Friday, November 29, 2024

Got a Tip?

Even Sony Doesn’t Like The Adam Sandler Movies They Release

Jack & JillThe massive data breach and hack at Sony is still under investigation, but the consequences are likely going to be seen over the weeks and months to come. Among the most serious leaks so far includes over 47,000 Social Security numbers of former and current employees, including celebrities like Judd Apatow, Rebel Wilson, and Sylvester Stallone. The salaries "The Interview" stars Seth Rogen and James Franco received for the film have also been revealed (guess who was paid more?), and there is probably more to come. And some of the internal documents reveal just how Sony employees felt about some of the actual movies they were involved with.

Gawker pored over the trove of documents and one in particular grabbed their attention: "Sony_2012_Comments." Basically, it’s a roundup of (negative) comments from employees at the studio, and they make one thing clear — please, for the love of all that is holy, do not make them work on another soul-crushing Adam Sandler movie. Here are the highlights: 

It is commendable that SPE understands/supports the importance of risk-taking, particularly in how the we pick films to greenlight. However, the studio needs to change deal structure that has been in place with Happy Madison, as this arrangement has disproportionately benefited Adam Sandler and his team, relative to SPE.
Be more focussed and ruthless in directing our resources to businesses that will sustain the long term health of SPE – networks, broadcast TV shows, new movie franchises, digital distibution By the same token, stop or reduce support for areas that have no more value (Sandler movies, DVD)
There is a general "blah-ness" to the films we produce. Althought we manage to produce an innovative film once in awhile, Social Network, Moneyball, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, we continue to be saddled with the mundane, formulaic Adam Sandler films.
In TV and Theatrical, I hope management looks closely at the money spent on development and term deals to ensure efficiency. There are a lot of term deal personnel as well as creative personnel, yet we only release a dozen or so Columbia Pictures a year, for example. And will we still be paying for Adam Sandler? Why?
Perhaps it’s a generational thing, but I’ve been disappointed with the content of some of the films we’ve been producing lately. I don’t think people who know me would consider me a prude, but the boorish, least common demomonator [sic] slate strikes me as a waste of resource and reputation

[T]he studio needs to change deal structure that has been in place with Happy Madison, as this arrangement has disproportionately benefitted Adam Sandler and his team, relative to SPE.

But have these complaints really changed anything at Sony HQ in regards to Sandler? Sort of. He does have a four picture deal signed with Neflix, but Sony still thinks Sandler can pack ’em in because one of their big summer movies in 2015 is "Pixels" with the comic actor once again mugging in the lead role. The more things change, the more they stay the Sandler… [via Vulture/Death And Taxes]

Related Articles

3 COMMENTS

Stay Connected

221,000FansLike
18,300FollowersFollow
10,000FollowersFollow
14,400SubscribersSubscribe

Latest Articles