While the cast of Green Lantern, besides Ryan Reynolds, is being kept under lock and key, a few startling crew announcements have raised our hopes exceptionally high for this film. These new additions could make GL your new favorite superhero.
Superhero Hype has the latest news about Martin Campbell's, from Casino Royale, Green Lantern.
The entire thing will be shot by cinematographer Dion Beebe, who not only shot the amazing-looking Equilibrium, but won an Academy Award for Memoirs of a Geisha.
He'll be working with production designer Grant Major, who worked on The Ruins and King Kong and took home an Oscar for his work on Lord of The Rings. And costume designer Ngila Dickson, who also received an Academy Award for LOTR.
And finally Art Director François Audouy who helped bring the gorgeous scenes from Watchmen to life, is joining the crew. So it seems that Warner Brothers isn't screwing around with this picture, and is investing big money for big turn out. Gone are any campy expectations we had for this film, we're now expecting something much more epic.
Also, our insider sources tell us that production is readying in New Orleans, and should be expecting up to a thousand construction workers for sets and special effects at peak production. Rumors on the internet would lead us to believe that filming would then start in March, ending in either July of August 2010.
- Peter Jackson is making the Hobbit sequels with Guillermo del Toro, we know that. And he's making Tintin with Steven Spielberg, we know that too. But now word has come that he may also be working on a super-secret sci-fi project called Mortal Engines.
New Zealand's Dominion Post is reporting that the filmmaker is working to adapt the series of books to the big screen, with his Weta Workshop already creating designs for the film (or films).
"The hush-hush project is understood to be in early development, with work on the first of the four books under way," the Post says. "A spokesman for Jackson did not deny the project was on the books yesterday, but said 'any comment should come from Peter.'"
The books are by Philip Reeve and are set in a post-apocalyptic world where cities have been transformed into massive vehicles. They must consume each other in order to acquire the precious natural resources which remain in the world.
Avatar box office sales this holiday weekend helped the movie finish as the No. 1 film with $75 million in U.S. tickets and an updated global total of $617.3 million in just ten days!
The gross box office sales for Avatar and two other films resulted in a $278 million Hollywood weekend, shattering the previous best three-day total of $261, when The Dark Knight debuted in July 2008.
Delving deeper into the numbers, Avatar only lost 3 percent from its previous weekend earnings (for a total of $212.3 in North America) and it is now officially the top December grosser ever, topping Will Smith's I Am Legend.
Internationally, Avatar was the No. 1 film on the foreign circuit for the second consecutive week. It has been most well-received in France, where it has generated more than $48 million in box office sales.
After the initial call for actors to play The Beatles another Yellow Submarine casting notice has now been issued. This one details some of the major supporting roles that Robert Zemeckis is looking to fill, and in between the character information there’s the odd bit of plot info as well as some telling details of design. So far, it all seems fully contingent with the original movie.
The notice opens with the following statement of premise:
The Yellow Submarine follows a singing group of four British young men that are asked to help a land that has been overtaken by mean spirited creatures. They are recruited by an escapee to come and bring joy and music back to the land.
The sides given to actors who audition for this film have scenes that have been given interesting titles - Buckingham Palace Scene, Help - Bar Scene and John, Paul, George and Ringo. There’s no Buckingham Palace Scene per se in the original film, though the building does make a brief cameo appearance. Infamously, John Lennon claimed The Beatles smoked a joint in the Buck House bathrooms when collecting their MBEs, though I’m pretty sure Zemeckis isn’t dramatising that, unless rather obliquely.
Neither is there a bar scene in the original Yellow Submarine, nor any use of the song Help. It’s now pretty clear that Zemeckis’ remake is taking some liberties with the original material, and I’m thinking that’s a really good thing.
Here’s the listing for the characters, with images of how they appeared in the original film:
[JEREMY HILLARY BOOB, PH.D.] A strange, short, brown-furred man with a blue clown face. An intellectual loner that speaks in puns, riddles, and rhymes. Lives in the Sea of Nothing…CO-STAR AGE: 30-60. STANDARD R.P. ENGLISH ACCENT
[CHIEF BLUE MEANIE] Head of the “Blue Meanies.” A rotund blue menace with erect dog ears, sick yellow teeth, and a bi-polar lashing tongue. Angry, bitter, vengeful. Hates music, Pepperlanders, and The Beatles…CO-STAR AGE: 40-60 YRS OLD - STANDARD R.P. ENGLISH ACCENT
[MAX] Chief Blue Meanie’s fearful assistant / henchman. Executes the Chief’s orders to attack Pepperland. Often the victim of Chief’s jokes, fits, and verbal abuses. Wears a large “M” on his chest…CO-STAR 25 - 60 YRS OLD - STANDARD R.P. ENGLISH ACCENT
[FRED (AKA, "OLD FRED" & "YOUNG FRED")] Captain of the Yellow Submarine. At the request of Lord Mayor, seeks out The Beatles to save Pepperland. Often breaks into fits of excited exasperation…CO-STAR 50-70 YRS OLD - STANDARD R.P. ENGLISH ACCENT
[LORD MAYOR] Mayor of Pepperland. An ancient man with deep creases in his face and a long history with the land and its population. Ancient, old and tired voice tends to sound like it creaks out of him. Tires easily. Plays the cello…CO-STAR VOICE SHOULD SOUND 80-100 YRS OLD - STANDARD R.P. ENGLISH ACCENT
There’s a lot of antipathy towards Zemeckis and his continued endeavors on the performance capture volume but not from me. What’s more, I’d expect Yellow Submarine will stand on the shoulders of Avatar, the way that Avatar stood on the shoulders of Polar Express, King Kong et al. I think we’re finally past the dead eye problems that have been causing Zemeckis so much trouble and people will start feeling a whole lot more comfortable with his pictures. That this Beatles toon is going to be so stylised and surrealistic won’t hurt either.
Cameron made clear that the next film won't be a prequel, recounting previous backstory, but will begin after the events of the initial movie. "We'll follow Jake and Neytiri," he confirmed.
With Avatar's resounding box office success, the sequels are inevitable. And even better, Cameron promises they won't take nearly as long to make as the first Avatar:
"So now we have Jake, we have Neytiri. Sam can step right back into it, the characters will fit them like a glove, and we'll just go on. So a lot of the start-up torque that had to be done for one movie really makes more sense if you play it out across several films."
