DreamWorks Animation/Paramount’s Monsters Vs Aliens has entered the history books with the third-best March opening ever (behind Warner Bros. 300 ($70.9M) and 20th Century Fox’s Ice Age: The Meltondown ($68M). Monsters scored the best opening of the year after it raked in $58.2 million over the weekend, more than doubling it’s nearest competitor. As a result, the US Box Office was up a massive 40% over the same time last year.
Of major interest to the film industry, 58% of its box office tally came from roughly 22% of its total screens – those with 3-D. Additionally, the film is playing in only 143 IMAX locations, which accounted for a huge 9% of its weekend take. The result demonstrated that moviegoers had no issue with forking out an extra few dollars for a 3-D viewing, especially when considering IMAX charges an additional $5 for the experience.
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Gemma Arterton to star with Sam Worthington in Clash of the Titans
Gemma Arterton, aka Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace, has confirmed she has a starring role in the upcoming Legendary Pictures remake of Clash of the Titans.
Arterton will play the role of Io and joins Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation / Avatar) who will play the lead character of Perseus.
The story follows Perseus who embarks on a quest to save a Princess (Andromeda) and along the way is forced to battle various mythical beasts, including Medusa and the Kraken. In Greek mythology, Io was a priestess of Hera in Argos who after being seduced by Zeus is turned into a Heifer (cow). It is uncertain how the role of Io fits into the new film.
23 year old Arterton previously starred in RocknRolla, A Deal is a Deal, and St. Trinian’s. She also has three movies slated for release during 2009-2010: The Disappearance of Alice Creed, The Boat That Rocked, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
The original Clash of the Titans was directed by Desmond Davis and released in 1981. Despite being released on the same day as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Titans was highly successful and went on to be the 11th highest grossing film of the year. The new film, to be directed by Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk / Transporter 2 / Unleashed) has an estimated budget of $70M, some $55M more than its predecessor.
Filming is expected to begin April/May.
Clash of the Titans is scheduled for a March 26, 2010 release.
Source: Slashfilm
C. Thomas Howell, Christopher Showerman and Timothy Bottoms
The Land That Time Forgot hasn’t been forgotten. The 1918 Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, previously made into a feature film in 1975, is set for a remake – but this time it’ll go straight to DVD.
The new movie will be based on a script by Darren Dalton (To Protect and Serve / Hourglass) and will be directed by C. Thomas Howell (Razor / Hidalgo / The Hitcher) who will also star. Additional cast include Christopher Showerman (Sea of Fear / Live Fast, Die Young) and Timothy Bottoms (Land of the Lost / Tin Man).
In the 1975 film a group of survivors from a sunken British merchant ship are taken about a German U-boat, which subsequently finds itself in a prehistoric fantasy land complete with dinosaurs, quick sand, and primitive humans.
Additional cast members are expected to be announced shortly with production scheduled to commence this week.
Source: Moviehole
Colin Ferguson and Salli Richardson-Whitfield star in 'Eureka'
The good news for Eureka fans is filming has completed on the second half of season 3 and the previously listed premiere date of July 14 (on the IMDB) has recently been updated to July 10. I’d say that’s a good sign of confirmation for when we can expect its return.
It’s not all good news though – watch this Sci Fi Wire interview with Eureka stars Colin Ferguson and Salli Richardson-Whitfield. In the interview Colin Ferguson spills the news that there’s going to be an 11 month wait before they start filming season 4. That’s more than a year before we can expect the first episodes of the fourth season. Arg…
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Joanne Kelly stars in Warehouse 13
The Sci Fi Channel (erm, Syfy) has a new sci-fi drama/comedy series on its way from the famed writer/producer of Farscape, Rockne O’Bannon.
Warehouse 13 follows a pair of U.S. Secret Service agents who are re-assigned to a covert warehouse that stores supernatural objects. Their assignment is to retrieve missing objects and investigate reports of new ones.
Watch the following video interview with Joanne Kelly who plays Myka, one of the secret-service agents. It also includes some clips from the upcoming series.
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Leonard Nimoy & Zacharia Quinto as Spock
The last time Leonard Nimoy played the character of Spock in Star Trek was 18 years ago during the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-part story ‘Unification’. Almost two decades on he’s reprising his famous role in J.J. Abrams’ new movie.
So what did Nimoy think about participating in a movie with a new generation of actors taking over the roles that he and the original cast made so famous?
It’s a lot of fun. They’re very talented people and it’s fascinating to watch the roots of the characters that Bill Shatner and DeForest Kelley and myself and the rest of us played. When we started doing the show, we were a crew on the Enterprise going out and doing our missions. In this movie, we see the seeds of those characters being planted; where they came from before the Enterprise, where they came from before they met each other, how they met each other, and what the circumstances were and how they became that crew that we eventually played. It was great fun to watch.
The above excerpt is taken from issue 26 of SciFi Now Magazine in which Nimoy talks about his return, his changing approach to the character, how he sees the new movie, and whether or not there’s a chance we’ll see him again as Spock.
And is there a chance? Not good it seems, but you never know:
Never say never, but I would think so. The torch has been handed off to a wonderful new cast and a new actor playing Spock. Would I consider being the alter ego again and coming back in some form to play a scene with Zachary Quinto to exchange ideas with him? Might be interesting, but it’s not up to me. If I got that call, I would certainly listen.
Source: TrekMovie.com – where you will also find a couple more excerpts from the interview.
TV Guide have interviewed Eric Lange who plays Stuart Radzinsky, the second-in-command of the Dharma Initiative in Lost.
Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, co-writers of J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek movie, have shared their thoughts on the story behind the new movie in a three-part interview with Sci Fi Wire.
During the discussion they explain that they felt time-travel was a necessary element to inject into the story in order to allow them greater dramatic licence towards the what-if’s of an “unknown future”.
Kurtzman: Yeah, the biggest thing I think we all hiccuped on, just conceptually, when Trek was presented to us was, “Well, we know how they all died. We know what happened to them.” And when you know that, it’s very difficult to put them in jeopardy in a way that feels fresh or original. How do you ever have real stakes to your characters?
Orci: We didn’t want it to just seem like a historical document.
A big concern from many fans relates to the way in which the new movie might violate canon, but Orci and Kurtzman explain that they felt the time-travel element really allows a continuation of canon whilst also providing the opportunity to veer away from the exactness of it, allowing the new movie to offer fresh new challenges to the crew.
Orci: Well, again, it’s a continuation of canon. If words have precise meaning, it’s not technically a canon violation.
Kurtzman: There’s also a massive amount of … crossover. It’ll be a very identifiable Trek world. With character traits and situations and backstories that are almost identical.
Orci: But the spirit of what you’re saying is true. It frees us from the rigors of their known history. Without necessarily having to veer away from it all. You know, there’re large sections of the movie that we would argue are true … in both their continuity and our new one.
Both writers add that the tone of the film together with the main character traits remain largely unchanged, and so the ‘Trek’ feel to the movie has been preserved. There’s much more than this though as the interview is quite long. They also address the issue of William Shatner, the former girlfriend who didn’t make the cut, and the melding of certain Star Wars elements into the style of the new film.
Read the full interview here: Part One / Part Two / Part Three
Nicholas Cage during a scene in 'Knowing'
Nicholas Cage has said he is trying to stay away from violent films and instead is more interested in science fiction projects.
“At this point in my life I have made a series of movies with a hieroglyphic of my face and a gun. I had a serious look at a couple of movies, one that I pulled out, because I felt, at this point, I didn’t want to kill a person on camera.”.
“I was trying to think about ways I could entertain you, hopefully give you some sort of escape, which I think in this day and age is very important, without having to resort to gratuitous violence. Science fiction is a way that I can go into the abstract, go into the imagination, and audiences are still willing to go along for the ride.”
According to Cage his latest sci-fi movie, Knowing, met all the criteria in the types of projects he wants to involve himself with.
“It also gave me a chance to go to where I want to now dance, which is science fiction, fantasy and intelligent horror. I want to make more of these types of movies because of the metaphor, I don’t have to shoot people.
If you’re wondinerg how he feels about violent sci-fi films, he has an answer for that too.
“That’s not to say I won’t do that again in a movie, perhaps I will be more thoughtful about it.”
Source: The Press Assocation
Fringe returns in 9 days with ‘Inner Child’. One week later episode 16 ‘Unleashed’ will air. Here’s the synopsis for ‘Unleashed’ together with four promo pics released by Fox.
As usual, don’t read this if you don’t want spoilers.
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