A few weeks ago the Johnny Depp-led police corruption thriller “City of Lies” was suddenly pulled from the release schedule by distributor Global Road Entertainment just a month or so out from its debut in cinemas on September 7th.
At the time it was thought to be due to the negative backlash surrounding Depp in recent months, but The Wrap now reports it has much more to do with Global Road’s current corporate woes. The company is headed towards bankruptcy and so its film division has reportedly been seized by its bank lenders who are now shopping off its product to potential buyers in order to stave off filing Chapter 11.
The company, which previously released “Hotel Artemis” and last week’s “A.X.L.,” has several films in post-production including a new take on “The Secret Garden” starring Colin Firth, the Kiernan Shipka-led horror film “The Silence,” the Depp-led “Richard Says Goodbye,” and the upcoming Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey-led “Serenity” which is still slated for an October 19th release through Aviron Pictures.
Lenders are hoping to set meetings and set up screenings with several top indie distributors to unload much of the existing slate of film projects.
Unread postby justintime » Thu Aug 30, 2018 4:14 pm
Global Road Fallout: Bank Sues Over Failure to Release ‘City of Lies’
AUGUST 29, 2018 10:24PM PT
By GENE MADDAUS
variety.com
The collapse of Global Road Entertainment has resulted in its first lawsuit: A bank is suing over the distributor’s refusal to release the Johnny Depp film “City of Lies.”
Bank Leumi filed suit Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court, alleging that it is owed millions in unpaid guarantees on the film. The bank is suing Global Road, which was taken over last week by Bank of America and other lenders, and Miramax, which has the TV distribution rights to the film. Miramax, following Global Road’s lead, has refused to accept delivery of the film.
Global Road was supposed to release the film on Sept. 7, but pulled it from the schedule earlier this month. The lawsuit quotes Rob Friedman, Global Road’s CEO, as telling the producers that Global Road “is not going to accept the movie because of the current environment surrounding it” in a phone conversation on July 17. The following week, an attorney for Miramax wrote a letter to the bank, indicating that it would follow suit.
The Miramax letter cited “significant problems with the production which have significantly devalued the Picture, including, without limitation, the highly publicized alleged offscreen conduct of Johnny Depp, as well as a lawsuit filed against Mr. Depp and the production because he allegedly physically attacked a crew member on the set of the Picture.”
Depp was sued on July 9 for allegedly punching the location manager on the set of the film, a charge that his camp vehemently denies.
Good Films obtained $23.2 million in loans from Bank Leumi to produce the film, which concerns the LAPD investigation of the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Open Road agreed to distribute the film domestically, and agreed to pay a minimum $5.4 million guarantee directly to the bank, according to the suit. Miramax took the TV rights, agreeing to a $4.25 million guarantee.
According to the suit, Good Films delivered the finished film this summer to Open Road, which had since been acquired by Tang Media Partners and had changed its name to Global Road. Global Road initially seemed willing to make the full payment to the bank, but subsequently balked, according to the suit.
In the suit, the bank alleges that Global Road used Depp’s off-screen issues as an excuse for its own failure to release the film.
“Any such statement would have been false because the real reason Open Road would not release the Picture is because Open Road and Global Road are in financial distress and decided not to pay the $10,000,000 of marketing and distribution expenses Open Road committed to pay,” the suit alleges.
Global Road did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Global Road and, in particular, Miramax (bad blood there already: “Libertine” anyone?) seem to want to bury Johnny along with his film. Nothing intimidates them, most especially the truth.
Bank Leumi, an international Israeli financial institution, is not a lightweight and has already drawn a line in the sand (see their allegation above, I added italics).
Last edited by justintime on Thu Aug 30, 2018 5:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Stay low." ~ JD
"I don't like it in here . . . it's terribly crowded." ~ Hatter
"There's something about Johnny that breaks your heart." ~ John Logan, ST
"Tear deeper, Mother." ~ Wilmot
Global Road and Miramax want to make Johnny take the blame for this. But ain't that shooting themselves in the foot? ... feet?
Writing things like that will make it much more difficult for them, when they later want to sell or distribute the movie to get their money back, and hopefully even earn a profit, I would think ...
Unread postby AdeleAgain » Fri Aug 31, 2018 10:23 am
When companies get into financial difficulty they often try to buy time hoping to refinance, so short term solutions often seem like a good idea. Or panic just makes the top management make bad decisions.
It should have been Global Road which came out immediately in response to that Rocky-chap and rubbished his claims, citing the 20 witnesses they had. They pulled City of Lies because they didn't have the finance to go through with the release- and then, with a classic lack of leadership - let the speculation mount that it was all to do with Johnny's 'off-screen behaviour'.
They would have been wiser to have come out immediately and said 'due to the unwarranted complaint - which we fully intend to fight and prove that these allegations are false - we are delaying the movies because we do not want this important production to be clouded by gossip and falsehoods.'
So whether by omission or commission - they let some else take the blame and it hasn't worked out so well.
I am furious because I just want to see the damn film!
Unread postby justintime » Fri Jan 11, 2019 5:57 pm
Does anyone have any idea what it’s going to take to get this film into US theaters?
City of Lies is in theaters TODAY in Italy!
#JohnnyDepp #CityOfLies
Scroll down for box office info.
I saw a film clip on Twitter (not the trailer from last fall), almost two minutes long. All in Italian, but it was of only Johnny and Forest Whitaker. Looked fantastic! Have no idea how to link it here.
"Stay low." ~ JD
"I don't like it in here . . . it's terribly crowded." ~ Hatter
"There's something about Johnny that breaks your heart." ~ John Logan, ST
"Tear deeper, Mother." ~ Wilmot
Unread postby SnoopyDances » Fri Jan 11, 2019 7:33 pm
justintime wrote:Does anyone have any idea what it’s going to take to get this film into US theaters?
City of Lies is in theaters TODAY in Italy!
#JohnnyDepp #CityOfLies
Scroll down for box office info.
I saw a film clip on Twitter (not the trailer from last fall), almost two minutes long. All in Italian, but it was of only Johnny and Forest Whitaker. Looked fantastic! Have no idea how to link it here.
Unread postby justintime » Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:04 pm
Thank you so much for replying, SnoopyDances. No, that one is the 2018 trailer. This is a clip of a single scene from the film. I think I finally have it. I hope I’m not violating any Zone rules by posting this; if so, I apologize and ask that you delete it.
"Stay low." ~ JD
"I don't like it in here . . . it's terribly crowded." ~ Hatter
"There's something about Johnny that breaks your heart." ~ John Logan, ST
"Tear deeper, Mother." ~ Wilmot
Unread postby SnoopyDances » Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:22 pm
justintime wrote:Thank you so much for replying, SnoopyDances. No, that one is the 2018 trailer. This is a clip of a single scene from the film. I think I finally have it. I hope I’m not violating any Zone rules by posting this; if so, I apologize and ask that you delete it.
Unread postby fireflydances » Sat Jan 12, 2019 3:16 pm
justintime, many, many thanks! And the clip offers great insight into Johnny's character, much more than we could see before. Even with the language challenge, I see a frustrated man trying to hold his anger while he remains convinced that he is pursuing something important. I found myself really focused on the action and the emotions of this character.
Wow, will we EVER get to see this? At this point I would even accept Netflix.
"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested." Sir Francis Bacon, Of Studies
I really hope that it comes to some video on demand service in some months. But I think this should happen for sure, or do you think it might not come to any platform?
Unread postby justintime » Sun Jan 13, 2019 3:21 am
Thank you, Ladies, for taking the time to checkout the clip. I agree with you, fireflydances, we do get a lot more insight into Johnny’s character in a brief scene like this; much more than in a trailer flashing dozens of high interest shots in the same time span. I just love watching Johnny playing a “normal” guy, watching his facial expressions, body movements, give and take with his fellow actor. . .
I desperately want to see this film, but I think Johnny and Mr. Whitaker (and others, of course) put a lot into it and it deserves a big screen release. It just makes me sick to my stomach to witness what is happening to Johnny’s film career right in front of us.
"Stay low." ~ JD
"I don't like it in here . . . it's terribly crowded." ~ Hatter
"There's something about Johnny that breaks your heart." ~ John Logan, ST
"Tear deeper, Mother." ~ Wilmot
Unread postby AdeleAgain » Sun Jan 13, 2019 6:38 am
Let's not get too pessimistic about this: the film isn't coming out yet because of the legal dispute around the finance of Open Road or whatever it changed its name too - it doesn't have anything to do with the Rocky Brookes legal action or any of the nonsense which the tabloids picked up on. Some independent films take a long time to see the light of day. And with the new platforms now, I feel very optimistic that the film will get seen.
If you need to cheer yourself up - a new picture has been released of Johnny on set of Waiting for the Barbarians - if you've read the book, you'll remember the description of his character's sunglasses. And it looks just like perfection.
