Barbara Corcoran, an investor on "Shark Tank," tells us what really happens between investors on the hit TV show, and how Mark Cuban makes his investment decisions.
Produced by Justin Gmoser. Originally published in November 2013.
Follow BI Video: On Facebook
SEE ALSO: Here's How Much You Have To Buy To Make Amazon Prime Worth It
Join the conversation about this story »
A great product doesn't mean much if you can't match the supply to the demand. Sometimes it's necessary to bring in an executive with the connections and experience to turn your startup into a serious business.
In the latest episode of the hit ABC show "Shark Tank," investor Kevin O'Leary gets nostalgic over the time he learned this lesson for himself.
Entrepreneur Tom Sanetti tells the Sharks that he's sold only $200,000 worth of his eco-friendly, scented Earth-Log fireplace logs over four years because he's been limited to a small market in Southern California. He just accepted a deal from the grocery chain Albertson's for 180 stores in California.
Albertson's wants to take Earth-Log into 3,200 stores, but Sanetti simply doesn't have the ability to manufacture enough. He's had to turn down offers from the chain Vons and Costco for the same reason.
Investors Mark Cuban, guest Shark and GoPro founder Nick Woodman, and Daymond John all compliment Sanetti on his product and determination but tell him that he's got to continue developing his company before they would be ready to invest. "I think you're trying to go from zero to 1,000 miles an hour right away," Woodman says.
Then O'Leary explains how he identifies with Sanetti:
You know, when I was in the basement back in the late '80s starting The Learning Company, after I'd get a $12 million order for "Reader Rabbit," it would blow up behind me, the logistics. I couldn't deliver.
I met a guy named Mike Perik. I gave him half my equity to solve my problem. We sold the company for $4.2 billion five years later. Best investment I ever made.
O'Leary cofounded SoftKey, the business that would eventually become The Learning Company, out of a Toronto basement with a $10,000 seed investment from his mother. The company collected cheap software in inexpensive CDs that started to become popular. It wouldn't control the "Reader Rabbit" franchise until it acquired and took the name of The Learning Company in 1995, meaning that detail in O'Leary's story is off, but his point — that he and his two cofounders couldn't keep up with their growth — remains.
O'Leary recruited Perik, an executive from a Canadian investment firm, in 1991 and made him CEO of SoftKey. Perik grew the company in the '90s through profitable acquisitions, making it attractive enough for Mattel to spend over $4 billion for it in May 1999. By that November, the deal proved to be a money-losing disaster for Mattel, and O'Leary and Perik left the company with severance packages of around $5 million.
It's not a story with a happy ending for everyone involved, but O'Leary ultimately made his fortune from knowing when to partner with someone more experienced.
Back in the tank, he tells Sanetti that he needs to find his own Mike Perik. O'Leary wishes Sanetti the best but tells him he has to bow out because he's looking for an investment, not a job.
Lori Greiner, however, offers to be Sanetti's Perik.
As the "Queen of QVC" and a Bed Bath & Beyond partner, she's uniquely positioned to turn a small household item into a national sensation. She's done it many times on "Shark Tank," including with the show's biggest success to date, the Scrub Daddy sponge that she took from $100,000 in total sales to $18 million in a year and a half.
Sanetti came looking for $160,000 for 20% equity but gladly makes a deal with Greiner for that same amount of money in return for a 35% stake in his company.
Though he gave up 15% more of his company than he wanted to, he essentially took O'Leary's advice and made that sacrifice to partner with someone who can take his company to the next level.
You can watch the full episode at Hulu Plus.
SEE ALSO: The 12 Biggest 'Shark Tank' Success Stories
Join the conversation about this story »
In the wake of the rape allegations against 77-year-old Bill Cosby, another bizarre detail about how Cosby was allowed to treat young women has emerged.
A source tells The New York Daily News that a pre-show ritual Cosby engaged in before appearing on David Letterman had young female staffers' skin crawling.
The source says,
“He’d include as a request, before he arrived, that the young girls, interns and assistants, all had to gather around in the green room backstage and sit down and watch him eat curry,” our stunned source explains. “No one would say anything, and he would sit silently eating and make us watch and want us to watch.”
No one contested his requests because, the source says, "that's what he wanted."
Several women have accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them over the past 40 years. The accusations have received renewed attention since a comedian called Cosby a rapist during a taped set that went viral.
Cosby's accusers have said that the comedian lured them in with promises of professional guidance, then gave them pills to make them immobile so he could assault them.
His latest visit to David Letterman has been canceled.
SEE ALSO: Former NBC Employee Corroborates Some Of The Cosby Allegations
Join the conversation about this story »
"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I" had a huge opening weekend grossing $123 million making it the biggest debut of 2014.
That number puts the third "Hunger Games" installment ahead of Paramount's June release, "Transformers: Age of Extinction" which opened to $100 million.
Despite that win, the opening weekend numbers for "Mockingjay" are lower than expected.
Estimates were calling for a $150 million weekend.
Instead, "Mockingjay" made less opening weekend than its previous two installments domestically.
Here are the box office numbers for all three films side by side.
| Movie | Opening Weekend | Worldwide Gross | Estimated Budget |
| "The Hunger Games" | $152 million | $691 million | $78 million |
| "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" | $158 million | $864 million | $130 million |
| "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I" | $123 million | $275 million (so far) | n/a |
"Mockingjay" is already performing better overseas than at home. What's going on?
There are a few reasons for its weaker performance stateside. The film had competition from "Big Hero 6" and "Interstellar" and received worse reviews than the previous two installments. "Mockingjay" was also the first big release in theaters since 2009 to not get an IMAX release. Instead, all IMAX theaters will continue playing Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" until "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" debuts next month. The Wrap reports IMAX screenings contributed over $12 million to the box-office opening for "Catching Fire" last year.
SEE ALSO: Our review of "Mockingjay"
AND: Read the letter that landed Donald Sutherland his role in "The Hunger Games"
Join the conversation about this story »
In 1992, Disney's animated feature "Aladdin" raked in a whopping $504 million worldwide.
Part of the film's success was due to Robin Williams' beloved genie character, whom the late actor voiced and improvised so well that Disney decided to make Genie a pivotal role.
Williams ended up recording about 30 hours of written and improvised dialogue for "Aladdin" because, according to a 1993 interview with New York Magazine, he "wanted to leave something wonderful behind for his kids."
So Williams took a hefty pay cut and agreed to be paid $75,000 for his work on the Disney film instead of his usual fee of about $8 million— but there was a catch. Williams did not want his voice used to merchandise products.
"I don't want to sell stuff," Williams later told New York magazine. "It's the one thing I don't do."
"We had a deal," the actor later said on the "Today Show." "The one thing I said was I will do the voice. I'm doing it basically because I want to be part of this animation tradition. I want something for my children. One deal is, I just don't want to sell anything — as in Burger King, as in toys, as in stuff."
Williams said Disney execs signed off on the deal, "Then all of a sudden, they release an advertisement — one part was the movie, the second part was where they used the movie to sell stuff. Not only did they use my voice, they took a character I did and overdubbed it to sell stuff. That was the one thing I said: 'I don't do that.' That was the one thing where they crossed the line."
Disney initially defended using Williams' voice, saying, "He agreed to the deal, and then when the movie turned out to be a big hit, he didn't like the deal he had made."
But the studio quickly changed its tune and sent the actor an apology in the form of a Pablo Picasso painting estimated at the time to be worth $1 million, according to artnet.
The painting was a self-portrait of the artist as Vincent van Gogh, which apparently really "clashed" with the Williams' wilder home decor.
Williams' friend and fellow actor Eric Idle even suggested Williams go on TV and burn the Picasso live as a form of protest.
Williams told New York mag that his previous "Mork & Mindy" merchandising was different because, "the image is theirs. But the voice, that's me; I gave them myself. When it happened, I said, 'You know I don't do that.' And they [Disney] apologized; they said it was done by other people.
"You realize now when you work for Disney why the mouse has only four fingers — because he can't pick up a check," he joked to the magazine.
Ultimately, Disney and Williams made up, later making a third "Aladdin" sequel (he sat the second one out), 1996's "Jack," and "Bicentennial Man" in 1999.
When Williams died this August, Disney sent a final peace offering:
"He was a true Disney Legend, a beloved member of our family, and he will be sorely missed." http://t.co/yNcHF3AVC5http://t.co/lJnzbQuI6X
— Disney (@Disney) August 12, 2014
SEE ALSO: Disney Has Been Hiding A Secret Message In Its Movies For Years
Join the conversation about this story »
Disney's animated feature "Frozen" may have raked in over a billion dollars worldwide, but not everyone involved with making the film is reaping the rewards.
Actress Spencer Lacey Ganus, the 15-year-old who voiced teenage Elsa, received a measly one-day guaranteed payment of $926.20, reports TMZ, who obtained a copy of Ganus' contract because it has to be filed with the courts since she is still a minor.
Ganus did only have a few lines in the film, as another actresses voiced young Elsa and Idina Menzel was the voice of grown-up Elsa.
Nonetheless, "Frozen" is the fifth highest-grossing movie of all time and the movie raked in more than $1.2 billion, so TMZ notes that Ganus' slice of the pie is just .000077%.
Ganus will, however, earn a pretty penny thanks to residual checks.
"She's collected more than $10,000 in residuals," the actress' rep told TMZ, adding that the money is being put into a college fund.
But Disney is no stranger to controversy over how much they pay their voice talent.
In 1992, Robin Williams was paid scale of $75,000 for his work on "Aladdin," which went on to gross more than $504 million worldwide.
Williams agreed to the fee "for my children," but told Disney, "I just don't want to sell anything — as in Burger King, as in toys, as in stuff."
After Disney proceeded to use Williams' voice in promo materials leading to a decade-long feud, the actor snarked, "You realize now when you work for Disney why the mouse has only four fingers — because he can't pick up a check."
MORE: 17-Year-Old Chloe Moretz Could Earn $550,000 For Costarring In Denzel Washington's New Movie
Join the conversation about this story »
"The Rich Kids Of Beverly Hills" may have been the E! network's breakout reality hit when it premiered earlier this year, but the six wealthy best friends-turned-cast mates from the 90210 zip code were not initially happy with the show's title.
"The name of the show wasn’t chosen until after," one of the show's stars, Dorothy Wang, tells Business Insider. "Basically, we had a show as a group of friends with no title. It was called 'The Morgan and Dorothy Project' for the longest time. And then once we got the show, we shot the pilot, and they go, 'Oh by the way, it’s going to be called 'Rich Kids of Beverly Hills.'"
The "Rich Kids," who all come from very comfortable backgrounds, were not pleased.
"We were like, 'What?!' All of us were all taken aback by it," says Dorothy, an heir to her father's $4 billion retail real estate empire. "We were like, 'Our parents are going to kill us, people are going to hate us.' In the beginning, we all did not love the title."
Dorothy, who "waited until we had to sign our contracts to tell my family about the show," finally broached the topic of the title with her parents. "They literally said, 'Well, can we change it?'"
"My dad finally said, 'You’re in a really unique position. Yes, you’re a rich kid, but you are also so much more and this would allow you to show that to the world. And you have a way to disprove the negative images of rich kids.'"
Dorothy's father founded the Golden Eagle International Group in Nanjing and turned it into one of the country's largest mall chains, with stores in 15 cities, according to Forbes.
Now two seasons into the reality show loosely based on the popular Tumblr "Rich Kids of Instagram," Dorothy says her father is fully on board.
"He is always reminding me of his motto: 'Are you adding value to society?' So he will sit down with me and be like, 'What value are you going to add to this episode?' He wants it to be bigger than the fluff and fun. He understands that it’s for entertainment, but at the same time he wants me to be true to myself and not get caught up in the fun of it. He wants me to do something legitimate with it all."
Clearly her father's influence is rubbing off. In the pilot episode, which was viewed by over a million people, Dorothy organizes a blood drive for her friends.
"I do think our family is surprisingly grounded and relatable," Dorothy explains of her billionaire upbringing. "We like nice vacations and nice things, but I’ll go to Costco with my mom. We’ll eat in hole in the wall restaurants while traveling. We like nice things, but we also value the simpler things. I think a lot of that is because when I was younger, we would travel to China and my parents would take us to the orphanages and we would work with the kids, so we knew how fortunate we were. We’re not better than anyone else."
Ultimately, Dorothy says, "It became a mission for us to take the stigma out of the [show] title. I think as the show progresses, the stigma of the title goes away more and more as people see who we really are.”
Today, Dorothy says, her parents "let me be me.”
SEE ALSO: How A Billionaire Heiress Ended Up Joining 'Rich Kids Of Beverly Hills'
MORE: Here's The Definition Of 'Funemployed,' According To A 'Rich Kid Of Beverly Hills'
Join the conversation about this story »
Next summer, a new "Jurassic Park" sequel is coming to theaters and Universal Pictures just released a teaser trailer complete with a slowed down version of the familiar theme from composer John Williams.
"Jurassic World" will take place 22 years after the original 1993 film starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. The new movie will bring viewers back to Isla Nublar which has been turned into a dinosaur theme park called, you guessed it, "Jurassic World."
The sequel comes more than a decade after 2001's "Jurassic Park III" and is directed by Colin Trevorrow ("Safety Not Guaranteed").
The full trailer will debut Thursday on NBC during the Thanksgiving football game.
"Jurassic World" is in theaters June 12, 2015.
Check out the teaser:
Here's a look at Howard in the film:
SEE ALSO: The plot for "Jurassic World" revealed
Join the conversation about this story »
"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part I" is in theaters this Friday.
Lionsgate's successful franchise based on the best-selling dystopian book series pits Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) against President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland).
However, we could have had very a different movie.
Ahead of the sequel's release, Sutherland told GQ he was never offered the role of the film's callous, collected president.
Instead, he received the part after reading the series and writing an impassioned three-page letter to director Gary Ross about the character.
Nobody asked me to do it. I wasn't offered it. I like to read scripts, and it captured my passion. I wrote them a letter. The role of the president had maybe a line in the script. Maybe two. Didn't make any difference. I thought it was an incredibly important film, and I wanted to be a part of it. I thought it could wake up an electorate that had been dormant since the '70s. I hadn't read the books. To be truthful, I was unaware of them. But they showed my letter to the director, Gary Ross, and he thought it'd be a good idea if I did it. He wrote those wonderfully poetic scenes in the rose garden, and they formed the mind and wit of Coriolanus Snow.
The letter, which was written in the form of an email, was made available for fans on the 2012 DVD release of "The Hunger Games" in a segment titled "Letters from the Rose Garden."
It included a discussion on power, Ted Bundy, and the elements of Snow that Sutherland saw as most vital to the film.
Because the novel is written from Katniss' first-person view, there isn't an opportunity to see anything from the perspective of Snow or his home, the Capitol. Sutherland pointed out the film offered such an opportunity, and Ross agreed.
Ross' response to the letter inspired three scenes of Snow in his rose gardens during the games.
"That's the relationship you want from an actor and director, where it's a give and take," Ross said on the DVD. "It's collaborative, it's one person offering something to the other who then takes it, extrapolates it, runs with it, give it back to the actor who gives the scene back to me … that's the way filmmaking works best."
Read Sutherland's letter to Ross in full below:
Dear Gary Ross:
Power. That's what this is about? Yes? Power and the forces that are manipulated by the powerful men and bureaucracies trying to maintain control and possession of that power?
Power perpetrates war and oppression to maintain itself until it finally topples over with the bureaucratic weight of itself and sinks into the pages of history (except in Texas), leaving lessons that need to be learned unlearned.
Power corrupts, and, in many cases, absolute power makes you really horny. Clinton, Chirac, Mao, Mitterrand.
Not so, I think, with Coriolanus Snow. His obsession, his passion, is his rose garden. There's a rose named Sterling Silver that's lilac in colour with the most extraordinarily powerful fragrance — incredibly beautiful — I loved it in the seventies when it first appeared. They've made a lot of off shoots of it since then.
I didn't want to write to you until I'd read the trilogy and now I have so: roses are of great importance. And Coriolanus's eyes. And his smile. Those three elements are vibrant and vital in Snow. Everything else is, by and large, perfectly still and ruthlessly contained. What delight she [Katniss] gives him. He knows her so perfectly. Nothing, absolutely nothing, surprises him. He sees and understands everything. He was, quite probably, a brilliant man who's succumbed to the siren song of power.
How will you dramatize the interior narrative running in Katniss's head that describes and consistently updates her relationship with the President who is ubiquitous in her mind? With omniscient calm he knows her perfectly. She knows he does and she knows that he will go to any necessary end to maintain his power because she knows that he believes that she's a real threat to his fragile hold on his control of that power. She's more dangerous than Joan of Arc.
Her interior dialogue/monologue defines Snow. It's that old theatrical turnip: you can't 'play' a king, you need everybody else on stage saying to each other, and therefore to the audience, stuff like "There goes the King, isn't he a piece of work, how evil, how lovely, how benevolent, how cruel, how brilliant he is!" The idea of him, the definition of him, the audience's perception of him, is primarily instilled by the observations of others and once that idea is set, the audience's view of the character is pretty much unyielding. And in Snow's case, that definition, of course, comes from Katniss.
Evil looks like our understanding of the history of the men we're looking at. It's not what we see: it's what we've been led to believe. Simple as that. Look at the face of Ted Bundy before you knew what he did and after you knew.
Snow doesn't look evil to the people in Panem's Capitol. Bundy didn't look evil to those girls. My wife and I were driving through Colorado when he escaped from jail there. The car radio's warning was constant. 'Don't pick up any young men. The escapee looks like the nicest young man imaginable'. Snow's evil shows up in the form of the complacently confident threat that's ever present in his eyes. His resolute stillness. Have you seen a film I did years ago? 'The Eye of the Needle'. That fellow had some of what I'm looking for.
The woman who lived up the street from us in Brentwood came over to ask my wife a question when my wife was dropping the kids off at school. This woman and her husband had seen that movie the night before and what she wanted to know was how my wife could live with anyone who could play such an evil man. It made for an amusing dinner or two but part of my wife's still wondering.
I'd love to speak with you whenever you have a chance so I can be on the same page with you.
They all end up the same way. Welcome to Florida, have a nice day!
SEE ALSO: Check Out A Trailer For "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay" Sequel
Join the conversation about this story »
For the past few weeks we've been making our way through "Alien: Isolation," and it's safe to say that aside from "P.T.," the "Silent Hill" playable trailer, it's one of the most terrifying gaming experiences you can get your hands on right now.
What's so scary about it?
The latest installment based on the film franchise from Sega and The Creative Assembly, takes place in between the first and second films. You play as Ellen Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) daughter Amanda as she navigates aboard an abandoned dark ship in search of clues to her mom's location. The catch? There's an alien on board waiting for you.
The other catch? A lot of the ship is shrouded in darkness.
The object of the game isn't to see how many cool ways you can kill the alien. It's quite the opposite.
We recently spoke with the game's creative lead and director, Alistair Hope, who explained "Alien: Isolation" is primarily a game of survival.
"We don’t give any toys or weapons to kill the alien. It's about this game of cat and mouse," Hope tells Business Insider. "Moment to moment [you're] trying to make the best decision on how best to survive."
That element leads to many unexpected deaths during gameplay.
Sometimes you'll just want to save the game only to find Mr. Alien waiting behind you ready to take you out. Sigh. (At least he was polite enough to let us save.)
This is probably one of our favorite deaths so far. Here, the alien popped down from a vent in the ceiling only to join us in a fiery death before getting the chance to kill us off. (What caused the random explosion? Probably a gas leak.)
It's clear a lot of the game's fun comes from seeing the many different ways in which the alien kills us off in this "hide and seek" fashion. We've been playing on the PlayStation 4 where you can heighten the scare factor by using the PlayStation camera. Any sound picked up by the game will help alert an alien to your location. We're too chicken — but mostly too loud — to try that out just yet.
We asked Hope how they came up with the concept.
"Before we had anything on screen we talk about what it would be like to try and experience that alien," Hope tells us. "We kind of had this mental exercise, which is kind of dumb, but we said, 'If we released the alien in the studio right now, what would you do?'"
"It was a case of … Well, I’ll get under my desk, and I won’t make any noise," he continues. "I’ll try to make it so he doesn’t see me. Cool. Okay, well, that makes sense. Okay, so now, you need to get to the fire escape that’s at the other end of the studio. How are you going to do that? Okay, well, I’ll see if I can find where it is … and I’ll move to the next desk. (Again, [I] keep looking, and try to be as quiet as possible.) I’ll slowly make my way going from desk to desk to the exit."
"And we were sitting there thinking, ‘Well, that sounds pretty cool.' ... this kind of game of hide and seek against this terrifying killer and I think that is actually kind of the essence of the game," Hope adds. "It’s almost like an information war about 'What do you know right now?' and 'What are the risks you’re prepared to take to survive moment to moment?' ... It’s [about] making critical decisions under pressure .. which actually then goes back to what Ellen Ripley is doing in the movie. She’s the one who’s able to make decisions under enormous pressure and is able to keep struggling and striving to survive."
Hope tells us the scares are all part of bringing fans back to Ridley Scott's 1979 film.
"The goal really was to take you back to the experience of that first film and for the first time to really experience what it would be like to confront the alien — that specific alien," says Hope. "One of the thing things we really wanted to do was to reestablish the alien as this ultimate killer that’s something you should be afraid of and that commands your respect.
"We really wanted it to be scary again," Hope adds. "The alien, over the course of the franchise, its role had changed. And we really wanted to go back to what it would be like to experience that first one."
Hope says to accomplish that they couldn't choreograph every moment with the alien on screen because then players could predict what the alien was going to do next and that wouldn't make the game that scary.
"So we took the decision early on that the alien in the game would just use its senses to drive its behavior," explains Hope. "It’s just looking for you. It’s listening for you. What you do — and the things in the world — but especially what you do has a big impact in how encounters play out."
"That also means that because the alien is this dynamic and reactive creature, no two places are the same so every encounter is very much a live encounter," says Hope.
Because of that, Hope tells us the "Alien: Isolation" team has had a kick watching live streams of player's progress online.
"The whole of the studio has been watching people streaming their games because everyone’s taking a different approach to how to survive and it’s massively entertaining," says Hope.
And the gameplay doesn't just scare us. Hope says the creative team behind the game gets just as jumpy trying to avoid the alien in the game.
"The interesting thing for us is [that] we still get scared by this game," says Hope. "It’s kind of amazing because we built it and we know everything about it and we know what’s going on under the hood but because it is unpredictable I could play it right now and my heart would be thumping away because moment to moment, I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I play just as cautiously as anyone else. I’ll yelp and jump in my chair."
"Me especially, but yeah, the whole team, you do hear people shouting as they get outsmarted and get surprised," Hope adds. "You know, this thing is pretty unpredictable. If you get a little cavalier, it will get you."
Check out a trailer for "Alien: Isolation" below. The game is available on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC.
SEE ALSO: How "Alien: Isolation" reunited the original film cast 35 years later
Join the conversation about this story »
Fall TV season is well underway.
While a few new series are coming to air, a few have already received the ax.
If you're bored with the current crop of TV shows, we've picked ten of the best series from around the world that you really shouldn't miss.
Most are available to stream on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon.
What it's about: The dramedy follows a group of lower-class teenage felons who have been sentenced to community service. On their first day, they develop super powers after getting struck during an electrical storm.
Why you should watch: The strange, dark, risqué and hilarious world of "Misfits" has been a secret among Europeans and Australians for years airing for five seasons through 2013 making for some of the best supernatural TV since "Heroes."
The series won Best Drama Series at the BAFTA Television Awards in 2010.
Where to watch: Hulu
What it's about: The dramedy follows twenty-something Josh Thomas as he comes to the realization he's gay.
Why you should watch: Gently navigating between touching and hilarious, the Australian series is quirky and refreshingly genuine. While it only reached small audiences in Australia, the series has been critically acclaimed in America with reviews referring to it as the "best new TV comedy you've never heard of" and "one of the year's best shows." Millennial network “Pivot" picked it up for at least another two seasons.
Where to watch: Pivot TV
What it's about: Gritty, dark, and hauntingly cinematic, Luther follows the investigations of Detective Chief Inspector John Luther (Idris Elba).
Why you should watch: The performance by Elba is enough reason to tune into the series. Luther is a blunt instrument consumed by his cases. His best friend for much of the series is a charmingly insane serial killer, Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson), who he meets in the series' premiere.
The series' pacing and cinematography knows when to let periods of horror breathe without interruption.
Where to watch: Netflix
Since the release of "Interstellar" in theaters, some viewers have expressed concerns over possible sound-mixing issues during showings of the movie.
/Film collected a number of critics and fans around the world who claimed their showings included muddled audio and overpowering music that drowned out dialogue at points in the film.
In response to viewer complaints, a theater in upstate New York posted a sign on its door clarifying there were no issues with the theater’s sound equipment and that director Christopher Nolan “mixed the soundtrack with an emphasis on the music.”
During Saturday's press day for "Interstellar," we asked the film's composer Hans Zimmer about his reaction to sound complaints. The film is the composer's fifth collaboration with Nolan after "The Dark Knight" trilogy and 2010's "Inception."
"We tried to push the boundaries," Zimmer told Business Insider. "[Nolan and I] were getting the same sort of comments on 'Inception'” says Zimmer. "'Inception' was really incomprehensible to a large amount of people and the size of 'Inception,' or the ideas and the underlying metaphors were really incomprehensible."
Zimmer recalled something he told Nolan while working on that soundtrack:
"Pretend the music is a river and the audience is on this boat and it’s going to go down this river and the river is going to go inevitably. There’s no stopping it. Sometimes it’s going to get a little bumpy and sometimes it’s going to get a little incomprehensible, but what I want to do is I want to take you on a journey. I want to take you on a journey that you haven’t been on. And, I want to take you on an adventure. And it’s not a science class. These days we’re being fed nothing but information, but emotionally, I think we get less and less experience in anything because … everything is so cleaned up and we’re losing the edge … the mystery of things."
Similarly, Zimmer says both he and Nolan wanted to take audiences on a journey on the big screen with "Interstellar."
"We want it to be bold. We were aiming for the best sound systems," said Zimmer. "And, yes, it was really important for me that people wouldn’t hear this music detached from the movie for the first time on their little computer speaker because that’s not what it was designed for."
"I want to go and write music that announces to you that you can feel something. I don’t want to tell you what to feel, but I just want you to have the possibility of feeling something." — Hans Zimmer, composer
"Of course, now, suddenly there is a story that some people couldn’t understand the words [of 'Interstellar']," added Zimmer. "When I go and see a great opera I usually can’t understand the words anyway but I’m still on this amazing emotional journey. What I’m interested in ultimately is quite simply this: I want to go and write music that announces to you that you can feel something. I don’t want to tell you what to feel, but I just want you to have the possibility of feeling something. What you feel is what you bring to it. I want you be a co-conspirator in the music, and in a funny way, a co-creator in it."
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan broke his silence on the film's sound saying it's "exactly as he intended." Nolan emphasized Zimmer's points about the marriage of the film’s picture and sound coming together to create a bold adventure.
"Many of the filmmakers I’ve admired over the years have used sound in bold and adventurous ways," Nolan told THR. "I don’t agree with the idea that you can only achieve clarity through dialogue. Clarity of story, clarity of emotions — I try to achieve that in a very layered way using all the different things at my disposal — picture and sound."
"The idea is to experience the journey the character is going on," he said. "[For instance] the experience of being in the cockpit is you hear the creaking [of the spacecraft]; it’s a very scary sound. We wanted to be true to the experience of space travel. We wanted to emphasize those intimate elements."
"We mixed for months and months and we talked about everything," Nolan added. "We must have mixed this film over six months. It was a continuous, organic process and discussion."
More "Interstellar": The only way you should see the movie
SEE ALSO: Hans Zimmer: "The music industry has run itself into the ground"
AND: This extremely detailed graphic will explain everything you need to know about "Interstellar"
Join the conversation about this story »
"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I" is in theaters this weekend, and while the majority of reviews agree the latest installment of the best-selling young adult series is the darkest film yet, critics have one other consensus on the film: "Mockingjay" is basically a two-hour trailer for "The Hunger Games" finale due in theaters next fall.
It's the latest franchise after the "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" series to stretch its final film across two movies.
Nearly every review points this out, with some accusing film distributor Lionsgate of making a break for a fast cash grab. For reference, the first two "Hunger Games" movies have made over $1.5 billion worldwide combined.
"This is the future of big-budget filmmaking, a Hollywood hustle to turn profitable source material into multi-movie investments. It’s good for business but bad for drama, and the inelegantly titled Mockingjay—Part 1 suffers from an unavoidable sense of anticlimax. It doesn’t build to an ending so much as just eventually grind to a halt, like a video game demanding more quarters to continue playing."
"In its best moments, the movie has a tense, night before the battle feel. Only the battle is still a year away. … It does not seem to be the type of movie that fans will revisit on its own. This half is part of a whole in the most cynical way."
“It’s a pretty cynical business plan, and it's led to a film that feels needlessly padded. Mockingjay—Part 1 is like a term paper with the margins enlarged and the font size jacked up to reach the assigned number of pages.
… when the story finally does manage to get interesting toward the end, it just screeches to a halt and cuts off, leaving fans wriggling on the hook for a finale they won't get to see for another 12 months. That's not a cliff-hanger, that's just a tease.”
“The film ends at the apex of anguish: Thanks, Lionsgate, for cleaving Suzanne Collins’s third book in twain to maximize your already staggering profits.”
Time:
"In the greed-is-good tradition of the Harry Potter and Twilight movie franchises, the overseers of The Hunger Games have split the last book into two films. You may recall that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was the only lame episode in the entire canon and that Mary Pols titled her TIME review of the penultimate Twilight film “Breaking Yawn Part 1.” Expectations for the artistic and entertainment possibilities of this half-Mockingjay should be at least as low, though it’s likely to be the top-grossing movie of 2014."
"Like an overgrown and bloated trailer for a film yet to come, Francis Lawrence's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 spreads perhaps 45 minutes of dramatic material across two far-too-leisurely hours. … But far more than with Harry Potter and about the same as with Twilight, this doubling-the-profit gambit feels like a gaming-the-public ploy."
The New York Post is the least forgiving:
"'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1' … thinly spreads a half-hour’s worth of plot over two plodding hours. Like the next-to-last episodes of the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises, this snoozy slog arbitrarily cuts the third book in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy in half for no good reason other than cleaning up at the box office one more time."
These critiques don't mean the film isn't any good.
The acting chops of Jennifer Lawrence, Philip Seymour Hoffman in his last starring role, Donald Sutherland, and supporting performances of Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks, are the saving grace of the sometimes slow third installment.
Still, the film currently has worse reviews than the previous two "Hunger Games" installments. The first and second films sit at 84% and 89%, respectively, on critique aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Reviews for "Mockingjay" are more polarizing with 69% positive.
You can read our review, here.
SEE ALSO: "Mockingjay" should easily have the biggest box-office opening of 2014
AND: Read the letter that landed Donald Sutherland his role in "The Hunger Games"
Join the conversation about this story »
Disney has big plans for the big reveal of the first "Star Wars: Episode VII" trailer.
The trailer for the anticipated return of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) on screen will debut in select Regal theaters nationwide Friday through Sunday.
Regal Entertainment Group issued a release with the names of nine theaters playing the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" trailer. It will premiere in front of every movie.
We first noticed this on The Hollywood Reporter.
Here are the list of Regal theaters:
California
Irvine: Edwards Irvine Spectrum 22 & IMAX
San Diego: Edwards Mira Mesa Stadium 18 IMAX & RPX
Georgia
Atlanta: Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 18 IMAX & RPX
Illinois
Chicago: Regal City North Stadium 14 IMAX & RPX
New York
New York City: Regal Union Square Stadium 14
Pennsylvania
Warrington: Regal Warrington Crossing Stadium 22 & IMAX
Tennessee
Knoxville: Regal Pinnacle Stadium 18 IMAX & RPX
Texas
Houston: Edwards Houston Marq'E Stadium 23 IMAX & RPX
Washington
Seattle: Regal Thornton Place Stadium 14 & IMAX
Update: AMC Theatres and Cinemark have since announced select theaters will also show the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" trailer. We'll add those theaters here when announced.
We can confirm that a teaser for @StarWars: The Force Awakens will play at select AMCs this Friday! Locations soon! pic.twitter.com/nPpaQONHQQ
— AMC Theatres (@AMCTheatres) November 24, 2014
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." #TheForceAwakens trailer is coming to select Cinemark theatres. Details soon! pic.twitter.com/hhcppbJKGn
— Cinemark Theatres (@Cinemark) November 24, 2014"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is being directed by J.J. Abrams and will be released in theaters Dec. 18, 2015.
SEE ALSO: JJ Abrams confirms an 88-second "Star Wars" trailer is in theaters this weekend
Join the conversation about this story »
The Wu-Tang Clan is a hierarchy.
In multipleinterviews with the website Hip Hop DX ahead of the release of their new album "A Better Tomorrow," Wu-Tang Clan members confirmed that there was a tiered system of payment within the group.
It seems to have created some friction among members. The blurbs, from various video interviews, are summarized by Jay Balfour.
The upper tier is Raekwon The Chef, Method Man, GZA, The RZA, and Ghostface, according to Wu member Cappadonna. He says:
It’s a system that was developed within our system to bring a certain status to individuals. That was the most stagnant part of the building and structuring of this album. We had to deal with that. Even until the last minute, brothers had to overcome our differences in order to make it work. But there’s still an upper tier. I don’t know if that’s gonna affect anything in our future plans, but that’s what it is.
RZA says in a separate interview, though, that he is not in the upper tier and that he's not very happy with the system:
I think it came from a third party, one of our solo managers maybe. But when it penetrated I was like, 'Yo, that really don’t make no sense.' In that case just give me the most money ... But as far as me going along with it, I was like, 'Yo, I'll put myself on a lower-tier and y'all could try it for a year if y'all want.' ... So, we actually tried it for a year and I think we're gonna have to vote on that again. That has to be talked about.
Wu's membership is notoriously fluid (roughly 10 members, but it has changed over the past two decades). Given the list of members in the upper tier named by Cappadonna, the lower tier would then probably include him, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, and U-God, according to the list of group members on the website.
(h/t Ryan McCarthy and MusicREDEF)
SEE ALSO: A Legal Victory For Strippers Is Bad News For The '1099 Economy'
Join the conversation about this story »
"Star Wars: Episode VII" director J.J. Abrams has confirmed an 88-second trailer for the new film will arrive in select theaters this holiday weekend.
Abrams tweeted out a note confirming the trailer release simply saying "Thanksgiving."
Earlier Monday, Regal Entertainment Group announced the trailer will debut Friday in nine of its theaters nationwide ahead of all movies.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is in theaters December 18, 2015.
THANKSGIVING pic.twitter.com/46811BgWiF
— Bad Robot (@bad_robot) November 24, 2014Here's a better look at the note.
It reads:
"A TINY* peek at what we're working on — this Friday in select theaters. Hope you enjoy and have a most excellent Thanksgiving! Best, JJ *88 seconds"
The official "Star Wars" twitter account originally retweeted the director's tweet with the words "#TheForceAwakens from its turkey coma..." before deleting it.
#TheForceAwakens from its turkey coma... RT @bad_robot: THANKSGIVING pic.twitter.com/uers15tLaU
— Star Wars (@starwars) November 24, 2014SEE ALSO: Here's where to see the "Star Wars: Episode VII" trailer this weekend
Join the conversation about this story »
Felix Arvid Ulf Kjelberg also known as "PewDiePie" is a foul-mouthed Swedish video-game commentator. With over 32 million subscribers he's by far YouTube's biggest star.
Produced by Devan Joseph
Follow BI Video: On Facebook
Join the conversation about this story »
College isn't for everyone. Between tests, papers, and classes, there's a lot of stress, and plenty of students don't make it through.
But that doesn't mean these students are doomed to failure.
We put together a list of the most successful Harvard dropouts.
Some left the prestigious Ivy to pursue their passions, while others were forced to leave after partying too much. Either way, they all found extraordinary success after leaving the university.
Attended Harvard: 1973-1975
The applied math major was known at Harvard for his intense study habits. Gates would go on a 36-hour study-bender, sleep for 10 hours, socialize, then start from the beginning. He would even audit classes that were the same time frame as his scheduled classes.
Gates left the university because he and Allen wanted to be the first to establish the software industry.
The Microsoft mogul has long hovered at or near the top of the list of wealthiest people in the world, worth approximately $81 billion. Gates recently stepped down as chairman of Microsoft and now serves as a technology adviser for the company.
Gates and his wife, Melinda, started the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, through which they have donated more than $30 billion to charities around the world.
Attended Harvard: 1988-1992
The Boston-born actor was known to cut class to attend auditions during his time at Harvard.
Damon, an English major, dropped out of the Ivy his senior year after earning a spot in the film "Geronimo: An American Legend."
However it wasn't until 1997 that Damon received his big break starring in "Good Will Hunting," which earned the actor an Academy Award.
His career has since taken off, making his net worth approximately $75 million. The actor/producer is also heavily involved in humanitarian work; Damon is one of the founders of Water.org.
Attended Harvard: 2002-2004
On Feb. 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched the first version of Facebook from his Harvard dorm, and he is now worth approximately $35 billion.
Zuckerberg dropped out shortly after Facebook's launch and moved to Palo Alto, California, to continue to develop the site.
Facebook went public in 2012 for the fourth-biggest IPO ever (and biggest in tech) at $16 billion.
HBO has just confirmed that Rachel McAdams will join the cast of "True Detective" season 2.
Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch & Kelly Reilly join Colin Farrell & Vince Vaughn in season 2 of @HBO's #TrueDetective: http://t.co/ZUSwJVFJIw
— HBO PR (@HBOPR) November 24, 2014The actress will star alongside previously announced castmembers Vince Vaughn and Colin Farrell. McAdams will play County Sheriff detective Ani Bezzerides.
Vaughn will play criminal Frank Semyon who is "in danger of losing his empire" after a business partner is murdered. Farrell will star as detective Ray Velcoro who works in a corrupt police department and has ties to a mobster.
HBO also confirmed the casting of Taylor Kitsch ("Battleship," "Friday Night Lights") and Kelly Reilly ("Sherlock Holmes").
Kitsch will Paul Woodrugh, "a war veteran and motorcycle officer for the California Highway Patrol." He's described as "running from a difficult past." Reilly will star as Semyon's wife, Jordan, "a former D-list actress."
Here's how HBO describes the eight-episode season:
"Three police officers and a career criminal must navigate a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of a murder."
"Fast and Furious 6" director Justin Lin will direct the first two episodes.
Here's the full press release from HBO.
SEE ALSO: Matthew McConaughey says he understood every word his "True Detective" character said
Join the conversation about this story »
The reality show "Bar Rescue" is in its fourth season on Spike TV. Each episode offers an opportunity for veteran food and beverage industry consultant Jon Taffer to swoop in and revive a failing bar. Usually this entails having to identify the staff's weakest link.
Taffer recently dropped by the Business Insider headquarters during a promotional tour for his new BarHQ app.
Produced by Graham Flanagan
Follow BI Video: On Twitter
Join the conversation about this story »
