Max Brooks Stoked About Development Of Movie: WORLD WAR Z

Last week, zombie aficionado Max Brooks appeared on Fangoria Radio to talk about his upcoming graphic novel Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks as well as the upcoming World War Z movie. You may remember that it was reported that 007 director Marc Forster would be helming the long overdue project written by J. Michael Straczynski. Here’s what Brooks had to say about the team:

“I’m thrilled that the man who created BABYLON 5 is working on this movie. I can’t give it away, but Straczynski found a way to tie it all together. The last draft I read was amazing.”
“Now that we have a director, we have a captain of the ship. Marc will determine start date, cast, locations, etc. For me personally, I’m content to go off to Iceland and let them make their movie.”

We reviewed the screenplay for WWZ a while back, but it sounds like there may be a new draft floating around. Either way, Brooks is right- things are looking good on the WWZ front.

Source: QuietEarth.us Read more

Dead But Dreamy - Robert Pattinson Is Twilight’s Edward

Normally, a vampire flick heading to theaters would attract the typical genre or horror fans curious to the latest spin on the bloodsucker mythology. But there’s nothing typical about the absolute tidal wave of buzz surrounding the big screen adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s young adult skewing vampire tale, Twilight.

In the four years since Meyer’s released Twilight (the first book in the now completed four series), the book have sold more than 17 million copies in 37 languages, and maybe most importantly, spawned a fandom as passionate, vocal and obsessed over their work that most authors can only dream about. Granted a big reason for that kind of devotion is the love story at the center of the series – the forbidden kind between the human Bella Swan and the immortal vampire, Edward Cullen. Their story is exactly the kind of angsty, breathless affair that make women, young and old, swoon for and studio executives salivate over to convert to film.

The smart executives at smaller studio Summit Entertainment ended up acquiring the rights and now find themselves about to release what will assuredly be their biggest hit (and possible franchise) ever. Just according to the numbers from two weeks ago, online ticket destination Fandango reported that the film’s presales accounted for 51% of all daily ticket sales on the site, with plenty of the November 21st opening day and night showings already sold out. That’s the kind of hype that usually surrounds characters named Iron Man, Batman, Jason Bourne or any other typically male oriented blockbuster fare, not for a $37 million dollar budgeted vampire romance that takes place in Oregon. Read more

‘Chuck’ Creater In Negotiations To Write Next ‘X-Men’ Movie

Josh Schwartz is negotiating with 20th Century Fox to write the next X-Men movie, “X-Men: First Class” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Schwartz is the creative mind behind “The O.C.,” “Gossip Girl” and “Chuck.”

The new installment of the X-Men series is rumored to be a prequel, focusing on some familiar X-Men as teens or a story focused on several new recruits to Xavier’s School for Mutants. No word yet on the focus that 20th Century Fox wants to take with the film.

This project hinges on the success of the upcoming “Wolverine” spin-off. Should that be a hit, “First Class” could be jumped onto the fast track.

Source: SliceOfScifi.com Read more

L.A. ‘Twilight’ Premiere Attracts Shrieking Masses

There were hundreds of people lining the Los Angeles streets screaming and chanting. There were homemade signs, punny slogans, and custom T-shirts. Attendees declared whose team they were on. There were moms and daughters, men and women, couples and singles. There were even a few people so overcome by emotion that tears were shed. They stood for hours, some for days, to make sure their opinions were seen and heard despite the harsh, ashy air quality caused by the numerous nearby wildfires.

I’m not talking about last weekend’s anti-Proposition 8 rally. No, this chaotic scene, which featured more black, less rainbows, was for the Nov. 17 premiere of Twilight, the epic love story of a high-school girl (Bella) and her vampire beau (Edward) based on the hit book series by Stephenie Meyer. While the two events had several similarities, I dare say the Twilight folks were slightly more fanatical.

“We drove from the Bay Area yesterday, got in line at midnight last night, slept out here, took the day off work, and stood all day in order to fulfill a dream to take a picture or get an autograph from the stars,” enthused Cyndee Sauceda, 40, who works in a law office. “And if that doesn’t work out, it will all still be worth it if we get to touch Kellan Lutz or Robert Pattinson.”

Pattinson & Co. obliged for the most part — posing for cell photos, doling out hugs, signing books, bodies, clothes, signs, pizza boxes, any surface that didn’t cause a black Sharpie to run. “I’m going to have to ice my autograph hand when I get home,” joked Taylor “Jacob” Lautner. Pattinson, Cam Gigandet, and a few other actors even did a victory lap to slap fan hands after they had completed their initial round of interviews and fan appreciation despite holding up the screening over 45 minutes past its scheduled start time.

“This is crazier and louder than I was prepared for,” said Pattinson (pictured with co-star Kristen Stewart), running his fingers through his trademark floppy locks and looking sharp-dressed goth in his fitted black suit. “With every week, the fervor and anticipation seems to grow. This is my life. People know my name and ambush me in public and try to figure out what hotel I’m staying at and ask me to bite them and want to touch my hair. I have accepted it as real now, but it still feels surreal.” Read more

Over 500 Midnight Showings Of ‘Twilight’ Already Sold Out

I was in a Borders Books earlier today and they had this massive display of Twilight merchandise - books, calendars, soundtracks, sun block, you name it - and it occurred to me again that this is not merely a 13 - 18-year-old phenomenon. Though it is primarily a female fixation, its audience is much wider than you probably think, and when you add in the mothers of teenagers obsessed with this film, I think we’re going to see a pretty big number come Monday morning.

To that end, Fandango has announced that more than 500 midnight shows for this Friday have already sold out. I got my ticket last week, actually, choosing to be in the middle of the madness to watch the film rather than the cold, antiseptic environs of a press screening. (That means you’ll have to wait until about 3am Friday to get our review, but no biggie).

Cinema Blend says 86% of all tickets being sold on Fandango are for Twilight, which is a staggering number. Of course, Blend is also disparaging the appeal of the film, intimating that all of its audience will come on Friday. I don’t think that’s true in the slightest. And I also expect it to have a very strong second weekend because of the Thanksgiving break.

But if you were hoping to see it at midnight this Friday, you may have missed your chance in some parts of the country.

Source: GetTheBigPicture.net Read more

75 Comic Books Being Made Into Films

Den Of Geek has a very big list of what’s on tap for comic book-turned movie projects. Now, let’s get some of these projects finished up so we can watch them already!

Comics are the new spec-scripts, and Hollywood is very amenable to a script with big pictures…

Freedom Formula (2010)
Radical comics GN depicts a Robocop-style future where corporations rule and purpose-bred racers compete in tournaments with ‘Vicious Cycles’, exo-skeletal armour shells giving the wearer Iron Man-style powers, and depicts the story of ‘Zee’, the ‘Neo’ of this piece determined to bring down the whole corrupt system. Bryan Singer is producing the movie.

Runaways (2011)
This Marvel comics original finds teenagers fleeing to make up the sins of their parents, who they have discovered to be covert super-villains. A finished script is expected by early 2009 and Runaways is said to spearhead Marvel’s post-Avengers strategy.

Ramayan 3392 A.D. (2011)
Mandalay pictures are producing this adaptation of the 2006 GN, which tells the story of legendary Indian warrior Prince Rama, a reincarnation of Vishnu. The original Indian epic has been moved to the kind of post-apocalypse setting currently so bankable in Hollywood.

The Leading Man (2011)
Effectively a combination of The Saint, Jason King and The Persuaders, Nick Walker is a globe-trotting superstar actor who - Elvis-like - does some serious spying on the side. Wanted producer Mark Platt is hoping for more comic book gold.

War Heroes (2011)
We discussed the absurd speed at which his comics are made into films with Mark Millar in our recent interview, and his latest work is no exception, with his tale of enhanced supersoldiers sitting currently with Ghost Rider producer Michael De Luca.

Sleeper (2011)
Holden Carver - known as ‘The Conductor‘ - has absorbed the ability to transfer pain inflicted on him back to the source, making him a useful intelligence operative. Presumably, then, the torture scenes will be refreshingly short. This project - produced by Sam Raimi -  is currently beguiling Tom Cruise.

Kick Ass (2009)
Another Mark Millar project that’s highly anticipated and pretty much finished, though no release date has yet been set for the story of the self-styled teen superhero whose first successful tussle with bad guys gets YouTubed to world acclaim. Read more

Paramount Announces ‘Tales From The Darkside’ DVD Release

Source:Paramount Home Entertainment
November 17, 2008

“Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality. But, there is, unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit…a dark side.”

Paramount Home Entertainment will finally give Tales from the Darkside a home on DVD. The complete first season is arriving on February 10th!

This 30-minute horror anthology series followed in the vein of Creepshow with George Romero on board to executive produce for Laurel Entertainment. The show ran from ‘84 to ‘88 delving into original stories and adapting works from writers like Stephen King and Clive Barker. A feature anthology film, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, opened in theaters in 1990.

We’ll bring you a look at Paramount’s DVD art as soon as it is made available.

Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com

Twilight - Interview With Robert Pattinson

Robert Pattinson, the English actor who takes on the role of Edward the vampire in Twilight, told reporters he approached the part cautiously. The actor–previously known as the ill-fated Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire–has the unenviable job of playing a century-old vampire who is described in Stephenie Meyer’s original novel as the perfect man.

But Pattinson found a way to spark romance with Bella, the character played by co-star Kristen Stewart. Pattinson spoke in a group interview last weekend in Beverly Hills, Calif., to promote the movie, which opens Nov. 21. Following is an edited version of that interview.

Are you fully prepared for the fan reaction?

Pattinson: My brain doesn’t really accept it, so it’s fine. I can be put anywhere, and … it just goes completely over my head. I just don’t want to get stabbed or something. They’re literally, my representation, just saying, “Have you got any fear, like, literally?” … I should say, like, “I just don’t want to get shot or stabbed, and I don’t want someone to have a needle and then I get AIDS afterwards.” That’s my only legitimate, … real fears. …

The Entertainment Weekly cover story on Twilight portrays you as obsessive about playing the role of Edward, of having a lot of angst. It doesn’t seem like you now, but was that true?

Pattinson: Yeah. I didn’t want to do a teen stupid movie. I’d specifically not done anything which anyone would see since Harry Potter, because I wanted to teach myself how to act. I didn’t want to be an idiot. And this came kind of randomly, and I didn’t really know what it was when it first started. I was going to wait for another year. I wanted to do, like, two or three more little things and then do something [bigger]. But this kind of happened, and I was like, “Oh, OK.” And I’d done another movie where I’d got really intense about it before, and I felt kind of satisfied after. I was much more satisfied than I have from other movies. I don’t know how it turned out or what the result of getting intense about something is, but you definitely feel more satisfied. And I wanted to take that into Twilight and also try and break down the assumption that, if a movie is being made from a book which is selling a lot of copies–which every single book that sells a lot of copies now is made into a movie immediately–they’re actually all not very good and everybody knows, even like 6-year-olds know, that it’s just to make money. I didn’t want to be involved in that. And I thought [director] Catherine [Hardwicke] and Kristen would be supportive of that. Read more

New Trailer For Zombie Film ‘Autumn’

QuietEarth.us has some info and a trailer on David Moody’s Autumn starring David Carradine…

We’ve been covering this flick for a while, going all the way back to February and while it’s a bit low budget, the footage looks great and it also stars David Carradine, how can you go wrong with that? It’s based on the acclaimed cult novel by David Moody and was recently picked up by sales agent Splotlight Pictures so let’s hope we can get a screener soon. Here’s a full synopsis:

“As the last autumn leaves slowly peel away from the trees, a mysterious airborne virus ravages the planet, and within a few hours billions die. Victims suffer horrific deaths as their internal organs liquefy, and whole towns’ expire within minutes. Soon cities become infested breeding grounds for the new apocalyptic virus. By the end of the first day there are only a handful of survivors.

A small group of ordinary strangers are soon forced to work together to stay alive. The survivors are lead by Michael (Dexter Fletcher “Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels”, “Doom”) a lonely soft ware consultant, and Carl (Dickon Tolson “Peak Practice”, “Eastenders”) an ill-tempered mechanic. When Michael and the survivors escape from the infested city to an isolated country house, they discover the real horror has only begun!

When the dead start to gruesomely reanimate the group have naive hopes that the “walkers”, or the “meat suites”, would decompose and simply fall apart but they discover the longer the reanimated corpses are alive the more they learn, the cleverer they get, the more aggressive and treacherous they become – the more they became killing machines.

When Phillip Evans (David Carradine “Kill Bill”, “Kung Fu”) is discovered as a lone survivor in the lifeless city, a new hope emerges, but nothing is as it seems in a world turned upside down, and hope soon turns into terror. In order to endure the winter each survivor must find the strength within themselves to fight their personal demons and find the courage to combat a war against the vicious dead. What follows is a shockingly clever adventure of survival, in a thrilling desolate world. This Autumn, the darkness will come!” Read more

“Sanctuary” Picked Up for Second Season

SciFi Channel has renewed Amanda Tapping’s new series, “Sanctuary” for a second season of thirteen episodes according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“Sci Fi will continue to trail blaze the television landscape by further exploring the many worlds of ‘Sanctuary’ through its unique green-screen environments,” said Mark Stern, executive vp original programming at Sci Fi and co-head of original programming at Universal Cable Prods.

The series had a strong debut earlier this year.  The premiere episode drew three million viewers.

The second season will go into production early next year and will air sometime in 2009.

Source: GamersCircle

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