October 27, 2005
Lucasfilm's empire is expanding
Lucasfilm has just opened a 3,715 square meter digital animation studio in Singapore and its first release is going to be a TV adapation of its Clone Wars micro series. Give him a few short years and I'm sure George Lucas will own Asia. That's what he does. He takes over continents.
- Lucasfilm extends empire to Singapore [Guardian Unlimited]
Previous Entries
King Kong is going to be long as hell
Universal has agreed to release King Kong at it's full three hour run time. Peter Jackson and Universal had originally contemplated a running time of around two and half hours, with a budget around $175 million, but things never go right and the budget went over to $207 million.
Decision to increase the running time and budget was made after Universal brass -- including Ron MeyerRon Meyer, Stacey SniderStacey Snider, Marc Shmuger and Mary ParentMary Parent -- flew to New Zealand to screen the pic. The U delegation knew they were going to see a three-hour version, but hadn't made any decisions on whether to release it. "We expected to see a long movie," said U chair Stacey Snider, "and we loved it. It's a brilliant movie, an epic feast."
This better be as incredible as the poster looks, because it takes a lot more than a giant gorilla to get me to sit still for three hours straight.
- Primates getting pricier [Variety]
Sylvester Stallone is still alive
I wish I was making this up, but Sylvester Stallone is set to star in a sixth Rocky movie, despite being a billion years old.
Stallone told the Daily Variety trade magazine the movie will focus on an aging, widowed Rocky who is reluctant to get back in the ring but ends up doing it "just to compete, not to win." "I am drawing on a lot of my feelings that are in sync with many people's feelings about facing the last chapter of their lives and how they want it to be written," Stallone said.
I think in this one, Rocky loses his old-person medication and then has to enter an underground boxing tournament to win pill money. I don't want to ruin anything, but let's just say that at the end of the movie Rocky has a heart attack and is declared 1 billion years old by a doctor.
Charlize Theron is lame
During a taping of Ellen, Charlize Theron started talking about her boyfriend Stuart Townsend and began to jump on the couch in a Tom Cruise imitation. This could have been funny three months ago when it was relevant, but it's a bit late for any sort of couch jumping to topical. At least she's hot enough to melt my penis. That usually makes up for when women are idiots.
Weekend Box Office
1. The Fog - $11.8 million ($11.8)
I don't think anybody could have predicted this. Considering it looks like it has no plot and the guy from Smallville is in it, there's really no reason that this should have been number one. I would have said number 8 tops, but that's just me.
2. Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - $11.5 million ($33.1)
Those crazy clay characters sure are chugging away. And so is my awesome use of alliteration.
3. Elizabethtown - $10.6 million ($10.6)
Kirsten Dunst is a decent actress but painfully ugly to look at. I'm not sure I could sit through another one of her movies, having to stare at that horrible mouth of hers.
Genndy Tartakovsky set to make some awesome
Genndy Tartakovsky, the guy behind Star Wars: Clone Wars and Samurai Jack has signed up with Orphange Animation Studios to put together five feature films produced in the $50 million-$75 million range.
Although best known as a visual effects boutique, the Orphanage plans to open a completely new animation facility with a separate production pipeline. Its plan is to produce its first feature animated film by late 2007 or early '08, though that date is subject to Tartakovsky and the Orphanage finding a studio partner to release the film.
When the man behind the Star Wars: Clone Wars micro series is given $50 million to put together an actual movie, you can be pretty damn sure it'll be awesome. And not run of the mill awesome, but so awesome your eyeballs will literally catch fire. I don't know how, but it's going to happen. Trust me. I'm an expert when it comes to eyeballs catching on fire.
