{"id":1959,"date":"2002-01-30T23:47:45","date_gmt":"2002-01-31T03:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/?p=1959"},"modified":"2009-11-29T23:50:12","modified_gmt":"2009-11-30T03:50:12","slug":"yo-adrian-rocky-other-films-may-be-mgm-musicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/2002\/01\/30\/yo-adrian-rocky-other-films-may-be-mgm-musicals\/","title":{"rendered":"Yo Adrian! Rocky, Other Films May Be MGM Musicals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday January 30 3:49 PM ET<\/span><\/p>\n

Yo Adrian! Rocky, Other Films May Be MGM Musicals<\/strong><\/span>
\nBy Bob Tourtellotte<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES [Reuters] – Move over MEL BROOKS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If film studio MGM<\/strong> has its way, “Rocky: the Musical”<\/strong> may just be Broadway<\/strong>‘s next big hit, rivaling BROOKS<\/strong>‘ current smash ”The Producers”<\/strong> as the hottest ticket in town.<\/p>\n

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.<\/strong> said on Wednesday it has launched a new initiative under long-time business and legal executive Darcie Denkert<\/strong> to develop new products, starting with Broadway<\/strong> shows, from its huge library of old films.<\/p>\n

Already in development, the studio said, are stage plays based on comedies like “The Pink Panther” <\/strong>films from the 1960s and 1970s, which will be produced by BLAKE EDWARDS <\/strong>. Actor JOHN LITHGOW<\/strong> is set to star in a version of 1957’s “Sweet Smell of Success,”<\/strong> and stage versions of romances “Marty”<\/strong> and ”Moonstruck”<\/strong> are being worked on, an MGM<\/strong> spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

On the horizon could be any one of the roughly 4,100 titles MGM<\/strong> holds in its library of films billed as the world’s largest catalog of modern movies. Off the list, are the MGM <\/strong>musicals of the 1930’s and 1940’s, whose rights were sold years ago.<\/p>\n

Still, rags-to-riches boxer Rocky<\/strong>, portrayed in the movies by action hero SYLVESTER STALLONE<\/strong> and owned by MGM<\/strong>, could be tromping the boards on The Great White Way sometime soon.<\/p>\n

No doubt, key lyrics to any song in “Rocky: the Musical”<\/strong> would be, ``Yo!”<\/em> and the wailing “Adrian.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“(Denkert<\/strong>‘s) ties to the Hollywood and Broadway creative and business communities provide us with the ideal blend of resources to help energize our renowned library properties,” MGM<\/strong> Vice Chairman Chris McGurk<\/strong> said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Denkert<\/strong> takes the job of President, MGM<\/strong> Entertainment Business Group, which will focus on creating new products from old library titles across all of MGM<\/strong>‘s businesses, including film, television, home video and music.<\/p>\n

But her first effort will be spearheading the efforts of the new MGM<\/strong> on Stage business unit, which MGM<\/strong> has created to develop stage plays from its old films.<\/p>\n

MGM<\/strong> is not the first studio to look to Broadway for new business. The Walt Disney Co.<\/strong> has turned hit animated movies such as “The Lion King”<\/strong> and “Beauty and the Beast”<\/strong> into stage plays both on Broadway<\/strong> and in touring companies.<\/p>\n

BROOKS <\/strong> wrote and directed “The Producers,”<\/strong> the 1968 film about a washed-up theater producer and his accountant who set out to bilk money from investors by making a Broadway<\/strong> flop.<\/p>\n

The director of such classic film comedies as “Blazing Saddles”<\/strong> put the story on stage, and it became one of Broadway<\/strong>‘s biggest recent hits, starring MATTHEW BRODERICK <\/strong> and NATHAN LANE<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Denkert<\/strong> began her career as a theatrical lawyer involved in Broadway<\/strong> and off-Broadway productions, and subsequently has worked for MGM<\/strong> and its United Artists<\/strong> film unit for a total of 25 years, joining UA<\/strong>‘s legal department in 1977.<\/p>\n

In addition to naming Denkert <\/strong>as head of the new entertainment business group, MGM<\/strong> is decentralizing its entire business affairs operations, shifting reporting to its various divisions in film, television, home video and music.<\/p>\n

MGM<\/strong> is 81 percent owned by billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian<\/strong>, and is currently looking for merger partners in order to expand its distribution platforms.<\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/p>\n

– Craig Zablo<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday January 30 3:49 PM ET Yo Adrian! Rocky, Other Films May Be MGM Musicals By Bob Tourtellotte LOS ANGELES [Reuters] – Move over MEL BROOKS. If film studio MGM has its way, “Rocky: the Musical” may just be Broadway‘s next big hit, rivaling BROOKS‘ current smash ”The Producers” as the hottest ticket in town. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-74","category-rocky"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3r2Pe-vB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1959"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8592,"href":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions\/8592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallonezone.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}