My Publicist Note Book

In a huge win for Universal Pictures, the studio has struck a deal with EON Productions and MGM to distribute  Bond 25 internationally. Production is set to begin on December 3 ahead of a year-end 2019 global launch. Bond 25  will open in the UK on October 25, 2019, and in the US on November 8, 2019. MGM will release the film theatrically in the US through its new joint venture with Annapurna Pictures, while Universal will handle international theatrical roll-out. It is understood Thursday’s announcement only relates to  Bond 25 . MGM will retain digital and worldwide television distribution rights. Universal will also handle physical home entertainment distribution. The announcement late on Thursday evening (May 24) ends speculation as to which studio would handle the next installment in the superspy franchise after Sony’s contract ended after 2015 release  Spectre . Warner Bros and Annapurna Pictures had been among those in the hunt, and the latter ...

Universal/Comcast Corp.’s  Fifty Shades Freed  earned $18.5 million on its first Friday of domestic release, including $5.6m in Thursday previews. That’s down an understandable 14% from  Fifty Shades Darker  ($21.4m last February) and -38% from the boffo $30m opening day of  Fifty Shades of Grey  back in Feb. of 2015. One slight cause for concern is that  Fifty Shades of Grey  earned 28% of its Friday business on Thursday and  Fifty Shades Darker  earned 26% on its Friday business on Thursday, while  Fifty Shades Freed  earned 30% via Thursday previews.   Should this third offering crashes due to frontloading, there might not be a sequel! In all seriousness, this is a $55 million trilogy capper to a series that had already earned $952m worldwide ($571m for the first film and $381m for the second) on a combined budget of $95m. So, no matter how far above the $1 billion mark this series gets,  Fifty Shades Freed...

Atlanta, GA - Laurence Fishburne has joined the cast of Universal Pictures’ Ride Along, action comedy directed by Tim Story. He joins a cast that also includes Kevin Hart, Ice Cube, John Leguizamo, Tika Sumpter, Bryan Callen, Jay Pharoah, Jeff Rose and Bruce McGill. The film was in hiatus at New Line Party while deciding on the actors for each role. Now, Universal Pictures has acquired the rights. The comedy’s screenplay has been all over the place. Early drafts came from writers Greg Coolidge , Jason Mantzoukas and Wedding Crashers and 2013 comedy We’re the Millers team Steve Faber and Bob Fisher. The newest draft comes from writing team Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (Clash of the Titans). Here’s the synopsis on the film. Kevin Hart and Ice Cube leads the lin...