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Exclusive: I caught up with Carolco co-founder Mario Kassar, who had two recently deceased artists on his mind, and how they helped shape his highest-flying foreign sales company of the ‘80s. That would be director Ted Kotcheff, who essentially launched Carolco with First Blood, and Val Kilmer on The Doors, playing the iconic singer Jim Morrison even though Tom Cruise was desperate to play The Lizard King.

Kotcheff was integral in First Blood, even as the pic almost imploded when Sylvester Stallone decided his Rambo character wasn’t going to die, like in the book and the script. The film’s financing was structured heavily around Kirk Douglas, who on the morning of shooting, was set as Rambo’s handler Col Trautman. Determined that his character had to put his tortured Vietnam vet protégé out of his misery, Douglas was aghast at the Frankenstein monster he created, and the actor...

The idea blended Egyptian culture and ancient alien concepts with interplanetary adventure. Studios didn’t get it. The producer didn’t like the pacing. The first test screening didn’t go well. But when the film reached theatres, it was a hit, spawning a franchise that would go on for years and consist of multiple novels and TV shows. Now, we’re going back to the beginning to find out What Happened to Stargate.

Filmmaker Roland Emmerich was fascinated with Egyptian culture and architecture. While in film school, he had an idea for a story about the discovery of a space ship, buried under the Great Pyramid. The revelation that ancient Egyptians were influenced by alien visitors. The story was too big and expensive to bring to the screen at that time, so Emmerich set it aside. When he was working on his fourth feature film, the sci-fi thriller Moon 44,...

“They want crap,” Carolco executive Peter Hoffman once told the Los Angeles Times, “Every time people tell you they don’t, it’s bull. They want crap.” Hoffman was reflecting on the lackluster audience response to the Oscar-nominated Music Box (1989), while sci-fi action blockbusters such as Total Recall (1990) were filling coffers like mad.

Long before independent production houses like Skydance, A24, and Blumhouse were making waves alongside the major studios, Carolco made its name in Hollywood as a backer of lavish action films that included the Rambo series, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Cliffhanger (1993). Carolco’s rise and fall was as epic as one of their blockbuster action films.

It was known as “The Carolco Premium.” While rival indies TriStar and Orion had their share of respectable projects, Carolco led a rise of independent studios by creating and maintaining a blockbuster brand for making the most extravagant actions films of the era.

A new take on the cult horror classic “Audition,” one of the more influential modern horror films in the torture-porn genre, is coming to the screen.

Focus Features is nearing a deal to produce a feature adaptation of “Audition” based on the 1997 horror-thriller novel by Ryū Murakami, which was originally brought to the screen by Japanese master Takashi Miike in 1999 starring Ryo Ishibashi and Eihi Shiina.

Focus will produce the project alongside Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment and Mario Kassar Productions, who have tapped Christian Tafdrup to write and direct the film. Tafdrup is the Danish director behind the original “Speak No Evil,” which was last year adapted into English by Blumhouse and Universal. Tafdrup is co-writing the script with his brother Mads Tafdrup.

“Audition” starts as a domestic drama of a widower who is holding mock auditions in order to find a new wife, only to discover that...

Danish filmmaker Christian Tafdrup brought the incredibly bleak film Gæsterne, a.k.a. Speak No Evil (read our review Here) into the world back in 2022 – and when the American remake was released last year, Tafdrup let it be known that he wasn’t impressed by the new take on his story, because it didn’t leave viewers traumatized like the original film did. Now, Deadline has revealed that Tafdrup is on board to direct a remake of director Takashi Miike’s dark and twisted 1999 Japanese film Audition… and we can probably rest assured that he’s not going to take it easy on viewers with his take on the material.

Based on a 1997 horror thriller novel by Ryū Murakami, Miike’s Audition was scripted by Daisuke Tengan and has the following synopsis: Widower Aoyama decides to start dating again. Aided by a film-producer friend, Aoyama uses auditions for a fake...

Exclusive: Focus Features, Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment and Mario Kassar Productions are nearing a deal to produce a feature take of Ryū Murakami’s cult 1997 Japanese horror thriller novel, Audition.

The novel was previously adapted into a 1999 Japanese film of the same name, directed by 2x Cannes Palme D’Or nominee Takashi Miike.

The latest take on Audition is being written and directed by Danish multi-hyphenate Christian Tafdrup who is co-writing with his brother and frequent collaborator, Mads Tafdrup.

Focus is producing alongside Hyde Park’s Ashok and Priya Amritraj and Mario Kassar for Mkp. EPs include multi-media, technology company Cineverse’s Chris McGurk and Yolanda Macias, author Murakami, and Joyce Jun.

L to R: Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup.

Before being remade in English by Blumhouse and Universal, Tafdrup’s original Speak No Evil earned 11 nominations at the 2023 Danish Film Awards, with Christian Tafdrup himself nominated for Best Film,...

While filming Piranha II: The Spawning, director James Cameron had a fever dream that would lead to him creating a slasher horror science fiction epic called The Terminator. The film would defy all odds, grossing nearly $80 million dollars on a $6.4 million dollar budget. Putting the world on notice that both Cameron and his star, Arnold Schwarzenegger had arrived. How do you top that? I guess you make arguably the greatest action movie of all time, and one of the greatest films to ever grace a movie screen in general. This is the story of what the f*ck happened to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

One thing Judgment Day has in common with all other sequels in the franchise, is that the story begins with a battle for the rights. This story included an almost physical fight between Cameron and Hemdale Production Company’s John Daly after Daly attempted to alter...

Sylvester Stallone had to deal with his fear of heights for Cliffhanger? ( Photo Credit – Wikimedia )

The Hollywood icon, Sylvester Stallone, who once confessed, “I hate heights! I hate climbing!” had to face his fears head-on while filming in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains.

Released on May 28, 1993, Cliffhanger became Stallone’s cinematic comeback. After a series of box office flops, the action star knew he needed something big. Enter producer Mario Kassar, who pitched a mountain adventure that sounded like a nightmare to Stallone. Still, he said yes. “This is a comeback,” he declared. The stakes were as high as the peaks he’d soon be scaling.

The movie blended Die Hard-style thrills with Stallone’s raw charisma. He played Gabe Walker, a guilt-ridden rescue ranger haunted by a failed mission. When a gang of thieves crash-landed in his territory, Gabe was forced back into action. Cue Bond-worthy set pieces, jaw-dropping mountain landscapes,...

Hollywood’s most notable bombs are — sadly — just as well-known as its biggest hits, a factor that a new book joyously celebrates.

From British film critic Tim Robey, “Box Office Poison” digs up the dirt on some of cinema’s wildest misfires, from grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, going behind the scenes to examine how they ended careers, bankrupted studios and changed film history.

Among the features in Robey’s crosshairs are David Lynch’s “Dune,” plus “Speed 2: Cruise Control,” “Gigli,” “Catwoman,” “Pan” and — of course — “Cats.”

In this exclusive extract from the book, being released by Hanover Square Press in the U.S. on Nov. 5, it’s the turn of the swashbuckling catastrophe that was Renny Harlin and Geana Davis’ “Cutthroat Island.” Costing upwards of $115 million to make, the watery flop sank almost without a trace in 1995, earning just $18.5 million globally and...

To celebrate the brand-new restoration of 90s action classic Air America, available now on 4K Uhd edition, Blu-ray, DVD, and digital, we are giving away a 4K Uhd to a lucky winner!

Starring Mel Gibson (Braveheart) and Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man), directed by Roger Spottiswoode (Under Fire) and based upon Christopher Robbins’ book of the same name, Air America tells the story of the brave men who flew flights every day and faced death at any time with their motto “Anything, Anytime, Anywhere”. With “spectacular action sequences and engaging performances” (Variety), the film features A-listers Gibson and Downey, Jr. at their wisecracking best. The supporting cast includes Nancy Travis (Hardware), Burt Kwouk (The Pink Panther), and Tim Thomerson (Trancers).

Beautifully filmed by Oscar-winner Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049), and executive produced by blockbuster team Mario Kassar and Andrew G Vajna (Terminator 2), Air America was directed by Roger Spottiswoode,...

The episode of Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? covering Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was Written by Mike Holtz, Narrated by Shawn Knippelberg, Edited by Joseph Wilson, Produced by Andrew Hatfield and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Following the world-dominating success of Terminator 2 in 1991…we all knew what was coming. As Matthew Lillard’s Stu from Scream would say, “Let’s face it, baby….these days….You Gotta Have A Sequel!”. But stop me if you’ve heard this one before, and a trigger warning alert for Friday the 13th fans…..before anything could be done, a tricky rights situation had to be sorted out. In this particular situation, the Terminator film rights belonged 50% to Carolco Pictures and 50% to James Cameron’s ex-wife Gale Anne Hurd. Rights she accrued in part when Cameron sold her his half of the Terminator estate for merely a...

After the triumph of James Cameron’s The Terminator, both at the box office and with critics, it was time to start working on a sequel that would go on to become an even bigger success. Terminator 2: Judgment Day is one of the coolest action flicks of all time that went on to redefine the sci-fi genre thanks to its gripping storyline, groundbreaking special effects, and jaw-dropping action sequences.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator (1984) | Hemdale Film Corporation

Of course, James Cameron returned to direct the sequel, but his involvement with the film did not come easy. The renowned filmmaker found himself in the middle of dispute with Hemdale Film Corporation, who had half the rights to The Terminator. On the other hand, his ex-wife had the other half. This is where Arnold Schwarzenegger, the hero of the film, swooped in to save the day.

How James Cameron Got to...

Kevin Bacon is no stranger to the horror genre, having starred in hits like the original Friday the 13th, Tremors, Flatliners, and most recently, MaXXXine, the upcoming third film in Ti West's X trilogy. He counts himself as a fan of the genre and recently revealed to Film Updates that one of his favorite horror movies is the cult Japanese film Audition from director Takashi Miike, based on Ryu Murakami's 1997 novel of the same name.

Chatting with the outlet about the iconic film, Bacon revealed that he's always wanted to do an English-language version of the movie.

I really tried for a lot of years to to do an American version of it. We never really got it together. It was difficult for a lot of reasons. I was close [to making it] but we didn’t get it all the way. But that is a great movie. It would scare the shit out of [Debicki], who,...

What’s your favorite movie sequel of all time? For some of us, it’s the Godfather Part II, for others it’s The Empire Strikes Back, or maybe you’re into Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. In any case, one of the greatest sequels of all time has to be Terminator 2: Judgement Day. T2 is James Cameron’s 1991 masterpiece that follows up the original 80’s blockbuster. The movie was originally meant to be the end of the road for the Terminator franchise and as such, the ending of the movie serves as a definitive ending to the iconic story. The final confrontation involves the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) taking on the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) who has been hunting the Conner family in order to terminate them once and for all.

In the scene, the T-1000 is subdued by way of a grenade launcher and subsequently dropped into a vat of molten steel.

Carolco Pictures, an influential film studio, experienced financial ruin due to years of poor financial planning and high-risk blockbuster productions. Despite their success in producing fan-appealing films, Carolco consistently lost money and relied on selling off properties to stay afloat. The downfall of Carolco marked the end of an era in filmmaking, leaving behind a legacy of great films but leaving investors with significant losses.

Losing $100 million at the box office in 1994, the laughingstock that was Cutthroat Island left the pirate genre toxic for many years and marked the death of one of the most discerning film studios ever.

Immigrants Andrew J. Vajna and Mario F. Kassar lived the American dream, quietly building up a treasure chest of IP as the leaders of the now-defunct Carolco Pictures. In their heyday, the little independent studio shaped pop culture and perfected the blockbuster formula, pumping out the Rambo franchise (films 1-3), They Live,...

Hang on for your life again! This time in stunning 4K! Sony Pictures is announcing a new physical media release of the classic 90s action movie, Cliffhanger, starring Sylvester Stallone, with a Uhd and Bluray steelbook combo. This new 4K transfer will be dropping in time for the film’s 30th anniversary.

The official synopsis from Sony reads,

“Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner and Ralph Waite star in this high-altitude avalanche of action: a non-stop adventure peak with suspense and capped with heart-quaking terror. For Rocky Mountain Rescue, the mission is almost routine: locate five climbers. With the woman he loves (Turner) and his best friend (Rooker), Gabe Walker (Stallone) braves the icy peaks only to discover that the distress call is really a trap set by merciless international terrorist Eric Qualen (Lithgow). Now millions of dollars and their own lives hang in the balance. Against explosive firepower,...

Despite it being a point of infamy for the franchise, James Cameron is speaking in defense of Terminator 2: Judgment Day's trailer spoiling the good Terminator reveal. The second installment in Cameron's sci-fi series picked up 11 years after its predecessor as a reprogrammed version of Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 is sent to 1995 to protect a teenage John Connor from the liquid metal-based T-1000 sent by Skynet to kill him. Scoring widespread critical and commercial success, Terminator 2: Judgment Day is considered one of Cameron's best films, though one point has stuck out with viewers in the decades since.

In a recent Empire Q&a featuring questions from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power showrunner Patrick McKay, James Cameron addressed the infamous Terminator 2: Judgment Day trailer spoiling the film's good Terminator reveal. Cameron explained that this was not a battle he lost with the studio, as...

Giving James Cameron a ridiculous amount of money to make a film is standard practice these days. The director loves spending studio money, but he also has a knack for making it back and then some. That's allowed him to craft a directorial career which has seen each of his films increase in budget like clockwork. Since the meager 6.4 million dollars it took to make "The Terminator" in 1984, Cameron has steadily increased his financing with every subsequent film. 1986's "Aliens" clocked in at 17 million before things escalated significantly with 1989's "The Abyss," which cost a cool 70 million to make.

So when it came time for Cameron to make a sequel to "The Terminator," independent production company Carolco was willing to up the ante once again. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" secured its place in cinematic history for multiple reasons: Its groundbreaking visual effects, affecting story, grand action set-pieces, and outstanding performances...

Disney soon will find out the wisdom of its massive acquisition of Fox and ownership of the billion-dollar investment in Avatar tentpoles that should give the studio a fresh supply of blockbusters over the next decade. Avatar: The Way of Water opens Friday, with only a modicum of budget drama, considering every movie he made since his 1984 breakthrough The Terminator has been preceded by media pearl-clutching that Cameron’s penchant for big budgets finally would ruin a studio.

It never happened, not on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Abyss, Aliens, True Lies, Titanic — for which a chastened Cameron surrendered his backend after doubling the budget of a film that won Best Picture and became Hollywood’s highest grosser — and again on Avatar, whose gross surpassed Titanic and is the largest-grossing film ever worldwide.

Not that it hasn’t been stressful; former Fox chief Bill Mechanic once told me he wouldn...

Stone recalled her abrupt introduction to fame; explains Saudi visit.

Sharon Stone said she “would like to have directed” after her breakthrough role in Paul Verhoeven’s erotic thriller Basic Instinct in 1992, but was dissuaded from doing so due to her gender.

“I went to the studio [Stone didn’t confirm to which studio she was referring] and asked them for a small budget,” said Stone. “And I was laughed out of the room; I was told ‘women don’t direct’.”

Basic Instinct was produced by Mario Kassar’s Carolco Pictures and released in the US by TriStar Pictures.

Stone was speaking at an in-conversation event as part of the...

As "Avatar: The Way of Water" inches closer to its theatrical premiere 13 years after the debut of the box-office record-breaking "Avatar," a press tour featuring a very vocal James Cameron comes with it. The marketing for the upcoming blockbuster has had Cameron at the forefront, likely because the director hasn't helmed a film since 2009 and has had plenty of time to formulate talking points. Moreover, the director has never shied away from his beliefs as a filmmaker. Not only has he continued to champion the 3D format, but Cameron has also been adamant that he's aware of the pressure for the sequel and potential problems audiences may have with the runtime. At this point in the director's career, he seems unafraid to defend any creative decisions involved with his movies.

Looking back at some of the creative decisions involved with Cameron's filmography, one marketing decision is interesting retrospectively. The first...

By now, we've all come to accept Arnold Schwarzenegger in pretty much any acting role he feels like filling. We've seen him follow a complete arc from action hero to comedy star to real-life politician, and at this point, it's become normal that he once played Danny Devito's brother and a male scientist that impregnated himself. In 1996's "Jingle All The Way," director Brian Levant showed us Schwarzenegger as just an ordinary family man, shortly after James Cameron portrayed him as a secret agent that defrauds his family into believing he's an average guy. He might not always be very believable in any of these roles, but he's far more convincing than he has any right to be.

In 2022, we've gotten used to these performances, and we can look back with nostalgia, numb to the absurdity of them all. But back in 1990, the idea of casting Schwarzenegger as the...

When Parade magazine revealed in 1986 that Sylvester Stallone earned 12 million to star in "Rocky IV," every studio executive in Hollywood ordered Tums in bulk. That sum, which equates to 32 million in 2022, doubled the per-picture salary pulled down by the vaunted likes of Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, and Robert Redford. Arnold Schwarzenegger was only making 3 million back then.

In an industry ever mindful of overspending -- while gleefully overspending when, say, someone decides the Universal Monsters brand should be reinvented as an action franchise spearheaded by Tom Cruise -- the last thing studios want is for a volatile, highly sought-after star like Hoffman to learn their competition is raking in twice what they make. This is when budgets start skyrocketing. And, in 1986, an era where there were no sure things like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is how an executive loses their job.

This outrage was sparked anew two years later...

As the Cannes Film Festival celebrates its 75th anniversary, the concurrent Marché marches into its 63rd year. The wilder, oft-times disreputable sister of the more sedate, ergo, more esteemed, official festival, there’s no shortage of tales when it comes to the Cannes Market.

There’s no better place to start than Cannon’s “go-go” boys: Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Cannon flew 18 staffers to the 1986 festival and took over the Martinez Hotel, encircling it with bodyguards. Cannon’s endless line of posters along the Croisette made the late critic Roger Ebert dub that year the “Cannon Film Festival.”

“Golan [was] one of the last free-wheeling dealmakers at an event where a lot of people would like to be capitalist buccaneers, but few have the courage or the capital,” wrote Ebert. “People still talk about the time Golan had lunch with Jean-Luc Godard at the Majestic Hotel and wrote out a contract on a table napkin,...

Ten years ago, Disney’s “John Carter” opened nationwide.

Meant to be a potential franchise-starting blockbuster, it was savaged by critics, who called the film “wanly plodding and routine” (Entertainment Weekly), and “a giant, suffocating doughy feast of boredom” (The Guardian), and was met with indifference by general audiences, who simply didn’t show up..

Quickly, the movie and its fate took on a nearly mythical dimension – it wasn’t just a box office disappointment, it was a staggering creative and commercial failure, the kind of movie that is often mentioned in the same breath as other high-profile misfires like “Ishtar” or “Waterworld.”

But the actual story of “John Carter” – how it was conceived, what happened during production, and how it all fell apart thanks largely to a misguided marketing campaign – is much more complex and much more interesting.

Most Hollywood bombs are perceivable early on, through a toxic combination of untested filmmakers,...

This big, expensive and well-produced action-suspense Sci-fi epic mostly delivers on its promise to be Aliens at the bottom of the sea. At heart it’s a 1950s pulse-pounder with a bigger monster, a zillion times the budget and a script that does everything but make us care. We appreciate the likable characters but it’s too easy to predict who will ‘get it’ next. The realism factor is not bad at all, although the undersea explorer video training sessions should have given ‘how not to crack up under stress’ more emphasis. And can’t anybody properly mind those pesky nuclear bombs?

DeepStar Six

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1989 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date October 13, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard, Miguel Ferrer, Nia Peeples, Cindy Pickett, Matt McCoy, Taurean Blacque, Marius Weyers, Elya Baskin, Thom Bray, Ronn Carroll.

Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg

Film Editor: David Handman

Original...

The producer of Narcos takes us on a walk through some of the movies that made him.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Contagion (2011)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

Rififi (1955)

Night And The City (1950)

Thieves’ Highway (1949)

Never on Sunday (1960)

The Karate Kid (1984)

The Game (1997)

The Dirty Dozen (1967)

The Great Escape (1963)

Children of Men (2006)

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)

If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

The Godfather (1972)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Animal House (1978)

An American Werewolf In London (1981)

Trading Places (1983)

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004)

Fellini Satyricon (1969)

The Beastmaster (1982)

Sheena (1984)

High Risk (1981)

Ghostbusters (1984)

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Piranha (1978)

Gallipoli (1981)

Witness (1985)

The Killing Fields (1984)

Mad Max (1980)

Max Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975)

The Last Wave (1978)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

The Lord of the Rings (1978)

The Hobbit (1977)

The Return of the King (1980)

Class (1983)

The Great Santini (1979)

Fast Times At Ridgemont High...

Deadline’s annual film revenue tournaments have celebrated the triumphs of each year’s most profitable films. For a third year in a row, we decided to look at the ones that amounted to a big swing and a miss. Here are the movies our experts said posted the worst losses of 2019.

The Film

More from Deadline'Avengers: Endgame' Is No. 1 In Deadline's 2019 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament; How Its Billion-Dollar Opening Rocked Exhibition And Generated A $900M ProfitSmall Movies, Big Profits: 2019 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament'Frozen 2' Skates Away With Near $600M Profit: No. 2 In Deadline's 2019 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

20th Century Studios/Disney

Total Loss: $133M

As the writer and producer and creative spine of recent X-Men movies, Simon Kinberg was finally entrusted to direct his own movie after backstopping others, including Josh Trank in Fantastic Four. X-Men star Jennifer Lawrence lobbied for Kinberg. What went wrong?...

Roland Emmerich’s 1994 sci-fi adventure “Stargate” ended up grossing over $196 million worldwide, but the path to becoming a hit wasn’t easy. The independently-made film that opened 25 years ago this week spawned TV series including the 1997-2007 “Stargate Sg-1,” direct to video movies, video games and comic books, but it was not well-received with audiences in early test screenings.

The problem was with Jaye Davidson’s character, Ra, a powerful and ruthless alien in human form who had enslaved people from Earth and taken them to another planet via the Stargate, an ancient, ring-shaped device that creates a wormhole.

“He wasn’t originally an alien in the movie,” says producer and co-writer Dean Devlin. “He was originally an Egyptian who worked for the aliens. He was the boss of the humans, but he was still slave to the aliens. One day I’ll never forget, Roland and I were in...

Exclusive: Sarah Connor may be sci-fi filmdom’s most badass female action hero this side of Alien‘s Ripley. While played subsequently by numerous actresses in sequels and a TV show, the role is most indelibly linked to the performances turned in by Linda Hamilton in James Cameron’s 1984 original Terminator, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Cameron washed his hands of the series after the rights were scooped out from under him by Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna, until he had a change of heart and lent a creative hand to director Tim Miller on the upcomingTerminator: Dark Fate. Arnold Schwarzenegger continued to reprise his signature cyborg, but Hamilton demurred. She only seriously entertained coming back when Cameron did. Between Cameron’s first and second film, Hamilton transformed herself from a reluctant heroine with everywoman qualities, into a jacked action heroine. After setting the bar so high, could she be as convincing 28 years later?...

When the producers of Lionsgate’s “The Spy Who Dumped Me” were struggling to get a permit for a key location on the streets of Budapest several years ago, they knew exactly where to turn. “I called Andy,” says Adam Goodman, whose Mid Atlantic Films serviced the shoot. “I said, ‘Look, we need your help.’”

Goodman might have expected Hungarian film commissioner Andy Vajna to pick up the phone and call in a favor. But on the day of Mid Atlantic’s pitch, a black minivan pulled up to the stairs of the mayor’s office. “Andy steps out with the mirrored sunglasses, the suit, smoking a cigar,” Goodman recalls recently in Budapest. “As we walked into the mayor’s offices, it was like the parting of the Red Sea.” Vajna’s presence gave a winning presentation added weight, according to Goodman. Within days of the meeting, he had the permit he needed.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in a new Terminator 6 behind-the-scenes video. Fans have been waiting to see any official footage from the upcoming movie and this is it, though it doesn't contain any scenes from the highly anticipated sequel. James Cameron is back with the franchise as a producer this time around and it marks the first time that the director has worked with Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, who is back as Sarah Connor, since 1991's Terminator 2. The sequel is still untitled as of this writing.

The latest look at Terminator 6 comes to us from the Hungarian National Film Fund. The project started filming in Budapest, Hungary over the summer and has since taken production to the United States. Arnold Schwarzenegger and director Tim Miller are seen on the set praising the country along with the crews and the studios that they utilized. Schwarzenegger says that "Budapest is one of the nicest cities in the world,...

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Andy Vajna, the Hollywood producer who died earlier this week, have appeared in a just-released video from the set of the latest movie in the “Terminator” franchise, which shot in Hungary last year.

The behind-the-scenes promotional video, posted online by the Hungarian National Film Fund, sees Schwarzenegger and the movie’s director, Tim Miller (“Deadpool”), sing the praises of Budapest as a location, and Vajna complimenting the “Terminator” franchise. It ends with Schwarzenegger saying, “I’ll be back.”

It was Vajna’s last set visit to one of the international productions filming in Hungary, where he served as the government commissioner for the film industry. With partner Mario Kassar, Vajna founded the indie powerhouse Carolco, which produced blockbusters including “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” the first three “Rambo” films and “Basic Instinct.” He died Sunday in Budapest after a long illness. He was 74.

On Twitter this week, Schwarzenegger paid tribute to Vajna,...

Son Of Saul director Laszlo Nemes hails man who ‘recreated the Hungarian film landscape’.

Andy Vajna, the Hollywood producer involved in Rambo, Die Hard and Terminator who went on late in his career to serve as commissioner in charge of the Hungarian film industry, has died aged 74. The news of his death was confirmed on Sunday (20) by the Hungarian National Film Fund.

A colourful, and flamboyant figure who worked as a hairdresser before embarking on his career as a producer, the Budapest-born Vajna was the co-founder of Carolco Pictures with his friend, Lebanese producer Mario Kassar, in the mid 1970s.

Andy Vajna, a Hungary-born producer known for backing installments of top Hollywood franchises like Rambo and The Terminator before a later stretch working as a government commissioner, has died at age 74.

A cause was not specified, but Vajna’s death reportedly followed a lengthy illness.

Since 2011, Vajna had worked for Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, helping to revive the country’s film industry. In a Facebook post, Orban offered a brief tribute. “We are bidding farewell to the greatest Hungarian film producer,” he wrote. “Hasta la vista, Andy! Thank You for everything, my Friend!”

Vajna, along with producing partner Mario Kassar, was a longtime fixture at the Cannes Film Festival, helping to pioneer the strategy of securing star-driven international rights deals as the core financing for pricey tentpoles. Among Vajna’s dozens of producing credits are the first three Rambo films, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Total Recall and Evita.

Andy Vajna, executive producer of several “Rambo” films as well as “Total Recall” and several “Terminator” movies, has died at 74.

The Hungarian National Film Fund confirmed his death, calling him a “dominant figure in the Hungarian and international film industry” who was responsible for the development of the fund.

With partner Mario Kassar, Vajna founded the indie powerhouse Carolco, which produced blockbusters including “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” the first three “Rambo” films and “Basic Instinct.” Carolco was one of the most successful companies in the foreign pre-sales business, and a mainstay at the world’s film markets. He was a founder and president of the American Film Marketing Assn., which launched the American Film Market.

Vajna served as producer or executive producer on films including “Evita,” starring Madonna, Oliver Stone’s “Nixon,” “Judge Dredd,” “Die Hard With a Vengeance” and “Angel Heart.”

He left Carolco in 1989 to form Cinergi Productions and InterCom...

We wanted to present you with a very simple film like a glass of water. It was risky, all of my team believed in it, but we didn’t know if the audience would join us because this film is only approachable with a generous heart.Ildikó​ ​Enyedi accepting the Golden Bear in Berlin 2017

The only woman director among the Best Foreign Language Academy Award nominations, Ildikó​ ​Enyedi said this as she accepted the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival last year.

Ildikó​ ​Enyedi is a Hungarian whose last feature, Simon the Magician, was made 18 years ago. My Twentieth Century was released in the U.S. by Aires in 1990.

SydneysBuzz: What were you doing during the 18 years before you made On Body and Soul, your next film after Simon the Magician?

Ildikó​ ​Enyedi: Most of the time I was just suffering. I was working every single...

Ryan Lambie Dec 4, 2017

Co-producer Stephanie Austin talks to us about the trials of bringing one of the biggest movies of all time, Terminator 2, to the screen...

In 1990, producer Stephanie Austin, previously known for her work in television, helped shepherd one of the biggest films of the decade to the big screen. Little did she know at the time, as she first looked through James Cameron's ambitious sequel script, that she would soon be producing the most expensive movie up to that point - a new high-watermark in special effects, and a proving ground for other CGI blockbusters.

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Over 25 years later, Terminator 2: Judgment Day still looks as shiny as ever - but the confidence and assured pace of its director's vision gives...

Ryan Lambie Sep 27, 2017

The Terminator series is making its third attempt at a trilogy. But would it be better as a one-off story, Ryan wonders...

Nb: The following contains spoilers for all the Terminator films released so far.

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Genisys probably seemed like a good idea at the time. After the so-so critical and financial performance of Terminator 3 and Terminator: Salvation, the fifth entry in the series would, as far as its producers were concerned, take the saga back to its glory days: the nightmarish chases of The Terminator and the eye-popping special effects of T2, widely regarded as the franchise's high-water mark.

Ryan Lambie Aug 25, 2017

We talk to the actor behind one of cinema's great villains - Terminator 2's Robert Patrick...

It's more than 25 years since Terminator 2: Judgment Day first emerged, but actor Robert Patrick still carries the same cool, shark-like look of his shape-shifting villain, the T-1000. When Patrick fixes me with his sharp blue eyes, I can almost imagine his right arm quietly morphing into a sharp, chrome spear... and then he smiles, lets out a raucous laugh and the illusion is, thankfully, broken.

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In London to promote the 3D re-release of T2, and it's testament to how well-made James Cameron's sci-fi sequel is that it holds up so well all these years later. For his part, Robert Patrick doesn't appear to have tired being...

With certain rights to the iconic Terminator franchise reverting back to Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day creator/director James Cameron in 2019, the filmmaker is prepping his return to the series. Cameron is planning to 'Godfather' a 'reboot and conclusion' of the first two movies, with Deadpool director Tim Miller in early talks to direct. David Ellison, who bought the franchise rights from his sister Megan Ellison in 2013, is funding an "exploratory effort" that brings some of the top sci-fi authors together to "find the movie creatively."

Deadline broke the news, but even the site concedes that it's unclear what direction the story will go in. After directing 1984's The Terminator and its blockbuster 1991 sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day, James Cameron backed away from the franchise, and he wasn't involved in 2003's Terminator 3: Rise Against the Machines, the 2008 TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 2009's Terminator Salvation or last year's Terminator Genisys.

Us sales and production company MonteCristo International Entertainment has named former Carolco and Seven Arts executive Chris Bialek (pictured) as president.

MonteCristo has also appointed intellectual property lawyer Elettra Bietti as a business affairs executive based in the UK.

Distribution and marketing veteran Bialek has worked with figures including Mario Kassar, Arnold Kopelson, Mark Damon and Edward Pressman, and has also done stints at Parallel Media, Das Werk and Quadra Entertainment.

Cindy Nelson-Mullen, the MonteCristo sales and acquisitions executive who has now been named chief operating officer of the company, said: “During the last 10 years, MonteCristo has grown its sales and production activities, theatrical releases and digital output deals and currently represents over 70 feature films worldwide. We look forward to Chris’s contribution to consolidate and expand the company presence in the English-language market.”

Bialek said he is “very excited to be part of the MonteCristo team and I look forward to growing the company with higher...

Curtis Hanson--Confidentially

By

Alex Simon

Curtis Hanson was my first interview with a fellow film buff and film journalist. He was nice enough to sit down with me twice, first at the Rose Cafe in Venice, then at a lunch spot in the Marina, the name of which has been lost to time. He was then kind enough to invite me to the world premiere of "L.A. Confidential" at the Chinese Theater as his guest, my first time on the red carpet at a real-life Hollywood premiere, and called me after this piece ran to thank me personally. A nice man. Hanson, and co-writer Brian Helgeland, would go on to win Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for "L.A. Confidential."

Years later, I ran into Hanson at a book signing party for Pat York that was held in Westwood. I approached him and reminded him of our interview a decade or so earlier.

Exclusive– Few names conjure up the magic and market of Cannes as much as Mario Kassar and Carolco Pictures. Along with partner Andrew G. Vajna, Kassar helped to disrupt the independent film business, with Carolco enjoying a more-than decade long run that saw the likes of First Blood, Terminator 2, Basic Instinct and Cliffhanger all made outside the studio system. Before Lionsgate, before Summit, before EuropaCorp, there was Carolco, and Kassar was at the heart of it all…...

Deadline marks its 10th anniversary as a digital news breaking enterprise with a throwback initiative: our first ever print magazine at the Cannes Film Festival. Given the formative years of this publication, it seemed a natural to celebrate the idea of disruption. From evolving distribution platforms to the growing importance of China, the film business is changing rapidly. In times like these, the world belongs to those who see past the anxiety and chaos of change, and instead see an opportunity to change the game. Our collection of disruptors includes the likes of Peter Jackson (on his career and the potential of Screening Room), Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Amazon’s Roy Price, director and slate co-financier Brett Ratner, directors Ang Lee, Jodie Foster, Nicolas Winding Refn and Jeff Nichols; Wild Bunch co-founder Vincent Maraval, Canal Plus chairman Vincent Bollore, Bright screenwriter Max Landis, and Mario Kassar, the Carolco Pictures co-founder...

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Exclusive: studio co-founder Mario Kassar has left Carolco just over a year after its revival...

Total Recall. Terminator 2. The Rambo franchise. Through the 80s and 90s, Carolco was one of the biggest independent studios in Hollywood, before a combination of financial woes - including the failure of Cutthroat Island - saw it close in 1996.

Then, last January, came the news that the Carolco brand had been revived by new CEO Alex Bafer, with Carolco's original co-founder Mario Kassar named as its chairman. As we reported at the time, the resuscitated company had some big plans, including a remake of the Japanese horror hit Audition and an all-new sci-fi action film called Bot.

We've now learned that both Bafer and Kassar are no longer with the company, and that the Carolco brand is in the hands of new owners - Carolco's website currently lists real estate developer, entrepreneur...

"Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you, he said. They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth." -- Louis (Danny Aiello) in "Jacob's Ladder" I first viewed "Jacob's Ladder" on VHS several years after its release in theaters, when it received a lukewarm response from audiences (it grossed around $26 million by the end of its run) and received a polarizing response from critics: Roger Ebert called it "powerfully written, directed and acted" while The Washington Post's Hal Hinson charged it with being "garbled and cliched."  My initial reaction to...

The Asian World Film Festival (Awff), which is dedicated to bringing the best of a broad selection of Asian World cinema to Los Angeles, has added East West Artists (Ewa) Co-Founder Jaeson Ma as Director of International Relations. The Festival slate will consist of select foreign language films that have been officially submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) as their country’s Oscar® hopeful and those submitted to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) for Golden Globe consideration.

Awff has also enlisted several notable industry executives for its Honorary Board, including former studio executive Teddy Zee and Carolco Pictures executive producer Mario Kassar ("Rambo," "Basic Instinct") as well as the former Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa. With The Wrap serving as the official media partner, Awff will take place October 26-November 2, 2015 and will be based at ArcLight Cinema in downtown Culver City and the luxury iPic Theaters in Westwood.

After recently teaming up with Ma on "The Shack," starring Octavia Spencer, Sumire and Sam Worthington, producer Lani Netter secured Ma, recognizing his ability as a strategic consultant and producer, cultivating global Asian talents at Ewa, (which is in partnership with Untitled Entertainment), and since his expertise directly aligns with Awff’s goal of drawing greater recognition to an underrepresented region of talent and filmmakers.

“Jaeson Ma is an ideal partner and asset to Awff because of his long established relationships with the Hollywood and Asian filmmaking industries. He's a trusted ally and invaluable addition,” said Netter, who serves as the Festival’s Director of Development and Philanthropy.

On joining the Awff Board, Ma shared, “Awff will showcase films and talents from the fastest growing region for entertainment, which is very exciting. There are many incredible films in Asia that are not realized by the international marketplace but now they have a fighting chance to be recognized and celebrated at the highest level through Awff."

The Festival’s Advisory Board welcomed producer Stefan Brunner, Shoreline Entertainment producer, Alex Flores, producer Medha Jaishankar, Emmy-winning TV and film director Jeremy Kagan, Igor Kokarev, scholar and expert on Soviet and American Film History, producer Brad Littlefield, producer and Founder and CEO of the Hollywood Film Academy Gia Noortas, South Korean film producer Keon-Seop Park, producer Eliyas Qureshi, producer Nick N. Raslan and Thomas Small, writer and Cultural Affairs Commissioner to the City of Culver City.

I'm excited to announced that I will be joining a great group including His Royal Highness Prince Gharios of Ghassan, Hany Haddad, immediate Past Chair of Board of Directors at the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Lebanese philanthropist Maya Ibrahim, Amin Maalouf, best-selling author and member of the French Academy, Oscar®-winning producer Andre Morgan (Million Dollar Baby), director George Ovashvili, Hon. Roy Paul, judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, South Korean film producer and distributor Chul Shin, community leader and Co-Founder of the Hollywood Schoolhouse, Ferris Wehbe, Weissman/Markovitz Communications Chairman and Co-Founder Murray Weissman and Korean activist and public figure Grace Yoo, to serve on this year’s Honorary Board.

Awff will open with a red carpet awards gala on Monday, October 26, recognizing celebrities and well-known foreign talent and filmmakers who have been major contributors throughout the Asian world film community, followed by seven days of films at ArcLight Cinema and the iPic Theater and with the closing night Festival Awards presented along with the closing night film on Monday, November 2. Throughout the week there will also be expert panels on subjects like film financing, distribution, PR, marketing and awards campaigns, editing for a global audience and more to be announced.

Films that will be accepted by the Festival include those from the 50 countries recognized by the Academy and HFPA. Priority will be given to those in the Best Foreign Language Film categories at the 88th Academy Awards and 73rd Golden Globes. In rare cases, the Asian World Film Festival will consider other outstanding films that are not in contention for the Oscars® or Golden Globes, but which have received critical acclaim on the international film festival circuit. More detailed guidelines are available at www.asianworldfilmfest.org/submissions.

The prizes given out are of significant value to enhance the awards campaign and will feature top prizes for Best Film, Jury Selection and Audience awards including The Wrap’s Awards Special Screening Series and full page ads in the Foreign Film and Oscar Wrap issues valued at over $50,000.

Two of the Cryptkeeper's big screen stories will receive a stellar home media treatment this fall. Scream Factory has announced that on October 20th, they will release the Tales From the Crypt films Demon Knight and Bordello of Blood in respective Collector's Edition Blu-rays.

From Scream Factory: "You asked for them...and we got em! Both Tales From The Crypt films Demon Knight (1995) and Bordello Of Blood (1996) will be coming out on 10/20 as separate "Collector Edition" Blu-rays. We have no additional information at this time except that newly-commissioned artwork will be revealed next month and that extras will be announced in Late Summer.

The cat (crypt keeper?) was let out of the bag (coffin?) earlier today over a leak on the internet that caught us by surprise and hence the out-of-the-blue announce today. Originally, we had planned to reveal these two highly-requested titles sometime next week. smile emoticon We hope...

We chat to legendary producer Mario Kassar about the return of Carolco, its forthcoming sci-fi film Bot, Hollywood studios, and more...

First Blood. Total Recall. Terminator 2. For a generation versed in the major action films of the 80s and 90s, the Carolco brand holds a special place in the memory. Its distinctive logo became a byword for bold, often brash movies starring some of the biggest names of the day - not least Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Founded by producers Andrew Vajna and Mario Kassar in the 1970s, Carolco went from indie outsider to a company with the size and clout of a Hollywood major; the studio became famous - and infamous in some quarters - for its headline-grabbing deals. (Legend has it that, when Arnie signed up to make Terminator 2: Judgment Day, he was given a $17m private jet.)

At the height of its powers, Carolco was making smaller-scale,...