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Saturday, November 7
Despite pushing back production on Halloween 3-D due to possible financial woes within the company, The Weinstein Company is still keeping its fingers crossed about getting a Hellraiser remake off the ground after two years of attempts. At the American Film Market, ShockTillYouDrop reports that The Weinsteins included a synopsis for the remake, listing no director or writer but creator Clive Barker as Executive Producer in their AFM guide.
The re-telling of Clive Barker's classic horror masterpiece. Basedon Barker's critically acclaimed novella The Hellbound Heart, Hellraiser tells the story of an unfaithful wife who attempts to assist her dead lover in his escape from hell. Having lost his earthly body to a trio of forsaken demons — lead by one of the most enduring horror characters of all time, Pinhead — he must force his former mistress to bring him the necessary human sacrifices to complete his body. Clive Barker's Hellraiser promises to be a terrifying journey into the darkest corners of the soul.
Producer Bob Weinstein told Variety in September that he was planning to go "back to doing what I do best," which apparently means sequels for franchises like Scream, Spy Kids, and a Hellraiser sequel in 3-D. Weinstein seemed confident that financing for the sequels wouldn't be a problem.
There is no question that financing is readily available to produce and market these films. I am eager to expand our scope in the 3D business.
Looks like he is doing just that.
Posted 11/7/2009 by Ryan
Related: Robert Weinstein | Clive Barker | Hellraiser
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Star Trek director J.J. Abrams has made it no secret that he would like to have William Shatner appear in Star Trek 2, even planning a lunch to talk with him about it.
At a recent unveiling of a wax figure of Shatner as Captain Kirk, Shatner said that his participation in the sequel is entirely up to Abrams.
I have no plans, because I don't make those plans. JJ Abrams has myfate wrapped up in his two little hands. I would love to be in the next Star Trek, if he so thought that would be good for it.
Posted 11/7/2009 by Ryan
Related: William Shatner | J.J. Abrams | Star Trek 2
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Friday, November 6
Lionsgate has released four new teaser posters for Kick-Ass, director Matthew Vaughn's dark, teen superhero movie adaptation of the comic book by Mark Millar.
Each of the four posters spotlights one of the movie's "heroes": Aaron Johnson as Dave "Kick-Ass" Lizewski, Nicolas Cage as Damon "Big Daddy" Macready, Chloe Moretz as Mindy "Hit Girl" Macready, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris "Red Mist" D'Amico.
Also, we should mention that the official Kick-Ass movie site is up and running, though with only limited content for the time being.
Next Showing: Kick-Ass opens April 16, 2010
Posted 11/6/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Aaron Johnson | Nicolas Cage | Chloe Moretz | Matthew Vaughn | Kick-Ass | Christopher Mintz-Plasse
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Actor Bradley Cooper has been cast as the lead in director Neil Burger's (The Illusionist) latest thriller, Dark Fields, replacing Shia LaBeouf, who was originally up for the role. Cooper will play a struggling writer who experiments with MDT-48, a drug that helps him tap into his brain's full potential, making him smarter and more charismatic. However, it also has some negative side-effects, such as headaches, blackouts, and violence. After his supply of the drug runs low, he goes in search of more only to discover its origins are deadlier than he could imagine.
Described as being in the same vein as The Game and Fight Club, the Dark Fields screenplay was adapted from Alan Glynn's book of the same name by Leslie Dixon (The Heartbreak Kid). Dixon, Scott Kroopf, and Relativity Media's Ryan Kavanaugh are producing, with Relativity's Tucker Tooley acting as executive producer.
Posted 11/6/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Bradley Cooper | Neil Burger | Leslie Dixon
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With the San Diego Comic-Con now running like clockwork as one of the biggest gatherings for comics, movies, and any other vaguely nerdy pop-culture ephemera in the world, it's hard to believe that it's largely the work of one man.
Shel Dorf, a comic book collector who moved from Detroit to San Diego, put together the first con back in 1970, which was attended by 300 people. The most recent SDCC, this past August, was attended by 125,000+ people, with next year only promising more.
Dorf, who died on Tuesday, stopped running the convention after 1984, complaining that it had been taken over by Hollywood and other media pursuits when originally it really was just about appreciatiating comics, their creators, and their collectors. While Dorf's fanaticism for the medium's fandom dropped off a bit later in his life, he is fondly remembered for the recognition he brought the art form during the long years before it reached widespread acceptance.
SDCC has posted a remembrance from R.C. Harvey, Comics Journal columnist and longtime friend of Dorf, here.
Posted 11/6/2009 by reelz
Related: Dick Tracy
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OK, if you haven't seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, get to the nearest video store now. And don't listen to your friends who tell you it's boring. Try to imagine seeing it in 1968 in the midst of the "Space Race," and try to imagine you've never seen Star Wars, whose visual effects were a direct result of those in Stanley Kubrick's movie.
With that bit of evangelism out of the way, let's talk HAL. Yes HAL, the spaceship computer system whose calm, icy voice (well, actually it was Douglas Rain's voice) made him one of the most terrifying villains in movie history. Rather than include a spoiler, we'll simply say that at a crucial moment, HAL starts singing the 19th-century ditty "Daisy Bell."
For those who've seen the movie: Ever wondered why Kubrick and author Arthur C. Clarke decided on "Daisy Bell" as the tune of choice? Well, according to a recent article in Switched.com, the choice was the result of a trip Clarke made to Bell Labs in the early '60s. There, programmers introduced him to the IBM 704 — the first computer to "sing" — and a performance of "Daisy Bell." Inspired (or perhaps disturbed) by what he heard, Clarke decided to work the song into the script for 2001, which he co-wrote with Kubrick.
One last observation: HAL served as a warning against the dangers of technological advancement ... and this computer rendition sounds like a precursor to that lovely thing we now know as Auto-Tune. The horror!
Posted 11/6/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Stanley Kubrick | 2001: A Space Odyssey | Arthur C. Clarke | Douglas Rain
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We wouldn't call Borat and Bruno full-fledged documentaries, since the title characters were fictional extensions of Sacha Baron Cohen's twisted psyche. Nevertheless, the movies' antics were steeped in reality, creating a kind of pseudo-vérité.
But now, it appears that Cohen has decided to abandon the candid-camera shtick altogether. Variety writes that the 38-year-old British comedian has founded his own production company, Four By Two Films, and will go to work producing a new fictional project scripted by Peter Baynham.
Accidentes will tell the story of an "ambulance-chasing personal injury attorney of Latin descent" (played by Cohen) who helps a poor immigrant with a case against his wealthy employer. Ambulance-chasing, huh? We'll be interested to see what that means.
Cohen struck a deal with Universal for Accidentes and also got Columbia to commit to another starring vehicle. Cohen will script that project, as yet untitled, with Baynham, Anthony Hines, and Dan Mazer, the trio who collaborated with Cohen on Borat and Bruno.
Posted 11/6/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Sacha Baron Cohen | Dan Mazer | Anthony Hines | Peter Baynham | Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan | Bruno