movies

For his part, Baker spent a great deal of time on the campaign trail discussing the headwinds faced by indie filmmakers. In his Indie Spirits speech, referring to the time it takes to make a film, he asked a rhetorical question: “How do you support yourself with little or no income for 3 years?”

We posed that question to producer Alex Saks on this week’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast as we explored the issue of why even the most successful indie filmmakers are unable to make a living. Saks is an indie producer, with 24 producing credits that include Baker’s “A Florida Project” and “Red Rocket.” Prior to producing she was a  film finance agent at ICM, where she structured indie film deals and helped director clients get their films off the ground.

“Sean said at his Indie Spirit Awards speech, ‘I’m able to do this because I don’t have kids, I don’t have a family,’ and it’s objectively not sustainable otherwise,” said Saks on the podcast. “He’s done it because of sheer passion and force of will, and probably because he can’t possibly see himself doing anything else, but that is such a rarity on multiple levels. It is a big point to how is this sustainable, and I think the answer is it’s not.”

While on the podcast, Saks got into the reasons this is the case, including a breaking down the math involved with equity investment, which is how a majority of how the films premiering at the bigger festivals get financed. Using the rosy (some would say dream) scenario of a film costing $5 million and selling for $7 million, Saks explained how little money actually reaches the creative team.

Under this scheme, the equity investor floated cash flow to make the movie. They would recoup their $5 million investment, plus a 20 percent premium — so, $6 million goes to the investor. The sales agent would also take a 10 percent fee from the sale; that’s $700,000. From the $7 million sale, that leaves $300,000 to split between the investor and the filmmakers. That means just $150,000 for the creative team, which can include the producers, writer, director, and crew members. The splits vary from project to project, and are individually negotiated.

Under this same $5 million hypothetical budget, the director drew a salary for their services during production. However, if a film takes three years to make, it could amount to less than minimum wage.

Summary:

An isekai slice-of-life fantasy romantic comedy and a satirical take on the weeaboo lifestyle, Me and My Waifu follows Tom (Simon Pegg), a 40-something loser who's been a hardcore weeaboo since childhood. One night, when he decides to binge-watch a slice-of-life anime before putting an end to his otaku lifestyle under the advice of his friend Peter (Nick Frost). But when a blackout occurs and Tom accidentally injures himself--and his television--while attempting to navigate himself through the dark, he wakes up the next day to find the anime's protagonist, a young dandere schoolgirl named Yumiko (Erica Mendez) has come to life as his roommate.

Now, Tom and Peter must assist Yumiko through the ups and downs of the real world, as Tom begins to find friendship in her--and the line between his otaku life and personal life begins to blur along the way.

Me and My Waifu also stars J.K. Simmons as Tom's therapist Francis, Erika Harlacher as a fictionalized version of herself that Tom and Peter attempt to seek help from, Xanthe Huynh as the voice of Yumiko's best friend Chiemi, Rosamund Pike as Tom's ex-girlfriend Sarah, Paul Rudd as Tom's douchebag officemate Walter, and Taika Waititi as Tom's boss Michael.

Director: Edgar Wright

Writer: Edgar Wright

Cast:

• Simon Pegg as Tom
• Nick Frost as Peter
• Erica Mendez as Yumiko
• J.K. Simmons as Francis
• Xanthe Huynh as Chiemi
• Paul Ridd as Walter
• Taika Waititi as Michael

Rotten Tomatoes: 75%

Metacritic: 54

VOD: April Fools' Day

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Dogma: Resurrected, A 25th Anniversary Celebration with Kevin Smith hits theaters June 5th 2025.

Kendrick Lamar’s untitled comedy won’t debut on America’s birthday after all. Paramount, the studio behind the closely guarded movie from Lamar and “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, has been delayed from July 4, 2025 to March 20, 2026.

Lamar will be away for much of the spring and summer on his Grand National stadium tour, which kicks off on April 19 in Minnesota and concludes on Aug. 19 in Sweden. On its new date, the yet-to-be-titled film will open on the same day as Liongate’s faith-based “I Can Only Imagine” sequel with Dennis Quaid.

...

As for Lamar’s movie, not a single detail — not the cast, logline or title — has been revealed at this point. What is known, however, is the live-action comedy is written by comedian Vernon Chatman and follows a young Black man who interns as a slave re-enactor at a living history museum.

In a nut shell, people are creating film trailers with AI and sharing on YouTube. Film studios are now asking Google for a slice of the profits as it's their intellectual property.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/27623988

Warner Bros. has agreed to a deal with Ketchup Entertainment to give its embattled Looney Tunes movie a theatrical run.