The Fall Movie

TARSEM SINGH has made a lucrative living for 17 years as a sought-after director of commercials, videos and the creepy 2000 horror hit, "The Cell." As he told me, more in awe than in boast, he once made more money in one day shooting a commercial than his father did in 30 years as an aircraft engineer in India. And what did Tarsem do with most of that dough? Breaking the cardinal mantra of Hollywood, he spent it making a movie called "The Fall."

A year ago, the Telluride Film Festival set off the early fireworks for eventual Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood") and screenwriter Diablo Cody ("Juno"). Can this weekend's festival do the same for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Flash of Genius" and "Slumdog Millionaire"? Among North America's leading festivals, the Telluride gathering, which kicks off today, is clearly the most idiosyncratic. As organizers wait until the festival's opening day to announce the official schedule, attendees usually don't even know what movies they'll be seeing until they arrive in the mountain hamlet in Colorado.

A year ago, the Telluride Film Festival set off the early fireworks for eventual Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood") and screenwriter Diablo Cody ("Juno"). Can this weekend's festival do the same for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Flash of Genius" and "Slumdog Millionaire"? Among North America's leading festivals, the Telluride gathering, which kicks off today, is clearly the most idiosyncratic. As organizers wait until the festival's opening day to announce the official schedule, attendees usually don't even know what movies they'll be seeing until they arrive in the mountain hamlet in Colorado.

TARSEM SINGH has made a lucrative living for 17 years as a sought-after director of commercials, videos and the creepy 2000 horror hit, "The Cell." As he told me, more in awe than in boast, he once made more money in one day shooting a commercial than his father did in 30 years as an aircraft engineer in India. And what did Tarsem do with most of that dough? Breaking the cardinal mantra of Hollywood, he spent it making a movie called "The Fall."

The fall movie calendar is glutted with pictures--promising a feast for viewers and fierce competition among film distributors. Exhibitor Relations, a Los Angeles consulting firm, counts 34 movies set for September, compared with 20 a year ago. The October count is 49 vs. 24, and November looks like 21 vs. 20. But the numbers could change as companies try to squeeze in dozens of movies that don't yet have firm release dates.

After the coffee. Before deciding whether its time I learned to change my own oil. The Skinny: Well, my bet that the Giants would go undefeated was a bust. Thursday's headlines include a debate about whether tax credits for Hollywood productions are really beneficial to the economy, more hype for Katie Couric and a look at the fall movie season. Daily Dose: Time Warner is becoming a refuge for former News Corp. public relations executives. Earlier this week, former News Corp.

HOW ironic that "The Fall," a movie described as "a dazzling visual fantasy" ("A 'Fall' No One Wants to Take," by Patrick Goldstein, June 26), filmed in beautiful locations in 24 countries, is not being shown in theaters because distributors can't visualize an audience market segment who would pay to see it. Ironic because this decision is made by people who continually distribute such movie dreck that theaters are empty much of the time and the film industry is wailing about its lost profits.

The fall movie season got underway with less-than-spectacular results. "The Watcher," starring Keanu Reeves, captured the top spot on the weekend box-office chart, grossing $9.1 million. Coming in second was "Nurse Betty" with $7.1 million. "The Way of the Gun" debuted in ninth place with $2.2 million. Movies in limited release included "Turn It Up," "Backstage" and a reissue of "This Is Spinal Tap."

Ironies abound in the late-summer box-office wars. Just as Coca-Cola Inc. was announcing it was broadly restructuring its entertainment properties--including Columbia and Tri-Star Pictures--in order to incite more public stock purchases, two of Columbia's pictures, "The Big Easy" and "La Bamba," continued to light up the box office.

The 2012 Fall Movie Preview is a broad snapshot of films opening through early November. Release dates and other details, as compiled by Oliver Gettell, are subject to change. Friday Bachelorette On the eve of their old friend's wedding, three bridesmaids go out looking for fun and end up on a wild adventure. With Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, James Marsden and Lizzy Caplan. Written and directed by Leslye Headland. Radius-TWC Beauty Is Embarrassing A documentary portrait of the prolific artist, designer and puppeteer Wayne White.

Hang onto the summer by talking about: Brian Wilson's "That Lucky Old Sun." Sounds like the 66-year-old is channeling his early Beach Boys days in this, his latest solo album celebrating all things SoCal. With songs including "Morning Beat" and "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl," his timing couldn't be better. (Tuesday) "The Fly the Opera" hits L.A. next month. Get ready by talking about: The original 1986 sci-fi masterpiece. Director David Cronenberg and the opera's composer, Howard Shore, will conduct a Q&A before screening a shiny new print of Cronenberg's cult classic at the ArcLight Hollywood.

The Indian film industry, which claims to be the world's biggest, is on the brink of financial disaster, with videotapes and television largely the culprits. Santosh Jain, president of the Film Distributors Council, says only 17 of 126 films released last year made money for their investors. Seven movie theaters have closed in Bombay alone this year. India's film output has been falling since a 1985 peak of 912 movies. It sank to 773 in 1988 and is expected to continue dropping.