Archive for the ‘Paramount Pictures’ Category
Tom Clancey’s Jack Ryan series is about to get another movie, and it looks like Chris Pine, who played Captain Kirk in the rebooted Star Trek series, will be cast as the CIA negotiator. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new movie will feature the adventures of Jack Ryan at a much earlier point in his life.
Paramount has announced the Blu-ray and DVD editions of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will arrive on October 20, 2009. The Blu-ray edition contains a huge amount of extras, that gives viewers nearly three more hours of content.
It should come as no surprise to find out that G.I. Joe took the number one spot at the box office this weekend, bringing in $100.3 million worldwide. This is one of the biggest openings for a movie opening in August. The movie brought in the young male demographic as expected, but it also brought in a fair number of families eager to check out the Hasbro action figures gone movie heroes.
As expected, the strong opening weekend, has prompted Paramount to order a follow up sequel.
The G.I. Joe movie is just around the corner, and in anticipation of the movie being a property success, Paramount has nabbed the rights to the Max Steel toy line to turn it into a movie as well.
The toy property revolves around a 19-year-old extreme sports junkie recruited by a secret agency after an accident infects his body with nanobots, making him superhuman.
Some may remember the Max Steel animated series that made the rounds way back in 1999 before being dropped in the U.S. The good news is Max Steel is highly popular in Latin America, where direct to DVD movies have kept the property alive, giving Paramount and executive producer Joe Roth (of XXX fame) a reason to jump start the character and toy line once again.
“A theatrical film plays a significant role to relaunch the franchise,” said Barry Waldo, Mattel’s VP of worldwide entertainment marketing and strategy. “But we have a strong Latin consumer we’re going to keep happy while broadening the franchise for the rest of the world. We wouldn’t do ourselves a favor if we turned a blind eye to it. That’s the artistic challenge we’ve got.”
The box office estimates are in and Star Trek beamed to the number one spot, bringing in an estimated $76.5 million over the weekend. I had a chance to check the movie out on Saturday, and I liked it quite a bit. I think it did a good job of bridging the old Star Trek universe with the new one (I wore my F’Continuity T-Shirt just in case), and I like how they were able to tell an origin story without getting too over the top.
I did have a few concerns and problems with the feature, but there were pretty minor considering. But what Major Spoilers is really concerned about is your reaction, Dear Reader. Did you see Star Trek this weekend? What were your thoughts on the JJ Abrams flick?
DISCUSS I SAY!
(Get it? It's Seven of Swine)
First it was Wolverine, now Variety is reporting the Mexican movie premiere of Star Trek is being grounded due to the swine flu. No word on when the movie will open south of the border, but Paramount is going forward with the May 8th release in 100 other overseas markets.
Until the theaters reopen and the medical epidemic is cleared, the studios could stall more releases as the summer progresses.
via Variety
Even though the J.J. Abrams reboot hasn’t hit theaters yet, Paramount Pictures is already on track with the movie sequel. The company has hired Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof to write the script. It looks like Abrams is on board to at least produce the sequel, although there is no word yet if he will direct the picture too.
“There’s obviously a lot of hubris involved in signing on to write a sequel of a movie that hasn’t even come out yet,” said Lindelof, co-creator with Abrams of ABC’s “Lost” who produced the upcoming “Trek” but did not contribute to Orci and Kurtzman’s screenplay. “But we’re so excited about the first one that we wanted to proceed.”
If the script can get turned in by Christmas, expect to see a summer 2011 release.
If you are ready to shout “Yo Joe!” at your theater screen, you’ll be happy to know Paramount has finally launched the official movie website. Presumably, the site will begin to feature more Joe-Goodness as the movie approaches release day, but until then, you can sign up for updates via e-mail.
The latest issue of Production Weekly, has the synopsis of the upcoming Captain America film from Marvel. The good news – it will be a WWII movie.
“Born during the Great Depression, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth in a poor family. Horrified by the newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to enlist in the army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected. Overhearing the boy’s earnest plea, General Chester Phillips offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment … Operation: Rebirth. After weeks of tests, Rogers was at last administered the ‘Super-Soldier Serum’ and bombarded by ‘vita-rays.’ Steve Rogers emerged from the treatment with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program. Three months later, he was given his first assignment as Captain America. Armed with his indestructible shield and and battle savvy, Captain America has continued his war against evil both as a sentinel of liberty and leader of the Avengers.”
While the May 6, 2011 date has been set (with the Avengers movie coming out a month or so later), no word on who will direct this period piece, and more importantly, no word on who will play Steve Rogers.
Wouldn’t it just be 10 kinds of kick-ass if Marvel and Paramount were able to keep the lid on this movie so clamped down, that we wouldn’t find out who any of the key players were until a month or so before the films release? No? Ok, then. I predict we’ll have answers to these questions and more no later than CCI: San Diego 2009.
Who’s on your short list to play Captain America?
Sad news for Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, Universal Pictures has decided to pull out of the three picture deal for the CGI adaptation of Tintin. The biggest reason for the break in the deal wasn’t Spielberg trying to break DreamWorks away from Paramount, but the $130 million budget. In a day an age where $130 million seems like a drop in the bucket for a franchise that could literally net Universal ten times that in world wide distribution, something certainly seems fishy. Perhaps it was the 30% of gross Spielberg and Jackson wanted – meaning Tintin would have to gross $425 million before it broke even and Universal started seeing a profit.
But fear not Herge fans, the duo have taken their proposal to Paramount… oh, yeah, that whole split thing might be a hang up. Paramount has had the proposal for several weeks now, so it Tintin is simply awaiting a yay or nay from the suits.
It’s unfortunate it wasn’t RDJ’s Iron Man that trumped The Dark Knight this weekend, but rather Downey Jr. in blackface in Paramount’s Tropic Thunder. The R-rated flick brought in an estimated $26 million over the weekend, while Christian Bale’s Dark Knight bringing in $16.8 million. Coming in third was George Lucas’ Clone Wars animated flick with $15.5 million.
Don’t feel too bad about the Dark Knight, the cumulated box office is now over $470 million.
Following the demise of HD DVD, it was only a matter of time before Paramount caved in and announced plans to bring Transformers to the Blu-Ray format. When it was announced Paramount was going the HD DVD route, director Michael Bay was pretty upset about the announcement, only to change his tune a few short days later. Perhaps it had something to do with the HD DVD camp throwing a lot of money Paramount’s way.
My guess is the studio got to keep all the money even after Toshiba and others admitted defeat, so now it is full steam ahead with Blu-Ray as the preferred format.
The Blu-ray edition of “Transformers” that Par is preparing will include extensive extras and special features, including a commentary from Bay and two docus about the film’s human and robotic stars. Segments include exec producer Steven Spielberg discussing his love for the franchise and a detailed look at the casting process and real-world weapons provided by the military.
Principal photography for the Transformers 2 movie (with the return of Jazz?) is set to begin this week.
Image Comics Monster Zoo graphic novel has been snagged by Paramount Pictures to be turned into a live action feature film.
The action-adventure story is set in motion when an ancient idol is unearthed and transported to a zoo in the U.S. There, the idol’s spirit awakens and starts to mutate the caged animals. A group of teenagers must band together to try to stop the idol and the evil from destroying the world. The graphic novel will be published in May from Image Comics.
The move will be produced by Sam Raimi and Josh Donen.
What really amazes me is the huge amount of money being exchanged for a single comic property these days. Sources claim this deal is in the seven figure range. Seven figures – that’s at least a million dollars right there for a comic that won’t hit stands until May. To put things into more perspective, creator Doug TenNapel did score $1,000,000 for Tommysaurus Rex a few years ago.
Variety is reporting this morning that Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to Harbinger from Valiant Comics. The live-action adaptation may be directed by Brett Ratner.
Created by Jim Shooter, the “Harbinger” comicbook series became a hit when published in the 1990s. Harbingers are humans with powers that can be unlocked by “omega” harbingers. Teenager Pete Stanchek finds himself on a collision course with an older “omega” who used his gifts to become an evil industrialist.
Ratner was last seen directing Rush Hour 3, and has at least three other films he is working on before Harbinger.
The writer’s strike may be over, but the effects are still be felt through the industry. While Warner Bros. is pushing ahead with the Justice League movie, other features could be delayed as the industry scrambles to regroup following the settlement, and await the next big walk out.
The next walk out? The Screen Actor’s Guild is next up to the table to negotiate contracts, and even the slightest hint of a strike is causing the studios to hold off on any new productions that can’t wrap shooting by June 30.
“Transformers 2″ director Michael Bay said the labor cloud has made the process harder, but not impossible as he tries to keep the film on track for its June 26, 2009 release.
“If there is a strike, we shut down, but shutting down isn’t that big a deal,” Bay said. “You make accommodations, you make a deal with vending houses on equipment and on the stages where you are shooting. You hope for the best, but you can’t be incapacitated by the possibility that there will be a strike. We’ve got to get this town back to work. I can’t imagine anyone wants another strike, we’re all tired. Hopefully clearer heads will prevail.”
Bay said that the sequel is still recovering from the writer’s strike, and that he’s playing catch-up after getting back his trio of writers, Ehren Kruger, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
If Miller can’t get his JLA movie done in time, we could hear word in the next couple of months that the film has been delayed again. The new Terminator movie begins shooting May 5, while Transformers begins shooting in early June. If the actors strike, look for all sort of shuffling as the studios scramble to fill the summer 2009 schedule.
Paramount may have anticipated the delay when the studio announced it was moving the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie from a December 2008 release to the now scheduled May 2009 date.
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