Filed under: Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, New Line, Warner Brothers, Celebrities and Controversy, Family Films, Newsstand, Peter Jackson, Remakes and Sequels

Just when you thought it was safe to get excited, a possible wrench has been thrown into The Hobbit works. According to London's Sunday Times, Christopher Tolkien, the son of J.R.R., is attempting to stop the movie from being made altogether, calling for "one last crusade" in the long running court battle.

Regrettably, the issue at large is still money. Tolkien asserts that the family is still owed £80 million from New Line Cinema, under the 1978 sale of the rights that promised them 7.5% of the profits. Of course, that studio is now defunct, and Warner Bros has no comment on the financial problems.

On June 6th, Tolkien plans to petition a California judge to back his claim to terminate the film rights.

Continue reading Christopher Tolkien Trying To Stop 'The Hobbit'

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Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Politics

Whether you liked or hated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you now have to admit that it was good for something. Specifically, members of the Russian Communist Party have called for a nationwide boycott of the film, because it lies about history and aims to undermine Communism. They've objected that the Soviet Union in 1957 was launching satellites instead of "send[ing] terrorists to the States," and are wondering whether "talented directors want to provoke a new Cold War."

First, it's important to note that the Russian Communist Party isn't a tiny cabal of pamphleteering loonies à la the American Communist Party. The Russian Party got 11.6% of the vote in 2007's parliamentary elections (that's about 8 million votes), and its representatives actually hold seats in Parliament; it's the largest opposition party in the country, and the Communist presidential candidate tends to be competitive. Second: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. An Indiana Jones film is an attempt to provoke a new Cold War? Really? If anything, it's proof -- as if any were needed -- that America doesn't take Communists seriously as adversaries. And if anything else, it's flattering: I seriously doubt that the modern Communist Party has any leaders as brilliant and ambitious as Cate Blanchett's Irina Spalko.

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Filed under: Comedy, Independent, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy

Nailed is one film that is not going to catch a break. It was already shut down once by SAG because the movie's funding had not set enough money aside for the actors. That was cleared up, only to have it shut down a second time when IATSE members (solid, behind-the-scenes people like stagehands and technicians) revealed they weren't being paid.

Now, Nikke Finke is reporting the film has been shut down a third time, again by the IATSE who have ordered their members off because they still aren't being paid.

Of course, the longer the film is shut down, the more money it loses. A vicious cycle, really. But if it makes Russell feel better, there are several indie films suffering. Capitol Films is apparently going through a financial upheaval and several films have met the same fate as Nailed.
Who knows which indie flicks could bite the dust in the following weeks?

At this point, all the actors are bravely hanging in, although production will probably be delayed about two weeks. Even though I haven't been 100% behind the concept, even if it is Russell, I hate to see little films die off. Plus, this is being filmed right next door to where a good friend of mine resides, and he promised to keep me (and you guys) updated. So here's wishing the best.

[via CHUD]

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Photo by David James/Paramount Pictures

Tom Russo here from the Sunday DVD page, stopping by the blog for a visit. After catching Sunday?s Boston media screening of ?Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? ? my personal movie-going holy grail ? I ran home all anxious to take a look back at a piece I had written years ago for the late, hopefully lamented Premiere magazine.

It was a roundup of various never-produced screenplays with a notable fanboy pedigree. The best one of all? (BE WARNED ? SPOILERS START HERE.) ?Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men From Mars,? written way back in 1995 by Jeb Stuart, who presumably got the gig partly thanks to his then-recent work on Harrison Ford?s ?Fugitive? remake. (Stuart shared the broader Indy ?story by? credit with George Lucas.)

Doing my own archaeological dig through dusty files, I located my copy of the script ? and sure enough, you could see the roots of various story ideas that wound up in ?Crystal Skull.? There was Indy, now a Cold War spy, tangling with the Commies. There was a wedding. There was our hero stumbling, explosively, right into the middle of a desert A-bomb test, a scene that ultimately survived very much intact. Ford even name-checks the term ?saucer men from Mars? in the new movie as the action moves firmly into ?X-Files? territory.

But memory is a funny thing. Going back over my Premiere text, I was a little thrown to realize that I hadn?t actually included ?Indy IV.? And then, vaguely, it came back to me ? my editor and I had instead placed a safer bet, going with an ?Indy III? variation purportedly by Chris Columbus (?Harry Potter?) that featured a set piece recognizably incorporated into ?Last Crusade.?

Our rationale for cutting ?Saucer Men,? I think, was that the idea of Indy hunting for little green guys was entertaining and all ? but clearly just too far out there to be trusted. Go figure. Makes it all the more apt that our headline on the piece was ?Would Have, Could Have?Should Have??

Filed under: Deals, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand

I hesitated before writing this post. There's been quite a bit of Uwe Boll on this blog lately, and I share the opinion that Boll-haters have inflated the man's importance out of all proportion. Had this been a story about Boll adapting another stupid video game, I'd have let it alone, but it's at least interesting in a howling, head-clutching sort of way.

Boll is moving away from his stock-in-trade to make two films for a more limited audience. (I snickered a little as I typed that last part.) The first, called Stoic, has already wrapped and is about a 2006 incident in which three German inmates, incarcerated for minor offenses, raped and tortured a cellmate for 10 hours before inducing him to commit suicide. The film stars Edward Furlong, Sam Levinson, and Shaun Sipos, the latter of whom has a scene in which he licks his own vomit off the ground. Boll, speaking like a proud father, explains that "[w]hen the actor licks his puke off the ground, he will be seen eating it for a minute, not just a little bit." The puke Sipos consmes will be fake, but the actor did, apparently, eat a real tube of toothpaste. Though Boll hopes the film will squeak through with an R rating "for [its] social commentary," he suspects it might merit an NC-17 and have to be released unrated.

Continue reading Uwe Boll Bringing "Arthouse" Pain

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