Tangled Web
Variety is reporting that Sherwood Outdoor, which controls the massive billboards at prime New York locations like 1600 Broadway and One Times Square, is suing Sony Pictures Entertainment over some digital alteration in the upcoming Spider-man movie.
Sony is accused of removing existing ads and inserting new ones from its ad partners, including Cingular Wireless and USA Today. The latter one is the hot item, as the USA Today ad apparently replaced one for Samsung, one of Sony’s top global competitors.
If Sony loses the suit, I think they should go back in and replace the ads with the phrase “Fuck You Sherwood!” Or they could make the fanboys happy and post pin-ups of Kirsten Dunst.
What’s Old is New
Warner Bros. and director Stephen Norrington (Blade) are teaming up to do an adaptation of the Japanese animated classic Akira. Norrington claims the U.S. version “preserves the tone, the visual and the epic scope of the original whilst telling a somewhat more accessible story (to Western audiences).”
The original 1988 movie features a group of motorcycle-riding teenagers in a dystopian future Tokyo, trying to stop one of their own, who became a psychic psychopath after being subjected to a covert government experiment.
I don’t think it’s anything about Japanese culture that makes that plot inaccessible to people. It’s already a classic; why mess with it or bother rehashing it?
Crap…
Riding high on the success of The Osbournes, MTV is working on spewing out even more reality shows, including one featuring rapper P. Diddy, and, in a major show of class, one tailing Brandy during her pregnancy.
I’m sure Ozzy’s thrilled that he’s opened the door for a show chronicling the daily life of P. Diddy. MTV apparently fails to realize that The Osbournes is so popular because Ozzy’s family is as cool and insane as he is.
Then again, P. Diddy’s even crazier if he really thinks his handle is cool or intimidating, so his show might turn out to be entertaining after all — if only for the scenes where he gets his teeth kicked in trying to get respect with a name like “P-Diddy.”
…Crap…
But the fun doesn’t stop there. MTV is also producing a scripted movie based on The Real World “starring” former cast members. The Real World: The Lost Season follows the madcap adventures of a group of cast members who are held hostage by an insane reality show wannabe.
I think it’d be more “real” if the cast got kidnapped by someone trying to stop all these god-awful reality shows from being made.
…And More Crap
Meanwhile, former MTV Jackass host Johnny Knoxville gave information about the film version of the show in an interview in the latest issue of Rolling Stone.
“We’ve only been shooting two weeks and we’ve already had busted teeth, police involvement, a trip to the emergency room and a full-grown man accidentally shitting his pants,” says Knoxville. “It’s like a naughty version of the show.”
Wait, I changed my mind. If the best new material Hollywood can come up with now are movies based on The Real World and Jackass, I say bring on the remakes and re-releases.
Archived article by Matt Chock