Tagged: Crystal Skull

Dark Knight Rules Fourth!

Dark Knight Rules Fourth!

  • News
  • August 10, 2008

The Dark Knight continues to rule the box office as it takes the number one position for the fourth weekend in a row, the first time any 2008 release has achieved this.  Its estimated haul of $26,030,000 pushes its domestic take to $441,541,000, faster than any movie in history.

 

Next week, the movie should surpass Star Wars’ $461,000,000 and become the second highest grossing film in American box office history.  Titanic remains on top of the world with its $600 million record and Warner Bros. suspects Batman will not beat the fabled steamliner.  Instead, they now estimate the film will earn $520 million.

 

Now, adjust everything for inflation and The Dark Knight will wind up not second but 49th while Gone With the Wind remains the biggest film of all with $1.4 billion in 2008 dollars.

 

The stoner comedy Pineapple Express opened in second place with a healthy $22,400,000. Counting ticket sales from Wednesday’s opening, the film already has taken in $40.5 million.

 

In its second weekend Universal’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor dropped 60.2%, taking in just $16,113,000.  With a total of $70,671,000, it chugs along although there has to be some concern that bad word of mouth, poor reviews and steep drop off may mean the franchise is running out of steam despite director Rob Cohen already talking a fourth film.

 

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WWC Interview: John Jackson Miller on ‘Star Wars’ and Webcomics

WWC Interview: John Jackson Miller on ‘Star Wars’ and Webcomics

Writer and comics authority John Jackson Miller probably has one of the most enviable jobs in comics today. Starting off in the early ’90s as editor of Comics Retailer magazine, Miller went on to edit various other publications including Scrye and the Comics Buyer’s Guide. Later, stints on Marvel’s Crimson Dynamo and Iron Man led to his working for Dark Horse comics.

Once at Dark Horse, Miller helped re-launch the company’s Star Wars comics with his work on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Recently, he also wrote the comic book adaptation of the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull film and launched his own webcomic called Sword & Sarcasm. I caught up with Miller at Wizard World Chicago to discuss Star Wars comics, webcomics and the first time he ever saw Star Wars.

COMICMIX: John, thanks for your time. Having a good show?

JOHN JACKSON MILLER: Yes, a wonderful Chicago con as always.

CMix: So, tell me about why you’re here?

JJM: Well, I’m here to sign and talk about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, our ongoing series now at issue 30 and still going strong. It’s a big year for us because we had the "Vector" crossover. We’ve also had some major events with Zayne Carrick, our figitive Jedi who’s finally getting his taste of justice with a big showdown about to come up.

Those big events will take us through issue 33 at least. It should be pretty interesting what happens.

It may not be the big showdown that people expect because we also want to make sure we keep people guessing a bit and not always do what people might be expecting. We don’t want readers to get too comfortable with what’s going on and we want to keep it interesting.

CMix: Excellent. You also involved with Wizards of the Coast on some projects as well, right?

JJM: Yes. They are coming out with a series of minatures for the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic board game. I helped design some of those characters because several of them are from the comic. I was also a co-author of the Campaign Guide for the game as well, which contains information from all the comics and the two videogames.

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Indiana Jones and the Godless Commies, by Dennis O’Neil

Indiana Jones and the Godless Commies, by Dennis O’Neil

Now we know. That Indiana Jones still swings a mean whip.

I liked the new Indy flick better than the critics I read, all of whom said something like, well, okay, it was all right but not up to the earlier entries in the series. Which makes me wonder: what would they have thought if this had been the first Indy flick, instead of the fourth. It’s like those clichés in Hamlet – they weren’t clichés to the greasy-chinned groundlings at the first (or fourteenth, or eighty-third) performance of Shakespeare’s story of a screwed-up kid with severe mama issues. Way back in 1981, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and a platoon of talented collaborators took elements from Saturday afternoon serials, silent comedies and maybe a few other sources and combined them in the right proportions to create entertainment that was not only right for the time, but provided a template for a lot of entertainment that followed.

Was the fourth as good as the first (or second, or third?)? That’s me, scratching my head and muttering, I dunno…And, frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.

Years and years ago, a brilliant science fiction writer told me that Goethe’s criterion for judging art was found in two questions. To wit: What was the artist trying to do and did he succeed in doing it? I’ve never found a good reason to argue with Herr Goethe and by his criteria; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a success. We entered the multiplex hoping to be amused, hoping to forget Bush’s ongoing follies and the Democrat’s internecine dogfights and – voila! We were amused and we, temporarily, forgot. Value received. Money well spent.

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Paramount Announces New ‘Indiana Jones’ DVDs

Paramount Announces New ‘Indiana Jones’ DVDs

  • News
  • March 10, 2008

Even though Paramount already released a superb DVD box set of the Indiana Jones Trilogy back in 2003, they’re doing it again. This time around, the new DVD releases of the classic trilogy will be available individually instead of as an exclusive box-set like before and will be released on May 13th — just in time to whet your appetite for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull‘s opening on May 25th.

These "Special Edition" DVDs, as they are being called, boast new features and exclusives not found in the earlier box-set releases. According to Paramount, some of these features and exclusives include interviews, discussions and new documentaries about the making of the three films that give audiences a new insight and appreciation for these classic films.

Examples include:

 
Indiana Jones: An Appreciation– The cast and crew of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull pay tribute to the original trilogy
 
The Melting Face–A recreation of the amazing physical effect of the villain’s melting face in Raiders of the Lost Ark, including Steven Spielberg and George Lucas commenting on the evolution of visual effects and CGI
 
Locations–Travel across the world to discover where the films take place and where they were shot
 
Friends and Enemies–Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Indiana Jones writers discuss how they created the most iconic characters in film history, including a look at new faces in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
 
The Women: The American Film Institute Tribute–The three Indiana Jones women (Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw and Alison Doody) reunite for a discussion
 
Interesting note: There’s been no word yet on whether these new Indiana Jones DVDs will get the Blu-Ray treatment. They’ve already been shown in HD on the HDNet Movies network, so why not release them in Blu-Ray now that the "format war" is over?
 
For a complete list of all the special features and other details about each of the three new DVDs, check out the official Indiana Jones site.
New ‘Indiana Jones’ Poster Hits the Net

New ‘Indiana Jones’ Poster Hits the Net

Previously on ComicMix, there’s been some cool new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull news including the exciting first trailer for your viewing pleasure. Now, thanks to the Unofficial Movie Blog, there’s a picture of the new poster for the upcoming film as well.

The poster, snapped by Dan perhaps somewhere in the bowels of Lucasfilm, features not one but two intrepid adventureres in the form of Indy, of course, and his younger sidekick Mutt Williams. Mutt, as we’ve seen previsouly in the trailer, seems somewhat reluctant to be tagging along with Indy as he struggles to find and/or protect whatever the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull happens to be.

That’s probably why he’s making that face in the poster.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits theaters on May 22nd.

Toy Fair ’08: Hasbro Unveils New ‘Indiana Jones’ Toy Line

Toy Fair ’08: Hasbro Unveils New ‘Indiana Jones’ Toy Line

  • News
  • February 18, 2008

A few days ago we told you about the trailer. Now, Hasbro recently went live with a new site showcasing its upcoming line of action figures, and other toys, inspired by the next chapter of the Indiana Jones saga: Indiana Jones and the Kingdowm of the Crystal Skull. Pictures of the new line first started to appear last week and Hasbro has already added to the site, so we expect to see a lot more before Toy Fair is finished on Wednesday. 

Some of the new toys include several different Indiana Jones figures, a Marian figure (complete with deadly frying pan), the Indiana Jones SFX whip with realistic sound and the Lost Temple of Akator playset.

Check them out here.

 

Shia LaBeouf Talks ‘Transformers 2’

Shia LaBeouf Talks ‘Transformers 2’

  • News
  • February 14, 2008

Empire News caught up with actor Shia LaBeouf during a break from filming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to hit him up for some info about another huge franchise film he’s starring in that’s set to be released next year: Transformers 2.

Of course, as the project is in the early stages, with only a storyline written by director Michael Bay and some info on new species that could appear, LaBeouf can’t say too much about what we can expect from the film.

Still, he does drop a few hints, especially about the films’ scope and the characterizations of the robots.

"It’s going to be bad-ass. We’re not making another one unless it is, and Mike is definitely not resting on his laurels — he’s doing insane shit again. And the pre-vizes that I’ve seen… it’s just massive. If the first one was any indicator of how massive massive can be, this is going to blow that out of the water. It’s insane. Mike’s mind was just kind of made for this — it’s amazing. There’s going to be a lot more characterisation with the robots, which I’m excited about. I was a fan of Transformers before the movie came out. And there’s going to be a lot of action…That goes unsaid, I guess”.

Transformers 2 hits theaters in an insanely massive way June 9, 2009.

Alternate ‘Indiana Jones’ Comic Book Cover Revealed

Alternate ‘Indiana Jones’ Comic Book Cover Revealed

  • News
  • February 13, 2008

Of course we’re all excited for the upcoming fourth installment of the "Indiana Jones" saga currently filming and set to hit theaters May 22nd. Really, how could any Indy fan not be?

But in addition to the intrepid archeologist’s big-screen adventures, there’s also a comic-book version of the film being published by Dark Horse Comics.

To help pique your interest for the upcoming comic book and the movie, ComingSoon.net posted the original Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comic cover by artist Steve Anderson (seen at right) a few weeks ago. And now, thanks to the power of the modern Internets, they’ve just dropped the alternate Indiana Jones comic cover (posted after the jump) on us as well.

The regular cover prominently features Harrison Ford as Indy and Shia Lebouf as Mutt Williams — who may or may not be Indy’s son. The new, alternate cover opens things up a bit and showcases not only Indy but more of the supporting cast including Karen Allen as Marian and Cate Blanchett as Agent Irina Spalko.

 

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Shia LaBeouf on Indy 4, Transformers 2 and Y 1

Shia LaBeouf on Indy 4, Transformers 2 and Y 1

  • News
  • January 21, 2008

Comingsoon.net has a short interview with Shia LaBeouf, the young actor seen in, well… just about everything these days. LaBeouf answers a few questions about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, as well as Transformers 2 and the role that could be the most intriguing of the bunch: a rumored lead spot in the film adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan’s soon-to-be-concluded graphic novel, Y: The Last Man.

Yeah, we’ve been talking about it. "Y: The Last Man" is cool. I don’t know when I would do that though or how I would fit it in. It would be kind of ridiculous to keep doing the same deal over and over. "Y: The Last Man" is kind of similar to some things.We’re both huge fans of that comic book.

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