The short answer is maybe. Back in January, Universal Pictures announced that Jurassic Park 4 was moving forward with a 2014 release date, which, working backwards, would mean that the film would have to go into production sometime this summer. But there’s still no word on who might be directing the film, and this even though there’s a “Now Hiring” sign outside the JP4 offices for everything on the side of either cast or crew.
So what’s the skinny? Is there some kind of big secret that prevents Universal from naming a director till they can cash in the news for maximum effect? And it must be a doozy if the studio feels confident enough that it can recruit top talent without naming a director.
According to HitFix‘s Drew McWeeny, those members of the crew hired to help bring this new Jurassic Park to life are being brought on without being told who they’re working for. McWeeney posits that Universal must be in negotiations with someone pretty high-profile to take the director’s chair, and he’s putting his money on Oblivion and TRON Legacy filmmaker Joseph Kosinski. But what if its even bigger than that? What if the big director being negotiated with is none other than Steven Spielberg?
Exhibit A: Spielberg’s always been close to the franchise, pushing for the development of a fourth film he though he stepped away from the director’s role after The Lost World. Exhibit B: Spielberg’s next project Robopocalypse has been delayed till the script issues have been resolved, and the only other project on his radar is the Tintin sequel, which Peter Jackson, not Spielberg, will be directing. It’s possible that Spielberg has the room in his schedule now and willingness to bang out a Jurassic Park sequel.
So when will we know? Well, the 3-D version of Jurassic Park comes out in theaters on April 5, so maybe Universal will time their announcement for maximum impact.
Rumor has it that Universal Studios is planning a Tolkien Middle-Earth theme park much like the Warner BrothersThe Wizarding World of Harry Potter. At this stage the word is that Universal, Warner Brothers and the Tolkien estate are in the beginning stages of talks. /Film reports:
Hypable picked up a post on the Orlando United forum from a reputable user, who claims that Universal Studios asked Warner Bros. to raise the topic with the Tolkien estate.
The Tolkien estate has always carefully guarded the LOTR rights and it is interesting that it is also being reported that the Tolkien estate representatives spoke with J.K. Rowling herself about the Warner Brothers theme park creation and her experiences protecting her vision for the project, and apparently liked what they heard. Universal then got in contact with the Tolkiens to discuss their ideas.
That’s pretty exciting news if accurate. Fans wouldn’t have to travel half way across the world to get that Tolkien itch scratched. What do you think, would a LOTR themed park work? Is it just a much more expensive Medieval Times Diner theater?
Every day the internet produces an astounding amount of goodies and gems. Most hilarious, some amusing, but all worth at least a few seconds of your time. We here at Nerd Bastards try to bring you the best bits of news and nerdery the webz has to offer, with a bit of snark thrown in. But sometimes not everything makes the cut. Monday through Friday we’ll be bringing you our inbox leftovers, our forgotten bookmarks, the nerdy bits that simply slipped through the cracks. You can submit items to Nerdy Bits by emailing us at nerdybits@nerdbastards.com.
ABOVE: Dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria! Also, a Slimer glass pipe [ObviousWinner]
Word on the street is that Universal Pictures was so enamored with Snow White and the Huntsman that they started the ball rolling on a sequel even before the movie was released, hiring David Koepp to draft the script.
Universal studio execs must be breathing a little easier about that decision after the film debuted and earned $56 million the opening weekend. The movie is up to $118 million worldwide and although doing well, it still has some theater seat filling to do to recoup the reported $180 million production costs.
What kind of story could the sequel be? Most are betting that the story will revolve around the Huntsman played by Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers – Thor). There should be enough material there for a good action adventure film, but would that make it a sequel or a prequel?
What do you think, if you have seen the movie, please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
With the release of ‘The Avengers‘, it has laid waste to the box-office and made it hard for other films to rise and take the No. 1 crown. Deadline writer, Nikki Finke pointed out logistics and numbers coming from Battleship’s current release information:
“It opened with only $420K midnights from 1,074 theaters: that’s weaker than Warner Bros’ under performing Dark Shadows last weekend and even Disney’s notorious 2012 bomb John Carter…Universal cautions that ‘both of those films have a bigger geek base’ whereas the strength of Peter Berg’s military vs. aliens actioner is ‘that it’s the anti-geek, anti-midnight movie of all time.”
Battleship opened today in theaters nationwide, and while it has made$220 million Internationally. North American buzz on the film has been overshadowed by ‘The Avengers’, so the Midnight showing for the film has not hauled in the numbers it expected. The film has all the elements to be a high-grossing film: good graphics, action,well-known actors, and aliens. Even though this film has been made fun of for being based on a childhood board game, this film should not be something you miss out on.
While it is difficult to compete with a titan, i.e.: The Avengers, the film does have a lot to look forward to. The die-hard fans of Marvel may not want to defect, and will continue to watch the movie 4 times and onward, but the ending is the same, the plots points are the same, and moviegoers would do best to spend their money on other films.
So what this Nerdbastard would like to make clear, is that you shouldn’t revoke my ‘nerd-liscense’ just because I don’t want to watch The Avengers in theaters so much that I go broke, but that you should take the time to watch another movie. John Carter really stunk a high heaven, and to compare a worthless movie from beginning to end with Battleship that has more merit,better acting, and lots of destruction then be my guest and rot your brain.
There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who love Michael Bay’s Transformer movies, and dirty fucking liars. The Transformers trilogy are simply bad movies. It’s my belief that anyone who truly likes these films are lying to themselves. If you’re a fan, I’m sorry if I have offended you, but it infuriates me at how horrible movies become so popular (*cough* Twilight). I welcome you to leave comments telling me how wrong I am.
Anyhow, I’m not here to shake fists and insult anyone’s taste in movies. Too late, right? Whether you love or hate Bay-formers, I think we can all admit that the films delivered some epic action. Each film was a cinematic thrill ride. The franchise easily lends itself for good theme park material.
As you may have heard, the Transformers are coming to Universal Studios Hollywood. Transformers: The Ride, will have its grand opening on May 25th 2012. Universal has just released a three minute behind the scenes featurette showing the development and construction of this new theme park attraction. Check out the clip below:
OK, so it wasn’t so much a ‘making of’ as much as it was just a dude talking about how great the ride is.
My bud Peter Sciretta from slashfilm got invited to a special technical rehearsal of the ride. Here’s a few excerpts from his play-by-play:
The ride introduces us to EVAC (our ride vehicle), an Autobot from the cartoons and toy series, that has been fully realized by ILM in in the style of the Michael Bay trilogy.
The ride places you in the middle of a fight between the Autobots and Decepticons, who are trying to steal a shard of the AllSpark. You experience this city assault from every level, from the streets, from inside a skyscrapers, in a underground subway tunnel and more. You’ll feel completely immersed in the action, and the ride is so cleverly designed that the transitions from scene to scene will make you believe that you’re not just watching 3D projections, but are somehow traveling through a city warzone. It feels much more impressive than Islands’ Spidey Ride as the characters, while still completely computer generated, feel more reality-based than the heavily cartoon-stylized Marvel villains.
The ride features the complete line of 4D effects you would expect, heat, fire, water, fog and smoke. The fire/heat effect is my favorite moment from the attraction as it translates Michael Bay’s style to a real life experience, complete with an ultra slow motion effect you’ve seen in the movies, and which shouldn’t work in reality — but somehow feels real in the moment.
While I hate the Transformers movies, even I have to admit at how fun this ride looks. And W00t to Peter Cullen!
03-14-12 • Comics, FilmPosted by Veronique Medrano
Robert Rodriguez, despite his busy schedule, took time out to grace the stage of SXSW in Austin, Texas and announce that he will start filming for Sin City 2 along with other new projects in the works. After 7 years of rumors and speculation, we get word from on high that Sin City 2 is a go. Rodriguez ended his news on Sin City by assuring fans that filming for Sin City 2 would start shooting this year, around the summer, after he’s finished filming Machete Kills which starts in April.
Casting for both Machete Kills and Sin City 2 have not been set in stone, but Rodriguez assures SXSW goers that the stars in discussion for both films ”will be of the same caliber and eclecticism as the first films, which featured Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan, Josh Hartnett, Don Johnson, and Steven Seagal.” The other news coming from Rodriguez, is the creation his new company Quickdraw Animation, which will be separate from his film company Troublemaker Productions and will focus on creating CG animated featured films.
The first films Quickdraw Animation will be developing Heavy Metal and a family film, which have scripts and are both at the storyboard and pre-production phase. Rodriguez went on to divulge that he has found a way to “streamline the animation process that will greatly shrink the amount of time it takes to produce one…he will keep a core group of 6-8 animators in his Austin-based Troublemaker Studios to mastermind all the story and visual elements before using sister companies to finish the animation.”
While the local Texan in me is glad for the possibility of new jobs being created for all the struggling artists out there, I’m not completely sold on the Animation company being capable of cutting down the time it will take to make a a feature-length animated film. If you look at Animation company’s like Pixar, and Universal Studios take longer than a two or three years to produce a high caliber animated film, but I guess Rodriguez is betting on the “Everything is bigger in Texas” motto to quantify projects being done faster and better.
They say ambition is the lifeblood of entertainment, but Ron Howard‘s plan to adapt the 7 novels that comprise Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series scared the shit out of Universal Studios, causing the studio to run screaming from the planned 3 film and 2 TV mini-series project last year. Luckily, Opie has gumption and now, apparently, Warner Bros. on his side according to Deadline.
The House of Finke states that Warners is set to hire Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend, The Da Vinci Code) to polish that which he has already written. Howard would still be on board to direct and Javier Bardem, who has been attached since the bad old days at Universal, would at long last play the role of Roland Deschain.
Details on the ensuing TV mini series’ are sparse, but HBO’s name has been bandied about as a landing spot and we know how much HBO likes epic shows (Game of Thrones), that is until they don’t (Rome). You had a happy, and then you had a sad just then.
Inspired by Stephen King’s love of Spaghetti Westerns and epics with the breadth of The Lord of The Rings, the book tells the story of a lone gunslinger who searches for the mysterious Dark Tower. The series has inspired graphic novels, an online game (Discordia), and the love of millions. In short, Howard had better not fuck this up.
The replica builders over at Quantum Mechanix recently got to take a tour of the Universal Archives. That’s where most of the forgotten movie props end up. They came across perhaps the largest model ever made of the Firefly spaceship Serenity, all decked out in Reaver colors, spikes, and sporting that huge cannon on top.
From the Quantum Mechanix Facebook page:
About three months ago, while getting a very rare tour of the Universal archives, we came across something tucked into a corner and covered in plastic that made our hearts skip a beat: a highly-detailed 12-foot-long filming model of the Reaverized Serenity. We could hardly believe what we were seeing!
As many Browncoats know, there has been a rumor around for years that a filming miniature used for the crash scene on Mr. Universe’s planet. But that rumor was either denied as either being totally false, or that the miniature used was a simple styrofoam model. As you can see from the picture below, it does exist and is about as far from a “simple” model as you could imagine.
Check out the detail on the cannon above. Quantum Mechanix has promised to post more photos soon, and we’ll bring them to you as soon as we can.promises to post more photos soon.
I09 found a video of the green screen filming of the crash of the Serenity model. It hurts to watch them smash this model into the ground.
Those of us who are Harry Potter nerds through and through have often fantasized about kicking back after a fuckin’ long day with a Butterbeer, the drink of choice of many witches and wizards of our general age. It is especially difficult for those of us who have yet to visitThe Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida.
Now, thanks to Feast of Fiction, there’s no need to don pants and we can make our own Butterbeer right at home! There have been fan-made Butterbeer recipes for ages, but this actually looks really good.
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