Talk about a bad year.
After a successful 2007 and 2008, Marc Shmuger and David Linde, the co-chairmen of Universal Pictures, oversaw a series of flops this year, the worst of the worst being the Will Ferrell vehicle, Land of the Lost.
And after months of negative reports from the blogoshere, the pair finally got shown the door earlier this month.
Now Land of the Lost has been faulted by the American Medical Alliance for its frequent and unnecessary depiction of people smoking.
“Land of the Lost wasn’t just a flop at the box office, it was also a real loser for public health,” said Nancy Kyler, president of the American Medical Association Alliance, as reported in The New York Times.
The censure led the Times to refer to the movie as the “gift that just keeps on taking for Universal Pictures.”
And so it was.
Reports vary, but the picture, a remake of a television series, cost Universal between $100 million (Box Office Mojo) and $200 million (Los Angeles Times).
So far, it’s taken in $49.4 million at the box office.
A loss of at least $50 million is enough to threaten anyone’s job security (unless, of course, he or she works for a Wall Street financial firm).
But, to be fair, all the blame for Shmuger and Linde’s departures shouldn’t be placed on one movie.
Other Universal releases struggled this year, including Funny People, starring Adam Sandler, which has not yet earned back its reported cost of $75 million.
Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp did not do well, though it did make money because of a fairly strong showing beyond the U.S.
In addition, Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno didn’t come through for Universal the way his earlier Borat did for Fox.
The string of disappointments stands in contrast to Shmuger and Linde’s successes in the previous two years, a time period that saw the Universal’s release of Mamma Mia!, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Knocked Up.
Their earlier track record led to contract renewals this January. And they might have kept their jobs even after the bad summer were it not for other problems, the Los Angeles Times reported.
According to the newspaper, Ron Meyer, the president of Universal Studios, let the pair go because of their management styles.
“People close to the studio said Meyer became unhappy with Shmuger and Linde’s inability to sustain a spirit of teamwork and put a stop to the turmoil that has roiled the studio’s executive suites,” the Times wrote.
Meyer replaced Shmuger and Linde with Universal’s marketing chief, Adam Fogelson, who will serve as chairman, and its production president, Donna Langley, who assumes the title of co-chairman.
Click here to sign up for the Muckety Newsletter
0 Comments
There are no comments yet, be the first by filling in the form below.
Leave a Comment