With Indy IV in turnaround, Steven Spielberg now plans to team up with Tom Cruise for War of the Worlds. (And, what with Robert Rodriguez’s John Carter movie, 2005 is looking to be the year of literary Martian invasion adaptations.) Anyway, hopefully Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp will stick closer to the source material than did that godawful-looking version of I, Robot.
Tag: Fanboy
Got a light?
Big-time raging Episode 3 spoilers today, including looks at the new Big Bad (General Grievous…couldn’t at least one villain be named something like Darth Sunflower?) and a post-Volcano Anakin that looks like he’s been hanging around the waiting room in Beetlejuice. Update: Emerging fanboy consensus seems to be that this second pic is semi-fake. The head is real, the body is not, and the arm is that of the T-800. So there you have it.
Wonder Daemons.
“Pullman has looked around at this broken universe of ours, in its naturalistic tatters, and has indicated, like Satan pointing to the place on which Pandemonium will rise, the site of our truest contemporary narratives of the Fall: in the lives, in the bodies and souls, of our children.” Michael Chabon belatedly reviews the His Dark Materials trilogy for the NY Review of Books.
The White Witch Approaches.
One journey is over, another begins…word is Nicole Kidman may be the White Witch in the forthcoming Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. I’ll be honest, I don’t like the Narnia books nearly half as much as LotR. But, still, it’d be nice to see ’em done right, and Kidman is a step in the right direction (Heads up via High Industrial.) Update: Word from the studio is it’s not true.
What’s taters, precious?
Boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew…
The Fruits of the King.
On the day after PJ’s big cleanup, Disney announces that it has secured The Chronicles of Narnia, with Andrew Shrek Adamson directing. Meanwhile, Robert Rodriguez announces he’s doing The Princess of Mars, the first of the John Carter books.
Coronation!
Hail to the King, baby. RotK sweeps the Oscars, winning all 11 categories in which it was nominated. I must say, this is a much better showing than I anticipated, but it is in no way undeserved (Three words for the playa-haters: A Beautiful Mind — Fellowship deserved at least half the awards that that schmaltz-fest won two years ago. Besides, the most contested win this time around was probably Adapted Screenplay, and, even there, none of the other nominees had to straddle such an enormous divide between newbies and a rabidly devoted fan base.) Congrats and many thanks to PJ et al once again. And, in honor of the achievement, the official LotR site has posted the trilogy supertrailer (from the deluxe RotK soundtrack), which is definitely worth a look to get a sense of the sweep and majesty of the films taken together.
At any rate, the entertainment pundits seem to have been bored, but I thought it was just about a perfect evening. The only melancholy note was a brokenhearted-looking Bill Murray losing out to Sean Penn. Both were good, but Penn’s going to be up there every year, while Murray — unless Wes Anderson sets him up with a chewy Supporting Actor morsel sometime in the future — may never get a second chance.
Now, just think how many Oscars the RotK:EE might’ve won…
Sunset over Springfield.
D’oh! Playmates announces the end of the World of Springfield Simpsons figure line, which should mean more petty cash-in-hand and shelf space in these parts.
Gimli Sells Out.
“[Gollum] never hesitates to exploit a wedge issue, be it Frodo’s trust of Sam or the distribution of lembas bread, and is savage in combat until defeated, at which point he whines endlessly about how unfair it all is.” Salon ruminates on the current political applicability of Lord of the Rings, and notes how John Rhys-Davies, decrying the threat of Muslim civilization, is all the rage on the conservative circuit right now. Tsk, tsk, what would Sallah say?
Worth more than all the Shire.
Congrats to PJ and the gang for RotK‘s billion dollar box office…those are weak Dubya dollars of course, compared to Titanic‘s $1.8 billion run of stronger Clintonian currency, but still, an ample reward for a job well done.