Another Production Exec Hired By MGM

17 Comments »

1. Cale had an amazing run at New Line with big hits like Wedding Crashers and Elf He is one of the more no-nonsense tenacious execs out there in the business. Between him and Mary watch for a strong new MGM!

   Comment by Pookie — March 26, 2008 @ 3:09 pm

2. If Brener goes…GAME OVER!

   Comment by Big Brother — March 26, 2008 @ 3:40 pm

3. Cale’s good people. Not everything he’s touched has turned to gold, but he’s one of the few people at New Line who learned from his mistakes and hasn’t been forced to burn bridges because of Toby. That’s a smart move for MGM.

   Comment by Fielding Mellish — March 26, 2008 @ 4:13 pm

4. If Cale, Brener and Katz were able to do what they wanted at New Line, the company would not be in the position they are in today. Instead, Katz and Cale are gone, and I’m sure as smart as Brener is, he will be soon to follow.

   Comment by Ryan — March 26, 2008 @ 4:25 pm

5. Where in heck is all the money supposedly coming from to fund this beleaguered studio’s “renewed” movie slate?

   I think Comcast and Sony are going to pony up some dough. The other conglomerates all own channels carried by Comcast cable but aren’t producing enough fresh content for all those channels. So a movie studio that is just a movie studio has the potential to be successful.

   These recent hirings show a certain seriousness on the part of the Comcast/Sony partnership about making MGM a functioning studio, and I welcome it.

   Hollywood seriously needs the return of competition.

   Comment by Furious D — March 26, 2008 @ 5:56 pm

6. The above poster Ryan is 100% correct. New Line would be minting money if Cale, Brener and Katz had stuck around. Whoever let them go (Toby) blew it.

   Yes, definitely, this is a GREAT hire for MGM. Very smart. Cale is awesome.

   Comment by Anony Mouse — March 26, 2008 @ 6:33 pm

7. Great, great hire. Everything good that came out of New Line the past few years can be traced directly to Cale. WB should have kicked Toby to the curb and let Cale run New Line — huge mistake that they didn’t.

   Comment by chris — March 26, 2008 @ 7:05 pm

8. A very smart move for MGM, and a no-brainer for Cale. He is a great guy and a hard worker and deserves better than New Line had or has to offer.

   Comment by tommy — March 26, 2008 @ 8:24 pm

9. Cale’s a great exec and has excellent taste and people skills. But why the fuck did they hire Russell Schwartz? That guy can’t market a commercial movie to save his life. I know a dozen filmmakers who feel that he burned them over at New Line.

   Comment by Nick — March 26, 2008 @ 10:23 pm

10. Russell Schwartz can’t market a commercial movie? Lord of the Rings? Elf? Wedding Crashers? Hairspray? Give the guy, but moreso his staff that mired away under zero leadership after he got canned, and now are all about to get fired, a break.

    Congratulations Cale, you deserve this. Best of luck!

    Comment by Seriously? — March 27, 2008 @ 1:59 am

11. seriously?
    lord of the rings sold itself
    elf sold itself
    wedding crashes - did you see the one-sheet? sold itself
    hairspray sold itself
    do you need me to list the movies that russell couldn’t sell?
    at one time, new line’s development team had a softball game against the marketing team because marketing made the argument that development greenlighted movies no one could sell and development argued that marketing couldn’t sell a movie if their lives depended on it
    guess what - they were both right!

    Comment by yeah seriously — March 27, 2008 @ 10:29 am

12. Schwartz clashed hard with David Dobkin over marketing and release dates on Wedding Crashers. Dobkin won and the film was a hit. It ain’t Schwartz’s credit to take. Lord of the Rings? Peter Jackson sold that baby. I think he even cut his own trailers. Running Scared has done huge on DVD, but couldn’t even muster 7 million in theaters.

    Comment by Nick — March 27, 2008 @ 9:46 pm

13. “Elf”? “Wedding Crashers”? Has Cale developed anything successful in the 5 years since then? Just asking …

    Comment by what am i missing? — March 28, 2008 @ 7:49 am

14. What’s with the MGM-bashing? I’m personally rooting for the little guy, who may just be the last remaining (sorta) independent studio that’s not a mega-conglom in town.

    Comment by JB — March 28, 2008 @ 11:22 am

15. Has he developed anything else successful? Are you kidding? Try some monster hits like SHOOT EM UP, NATIVITY, and TENACIOUS D. Or stone-cold classics like HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS, JUST FRIENDS, and BLADE:TRINITY. In fact, thanks to the success of BLADE:TRINITY, the studio has wisely decided not to make any more because how could you top something so well done. Speaking of “well-done”, how about the Ray Romano/Kevin James cinematic triumph-GRILLED? Too good for the cinema, but you might be able to find a copy at your local video store. Schwartz wasn’t the greatest marketer in town, but someone tell me who could have opened crap like TENACIOUS D? A movie about rock and roll and no hot chicks in the movie? Genius.

    Comment by Les Mayfield Jr. — March 28, 2008 @ 12:06 pm

16. Blame marketing for SHOOT ‘EM UP and JUST FRIENDS, both of which got solid reviews and no support from distribution whatsoever. Yeah, the fat-guy one sheet really sold JUST FRIENDS, didn’t it? And whose idea was it to release HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS — based on a huge children’s best-seller — on the same weekend that kids were going back to school?

    And frankly, blame Snipes for BLADE TRINITY, which definitely sucked– due in no small part to the crazy egomaniac star, who referred to himself as “Dr. Snipes” on the set and claimed a Jewish conspiracy was working against him.

    Comment by Fielding Mellish — March 28, 2008 @ 1:28 pm

17. Oh, I get it. He has nothing to do with the half dozen movies that tanked, but everything to do with the 2 that were successful? And by the way, since the fall of ‘06, development was essentially running marketing. All the materials were not only approved by them, but sometimes entire campaigns(TENACIOUS D)were handled by them. Let’s see you try to market mediocre movies. Again, Schwartz wasn’t the greatest marketer, but not even close to being the worse. Cayle and every other development executive at NL need to learn that comedies need jokes to sell them. A novel idea to them, I’m sure.

    Comment by Les Mayfield Jr. — March 28, 2008 @ 2:10 pm

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