For those of you unaware, last week I took part in the Netflix Movie Watching World championship, in which eight contenders were put in a glass living area in the center of Times Square where we had to break the record for most films watched in a row without averting our eyes from the screen or falling asleep. The current record was 120 hours and 23 minutes, so we had our work cut out for us. There were 10 minute breaks in between each film, in which we could use the bathroom and wake ourselves up, but beyond that, our eyes had to be fixated on the 56 inch Plasma television. Whoever was to break the record (and there could be multiple winners) would win the Golden Popcorn Bowl trophy, $10,000 cash, and a lifetime membership to Netflix.

I was one of the three contenders selected from an online competition through Facebook.com, and among the others were competitive eating champion Crazy Legs Conti, former Netflix Movie Marathon champion Cheryl Jones, winner of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire: Movie Edition Jeff Jones, German champion who broke the world movie watching record three times, Claudia Wavra, and Guinness record holder for breaking the most Guinness records, Suresh Joachim. Needless to say, I was the underdog in this competition, seeing as how the longest I’ve ever stayed up in my life is 48 hours, and that’s all while doing things like driving or moving around.

Each of the competitors were asked to suggest films, and luckily the first film in the marathon was one of my picks: Iron Man . This would have been a lot of fun to watch again (let alone in the center of Times Square), and if I wasn’t so nervous about not taking my eyes from the screen, I would have. After talking to a bunch of the other competitors, I realized they had the same problem. Once we were able to overcome the excitement of being in the center of New York City with dozens of flashing cameras and gawkers, it became easier. (more…)

During the promotion for his new film, Zack & Miri Make a Porno, Kevin Smith began talking up a science fiction comedy he had in mind.  In fact, he was riffing for reporters about how it was going to be dark and different for him as a filmmaker.

This morning The Hollywood Reporter runs the story that Smith will do this as his next project after Red State, which he will shoot next spring. He anticipates the film to run in the $45-50 million budget range. The trade says the new feature “will reference other sci-fi movies and revolves around a father-son relationship.”

Smith will produce with View Askew partner Scott Mosier and The Weinstein Company is the most likely studio to handle the project. The trade reports Harvey and Bob Weinstein have already read a draft of the film’s script.

"The moment someone steps out of the spaceship, it’s going to cost a little more," Smith said of the budget, his largest ever.

"All the relationships in the flicks I’ve done have been done before, have been either a guy falling for a girl or two dudes hanging out in a ‘bromantic’ comedy," he said. "I wanted to explore a father and son."