The past seven days

Friday, May 29, 2015

Tron 3 officially... not happening

Despite recent rumors surrounding a third installment of Disney's Tron franchise, it appears that Disney decided to take matters into their own hands. The studio announced that there are currently, and possibly never, plans to film a third installment of the franchise.

The rumors were claiming that filming was set to start in Vancouver late this year with Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde returning as well as director Joseph Kosinki returning.

I would have liked to see a third Tron, but oh well. In a way it bugs me but at the same time it doesn't.

Rick Baker's retirement is actually a big deal

Hollywood make-up legend Rick Baker has retired from the industry. This is not only sad on numerous levels, but it should serve as a wake-up call for Hollywood.

Baker has had some pretty notorious clients and done a lot of groundbreaking projects in the world of practical effects and make-up. He frequently worked with pop legend Michael Jackson as he created the zombies in Michael Jackson's iconic video for "Thriller," created numerous ghosts and monsters for the "Ghosts" short film, and created the extraterrestrial characters in Captain EO. He was also instrumental in the groundbreaking werewolf transformation in An American Werewolf in London, created alien transformations in the Men in Black movies, brought Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes to life, and he turned Eddie Murphy into the morbidly obese Klump family in The Nutty Professor.

Despite his body of work, he cites the quick hurry of Hollywood and the ease of turning to digital effects. You could look at this as Rick Baker being ready to retire or you could see it as him feeling forced to retire because he can't work anymore. His newer projects, such as Maleficent and Men in Black 3, were heavily tainted with CGI and the quick production forced a lack of time spent on practical effects.
Other legendary practical make-up artists, like Greg Nicotero, have seemed to find a way to balance the digital world and practical world but I find that a hard compromise to have to make. I'm all for the return of practical effects because, in my mind, they look better than half the digital stuff out there.

Deadpool officially wraps filming

It's done. It's actually real!

Principal photography for Deadpool movie has officially wrapped. I've been trying to stay away from set photos and spoilers that the trolls of the internet have kindly leaked just about everywhere, but seeing that filming is done is like... this is really happening. Finally!

We are set to get Deadpool in theaters on February 12, 2016. It is directed by Tim Miller and stars Ryan Reynolds, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano, Ed Skrein, Morena Baccarin, and Briana Hildebrand.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

[UPDATED] New Line delays It reboot indefinitely

Just a day after the announcement that director Cary Fukunaga had departed the reboot of It, the new adaptation of the Stephen King novel, has been shelved indefinitely.

The reboot was originally in production over at Warner Bros. before making the move to New Line Cinema and was intended by Fukunaga to be a two-part film event. Production was set to begin in June with Will Poulter starring as Pennywise the Clown, but it does not seem that it will happen at all. Fukunaga exited the project over the weekend citing scheduling along with rumors that he clashed with the studio over their desire to slash the budget.


Oh well. I didn't want this to happen anyway, so I can't say I'm upset. 




LOL/JK: It appears that in order to avoid an indefinite delay, the project is headed back over to Warner Bros. With this move the budget will remain intact and the setting will return to New York City and the two-script adaptation will also remain... so they say. Oh well. We can't win them all.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Cary Fukunaga exits the It reboot

Director Cary Fukunaga is apparently out of the It reboot according to sources close to New Line. A couple reasons are being cited including poor box office performance for Poltergeist as well as budget cuts at New Line. Also, the film shifting studios from Warner Bros. to New Line Cinema has also been mentioned.

This comes just a week or so after confirmation that Will Poulter was on board to portray Pennywise the Clown. The biggest thing up for conversation here is whether New Line will keep the film split into two parts as Fukunaga wanted. I would assume if they are experiencing budget issues they will try and keep production under wraps and only have one film.

To me, this just shows that this is yet another movie that shouldn't be happening. It doesn't need a reboot at all.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Star Wars spin-off #2 is indeed Boba Fett origins

There has been a lot of speculation and rumors regarding what the second Star Wars spin-off is, or was, going to be. I guess Disney decided to spill the beans since Josh Trank "left" the project. Plus it's May the 4th, so here we go.

The second spin-off is confirmed to be a Boba Fett origins story, or at least a story focused on bounty hunters. It's what many people guessed and what a lot of insiders told the internet when the spin-offs were first confirmed. We already had a semi-origin of Boba with Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. We discovered he was an unaltered clone of the Stormtrooper army host, Jango Fett. Boba was left on his own after Mace Windu decapitated Jango in the battle on Geonosis. After that we didn't see Boba until the original trilogy, so there is a pretty big gap of time where this is possible.

This is a bit interesting because Star Wars: Rogue One is basically centered around the birth of the Rebellion and the world of Rebel fighters. Having the second spin-off be about the complete opposite could potentially be a lot of fun. The only question now is who Disney will hire to replace Josh Trank.

Will Poulter is the new Pennywise the Clown

We are in the midst of the new reboot of the Stephen King novel, It. The original television mini-series, starring Tim Curry, aired back in 1991 and sparked a fear of clowns within my age bracket. We now have confirmation that Will Poulter (We Are the Millers) has been cast as Pennywise, the role that Curry made iconic in the original miniseries.


It is coming to us in a two-part film adaptation and will be directed by Cary Fukunaga. Originally casting was leaning towards Ben Mendelsohn, but he was cast in Star Wars: Rogue One and it created a scheduling conflict that couldn't be rectified. Filming is set to begin this summer, so I'm sure we'll get a glimpse at the costume and makeup before too long. I don't hate this choice, but I don't know if he would have been the first actor to come to mind.


Sunday, May 3, 2015

First cast photo from Suicide Squad

Well, minus The Joker. But even with that we are getting our first look at a majority of the cast of Suicide Squad.


Director David Ayer also tweeted out a photo of Will Smith as Deadshot with some oddly light colored hands.



Personally, I don't like the cast photo. I think the whole trend of Warner Bros. making every single DC movie "dark and gritty" is getting old. The entire Suicide Squad looks like a bunch of Hot Topic shoppers in an ABC Family movie. I'm disappointed with Harley Quinn's look, too. I was hoping they weren't going to go the Arkham video game route.  It will be interesting to see The Joker if they were telling the truth and the whole tattooed look wasn't the final decision. Judging from this I don't have high hopes. 

Sorry Warner Bros., but Marvel is still whooping your ass.

Was Josh Trank fired from Star Wars or did he quit?

Just a day after announcing his departure from the Star Wars franchise, there are already rumors about the reasoning behind Josh Trank's decision. Despite his statement giving the impression that the decision was his, there are many speculating that it might have been Disney that gave him the boot.

But why?

Well, the biggest theory is due to the issues behind the scenes of his adaptation of Fantastic Four with 20th Century Fox. There were some issues with Trank's adaptation of the film which, at first, caused a delay of the film's production and release. There's also the matter of the less than thrilling responses the film's trailer has received so far. Writer/Producer Simon Kinberg worked with Trank on Fantastic Four and is on board for the Star Wars spin-offs and sources are claiming that he spoke up to the Disney/Lucasfilm executives about some "unusual behavior" Trank displayed while in development and on set. Apparently he also displayed a lot of uncertainty and was indecisive causing the writers and producers to step in and help him pull his own film together, including taking the reigns for reshoots of the film alongside the film's editor, Steven Rivkin. This behavior very well might have given Disney reason enough to kick Trank to the curb.
Continuing this rumor, sources are claiming that Disney's decision came just prior to the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim last week. Trank cited illness as reason for him not appearing, but he might have been asked by Disney not to appear. In addition to his absence, there was no mention of him or his spin-off film throughout the whole weekend. You can't use the excuse of not focusing on the spin-offs because Gareth Edwards' had his own panel for Star Wars: Rogue One, starring Felicity Jones, and we got a short teaser for the film.


So what happens now? We are still getting Star Wars: Rogue One in 2016. Trank's film was originally slated for a 2018 release just after Rian Johnson's Star Wars: Episode VIII hits in 2017, but sources are claiming that Disney might shift the second spin-off to 2019. That leaves a gap in 2018 that will have to be filled with something if they want to keep a tradition of a Star Wars film every year. 
There is also no telling what is in Josh Trank's future with 20th Century Fox. We will have the chance to see Fantastic Four in August and a sequel has been announced, but Fox has not confirmed writers or a director for it. That is leading many to believe that Trank might be getting fired or has already been fired from that franchise as well. My guess is Fox is waiting to see what the response will be from audiences before officially hiring Trank to direct the sequel, but if the reception is bad and/or the movie is horrible you can expect him to be kicked to the curb once again.

Personally, I never understood why people gave this guy such big opportunities in the first place. It was all based on his directorial debut, Chronicle, and I'm sorry to break it to you but Chronicle was horrible. It was a classic example of a film that looked great on paper but it was a jumbled mess with a lack of vision and direction. Why Fox even gave him Fantastic Four confused me from the beginning and the issues on set proves that he doesn't belong in the world of blockbusters. I'm glad Disney recognized a problem and didn't take the chance.


Friday, May 1, 2015

Josh Trank exits Star Wars franchise

After some longstanding curiosity about the Star Wars spin-off films, it looks like we might have some changes made to at least one of them as director Josh Trank has exited the project.

Trank had been hired to direct the second spin-off film to follow Gareth Edwards', Star Wars: Rogue One. This comes one week after Trank was not in attendance at the Star Wars Celebration convention in Anaheim, CA. He cited illness as reason for missing the weekend, but with this announcement it might have been a ruse to cover up a problem. This also comes just months before his new adaptation of Fantastic Four hits theaters. After initially expressing extreme excitement, Trank made this statement regarding leaving the franchise:
"After a year of having the incredible honor of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm, I'm making a personal decision to move forward on a different path. I've put a tremendous amount of thought into this, and I know deep down in my heart that I want to pursue some original creative opportunities. That said, the Star Wars universe has always been one of my biggest influences, and I couldn't be more excited to witness its future alongside my millions of fellow Star Wars fans. I want to thank my friends Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, Simon Kinberg, and everyone at Lucasfilm and Disney for the amazing opportunity and to have been a part of this. May the force be with you all."

Lucasfilm and Disney have already released a statement that production for the spin-off will continue, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a new director hop on board quickly.