Category: Franchises

Jackson and Del Toro Talk a Little ‘Hobbit’ Format

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Empire magazine sat down with directors Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro for their 20th Anniversary issue due out next week.   In the interview, the directors discuss ‘The Hobbit,’ and their approach to spanning the story across two films.

Here’s what they had to say:

“We’ve decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur,† says Del Toro.

“We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie,† adds Jackson. “The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [LOTR] trilogy.†

There has been speculation that the second of these two films would be an original story that gapped ‘The Hobbit’ with the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.   That, apparently, is not the case, and the story played out in ‘The Hobbit’ will span two films.

What do you think?   Is there enough story in ‘The Hobbit’ to span across two different films?   Should they have set the second film to tell an original story that bridged the two different stories?   What are you overall thoughts on Del Toro taking over the reigns from Jackson?   Let us know by commenting below!

Source: Empire Online

Filming Begins on ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’

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Principal photography has officially begun on ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon,’ the highly anticipated sequel to ‘Twilight.’Â   The announcement on filming beginning came today from Summit Entertainment’s President of Production, Erik Feig.

‘New Moon’ brings back lead actors Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black, respectively.   Dakota Fanning, Graham Greene, and Michael Sheen are among the new members of the cast.   Director Chris Weitz (‘About a Boy’ and ‘The Golden Compass’) is at the helm of the film, which is scheduled for a November 20th release.

With principal photography having begun, it shouldn’t be too long before set pics and production stills start popping up.   We’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date on all the information coming out of the film’s production.

Keep checking back for updates.

Source: Summit Entertainment

More ‘X-Men Origins’ On the Way

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If you are a fan of the idea of ‘X-Men Origins,’ prepare yourselves.   There is a whole lot more to come.

Lauren Shuler Donner, who has been behind the production of all three ‘X-Men’ films as well as the upcoming ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine,’ noted on Fox Movie Channel’s Life After Film School that she wants to go back and show the origins of the entire X-Men team.   The film would be called ‘X-Men: First Class.’

“It is the first class of Xavier’s school, way back when, so it’s young Scott, young Jean, young Beast and that’ll be really fun,” Donner said. “I think (the plan) is to follow some of the characters into their own stories, and weave them back into the X-Men world.

“And hopefully First Class will become its own franchise and we can follow them as they grow up.”

Also on the show, Donner explained that the Magneto prequel film is still under development.

So, what does this mean?   Are we going to get a 90210-style ‘X-Men’ film filled with pretty people and flashy, new toys?   I’m sure that’s the way it’s going to go if they get someone like Ratner to direct it.   However, if they actually get a decent filmmaker like Bryan Singer or Gavin Hood behind it, it could be an interesting concept.

Source: Comics Continuum

‘Half-Blood Prince’ Moved Up Two Days

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Now is the time where big, Summer blockbusters start shifting their release dates around and around to get that perfect spot.   Word came down yesterday that ‘Star Trek’ would be bowing about five hours prior to its scheduled, midnight release and screenings would begin at 7PM on May 7th.   Now comes word from Warner that ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ will be releasing on Wednesday, July 15th as opposed to Friday, the 17th.

This gives ‘Half-Blood Prince’ a nice running start towards the weekend box office.   This also gives ‘Half-Blood Prince’ an unneeded head start on other films bowing that weekend, ‘(500) Days of Summer’ and ‘All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.’

‘Order of the Phoenix’ pulled this same maneuver when it was released in 2007.   It pulled in $44 million that Wednesday, and ended the five-day run with $139 million in pocket.   There aren’t any other films like ‘Half-Blood Prince’ getting releases around this same time, so expect box office totals to be fully in the little wizard’s favor.

The film was originally slated for release on November 21st, 2008, but Warner pushed it towards a Summer release due to having an open slot at this time in July.

Source: ERC Box Office

‘Terminator Salvation’ Concept Art Gallery

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The Sarah Connor Society has unveiled these beautiful pieces of concept art from ‘Terminator Salvation.’ Â  Not sure what Project Angel is or if it has anything to do with the film’s storyline. Â  These images were crafted by visual effects director Warren Fu and ILM artist Christian Alzmann, and they are things of beauty.

Check ’em out:

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Either Warner Brothers is just doing a helacious job marketing this movie, or it truly is going to be one of the best films of the year. Â  I never would have thought a year ago I would be sitting here describing how McG’s ‘Terminator Salvation’ was my most anticipated film of the Summer, but that has grown to be the case.

I guess we’ll all find out when the film hits on May 21st.

Source: Sarah Connor Society

‘Star Trek’ Release Pushed Up by About Five Hours

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While not just a huge jump back, fans won’t have to miss any work the next day due to going to ‘Star Trek’ midnight shows. Â  Paramount has decided to release the film at 7PM on May 7th instead of the typical midnight, May 8th release most Summer blockbusters get.

This is becoming the new trend for these blockbuster releases. Â  Last year, both ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ got released a day in advance. Â  This gives the film a running start towards the weekend and generally works in the studio’s favor.

‘Star Trek’ is listed as having a running time of 126 minutes, so, counting an actual midnight show, that gives the film three screenings on the 7th before launching full-force on Friday.

Source: Coming Soon

First Look at New Michael Myers Mask

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Filming wrapped last week on Rob Zombie’s sequel to ‘Halloween,’ and, as a gift to all us fans (and a curse to those who aren’t, I guess), he has released this first, official look at Michael Myers, new mask and all.

Check it out:

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Not really sure what to make of this mask.   Since they are revealing it this early in post-production, I’m assuming this is one of the masks we will be seeing a lot of throughout the film.   However, this looks like something that should have been kept under wraps until we see it at the end of the film.

Of course, that could still be the case, and Zombie just decided to release it to the public early.   Either way, we will find out for sure on August 28th when ‘H2’ comes out.   And, be sure to check out ‘Crank: High Voltage’ this coming weekend where the first trailer for ‘H2’ is slated to debut.

Source: Rob Zombie’s Myspace

‘Venom’ is getting a Spider-Man Spin-Off Movie!

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Sony will be developing a ‘Spider-Man’ spin-off movie that will focus on the Venom character, which has apparently been confirmed by it’s writers. The writing team of Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (Zombieland) have been hired to produce a screenplay for the project.

“We read [Venom] growing up, but we were not experts,” Reese said. “We certainly know the mythology of Venom, but went back and learned more when it became clear that we could actually get this job.” — Sci Fi Wire

Writing is already underway and Wernick and Reese are well aware of the egg shell they are walking on with this project. Sam Raimi was allegedly not a fan of the Venom character, which may have played into why ‘Spider-Man 3’ was not a big success with fans, but Wernick and Reese are approaching this script from a different angle.

[source: Sci Fi Wire]

Michael Sheen Turns in His ‘Underworld’ Fur for Some ‘Twilight’ Fangs

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Michael Sheen, best known for his roles in ‘The Queen’ and ‘Frost/Nixon,’ has joined the cast of ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon,’ currenly shooting in Vancouver. Â  

Sheen, who has played a werewolf in the ‘Underworld’ movies, will be playing the leader of the Volturi, a coven of vampires who reside in Italy. Â  In the ‘Twilight’ novels, the Volturi are regarded as royalty, since they are over three thousand years old and serve as police of the vampire community. Â  There are three leaders of the Volturi in the novels. Â  There is no word whether Sheen will play one of them or if the three characters in the novel have been combined into one character for the film.

‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ is set for a November 20th release.

Source: Variety

New ‘Terminator Salvation’ Poster Unveiled

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Despite it’s eventual PG-13 rating, I am still uber-psyched for ‘Terminator Salvation.’   It just looks so dark, and it fits into the nice, rare case where you have yourself both a sequel and a prequel to the franchise.   I’m really curious to see where the story goes in this film.   Plus, can you really do wrong with Christian Bale nowadays?   I think not.

I’m also glad to see Sam Worthington get billing right alongside Bale.   This give me hope that the Marcus Wright subplot is going to be the driving force behind the movie.   Great stuff.

Today, we bring you the latest poster.   If you read between the lines, you can kind of see a hint at the film’s original ending in the image you see above.   Take that for what it’s worth.

Also, if you check out IMDB’s page on the film, you notice that it has a current running time of 130 minutes.   Now, that is a perfect length for a Summer blockbuster.   None of this less-than-two-hours of geeky fun bullshit like we’re gonna get with ‘Wolverine.’

‘Terminator Salvation’ comes out on May 21st.