THE FRONT RUNNER

[carouselkathy]

I'm not surprised that political films like this don't necessarily appeal to foreign audiences. Political news moves so quickly now, and in today's climate, scandal is getting to be the new normal. Also, don't movie audiences tend to be more on the younger side? They would not remember Gary Hart, Nixon, Watergate, etc.

[jo]

How did Hugh get attached to THE FRONT RUNNER ?

Presumably, it was through his connection to his longtime talent agency WME-IMG? There is a business owner relationship established now between WME-IMG and a sales outfit marketing THE FRONT RUNNER.

WME-IMG is run together by Co-Chairmen/CEO Ari Emmanuel and Patrick Whitesell (Hugh's longtime agent).


www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-hollywood-agencies-are-making-major-moves-sales-financing-afm-2017-1054121

[jo]

http://instagr.am/p/BbAoH0MnlUL

They have completed 33 days of filming -- on a Mon-Fri schedule, that would be around 6 1/2 weeks of principal photography!

[jo]

It looks they will be completing filming shortly --

http://instagram.com/p/BbDRiQonsFZ

One of the responses to the Instagram image/msg --

masistillsNice boys! Miss you guys!!Good luck the last week!!

If I remember correctly, the original wrap date is November 9, 2017.

[jo]

After filming THE FRONT RUNNER -- what's next, Mr. Jackman

After the promotional campaign for THE GREATEST SHOWMAN...and the Oscar campaign for LOGAN?


Hope it is an epic type of movie -- action/adventure... or major drama?


Jo

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BbEmpAhHYcB

On the infamous " MONKEY BUSINESS"

Have they wrapped?


Jo

[hughmanity]

Can we all agree this is not his best look? Hahaha!

[hughmanity]

www.justjared.com/2017/11/04/hugh-jackman-rocks-short-shorts-on-set-of-the-front-runner/

[mamaleh]

Well, better than a Speedo, maybe.

Ellen

[jo]

[jo]

Does he have the legs of a typical pro tennis player

[jo]

Still in costume? Looks like - he is wearing his watch on the left wrist... plus he is wearing boat shoes

[jo]

Did Makeup add prosthetics to enlarge his earlobes...and reshaped his eyebrows?

Maybe to look closer to Gary Hart?


Jo

[jo]

Crew filming from afar -- on what's happening on the Monkey Business!

http://instagram.com/p/BbFqoGsnGpQ

[jo]

Nov 1, 2017 9:07:16 GMT -5 jo said:

No distribution takers so far ?

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/afm-preview-how-new-players-are-rewriting-rules-indie-dealmaking-1053642

AFM Preview: How New Players Are Rewriting the Rules of Indie Dealmaking
7:00 AM PDT 11/1/2017 by Scott Roxborough



Silicon Valley and the emergence of fresh disruptors have ushered in an era that looks very different than it did just a year ago: "Indie companies aren't dictating the future of the film business."
Forget Harvey Weinstein.

The fate of the disgraced movie mogul, and that of The Weinstein Company, will be a subject of cocktail chatter at this year's American Film Market, which kicks off today, but Harvey is a sideshow compared to true forces of disruption rocking AFM: The independent film business is rapidly evolving and business models that had worked for decades are being torn apart and tossed aside.

The rise of online platforms Netflix and Amazon has brought a flood a cash into the indie biz — Netflix alone says they will produce or acquire 80 original films next year, double their 2016 output — while short-circuiting traditional distribution models. Buyers used to trolling the Loews for the next big indie tentpole are finding themselves outgunned by these deep-pocketed Silicon Valley giants who sweep down and buy up world rights for any project with mainstream potential.

"If a project gets big enough or gets any buzz behind it, it gets snatched up by the platforms or by the studios," complains one veteran international buyer, noting the dearth of big projects at AFM this year. It’s notable that the one big package on offer this year — Bloom’s The Frontrunner, a Jason Reitman film starring Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga and J.K. Simmons — has limited international appeal, given that the story has Jackman playing disgraced ‘80s American politician Gary Hart.


"Talking to sales agents, the projects on offer are all in the $5 million-$7 million range — there’s nothing in the $20 million plus range, nothing mainstream," says Alexander van Duelmen of Germany’s A Company.



Thorsten Schumacher of Rocket Science — which closed one of this year’s biggest indie deals, selling animated feature Bubbles, about Michael Jackson’s beloved chimp, to Netflix for a reported $20 million in Cannes — says the online giants have brought “a welcome injection of capital, but also a welcome injection of innovation” into the indie business, while admitting that the shift has been “disruptive and painful” for many old school distributors. “They are going to have to change their models,” he says.

The few big players left in the indie world — Lionsgate, Annapurna, STX Entertainment — are moving quickly to set up new models, combining production and financing muscle with international distribution to create 21st-century versions of the mini-majors. Annapurna, whose upcoming slate includes Richard Linklater’s dramedy Where’d You Go, Bernadette and Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight follow-up If Beale Street Could Talk, this week announced a U.S. joint distribution venture with MGM, adding another component to Annapurna’s global battle plan. Megan Ellison’s outfit already has international distribution deals in place for much of the world, following a pattern set by similar production/sales outfits STX and Lionsgate. Lionsgate itself is in the midst of a transition, after swallowing Joe Drake’s Good Universe in a deal that will see Drake return to the company as, for the moment, co-chair of its Motion Picture Group alongside current boss Patrick Wachsberger.
And all AFM eyes are on former Lionsgater Rob Friedman and his newly formed “content studio” Global Road Entertainment, which brings together U.S. distributor Open Road Films with production and sales outfit IM Global.

“There are a lot of new companies and new models emerging,” says Hal Vogel, author of Entertainment Industry Economics and a veteran observer of the indie film business. "But this isn’t 10 years ago, when losing The Weinstein Company would have been a big blow to the industry. Today, the indie compa- nies aren’t the ones dictating the future of the  lm business. Silicon Valley is. Where they go, the business will follow."

Maybe they should focus on more details on the FRONT RUNNER project to persuade prospective international buyers that there is more to the film, beyond the story of a disgraced American politician/

Hollywood Reporter seems focused on the issue of the lack of appeal of mid-budget projects to buyers at the American Film Market ( Is this like Cannes, where the more important event that happens is not really the glamour of premieres and movie stars...but the dealmaking that happens to sell film projects?)

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/afm-2017-dealmaking-slows-as-sales-outfits-try-financing-production-1055041

Again, The Front Runner is used as the example of a mid-budget project that on the surface lacks international appeal.


Jo

[jo]

It looks like they may still be doing some filming --

[jo]

From earlier filming ( October 25) --

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154974152024212&set=a.494920409211.266387.648129211&type=3&theater

[jo]

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BbTYRg_H2B7

[jo]

BRON head shares that it is a wrap for THE FRONT RUNNER -

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BbTogfwHEwz

If that was WRAP day, they were on exactly on schedule ( 39th day out of 39 day-schedule) - it was about a 7-week shoot?


Jo

[jo]

Jason Reitman confirms that principal photography has been completed --

http://instagram.com/p/BbVhrGDlXtW

The hard part follows --

*Getting into the Edit Suite

*Selling the project to the international market



Jo

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BbUyubRAF5x

[jo]

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BbVKPe2H0PC