wall street

‘Wall Street’ Sequel Revives Gordon Gekko Just in Time For New Depression

7:20AM STV | Finally, word surfaces today about that rarest of rare Hollywood specimens: a sequel we can actually get behind. Not that we’re wholeheartedly endorsing Fox’s reported plans for a follow-up to Wall Street (and we reserve the right to revoke our support if “Wall Street 2” ever appears following the working title Money Never Sleeps), but the news that Oliver Stone’s 1987 potboiler has a “fast-tracked” follow-up yields the kind of timely potential Lord knows we’ll miss in so many of its sad, franchise-y contemporaries — plus a Charlie Sheen-free zone where we can comfortably reacquaint ourselves with one of our favourite ’80s villains. More »

Why Hollywood’s Recession-Proof Days May Be Nearing an End

7:40AM STV | So it looks like we’re back on the Depression’s doorstep, with credit axed and markets capsizing here and abroad. But one growth industry continues to thrive reliably: Movies, where despite the ongoing threat of a SAG work stoppage, studios are sinking more than a half-billion dollars into productions for their 2010/2011 calendars. This after earning nearly $US7 billion at the domestic box office through September (more than 10% of which came from The Dark Knight and Iron Man alone) and increasingly hedging their bets with financiers based everywhere from Manhattan Beach to Calcutta. While you may be panicking, and both Wall Street and Washington wonder where the bottom is, Hollywood is betting on its history as a recession-proof redoubt — one that was never sturdier than in the Great Depression. We can outlast anything! More »