The news that Disney is buying Marvel for $4 billion has taken the entertainment industry by surprise. But while the deal itself came out of nowhere, it’s not too shocking that these companies would see the benefit of coming together. They each involve an enormous universe full of characters, stories and, most importantly, licensing opportunities. And at a time when original plot ideas are difficult to come by, this acquisition could mean a surplus of comic book and film synopses based solely on the possibilities of team-ups, battles and other crossovers between the Disney and Marvel worlds.
To give you an idea of where this deal could lead, we’ve come up with ten potential movies that we’d love to see come out of the Disney-Marvel relationship. Check them out after the jump. …Read more
This has been quite the week for me to wish Nicolas Cage still made good movies. Besides crying over the fact that his latest sci-fi action thriller involving disaster prophesy was #1 at the box office despite being panned by critics, some of my unrelated experiences over the past seven days have coincidentally included the following: watching Wild at Heartfor the first time; learning from locals that Moonstruckwas partly shot in my neighborhood; discussing, at a party, not only the merits of The Rock, but also its qualifications for inclusion in the Criterion catalog. I’m now thinking I should stay home tonight and watch a marathon of Raising Arizona, Face/Offand Adaptation.
Or, maybe I can just lay back and think about how Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprenticeis going to be Cage’s return to quality. I know, I know, those of you who didn’t stop reading at my profession of love for The Rock are now wondering if I’m crazy. “Certainly this movie is going to be terrible,” you’re saying to yourself (as you plan your derisive comment). And besides, Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant“remake” shall be his next good film. Well, maybe, but after seeing the new production photos from Apprentice circulating the net (originating at JustJared), I’m prophesizing that the Fantasia-inspired film will be the Moonstruck to Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans‘ Raising Arizona, or the Face/Off to Lieutenant’s Con Air, or the Adaptation to Lieutenant’s Windtalkers. Perhaps I am soiling my reputation by confessing my overextending appreciation of Cage’s career, but you have to respect a guy who allows himself to look and be so ridiculous for his art.
The rest of the film blogosphere’s responses to the photos after the jump:
Even if you love the original Escape to Witch Mountain, you have to welcome a remake. The 1975 sci-fi Disney film has some very dated special effects — though the visible wires used to “levitate” a handgun and a harmonica give it a campy charm — and it’s not exactly the well-respected classic that The Black Hole or Old Yeller is, anyway. So, better a remake (or “modern re-imagining”) of a slightly beloved movie, which has already been redone once, to give The Rock another fulfillment of his Disney contract and utilize all the “perfect” digital effects now available.
While it seems that eventually all Disney live-action classics will be remade, potentially rendering obsolete the careers of Dean Jones, Kevin Corcoran and those ugly kids from Mary Poppins, there are some that may, like Witch Mountain, deserve to be recycled. Disney has previously erred in reworking films like The Absent-Minded Professor (Robin Williams is no Fred MacMurray) and The Shaggy Dog (Tim Allen is no MacMurray, either, nor even is he Tommy Kirk), and it’s mistakenly producing new versions of Swiss Family Robinson and 20,000 Leauges Under the Sea. But there are so many other films, most forgotten, that would better lend themselves to remakes.
Here we’ve selected 10 such classics, all but one live-action features, and we welcome you to suggest any others you may wish to see updated and/or re-imagined. …Read more
Here’s something I thought I’d never see, though I guess it is inevitable that all major actors will direct at least one film in their lives: the words “A Film by Bruce Willis” shall feature in the credits for the indie Three Stories About Joan, which will star Camilla Belle. In addition to making his directorial debut, Willis will also co-star as Belle’s father.
Initially, I also was surprised to read that American Psycho is getting the Broadway musical treatment. Then, I realized it’s basically just Sweeney Todd with ’80s music. Still, I have to wonder about all the sex and vulgarities. Also: will it be as much a laugh riot as “Oh Africa, Brave Africa”?
A producer in India is ignoring the rules of the Foreign Language Oscar and independently submitting his film, Tingya, to the Academy, separate of his country’s official entry. The film may not be good enough to receive a nomination even if it were eligible, but at least the guy is protesting the unfair process. Meanwhile, THR’s Risky Biz Blog is excited about the foreign film race following Israel’s submission this week of Waltz With Bashir.
Variety reports that Disney is making a movie based on the Tomorrowland part of its theme parks, yet the trade also notes the studio denies that the project is based on any such thing. Perhaps Disney is afraid the movie, which I’ll simply refer to as “The Rock in Space,” could be more Haunted Mansion than Pirates of the Caribbean?
Both Brad Pitt and Rose McGowan are spotlighted in the trades this morning for their oppositional political statements. For Pitt, it’s his donation of $100,000 to the campaign against the proposition to ban same-sex marriage in California. For McGowan, it’s her controversial claim that she’d have joined the IRA had she grown up in Belfast. Yeah, it’s that slow a Hollywood news day, apparently.
You knew somebody would eventually officially say it this week, and it unsurprisingly comes from Jeffrey Katzenberg: “Our product is recession resistant.” Also, despite the millions of people who’d argue otherwise: “The single greatest price/value entertainment (option) is at your local movie theater.” Interestingly enough, DreamWorks Animation has a direct-to-DVD Kung Fu Panda sequel coming out soon.
Documentaries and socially-relevant foreign films are sexy, too! Here are my picks for five international hotties who, no matter the plot, create a private porn of their own.
Who is Lior Ashkenazi? I have no idea. What I do know is that finally getting around to watching American-born Israeli director Eytan Fox’s 2004 Walk On Water, starring the incredible Israeli hunk Ashkenazi as a Mossad agent who finds himself intertwined in the lives of the grandson and granddaughter of a fugitive Nazi he’s assigned to capture, I realized I haven’t wanted to lay a movie star this bad since I first laid eyes on Daniel Craig’s 007. The sturdy-bodied, raven-haired Marlboro Man with magnetic eyes and a chin both chiseled and Travolta dimpled is so mesmerizing I can’t get his image out of my head – like a catchy techno tune stuck on endless repeat. The film itself is a fascinating character study for the first hour – until the characters leave the Holy Land for Berlin, wherein the plot descends into ludicrous soap opera melodrama complete with Deutsche drag queens and Jean-Claude Van Damme damage (and Bruce
Springsteen’s annoying “Tunnel of Love” stuck on endless repeat). But none of this really matters because it’s also got – Lior Ashkenazi! (And just to make me more hot and bothered he even gets naked, the camera caressing his hirsute chest – before he soaps up another man. And the character is straight. Continue reading while I take a cold shower.)
Is multi-medal-winning Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps the next action movie star? Or will he merely become a reality TV staple with the occasional cameo appearance in sports-related films? A recent Hollywood Reporter article weighed Phelps’ future celebrity options, and in response Entertainment Weekly asked its readers if Phelps could possibly be the next Brad Pitt (the magazine also looked at a couple Olympian-turned-actors in a recent slide show). However, while one comment recommended the swimmer for the role of Captain America (wouldn’t Namor or Aquaman make more sense?), it otherwise appears moviegoers are skeptical about Phelps’ chances in Hollywood.
Here at Spout, of course, we’re looking more forward to the Nastia Liukin-Shawn Johnson reform school flick (also discussed on this week’s podcast), but we certainly have room to anticipate the terrible low-budget action pics that Phelps is inevitably going to star in. It’s highly unlikely that he’d gain the stature of Pitt or the greatest athlete-turned-action hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger. So the question is, instead: does Phelps have what it takes to break through onto the list of worst athlete-turned-action heroes of all time? And will his worst fight scene look anything as bad as the following ten examples?
Here’s an 11th suggestion for how the Academy Awards can build up its ratings: give Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson an Oscar nomination. Yes, I’m clearly continuing the snark, but I’m not coming out of left field. The wrestler-turned-actor was a presenter during Sunday’s ceremony and afterwards he was asked by reporters whether or not he’d one day like an Oscar. And obviously he said that he would. He’s quoted in The Times today discussing his response:
“‘ … of course, it’s every actor’s dream,’ he says, with initially guarded enthusiasm. In fact, he adds, momentarily overtaken by the excitement of it all, ‘winning an Oscar is a goal of mine’.”
And the writer for The Times is encouraging it:
“To judge from his track record, if the Oscar win is a goal, then it’s already in the bag. Just make sure they put the name Johnson on the trophy, and not Rock.”
“Comedy is pain and frustration and crushing embarrassment; in other words comedy is much like real life,” writes Dan Leo at NewCritics. His essay, Funny Ha Ha, is not about Andrew Bujalski’s film. It’s mostly about how “the whole trick is to go through the day suffering all one’s usual defeats and calamities and somehow to see yourself as a sitcom character, or, if you’re feeling really grandiose, like a big-screen funny person like Jack Black or Vince Vaughn or Ralph Fiennes.” It’s also about sex.
It’s all part of NewCritics’ Comedy Blogathon, which began yesterday, and continues through Saturday. The idea, according to the invitation email, is to answer the question, “What is the purest comedic moment you have ever experienced?” To participate, you can write your own post on your own blog, include a link to this post on NewCritics, and your entry will be sweept up into the madness. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. I might just review Southland Tales–because if The Rock saying “pimps don’t commit suicide” isn’t pure comedy, I don’t know what is.
Wow — I guess this means they’re really going to release it (see previous coverage of the drama surrounding Southland Tales’ wavering release date here, here and here). I’m a little wary of the Mystical Female Asian Character, but we’ll see.
The Rock will play “a Las Vegas cab driver who picks up a pair of siblings with magical powers” in Witch Mountain, which is set to “advance the storyline” of the Disney’s 70s movies about mystical orphans.
Owen Wilson has dropped out ofTropic Thunder, an ensemble comedy currently being directed by Ben Stiller in Hawaii, for obvious reasons.
John Goodman will lend his voice to the role of Paul Bunyan in the CG animated Bunyan & Babe.
Rob Zombie has signed a two-picture deal with Dimension, which would suggest that Bob Weinstein has faith that Zombie’s Halloween remake is going to do well this weekend.
Turner Classic Movies is turning their evening programming blocks over to guest programmers for the entire month of November. The guests will include a contest winner, a fictional character (Kermit the Frog), and Rose McGowan, whose “unpredictable” choices include A Place in the Sun and A Touch of Mink.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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This has been quite the week for me to wish Nicolas Cage still made good movies. Besides crying over the fact that his latest sci-fi action thriller involving disaster prophesy was #1 at the box office despite being panned by critics, some of my unrelated experiences over the past seven days have coincidentally included the following: watching Wild at Heart for the first time; learning from locals that Moonstruck was partly shot in my neighborhood; discussing, at a party, not only the merits of The Rock, but also its qualifications for inclusion in the Criterion catalog. I’m now thinking I should stay home tonight and watch a marathon of Raising Arizona, Face/Off and Adaptation.
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