I can still remember the excitement in the TV industry when the Philbin-hosted American edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire debuted on ABC (i.e. way before they ran the show into the ground with a mind-numbing 4x-per-week airing schedule). Like many game shows, Millionaire was able to harvest some great drama out of a simple premise: A contestant answered questions of increasing difficulty with a chance at winning a million dollars if he got them all correct (while at any time still retaining the option to walk away with a sizable chunk of the money he’d already won). But unlike punishingly difficult quiz shows like Jeopardy or Twenty One, the questions usually didn’t center around obscure historical minutiae or nuclear physics; they were questions the viewers at home could answer too. As an audience, we were allowed to dream what we would do if we were sitting in that chair under those hot lights. We could imagine that, even with the limited knowledge and experience that we had, we always had the chance to strike gold. It’s no surprise, then, that Slumdog Millionaire is able use that game show to generate some engrossing drama of its own.

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I just got home from seeing Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (yes again… what a wonderful film) and noticed the new posters for David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button hanging in the lobby of the Sundance Kabuki theater in San Francisco. I snapped some photos with my iPhone (hence the low light artifacting). Click on the images to enlarge.

Also, /Film reader Christopher M found a digital copy of the poster for Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. The design is a little different than the one that was on display at the red carpet during the AFI Fest.

And below that we have an extremely cool poster for The Day The Earth Stood Still, found on IMPA.

And RopesofSilicon found this explosive poster for Quantum of Solace (how did we miss this? And is it even real?).

It’s impossible to talk about Marc Forster’s Quantum of Solace without first reflecting on how far the Bond franchise has come in recent years. When Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale debuted in 2006, it rebooted the franchise and heralded the age of a bold new Bond. The suave secret agent of previous years was replaced by a rough-and-tumble soldier, who relied more on fists, knives, and guns to get things done, rather than outlandish gadgets. The lifestyle of a double-O, which had seemed intensely appealing over the course of the last few decades, was suddenly transformed into one filled with self-sacrifice, self-reflection, and self-loathing. While the card game sequences might have been a bit hokey and some of the dialogue was a bit too Haggis-esque for my tastes (“I have no armor left. You’ve stripped it from me.”), make no mistake: Casino Royale was completely badass, filled with spectacular action set pieces and a brave portrayal of 007 by always-stellar Daniel Craig. Heck, Casino Royale was so good that it almost made us forget the filmic atrocity that was Die Another Day. Almost.

These are the expectations that Quantum of Solace steps into this weekend, even as it’s already well on its way to a critic-proof, record-breaking box office take. But does the movie live up to its promise?
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This week in Big Directors Small Films, we take a look at the first film from the master filmmaker behind Titanic, True Lies, Terminator, T2, The Abyss and Aliens. Before he pushed the boundaries in Hollywood, James Cameron made a short film titled Xenogenesis. After seeing Star Wars in 1977, Cameron quit his job as a truck driver. Inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, Cameron decided to write a 10-minute short science fiction script with two friends.

The film was financed by a group of Dentists seeking a tax write-off, who invested a grand total of $20,000. This was Cameron’s first real attempt at filmmaking. Rumor has it that Cameron spent a half-a-day dismantling the rented 35mm camera package just so he could understand how to run it. Cameron co-wrote, directed, edited, designed the sets and even did all of the camerawork. Self taught in the field, Cameron created most of the special effects himself on the cheap.

Apparently the investors were expecting something more along the liens of Star Wars, and decided to pull out after screening this short 35mm demo. Xenogenesis landed Cameron a Special Effects gig with Roger Corman, under whom he eventually got his directorial debut with Piranha Part Two: The Spawning.

William Wisher, the lead actor in the film, went on to co-write Terminator 2: Judgement Day and have cameos in both of Cameron’s Terminator films, as well as The Abyss.

It is easy to draw comparisons between this short and Cameron’s later work. For instance, the showdown between the two robots (Terminator), one of which is controlled by a single female inside (reminiscent of the scene from Aliens where Ripley uses the power-lifter to fight the queen). Also there is the ever present use of a strong Female lead. It is also interesting to note that Xenogenesis means “birth of an alien species”.

An amusing side note: there is a widespread internet conspiracy theory that claims that “the consortium of dentists” that helped Cameron fund the film were actually a group of Freemasons that hoped to use the “opportunity to use subliminal imagery and emotional manipulation on mass numbers of people and prepare them for an engineered future” and later “would continue to help his career.” Of course, this is all unfounded.

Thanks to /Film reader Dallas T for the recommendation.

Craig…Daniel Craig. The actor is now responsible for the biggest James Bond opening as Quantum of Solace (Sony) has followed spectacular overseas openings with a monstrous $27M opening day in the US. That is about 30% better than the previous best single day for a Bond film.

ALL-TIME BEST SINGLE DAY GROSSES FOR THE 007 FRANCHISE
1. Friday, November 14, 2008 – Quantum of Solace - $27M (estimated)
2. Saturday, November 23, 2002 – Die Another Day - $19M
3. Friday, November 22, 2002 – Die Another Day - $16.6M
4. Friday, November 18, 2006 – Casino Royale - $15.4M
5. Friday, November 17, 2006 – Casino Royale - $14.7M

That will possibly translate to a $71.5M opening weekend, 75% better than Craig’s first outing, 2006’s Casino Royale ($40.8M), and up 52% from the all-time best Bond opening, 2002’s Die Another Day ($47M opening).

Sony’s decision to reboot the 007 franchise, after Pierce Brosnan’s Die Another Day became the biggest Bond movie ever with $167M domestic, was aggressive and inspired. Screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, and then, later, Oscar winner Paul Haggis (Crash) faithfully adapted Ian Fleming’s 1953 novel Casino Royale and the quickly-approaching-50 Brosnan “got the hint” and “stepped down” from the role. The filmmakers wanted a younger, tougher, grittier 007 instead of the lightweight, foppish version of the character created by the former Remington Steele star.
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The /Filmcast: After Dark is a recording of what happens right after The /Filmcast is over, when the kids have gone to bed and the guys feel free to speak whatever is on their minds. In other words, it’s the leftover and disorganized ramblings, mindfarts, and brain diarrhea from The /Filmcast, all in one convenient audio file. In this episode, David, Devindra, and Adam, discuss their memories of Bond and Casino Royale, reflect on the influence of Seth MacFarlane, and compare their geekiest moments of all time. Katie Spence and Ben Brown join us from Hooray Movies. Also, Peter Sciretta forces his way onto the podcast to warn about the upcoming desecration of a revered childhood film.

Your voicemails (781-583-1993) and e-mails are always welcome. Join us next Monday at 10 PM EST / 7 PM PST as we review Quantum of Solace with Adam Kempenaar from the Filmspotting podcast.

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Have four hours to spare? Hulu now has the restored director’s cut of the Best Picture Academy Award winning film Lawrence of Arabia is now available for free streaming (in the US).

As if we didn’t already have enough stupid spoof comedies… Someone decided to give the Wayans Brothers (White Chicks, Little Man) money to make a spoof movie about competitive dance films like /FilmCast favorite Step Up 2 The Streets. The result, is just as horrible, if not worse, than you might expect.

Watch the trailer in High Definition on Myspace. Dance Flick hits theaters on February 6th 2009.

Twitch has the first trailer for the second a part of John Woo’s massive epic period war film Red Cliff, based on the The Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD. Looks pretty intense. The most expensive film in Chinese film history. The first part broke box office records in China.

To help promote the release of Pixar’s WALL-E next week on DVD/Blue-Ray, Disney has sent us a batch of concept art and production photos. As always, click to enlarge. I’d especially recommend that you check out the two small strips below.

15 more photos after the jump.

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As you know, Let the Right One In was one of our favorite movies this year. And you might also remember, the Swedish vampire coming of age adaptation is getting an American remake. MTV was able to talk with director Matt Reeves, who gave some details and reassurances about the project.

“I see the film as essentially being the fantasies of this 12 year old who’s having such a hard time. It would never be that overt where you would watch the movie and say that’s a dream but to me that is kind of an organizing principle,” Reeves told MTV. “I had such a personal reaction when I saw the movie and when I read the book. I felt like there was an opportunity to do something incredibly personal while still being in a genre arena.”

Sounds like an interesting take on the material to me. The personal nature of the film has been a big concern of fans of the original. It would be easy for Hollywood to go full out genre, and loose everything that makes the original so special. Reeves also reveals that the remake will be set in the early 1980’s in a snowy locale: “I’ve been thinking of Colorado, maybe Littleton.” Overture Films is shooting for a January 15th 2010 release, which is not so coincidentally - one day before the two year anniversary of Reeves’ Cloverfield.

Warner Bros has released a new trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Is it just me, or do the trailers for the Potter series seem to get more and more epic with each new film that is released? Even the title cue has an extremely epic take on John William’s original Potter theme. Tell me what you think in the comments below.

Plot Synopsis: Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

Watch the trailer in High Definition on HPNA.com. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hits theaters on July 17th 2009.

I had the opportunity to sit down one on one with director Danny Boyle at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. We talked about his new film, Slumdog Millionaire, which hit theaters this week in some markets. I even got a chance to ask him about a third film in the 28 Days Later series.

Peter Sciretta: I had talked to you before this film became such a film festival success. Everybody seems to love it.

Danny Boyle: I feel a little bit numb really, you know. It was like four weeks ago we were dead and buried in Central North America really. We were dead and you couldn’t really see any way out of it because Warner Bros is a big studio. They don’t know how to release this kind of film. And then we had the grace, thank God, to show it to Peter Rice who was like, “Fox Searchlight are the experts”. You couldn’t dream of somebody like that to release this kind of film. And they put it in Telluride, in [Toronto] and you get the kind of responses that we’ve had. It’s unbelievable really, and it’s a funny place, India, making the film there. These kind of things happen and there is a kind of reason that they happen. And you can’t quite explain — and you sound like a bit of a hippie idiot when you start going on about it, but there is– it’s bizarre the way it works.

Peter Sciretta: So as they say “it’s written.”

Danny Boyle: [Laughs] Well, that’s what I mean. It’s really weird. And it’s happened on a number of occasions to us throughout the making of the film. And you have to be prepared for it. You have to be relaxed and actually accept your destiny is going to be written in a funny kind of way. Rather than going around screaming and shouting about, blaming people and all these kind of things. You have to relax and trust that you’ve been honest and respectful in a way that you’ve made the film, and that it’ll find it’s way. And so far it seems to be doing that thank God, yeah. So it’s weird, very weird. So hence, I feel a bit numb. I’m not quite sure, I kind of feel a bit dazzled really, and I shouldn’t be.

Peter Sciretta: When I first heard about the film, the only thing that really attracted me to it was your name. Because at first glance, the concept of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire…

Danny Boyle: Yeah, I felt the same way about that show. Yeah, I thought, I don’t want to film about that show. It’s like I don’t know whether I like that show, I don’t think I do. I know when I watch it, it’s kind of compulsive viewing and there’s something vile about it and– but there’s also something wonderful about it which is why it’s a huge success around the world. And the great thing about it is you can tell the underdog story through it, because– and obviously that’s what we use it for is a device by which an underdog, a guy who apparently has nothing, climbs this ladder, apparently, and you climb it with him. And some of the questions and answers you can work out, and some of them are guesses. But because he’s got that relaxed thing I was talking about, about the beginning, about being kind of– he’s got that as well because his agenda for being on the show isn’t just to win the money, it’s something else as well. And because he’s after that, he’s kind of like, “Okay, I’ll guess,” and he gets it right. Anyway…

Peter Sciretta: So you had hesitations going in to this. What made you choose this project?

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The Philadelphia Cartoonist Society held a Watchmen tribute art show called “Children of the Watchmen” last week at Brave New World Comics in Philadelphia, PA. The show featured Watchmen-inspired art from some of the artists we’ve featured in past editions of Cool Stuff, like Tom Whalen and Dave Perillo.

Dave Perillo created retro propaganda posters featuring Night Owl and Dr. Manhattan.

Left: Tom Whalen created a pin-up in his unquie profile view style of The Comedian.

Right: Scott Derby’s “Dear Diary…” shows Rorschach writing in his journal.

More after the jump.

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Like many of you, I didn’t see High School Musical 3 for fairly obvious reasons. Apparently Bruce Willis actually had a pretty big role in the movie :) Who knew? /Film reader Joseph L sent over this video of Willis promoting his new film HSM3 (as the kiddies call it) on David Letterman. Check it out below.