Ivan Reitman’s been dangling a possible Ghostbusters 3 in front of us for years now, and now that there’s a completed script, it’s only a matter of time before it starts production, right? Well, almost. There’s one problem, and his name is Bill Murray. See, there’s a special arrangement in place that says that no new Ghostbusters production can move forward without the consent of all of its original stars/creators. And Bill Murray is notoriously picky about his projects (except for Garfield, I guess). He told Howard Stern that he had received the script some time ago but hadn’t read it yet because it just “isn’t the foremost thing in [his] mind.” That’s fair. But it’s foremost in my mind! Read the damn script, Bill! Read more…
I was already a little iffy about the next Superman film after director Zack Snyder announced his plans to cast English actor Henry Cavill as our beloved Clark Kent, and now we’re hearing that Kevin Costner has been cast as Kent’s adopted father. As much as I’d like to give Costner credit for his storied acting career, many of the major films he’s starred in have tanked at the box office. To be honest, I’m not really sure how much of that is his fault — after all, he’s not a bad actor — but if the naysayers are to be believed, his involvement may as well serve as an omen. I hope both him, and his co-star prove me wrong. Besides, it’s not like he’s the star of the film.
Could we be seeing a Hollywood-produced Star Blazers live-action film in foreseeable future? Well, it’s not 100% official just yet. Skydance Productions are reportedly in the process of negotiating the license for the series. If some of you recall, Japan recently produced a live-action adaptation of their own that performed pretty well, so I imagine there’s probably some pressure to make sure the Hollywood adaptation will at least hold a candle to that. It probably won’t be a problem, seeing as they plan on hiring Christopher McQuarrie to write the script — he’s also working on the upcoming Wolverine “sequel.”
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 20, 2011 in Cinema, Star Trek
This is one of those stories that makes me wonder if things wouldn’t actually have been better if they had turned out as originally planned. Star Trek producer Rick Berman stated in a recent interview that the last film to star the Next Generation crew, Star Trek: Nemesis, was originally going to star a completely new cast of characters, but Berman fought to keep the TNG cast around for another film. At that point, Berman argues, Enterprise was just about to hit TV, so he felt like introducing yet another new Federation crew would’ve alienated series fans. Nemesis was not a great film by any means, its production was hampered with problems with both its script and cast, and it certainly didn’t make any money for Paramount, so one has to wonder if maybe a new cast and a fresh take on Trek would’ve made a better movie. Fun fact: Shinzon, Picard’s clone (shown above), was played by a young Tom Hardy, who you may know from Inception, and who’ll soon be playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Read more…
No, not Val Kilmer, the other guy. Shane Black, who directed RDJ in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, is said to be helming the third Iron Man film after Jon Favreau was booted from the director’s spot. Downey ultimately has choice of director in that he is allowed to leave the project if he doesn’t approve of the director, so Paramount and Marvel Studios have reason to keep him happy. Black and Downey have a long history and a good friendship — in fact, much of the original Iron Man‘s dialogue was cribbed from discussions between the two in Downey’s trailer even while filming was ongoing. Black is a great choice for director, and he may even be writing the film as well, so let’s hope that the third film in the series fares better script-wise than the second did. Read more…
Director Matthew Vaughn isn’t even done with X-Men: First Class yet, but that isn’t stopping him from planning his next venture, which he says a major studio is ready to fund. It’s called The Golden Age, and it’s based on an unreleased comic book written by UK TV personality Jonathan Ross, and Vaughn likens it to “The Expendables with superheroes.” The comic book follows several retired superheroes who have to team up one last time to fix the problems their superhero children have caused in the world. Vaughn says that he’d love to have Jack Nicholson or Warren Beatty in lead roles, or any other former big-time star who’s now relegated to side roles. Sounds like a neat concept, but I’ll have to wait until the comic is released to make a real judgement on the film’s prospects. Read more…
The last few Thor trailers haven’t really had a lot to say in terms of Thor the character, just how people around him react to him. We haven’t gotten a chance to see the oblivious oaf side of the Odinson, a necessary counterpart to his more stalwart and heroic side. Well, in this latest trailer, we get a little more action and a little more oaf. And Kat Dennings taking out the depowered god of thunder with a taser. This I like. We even get the indication that Loki is the villain of the film, not just a side character! Not that followers of the film didn’t already know that, but at least the trailer is making it obvious to the average viewer. It’s a big summer for comic book movies — let’s hope Thor makes an impact. Read more…
Last week, fellow fanboy Mike Sacco posted the X-Men: First Class trailer that premiered on the film’s official facebook. Like most of you, I was pretty excited about the new direction the series will be taking with this prequel of sorts. The trailer itself did a great job of selling us on the premise — the young Charles Xavier befriends Erik Lensherr and forms the original X-Men, amidst what we came to know as the cold war. Recently, IGN broke down the trailer piece by piece to show us all the little easter eggs we missed the first time around, and if you’re big on Marvel lore, or some hints about the plot, you’ll want to give it a watch. Read more…
Idris Elba plays Heimdall in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming Thor movie, and like any good superhero movie, Thor has its fair share of merchandising. At its Toy Fair yesterday, Hasbro showed off its line of Thor figures, including Elba’s Heimdall, which brings back a feature action figures have really been missing since the 80s — strategically-placed loincloths. That’s not even bringing up the figure’s Captain Morgan pose. It must be strange to have action figures made of you for a film; when Jeff Goldblum was asked about his Jurassic Park action figure, he said “Well, the main difference is the muscles. Mine are much bigger in real life.” Read more…
Licensed games, especially those based on kids’ properties, tend not to be so great, and Transformers games are no exception. Thankfully, Hasbro had the gumption to let High Moon Studios release a non-tie-in, fully canon Transformers game — War for Cybertron — in 2010, and that gamble paid off in the form of a fun, beautiful game. Now it seems Hasbro is banking on High Moon to produce another Transformers title, but this time it’s a tie-in for the upcoming movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon. High Moon’s Sean Miller assured IGN that they got the franchise because they’re all big Transformers fans, and that since the game acts as a prequel to the film, they’re not beholden to a particular script or scenario for their set pieces and gameplay. Can High Moon one-up themselves and make not only another good Transformers game, but a good Transformers movie game? Time will tell. Read more…
We had heard a rumor several months back that the forces behind the American live-action Akira remake wanted Zac Efron, of all people, to star as Kaneda. It’s bad enough that they’re remaking Akira with no Japanese people, but Zac Efron? Let’s get real, people. Apparently the original rumor was or is now false, because the newest rumor says that James Franco is being courted for the role of Tetsuo’s biker pal. Well, it’s better than Zac Efron, and dude looks good in a leather jacket, though, you know, still not an Asian person. Maybe we can hope for a sequel, Akira 2: Tokyo Drift. Read more…
Finally, the first trailer for X-Men: First Class has been released. Apparently filming is still ongoing, or was up until recently, even though the film has a release date of just four months from now. You wouldn’t know that from the trailer, though, which actually looks pretty good! We see Magneto and Xavier being pals, Azazel bamfing around, Emma Frost going all diamond on us, and some short shots of other X-Men like Beast and Havok (the latter mysteriously present in the 1960s). The movie’s plot seems to revolve around the Cuban Missile Crisis, which would definitely be a compelling point in history for mutants to reveal themselves. Here’s hoping the movie can be completed in a satisfactory manner before June. Read more…
Last weekend marked Tokyo’s 2011 Winter Wonder Festival, a show dedicated specifically Japan’s booming toy market. There, skilled artisans are allowed to sell their custom garage kit models while companies like Kotobukiya and Max Factory show off their upcoming product lines. One of the more popular lines would be Max Factory’s Figmas. The big selling point on these figures, in addition to being incredibly affordable, is their small joint sizes, allowing for good amount of articulation. They also tend to come with interchangable parts — such as heads, or arms — and accessories to match each figure.
I know a lot of you are probably excited for X-Men First Class due out in theaters later this year. For those of you who haven’t heard much about the project, the film covers the beginning of the X-Men saga, when Magneto and Charles Xavier first learn of their powers, working together in an effort to better life for mutant-kind. No doubt the story leads up to the formation of the original X-Men we’ve come to know and love. So far, the official facebook page only has this teaser logo, but according to the guys over at Collider, we can expect a trailer to be posted on the facebook page sometime tomorrow — so keep your eyes peeled. Read more…
Of all the ads that were broadcast during this year’s Superbowl, only two of them had me drooling with anticipation. Marvel debuted not one, but two trailers for their upcoming blockbusters. First there was the latest trailer for Thor, and while we’ve seen a bit of that footage dating back to San Diego Comic Con, there was some new content mixed in. As for Captain America, I believe this is the first public trailer to be shown any where, and it looks pretty interesting. We even get a glimpse of Red Skull, which gave me goosebumps. Check out the trailers below, though I’m not sure how long they’ll be up.
Captain America hype is building, folks! Yesterday saw the release of several set photos from the film, and the first trailer will be unveiled on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s only fitting that we see the first official movie poster today! The colors are muted except for the bold red and blue of Cap’s outfit and shield, which is noticeably dinged up. His pose mimics a classic pose from the comics, and the costume certainly looks great with this palette. And, of course, Chris Evans is Steve Rogers. High hopes for Sunday. I hear there’s a football game, too. Read more…
We’re so close to Super Bowl Sunday, when the Captain America trailer will premiere and we can all truly make our first informed judgement about the film’s quality. But until then, you can feast your eyes on these all-new Captain America set photos. We see our first glimpses of Cap’s pal Bucky, played by Sebastian Shan and looking like a total sociopath. We see the lovely Hayley Atwell, playing Cap’s main squeeze Peggy, and the also-lovely Natalie Dormer, playing Private Lorraine. Tommy Lee Jones is even in these photos! I didn’t know he was in the movie at all. I’m about at critical hype mass for Captain America, so I hope the trailer leaves me with that patriotic feeling.
Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider.
Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is sort of the glue that holds the Marvel film universe together, having cameoed in pretty much every Avengers-universe film so far. According to the man himself, he’ll also have post-credits cameos in the Thor and Captain America movies too. But he also confirmed, via the Jimmy Fallon Show, that he’ll have a new “sidekick” in The Avengers, and a female one at that. The Hollywood Reporter, er, reports that a handful of actresses are already in consideration for the role, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Cobie Smulders, and Morena Baccarin. If the character is either Maria Hill or Janet Van Dyne (aka Wasp, one of the original Avengers) and Baccarin’s schedule is clear, then it’s almost guaranteed that she’ll get the role, given her long history with Avengers director Joss Whedon (and her resemblance to both of the characters). But anything can happen! One thing’s for sure — it’ll be nice to see a female hero amidst the male-dominated Avengers team, even if the role is small at first. Read more…
I have to say that I still find myself letdown on a number of levels with the Tron sequel: The fanboy in me feels that it just wasn’t as good as it could have been, yet I know the reality is that perhaps Hollywood couldn’t do anything more clever than to rip off the Matrix. But the bright side of all of my disappointments is that there is a wealth of cool Tron goodies that have been released onto the market. And on one such case are these cool sets of Tron Kubricks from Japan — if you can just forget the sequel you can relive your childhood. Read more…
This guy’s going to be Superman? Really? I feel as if asking repeatedly might some how result in a different answer, yet I’m more than aware that I need to just come to terms with the idea. It’s not that Henry Cavill is a bad actor — his work on Showtime’s The Tudors is evidence enough — but I can’t help but feel he simply doesn’t look the part. Perhaps it’s simply that I had been sold on Brandon Routh, whose visage so closely resembled that of a young Christopher Reeve. Reeve, of course, set the standard for what we’ve come to expect from the Man of Steel.
I was just very saddened to read that Oscar winning composer John Barry has passed away — his scores have graced quite a few well known films and television shows over the years including a dozen James Bond films. His other well known scores included films like A Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy, The Black Hole, Out of Africa, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Dances with Wolves (just to name a few). Of course one of my favorites is the soundtrack to the film Beat Girl from 1960: Read more…
Oscar season is upon us, and you know what that means: a dozen or so self-serious award-bait films competing with each other for Best Picture. So what can you do to bring a little levity to these proceedings? The answer, of course, is “render scenes from the Best Picture nominees in Lego brick form.” And that, incidentally, is just what Alex Eylar has done. From 127 Hours’ Lego James Franco anguishing over the loss of his arm to Lego Joseph Gordon-Levitt fighting in a zero-G rotating Lego hotel hallway, it’s all here. Just Lego-fied. Read more…
It remains to be seen as whether the advance US screening of GANTZ was a large enough success to warrant future engagements of that nature, but after being forced to sit through one of the worst dubs I’ve seen in recent history, I can completely understand if any of you may hesitate to attend one. I’m not really sure the decision to premiere the film in English was entirely the fault of any one party, or if in fact Viz Pictures, Goodman Media, or NCM Fathom were responsible for forcing the hands of the others, but there may be something each of you can do about it.
This new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan short — I can only hope they’ll be turning this into a full-length film — looks spectacular. A striking brunette, no doubt Apirl O’Niel, sits alone in her apartment having recently photographed members of what appears to be the foot clan. After tracking her down, they attempt to assualt her when she’s saved by Raphael. Read more…
