It’s exciting news for all sci-fi fans that J.J. Abrams is the director for the next Star Wars film. After stating in an interview in November that he would not be taking the job,
“Look, Star Wars is one of my favorite movies of all time. I frankly feel that – I almost feel that, in a weird way, the opportunity for whomever it is to direct that movie, it comes with the burden of being that kind of iconic movie and series. I was never a big Star Trek fan growing up, so for me, working on Star Trek didn’t have any of that, you know, almost fatal sacrilege, and so, I am looking forward more then anyone to the next iterations of Star Wars, but I believe I will be going as a paying moviegoer!”
I guess that he just couldn’t turn down the job after being heavily pursued by Kathleen Kennedy for the gig the last few months. Who can blame him for caving in and we all hope he bring back the saga closer to the fun tone and style from the first original trilogy. I think if anyone has a good chance it’s J.J. Good luck duder, I know my ass will be in the seat come May 2015.
Official Disney Press Release Below:
J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII, the first of a new series of Star Wars films to come from Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy. Abrams will be directing and Academy Award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay.
“It’s very exciting to have J.J. aboard leading the charge as we set off to make a new Star Wars movie,” said Kennedy. “J.J. is the perfect director to helm this. Beyond having such great instincts as a filmmaker, he has an intuitive understanding of this franchise. He understands the essence of the Star Wars experience, and will bring that talent to create an unforgettable motion picture.”
George Lucas went on to say “I’ve consistently been impressed with J.J. as a filmmaker and storyteller. He’s an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars film and the legacy couldn’t be in better hands.”
“To be a part of the next chapter of the Star Wars saga, to collaborate with Kathy Kennedy and this remarkable group of people, is an absolute honor,” J.J. Abrams said. “I may be even more grateful to George Lucas now than I was as a kid.”
J.J., his longtime producing partner Bryan Burk, and Bad Robot are on board to produce along with Kathleen Kennedy under the Disney Lucasfilm banner.
Also consulting on the project are Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg. Kasdan has a long history with Lucasfilm, as screenwriter on The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi. Kinberg was writer on Sherlock Holmes and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Abrams and his production company Bad Robot have a proven track record of blockbuster movies that feature complex action, heartfelt drama, iconic heroes and fantastic production values with such credits as Star Trek, Super 8, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, and this year’s Star Trek Into Darkness. Abrams has worked with Lucasfilm’s preeminent postproduction facilities, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, on all of the feature films he has directed, beginning with Mission: Impossible III. He also created or co-created such acclaimed television series as Felicity, Alias, Lost and Fringe.
Here’s the full chat between Uncle George and the new head of LucasFilm division at Disney Kathleen Kennedy.Episode VII on it’s way in 2015 with more Big Screen Star Wars outings coming every two to three years. Michael Arndt is writing the script for Episode VII, No director has been announced as of yet.
The Hollywood Reporter usually has a great video interview series during award season and this year is no exception. I loved watching directors Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), David. O Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), Ben Affleck (Argo), Ang Lee (Life of Pi), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables) and Gus Van Sant (Promised Land) in a round table talking about their individual experiences making a living as film director in and out of the studio system. If you have any interest in understanding what it takes to helm a feature film and how many different and endless approaches are used in the medium, this is a video that you’ll want to sit through most definitely.
Almost always in film making before any image makes in front of a camera there are many many variations in design and ideas that will create the over all best look for a particular character. When coming to comic character translations there are so many wacky outfits and visuals that might seem like they would be very difficult to portray as realistic or serious in anyway . In 2002 Sam Raimi gave us our first taste of a super budgeted Spider-man film, jumping the gun a bit and mixing up continuity in this origin Spidey story, The Green Goblin appears as the first villain. There has been a lot of rumors that circulated that the original Goblin costume was so utterly cool and shocking that it out shined Spidey duds to the point the studio actually asked the director to take another route on the design. Now finally we can see the test video from the FX company for what Raimi had originally envisioned for one of Marvels greatest villain. This shit below is so dam sick I so wish the studio had got on board. Enjoy
As you can see above, there is definitely some differences in the laws regarding visceral violence on film posters in Asia. Below are a bunch of Thai movie posters I came a cross while surfing online. All have amazing visuals from the great late 70′s 80′s classic horror genre. I really miss the days of the well composed painted movie poster as appose to 90% of today’s bad photoshoped jobs. Enjoy the mayhem below.
It looks like we are getting another middle earth trilogy instead of a two parter with the upcoming Hobbit films, revealed on Peter Jackson Facebook page below from the man himself:
It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made. Recently Fran, Phil and I did just this when we watched for the first time an early cut of the first movie – and a large chunk of the second. We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life. All of which gave rise to a simple question: do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.’
We know how much of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur will remain untold if we do not take this chance. The richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth.
So, without further ado and on behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of “The Hobbit” films, I’d like to announce that two films will become three.
It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, “a tale that grew in the telling.”
Cheers, Peter J
I’m all for as much of the Tolkien’s Middle Earth to be put on screen by Peter Jackson as possible. Bringing in the idea of using The Hobbit and Rings appendices, tales from The Silmarillion and any other Tolkien references to broaden the cinematic vision is a great thing; And I am really looking forward to going back to middle earth this X-mas season.
One of the Blade Runner Convention Reels with vintage interviews with Ridley Scott, Syd Mead and Douglas Trumbull about making Blade Runner universe has popped up online. This 16 mm featurette, was made by M. K. Productions in 1982, is specifically produced to circulate through various American fantasy, horror and science fiction conventions.
I guess the people at the time only had the budget left to license some classic porn music, even for ’82 the shit is way outdated. Pretty fun to see how much marketing aspect has changed in the film industry. I always love to see anything on Blade Runner I haven’t seen before, this has some good stuff in it for sure
The, I’m hoping is beyond epic, Dark Knight Rises due in theaters on July 20th which marks the end of director Christopher Noland’s involvement in the world of the capped crusader along with Batman himself Christian Bale. I’m filled with lots of excitement to see Tom Hardy’s portrayal of the super villian Bane. Crazy shit is bound to happen in this film, as I know the writers are very knowledgeable in the Batman world and only one thing should happen to end this trilogy and story.
Can’t wait to see the film in IMAX and witness what could possibly be the first really great third movie in one timeline in DC film history. We all know it’ll be better than the last two attempts anyway.
Kino Lorrber is planning to release a Blu-ray collection of early films directed by Stanley Kubrick,
Day of the Fight (1951)
The Flying Padre (1951)
Fear and Desire (1953)
and The Seafarers (1953)
…will all be included in the set. Looks like they’ll street fall 2012, I know I’ll definitely be picking up a set to replace my bootleg VHS and DVD copies. Finally able to complete that hole in my Kubrick Blu Ray collection, good show Kino.
It’s been 12 days since I’ve seen John Carter at the AVX 3D theater at Metrotown, which I absolutely enjoyed. Before writing about it I wanted to do some research to see why there was so much bad press for a film I thought had a good solid story with a few things you just have to roll with, like any great science fiction film ( A Monolith, Replicants, Kuato, Wookies, ect… anyone?). It’s not a perfect film but a really fun, different and highly miss marketed property starting right with the name. If you like classically shot action, good sci-fi storytelling and immersive effects, this is a movie you and a lot of people should enjoy. I’ve even confirmed this with a few of my close geek friends who I thought might be hard on the film but they said they were all pleasantly surprised by the experience, as was I. Beside a hand full, not very many people I talked to even knew what the movie was all about or even cared. By most part, they thought it was a Disney /Pixar animated film or kids movie, but weren’t convinced by the trailers or adds if they had even seen one. I wasn’t even convinced to go see it because of the marketing, it all seems terrible in some way so I just stayed clear of it completely after the first few trailers; Which is interesting for me to ignore news of a particular film of this scale just out of pure social interest. I had never read the source material which is strange because I do remember very vividly the Frazetta art work from the 70′s, but being unaware of the story helped me not get invested in the fact a film was being made. Once I saw these articles months before it even came out claiming that it was a 300 million dollar disaster and director Andrew Stanton(Finding Nemo, Wall-E) was in deep trouble with his first live action film and Disney execs had been very upset with the first screenings and such, I started to get some what more intrigued to see it. As the scattered bad press continued up till it’s release, reading a bunch of terrible mainstream media reviews for the picture and a bunch of great internet press reviews I started to suspect a pattern. I always go with the internet reviews over paper or mainstream opinions, it seems more and more the regular media has lost track of what is actually good as apposed to just being told what is good with out even seeing something and following that popular opinion. John Carter definitely has a few problem being classified into one particular category but that’s what makes it cool, the fact that it’s different and can’t be defined so easily, it has some hidden complexity for a Disney action/ tent pole for sure, Stanton snuck some great smart stuff in there.
At this point being in the theater for 31 days and taking only $67,973,000 Domestic and $188,000,000 International with a total of $255,973,o00, Worldwide it pretty obvious that John Carter is going to be a huge financial disaster on paper for Disney. I think as a classic sci fi film it’s a big win for director Andrew Stanton and I’m sad we most likely won’t be seeing any more of the John Carter story in this scale anytime soon based on the box office. I’m not sure what Disney could of done to improve the marketing because with a 300 to 400 million dollar advertising budget they had , there sure was a whole lot of people that had no idea or interest to see it.
Which is very unfortunate because it is something I will definitely be buying on Blu-ray and am excited to re watch a couple of times again right away. I will say to those of you who are on the fence with this one I urge you to give it a try and you will most likely be pleasantly surprised by the experience. I can only hope that it does so good on video that Disney looses their mind and decide to do a sequel but that would mean some serious record breaking numbers are needed to even expect that at all, which I don’t; But if you do like classic sci-fi films this is the best one I’ve seen in a while and you won’t regret giving it your time and money. Well worth it.
It’s been 12 days since I’ve seen John Carter at the AVX 3D theater at Metrotown, which I absolutely enjoyed. Before writing about it I wanted to do some research to see why there was so much bad press for a film I thought had a good solid story with a few things you just have to roll with, like any great science fiction film ( A Monolith, Replicants, Kuato, Wookies, ect… anyone?). It’s not a perfect film but a really fun, different and highly miss marketed property starting right with the name. If you like classically shot action, good sci-fi storytelling and immersive effects, this is a movie you and a lot of people should enjoy. I’ve even confirmed this with a few of my close geek friends who I thought might be hard on the film but they said they were all pleasantly surprised by the experience, as was I. 
