Author: Robert Greenberger

‘Mad About the Movies Directors’ Cut’ Coming Tomorrow

‘Mad About the Movies Directors’ Cut’ Coming Tomorrow

  • News
  • October 27, 2008

Mad Artist Tom Richmond wrote on his blog about a new Mad book, due out tomorrow.

He wrote, “Back in 1998 Mad published MAD About the Movies, a collection of movie spoofs from over the years. It was in part to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Warner Bros. (WB owns DC Comics which in turn owns MAD) and all the movies in the book were Warner Bros. films.

“10 years later Mad is coming out with a new version of the book featuring parodies of films from other studios as well as some from WB. MAD About the Movies: Director’s Cut weighs in at a whopping 400 pages and contains not only 60 movie parodies from films of the last 60 plus years, but other goodies as well. Here’s a short list of some of the included parodies:

•    Gone with the Wind
•    Bonnie and Clyde
•    A Clockwork Orange
•    Brokeback Mountain
•    Spider-Man
•    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
•    The Lord of the Rings (all three films!)

“Obviously there are both black and white and color pages in the book. I was told I have several parodies in it myself, although I don’t have a full list. I’m pretty excited about being in the book, as it will be the first book I really have a presence in. My parody of “Traffic” was in Mad About the Oscars, but I believe that is my only contribution to a Mad book.

“The book is part of an exclusive agreement with Barnes and Noble, so that is the only place you’ll be able to get a copy. It’s dirt cheap at only $9.98 for an online price.
“I have not as yet seen a copy, so I have no idea what kind of stock it’s printed on. It’s listed as a “hardcover” but at less than $10.00 I think that might be a mistake. Still this would make a great stocking stuffer. It’s supposed to be released tomorrow, according to the Barnes and Noble website.”

I am Spartacus!

I am Spartacus!

  • News
  • October 27, 2008

The cry of “I am Spartacus!” will once more resound, this time weekly. Starz will air a new 13-episode series from executive producers Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Joshua Donen.

The premium movie channel has already produced Crash, a weekly series based on the Oscar-winning film, which began airing several weeks back. This will be the first in-house production for the channel. Steven S. DeKnight (Smallville) will be the head writer and showrunner.

Raimi, Tapert, and Donen developed the series and intend to produce the series in New Zealand in time for debut next summer. Each episode is likely to have a budget in excess of $2 million, surpassing their other series, Legend of the Seeker.  The world of ancient Rome will be digitally rendered, a first for a weekly TV series.

No casting has been announced as yet.

The real story of the slave who led a rebellion against his Roman captors in 73 A.D. was immortalized in the 1960 movie starring Kirk Douglas which won four Academy Awards. It was most recently retold as a 2004 miniseries starring ER’s Goran Visnjic and Rhona Mitra.

"This is not going to be at all like the 1960s Kirk Douglas film," Starz Entertainment executive vp programming Stephan Shelanski told The Hollywood Reporter. "We didn’t want your typical sword-and-sandals. It’s going to be fun, fast-moving, full of action and interesting characters and have a little more depth to it than the 1960s film."

Shelanski says the channel acknowledges the storytelling has to be done for an audience primed by movies like 300.  Being a premium channel, they can go for R-rated violence and storytelling. "It will bring the younger audience who has grown up on graphic novels and video games this heightened reality; it’s not going to look like anything you’ve seen before, especially on TV," said executive vp original production William Hamm. Hamm has previously worked with Raimi and Tapert at Universal TV to produce the similar Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

BBC Plans New Super-Hero Series

BBC Plans New Super-Hero Series

  • News
  • October 27, 2008

The Stage is reporting that the BBC has asked Doctor Who director Joe Ahearne to create Superpower, a fresh take on heroes. Ahearne has previously written episodes of This Life, Ultraviolet and the forthcoming Apparitions.

The Beeb has commissioned stand-alone scripts and turned production chores over to Impossible Pictures, the people behind Primeval.

Ahearne told the paper he is a major fan of Marvel’s line of super-heroes which will no doubt be a heavy influence on the series. Having said that, he stressed the new show will be set apart from NBC’s Heroes or the BBC’s spoof No Heroics.

“It is a new and original super-hero idea which is not a send-up. All the super-hero stuff that is on TV in this country – ITV’s No Heroics, My Hero – British TV is happy to do if it is a send-up, but no one has done it for real. There is a particular gimmick in mine, which I won’t give away, but it means it will be refreshed every episode,” he told the paper.

The BBC is said to be arranging the production schedule to take advantage of the Saturday night prime time slot currently being used by Merlin and then followed by the third season of Robin Hood, meaning the new show would not be running until, most likely, the second half of 2009.

Shyamalan Picks the Dowdles for First Project

Shyamalan Picks the Dowdles for First Project

  • News
  • October 27, 2008

After being critically drubbed for his last two films, M. Night Shyamalan has stepped away from directing in favor of producing for a while.  He announced in July his intention to produce a trio of thrillers, one per year.  The team of John and Drew Dowdle (Quarantine) has been tapped to bring the creator’s first notion to life.

Shyamalan partnered with Media Rights Capital to form a production company called Night Chronicles to produce these films.  He’s not entirely away from the camera, though, as he completes work on the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a popular Anime series now seen on Nickelodeon.  Paramount has announced a July 2, 2010 release date for the film titled just The Last Airbender.

Since opening October 10 Quarantine, a remake of the Spanish hit REC, has earned $25,819,614 as of October 22 according to Box Office Mojo.
 

‘Ender’s Shadow’ Debuts in December

‘Ender’s Shadow’ Debuts in December

  • News
  • October 27, 2008

Ender’s Shadow: Battle School will be Marvel’s follow-up adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game series of books, debuting December 3. The first issue will have variant covers by Timothy Green III and Jim Cheung.

Written by Mike Carey (X-Men: Legacy) with art from newcomer Sebastian Fiumara, readers will be introduced to Bean, the only one student at Battle School smarter than the famous Ender Wiggin.  Born in an illegal genetic engineering laboratory, Bean grew up an orphan living off the brutal streets of Rotterdam.  Now, he’s been recruited to Battle School, where he’ll make new friends, new enemies, and embark on the adventure of a lifetime—saving the Earth.

Ender’s Game began as a short story in the August 1977 issue of Analog, expanded to a 1985 novel, which found an audience and spawned a series that has included Ender’s Game, A War of Gifts: An Ender Story, Ender’s Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind.

Card has seen his series be embraced around the world and in 1991 he made modifications to the first novel in order to reflect changes in the real world.  The book has been recategorized as young adult fiction.

Check out the preview pages after the jump.

(more…)

‘HSM 3’ Grabs $42 Million High Note

‘HSM 3’ Grabs $42 Million High Note

  • News
  • October 26, 2008

It was no surprise to anyone that High School Musical 3: Senior Year was going to be huge, the question was only how big an opening it would have.  The final installment in Disney’s mammothly successful musical series exceeded expectations, taking in an estimated $42 million over the weekend according to Box Office Mojo. The film nabbed the crown for largest opening ever for a G-rated film and was also the number one box office attraction globally.

Right behind was Saw V, taking in a whopping $30.5 million and is poised to gain the title as most successful horror franchise of all time. The movie also exceeded expectations and sixth film is already on the drawing table for next Halloween.

It wasn’t all good news as Warner Bros.’ Pride & Glory opened in a fifth place to a disappointing $6,325,000.  The movie was better reviewed than the studio’s Body of Lies but this is the second disastrous opening in a row no doubt making the studio execs worry about the future.

The other new films this weekend was Anne Hathaway’s Passengers which Sony dumped into a handful of theatres with minimal marketing.  The movie received tepid reviews and took in just a few hundred thousand on 125 screens.  The far better received Synecdoche, New York with Philip Seymour Hoffman was also in extremely limited release taking in just $173,000.

Changeling, with Angelina Jolie, was on a scant 15 screens but the movie was well regarded and it’s per screen average of $33,467 was impressive which should be encouraging to Universal.
 
"Ultimately, there was something for everyone in the marketplace," Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Media by Numbers told the Los Angeles Times. "It shows that if you put the right movies in the market, people will turn out."

Rounding out the top five films was Fox’s Max Payne in third with $7.6 million and Disney’s surprise hit, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, which buried another $6.9 million bones.

Review: ‘The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration’ DVD

Review: ‘The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration’ DVD

The Godfather is one of those films that creates an immediate sensation but then slowly seeps its way in the American consciousness. Like the immigrant families it depicts, the Mario Puzo novel was a potboiler, his third book after a career of writing for the men’s sweat magazines.  It arrived on the bookstands in 1969 and Puzo merely hoped it was something for the masses so he could support his five children. Instead, it generated some noise, enough to entice Paramount Pictures to option the film.  Then, after many trials and failed attempts to assemble a team, the right mix was found and a movie was made.  The American Dream in microcosm.

Francis Ford Coppola took the basic story of the Mafia, at the time, a criminal entity that people were only just getting familiar with as a reality, and set it against grander themes.  He was very collaborative and Puzo was heavily involved from the beginning which helped tremendously.

The first film was a mammoth success which required a sequel that many argue surpasses the original.  Despite pressure for a third film, it took Coppola until 1990 to finally complete the cycle. In the intervening years, the film’s archetypical characters were embraced and imitated, catch phrases entered the lexicon and have endured. And to be fair, the third installment has aged better than you would imagine now the bitter taste of disappointment has been washed away with time.

(more…)

Interview: Marc Sumerak on ‘Weapon X: First Class’

Interview: Marc Sumerak on ‘Weapon X: First Class’

  • News
  • October 26, 2008

Coming November 5 will be the first issue of a three issue miniseries, Weapon X: First Class, which will explore the Weapon X program and how it turned Logan into Wolverine.  Writing this fresh take on the story will be Marc Sumerak, former assistant editor and currently one of Marvel’s fresh new voices.

CMix: Hey, Marc, nice to catch up with you.  Just how did you manage to transition from staff to fulltime freelance?

Marc Sumerak: I spent four exciting years on Marvel’s editorial team as Tom Brevoort’s Assistant Editor, working on some of my all-time favorite titles (including Avengers, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor and more). But, as they say, all good things must come to an end… and for a number of reasons, I found myself leaving NYC and heading back to my hometown of Cleveland, OH.

At that point, I figured my career in the comic biz was pretty much over… but not long after the move, I was contacted by Marvel and asked to pitch a few ideas that I had been starting to develop right before I left staff. One of those ideas became my first series at Marvel: Guardians. That came out in July, 2004…and somehow I’ve managed to continue working in comics steadily ever since! Only now, I’m not the one enforcing the deadlines…I’m scrambling to meet them instead!

CMix: You seem to have concentrated on the lighter, brighter sections of the Marvel Universe such as the Power Pack miniseries.  What’s the appeal?

MS: I think it’s important to have a wide variety of titles available that appeal to different segments of our readership. My editors have seemed to think that I have a good grasp on "all-ages" material, so that’s been the overall focus of my body of work to date… and I definitely can’t complain about that. Working on Power Pack, Franklin Richards and the Marvel Adventures line has been a blast!

Like many of our readers, I discovered the joy of comics at a young age… and if something I’m writing brings that same feeling of wonder and excitement to one of today’s young readers, then it’s one of the greatest rewards I can imagine.

Without new readers coming in the door, the industry will eventually cease to be. So being able to provide material that a new generation can enjoy — and that parents can feel comfortable about giving their children — is an essential step towards strengthening our industry’s future. I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of that effort. 

(more…)

Review: ‘The Good Neighbors Book One – Kin’

Review: ‘The Good Neighbors Book One – Kin’

The Good Neighbors: Book One – Kin
By Holly Black and Ted Naifeh
Scholastic Graphix, October 2008, $16.99

Holly Black made her name with [[[The Spiderwick Chronicles]]] and following that enormous hit, the pressure was no doubt on to follow it with something equally compelling.  Fortunately, [[[The Good Neighbors]]] may well be that second hit.

Once more, Black delves into the world of the supernatural, but rather than make up her own bestiary, she is inspired by the traditional world of the faerie. She also delves into a different set of family dynamics and clearly is using characters her readers can relate to.

Book One introduces us to Rue Silver just as her life begins to be irrevocably altered.  Rue is a high school student whose mother has gone missing and her father, a college professor, is accused of murdering her.  When one of his students is found dead, he’s arrested for both crimes.

Rue, though, has larger issues preoccupying her mind.  She’s seeing the world through new eyes so people suddenly have taken on different shapes, and nature seems to be responding to her presence. Her friends are sympathetic but uncertain how to react.  Then, she meets the ageless man who introduces himself as her grandfather and explains she has faerie blood and is ready for a new world.

Rue’s entry into this realm and her tortured emotions form the spine of the 117-story.  Black does a nice job with the characterization and I’m especially impressed with the circle of friends who support her.  They are individualistic and react in ways the readers can identify.  Friendship proves to be as important as family, as we discover.

(more…)

FEARNet Launches new Web Series

FEARNet Launches new Web Series

  • News
  • October 25, 2008

Original webisodes from existing television series has been around for a few years now but increasingly, we’re finding stories about original series being trotted out from major networks, as we’ve reported, or other entertainment sites.  The latest begins on November 6 over at FEARnet, Comcast’s horror channel and site.

The Dark Path Chronicles is being described as a music-themed vampire series. Helmed by Mary Lambert, the series will feature music by up and coming Goth bands like Zombi, Junius, Jesu, Watch Me Burn, and Prophet 7:13.  It’s said to involve a young vampire and the teenage girl he meets and they will explore a parallel reality.

Lambert is known to most the director of Pet Semetary but she’s also directed music videos featuring Madonna and Janet Jackson.

The website will have a second season of its Street of Fear reality series. Ten new creepy streets will be profiles complete with ghost stories including Mt. Misery Road in Huntington NY, where a Woman in White was supposedly burned alive in a hospital fire and still haunts the area.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks