Tag: wb

CG Suit in GREEN LANTERN’s Future

Work on the Martin Campbell-directed GREEN LANTERN is well underway, as production began earlier in the month in New Orleans.  With that comes set visits, and, with that, comes news that Warner Brothers couldn’t keep under their hat for very long.  /Film is reporting the famed, green suit Ryan Reynolds’ Hal Jordan will be donning won’t be practical, but computer generated.

According to what /Film was told, Reynolds is wearing a motion capture suit on set and the suit we see in the finished film will be almost entirely made out of 1s and 0s.  The CG suit will be designed by Ngila Dickson who worked costume design for LORD OF THE RINGS, THE LAST SAMURAI, and for a little TV show called “Xena: Warrior Princess.”  Take from that what you will.

Evidently, there are those who are making comparisons to Reynolds on set to how Billy Crudup looked on the set of WATCHMEN, though don’t expect Reynold’s suit in the finished film to be as revealing as that of Dr. Manhattan’s.  Warner Brothers is claiming the finished version of the suit will look cool, but that isn’t really saying much, a studio claiming something in one of their upcoming, tent pole movies is going to look cool.  They’d be stupid to claim otherwise.

I’m sure we’ll be able to tell just how cool this all turns out when the film’s trailer begin to hit, but we’ll know for sure once GREEN LANTERN hits theaters in June of 2011.

GODZILLA Roaring Back to the Screen

It’s been 12 long years since Matthew Broderick GODZILLA nearly destroyed New York City.  Believe it or not, since then, there have been six GODZILLA movies released in Japan, and Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures figure it’s time for another US reboot.  The announcement came today that the iconic, massive lizard with a penchant for subway cars and who can blow flames from his mouth will be coming back to American theaters.  The new film is set for a 2012 release.

Legendary Pictures announced Monday they had acquired rights to the film from Toho Co. but that the Japanese-based film studio would still release the film in Japan.

Says Thomas Tull, Chairman and CEO of Legendary Pictures:

GODZILLA is one of the world’s most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise. Our plans are to produce the GODZILLA that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop-culturally relevant for as long as it has.

I think, if you read between the lines, this means there won’t be any baby GODZILLA’s to cash in on the JURASSIC PARK craze and I have a feeling a home pregnancy test won’t come into play this time around.  Jean Reno, though?  Always welcome.

Legendary says a director will be announced soon.

Guy Ritchie Taking on EXCALIBUR

Yes, a little devil on my shoulder (not one I care to listen to all that often) wanted me to put that headline as “Guy Ritchie Takes Out EXCALIBUR,” but I’m classier, than that, folks.  Plus, who’s to say Ritchie doesn’t have some toy or otherwise…ahem…tool that he, actually, calls Excalibur?  Who am I to break that news here?

Anyway, back to movies…

Variety is reporting that Ritchie has attached himself to Warner Brothers’ new King Arthur project.  Evidently, Ritchie just loves his classical, British figures who are fictional but who many people feel truly lived in their day.  These are the people I don’t want to hang out with at parties.

This is particularly noteworthy, as, according to the scoop from Pajiba, this is WB setting up a competing project with the one already being worked on under the same house with Bryan Singer involved.  That one is a direct remake of John Boorman’s, 1981 EXCALIBUR, while the Ritchie film is a feature film adaptation of Warren Ellis’ EXCALIBUR treatment.  Could be WB hedging their bets, especially since it doesn’t seem Singer is going to be getting to his EXCALIBUR remake any time soon.

TRAINSPOTTING and THE BEACH writer John Hodge is working on the new screenplay in collaboration with Ritchie.  Atlas Entertainment and Hollywood Gang are backing the project.

Warner Brothers Headed to GILLIGAN’S ISLAND

You just knew someone at some point was going to step up and take that three-hour tour.  That someone ended up being Warner Brothers, as Variety is reporting the sudio, along with Atlas Entertainment, have begun development on a feature film based on the classic GILLIGAN’S ISLAND TV show.  WILD HOGS and YOGI BEAR screenwriter Brad Copeland is on board to work out the script.

The new film, based on the 98 episodes that ran on CBS from ’64-’67, looks to be a contemporary take on the seven castaways who end up making lives for themselves on a deserted island.  No smoke monster or mysterious hatches, but they do end up making a lot of electronics out of coconuts.

Says Charles Roven, one of the producers for Atlas:

The characters are so good.  We think it’s going to be a great story to transport these cultural icons to the modern day.

Roven also revealed plans are for production could begin as early as next year, and that a director would not be sought out until Copeland turned in his completed screenplay.

What do you think?  What auteur would be daring enough to leap onto this project and make it their own?  What thespians would fill that red shirt and white, skipper’s hat better than any?  Let us know by throwing comments our way in the section below.

SUPERMAN Returns With David Goyer in Tow

First came news that David Goyer had left his post as show runner for FLASHFORWARD.  At that time, we, along with others, reported he had left to begin work on the screenplay for BATMAN 3 with Jonathan Nolan.  Then, news broke out that BATMAN BEGINS and DARK KNIGHT helmer Christopher Nolan was stepping in as mentor for Warner’s SUPERMAN 3.0 reboot.

Now, the fine people over at Latino Review have cracked the scoop that Goyer is, indeed, working with WB, but it’s not on the BATMAN 3 script.  Goyer is only providing the story for that film.  According to Latino Review‘s source, Goyer will be scripting the latest SUPERMAN adventure.

The source also provided some of the behind-the-scenes dealings in getting Goyer involved and what Goyer may have in store for us:

  • Thomas Tull, the head of Legendary, got tired of all the discussion and decided chingate, let’s do it.  So he went to Goyer and Goyer had an idea that actually takes the movies back to the John Byrne incarnation.  Modern.  Believable.  FUN!  So Tull got Goyer hired.
  • The film will not be called Superman and will be called THE MAN OF STEEL.
  • Brandon Routh will not star in the film.
  • Nic Cage will NOT star in the film (lol)
  • Bryan Singer is not expected to direct.
  • Goyer’s story involves Luthor and Brainiac.  It is NOT an origin and assumes audiences already know about Lois, Clark, Jimmy and Perry.  I know the Daily Planet is struggling due to the internet.  And I know it sets up a huge Kryptonian mythology.

This is just one more step in Warner Brothers taking the necessary steps to revitalize the SUPERMAN franchise.  Putting people like Nolan and Goyer in charge of the next film is sure to make one for the books and so much more important to the canon than what the lackluster SUPERMAN RETURNS had to offer.  At least it’s not another Lex Luthor, real estate scheme.  At least there haven’t been any talks, yet, anyway, about a giant, robot spider.

MORTAL KOMBAT Suit Halts Third Film’s Development

Oh, the sweet, sweet arm (in this case four arms?) of litigation.

Development on a third MORTAL KOMBAT film has been halted due to a lawsuit from Threshold Entertainment against Warner Brothers.  Variety is reporting Threshold filed the suit on Tuesday claiming WB failed to respond to Threshold and  sought to cut them out entirely.

This latest lawsuit makes the third such case Threshold has brought against Warner Brothers.  The two, previous suits were filed in 2008 and 2009 against WB and New Line over accounting issues from the first MORTAL KOMBAT film in 1995.

Threshold Entertainment feels they have property ownership over a third MORTAL KOMBAT film based on agreements the company made with Midway Games.  Midway Games filed for bankruptcy last year, and, at that time, WB picked up the rights to most of the gaming company’s properties, including MORTAL KOMBAT.

In the end, this will be a bunch of hullabaloo over very little.  A settlement will take place.  Threshold and WB will come to some sort of deal, and production will begin again on a third travesty of cinematic justice.

What do you think?  Does the MORTAL KOMBAT franchise warrant a third film?  Does Threshold have a case against WB here?  Wouldn’t it be better to just have Johnny Cage and Sub-Zero fight it out in a courtroom, each of them representing a company?  Let us know your thoughts by shooting us a comment below.

CLASH OF THE TITANS Filming Continues…and in 3-D

When I hear a film is going back for re-shoots, especially in this day and age where it seems every film has to re-shoot something, I don’t get concerned about the film’s well-being.  There are any number of reasons why a film would go back for re-shoots, and most of them don’t have to do with the film being a huge trainwreck they are trying to fix.  That happens, but less often than you would like to believe.  However, when I hear that a film is going back for re-shoots and there is talk they are going to make the film 3-D, that just raises the red flag of anger quicker than you can imagine.

The LA Times sat down with Sam Worthington last week when the subject of his next film, 2010’s remake of CLASH OF THE TITANS, came up.  Worthington mentioned that Warner Brothers, excited by what they had seen of Louis Leterrier’s film, had increased his budget to add more scenes.

We’re going to be going back and shooting more scenes for it, they cut loose with some money so we can  add to it.  We’re going to be shooting more scenes in January, so we’re going to be right up against it — the movie comes out in March.

That’s fine.  This is perfectly normal for a film, particularly one with so much riding on its back.  Then, Worthington dropped the bombshell that pretty much shattered any good will I had for this film.

There were some creaky parts but they are the parts that we knew were creaky and that we knew were going to be creaky going into it. The studio is also letting us  add some gods and scenes. And they’re  talking about making the movie a 3D film.

Let’s just go back and make it all 3-D, why don’t we?  It’s a rant I’ve been through a hundred times.  If you are making a 3-D film, fine.  Make it a 3-D film from the outset.  If you go back and “make” a movie 3-D, you’re just buying into a gimmick that, to me, doesn’t add much of anything to the film.

What do you think?  Is 3-D a good idea for CLASH OF THE TITANS?  Do the re-shoots make you nervous for the film?  What are your overall thoughts on 3-D?  Let us know by shooting us a comment in the section below.

CLASH OF THE TITANS is set for release on March 26th, 2010.

Kevin Smith Goes Through a COP OUT

couple of dicks

Evidently, Kevin Smith’s newest film, a buddy cop movie starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan previously titled A COUPLE OF DICKS, is going to be called COP OUT.   This comes to us today from The Film Stage, who got a trailer placement list for SHERLOCK HOLMES from WB.   On tap to run with the new film is the trailer for a film called COP OUT.   Kevin Smith has been saying the trailer for his newest film would be running in front of SHERLOCK.   2 + 2 isn’t that hard to put together.

It’s still not as interesting a title as the risque one WB has been shooting down since the beginning of production.   It was revealed just last week that the title was officially dropped.

Other trailers running in front of SHERLOCK HOLMES will be INCEPTION and CLASH OF THE TITANS.   There were rumors that the trailer for IRON MAN 2 (which ran during AICN’s Butt-Numb-A-Thon) would be running, as well, but it was not listed on WB’s site.

A COUPLE OF DICKS COP OUT comes out February 26th, 2010.

GREEN LANTERN Pulling Up Stakes in Australia

green lantern header

Another day, another failed attempt at getting a DC project off the ground.   Thanks to the falling US dollar and the Australian dollar hitting a 27-year high against it on Friday, Warner Brothers has pulled production on GREEN LANTERN out of Australia.   According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio claims “the current global economic situation, including fluctuations in currency valuation and overall costs” are what forced the decision.   In a nutshell, with the differences in the value of each country’s dollar, the latest inflation would add an estimated $20 million to the film’s production budget.   The studio and agency Screen NSW also made the claim that they would have to reassess filming the project in other countries, as well.

The report claims industry insiders say production could be moved to Mexico or Canada, though nothing has been officially announced.

Production was to have begun in November with Martin Campbell at the helm and Ryan Reynolds donning the green suit.   The release date is currently shakey at its Summer 2011 schedule, though expect this to change soon.

New Line Developing VACATION Sequel

vacation

It’s time to tie up old Dinky, the Family Truckster is going back out on the road.  As reported over at Heat Vision Blog, New Line is developing a sequel to the 1983 classic, ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation,’ which starred Chevy Chase.

The new film, which is to be produced and possibly directed by David Dobkin, would follow the adventures of the son from the original, Rusty Griswold, who, now a father of his own, takes his family on a road trip vacation.  Chase and Beverly D’Angelo could possibly be making appearances as grandparents.

The new project came about as Warner Brothers, who owns the rights to the original film, took on New Line as part of the studio.  Exec Sam Brown began going through WB’s titles to find a suitable reboot/sequel, and came across ‘Vacation.’

New Line is meeting with writers this week, and their hopes are to make the film more in line with ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ or ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ rather than ‘RV’ or ‘Are We There Yet?’.