The reactions are pouring in from the first screening of Disney’s Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. The movie premiered at ShoWest and plenty of people are blazing the world of Twitter with their instant reactions to the film. Fans of the video game have thrown in their two cents as well as people who wanted to see if it lived up to the hype. Well, it’s time for Prince of Persia to be put on the chopping block so here it is…

For the most part, it sounds like people had high expectations for this film, which I believe was their first mistake. The majority of these tweets are comments of frustration and disappointment. This begs the question, did we all see the same trailers that have been gracing the internet for the past few months? Prince of Persia doesn’t look like the savior of the video game genre, hell it looks borderline campy!

The general consensus here is that the movie is mediocre, and that sounds like an accurate assessment. Just because Jake Gyllenhaal is doing backflips in the desert in the middle of a Jerry Bruckheimer film doesn’t mean it’s the be all, end all of action movies.

Here’s what we’re hearing through the grapevine so far…

• SvenRump: Prince of Persia: a rollicking good time. Swords & Sandals 2010 Bruckheimer Style
• Slashfilm: Feeling let down by Prince of Persia. The production design, cinematography, costume design all amazing. But the plot, characters and casting is kind of a mess.
• FirstShowing: Prince of Persia was good, not great, pretty much exactly what I expected. It moved VERY quickly but was still long. Not enough parkour. I like the plot, but there’s so much going on it was confusing at times, felt a little rushed and messy, but wasn’t bad. Just good I guess.
• Schofizzy: No surprise that PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME looks cool and that’s about it.
• mattign: Just saw Prince of Persia. Fun movie.
• bitmobshoe: Prince of Persia movie is a lot of mindless, summer blockbuster fun. The expected cliches were out in full force though.
• entoncesmn: Prince of Persia is big and loud and and action-filled but all that didn’t make the story better.

Source.

The producers of a big-budget Hollywood movie have cancelled plans to film scenes at the Ottawa train station after failing to come to terms with VIA Rail on a fee.

Source Code is a $35-million science-fiction thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain), recent Oscar-nominee Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) and Canadian comedian Russell Peters. The story concerns a soldier who inexplicably wakes up in the body of a commuter who witnesses a train bombing.

Filming began March 1 in Montreal and is expected to continue until May. The production was coming to Ottawa in early April for six days of shooting at the train station, which was chosen because of its “modern futuristic” look.

But the stumbling block that caused the producers to back out appears to be the fee VIA Rail wanted for use of the Ottawa station. The amount is believed to be about $250,000, although neither VIA Rail nor a film company spokeswoman would confirm the amount.

“We will not be coming to Ottawa and we will not comment on the situation,” Manon Bougie, the film’s production manager said Wednesday.

She said a replacement location has been found in Montreal.

News of the cancellation comes a day after officials at Ottawa’s Canadian Screen Training Centre announced they will close April 1 after 29 years, a victim of funding cuts by the federal government.

“We were going to have a blockbuster film shooting here and now we don’t,” said Roch Brunette, head of the Ottawa-Gatineau Film and Television Development Corporation.

Brunette said the production was expected to pump up to $200,000 into Ottawa’s economy, including hotels, restaurants, and other services during the six-day shoot for a cast and crew that was to number about 100 people.

“But business goes on as usual. We’ll find someone else to come over and shoot a movie here because we’re being told that our locations are extraordinary,” he said.

VIA Rail spokesman Malcolm Andrews said a compromise could not be reached with the film’s producers on a fee for the use of the Ottawa station.

“The producers chose not to continue discussions with us once the issue of costs was put on the table. My understanding from my colleagues who were in on the discussions was that the other side left the table — literally,” said Andrews.

“The impression I was left with was that it wasn’t just a question of not being willing to talk terms at that point, or continue talking terms or attempt to, which is unfortunate. We regret they felt obliged to leave the table and not discuss terms and that’s something we were and are willing to do.”

He said he believes the fee request was “fair.”

“Our goal is never to gouge anybody,” said Andrews.

He said there are “real costs” involved in allowing a film production to take over a train station without disrupting the normal routine. He said the producers needed to shoot scenes at the station during the day and also use one of the rail tracks.

“We had basically worked out a plan whereby customers would still have been able to access the trains throughout the day, and trains would have been able to leave and arrive on time despite the film production would have occupied an entire track for a full week,” he said.

Source.

Even more pictures from Photoshoot Session #058 Additions has been added to the gallery.

Gallery Links:
Photoshoots & Portraits > Photoshoot Sessions > Session 058

Walt Disney Pictures has released a brand new featurette for “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” taking a look at Young Dastan, played by William Foster, and the importance of seeing the character in his earlier years. Foster took parkour lessons from actor/stuntman David Belle.

Indeed, the Don Draper Barbie does capture some of Draper’s existentialist ennui, if not his inner demons spurring from all the lies he’s living. Sounds like a fun dolly!

Speaking of fun, there’s also this way adorable, blocky Lego rendition of Jake Gyllenhaal‘s Prince of Persia character. But is there money forthcoming from all that happy plastic?

Not likely, entertainment attorneys tell me.

“In most circumstances these rights get dealt with as part of the initial deal with the actor,” says Miles J. Feldman of the law firm Liner Grode Stein.

Courts have heard arguments about just how much an actor’s image is entwined in an iconic character. But “generally,” Feldman says, “the copyright holder has the exclusive rights to exploit the characters.”

In other words, no extra pay, really. Everything’s built in to the actor’s fee or weekly salary.

Unless a TV show’s producers didn’t anticipate huge success when they first signed on the actors—the kind of popularity that spurs Barbies.

In that case, the show producers or toy manufacturers may cut a separate, new deal with the actors after a show is hot, but only in the context of the franchise, such as Mad Men. Enter a Don Draper doll, dressed in all his ring-a-ding-ding finery, but not a Jon Hamm doll.

That would be a thoroughly unrelated type of hot.

None of this means that stars don’t get some involvement in their toy merchandising.

When NBC announced a charity auction of some signed bobble heads modeled after The Office character Dwight Schrute, the actor who played him, Rainn Wilson, got to choose the charity.

Source.