movie-related stories
Posted Oct 30th 2009 11:28AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Sports, TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free
Fox will use football this Sunday to help tall, blue aliens take over our televisions.
On November 1, Fox is shooting for the "world's biggest live trailer viewing" when it airs the new preview of James Cameron's
Avatar live on TV and in the Dallas Cowboys' home park on the world's largest video display -- the Cowboy Stadium's Diamond Vision Screen before the Lone Star State's heroes take on the Seattle Seahawks.
A Fox press release explains that the Fox Sports
NFL Sunday pregame show will present the new trailer live on the network. Meanwhile, those Cowboy fans still sober enough at noon to enjoy the brief glimpse of the sci-fi epic will take it in on a screen larger than some Far Eastern countries.
Putting the TV network's football viewing figures to work is the kind of bold step Fox needs to take to publicize Cameron's $300 million dollar movie. Though obviously ambitious and technically groundbreaking, special previews of the 3D fantasy flick left some viewers less than thrilled. While the film will be 3D in theaters, the trailer will stick to a simpler 2D TV image for the big event.
Continue reading Fox to air new Avatar trailer on NFL broadcast Sunday
Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:30PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Doctor Who, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
David Tennant and Simon Pegg will star in John Landis' next film
Burke and Hare. Tennant will soon be stepping down as the lead character in
Doctor Who and while Pegg has mostly been in movies as of late (such as the recent cinematic remake of
Star Trek), he is known for co-creating the television cult fave
Spaced.
It will be interesting to see them work together since Pegg is a big sci-fi fan. He appeared in the first season of
Doctor Who as "The Editor," before Tennant came on board. Sadly, the movie probably has very little science fiction involved since it's about a pair of famous 19th century grave robbers. What do you expect from the man who brought us
An American Werewolf in London?
It's also good to hear that director
John Landis apparently isn't career-dead either and has just moved shop to England (hopefully only temporarily).
Animal House and
The Blues Brothers are two of my favorite movies of all time.
Posted Oct 12th 2009 9:02AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV on the Bigscreen, Video, Spoilers Anonymous, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Almost a year ago, it was announced that
there would be a movie sequel for the hit TV series
Sex and the City. It took years for producers and actresses to agree to a first movie, but a few months to decide a sequel was needed. Then again, with the popularity of the
Sex and the City movie, it was inevitable that a sequel would follow.
Production is underway for the movie, set to be released at the end of May 2010, which means spoilers are leaking on the web! As expected, all four main ladies are back. But what is in store for them? Who, besides the ladies, will star in the movie?
Spoilers coming up!Continue reading Sex and the City 2: movie spoilers
Posted Oct 1st 2009 12:00PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Reality-Free
The popular children's book character Thomas the Tank Engine is once again
heading to the big screen, proving that Hollywood has no original ideas left whatsoever. Or that the industry will put anything on screen it thinks will make money. Or both. Thomas and his gang of anthropomorphic vehicles currently appear on PBS on
Thomas and Friends.
The character has already starred in the movie
Thomas and the Magic Railroad starring Alec Baldwin (who also narrated the television stories for years). Is that really enough time between revamps? Is it the fact that the youngest generation recycles every seven years, which has kept Disney in business forever?
Given his association with the franchise, it would be a crime if Baldwin didn't at least get a voice-over role in the movie (and preferably a full cameo). In the meanwhile, he'll have to content himself with his Emmy-winning role on
30 Rock.
Posted Sep 11th 2009 12:04PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Animation, Reality-Free
Mattel and Warner Brothers will
no longer be working together on a big screen adaptation of the
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe franchise. John Stevenson is still on to direct, but thankfully, Joel Silver has left the project (I still haven't forgiven him for his
lies about Alan Moore).
The
Masters of the Universe 1987 movie is still a guilty pleasure of mine (early Courtney Cox. Yum). Of course, the classic 1980's cartoon is where J. Michael Straczynski got his start before moving to bigger fish such as
Babylon 5. The best big-screen adaptations usually happen when fans, or at least people who understand the source material, become filmmakers (the best examples are the
Batman and
Iron Man franchises). I didn't get the impression that this was happening with the
He-Man movie.
Given the sheer volume of remakes that are happening, I wonder if this movie is even necessary. Do we even need another
He-Man movie?
Posted Sep 2nd 2009 11:03AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Music and Variety, Reality-Free
Last year, all the citizens of Transsexual, Transylvania felt a collective disturbance in their fandom force. MTV had announced that they were going to do a remake of the classic cult film,
The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Not only would this be completely unnecessary, but it actually kind of hurt every
Rocky fan's soul to hear it.
Rocky Horror needs no remake because it never becomes dated. It's so far removed from, well, everything ever, it still holds up perfectly, happily doing the Time Warp again and again in its own little universe.
Well, maybe MTV got lazy or maybe they got freaked out about the insane amount of Internet sad-chatter against the idea of the new version, but
MTV's Rocky Horror remake is on hold. Rejoice and prod a gold underwear-clad Adonis with a standing candelabra.
Continue reading No Rocky Horror remake. Not yet, anyway
Posted Aug 19th 2009 10:02AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Programming, Reality-Free
Disney Family Movies, the new video on demand subscription service offering animated and live action titles from the studios' voluminous vaults, will offer a free trial Sept. 3-7 for viewers to get a feel of The Magic Kingdom's latest offering.
Subscribers to the service get access to a rotating selection of Disney's classic and contemporary films and animated shorts. Obviously, the on demand lineup is put together with the emphasis on family friendly. Each title in the selection menu remains in rotation for about a month, with new movies added weekly.
While this looks like a great thing for parents looking to have a steady inventory of safe video babysitters, the only concern is how this service might gut the programming on Disney's other cable entities -- or how it might affect the availability of DVDs.
Continue reading Disney's new family movie on demand service offers free peek
Posted Aug 15th 2009 9:04AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Battlestar Galactica, Reality-Free
There have already
been rumors, but we all know how studios have this annoying tendency to milk franchises until they're dead, and then milk them some more before the corpse gets too cold. Well, Universal seems to think that now that Ron Moore's operatic space war version of the show is done, now would be a great time for Bryan Singer to direct
yet another reboot of the
Battlestar Galactica franchise.
Singer is said to be a big fan of the original 70's series, but the supposedly $10 million dollar paycheck for Singer probably also has an effect on his directorial willingness. Despite the talent behind it, this reboot is a bad idea. Singer did
X-Men, but he also did
Superman Returns. Plus, too many reboots in too short a time would only be confusing to people.
Of course, this time creator Glen Larson is on board to produce. While it didn't turn out so bad last time Larson wasn't involved, not having him would be like remaking
Buffy without Joss Whedon.
Oh, wait.
Posted Jul 20th 2009 12:06PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Reality-Free
Since its premiere in 1959,
The Twilight Zone has gone through several revivals and one big-screen movie in 1983 that involved such directors as Steven Spielberg and John Landis. Now, Leonard DiCaprio's production company, Applan Way, wants to make another big-screen
revival of the franchise.
I'm not sure what DiCaprio could do with the franchise that hasn't been done before. It's basically science fiction, fantasy and horror stories with a twist ending (M. Night Shyamalan owes his entire career to
The Twilight Zone).
Rumor has it that the new movie will be a set of interwoven stories based on classics from the original run of the show that were written by Rod Serling himself, albeit with more pretty computer-generated special effects. For some reason, I find that unoriginal and possibly downright scary.
Still,
The Twilight Zone was groundbreaking for its time and a very flexible concept. If
Star Trek could be successfully reinvented for the movies, why not this franchise?
Posted Jul 13th 2009 3:03PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Reality-Free
Hollywood continues to mine ideas from previous generations in an effort to keep up the movie production machine. This time it's
Hong Kong Phooey, number one super-spy. The character was voiced by Scatman Crothers, who would later go on to voice Jazz in
The Transformers.
My hopes are pretty low, given that the production credits of the team involved (Alex Zamm and David Goodman) include Carrot Top's
Chairman of the Board,
Inspector Gadget 2 and
Dr. Doolittle: Million Dollar Mutts. Goodman is also a writer/producer of
Family Guy.
Is it possible to create kid-friendly fare based on cartoons of my childhood that is also pleasing to adults? When I think of this genre, I can only come up with the awful
Scooby Doo movies and
Alvin and the Chipmunks (and despite sucking hard, both movies are either getting or have had sequels).
Based on the people involved, the movie will likely be juvenile and formulaic. I look forward to it with the same glee I look forward to train wrecks.
Posted Jul 6th 2009 9:09AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Reality-Free
With the success of the
Star Trek movie, it's no surprise that someone is trying to make a movie out of one of Shatner's other major television roles.
T.J. Hooker is being
adapted for the big screen.
Who could they get to fill his massive shoes for this one? The movie is intended as an action comedy, so I don't see Chris Pine as the lead. Perhaps Jack Black?
I never really watched the show, but I do recall the funny sketch from
SNL when Shatner was a guest host. Hooker jumped on a car hood and was stuck there while the car continued to drive for a few states.
It would be kind of typical to not have a cameo by Shatner in the remake. After all, he didn't appear in the
Star Trek movie.
I'm sure Hollywood is not done mining Shatner's legacy for the movie adaptation game. Next up,
Boston Legal the movie.
Posted Jul 4th 2009 11:09AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Reality-Free
Remember that
Veronica Mars movie that so many people were talking about? Well, according to an interview with series star Kristen Bell,
it ain't happening. She and series creator Rob Thomas pitched the idea to Joel Silver and there was a resounding lack of interest. She suggested that fans try a letter-writing campaign.
I'm kind of surprised at that reaction, given that
Veronica Mars is a recognizable brand name and would be relatively cheap to make (it's not exactly laden with special effects). While I considered the series to be a
Buffy clone (that solved mysteries rather than fought vampires), it was a pretty good show in the beginning.
The only show I can think of that quickly went from TV to cancellation to a movie would be
Firefly and that happened because of stellar DVD sales. So, if you really want that
Veronica Mars movie, along with the letter-writing campaign, start buying more DVDs of the show.
Posted Jun 5th 2009 12:02PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Michael Chiklis is regularly hinting that a feature film version of
The Shield is in the offing, while official news of any such production is still under wraps.
With posts like,"Vic Mackey lives!" and others,
Chiklis is using his Facebook page to hype the
Shield movie rumor. He linked to an
E! article on the possible film no less than three times.
The problem is it's difficult to find any other media coverage on the possibility of
The Shield heading to theaters. In fact, Chiklis' favorite article above is pretty much it. So, is Chiklis leaking something producers would just as soon keep quiet for now?
Continue reading Chiklis hints at return of Vic Mackey and The Shield on big screen
Posted May 22nd 2009 1:03PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Reality-Free, British TV
In Hollywood's never-ending quest to locate every single piece of pre-existing intellectual property to make into a movie without actually purchasing an original screenplay, they'll be turning to flying saucers and shiny women with purple hair.
The iconic 1960s
British sci-fi series UFO (right) will be brought to the big screen by an even more iconic producer --
Robert Evans. According to
Variety, Evans will team with
ITV Global to update the Earth vs. aliens premise.
The original UFO featured a secret team of elite Earthlings (SHADO: Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization) fending off a mysterious collection of invading creatures.
Continue reading Evans bringing ITV's UFO to big screen
Posted May 12th 2009 6:02PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Industry, TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free
OK, I actually loved watching the latest version of
American Gladiators on NBC, but even I think this is a weird idea. But it's actually happening.
American Gladiators: The Movie is in the works, according to show creator Johnny Ferraro.
Ferraro says
American Gladiators was originally conceived as a film more than 20 years ago, but instead became a "TV phenomenon." I'm not sure how a game show that's basically
WWE Smackdown meets
Double Dare was originally conceived as a film, but what do I know. I like to watch
American Gladiators.
Continue reading American Gladiators: The Movie in the works
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Let's talk about spoilers ...
The Prisoner -- An early look
