The Inquisitr » Movies

A Free Idea For The Movie Industry

Kyle Brady — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:12:03 +0000

Netflix, despite the protestations of movie studios, has done wonders for the industry, resulting in millions of Americans that now watch DVDs on a regular basis who would otherwise probably watch whatever made-for-TV movie was on AMC; however, this revolution has been limited almost strictly to DVD delivery, unless you have a penchant for weird (or old) movies.

Hulu, the television networks’ answer to the Internet, has also flourished, but with an entirely different model: rather than paying a monthly fee for unlimited access, Hulu provides unlimited access to both fresh and archive content in exchange for some pretty hilarious, and comparatively short, commercials. There has admittedly been some network pushback, because Hulu is becoming a victim of its own success – as more people use Hulu, the actual television viewers continue to drop, and networks don’t get the big-ticket revenue they typically could have expected.

But, at the end of the day, both industries have come to realize that they need to adapt, and quickly, in order to survive in any recognizable fashion. TV networks are toying with the idea of different delivery models via Hulu, such as “all content, always” and “only the most recent episodes”, but they’re trying.

Movie studios, however, are not.

Hulu was a joint-venture by industry giants, and was only a success because it was given true independence and freedom – it’s not a service that can likely be replicated by the movie industry, especially since Hulu appears to have somehow gained the love and support of nerds that is a prerequisite for Internet-based success. It is for this very reason that the movie industry should embrace a twofold online-delivery approach: Hulu and Netflix.

Out of a $10 (USD) movie ticket, the studios receive a portion of sales, as well as a fee for the theater actually showing the film – this is an unsustainable model in the modern world of other, cheaper options. If studios could receive $5 per online viewing of new movies, with a larger audience, would they not be happy to comply? The theory is simple: allow Hulu to show New Release movies as soon as they appear in theaters, with a pre-roll ad that results in the needed income-per-viewer, which is honestly no different or more annoying than the twenty minutes of previews and ads moviegoers are currently subjected to.

Furthermore, Netflix’s mass-audience should be leveraged to their providers’ streaming benefit, either through a similar pre-roll advertising model or with an extra monthly subscriber fee to allow Netflix members access to the New Release content via streaming, much like paying for a movie channel on a cable TV plan – but is actually useful.

The music industry was forced to adapt, much to their undying hatred, and they have suffered greatly for it – this is why they continue to try to restrict listeners’ rights while also increasing profits. If the movie studios choose to adapt, much as television networks have been halfheartedly attempting to, they could fare far better in the end than they do even now. The pay-per-stream movie distribution idea, through iTunes or Amazon, was a valiant attempt but has proven to not be of interest to most consumers, likely because of its expense and DRM-related difficulties.

FOX, Lionsgate, and all the others: this idea was free. The next one will cost seven figures – the check can be made out to “Kyle ‘Awesomeguy’ Brady”.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

About this movie piracy thing killing the industry…

Steven Hodson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:54:37 +0000

Every time you turn around some movie exec or entertainment lobbyist is proclaiming how all the talk of free and evil people downloading illegal copies of movies is killing the movie business.

Yet it seems that just as quickly we hear stats after stats about how the current year has been one of the best. Blockbuster after blockbuster rolls through towns and cities making millions upon millions of dollars.

It turns out that 2009 is shaping up to be a year that will be breaking box office records that were set back in 2006. In a public relations release Sony Pictures announced that they have already passed the $1.634 billion mark.

The year has been driven by the success of a number of breakthrough hits in the international marketplace. The studio’s most recent blockbuster is 2012, from director Roland Emmerich, which opened this past weekend to more than $165 million internationally ($230.4 million worldwide) and has yet to open in such markets as Japan, where it is expected to perform solidly.

Also contributing to the overseas record is Columbia Pictures’ Angels & Demons, which opened in May and has taken in over $352 million in foreign markets. Sony Pictures Releasing International distributed Terminator Salvation in many overseas countries, taking in $220.6 million in SPRI’s territories. District 9 proved popular around the world, too, taking in $88 million overseas, including $67.7 million from SPRI territories. Columbia’s The Ugly Truth, a modestly budgeted comedy, took in more than $112 million from international audiences (and still going). Finally, Michael Jackson fans around the world have driven Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT to $155.2 million internationally so far and more than $222 million worldwide.

Talk about talking out of both sides of your mouth. On one hand we have the business being destroyed by evil downloaders but on the other they are making more money than in the history of the business.

Anti-piracy group raises the surrender flag

Steven Hodson — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:00:04 +0000

While it may be a long time before we see this type of thing happen in the US and Canada the people of Denmark can look forward to one less anti-piracy agency trying to sue everyone in sight for downloading music from the internet – legal or otherwise.

It appears according to a report over at TorrentFreak that the Danish anti-piracy group Antipiratgruppen has given up on trying to get illegal downloaders convicted as well as announcing the group will no longer take people to court.

Part of the reasoning behind the decision is as the Antipiratgruppen lawyer, Mary Fredenslund, is that the evidence required has to be strong and concrete in order to have people convicted and the organization apparently couldn’t convince the courts the lift the burden of proof in cases like these.

Defense attorney Per Overbeck says that in addition to these outcomes, cases against two of his clients have been dropped in recent years. “Antipiratgruppen has acknowledged that they can not get people convicted without either catching them in the act or threatening them to confess,” Overbeck said. “In practice, this means that without a confession there is no case,” he added.

Per Overbeck and Antipiratgruppen’s assessment that recent High Court rulings make it virtually impossible to get individuals convicted for illegal file sharing are supported by a recent Government report from the Ministry of Culture.

According to the report, IP-addresses can only be used to identify the person paying for the Internet subscription, not the person who actually downloaded the files. The courts have ruled several times that in terms of evidence, an IP-address alone is insufficient to prove guilt.

Source: TorrentFreak

It’s too bad we couldn’t see the same common sense be applied here in North America but with so many politicians being supported by entertainment industry trade groups common sense seems to be in short supply. When it comes to the courts they can only really go by the guidance of the laws as they exist – laws crafted by lobbyists and condoned by politicians.

And here you thought your home theater was ‘da bomb’

Steven Hodson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:41:22 +0000

As more and more of us are rejecting the sometimes horrific experience of going out to the theater to watch movies many people are deciding to deck out a room in their homes as their own private movie theater.

After all who can really blame those of us with both the space and the money wanting to create their own idyllic movie watching experience, not to mention the amount of geek cred one can get from building it. Toxel.com has a nice spread of 12 of the coolest home theaters out of which I’ve picked my six favorites.

The Bat Cave Theater

The Star Wars Theater

The Stargate Theater

The Terminator Theater

The Matrix Theater

Indiana Jones Theater

Netflix gives cable television a wake-up call – outside of the US

Steven Hodson — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:43:13 +0000

When I first saw the news from Sarah Perez at ReadWriteWeb about Netflix being in the process of setting up a streaming movie service for outside of the United States I didn’t really clue in on it at first. Then as I started to think about it from my position as a resident of one of those other countries outside of the U.S. I realized that this could be the largest wake up call that cable television providers could have gotten that the future is coming to them and it isn’t going to be nice.

You see here in Canada companies like Cogeco, Rogers, and Shaw – the big three cable providers in the country – have had the marketplace pretty well to themselves. As with the telco side of the business they have dictated what we can see and how much they want to soak us for in order to watch what they provide.

Now assuming, with crossed fingers, that Netflix is including Canada among the countries that they are talking about streaming movies to the consumer would now have a viable alternative to cable television. No longer do we have to be reliant on cable television to be our sole source of movie entertainment. Depending on what kind of subscriptions and pricing that Netflix goes with I wouldn’t be at all surprise to see it be an almost instant hit with Canadians.

I know myself that if the subscription price was reasonable and I was able to pay for it using PayPal I would sign up right now. Tie that service in with Windows Media Center and I would be one step closer to being able to say good-bye to an overpriced cable service. Not to mention the brownie points I would earn with my wife.

Here’s hoping Netflix is including Canada in their roll-out plans.

Please!

Now everyone can really be a movie critic – without knowing it

Steven Hodson — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:45:47 +0000

I don’t get out much so going to the movies isn’t high on my wife or my list of things to do so we’re not ones to pay much attentions to movie ratings. That doesn’t mean that other folks are the same as sites like RottenTomatos.com can attest to with lots of people adding their votes to the list.

While Rotten Tomatos maybe questionable in the yes of true movie aficionados like Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net he does point to a rather neat new service utilizing the power of Twitter to rate movies.

It’s called TwitCritics and apparently it has some magic sauce that lets it surf the Twittersphere for movie related tweets and deduce a positive or negative score for it. Now I can’t really attest to its quality of scoring but maybe the next time you’re up for a new movie but not too sure about which one maybe drop by TwitCritics and see what’s hot according the Twitter.

Tucker Max says it’s cool by him to pirate his movie

Steven Hodson — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:42:20 +0000

For those who might not know who Tucker Max is here’s a little background. Tucker is a 34 year old who has fame and fortune by recounting tales of his real-life drunken antics and sexual antics. Out of this he got a book deal in 2006 that saw I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell hit the NY Times Bestseller.

The popularity of the book then landed Tucker a movie deal based on the book that will be hitting theaters tomorrow in a “limited release” and it is the release schedule that has prompted Tucker to tell people living outside of the US and Canada that if they want to see the movie to go right ahead and pirate it.

Other foreign release: Again, we have no control over foreign release at all. None. They can go day and date, they can wait a year, they can just send it straight to DVD, they can do anything they want. That is the way foreign release work, and asking me about when they are coming out is pointless. I don’t know and it’s not up to me. If you live outside the US and are desperate to see the movie and can’t find the release date in your country, then just pirate the movie and watch it online. I am serious. I have no issue with that.

hat tip to Torrent Freaks

Omer Bhatti to Play as Michael Jackson in a Film

Bang — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:45:18 +0000

Michael Jackson’s “son”, Omer Bhatti, is to play him in a new film.

Omer, whom the late ‘King of Pop’ told friends he had fathered, will play Michael in a movie charting his rise to superstardom in the 80s.

A source told Britain’s The Sun newspaper, “Michael’s story from childhood to the height of success is nothing short of astounding.

The family feel fans would love to see a dramatic retelling. They want to cover his childhood and family life but really focus when his career went into overdrive.”

Although Norwegian Omer – who has worked as a Michael Jackson impersonator – denies Michael is his biological father; though he has revealed the singer used to tell him he was “like a son” to him.

He has also been welcomed by the Jackson family and sat in the front row at Michaels’ Los Angeles memorial service in July.

Since Michael’s death from Acute Propofol Intoxication in June, Omer has reportedly stayed at the Jacksons’ California home.

Omer, 25, first met Michael in 1996 in Tunisia whilst on a family holiday with his mother Pia and stepfather Riz. He impressed the star with his dance moves and they became “best friends”.

In 1997, the family moved into Michael’s luxury estate, where Pia is believed to have worked as a nanny and Riz a driver.

Meanwhile, Michael’s father Joe Jackson has claimed he tried to save his son from using prescription drugs shortly before his death, but was prevented by his bodyguards.

He said: “”I thought, ‘I’ll go get my gun and shoot my way to Michael.’

“I said to my wife, Katherine, ‘We must get the boy out of there or he is dead in one week.’ And one week later he was indeed dead.”

Jennifer Aniston’s “Love Happens” May Face Cancellation

Bang — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:50:05 +0000

Jennifer Aniston’s new movie ‘Love Happens’ may be cancelled over plagiarism claims.

The romantic comedy – which also stars Aaron Eckhart – faces being pulled from release because screenwriters Greg Crowder and Tony Freitas have filed a lawsuit against NBC Universal.

The pair claim they showed a script titled ‘The Truth’ to Scott Bernstein in 2006, when he worked at Universal Pictures as the Vice President of Production.

In the federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday September 15, Crowder claims he met with Bernstein several times over the script but a deal wasn’t finalized despite the company’s interest.

The writer says he offered to rewrite the storyline if Universal would pay, but their offer was refused.

Crowder says he first became aware of the similarities in the plotline when another film company – who he submitted the script to earlier this year – told him they were “concerned” he had stolen the idea from Jennifer’s latest movie.

Crowder and Freitas have asked for the release of the movie to be stopped from its planned opening today September 18, or $100,000,000 in profits.

‘Love Happens’ depicts the story of a widower’s struggle to cope with new love after the loss of his spouse.

Despite the legal action, Aniston and Eckhart were all smiles as they hugged and posed for photographs on the red carpet for the film’s Los Angeles premiere at the Mann Village Theatre on September 15.

An Open Letter to the Movie Industry

Kyle Brady — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:10:49 +0000

Dear Movie Industry,

We love you – just to clarify, “we” is most of America and large portions of the world-at-large. But you’re quickly becoming prey to your own scheming and need to be saved before you collapse from the weight of your own self-indulgence.

We’re here for you.

Over your history, you’ve produced alot of good, quality movies of all types, genres, and styles. Recently, however, you’ve become more interested in print-to-film adaptations, sequels, and reboots than true originality or creativity – just look at the recent list of sequels announced: Boondock Saints II, Spider-Man 4, Transformers 3, and Indiana Jones 5. This may ultimately be your downfall.

Don’t get us wrong, we love some of your sequels. And we love the movies you’re making sequels of – Transformers 2 may not have had the approval of the critics, but us fans seemed to love it. The problem is when you assume that the financial success of certain types of movies (like action, scifi, or thrillers) means there not only should be a sequel, but that we somehow demand one and will support it through the end.

This inevitably results in disasters like Spider-Man 3, where the series concept takes a turn for the worse and throws dirt on its own good name. The “they just don’t live up to their predecessors or expectations” label can applied to many sequels, like The Matrix movies – although they were still pretty awesome.

Between your sequel-happy trigger-fingers and the fact that only a few months can go by before yet another comicbook is announced as being adapted into a film, it would seem that you have lost your stride. Yes, District 9 came out recently, but guess what? You didn’t support the script, and Peter Jackson had to step in to help raise independent financing – good move. Gamer was an original script, sure, but it also wasn’t the best movie you’ve ever produced. Going down the release roster for the last few years doesn’t produce too many original or creative gems of genius either.

It’s time for you to bring back the creativity. The Matrix, Star Wars, The Boondock Saints, and the rest of your biggest successes (both financially and those with cult status) have typically been original works of creation, not adaptations – The Dark Knight is an outlier, as The Watchmen so deftly proved. Choosing a screenplay for production, or even an idea, should be based on its actual strengths and weaknesses, rather than whether it’s associated with previously successful movies, toy franchises, or highly successful graphic novels.

Don’t stop the sequels and adaptations, though – just make sure they’re warranted.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

YouTube in negotiations to stream new movies

Steven Hodson — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:45:00 +0000

YouTube, always on the look-out for ways to solidify its leadership in video and increase its revenue has been in negotiations with the major movie studios to start streaming movies on a rental basis. Granted there are already some full length movies available on the service but they are generally lesser known movies or indie films looking for exposure.

This latest move is seen as a way to increase their revenue as well as one of its first moves towards charging for content instead of going with the typical ad supported model. At this point YouTube is in discussions with: Lions Gate, Sony, and Warner Bros. about including their movies in YouTube’s site. Additionally part of the talks include making them available on the same day the the movie’s DVD comes out.

Many of the details involved with the ongoing discussions are still in a state of flux. Included is whether or not at some point users will be able to download the movies. The figure being tossed around for the rental is $3.99 with the possibility of the traditional ad supported model being used for some of the movies. As it is the movie studios already get a 70% share of revenue generated by movies already on the site and the word is that this would be the same for the new movies being streamed.

In addition the studios would be guaranteed a minimum fee of just under $3.00 per title viewed. The thinking behind this is that since it is a flat fee the studios would get regardless it give YouTube some wiggle room to offer special deals.

At this point 10,000 Google employees are set to begin testing the service at some point after September, which was the original date for the internal testing launch; but that has been set back as negotiations drag on.

hat tip to WSJ.comhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB125192241524880801.html

Final Destination Takes #1 Spot At The Box Office

James Allen Johnson — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:11:39 +0000

Personally I think the Final Destination series should have died a long time ago. Fans of the series this weekend on the other hand thought differently, the flick brought in $28.3 million dollars to claim the #1 spot at the box office.

The fourth installment in the series opened at 3,121 theaters and was offered on almost half of those screens in 3D which came with higher per ticket costs. That’s an impressive per theater average of $9,000 per screen. Not bad considering those numbers are nearly 50% of the total gross made by Final Destination 3.

The movie also opened in the last weekend of August, a time of year where most movies rarely open at higher than $18 million.

Final Destination also faced some stiff competition from Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Bastards” which in it’s second week took in close to $20 million and Rob Zombies “Halloween 2″ which pulled in $17.4 million. [numbers via ComingSoon]

Movie industry says pirates killing business – box office says otherwise

Steven Hodson — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:46:54 +0000

One of the biggest arguments that the movie industry has against piracy is that it is killing their business since people are downloading all these illegal movies and not paying to see them in theaters. While they press hard on this front recent box office numbers push back – hard – against this argument.

This weekend alone with the movie Final Destination chalking up $28.3 million has proven to be one to set a new record by. In the US alone this past weekend saw total box-office receipts of $120 million which is up from $100 million from the same weekend last year.

A summer movie season led by The Dark Knight is at $3.99 Billion with a traditionally popular long weekend movie time to go, is set to beat last years summer movie season record of $4.02 Billion. this past weekend’s box office breaks down something like this

The Final Destination – $28.3 Million
Inglourious Basterds – $ 19.6 Million
Halloween II – $17.4 Million
District 9 – $10.7 Million
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra – $8.0 Million
Julie and Julia – $7.4 Million
The Time Traveler’s Wife – $6.7 Million (and is rumored to have been picked up for a television series)
Shorts – $4.9 Million
Taking Woodstock – $3.8 Million
G-Force $2.8 Million

All this on an already lucrative and hit laden movie season and one has to really wonder just what damage was really done by all those nasty, terrible people downloading movies from the Internet?

DivX gets boost from Hollywood and Film Fresh

Steven Hodson — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:20:00 +0000

For folks that have been around the web for some some time will recognize the DivX brand name. It is a video format that lets you maintain high video quality but with a much smaller file size and has been popular on the web for a long time. That popularity though has only in the last few years reached beyond the web and been adopted by hardware manufactures.

Where once DVD players and other devices ignored the format they are now all climbing on the bandwagon. It isn’t only the hardware manufacturers that are getting in line with the format but Hollywood studios are also giving it a serious look. As well media player software developers are including support for DivX which makes playing the movies back a lot easier. While DivX, the company behind the format, had already signed agreements with the major Hollywood movie companies it is the deals like the one that Film Fresh has cut that might see a broader availability of new movies being made available using the DivX format.

In an announcement today Rick Bolton of Film Fresh says the company has signed agreements with four Hollywood studios to provide movies utilizing the DivX video format. Film Fresh which previously was known more for its indie and foreign film releases will as of today have 600 Hollywood titles available for download.

There’s also a much greater emphasis on downloads than on packaged products — the amount of downloadable titles is rising from about 20% of the inventory to 50% or 60%, Bolton said, mainly because almost all of the new Hollywood offerings are available digitally. In fact, he said, a number of the older Hollywood movies aren’t available on disc — either they haven’t been released on DVD or they’re out of print. These include "Play It Again, Sam" and "The Parallax View."

[….]

One other factor favoring downloads, at least from Film Fresh’s point of view: There’s no inventory risk for the studio or the retailer. That liberates companies such as Film Fresh to offer as many titles as possible without having to buy copies in advance or guess how many will sell. The only caveat today is that Hollywood still enforces its release windows, meaning that a new release will get yanked out of an online retailer’s inventory when it’s time for the movie to appear on HBO or Showtime. Bolton said he has far more flexibility over pricing downloadable films than DVDs, so he plans to experiment with discounted movie bundles and dynamic pricing that responds to demand. "No one’s really begun to explore this yet," he added.

Source: LA Times Blogs – Technology :: Film Fresh to offer Hollywood movies in DivX

District 9: Science Fiction’s Cinematic Savior

Kyle Brady — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:20:16 +0000

Only three times in my life have I walked out of a movie theater completely in awe of the film, with my mind unable to wrap itself around such utter greatness while grinning uncontrollably. First came The Matrix in 1999, when I was twelve years old. Followed by, almost a decade later, The Dark Knight in 2008, at the age of twenty.

District 9 can now add itself to this very short list, me just three months shy of turning twenty-two years old.

Science fiction has astounded people of all nations, cultures, and ages for a century and a half with its grand ideas, visions of the future, and interspecies communication. As a genre, science fiction’s limitations are singularly those of the imagination, while its creators prefer deeply ethical, political, and social issues – choosing to base the core of the story in science and reality, rather than more popular themes, allowing their work to transcend all boundaries.

It therefore is no coincidence that two of these three personally-lifechanging movies are science fiction, and only a matter of semantics keeps The Dark Knight from receiving the same label – some of the most highly praised, gamechanging, definitive movies of cinematic history are science fiction. The genre has brought aliens, the future, space, advanced weaponry, alternative histories, and much more to the silver screen, many times leaking into other genres – space and advanced weaponry are common themes in the James Bond movie series, even though it is considered to be action/thriller.

The Summer of 2009 has been no exception to the draw of science fiction, after The Matrix proved its financial potential, with recent months seeing the release of Terminator: Salvation, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Star Trek, Moon, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and even G-Force – the trend of science fiction movies will continue for the rest of the year with no fewer than eight upcoming releases. While this slate of science fiction will no doubt have an effect on the genre’s future, only a few will be considered revitalizations.

If The Matrix brought huge special effects budgets, fancy wire work, and “bullet time”, and The Dark Knight brought disturbing scores, shaky-cam fight scenes, and gritty reality, what does this year’s releases bring in terms of reinvention? Until District 9, the answer was a definitive “not much” – Transformers was enjoyable but not groundbreaking, Terminator: Salvation was a mediocre rehashing at best, and G.I. Joe was strictly about fun. In direct opposition to most modern scifi movies, District 9 was produced with an astonishingly low budget of $30mil, proving that movies can be groundbreaking, compelling, and jawdropping without monolithic budgets.

As the movie continues to garner praise, rising directors, writers, and producers will doubtless look to District 9 for inspiration, and will find countless items to choose from: visually stunning special effects complimented the film, but were not the film itself; the compelling story grabs audiences from the beginning for a wild, emotional ride; the themes themselves are a large feature, the most central of which is an ethical argument; the plot builds continuously throughout, with many unexpected developments and without a single dull moment; and the list goes on.

All of this comes at a time when science fiction movies are once again known for their clichés and focus on special effects rather than storytelling or innovation – Transformers 2 and Terminator: Salvation have only helped to solidify this, especially in the mind of critics. Without much promotion, or even revealing information about the plot, District 9 has managed to be both a critical and box office success, giving hope to the future of science fiction cinema.

If more science fiction movies follow the outright originality and breathtaking scope of District 9, rather than the Transformers model, the coming years could be very interesting for audiences. In a world where the focus lies on quality over quantity or gimmicks, films such as Moon could have larger releases that continue to influence an impressionable generation of children to be creative, original, and thoughtful – instead of flashy, unnecessarily violent, and unintelligent.

Neill Blomkamp, you have managed to manufacture science fiction’s cinematic savior.

Peter Jackson should be proud.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

A LEGO movie?!? seriously what drugs are these idiots on

Steven Hodson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:23:39 +0000

Okay G.I. Joe might have been passably fun to watch, Transformers might have helped with nothing more than filling your popcorn fix and Terminator Salvation sated your need to see things blow up – all in all some good fun. However I think that either the greenhouse gases are beginning to affect what is left of the creative minds in Hollywood or else the quality of the drugs has improved radically because I’m sorry but anyone who thinks a movie based on LEGO is a good idea needs to check in with Dr. Drew.

According to the DVICE blog though there is some serious consideration within the rubber rooms at Warner Brothers for a mix of live action and animation set in a family oriented comedy

The movie will be produced by Roy Lee, the king of the Hollywood remakes, who has previously made, or remade, The Ring, The Grudge, Dark Water, The Lake House, The Invasion and Shutter in addition to the Oscar-winning remake The Departed. Lee and screenwriters Dan and Kevin Hageman have reportedly been working closely with the Danish toy company to create the premise for the film.

Source: DVICE :: Warner Brothers to make LEGO: The Movie

Here’s a premise for you – cut back on the drugs and think about maybe something a little more – uhm – hmm – how about entertaining.

DUH!

G.I. Joe: Forever My Hero

Kyle Brady — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:31:09 +0000

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, a movie based on a popular series of action figures and children’s cartoons, releases tomorrow (August 7th, 2009) to limited acclaim and great moaning. Whatever the official reviews, the movie is likely to make alot of money and frustrate critics with its success much like Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen did.

Now, I haven’t seen the movie yet, but will this weekend, so maybe my opinion will change. But, as one of the previously linked articles mentions, there’s a trend for critics to dismiss, almost out of hand, any action movie that’s based on nerd-favorite material – both Transformers movies stand as perfect examples. This is not to say that the movie will be the second coming of the original Matrix, but that it’s probably significantly better than many would like to admit.

Admittedly, the movie studio refused an early release to critics, which is typically not a good sign, but they did it for potentially legitimate reasons: all critics panned TF2, and if the movie didn’t have such a strong fanbase, it would have flopped. And while the G.I. Joe fanbase is potentially huge, it’s untested and therefore better to err on the side of caution – especially if it’s the type of movie critics love to call “fluff”, “nonsense”, and “lacking intelligence”, all of which are probable.

Assuming that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is better than the recent Streetfighter movie, it will be a happy day for millions of twenty- and thirtysomething males worldwide. Why? Because we’re the generation that grew up on “The Real American Hero”, both on TV and during playtime – the cartoon (and its famous PSAs) was a wonderful way to spend a half-hour watching things blow up with an ethical message attached, and the action figures were a perfect answer to the Barbie conundrum. So for a movie to be released to Generation Y, during a time that’s very bleak for the same population subset, the excitement should be tangible.

Just like TF2, moviegoers will not attend The Rise of Cobra expecting a thoughtful art film, a “chick flick”, or a snarky comedy starring Paul Giamatti – they will willingly pay $10 to see a movie full of explosions and semi-futuristic battles that captures the spirit of the original cartoon and combines with their playful imaginings as children. And, barring cataclysmic failures that aren’t apparent in the “it looks really awesome and epic” trailer, they will love it.

Even if the millions of people that flock to see the movie don’t love it, Paramount will probably make enough money to consider a sequel as a direct result of Millennial curiosity. While Marlon Wayans and Dennis Quaid are not actors I would have cast in a manly man’s-man movie about fighting evil, shrouded badguys, the updated and modern battle-ready G.I. Joe will remain forever my hero.

Unless the movie is completely and unabashedly horrible – then it will have ruined my childhood.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

Once Upon a Twilight Dream

Kyle Brady — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:00:07 +0000

This past weekend was San Diego Comic-Con, where nerds, fanboys, and devotees of all things magical/fantastic/scifi/comicbook show up in droves to see snippets from upcoming movies, glimpses of their most obsessed-over actors/actresses, and to get “inside information” on upcoming projects – this year was no different. Johnny Depp made a surprise appearance, footage debuted, and the flames of rumors were fanned. Oh and something called New Moon, the latest upcoming movie in the Twilight series, had an event.

The first official trailer for this movie debuted long ago (see below for an embed), but the days prior to Comic-Con saw a release of official photos and some more details on the movie – culminating in a Friday panel where many attendees waited in line for a day. A day. That’s defined as “greater than 24 hours”, where hordes of teen/preteen girls (with their dads) and middle aged women waited in line for a brief interaction, by proximity, with the cast and crew of their obsessions.

Very simply, the fact that these sort of people would brave a highly judgmental and vocal crowd of thousands of nerds says volumes for their sanity, not to mention what they might consider devotion. Comic-Con is a place for geeks to enjoy themselves once a year and indulge in all of their favorite geek activities, which runs the gamut from comic book-based movies to science fiction TV shows, but definitely does not include the world of Twilight. A new (and not-yet-real) panel for the announcement of a new Blade movie? Sure. But a place for a bunch of screaming females to fawn over the upcoming release of slow-motion shirtless males? Not so much. If Blade is an example of nerd-acceptable vampirism, then Twilight is its antithesis.

Based on the trailer, it’s safe to say that New Moon will just be more of the same seen in the previous movie, albeit with a new director and potentially better visuals. But it doesn’t change the fundamentals of the story, which is based mostly on the drama and inner thoughts of a helpless teenage girl who needs lots of manly men to save her, some of which just happen to be “I shine in the sunlight like diamonds and it’s sooooo cute!” vampires. Oh, and the fundamental beliefs of the Mormon Church (LDS).

More disturbing than the material itself, however, is the rabid fanbase. The panel at Comic-Con was reportedly barely-controlled chaos, as the female hordes screamed such unique one-liners as “I love you Rob!”, but, somehow, insights were given into the acting prowess of Robert Pattinson (“Edward”): “[he had to] stand on a green box and look and stay basically expressionless”. How truly talented he is! But the throngs of fans found “camaraderie” as they waited to have the brilliance that was the Twilight panel bestowed upon them, so all was not lost.

Comparisons will inevitably be made to nerd diehards like Star Wars fans, but there are crucial differences, not the least of which is that overnight lines were formed for the movies, not a quick Q&A session. The most important differentiation is that no matter how devoted a Star Wars fan is, they are able to dissect any part of that universe and judge it objectively for its quality – Twilight fans are completely the opposite. While many of even the most diehard Star Wars nerd may recognize that Episode I was far from the peak of the series, anything even remotely related to Twilight is defended to the absolute death. For evidence, look no further than reactions to criticisms that all the books have horrible literary value, that the actors in the first cinematic installment have no talent, or that the whole concept of the series is little more than a vehicle for the delivery of softcore porn and Mormon values – the knee-jerk fan response is fantastically hilarious.

And this past weekend is just further evidence that the borderline-illiterate nonsense is not going to stop any time soon: there are still books left to translate into movies, and Meyer has one (or more) sequels in publishing limbo. Unlike Meyer’s not-at-all-similar counterpart JK Rowling, most authors in the vampire pornfiction industry don’t know when to stop, and her zombie following will no doubt create a bestseller out of every page or frame ever published.

Being part of the anti-Twilight minority is not going to become any easier as the years of the next decade progress, especially as the movie studios find out what a cash crop the series truly is. But comfort can be had in a key fact: while geeks and nerds are known for occasionally doing odd things in pursuit of their fandom, the rabid Twilight hordes will continue to embarrass themselves on a scale unprecedented, most especially in the eye of the media.

Go Team Jasper!

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

Harry Potter and the Worldwide Love Affair

Kyle Brady — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:00:47 +0000

It should be obvious, at this point, to any observer: the world loves Harry Potter. Not just America, or even the Western World, but the whole World – Planet Earth. The first of the last three movies based on the successful series by British author JK Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, came out last week, leaving only two more movies to cover the final book in this epic saga of magic. It will be another two years before the movies are released to the public and the mixed tears of both unrelenting sadness and joy are shed, which gives both Rowling and the studio (Warner Bros.) time to consider the all-important question: what’s next?

After the last book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, was released two years ago, JK Rowling stated in many different interviews that the series would not continue – she felt the characters had been brought to completion, and included a halfhearted “look at the characters in the future!” epilogue as if to prove she was serious. However, she’s not likely to stay away forever, and the reasons are simple: the world adores her work, she’s made millions from the series, and, most importantly, this magical realm lives inside her head in a very real way.

The best authors, when creating imaginary worlds, construct them in their heads piece-by-piece and treat it as if it were real – J.R.R. Tolkien and Rowling have this trait in common. But when these imaginary worlds become a part of the author’s life for so long, Tolkien for the better part of his, and Rowling for the last twelve years, their very existence becomes entwined. Evidence of this can easily be seen in the fact that Tolkien could not leave Middle Earth, even after all the books were completed, or that Rowling will offhandedly refer to a previously-unknown fact like “Dumbledore is gay” as if it were obvious to the outside world.

Rowling has already revisited the magical land of Harry Potter once, to write “The Tales of Beetle the Bard” and a few more times as a consultant for the production of the movies – who’s to say she can stay away for good? The options for her to return to the series are many and varied, with most of them being great ideas in and of themselves. A few storyarcs come to mind almost immediately:

Voldemort’s first ascent to power, just prior to Harry’s being born, with the original Order of the Phoenix
James, Sirius, and the rest of the gang as they grow up through Hogwart’s themselves
“parallel” novels following important, but not central, characters such as Luna Lovegood or Neville Longbottom, intertwining plotlines with the existing books
Dumbledore’s past, including the adventures (and eventual battle) with Grindelwald

The options for the growth of the world are nearly endless, and it can be done delicately and appropriately without offending fans of the current series or appearing to continue the “Harry Potter grows up” storyline past its already obvious end.

Additionally, these movies have been a huge source of fame and fortune for Rowling, so much so that it’s easy to question whether she can financially leave the world. Without ever writing again, she will be able to live comfortably and without much thought for finances, but she will eventually get bored with having nothing to do – as everyone does. When that time comes, she may consider finding a job to occupy her time, and will know that she lives as she does thanks to her writing career. Logic follows that she will pick up the pen and word processor once again, with the legions of Harry Potter devotees hoping she result is another chapter in the series.

Harry Potter has become an international, multigenerational sensation that will live on forever in the hearts and minds of its fans, future readers, and the halls of literary greats. Other modern commercial successes, such as Twilight, do not and cannot live up to the precedent that Rowling has set for young adult fantasy novels, no matter how hard book publishers or movie studios try – pure genius is self-evident. An intelligent, creative woman at the age of 43, JK Rowling has many years ahead of her to decide what the future holds for Harry Potter – and whether or not to continue the largest love affair the modern world has ever seen.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

RoboGeisha – I am at a loss for words, seriously!

Steven Hodson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:17:00 +0000

Uhm, this is some seriously whacked shit man. Seriously. Here we have a story of a robot geisha who fights ninjas, disabled people in wheelchairs, robot geishas, and robot geisha ninjas. Using weapons like swords protruding from places on the body that they have no place protruding to machinegun busts RoboGeisha lays waste to everything and everyone around her.

All I can say in the end is to watch it for yourself and you too will go WTF!

hat tip (I think) to Ectoplasmosis

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