This happened because of the Sony Hack, so I'll put it here.
Amy Pascal steps down -> start her own sub-Sony production company that is in charge of a few properties at Sony, such as Spider-man.
Spider-Man IP is now in co-production with Marvel Studios and before anyone ask, Marvel is the majority shot caller here. Amy/Sony is the money and the marketing. Marvel is the creative and the production.
So Sony hired a new head of Sony Pictures: Tom Rothman.
http://deadline.com/2015/02/tom-rothman-replaces-amy-pascal-sony-1201380416/who is Tom Rothman though? former head of Fox.
It came down to Tom Rothman and Doug Belgrad, and someone had to lose in the battle to succeed Amy Pascal. Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Michael Lynton today went with Rothman, the head of TriStar and former longtime co-leader of 20th Century Fox’s filmed entertainment division. Rothman this morning was named chairman of SPE’s Motion Picture Group.
Rothman used to run Fox during one of the great studio's low periods. He was cheap, so the movies often made money, but Fox was turning out absolute **** during his tenure. What's more, Rothman hates superhero movies, and he personally blocked a Deadpool film and refused to allow Sentinels to be used in an X-Men film. Like, he said in a meeting 'no giant robots.' Rothman became famous among nerds for micromanaging X-Men Origins: Wolverine to the point where he demanded sets be repainted without telling director Gavin Hood. It's pretty likely that the Marvel/Fox split (which is so ugly I can't even tell you - the two companies literally trolled each other in the media, which is what led to that Galactus being swapped for Daredevil story at one point) has a lot to do with Rothman.
and here is a list found at GAF detailing some of Rothmans more famous doings.
Things that Fox under Tom Rothman's eye has been bashed for (as far as I know):
*Editing "Die Hard 4" to make it a PG-13 film even though the previous three, had been R-rated. This pretty much meant that Bruce Willis couldn't say John McClaine's trademark "Yippie-ki-ya, mother ****er!" line as it was fully intended.
*The mismanagement of the production for "X-Men 3". For instance:
**Not waiting for Bryan Singer to finish working on "Superman Returns", and not having a replacement director until I believe weeks before filming was due to start. And when a director is finally hired, it's Brett Ratner, who has grown a reputation for being a hack, douchbag, MTV music video, action director.
**Not waiting for several actors (e.g. James Marsden, Rebecca Romjin, and Anna Paquin) to take care of prior engagements before filming. For in the process, certain characters were "killed off" as a matter of convinence.
**Seemingly rushing the production as means of retailiating against Bryan Singer for heading off to make "Superman Returns" (which also opened in the summer of 2006).
**Tom Rothman also allegedly didn't want Sentinels (the gigantic, mutant hunting robots) appearing in an X-Men film because he believed that audiences would immediately think that giant robots appearing in live-action would be too "silly". This was of course, before "Transformers" (a movie for which Tom Rothman allegedly turned down) came out.
*Ordering Ridley Scott to edit his movie "Kingdom of Heaven" to make it look like a more formulaic action-adventure film, when Scott intended for it to be much deeper.
*Having "Daredevil" edited to make it appear more like a summer blockbuster (i.e. more CGI) in the mode of "Spider-Man". "Daredevil" was initially conceived as a more violent, R-rated film in the mold of Frank Miller's run with the comics.
*Not giving the "Fantastic Four" films a better budget, to go along with hirining Tim Story (who is primarily known as a comedic director rather than a sci-fi, action-adventure director) and aiming for a campy, cookie-cutter, sitcomy feel. Rothman also allegedly thought that it would be better for us to see Galactus as a cloud.
*Trashing plans for an "ID4" sequel.
*Browbeating "LXG" director Stephen Norrington until he quit the business altogether. Rothman also allegedly almost convinced "I, Robot" director Alex Proyas to give up filmmaking.
- Tried to ruin X-Men (2000) by cutting down budget and moving the release date from November 2000 to May 2000.
- X2's budget get cut down too.
- Said no to Alien 5 by James Cameron and Ridley Scott because "We have a good script for AVP."
- Burton's Planet of the Apes remake being rushed into production. Which resulted Burton's comment "I'd rather jump out of a window than do Planet of the Apes 2."
but Rothman did a lot of good to the bottom line while he was there, just not when it came to comic or fantastical movies.
From 2000-2012, Tom Rothman was chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment (FFE).[4] FFE includes 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Blue Sky Animation, and Twentieth Century Fox Television.[4][11][14][15] During this time, the studio was nominated for over 150 Academy Awards, won three Best Picture Oscars, earned over $30 billion in worldwide box office sales.[11][15][17] Fox had the best profit margins of any movie studio.[7] Some of the films produced over Rothman's tenure include: Lincoln, Life of Pi, Descendants, Cast Away, Master and Commander, Black Swan, Walk the Line, Juno, The Devil Wears Prada, The X-Men series, the Ice Age series, Rio, and several others.[19] Under Rothman’s leadership, Fox produced Modern Family, Glee, and Homeland.
oh, and according to Latino-review, Feige/Marvel already insulated all Spider-man related productions from outside Sony influence. so no worries there.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=43091.msg863497#msg863497
Topic: Breaking News: Sony Pictures Servers Hacked (Read 75832 times)
