Posts Tagged ‘Hellboy’
Posted by dominic in General, News on November 21st, 2008
It’s not very often that a sequel is superior to the original. In fact I have a hard time coming up with one. Most of you won’t disagree that Bride of Frankenstein is far superior to Frankenstein, both in story and production. The Terminator and Alien sequels were also a step up from the originals, but not by much considering the originals were amazing in their own regard. I won’t include X-Men and X-Men United for the simple fact that though the second installment was far better neither film did the X-Men justice. I hold Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back pretty much even, though a good amount of you will disagree. Whatever your opinion-and I’m sure all of us could come up with extensive lists and various arguments as to superior sequels-the fact is sequels usually fall far below par in many ways to their predecessors.
This summers Hellboy II was one of the few exceptions of sequel superiority. I wasn’t a fan of the first Hellboy, I thought the story was week and the characters under developed. However, Hellboy II was just plain fun. The story was more extensive and entertaining, the characters drew more on our sympathies than in the previous film and the production was top notch.
Sideshow Collectables produced a series of 1/6 scale figures for the original Hellboy, and they were decent, but figures have come a long way in the few years that have passed since Hellboy was released and like their movie counterparts the Hot Toys produced 1/6 scale Hellboy II figures look to continue the trend of sequel superiority. Distributing in the US for the Hong Kong based Hot Toys Sideshow Collectables has posted a preview of their upcoming Hellboy II 1/6 figures.
Check them out and see what you think.
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 10th, 2008
The Dark Knight continues to rule the box office as it takes the number one position for the fourth weekend in a row, the first time any 2008 release has achieved this. Its estimated haul of $26,030,000 pushes its domestic take to $441,541,000, faster than any movie in history.
In its second weekend Universal’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor dropped -60.2%, taking in just $16,113,000. With a total of $70,671,000, it chugs along although there has to be some concern that bad word of mouth, poor reviews and steep drop off may mean the franchise is running out of steam despite director Rob Cohen already talking a fourth film. (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 3rd, 2008
After a strong Friday showing, it looked as if The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor might topple The Dark Knight from the top of the box office. However, mostly negative reviews seem to have scared enough people away so it opened at number two for the weekend. It took in a healthy $42,450,000, under Universal’s estimates, but was beaten by Batman, who brought an additional $43,800,000 to Gotham City. The film now has earned a total of $394,887,000 in just three weeks and will clear the $400 million hurdle any minute now.
Showing surprising durability, Brendan Fraser’s other summer film, Journey to the Center of the Earth finished its fourth week in fifth place, taking in $6,875,000, totaling $73,140,000. (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on July 27th, 2008
There are probably no surprises with the box office results this weekend with The Dark Knight firmly in first place, earning another estimated $75,630,000. The drop off is interesting in that it’s a relatively modest -52.3%. To date, the second Batman film from Christopher Nolan has accumulated $314,245,000, faster than any other film in history.
20th Century Fox’s The X-Files: I Want to Believe debuted in a disappointing fourth place, taking in just $10,200,000. (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on July 20th, 2008
Everyone knew The Dark Knight was going to open huge, the only question was going to be how huge. Now we know. Counting the midnight haul on Friday, the film took in an estimated $155,340,000, easily surpassing Spider-Man 3’s $151.1 and becoming the biggest three day opening film of all time.
Other genre films included Transsiberian’s $35,200 opening on just two screens. It garnered good reviews and should expand its rollout. (more…)
Posted by bob in Comics, Films, Interviews on July 11th, 2008
Hellboy creator Mike Mignola began his career as an illustrator for comic book fanzines and then made his professional debut as an inker for Marvel Comics. He worked on familiar titles such as Incredible Hulk and less familiar projects such as the adorable Rocket Raccoon. At DC Comics, he did a well-regarded Phantom Stranger miniseries in addition to Gotham by Gaslight which launched the Elseworlds line of books. His design sense sand strong graphic style let him segue from occult to super-heroes to sword & sorcery. When given a chance to create something on his own, in 1994 he began producing stories for Dark Horse Comics featuring Hellboy. While he at first plotted and drew the stories, with dialogue from John Byrne, Mignola grew in confidence and began writing the full story on his own.
He began his design work for Hollywood in 1992 with Bram Stoker’s Dracula and then designed the undersea world for Disney’s Atlantis. The Batman the Animated Series incarnation of Mr. Freeze was based on a designs specifically requested by Bruce Timm.
To his delight, Hellboy became a live-action film from director Guillermo del Toro and he’s been intimately involved on Hellboy II: The Golden Army as well. In this exclusive interview from his home in California, Mike talks about the new film, opening today.
FM: You share the story credit with Guillermo Del Toro, how’d you guys work out the story together?
Mike Mignola: It was pretty easy. We tried to work out an adaptation of one of my stories—Almost Colossus—but after a couple hours we hit a snag so we decided to just make up something completely new. Del Toro was writing Pan’s Labyrinth around that time and I was starting to plot the current story line in the comic that’s all about a war with elves and witches so it was natural for both of us to come up with something with a fairytale/folktale feel to it. (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on July 8th, 2008
Selma Blair spoke with Dark Horizon’s about this Friday’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army. To her, the development of the relationship between Liz and Hellboy was paramount.
“I knew that when we left Hellboy I, Liz obviously had taken some control of her power. I mean after all, she saved the day at the end of Hellboy I, and did embrace Red at the end of that movie, so there was only one way to go, which was to move forward and leave her sad sack of a life behind her, and become a more functioning, stable woman.” (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on May 7th, 2008
Director Ekachai Uekrongtham (Beautiful Boxer) will unveil his new film The Coffin at Cannes’ Marché du Film later this month. The Thailand movie was inspired from a local ritual of the living lying in coffins to rid themselves of bad fortune and to prolong their life. Uekrongtham wrote and directed the English-language horror film which stars Karen Mok (Shaolin Soccer), Ananda Everingham (Shutter), Napakpapha Nakprasitte (Art of Devil 2-3), Andrew Lin (The Heavenly Kings) and introducing Japan’s Aki Shibuya.
Here in the states, attendees of the Los Angeles Film Festival will be among the first to see Wanted. Also, Hellboy II: The Golden Army will close the event on June 28, a few weeks prior to its July 11 release.
Posted by bob in Films, News on April 21st, 2008
Well, what’s a Terminator movie without a strong female lead? With the fourth film ready to shoot in a few weeks, word came this morning that Moon Bloodgood (Journeyman) will join the cast alongside Christian Bale, Sam Worthington and Anton Yelchin. The movie, its title still in flux, is a May 2009 release. She’ll play a battle-tested member of the resistance suffering from survivor’s guilt.
Trevor Wright (Shelter) is the latest actor to check in for Vacancy 2, the direct-to-DVD sequel.
Guillermo Del Toro revealed at Comic Con that Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) will be the voice of the disembodied Johann Strauss, instead of Thomas Kretschmann, in Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
Crank 2: High Voltage has added Clifton Collins Jr. (Masters of Science Fiction) as the bad guy and Bai Ling (Lost) as a new character. Returning are Amy Smart, Dwight Yoakam and Efren Ramirez.
Posted by bob in News on April 18th, 2008
Universal Home Entertainment announced yesterday their first slate of Blu-ray DVD releases. They will arrive the same day as the standard DVDs so no one misses out. The fun begins in August when the abbreviated Season Two set for Heroes arrives n August 26. Other titles announced are George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead, Neil Marshall’s Doomsday, Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army and the The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
Speaking of the undead, The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and The Scorpion King will arrive on July 22 in Blu-Ray. John Carpenter’s will be released too, but not for Region 1 players…yet.
