BREAKING MOVIE/TV NEWS

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Sneak Peek Tim Burton's "9"...

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From TorontoFilm.Net comes a new Russian poster of producer Tim Burton's upcoming CG feature "9", directed by Shane Acker @ Toronto's Starz Animation, a Canadian production company that recently received a $23 million boost from the Ontario provincial government.

Adapting Acker's 2005 computer animated Academy Award-nominated short film, the new movie will be distributed by Focus Features.

Premise follows a 'sentient' rag doll, the last of its kind, living in the ruins of a decaying parallel world, hunted relentlessly by a mechanical beast that has already killed eight other rag dolls by stealing their souls with a canister-like talisman.

Rag doll '9', accompanied by his friend and mentor, the one-eyed '5', scavenged the ruins of their world in search of tools that would help them survive, before the monster suddenly appeared and attacked 5, stealing his soul, with 9 narrowly escaping.

In an attempt to destroy the monster, 9 prepares a trap, luring the monster into an old building where it is briefly subdued, allowing 9 to steal its talisman.

But the monster breaks free and chases 9 through the building, cornering him onto a wooden plank elevated high above the floor.

Just as the monster approaches, 9 leaps to safety, knocking the plank down as the monster plummets to the floor impaled by the plank.

After setting up a memorial for the other rag dolls, 9 puts two talismans together to create a larger canister that releases the souls of all the monster's victims, including 5.

Before vanishing, 5 turns to 9 and gives him an approving one-eyed wink and a nod, with 9 setting off for parts unknown, leaving the canister behind...


"Wanted" Producers Stake Out "Dear Dracula"...

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Kickstart Entertainment, producers of the movie adaptation of the Top Cow comic book series "Wanted", recently acquired screen rights to the 2008 Image/Shadowline comic book "Dear Dracula", created by writer Joshua Williamson and illustrator Vincente Navarrete.

The CGI feature will follow 'Sam', who loves scary movies and writes to 'Dracula' at Halloween, requesting that Dracula make him a real vampire on that day.

Dracula accepts the invitation, taking the boy on an exploration of the night and what it means to be a vampire.

"Dear Dracula", is noted as the first 'launch' book for Shadowline/Image's Silverline of 'all-ages' comics...




Friday, May 29, 2009

"Madballs" Bounce Back Into Play...

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"Madballs", a uniquely designed series of bouncing toy rubber balls, created by AmToy, a subsidiary of American Greetings, released in the mid-1980's, is being developed into a PC platform game by Canadian-based games developer Playbrains.

The names of the original Madballs are 'Screamin Meemie', 'Slobulus', 'Aargh', 'Hornhead', 'Dustbrain', 'Oculus Orbus', 'Skull Face' and 'Crack Head'.

"Madballs in Babo: Invasion" will be a top-down shooter for multi-playing action, featuring various 'Madballs' battling each other with heavy weaponry, against backgrounds randomly generated.

The original "Madballs" toyline was previously adapted as a a limited series of Marvel comic books, debuting in 1986, an animated TV series from Toronto-based Nelvana in 1987 and a video game for the Commodore 64.

"Madballs: In Babo Invasion" will be released this summer...


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"The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn"- December 23, 2011...

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The Steven Spielberg directed 3-D Motion Capture film "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" will open in North America, December 23, 2011.

First reported by Sneak Peek.Ca in an exclusive scoop November 2006, Spielberg's plan to adapt the "Tintin" adventures, specifically "The Secret Of The Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure" finally aligned with the stars when the film started production January 2009, as the first of a planned series of 3D motion capture films based on the globe-trotting reporter character created by Georges Remi, aka 'Herge'.

Actor Jamie Bell plays 'Tintin', a globe-trotting reporter and Daniel "James Bond" Craig is the villain pirate 'Red Rackham'.

The feature is being produced by Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson, who will direct the second film, a sequel to the "Unicorn" book "Red Rackham's Treasure".

Jackson's Weta Digital effects house developed the performance-capture technology used in the film.

Voice cast includes Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook.

Nick Rodwell, Stephane Sperry and Ken Kamins are executive producers. Screenplay is by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish.

Paramount will release the films domestically and in all English-speaking territories and Asia, excluding India. Sony Pictures Releasing International will distribute the film in continental Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, India and the rest of the world.

"The Adventures of Tintin", a series of 24 books, has sold over 200 million copies, translating into 70 languages...



Archie Marries Veronica...

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While Archie Comics continues developing their proprietary characters for film adaptations, the publication this August of "Archie Marries Veronica: The Proposal", will try and solve the question of why would 'Archie Andrews' choose 'Veronica Lodge' over blonde 'Betty'...?

"Archie" debuted in "Pep Comics" #22, December 22, 1941, illustrated by Bob Montana and written by Vic Bloom, with the intent by comics publisher John L. Goldwater to appeal to fans of the "Andy Hardy" movies starring actor Mickey Rooney.

"Archie Comics", the title of the company's longest running publication, first appeared on newstands in 1942.

Archie Comics controls numerous super-hero properties including "The Fly" and "The Shield"...

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John McLane's "Die Hard" Prequel...

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In the graphic novel adventure prequel "Die Hard: Year One", to be released by Boom! Studios August 2009, 'John McClane', more than a decade before the events chonicled in the first "Die Hard" movie, is a rookie cop, working on earning his badge in New York City during the US 1976 Bicentennial celebration.

The first 20th Century Fox "Die Hard" feature, directed by John McTiernan in 1988, was produced by Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver, Charles Gordon and Beau Marks, from a screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza.

The movie was based on a 1979 novel by author Roderick Thorp titled 'Nothing Lasts Forever", itself a sequel to the book "The Detective", adapted into a 1968 theatrical feature starring actor Frank Sinatra....


The "Exiles" On Main Street....

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"The Exiles" go after an island of united 'X-Men' and 'Brotherhood' mutants...

"Captain Britain" Gets Into 'Meggan'...

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'Meggan', the wife of 'Captain Britain' tries to get back to Earth to help her husband turn back Dracula' and his evil invasion, while 'MI13' delves into the secrets behind 'British Magic'...



Dark Reign: "The Black Panther"...

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'Wakanda' stands at the brink as 'Morlun', the 'Devourer of Totems' descends on the palace to feast on 'the body of T'Challa'...

The Coming Of 'Namora'...

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Disturbing visions plucked from the mind of 'Norman Osborn' lead the intrepid 'Agents of Atlas' to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, where 'Namora' has words with her infamous cousin, the 'Sub-Mariner'...

Fox Mounting "Girls Just Want To Have Fun"...

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Twentieth Century Fox and Lakeshore Entertainment will remake the 1985 feature "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", a teen comedy originally written by Amy Spies.

Premise of the first film follows 'Janey' (Sarah Jessica Parker), an army brat thrilled to be transferred to the home of her favorite dance show "Dance TV". She and new friend 'Lynne' (Helen Hunt) get excited when the show announces an audition for new talent.

Defying her strict and conservative dad, Janey auditions and gets into the finals, paired up with 'Jeff' (Lee Montgomery) who catches the eye of scheming rich girl 'Natalie' (Holly Gagnier).

Jeff reluctantly auditions because of the opportunity presented by his entrepreneurial best friend 'Drew' (Jonathan Silverman).

Despite her father's objections and Natalie's manipulations, Janey is determined to win it all...

A young Shannen "90210" Doherty co-stars in the film as Jeff's younger sister, with an uncredited Gina Gershon also appearing as a dancer.

The studio has hired Michelle "Imogene" Morgan to write a new screenplay...


Thursday, May 28, 2009

Charhi And Watts Are "Fair Game"...

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Actress Liraz Charhi joins Naomi Watts in the new feature "Fair Game," from director Doug "The Bourne Identity" Liman, focusing on the real-life story of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.

Watts will play Plame, with Sean Penn as her husband ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Based on a memoir by Plame, Charhi will play 'Sawsan', an Iraqi doctor in Cleveland that Plame sends undercover to Baghdad to gather intelligence on a nuclear program in exchange for bringing Sawsan's brother over to the US.


The movie will reveal how Plame's 'secret agent' status was compromised because of a leak from the last Republican administration, in retaliation for a 2003 article her husband wrote claiming the government manipulated intelligence on Iraq...

NFB @ "Luminato" 2009...

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The National Film Board of Canada has partnered with "Luminato", Toronto’s Festival of Arts and Creativity for the third consecutive year.

From June 6-13, the NFB Mediatheque presents free screenings/workshops as part of 'Luminato Reel', a film program inspired by the 2009 "Luminato" lineup.

Screenings include "Roadsworth: Crossing the Line", detailing a Montreal stencil artist’s clandestine campaign to make his mark on the city streets. As he is prosecuted at home and celebrated abroad, Roadsworth struggles to defend his work, define himself as an artist and address difficult questions about art and freedom of expression;

"Breaking a Leg", from director Robert Lepage. In the spring of 1989, LePage joined forces with a new Montreal theatre company, 'Theatre 1774', to direct its first production. This doc follows the project from its first workshop to opening night;

"Family Program" includes a 48-minute selection of award-winning animated short films celebrating literacy. featuring "The Girl Who Hated Books", "Tzaritza", "I Want a Dog", "Blackberry Subway Jam", "The Friends of Kwan Ming" and "Oma’s Quilt".

Marking its 70th anniversary this year, the NFB produces and distributes social-issue documentaries, auteur animation, alternative drama and digital content with a unique Canadian perspective.


In collaboration with international partners/co-producers, the NFB is 'expanding the vocabulary' of 21st century cinema, breaking new ground in form and content, through community filmmaking projects, cross-platform media, interactive cinema and stereoscopic animation.

Since its founding in 1939, the NFB has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 12 Oscars...

Vancouver "Siggraph": "Watchmen Revealed"- June 17...

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Vancouver's Siggraph.ca will present "Watchmen Revealed", with Bob Cole, Landon Bootsma and Tim Mulvihill of MPC Vancouver, Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at the Vancouver International Film Centre, 1181 Seymour Street (@ Davie).

At 6:30 pm there will be a 'Licensed Industry Mixer', followed by Main Presentations @ 7: 30 pm, including door prizes, free drinks and a bar.

Director Zack Snyder's Vancouver-lensed "Watchmen" feature, adapting the 1986 DC comics mini-series by writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, follows a group of masked vigilantes struggling to understand their roles in a world that no longer needs them.


The comic's narrative is a criss-crossing stream of interwoven stories across multiple timelines, dense with symbolic imagery.

Snyder and his team enlisted the help of a number of visual effects houses to assist with the picture, with the majority of work split between Sony Imageworks and The Moving Picture Company (MPC).

MPC's work was completed in its new Vancouver facility, including set extension and wire-removal, close up digital doubles, crowds and CGI sequences, including a nuclear explosion, completing close to 300 shots for the movie, spanning 24 sequences.

The evening's presentation will explore the challenges involved in creating the scenes, focusing on the complex sequences, looking at the genesis of the project from story-boards and reference photography through to final rendered images.

The Moving Picture Company (MPC) is one of the world's leading post-production facilities, networked to facilities in London and Santa Monica...



BC Film Plays To Full House @ Vancity Theatre...

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Members of the British Columbia film/television industry packed Vancouver's downtown Vancity Theatre May 26, for a BC Film Commission information session, introduced by BC Film president/CEO Richard Brownsey.

BC Film's Robert Wong moderated a panel of provincial/federal reps including Steven Pleva of the BC Ministry of Finance, Robert Soucy and Placide Turenne of the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO), and Pierre Mercier of the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA).

The BC Ministry of Finance's presentation included an overview of recent changes to the tax credit program, including a revised definition of BC-based individual, tax credit increases to offset the high Canadian dollar and the expansion of the Film Incentive BC requirement of 'BC-controlled' production corporations to 'Canadian-controlled'.

Further details of the meeting can be accessed at the BC Film website, @
http://www.bcfilm.bc.ca/

Mary Raven In "Ignition City"...

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"Anna Mercury": The Ultraspacial Dreadnought Vanaheim...

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Raiders who harrow the weird planet-cities of the extra-universal 'Constellation' in their ancient mile-long warship, the 'Ultraspacial Dreadnought Vanaheim', descend on the peaceful island of 'Three Souls Town', whose only possible savior might be a girl from London with the call sign "Anna Mercury'...