Movie/TV News II

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

Behold Star Trek's "new" Enterprise
TVGuide.com

Star Trek purists, take a deep breath! On Sept. 16, the iconic ‘60s series will return to syndication for the first time since 1990, but with a startling difference: All 79 episodes are being digitally remastered with computer-generated effects not possible when Gene Roddenberry created the show 40 years ago. The news could cause Roddenberry loyalists to have a collective cow, but the longtime Trek staffers in charge of the makeover say they're honoring the late maestro's vision, not changing it.

"We're taking great pains to respect the integrity and style of the original," says Michael Okuda, who spent 18 years as a scenic-art supervisor on Star Trek films and spin-offs. "Our goal is to always ask ourselves: What would Roddenberry have done with today's technology?" Okuda's teammates on the two-year project are his wife, Denise Okuda, with whom he's authored several Trek reference books, and 14-year Trek production vet David Rossi.

The upgraded episodes — to be shown out of order and one per week — will kick off with "Balance of Terror," a big fan favorite "that gives us a chance to really show off the ‘new' Enterprise," says Okuda. "The exterior of the ship now has depth and detail, and it will fly more dynamically." Painted backdrops will also be brought to life: Once-empty star bases will have CGI people milling about, while static alien landscapes have been given slow-moving clouds and shimmering water. Okuda notes that a view of Earth in the 1966 episode "Miri" has been "replaced with a more accurate image, now that we've gone into deep space and looked back at ourselves."

Trek's opening theme is also getting an overhaul: The music has been re-recorded in stereo, and a new singer has been hired to wail those famous but wordless vocals. And goofs will be corrected: In "The Naked Time," there was no beam coming out of Scotty's phaser when he tried to cut through the bulkhead outside Engineering. Now there is.

The "new" Trek debuts Sept. 16.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP

Zechs · **Zechs**

So basically

"We ran out of fucking ideas, so we're just going to re-hash our old shit"
_________________
Bang.

Daikun · **Daikun**

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone will make Giant Monsters Attack Japan!, a film scripted by J.F. Lawton (Under Siege) that will combine live-action with the rubber suit techniques made popular in Asian imports such as Godzilla, Variety reported.

The sendup is one of two films that Parker and Stone's Important Pictures will make for Paramount Pictures.

Parker will direct and Stone will produce, and both will work with the writer. Sean Daniel and Nickelodeon will also be producers on Giant Monsters. Parker and Stone are aiming for a 2007 production start.
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Toonami visual schedule - UPDATED AUGUST 2, 2015

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

Amazon opens video download store
By Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service

Amazon.com unveiled the Unbox Video Store on Thursday, a direct rival to Apple’s iTunes, which allows U.S. users to buy or rent TV shows, movies and other video content from the Internet. But unlike the iTunes Music Store, Mac users are not welcome, and neither are iPods.

Amazon Unbox is offering thousands of DVD-quality videos from over 30 movie and TV studios, which can be stored on up to two PCs and two portable video players at once, the company said. When a user downloads a movie or show, Unbox automatically sends a second download file optimized for Windows Media-compatible portable devices. It also keeps track of media purchases on a personal page at Amazon’s Your Media Library, and acts as a backup, allowing users to download video purchases onto an additional PC.

Unbox is one of many new services aimed at capturing the growing interest in downloading video from the Internet. The service will compete with similar video download stores such as iTunes, and is a direct threat to traditional DVD services from companies such as Blockbuster and Netflix.

Amazon Unbox is offering a $1.99 rebate on a user’s first purchase, enough for one free TV show. But new users will have to enter their credit card information into the system first as part of the registration process, and then download the Amazon Unbox Video Player software.

Unbox is charging between $7.99 and $14.99 for most movies, and rentals of the latest movies for $3.99.

Videos can also be sent as a gift. The company’s Unbox RemoteLoad technology enables users to buy video from one PC, such as their home computer, and download it to another, Amazon said.

Mac OS X users can not shop at Unbox. The service only works on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP. Users with older PCs may also find it difficult to meet Unbox’s hardware requirements. At minimum, a PC needs a 1.5GHz microprocessor and 512MB of memory, in addition to a DirectX compliant video (64MB) and sound card. Users must also have an Internet connection capable of sustained 800kbps data transfer rates, Amazon said.

Unbox is offering a host of special offers to attract new users. From Sept. 14 through Sept. 27, for example, all of the final, cliffhanger episodes from last season’s “CSI,” including Las Vegas, Miami and New York, will be on sale for just $0.01, to promote the launch of the new season for all three series.

The company is also offering all 79 episodes of the original “Star Trek” series, including the original pilot. Some of the movies available on Unbox include “Inside Man,” “Failure to Launch,” “Walk the Line,” and “V is for Vendetta,” as well as classics such as “Ben Hur,” and “Poseidon Adventure.” Some of the major movie studios signed on with Unbox include Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

A quick look at the Unbox page shows Bandai Entertainment getting into the act with Outlaw Star, Gundam SEED and Infinite Ryvius available for purchase.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

Disney sells 125,00 movies on iTunes, projects $50m
By Peter Cohen, Playlistmag.com

Walt Disney President and CEO Robert Iger reported Tuesday that his company has sold 125,000 digital movies since they debuted on the iTunes Store last week, already generating $1 million in revenue. Iger told attendees of an investment conference in New York on Tuesday that Disney anticipates seeing about $50 million in revenue from the venture during its first year.

Apple last week updated iTunes to version 7 and introduced new iPod nanos and updated fifth-generation video-capable iPods with brighter screens and longer battery life.

The iTunes Music Store — now simply the iTunes Store — sells full-length movies optimized for viewing on the video iPod, and launched the new service with 75 titles from Disney’s various studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

Wal-Mart flexes DVD muscle over iTunes profits
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH, Daily Variety

Apple and Wal-Mart are in discussions over an alliance that could allow the giant retailer to profit from iTunes video downloads, which have been a source of great tension between Hollywood and the retailer in recent months.

A deal could take the form of a digital download "coupon" that would allow consumers to buy movies, TV shows or music on iTunes with Apple paying the retail giant a percentage of the proceeds, one industry insider said.

What's in it for Apple? Since studios (except for Disney, of course) have so far turned a cold shoulder to iTunes because of Wal-Mart's demands, the computer giant would then gain access to titles from every major.

Wal-Mart is one of the nation's biggest sellers of iPods.

Apple does sell gift cards through some other retailers such as Best Buy, Target and Amazon.com, but not at Wal-Mart.

Talks are in early stages and may not result in any deal.

But they do appear to mark a thawing of relations between allies Disney and Apple, which struck a download deal in August, and Wal-Mart.

The giant retailer warned Hollywood over the summer that it expects to be a major player in the evolution of the digital marketplace, and that studios mustn't undercut the price of DVDs in its stores with product sold on iTunes.

Wal-Mart didn't return calls and Apple declined to comment.

Disney so far is the sole studio in a deal with Apple, allowing Steve Jobs' company to buy new movie releases for about $3 less than the wholesale price charged to Wal-Mart.

Others studios balked, fearing to alienate their biggest customer.

Subsequently, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is also a board member and major shareholder of Disney, is said to have personally reached out to Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott, who badly wants to get into the digital film biz.

Hollywood has been closely watching Disney's relationship with Wal-Mart in the wake of the deal. When Wal-Mart caught wind of talks between the studios and Apple, it threatened to cut its order of "High School Musical" over the summer.

Disney CEO Bob Iger did the deal with Jobs anyway, and the rest of Hollywood has been watching to see if and when the other shoe drops.

So far, to the surprise of many, it hasn't.

Instead of cutting orders and slashing shelf space, Wal-Mart has apparently ordered a healthy 49,000 copies of Pixar's "Cars." It will sell "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" for $12.99, meaning it will take a hefty loss on each DVD to drive foot traffic in stores.

Studio sources say the rest of the majors are very close to joining Disney in a deal with Apple but are holding off until the end of the key fourth quarter, when half of all DVD sales occur.

An alliance between Apple and Wal-Mart would demonstrate how all elements of the entertainment food chain are struggling to get ahead of the curve.

Studios are trying to calculate how much longer DVD sales -- 40% of which go through Wal-Mart -- will be a cornerstone of their business. So, too, is Wal-Mart.

The retailer is furthermore trying to figure out how to translate its enormous foot traffic into the digital biz that entertainment is becoming.

Tensions peaked over the summer as Wal-Mart movies and music veep David Porter paid a call to the studios as they talked with Apple's iTunes.

As late as July, three other studios were planning to join Disney in inking an iTunes pact that would allow the Apple service to buy new releases for $14.50 vs. the $17 the studios typically charge Wal-Mart for a new release.

Jobs, who personally made the sales pitch to the studios, insisted on passing a lower price on to consumers since the cost of producing and shipping a DVD was taken out of the equation.

Wal-Mart also made it clear to the studios that if they did a deal with iTunes, it expected the same terms for its own download business, which is under development.

"Porter came in and said if you're going to play this game, we want the same terms as iTunes," said a source who attended one of the meetings.

Wal-Mart's demand was enough to shatter a planned alliance among Fox, Universal and Lionsgate to join Disney in supplying films to iTunes.

Fox, which manages the DVD category for Wal-Mart, had a verbal agreement with Apple requiring that it be joined by two others.

Universal pulled out of the deal first, with the other non-Disney studios following suit.

Paramount balked at the idea of doing an iTunes deal early on, in large part because of DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg's close ties to Bentonville and the brewing management chaos at Viacom.

With no back catalog and a stream of kid-oriented pictures, DreamWorks Animation is extremely reliant on Wal-Mart, which accounts for close to 50% of its DVD sales.

Unlike the recording biz, which watched its sales plummet due to downloads, the DVD business is still relatively healthy and remains a predictable source of profit for the studios.

But both the studios and retailers such as Wal-Mart are watching closely for signs of a dropoff; no one wants to be caught flat-footed.

At some point, however, studios know they will have to undergo a transition as the homevid market transforms from the production, sales and marketing of a packaged good --the DVD -- into the sale of a digital product, perhaps in the form of a subscription business.

But studios don't want to hand digital sales over to Apple in the way that the record labels did a few years ago -- a move that took away much of their power to set pricing in the marketplace.

Wal-Mart, meanwhile, has some angst about a falloff in DVD sales as well. Customers who throw a disc in their shopping carts spend an average of $75 per trip to the store -- far more than those who don't pick up a DVD.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- Robert Downey, Jr. is suiting up to star in "Iron Man," a superhero movie based on the Marvel Comics character.

Jon Favreau is directing the Paramount Pictures release. Filming is slated to begin in February in Los Angeles.

Downey will portray Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Using his intelligence and ingenuity, Stark instead builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity. Upon his return to the U.S., he uncovers a plot with global implications and must don his armor and protect the world.

The comic debuted in the 1960s, and Iron Man's origin involved Stark being a prisoner of the Viet Cong. The movie version will be set in today's geopolitical climate.

Budgeted at more than $100 million, it marks the first feature film to be produced independently by Marvel Entertainment, which previously licensed its characters, such as "Spider-Man" and "X-Men," to other studios.

Marvel president of production Kevin Feige said the filmmakers looked for the best actor to embody the character.

"The Marvel characters are not just about how high they jump or how fast they fly, they're about their character flaws," Feige said. "They're about their inner demons. They're about the struggles that they go through between being a man and being a hero."

Downey, who has battled his fair share of inner demons, worked hard to get the role, getting in shape and even growing a goatee like the one Stark sports in the comic books.

"In every casting announcement we've done, people in their mind's eye have their own view of it and let us know about it. We're used to it," Feige said. "The point is, we looked at everybody, and we found the best person for the role. It's as confident a casting move as we've ever done. The proof will be in the pudding, but he is Tony Stark."
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP

Daikun · **Daikun**

Getting ready for the format wars to end, Warner [Bros.] has taken it upon itself to create a disc that would allow all three formats on one disc, a technology that could allow studios to put out their movies on one disc that could play on any player, be it Blu-ray, HD DVD, or even regular DVD.

A pair of Warner engineers have been working on a way to get all three formats to hold hands on a single disc, and have recently filed a patent to that effect. This is made possible by the fact that Blu-ray uses a 405nm laser to read its 0.1mm deep info layer, while HD DVD uses the same blue laser wavelength at the depth of 0.6mm. The hybrid disc works by making the Blu-ray layer act like a two way mirror, reflecting enough light for Blu-ray playback, but letting enough light through for HD DVD operation. As for DVD, that layer can be found on the flip side of the disc.

The problem of course with something like this would be the cost ot print these discs, but it would be better than having to buy each movie three times, or having a collection of Blu-ray movies and then seeing HD DVD win the format wars [or vice-versa].
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Toonami visual schedule - UPDATED AUGUST 2, 2015

Daikun · **Daikun**

The Jim Henson Company resurrecting Fraggle Rock.
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Toonami visual schedule - UPDATED AUGUST 2, 2015

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

Raimi sees 'Shadow' at Columbia
'Spider-Man' director teams with studio on superhero
By ERIN MAXWELL, Daily Variety

Sam Raimi is prepping to produce a new adaptation of "The Shadow" at Columbia.

The deal comes after a lengthy negotiation with the studio to nab the rights to the Walter B. Gibson superhero with the power to impair the minds of men. The project is set with Raimi and Josh Donen under their Buckaroo Entertainment banner.

"The Shadow" began in pulp novels in the 1930s before becoming a legendary CBS radio show, which starred a young Orson Welles. Since then, "The Shadow" has been adapted for comics, books, television and several film versions, including Universal's 1994 big-budget pic starring Alec Baldwin. The film grossed $32 million at the box office.

No word on whether Raimi will helm the superhero's bigscreen revival.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

'Tarzan' on vine for Warner Bros.
Weintraub bringing character back to bigscreen
By MICHAEL FLEMING, Daily Variety

Warner Bros. and producer Jerry Weintraub are bringing Tarzan back to the bigscreen.

The studio is developing a new take on the Edgar Rice Burroughs-created character, and is negotiating with Guillermo del Toro to direct.

John Collee, who wrote "Master and Commander: Far Side of the World" and most recently scripted the WB animated hit "Happy Feet," is negotiating to write the screenplay.

Weintraub will produce the film through his Jerry Weintraub Prods. banner.

In the years since Burroughs first introduced the loincloth-clad character in book form in 1914, Tarzan has headlined live action and animated films, as well as radio and TV shows.

Del Toro, who grew up reading Spanish-language translations of those books, feels that the classic themes are still compelling, and that there is new ground to cover in the Tarzan mythology by turning back to the original Burroughs prose.

"I'd love to create a new version that is still a family movie, but as edgy as I can make it," Del Toro said. "There are strong themes of survival of a defenseless child left behind in the most hostile environment."

Deals are still being worked out, but Del Toro sparked to the chance to collaborate with Collee.

"John will be writing it alone, as I'll be in production on 'Hellboy 2' and pursuing writing projects of my own," Del Toro said. "He's got a great sense of adventure and the wilderness."
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

Dimension manic for 'Madman' pic
Rodriguez brings comicbook to bigscreen
By MICHAEL FLEMING, Daily Variety

Dimension Films has made a deal to turn the Michael Allred-created comicbook "Madman" into a live-action film.

George Huang ("Swimming With Sharks") will direct a script he'll pen with Allred. Robert Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellan will produce via their Troublemaker Studios banner.

"Madman" is a post-modernist reimagining of the Frankenstein tale, with a superhero twist. Title character, killed in a car accident, is reanimated by an eccentric doc who names him Frank Einstein and instills in him enhanced senses, psychic power and exceptional physical skills. The doc can't fix his creature's face, so Madman wears a costume modeled after his fave superhero to hide his scars.

Project, spearheaded by Dimension co-chairman Bob Weinstein and production prexy Richard Saperstein, will follow a template similar to "Sin City," which Troublemaker produced and Rodriguez directed with creator Frank Miller for Dimension.

As with that film, the creative behind the comicbook is an active part of the creative process. And, like "Sin City," "Madman" will be shot entirely at Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios in Texas.

Rodriguez, who's readying a "Sin City" sequel, has wrapped "Planet Terror," his half of Dimension Films' "Grindhouse," to be released April 6. Quentin Tarantino, who's directing the other half, "Death Proof," will finish shooting in January.

Rodriguez has been trying to adapt the "Madman" comic for several years and felt the creative combination was the right one. He and Huang have known each other since Rodriguez's debut film, "El Mariachi," landed at Columbia and Huang worked at the studio. Huang was a creative consultant on Rodriguez's "Spy Kids 3."

"George has always had a really great grasp of the books, and Michael is just about the coolest guy you'll ever meet," Rodriguez said. "His Madman comics are nothing short of visionary."

Allred, who created props for "Planet Terror," is launching new series "Madman Atomic Comics" through Image Comics.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

Transformers trailer is up
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

ETA June 15th
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Terence Stamp are set to join Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway in "Get Smart."

Shooting begins next month on the Peter Segal-directed comedy for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures.

While the comedy is based on the 1965 Mel Brooks/Buck Henry-created sitcom, the Rock will play the newly created character Agent 23. Stamp will play an evil leader.

The Rock, who last starred in Sony's "Gridiron Gang," next will be seen in the Disney comedy "The Game Plan." Stamp just wrapped the Christopher Cain-directed "September Dawn."

"Get Smart" will shoot in L.A., D.C. and Moscow, starting Feb. 3 and wrapping in July. Segal said the premise has been contemporized, but they have managed to retain such sitcom touchstones as the "cone of silence," the shoe phone and the original cars driven by Smart.

"What made the original unique was it took place in the Cold War era and skewered the political landscape," Segal said. "We're trying to embrace that spirit, and there is certainly a lot to skewer politically today."
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Gwyneth Paltrow will join Robert Downey Jr. and Terrence Howard in "Iron Man," the Jon Favreau-directed film that is being financed by Marvel Studios and released by Paramount Pictures in May 2008.

Paltrow will play Virginia "Pepper" Potts, personal assistant to an industrialist who develops an armored suit to battle bad guys. Production begins in March in Los Angeles.
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Disney is optioning rights to the Edgar Rice Burroughs sci-fi series "John Carter of Mars" as a potential franchise for the studio.

Paramount had previously owned the rights to the epic and had set the project up with Jon Favreau directing and Sean Daniel and Jim Jacks producing. But Par's option expired and now Disney has jumped aboard and is in talks with Burroughs' estate.

Pic begins with a Civil War veteran whose retreat into a cave to avoid capture by Apache Indians takes an otherworldly turn as he's transported via time portal to the planet of Barsoom and taken prisoner by 12-foot-tall green men.

Burroughs wrote eleven volumes of Carter's adventures and Disney is hoping the film will launch a franchise.
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HBO has acquired the rights to turn George R.R. Martin's bestselling fantasy series "A Song of Fire and Ice" into a dramatic series to be written and exec produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

"Fire" is the first TV project for Benioff ("Troy") and Weiss ("Halo") and will shoot in Europe or New Zealand. Benioff and Weiss will write every episode of each season together save one, which the author (a former TV writer) will script.

The series will begin with the 1996 first book, "A Game of Thrones," and the intention is for each novel (they average 1,000 pages each) to fuel a season's worth of episodes. Martin has nearly finished the fifth installment, but won't complete the seven-book cycle until 2011.

Martin's series has drawn comparisons to J.R.R. Tolkien, because both are period epics set in imagined lands. But Martin has eschewed Tolkien's good-vs.-evil theme in favor of flawed characters from seven noble families.

The book has a decidedly adult bent, with sex and violence comparable to series like "Rome" and "Deadwood."

"They tried for 50 years to make 'Lord of the Rings' as one movie before Peter Jackson found success making three," Martin said. "My books are bigger and more complicated, and would require 18 movies. Otherwise, you'd have to choose one or two characters."

Aside from writing the most recent draft of "Halo," Weiss recently adapted the William Gibson novel "Pattern Recognition" for WB and director Peter Weir.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
Wink

"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP


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