Action pix pack Starz Thursdays
Cabler to pay $600K-$1 mil per title for 'Rush' preems
Stephan Shelanski, senior VP of programming acquisition, scheduling and planning for Starz Encore Entertainment, said Starz has used Thursday night in recent years as a catchall for its action-movie inventory.
Late last year, Starz signed a theatrical output deal with Sony's Columbia Pictures that won't kick in until 2005, but one of the side benefits was immediate access to some action pics Sony had already planned to produce to keep its pipeline flowing with titles for the worldwide market.
Starz will fork over $600,000-$1 million per title for domestic pay TV rights to the world premieres of these four Sony movies:
- "The Breed" stars Adrian Paul ("Highlander: Endgame") as on a vampire cop who, along with 4,000 other vampires, wants to co-exist with humans but must hunt down an out-of-control vampire who's murdering people. Shot on location in Budapest, the movie is produced by Brad Krevoy, Adam Richman, Kelli Konop, Jim Burke, Annette Vait and Joyce Schweickert. Director is Michael Oblowitz. "The Breed" premieres July 19 on Starz.
- "The Point Men," with Christopher Lambert and Kerry Fox, concerns an Israeli intelligence hit team trying to kill an elusive Arab terrorist. The director is John Glen, who helmed four James Bond movies. Producers are Avi Nesher and Silvio Muraglia.
- "True Blue," with Tom Berenger, is "a neo-noir crime thriller," according to Starz. Producers are J.S. Cardone, Scott Einbinder and Carol Kottenbrook. Paul Chart directed from Cardone's original screenplay.
- "Lockdown" is a brutal prison movie starring rapper Master P. The director is John Luessenhop.
Starz will flesh out the Thursday lineup with movies from its theatrical library such as "The Mummy," "Passenger 57," "The 13th Warrior," "The Last Boy Scout," "Hard to Kill" and "End of Days."
The enhanced Thursday officially starts July 5 with the U.S. TV premiere of Jet Li's theatrical "Fist of Legend."
