Posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2013 by Germain Lussier
Seems like we won’t be getting that new Steven Spielberg sci-fi film as soon as originally planned. Robopocalypse, based on the best-selling book by Daniel H. Wilson, had already been delayed several months from a 2013 release date to 2014 and now DreamWorks has “indefinitely postponed” the film. Read more after the jump. Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 by Germain Lussier
Later this week, Daniel Day-Lewis will almost certainly be handed his fifth Best Actor Oscar nomination for his work in Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln. Knowing that, the film’s history seems almost unreal.
Lincoln was more years than usual in the making as Spielberg struggled not only to lock down the right story to tell about the 16th President of the United States, but to find the right actor to play him. Spielberg’s first choice was Day-Lewis, who turned down the role on multiple occasions. The actor later recommended his friend Liam Neeson for the role, and he was attached for years before having to move on. Then, armed with a brand new script by Tony Kushner, Spielberg was finally able to land his original man, and the resulting performance speaks for itself.
The first time the actor turned down the lead role in Lincoln, the actor wrote the most powerful director in Hollywood a letter explaining his decision. You can now read that after the jump.
Posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2012 by Angie Han
It seems like every studio in Hollywood is rushing to get a Julian Assange / WikiLeaks movie out there, but one of the first out of the gate will be from Bill Condon. As the film hurtles toward a January start date, it’s picked up a new title and a new star.
Downton Abbey actor Dan Stevens has just signed on for the film, which is now going by the title The Man Who Sold the World. Stevens joins a hot cast that also includes Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina), Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds), and Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange. More after the jump.
Posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2012 by Russ Fischer
One of the next animated outings from DreamWorks is Turbo, which features Ryan Reynolds as the voice of a snail who is determined to win the Indy 500. Yeah, seems like that might be difficult.
This first teaser for the film turns out to be pretty cute, as we see the lil’ snail doing a time trail well away from the Indianapolis track. (Complete with music from the soundtrack to Drive.) Suffice to say, he’s got some training to do. Check out the footage below. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2012 by Russ Fischer
DreamWorks just took a giant bath on Rise of the Guardians, but is soldiering on with the task of selling its upcoming slate. The next release from the company’s animation arm is The Croods, an Ice Age-style story about a prehistoric human family who daughter (voiced by Emma Stone) is desperate to explore the outside world. The Croods are forced out of their cave only to come face to face with a strapping young hero (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) willing to guide them away from the end of the world.
This new trailer isn’t as effective as the first teaser was, in part, I think, because it focuses on goofier lowbrow humor, rather than spectacle. But there’s an audience that will love this, I’m sure, so have a look below. Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2012 by Germain Lussier
A simple tweet expressing my love for Rise of the Guardians was a pretty good indicator the film was going to struggle. I loved the film, likening its action-packed team up idea to The Avengers, but the backlash against the movie was immediate. Critics, for the most part, liked the movie — it sports a solid 74% on Rotten Tomatoes — but with strong competition at the box office for all quadrants, and no real word of mouth, the film flopped. The animated film, produced by Guillermo Del Toro with a reported budget of $145 million, opened at number four with just under $24 million. For most movies, that would be great, but not so much for a 3D family-oriented animated film.
Early reports now state DreamWorks Animation is braced to lose a massive $50 million on the film, putting their upcoming slate in hot water. Is this a sign of things to come? Read more after the jump. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 by Angie Han
It looks like James McAvoy won’t be reuniting with his Atonement and Starter for 10 co-star Benedict Cumberbatch after all. Earlier this month, we learned that McAvoy had signed on for Bill Condon‘s WikiLeaks movie in the role of Daniel Domscheit-Berg, right-hand man to Julian Assange (Cumberbatch). Unfortunately, negotiations have now broken down over McAvoy’s commitment to X-Men: Days of Future Past.
But the news isn’t without a silver lining. Replacing McAvoy in the part will be Daniel Brühl, best known in the U.S. for playing Nazi soldier Fredrick Zoller in Inglourious Basterds. More details after the jump.
Posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2012 by Germain Lussier
Rise of the Guardians is an animated, family-themed version of The Avengers. In both films, a team of superhuman beings join forces to defeat an evil threat (one with a dashing British accent) before it can destroy the world. But rather than featuring superhero characters only some audiences are familiar with, in Guardians the team is made up of mythical beings such as Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and the Sandman.
Directed by Peter Ramsey, written by David Lindsay-Abaire and co-produced by Guillermo Del Toro, Rise of the Guardians is full of wonder and excitement. The myths of these characters build off our preconceptions to create an imaginative world that’s both gorgeous to look at and teeming with possibilities. If anything, the film’s biggest downfall is that it is so dead-set on creating audience excitement through elaborate action set pieces that it ends up losing a little steam and resonance. Read more after the jump. Read More »
