Sci-Fi Storm

Here are two new exclusive pictures from makingof.com: http://www.makingof.com/posts/photos/1716/1/makingof-iron-man-2-on-set-photos

Another case of the IMAX announcement that got out a little ahead of the studios, although it shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone: A third Batman feature from Christopher Nolan has been confirmed by Warner Bros. with a release date of July 20, 2012 – although there aren’t any further details than that, including a production start date.

Warner Bros. has announced that the release dates for parts 1 and 2 of The Hobbit will be set in December 2012 and 2013, respectively (despite an IMAX release that gave 2013 as the release date of just The Hobbit, which was an error). Both scripts are details are being worked out, but it looks like full production could begin on time by this summer.

Seeing some of the early reviews of Iron Man 2, there is a lot of variance. Although Rotten Tomatoes currently is giving it a 75%, The Hollywood Reporter was quite down on it: “Everything fun and terrific…has vanished…” And from across the pond, where the movie opens this week, The Mirror calls it “a travesty – a mind-numbingly dull, chaotic and often unwatchable muddle.”

Apparently I wasn’t the only one that got Avatar – so did 5.5 million others, with 1.5 million of that being Blu-ray copies, beating The Dark Knight‘s 1st-day sales record – despite the promise of the 3D Blu-ray (and expanded) version later this year. I’m watching right now, so read on for an live in-progress review (check for updates) from someone who hasn’t seen the movie yet (yes, shame on me…)
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Leonard Nimoy, having just finished filming his final guest appearance on Fringe, plans to retire from acting after working in the industry for 60 years. “I want to get off the stage” he said, but it pleased that his famous character will live on with Zachary Quinto.

Did a double-header today – first we watched How To Train Your Dragon in 3D, and were incredibly surprised – it was a great movie, with great detail in the animation (the characters breathe!) and a great story. And if the main dragon’s face and expressions seemed a little familiar – this is Chris Sanders’ first feature after leaving Disney, where he created Stitch. Although I think there was a little blend of Doctor Who Sea Devil in there as well. And apparently all older Vikings are Scottish 🙂

The second feature was Tim Burton’s take on Alice In Wonderland (not in 3D though). Not as dark as some of his other features, it definitely had his stamp on it. However, at times it was a bit confusing, the dialog was hard to understand, and some scenes couldn’t hold my attention (but after one movie and lunch, I so much wanted to close my eyes). I think it is worthy of a second look though…

Devin Faraci at CHUD has an interesting analysis (warning: spoilers) of Clash Of The Titans – and how it is a very different film than was original cut…and that this original cut may still be around. The released version made significant changes to the plot, and rid itself of a lot of the Olympian intrigue and infighting between the gods – almost removing some of them entirely. Will we get to see the original version? If they see enough money in a DVD release, I’m sure we will…

Disney appears to be expecting that Tron Legacy will be big – it is already one of their tentpole films, but still 8 months from release they are already planning a sequel, with the Lost duo of Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz already putting pen to paper.

Although he may not really be responsible, screenwriter J.D. Shapiro (Robin Hood: Men In Tights) is apologizing for the “suckiest movie ever” – that is, Battlefield Earth. “It wasn’t as I intended — promise,” he says. “No one sets out to make a train wreck. Actually, comparing it to a train wreck isn’t really fair to train wrecks, because people actually want to watch those.” Read the whole article – it’s quite amusing. Now, can I get those brain cells back, please?