I'm sorry, I don't care if Takashi Shimizu's The Grudge made over $100 million at the box office- it was a piece of crap- it was Americanized garbage. Now that Shimizu is back with The Grudge 2, I'm pretty much ready to count that one down and out as well. Maybe this time he'll come up with something new and get back to the roots from which he came because his original four 'Ju-on' films from Japan are fabulous. Read on for the breaking news from Variety...
I'm about to hold a Grudge against Raimi- and this is what happens...
Variety reports:
"Senator Intl., the Stateside operation of Senator Entertainment, has completed a management buyout and changed its name to Mandate Pictures.
President Joe Drake, production head Nathan Kahane and chief financial officer Brian Goldsmith led the buyout. They are the shingle's only shareholders, although Peter Schlessel serves as a consultant.
Mandate, which secured financial backing and a revolving credit facility from a New York-based hedge fund, will continue as an indie sales and financing shingle that concentrates on commercial titles.
Senator Intl. spent a year trying to separate itself from its ailing Teutonic parent. Senator is Germany's second-biggest film producer-distrib, but the company and its subsids filed for insolvency in April after massive writedowns on its film library and investments drained it of capital.
'Realize the full potential'
"We have built a vibrant company over the last three years, providing the industry with much-needed commercial pictures," said Drake. "With the close of this transaction, we shed the financial constraints that were holding us back and we are finally in a position to realize the full potential of this organization."
Drake said Mandate will continue to produce four to six pics a year and might add additional staff as the company makes more movies.
Shingle also announced that Takashi Shimizu would direct "The Grudge 2" for Ghost House Pictures, Mandate's joint genre production label with Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert.
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