Movies – Page 216 – StuffWeLike

Avary working on Wolfenstein movie script

I pondered months ago as to what basis Hollywood takes when adapting games into movies. I am still wondering the same. News has it that Roger Avary, scriptwriter who has worked on the likes of Pulp Fiction and Silent Hill is working on a script for a movie on Return to Castle Wolfenstein, due for release in 2010.

Yes, that game about an American prisoner in a German prison castle and involving undead Nazi zombies and what-not. Seriously, that’s the game Hollywood wants. After games with exceptional storylines like Doom, Far Cry, Dungeon Siege and Mortal Kombat, we have this. Wonderful.

Still, with Avary on the project, perhaps the movie can be heavily twisted to make it actually good. Also, Uwe Boll is not attached to the project in any way, which can only mean good. Avary hasn’t disclosed anything about the project yet, so anything can happen.

Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id, says:

“There’s some contract provisions and if they don’t have certain things done within a certain period of time they can’t just sit on the rights forever and not use them.

But apart from that me kind of nagging on him ‘hey is it done yet, hey is it done yet?’ will probably just be annoying and then Rog won’t answer my emails any more. I would probably get the one-sentence email that says, ‘Do you realise I have an Academy Award?’

Heh.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie delayed!

The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie, which was slated for release next year has been delayed to the next, i.e. 2010. Expect it to come for you at Memorial Day weekend, 2010, the spot that Indiana Jones caught this year.

Disney explained the delay to extensive post-production work. Disney wants to make this a huge franchise, in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean. To do it, Disney is going to need a whole lot of special effects and what-not, and that’s what Disney is going to do in the extra year it gets.

How does to move affect the rest of the movies? Transformers 2, slated for next year will now go smooth sailing without any competition to its visual effects. The move to 2010 may upset a whole different batch of movies, though.

Marvel’s Thor will opening right next week. If Iron Man II ends up being awesome that year, it may affect Thor‘s success as well, putting the Prince in a tight spot. Still, it isn’t all that bad, and since it’s still almost two whole years away, we might see plenty of restructuring and what-not.

Sony going for Venom spinoff?

Looks like it’s weird-movie-announcement week. Sony has decided to go ahead with a spinoff of Venom, one of Spiderman’s better enemies. For those (especially those who hate the moviezation of Spiderman) who haven’t seen Spider-Man 3, Venom is a shape-shifting symbiote that requires a host DNA to perform, or some such stuff.

In any case, I like Venom better than Doc Ock or Green Goblin or the rest of that nonsense. Then again, Venom is Spiderman’s archenemy, which means that he is to Spiderman what The Joker is to Batman or what Lex Luthor is to Superman or Elmer Fudd is to Bugs Bunny and so on. And from the Spiderman rogue gallery, I’d say Venom is the only one who can make for a badass movie.

With a Spiderman sequel nowhere in sight, it seems that Sony is trying to use a spinoff to garner some extra attention to the franchise. Fox is doing something similar with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a prequel that will be the origin story for Wolverine. With a similar treatment on Magneto in the works, it looks like spinoffs are in fashion.

Back to the movie, Jacob Estes has been comissioned to create a script for the movie. Topher Grace, who played Venom in Spider-Man 3 will most likely not be back this time, as Sony is not sure if he can hold up an entire movie by himself. Fair enough.

What do you think of this move? Will spinoffs be good? Can you picture a whole movie on Venom? Is this superhero movie madness a good thing?

Keanu Reeves as Spike in Cowboy Bebop movie? Woah.

A live-action adaptation of the extraordinary anime series Cowboy Bebop is bad enough, but then it gets worse. Rumour has it that Keanu Reeves almost certainly has the role of lead protagonist Spike Spiegel. Now, Spike doesn’t really talk much, which is a good thing, but I still have every belief that Reeves will screw this up.

The movie is supposedly under development at Fox, but they haven’t announced anything officially yet. A source close to FirstShowing here says that the movie is still there, and will be headed for a 2010 release. No clear director yet, but Keanu has been attached to Spike Spiegel for some 8 months now. Disturbing.

I’m against a live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, because it is best damn anime I’ve ever seen and one of my most favourite franchises. Now a CG movie or something, I can appreciate that. But why does Hollywood have to take it live action?

The awesome characters from the series will now be replaced by some crappy people like Keanu Reeves and what-not. I also doubt it the series will capture the original theme of the series, its mature Western feel, the importance of the soundtrack and its synchronization with the fight scenes. Instead, we’ll probably just be treated to some fancy special effects.

With the disaster that was Speed Racer, you must understand that it’s difficult to get your hopes up for this. I’m not saying that the anime was much better than what the Wachowkis made of it, but still.

Marvin the Martian Movie; no really

That’s right, a feature-length movie on Marvin the Martian. Yes, that little Martian thing. Warner Brothers must be out of their minds, because I don’t see any way to profit from a movie on goddamned Marvin the Martian. It’s probably one of the most random pieces of news I’ve heard all month!

The movie will be a blend of live action and CG, which is even more confusing, because I can’t really picture Marvin in a live-action setting. Hell, I can’t Marvin well anyways. From whatever I’ve seen of him, he’s a side-character, a less important villain and mildly amusing. He would be the last person from the Looney Tunes roster I’d set a full film on. Even Taz would be a better choice! Or maybe not. No.

The plot will go something along the lines of Marvin wanting to destroy Christmas, and getting trapped in some gift box. With a plot like that, I can’t help but not get excited. I mean seriously, is that the best WB can come up with? I know this one’s for the kids, but seriously? Please, Warner: we want more superhero movies, especially like The Dark Knight and not some retarded movies on Marvin the Martian.