Rapid Fire SDCC News: Part I

Little news, big news and fantastic news!!!


This is only some of the news from the start of San Diego Comic-Con. Really this is the stuff that caught my eye and I felt was worth a quick post. More news to come as SDCC continues!!!

- Posters for The Cabin in the Woods. Great posters laughing at horror films.

- First footage of Kick-Ass was screened and the crowd was impressed.

- Tim Burton announced his next film will star Johnny Depp (shocker!!!) and is based off the 60s spooky soap opera Dark Shadows.


- Milla Jovovich will reprise her role in another Resident Evil film titled Resident Evil: Afterlife. It is being shot in 3D and could be the start of another trilogy. The budget will be the bigger than any of the previous films.


- The Losers poster was released, check below.




- No word if Gore Verbinski will return to direct, but a Pirates of the Caribbean is going to start shooting soon with the hope of a early 2011 release. Captain Jack (Johnny Depp) will be back! The producers want to scale down the movie but still plan on making it into another trilogy.


- Sounds like Wanted 2 is officially a go. The Timur Bekmambetov sequel could be starting pre-production in about 8-10 weeks. James McAvoy will be back as Wesley Gibson.


- Last year at SDCC, the surprise of the show was the announcement of Tron 2 with a rough trailer. This year we get a full clip with the official name, Tron Legacy which is to be released in 2010. Here is the clip below.

- The biggest news (which has been partially back tracked) was by Gary Oldman. During a panel for the Hughes Brothers new film The Book of Eli, Oldman answered a question about when the sequel to The Dark Knight would begin shooting. Shockingly he responded "We start shooting next year. You didn't hear that from me." Since that time, in an interview with Quint from Ain't It Cool News Oldman said "well, I'm sure they want to do another one... it might 2 or 3 years..." This could mean he was telling a lie or the studios gave him an earful for dropping the news.

Really excited if the last news bit is true! Tron looks awesome! What of the news has you most excited?

Depp Sizzles As Dillinger

While Mann makes the movie look pretty without big budget effects!

The tale of John Dillinger is known to an extant in the modern world. Most would recognize the name but very few would actually know his story. Director Michael Mann (Heat, Miami Vice) has set out to change that. Not only did he direct but also co-wrote the film with Ronan Bennett (Lucky Break) and Ann Biderman (Primal Fear) who based their screenplay off Bryan Burrough’s book Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI. Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy) plays John Dillinger while Stephen Graham (Inkheart) and Channing Tatum (Fighting) star as the other notorious gangsters Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. Billy Crudup (Watchmen) is J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, who gives the task of finding John Dillinger to Melvin Purvis portrayed by Christian Bale (The Dark Knight). Rounding out the spectacular supporting cast is Marion Cotillard (A Good Year), Giovanni Ribisi (Perfect Stranger), Stephen Dorff (Blade), Leelee Sobieski (88 Minutes), Jason Clarke (Death Race), Shawn Hatosy (Alpha Dog) and Branka Katic (The Englishmen).

To say this is a John Dillinger bio-pic could be misleading. Mann chose to tell the tale of Dillinger’s final years. It is a very interesting lead-up to his demise but we never find out what drives the man. “I rob banks” is what Dillinger states throughout the film and he is good at it. We are never given any insight as to why he robs banks. So if you go in expecting to find this information out you will leave disappointed.

That being said, this film is fantastic looking. Mann knows his way around a camera, better than any other director in my opinion, bringing us beautiful angles, landscapes and gun battles. Even if this was a bad film I could watch it over again for the detail that Mann puts into it. A unique choice that Mann made was not telling us in big bold letters across the screen “TUCSON”, instead he carefully dropped that the gang was going to meet there next and showed us cacti and desert to imply where they are. A few times in the movie this was used and it is never jarring and very easy to figure out exactly what city they are currently residing in.

The sprawling amount of cast members in this movie was surprising. I knew Mann had brought quite a few actors on board that could hold their own with Depp and Bale but I couldn’t believe how deep a cast it was. The best part about it, not a single person was miscast. Everyone was as convincing as the next. I want to say that Bale might have been the weak point but I think that had to do with the lack of growth his character received throughout the film. On the other hand Depp brings his persona and turns it into Dillinger’s (even looking quite like the real John Dillinger). "I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars... and you. What else do you need to know?" spews Dillinger, and Depp delivers his line so perfect as the overconfident, smug outlaw.

I found only two things really wrong with this film. One may not have actually been the film itself but the theatre and the crappy sound system. In the beginning minute when Dillinger is escaping from the jail with his gang, a few of the men spoke from the back seat and you could hardly hear a word they said. Only a few seconds later one of them spoke again, louder than the sound of the gun shots from moments ago. Later in the film, and I found this problem with Mann’s Miami Vice as well, there were moments when the film really slowed down. Mann could have made some edits which could have solved this problem.

Since I saw the first poster of Depp as Dillinger I knew I wanted to see this. Honestly, this was probably my most anticipated film to see this year. I would watch the movie trailer almost weekly. Now, after seeing the film, I can say that it was a good film but it did disappoint a bit. It was not the great film I expected but it is definitely worth watching and I will be buying this when it comes out on DVD (or maybe I will have upgraded to Blu-Ray by then). Mann shoots Depp and his co-stars so beautifully that even if this was a bad film I would tell you to go see it.

4 out of 5
Colin Enquist

SiM Poster: Alice in Wonderland

144-year-old story gets modern-day Tim Burton twist

Directed and co-produced by the one-and-only Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas), the latest Alice in Wonderland epic reunites the legendary filmmaker with star Johnny Depp (Public Enemies) for the seventh time in their careers (Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street). Depp will star as the Mad Hatter in the iconic Charles Lutwidge Dodgson tale, which also features Mia Wasikowska (Amelia) as Alice, Helena Bonham Carter (Merlin) as the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway (Get Smart) as the White Queen, Michael Sheen (New Moon) as the White Rabbit, Alan Rickman (Die Hard) as the Caterpillar, and Stephen Fry (V for Vendetta) as the Cheshire Cat. The Walt Disney feature hits theatres March 5, 2010.

SiM Pics: Alice in Wonderland

Burton is going to scare the crap out of some people with this film!

When you hear what the next Tim Burton film will be, you usually wonder how his unique vision will be portrayed onto the screen. Planet of the Apes ventured from his usual approach but he came back to his old way of doing things for his next few films. So when it was announced that Burton would do the remake of Alice in Wonderland, everyone knew Burton was the right choice. He does not disappoint with these first set of photos. The 3 pictures below are Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. Here is a link to some more photos that also look fantastic (USA Today).

The Lone Ranger May Have a Director!

Disney is eyeing Mike Newell, 67, for their next franchise

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

According to Production Weekly, England-born director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) is "in talks" to helm Disney's big-budget live action version of The Lone Ranger, which will be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun).

The film will be the first Hollywood production of the iconic George W. Trendle creation in more than 25 years, since Klinton Spilsbury portrayed the namesake in the 1981 flick The Legend of the Lone Ranger (pictured below), which was a major flop.

The original Lone Ranger, a masked Texas Ranger who travels with his Native American comrade Tonto, was developed by writer Fran Striker for its radio premiere in 1933. After nearly 3,000 episodes on the air, The Lone Ranger was converted into a popular TV series that ran from 1949 to 1957, before the star of that show brought the character to the big screen in 1956.

This anticipated update--written by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy)--had initially been proposed back in March 2002 by Columbia Pictures, but red tape tangled the development of the $70 million project, before Disney purchased the rights in 2007.

Last September Disney announced that Johnny Depp (who starred in Newell's Donnie Brasco) will play Tonto, though no one has signed on to play the Ranger himself, despite rumours that George Clooney was interested. Newell's current project is another feature film adaptation, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, based on a popular 2003 video game and due in theatres in May 2010.

Pirates Director Passes Torch

Verbinski to helm BioShock instead

Director Gore Verbinski, whose claim to fame came from directing the Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, which has grossed more that $2.5 billion worldwide, Verbinski believes that he doesn't need to do a fourth film and has informed Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer that he won't be directing the film which is scheduled to start shooting in 2010.

"I had a fantastic time bringing 'Pirates' to life, and I am eternally grateful to Jerry, Johnny and the rest of the creative and production team," Verbinski said. "I'm looking forward to all of us crossing paths again in the future."

Instead, Verbinski will focus on his adaptation of the bestselling video game BioShock for Universal Pictures, which is expected to start production in 2010 based on a script by John Logan.

Next up for Verbinski though is the Paramount animated film Rango which will reunite him with Johnny Depp who is voicing the main character. John Logan has penned this script as well, which is due for release on March 18, 2011. The filmmaker is also developing a new live action movie based on the Hasbro board game Clue, written by Steven Knight.

3-D Films Galore

"Alice" coming to IMAX in 3-D along with many other films over the next few years.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and IMAX Corporation jointly announced that the new Tim Burton film, Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and Mia Wasikowska as Alice, will be released to IMAX theaters simultaneously with the film's wide release on March 5, 2010. The special IMAX 3-D release will be digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience. This is the third film confirmed out of the five-film agreement between IMAX and Disney, which was announced on November 19, 2008.

Mark Zoradi, president, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group, spoke fondly of the idea of "Alice" in 3-D, "If ever there was a film that cried out to be presented in Disney Digital 3-D and the premium IMAX 3-D format, Tim Burton's fantastic interpretation of 'Alice in Wonderland' is that film. This is going to be an eye-popping cinematic experience as Tim takes moviegoers down the rabbit hole and into the dimensional world filled with incredible characters, sly humor, and wild adventures. Disney's partnership with IMAX is taking shape with two amazing films already on the schedule. We look forward to working with them in bringing exciting new experiences and quality entertainment to IMAX screens around the world."

"We think that Disney's new 'Alice in Wonderland' is exactly the type of 3-D story telling that will resonate with IMAX audiences," said IMAX Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. "We believe our worldwide commercial theatre network will be approximately 50 percent larger by the time this film is released, giving more and more people a chance to experience the magic of Disney in IMAX."

"'Alice in Wonderland' is a fantastic addition to our 2010 film slate," added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. "Combining a beloved Disney classic re-designed through the imagination of Tim Burton's creative vision with these incredibly outrageous characters and world class actors certainly makes for an event-status film, and we're pleased to add another level of excitement to this highly-anticipated movie. "Visionary filmmaker Tim Burton will put his distinctive touch on the combination live-action and performance capture version of Lewis Carroll's classic tale "Alice in Wonderland." The all-star cast includes Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Alan Rickman and Mia Wasikowska as Alice.

Walt Disney Studios announced that they are now releasing the 3-D versions of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 together on October 2nd. The double feature will be the first place you'll be able to see the trailer for Toy Story 3 and the only place to see it in 3-D. No word yet if double feature means one movie ticket for both films or if the films will also be released in non-3-D theatres as well.

Disney also announced the 3-D version of Beauty and the Beast (of which the studio showed the opening musical number "Belle" in 3-D at ShoWest) is going to be released on February 12, 2010.

Avatar, the James Cameron brainchild is set to debut in 3-D December 18, 2009. Cameron has had the film in development for about 14 years, in 1995 he wrote a 80-page scriptment for Avatar. It should set the stage for 3-D films and more than likely raise the bar higher then ever thought possible by most viewers. Avatar tells the story of an ex-Marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival. The film stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Giovanni Ribisi.

With many other films coming down the pipeline with a 3-D release. This could be the new wave of cinema or it could just be a flash in the pan if the first few films don't impress movie goers.