Posts Tagged ‘Universal Studios’
Posted by dominie in Films, News on November 20th, 2008
Tremors: The Thunder From Down Under, the 5th installment of the Tremors franchise looks to be happening soon reports Cinemablend. The movie will likely follow in the route of its previous installments, debuting as a direct-to-DVD title from Universal Home Entertainment. The news is still awaiting confirmation and no names have been attached just yet.
Fans may cry up a storm if this news proves true. Universal is under rumors to be moving Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman starring Benicio del Toro from its April 2009 date to some time in the fall. At the San Diego Comic-Con, fans celebrated the studio’s option to take the piece back to the old fashion gothic horror approach with make-up artist extraordinaire Rick Baker. Stayed tuned for updates as they come in.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on November 8th, 2008
DreamWorks is in the process of acquiring the English language remake rights to Chan Wook-Park’s 2003 Korean Film Oldboy reports Variety. Universal Studios will distribute under this deal with Steven Spielberg to direct and Will Smith in early talks to star as the kidnapped man.
The original movie is hands down incredible. The story tells of “a man [who] gets kidnapped and held in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. Suddenly, he’s released and given money, a cell phone and clothes and is set on a path to discover who destroyed his life so he can take revenge.”
I don’t feel a remake is necessary, but Hollywood’s already got their mind on it. Spielberg is currently in search of a screenwriter to begin developing Oldboy while he finishes directing Tintin. At the very least, this will open more folks to the original movie.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 12th, 2008
Variety reported that Universal Studios has sealed the deal to mount their next Sid and Marty Krofft feature. The studio has acquired writer-producer Dana Gould of The Simpsons to pen the live-action film based on the Krofft brothers’1970’s kidshow Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.
Sigmund will be the studio’s third movie treatment for the Krofft brothers. The first being Land of the Lost (budgeted at $100 million) which stars Will Ferrell now delayed for release until June 2009, and the second is a live-action H.R. Pufnstuff currently in pre-production with director Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2) in talks to helm the film. Similar to the first two features, the Krofft brothers will produce the project alongside Jimmy Miller under his Mosaic banner.
For those unfamiliar with Sigmund, the original kidshow ran Saturday mornings on NBC from 1973-1975 about a timid sea monster whose nasty brothers disowned him for not wanting to scare humans. Forced to leave his home, Sigmund (Billy Barty) is befriended by two boys Johnny and Scott Stuart (Family Affair’s Johnny Whitaker and Scott Kolden) who hide him in their clubhouse. Their friendship grows in this on-going tale that spanned 29 episodes in two seasons and became a hit rerun choice on local TV stations for the remainder of the decade.
The growing interest on these current properties leaves high hopes for owners Sid and Marty who told Variety they would love to see their remaining properties (Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Lidsville, The Bugaloos, Dr. Shrinker, Bigfoot and Wildboy, and Wonderbug) originated as well.
Posted by dominie in Events, Films, News on September 12th, 2008
When Warners Bros. shifted Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from its November release date to July next summer, other competing studios didn’t hesitate to realign their current outlooks, steering clear of the wizard’s wand.
Among the shifters is (THR reports) Universal Studios, who’s bumped their $100 million budget Will Ferrell action fantasy Land of the Lost (set in a land of dinosaurs and myriad other magical creatures) up from July 17 to now June 5, and bounced its Fast and Furious (the fourth installment to The Fast and the Furious franchise) release back from June 5 to June 12.
The studio is confident that Land of the Lost has found a safe haven for a summer 2009 release. At present there is no other competition slated for a June release, and studio execs are not concerned that a back-to-back release of their two features would inhibit sales as the target audiences for the two films are sufficiently distinct.
Land of the Lost is based on one of many classic children’s TV series created by Sid and Marty Krofft (currently producing features H.R. Pufnstuff and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters), about a family trapped in a world inhabited by dinosaurs, cavemen and other bizarre insectoid/humanoid reptilian creatures. As they focus on surviving and finding a way home, their exploration of the exotic land is the force behind the kidshow hit. Director Brad Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events) directed the feature film, which just wrapped production this summer. Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies), Danny R. McBride (Tropic Thunder), and Jorma Taccone (TV’s Saturday Night Live) also star.
Posted by dominie in Films, News, Reviews on August 28th, 2008
In July 2007, Variety announced Universal’s new origins tale about Vlad the Impaler titled Dracula: Year Zero with Alex Proyas (Dark City, I, Robot, The Crow) to direct and Michael De Luca producing. The film will be a new take on the legend of Dracula, showing Vlad when he was still vital. Scribes Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless are hoping to downplay the monster depicted in the classic Bram Stoker novel, and instead play on sympathy for Vlade’s character, who was actually considered a hero in Romania when he sold his soul to the Devil to save his kingdom and family. In this story of tragedy and love, can Dracula really be considered the hero?
Production is taking place at Universal Studios, rightfully, as it is the home of the monsters and MTV caught up with Proyas for the details. We now bring you the highlights:
Without revealing too much, Proyas tells MTV that the new take on Dracula: Year Zero is “a sort of the origin tale that mixes [the historical] Prince Vlad of Transylvania with sort of [fictionalized] Bram Stoker [take].”
Regarding vampire mythos, he ensures us there will be stakes, teeth, and blood. “Oh, you’ve got to have teeth… I mean, the teeth are really important. I think Frank Langella in the Dracula movie that was made in the 70s, I think he didn’t want to have teeth in the movie. But, no, I like the teeth. I want to see girls with a lot of teeth.” Regarding garlic, he said “I think the garlic thing is kind of weird,” but would not disclose on any transformations into a bat.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on August 25th, 2008
Direct from Universal, Ain’t It Cool News has just received information that Oscar nominated and Grammy and Emmy award winner songwriter Danny Elfman will join The Wolfman crew to produce scores for the remake of the1941 classic horror, coming to theaters April 3rd 2009.
Elfman’s impressive filmography includes scores from many of Tim Burton’s films such as The Corpse Bride (2005), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) where he played the voice of Jack Skellington, and Burton’s 1989 Batman, for which he won an Academy Award. Other works include The Simpsons, Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Sleepy Hollow (1999), the Spider-Man series, Ang Lee’s Hulk (2003), and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008).
As discussed previously, The Wolfman remake, directed by Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jumanji, Jurassic Park III), will star Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving. Again, the new production is hugely reminiscent of the original film’s intention, opting for a vintage horror rather than splurging on purely gore and CGI like the common horror/slasher flicks we have become so accustomed to.
With this in mind, Elfman’s artistic ability to play on our emotions coupled with Rick Baker’s special makeup effects, seems to be the perfect combination that will surely bring forth the heartrending truth behind the apparent blood-lusting beast.
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 24th, 2008
Death Race debuted this weekend, scoring an estimated $12,293,000 despite hostile reviews. The Universal film underperformed, much like Star Wars: The Clone Wars which saw a 61.3% dropoff after its debut. Clearly, people are done with the wars.
Fox’s Mirrors also had a big drop off, 56.3%, for a weekend gross of $4,875,000 and two week total of $20,075,000.
Other genre films had so-so weekends including The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, beginning to wrap up its run already with $4,069,000, bringing it to a total of $93,812,000. After four weeks and not cracking $100 million shows the franchise may be running out of steam after all.
Showing growing strength, though, is Transsiberian, which continues to play on only a few screens but the per screen average of $4,157 remains impressive. After six weeks in an extremely limited run, it has brought in $530,000.
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 24th, 2008
As Summer winds down, people are already looking forward to fall and fall releases. Magnolia Pictures just announced a new addition, Toby Wilkins’ Splinter, will open o Halloween. They acquired the independent horror film last year and have just been waiting for a chance to release it. The movie features a virulent virus that takes control over people, giving them a lust for blood.
So, here’s how the most frightening month of the year is shaping up.
On Friday the 10th we get Quarantine, the remake of REC, from Screen Gems.
On Friday, the 24th, Lionsgate unleashes Saw V while Disney rereleases Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D. In limited release will be Universal’s thriller, Changeling. The big event is the limited release of Let the Right One In.
Then, on Halloween itself, Changeling goes into wide release and Guy Ritchie’s crime comedy RockNRolla has an 800 screen rollout from Warner Bros, plus Splinter and Freestyle Releasing’s The Haunting of Molly Hartley.
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 20th, 2008
Even though Death Race is a remake of the 1970s Roger Corman thriller Death Race 2000, screenwriter Adam Stone has filed a copyright infringement suit against the film, due to open on Friday. Rather than see Corman elements, all he sees are the similarities between his project, Joust, which he claims was once seen by director Paul S.W. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt.
Stone’s suit, according to The Hollywood Reporter, alleges that Bolt kept a copy of the screenplay and used that for the new film from Universal Studios’ Rogue Pictures division. He can find 39 points of similarity and asks a judge to prevent the film from opening.
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 18th, 2008
The Dark Knight surpassed Star Wars twice this weekend. First, it firmly grabbed second place on the All Time Box Office charts with a total now estimated at $471,493,000. It’s weekend take of $16,790,000 also surpassed the debut of the CGI-animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars which managed a so-so $15,505,000. The film received mixed reviews and little in the way of anticipatory buzz so its performance over the next week or two will be telling.
20th-Century Fox, which has had a miserable summer, finally got some good news when Mirrors opened with $11,125,000, exceeding studio estimates by 10%. (more…)
Tremors: The Thunder From Down Under, the 5th installment of the Tremors franchise looks to be happening soon reports Cinemablend. The movie will likely follow in the route of its previous installments, debuting as a direct-to-DVD title from Universal Home Entertainment. The news is still awaiting confirmation and no names have been attached just yet.
