- 47 RONIN
Universal Pictures has reportedly seized control of their
troubled sci-fi film 47 Ronin from director Carl Rinsch, a commercials veteran
who was making his feature filmmaking debut on the Keanu Reeves starter. The
film has already had its release date shifted a few times; its debut is
currently slated for December 2013.
A week of reshoots in England was recently completed to
include more key scenes with Reeves after the studio was displeased with how
the film was coming together. TheWrap claims the budget on the 3D movie has now
swelled to $225 million, but a studio exec disputed the figure saying the
budget remains at its original $175 million price tag.
Universal couldn't simply fire Rinsch due to Directors Guild
rules, but once he completed reshoots they were able to dismiss him and have
Universal co-chairwoman Donna Langley take over the movie, including its final
cut.
"Marginalized in the initial sequences was Reeves, the
lone actor well-known in the U.S. Universal opted to reshoot a major fight
scene near the end of the film, as well as a few other scenes to sharpen the
focus on Reeves' character Kai," according to TheWrap. "Kai was not
even present in the final battle scene, whereas the new scene pits Kai against
a supernatural creature. ... In addition, the studio added a love scene,
close-ups and individual lines to boost Reeves' presence."
The site adds that the studio, still reeling from the
failure of this summer's sci-fi epic Battleship, has also cut costs by only
moving forward on visual effects sequences they knew would make the final cut.
47 Ronin would reportedly have to gross at least $500
million worldwide to break even after production and marketing costs. As Keanu
would say, whoa.
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