(aceshowbiz.com)
Universal Pictures' environmental animated movie "The Lorax" secures the champion title on North American box office with a massive gross on its opening weekend. The family film based on Dr. Seuss' children book grabs an estimated $70.7 million, which is far above the studio's expectation.
The satisfying result marks the biggest opening ever for a non-sequel animated pic, breaking the record previously held by Pixar's "The Incredibles" which opened to $70.5 million in 2004. "Lorax" also marks the greatest box office performance by any animated film since 2010's "Toy Story 3", which debuted to $110.3 million, and "Shrek Forever After", which opened to $70.8 million.
"Lorax" scores the fourth top opening ever for any Universal's movie. Additionally, the Zac Efron and Taylor Swift-starring movie breaks the record of greatest opening in 2012, besting the $41.2 million scored by "The Vow" last February.
"The result is phenomenal," says Universal president of domectic distribution, Nikki Rocco, of the animation which production cost below $70 million. "Word of mouth was great, and that's why Saturday was up 80% from Friday. It's just spectacular."
Receiving an "A" CinemaScore, "Lorax" attracts to mostly parents and kids under the age of 12, which make up 70% of its ticket buyers. "I think there was a huge desire to see a Dr. Seuss 3D film from the creators of 'Despicable Me'," Rocco says.
LEGO Animated Film Designs Movie With Real LEGOs
(comingsoon.net)In 2009, filmmakers Christopher Miller and Phil Lord made their mark with the Sony Animation hit Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and while their live action directorial debut, the Jonah Hill-Channing Tatum action-comedy 21 Jump Street, comes out on March 16, they still have their hands in animation as they move forward on development with the planned LEGO movie for Warner Bros. and are involved with the "Cloudy" sequel, currently (and tentatively) called Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers.
ComingSoon.net had a chance to talk with Miller and Lord and get some updates on those other projects, especially their LEGO movie since there were and are still a lot of questions about what this movie is going to be since the project was first announced.
They're still working on developing the story with Animal Logic in Australia and co-director Chris McKay working with a unit in Los Angeles and Lord explained the approach they're taking with the film as "CGI with a stop motion feel to it and it's really weird in a great way."
"We're really building stuff with real LEGOs for the character design phase and the vehicle designs," Miller said. "We have LEGO experts and people literally building stuff and a room filled with LEGOs and the storyboard artist making things and shooting them on their phones, it's pretty nuts."
A Visit to a Ranch Far, Far Away...
(blogs.todayonline.com)I have a place I need to see before I die.
In fact I have a list.
For most of them, I don’t expect to come true (does anyone have a spare a ticket to the moon?) while some places are just within grasp (Alaska anyone?).
Was this moon the inspiration for the Moon of Endor?
But, like most Star Wars fans, I really want to go to the Skywalker Ranch. So much in fact, that very request used to be part of my regular prayers, along with good grades, a lightsaber and an epic Lego Millennium Falcon.
To be clear, I’m not a diehard fan. I cannot tell you what planet Admirer Ackbar is from or how Han Solo met Chewbacca. And I have no clue what happened to Luke Skywalker after Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (I hear there are more twins involved) but I have seen on average all the Star Wars movies more than 10 times. Each. And I do annoy my friends by quoting Yoda every now and again.
I have four lightsabers now (replicas, not the real thing. That’s just silly). And I lugged back the epic Lego Millennium Falcon some years ago.
The forbidden road leading to George Lucas' office, which he works from frequently.
So to say I was excited to get an invite from Microsoft to visit the Skywalker Ranch as part of its Kinect Star Wars game press junket is a gross understatement. After all, this is the birthplace of THX and Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), without which movies today would still be Charlie Chaplin-ish with no sound, and not a lot of colour.
I have imagined the Skywalker ranch to be filled with sand monsters, ewoks, droids and patrolled by stormtroopers and imperial guards. Can you blame me? The place is a virtual fortress; according to urban legend, ex-American President Ronald Reagan asked to visit the ranch and was turned down. If you are not hiding aliens or a millennium falcon, why all the secrecy?
Full Story: http://blogs.todayonline.com/techtalk/2012/03/06/a-visit- to-a-ranch-far-far-away/
‘The Avengers’ Trailer Breaks iTunes Record
(latino-review.com) With two months to go before release, it looks like Marvel’s The Avengers is already breaking records.
We received a release from the Publicity Department at Disney that the trailer broke iTunes’ record for views in a 24 hour period. The Avengers trailer was viewed 13.7 million times on it first day alone. Wow. I know I watched it three separate times on different devices, so you’re welcome Disney.
From Disney:
The new trailer, unveiled Wednesday, February 29, exclusively on iTunes, gives fans another quick look at “Marvel’s The Avengers”—the ultimate Super Hero team up—based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since.
In “Marvel’s The Avengers” the world’s greatest Super Heroes assemble when Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) join S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to protect the world from the dangerous and powerful villain, Loki (Tom Hiddleston).
An exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is from Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures, produced by Kevin Feige and directed by Joss Whedon from a screenplay by Joss Whedon.
The Avengers hits theatres May 4.
Cartier Spends Two Years on VFX Post Work For A Movie About A Panther
(styleite.com) Sure, Cartier has made mere commercials in the past, but it’s never made a short film that takes its viewers on a trip around the world in under four minutes. That’s what the storied French jewelry brand is doing now with its first fancy foray into making movies with L’Odyssee de Cartier.
The movie, which centers around the iconic Cartier Panthere (the house has a penchant for making bracelets that look like little precious gem panthers and leopards circling the wearer’s wrist) traveling around the world in search of inspiration. It comes to life after the lights go down in Cartier’s Paris flagship store, and then takes an intricate CGI journey around the world, visiting Russian royals taking a horse-drawn carriage ride, then conversing with a dragon that becomes the Great Wall of China, and then encountering one of India’s famous roving palaces (on top of an elephant, naturally) before being flown back to France by Alberto Santos-Dumont, the aviation pioneer for whom the Cartier Santos wrist watch0 is named. (The only reference to America is a team of gigantic Cartier Love bracelets, which were designed stateside in 1969.)
Cartier representatives say the movie is the product of over two years of work, six months of which it spent on post production and special effects — and when your movie features things like a diamond encrusted animal menagerie coming to life, that’s sort of understandable. Whether or not Cartier will be making another short film any time soon remains to be seen, but we think they did pretty well for their first attempt. Take a look at it below, and check out a few screen shots from the movie under that.
VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaBNjTtCxd4&feature=player_ embedded
RoboCop Reboot Finds Its Humanity
(Deadline) Jose Padilha's reboot of RoboCop looks to have found its lead as Deadline reports that Joel Kinnaman ("The Killing," Snabba Cash) has been offered the role of Officer Alex Murphy (played in the original by Peter Weller).
UPDATE: Deadline is confirming their earlier report, saying that Kinnaman has accepted the deal to play Alex Murphy in the RoboCop remake for MGM.
A reboot of the 1987 Paul Verhoeven film, RoboCop will again tell the story of a police officer who, after nearly being killed in the line of duty, is rebuilt as a crime-fighting cyborg. The original film spawned two sequels and multiple television series spinoffs.
"I have my take on it," Padilha told ComingSoon.net late last year, "And I can tell you this: In the first 'RoboCop' when Alex Murphy is shot, gunned down, then you see some hospitals and stuff and then you cut to him as RoboCop. My movie is between those two cuts. How do you make RoboCop? How do you slowly bring a guy to be a robot? How do you actually take humanity out of someone and how do you program a brain, so to speak, and how does that affect an individual?"
Recently, Gran Torino scribe Nick Schenk was brought about the project to rewrite. Production is still targeted for this summer.
Ralph McQuarrie, ‘Star Wars’ Concept Artist, Dies at 82
(blogs.wsj.com)Ralph McQuarrie, the artist who helped design the look of such “Star Wars” characters as Darth Vader, R2-D2, C-3PO, and Chewbacca has died. He was 82 years old.
McQuarrie also worked on such films as “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T.,” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” as well as the the original “Battlestar Galactica” TV series. He won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1986 for his work on the movie “Cocoon.”
A statement on McQuarrie’s website reads “His influence on design will be felt forever. There’s no doubt in our hearts that centuries from now amazing spaceships will soar, future cities will rise and someone, somewhere will say…’that looks like something Ralph McQuarrie painted.’”
George Lucas, the creator of “Star Wars,” released this statement about McQuarrie’s passing: “Ralph McQuarrie was the first person I hired to help me envision Star Wars. His genial contribution, in the form of unequaled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original Star Wars trilogy. When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph’s fabulous illustrations and say, ‘Do it like this.’”
Red Tails VFX Movie Magic Cutdown
VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF0cD1O3U8M
How Hollywood CGI Is Killing Classic Horror
(sabotagetimes.com)When it comes to scary movies they really don't make them like they used to: Stop-motion Medusa gave me nightmares. CGI Medusa gave me a semi.
Medusa is hella creepy, right? I’m talking about that stop-motion nightmare from Clash Of The Titans (1981). Everything about Ray Harryhausen’s creation chills me to the core. The green tangle of hissing snakes atop her hideous bonce. Those staring, unblinking eyes. Eyes that turn you to stone should you look into them. Her deadly accuracy with a bow and arrow. The fact that she’s half-human, half-reptile for Christ’s sake.
But most terrifying of all is the way she moves. That jerky, staccato movement that only a stop-motion model can produce. It scares the shit out of me. There’s something distinctly upsetting about it. Why? Because it’s almost human, but not quite. It’s otherworldly and alien. There’s just something incredibly jarring about Medusa’s off-kilter manoeuvrings that makes me want to scream.
But most terrifying of all is the way she moves. That jerky, staccato movement that only a stop-motion model can produce. It scares the shit out of me
When I heard about the 2010 remake all I cared about was how Medusa would translate to CGI. I had high hopes. Peter Jackson’s Gollum was a triumph, after all. When CGI Medusa slithered into shot I was horrified. Not because she was scary, you understand. It was because she was just too damn pretty. Stop-motion Medusa gave me nightmares. CGI Medusa gave me a semi. I was ruddy furious (and a little horny).
For starters she has a supermodel’s face. After a few beers you’d overlook the snakey dreadlocks and hit here with your best chat up line. But what really kills the chills is the absence of stop-motion. CGI flows too smoothly and looks too pretty to induce any kind of scares. Parallels can be drawn to horror games. This is something that Jim Sterling explains brilliantly in The Ugly Secret Of Horror Games.
For starters she has a supermodel’s face. After a few beers you’d overlook the snakey dreadlocks and hit here with your best chat up line.
Jim reckons the scariest game ever made is Friday The 13th (1985). He is, of course, absolutely right. I remember playing this on my Amstrad. I also remember having to quit after 5 minutes. Every time a kid was killed by Jason a pixely picture of a blood-soaked face flashed up accompanied by a high-pitched scream. It genuinely terrified me. But why? Jim says it best: “The fact the production values are so low it looks slightly shit, and slightly shit is what really sells horror.
He’s right. True horror lurks on crappy VHS tapes where the shoddy film quality somehow enhances the scares. I saw The Exorcist and Nightmare On Elm Street on dodgy bootlegged VHS cassettes and I absolutely shit a brick. Same with Reservoir Dogs. True, it’s not a horror film but that scene where Mr Blonde is torturing the cop seems even more voyeuristic and perverse when you’re watching it on poor quality tape.
The same concept applies to games. The better they look, the less scary they are. Which doesn’t bode well for next-gen horror fans. Shiny HD graphics and meticulously modelled super-babes do not lend themselves to horror. Same can be said for explodey set-pieces and pithy one liners (Resident Evil 6, I’m looking at you). Developers, if you want to scare us, strip away the Hollywood glamour and get your hands dirty. Drag us through the darkest recesses of your mind. The louder you make us scream, the more we’ll love you for it.
7 Blockbusters to Look Forward to in 2012
(universitytimes.ie)We all need a break sometimes. Occasionally, we have to watch films that are loud, fast-paced and contain either superheroes, CGI aliens, or giant robots; preferably a mixture of the three. This is why I have prepared for you a list of large scale blockbusters to look forward to in the coming year, to help you retreat into a world of fantasy in the best way possible.
John Carter
John Carter is actually coming out quite soon, at the end of March, so expect a proper review of it later this month. This sci-fi adventure is Disney’s live-action adaptation of a hugely influential series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I recently had a look through the first one, and it’s amazing how many tropes Burroughs had established for the genre, including ones that later appeared in such classics as Star Wars and Avatar. I also got a chance to take a look at a 10-minute preview while I was at the cinema, and I can confirm that the 3D actually looks quite nice, unlike the usual garbage Disney presents us with. Expect this to be a classic fun-filled sci-fi adventure – while I don’t think it will become the new Avatar, I do think that it will be sufficiently entertaining.
Prometheus
Another sci-fi film. Due to the viral nature of Prometheus’ marketing, many people still aren’t aware that this is a prequel to the Alien quadrilogy. It’s no secret that I love the first two Alien films very much (I placed the original on the No. 4 spot in my Top 10 Horror Films list), so I am extremely excited to see what Ridley Scott has to offer in his new instalment. Very little is known about the plot of the new film, and only two cryptic trailers have been released, which promise similarly terrifying and high-budget action sequences as we would have found in the originals. Sounds very promising indeed, look out for this one.
The Dark Knight Rises
I don’t think this one needs any explaining. The final part in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, this is a follow-up to the unbelievably successful The Dark Knight, which was a smash hit with critics and comic-book fans alike. Audiences were thrilled with the gritty, realistic version of Gotham City, and praised Heath Ledger’s unforgettable performance as Batman’s nemesis, the Joker. So what does the conclusion of the epic story have to offer us? Once again, not a lot of information has been released, but we do know of two characters who will definitely appear – Catwoman and Bane. It will be interesting to see such over-the-top characters in a realistic setting, and I’m sure that Christopher Nolan will not disappoint us with his interpretation. The trailer also showed street thugs taking over Gotham, a scene which will be instantly familiar to those who played last year’s excellent Arkham City. My only concern with this film is that it may collapse under the weight of its own hype – with two excellent predecessors, it will be difficult to top what has come before. Still, I have high hopes for Rises, and hope it will be a fitting conclusion to the trilogy.
The Avengers
Normally, I’m not really a fan of sequels, and particularly sequels to superhero films. What makes The Avengers different, however, is that it had been planned for several years, with clues about it being dropped casually into every single Marvel film since the 2006 The Incredible Hulk. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America – all these films are actually linked together, and are set to be concluded in The Avengers. With such a hit cast of characters, I find it very difficult to imagine that the films could be anything but outrageous fun. I can only see two things that could go wrong – the first is that the film had 3D added to it, meaning that we could get the terrible depth effects that we got in Thor; the second is that it looks like Loki could end up being the main villain – I don’t see him as a particularly strong character, which could end up hurting the film. I’ll still watch it though, just for the possibility of seeing Iron Man fight alongside the Hulk.
The Amazing Spider-Man
Thank God they decided to reboot it. Spider-Man 3 left me with feelings of uncontrollable rage – Venom, one of the best villains in the franchise, appeared for about fifteen minutes of the entire film, there was almost no humour to speak of, and don’t even get me started on the dancing scene. It appears that, for once, the producers decided to listen to the fans and completely change the tone of the series. From the trailers and previews that I’ve seen, the plot line stays very true to the comic books, Spider-Man is actually funny (which is such a key feature of his personality that I don’t know why they decided to take it out in the previous film), the love interest is Gwen Stacy instead of Mary-Jane (if you’re familiar with the lore, you know that that could lead to some interesting drama towards the end of the film) and the inclusion of the Lizard, a classic villain, makes the film feel like it’s a true love letter to the fans. While it won’t raise the bar for dramatic ‘mature’ superhero films like The Dark Knight, I feel like this could be an excellent addition to Marvel’s roster of big-screen adaptations.
Men in Black 3
Can you believe it’s been ten years since the last Men in Black film? That makes me feel really old. A bigger concern, though, is if the new one will be just another repeat of the first one, like the sequel was, or if it can provide a fresh experience. To be honest, I think the franchise can feel new again, due to the inclusion of a new plot element – time travel. Yes, in this instalment, K goes missing, and J has to go to the past to speak with the younger version of K in order to figure out where he has disappeared to. Confused yet? While the plot is definitely something we haven’t seen before, what I think will be even more interesting is the comedy provided both by the ‘fish-out-of-water’ situation of J in another time period, and from the glimpse we will get of K as a young man. Things could still go very wrong in terms of plot, but at least the premise is promising.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
What can I possibly say? It’s a prequel to The Lord of the Rings, one of the most popular franchises both in film and literature. It’s going to be split into two parts. The screenplay was partly written by Guillermo Del Toro. Are you hyped yet? Because you should be. This is one of the most exciting things to happen in the fantasy genre since the conclusion of the Harry Potter franchise last year. Many people are joking about how happy they are that the release date is before December 21st 2012 (the supposed date of the apocalypse), but they are partly right. You would definitely want to see The Hobbit before doomsday. The book itself has more of a fairy-tale feel to it than the epic high-fantasy novels that follow it, allowing for a simpler story, and a more magical experience. And if that’s not enough, we’ll also get to see Gollum again, who is one of the greatest characters in any medium. Let the wait begin.
Peter Jackson and 'The Hobbit' crew faced flood wrath in New Zealand
(mid-day.com) Peter Jackson was forced to stop the filming of the 'Lord of the Rings' prequel, 'The Hobbit', in December, when local police issued a severe weather warning and urged him and his crew to pack up as driving rains and floods hit their remote New Zealand location.
Jackson has posted footage of the storms in his latest behind-the-scenes video blog from the set of the top secret movie.
"Our location shooting came to a pretty dramatic end because the police arrived and said they were about to issue a severe weather warning. I've never seen a crew pack up their gear so quickly", the Daily Express quoted him as saying in the video.
"The very next day, everywhere where we were standing was under floodwater. That was incredibly dramatic. The rise of the river level was, like, 20 or 30 feet," he added.
Jackson and his crew also faced harsh conditions when they shot scenes on the slopes of 'Mount Taranaki' as they had to create an elaborate scaffold walkway for the cast so that the ancient vegetation growing in the world's second oldest national park wasn't disturbed.
Vintage ILM Video Tour From Japan
(audio is in Japanese)
Start at 2:49:
YouTube - STARWARS ILM Tour 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyMnLaAPuH0
YouTube - STARWARS ILM Tour 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M18NpbBjPA8
Rango and the Recession
(idvfilms.com) “With great privilege comes great responsibility.” So says the corrupt old turtle who runs the city Dirt in the new animated film Rango. Not long ago, Americans flocked to theaters to hear the truism that with great power comes great responsibility, in one of the biggest hits of the immediate post-9/11 era saw Peter Parker that he had no choice but to crusade against evil. The Americans wanted to believe to be a great power (or powers of Spiderman’s case) meant simply had to go out and beat up the bad guys. The Good Guy-Bad guy Matrix is more confused today than it was in 2002, and corrupt mayor Dirt knows it – he engineers an economic crisis to lure the city’s residents out of their country. Large companies use their flexible friends in government to fool the public and reap a windfall. Where have we heard this before?
Equal parts of Chinatown, Blazing Saddles, Rango offers an inspired revision of some classic themes in American political culture. Its surreal visual style suggestions for Tim Burton or Quentin Tarantino might recast the western genre, while its overall political narrative successfully connect the pulse of populist outrage behind many stories about the U.S. border to politics today’s major recession. The border was often the history of booms and busts, and the city Dirt speaks to a rich tradition of big dreams crashing into the bitter reality, given the country’s recent brush with financial disaster adventure a chameleon who tries to outwit the corrupt politicians and speculators seem too familiar.
This interpretation is not a stretch – the message of the film is so simple, only the most narrow Tea Parties may miss it. When Rango comes to town, the inhabitants of dirt clinging to a meager existence in the scorching desert, where water is the currency of everyday life. They pay their bills with water, and the operating bank in the water. The key ingredient that makes the farm for Community grizzled moles, mice and geckos to survive. “Control of water and you can control everything,” the wily mayor intones at one point, when he reroutes the local water supply for Las Vegas and uses the ensuing crisis to force peasants to give up their land. The political allegory works on two levels, one environmental and one economic. Politicians win so valuable resources are diverted to both large-scale human development and a small, rodent size suburb built on land the mayor hopes to steal, the memories of Chinatown in Los Angeles’s vampiric rise in the middle of southern California desert is sufficiently clear.
However, the mayor system also serves as an analogy of the bailout era. Money is not only a natural resource for the people of Dirt – the display is clearly a metaphor for the money or capital. A bank run breaks out when a panic villager announces, “There is no water in the bank!” The locals are like many Americans, who wondered how the country had so much money one day and then next they hear that jobs are disappearing, the budget cut, and banks no longer have money to lend. We used to have water – where did everything go? It just disappeared? The mayor and his cronies are caricatures of the financial and political elite. Turtle speaks of an old patrician voice, giggling with her Eurotrash cronies and golfing. As farmers, workers, and small businesses go belly up, they laugh about getting all the water for themselves. While Rango’s love interest (the requisite feisty heroine / sidekick) dreams of a better world, an impossible place, where “there is enough water for all.” She could think of a socialist promised land where everyone shares resources, but the vision is more likely that the classic American farmers / homeowners – landed independence and broadly shared prosperity. This is among the most resonant themes in American politics, popular culture, including economic policy. It reflects a concept of citizenship in which all should have a piece of cake, even share the same size, its critical weakness is the eternal conflict between the physical property – land, houses, farms – and Paper Power of shares, contracts and intellectual property. The message of Rango is that it is “enough water for all”, but malignant corporate interests and their willing collaborators in the government game to enrich themselves.
Rango course, is Obama. He is a stranger to the city – “not from here,” as one local points out. He uses his rhetorical gifts to spin stories that get city residents’ confidence, but their patience wears thin in the face of straitened circumstances and impending catastrophe. Rango warns people that they blindly would face each other if the water runs out, and a contagion of mob violence is a constant threat. An angry taxpayer Rango for his inability to finish the difficult times, said: “You said you’d bring back the water!” Rango implores people to hold on to hope, to believe in him and the rule of law, but all evidence indicates that the system is hopelessly corrupt.
More - Full Article: http://www.idvfilms.com/rango-and-the-recession/
"Avatar 2" Director Has to Stay in NZ 44 Days a Year
(3news.co.nz) Film-maker James Cameron will only have to spend 88 days over two years in New Zealand to become a resident here.
Cameron recently hit the headlines over his purchase of two large Wairarapa properties - a 250 hectare dairy farm and 817ha piece of land looking over Pounui Lake - reportedly worth $20 million.
Cameron's Overseas Investment Office (OIO) application, obtained by The Dominion Post, says the movie mogul applied for residency under the Investor Plus category. This means he is investing at least $10 million in New Zealand.
Requirements of this category are that Cameron must stay in New Zealand for 44 days each year for the final two years of the three-year residency application. He is not required to stay in the country during the first year.
At the end of the three years Cameron and his family - wife Suzy Amis and their three children - can apply for permanent residency.
"The Cameron family intends to take up their permanent visas in New Zealand as soon as possible and to permanently reside in New Zealand," the documents say.
Cameron also has an 18-year-old daughter with his ex-wife Linda Hamilton who starred in his Terminator films.
Cameron will reportedly start work on two sequels to his Avatar film when he moves to New Zealand.
Piracy accused Kim Dotcom gained New Zealand residency under the Investor Plus category.
Dotcom, of Germany, who faces a stream of piracy charges in the US relating to his file-sharing website Megaupload, is on bail awaiting an extradition hearing in August.
Movie Monster Size Chart
Take a look: http://www.iwatchstuff.com/image.php?path=/2012/02/09/ monster-movie-sizes.jpg
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