New Yorkers can enjoy plenty of animation goodness this summer thanks to the Observatory, an arts and event space in Brooklyn (543 Union Street at Nevins, Brooklyn, NY 11215). They’re hosting an awesome-sounding lecture series called “Animators Are God?” Curated by GF Newland and Trilby Schreiber, the series will offer lectures, presentations and screenings by New York animators of all stripes. It kicks off this Saturday with Academy Award-winning animator Jimmy Picker who will discuss and screen his work.
Upcoming speakers include:
Signe Baumane, Animator
Kevin Brownie of Beavis and Butthead, SNL TV Funhouse
Bob Camp of Ren and Stimpy
Jonny Clockworks of the Cosmic Bicycle Theatre
John Dillworth creator of Courage the Cowardly Dog
Ted Enik Children’s book Illustrator
Nina Paley creator of Sita Sings the Blues
Bill Plympton showing his new film The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger
R. Sikoryak, Masterpiece Comic and Cartoon Parodies
Debra Solomon, co-creator of the Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire
Mike Zohn on the History of Automata
Additional guests will be announced. Tickets are $5 per show. For more details on the series, visit the Observatory website.
(Thanks Cartoon Brew)
One Billion
It's always good to see a former animator do well.
"Alice in Wonderland" on Thursday will become the sixth movie to cross $1 billion in worldwide boxoffice and the first spring release to do so. ...
The industry's previous five $1 billion pics -- "Avatar," "Titanic," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "Dead Man's Chest" and "The Dark Knight" -- unspooled during the holiday or summer boxoffice seasons. ...
There have been other animation artists who have made it as live-action directors. None, however, have had the success of Mr. Burton.
(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)
Safe Haven by Harrie Geelen
This dreamy piece of animated psychedelia was done by award winning animator/director/illustrator Harrie Geelen. It was made with no budget, single handedly by Geelen for the Dutch band Cloudmachine.
(Thanks, Ruud Houweling)
(Thanks Cartoon Brew)
The Dirtiest Shrek Product Tie-In Ever
Don’t even ask about the ingredients in this one:
(Thanks Cartoon Brew)
Russian Despicable Me poster
A new Russian poster for Universal Pictures’ animated Despicable Me has just been revealed on the internet. It features supervillain Gru sitting on a platform of some sort while surrounded by his yellow minions and other characters. The heavily marketed comedy hits theaters in the US this July.
Judges Set for Animag’s 9th Annual Pitch Party
The judges for Animation Magazine’s ninth annual Pitch Party are set!
The annual event, which opens up a section of Animation Magazine to anyone who wants to pitch an idea for the next great animated series. The winner gets the chance to pitch their idea to the judge of their choice.
So who are the judges? Read on:
• Brian Jones - Manager, Action Adventure Series, Cartoon Network
• Kim Manning - Director of Programming and Acquisitions, Adult Swim
• Alan Gregg - Director of Original Content, Teletoon
• Michael Vogel - Exec Dir., Boys & Action, Hasbro
• Kevin Gamble - Vice President, Development, Disney Television Animation
• Sharon Levy - Executive VP, original series and animation, Spike TV
• Barbara Uecker - Head of Programming and Acquisitions for ABC Children’s TV, Australia
• Scott Landsman - VP, Development, Comedy Central
• Ellen Goldsmith-Vein - President and Founder, Gotham Group
The winner of the Pitch Party also gets additional editorial coverage and the cost of your entry reimbursed. The second and third place winners get editorial coverage. The winners of our staff pick and online readers poll also will get editorial coverage.
To enter, contact our sales staff by phone at (818) 991-2884, Ext. 104, or email at sales@animationmagazine.net. Entry fee is $375 and the deadline is June 7.
Winners will be announced in our August issue, which hits stands around July 1. Winners also will be hyped on our website during the week of Comic-Con International: San Diego, July 22-25.
For more information, go to www.animationmagazine.net/pitch_party_2010.html.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Next Media Animation Draws Attention to the News
You may not know Hong Kong-based Next Media Animation by name, but if you’ve watched the news in the past six months or check out YouTube clips regularly, you have certainly seen their “ripped from the headlines” handiwork. Next Media was first thrown into the spotlight last December when their animated simulation of Tiger Woods’ S.U.V. crash and his wife chasing him with a golf club became a huge viral hit and generated 2.5 million hits you YouTube.Based out of the same building as the company’s Taiwanese newspaper, Apple Daily, Next Media Animation began animating news items last September, based on information the team picked up from the Web and Apple Daily’s own reporting. Despite criticisms from journalism ethics advocates and those who object to the graphic nature of the projects, these animated segments have garnered a global following for the studio, which is owned by billionaire tycoon Jimmy Lai.
“Our studio was formed two years ago, but we didn't release our news animation for public consumption until September 2009,” says Mark Simon, Next Media Animation’s commercial director. “Next Media has a great deal of experience and a great track record in attracting and building an audience in print. Now, that experience is being applied to online video news and animation.”
Simon says that his company has taken the online video service provided by most newspapers around the world one step further by bringing animation into the mix. “By using the tools of the animation industry, we can fill in the gaps of video news coverage,” he notes. “We animate the missing pieces—the missing action. Events that aren't captured on video camera can be animated, and that’s how we can tell a fuller story.”
The company has a staff of just over 200 and services other parts of the Next Media group, mainly the Apple Daily website in Hong Kong, the Apple Daily website in Taiwan and the TV news operations in Taiwan. Simon says they are upping their work for external news and entertainment clients. “We're seeing a lot of demand from these external clients and we think this could grow to be a big part of our business,” he adds.
When asked about the motion capture or CG tools they use to create the animation, Simon replies, “We use the same tools that everyone else uses. But what makes us different is how we've deployed those tools to be ultra-fast, to work within an ever-quickening news cycle.” What has been reported is that the studios artists lift details from news photos while actors in motion sensor suits recreate the action sequences of the stories. What’s impressive is the speed (and at times, sense of humor) with which they are able to provide Web audiences with animated re-enactments of the headlines.
As Lai told CNN in February, "Is the whole part accurate? No! What is important is that we are keeping the integrity of the news. You know, if I'm talking to you and the animation comes out that I'm in a blue sweater instead of a red one, the detail is wrong, but it does not affect the integrity of the news."
To learn more about Next Media Animation, visit: http://nma.com.tw/index.html
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Toy Story 3 to Premiere at Taormina
The Taormina Film Festival in Italy has scored the world premiere screening of Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3, according to The Hollywood Reporter.The festival will debut the film June 12, one day before its United States premiere. The film is set for wide release on June 18.
Held in the coastal town on the island of Sicily, the festival will show Toy Story 3 as its opening night film in the ancient Greek Theatre.
The 56-year-old festival has been building in recent years a reputation as a major launch pad for summer tentpole films. Recent editions of the festival have included international premieres for such films as Transformers and Mission: Impossible II.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Little Airplane Offers Positive Olive Branch to World
Little Airplane Productions’ most-recent series for preschoolers is looking to make a real difference in the world.The Olive Branch is a series of 26 x 1 min. films that tell stories about conflict resolution, tolerance and mutual respect without using words. The series is being produced by Little Airplanes’ nonprofit Little Light Foundation and has been endorsed by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and UNICEF.
The series’ world premiere is set for June 1 on Nick Jr. in the United States. The first three episodes are getting an exclusive six-month window on Nick Jr. and also are available on a non-exclusive basis to more than 100 Nick networks around the world.
To ensure the series is seen as widely around the world as possible, Little Airplane is offering the show to broadcasters for the sum of one unit of local currency per episode.
“After spending time working in the Middle East, I came to appreciate the enormous value of creating programming that fosters tolerance and mutual respect among children and adults,” said Josh Selig, founder and president of Little Airplane Productions. “In order to reach the widest possible audience, we have designed The Olive Branch without words and have thereby eliminated the need for costly dubbing. This, combined with a minimal license fee, should help ensure that even the poorest of nations can benefit from the important messages of this series.”
“Television plays a key role in determining how children learn to perceive themselves and one another,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu. “The Olive Branch is a wonderful example of television that will make a positive contribution to the world. It will be understood and appreciated by children in every country.”
In order to help cover production costs, broadcasters can choose to make tax-deductible contributions to Little Light Foundation. Individuals, corporations and foundations may also make contributions or participate in the “Grow A Show” program that allows funders to participate in the development and production of an Olive Branch episode.
The Olive Branch is written and directed by Josh Selig. The series features traditional hand-drawn animation by Pablo Smith (The Wonder Pets!, 3rd & Bird) and is made entirely in Little Airplane's New York studio. The music is composed by Emmy Award-winning composer J. Walter Hawkes.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Five animated shows up for British Columbia's Leos
Five shows have been nominated in the Best Animation Program or Series category of the Leo Awards, which celebrate excellence in British Columbia film and television.
The nominees are 1001 Nights, produced by Aly Jetha and Shabnam Rezaei; Barbie In A Mermaid Tale, produced by Anita Lee; League Of Super Evil, produced by Asaph Fipke, Ken Faier and Chuck Johnson; Martha Speaks, produced by Chris Bartleman, Blair Peters and Sarah Wall; and Max Steel Versus The Mutant Menace, produced by Justin Gladden.
Winners in 75 categories will be announced at two separate ceremonies where program and craft awards will be presented, complemented with the annual Outstanding Achievement Award. A celebration awards ceremony will be held Friday, June 4, while a gala awards ceremony is scheduled Saturday, June 5, both at the Westin Bayshore Vancouver.
For Best Direction/Storyboarding in an Animation Program or Series, the nominees are 1001 Nights - "What's Yours Is Mine" (Chad Van De Keere and Gordon Crum), Barbie In A Mermaid Tale (Adam Wood), League Of Super Evil - "One Zillion" (Johnny Darrell, Steve Ball, Jay Falconer, Gary Scott and Russell Crispin), Martha Speaks - "Secret Agent Dog" (Dallas Parker, Colleen Holub, Jason Horychun and Christine Cunningham) and Max Steel Versus The Mutant Menace (Greg Richardson).
The nominees for Best Screenwriting in an Animation Program or Series are 1001 Nights - "What's Yours Is Mine" (Victor Nicolle), Doggy Day School (Cathy Moss), Franny's Feet (Louise Moon) and League Of Super Evil - "Glory Hog" (Philippe Ivanusic, Davila Lebianc)
Best Overall Sound in an Animation Program or Series nominees are 1001 Nights - "Sinbad And The Valley Of Serpents" (Ian Emberton, Greg Stewart, Don Marrison and Ian Mackie), Barbie In A Mermaid Tale (Kelly Cole, Bill Mellow, Joe Watts and Ryan Nowak), League Of Super Evil - "Happy Birthday Dear Doktor" (Ewan Deane, Dean Giammarco, John Ludgate and Jeff Davis), Martha Speaks - "Martha Out West"/"Martha Sled Dog" (Marcel Duperreault, Todd Araki and Jason Fredrickson) and Max Steel Versus The Mutant Menace (James Fonnyadt, Miguel Nunes, Gord Hillier and Tony Gort).
Up for Best Musical Score in an Animation Program or Series are Kid Vs Kat - "Suddenly Last Summer" (Hal Foxton Beckett), League Of Super Evil - "Slam Dunked" (Hal Foxton Beckett and Steffan Andrews), League Of Super Evil - "The Knight Before Choas-Mas" (Hal Foxton Beckett and Steffan Andrews) and Martha Speaks - "Opera Contest"/"Maestro Martha" (Daniel Ingram).
A project of the Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Foundation of British Columbia, the Leo Awards were established in 1998.
Introducing: The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons
I just received a copy of my latest book, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes, directly from the printer and snapped the photo above for you to see (also a few sample spreads below, click thumbnails to enlarge. Forgive the blurriness of my cel phone camera). The pictures make the book look larger than it is. It’s actually a compact 7 inches tall and 9 1/2 inches wide, loaded with 216 pages of information and color images. It retails for $24.95, but amazon.com has it for $16.47.
Next Tuesday, June 1st at 8pm, I’m hosting a screening and book signing party at my usual monthly event at the CineFamily - Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax Ave. in Hollywood, CA. I’ll be screening ten 35mm classic Looney Tunes (some in IB Technicolor) and clips from most (if not all) of the other 90 selected for the book. A limited number of books will be flown in from the printer, making this the first place on Earth you can purchase the book and get it with my autograph.
It will start appearing in bookstores and comics shops in the U.S. and Canada sometime during in June. I hope you like it. Buy two - it makes a great gift!
(Thanks Cartoon Brew)
Marina Sirtis voices a Villain on Young Justice
Marina Sirtis will be voicing a villain in the upcoming animated series.
Actress Marina Sirtis, best known for playing Counselor Troi-Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, will provide voice talent for Cartoon Network's Young Justice animated series. She revealed as much in a video interview with Toxic Pop during her recent appearance at the Motor City Comic Con.
Here is the interview.
She told TP she's playing a villain in the show, none other than Queen Bee and it will be a recurring role.
Young Justice will air on Cartoon Network in Fall 2010
(Thanks Comic Book Movie)
Abetoons Gives Birth to a Pair of Starz Shorts
The gang at Abetoons recently released a pair of CG shorts from artists at Starz Animation in Toronto. Both are high quality productions, and both have a toddler theme…
Enter The Sandbox – directed by Kevin Adams
Bundle Of Joy – directed by Kyran Kelly
Peladan Goes For Gold With New Stop Motion Short
Christophe Peladan’s stop-motion short Goutte d’Or (Shower of Gold) isn’t quite finished yet, but he’s offering us a tease of what’s to come in early autumn of this year. And, yes, the English translation of the title made me do a double take too. Fear not – very safe for work. Peladan is working in conjunction with The Animation Workshop in Denmark. We’ll keep you updated as the film, a “poetic musical” no less, moves toward completion….
Why You're Killing Anime
The economic recession has certainly hit the animation industry hard in the last few years, and it’s shown. Cartoon Network has moved into what I could only assume is the more cost-effective live action market. Networks like SyFy which seemed at one point to be open to airing Japanese and American animation now seem to be shying away. This is bad for animation on the whole, but it’s even more difficult to come upon Japanese animation on television. It has been generally sequestered to late night blocks and early morning programming. Now to the average viewer, even the average anime viewer, it may seem that this is a bad thing for the fandom. Perhaps it is, but it has yielded what I have witnessed to be a significant boom in interest and passion. A lot of what drive the pros and cons to this new anime community are the collectible and hard-to-grasp aspects of the industry, and perhaps what I call an “entitlement complex” of many anime fans.
In order to understand the evolution of the fandom, it is necessary to step back and see where the industry is today. VIZ Media just laid off a tremendous amount of their workforce, ADV Media has downsized into Sentai Filmworks and its distributor Section 23, and Geneon has been a thing of the past for some time now. Bang Zoom! Entertainment’s President Eric P. Sherman said it himself in his article, the anime industry is suffering. All of this can be seen as both a cause and effect of the attitude of the anime fan. Unlike any other industry out there, anime has the particular characteristic in which the attitude of how fans approach their product substantially affects sales. This isn’t to say that the consumers of anime have a certain opinion, it’s that they have a certain attitude. The casual viewer of this community may ponder as to what the difference is. A normal consumer of a product would go in and say: “I like this show, the DVD got good reviews, I’ll buy it.” With the anime community a large portion of the problem is that they are entitled, the show and the release must deliver a certain characteristic to them or else they have been betrayed: “I like this show, the DVD got good reviews, but I’m entitled to get this with certain vocabulary intact or with certain packaging and extras.”
This is what simultaneously causes the failures and successes of the anime industry. When you go out and tell people: “I like this show, but the DVD doesn’t use the correct pronunciation for 'side character A'” it’s going to either turn people off or turn people on to illegal means to watch it. If your friend says not to buy the official release because it's lacking in a certain quality, why would you waste your money on it? This isn’t a rant about fansubbing. Fansubbing was at one point the major threat of the anime industry, and still remains a potent hinderance to its success, but companies like FUNimation Entertainment have found ways to go around that obstacle with the induction of simulcasts and online streaming with mainstream websites like Hulu. What I am deriding here is the general attitude of the anime fan. This is what is destroying the anime you love, both here and in Japan. Fandom too often gets embroiled in its own inflexible and unnecessary arguments. People often get wrapped up in their own community’s culture for a given series that they forget people on the outside may be incredibly turned off by this kind of behavior. Because the Internet is cut off from actual reality, those fanatics forget the impression they may be making on those who come upon their posts or rants. Fiercely dedicated fandom has simultaneously kept anime alive while being an accomplice to its downfall.
New media has created the capability to eavesdrop on opinions and conversation in a way most people probably don’t realize. When you post something on Twitter or Facebook, it’s available for just about everybody to see. So, when you endorse something like fansubbing, everyone you know and a lot of people that you don’t, can take your opinion. However, as I said earlier this is not the major problem. The problems that come about with this new media are the small, the minute, and the inane arguments that I see and hear every day. When someone argues about small translation points or small problems they have with releases or material it provides a reason for the casual observer to ignore that series. The problem is that this happens to every single series out there. Casual viewers don’t know any better. They’ll take all the commentary and decide, “hey, [this] anime doesn’t seem all that great.” I understand passion, but while this kind of excitement may make the existing fanbase stronger it is a fact that the fanatics alone cannot sustain the industry. It's great that you may think something was translated wrong, but if people don't buy the DVDs for that show or don't watch it regularly on readily free and available Internet media sources, the show is as good as dead.
So how can we treat this complex? How do I, the intense and passionate viewer of anime, go about treating my condition? Hey, you’re looking at one of those guys right here. I’m insanely passionate about a particular series (One Piece, seriously, you should check it out, it's a good show). You can be that without necessarily destroying the series you love; it’s possible. You just have to be open-minded and address your views privately or at the very least subtly. So what if your favorite Japanese term is translated? Watch your show on the DVD subtitled. Or better yet, you can use your imagination to pretend that the term is what it is in Japanese. Anime shows are released in native Japanese and dubbed English almost across the board, by every major distributor. There is literally nothing to complain about in the anime industry today. The era of paying about $30 for 3 to 5 episodes of anime is gone; most of the companies finally have taken the hint and release big boxsets for cheap prices. A lot of them release their stuff for free online; distribution is done in a wide spectrum of formats. Not only are there choices, there are a lot of real and good choices. The days of the edited VHS or DVD release are also long over. We have series that are uncut in their full glory, whether it be for nudity, violence, or just the good old suggestive behavior. The time to complain about what you are entitled to is over, you have what you have always wanted.
So what happens if these companies listen to every one of your complaints? Companies that cater to terminology and fan requests suffer because they lose the casual viewer, and the potential for new viewers. Think about some of the biggest anime series of the past two decades: Voltron, Dragon Ball Z, Robotech, and Cowboy Bebop. All of them were successful because they appealed to a wide audience and because people watching them didn’t think: “wow, this is Japanimation, I’m not watching this!” They watched them because they weren't wracked with obscure terminology and because they were, at the time, introducing themselves to many new viewers that were largely unexposed to a fanbase that was yelling at them to not watch or telling them that what they had wasn't nearly good enough. Today, we have new media and the lack of animation on television providing us with some great hindrances to success. You have a chance to solve this problem. All you have to do is be open-minded. You have to tell a friend who is not into anime: “hey, buy this DVD because I like this show and I think you will too.”
Today the anime industry relies on DVD sales and streaming. This gives you the chance to save your series single-handedly. Though my particular series is One Piece, you can use both of these readily available media to convince a friend to become an anime fan. You can end inclusiveness and entitlement by simply reaching a single hand out to a casual fan, you can reach your hand out to a brand new fan. Now that the economy has restricted anime from airing on television, you can bring your show to the top with word of mouth. Sales are what matter to the industry, and sales are what will save anime. You will either save anime, or destroy it. So stop talking about the inane stuff, enjoy the show you love, and spread that love to the world.
(Thanks Toon Zone)
Exclusive: Temuera Morrison Talks Green Lantern
Over the weekend my kids and I had the great opportunity to go to Orlando for a little R & R and spend some time at Walt Disney World. It just happened that one of the theme parks; Disney’s Hollywood Studios was hosting a 30th anniversary of "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back." The park has a STAR WARS ride called STAR TOURS, so it made sense for them to have some sort of thing for the celebration. They had some of the actors do meet-and-greets and photo opportunities for the fans. They had Ashley Eckstein (the voice behind Ahsoka) from “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”, Daniel Logan, he played the young Boba Fett and Temuera Morrison who played Jango Fett in “Star Wars: Attack of the Clone.”
During the visit, Wilson Morales from Blackfilm.com and I went to see if we can catch Morrison at the event and see if he would talk about his role as Abin Sur in the upcoming movie “Green Lantern” based on the DC Comics. Morrison is playing Abin Sur, a member of the Green Lantern Corps who is instrumental in Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) becoming the superhero.
I asked Morrison if he was done filming “Green Lantern” to which he replied:
“Yeah I’m done filming.”
But what was awesome about that was after I had asked that question he approached me and turned on his phone to show me how he looks like as Abin Sur. I was just shocked he showed me that. He basically looks exactly like the concept art like the one below.
“That took about 4-5 hours to put on, it was all prosthetic.” Morrison said while he was showing me the pics on his cell phone.
As he was finishing his photo opportunities with the fans Morrison and I were walking and I asked him how was his shoot with Ryan Reynolds.
“We did the whole scene together were I give him the ring, our suits are CGI so we had these grey suits with things on them so it was cool and working with Martin Campbell again was great too.”
When asked if he had read the comics, he replied:
“When they called me up for the role I was like ‘The Green Hornet?’ no no they said ‘its for Green Lantern’ so I said sure.”
What was interesting is that they have planned sequels for him as well.
“You know there are making sequels right?” Morrison said. “They want me to come back in the sequel. They want to show you my backend story for the next movie. They want to show you how I become part of Green Lantern Corps.”
I hope it works out for Morrison and I for one would love to see his back-story. What about you? Think his back-story would be good in a sequel if any.
(Thanks Latino Review)
Inception gets even WEIRDER in new Japanese trailer
Whenever we think Christopher Nolan's Inception has shown us as much weirdness as we can stand, a new trailer pops up to make us realize our minds can be blown even further.
To prove that, Ken Watanabe was interviewed on Japanese TV and debuted an international trailer for the film, which contains new footage and shows just how bizarre an experience we can expect when the film opens July 16, 2010.
Check it out below—and for more photos, visit nolanfans.
Inception, from the director of The Dark Knight, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine and Dileep Rao.
ABC clarifies that everyone on LOST was NOT dead the whole show
Remember how confusing it was when Jack (Matthew Fox) closed his eye Sunday night at the end of Lost and the series' logo appeared on our TV screens, only to be followed by crash images of Oceanic 815? What the heck was that about?
Were we being told that no one had survived Oceanic 815's original crash landing—and that we'd invested our hearts in a show in which nothing we'd seen over the last six years had ever really happened?
ABC wants us to know—those final images had nothing at all to do with the Lost storyline, the Los Angeles Times reported. The network ran them only to soften the transition from the ending of the series to the news show that followed, and had never considered that any of us would think it related to the actual ending of the show. (Which some of us around here did!)
An ABC spokesperson wrote in an email Tuesday: "The images shown during the end credits of the Lost finale, which included shots of Oceanic 815 on a deserted beach, were not part of the final story but were a visual aid to allow the viewer to decompress before heading into the news."
Does that change how you felt about Lost's series finale?
Marvel Studios Pursuing Three New Actresses?
Another Avengers-themed rumor states that the studio is interested in signing one of three popular actresses for an undisclosed movie role...
With Marvel's Thor already in post production, the studio is gearing up to begin filming their next superhero movie Captain America: The First Avenger sometime in June. Their following film, The Avengers, which will assemble heroes from their past five projects, will begin production in early 2011.
AvengersNews.com is now reporting that Marvel Studios is looking at several popular actresses for one of these films. Malin Akerman (Watchmen), Alice Eve (She's Out of My League) and Rachel Nichols (G.I.Joe) are supposedly already in talks with the studio to star in a future production. According to their source the studio,
"... only wants one of the three and Malin Akerman and Alice Eve were said to be the front runners for the elusive Marvel picture deal."
Alice Eve was one of the final contenders for the role of Peggy Carter; but for undisclosed reasons that role went to actress Hayley Atwell. AvengersNews.com speculates that the mysterious role could be either S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter or the super heroine Janet Van Dyne/the Wasp. With script rewrites currently underway for both Captain America and The Avengers films, pinpointing the rumored character is anyone's guess at this point.
(Thanks Comic Book Movie)
Remember that Logan's Run remake? It's back on!
A long-in-development remake of the 1976 sci-fi classic Logan's Run is FINALLY back on track with the addition of a new director for the project, according to the Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog.
Carl Rinsch is the name now attached to direct the movie, which is being produced by Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman. Silver told reporters last weekend during press interviews for Splice, which he also produced, that he was still eager to remake Logan's Run. A script has been around for a while, although a new one will probably be written if the movie goes forward again.
If Rinsch's name sounds familiar, that's because he was at one time a candidate to direct the upcoming Alien prequel until Ridley Scott decided to make that picture himself. Rinsch is one of the hottest directors of commercials around (he's done a lot of ad work for Ridley and Tony Scott's company) and has been wanting to make the jump into feature films for a while.
A recent SF-themed short he made for Phillips Electronics, called The Gift, was impressive enough that several studios wanted to turn that into a feature itself. Although that fell through because Phillips owns the rights, it was good enough to get Rinsch on the radar for Logan's Run.
The original Logan's Run, based on the book by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, takes place in a future society where everyone must die at the age of 30. Michael York starred as Logan, a Sandman, whose job it is to execute those "runners" who do not voluntarily turn themselves in on their 30th birthdays. But Logan himself goes on the run in search of a mythical hideaway called Sanctuary. The age limit in the original novel was 21, and Silver has said that the new film will revert back to that.
X-Men director Bryan Singer was going to direct the remake a few years back, but he put it aside to focus on 2006's Superman Returns. Other directors who have run the project through the development mill include James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) and Joseph Kosinski (Tron Legacy).
Do you think Logan's Run is ripe for remaking?
And Your Leading Spider-Man Contenders Are...
The Spider-Man reboot had everyone up in arms. "Is it going to be a tweeny Spidey?" "Who will play Peter Parker?" "Will they finally hire a hot chick to play Mary Jane?" are questions every geek has been asking for months.THR has the breakdown on who the 5 contenders are for the role of Spidey. Ready? Here we go:
-- Jamie Bell: The 24-year-old English actor, repped by WME and Artists Independent Management, who made his film debut playing the title character in “Billy Elliot,” has been doing the proper British actor thing in period movies such as “Nicholas Nickleby” and “Jane Eyre” (he’s also appeared in Hollywood movies such as Peter Jackson’s “King Kong” and Ed Zwick’s “Defiance”). More important, he’s already stepped into the comics world by portraying Tintin in Jackson and Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin” movie, which won’t hit screens until December 2011.-- Alden Ehrenreich: The Los Angeles-born 20-year-old has a juicy backstory, having been “discovered” by Spielberg, who saw a comedy video starring Ehrenreich at a bat mitzvah of his daughter’s friend. A couple of TV appearances followed, but the actor’s next big leap came when he was cast by Francis Ford Coppola in 2009’s “Tetro.” He is repped by WME.
-- Frank Dillane: The 19-year-old Brit’s main credit is last year’s “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” where he played a young Tom Riddle. Is a minor role in a “Potter” film a good springboard for a mega-franchise? It worked for Robert Pattinson.
-- Andrew Garfield: The L.A.-born actor had a short stint on a BBC TV series called “Sugar Rush” but gained notices for playing a young reporter in a gritty British TV movie trilogy titled “Red Riding.” The 27-year-old appeared in “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” and will be seen in David Fincher’s movie about Facebook, “The Social Network.” He is repped by CAA and the Collective.
-- Josh Hutcherson: The youngest actor of the bunch -- he turns 18 this year -- is also the one with the most experience. The past six years alone have seen the Kentucky-born kid rack up credits with key roles in Jon Favreau’s “Zathura,” drama “Bridge to Terabithia” and the upcoming “Red Dawn” remake. He appears in the Sundance hit “The Kids Are All Right,” which insider buzz suggests could be an Oscar contender, and starred with Brendan Fraser in “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”Click HERE to read the entire article.
My money is on Josh Hutcherson. He's the right age, can actually act and is in good shape. Plus I've heard through the grapevine he's well liked by the Sony execs. We'll all have to wait and see.
(Thanks Latino Review)
2nd Jonah Hex Trailer Is Jonahtastic
IGN has the exclusive new trailer for the comic book turned movie Jonah Hex starring Josh Brolin and the former star of Transformers 3, Megan Whocaresaboutyou.The trailer is pretty cool but Megan just sucks up every scene she's in. So glad I won't have to write about her anymore after this movie comes out.
Hex, known for having the right side of his face disfigured and wearing a Confederate army uniform, was a rough-and-tumble gunslinger and part-time bounty hunter whose adventures always ended in blood.
Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is a scarred drifter and bounty hunter of last resort, a tough and stoic gunslinger who can track down anyone... and anything. Having survived death, Jonah's violent history is steeped in myth and legend, and has left him with one foot in the natural world and one on the "other side." His only human connection is with Leila (Megan Fox), whose life in a brothel has left her with scars of her own. But Jonah's past is about to catch up with him when the U.S. military makes him an offer he can't refuse: in exchange for his freedom from the warrants on his head, he must track down and stop the dangerous terrorist Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich). But Turnbull, who is gathering an army and preparing to unleash Hell, is also Jonah's oldest enemy and will stop at nothing until Jonah is dead. Based on the legendary graphic novel, "Jonah Hex" is an epic adventure thriller about one man's personal quest for redemption against the vast canvas of the battle between good and evil.
Check out the trailer below.
(Thanks Latino Review)
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