Tagged: National Treasure

Production Finally Begins on Disney’s The Lone Ranger

lone-ranger_clayton-moore-mask1-300x178-1762115BURBANK, Calif. (February 28, 2012) — Production has commenced on location in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado on Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ epic adventure “The Lone Ranger.” The film reunites the filmmaking team of the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” blockbusters—producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski—with Johnny Depp, who created Captain Jack Sparrow in his iconic, Academy Award®-nominated performance and contributed the voice of the title character of Verbinski’s Academy Award-winning “Rango.”

Depp plays spirit warrior Tonto in “The Lone Ranger,” with Armie Hammer (“The Social Network,” “J. Edgar”) starring in the title role. Depp and Hammer are joined by a prestigious international cast which includes Tom Wilkinson, two-time Academy Award nominee (“Michael Clayton,” “In the Bedroom”) and Golden Globe® and Emmy® winner (“John Adams”); William Fichtner (Jerry Bruckheimer’s productions of “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and “Black Hawk Down”); Emmy Award-winner Barry Pepper (TV’s “The Kennedys,” “True Grit,” “Saving Private Ryan”); James Badge Dale (“The Grey,” TV’s “The Pacific” and “Rubicon”); Ruth Wilson (television’s “Jane Eyre” and “Luther”); and two-time Academy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe nominee Helena Bonham Carter (“The King’s Speech,” “Alice in Wonderland”). The film is slated to open on May 31, 2013.

disney-logo-300x72-7170628“The Lone Ranger” is a thrilling adventure infused with action and humor, in which the famed masked hero is brought to life through new eyes. Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice—taking the audience on a runaway train of epic surprises and humorous friction as the two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.

“The Lone Ranger” is written by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” Eric Aronson and Justin Haythe. The executive producers are Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Eric Ellenbogen and Eric McLeod.

Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski are joined by a remarkable team of behind-the-scenes artists, including director of photography Bojan Bazelli (Verbinski’s “The Ring,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”); visual consultant Mark “Crash” McCreery (production designer of Verbinski’s “Rango); costume designer Penny Rose (“Pirates of the Caribbean” films); film editor James Haygood (“Panic Room,” “Fight Club”); visual effects supervisor Tim Alexander (“Rango,” three “Harry Potter” films); Academy Award®-winning special effects supervisor John Frazier, a 10-time nominee whose previous collaborations with Jerry Bruckheimer have included “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and, with Verbinski as well, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”; and stunt coordinator Tommy Harper (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2”).

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Gore Verbinski has enjoyed tremendous box office success as the innovative director of both character-driven franchises and thoughtful genre-bending fare.  Most recently, Verbinski released his first animated film, the smash hit “Rango,” starring Johnny Depp. Grossing over $240 million worldwide, the film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as BAFTA and Annie awards, and received Golden Globe® and PGA nominations. Verbinski previously helmed the hit franchise “Pirates of the Caribbean,” directing the first three films starring Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley. The films have collectively grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide since release. He made his directorial debut with “Mouse Hunt,” starring Nathan Lane, followed by the road movie “The Mexican,” starring Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini. He also directed the smash horror film “The Ring,” starring Naomi Watts.

Verbinski is also a successful award-winning commercial director, having been honored with four Clio Awards and a Cannes Silver Lion Award for his work on an assortment of memorable advertising spots. In addition, he directed music videos for bands including Bad Religion and Crystal Method.

First in partnership with Don Simpson, and then as the chief of Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Bruckheimer has produced an unprecedented string of worldwide smashes, impacting not only the industry, but mass culture as well. Bruckheimer’s films include (producing with Don Simpson) “Top Gun,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Beverly Hills Cop 2,” “American Gigolo,” “Flashdance,” “Bad Boys,” “Dangerous Minds,” “Crimson Tide,” “The Rock,” and (producing solo) “Con Air,” “Armageddon,” “Enemy of the State,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Coyote Ugly,” “Remember the Titans,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Bad Boys II,” “Veronica Guerin,” “King Arthur,” “National Treasure,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” and the 2011 blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

On television, Bruckheimer had an unprecedented 10 television series airing in the 2005-6 season, a record in the medium for an individual producer. JBTV’s series include “C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation” and its spinoffs “C.S.I.: Miami,” “C.S.I.: NY” and “Without a Trace,” “Cold Case” and the eight-time Emmy® Award-winner “The Amazing Race.”

Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Television have been honored with 41 Academy Award® nominations, six wins, eight GRAMMY® Award nominations, five wins, 23 Golden Globe® nominations, four wins, 105 Emmy® Award nominations, 21 wins, 30 People’s Choice nominations, 15 wins, numerous MTV Awards, including one for Best Picture of the Decade for “Beverly Hills Cop.”

“The Lone Ranger” will film exteriors and studio work in New Mexico, followed by locations in Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

‘Diary Of A Wimpy Kid’ Book 4 in October… and a movie!

‘Diary Of A Wimpy Kid’ Book 4 in October… and a movie!

First the good news: Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams Books, is set to release the fourth book in Jeff Kinney’s Harvey Award-winning series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, on October 12, 2009 (October 13 in Canada).  To support the release of the book, a Diary of a Wimpy Kid ice cream truck will be visiting over forty libraries across the US throughout the month of August. For details check out www.wimpykid.com.

Now the better news: There’s going to be a movie version. Fox 2000’s big screen version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid will star Zachary
Gordon (National Treasure: Book of Secrets, The Brothers Bloom) as
middle schooler Greg Heffley, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Chloe Moretz (Kick Ass, (500) Days of Summer) is
expected to also be in the film as a girl in his class who is all clad
in black and has a wry sense of humor.  Rachael Harris (The Hangover, more VH1 “I Love the…” specials than you can count)
has been cast as Gordon’s mom.

‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ from… Jerry Bruckheimer? With Nicholas Cage?

‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ from… Jerry Bruckheimer? With Nicholas Cage?

You have to wonder if the April’s Fools stories are coming out early… but apparently not. According to Variety, Disney will release producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s family-targeted live-action movie The Sorcerer’s Apprentice on July 16, 2010. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice joins two other Disney kid/family-centric pictures set for that summer: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, set for May 28, and Pixar’s Toy Story 3, which opens July 18.

The movie, starring Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel, is based on "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice" section of Disney’s animated feature Fantasia.  The movie begins production this month under the direction of Jon Turteltaub, who has worked with both Cage and Bruckheimer before on the National Treasure films.

No word yet if Cage will wear the mouse ears.

Now, before you all cry "Blasphemy!" bear in mind that you never thought Pirates of the Caribbean would work… and it probably can’t be any worse than this version:

First Look: ‘Knowing’

First Look: ‘Knowing’

Nicolas Cage (National Treasure: Book of Secrets) stars in Knowing, a gripping action-thriller of global proportions about a professor who stumbles on terrifying predictions about the future—and sets out to prevent them from coming true.

In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one mysterious girl fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead.

Fifty years later, a new generation of students examines the capsule’s contents and the girl’s cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb Koestler. But it is Caleb’s father, professor John Koestler (Nicolas Cage), who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As Ted further unravels the document’s chilling secrets, he realizes the document foretells three additional events—the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve Ted and his son. When Ted’s attempts to alert the authorities fall on deaf ears, he takes it upon himself to try to prevent more destruction from taking place.

With the reluctant help of Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne) and Abby Wayland, the daughter and granddaughter of the now-deceased author of the prophecies, Ted’s increasingly desperate efforts take him on a heart-pounding race against time until he finds himself facing the ultimate disaster—and the ultimate sacrifice.

Summit Entertainment, the people behind Twilight, has set a release date of March 20, 2009.

(more…)

Jerry Bruckheimer Updates ‘Pirates’, ‘Lone Ranger’, ‘National Treasure’

Jerry Bruckheimer Updates ‘Pirates’, ‘Lone Ranger’, ‘National Treasure’

Jerry Bruckheimer updated Coming Soon on the status of various film projects, debunking some rumors and providing timetables.

"We’re doing another National Treasure so we’re working on that, we’re preparing Sorcerer’s Apprentice right now—it’s going to be shot in New York—we have another picture that’s in post-production that we’re finishing called Confessions of a Shopaholic with Isla Fischer and Hugh Dancy, so that comes out in February," he told a gaggle of reporters on the set of Prince of Persia, due out next year.

National Treasure: The third film in the Nicholas Cage series is having a script written.

Lone Ranger: The new adaptation of Fran Striker’s radio hero is having a screenplay written.  Since the film was announced by Disney in September, people have swooned at the notion of who would play the Ranger opposite Johnny Depp’s Tonto. Bruckheimer debunked the most frequent suspicion that George Clooney would wear the black mask. "We haven’t decided who is going to play the Lone Ranger yet. Get a director first and then figure it out."

Pirates of the Caribbean 4:
Again, a script is being conceived and it’s little surprise that all three films are being written by the team of Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio who have written most of Bruckheimer’s blockbusters. He speculated about shooting the next installment in IMAX, saying, "Absolutely. I’d love to do it, so let’s just see if we can work it through the production schedule with everything else.

"I think they’re pushing towards 2012. Hopefully we can make it we’ll see."

Goofy is Back With a New Animated Short

In his first theatrical appearance in nearly 50 years, Disney has brought back Goofy for an all new animated short. Much like others in the "How To" series (such as How to Ride a Horse, How to Play Football, and The Art of Skiing), Goofy learns how to hook up a home theater in How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, released in theaters last Christmas.

Directed and co-written by Kevin Deters in his debut, the short was also voiced by Disney veterens Corey Burton and Bill Farmer with music by Michael Giacchino (Lost, The Incredibles). There are lots of nods to previous Disney favorites and it will bring you back to the last Goofy short you saw in theaters in Aquamania in 1961.

The short was partially produced using a new "paperless" production pipeline for Disney, the first major change in production technique for hand-drawn animation at Disney since the introduction of CAPS, and was also an attempt to see if the new digital animation tools could be used to produce a short with the same graphic look as that of a 1940s cartoon.

It was attached to last year’s National Treasure 2, and was also released with the DVD. As mentioned, this is the first theatrical release of a classic Disney character in years. Enjoy as Goofy goes through the same troubles that many of us go through when trying to buy and/or install our brand new, state of the art, home theater set up.

Check out the video below, thanks to our friends at JoBlo, or you can purchase the video for multiple viewings through iTunes for $1.99. Enjoy!

 

Johnny Depp Returns as Captain Jack…and Tonto

Johnny Depp Returns as Captain Jack…and Tonto

A fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie seemed unlikely as every plot thread got neatly wrapped up and the escalating costs associated with making the films seemed unwieldy.  And yet, on Wednesday, Disney stunned the entertainment world by not only announcing a fourth installment of the franchise but that Johnny Depp will be back as Capotain Jack Sparrow.

Depp, already committed to playing the Mad Hatter for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland 3-D project, was then announced as playing Tonto in a feature film adaptation of The Lone Ranger. Both Pirates and the Ranger films will be produced for the studio by Jerry Bruckheimer.

Depp took the stage in full Captain Jack regalia but people were at first puzzled as to why he was wearing a Lone Ranger mask until the announcement was made.

Additionally, Bruckheimer will be producing the unnecessary third film in the National Treasure franchise.
 

Fantastic Voyage gets a facelift

Fantastic Voyage gets a facelift

Fantastic Voyage, the 1966 feature film to begin a new cycle of “serious” science fiction on the big screen, is being remade at 20th Century Fox. The film is being helmed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Godzilla) with National Treasure’s Marianne and Cormac Wibberley in talks to write the new version. Emmerich toyed with the remake possibilities a decade back and only got re-interested when he saw a draft from the writers.

The original film, directed by Richard Fleischer (Doctor Doolittle, Soylent Green) and turned into a novel by Isaac Asimov, was known for its concept, its cutting edge special effects and the fantastic notion of Raquel Welch as a scientist.

Should this actually get produced, the earliest audiences can revisit the human bloodstream from the inside will be 2009.

The Stars Fall On San Diego

The Stars Fall On San Diego

 

The huge San Diego Comic-Con International has lined up an astonishing number of movie and teevee previews this year. The partial list includes Alien vs. Predator 2: No Peace on Earth; American Gangster; Babylon AD; Balls of Fury; Battlestar Galactica; Beowulf; The Bourne Ultimatum; Coraline; Fred Claus; Get Smart; The Golden Compass; Hellboy 2: The Golden Army; Heroes; I Am Legend; The Incredible Hulk; Indiana Jones 4; Invasion; Iron Man; Lost; National Treasure 2; Resident Evil: Extinction; Speed Racer; The Strangers; Stardust; Star Trek XI; Sunshine; Sweeney Todd; 30 Days of Night; Trick ‘r Treat; Wanted; Where the Wild Things Are and White Out.

Don’t be surprised if many of the actors and creative personnel are there to hawk their efforts. Good grief; I remember all the way back when the San Diego show was actually focused on comic books.

This year’s show will be held at the San Diego Convention Center July 26 through 29. If you don’t already have hotel reservations, make certain you take your passport or birth certificate.

 

Riding high at the box office

Riding high at the box office

Ghost Rider, based on the Marvel Comics series, dominated the box office this holiday weekend, opening at $44.5 million according to studio estimates.  The movie took in over twice as much as its nearest competitor, the Disney movie Bridge to Terabithia, based on the Newberry-award winning book by Katherine Paterson. 

This was Hollywood’s biggest opening so far this year, and the best opening weekend ever for comics super-fan Cage, beating his previous $35.1 million debut for National Treasure.  This showing bodes well for the movies’ continued association with comic book properties, which are still pleasing audiences despite critics’ misgivings that "the genre" is on the way out. 

Someond tell them comics isn’t a genre, it’s a format!  Sheesh.