The Hobbit

Empire Online has an interview with Guillermo Del Toro, who is pegged to direct the forthcoming 'Hobbit' movies. Whilst many sites are reporting that Del Toro is definitely on board, it appears this is not necessarily the case. Del Toro states:-

"I wish it was definite, but it isn’t. It’s still in talks, there are still a lot of 'T's to cross and 'I's to dot. It’s certainly not certain yet"

Taken with news earlier this week that the executors of Tolkien's estate are suing New Line Studios over unpaid royalties from the Lord of the Rings films, the future of the Hobbit is looking increasingly shaky. On the upside if the deal were to fall through it would free up Del Toro to make his long awaited HP Lovecraft adaptation, The Mountains of Madness

The Dark Knight - Gotham Knight

Dark Knight - Gotham Knight

Prior to the release of The Dark Knight, Warner Brothers is releasing a DVD entitled Gotham Knight. Produced by Bruce Timm, who is responsible for the Batman animated series, the film is similar to the Animatrix, with a series of short anime style films bridging the gap between Batman Begins and the new film.

Many leading comic book authors are involved, and the animation looks fantastic. Below is a ten minute promo clip for the film, which I assume will be released sometime before July

And the hi def winner is....

It looks increasingly like the format war between HD DVD and Blu Ray is coming to an end, with Blu Ray the victor. This article from IGN discusses the developments of the last few weeks in detail.

Even with a single format, high definition discs still have some significant problems going forward. The price of the players are expensive and the increase in picture quality over DVD is only evident with a TV size larger than most people have or want in their homes. Furthermore, there appears to be an increasing trend downloads downloading rather than physically purchasing a disk. All off this suggests that blu ray will be, at best, a niche product like laser disc before it.

Diary of the Dead

Another new interview with George Romero in which he talks at length about his new film, 'Diary of the Dead' which has opened in the USA today, to mixed reviews.

The films MySpace page (remember myspace?) has a number of clips from the film.

See also my earlier post below which contains another interview with Romero and an archive TV show in which Jonathan Ross discusses his work.

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnussus Casting

Aint it Cool News has the details of the actors who will be completing Heath Ledger's role in 'The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus', the Terry Gilliam film Ledger was part way through filming prior to his death last month.

3 Actors will be taking the role - Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. Apparently the film is split between 'real life' and fantasy worlds. Ledger had finished shooting the former of these and was about to start work on the fantasy sequences. There are three such sequences in the film and a different actor will be playing the Ledger part in each.

This seems a clever way of finishing the film whilst allowig Ledger's work to remain, although there is a danger it may pull the audience out of the film, particularly knowing the surrounding circumstances.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer

John Cleese Interview

The Onion AV Club has a fairly lengthy and wide ranging interview with John Cleese.

More Hobbit Trouble

CNN reports that the people responsible for handling Tolkiens literary estate ,together with the publishers of his books, are suing New Line pictures over their failure to pay royalties from the Lord of the Rings films. Apparently the studio agreed to pay the estate 7.5% of the gross of the films yet this has not been forthcoming. New Line has also allegedly refused requests for audits of the accounts of the second and third films in the trilogy.

This sounds a lot like the complaints both Peter Jackson and the stars of the films have had with New Line in previous lawsuits.

As well as damages, the trustees of the estate also seek to terminate New Line's rights to other Tolkien properties, which would obviously effect the forthcoming 'Hobbit' films.

I imagine this will settle sooner rather than later, as following the failure of the Golden Compass New Line will be desperate to move forward on what is essentially a sure fire blockbuster.

Incredibly Strange Film Show - Romero Interview

Jonathan Ross interviews George Romero and Tom Savini, and provides a retrospective of their careers in this episode of 'The Incredibly Strange Film Show' from 1989.

Romero is currently doing the rounds to promote his latest film, 'Diary of The Dead' and Chud.com has an interesting interview with the director here in which he sheds some thoughts on the impetus behind the latest film. Reading between the lines and taken in conjunction with some other recent comments, you get the impression that Romero was not entirely happy with how Land of the Dead turned out. Diary sounds interesting, but the seeming reliance on CGI effects seems worrying. The film opens in the US this weekend, and the reception it receives will likely determine whether the UK gets a theatrical release or whether this one goes direct to DVD.

RIP Roy Scheider

RIP John Alvin

John Alvin, who died this week, was responsible for some of the most well known poster art of the last 30 years, including ET, Bladerunner and Gremlins. This article at Aint it Cool News contains numerous examples of his work.

Bafta Winners

British Film : This is England

Orange Rising Star Award: Shia Lebouf

Film not in the English Language : The Lives of Others

Adapted Screenplay:The Diving Bell & The Butterfly

Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)

Special achievement (first film): Matt Greenhalgh (writer of Control)

Special Visual Effects: The Golden Compass

Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)

Animated Film: Rattatouille (however it's spelt)

Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody (Juno)

Director: Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)

Actress: Marion Couttard (La Vie En Rose0

Actor: Daniel Day Lewis

Film: Atonement

Writers Strike to End

Variety reports that a tentative agreement has been reached with the Writers Guild of America which should bring the 4 month writers strike to an end. This means that TV production will resume before the end of the season and the Oscar ceremony should proceed as normal. Expect to see feature films which had been put on hold due to the strike, notably Da Vinci Code prequel 'Angels and Demons' moving forward quickly.

The agreement seems to allow for a percentage payment for work streamed free (ad supported) on the internet, but only after an initial 14/21 day period. I would guess that most streaming is during this period so i'm not sure how much financial benefit this will bring the writers. There is also no mention of an increase in dvd residuals, which was one of the main sticcking points in initial negotiations. No doubt there will be more details in the coming days and weeks as both sides try and spin the agreement as a victory.