Saturday, March 24, 2007

Di Bonaventura

Anne Thompson brings us up to speed on producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, whose current project, 'Shooter', directed by Antoine Fuqua, starring Mark Wahlberg, is in theaters now.

For anyone who may not know -- Anne Thompson is now at Variety. Her new blog is called Thompson on Hollywood. New digs, new name, just as good as ever.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What does it take? We know diBonaventura is prolific. We know he delivers the product -the film. But, does he have the support from Paramount to market the movies with the resources to deliver mega-hits?

Shooter is a case in point. There is no question that diBonaventura delivered. This is a reasonably intelligent, fun to watch, fast paces thriller. Opening weekend under $15 million doesn’t seem right after you watch the film.

Granted, it was a competitive weekend. But, why was Shooter #5 in theater count, and still managed #3 in box office? Does Paramount have the gas to push a film? Who made the decision to release against TMNT?

It takes more than a great film to make a monster hit. Where was the buzz for Shooter? Does Paramount have the underground marketing savvy to start the buzz? A studio’s buzz machine can’t deliver the buzz, but it has to strike the match and ignite the kindling. If the movie is great, the kindling is ignited, it is up to the market to combust. Shooter could have ignited, but not without a well placed match that Paramount failed to light.

Unfortunately, on Shooter, I never saw the kindling lit.

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