Tuesday, November 24

• Script for Forbidden Planet Reboot Opens New Horizons

  It's been months since there was any real news about the planned reboot of the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet. Last we heard that a script idea, which looked to be pretty cool and original, had been scuttled by Internet leaks. Now screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski has started talking about the status of the project again, offering up a few details about the direction it will be taking.

  The original, inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest, centered on an expedition to discover what had become of a colony ship mysteriously lost decades before. When they land, romantic tensions over a scientist's beautiful young daughter famously erupt into technologically enhanced "monsters from the id." While remaining faithful to the original idea, JMS told SCI FI Wire he plans to expand the horizon of the story a bit.

  We've actually decided to show more of the first ship when it first arrived 20 years earlier to sort of counterpoint what's happening in the present story. If you're a fan of the original, as I am, and have always been, I think it's very faithful to that.... There's a little more action, but it's still a strong character piece, because it's based on The Tempest and the idea of a father whose daughter is being courted by, in the original play, sailors that are washed up on shore. You need to have that dynamic still in place to respect the original and the source material. So there's a fair amount of talking, but there's some really cool action pieces in it as well.

  What they have seen so far apparently has studio executives pretty excited. They are already talking about the possibility of sequels.

  Warner is very excited about it, thinks it's a big franchise for them and a huge budget, so they're very much oriented toward getting it done.

  No word yet on who will be directing. There was a rumor a while back that James Cameron might be interested, but nothing new on that front so far.

  
  

  Posted 11/24/2009 by Bill

  Related: James Cameron | J. Michael Straczynski | Forbidden Planet

• Fantastic Mr. Fox Reviews

  Fantastic Mr. Fox, which opened on a few screens about 10 days ago, gets a nationwide release tomorrow. Critics are liking it, hailing the movie as a return to form for director Wes Anderson.

  "With its virtuoso tomfoolery, Fantastic Mr. Fox is like a homegrown Wallace and Gromit caper."

  — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

  "Although it may initially seem to be yet another kids-film-for-adults of the kind the industry has been pumping out of late, Mr. Fox manages to be something else entirely. Pandering to neither audience, it remains true to its story's vulpine nature."

  — Chris Barsanti, filmcritic.com

  "...an adventure in pure imagination that plays to the smart kid in all of us."

  — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

  "Sometimes too clever by half, the film, replete with in-jokes, may in some ways work better for adults."

  — Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

  "...exactly what one might imagine a stop-motion Anderson film to be: multitudes of quirky characters, immaculately arranged compositions and camera pans, soundtrack outbursts of classic rock, and a blend of tender humanism and melancholic existentialism."

  — Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

  
  
  

  Fantastic Mr. Fox Trailer

  George Clooney, Meryl Streep, and Bill Murray star

  Posted 11/24/2009 by reelz

  Related: Fantastic Mr. Fox

• More Werewolf Movies Coming Thanks to New Moon

  Thanks to The Twilight Saga, werewolf movies are making a comeback. The second installment, New Moon, raked in piles of money opening weekend, drawing wolfpack fans along with those of vampires.

  In February, Universal's Wolfman arrives, in which Benicio Del Toro contends with the ancient curse. And now Variety has the news that The Howling, the 1981 werewolf movie by Joe Dante that generated a series of six sequels, is set for a franchise reboot with The Howling: Reborn.

  The original starred Dee Wallace-Stone as a news anchor stalked by a serial killer, who turns out to be a werewolf. The plot details of the reboot are being kept tightly under wraps for now, but production is already set to start in February for a Halloween release. There's no word yet on whether they'll still use Gary Brandner's original novel as source material.

  
  

  Posted 11/24/2009 by Jim

  Related: Benicio Del Toro | Joe Dante | The Howling | Dee Wallace-Stone | Gary Brandner | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | The Wolfman

Monday, November 23

• New Moon Box-Office Update

  The numbers just keep climbing.

  As of Monday night, New Moon's opening-weekend ticket sales have been recorded at $16.1 million MORE than what Summit originally estimated. Overseas box-office figures are still "trickling in" according to the LA Times, but right now the worldwide total stands at $274.9 million.

  The final U.S. number for the weekend came in at $142.9 million, up $2 million from Sunday's estimates.

  
  
  

  New Moon - Box Office Record

  Did it live up to the hype?

  Posted 11/23/2009 by reelz

  Related: Taylor Lautner | Robert Pattinson | Kristen Stewart | The Twilight Saga: New Moon

• Cruise and Diaz Movie Suspended Following Bull Rampage

  The production of James Mangold's (3:10 to Yuma) new action-comedy, Knight & Day, has been temporarily suspended after seven bulls escaped from the movie's set, injuring two people, according to THR. Formerly titled Wichita, the movie reunites Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, who previously starred together in Vanilla Sky.

  Before they escaped, the bulls were being held on set in Cadiz, Spain. The bulls ran through the streets of the city before eventually making their way to the beach, where they were captured. Filming was expected to begin today, but Cruise and Diaz's scenes were not slated to be shot until the weekend. There is currently no indication of when the production will resume.

  On an ironic note, Moviefone reports that Cruise and Diaz were urged not to star in the film by CAS International, an anti-bullfighting organization that feels that depicting bull runs in movies will only interest more people in the ritual.

  
  

  Posted 11/23/2009 by BrentJS

  Related: Cameron Diaz | Tom Cruise | James Mangold | Wichita

• Rain Discusses Training To Be a Ninja Assassin

  While out promoting Ninja Assassin, director James McTeigue lauded the "incredible discipline" of his movie's star, Ji-Hoon (Rain) Jung. McTeigue said that Rain trained to get into fighting shape "for five or six months."

  In a recent interview with Latino Review, Rain corrected McTeigue's statement, saying that his training was even more intense, lasting "eight months, five days a week, eight hours a day."

  There is no wire, no camera tricks. I had to make my body fit like Bruce Lee.

  Rain said that he does not have formal martial arts training — except for studying tae kwon do when he was 10 — but that he learned "a lot of martial arts" to star in the movie, including "tai chi, ninja techniques, karate ... a lot."

  As for learning how to play the role of a ninja, Rain said that inspiration wasn't hard to find.

  From when I was young I loved martial arts films so I love ninja, ninja techniques ... you know, in Asia, there's so many ninja films so I saw a lot of ninja films.

  
  
  Next Showing: Ninja Assassin opens November 25
  

  Ninja Assassin - Trailer

  Rain stars - releasing Nov. 25, 2009

  Posted 11/23/2009 by BrentJS

  Related: James McTeigue | Ninja Assassin | Ji-Hoon (Rain) Jung

• Avatar Gets a Talented Tongue

  James Cameron is prepared to boldly go where only Klingons have gone before.

  As part of the effort to make Avatar a completely realized world, down to to the blades of grass, he has commissioned a whole new language for his blue-skinned aliens. The LA Times has posted a interview with Professor Paul Frommer, who has spent the past four years gleefully working out the sound, syntax, and vocabulary of this Na'vi native tongue, constrained only by the limits the human voice, itself.

  Perhaps not quite constrained enough, though, suggests Zoe Saldana who plays the alien Neytiri in Avatar. Despite her role as the linguistics expert Uhura in Star Trek — and what Kirk (Chris Pine) salaciously describes as "a talented tongue" — Saldana confesses that she found the experience a real challenge:

  Oh, it was so hard and I was really concerned about it. I didn't think I could get through it. I'm not good with languages. All the actors, we worked together. It was the only way.

  Nonetheless, the language is far more gentle and more melodious than Klingon, the professor insists, and he has high hopes that it will catch on and develop a life of its own. It's lonely, he says, being the only person really speaking the language. No word yet on any plans to teach it to a baby as a first language, as it was recently reported someone did with Klingon.

  
  
  Next Showing: Avatar opens Dec. 18, 2009
  

  Avatar - Trailer

  James Cameron Directs

  Posted 11/23/2009 by Bill

  Related: Chris Pine | James Cameron | Zoe Saldana | Avatar

Sunday, November 22

• New Moon Blasts Into Superhero Stratosphere

  

  Title	Weekend	Total	Analysis
  The Twilight Saga: New Moon	$140.7M	$140.7M	3rd-largest opening weekend behind only The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3. Wow.
  The Blind Side	$34.5M	$34.5M	Normally a winning opening weekend except when New Moon is involved.
  2012	$26.5M	$108.2M	Roland Emmerich disaster pic surpasses $100M blockbuster mark in 2nd week.
  Planet 51	$12.6M	$12.6M	Enough parents bought Burger King kids meals that they had to take the little monsters to this animated flick.
  A Christmas Carol	$12.2M	$79.8M	At $79M after three weeks, this "performance capture" movie well short if its massive $200M budget.

  
  
  
  

  Posted 11/22/2009 by reelz

  Related: The Twilight Saga: New Moon