The Society of Shadows

Something wasn't right. The smoke and the puffing were all a bit too...what? Nervous? Anxious? No...scared. He was scared. Scared?

Quickly the man put down his corncob pipe with his shaky hands and opened his laptop. Scared? How could he be scared? He had weathered the tinkerer and the irish man and even the goofy one back in his younger days. He knew the difference between Moliere and Dion Boucicault and what is more he could quote them on the spot if necessary...then why was he scared? The answer of course glowed back at him from the screen in red.

"Oh my Gosh!" He knocked himself on the head and quickly got up to get into his old red Dolorian outside. If he could just go back and fix...oh well, it seemed he was out of plutonium so that wasn't an option. HE just knew that somehow he had to fix his investments as they were slowly dragging him into a world he hadn't seen since THOSE days...the COLLEGE days. The Dolorian rocked a bit as he shuddered.

How, HOW!? This one question would haunt him forever if he did not fix it soon. Wait a minute, didn't he recently sell his rights to NASCAR for some silly studio or something? How are they doing? He rushed back inside and started sorting through the pile of reports meant for him to have read back in May. AHA! The most recent report! And with a flourish he withdrew the report and plopped it to the financial standings.
Yes, yes! This was the problem! Apparently the stupid studio was absorbing his money into multiple financial failures...but he still had a chance to correct it. You Kill Me was the film he least cared for at the stockholder summit two months ago. It just didn't seem...to catch the eye of the other stockholders. That's it! It wasn't commercial enough! He had to make the most commercial piece of schlock he could if he was going to save himself. The thought of all the "uhs" and "duhs" created a wince so loud that the butler immediately left the room for some heart medication and a glass of Port. Now he would make an executive decision, but first, he needed the approval of the elders. After all, if it didn't fit their plans, then he might wind up like his old wife Winnie did, bless her heart. He stroked the frame on the wall, longing for the object inside to be pumping again so new and full of life. Then he twisted his watch face to send a signal to all members of the Society and quickly pulled a lever and vanished into the shadows before his infernal butler could come around the corner with his nightly Port.

The next morning came as a surprise to the world as a half finished project You Kill Me was inexplicably dropped into Blockbusters and other straight to DVD stores while a new film was started called Introducing the Dwights to be made in a week and released soon after. The trailer supposedly hit tomorrow! The race for best summer studio was heating up and here is what things looked like.

CASTLE
1 RATATOUILLE 225 8 16 7.9
2 $PAPRIKA 0.3 4 0 7.9
3 NO RESERVATIONS 38 0 1 6
4 SIMPSONS 100 4 9 6.9
5 $DAY WATCH 0.2 1 0 7.1
6 $BUG 7 0 2 6.9
7 $ONCE 2.5 8 0 8.6
8 $EAGLE VS. SHARK 0.02 3 0 7.6

GoS
1 TRANSFORMERS 240 10 16 7.1
2 EVENING 23 7 0 7.7
3 $OCEAN'S 13 70 4 9 7.4
4 $NANCY DREW 7.1 0 0 5.1
5 $GOLDEN DOOR 0.2 6 0 7.3
6 $YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME 0.002 0 0 8.4
7 INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS 11.5 6 0 7.3
8 $EVEN MONEY 0.06 0 0 5.9

WANNABE
1 $KNOCKED UP 90.4 7 10 8.3
2 $SURF'S UP 34.6 0 3 7.3
3 $FF4 57.4 5 5 6.7
4 BLACK SHEEP 1.1 1 0 6.3
5 DEATH AT A FUNERAL 11.5 0 0 5.3
6 I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY 125 6 9 6.9
7 SICKO 65 5 4 7
8 FIDO 16 0 2 6.6

WILLO
1 EVAN ALMIGHTY 135 5 10 6.6
2 HP5 230 9 13 7.6
3 HAIRSPRAY 60 2 4 5.9
4 LIVE FREE OF DIE HARD 73 3 6 5.9
5 $HOSTEL II 14.2 0 0 5.6
6 $SEVERANCE 0.1 0 0 6.9
7 CAPTIVITY 12.9 0 0 4.9
8 $MR. BROOKS 23.4 0 2 7.7

BO RANKINGS
WILLO 548.6 4
WANNABE 401 3
CASTLE 373.02 2
GOS 351.862 1

PTA RANKINGS
GOS 33 4
CASTLE 28 3
WANNABE 24 2
WILLO 19 1

TOP 5
WILLO 35 4
WANNABE 33 3
CASTLE 28 2
GOS 25 1

IMDB
CASTLE 7.3625 4
GOS 7.025 3
WANNABE 6.8 2
WILLO 6.3875 1

The final rankings are:
BO PTA TOP IMDB TOTAL RANK
CASTLE 2 3 2 4 11 1
GOS 1 4 1 3 9 4
WANNABE 3 2 3 2 10 2
WILLO 4 1 4 1 10 2

The exact same! Hopefully Introducing the Dwights will be more commercial than it is currently chosen. Willo is relying on a bunch of unreleased films to help him out. Castle is relying heavily on Ratatouille and Simpsons to save his tookus. Wannabe's big films are out. GoS is definately trying to copy his success with Ocean's 13 if possible and racking the PTA with Golden Door as Castle does with Once. That's the update gents. Expect for a new news bulletin next monday! Unless someone pulls a fast one before then.

Wannabe