Studio Report Card: New Line
After weak '96, company comes back with new credit line
New Line, confidently sporting its newfound $500 million line of credit, has shifted gears to produce, distribute and market its own product within the Time Warner universe, reporting still to TW vice chair Ted Turner rather than Warner Bros. toppers Bob Daly and Terry Semel. New Line chairman Bob Shaye and prexy/chief operating officer Michael Lynne much prefer it that way.
"It wasn't clear that there was a home for us at Time Warner," said Lynne. "But through it all, Ted did not want us to be sold. In a way it was good fortune."
New Line had been moving from its make-it-on-the-cheap roots to big-budget high-profile pics. Now, Lynne says the company is aiming for a mix of both. "We feel that we're hitting on many of our cylinders -- you never want to say you're hitting on all," he said.
In the early and mid '90s, New Line had basked in hits like "The Mask," "Dumb and Dumber" and "Seven," which filled the company with a confidence that later mishaps soon dispelled. "We just got spoiled," said production prexy Michael De Luca. "I thought, 'Every year is going to be like this.' "
LOW POINTS: The first four films of 1997 -- "Jackie Chan's First Strike," "Dangerous Ground," "Love Jones" and "B.A.P.S." -- all self-destructed at the box office. For De Luca, the low points of the year were simply "all the films that didn't gross $20 million."
New Line's tried-and-true exploitation thriller formula failed with "Most Wanted," which grossed only $6.4 million. "Trial and Error," a Jonathan Lynn comedy that New Line thought might catch on, was laughed off the screen with only $13.6 million in receipts.
After paying $4 million for the treatment of "One Night Stand," New Line had high hopes for the pic, which became Mike Figgis' follow-up to the scorching "Leaving Las Vegas." But the Wesley Snipes starrer was rebuffed by auds to the tune of $2.6 million in domestic grosses. "That was a really high-quality film that just didn't make a connection with audiences," De Luca said. "You have your ups and downs."
MARKETING MELTDOWN: Earlier this year, the infighting between marketing prexy Chris Pula and distrib/marketing president Mitch Goldman grew so rife that Pula ultimately ankled for Warner Bros. (He lasted less than a year there.) Goldman took over full control of marketing and brought in Cheryl Boone Isaacs to fill the day-to-day void left by Pula. Pula's departure was considered a loss for New Line as he has long been considered one of the best marketers in town, but so far Boone Isaacs and Goldman have worked well together on campaigns for "Boogie Nights" and "Wag the Dog."
FINE LINE'S WHINE: New Line's low-budget arthouse arm has been in a static hold for more than a year. President Ruth Vitale seems poised to leave. Exec VP of production/development Jonathan Weisgal already has ankled for Jersey Films. Acquisitions exec VP Mark Ordesky likely will be promoted to president with virtually no staff left. But the company will also likely refocus to more acquisitions-driven releases as opposed to the low- to mid-sized budget productions that Vitale favored.
With all the Sturm und Drang, the company still managed to nab an Oscar for Geoffrey Rush in "Shine" and released several critically lauded pics in "Deconstructing Harry" and "The Sweet Hereafter."
Fine Line crashed and burned with David Cronenberg's "Crash," which Ted Turner personally detested, and Harmony Korine's "Gummo," which most of the country found unfavorable with only $116,799 in ticket sales.
"Love! Valour! Compassion!," costing less than $2 million, was mildly profitable when video was thrown in. Fine Line also re-released John Waters' white-trash classic "Pink Flamingos," 25 years after its bow, with little fanfare.
LOOKING AHEAD: This year marks New Line's first self-financed annum in five years. The interesting question will be whether New Line will be as adventurous and spend-happy as it was with Ted Turner's money. Lynne says the company will still make big-budget high-profile projects like "The Women" and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."
Buzz has been solid on the upcoming Adam Sandler comedy "The Wedding Singer" and its bigger-budget thriller "Lost in Space," based on the TV skein and starring William Hurt and Gary Oldman.
Other upcoming pics include "Mr. Nice Guy," with Jackie Chan; Ice Cube's directorial debut "The Player's Club"; and sci-fi pics "Blade" and "Dark City," also starring Hurt. In June, Edward Norton stars in "American History X," and Holly Hunter and Danny DeVito come up for "The Kiss" in November.
At Fine Line, Woody Allen makes another appearance, this time in the documentary "Wild Man Blues," about Allen's tour through Europe with his jazz band; John Waters is planning "Pecker," a rags to riches comedy; Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter fly in "The Theory of Flight"; Giuseppe Tornatore directs Tim Roth in "The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean"; and Maria Rojo plays a beguiling bigamist in "Esmeralda Comes by Night."
-- Nick Madigan and Dan Cox
