One stars Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna as Naval Officers trying to save the world from aliens. The other stars Mario Van Peebles and Carl Weathers as Naval Officers trying to save the world from aliens. If those two descriptions sound somewhat interchangeable to you, you aren’t alone. The company behind the former, which obviously is Universal’s upcoming mega-budget blockbuster Battleship, is suing Global Asylum, the company behind the latter, a film called American Battleship. One will be released on thousands of screens May 18. The other will hope to fool thousands of people into believing its the former on DVD shelves May 22. Read more about the situation below. Read More »
.
Please Recommend /Film on Facebook
Posted on Saturday, April 28th, 2012 by Angie Han
One of the biggest — and unhappiest — surprises to come out of CinemaCon this past week was the underwhelming reception to the ten minutes of The Hobbit footage screened at the event. The film is notable for having been shot at a higher rate of 48 frames per second instead of the usual 24, and though there’s no denying that the rate increase makes a noticeable difference, not all attendees were convinced it was a good one. Our own Peter Sciretta likened it to “a made for television BBC movie,” noting that “It looked uncompromisingly real — so much so that it looked fake.”
But director Peter Jackson doesn’t seem too concerned about the criticism just now. In his view, moviegoers will come to accept 48 fps — they just need to get used to it first. Read his comments after the jump.
Read More »
The question of cell phone use in movie theaters continues to be engaged on various levels of the business, despite not being a question at all. There should be no cell phone use — the light and sound are tremendously distracting to other patrons — but that isn’t stopping people wondering if kids are so attached to their phones that we might as well just let them use the damn things in a movie theater.
Problem is, now the people doing the wondering are those who own and control movie theaters. Read More »
The Avengers flood gates are about to bust wide open with the film opening overseas next week and in the U.S. the week after. Our coverage of the film is about to start too, including a full review, exclusive interviews with star Chris Hemsworth, director Joss Whedon and producer Kevin Feige.
Speaking of the latter, the president of Marvel Studios, so quick to deny that an additional scene from the film was being shot last week, has finally admitted it happened and even given a better idea of what was shot. Read his quote after the jump. Read More »
Save for a few of the original directors, few people can give you a better snapshot of what’s going on at Pixar than Katherine Sarafian. The production coordinator turned director of marketing and now producer has been with the company since 1994 and their first film, Toy Story. For the past five plus years, she’s been working on Brave, Pixar’s upcoming feature about a wild Scottish princess whose fate is tied to the family kingdom. Sarafian has been with the production from its inception and has intimate knowledge on the controversial directional change, massive story rewrites, cast changes and more.
Recently, I was at Pixar to see the gorgeous first thirty minutes of the film (read about that here) and spoke to Sarafian not only about those things, but the surprising power of being a producer at Pixar, the marketing of the film (including when we might see a new trailer) as well as the company’s feeling facing their first critical disappointment: Cars 2. Check out the interview below. Read More »
For years, director Adam McKay and star Will Ferrell had said Paramount wasn’t interested in making a sequel to their cult 2004 hit Anchorman and fans had all but given up hope. Then, a few weeks ago, Ron Burgundy showed up seemingly out of nowhere and announced Anchorman 2 was finally happening. After the initial shock and excitement subsided the questions turned to logistics. Who would return and what changed behind the scenes? The first question was quickly answered, the entire supporting cast (save for Christina Applegate, more on her later) had already committed and now, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, McKay explains what changed and why the sequel was so hard to push through. Read his quotes after the jump. Read More »
Posted on Monday, April 9th, 2012 by Angie Han
With The Twilight Saga dominating at the box office and The Walking Dead leading TV ratings, we can argue ’til the cows come home about the relative merits and failings of each type of paranormal creature. But for one iconic filmmaker, at least, there’s no question. “I happen to like vampires more than zombies,” Martin Scorsese revealed in a recent interview. Hit the jump for his musings on what makes bloodsuckers superior to brain-eaters.
Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 by Angie Han
Community‘s Dan Harmon is very sorry you had to witness that nasty drama between him and Chevy Chase. Also after the jump:
- The first three minutes of Falling Skies‘ second season
- Target’s “Little Avengers” ad is pretty cute, if you like kids
- HBO releases another trailer for its politica satire Veep
- Robert Redford will produce a Watergate doc for Discovery
- Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a.k.a. McLovin, heads to CBS
- Watch a preview for Ricky Gervais’ new comedy-drama Derek
Read More »
