Posted by bob in Films, News on August 23rd, 2008
Scottish actor Kevin McKidd (Rome) told a Dublin radio audience that he may well become the new Highlander.
Summit Entertainment has yet to announce casting for their revival of the popular franchise but McKidd would certainly fit the bill.
Posted by dominie in Comics, Films on August 21st, 2008
Production for the animated sci-fi feature film, Technotise: Edit and I, has been going on for eight years now and will finally premiere in November this year. The film is the first Serbian animated feature to be created. Writer-director Aleksa Gajic first developed it as a sequel to his Technotise graphic novel.
“The plot is set in Belgrade in 2074. The main character is Edit, a female psychology student. After her sixth failure at the same university exam, she decides to have the chip installed to help her pass. From that moment, her life changes and unusual things start happening to her.”
Rumors are that the animated feature “looks far from being unoriginal, both in style and substance.” Inspiration for the graphics came from a mixture of Japanese anime and realistic drawings with static scenes, emphasized atmosphere, and authentic artistic expression. The process also included explorations in classic 2D animation and transitioned to improved 3D animation followed by vector animation.
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 12th, 2008
One of the great films FM covered when it first opened in 1963 was Ray Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts. Although remade in the past, nothing quite captured the charm of the original. That has not stopped Zak Penn (The Incredible Hulk) from writing a new big screen version of the same Greek story. This one is dubbed The Argonauts for 20th-Century Fox. DreamWorks is said to also be developing their own interpretation of the story although their film would feature treasure hunters from today transported back to the time of Jason. This comes the same time that War of the Gods and the remake of Clash of the Titans are also moving into production. And let’s not forget competing Hercules films as mentioned last week.
Feel free to blame 300’s smash success for this flurry of tales from Greece.
For those not in the know, the Argonauts are the Greek sailors who sought the fable golden fleece in the years preceding the Trojan War. Following their leader Jason, their ship was known as the Argo.
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 8th, 2008
Russian bodybuilder turned action star/producer Alexander Nevsky has announced his intention to revisit the lion of Olympus in Hercules: The Beginning. According to Variety, Nevsky is mounting this through his production company, Hollywood Storm, and will have $12 million to produce the feature.
Interesting, after years of not being seen since the Kevin Sorbo television series ended, now Nevsky and Millennium Films both intend to do stories based on the Roman demigod, who was adapted from the Greek myth of Heracles.
Hercules first gained film notoriety in a series of films starring Steve Reeves in the 1950s followed by the 1997 Disney film that used Tate Donovan as the voice. Lou Ferrigno preceded Sorbo as a filmed hero.
Posted by bob in News on August 7th, 2008
With all the hoopla over last Saturday’s release of Stephenie Meyer’s concluding novel in the Twilight quartet, Main Street’s Amanda Beals took a look at the best selling series for tweens and teens. Not surprisingly, most of them are within the genre including:
The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy) – Jonathan Stroud, Nathaniel, a 12 year old magician conjures a 14th level dijini (much like a genie), Bartimaeus. This unlikely duo come into possession of the priceless amulet of Samarkand and chaos ensues. Nathaniel and Bartimaeus have taken more than the spirit world by storm; their first movie is set for 2009.
Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis, have sold 100 million copies and been in continuous print since 1955. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien belonged to a writer’s peer group, the Inklings, and it is believed that Tolkien offered input on the chronicles. The third film in the series starts shooting next year. (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 4th, 2008
De fortabte sjaeles o is a Danish thriller from director Nikolaj Arcel that was released last year but has been snapped up by Universal for an English-language remake. Arcel is already on board to helm the adaptation, to be written by Jennifer O’Kieffe. The title translates to Island of Lost Souls but is not related to the 1933 film based on H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau.
This story is about a teen whose brother is possessed by the spirit of an 18th century magician which plunges her into one of those battles between good and evil which has been raging for centuries
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 1st, 2008
Disney announced that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has been shifted from 2009 to May 28, 2010. The video game adaptation is being directed by Mike Newell, the movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Alfred Molina, Ben Kingsley and Gemma Arterton. As the summer 2010 calendar currently lays out, that puts it a week after Shrek the Fourth and a week prior to Thor.
Posted by bob in Films, News on July 30th, 2008
Johnny Depp has apparently agreed to play the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland. Last week, he finally settled on Aussie actress Mia Wasikowska as his Alice.
John Savage (Carnivàle), Michael Biehn (Terminator), Art Hindle (Paradise Falls), Spencer List (Law & Order: SVU), Pollyanna McIntosh (Bats: Human Harvest) and Tommy Nelson (Dirty Sexy Money) have been named the leads in Andrew van den Houten’s next film, Offspring.
Posted by bob in Comics, Films, News on July 26th, 2008
Lots of interesting bits and pieces of news was overheard or revealed on the Comic-con show floor or at panels.
Greg McLean, director of the forthcoming Rogue, said he was on the west coast firming up plans for his next horror project.
Terry Goodkind’s Wizard’s First Rule, soon to be a syndicated televisions series produced by Sam Raimi has undergone a name change to Legend of the Seeker. A website for the show has also gone live: http://www.legendoftheseeker.com/
Mike Grell (Jon Sable Freelance) will be returning to his most famous creation at DC, The Warlord, in time for the character’s 35th anniversary.
At a Doc Savage panel, producer Michael Uslan (The Dark Knight) revealed work is underway on a new film version of the classic pulp hero. The last version was, of course, the late George Pal’s film in 1975.
Posted by bob in Films, News on July 25th, 2008
Details of the recently announced Red Sonja film were revealed at Comic-Con International yesterday. Director will be Douglas Aarniokoski assured fans that the film will be an origin story drawing heavily from both Robert E. Howard’s prose and Marvel’s lengthy run with the character, largely written by Roy Thomas. It was described to the crowd as “a tale of vengeance.”
Producer and mentor Robert Rodriguez revealed he will be very much involved, going so far as to shoot some of the film himself. He indicated a desire to make a Conan film with the same mood but others were developing the property (still).
Beyond actress Rose McGowan, no other cast has been set. She told the audience that she will soon begin the physical training to become comfortable with the sword.
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