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Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 1 7 90 6 N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 6
MOVIE NEWSDMD returns this week from a lengthy holiday due to personal circumstances(don’t worry, no deaths involved) and perhaps a slight case of laziness…
28 WEEKS LATER
The sequel to Danny Boyle’s zombie thriller 28 Days Later is currentlyfilmed, with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo in the director’s chair. None of theoriginal cast return, but the film continues the story… er, 28 weekslater. Some raw footage has been releasedat this link here.
FRAGGLE ROCK
The cult Jim Henson TV show from the 80s is being reinvented as a movie,currently being penned by Ahmet Zappa. The show concerned an undergroundsociety of Fraggles beneath their titular rock, who co-exist with Doozersand steal radishes from giants known as Gorks.
STREET FIGHTERAttempts are being made to remake the appalling 1994 movie adaptation of theStreet Fighter video game series. The game remains popular and hopes arehigh that a more faithful movie can be created using the Street Fighter IIcharacters, particularly with the advances in special-effects from themid-90s.
Early word suggests Chun Li (right) will be the focal point (not Guile like the 1994Van Damme debacle), although game fans are still alarmed the film isn’tfocusing on Ryu (as the games always have).
HALOThe movie adaptation of wildly successful video game Halo is not going ahead(for the time being). The movie was being overseen by producer PeterJackson, with advert director Neill Blomkamp in the director’s chair (he wasthe guy who did the transforming car ad).
The reason for the project’s temporary sabbatical is purely financial, withUniversal and Fox apparently unhappy with the movie’s mega-budget cost.
SUPERMAN RETURNS 2The critics were kind to Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, and it wascertainly not a disaster, although the accountants were a little alarmed byits relative underperformance considering the popularity of the character.
However, Superman Returns has made its $200 million budget back, and is nowin profit without even mentioning the DVD sales that should rack up soon!The greenlight has been given to a sequel, with Singer finalizing a deal forhim to begin filming in 2008 for summer 2009.
The sequel will have increased action set-pieces (a criticism of the firstmovie), while Lex Luthor will not be the main villain. Superman Returns’budget was $208 million not including the millions spent on developing themovie throughout the 90s, so the sequel will have a budget of $175 million.
DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST BLOG (DMDB) –Dan Owen.blogspot.com
The DMDB has been running through the months DMD was away, so be sure tocheck it out of you who forgot to. Amongst the goodies are reviews of theshows listed below, plus the usual links and articles on media-relatedgoodness!
Recent posts to DMDB include:
- Extras Series 2
- Lost Season 3
- Heroes Season 1
- Torchwood Series 1
- Robin Hood Series 1
So hurry over toDan Owen.blogspot.comand bookmark DMDB!
US TOP 10 (CINEMA)All figures are weekend box-office gross, including Sunday estimates(at the time of posting):
- 1. Borat ($26,4m)
- 2. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause ($20.0m)
- 3. Flushed Away ($19.1m)
- 4. Saw III ($15.5m)
- 5. The Departed ($8.00m) (total to date: $102m)
- 6. The Prestige ($7.78m)
- 7. Flags of Our Fathers ($4.5m)
- 8. Man of the Year ($3.82m)
- 9. Open Season ($3.1m)
- 10. The Queen ($3.01m)
UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)
These figures are for weekend starting Oct 27th:
- 1. Saw III (£2.52m)
- 2. Step Up (£1.21m)
- 3. The Departed (£1.03m)
- 4. Open Season (£0.97m)
- 5. The Devil Wears Prada (£0.90m)
- 6. Barnyard (£0.74m)
- 7. Click (£0.42m)
- 8. The History Boys (£0.41m)
- 9. A Good Year (£0.37m)
- 10. Hoodwinked (£0.35m)
** IN THE PIPELINE **All the following are U.K. release dates, and are subject to change.
- 10th November 2006: Breaking and Entering, The Prestige (right), Puritan, Twelve and Holding, Starter for Ten
- 17th November 2006: Requiem, Gabrielle, Special, Heroes and Villains, 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep, The Nightmare Before Christmas (3D)
- 24th November 2006: Fated, Rampage, The Rocket Post, The Santa Clause 3, Jackass Number Two, Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man, Something New, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Middletown, Hollywoodland
- 1st December 2006: The Nativity Story, Shortbus, Flushed Away, Deck the Halls, London to Brighton, Stranger Than Fiction, Big Nothing
- 8th December 2006: The Heart of the Game, Happy Feet, The Covenant, The Holiday, Frostbite
- 15th December 2006: Eragon, Gone, Grounded, The Upside of Anger, Deep Water, Dead Man’s Cards, Black Christmas
- 22nd December 2006: Zoom, Flags of Our Fathers, Deja Vu
- 29th December 2006: Night at the Museum (26th), It’s a Boy Girl Thing
Page Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2006.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.