Ten years ago this week The Fellowship of the Ring was released. Peter Jackson‘s first Tolkien adaption silenced a great many naysayers who said J.R.R. Tolkien‘s novels could never be properly translated to film. It also fostered a mainstream interest in fantasy movies that continues a decade later.
The development of a film based on Tolkien’s original Middle-Earth novel, The Hobbit, was the subject of speculation as soon as Jackson started work on The Lord of the Rings. Actually making the movie was a terrifically complicated process that involved rights deals, the financial solvency of MGM, a long period of development under original director Guillermo del Toro, and the eventual return of Peter Jackson to the director’s chair.
Now the first teaser trailer — a long teaser, at that — has been released for the first of two films based on the novel. Get the first look at footage from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, after the break. Read More »
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What has caught the eye of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman)? It’s like he’s staring over my shoulder at some approaching wonder. It’s probably not footage from the movie in which he stars, and perhaps we’ll find out what he sees when that footage is unveiled. In fact, we’ll see the first trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey tonight at 10pm EST / 7pm PST, and I’m very much looking forward to Peter Jackson‘s return to Middle-Earth. While you wait, check out the full image below. Read More »
Like many things these days, it all began with a teaser trailer. The day was April 7, 2000 and New Line Cinema released a 100 second trailer teasing The Lord of the Rings, an epic series of films they had in production based on the famous books by J.R.R. Tolkien. Directed by Peter Jackson, a guy who, at that point, had only done five small movies, this one trailer lit a spark that changed the face of modern movies.
At that point, I’d never read the books but the kind of epic action that was being portrayed in the trailer was unlike anything I’d ever seen. I immediately shot over to Amazon, order the whole trilogy, and devoured the series with delight. The fact that these movies were being made was amazing and my anticipation was beyond fever pitch.
It all let up to ten years ago today, December 19, 2001, when dream became a reality and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in theaters nationwide. It opened to about $75 million over its first five days, eventually grossed $315 million domestic, $871 million internationally, garnered 13 Oscar nominations – including best picture – and won four. Audiences knew we’d seen something epic, new and amazing but we had no idea where the journey would take us and is still taking us today. Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 by Angie Han
For a while there it looked like Ariel Vromen‘s The Iceman was on the verge of falling apart, as James Franco dropped out of the project. But the hitman biopic is moving along with David Schwimmer and Chris Evans added to the cast in recent weeks, and now Winona Ryder has boarded the picture as well in a role once slated for Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Ryder will play the wife of mob contract killer Richard Kuklinski, a.k.a. The Iceman (Michael Shannon), who’s unaware of the true nature of her husband’s career. Ray Liotta and Ryan O’Nan will also star.
Based on interview footage and Anthony Bruno‘s book The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer, the picture is scheduled to begin production early next year in Louisiana. [Deadline]
After the jump, a former Everybody Loves Raymond star gets fired by a former The Office star, a Broadway adaptation casts a Broadway star, and a trio of rising Brit talents sign on for an artsy romance.
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Posted on Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 by Angie Han
I’m not indiscriminately against sequels, but for every X-Men: First Class, Kung Fu Panda 2, or Fast Five, there’s a The Hangover Part II, a Transformers: Dark of the Moon, or a Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. And while it’s admittedly unfair to jump to conclusions about movies before they’ve even entered production, the sequels we’re talking about today aren’t exactly at the top of my most-anticipated list. After the jump, read about:
- Grown Ups 2, the follow-up to last year’s Happy Madison comedy
- The Lincoln Lawyer 2 — and yes, that’s in addition to the upcoming TV series also based on the same source material
- Journey 3, a sequel to next February’s Journey 2
- and The Birdcage 2, fifteen years after the first Birdcage
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Posted on Friday, December 2nd, 2011 by Angie Han
Considering what a big part of life earthquakes are in sunny Southern California, what big moneymakers disaster films can be, and how obsessed Hollywood is with 3D spectacle at the moment, I’m a little surprised San Andreas: 3D isn’t a thing that already exists. But no, New Line has just announced the new project, which as the title suggests revolves around a huge earthquake that hits the famed California fault line and causes widespread destruction in three action-packed dimensions.
Allan Loeb, whose previous works include Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and 21, has written the script, with Beau Flynn (Journey to the Center of the Earth) on board to produce. More details after the jump.
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The world as a whole is still trying to forget the unbelievably insane The Nutcracker in 3D, released last year. (And just out on DVD as The Nutcracker: The Untold Story.) The easiest way to forget that the film exists is to make another movie called The Nutcracker, and have this one be a truly family-friendly version.
And so we’ve got this: Adam Shankman (Hairspray, Rock of Ages) will make The Nutcracker for New Line, with this version being “a new take on the classic fairy tale that is being eyed as a tent pole family holiday film for late 2013.” Read More »
It makes perfect sense if you think about it. The last video blog Peter Jackson released from the set of The Hobbit was all about 3D and in it you could see his inner geek pouring out. He seems to really be enjoying capturing Middle Earth in 3D. Movies such as The Lion King and presumably Titanic and Star Wars Episode 1 are set for successful 3D theatrical renaissances, so the possibility of a 3D re-release for Jackson’s signature The Lord of the Rings trilogy simply fits.
In a recent interview, the star of those films, Elijah Wood, said there have been discussions about just that and, if it’s done right, he’s all for it. Read his quote and more after the jump. Read More »
