Ok, Antoine Fuqua directed “Training Day,” which put him on the map and gained Denzel Washington an Oscar. His latest, the cop crime drama “Brooklyn’s Finest” starring Don Cheadle, Richard Gere, Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin and Ethan Hawke, was met with a mixed critical reception at Sundance earlier this year, but was immediately bought by Senator Films which seemed to bode somewhat well since it was the first major sale at the festival in ’09.
But Senator may have been desperate for a hit. The widely reviled “The Informers” tanked earlier this year despite the name-brand cast (Mickey Rourke, Amber Heard, Kim Basinger, Billy Bob Thornton, Winona Ryder, etc.), and now they’re basically the latest indie studio that has fallen on hard financial times. Basically the company has admitted they don’t have enough money for the P&A (Promotion and Advertising) of “Brooklyn’s Finest.”
One thinks the company could just sell it off, but it’s tricker than that. According to THR:
‘Finest,’ which was produced by Avi Lerner’s Millennium/NuImage. While the deal was negotiated at Sundance, the upfront fee, for the pic was not paid, and the fact that the film has not hit release-date targets puts in a legally contentious spot.
Millennium might just demand the rights back to the film so they can sell it where they please, but if they haven’t even been paid, things are bound to get ugly which might mean the film gets caught up in an unfortunate legal limbo. There’s also a thriller called “Unthinkable” with Michael Sheen and Samuel L. Jackson that could potentially be up for sale as well.
Senator’s president just quit and their distribution arm is now closed. Sign of the times. Shit is bleak out there. We all should have gone to law school.