Sci-Fi Storm

As I get back to work after a very busy weekend, let’s start out with a clip from Disney/Pixar’s Brave, which will be released on June 22nd…
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It’s been a while since I posted one of these, but enjoy the latest video from Peter Jackson behind the scenes on the production of The Hobbit. This time they take it to the studio…
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The movie may better be known for it’s disastrous box office precipitated by poor marketing and possibly costing Rich Ross his job, but I don’t think John Carter is a bad movie…I think it was a strong movie that kept true to the story, with some added twists. You can see my review of it here.

It still has a small chance at redemption though – tomorrow it is released on [sfs=1234]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1235]DVD[/sfs]. It may not matter in the long run, but hopefully it will grow on people.

In this first official image from the set of Iron Man 3, you can see that Tony Stark has an increasing number of power suits…we count 7, not including parts. It will be interesting to see what each of them is best used for – other than just for style…

Twentieth Century Fox is looking to it’s science fiction past for it’s future, with a re-release and sequels.

Today the studio announced that after the success of the re-release of Titanic in 3D (which made $344 million worldwide), they would give the same 3D treatment to Independence Day, looking to release that July 3rd, 2013. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters will be released on August 16th, and for the holidays a movie based on the TV series/live show Walking With Dinosaurs will be released December 20th.

Then, in 2014, Fox plans to take the Spring to Summer season starting with the Steven Spielberg directed Robopocalypse on April 25th; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, on May 23rd (Memorial Day); and the next currently-untitled X-Men movie, on July 18th.

Could John Carter be causing other studios to turn a more critical eye on their big budget actioners? It seems that way, with Paramount pushing back the release of G.I. Joe: Retaliation by 9 months. The studio’s original claim was to make a 3D version, but not many bought that as the sole excuse. And now it seems that there is a lot more behind the delay.

Despite having started the marketing ball rolling months ago, and getting all the merchandise in place for the original June 29th release date, it appears that poor testing results on the film has them looking at it again, to the point they may want to completely rework the story.

One item appears to be the plan to kill off Duke Hauser at the beginning of the film. Hauser is played by Channing Tatum, who is suddenly seen as a big box office draw. Killing him off early would mean seriously limiting his draw for the film. Of course, delays and re-shoots are going to cost more – more money for Paramount to potentially lose if it doesn’t solve the problem – and as John Carter showed – let the public know they’ve solved the problem.

It seems that George Lucas is finally ready to give it up and go back to making films like he used to, like he’s been saying for years.

In an upcoming issue of British magazine Empire, TheForce.net reports that in an interview Lucas said, “I’m moving away from the company, I’m moving away from all my businesses, I’m finishing all my obligations and I’m going to retire to my garage with my saw and hammer and build hobby movies. I’ve always wanted to make movies that were more experimental in nature, and not have to worry about them showing in movie theatres.”

Still, we don’t know if he will really follow through this time. But at least there is hope that there won’t be any further revised versions of Star Wars…

In an interview with The Telegraph, British actor Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty in the rebooted Star Trek movies, talked a bit about fellow Brit actor Benedict Cumberbatch and his role in the upcoming Star Trek sequel – which has long been rumored to be Khan Noonian Singh, the role originated in the original series and masterfully reprised in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by Ricardo Montalban.

“It’s not Khan,” Pegg says, however. And apparently, he’s annoyed at the whole matter. “That’s a myth. Everyone’s saying it is, but it’s not…I think people just want to have a scoop. It annoys me – it’s beyond the point to just ferret around for spoilers all the time to try to be the first to break them.”

As for the actual character, he can’t say much, but he does say he’s “not just another disgruntled alien. It’s a really interesting… sort of… thing.” Which just piques our curiosity that much further.

Here is an updated video of the opening of Transformers: The Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood – with captions in case you didn’t know who some of the people were. 🙂
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