Tagged: film

Sinbad Returns to the Screen

  • News
  • December 19, 2008

A new Sinbad movie is in development at Sony with Adam Shankman (Hairspray) set to direct, according to Variety.

Neal Moritz will produce the fantasy adventure telling of “Sinbad and his crew, who are marooned off the coast of China and embark on a quest to find the lamp of Aladdin.”

Sinbad is a legendary figure from Middle Eastern tales. His name is Persian while his tales were initially written in Arabic. The stories featuring the wanderer have been told, retold, and adapted for centuries. He was a sailor from Basrah and his exploits were drawn from true tales from sailors working the Asian and African trade routes plus more than a dash of epic journeys from other sources such as Homer’s The Odyssey.

Sinbad was immortalized as the 133rd tale in Sir Richard Burton’s translation of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) which is the source most adaptations use. He has been used in popular movies, television series, cartoons and comic books throughout the 20th century, perhaps best know for the films made in the 19509s and 1960s by Ray Harryhausen.  He first appeared on film in a 1935 cartoon before The Fleischer Brothers produced their Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor in 1936, with Sindbad resembling Bluto.

His last feature film was Sinbad: Legends of the Seven Seas in 2003. Since then, he has been seen in Bill Willingham’s Fables.

He is also set to direct Bob the Musical for Disney. The original project “centers on a mild-mannered man who suddenly hears the "inner song" of people’s hearts after being struck on the head.”

"Ever since Hairspray, I’ve been desperate to do another musical," Shankman told  Variety. "The idea of working with all original music is thrilling. With Bob the Musical, I’ll be working again with [Hairspray composer] Marc Shaiman. And Sinbad gives me the opportunity to really stretch my imagination as far as I can take it." 

‘Tron’ Sequel Gains New Cast

  • News
  • December 17, 2008

olivia-2-4661579Whatever Disney intends to formally call its sequel to Tron, the movie has added Olivia Wilde (House) and Beau Garrett (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer), joining returning star Jeff Bridges.

The 1982 film was among the earliest to use computer special effects and has a strong fan following.  The sequel was among the top five film searches performed at IMDB in 2008.

The trades refer to the sequel as Tron 2.0, and was written by Lost’s Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, for director Joseph Kosinski, making his helming debut. Steven Lisberger, who directed the original and cowrote its script, will produce with Sean Bailey and Jeff Silver.

Wilde’s character will be ‘worker in the virtual world who tries to help fight Master Control Program, the villainous intelligence protocol that was the nemesis in the original film. Garrett will play a siren in the virtual world.”

The film’s tech look has been in development for a year with footage screened at Comic-Con International, igniting a fresh round of buzz for the film.  Actual production begins in the spring.
 

JJ Abrams Completes ‘Star Trek’ Edits

  • News
  • December 17, 2008

JJ Abrams spoke briefly with MTV News about Star Trek, allowing us a chance to show off the new banner released today by Paramount Pictures.

The film’s trailer has wowed crowds and Abrams has completed editing the movie, which doesn’t up until May 8, 2009.

He admitted not everything shot will make it into the final cut. “You make a movie, and I think you always find yourself losing things here and there, embellishing things. It’s sort of par for the course. They’ll probably end up as deleted scenes on the DVD.”

Abrams noted that the film is intended for the widest audience possible but there remain nods to the diehard fans who have stuck with the franchise though some very lean times. “I think what you’ll see is there are — both story-wise and performance-wise, visually and aurally — many connections to what is familiar and what has come before. Which for the new fans of Star Trek, the newcomers to the world, will be irrelevant. But for those people who are fans and who hope for or expect certain familiar nods, they will undoubtedly get those,” he said.

He also confirmed that Leonard Nimoy’s Spock will be more than just a mere token appearance. “He’s in the movie, and his role is critical. I always think "cameo" feels like a role that the movie could exist without. This is critical, emotional and also a story element.

When asked to compare his film with the previous Trek films, Abrams spoke about how they pick up from the television series where everyone has been introduced and the crew knows one another. His film, in contrast, takes things back to those very early days.

“But on a much more practical level, Star Trek has never had the opportunity, nor the resources, to be realized in this way,” he said. “Things like the ships and the battles and the planets and the chases and the action sequences … and do them in a way that felt thrilling and terrifying and entertaining in a way that the show and the prior movies simply couldn’t afford to do. I feel we were able to bring to life, in a way we’ve never seen before, what it is to be a member of Starfleet. And that’s kind of cool.”

Review: ‘The Dark Knight’ DVD

The Dark Knight stunned movie audiences by taking the mature themes and tone of its predecessor, [[[Batman Begins]]], and amping things up by a factor of 10. The movie was hailed by critics for around the world and theatres packed in the crowds to the tune of $1 billion in box office (or thereabouts).

In rewatching the film on DVD, now out from Warner Bros., the film remains very strong thanks to terrific lighting, set design, and riveting performances from Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart.  Yet, the story doesn’t hold together as well. 

First of all, Gotham looks and feels different from the first film from director Christopher Nolan. The city had been a character all on its own, with the architecture and monorail but now it just looks like, you know, Chicago. We don’t know how long its been since the first film, but since it ends with the Joker’s calling card, it can’t have been that long for a remake, and yet Batman’s legend is such that people are already out there being bat-masked vigilantes.

We know [[[Batman]]] is a presence, so much so that the criminal operations are suffering.  Enter, the Joker, a force of nature. The performance by Ledge is riveting because he makes you forget all about Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson and creates something totally fresh. His desire to spread chaos in opposition to Batman’s sense of order becomes the film’s spine.

But, once you examine what happens next, things take an odd turn.

As the UK’s [[[Guardian]]] put it, when they named the film as having the most ridiculous plot of the year: “Wait, so the Joker really orchestrated that big truck chase just so that he could get caught and go to prison, then he could kidnap that guard and grab his phone to make the call to set off the bomb he’d previously sewn inside the henchman in the next cell? That would kill the guy who stole the mobsters’ money, thus enabling him to … er, what? Heath Ledger’s Joker may have been a psychopath, but he had a nerdish capacity for forward planning.”

(more…)

Kenneth Branagh Likes Scope of ‘Thor’

  • News
  • December 16, 2008

Director Kenneth Branagh spoke with MTV’s Splash Page about his thoughts on adapting Marvel’s Thor to a feature film.  The actor/director signed on several months ago and the movie has a July 2010 release date.

“To work on a story about one of the immortals, Gods, extraordinary beings, inter-dimensional creatures,” are among the reason he cited for signing on to direct the big budget film. “There’s science fiction and science fact and fantasy all woven into one. It’s based on Norse legends which Marvel sort of raided in a brilliant way.

“It’s a chance to tell a big story on a big scale,” said Branagh. “It’s a human story right in the center of a big epic scenario.”

Even though the internet is filled with rumors about who will play the son of Odin, including Kevin McKidd (Rome), Branagh admitted, “There’s been lots of talk [about casting] — I sound like a politician — but we are too early at this stage. We’re getting the story and the visual effects together and all of that is very exciting. Someone sensational is going to play the part but it is early days.”
 

A Fifth ‘Terminator’ Movie is on the Boards

  • News
  • December 15, 2008

McG has committed to working with Halcyon Co. on a fifth feature film in the Terminator series.  He’s in post-production on Terminator: Salvation, due out in May 2009 and Variety says he’s already planning the next installment with the production firm’s Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek.

Halcyon obtained the film rights from C2, formerly Carolco, a year ago and at the time envisioned the new series as a trilogy, like so many other franchises these days. When Christian Bale signed on as John Connor, he signed for three films.  Should production begin next year, Halcyon is hopeful for a summer 2011 release.

News of the new film broke at the Dubai Intl. Film Festival, which runs through Thursday. One reason it came up there is that the Middle East may be a locale for filming the new feature.  McG is not committed to directing and may step back to produce although it’s too early to tell.

"We feel the time is now to start shaping the next part of this," Kubicek said. Warner Bros. is the most likely studio behind the new film although it may not partner with Sony as it has for Salvation.

The Crow Returns to the Screen

  • News
  • December 15, 2008

The Crow, last seen on screen in 2005, is headed for the remake route.  Stephen Norrington (Blade) will revisit James O’Barr’s comic book creation according to Variety.

He has signed with Relativity Media to write and direct a new version of the character.  The film rights have been in Ed Pressman’s possession and negotiations continue to transfer them to the new production company.

O’Barr created the comic in 1989 as a means of dealing with his feelings in the wake of his girlfriend’s death at the hands of a drunk driver.  He first published the title through Caliber Comics. The series moved to Kitchen Sink Press from 1996-1998 followed by a The Crow/Razor one-shot crossover from London Night Studios. Also in 1998, Random House released The Crow: Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams, a prose anthology edited by Ed Kramer and O’Barr with stories by Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, Alan Dean Foster, Jane Yolen and Gene Wolf. The most recent comics’ stories came from Image as a ten issue series in 1999.

In 1994, the first film adaptation was released, directed by Alex Proyas, which introduced the concept to a new audience and a cult was born.  The movie told of “musician Eric Draven is murdered trying to rescue his girlfriend from thugs, and returns from the dead one year later to exact vengeance.” It starred Brandon Lee, who died during filming. The sequels provied less successful with the final two going direct-to-video.  There was also a short-lived television series that merited little attention.

Norrington first came to attention through his successful film adaptation of Marvel’s Blade and returned to comics with the less well-received League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  This will be his first film since that disappointing experience. He almost directed the remake of Warner’s Clash of the Titans but left over creative disagreements with the studio, saying he was “unable to excite Warner Bros. with my take, or influence the screenplay to any comfortable extent.” Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk) replaced him.

Norrington was approached by Relatvity’s execs, whom he knew well, and they liked his “vision of the antihero, which Norrington said will be different than the film Proyas made.”

“Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style,” Norrington told Variety.
 

Darren Aronofsky Envisions Violent ‘RoboCop’

  • News
  • December 13, 2008

Darren Aronofsky spoke with reporters about his plans for RoboCop while promoting the release of The Wrestler. He warned that he intended to return to the ultra-violence found in Paul Verhoeven’s first feature.

"If we do it, it [can] definitely be rated R," Aronofsky said. "I mean, [it won’t] necessarily, but we have that freedom."

He acknowledged that David Self is at work on the screenplay and until that’s finished everything has to wait. "So until there’s a screenplay, there’s nothing to really talk about. Until we’re going, it just doesn’t exist for me. It’s just like we’re trying to get something good, and we’ll see what happens."

His interest in cyborgs, such as RoboCop, began from a routine examination. "Before you get an MRI, they give you a list of like 38 different things, how you can have metal in your body. From a shutter in your eyelid to a pacemaker, screws and all this stuff you can have in your system. I realized, ‘Wow, we are cyborgs.’ I mean, everything’s not inside us, but the way we’re connected to the technology and everything is right there."

Aronofsky expanded upon the comments he first made on MTV about re-editing his film The Fountain in hopes of gaining a new release. He calls the new version a “redux” and said, "It’s something more for fans. I worked on the film for six years, and it went through a lot of versions. There was one version that was much closer to one of the scripts that we had, and we chose between which way we would go with it. They both are interesting, so I always was curious for myself to see what that alternative version would be.

"It’s very similar but looking at a few things in a few different ways, and it answers a few questions for people and raises some new questions in other ways, so it’s kind of cool."

The troubled film actually first saw light as a Vertigo graphic novel in 2005 and he may return to the format once more for his still-developing Noah project.  He admitted to being somewhat obsessed with the biblical figure since, as a 13-year-old, he won a United Nations poetry competition for a poem about the end of the world as seen through the eyes of Noah.

He previously had told Slash Film, “It’s the end of the world and it’s the second most famous ship after the Titanic. So I’m not sure why any studio won’t want to make it,” said Aronofsky. “I think it’s really timely because it’s about environmental apocalypse which is the biggest theme, for me, right now for what’s going on this planet. So I think it’s got these big, big themes that connect with us. Noah was the first environmentalist. He’s a really interesting character. Hopefully they’ll let me make it.”

Although he’s admitted to some he has an actor attached to star, he still may go the graphic novel route first.

‘Star Trek’ Beams Down to IMAX Screens

  • News
  • December 13, 2008

Paramount Pictures and IMAX Corporation announced late Friday that Star Trek, directed by J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, Lost and Alias), will be simultaneously released to both IMAX and conventional theatres worldwide on May 8, 2009. Star Trek, which chronicles the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members, will be digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience with proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology. Paramount Pictures will be the exclusive distributor of the film to IMAX theatres worldwide.

Star Trek is of course one of the world’s most successful science fiction entertainment series and media franchises. Created by Gene Roddenberry, the Star Trek phenomenon has lead to six television series, ten feature films, dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and fan stories, as well as a themed attraction in Las Vegas. Star Trek has also inspired a following of millions of “Trekkies” of all ages that span across the globe.

“We’re excited to share the enhanced IMAX version of this film with the millions of dedicated fans who have been anticipating this release since production began,” said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman, Paramount Pictures in a release. “The IMAX Experience adds that extra level of excitement to an already action-packed film, giving moviegoers a premium ‘event’ at the multiplex.”

Added J.J. Abrams, “I’m thrilled that audiences will be able to experience this new, epic world of Star Trek – with an incredible cast and mind-blowing visual effects – on what is, obviously, the most remarkable film format in the world.”

“Star Trek combines top Hollywood story-telling talent with space exploration, and each is very conducive to The IMAX Experience,” said IMAX Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. “Expanding our relationship with Paramount Pictures to include this film strengthens our 2009 slate, and with the continuing rollout of digital IMAX theatre systems, we will be able to offer the fan-base more locations to experience the epic first journey of the USS Enterprise in the most immersive way.”
 
“Both Star Trek and IMAX have taken audiences to far away places they would normally not be able to go, and in this case, it’s space – the final frontier,” added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “J.J. Abrams has created a powerful movie that has fans worldwide feverishly anticipating its release. We are thrilled to partner with Paramount Pictures to bring J.J.’S exciting vision of this incredible space adventure to IMAX screens.”

From director J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci (Transformers, MI: III) comes a new vision of the greatest space adventure of all time, Star Trek, featuring a young, new crew venturing boldly where no man has gone before. Star Trek explores the early Starfleet careers of future Enterprise officers Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Amanda Grayson (Winona Ryder), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), McCoy (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), and Chekov (Anton Yelchin). A Romulan, Nero (Eric Bana), and a much older Spock (Leonard Nimoy) are influences, as well as Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood), the first captain of the USS Enterprise.

 

David Goyer Expects a ‘Blade’ Reboot

  • News
  • December 13, 2008

"I heard rumors that they may want to start from scratch with a new person playing Blade,” David S. Goyer told Shock Til You Drop. “It’s funny because I thought about how I never wanted to do a vampire film ever again because I’m sick of it. But I was reading the Tomb of Dracula Omnibus and I hadn’t read them in a long time and I thought it might be cool to do another vampire movie at some point."

Goyer made his name working on the Blade trilogy of films, starring Wesley Snipes. He has since gone on to write and direct many other genre films and thought he put the vampire hunter behind him. Hus next project is an original horror film, The Unborn, opening next month.

"God, it feels like they remake movies five years after they come out now," Goyer added. "I’m sure New Line at some point would like to do another version of it. Me? Never say never, but I think remakes are more successful the more time there is in between. Honestly, I think they should have waited for the new Hulk. I like the new one. But the longer time you have between remakes [and their originals], the better. For me, ten years is the minimum you really need."
 

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