Jared Harris joins “Pompeii”

Paul W.S. Anderson is the um…mastermind behind the “Resident Evil” film series. Now he is back with “Pompeii”, which (form First Showing) :

is a 3D period action adventure about Milo (Kit Harrington), a slave turned invincible gladiator who finds himself in a race against time to save his true love Flavia (Emily Browning), the daughter of a wealthy merchant. But that’s not all.

He must also deal with a corrupt Roman general whom Flavia was forced to marry by her father (Harris). So where does the race against time come into play? After Milo is sold to an owner far away, Vesuvius blows up, and he must race back to Pompeii to rescue his love and another gladiator friend locked in the coliseum.

Jared Harris has now joined the cast playing the merchant. The last time Anderson delved into a period piece we got “The Three Musketeers”. And Lee Batchler And Janet Batchler are writing the script. What have they written? “Batman Forever”. Yeah.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

 

Out of all the 3D conversions…this may make the lease sense of them all

3D is still going strong (unfortunately). We had “Jurassic Park 3D”, “Finding Nemo 3D”, “Star Wars Episode 1” 3D “The Lion King 3D” and more. Now comes a listing on a website for a 3D conversion of…wait for it…”Dr. No”. Yep the very first James Bond film starring Sean Connery is apparently coming out on 3D Blu-Ray for the Taiwanese release. Even more disturbing? Moviefone now has a listing for an IMax 3D version of “Dr. No”. Hopefully this is all just talk. Because for starters, 007 doesn’t need 3D. And if they were really set on that. Why not the newer films? The chase scene in “Casino Royale” could be pretty entertaining in 3D I suppose, even some of the scenes in the bad “Quantum of Solace”. Why the first film in the series?

More Bond news, an Oscars spokesman said all the Bond actors will not appear together during the show. The Academy is honoring 50 years of James Bond.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Four minute preview of “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” to play in front of “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters”

Yes, the last second delay of “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” surprised a lot of people. The film, which stars Dwayne Johnson and Channing Tatum post-converted to 3D, though the rumors that Tatum dies in the film and they  reshot scenes to include him more in the film, started. Director Jon Chu however had this to say to comingsoon.net.

“We didn’t go and reshoot anything,” Chu continues. “I’m not going to say what happens to Channing in the movie, but there wasn’t any of that crazy stuff. We just ignored it. It was funny, though, when that new trailer came out. Everyone was like, ‘Oh! He’s in it way more!'”

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com

Abrams forced to shoot in 3D

Yep. Paramount told J.J. Abrams either he shoots “Star Trek Into Darkness” in 3D or he’s not directing the film at all. Of course now that Abrams has shot the film he seems to have changed his tune about 3D.

“I approached it very cynically,” Abrams told SFX. “And the fact is that we’ve been using techniques that haven’t been used before in 3D. They’ve figured out things. They’ve made enough movies now with this new process that they can understand ways to eliminate some of these problems. Things like breaking shots into zones, 3D zones, using multiple virtual cameras. A lot of this has made me a believer, whereas before I was really against it… There’s this myth that if you don’t shoot the movie in 3D it doesn’t look good. Actually, the opposite can be true.”

However, he is a director with a big movie coming out. Do you really expect him to bash 3D even if he didn’t like it?  Anyways, the anticipated sequel stars Chris Pine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban and more.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

WB forcing “Pacific Rim” to post-convert to 3D

Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth”, “Hellboy”) is one of the most creative directors today, especially when it comes to creatures. And, his upcoming film “Pacific Rim” where giant robots controlled by humans battle equally giant monsters, seems like so much fun. Even more refreshing, it wasn’t shot with 3D in mind. Here was his explanation:

“Originally there was a discussion that took a long time to overcome that was to make the movie 3D. And I didn’t want to make the movie 3D because when you have things that big… the thing that happens naturally, you’re looking at two buildings lets say at 300 feet [away], if you move there is no parallax. They’re so big that, in 3D, you barely notice anything no matter how fast you move. To force the 3D effects for robots and monsters that are supposed to be big you are making their [perspective] miniaturized, making them human scale.”

Turns out WB didn’t quite believe him. After seeing what happened with “Clash of the Titans” and “Harry Potter” reports are that the studio is forcing the film to be converted to 3D. Fantastic. Another movie that will have crappy 3D that wasn’t even shot with 3D in mind. Thanks WB.

“Pacific Rim” stars Idris Elba, Ron Pearlman, Charlie Hunman, Charlie Day and more.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

“The Hobbit” will not cost extra to see

In a somewhat surprising move, WB did not advocate, and theaters are agreeing, to not charge extra to see “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” in 48 FPS. That being said, you’re already going to pay more for IMax and/or 3D so it’s not like they’re not gouging us enough. Peter Jackson’s anticipated film, the first of a Hobbit trilogy, will get a limited release in 48 FPS. Now, while they’re not charging more now, theater execs said it is still a possibility in the future. Meaning they’re likely just doing this now to see if its successful. And if it is they’ll shove it down our throats and probably charge us even more. Anyways, the first Hobbit film stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield and Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug as well as returning LOTR cast members Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Want to see “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” in 48 FPS? Good luck…

With the recent news that Peter Jackson will indeed make a third Hobbit film, here’s some more news. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” test screened some footage at 48 FPS. It was so widely criticized that WB is only going to test the film in 48 FPS in select theaters, and maybe not even in all the major cities. No cities have been identified as of yet, but whichever theaters are chosen will have to go through at least some sort of conversion to handle the new frame rate. The best news from this is current projectors cannot handle the data require to do  3D 48 FPS films…yet.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Here’s a glimpse of the special edition Hobbit 3D glasses

Here’s a look at the special 3D glasses that you’ll be able to get when “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” hits theaters this December. It will be a limited edition, so get them fast…I guess. Does no one else realize they’re probably just doing this not only to convince audiences to see the film in 3D, but to make it more difficult for people to sneak in? Anyways, I won’t be seeing this film in 3D. Special glasses aren’t worth paying 17 dollars a ticket for. What remains to be seen is if Peter Jackson, Andy Serkis and company can capture lightning in a bottle for a second time.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

 

Christopher Nolan against 3D

It seems these days Hollywood is doing everything it can to force 3D down our throats. Directors like Peter Jackson (“The Hobbit”), James Cameron (“Avatar”) and even Martin Scorsese (“Hugo”) are looking for ways to integrate it. What does that mean for us moviegoers? Even higher prices. But, there is one filmmaker who is against it. Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises is easily one of, if not the, most anticipated films of the year. If there was any movie that could have been converted to 3D to gouge audiences, this was it. Yet, it’s not. Why?

“The question of 3-D is a very straightforward one,” Nolan said in a recent interview. “I never meet anybody who actually likes the format, and it’s always a source of great concern to me when you’re charging a higher price for something that nobody seems to really say they have any great love for. It’s up to the audience to tell us how they want to watch the movies. More people go see these films in 2-D, and so it’s difficult data to interpret. And I certainly don’t want to shoot in a format just to charge people a higher ticket price.”

Thank you Mr. Nolan. However, much like filmmakers battling to save physical film and the industry from going completely digital, I think we may be fighting a losing battle here.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Box office battle: Are you willing to pay more for the 4D experience?

No, this isn’t some satirical ad. If you live in Las Vegas and you want to see a night movie in IMax 3D…well be prepared to drop around $20 bucks for one ticket. But now, the 4D movie theater, equipped with seats that move with the action and capable of giving off smells, fog and other things to “add” to the movie experience, may be coming to American theaters for test runs soon. Apparently it’s done well overseas with movies like “Prometheus” making use of it. When it does come to America, it’s expected to add another $8 to movie ticket prices. Yes, in some cases that means we’ll be approaching the $20 to $30 price range…for just one ticket.

I hope none of you give in to this. And here I thought 3D couldn’t get any more gimmicky. Once again, I’m proven wrong.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.