Word: buchwald
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
While filming on location, major stars seem to feel entitled to almost anything they want. When humorist Art Buchwald won a suit against Paramount for using his idea as the basis for the 1988 blockbuster Coming to America, court documents showed that the studio had treated America star Eddie Murphy very well indeed. Among other things, Murphy enjoyed the services of a valet, a physical trainer and a $2,000-a-week chauffeur...
...Buchwald, the hard part will be getting the money he thinks he has coming to him. Judge Schneider ordered the studio to pay $250,000 to Buchwald and Alain Bernheim, who was originally scheduled to produce the film. In the next phase of the trial, Buchwald and Bernheim will try to establish a dollar figure for the 19% of the net profits promised them in the 1983 contract. Trouble is, the studio claims that while the movie took in more than $300 million at the box office, it has made no net earnings -- at least according to the arcane accounting...
...will be up to Buchwald and his lawyer to find the profit. Joked Buchwald: "We suspect it's in Gloria Swanson's dressing room." Of the $300 million gross, half was kept by theaters showing the film. The rest went for shooting the picture (one cost estimate: $40 million), distribution fees charged by Paramount ($50 million), studio overhead ($5 million), film prints and promotion ($15 million), Murphy's salary ($8 million) and other expenses...
...which was calculated as a percentage of the gross and may have exceeded $15 million. Hollywood's megastars demand a slice of the gross because they know that most films will never pay any earnings to holders of net-profit percentages, which Murphy has derided as "monkey points." Before Buchwald's case is over, Hollywood neophytes may get a first-class education in how the power players operate...
Canadian developer Robert Campeau became the most powerful retailer in the U.S. when he acquired Allied Stores and Federated Department Stores in the 1980s takeover wars. But his domain totters on bankruptcy, and Campeau has been relieved of command. -- Art Buchwald wins a court claim that he provided the idea for the blockbuster Coming to America, but how much will he be paid? -- After an oil spill in New York and New Jersey, Exxon faces more flak...