Hollywood-based Envision Media Arts (Ema) has struck a $50m credit facility with National Bank Of Canada to fund theatrical features in the $5m-$25m range.
The deal includes a bridge facility allowing Lee Nelson’s company to confirm talent and begin preparations in advance of the close of the completion bond.
Ema has hired finance veteran Wendy Moore as vp of finance.
The slate includes Waco, based on a screenplay by investigative journalist James Hibberd and Rupert Wainwright; thriller Red Ice co-financed by Apollo Media with Dennis Iliadis attached to direct from a screenplay by Keith Ray Putnam; and rom-com Committed by Claudia Grazioso based on the Greek film of the same name.
Ema most recently announced an exclusive agreement with Pez Candy, Inc. to develop an animated family film based on the iconic candy dispensers. Cameron Fay will write the screenplay.
The production company recently completed Henry Joseph Church with Britt Robertson and Eddie Murphy and its...
The deal includes a bridge facility allowing Lee Nelson’s company to confirm talent and begin preparations in advance of the close of the completion bond.
Ema has hired finance veteran Wendy Moore as vp of finance.
The slate includes Waco, based on a screenplay by investigative journalist James Hibberd and Rupert Wainwright; thriller Red Ice co-financed by Apollo Media with Dennis Iliadis attached to direct from a screenplay by Keith Ray Putnam; and rom-com Committed by Claudia Grazioso based on the Greek film of the same name.
Ema most recently announced an exclusive agreement with Pez Candy, Inc. to develop an animated family film based on the iconic candy dispensers. Cameron Fay will write the screenplay.
The production company recently completed Henry Joseph Church with Britt Robertson and Eddie Murphy and its...
- 9/16/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Are We There Yet? runs 96 minutes but feels like so much more. There is only one gag: Two thoroughly spoiled and obnoxious youngsters make life miserable for a poor guy doing them a favor by driving 300 miles to deliver them to their mom. Some of the cruel tricks played on the hapless man are simply infantile. Others -- such as pretending he is a kidnapper -- flirt with dangerous pranks unlikely to produce laughs from anyone other than those who will laugh at anything. Is this what passes for family entertainment these days?
The always welcome presence of Ice Cube should bring out his core following on opening weekend. A few tykes might chuckle at the urination joke and the attack deer, but the grindingly awful, predictable gags will wear down even Ice Cube's most loyal fans.
Nick (Ice Cube), a former pro baseball player who runs a sports memorabilia store in Portland, Ore., splurges to purchase a brand-new Lincoln Navigator, mostly to impress the ladies. The lady he most wants to impress is Nia Long's frisky divorcee Suzanne. The downside here is her two bratty kids, precocious Kevin (Philip Daniel Bolden), age 7, and stuck-up Lindsey (Aleisha Allen), age 11.
Seems their deadbeat dad dumped everyone a while back, but the kids still believe he will return any day. So they must keep mom single. This they do by declaring war on any eligible man who comes near her. That she hasn't caught on to their strategy yet speaks poorly of her parenting skills but nevermind.
Nick and Suzanne are still in the "friend zone" when work requires her to leave for Vancouver after Christmas. Nick offers to bring her kids to Vancouver for New Year's Eve. When the youngsters sabotage his plans to fly and then to take a train, he is forced to drive them in his new SUV. You can pretty much guess that the car will not survive the trip. No amount of guess work, though, can deduce why Nick -- after his car, body and reputation are destroyed by these relentless brats -- would say "I love you guys" at trip's end.
This is a comedy of exasperation where teams of writers go to the same well scene after scene to see how far they can go in testing the patience of their characters -- and audience. Gags are designed around stunts rather than logic. And the actors have little to play other than annoyance, panic or rage.
To break the monotony, someone dreamed up the idea of sticking a bobble-head doll of baseball legend Satchel Paige on Nick's dashboard. This becomes animated so Satchel can discuss the deteriorating situation with the car's owner during the ride. (Tracy Morgan does Paige's voice.) The comedy here is as flat as everywhere else.
Director Brian Levant, who helmed the similarly misanthropic Jingle All the Way, gives the slapstick little rhythm and even less reason. And since the four credited writers never allow Nick to retaliate or outwit the kids, the movie squanders Ice Cube's comic talents. (Don't feel too sorry for him, though, as his company produced the film.) Long virtually disappears once the road trip begins. And the young actors are, not too surprisingly, unable to play malevolence and cuteness at the same time.
Tech credits are routine.
ARE WE THERE YET?
Columbia Pictures
Revolution Studios presentsa Cube Vision production
Credits:
Director: Brian Levant
Screnwriters: Steven Gary Banks, Claudia Grazioso
Story by: Steven Gary Banks, Claudia Grazioso, J. David Stem, David N. Weiss
Producers: Dan Kolsrud, Matt Alvarez, Ice Cube
Executive producers: Todd Garner, Derek Dauchy
Director of photography: Thomas Ackerman
Production designer: Stephen Lineweaver
Music: David Newman
Costumes: Gersha Phillips
Editor: Lawrence Jordan
Cast:
Nick: Ice Cube
Suzanne: Nia Long
Lindsey: Aleisha Allen
Kevin: Philip Daniel Bolden
Marty: Jay Mohr
Al: M.C. Gainey
Voice of Satchel Paige: Tracy Morgan
Miss Marble: Nichelle Nichols
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 96 minutes...
The always welcome presence of Ice Cube should bring out his core following on opening weekend. A few tykes might chuckle at the urination joke and the attack deer, but the grindingly awful, predictable gags will wear down even Ice Cube's most loyal fans.
Nick (Ice Cube), a former pro baseball player who runs a sports memorabilia store in Portland, Ore., splurges to purchase a brand-new Lincoln Navigator, mostly to impress the ladies. The lady he most wants to impress is Nia Long's frisky divorcee Suzanne. The downside here is her two bratty kids, precocious Kevin (Philip Daniel Bolden), age 7, and stuck-up Lindsey (Aleisha Allen), age 11.
Seems their deadbeat dad dumped everyone a while back, but the kids still believe he will return any day. So they must keep mom single. This they do by declaring war on any eligible man who comes near her. That she hasn't caught on to their strategy yet speaks poorly of her parenting skills but nevermind.
Nick and Suzanne are still in the "friend zone" when work requires her to leave for Vancouver after Christmas. Nick offers to bring her kids to Vancouver for New Year's Eve. When the youngsters sabotage his plans to fly and then to take a train, he is forced to drive them in his new SUV. You can pretty much guess that the car will not survive the trip. No amount of guess work, though, can deduce why Nick -- after his car, body and reputation are destroyed by these relentless brats -- would say "I love you guys" at trip's end.
This is a comedy of exasperation where teams of writers go to the same well scene after scene to see how far they can go in testing the patience of their characters -- and audience. Gags are designed around stunts rather than logic. And the actors have little to play other than annoyance, panic or rage.
To break the monotony, someone dreamed up the idea of sticking a bobble-head doll of baseball legend Satchel Paige on Nick's dashboard. This becomes animated so Satchel can discuss the deteriorating situation with the car's owner during the ride. (Tracy Morgan does Paige's voice.) The comedy here is as flat as everywhere else.
Director Brian Levant, who helmed the similarly misanthropic Jingle All the Way, gives the slapstick little rhythm and even less reason. And since the four credited writers never allow Nick to retaliate or outwit the kids, the movie squanders Ice Cube's comic talents. (Don't feel too sorry for him, though, as his company produced the film.) Long virtually disappears once the road trip begins. And the young actors are, not too surprisingly, unable to play malevolence and cuteness at the same time.
Tech credits are routine.
ARE WE THERE YET?
Columbia Pictures
Revolution Studios presentsa Cube Vision production
Credits:
Director: Brian Levant
Screnwriters: Steven Gary Banks, Claudia Grazioso
Story by: Steven Gary Banks, Claudia Grazioso, J. David Stem, David N. Weiss
Producers: Dan Kolsrud, Matt Alvarez, Ice Cube
Executive producers: Todd Garner, Derek Dauchy
Director of photography: Thomas Ackerman
Production designer: Stephen Lineweaver
Music: David Newman
Costumes: Gersha Phillips
Editor: Lawrence Jordan
Cast:
Nick: Ice Cube
Suzanne: Nia Long
Lindsey: Aleisha Allen
Kevin: Philip Daniel Bolden
Marty: Jay Mohr
Al: M.C. Gainey
Voice of Satchel Paige: Tracy Morgan
Miss Marble: Nichelle Nichols
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 96 minutes...
- 2/23/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nia Long has found her way to the female lead role in Revolution Studios' Are We There Yet? opposite Ice Cube for director Brian Levant. Shooting is scheduled to start Nov. 17 in Vancouver. Are We There stars Ice Cube as Nick, a playboy bachelor and sports memorabilia collector who is trying to land a date with Suzanne (Long), a divorced mother of 8-year-old Kevin and 11-year-old Lindsey, who never like the men their mom dates. When Suzanne is stuck in Vancouver for work on New Year's Eve, Nick offers to get her kids -- whom he has never met -- from Oregon to Vancouver on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Ice Cube and his CubeVision producing partner, Matt Alvarez, are producing the project for Revolution along with Dan Kolsrud. The project was originally picked up as a pitch from writing team Steven Gary Banks and Claudia Grazioso, with a rewrite by Ice Cube. The project is being overseen at Revolution by production executive Derek Dauchy. Long is repped by Paradigm Talent & Literary Agency and attorney Jason Sloane.
- 11/4/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bow Wow will make a run for the presidency courtesy of Columbia Pictures and Overbrook Entertainment. The rapper-actor is attached to star in Mr. Prez for directing duo Fat Cats -- aka Randy Marshall and Eric Williams -- and comedy writing team Claudia Grazioso and Steven Gary Banks, who have just been tapped to write the script. Overbrook and Teresa Caldwell Prods. will produce Prez, which centers on a teenager (Bow Wow) from Philadelphia whose normal life is turned upside down when he becomes president for the day after winning an essay contest. The project was brought to Columbia and Overbrook as a pitch developed by the directing duo along with Bow Wow. Overbrook's James Lassiter and Teddy Zee will produce, with Caldwell taking executive producer credit. At the studio, the project is being overseen by co-president of production Doug Belgrad and creative executive Jonathan Kadin.
- 9/12/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Brian Levant has come aboard to direct Revolution Studios' Ice Cube starrer Are We There Yet? A fall start date on the project is expected, with Ice Cube also producing the project alongside Matt Alvarez in their CubeVision. Are We There sees Ice Cube star as Nick, a playboy bachelor and sports memorabilia collector who is dating Suzanne, a divorced mother of 8-year-old Kevin and 11-year-old Lindsey, who never like the men their mom dates. When Suzanne is stuck in New York for work on New Year's Eve, Nick offers to get her kids -- whom he has never met -- from Washington to New York on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Along the way, the kids do everything in their power to ruin the trip and, in the process, Nick's relationship with their mom. The project was originally picked up as a pitch from writers Steven Banks and Claudia Grazioso. Ice Cube is rewriting the material. Levant, repped by WMA, has directed such films as Snow Dogs, The Flintstones Jingle All the Way and Beethoven.
The Walt Disney Co. has picked up the comedy pitch How to Become Famous in 12 Days or Less from the writing team of Steven Gary Banks and Claudia Grazioso. Based on a Marie Claire article, the pitch is described as a female Trading Places and marks the sixth sale for the duo in the past 18 months. It will be produced by Evolution Entertainment, with Disney's Kristin Burr and Casey Wolfe overseeing for the studio. Among the duo's recent sales are Daddy's Girls to Paramount Pictures, 35 to Life at New Line Cinema, Are We There Yet? to Revolution Studios and Coeds at Warner Bros. Pictures. Both writers are repped by ICM, while Grazioso is additionally repped by Palomar and Banks is additionally repped by Evolution.
- 4/15/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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