TURNER TREASURES
TOMB RAIDER
Copyright 2001 www.hollywoodreporter.com
[ June 22nd 2001 ]
After
making a splash at the boxoffice last weekend,
Lara Croft is ready to kick some butt for Turner
Broadcasting Systems. The cable company is in
final negotiations to acquire the television rights
to a package of seven Paramount Pictures movies
that includes current boxoffice champ "Lara Croft:
Tomb Raider" as well as "Save the Last Dance,"
"Along Came a Spider," "Down to Earth," "Crocodile
Dundee in Los Angeles," Paramount/Mandalay Pictures'
"Enemy at the Gates" and Paramount Classics' "The
Gift," sources said.
The licensing
fee that Turner will end up paying for the package
will depend on the final boxoffice tally for Paramount/Mutual
Film Co.'s "Tomb Raider," but sources estimate
that the deal could be worth $45 million-$50 million.
The current boxoffice total of all the movies
in the package is about $370 million, with the
teenage dance love story "Last Dance" contributing
$91 million; "Spider," Morgan Freeman's sequel
to "Kiss the Girls," netting $73 million; and
"Earth," the Chris Rock-starring remake of "Here
Comes Mr. Jordan," grossing $64 million.
The Angelina
Jolie starrer "Tomb Raider" opened with impressive
$47.7 million last weekend. On "Tomb Raider" and
some of the other big titles in the package, Turner's
TNT and TBS might take the second window, with
a broadcast network getting first crack at the
movies. There has been some interest from the
broadcast networks toward "Tomb Raider," but there
are no active negotiations going on, sources said.
Broadcast networks have been increasingly cautious
lately about shelling out big licensing fees for
theatrical movies, which have been on a downswing
in the ratings. The earliest title in the group,
the Keanu Reeves-starrer "Gift" will be available
to TNT and TBS in August 2003, and the most recent,
"Tomb Raider," will be available in February 2004.
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