In the wake of Tuesday's events, many in the entertainment industry have moved to postpone, cancel or pull products from the market. MOVIES: Warner Bros has indefinitely postponed Arnold Schwarzenegger's Collateral Damage, set for an Oct. 5 release, in which Arnold seeks vengeance after his family is killed in a bomb blast at a downtown skyscraper. The studio will also pull all promotional materials including posters, trailers and the movie's website; WB will also pull the remaining prints of Swordfish from theaters. Disney's Big Trouble, a Barry Sonnenfeld comedy set to open Sept 21, has also been postponed due to its bomb-in-a-suitcase plot. The film's press junket, which was set for this weekend, has been canceled; Sony has pulled the Spider-Man teaser trailer from theaters and the website due to a scene featuring a helicopter full of bank robbers caught in a web spun between the World Trade Center towers. The Ed Burns-Heather Graham indie film Sidewalks of New York has also been postponed until later this year, not for any terrorist content, but simply for its setting and title. There is no word on next July's Sum of All Fears, the next "Jack Ryan" film installment from Paramount, in which terrorists plot to blow up the Super Bowl with a nuclear device. MGM's Nosebleed, which was to have starred Jackie Chan as a World Trade Center window washer who becomes involved in a terrorist plot to destroy the Statue of Liberty, definitely "won't see the light of day as originally written." Columbia Pictures shut down production on Men in Black 2, whose reported opening and finale featuring the World Trade Center buildings "opening up and spaceships flying out" will have to be rewritten and reshot. TELEVISION: Variety reports that NBC plans to scrap production on "Terror," a five-hour Law & Order miniseries for next May; ABC has pulled a Saturday showing of the 1997 George Clooney thriller The Peacemaker; the networks have pulled promos for new fall terrorist-themed series like 24, Alias and The Agency; Fox has cancelled an airing of Independence Day in which the White House and the Empire State Building are blown up; even a film about rats taking over New York City was withdrawn; the scheduled Sept. 20 premiere of The Agency, in which CIA agents foil a plot to blow up London's Harrods department store, is most likely going to be scrapped; the Fall television premieres set for this week have been bumped and many more shows, like The X-Files, have postponed their shooting schedules; Leno, Letterman and many other talk shows will not air again till next week; the Latin Grammy Awards have been cancelled altogether and the Emmys still remain unscheduled. Equipment from NBC's Third Watch, which deals with New York City emergency workers, was made available to their real-life counterparts in the grim search for survivors in the rubble that was once the World Trade Center. MISCELLANEOUS: The new CD release by Dream Theatre, "Live Scenes from New York", which has a cover picture of a burning apple with the WTC and the Statue of Liberty within the fire is being pulled from stores; Majestic, the online game that envelops players in a corporate thriller by sending players phone calls, faxes, e-mails and instant messages at all hours of the day and night has been temporarily suspended; Universal's Greenwich Village American Werewolf in London DVD party was called off; Fox canned its French Connection and Simpsons DVD events on the 20th and 25th. ------------------ webmaster davisdvd.com International Exclusives
I wonder what the word is on Black Hawk Down, the Bruckheimer film about US Marines fighting against bin Laden backed terrorists in Somalia.
Seth, Where in the world did you hear those were Bin Laden backed terrorists. Those people had nothing to do with Bin Laden. Kevin C. ------------------ If you live in the Wichita KS area and are interested in a local meet click here
Actually, Black Hawk Down should not be delayed since we all want to see those terrorists get thier butts kicked, even if it's in a movie. ------------------ "What if he honks in the car?" "I'm giving you a no honk guaruntee."
quote: Seth, Where in the world did you hear those were Bin Laden backed terrorists. Those people had nothing to do with Bin Laden.[/quote] ABC News profile of bin Laden. bin Laden profile You will note that one of the actions attributed to him if you use the timeline thing halfway down is this in October 93 - Two U.S. helicopters shot down by local Somali groups, resulting in the deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers. I also read it mentioned in an interview with him from 98. [Edited last by Seth Paxton on September 13, 2001 at 08:54 PM]
I had never heard of that being attributed to him, nor the 1993 WTC bombing. I think there is a rush now to pile everything on him. It is kind of ridiculous. Becuase they have plenty to pile on him already. Kevin C.
Also, from the U.S. Naval Post-Graduate school... http://web.nps.navy.mil/~library/tgp/qaida.htm Note this part under "Activities"
quote: nor the 1993 WTC bombing[/quote] Are you kidding? That's what got him on the FBI top 10 list in the first place. You will also note that the "rush to pile it on" took place at least in April of this year, not this week, at the US Naval page. That was his profile BEFORE the WTC attacks this week. And the Nightline interview in which Somalia, among other items, was discussed with him took place in 1998. The guy isn't new here. edit... and from the US Defense department
You're right Seth. I stand corrected. I guess he wasn't the mastermind but he was involved nonetheless. Kevin C.
quote: I guess he wasn't the mastermind[/quote] What are you talking about, theres no doubt he was the mastermind, many things point to it, even his own words of striking the U.S in a big way. Hes responsible and hes going to pay for what he did. [Edited last by DavidAC on September 14, 2001 at 01:37 AM]
The changes Hollywood is making in light of recent events is incredible. I knew about Collateral Damage's postponement, but I didn't realize the full extent of the "entertainment" damage. I hadn't thought about how many movies/TV shows deal with terrorism. There are a lot aren't there? How fitting are Sum of All Fears and Nosebleed? It's too bad, too. Nosebleed sounded interesting. But, now it just hits too close to home. It may be totally scrapped. Or it may not even be about terrorism at all by the time they've finished rewriting it. ------------------
Bill, Terrorists are the new Nazis, both in reality and therefore, for Hollywood. Also, I assumed Kevin meant in terms of Somalia where it appears that bin Laden gave them the arms to shoot down the helicopters, but didn't have to "plan" anything. If you meant the WTC '93, then yes, it's generally believed that he was the mastermind behind it all. The guy they caught had his PHONE NUMBER in his pocket. He is THE guy that organizes these smaller cells that carry out the work, and organizes the flow of funding and arms to both them and their training grounds. Which brings me back to my question regarding Blackhawk Down. I wonder what is going to happen with that release? If they can get it out the door I could see it having a HUGE advantage when it comes to Oscars due to the emotional state of the country right now. Hell, who isn't dialed into that sort of subject matter. But I just can't imagine that anyone would want to see Americans getting killed. I also wonder if bin Laden is mentioned in the script.
Not sure if it's been mentioned elsewhere, but according to Upcomingmovies.com, Training Day has been pushed slightly to October 5th to give a little space from the incident, putting it up against Serendipity, Max Keeble's Big Move, Joy Ride and Iron Monkey. Phew! This leaves "Glitter" as the only major film opening on the 21st. I'll let Mark Pfieffer handle this one while I go check out U4's premiere of "Innocence" ------------------ [email protected] ICQ: 16733922 I Am Jack's DVD List "After about five minutes of this movie, you're going to wish you had ten beers." Ghost World My Own Film Review Website Coming Soon!
Well, assuming the prints aren't delayed, I'll be seeing Training Day Tuesday. (This incident has put a couple multiplexes around town in a situation where they did not have prints for Friday's new releases. Same goes for a press screening Thursday morning.) As for Glitter, they could all get lost in transit as far as I'm concerned. Hollywood does seem to be backing off on anything remotely violent, which is probably a good move. I guess I really don't know what to say other than that. ------------------ Read my reviews at www.dvdmon.com Most recent reviews: Mississippi Mermaid, Un Flic, How to Get Ahead in Advertising: The Criterion Collection, WarGames, Open Your Eyes, Waiting for Guffman, Maelstrom Most recent column: Panning P&S
Mark, The advance for Training Day in Victoria is still happening on Wednesday the 19th, just the major release is put off for two weeks. I agree that it's probably good to hold violent films off for now....although I did see Glass House last night, but still. I do NOT want to review "Glitter" so Mark or Aaron, or Scott Weinberg, or Jason Seaver, the honor is yours. ------------------ [email protected] ICQ: 16733922 I Am Jack's DVD List "After about five minutes of this movie, you're going to wish you had ten beers." Ghost World My Own Film Review Website Coming Soon!
Getting back onto topic in regard to how this is affecting decisions in Hollywood, with some films being digitally altered, removing the towers, what's the chance of them being digitally taken out for the DVD release of A.I? Dan (UK)
I think they should leave the WTC towers in A.I. Yes, it would be inaccurate, but the film should be left in its original form. I don't see why they should pull them out. Spider-Man isn't out yet, so I could see them pulling the WTC out of it. It will probably set the schedul for the film back a bit though. This WTC thing is really a big blow to everything. Thank god for the congress agreeing on everything and not fighting about it.
I agree, Morgan. Whilst I can absolutely understand future releases adopting its removal, I'm not overly fond of the editing of past and fairly recent productions. I don't want to see the WTC erased completely as if to pretend that it, and those who worked there, never existed. Dan (UK)
