Goldmember in Trouble!

[James Harvey]

The MPAA on Thursday denied New Line's appeal of an earlier decision blocking use of the title "Austin Powers in Goldmember" for the third installment of the Austin Powers franchise, says Variety.

New Line then rejected a deal from MGM and United Artists, the studios which filed to block the title spoof on their James Bond franchise. Sources for the trade claim that MGM and UA would have softened their stance on the title if New Line had agreed to move the upcoming Denzel Washington picture "John Q" off its Feb. 15 release date, leaving the weekend virtually clear for MGM's Bruce Willis starrer "Hart's War."

MGM and UA have apparently always had issues with Mr. Powers, the spoof on the James Bond franchise. In 1999, MGM and UA petitioned the MPAA over the use of "The Spy Who Shagged Me," but New Line responded in accordance with MPAA guidelines and won the right to use the title.

Now that the MPAA has ruled against New Line, MGM and UA could view the victory as an opportunity to seek out and protest any content they find objectionable in the film itself. (comingsoon.net)

How childish is this?

[Joe Wagner]

Pretty childish. Sounds to me their they're running in fear of New Line's potential smash hits and (as much as I like Bruce Willis) it doesn't sound like any of their soon to be released movies have the same amount of hype around them like New Line's do. Here's a question - isn't a title just a further expression of freedom of speech? I guess simple things like the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to Hollywood, I mean I could copyright a character named the Wild Badger, have it look a lot like Wolverine and change the color scheme and Marvel wouldn't be able to do anything about it so I don't think this would be over copyright. Very childish indeed - what's next? Maybe they'll go after Sony for releasing a movie about a certain arachnid becuz they have a movie that features a spider somewhere in the film and has 'spider' in the title.

-Joe!

[Ricochet]

Oh, come on! Nobody will think that it is a James Bond film! I t is the most blatant spoof around! Yeeeesh...

[Terminatah]

They should have the great Michael Caine, who's playing Nigel Powers in Goldmember, put in a scorchingly-worded phone call and straighten the whole thing out. All it will take is a couple of devastating sarcastic snaps in that accent of his and the MPAA will fold like a young starlet auditioning for a B movie.

-Terminatah

[Evil Dr. Reef]

Originally said by Captain Murphy
Caine mutiny? I love Miachel Caine!
Sorry, but I had to get that in there.
Anyway, this is pretty stupid. Come on people, it's just a movie. It's not like the Bond reputation is going to be destroyed by one stupid Austin Powers movie.

[mookie75]

Originally posted by jjwspider
I could copyright a character named the Wild Badger, have it look a lot like Wolverine and change the color scheme and Marvel wouldn't be able to do anything about it
-Joe!


Hey....be careful or you'll give away Rob Liefeld's secret to creating comic characters! *LOL*

:D

[Joe Wagner]

Gee.....I don't know what you're talking about - I'm sure Supreme was a completely original character :D

-Joe

[mookie75]

Originally posted by jjwspider
Gee.....I don't know what you're talking about - I'm sure Supreme was a completely original character :D

-Joe


Don't forget Fighting American...he was original too. lol ;)

[Maxie Zeus]

Hmm. I guess "Airplane!" transgresses on "Airport" and "The Naked Gun" on "The Naked City" and "Young Frankenstein" on "Frankenstein." Probably UA will next argue that the word "Pink" can't be used in any movie title because it will be confused with "The Pink Panther."

Obviously this was just a shakedown, MGM/UA trying to force a New Line picture out of its berth. Now part of me hopes AOL/TW swoops in and buys MGM.

[Vin]

Why doesn't AOLTW just rename the film? :confused:

[James Harvey]

I think MGM is putting up this front so they look more appealing to whoever's gonna buy them out. Even though they're up for sale, they still have to look attractive and competitive for the buyer - and this is an easy way for them to look more appealing.

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by Vincent Benenati
Why doesn't AOLTW just rename the film? :confused:

They're gonna have to, I guess. Which is a pity since "Goldmember" is such a great title.

[pencilsharp]

MGM has never been the swiftest studio on the block. Selling out to Turner in the first place was dumb with a capital duh. Now their great movie library belongs to... AOLTW! Come to think of it, New Line was Turner's baby, too. You don't suppose that this could partly be sour grapes on MGM's part, do you?

Besides, who wants to lay odds that Myers tries to rename it "Coldmember"? (Which is funny in its own way... :D )

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by pencilsharp
MGM has never been the swiftest studio on the block. Selling out to Turner in the first place was dumb with a capital duh. Now their great movie library belongs to... AOLTW! Come to think of it, New Line was Turner's baby, too. You don't suppose that this could partly be sour grapes on MGM's part, do you?

Ah, but it's made a fortune for Kirk Kerkorian, the man who's bought and sold MGM the way a mad Monopoly player buys and sells St. Charles Place.

Remember that "I Love Lucy" episode where the guy makes his money by continually selling a lousy restaurant at a high price and buying it back from the luckless neophytes for a bargain? (The Lucy gang were his most recent victims.) Well, that's Kerkorian. The guy's a billionaire many times over, cuz he's sold it dear to Turner and Pathe and the public, and bought it back cheap each time. And here he goes again!

[pencilsharp]

Maxie Zeus wrote...
The guy's a billionaire many times over, cuz he's sold it dear to Turner and Pathe and the public, and bought it back cheap each time. Maybe so, Maxie... but considering the way that cable exploded at the time of Turner's MGM purchase, I believe that Kirk got the short end of that stick. How much is that library worth today? A few BILLION, mayhaps?

Then again, there always seems to be room for idiots in capitalism. Donald Trump is ample evidence of that. Also, it seems to me that selling dear and buying cheap is how the Scientologists keep themselves in copies of "Invasion: Earth" after all.

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by pencilsharp
Maybe so, Maxie... but considering the way that cable exploded at the time of Turner's MGM purchase, I believe that Kirk got the short end of that stick. How much is that library worth today? A few BILLION, mayhaps?

Very true. Moral: It takes two geniuses to screw up the way they both did.

Turner just about bankrupted himself in the short term with the purchase of MGM/UA, and had to bring in the cable operators as investors to bail him out. Flash forward ten years, and who reaps the benefit of the library? Time Warner, one of those cable companies, scooping up the remainder of TBS.

Meanwhile, Kerkorian gets a boodle of money in the short term, and totally misses the long-term explosion in the value of the library. Instead, he has to cobble together a new film library for his ailing lion by buying . . . American-International films like "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine"? :eek:

[Auggie Doggie]

(English Accent) Are you gonna cry all day, crybaby?