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So what I'm proposing is a salary cap, something like they have in the NFL. Basically, for writers (not really an issue since the glory days of Shane Black and Joe Eszterhas collecting $4 million dollar paychecks), directors and actors there would be ceiling on what they can collect on a movie. For instance, for actors, it might be $20 million and 20% of the gross. This ceiling would force the whole industry to readjust so that only the real superstars are collecting that fee, and other stars' salaries would drop accordingly. In the case of Rush Hour, this would drop Tucker's upfront money to $20 million, and Chan to, say, $10 million. If we cap director's fees at $5 million, then we've knocked almost $15 million off the film's reported $140 million budget (I hear it's much higher, and that New Line execs weren't thrilled with Ratner running over schedule and over budget). This would lower production costs substantially, lessening, at least somewhat, the risk studios take in greenlighting films and freeing up studio executives to take more chances. It would also free up capital that could be used to appease the various guilds as contract negotiations come up, perhaps finally giving writers a much-deserved cut of alternative media revenues, for instance.
At the very least, I think this solution is preferably to many studios' current idea of eliminating residual payments altogether.
But enough of this humble blogger's ideas to save the movie industry. In other news, The Bourne Ultimatum fell 51% in it's second week to $33.6 million, raising its domestic total to $132 million off a budget of $110 million. Reviews and word of mouth are such that I expect it will have better legs in the coming weeks with less big name competition. The Simpsons Movie continues to fall hard, dropping 55% to $11 million and a $152 million total. With $189 million from overseas markets, expect a sequel summer after next.
Stardust opened poorly with $9 million from 2,540 theatres for a $3.5k average. That per screen average isn't too bad, and with a budget of $70 million, and names like Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer in the cast, I'm wondering why Paramount didn't open it in more theatres. The average would have dropped, but I'm sure it could have brought in another $3-4 million with another 500 theatres, and a respectable 73% rating on rottentomatoes.com means word of mouth shouldn't be bad either, especially going into the lackluster days of late summer. It's almost like they didn't want to make their money back...
Underdog held up reasonably well in its second week (in spite of withering reviews), slipping 44% to $6.4 million and a $24 million total. Disney gave it a surprising marketing push, which should pay off on DVD and unlimited runs on The Disney Channel. Hairspray continues to show terrific legs (not Travolta's), falling 31% to $6 million, a $92 million cume, and two Michelle Pfeiffer movies in the top ten. Good for her.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, hereafter known as INPYCAL, brought in $5.9 million, down 44%, for a $103 million cume, followed by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, hereafter known as HPATOOTP (second note to Hollywood- you HAVE to get your titles under control; I'm getting carpal tunnel from typing these out), followed with $5.3 million and a $272 million total.