Author Archives: Dennis Toth

Rudyard Kipling never worked in Hollywood. That’s why no one is paying much attention to his old advice. China is now the new market that everyone wants to own. Odd thing, the Chinese seem to view China as being their own turf, and the current move by American film companies toward the East may yet ... Read more

Stop the press! Paramount Pictures has just crossed the billion dollar threshold, and the summer has barely begun. Oh whee! They are rolling in it and everything is beautiful (at least along their legendary gates on Melrose Avenue). Hollywood loves the smell of success, and Paramount’s chairmen Brad Grey has seemingly produced the one bright ... Read more

There’s a lot of co-evolution going on. Changes in one thing produce corresponding changes in many other things. The term is most commonly used in biology, but it is also applicable to the current state of film and media. It’s more than applicable. It is the single most important concept that explains the ever-shifting patterns ... Read more

In the old days, publicists were often ex-reporters who mainly switched jobs so they could deduct the booze as a business expense. This was back in the mythic heydays when promoting a movie was viewed as an art rather than a science, and a well-oiled, glib tongue was the job’s primary requirement. Like everything else, ... Read more

It must be something in the water. Every indie filmmaker on earth is totally convinced that the key to success is the use of the social media. Countless blogs have been posted hammering away at this point. Numerous self-appointed experts have emerged to guide people through the digital universe for fame and fortune. An incredible ... Read more

Like Napoleon playing with a map of Europe, Hollywood is toying with the globe. At least that is the gist of a recent New York Times story. In a report on the upcoming ScreenSingapore 2011 festival, the Times finds that the foreign market is becoming extremely important to American films. Actually, the foreign market is ... Read more

Film making is a very expensive hobby. Even in the days of Super-8 (which existed between the Jurassic period and the Great Flood), the cost of film and lab work depleted the budget of many teenage directors. And that was minus any fancy thought of editing. Digital filmmaking has changed all of that. Well, it’s ... Read more

Sometimes experience just isn’t enough. That appears to be the immediate lesson provided by the announcement this week that The Film Department will call it quits by the end of May. In one sense, this doesn’t mean much. During its incredibly brief history (a mere three years), The Film Department barely produced three movies (only ... Read more

Success has a thousand fathers, but failure is exclusively caused by vindictive movie critics who write back-stabbing and mean-spirited reviews in pursuit of their hidden liberal agenda. Well, that is pretty much the explanation given by the producer of Atlas Shrugged concerning the film’s rapid flat-lining at the box office. John Aglialoro would hardly be ... Read more

When last we checked the current box office is down. Meanwhile, the production costs for this summer’s big special effects movies are suddenly skyrocketing through the roof while rumors swirl that some of these flicks may not be ready in time for their release dates. But that may be OK. The summer schedule is already ... Read more