Papa Vinyard here, now here's a little somethin' for ya...
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I know we've all been waiting with bated breath for an official announcement regarding the ENTOURAGE movie, especially given those salary disputes with the cast that have been widely reported recently. Well, this tweet from creator Doug Ellin is here to put your mind at ease...
It's a go. love you all. pic.twitter.com/KcIPV5fqR8
— Doug Ellin (@mrdougellin) October 29, 2013
No word as of yet as to what deals had to be struck with the talent to get this project off the ground, but the pic is budgeted at $30 million, so I'd imagine that back-end deals played a large part in inking the four principal actors (who were angling for a deal equatable to what Jeremy Piven was getting to reprise his infamous Ari Gold). The plot, as rumored, involves Gold, now a studio head, trying to lock down Adrien Grenier's Vinnie Chase for a major tentpole; I wouldn't be surprised if the actual logline was tempered a bit to get at least some of the titular entourage in there as more than background figures.
I'm a guy who watched every episode of the show in it's first run (I was 15 when it came out, sue me), and even I'm not sure who the target audience for this is. I mean, hasn't the time for this come and gone? Didn't SEX AND THE CITY 2 prove that sometimes you have to just let the franchise die after a certain point? This tweet from Jeff Sneider shows the faulty math of this project:
3.1 mil ppl viewed last ep of ENTOURAGE, incl. repeats. Avg. movie ticket in Q2 of 2013: $8.38. That's $26 mil. Budget is $30 mil sans P&A.
— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) October 29, 2013
Seems like a losing battle, particularly given that the show increasingly lost its luster (and cultural cache) as the seasons went on, but hey. If they can actually come with a well-written, funny script that matches some dramatic tension with the easygoing, savvy comedy that the show featured at its peak, maybe the film can reclaim some of the fans it's lost over the years, as well as getting first-timers to wonder why they skipped out on the show to begin with. Or, it could be opportunistic hogwash that makes us, once again, regret that Piven will be defined by this role for the rest of his career. Only time can tell.
Do you have any excitement whatsoever for this ENTOURAGE movie? What about the show would you most want to see translated into the feature-film incarnation?
ENTOURAGE: MOVIE FILM FOR THEATERS is aiming to start shooting in January, for a release date at the end of 2014, at the earliest.
-Vincent Zahedi
”Papa Vinyard”
vincentzahedi@gmail.com
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