Reports are circulating that Sony may be in talks of a possible merger with in the next year. This from Forbes-

“Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures could merge with Sony Pictures, Universal Studios or another movie studio amid a wave of consolidation in the industry over the next few months, veteran investor Mario Gabelli said in the latest issue of Barron’s.

The chief executive of Gamco Investors Inc, who owns shares of Viacom ( VIA – news – people ), said he expects deal making among movie studios as they seek to cut costs.

‘Today there are seven or eight motion-picture studios. A round of consolidation will occur in the next six to 12 months because of the costs of financing, prints and advertising, the benefits of globalization and such,’ Gabelli said. ‘We hear talk of something going on”.

This is potentially very big news if there is any truth to it. A drawback would be that this means less studios competing against each other and thus might lead to less innovation and effort in film making.

Do you care? Should we care? Its all about the benjamins folks!

Paramount is shifting it’s focus to franchise films & more control over it’s slate in hopes to generate profits. Investors were particularly pleased with the success of Star Trek although Paramount remains in the red with losses of $123 million in the first quarter of 2009 alone. “We weren’t in control of our release slate fully. We don’t want to be in a position where are our big motion pictures are offset by smaller less successful films”. Viacom CEO Philippe Duaman told Wall Streeters on Wednesday. Star Trek already has a sequel greenlit and other big upcoming releases were mentioned such as “Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen”, “G.I. Joe: Rise Of The Cobra”, and mentioned a title from Dreamworks Animation which will start putting out 3 movies a year instead of 2 (Viacom distributes their animation films) It was also noted that costs have been cut by $50m a year. The company has had a strong showing in 2008 & 2009 and a distribution deal with Epix, a new channel created by Viacom is being sought after.

FIGHTING PACKS A PUNCH, TOO BAD YOUR FUN IS WHAT TAKES THE BLOW

Do you like movies without interesting characters, and barely any story to speak of? If so Fighting starring Channing Tatum is the perfect movie for you. The fight scenes aren’t even very good albeit except one. This one will just leave you bored and wondering how much longer this by the numbers film will end. It’s all too clear what is going to end up happening and even David Patterson could see it coming.

The film starts off with the main character Sean McArthur (Tatum) is on the street selling iPod’s and Harry Potter books which both happen to be knock offs. Some gentlemen give him problems and he beats them up. Harvey (Terrence Howard) notices this and asks him if he would like to make some money. Harvey happens to be a hustler of sorts and makes Sean presentable to these other guys who organize the fights and introduces him. Naturally he ends up with a fighting gig or two and it’s been some time since I’ve had a fight but apparently the latest in modern combat is to let your ass get kicked then come back in one move and win the fight. The fight scenes are horribly edited and you can’t even tell what’s going on, not even in the one fight that was actually good.

After all this the bosses start taking bets on Sean to lose. Sean we find out has an old rival from high school who appears in like two scenes (guess what’s gonna happen). There is also a romantic aspect to whatever story was in here. Upon further review it turns out George Lucas isn’t the worst writer of romantic story aspects after all. There’s no chemistry whatsoever between Sean and the movie’s female lead Zulay (Zulay Valez). Practically nothing really builds the love story between them. There’s a scene where he offers her money and she refuses to take it and this is practically the only thing that resembles any kind of romantic endeavor between them. Let’s not even talk about the two minute lunch date they have in which she leaves to go to work before they even eat.

Tatum’s character I think is the most dull protagonist I have ever come across in any movie I’ve seen. Literally nothing at all is interesting about him not even his backstory. His wooden and uninspired performance really didn’t help matters either. Basically he was on a high school wrestling team where his dad was the coach and so was Evan (the rival I mentioned earlier) and Evan was always better than him or something and it drove Sean mad and he ended up hitting his dad. You know it isn’t explained in a way that you will really care. So the bosses decide to put Sean against Evan thinking he won’t win and they’ll make a payday. Harvey even bets against Sean and well the fight is on.

The gritty atmosphere was a plus about the movie. Unfortunately it’s the only one and by the time it ends you are really just too bored to notice. Nothing really happens in the movie and nothing really is resolved. The only good fight in the movie features real life MMA fighter Cung Le and it’s pretty much him carrying the scene. The pacing of the movie is alright but virtually no story exists to pace. I strongly recommend against seeing this one but nobody is putting a gun to your head (although they should if you read this and still go).

Warner Brother has picked up a script for a movie about legendary Greek hero Odysseus written by Ann Peacock. Jonathan Liebesman is said to be directing. The story focuses on Odysseus returning home from 2 decades of fighting in the Trojan Wars and reminding us why it’s best not piss off a god unless your name is Kratos. He finds that an invading force has taken over his kingdom. Gianni Nunnari (300) is producing the film. Nunnari has been quoted as saying “Warner is the perfect studio to bring Odysseus back to his island”.

What do all think about this news? Do we need another Greek Mythos movie, I mean come on, Hollywood is probably in the first stages of ruining Clash of the Titans as we speak!

New Regency and 20th Century Fox will team to turn classic TV show Father Knows Best into a feature film. A rights deal has been completed and Chad and Dara Creasey will pen the script. The film will center around a modern day dad who uses parenting techniques that his traditional father disapproves of, he then comes to live with the family and this is what it seems like where a lot of the laughs are going to come from. Hollywood has wanted to make this for a long time. Foster, Fox, & Regency have spent the last eight months pulling a rights deal with the estates of former producers and the star of the TV show.

John Doe himself a.k.a Kevin Spacey is going to not only star in but produce the upcoming indie comedy Father of Invention. Trent Cooper will direct using a script he wrote along with Jonathan Krane & Nichole Beattie. The story centers around a humble inventor who turns into an egotistical billionaire that loses it all when his inventions go awry. After 8 years in jail he returns home bankrupt, homeless, but he is determined to strike it big again and repair his reputation. Spacey also has several films in the can such as Men Who Stare at Goats also starring George Clooney, Telstar, and Shrink.

Write a comic, get a movie

New Regency has bought the rights to Freedom Formula: Ghost of Wasteland. Michael Finch has been hired to write the script. The comic centers around a futuristic world where fighter jets are obsolete and have been replaced with pilots fighting in exo-suits. The main character is a superior racer who discovers his blood can change society. The director in mind as of right now is Bryan Singer. Pic will distribute the movie through Fox.

Am I the only one who thinks there are too many comic adaptations these days? Sure some of them have worked (the new Batman movies, X-Men, Spider-Man 1 & 2) but others have been met with not such great results (Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man 3, let us not forget The Spirit). I would like to see a bit more originality out of Hollywood and I would hate to think that the future of movies was just adaptations of things with already established fan bases that the studios believe are guaranteed will profit. I like adaptations every so often but it seems like this is all Hollywood is interested in these days. What’s your take? Is it better when already established characters from other mediums (i.e. Batman) strike it big on the silver screen or do you like to see new innovative and original characters created just for film (i.e. Rocky Balboa) become a box office hit?

Bruno who?

Sasha Baron Cohen showed off footage of his latest movie Bruno at the South By Southwest film festival. Fewer than 300 people were granted the privilege of viewing 22 minutes of the film. Baron Cohen appeared on the screen between certain scenes in order to introduce each segment. The movie is his follow up to Borat and will be released in July. In his new film he is an openly gay Austrian fashion consultant wanting to make it in Hollywood. Footage shown included the character trying to adopt a black baby and and put it in an avant-grade performance art project. There is also a segment where he partakes in a Jerry Springer type show where he looks for a mate, and also tries to reinvent himself as a heterosexual named straight Dave.

I do applaud Cohen for not beating his characters into the ground and knowing when to call it quits such as was the case with Borat. This gives him more credit to me as a true comedic mind than someone like Vince Vaughn who plays a drunken frat boy everytime. I thought Borat was funny and liked it’s stance against political correctness. I probably will end up seeing Bruno and wonder what this guy will think of next.