An anonymous artist transformed Russian Red Army soldiers from a monument in the city of Sofia, in Bulgaria, into versions of Superman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Robin, Ronald McDonald, Santa Claus, and the Joker.
The giant monument was built to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Russian ‘liberation’ of Bulgaria in 1944. It is regarded as the prime example of the forceful socialist-realism of the period.
The place of honor goes to a Red Army soldier atop a column, surrounded by animated cast-iron sculptural groups depicting determined, gun-waving soldiers and members of the proletariat. But those characters have been painted over, along with graffiti at the bottom saying “Moving With The Times” in Bulgarian.
We put this up just to make sure nobody thinks these are new costumes for the reboot.
Analysts gaze into a crystal ball and make educated guesses about how well a film will open. This week, they used a Power Battery instead and suggested that Warner Bros’ Green Lantern would open between $50-60 million. Box Office Mojo just released the numbers and they are estimated the Emerald Crusader brought in $52.7 million, placing it at the lower end of the spectrum.
For comparison purposes, a month earlier, Thor, one of Marvel’s ongoing series of films, opened with a god-like $65,723,338. GL’s modest numbers certainly have to be disappointing to both Warner and their DC Entertainment division. Mixed to negative reviews from the mainstream media no doubt blunted the film’s opening weekend so the better indicator of its changes will be next weekend when we gauge how much of a drop off there has been. This would be the “word of mouth” barometer and a chance for the fans to spread the gospel or take in a repeat showing.
No doubt 3-D fatigue is also a factor in the lower numbers despite being shown on approximately 2700 screens. That recent trend has shown that 3-D may actually be once more a fad and not a new form of entertainment. The jury remains out on this issue.
Coming in second was Super 8, the original thriller from J.J. Abrams. It took in $21.3 million for a two week total of $72.8 million.
In third place was the debut of Mr. Popper’s Penguins, adapted from the popular children’s book, starring Jim Carrey. It took in just $18.2 million demonstrating recognizable name value doesn’t always bring in audiences. It certain show how far Carey’s marquee value has dropped.
Speaking of Marvel, their X-Men: First Class nabbed an addition $11.5 million in its third weekend, totaling a pleasant $119.9 million, almost ensuring it a sequel order any minute now.
Warner no doubt is taking comfort in the wild success of The Hangover II, which earned an additional $9.6 million for a cumulative total of $232.7 million after four weeks.
The Ryan Reynolds action flick, directed by Martin Campbell, was made for an estimated $150 million with a nearly equal amount spent on marketing and promotion. It was plagued with a weak debut trailer in November that meant a new plan needed be created. The spring buzz turned around after several minutes were shown at Wonder Con and a steady stream of new trailers helped reshape public opinion.
Box Office Mojo Editor Brandon Gray has written that any opening short of $70 million would make a sequel questionable despite Warners already asking for script treatments. Obviously, worldwide box office may turn the tide as an increasing percentage of a film’s performance is now coming from overseas markets.
In the wake of the release of Green Lantern in theaters everywhere, there have been a few interesting reveals from people. Heidi Macdonald reveals that she doesn’t get the character of Green Lantern, and Adam-Troy Castro shakes his head at what may be the most famous page of Green Lantern ever (reproduced above). Ty Templeton, as he is wont to do, goes full mock, as does Let’s Be Friends Again.
Here’s what they’re missing.
Quoting Heidi:
While I’m willing to shoulder the blame for shunning Green Lantern over the years, as I’ve been learning and growing, I have noticed a few things about the character that do strike me as flaws, dramatically speaking. It’s often noted that DC’s heroes for the most part lack the melodramatic emotional flair of the Marvel heroes, Batman and Superman being the notable exceptions. Marvel’s heroes are flawed and troubled and their powers echo and magnify those flaws and troubles; DC’s leads, generally speaking, are dudes who get some great idea to shrink or go fast and then proceed to shrink or go fast. Green Lantern is a prime example of this.
Hal Jordan is precisely that type of flawed character. He’s a cocky guy with tremendous willpower who gets a ring that runs on willpower and can create anything he can think of (although it’s often had a weakness for yellow) and is turned into an interstellar policeman. So far, so good– he has a science fiction version of Aladdin’s lamp, he can create whatever he wishes if he believes hard enough.
But the fuel of his power is also his greatest flaw– he thinks he can solve everything through sheer force of will.
Here’s the skinny: Warner Home Video is finally unleashing the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Blu-ray this coming June 28. As part of the celebration, Warner Bros is hosting midnight screenings to remind you of just how cool these movies are. What follows is the formal press release. Our review of the handsome box set with its hours and hours of bonus material will be on hand next weekend.
Burbank, Calif., June 17, 2011 — On June 28, Warner Home Video will release all three of Peter Jackson’s visual masterpieces on Blu-ray in a 15-disc stunning collection entitled The Lord of the Rings™ The Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition.To celebrate the occasion, Warner Home Video has announced a count-down to “Middle-earth Midnight Madness” celebratory event at Best Buy’s West Los Angeles location, 11301 W. Pico Blvd., where fans can join in the anticipation of the magic moment when they’ll finally be able to own the new extended edition trilogy on Blu-ray. (more…)
Star Wars Character Encyclopedia By Simon Beecroft 208 pages, DK Publishing, $16.99
The Star Wars Universe spans thousands of years and multiple galaxies, telling the eternal story of good versus evil time and again. The saga has expanded to such a degree that you really cannot tell the players apart without a scorecard. For those who dislike clicking their way through a dizzying array of droids, Jedi and colorful aliens, there are now a series of guidebooks to help you. Last year there was DK Publishing’s The Star Wars: Clone Wars CharacterEncyclopedia or their Complete Visual Dictionary or even the incredibly useful Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle.
DK Publishing knows how to recycle information in all manner of sizes and shapes, synthesizing the data in new ways for its eager audience of readers of all ages. Editor Simon Beecroft has honed those skills as an author, having previously written Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones among other titles. He’s back with this breezy look at George Lucas’ sprawling universe in the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia.
Despite telling us the comic books, RPGs, and novels are part of the greater canon, this book only focused on characters from the six feature films and the CGI-animated Clone Wars television series. Also, given the trim size of 7.25” x 9.25”, DK’s designers had to rein in their normal frenetic design. While that can be seen as a plus, the smaller size also means the amount of detail provided for each character is little more than can be found on a trading card.
You read a page and know from repeated viewings of the movies that there are vital details missing. The Obi-Wan Kenobi page, for example, ignores his guidance and counsel provided to Luke Skywalker after his corporeal form was struck down by Darth Vader. Anakin Skywalker’s page ignores the term “midichlorian” and omits his transition to the dreaded Sith lord. Similarly, Vader’s page refers to him as being Luke’s dad but his given name is missing. I guess there’s only so much information you can give when you present each character with equal weight despite having much more to say about Luke, Leia, Han and Darth Vader than you have to a Hoth Rebel Trooper, a Rancor, Coleman Trebor, or a Colo Claw Fish. Popular players, such as Wedge Antilles, don’t even get a page but is crammed into a page about the X-Wing pilots. From what I can tell, the facts here are only what has been presented on screen, nothing new is provided.
Beecroft writes in a clear, alert style that is easily comprehensible for those only casually familiar with these people and does a nice job condensing things down to their basics. But Star Wars fandom tends to prefer depth and detail so may come away from this disappointed.
As a result, the book feels incredibly lightweight and incomplete so despite DK proclaiming this a must-have book for all ages, this is more a primer for younger readers less familiar with the mythos. If you want a true encyclopedia, DelRey’s more authoritative three-volume offering is for you.
One of the more enduring concepts introduced on Saturday morning television in 1967 was Hanna-Barbera’s Herculoids. Some of this has to do with its fabulous Alex Toth design work and much of it has to do with the unusual assortment of people and creatures that band together to fight for survival in a hostile environment.
The series debuted on September 9 and CBS aired 18 original episodes before it vanished on September 6, 1969. Thanks to the miracle of on-demand DVD manufacture, Warner Archive has released the complete series on two DVDs this week. The eleven new episodes created in 1981 remain to be rediscovered.
The series was the brainchild of Toth but episodes were directed by Bill Perez, Paul Sommer, Ken Spears, Joe Ruby, and David Scott. Clearly Ruby and Spears were inspired by this because there’s a direct correlation between this and their Thundarr the Barbarian (also available from Warner Archive). The Herculoids do not live on a post-apocalyptic Earth, but instead reside on the distant world of Amzot (oddly, not named until the “The Molten Monsters of Moltar” episode of Space Ghost, guest starring the Herculoids; a rare crossover at the time). The team of fighters is led by the husband and wife duo of Zandor (Mike Road) and Tarra (Virginia Gregg), accompanied by their son Dorno (Ted Eccles) and “Zok the laser-ray dragon! Igoo the giant rock ape! Tundro the tremendous! Gloop and Gleep, the formless fearless wonders!”
While the menaces were stock form the H-B factory, the series gets credit for letting Tarra have intelligence and work on a par with Zandor, a rarity in its day. Despite all the high tech gear that turns up, and its attractiveness to alien invaders, it appears the inhabitants are disinterested in technological evolution, happy with their fairly primitive lifestyle. They are nomadic, going wherever they are needed, from their more familiar homeland to the mysterious Gravite Island.
These were clearly not human beings given their prodigious abilities. Zandor, for example, had the strength of two terrans and used a slingshot that fired energy rocks. He also has a shield that returns to him much as Thor’s uru hammer can.
Some of their opponents, like Mekkano or Sta-Lak, want revenge on Zandor for something that has happened in the past, which enriches their mythos without giving anything away. Then there are menaces such as the “Destroyer Ants” which are accidentally hatched and threaten all Amzot life. With breathlessness, each thirty minute episode featured two stories so there are really 36 adventures in these two discs. The transfers are pretty good, although far from perfect. Hey are more than serviceable for those of us yearning to relive those carefree Saturday mornings when we weren’t bombarded with public service themes or teachable moments (beyond good wins out in the end).
Coming this week is the home video release of The Warrior’s Way and 20th Century Home Entertainment thought it might be a good time to examine the ninja film genre and determine which are the ten best. Their hope is that audiences will want to add the film starring Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns), Danny Huston (Clash of the Titans) and introducing to American fans international sensation Jang Dong Gun. Our review will appear soon and you can always judge for yourself.
Meantime, here are 20th’s Top 10. Did they get it right or miss one?
SHOGUN ASSASIN
A story of honor, disgrace, vengeance, massacre and “the greatest team in the history of mass slaughter,” Shogun Assasin is by far a ninja movie classic. The swords swing and slice into action when a shogun’s wife is murdered and is forced into exile after being framed. He gives his infant son a choice between a ball, to represent freeing death and a sword, representing a life of threat and danger. His son chooses the sword and which marks the beginning of a violent struggle to survive in a sea of assassins. Of course, ComicMix fans also know this is adapted from the classic Lone Wolf & Cub manga first brought to the states by First Comics, with great Frank Miller cover.
SEVEN SAMURAI
From Akira Kurosawa, Seven Samurai tells the story of a group of samurai that turned their backs on fame and wealth to fight to protect a village of oppressed farmers. In what is easily one of the most epicninja-samurai films of all time, Seven Samurai weaves the violent genre with human emotion, courage and hope.
NINJA SCROLL
When demons wipe out an entire village with a mysterious plague, a wandering ninja, Jubei, teams up with the femme fatal, Kagero, to defeat the evil forces. With its mix of samurai action and supernatural fantasy, Ninja Scroll is the one of the most popular animated ninja movies around. Ninja Scroll is definitely an animated ninja tale meant for grown-ups!
REVENGE OF THE NINJA
In this martial arts action film, Revenge of the Ninja, a former ninja assassin begins a new life in America after his family is killed by other ninjas. He ends up working for drug traffickers that he gets caught up in a face off. Revenge of the Ninja is known for having one of the most memorable fight scenes in ninja movie history.
NINJA ASSASIN
With its release in 2009, this ninja tale about a trained assassin has recently won its spot in top ninja movies. Raizo waits the day he can get his revenge on a secret society for killing his child-hood best friend. Raizo ends up being hunted down through the streets of Europe in what is one of the most action and bloody-packed ninja movies around.
KILL BILL
Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill may not be an honorary ninja classic, but does play homage to earlier ninja films with its revenge-drama style plot. The story follows a former female assasin, ‘The Bride’, left for dead by her ex-fiancee, Bill, and his entrourage of assasins, as she seeks revenge until killing every last one of them. The two part bloody-action flick has one of the greatest sword action scenes to date when The Bride, alone, takes on 88 ninja assasins called The ‘Crazy 88’s’.
ENTER THE NINJA
Famous from his array of Spaghetti Westerns and Euro Crimes films, Franco Nero, made his ninja debut in Enter the Ninja. While visiting a friend in the Phillipines, Cole is a approaced by villain Charlies Venerius, and propositions him to kill his friend. Cole refuses which sparks a fest of ninja battles and one of a kind stunt choreaphy. Definitely one for the Ninjas!
AMERICAN NINJA
A Martial Arts drifter with little respect for authority gets sentenced to an enlistment in an American Army base in The Philippines. After his platoon is attacked by a group of rebels during a Convoy mission, the colonel’s daughter, Patricia, is kidnapped and his entire platoon is killed. Joe has to rely on his street wits and ninja training in order to survive and save Patricia before it’s too late.
AZUMI
The main slayer in this ninja flick isAzumi, a female ninja expert, which only adds to its cool factor.Azumi is a young orphan girl trained by a Samurai to be an assassin. After being forced to fight her best friend to the death, Azumijoins a group of killer assassins that go after warlords that threaten to unleash chaos on Japan.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
The least likely ninja flick makes the list with its story about four small turtles in New York City. After coming in contact with a strange substance called Ooze, they mutate into giant turtles with human mannerisms. A rat named Splinter becomes their mentor and trains them to be ninjas. The four pizza-loving turtles become super heroes in New York City.
We spend some more time with the cast of GREEN LANTERN including Peter Sarsagard who talks about his transformation into Hector Hammond, and the role that Paralax plays in future GL movies – plus yet another actor steps into the role of Superman‘s Daddy.
Think we’ll see a GREEN LANTERN 2? Drop us a comment below!
Get Your First Digital Download from RadioArchives.com for Just 99 Cents!
* Download Detective Adventures with Philip Marlowe * Just Released: Orson Welles in The Lives of Harry Lime, Volume 3 * Now Available: Doc Savage in Python Isle Audiobook * In the Treasure Chest This Week * New in Pulp Fiction: Doc Savage Volume 48 and The Shadow Volume 49 * New: Hollywood Classics in The Lux Radio Theatre, Volume 2 Download Detective Adventures with Philip Marlowe
His name is synonymous with classic detective fiction. Whether on the silver screen or on the air, Philip Marlowe personifies everything we know and love about the gumshoes of the 1940s: the snap brim fedora, the seedy office, the mean streets of Los Angeles, and a hard working detective just trying to make an honest living without getting punched or shot down in cold blood.
“The Adventures of Philip Marlowe” is a classic in the grand tradition of dramatic radio entertainment – and now, to introduce you to the New Digital Downloads available from RadioArchives.com, twelve of Marlowe’s most exciting cases can be yours to download – for Just 99 Cents!
Visit RadioArchives.com today and, to the right on our home page, look for the graphic that will take you directly to “The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, Volume 3”. Place your order, pay Just 99 Cents and, within minutes, you’ll be enjoying edge of your seat thrills from this detective classic, playable on your home computer or on your favorite portable device.
In the weeks to come, be sure to visit the Digital Downloads page at RadioArchives.com often to see what’s new. Whether it’s detective action with Philip Marlowe, the star-studded motion picture classics of “The Lux Radio Theatre”, or “The Adventures of Doc Savage”, you’ll find great audio entertainment waiting for you with Digital Downloads from RadioArchives.com!Just Released: Orson Welles in The Lives of Harry Lime, Volume 3
For film buffs, it’s a memorable image: Harry Lime – criminal, thief, and black market racketeer – has been killed by a runaway car in the ravaged streets of postwar Vienna. But suddenly, out of the darkness of a moonlit night, a stray spotlight happens upon a doorway – and there he is: Harry Lime, in the flesh, alive…and smiling.
“The Third Man” is a film noir classic, combining a stellar cast, an intriguing story, and images of a once glamorous European city damaged by war, greed, and intrigue. Though brief, Orson Welles performance as Harry Lime remains one of the most memorable characterizations in his long and varied career. Luckily, for fans of audio entertainment, Welles revisited his role in “The Lives of Harry Lime”, a radio series that recounted the adventures of this memorable scoundrel in a series of tongue in cheek adventures that remain some of the best and most imaginative programs ever produced for radio.
In “The Lives of Harry Lime, Volume 3”, RadioArchives.com brings you ten more light-hearted and colorful tales of crime and criminals starring the legendary Orson Welles. Available as a five-CD audio collection for just $14.98 or a five-hour digital download for just $9.98, these fascinating programs have been transferred directly from original transcriptions and fully restored for sparkling audio fidelity. Visit RadioArchives.com and pick up your copy right away!
Python Isle Audiobook
Now Available: Doc Savage in
For over eighty years, the name Doc Savage has meant thrills and excitement to millions of readers worldwide. Now, for the very first time, the Man of Bronze comes to vivid life in “Python Isle”, the first audiobook adventure from RadioArchives.com!
In “Python Isle”, a long-lost pioneer flyer returns to civilization accompanied by an exotic woman who speaks in a lost tongue. From his towering skyscraper headquarters in New York, through a dangerous Zeppelin journey to Cape Town, climaxing on a serpent-haunted island in the forbidden reaches of the Indian Ocean, Doc Savage and his iron comrades race to untangle a weird puzzle so deep that the only clues can be found in the Bible!
Written by Will Murray and produced and directed by Roger Rittner – the same team that brought you “The Adventures of Doc Savage” radio series – “Python Isle” features dramatic narration by Michael McConnohie, cover art by Joe DeVito, and two exclusive interviews with Will Murray on the history of Doc Savage and the discovery of author Lester Dent’s long lost manuscripts.
“Python Isle”, the first in a new series of unabridged audiobooks from RadioArchives.com, is available now as an eight audio CD set, priced at just $25.98, or as a digital download for just $17.98. In the weeks to come, be sure to visit RadioArchives.com often for more exciting audiobook adventures featuring the top heroes of pulp fiction, including The Spider, Secret Agent X, and many, many more. If you’re looking for adventure, excitement, and suspense, you’ll find it on “Python Isle”, available now from RadioArchives.com!
In the Treasure Chest This Week
If you subscribe to our newsletter, you’re certainly familiar with the Treasure Chest Bonus deals that are available to you every day at RadioArchives.com. But what you may not know is that, each week, from Friday thru Monday, you’ll find our newest compact disc collection offered at an amazingly low bargain price. That’s right: our brand new collection of classic radio shows, priced so low that you’ll find it almost impossible to resist. Of course, for fans of pulp fiction, books, or other entertainment, the Treasure Chest offers you great deals as well – and, since these deals change on a regular basis, you’ll want to visit RadioArchives.com often and see what’s waiting for you. Here, for example, are the bargains you’ll find waiting for you this week:* Today through Monday June 20th, you can get our newest CD set – “The Lives of Harry Lime, Volume 3”, a $14.98 value – for Just 99 Cents when you submit an order of $35.00 or more.
* On Tuesday June 21st, pulp fiction’s legendary Knight of Darkness returns in “The Shadow Volume 14”, featuring two classic stories from pulp fiction’s Golden Age:
“The Grove of Doom” and“The Masked Lady”. This beautifully reformatted double-novel reprint is normally priced at $12.95 – but you can enjoy these two exciting adventures for Just 99 Cents when you submit an order of $35.00 or more.
* On Wednesday June 22nd and Thursday June 23rd, Richard Kollmar stars in “Boston Blackie, Volume 1”, a ten-CD collection featuring twenty exciting detective adventures. This audio compact disc collection normally sells for $29.98 – but, for one day only, it can be yours for Just 99 Cents when you submit an order of $35.00 or more.Make it a habit to visit RadioArchives.com often and see what’s waiting for you in the Treasure Chest. You’ll find a deal we know you won’t want to miss! New in Pulp Fiction: Doc Savage Volume 48 and The Shadow Volume 49
If you just can’t get enough of the page-turning adventures of the great pulp heroes, stop by RadioArchives.com today for two new double novel pulp reprints:In “Doc Savage Volume 48”, priced at just $14.95, you’ll thrill to the classic adventures of the Man of Bronze in two original novels by Lester Dent, writing as Kenneth Robeson. First, what is the bizarre connection between the appearance of “Red Snow” and the disappearance of a United States senator? Our national security may depend on Doc Savage’s discovery of the sinister secret! Then, in “Death Had Yellow Eyes”, Monk Mayfair is abducted while the Man of Bronze is framed for bank robbery and murder. This classic pulp reprint is available in two editions: one features the original color pulp covers by Walter M. Baumhofer and Modest Stein, while the alternate edition features an impressive painting by Bantam artist James Bama. Both feature Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by historian Will Murray.
Next, the radio origins of the Knight of Darkness are showcased in “The Shadow Volume 49”, priced at just $14.95 and featuring two classic pulp novels by Walter Gibson, writing as Maxwell Grant. First, the Dark Avenger teams with Secret Service agent Vic Marquette to investigate a far-reaching counterfeiting ring in “The Shadow Laughs!”, the landmark novel that introduced the real Lamont Cranston. Then, how can The Shadow prove that an innocent man is not a murderer when several witnesses have identified the young man as the “Voice of Death”? This instant collector’s item features the original color pulp covers by Jerome Rozen and Graves Gladney, classic interior illustrations by Tom Lovell and Edd Cartier, and commentary by popular-culture historians Will Murray and Anthony Tollin.
There’s nothing like the action and excitement you’ll get from a great pulp fiction adventure story. Visit RadioArchives.com and browse our extensive array of pulp classics right away.
New: Hollywood Classics in The Lux Radio Theatre, Volume 2
During radio’s Golden Age, many dramatic programs capitalized on the tinsel and glamour of Hollywood – but none was more successful or legendary than “The Lux Radio Theatre”. Hosted by pioneer director Cecil B. DeMille, the show was a weekly habit for millions of avid listeners who tuned in to hear their favorite screen stars in hour-long adaptations of their recent film successes.
Star studded and lavishly produced, “The Lux Radio Theatre” remains a stylish part of both radio and motion picture entertainment – and, in a second collection of original programs, RadioArchives.com brings you six fully restored broadcasts featuring such superstars as Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Leslie Howard, and Olivia DeHavilland. Hearing them is just like taking a trip back to the 1930s and spending an evening at a glittering movie palace.
If you’re a movie or radio buff, you’ll love “The Lux Radio Theatre, Volume 2”. Available as a six audio CD set for just $17.98 or as a digital download for just $11.98, be sure to stop by RadioArchives.com and order your copy right away!
Sit back, relax, and enjoy this newsletter as an Audio Podcast! Click anywhere in the colorful banner at the top and you’ll automatically hear the Radio Archives Newsletter, enhanced with narration, music, and clips from our latest compact disc collections! This audio version of our regular newsletter is a pleasant and convenient way to hear all about our latest CD sets, as well as the newest pulp fiction reprints, special offers, and much, much more!
As we hinted earlier today, Speed Racer is returning to comics, with new stories by Len Wein (Human Target, Swamp Thing, X-Men, Wolverine), Tommy Yune, Robby Musso, Lee Kohse, and James Rochelle.
[[[Speed Racer]]] is an English adaptation name of the Japanese manga and anime, Mach Go Go Go, but is best known in the US from the 60s television series translation and the 2008 film. Selected chapters of the manga were released by NOW Comics in the 1990s under the title Speed Racer Classics, later released by the DC Comics division, Wildstorm Productions under the title Speed Racer: The Original Manga, then collected by IDW.
The release date of the new series has yet to be announced. Maybe in this new series, the Mach 5 will actually have a trunk lock? Or is that too much to hope for?
