Tracking The Piracy Of 2008 Oscar-Nominated Films By David Chen/Jan. 23, 2009 2:51 pm EST Ever since the advent of DVD and bittorrent technology, it’s been inevitable: Studios that send out screeners to Academy members inevitably see those films end up pirated and downloaded on torrent sites. But just how extensive is the problem, and how has its pervasiveness changed over time? In his post, “Pirating the 2009 Oscars,” Andy Baio from Waxy....
Will Smith To Produce And Star In Remake Of Hitchcock’s Suspicion? By Russ Fischer/Feb. 26, 2010 1:47 pm EST The common line amongst film fans is that Alfred Hitchcock is sacrosanct; his movies are not to be remade. He could do it (The Man Who Knew Too Much) but no one else should (Psycho). In some cases that’s an understandable stance to take. Remaking Vertigo would be insane, because it stemmed so directly from Hitchcock’s psyche, and remaking The Birds is crazy because it was as much a technical challenge as anything else....
Wolfgang Peterson Talks About His Live-Action Adaptation Of Paprika By Russ Fischer/March 25, 2010 10:47 am EST Yasutaka Tsutsui’s novel Paprika has already been adapted into animation by Satoshi Kon, but back in August of last year it was announced that a live-action feature version would be directed by Wolfgang Peterson. Now Peterson has issued a brief update on the adaptation, and he sounds like he’s planning for it to be big, if nothing else....
2007 Academy Awards Winners By Peter Sciretta/Feb. 25, 2007 9:16 pm EST Let’s look at the results from the 79th Academy Awards ceremony: Best Motion Picture of the Year: The Departed Babel Letters from Iwo Jima Little Miss Sunshine The Queen Achievement in Directing: Martin Scorsese for The Departed Clint Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima Stephen Frears for The Queen Alejandro González Iñárritu for Babel Paul Greengrass for United 93...
Avatar Tech May Finally Make Way For 3-D Star Wars, Says George Lucas By Devindra Hardawar/Jan. 19, 2010 1:20 am EST Last we heard about a 3-D version of the Star Wars saga, George Lucas mentioned back in August 2008 that he had put LucasFilm to work on developing the technology to make it happen. At that point, he said that the technology worked great, but it wasn’t very practical. Now we have word that Lucas was wowed by Avatar’s 3-D tech, and that it may be just the push LucasFilm needed to adapt Star Wars....
Awards: SAG Nominations Highlight Precious, Inglourious Basterds, The Hurt Locker By Russ Fischer/Dec. 17, 2009 11:15 am EST Today the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced its own list of nominations for 2009, and I was hopeful for a more diverse array of choices. This is the organization where actors vote on their direct peers, after all, so there was reason to hope the list wouldn’t quite be in lock-step with the big critic organizations and the Golden Globes....
Box Office: Horton Up 40% Saturday; Headed For $44M By Steve Mason/March 16, 2008 12:38 am EST Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 B.C. (Warner Bros) is defying, to some degree, the overwhelmingly negative reaction from critics. The prehistoric epic got a 39% Saturday bump for a $6.81M Saturday. 10K should wrap up the weekend with $15.93M. That’s down approximately 56% from its successful opening frame. Summit’s Never Back Down was down about 4% from its better than expected opening day....
Contest: The Good Shepherd On DVD By Peter Sciretta/April 2, 2007 12:05 am EST The Good Shepherd hits DVD store shelves on April 3rd, and we have a copy for one lucky /Film reader. All you need to enter is to e-mail us with the reason why you should win. On April 9th we will e-mail the winner with the best answer. More information on the release can be found after the jump....
Cool Stuff: The Star Wars Vault - “The Coolest Book Of 2007!” By Peter Sciretta/Jan. 6, 2008 3:20 pm EST We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. The coolest thing about this book is it isn’t just a book, it’s a collection of “50 interactive, rare and some never-before-published memorabilia, including reproductions of Lucas’s own handwritten script pages, flip-through catalogs, swag, posters, T-shirt transfers, tattoos, stickers, blueprints, production notes, animation cells and much more!...
D.J. Caruso To Direct Y: The Last Man, Will Shia LaBeouf Be Next? By Peter Sciretta/July 23, 2007 10:00 pm EST Many people say Watchmen, but for me the greatest comic book series of all time is without a doubt, Brian K Vaughn’s Y: The Last Man. A big screen adaptation has been in the works since early 2006. New Line Cinema has finally tapped D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) to direct a film version based on a script by Carl Ellsworth (Red Eye, Disturbia)....
DreamWorks Sells Out With Kung Fu Panda TV Show By Peter Sciretta/May 14, 2009 11:14 pm EST DreamWorks Animation is not only developing a sequel to Kung Fu Panda, due out June 3rd 2011, but they are co-producing a television series for Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon has ordered 26 episodes after the success of The Penguins of Madagascar. The series premiered on the television network on March 28th, and has become the second-most-watched program among kids 6-12 on television, behind only Spongebob....
Early Buzz: WALL-E Gets Rave Reviews By Peter Sciretta/June 3, 2008 3:55 pm EST Pixar screened WALL-E at their wrap party celebration, and it appears a few outsiders got in. Two reviews have leaked onto the interwebs. DoomMunky calls the film “honestly funny, moving and exciting,” refers to Wall-E itself (or is it himself?) as “adorable and endearing.” “It’s a great, great movie. … I can’t wait to see it again, and I never want to see something again right away....
Fredrik Bond To Direct Hack/Slash By Peter Sciretta/July 15, 2009 7:15 am EST Rogue Pictures has hired commercial and music video director Fredrik Bond to direct a big screen adaptation of Hack/Slash, the popular comic book created by Tim Seeley and Stefano Caselli. The series follows a horror victim named Cassie Hack, who strikes back at the homicidal maniacs and serial killers, known as “slashers”. Justin Marks( He-Man and the Masters of the Universe) wrote the screenplay, which is said to be heavy on the comedy and horror....
Grassroots Oscar Campaign: Sam Rockwell For Best Actor In Moon By Peter Sciretta/Oct. 22, 2009 6:00 pm EST Sony Pictures Classics isn’t likely to put money into an awards campaign for Sam Rockwell for the sci-fi indie Moon, but that isn’t stopping director Duncan Jones from getting behind a grassroots fan campaign to get the actor nominated. Does Rockwell deserve to be nominated for his performance in Moon? Many critics praised Rockwell in reviews earlier this year, and I would personally like to see him get recognized in some capacity come awards time....
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer Sold At Slamdance; Movie Trailer Now Online By Hunter Stephenson/Jan. 27, 2008 2:45 pm EST The major purchase making the press rounds and generating blog buzz from this year’s Slamdance Film Festival, which ended Friday, is Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. Anchor Bay purchased the film, which hearkens back to ’80s horror-comedies like House and Night of the Demons, for an impressive mid-six-figures with a theatrical release included in the deal....
Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air To Premiere At 2009 Toronto Film Festival By Peter Sciretta/July 30, 2009 3:48 pm EST Jason Reitman’s new film, a big screen adaptation of Walter Kim’s novel Up in the Air, will premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. I’ve been a huge fan of Reitman’s work, ever since discovering his early short films (which I highly recommend). Up in the Air is probably the best script I’ve read in the past 3 or 4 years, and if it is any indication of the final product – [insert hyperbolic statement here]....
Kato Casting Call Kicks Chow To The Curb? By Brendon Connelly/July 11, 2009 9:36 am EST It would appear from a freshly surfaced casting call that the role of Kato in Michel Gondry’s Green Hornet movie is currently vacant. After it was announced that Seth Rogen was to write, produce and star in a Hornet flick a heady cocktail of skepticism and intrigue flooded the web. Then, it was announced that Stephen Chow was going to both direct and co-star in the picture and the general level of enthusiasm went through the roof....
LOL: Kevin Smith Sticks Up For Twilight Fans By Peter Sciretta/Nov. 22, 2009 9:00 pm EST This video clip of filmmaker Kevin Smith was shot at San Diego Comic-Con 2009. It’s not new, but it has been making the rounds this weekend due to the huge box office success of the Twilight sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon. And yes, we’ve featured it on the site before, but it might have been passed over during the madness that was Comic Con… so… why not?...
LOL: Waterworld: The Musical Starring Patrick Warburton? By Peter Sciretta/Nov. 25, 2008 12:54 pm EST You may have heard about Evil Dead: The Musical, but what about Waterworld: The Musical? /Film reader Mack J sent over this teaser trailer for the musical stage adaptation which stars Patrick Warburton (aka The Tick). But don’t get too excited, apparently it is only a viral video to draw attention to Made for Each Other, a movie starring Warburton, Danny and Christopher Masterson, Samm Levine, and Bijou Phillips....
New Writer To Start Beverly Hills Cop 4 Script Over By Brendon Connelly/Oct. 16, 2009 1:54 pm EST When this story started unfolding, the first bit of breaking news was that Judge Reinhold and John Ashton’s cops Rosewood and Taggart would both be back and reunite with Eddie Murphy for the next Beverly Hills Cop film. Then, an apparent U-turn came when it was announced that, actually, nothing like that could be promised yet as a new writer was about to come onto the project....
