Archive for July 22nd, 2006
Updated Sun 23 Jul, 2pm GMT: DMax’s Saturday report + Saturday news round-up (Star Trek XI, Wonder Woman, 300, Grindhouse, Lost, Iron Man, Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3)
This weekend, the San Diego Convention Center is the place to be for genre film fans, when most of the major studios reveal new information and footage from their upcoming movies at Comic Con, and invite film crew and actors to discuss their latest work. The convention commenced on Thursday and runs until tomorrow, Sunday, and we’ll be updating this spot with all the latest news from Comic Con. We had two staff members within the confines of the Convention Center yesterday, and both have now checked back in with their reports in after a long and tiring day. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Commentary, Movies •
Here’s the official press release from Disney on The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe Four-Disc Extended Edition-
BURBANK, Calif., July 22, 2006 – For a very limited time, Walt Disney Home Entertainment presents the ultimate “Narnia” DVD collection: Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media present C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe Four-Disc EXTENDED EDITION available on DVD December 12. This extraordinary 4-disc DVD edition, a wondrous celebration of C.S. Lewis’ beloved fantasy world, will only be available for seven weeks over the holidays, making it an excellent holiday gift.
Extended Edition ContentsThe EXTENDED EDITION features a new, extended version of the film with enhanced special effects and anextended, climactic battle scene. Viewers will venture even deeper into the beloved fantasy world of ’Narnia’ with “C.S. Lewis – The Dreamer Of Narnia,” an all-new feature-length film about the creative genius behind the ’Narnia’ mythos. “Visualizing the Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe: The Complete Production Experience” is an in-depth look at the process and technology of adapting the book into the stunning motion picture. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Chronicles of Narnia, Movies •
The following news report is from the X-Realms own Dave who has lucky enough to attend Steve Sansweet’s Star Wars Spectacular presentation at the 2006 Comic Con event in San Diego.
Steve Sansweet is in charge of fan relations in Lucasfilm’s marketing department and has authored or co-authored ten books on the Star Wars saga.
Sansweet also has the largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia in the world which he has been amassing since the 1970s.
OK, I need to get the first big dissapointment out of the way: no clip from the 2008 Clone Wars animated series. With that off my chest, here’s the rundown of Steve Sansweet’s presentation this afternoon:
- The original (sans “Episode IV”) scroll-up from Star Wars was shown.
- 30 years ago to this very day (!), “Star Wars” was first unveiled to the public at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1976. Sanswet showed some nostalgic pix from that first presentation.
- The bonus DVDs of the original versions of Episodes IV, V & VI will be non-anamorphic but Sansweet assured us they’ll be the best possible quality. During the Q&A, someone called him on why he said just last year that there wouldn’t be a DVD release of the original films and he didn’t like that so much.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Star Wars •
The upcoming release of The Fountain is a tiny miracle. Brooklyn-born director Darren Aronofsky’s new film has been in the pipeline for over four years already, only to be left for dead at one point and resurrected with a new main cast and a tighter budget further down the line.
In early 2002, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett signed on the $75 million project in the leading roles as Tom and Isabel, but Pitt bowed out over creative differences with Aronofsky and opted to star in Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy instead. Preproduction was halted almost immediately and no further work was undertaken on the film for almost two full years. Not until Aronofsky replaced Pitt and Blanchett with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz did Warner Bros. sanction the go ahead, albeit with a significantly smaller budget, somewhere in the region of $40 million.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Commentary, Movies •
I prefer Obama to McCain. Now, McCain’s better than average for a Republican. And though his ads are intellectually offensive, he’s just bowing to his campaign masters and would calm down and be more sane once in office and not campaigning. But I have a few concerns with McCain on foreign policy. He’s not a full-fledged Neocon. That’s good. He opposed Reagan on Lebanon. Good. He was critical of Bush’s initial strategy in Iraq. That’s good. But there’s a problem. He thinks the Vietnam war was winnable and that the US shouldn’t have withdrawn. He’s also eager to spread democracy with force. This just isn’t a good set of beliefs for inheriting Iraq.