Tagged: Star Wars

George Lucas Hangs Up The iPhone

George Lucas Hangs Up The iPhone

  • News
  • August 11, 2008

Those who own or know people who own an iPhone have probably come in contact with an application that has been on the iTunes top 25 applications since the birth of the App Store, and easily one of the most entertaining. The PhoneSaber app is a very simple yet enjoyable application which uses the accelerometer of the iPhone, turning the phone into a makeshift Lightsaber, sounds and all – minus the ability to cut off your bastard son’s hand.

Well, it looks as if Star Wars creator and ultimate ruiner of all things good George Lucas has expressed that he is not pleased with the fact that there is a Lightsaber application, seeing as how his video game developer, LucasArts, along with sister company THQ, have all the rights for handheld Star Wars video games. This coming on the heels of the I Am Rich App scandal, Apple has pulled the popular PhoneSaber from the App Store.

There are currently talks about LucasArts retooling the application under thier name to coincide with the "Unleashing the Force" iPhone game later this year, with better functionality (and a price). Either way, if you own the application, and don’t feel like spending $4.99 in six months to buy the exact same thing, make sure you don’t delete it in a fit of rebellion.

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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Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at San Diego Comic-Con 2008

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at San Diego Comic-Con 2008

  • News
  • August 4, 2008

One of the most popular bootleg videos at comic book conventions before the YouTube era was of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog making fun of geeks waiting in line for Star Wars.

Our favorite foul mouthed puppet set his sites on nerds once again when The Late Show with Conan O’Brien sent him to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. And this time you don’t have to buy burned copies from a weird guy at a booth with Micronaut figures. I kid. I kid. (Oh, and consider this your official "Not Safe For Work" warning.)
 

 

 

[EDITOR’S NOTE: That’s PvP webcomic creator Scott Kurtz getting the Triumph treatment around three minutes into the video. Owch! -RM]

SDCC: Dark Horse News

  • News
  • July 31, 2008

Dark Horse was nice enough to compile a full list of the publisher’s announcements out of San Diego (including a new Martha Washington — at right — book).

That’s very appreciated, as the lunacy of Comic-Con made it impossible last week to keep up with everything every publisher was doing — though our ComicMix team did their best to bring you as much news as possible.

Any publishers who want to send over similar news dispatches can hit us up through the usual channels.

After the jump is Dark Horse’s complete news breakdown, listed by day.

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SDCC Photo Gallery: Costumes!

SDCC Photo Gallery: Costumes!

  • News
  • July 26, 2008

As with every Comic-Con, the cosplay masses made their presence known at this year’s show. While the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds made quality in-crowd photos a bit difficult, here are a few shots from the floor provided by my intrepid partner, Jessica Bloustein. We’ve tried our darndest to caption the photos as best we can, but keep in mind that things are a bit hectic out here on the West Coast, so there was rarely enough time to do anything more than point-and-shoot. Feel free to identify some of the costumes in the comment section if we weren’t able to do so.

Oh, and if you haven’t done so already, be sure to check out the webcomics-related photos posted in my latest news roundup posted earlier today.

It’s a "d*ck in a box," of course…

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Interview: Jane Espenson on “Buffy” and “Battlestar Galactica”

Interview: Jane Espenson on “Buffy” and “Battlestar Galactica”

  • News
  • July 23, 2008

Writer and producer Jane Espenson has written, or co-written, episodes of some of the most popular and successful TV shows in recent memory. From her first writing work on Star Trek: The Next Generation through stints on the hugely popular Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel, to one of the most celebrated series currently on TV, Battlestar Galactica, Espenson’s career is certainly one which fans of quality writing, humor and storytelling can appreciate.

In addition to her continued professional writing accomplishments, Espenson also finds time to offer inspiration to fledgling writers by providing advice on the craft of writing, breaking into the businesss and what makes a good spec script via her personal website. Recently, I caught up with Espenson to talk about, among other things, how writers can break into "the business," her love of sci-fi and fantasy, and what episodes of Buffy are her favorites.

COMICMIX: Jane, thanks for taking the time to talk with me. For those who may not know, can you talk a bit about your background? Did you always know you wanted to write?

JANE ESPENSON: I grew up in a small town in the Midwest where I watched a heck of a lot of television — good and bad.  For every M*A*S*H, there’s an Enos. You don’t remember Enos?  The Dukes of Hazzard spin-off?  Well, I was watching. I always knew I wanted to write for television. 

I read an article once about spec M*A*S*H scripts that were submitted to the show, and I wrote one myself. I wrote "PUT COMMERCIAL HERE" after every scene. I never sent it to anyone. It’s just as well.
 
CMix: Were there any particular writers you admired when you were growing up? Anyone influence your work today?

JE: I didn’t notice the names of individual television writers back then, although all those shows certainly influenced me.  My mother introduced me to the books of Jane Austen, which I love.  Austen had that wonderful observational sense of humor rooted in character.  I’d love to think that influenced me. 

But I’m most strongly affected by the writers I’ve worked with and for.  So much of this job is about seamlessly emulating the "voice" of the show’s creator, that I’ve spent years mastering how to write like Joss Whedon and Ron Moore.

There are worse influences to have!
 
CMix: How did you first break into the business? Was there someone who gave you your first break?

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‘Dark Knight’ Breaks Weekend Record

‘Dark Knight’ Breaks Weekend Record

  • News
  • July 21, 2008

After setting box office records for top midnight opening and top Friday sales, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that The Dark Knight broke the weekend record set by Spider-Man 3.

Sunday’s tallies showed The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins, hauled in $155.34 million for the weekend, according to the Associated Press. That tops Spider-Man 3 and its $151.1 million take.

The new Batman also bested Spidey’s IMAX debut, $6.2 million to $4.7 million.

The opening day grosses for "The Dark Knight" far exceeded the full weekend haul of its predecessor, "Batman Begins," which took in $48.7 million in its first three days in 2005. …

"We’ve really never seen anything like this," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "The death of a fine actor taken in his prime, a legendary performance and a movie that lives up to all the hype. That all combined to create these record-breaking numbers."

I finally caught a showing Saturday morning, which still nearly sold out. That might be the most applause I’ve heard at a theater yet, with the most coming somewhat surprisingly for Jim Gordon.

—

From Glenn H.

Media By Numbers’ OFFICIAL DARK KNIGHT RECORDS SO FAR (in order of occurrence):

1 – Largest Number Of Opening Theatres with 4,366 (More Than The 4,362 Debut Theatres Of Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End in 2007).

2 – Biggest Midnight Preview Gross with $18.489 million in 3,040 Theatres (Beats Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith And Its $16.9 million in 2,915 Theatres in 2005).

3 – Biggest Imax Midnight Previews set a new record with $640,000 (Included in The $18.489 million Preview Number).

4 – Biggest Single-Day Gross in Box-Office History with $67.850 million (Bests The $59,841,919 set by Spider-Man 3 in 2007).

5 – Biggest Opening Weekend Gross in Box Office History with $155.340 million (Bests The $151,116 million set by Spider-Man 3 in 2007).

6 – Biggest Opening Weekend Gross For An Imax Release in Box Office History with $6,214,061 million in 94 Theatres With $66,107 Per Theatre. (Bests The $4.7 million set by Spider-Man 3 in 2007.) Imax Showing At Full Capacity $1.9 million On Saturday Alone.

7 – Biggest Opening Weekend Of 2008 with $151.340 (Beats Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull‘s $101.137 million From May 23-25, 2008)

8 – Biggest July Opening Ever (Beats Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest‘s $135,634,554 On July 7, 2006).

Interview: Wil Wheaton on Webcomics, Publishing and Tech (Part 2)

  • News
  • July 21, 2008

Previously on ComicMix, I brought you the first part of my interview with writer, actor and publisher Wil Wheaton. In that part, we discussed topics including his feelings about modern comics and comic-book movies, his acting career, his love of writing and, most importantly, what he likes to order for lunch.

In the second part of my interview, we spend a bit more time discussing the craft of writing, personal publishing, his preferences in technology and the sometimes unpredictable nature of an Internet audience.

COMICMIX: Let’s change gears for a minute, Wil. You’re a pretty well-respected technology guy, and I know you’re a Mac user. How long has that been going on?

WIL WHEATON: I was one of the earliest Mac adopters. I had a Mac 128K in the first few months of its release. I loved it. I wish I could find, I key-noted at Mac World a few years ago, and both my notes and my address are gone. I don’t know where they went. 

Ironically, I wrote them on a Linux machine and I think that I may have just inadvertently lost them. But I loved that computer. It was portable, which is funny to say now, because it only weighed like, 20-30 pounds. It had a handle on the top, so clearly, it was portable.

CMix:  Did you ever have a clone?

WW:  No. I wouldn’t consider myself a Mac cultist or an Apple cultist. There’s still stuff they do that I don’t like and I don’t really have brand loyalty. I have brand anti-loyalty, though. I’ll never buy a Sony product… ever.

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‘Dark Knight’ Sets Midnight Record

‘Dark Knight’ Sets Midnight Record

  • News
  • July 19, 2008

Extimators are already guessing at Dark Knight‘s opening take, figuring on an opening north of Iron Man‘s $100 million-plus first weekend in May. Variety reports:

Based on the enormity of tracking and advance ticket sales, "Dark Knight" has a shot at opening as high as "Dead Man’s Chest," although anything over $100 million would be a big win. "Dead Man’s Chest" presently sports the second-best opening on record after that of "Spider-Man 3," which nabbed $151.1 million over the May 4-6 weekend last year.

It’s off to an excellent start after the Thursday midnight opening. According to the main story on CNN.com, the film set a record for midnight openings.

The film already has the biggest midnight debut ever, with tracking firm Media By Numbers reporting "Dark Knight" made $18.5 million at its midnight showings alone. That breaks the record of $16.9 million held by "Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith."

During a survey of people who buy tickets through Fandango.com, 38 percent of those who are working said they would be taking either some time or the day off to see the movie.

The movie was expected to be shown on 9,400 screens in a record-breaking 4,366 theaters for its opening, according to its studio, Warner Bros.

 

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