Today I came home from lunch to find a big box sitting on the front door of /Film HQ. Inside the box I found a backpack, inscribed on the backside with “Property of Peter Parker”. This is the same exact backpack that Andrew Garfield wore in The Amazing Spider-Man footage we saw at Comic Con and at the recent “Untold Story” event. The only difference is this bag is missing Peter’s skateboard. This is one of the most elaborate pieces of viral marketing that I’ve ever seen in person. The backpack was filled with the types of things you would expect a high school student to have: notebooks, a binder, school books and more.
Inside I found a clipping from the Daily Bugle with articles on Spider-Man and Captain Stacey (Gwen’s father). In the notebook, I found many handwritten calculations, either classwork or maybe for a project Parker is working on at home, alongside many preliminary designs for Spider-Man’s logo, suit and mask. Each page is handwritten in pencil or pen, sometimes featuring highlighter highlights. The binder contains a bunch of film negatives and a few printed photos, none of which appear to contain any characters from the film. The backpack also contained personal items like Parker’s sunglasses and sneakers, and school supplies like safety lab goggles, pencils, compasses, a set of keys and more.
I’m not sure what to make of the contents, and I’m sure some of you have more time to look through the items and figure out what they might mean, or what clues might be hidden inside. What does this all have to do with The Amazing Spider-Man? Will it lead up to a real-world event? Hit the jump to look through the photos for yourself. And please report any findings in the comments below.
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One of the major obstacles Disney is currently facing with their massive blockbuster John Carter is explaining how and why this movie, which looks so similar to so many others, was made at all. It’s based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, first published in 1917, that has become so engrained in the popular conscious it has almost lost its identity. Burroughs’ vision was so ahead of its time and influenced so many things that came after, those properties have long since taken ownership. But the fact of the matter is, without John Carter, there’s no Star Wars, no Avatar, no Blade Runner, almost no sci-fi in general.
Aiming to fix some of that, Disney has released a 90-second featurette reintroducing the world to John Carter. They’ve also thrown in a bunch of new footage to sweeten the pot. But not too much. The Andrew Stanton-directed film starring Taylor Kitsch, Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong and others will be released March 9. Check it out after the jump. Read More »
Eli Roth is making the earth move. The man behind the Hostel series, co-star of Inglourious Basterds and producer of The Last Exorcism has teamed up with successful Chilean filmmaker Nicolás López to make Aftershock, an English-language action-thriller inspired by the Chilean earthquake. It follows a group of six friends (including Roth, several international movie stars and a cameo by pop superstar Selena Gomez) struggling to survive after a massive earthquake hits their city and society crumbles around them. Most of the film will include realistic, practical effects.
Aftershock is still shooting in Chile but Lopez and Roth are ready to debut the first official images from the film exclusively here on /Film.
After the jump, check out these images, learn about the cast, filmmakers and more. Read More »
The year 2015 is coming up fast, and it seems like many of the future inovations seen in the future Hill Valley of Back to the Future: Part II have not come to pass — but I’m still hopeful that we’ll all be in flying hovercars in just three years time (um, yeah). Last year, Nike finally produced a limited edition “preview” run of the self-lacing Nike MAG sneakers. I saw last week on Gizmodo that we’re getting close to inventing the real-life Mr. Fusion. And this weekend at the New York Toy Fair, Mattel has finally announced the much anticipated release of the Hoverboard, a futuristic hovering skateboard that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) used in the Back to the Future sequels.
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The Boys are in the orphanage. Columbia has been developing an adaptation of the Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic series for the past few years, but things have changed. The project has been put into turnaround, so another studio has a chance to step in and pick it up. This doesn’t have to be a death knell for the film — in fact, going into turnaround can sometimes be the best way for a project to get new life, as a company that is a lot more invested in the material might step up to move it forward. Read More »
Here’s the trailer for Timur Bekmambetov‘s adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The film features Benjamin Walker as Lincoln, but this is no stodgy biopic. Rather, it supposes that the 16th President was really driven by a hatred for the undead. Indeed, this footage shows the Railsplitter earning his name as he wields an axe with supernatural strength, plowing through vampires and trees alike with the common tool. Check out the footage below. Read More »
It’s easy for some to completely write of Transformers: Dark of the Moon as a forgettable Summer big budget blockbuster, but I think it would be wrong to overlook the technical achievements of some of the awesome action sequences.
ILM and Digital Domain have both released videos breaking down all the work that went into the action you saw on screen. You might be surprised to find out that Optimus Prime, Autobots and Decpticons weren’t the only CG additions in the film. Whole real-world environments and complete shots were created within the computer – buildings, vehicles, bridges, skyscrapers, cities and planets.
For me, these visual effect breakdown videos are the closest thing we have these days to the “Movie Magic” specials from my childhood. While I agree those were more fun, and nothing will beat the magic of practical effects done right, its still fun to get a look behind the curtain and see how the magic was constructed. Watch the videos embedded after the jump.
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Briefly: I don’t know what Russell Crowe‘s agent is doing, but it is working. Casting news and rumors have been thick of late for the actor. Though he said the report of MGM looking at him for RoboCop was untrue, there is still the matter of Crowe being in talks for Darren Aronofsky’s Noah and Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation of the Mark Helperin novel Winter’s Tale. He’s also playing Inspector Javert in Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables.
And now Crowe is also reportedly in talks with Warner Bros. to take a starring role in Harker, the Dracula retelling that Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan) is developing to direct. Read More »
