Yes, yes. Highest grossing movie of 2008. Second highest of all time. A billion dollars in box office when all is said and done. And yet– it could have made even more money, if only they’d worked with the studio with the best batting average in the business…
We all know it’s about the toys anyway, right?
Hat tip: Mark Waid.
20th Century-Fox has launched their website for X-Men Origins: Wolverine with the newly released trailer and a countdown clock. You can sign up for e-mail updates as the promotional machine gears up for the movie’s May 1, 2009 release.
Tonight, the Batman: The Brave and The Bold episode airing at 8 p.m., “Invasion of the Secret Santas”, introduces Red Tornado and the villainous Fun Haus.
Red Tornado will be a recurring hero and is voice by award winning Corey Burton, while Gary Anthony Williams (Boston Legal) guest stars as Fun Haus.
The synopsis:
In this week’s episode, the evil Fun Haus plans to steal Christmas with his army of robot Santas and killer toys including Dynamite Dolly and the Presto Play Pals! Red Tornado teams up with Batman to save the day and in the process, finds his holiday spirit. In our weekly teaser, Batman and Blue Beetle throw Sportsmaster a perfect strike when he sets up a deadly game with human bowling pins at the alley!
Last night, the latest trailer for Warner Bros.’ Watchmen went live and if you missed it, check it out below. It’ll be on big screens today, along with the equally awaited Star Trek trailer for those attending Quantum of Solace at your local multiplex.
Zack Snyder spoke with Dark Horizons about the recent sneak of The Watchmen and the audience’s reaction, especially to the altered ending.
"We had the best test scores in the history of Warner Bros. with 300 and I kept telling them look the movie is not like 300, don’t think that it is – it’s not going to be the same experience,” Snyder said. “Some people are going to go ‘what the f**k is this’ and I go that’s ok. That’s the thing that you fight… The one thing that was cool was that anyone who had read the graphic novel who was at the screening rated the film ‘excellent’, for me I’m like ‘I’m done’."
So about the squid and the ending?
"The fans, god love ’em, they’re all up in arms about the squid,” he said. “What they should be up in arms about are things like shooting the pregnant woman, ‘God is real and he’s American’, whether that‘s in the movie. That’s my point of view, maybe I’m crazy.
"The squid was not in the movie when I got the script, the squid was never in any draft that I saw. My point is only that there was this elegant solution to the squid problem that I kind of embraced. I’m a fan of the thing as much as anyone, I was saying what are we going to do about this before I even read the script."
He confirmed a second trailer will be released this coming Friday when Quantum of Solace hits theaters in America. "I just saw the final version of it this morning… it’s a little bit more story, a teeny bit more like a full trailer. This is much more like ‘someone’s picking off costume heroes’. You’ll get a sense of the characters plight you know, ‘we were supposed to make the world a better place… what happened to the American Dream’."
A third trailer will be released in early 2009, prior to the March 6 release date.
"The film’s pretty much done in my book. There’s still some visual effects shots which I’m reviewing… there’s probably close to 2000 effects shots in the film" he added.
Snyder’s next film will be his first animated project, Guardians of Ga’Hoole, coming in 2010.
The international trailers for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Twilight have hit the internet.
First up is Potter, which can be found over at Trailer Addict or watched below. The new trailer offers some interesting glimpses into the film, including Dumbledore’s curse-ridden hand and Potter chasing after Snape while shouting, "Fight me, you coward!" You also get to see the cave where Harry and Dumbledore have their last great team-up together. All in all, looks like a fitting adaptation of the series’ penultimate chapter.
Click below to watch!
Next is Twlight, an adaptation of the young adult vampire/romance novel by Stephenie Meyer. The book has spawned three sequels: New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. It follows the romantic relationship between a human named Bella and an animal-feeding vampire named Edward. The film stars Kristin Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Cam Gigandet, Peter Facinelli and Nikki Reed.
Head here to see the trailer.
Legend of the Seeker debuts on Saturday as a first-run syndicated series. To let people sample the series, an extended preview is available as a free download at Apple’s iTunes store. Legend of the Seeker: A First Look is actually the first 30 minutes of the two-hour first episode.
The series is from executive producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, who gained fame for their work on Hercules and Xena.
"Fans have been clamoring to get a first look at the series and based on the early response from the clips released on the Legend of the Seeker website, we knew this would be a huge success with audiences," Janice Marinelli, President, Disney-ABC Domestic Television said in a release.
Craig Horner (Blue Water High) and Bridget Regan (The Black Donnellys) star in the series originally entitled Wizard’s First Rule. The 22 episodes are being shot in New Zealand. Horner is Richard Cypher, a simple woodsman who becomes the magical leader who partners with Kahlan to put an end to a tyrant’s reign.
The book series launched in 1994 and the complex story has played out through eleven novels and one novella. Each volume is largely self-contained but the threads continue from book to book. Confessor, out last year, is said to end the current story cycle but Goodkind intends to revisit the world in future works.
For times and channels in your area, consult the show’s website.
At the Spike TV 2008 Scream Awards last night, Watchmen director Zack Snyder and actors Malin Akerman, Carla Gugino and Jeffrey Dean Morgan introduced a never before seen extended trailer for the film. Highlights of the trailer include:
– Dr. Manhattan with Silk Spectre on Mars
– Rorschach investigating The Comedian’s apartment after his death
– A glimpse of Adrian Veidt’s arctic lair
– Manhattan blowing up a tank, a Vietnamese soldier, and sticking his hand in the middle of Ozymandias’s base
– The dream sequence where Nite Owl and Silk Spectre kiss against an atomic backdrop
– An extended look at The Comedian’s death, including a good look at the bloodied smiley face button.
To check out the trailer for yourself, as well as a rundown of new scenes featured in the trailer, head over to Watchmen Comic Movie.
Additionally, Yahoo! has premiered a featurette for Frank Miller’s upcoming The Spirit. The video offers a behind-the-scenes look at the history behind the character and the making of the movie. Highlights include:
– Samuel L. Jackson as the Octopus, wearing a never-before-seen samurai garb
– The Octopus beating down on the Spirit while shouting, "There’s nothing I like better than kicking your ass all night long!"
– Frank Miller’s insight into the character: "He can’t fly, he’s not super strong, but he can take an awful lot of punishment."
– Beautiful women, including Scarlett Johansson’s Silken Floss, Eva Mendes’ Sand Saref and Paz Vega’s Plaster of Paris
– Frank Miller’s claim that "this film is not a tribute to Will Eisner, it’s a tribute to The Spirit."
Check out the featurette by clicking here.
Just in case you didn’t get enough advertising concerning the upcoming Ultimatum crossover, Marvel.com has released a trailer for it.
"They killed his children. They called his species a disease. They thought they were the ultimate race. Now he will have his retribution."
Frank Miller was recently out in Rome promoting this winter’s upcoming travesty/movie The Spirit with a few clips and a Q&A (in Italian!). Most of the clips shown seemed boring and confusing, much like the trailer (all except a gratuitous Eva Mendes butt-shot), but the more interesting part is how Miller explained to the press that he has no intention on going back to comics and that he is very close to starting production on Sin City 2. You can read a part of the interview below (poorly translated for our benefit) or check out the complete piece over here.
I can’t talk about my projects, because I don’t believe a movie is real until I see the title on the screen. There are many things that can go wrong. But I can tell you that I’m very close to begin Sin City 2 with Robert Rodriguez. We have to arrange a few things and we’ll be back in action.
The Spirit hits screens this Christmas and if you weren’t already planning on going, the aforementioned trailer below should help give you the boost you need.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
Stephen Colbert, we have your writer for “The Chronicles of Amber”!
January 20, 2023
The Law Is A Ass #460: Those “For Life” Sentences Are Nonsense
February 24, 2022
