls just want to have fun! So a female directed comedy about a group of women singers was the perfect film! Elizabeth Banks proves that women directors can make hit films (and also proves that smart women can find a way to get that directing gig... Banks is a comedy actress (40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN) who started a production company to help her find better roles... and then directed some small things for experience which would lead to her directing PITCH PERFECT 2 which her company produced (along with the first film). She took small steps leading to a big goal).

That big goal along with FURY ROAD and AGE OF ULTRON continued to push this year's box office to record numbers. We are now 5.7% ahead of ;last year and a full 12.7% ahead of 2013... and summer hasn't even started! Hollywood is making the films America (and the rest of the world) wants to see! Sequels.

2) MAD MAX and the strangest series of films ever!

3) Natalie Portman Interview.

4) First Pictures From Upcomming Films.

5) Return Of Ealing Studios...

6) Paul Schrader, Nic Cage, Eddie Bunker, DOG EAT DOG.

7) New Trailer For MINIONS.

8) Cannes Deals.

9) Legal Tools For TV Content Creators/

10) Collin Farrell Talks About THE LOBSTER.

11) More Of Those PLANET OF THE APES Movies.

12) Interview With Woody Allen.

And the Car Chase Of The Week:



From one of my favorite movies about the film biz AN ALMOST PERFECT AFFAIR, about a film maker trying to sell their movie at Cannes.

Bill



IMPORTANT UPDATE:
It's Not About Time - Structure has nothing to do with chronology.
Dinner: Pork chops & brown rice & broccoli.
Pages: Working on the FURIOUS WRITING class.
Bicycle: Short ride.

Movie: A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT on DVD. Beautifully shot, but I'm not sure the intended story made it to the screen.