Tagged: Universal

Tintin A $130 Million No-No

  • News
  • September 20, 2008

The $130,000,000 budget for the upcoming Tintin movie, based upon Hergé’s world-wide hit comics series, has been rejected by Universal.

The movie, produced and directed by Steven Spielberg (with the second installment to be directed by The Lord of the Rings‘ Peter Jackson) and written by Doctor Who’s Stephen Moffat, is the first in a proposed trilogy of movies. Paramount is already partnered up in the movie, having spent over $25,000,000 on development work.

If they can straighten out financing issues, shooting is expected to begin in October. If not, maybe the U.S. government will bail the movie out.

Updates available at the official Tintin movie site.

Mark Verheiden Becomes a Hero

  • News
  • August 28, 2008

mark-verheiden-1-7000721Last Friday, Mark Verheiden posted on his blog that he has moved from Battlestar Galactica, now completed, to Universal’s other big hit, Heroes.

“I have made a lateral shift in the NBC/Universal universe and joined the show Heroes as a consulting writer/producer,” he revealed. “So far I’ve been catching up with the show’s wonderful mythology (boy, I thought Battlestar was twisted!) while watching an amazing staff craft incredible stories. Emotional, suspenseful, and jam-packed with action. And after watching some of the upcoming episodes, I’m in awe at how much they manage to accomplish each day. Lots of people, from the fantastic cast and directors to the hard-working and super-talented crew, are working really hard to make this all happen.”

His work will be seen in the second story arc for season three due in the spring.  Heroes returns to NBC Monday nights beginning September 22.
 

Work Starts on ‘Wanted’ Sequel

  • News
  • July 18, 2008

Word from Variety is that a sequel to the Wanted film is already under development, with producer Marc Platt and director Timur Bekmambetov at work on the property.

And word is he has another couple comics properties in the works. From Variety:

Proceeding at quicker pace is "Wanted 2," though Platt acknowledged that the creative team is still working on the challenge of continuing the story after most of the principal characters — including Angelina Jolie — ended the original in no position for an encore. But the film was designed as a potential franchise, Langley said, and it is still performing strongly after grossing $192.6 million worldwide. The intention is to get James McAvoy back into gunslinging mode. ...

That duo also is teamed with Bekmambetov on a Universal adaptation of the Christian Gossett sci-fi graphic novel "The Red Star," which has a script draft by Matthew Sand.

Platt, who just received a contract extension from Universal Pictures, also is reported to be attached to the Scott Pilgrim movie.

‘Hellboy 2’ Tops Box Office

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

hellboy2poster5-8184300More good news on the comic book movie front, as Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is reportedly tops at the box office, with a $35.9 million haul.

Variety says that well outpaces 2002’s Hellboy, the first teamup between director Guillermo del Toro and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. The second film didn’t face much competition, and next week brings the heavy hitter The Dark Knight, but it’s still a good (and better than expected) take.

Universal said the successful opening of the aggressively marketed “Golden Army” both cements the “Hellboy” film franchise, based on the Dark Horse Comics character, and continues the studio’s winning streak at the summer box office.

“This is an incredible result. No other studio wanted to do this, but Universal had the wherewithal to do it. You had a very talented filmmaker, plus a great marketing campaign that created a huge demand,” said U prexy of distribution Nikki Rocco.

“Golden Army’s” audience breakdown intrigued competing studios. Of Friday’s audience, 69% were male, while a sizeable 58% were over the age of 25, pointing to del Toro’s draw. A full 10% were over the age of 50, while 34% were 35 and older.

Sounds like a third film is possible, depending on how ticket sales hold up.

I finally got to see it Sunday, with a moderately full theater. Lots of good laughs, but overall it was pretty uneven, mainly because of some weaknesses in the script.

An Unprecedented Perspective on Edgar G. Ulmer, by Michael H. Price

detour-lobby-card-6176778I had mentioned Edgar G. Ulmer, the Grey Eminence of Old Hollywood’s Poverty Row sector, in last week’s column, attempting to draw a thematic similarity between Ulmer’s most vivid example of low-budget film noir, 1945’s Detour, and a newly opening picture called Stuck, from the dramatist-turned-filmmaker Stuart Gordon. The cause-and-effect response here was an urge to take a fresh look at Detour. Right about that time, the mail brought a copy of Gary D. Rhodes’ new book, Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row (Lexington Books; $85).

Gary Rhodes is a colleague of long standing, a filmmaker, educator and journalist whose work has intersected with mine on several fronts. Such Rhodes volumes as White Zombie: Anatomy of a Horror Film and Horror at the Drive-In relate strategically to the Forgotten Horrors books that George E. Turner and I originated during the 1970s, and Gary and I have long acknowledged a shared interest in Ulmer (1904-1972) as a talent essential to any understanding of maverick moviemaking.

With Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row, Rhodes takes that interest to an unprecedented extent. Editor Rhodes and a well-chosen crew of contributing writers consider Ulmer in light of not only his breakthrough film, 1934’s The Black Cat at big-time Universal Pictures, or such finery-on-a-budget exercises as Bluebeard (1944) and Detour (1945), but also Ulmer’s tangled path through such arenas as sex-hygiene exploitation films (1933’s Damaged Lives), Yiddish-language pieces (1937’s Green Fields), well-financed symphonic soap opera (1947’s Carnegie Hall), and ostensible schlock for the drive-in theatres (1957’s Daughter of Dr. Jekyll).

(more…)

Dark Horse and Universal Announce Production Deal

  • News
  • March 15, 2008

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Entertainment today announced an exclusive production and distribution agreement which effectively makes Universal the new home for all of Dark Horse’s film, television and comics properties for the next three years.

Specifically, this deal gives Universal the rights to all of the properties currently held by Dark Horse as well as anything that the company may want to aquire or develop in the future. It’s not a one-way street, however, as Dark Horse is able to tap into Universal’s vast financial and development resources to develop, finance and distribute projects of its own.

Of course, many of Dark Horse’s properties have already been made into films including The Mask, Barb Wire, Timecop and Mystery Men. In addition, Universal is currently behind the latest Dark Horse comic book project: Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.

Given this new deal one wonders if we might end up seeing feature film version of some of the most popular Dark Horse titles like Angel: After the Fall or or even Buffy: Season Eight? As a fan of both of those comics, I hope so.

‘Hulk’ Teaser Trailer Released

  • News
  • March 11, 2008

Even though tomorrow is technically the day when the first trailer for The Incredible Hulk will be released, it appears as if someone at Universal is getting a little antsy. Why? Well, a few bits and pieces of the trailer are already posted over at MTV’s website.

This sneak-peek doesn’t reveal too much and mostly shows Ed Norton’s Bruce Banner in therapy, discussing some of his anger issues. It also has a few shots of soldiers running, a humvee smashing through a barricade and Banner’s eyes turning green which, of course, signals an appearance by everyone’s favorite green goliath.

Check it out:

 

Universal Goes Blu-Ray

  • News
  • February 20, 2008

As we reported previously, Toshiba decided to end HD-DVD so the format conflict between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is over with Blu-Ray coming out on top. Now, with HD-DVD not an option, Universal has decided to throw its hat completely into the Blu-Ray ring and release all of its High-Def content exclusively in the format.

This announcement leaves Paramount and Dreamworks as the only major players still releasing content on HD-DVD. On switching completely to Blu-Ray, Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Home Entertainment and Universal Digital, had this to say about the company’s decision:

"While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray. The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear. Universal will continue its aggressive efforts to broaden awareness for high-def’s unparalleled offerings in interactivity and connectivity, at an increasingly affordable price. The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate."

So, what does this mean for current and soon-to-be-released Universal titles already in the HD-DVD format? Who knows. Still, after this announcement, how soon will it be before Paramount drops HD-DVD as well? Nobody in Hollywood likes to hang out with a "loser" so I’ll bet its just a matter of days, not weeks, before we get the announcement. Of course, if we do, we’ll bring you all the details right here at ComicMix.

 

Harry Potter theme park coming

harrypotterthemepark-5322112

Nikki Finke reports that Warner Bros Entertainment and Universal Orlando Resort are teming up to bring "The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter" to Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park in late 2009. The pair of studios are partnering to "create the world’s first fully immersive Harry Potter themed environment" envisioned as a "theme park within a theme park".

Much more, including how Disney was frozen out of the negotiations, at the link. Bigger versions of the pictures are here. My only concern — did Thomas Kinkade do some of the preview art? Nah… Harry Potter’s probably too Satanic for him.

 

Second Sight to big screen

According the IMDB.com news wire, Universal may be making Second Sight into a feature film.  The series, which originally starred Sin City’s Clive Owen, is about a detective who wants to solve one last case before he loses his sight, all the while keeping his condition a secret from his colleagues.  There are, as yet, no stars attached to the film.

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