I hardly remember the original Robocop movie other than I thought he looked freaking cool. The upcoming remake of Robocop may have die-hard fans worried but I’m always for any sort of movie that marries futuristic weapons with robots and humans. More »
We’ve begun our long in-depth search through the waves of both legitimate and falsified information coming in surrounding Star Wars Episode VII, the first in a series of three films born of Disney’s recent acquisition of Lucasfilm. What we’re seeing here extremely early on in the game is very few solid details and an overflow of rumors the likes of which we’ve only come to see from the release of an iPhone – imagine that. At the outset, we’ve got this: Michael Arndt is attached as writer and George Lucas will indeed be involved.
As confirmed by StarWars.com and therefor Lucasfilm itself, film writer Michael Arndt will be writing the screenplay for Star Wars: Episode VII. Both Kennedy and Lucas have “begun story conferences” with Arndt, and from what we’ve heard from these heads of Lucasfilm, they’ve got some “blank spots” to fill.
Lucas: I just said that I would back her [Kathleen Kennedy] up and I would be there if – you know, especially with the script, in making sure the script, sort of… there’s a lot of blank spots in the story treatment that hopefully we can fill.
Kennedy: This is not like a series of books like Harry Potter where you’ve already got a template of what the stories might be. These are original stories and original ideas that come out of a world that, essentially, is inside George’s head. The beauty of the collaboration that can continue is that as we work our way through these scripts, if we stop and we say “hmmm, I wonder if this character can do that,” or “does this make sense within the rules of Star Wars.” He’s the keeper of the flame when it comes to that.
Lucas: It’s the same as the first three films. That’s all my job is, is to be the keeper of the flame.
After this one singular confirmation, everyone and their mother has been tipped as on or off of the project here well before they’d actually be called up to join in on the party. The two most important people up for the job thus far have been Steven Spielberg and Conan O’Brien, neither of whom have actually been asked or intend to audition for such a role. Conan has begun a collection of audition tapes – not his own – that parody what it might be like if prominent directors keep with their own genre and move into the Star Wars universe. One example is Wes Anderson, as seen here:
Meanwhile Access Hollywood has point-blank asked Steven Spielberg if he’d be up for directing a Star Wars movie.
“Would you direct one of the Star Wars movies?” – AH
“No. No because it’s not my genre. It’s my best friend George’s genre.” – Spielberg
Then there’s the inevitable questions asked of Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford about the next films. If you take a peek at what Fisher says, you’ll get a terrible lump in your stomach because the only word comes from celebrity tabloids invading her privacy while she’s walking her dog – shame on them – to the point where her answers really don’t confirm anything. So we’ll be waiting on that one, even though TheForce.net did re-report it.
UPDATE: Leslie Gornstein of E! Online has been contacted by a representative of Carrie Fisher who notes: “She hasn’t confirmed anything. Everything you’ve seen has been tongue-in-cheek.” Extremely likely considering miss Fisher’s sense of humor. And the fact that the other “confirmation” she made at a book signing where a fan asked if she’ll be in Star Wars 7, saying “Yes… I thought it was already common knowledge!”
Harrison Ford, on the other hand, has been reported by Entertainment Weekly as being open to the idea of joining the films – or just the first one – and is “upbeat” about it, too.
“Harrison is open to the idea of doing the movie and he’s upbeat about it, all three of them are.” – EW Source
The writer Geoff Boucher reports this information as coming from a “highly placed source” and we’re inclined to believe it as legitimate. On the other hand, he recalls being a moderator for a 30th anniversary screening of The Empire Strikes Back (in the year 2010) where Ford spoke shortly of the franchise’s “ascension in popular culture”:
“I don’t know that I understood it very well. I’m not sure I understand it yet…I was very happy to be involved. I was pleased to be a part of an ensemble.” – Harrison Ford
Boucher also spoke with Mark Hamill about the possibility of Han, Luke, and Leia returning to the series. Hamill noted that Lucas actually “summoned” he and Fisher to a lunch in August (2012) and they “learned about the idea” back then. Whether or not this means that they considered the idea of coming back to the films in-person is not entirely clear. Hamill was frank about the perspective of the fans, on the other hand:
“I can see both sides of it. Because in a way, there was a beginning, a middle, and an end and we all lived happily ever after and that’s the way it should be — and it’s great that people have fond memories, if they do have fond memories. But on the other hand, there’s this ravenous desire on the part of the true believers to have more and more and more material.” – Mark Hamill
Stay tuned to SlashGear as we continue to keep our nose to the grindstone and eyes on the Star Wars universe for more information about the 2015 launch of Star Wars: Episode VII as it appears. At the same time, please feel free to continue to send us all the information you’ve got on the subject, be it a secret tip or an official news blast you’ve seen from your favorite odd source!
[Images via World Famous Design Junkies]
Star Wars Episode 7 cast begins to assemble is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
This week the upcoming president of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, has made it clear to employess that she intended them to release 2-3 Star Wars films a year starting in 2015 with Episode VII. After the announcement was made by George Lucas himself that Lucasfilm and the rights to the Star Wars industry had been sold to Disney, it was just as giant a news flash that this meant a sequel to the 6th film in the series Return of the Jedi. Just about the only blast that could possibly have topped such an announcement is this: it’s just the beginning!
Speaking this week with Entertainment Weekly in their cover story surrounding The Future of Star Wars, Kennedy made dreams come true and shattered many mind-grapes at the same time with a 2-3 movie releases a year announcement. The comment was apparently made first inside Lucasfilm not long after Kennedy was announced to be taking over for Lucas once the $4 billion Disney deal was complete.
This has gigantic implications for the Star Wars universe, especially considering what Disney has done with Marvel Comics since they acquired that massive environment several years ago. Since Disney got to work with Marvel, they made it possible for a knock-out combination of films to be released, including Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor, and The Avengers.
The future of the Star Wars industry has been commented on by everyone from Robert Rodriguez to Jon Favreau, who captured it all very nicely with a simple: “I want so bad for it to be good.” With the Marvel universe expanding at a rather rapid rate in the film industry, chances are that Disney isn’t going to let an opportunity such as the one they’ve got here and now with Star Wars get away from them. Now we’ve just to hope they go with the Thrawn Trilogy like a good, sensible film production group would.
Star Wars films 2-3 times a year starting in 2015 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
It would appear that the biggest-name biography movie surrounding the life and times of Steve Jobs, that being the one penned by Aaron Sorkin, will be played out in three 30-minute segments, each of them working as one single shot each. Each of these segments will work inside time behind the scenes right before the launches of the original Mac, the original iPod, and NeXT. This information was revealed this week at the Summit conference with Newsweek and The Daily Beast, Sorkin himself noting the format with little else for details.
What’s known thus far – per Sorkin – is that they plan on filming the movie in three shots. These shots will be continuous, not unlike the film Children of Men – though with far fewer deaths involved, of course. The movie will be backed by Sony and for those of you that don’t know him at the moment, Aaron Sorkin is best known for being a writer for “The West Wing”, a show of some note, and movies like The Social Network and A Few Good Men.
For those of you wondering if this is or is not the Steve Jobs biopic with Ashton Kutcher in it – it’s certainly not. That movie goes by the name “Jobs” and was written by a man named Matt Whiteley. This version has Sorkin speaking on the life of Steve Jobs years before the iPhone and iPad launched. It’s the Mac, here, that he wants to capture.
Speaking about the iconic Mac advertisement “here’s to the crazy ones”, Sorkin said thusly: “if I can live up to that ending, I will have won.” The version of the ad spot you’re seeing here has Jobs himself doing the voice-over rather than the more popular version with Richard Dryfuss doing the audio.
As for the segments this movie is going to come up on, you’ll want to begin with the Mac. This is the Apple Macintosh keynote by Steve Jobs all the way back in 1984. Have a peek and be utterly amazed.
Next you’ll see NeXT – it’s not clear at the moment if this will be the presentation they’ll be speaking about in the movie now or not, but still – interesting stuff! This is Steve Jobs speaking about NeXT OS. Very simple stuff, very visionary.
Then it’s time for the original iPod. This device appears to be a beast compared to the devices we use today, but back then it was an industry-changer. We’ll be getting an interpretation of the action behind the stage before this event started in the movie – can’t wait! Also – please excuse Comic Sans – Apple wasn’t part of the graphic design and typography modernism at the time.
Steve Jobs biopic to be three one-scene pre-keynotes is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
A news shocker for anyone excited about the other Steve Jobs movie—which should be good, because it’s written by Oscar-winning dynamo Aaron Sorkin, doesn’t star Ashton Kutcher, and isn’t called iJobs. The movie will only have three scenes. Three. More »
Tom Hardy, the British actor who played Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, has signed on to play the main protagonist, Sam Fisher, in the upcoming adaptation of video game franchise Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. The movie is still in its planning stages and the series’ developer Ubisoft is still in talks to sign on a movie studio.
The upcoming film will be written by Eric Warren Singer, who also wrote The International which starred Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. This will be Singers third movie as a writer. The Splinter Cell film doesn’t yet have a studio locked in, but Ubisoft is said to have had preliminary talks with Warner Bros. and Paramount.
Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures, says that Hardy “is currently one of the biggest talents in the film industry, and he has a phenomenal ability to take on complex and varied roles with his broad range of acting skills.” Hardy is most known for playing the infamous role of Batman’s nemesis, Bane, in the recent Dark Knight sequel The Dark Knight Rises.
Ubisoft has sold over 23 million copies of Splinter Cell since the series’ debut in 2002. Six games have been released so far, with Splinter Cell: Blacklist releasing next spring. Ubisoft is also working on an Assassin’s Creed movie, which will feature Prometheus star Michael Fassbender, who is also on board to co-produce the Splinter Cell film.
[via Variety]
Image via Flickr
Splinter Cell movie will star Dark Knight Rises actor Tom Hardy is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
In the days before movies had soundtracks, it’s easy to assume that going to the cinema was a silent experiences. Not so. In fact, movie theaters were packed with innovations to create dramatic soundscapes and keep viewers engaged. More »
Cinemark will now reward you for not texting during a movie. Instead of the more logical alternative, which is tasing you. Gizmodo reader Eyaare disagrees. Here is his counterpoint, presented without comment: More »
Hey all you IDIOT KIDS. Don’t text during a movie. Don’t do look at your phone. Don’t touch it. Don’t even think about it. That’s just basic common fucking courtesy you halfwit assholes. But because we’re horrible creatures that can’t resist checking Instagram once every 15 minutes, Cinemark will reward you for leaving your phone alone during a movie. It’s as if the Justice Department started giving tax breaks to people who don’t commit murder. More »
The market for paid movie rentals from predominantly free video services isn’t a very big one. For most of us, it amounts to YouTube… and YouTube. Vimeo is planning to shake up that small category with its own pay-to-view service. A just-started private beta stands out mostly through rental windows that won’t leave us scrambling for spare viewing time. While there’s a 48-hour rental, there are also 72-hour, 1-week and 2-month periods that let even the perpetually busy get through a full showing. Vimeo’s current selection is limited to six documentaries at between $5 to $9, although that thin selection is acceptable given the test phase. The real demand for content will come with the official pay-to-view launch for Vimeo Pro subscribers in early 2013 — whether or not Vimeo needs a YouTube-sized catalog, there’s only so many skiing documentaries we can take.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Vimeo pay-to-view service launches in private beta with procrastination-ready long rentals originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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