Thursday, 29 May 2008

Superheroes go back to work

Comic-book-hero movie company Marvel Studios has reached an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America, enabling striking Hollywood writers to go back to work on their projects.
For Marvel, it means that work can resume on 'Ant Man', 'Captain America', 'Thor' and 'The Avengers'.
'Hulk' and 'Iron Man' were already in production and were not affected by the strike; they are set for release later this year.
Film and television studio Lionsgate, Hollywood's biggest indie producers, has also reached an interim agreement with the guild.
Upcoming Lionsgate films include 'Rambo', 'The Eye' and 'Saw 5', while its television series include 'Weeds', 'Mad Men' and a new show, 'Fear Itself'.
"The writers' issue seems on its way to being solved, and Lionsgate felt it was an important time, particularly in view of our TV series, to have our writer partners get back to work," Lionsgate said in a statement.
"We look forward to a broad industry agreement soon," said a company representative.
Writers already have reached interim deals with studios including United Artists, the film production house backed by Tom Cruise and The Weinstein Co, run by media-mogul brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
Writers and producers resumed talks this week, aimed at ending a nearly three-month strike that has stopped most prime-time television production and some hope smaller deals will put pressure on the big studios.