Since James Cameron’s Avatar set the box office on fire and was awards show fodder, even if it failed to land the big prize, a renewed interest in Sci-Fi films is gripping Hollywood. The latest big Sci-Fi epic to generate tons of interest is Ion, a film that tried to get going last year, but couldn’t. Ion now has Channing Tatum attached in the lead role, and is drawing comparisons to Avatar, which has tinseltown salivating. In particular, Fox 2000, a division of Fox who seems to have the project in tow now.
Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, the directing brothers of hits like Gladiator and The Taking of Pelham 123, are attached as producers on Ion. With Tatum in the lead, the property is looking to bed down and find a director next. From Heat Vision, we learn of the storyline of Ion:
The plot revolves around a man who travels to different Earths and dimensions in order to find his reincarnated lover. Execs are using the magic word — “Avatar” — to describe the scope and otherworldly elements of the script.
I’ve never been a big Tatum fan, though I don’t really have an opinion on him one way or the other, and its not surprising to see Hollywood try to get pumped up about sci-fi movies again, especially when using Avatar as a buzz word. It also wouldn’t be surprising that if the film does indeed get off the ground, it looks nothing at all like Avatar and ends up being another Chronicles of Riddick. You never know which way things are going to go in today’s fast moving Hollywood. Let me know if you like Tatum and if the project intrigues you. I’ll let you in on more as I learn more.
Today sees the debut of the fourth installation of Mean Magazine’s weekly Cinemash series, which began last month, bringing scenes from older films and infusing them with unique talent in iconic roles. This new piece clashes the acting styles of Channing Tatum and Michael Cera’s real-life girlfriend and Paper Heart co-star, Charlene Yi, in a recreation of Dirty Dancing.
I’ve never seen Dirty Dancing before, so I can only guess at what parts have been re-imagined here (ish balancing?). Tatum brings his pre-established Step Up rep to the role as he and Yi both remember to wear big-haired wigs. This will surely be amusing to some, but I’ll continue to look forward to future installments. Let us know what you thought.
Check out The Film Nest next week for what will be my most anticipated Cinemash to-date when Milo Ventamiglia takes on Oldboy.
Along with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “G.I. Joe” was one of my favorite cartoons. The slogans “Yo Joe!” and “Knowing is half the battle,” became the popular catchphrases. G.I. (which is a nickname for the military) Joe is a highly trained Special Forces unit of the U.S. Government that must stop the terrorist organization, Cobra, from taking over the world. G.I. Joe first started as a toy line in 1964 by Hasbro. Each of the figures was 12-inches tall and used real fabric for clothes. In 1982, Hasbro changed their motto of their toy line to “G.I. Joe: The Real American Hero.” This is where the culture of G.I. Joe experienced a popular resurgence. The action figures were re-launched as 3 ¾-inch sizes and it was coincided with the very popular Marvel Comic book series “G.I. Joe.” At one time, it was Marvel’s biggest seller. A cartoon mini-series called “G.I. Joe” followed in 1983. Its popularity allowed for three more mini-series’ and an eventual series in 1985. What soon followed were more spin-off cartoons, video games and three animated movies (all direct-to-video). G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra will be the franchise’s first live-action film. Since not hearing much from G.I. Joe for a while, I find it odd (like the Street Fighter movie earlier this year) they would come out with a live-action version now. I’m sure it’s an attempt to recharge the name brand ala Transformers.
"Stop! Or my gun will shoot."
Channing Tatum (Fighting) stars as Conrad Hauser a.k.a. Duke, the leader of G.I. Joe. Along with Wallace Weems a.k.a. Ripcord (Marlon Wayans, Requiem for a Dream), the film will chronicle their first introduction to the U.S. government force’s G.I. Joe program. Feeling the pressure from a new terrorist group named Cobra, General Clayton Abernathy a.k.a. Hawk (Dennis Quaid, Vantage Point) must organize a team of the world’s best to battle the new threat. The film will also detail how the team came to be and their eventual fight with Cobra.
The film co-stars Rachel Nichols (not the ESPN reporter) as Scarlett, Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty, Said Taghmaoui as Breaker and Karolina Kurkova as Cover Girl. Cobra will be headed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander, Christopher Eccleston as Destro, Sienna Miller as The Baroness, Lee Byung-hun as Storm Shadow and Arnold Vosloo as Zartan. Stephen Sommers directs, who has done The Mummy and Van Helsing. Stuart Beattie (Australia) and David Elliot & Paul Lovett (Four Brothers) wrote the screenplay.
Symmetry obviously isn't Stephen Sommers' strong point.
I will definitely not be seeing this one. G.I. Joe is easily past its prime and doing a live-action movie seems unnecessary, possibly even damaging the franchise. The trailer is awful and the costumes uncreative. Another problem I have is Channing Tatum as the lead. He’s not a particularly good actor and I wonder when studios will stop pushing for him to be a star. Despite this, he has chance to change my opinion in the upcoming Public Enemies. The only remotely interesting part of this film is seeing Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander. He is a great underrated actor and I’d like to see how he turns out. I’m sure the film will do modestly as a summer blockbuster, but I really want no part of it.
Welcome to a wonderful new week in film. We have a bunch of first looks for you today. I feel it’s a good way to get it going.
[The Movie Blog] has the first shot of Russell Crowe in Robin Hood garb from the set of the new Ridley Scott film. Although I don’t particularly like the guy as a person, he’s a great actor. He looks pretty hard in this pic. It should be sweet.
For those hyped about the new Star Trek film, you might be interested in checking out the virtual press conference what was held earlier today. Director J. J. Abrams and others were on hand to answer questions. It’s a pretty interesting concept. It looks like they used the graphics engine from “The Sims.” You’ll see what I’m talking about. [Star Trek XI Blog]
[Film Gecko] has the first clip from the animated film 9. You might remember the trailer from a few months ago with the dope Coheed and Cambria soundtrack. This thing looks crazy.
Channing Tatum is blowing up this year with roles in Fighting, Public Enemies and G.I. Joe, but he apparently regrets not being able to play Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. You may not have formed an opinion yet, unless you watched the bootleg version of that film, but do you regret him not being in it? I’m sure I’m happy with the current state. [Filmonic]
One of our most anticipated films of the year, Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones has its first two pics online thanks to [Ace Showbiz]. Ever want to see what heaven looks like outside of the 1998 Robin Williams film, What Dreams May Come? There are some words from Jackson about the project, as well.
Angels & Demons comes out in just a few weeks and Sony/Columbia has announced a third film in the series is on its way. Dan Brown, writer of two Robert Langdon-starring novels “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons,” just finished the third book in the series, titled “The Lost Symbol.” It will focus on the secret society of the Freemasons. The book is due to be released September 15, 2009. The movie, much later. I’m down. [Fused Film]
Just as we began, we end today’s news with another first film image. This time it’s the Peter Jackson-produced Neill Blomkamp-directed District 9, which has been soaring below the radar, but will be released toward the end of this sumer. [SciFi Cool]
This Tuesday (as opposed to last Tuesday) reveals the following in film news from around the web:
Who do you have for your lead in Captain America? [Splash Page] says it is Channing Tatum, who in turn thinks Big Willie Style, Will Smith would be perfect. I love the Fresh Prince but not sure I want either of them as Captain A. We’ll see. Is it just me or is Tatum’s hype like the second-coming of Colin Farrell without the acting chops?
Tina Fey’s Date Night cast is growing into the absurd. Mark Wahlberg and James Franco are the latest additions to the cast that already includes Common, Steve Carell, Taraji P. Henson and more. [First Showing]
The successful horror/torture Saw franchise will get the ultimate honor by being turned into a video game for your next-gen game systems. [ShockTillYouDrop] It’s akin to a ballplayer getting a bust in Cooperstown…I think.
Rachel McAdams talks about her possible blockbusters in State of Play and Sherlock Holmes with El Toro at [Latino Review].
Elisabeth Shue(!) lives but might not in her next film, Pirahna 3-D. A remake of the cult horror film from the 80′s only with Pirahna you can reach out and touch. Scary. [Cinema Blend]
Sly Stallone’s The Expendables has its first set pics [Spoiler TV] while [Film School Rejects] has first fiery image from the film. Hint: It doesn’t look like Stone Cold dies in this pic. Damn!
Robert Venditti, author of The Surrogates, Bruce Willis’ Sc-Fi movie currently filming has a long discussion with [UGO Movies] about the book and a prequel “The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone.” No BTNH reference though, sorry.
Terminator: Salvation director McG is opting for a Spring Awakening, planning to adapt the Broadway musical. [The Guardian]
And finally, since you can’t seem to get enough of Zac Efron (you’ve been beating down the walls wanting more news on him!), I bequeath you with [Moviehole]‘s breakdown of Efron’s desire to play Marty McFly in a Back To the Future remake. At least he has the Delorean for starters.
I’m assuming when Fighting was written, there was a lot of “fighting” for the direction of the movie. Is it going to be a carefully crafted coming-of-age story or another rip-off (see Obsessed preview) to appease the mainstream audiences? I’m going to place my bet on “appease the mainstream audiences” winning the bout. I can name two movies it’s already stolen from, Fight Club and Rocky. Can Hollywood really be this desperate for ideas?
"Don't blink. Don't blink. Don't blink."
The movie stars male model-turned-actor Channing Tatum (Stop-Loss) as Shawn McArthur, a directionless youth who has to resort to selling counterfeit products in the streets of New York City to stay alive. When a hoodlum tries to steal some of his merchandise, Shawn beats him down. Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard, Hustle and Flow), an underground street fighting coach, takes notice of Shawn’s skills and offers to be his coach. Shawn, desperate for the money, accepts Harvey’s offer to join the street fighting circuit. While training to be ultimate fighter, he also meets love interest Zulay Velez (Zulay Henao). With the help of Harvey and Zulay, Shawn leaves his past existence behind and strives for power and respect as the supreme street fighter.
I have to be honest, this movie looks pretty poor. Not only does it take the whole underground fighting idea from Fight Club (without the ingenious subtext), but it also takes the element of “down on his luck fighter who, with help of his manager, strives to be the next big thing” from Rocky. Plus, the acting looks horrendous. Channing Tatum has yet to be good in anything and he doesn’t have an impressive resume, with things like Step-Up and She’s the Man. I had never seen Zulay Velez (the female lead) before seeing the trailer, but one thing I’m sure of is that her character’s name wasn’t written as Zulay in the script. As if every woman you know is named Zulay, right? Terrence Howard should be ashamed of himself for being in this. I normally love the guy. He was so good inHustle and Flow (Oscar Nominee for Best Actor) and having him resort to obvious garbage like this is sad. Hopefully this is one of those “just need a paycheck” movies for him and yes, even he doesn’t look good.
"Do you want me to hit you as hard as I can?"
Fighting (with its dumb title) is directed and co-written by Dito Montiel. This will be his second directorial project, the first being A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (which co-starred Tatum). That film received awards at Sundance and was also nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards. Fighting looks like the dreaded “sophomore slump” has been hit for Montiel. Since Montiel’s debut received all the accolades, could the blame for this trash by placed on co-writer Robert Munic (Creator of the TV show, “The Cleaner”)? Either way, whoever conceived this stupid idea should have been knocked out.
There’s been a lot of hype about the Transformers sequel over the past few weeks. We were given the teaser poster, we put the movie up as one of our Top 20 Anticipated of the year, we’ve learned there wouldn’t be any Dinobots and now we have the first official footage from the film. Below is the Super Bowl spot for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It’s short. Only 30 seconds, but for anybody planning to check out the re-boot of Friday the 13th in a couple of weeks, you can expect to see a longer teaser attached to that. Behold the TV spot:
I LOVE that huge robot bursting through the freeway and emerging right at the end. That’s just beautiful. I’m also very happy to see a quick glimpse of a robot transforming into a car. It’s a magnificent sight.
You can indulge your nostalgia for the first film here and go back even further and pick up the 1986 animated film. All will help bide time until June 26th.
I’ve never seen an episode of “Star Trek” in my life. I’ve actually worked hard to avoid it. It’s always been around me in its several incarnations on TV, but I’ve managed to make myself sparse during those times. It’s the Klingons that I can’t look at. Like Worf. I could hardly stand to look at that guy through a commercial. Look at that thing. The stuff nightmares are made of. For the same reason, I’ve never seen any Planet of the Apes films. The faces are too difficult to look at for me.
There aren’t any Worf-like creatures in any of the Star Trek spots so far and I’m thankful for it. Here’s your chance to check out the Star Trek Super Bowl spot, below:
Is anybody excited for this who’s NOT a “Star Trek” fan already? I can kind of see the appeal. I think the involvement of J.J. Abrams was a good decision. It might help crossover into non-”Star Trek” fandom. What did you think of the TV spot? Did it really entice? Are you more into it, less into it or just the same?
Certainly one of my most anticipated movies of the year, Pixar’s Up, has its Super Bowl TV spot online. It’s very similar to the teaser trailer that’s already out. There’s a short tag joke at the end, which is knew. A whetting of the appetite for sure. Of course not much needs to be revealed to get people on board for a Pixar film. They just need to know it exists. Check out the spot, below.
We’ve already previewed the film here. And as the TV spot suggest, you can see an exclusive clip from ‘Up’ at Disney.com. Unfortunately I can’t embed it for you, so here’s a direct link to that clip. I won’t spoil anything about it for you.
Meanwhile, I’ve been catching up on my “Empire” magazine reading lately and there’s a couple new pics from Up I hadn’t seen before. Here they are for you:
What did you think of the TV spot? Did you check out the clip? I look forward to any comment from a devout Pixar fan, like myself.
Here we are with another Super Bowl spot before the game has been played. This one is for the filmic adaptation of the TV series “Land of the Lost.” Land of the Lost stars Will Ferrell and Danny McBride (second billing!) and they go back in time and face dinosaurs, amongst other creatures. I guess after not having Dinobots in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, we’ll still be able to get our dino fix this summer.
I don’t know. Never seeing the show, I don’t have any connection to the material. It could be good. I think this spot will do well in terms of selling the movie to viewers tomorrow, and that’s its main goal. I’m happy Will Ferrell isn’t in some crazy sports comedy and it looks pretty epic. Brad Silberling directs his first big movie since the unfortunate Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. That one is obviously off the “franchise” train.
What do you think of this spot? Do you want to see the movie?
This one is more of a scene from the film than just a TV spot. Kind of hard to believe you’ll see this one in it’s entirely during tomorrow’s game. That’d be $12 million! Whatever gets people excited about the film and makes them buy tickets, I guess.
The Year One is directed by Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day) from a script he wrote with “The Office” scribes, Gene Stupnitsky & Less Eisenberg. Michael Cera and Jack Black star as Oh and Zed, respectively, two caveman trying to survive before civilization. In the clip/TV spot below, you’ll also meet Kane and Abel, played by Paul Rudd and David Cross.
It looks pretty decent to me. I’d love it to be good and funny. I recall the buzz being not particularly strong from some test screening reviews I’ve read. I wish I was able to tell you myself if it was worthy or not.
UPDATE: It turns out that was just a clip. Here’s the actual Super Bowl spot.
This scene reminded me of a clip from the 1981 film, Caveman, starring Ringo Starr, that I’ve seen numerous types playing “Scene It” on the 360. Sadly, I couldn’t find the exact one. Here’s a clip of music being invented.
I wonder if the Super Bowl will be holding any more surprises tomorrow. We now bring you the Super Bowl spot for the third sequel (that’s number four) to The Fast and the Furious, the creatively titled Fast & Furious! This is the first Super Bowl spot we’ve posted for a film that’s already had a trailer released, so only slightly new footage. Of course, this is going out to the few people that watch the Super Bowl, too. Behold!
Vin Diesel used to be my boy when he was coming up. For those that know his first major film role was Saving Private Ryan, an even more in-depth education will lead you to knowing Spielberg had that role written into the film specifically for Diesel after seeing Vinny’s short film Multi-Facial, at Sundance. I bought the DVD and have always enjoyed the 20-minute short. It definitely displays Diesel’s acting chops and saddens me to know he’s been pigeon-holed into this crappy action stuff. Hopefully one day, he’ll break out like I know he’s capable of.
The complete short is below, but if you find it in your heart to buy the DVD, check it out here: Short 5 – Diversity.
I was never allowed to play with G.I. Joe’s as a kid, so I never got into them. I have no idea what any character’s name is. I know “Cobra” has something to do with that universe. So, my excitement for this film is less than zero. It wasn’t really increased by this TV spot. If you want to see what G.I. Joe has in store for you tomorrow during the Super Bowl, just check it out below.
Did you like it? Are you excited for this?
I don’t hold director, Stephen Sommers, in high regard. Remember Van Helsing? It is nice that it’s trying to find a spot in August though, which over the past 10 years or so (ever since The Sixth Sense) has extended the blockbuster season. I’m all for better movies spread around. I hope this is good for anybody that has an interest. Be sure to let me know.
About a year ago, a friend and I were recalling this old G.I. Joe commercial. For the heck of it, here it is below.
The first film-related TV spot set to air during the Super Bowl was made available today via MTV Movies Blog. The spot is for the Dwayne Johnson-starring Disney film, The Race to Witch Mountain.
The film is a remake of the 1975 film, Escape to Witch Mountain. Johnson plays, Jack Bruno, a modern-day Travis Bickle (only in that he drives a taxi), who is sought by a paranormal expert, Dr. Alex Friendman (Carla Gugino), to help protect two extraterrestrials from a dastardly organization who only want to use them for evil. Sounds dastardly.
With 30-seconds of airtime costing $3 million this year, this ad is costing Disney $6 million. Do you think it’s worth it? We’ll find out March 13th, I guess.
As promised earlier here, we’ll bring you all the movie-related Super Bowl ads as they’re released on the net. There could be more coming before the game itself, and we’ll keep you updated.
As mentioned in my preview of the film, I’m actually looking forward to Angels & Demons, even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Da Vinci Code film. I just have some wishful thinking, hoping Ron Howard and Co. will have learned from their mistakes. I did think the book was pretty cool and would like it to be done justice on the big screen. Tom Hanks is my boy.
The following clip doesn’t really show off a hell of a lot. It’s 30 seconds long and essentially just shows a few flashes. We’ll apparently have to wait for the theatrical trailer to even get a remote sense of what to expect. I would imagine we’ll get that pretty soon, as the film’s slated for release May 15th.
What did you guys think of this spot? Was they’re really much of anything to help you get hyped? Are you looking forward to this at all?
I certainly never bothered to make my way to a Sobe booth to pick up 3-D glasses, so I can’t tell you about the dazzling things I witnessed in the additional dimension. For those of you that saw the ad, here’s your chance to relive it, and for those that missed it, here’s you chance to see it.
I think this has a chance to be good, actually. I’m not much for any other studios computer animated films, but Pixar’s, and this certainly has a vague resemblance to Monsters, Inc. (as these studios are apt to do), but I do like the eye/tongue/elbow/butt scanner joke.
For those that saw the TV spot in 3-D did it really enhance your enjoyment at all? For anybody not as ready and willing to outright reject the animated product of non-Pixar, what’s your level of interest in the movie?
For some extreme trivia, former “The Simpsons” writer and longtime friend of Wes Anderson (he played the wrestling ref in Rushmore), Wally Wolodarsky had a hand in writing the script.
