Posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2012 by Angie Han
So far, the footage we’ve seen from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has been, well, pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a movie called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The “secret history” of our 16th president’s double life as a hunter of supernatural monsters is a premise that’s deeply silly but potentially entertaining, and accordingly, the first trailers have been both kind of dumb and kind of cool.
But I do have one big quibble, and it’s that we haven’t seen nearly enough actual vampire hunting. Honest Abe (Benjamin Walker) wields his axe pretty much constantly in the footage we’ve seen so far, but where’s the satisfying splatter of blood and guts? Fortunately, the new red-band trailer rectifies that situation, offering up plenty of bloodshed, several explosions, a couple of decapitations, and even a bit of what the MPAA might call “brief sensuality.” Watch the NSFW video after the jump.
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Briefly: Ask most people if they’re excited for the sequel to The Hunger Games and they’d probably say “Yes.” Ask those same people if they’re excited for Catching Fire and they might say “What’s that?” Catching Fire is the title of the second Hunger Games book by Suzanne Collins but, just to avoid any confusion, Lionsgate is officially titling the sequel film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. It’s the same name recognition strategy Summit employed for Twilight films that followed the first installment, calling them The Twilight Saga followed by the book title.
Directed by Francis Lawrence and returning main actors Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland and others, the film is scheduled for release November 22, 2013.
Posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2012 by Angie Han
You’d think that Battleship‘s dismal $25.5 million opening this past weekend would make Hollywood in general and Universal in particular wary of making more movies based on toys, but no: Universal is now in talks to acquire movie rights to Hero Factory, Lego’s line of robotic toys.
While no director has been named at this point, Predators scribes Michael Finch and Alex Litvak are already negotiating to write the script for the live-action feature, with Mike Gordon, Ben Forkner, and Dean Schneider on board to produce. More details after the jump.
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The Exorcist is a landmark movie. Along with Psycho, it legitimized horror as a genre — what had previously been relegated to drive-in and second-feature filler was now big business. William Friedkin‘s adaptation of William Peter Blatty‘s novel (scripted by Blatty) scored a Best Picture Oscar nomination and nine other Oscar nods. (Best Picture went to The Sting, but The Exorcist did take Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay.)
But all things are now ripe for re-adaptation, and so producers are turning towards Blatty’s novel once more. This time, the book is to be adapted into a ten-episode TV series, and the director in charge will be Sean Durkin, who made Martha Marcy May Marlene. It’s actually such a good fit that I can’t even muster the urge to be upset about a remake. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2012 by Angie Han
As Paramount’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation heads into next spring and Universal’s Ted moves up into G.I. Joe‘s old date, Fox is making a few edits of their own to the upcoming release calendar. Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi has been shifted away from hyper-competitive late December to Thanksgiving weekend, while the Wedding Crashers quasi-reunion The Internship has landed on a summer 2013 date. Read more details after the jump.
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I have no faith that this movie will actually get made, but this is an interesting story regardless. Even as Sony continues to try to adapt the relatively movie-friendly Uncharted game series, the company is trying again with something much more ambitious: an adaptation of the 2005 fantasy adventure game Shadow of the Colossus. Now attached to direct is Josh Trank, whose first feature was the early 2012 release Chronicle.
The game is often at the center of the debate over whether video games can be art (I fell into that conversation back in 2005, when I reviewed the game for G4) but for good reason. The game features a young male protagonist who is told that his dead love can be revived if only he kills a collection of giant beasts that reside across the countryside. He does so without question, and the player is left to eventually wonder if the kid is being played. Visually austere yet stunning, the game was a critical hit and has endured as one of the masterpieces of the PlayStation2 generation.
But will it make a good movie? Read More »
Things were going so well for G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Fans were responding really well to the trailers, director Jon Chu was talking up how it’s the movie he really wanted to see as a G.I. Joe fan, the release date was approaching and everyone was excited.
Paramount has now decided to forgo that positive buzz and bump the film back nine months, from June 29 to March 29, so it can be converted to 3D. We weight the positives and negatives after the jump. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012 by Angie Han
Along the lines of 21 Jump Street, The A-Team, The Smurfs, Dark Shadows, The Muppets, Alvin and the Chipmunks, the (now non-mutant) Ninja Turtles, etc., etc., etc., ALF could be the next retro property to find new life on the big screen. Or so hopes Paul Fusco, anyway.
The ALF creator and puppeteer recently revealed his intention to pitch a movie about the character to studios. And given how interested Hollywood is right now in making everything old new again, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him succeed. More details after the jump.
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