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Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 8 50 9 A p r i l 2 0 0 4
MOVIE NEWS BATMAN BEGINSThe first images of the new Batmobile have been released by the officialBatman Begins website. (see right and below-right) BIRTH OF THE PINK PANTHERFootball superstar David Beckham is in talks to cameo in the upcoming PinkPanther prequel, starring Steve Martin as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. FREDDY VS JASON II’Creature Corner’ spoke with original director Ronny Yu about the sequel,and Yu confirmed rumours that ‘New Line’ want to include Ash from the EvilDead franchise.Yu: “That’s something that the studio came up with, they asked me and allthe fans wanted me to do it as well, so I said yes, show me the script! Iwould definitely do it. They’re still working on the script, I haven’t seenanything. I hope they won’t work on it for 10 years.”
But what’s he working on next? “… it’s ‘Snakes on a plane.’ The secondthey told me the storyline I said I want to do this movie. It’s about aplane on the way from Honolulu to Los Angeles, and when they’re halfway[into their flight], 500 poisonous snakes get released, and the first one toget killed is the pilot.”
INDIANA JONES 4’Moviehole’ received word that Stuart Beattie (Pirates Of The Caribbean) hasbeen hired to rewrite Frank Darrabont’s draft of his Indiana Jones 4 script.
Beattie also co-wrote the upcoming Tom Cruise thriller Collateral, and isalso currently adapting Derailed – based on the James Siegel novel.
KING KONGDirector Peter Jackson has cast Jack Black (School Of Rock) and Oscar winnerAdrien Brody (The Piano), as Jack Driscoll, in his upcoming King Kongremake. STAR WARS EPISODE IIIThe title for the final Star Wars prequel has been revealed by’Ain’t-It-Cool-News’. Apparently, George Lucas was close to approving RiseOf The Empire (a title often mentioned by fans) but changed his mind at thelast minute and has instead gone with… The Creeping Fear.
DIE HARD 4’About.com’ talked to Bruce Willis recently and he revealed that ascreenwriter is busy working on the fourth Die Hard movie. But apparentlythe makers are having a hard time thinking of a concept…
Willis: “We’re talking about it. We’re having a contest to come up with theending. The problem is… I have no idea, what can we do? Have two planetscrash into each other? Juggle an asteroid maybe?”
‘About.com’ managed to spoke to Die Hard’s hired writer, Mark Bomback(Godsend) who gave some information away…
Bomback: “It’s not going to be called Die Hardest, at least not to myknowledge. I think that it was in development at one point and it might havebeen called Die Hardest, but it was an entirely different plot. It was awhole different movie. It wouldn’t make sense to call this one Die Hardest.”
“Maybe they will, I don’t know. There are worst titles in the world. I’lltell you this. On my script pages, it doesn’t say Die Hardest.”
SON OF THE MASKThe first (awful) pictures from The Mask sequel, starring Jamie Kennedy,have been released. Amazingly, it’s costing them $80 million for aproduction designer and make-up artist THIS bad. (see right) TOY STORY 3’Reuters’ reports that ‘Walt Disney Studios’ chief Dick Cook is hoping ToyStory 3 will become a feature film and not a straight-to-video release.
‘Disney’ and ‘Pixar’ will go their separate ways after two more films (TheIncredibles and Cars), but ‘Disney’ retain the right to make sequels tofilms they have already produced with ‘Pixar’.
xXx: STATE OF THE UNIONThat’s the title for the xXx sequel, now starring Ice Cube. The film willbegin shooting in mid-July, with locations set to include Los Angeles,Baltimore and the nation’s capital. Michael Roof will return to the sequel,reprising his role as National Security Agency techie Toby Lee Shavers, anda source has said that “The sequel will find a new xXx program agent, DariusStone (Ice Cube), embroiled in thwarting a Washington power struggle.”
TRAILERS Troy – Trailer 2Trailer: www.the-leaky-cauldron.org
Ah, the infamous Trojan Horse story.
That’s the one. Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm) directs this epicswords-and-sandals saga starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, PeterO’Toole and Brian Cox.
This year’s Gladiator?
Undoubtedly. The trailer is almost perfect for fans of these sprawling epics- with some fantastic special-effects (undoubtedly influence by Lord Of TheRings) showing hordes of marauding warriors and a truly staggering fleet ofships. After the success of Lord Of The Rings and Gladiator, big-budgetepics are now much more viable for studios.
Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban – Trailer 2Trailer: www.the-leaky-cauldron.org
This is the one that Steven Spielberg said he’d like to direct, isn’t it?
Well remembered! Yes, this is the third Potter adventure, based on the bookby J.K. Rowling, and the one often considered the turning point to darkerthemes. Hence why Spielberg said he’d be more interested in this one.
But Spielberg didn’t get the gig.
No, instead Alfonso Cuaron takes over from Christopher Columbus.
Never heard of him.
Cuaron is the Mexican director of the critically-acclaimed Amores Perros.He’s bringing a darker, more epic and mystical eye to the Potter universe,after the somewhat stilted Columbus efforts.
So what can we expect, and what is the trailer like?
The trailer is very good, instantly evoking a more mysterious air toproceedings. In the film, Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), the titular prisonerof Azkaban, escapes and goes after Harry. Just the premise of the storymeans much scarier and sinister goings-on – such as The Dementors(wraith-like guards of Azkaban).
Sounds like the Potter film we’ve been waiting for!
Indeed. The actors are all growing up fast (particularly the kid who playsMalfoy!) meaning there’s a more dynamic thrust to things. The scenery alsolooks otherworldly this time around, with excellent use of woodland colours.Indeed, insider reports say Cuaron’s managed to make Hogwarts lookspectacular… and not just like a National Trust cathedral.
US TOP 10 (CINEMA)All figures are weekend box-office gross.
- 1. Hellboy ($23.2m)
- 2. Walking Tall ($15.5m)
- 3. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed ($14.8m)
- 4. Home on the Range ($13.9m)
- 5. The Passion of The Christ ($10.6m) (total to date: $331m)
- 6. The Prince & Me ($9.4m)
- 7. The Ladykillers (2004) ($7.0m)
- 8. Jersey Girl ($5.1m)
- 9. Dawn of the Dead (2004) ($4.5m)
- 10. Taking Lives ($3.5m)
UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)
Details not known so the following are last week’s figures:
- 1. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (£3.54m)
- 2. The Cat in the Hat (£1.73m)
- 3. Gothika (£1.39m)
- 4. The Passion of the Christ (£1.37m)
- 5. Starsky & Hutch (2004) (£1.17m)
- 6. Dawn of the Dead (2004) (£1.07m)
- 7. The Rundown (aka Welcome to the Jungle) (£0.40m)
- 8. Monster (£0.32m)
- 9. Mona Lisa Smile (£0.26m)
- 10. Honey (£0.16m)
** IN THE PIPELINE **All dates are U.K release dates, and are subject to change.
Email Dan Owen
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.