During production on Quantum of Solice on Saturday, an Aston Martin valued at $250,000 was prematurely snuffed. The beautiful automobile was being delivered on location in Italy at Lake Garda when the man behind the wheel lost control and the car barrels through a protective barrier and took a nose dive into the lake. They hadn’t even begun shooting the footage and BAM!!! 250K down the toilet. Ouch! Fortunately, the driver surprisingly walked away with minimal damage to show for the blunder … however, we may see him in the unemployment line soon.
There seems to be big plot news leaking out of the New York Comic-Con going on right now, as we speak. During the Incredible Hulk panel discussion, there seems to be word of an exciting new sizzle reel that made its existence known … featuring a certain cameo and the following scene [as reported by IGN.com]:
Tony Stark shows up in the film in a cameo appearance. He walks into a bar where General “Thunderbolt” Ross is pounding whiskey.
“It smells like stale beer in here,” Stark retorts.
“You always have such nice suits,” Ross replies.
“I hear you have a little problem,” continues Stark, obviously in reference to the green goliath.
As some of you may have heard Stan Lee is at it again with his superhero stuff, like what does he know about superheros anyways? Well his new band of merry hero’s is being called Legion of 5. We get this from coming soon:
“Comic book legend Stan Lee and his production company POW! Entertainment, along with Brighton Partners, have partnered with Rainmaker Entertainment to launch “Legion of 5,” a new superhero property, says The Hollywood Reporter.
“Legion of 5″ — owned jointly by Rainmaker, POW! and Brighton — is planned as a series of CG-animated films but with a cross-platform approach to include games, online and mobile releases. Merchandising is part of the plan as well.
Details of the characters and story line are being kept under wraps.”
I actually just got off the phone with Stan Lee and he has given me some info about one of the superhero’s … Mr. Slim Goodbody:
What the heck happened to Carrot Top? Was Chairman of the Board so awful that it put him over the edge and made him start body building?
I don’t know about that, but he is HUGE, and Chairman of the Board was AWFUL. Carrot Top AKA Scott Thompson is actually that big now. I know what you are thinking..”No Way, that has to be someone else, or Photoshopped” Well..its not.
I went to his Myspace and looked a recent pictures of him and its true. Check it out
As for what he is up to now, you all know! He is the epitome of an out of work actor. However, he does have a headlining comedy gig in Vegas at the Luxor Hotel.
The rights to the Japanese manga Ghost in the Shell, created by Masamune Shirow, have been picked up by DreamWorks. The studio plans to develop it into a 3-D live action feature film. Apparently there was a lot of competing interest from other studios, including Universal and Sony, but DreamWorks landed the deal, allegedly due in part to Steven Spielberg taking a personal interest in the project. The story takes place in the future and centers on a covert member of the police force that specializes in technology-related crime. The film adaptation will be penned by Jamie Moss (Street Kings).
After searching around vigorously for any new info regarding the upcoming stoner comedy “Pineapple Express”, I ran into the new poster! Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Danny McBride helm it with the tagline stating “Put this in your pipe and smoke it.”
Quick Synopsis which most of the true Apatow fans already know by now…
Lazy stoner Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) has only one reason to visit his equally lazy dealer Saul Silver (James Franco) to purchase weed, a rare new strain called Pineapple Express. But when Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked cop (Rosie Perez) and the city’s most dangerous drug lord (Gary Cole), he panics and dumps his roach of Pineapple Express at the scene. Dale now has another reason to visit Saul: to find out if the weed is so rare that it can be traced back to him,Which is. As Dale and Saul run for their lives, they quickly discover that they’re not suffering from weed-fueled paranoia, the bad guys really are hot on their tail and trying to figure out the fastest way to kill them both.
Set to release August 8th 2008, it will be the funniest movie of the year without a doubt!!!
There is news, big news, coming from Michael Bay and Co. regarding some character and cast decisions for Transformers 2. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who wishes to wait and be surprised, so I have posted the biggest news below, incognito … you know, like “robots in disguise…”
The awesome news is in white text to hide from unwanting eyes. Copy and paste what lies between the arrows and you shall know which new decepticons will appear larger than life on the big screen …
>>>The Constructicons … and apparently they WILL combine and become Devastator. Sweet …<<<
Stan Lee has teamed up with Walt Disney Pictures to create three new films. The titles of the three new movies, being produced by Stan Lee and Gill Champion, are as follows: Nick Ratchet, Blaze and Tigress. And … that’s really all we know about the films themselves. As is the SOP with Disney, any details on their projects are being kept extremely hush-hush. What we can be fairly sure of is that these three films will probably be marketed more towards the little tykes and tykettes.
However, here’s what we do know:
Nick Ratchet will be written and directed by Richard LaGravenese (P.S. I Love You, Living Out Loud).
Blaze is being written by Gary Goldman (Next).
Tigress is being written by newbie Zoe Green. This film should not be confused with another film of the same title being developed by Stan Lee, intended to star Michelle Rodriguez (Girl Fight, Resident Evil), which is based on a villainess from the Conan the Barbarian comic books.
Faced with a grassroots boycott of its films, bicoastal protests at screenings of its Friday opener “Superhero Movie” and a campaign calling its co-chairman “Darth Weinstein,” indie studio Weinstein Co. said Monday that it now plans to release two versions of its “Star Wars”-inspired comedy “Fanboys.”
Weinstein said it will release the two versions on DVD, and a studio source later said that is exploring two theatrical versions.
“Fanboys,” about four diehard “Star Wars” fans who break into George Lucas‘ Skywalker Ranch in order to see “The Phantom Menace” on the eve of its release, wrapped production two years ago and has been stuck in limbo as a tug-of-war between Harvey Weinstein and the filmmakers waged over competing versions of the movie.
The latest announcement did nothing to satisfy the filmmakers, who accuse the company of only putting out the announcement in order to sidestep a meltdown at this weekend’s box office.
“This is more about avoiding picket lines at ‘Superhero’ than it was about making a decision about the release of our movie,” said Kevin Mann, one of the producers.
Mann — along with producer Matthew Perniciaro, director Kyle Newman and writer Ernie Cline, who originated the story — worked on “Fanboys” in 2003 with Kevin Spacey‘s Trigger Street production company coming on board in 2005. The cast, including then up-and-comers Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen and Dan Fogler, all signed up for a script that one year made the Blacklist, the annual industry ranking of the top scripts in town. Footage began making the rounds at “Star Wars” festivals, while 40 minutes of “Fanboys”‘ rough cut was screened at Star Wars Celebration and Comic-Con, where it was enthusiastically received by a standing-room-only crowd last year.
The Weinstein Co. picked up the project in late 2005, and following production slated “Fanboys” for release August 17, 2007. That got pushed back to a January 18 release. Then it went off the grid altogether.
Insiders said the root of the problem was Weinstein’s issue with the underlying story in “Fanboys.” The cross-country adventure is put in motion because one of the characters is facing cancer. Late last year, the company decided it would do reshoots, hiring Judd Apatow‘s producing partner Shauna Robertson to oversee a $2 million reshoot of four scenes done by director Steve Brill (“Drillbit Taylor”). That, combined with re-editing, created a version that excised the cancer subplot.
“Harvey feels it’s hard to market, especially with this cast,” an insider said. “He wants to market to a more teen audience. The filmmakers wanted a dramedy along the vein of ‘Stand by Me.”‘
The Weinstein Co. this year began testing both versions. Unprompted by the filmmakers, “Star Wars” fans began uniting to oppose the noncancer version, led by the 501st, a “Star Wars” fan group named after a fictional battalion. The group created the Web site http://committed.to/stopdarthweinstein that provided updates on developments while also lampooning Harvey Weinstein by Photoshopping him in Darth Vader drag.
The test screenings yielded a minuscule win for the noncancer version — one insider said the difference was only two test points — but that only emboldened the geeks. And some of the producers remained unmoved.
“The original reason we wanted to get involved with this script was because it was a comedy with heart,” Mann said. “In my opinion, when the cancer was taken out, the heart went with it.”
The fans’ ire was raised even more when they discovered that Brill had joined a chat session under the screen name “GL,” which fans interpreted to be George Lucas. The online discussion turned nasty with threats from both sides.
The new announcement still leaves the movie up in the air. It still has no release date, only a promise that both versions will be available on DVD. Late Monday, a Weinstein source said, “We’re making a very strong attempt to make both films available theatrically as well.”
The 501st was unimpressed with the Weinstein Co.’s move.
“This is clearly a vain attempt by the Weinstein Co. to avert ‘Star Wars’ fans’ impending boycott of all of their films,” the group said. “It’s not going to work, Darth Weinstein. There was never any doubt that you would release both versions of the movie on DVD, probably months apart, so as to leech as much money from ‘Star Wars’ fans as possible. Our boycott will continue until the Weinstein Co. announces that they are returning control of ‘Fanboys’ to the ‘Star Wars’ fans who made it, releasing the original version in theaters and doing away with their anti-fan version of the film altogether.”
The company Monday acknowledged that it had received more than 300,000 e-mails, which factored in its decision.
“While the later version tested very well with audiences, the grassroots support we have received for the first version simply cannot be ignored,” a Weinstein spokesman said.
The filmmakers had a more measured response than the fans, hoping to be given a chance to work the film some more.
“If they want to excise the cancer or reshoot again, I’ll cooperate,” Trigger Street producer Dana Brunetti said. “One tested better than the other, so I see both sides to it.
“We’re too close to the movie to be objective, but we know which we consider better,” he added with a laugh. “I’ve always been content with the (original cut of) the movie.”
Harvey Weinstein has a history of tangling with filmmakers over their films’ edits, earning him the moniker “Harvey Scissorhands” in some circles, but he seems to have met his match with a legion of “Star Wars” fans.
The possibility of a theatrical release was encouraging to both Newman and Brunetti.
“It will be interesting to see what version comes out theatrically, if it does at all,” Brunetti said. “We’re hoping to meet somewhere in the middle between the two.”
“Fanboys” for release August 17, 2007. That got pushed back to a January 18 release. Then it went off the grid altogether.