"WHAT'S UP" At The Movies

'Razorland': The Next Big Franchise?

Like 'Twilight', 'Hunger Games' or 'Harry Potter' can Ann Aquirre's 'Razorland' trilogy be the next big movie franchise?

Kickstart Productions thinks so as it optioned the rights to Aquirre's books and has started movie and TV productions of 'Enclave' - the first book in the trilogy. 'Enclave' tells the story of a girl from an underground enclave in which no one lives past the age of 25.  She is exiled from of the enclave to the uninhabited surface in punishment for a crime she did not commit.

Ann Aquirre is a bestselling author who has written over 30 novels for adults and teens.  Her 'Razorland' series has sold in the millions and has been translated into ten languages.

Aquirre has a winner in 'Razorland'

For its part, Kickstart Productions has had success in promoting both movies and TV shows. Several projects include the upcoming series, 'Preacher' on AMC and 'Ready, Jet, Go!' for PBS.

The 'Razorland' series includes three novels: 'Enclave', 'Outpost', 'Horde' and three novellas: 'Foundation', 'Endurance', and 'Restoration' all of which center around the exploits of a female character, named Deuce.  Aquirre is still a relative unknown even given her writing success; however, this will all change as, I believe, 'Razorland' will become as big as the 'Twilight' or 'Hunger Games' franchises.


"We Don't Need Hollywood"

According to Shan Dongbing, a veteran Chinese film producer and head of Foye Films, "We no longer need Hollywood, we have all the investment and intellectual property necessary to produce our own blockbusters."  Shan made these comments at the Tokyo Film Festival last week in response to Chinese/Japanese collaboration in making movies.

Unfortunately for Shan, the reality is much different. According to Hitoshi Endo, head of Amuse, a Japanese production and talent firm, "Japanese TV shows have been much more successful in China than movies. This is due mainly to demographic and regulatory issues that need to be overcome."

Thus far, Japanese production companies have not budged to China's censorship laws as they want to keep their, hard worked for, brand recognition.  They don't want to give up cast or script control on a Chinese remake of their films. "It can be very difficult if the movie is controlled by multiple owners", says Hitoshi.

Chinese regulatory issues - including script approvals, censorship, and Chinese content requirements - often block the path to co-production of films. However, according to Shan, "China wants to and will change it rules on easing film quotas and relaxing distribution and exhibition impediments."

I just don't see it. The Chinese and Japanese historically are leery of each other and given the political sensitivity regarding movies by the Chinese government there isn't much promise for them making blockbusters for the global box office any time soon.


Map of Tolkien's Middle-Earth Discovered

Tolkien's Map of Middle-Earth

For all of you 'Lord of the Rings' fans, a map of Middle-Earth was discovered in a copy of the 'Rings' novel owned Pauline Baynes, an illustrator for the Tolkien books.

The map contains notes by Tolkien regarding both 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit' novels. It is on display and for sale at Blackwell's Rare Books in London for $100,000.  The most notable detail is how precise Tolkien was regarding his story and the work and research that went into his classic tales.

Who Bought All Of The Advanced Tickets to 'Star Wars'

By now everyone has heard how advanced ticket sales of 'Star Wars; The Force Awakens' crashed the on-line servers due to extremely heavy transaction volume.

The interesting thing is that older men were the big ticket purchasers.  70% of ticket sales were to men 18-49 years old, with the average age being 34.  These are mostly regular moviegoers who visit their local cinema monthly and most (67%) go to opening night presentations.

The trailer for the new 'Star Wars' was released during the half-time on 'Monday Night Football' and drove the sale of the tickets.  The trailer got 112 million subsequent views.

'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' opens at cinemas on December 18th.