Archive for January 10th, 2007
Sony have used this week’s CES event in Las Vegas to promote their Blu-ray format with the announcement of a slew of titles to be released over the coming year.
Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc.
In addition to Alexander, Bullitt, Face/Off, The Getaway, Payback, The Matrix trilogy, Harry Potter 1-4, Ocean’s 11 & 12 which will also be released on the rival HD DVD format, Blu-ray owners can exclusively look forward to:
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Posted in Movies •
Rather than trying to sort out their differences to try and get The Hobbit project off the ground it seems that the fued between New Line and Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has escalated to new heights.
In an interview with SciFi.com, boss of New Line Robert Shaye has said “Not that I don’t think Peter is a good filmmaker and that he hasn’t contributed significantly to filmography and made three very good movies. And I don’t even expect him to say ‘thank you’ for having me make it happen and having New Line make it happen. But to think that I, as a functionary in [a] company that has been around for a long time, but is now owned by a very big conglomerate, would care one bit about trying to cheat the guy, … he’s either had very poor counsel or is completely misinformed and myopic to think that I care whether I give him [anything].”
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Posted in Movies, The Hobbit / LOTR •
Following J.J. Abrams’ panel at the New York Times’ 6th Annual Arts & Leisure Weekend, Entertainment Weekly managed to quiz the Lost and MI3 director about his upcoming Star Trek XI movie project.
Although the script for the 11th Trek movie is still not finalized, Abrams said that the film will be something that even non-Trekkies can enjoy, saying “On the one hand, for people who love Star Trek, the fix that they will get will be really satisfying, for people who’ve never seen it or know it vaguely, I think they will enjoy it equally, because the movie does not require you to know anything about Star Trek. I would actually prefer [that] people don’t know the series, because I feel like they will come to it with an open mind”.
Alex Christian and Roberto Orci are taking executive-production duties as well as writing the script. Abrams will co-produce with Lost associates Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk. “I can’t wait to do this,” said Abrams, “It is an absolute thrill to work on this project. We really are still like, How the hell are we able to do this?”
Click here to discuss Star Trek XI on the X-Boards.
Posted in Movies, Star Trek •
Warner Bros Home Video has announced that the Harry Potter films will be released on the HD DVD format this year.
The Harry Potter movies join the Matrix trilogy, The Departed, The Wicker Man, Happy Feet, Blood Diamond, We Are Marshall, Oceans 11 & 12, Bullitt, The Getaway and Alexander Revisited: The Unrated Final Cut in Warner’s 2007 HD release lineup.
HD DVDs offer resolution six times higher than standard definition DVDs, as well as extraordinarily vibrant contrast and color and beautifully crisp sound. HD DVDs also provide a higher level of interactivity, with instant access to extra features via a seamless menu-bar where viewers can enjoy features without leaving or interrupting the film.
Click here to discuss the Harry Potter HD DVD releases on the X-Boards.
Posted in Harry Potter, Movies •
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, along with Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, the team behind the best selling series of books, The Spiderwick Chronicles have launched their official website and fan club, The International Sprite League.
Spiderwick is certainly a hot property with With a movie adaptation from Paramount Pictures in the works, scheduled for a 2008 release and the newest Spiderwick title, Care and Feeding of Sprites, now in stores. The film will be directed by Mack Waters with Visual FX maestro Phil Tippett producing the creatures.
The story of the first book in the series takes place in New England and revolves around the adventures of Nine-year-old twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory who have moved to the decrepit Spiderwick Estate. There they discover a book called ‘Arthur Spiderwick’s field guide to Faeries’, and quickly realize that the entire estate is overrun with them.
Click here to discuss the The Spiderwick Chronicles on the X-Boards.
Posted in Books & Comics, Movies •
Yesterday the Academy announced the seven movies under consideration for the 79th Annual Academy Awards oscar for best makeup.
The list of seven nominees will be shortlisted to just three on Jan 20th when the Academy’s makeup award nominating committee will view 10 minutes of excerpts from each of the films. Nominations for the 79th Annual Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 23. The awards will be presented Feb. 25 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland.
The shortlisted films are: Apocalypto, X-Men: The Last Stand, Click, Pan’s Labyrinth, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, The Prestige and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.
Click here to discuss the 79th Annual Academy Awards on the X-Boards.
Posted in Movies •
TVNZ reports that FX company Weta Digital has landed work on James Cameron’s Avatar. Weta Digital Ltd is an Academy Award® winning visual effects facility based in Wellington, New Zealand and is best known for its visual effects work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy (New Line Cinema) and King Kong (Universal Pictures).
The Canadian born director has told The New York Times the film will test new technologies on a scale unseen before in Hollywood, to “go even further than Lord of The Rings in making a large cast of virtual creatures who convey emotion as authentically as humans.”.
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Posted in Movies •
With writer-director Stephen Sommers not onboard for the third outing of The Mummy franchise, Universal has been looking for a replacement director.
With Jurassic Park 3 lenser Joe Johnston ruled out, rumor has it that Rob Cohen is in negotiations to take the job. TMZ says “Look for Universal to make the formal offer to Cohen sometime later this week,”. Following high octane hits with The Fast and the Furious and xXx, the New Yorker fell out of favour when action pic Stealth performed poorly and is looking to get his career back on track.
Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are rumored to be interested in reprising their roles, but Oded Fehr will probably not be back.
Click here to discuss The Mummy 3 on the X-Boards.
Posted in Movies •
It seems that fans of hit TV show 24 might have to wait a little bit longer for a big screen adaptation.
Previous reports hinted that a Jack Bauer movie would be shot between seasons six and seven with rumours that it would begin shooting in Europe this spring. However, last night on CNN’s “Larry King Live”, 24 creator Robert Cochran stated that a movie was more likely to be made near the end of the series. With star Kiefer Sutherland contracted to appear in series seven and eight it might not be until mid-2009 when 24 hits the big screen.
Click here to discuss 24 on the X-Boards.
Source: AICN
Posted in Television •
I am a little leary of the situation. The truth will come out when, and if the US economy, and the dollar begins to strengthen. If prices remain high, you’ll know someone is lying. Either OPEC doesn’t have the supply they claim they have, or Analysts are incorrect when they say demand has decreased. Personally, I don’t buy the claim that demand has decreased. Population is ever increasing, so, the the demand should always be increasing. 