March 29, 2024

With ‘Elysium,’ Sony Hopes to Break a String of Failures

Big-budget washouts like “R.I.P.D.,” “After Earth” and “White House Down” were promoted as imaginative and new. But critics mostly panned them, and audiences stayed away, apparently recognizing that the films’ plots and themes were simply reassembled parts from blockbusters past.

Now comes another film promising to take an imaginative detour from the familiar formula: “Elysium,” starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, from the director of “District 9,” Neill Blomkamp.

On its surface, at least, “Elysium” sounds awfully familiar: a world-in-ruins story, lavish computer-generated visual effects, robots and production and global marketing costs of more than $200 million.

But the film’s backers and stars vow that it is different. Really.

“Ours is not a film that goes down the middle,” said Sharlto Copley, who plays a maniacal South African assassin in “Elysium,” which arrives in theaters on Aug. 9. “When you do that, it weakens everything.”

“Our movie is a political statement,” Mr. Copley added. “It doesn’t shy away from controversial ideas. No studio person was saying, ‘Oh, people won’t understand that accent you’re doing, so you had better do half of that.’ Or if there was, we didn’t listen.”

Despite its surface similarities to the pack, “Elysium” indeed works hard to veer into more creative terrain, starting with the fact that it aims to make audiences think. “Elysium” comments on present-day socioeconomic inequality by spinning a futuristic tale about a squalid Earth and a glorious space habitat where the superrich have retreated.

There is no sex. There is no goofy sidekick. It will not be released in 3-D. It is rated R. And the screenplay leaves questions unanswered, like how Mr. Damon, as an injured factory worker on Earth, survives a brutal back-alley operation to affix an exoskeleton to his spine and head. Don’t expect to see the obligatory camera shot of a ruined New York City.

“There were certain factions on the movie pushing for those global shots,” said Simon Kinberg, who produced the film. (Yes, “Elysium” has only one fully credited producer; “White House Down,” by comparison, had six.) “Neill ignored them.”

Mr. Blomkamp, who also wrote the script, does tend to do exactly what he wants — a right that he earned, Mr. Kinberg contended, with his first feature film, “District 9.” That R-rated alien movie, made for about $30 million, took in about $211 million in 2009 and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including best picture.

“ ‘Elysium’ was definitely allowed to be as original and provocative as it is because of the success of ‘District 9,’ ” Mr. Kinberg said.

Mr. Blomkamp, 33, who declined to be interviewed for this article, may have also been able to execute his vision fully because of the involvement of Media Rights Capital, or MRC, a production and financing company that split the expense of “Elysium” with Sony Pictures Entertainment. MRC has a history of finding success through creative risk; it backed Universal’s “Ted” and Netflix’s “House of Cards,” which both met resistance from entrenched studio and network executives but ended up as home runs.

“The only way to be successful is to be original,” said Mordecai Wiczyk, MRC’s co-chairman. “Playing it safe is the fastest way to ruin.”

Sony has learned that the hard way this summer. While other studios have suffered bigger misfires — Disney’s “Lone Ranger” was the most expensive single dud, by far — Sony is the only movie company to have two big-budget films fail to connect. “After Earth,” starring Will Smith and his son, and “White House Down,” with Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx in the lead roles, both fizzled at the box office.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/business/media/with-elysium-sony-hopes-to-break-a-string-of-failures.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

From Apple, an Overhaul for Mobile and the Mac

The company on Monday introduced a major redesign of iOS, its mobile software system, as well as upgrades for some of its Mac computers. It also unveiled a new online music service for its music player, iTunes. The company, under intense pressure from investors, introduced the new software and Macs on the first day of its annual conference for software developers.

Its stock has fallen to about $450 after peaking at about $700 in September. Some investors worry that the company’s growth is slowing because it has lost its way after the death of Mr. Jobs, its visionary leader. Apple’s vexation showed at the conference. After unveiling a major upgrade for a Mac computer, Phil Schiller, the company’s vice president for global marketing, offered a sarcastic response to those who have suggested that Apple could no longer innovate.

Charles Golvin, a technology analyst at Forrester Research, said Mr. Schiller’s remarks indicated that “they have a chip on their shoulder.” But Mr. Golvin said that Apple was adding improvements to battery life and other enhancements to software that people would actually find useful. “What customers are getting here is tremendous innovation under the cover,” he said.

Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, called Apple’s new mobile operating system, iOS 7, the “biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone.”

The new mobile software system is the first made under the company’s lead hardware designer, Jony Ive. He was put in charge of software interface design after the company fired Scott Forstall, the former head of mobile software development, during a flurry of negative news reports surrounding Apple’s new mapping software.

The design in iOS 7 introduces thin typography, similar to Microsoft’s Windows Phone software, and a new color palette. The keyboard looks simple, with gray letters on flat, white backgrounds. Apple also removed textures that made some apps mimic real-life objects. The Calendar app has shed its faux leather; the Game Center app no longer has green felt; and the shelves in the iBookstore app are no longer wood-grained. And the home screen has an effect called parallax to make the app icons look as if they are popping out in 3-D.

“We have always thought of design of being so much more than the way something looks,” Mr. Ive said in a video demonstrating the operating system. “It’s the whole thing, the way something actually works on so many different levels.”

A new iOS feature, called Activation Lock, disables the iPhone even if a thief has turned it off or erased the data on the phone. Some police officers have called for a feature like this — a “remote kill switch” that renders the stolen phone useless and difficult to sell in the black market. The phone can be reactivated only after the user logs into it with the right Apple ID and password.“We think this is going to be a great theft deterrent,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president for software engineering.

In iOS 7, Apple also made improvements to Siri, the voice-controlled assistant of the iPhone, which has been ridiculed for its spottiness and ineptitude. The feature has new male and female voices that sound more realistic, and it responds to more commands, like “Play my last voice mail” or “Increase my screen brightness.” In 2014, iOS and Siri will be integrated into cars made by a dozen manufacturers, including Nissan, Kia, Honda and Toyota, said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president for Internet software and services.

Apple said iOS 7 would arrive in the fall. It will be a free update for iPhone and iPad owners.

The iPhone is driving Apple’s business, but the company is not lifting the gas pedal on its Macs. The company unveiled a major upgrade for the Mac Pro, its desktop computer for professionals, which it said would be assembled in the United States. The computer, scheduled for release this year, looks like a metal cylinder — a big change from the original rectangular tower. This was the first big upgrade for the desktop in three years.

It also unveiled new MacBook Airs, which it said would have enough battery life to last all day. The 11-inch version has nine hours of battery life and the 13-inch version has 12 hours, according to Mr. Schiller. Both versions start shipping immediately.

“You can watch the entire trilogy of ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ” on a single charge, Mr. Schiller said.

Apple also previewed its next Mac operating system, called OS X Mavericks. (The name is the first in a new theme, California, for Apple’s operating systems, after years of naming them for big cats. Mavericks is a reference to a major surf spot in California.) The new system includes some minor improvements, like the ability to tag documents to find them more easily. An urgent document can be tagged “Important,” for example, and can be quickly found in the operating system’s navigation window in a section labeled Important.

The hardware and software upgrades come at a crucial moment for in the competitive mobile market. One of Apple’s chief rivals, Samsung Electronics, has released several compelling smartphones and tablets over the last two years. And Google has gradually bulked up the Android software that runs on Samsung’s phones with powerful Internet services.

But Apple is, by some measures, still leading the mobile industry. The iPhone 5 is the best-selling smartphone in the world. Samsung Electronics sells the most phones over all because it sells multiple smartphones at different sizes and prices, whereas Apple has released one new iPhone a year.

Nick Bilton contributed reporting.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/technology/apple-unveils-new-look-for-mobile.html?partner=rss&emc=rss