Frickin' Eh Movie News 8.26.09: Limited Edition Vinyl Press

Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 08.26.2009

This week you can discover exactly which record James Cameron's Avatar teaser broke and by how much (it's a lot). Or you can take a look at the trailer for Christopher Nolan's Inception. What about finding out who will be directing Bioshock now, or which comic book character is going to take a second shot at the big screen? You can find all that and more inside this week's edition of the Frickin' Eh Movie News!

I have a fondness for records, which has been growing ever since I first moved in with my old roommate a year ago. This past week I bought a new turntable – one of those models that can hook up to the computer to transfer the record to your computer. I partly bought it because it was on sale, partly because my old record player was shot. I've been listening to records non-stop since. There's just something different and unique about listening to music on record.

I also caught up in How I Met Your Mother. Maybe one day I'll write a bit on here about my opinions of the show. What I'll say now is that the end of the fourth season definitely picks up slightly, but I still miss the great days of the first two seasons. Something has changed over the course of the show, and unfortunately, not in a good way. That said, I'm hoping they'll continue the forward march into the fifth season and impress me. But enough about that, let's get into the news:


The Mid-Week Box Office Time Machine

Last weekend saw Tarantino's Nazi-scalping movie Inglourious Basterds take the top spot with $37.6 million. Sliding to second spot is District 9 with $18.9 million. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra slid a spot to third and made $12.5 million. The Time Traveler's Wife fell a spot and made another $10 million. Julie & Julia also fell a spot with $9 million. Shorts opened at sixth with $6.6 million. G-Force fell two spots to seven, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince fell a spot to eighth, The Ugly Truth dropped a spot to ninth, and Post Grad opened at tenth with a paltry $2.8 million.

This weekend sees two movies opening, both horror flicks. Your first choice for the weekend is Final Destination, more of the same but this time in 3D. And the other flick of the weekend is Halloween II, Rob Zombie's latest take on the old series. So take your pick.


Teaser for Nolan's Inception

Yahoo! Movies has debuted the teaser trailer online for The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan's new film, Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy and Michael Caine.

Opening in theaters on July 16, 2010, the Warner Bros. Pictures release is described as a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind. Nolan also wrote the original screenplay.

This trailer doesn't really show you much about what this movie is going to be, although that's usually what a teaser is. I'm definitely looking forward to it, though, even with this brief hint of how weird it's going to be. With a solid cast and Nolan behind the wheel, I've got no doubts about this. Check out the trailer above.


New Bioshock Director at the Helm

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later, Intacto) is in talks to direct BioShock, the Universal Pictures adaptation of the Take-Two Interactive video game, says Variety.

Gore Verbinski has stepped out of the directing slot, but remains the film's producer through his Universal-based Blind Wink. John Logan wrote the script.

According to the trade, Verbinski opted out of directing because the studio's budget plan for the film has been revamped to film abroad in order to take advantage of tax credits and favorable exchange rates. Verbinski couldn't commit to an overseas shoot because he is locked into directing the Paramount animated film Rango.

BioShock unfolds as a deep and exciting adventure. Barely surviving a plane crash, the player lands in icy uncharted waters and discovers an undersea city called Rapture, a failed utopia whose citizens had embraced genetic engineering before the city descended into pure anarchy. Power and greed have run amok and the city has succumbed to civil war.

And so this movie continues to degrade ever so slightly. Verbinski leaving the director's seat is a pretty big thing, especially when he sure sounded like the main driver behind the project. Moving the movie does make sense because it's probably going to be a fairly expensive film with the elaborate world they have to create and whatnot, but losing Verbinski is big. Now granted, Fresnadillo has experience with the horror genre, and Bioshock is essentially a horror title, but I think it'll lack the polish and excitement that Verbinski would have brought. On the bright side, maybe, just maybe, this will open Verbinski to directing the next Pirates movie. I can dream.


Sanctum: A 3D Underwater Survival Drama

Wayfare Entertainment has committed to finance the $30 million 3-D underwater survival drama Sanctum that will shoot with James Cameron's Avatar cameras and 3-D technology.

Variety says the film is expected to begin shooting in Australia late this year.

Alister Grierson (Kokoda) will direct from the script written by Andrew Wight and John Garvin. Wight, who has collaborated with Cameron on such documentaries as Aliens of the Deep and Ghosts of the Abyss, is the producer. Cameron is executive producer, along with Wayfare principals Ben Browning, Michael Maher and Peter Rawlinson.

Sanctum is a fictional drama inspired by Wight's near-death experience when he led an expedition of 15 divers into a remote underwater cave system below Australia's Nullarbor Plain, and then watched a freak storm collapse the cave entrance. It became a two-day battle to survive.

This sounds interesting, that's for sure. Freaky as hell, particularly for me, as I can't swim and have a semi-fear of drowning, but interesting. With Cameron in the executive position and lending his highly advanced cameras and technology, this will definitely be a visual experience to see. Hopefully this turns out decently.


Spawn Returns?

"Spawn" creator Todd McFarlane has announced that he has officially begun writing the screenplay for a new movie based on the character.

"The story has been in my head for 7 or 8 years," McFarlane said. "The movie idea is neither a recap or continuation. It is a standalone story that will be R-rated. Creepy and scary."

He added that "the tone of this 'Spawn' movie will be for a more older audience. Like the film 'Departed.'"

In August of 1997, New Line released a Spawn movie that grossed $87.8 million worldwide. It starred Michael Jai White, John Leguizamo and Martin Sheen.

Alright, fine. I don't remember the first Spawn movie doing all that well so I'm not sure if this one will garner all that much more interest. But it's good that McFarlane is giving it another shot, I'm sure there's lots of life left in the character and more stories to be told. It will probably resemble more of a continuation than a recap, but I wouldn't be surprised if they switched up the cast and everything, maybe try to revitalize the movie. We'll have to see.


Avatar Teaser Teases Its Way To New Record

20th Century Fox announced today that the teaser trailer for James Cameron's Avatar received 4 million streams in its first day on Apple.com, shattering the previous record of 1.7 million:

Twentieth Century Fox announced today that the AVATAR teaser trailer has become the most-viewed trailer ever on the popular iTunes Movies Trailer section of apple.com, which Thursday hosted the long-awaited public first look at writer-director James Cameron's motion picture epic. The teaser registered over four million streams in its first day on the site, shattering the previous record of 1.7 million.

On Friday, the trailer arrived in theaters around the world, presented in all formats, including IMAX® 3-D, IMAX® 2-D, digital 3-D, digital 2-D, and 35mm 2-D.

AVATAR takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, AVATAR delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

AVATAR opens in theaters everywhere December 18, 2009.

Well, congratulations to Cameron and crew. Obviously Cameron has a pretty big following to start with. Add in the fact that this has been in the works for a long time and looks to be a new standard for visuals, and you've got yourself a lot of interest going in. I haven't been swept away yet, but maybe the next trailer will do it. Check out the trailer above and see what you think, assuming you weren't one of the first four million to do it.


Banks and Crowe Are Going The Next Three Days

Variety reports that Elizabeth Banks is in final negotiations to star opposite Russell Crowe in Lionsgate's The Next Three Days.

Paul Haggis is directing, writing and producing the remake of the French thriller Pour elle. The film centers on an ordinary couple who find themselves in an unthinkable situation and have to make desperate choices that will test the limits of love.

Haggis and Michael Nozik will produce through their production entity Highway 61 Films, along with Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc of Fidelite Films.

I'm interested to see what kind of unthinkable situation they are put into, but I don't particularly want to ruin it by researching the original too much. Both Banks and Crowe are excellent at what they do, though, and should definitely do well in this movie.


Shutter Island Moves to February

Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting that Paramount Pictures has pushed back director Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island from October 2nd to February 19th.

We assume another wide release will move to Oct. 2, as the spot is mostly vacant now. Disney•Pixar is releasing theToy Story/Toy Story 2 3-D combo then, but we're not sure in how many theaters.

The other two films scheduled for Feb. 19 are From Paris with Love and Takers.

Shutter Island is the story of two U.S. marshals, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), who are summoned to a remote and barren island off the cost of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island's fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane.

Maybe the movie needs a little more polish or something. I'm going to hope it's something like that and not the studio trying to manipulate everything. While there's nothing big on either opening date, it still seems to make more sense to keep it in October. Unless the movie needs a bit more time. This will be good regardless when it comes out, so just hold on a bit longer.


Peter Chelsom Directing Last Vegas

CBS Films has set Peter Chelsom to direct Last Vegas, a Dan Fogelman-scripted comedy on track to begin production early next year, reports Variety.

The comedy centers on four semi-retired baby boomers who head to Las Vegas when the last of the Coney Island buddies, a successful lawyer in his 60s, decides to tie the knot.

"These are four guys from Coney Island, who, when we meet them, think they are invincible. I think the film should attract four great stars in that age range," Chelsom said.

While there might be comparisons made between "Vegas" and The Hangover, Chelsom said the Todd Phillips comedy helps his film, in terms of opening the door for another Vegas-set bachelor-party comedy.

So it's going to be The Hangover with older actors? Sounds about right. I would say that this will capitalize on The Hangover's success by appealing to an older audience, but The Hangover was almost an ageless story, so that's just not true. I think Chelsom may be overly optimistic about this movie in just about every regard. But I suppose you have to be an optimistic guy when your last movie was Hannah Montana: The Movie.


Zach Galifianakis Invited to Dinner For Schmucks

Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) is in talks to join the Jay Roach-directed Dinner for Schmucks, says The Hollywood Reporter.

He's joining Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and Lucy Punch in the Paramount comedy about the most pathetic guy ever to be invited to another man's weekly dinner party.

Galifianakis is playing an assistant manager of a mattress store who is dating Carell's ex-wife.

The film is scheduled to begin filming in the fall for a July 23, 2010 release.

Galifianakis would be a better star for this movie, I can definitely buy him as a pathetic guy totally out of place at a dinner party who doesn't really care. Any role he'll knock out of the park, though, and I can see him stealing the show if they give him enough leeway. This will be a typical Carell comedy, but hopefully Galifianakis can give this some good depth.


Rapid-Fire: Blade II (2002, starring Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman)

So we're back for the second installment of the vampire-hunting trilogy. How much better or worse is it than the first? Well, let's find out:

Blade returns to find himself in a pact with the vampires, after of course rescuing Whistler, who conveniently did not suffer the fate that was alluded to in the first. A new breed of vampire has evolved, it seems, and they're pretty nasty. Blade joins with a group of vampires to hunt them down, but of course, nothing is as it seems.

If you remember correctly, one of my biggest complaints with the first movie was just how cheesy and unrealistic a lot of it was. Unfortunately for this movie, instead of fixing that problem, they actually make it worse. This movie is much more gruesome and over-the-top than the first, throwing in this new type of vampire that has to be analyzed. Vampires still explode, of course, and now even more of them are being thrown around, not to mention the near-invincible new vampires.

As in the first, Snipes as Blade fits the role nicely, and doesn't do much to modify the performance, although he solidifies the seriousness (and unfortunately loses the all-black jacket for one with red lining, which I was disappointed with). Surprisingly, Kristofferson steps into the shoes of Whistler and does a great job getting more comfortable with the role. The new vampire hunters which we become familiar with, primarily Reinhardt (played by Perlman) and Nyssa (played by Leonor Varela), are a nice addition to the fold. Whistler's temporary replacement Scud (played by Norman Reedus) is annoying as hell and I was wishing he would die within the first few minutes of the movie, but there's a purpose for that, too.

Overall, I felt that this movie was a step in the wrong direction. It went far over the first one, complicating the plot exponentially and introducing even more ridiculous special effects and fights. One of the absolute low points is where they use a pseudo-Matrix style fight scene and it just looks terrible. All in all, a disappointing follow-up to the first in most regards.


Closing Time . . .

The other night at work we got started talking about the new James Bond movies and I got to voice my opinion on that subject. While I'm definitely the most negative when it comes to the new direction of James Bond, I'm definitely not alone in my opinion of them. Everyone thinks that the next movie will start going back to the old ones, specifically in bringing back gadgets and Q. I am almost willing to bet money they won't, but that's my pessimism shining through. So on that note . . .


[All news, images, and other stuff from www.comingsoon.net, www.imdb.com, www.rottentomatoes.com and www.youtube.com.]