SNEAK PEEK : Friday, March 12

Darth Vader Walks With 'adidas'

"Star Wars" and 'adidas Originals' have joined forces to bring fans a new 2010 collection of sneakers and apparel (including a 'Darth Vader' hoodie), as "...iconic moments and figures from the "Star Wars" saga are translated to the streets, telling their creative story across a forceful collection of adidas Originals footwear and apparel...

"Celebrate this powerful alliance to the beat of a new and improved remix of the 'Imperial March', as 'Vader' and the 'Stormtroopers' land on our street corner greeted by Snoop Dogg, David Beckham, Calle 13, DJ Neil Armstrong and Daft Punk representing their originality..."

Sneak Peek adidas ...

Canwest Broadcasting Launches MovieTime HD

Canwest Broadcasting reports the launch of MovieTime HD, Friday, March 12, 2010, as part of the Rogers Digital Cable VIP line-up on channel 562.

"...The launch continues to reinforce Canwest as a leader in HD programming with History Television, Showcase, National Geographic Channel and four Global Television stations – Toronto , Vancouver , Calgary and Edmonton – currently broadcasting in High Definition. The ultimate destination for big-ticket movies, MovieTime launched over a year ago and has been a huge success with viewers. It is now a top 10 digital channel in Canada for all key demos..."
"With the immense popularity of MovieTime, we’re delighted to announce the launch of MovieTime HD - Canada ’s only HD specialty destination for recent blockbusters”, said Daniel Eves, VP Strategic Programming, Specialty, Canwest Broadcasting. "The channel will offer viewers an incomparable movie viewing experience, combining superior resolution and sound with big-ticket movie titles.”

Viewers can expect to find HD titles including "Batman Begins", "The School of Rock", "Scorpion King", "The Wedding Planner", "Stuart Little 2", "The Bucket List", "Bourne Identity", "Sahara", "Catch Me If You Can", "Matilda" and "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life", with more new titles to be added in the coming months. MovieTime HD will also be launching with other TV providers later this spring.

Canwest Broadcasting, a division of Canwest Media Inc., operates Global Television and 18 of the country’s most popular specialty channels, including HGTV, Mystery TV, National Geographic Channel, Showcase, History Television, Food Network and TVtropolis...

Fox Goes Bananas For "Apes" Prequel

According to reports Rupert Wyatt, writer/director of "The Escapist" prison drama is in talks for a "Planet of the Apes" prequel "...where man is brute and apes intelligent...", titled "Caesar: Planet of the Apes".

According to the website CHUD, synopis of the new film is:

"...Will is a doctor trying to cure Alzheimers, a disease that afflicts his father. He's working with monkeys to create a benign virus that can get into brain tissue and restore functionality. After his research is shut down he's left with just one chimp, the child of his most promising subject, and Will raises him at home. Young 'Caesar' is incredibly intelligent for an ape, and over time he continues to mutate and evolve, looking less like a chimp and moving on from sign language to actual speech. Eventually Caesar ends up leading an army of apes in an uprising just as a catastrophe strikes mankind..."

"Conquest of the Planet of the Apes", the fourth film in the Fox "POTA" series, describes the 'primate revolution' against humankind. The 1972 feature, directed by J. Lee Thompson, is noted as the most violent sequel in the original "POTA" movie series.

Producer Peter Chernin of Chernin Entertainment is on board "Caesar" with writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver developing the screenplay.

"Planet of the Apes" originated as a 1963 novel by author Pierre Boulle, first published in French as "La Planète des singes". As 'singe' means both 'ape' and 'monkey', writer Xan Fielding called his English translation of the novel, "Monkey Planet", as an example of social commentary through the use of dystopia.

The main events of the book, set in the future, are placed in a frame story, in which 'Jinn' and 'Phyllis', a couple out on a pleasure cruise in a spaceship, find a message in a bottle floating in space. The message is the testimony of 'Ulysse Mérou', who writes he was the acquaintance of 'Professor Antelle', a scientist on Earth, who invented a spaceship that could travel close to the speed of light.

Ulysse, Antelle and a physicist 'Levain', fly off in the ship to explore outer space, traveling to the nearest star system the professor theorized might be capable of life, near the red sun 'Betelgeuse'. Because of 'time dilation', the trip only takes 2 years, with the group discovering an Earth-like planet they name 'Soror' (Latin for 'sister').

Landing on the planet they breathe the air, drink the water and eat the local vegetation, before encountering primitive 'humans'. Quickly captured by the humans, they are startled to see a hunting party in the forest, consisting of gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees using guns, wearing human clothing including gloves instead of shoes on their prehensile feet.

Ulysse is captured and taken to Ape City, before being sent to a research facility, where he is adopted by female chimp researcher 'Zira'. Freed from his cage, Ulysee then meets Zira's fiancé, the scientist 'Cornélius'.

With Cornélius' help, Ulysee makes a speech in front of the ape President and numerous representatives, touring the city and learning about the apes' civilization and history, in a society divided between violent gorillas, conservative orangutans and intellectual chimpanzees.

Meanwhile Ulysse falls in love and impregnates the primitive human 'Nova', discovering the planet was ruled by humans who built a technological society and enslaved apes to perform manual labor. Over time the humans became more and more dependent upon the apes, until eventually they became so degenerate they were overthrown by their ape servants and fell into the primitive state.

When orangutan scientist 'Dr. Zaius', decrees the humans' extermination, Ulysse escapes from the planet with his wife and newborn son, returning to Earth in the professor's spaceship, landing on Earth over 700 years after he had originally left it. Once outside the ship, he discovers that Earth is now ruled by intelligent apes just like the planet he fled.

He immediately leaves Earth in his ship, writes his story, places it in a bottle, and launches it into space for someone to find. It is at this point in the story that we discover that Jinn and Phyllis, the couple who found the bottle, are chimpanzees who dismiss Ulysse's story, saying that a human could not have the intelligence to write such a fantastic story.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes"...

Sneak Peek "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" Trailer

"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse", the $70 million, Vancouver-lensed vampire, horror/romance feature opening June 30, 2010, is based on author Stephenie Meyer's novel "Eclipse".

"Eclipse" is the third installment of "The Twilight Saga" film series, following 2008's "Twilight" and 2009's Vancouver-lensed "New Moon".

Principal photography on "Eclipse" started August 17, 2009 at Vancouver Film Studios, directed by David Slade, starring actors Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as 'Bella Swan', 'Edward Cullen' and 'Jacob Black', from an adapted screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg.

"Eclipse" will be the first "Twilight" film to be released in IMAX.

"...As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob — knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse"...