The rest of this week's film news
Blockbuster is busted
Noting the rise of internet- based mail-order DVD rental and the looming threat of digital movie downloads, it remains somewhat surprising that Blockbuster, the king of video rental chains, still keeps its metaphorical head above water. Now it has emerged that the company is saddled with debts of $975 million and, squeezed by colossal interest repayments, is, indeed, facing a real struggle to survive.
Last week Blockbuster's bosses swallowed hard and issued a bankruptcy warning. It looks like the end of an era.
Leo the Lion going out with a meow?
Yet more insolvency news. The Hollywood Reporter has suggested that MGM - one of the great studios - could be forced into bankruptcy if a buyer is not found in double- quick time. As reported here some months ago, the firm's creditors have demanded that any potential purchaser fork out something in the region of $2 billion. All this despite MGM's ownership of the James Bond franchise and its financial interest in the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit.
Camelot comes to Co Wicklow
It's all sword'n'sorcery these days. While HBO's adaptation of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones sequence films in the North, a new TV version of the Camelot legend is to be shot in Ardmore Studios and the surrounding Wicklow countryside (shades of Excalibur). Michael Hirst, the brain behind The Tudors, is the creator and Morgan O'Sullivan, longtime stalwart of Irish film, is to be one of the producers.
Martin Cullen, outgoing Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, seemed delighted by the news.
"Landing a series of this scale is indicative of the quality of Irish film talent both in front of and behind the camera," he said. "The adjustments made to the Section 481 tax relief for those wishing to invest in film and television in Ireland have also been a catalyst for securing this international production for Ireland."
The Camelot series should, all going well, get to punters before Guy Ritchie's recently announced film version of the legend.
Lawsuit fit for a comic book
Here's a weird one. Descendents of the late Jack Kirby, one of Marvel Comics key artists, are suing the firm for rights to characters that the great man helped create. If the suit is successful (unlikely, surely), the family could launch rival franchises featuring the likes of Thor, Spider-Man and Captain America.
Impossible? Well, it did happen with James Bond. Remember Never Say Never Again?
Always the way of the samurai
Pause a moment to remember Akira Kurosawa. The great Japanese film-maker would have been 100 last Tuesday. At the time of his death in 1998, there were mutterings from some posh critics that the director of The Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Throne of Blood and a dozen other classics may have been "overrated". Yet his reputation has, if anything, grown over the intervening years.
Check out the nicely presented BFI editions of Yojimbo and Stray Dog to discover why.
dclarke@irishtimes.com
