By Jason Apuzzo. • The new trailer for The Green Hornet is out, and I agree with The New York Post’s Lou Lumenick that it is so transcendently awful, so smugly idiotic, as to be almost indescribable. Why was Seth Rogen allowed within 3,000 miles of this project?
• Fans are already lining up, waiting for the next installment of the Twilight series … and some are now asking whether Twilight has a pro-life, pro-Mormon subtext to it. I’m not going to even pretend to know the answer to that, but if I was 18 and female I’ll bet I would.
• Disney’s first Marvel superhero franchise picture will apparently be Dr. Strange, probably because that’s the only available character left.
• More 3D digital screens are being made available all the time, but fewer audiences are flocking to them due to higher ticket prices. This is a completely predictable development, mimicking certain tendencies from the short-lived 1950s 3D craze. I believe it was Patrick Goldstein of the LA Times who recently warned the industry that it was, in effect, killing the goose that lays the golden egg by prematurely raising 3D ticket prices. Well, the goose has now left the building. With Elvis. Or something.
• Disney is debuting its Tron products/swag line, including toys, video games and apparel. Seth Rogen’s not in this film, right? Just checking.
• Oliver Stone is now saying that neither Castro nor Hugo Chavez are really dictators, as his South of the Border documentary gets ready for its (not so) big U.S. release. We may go on a hiatus from commenting on Oliver for a while, as his remarks become increasingly calibrated to: 1) court cheap publicity; 2) land him a detox booking at Passages Malibu.
• Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe is attached to star in All Quiet on the Western Front, an adaptation of a classic war novel that has little relevance to the current war we’re fighting – yet will be ceaselessly promoted as ‘relevant’ once it’s released.
• The remake of Footloose has a new star, as well as an April 1st release date for next year and no, I’m not kidding about that.
• Jon Voight criticizes President Obama today for selling out both Israel … and Arizona. Btw, is Deliverance on Blu-ray yet? That would be awesome.
• AND IN TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS … Rotten Tomatoes is featuring a behind-the-scenes early first look at Centurion, the new sword-and-sandles film starring former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko. Ancient Rome gets such a bad name these days – it’s nice to see the Romans finally get a little love thrown their way on the big screen.
And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood.
Posted on June 22nd, 2010 at 6:35pm.
Disney’s first Marvel superhero franchise picture will apparently be Dr. Strange, probably because that’s the only available character left.
Just in time for the end of the Superhero movie trend. An interesting mile stone for Disney the corporation. Walt created new and exciting stuff that was ahead of its time, now Disney corp buys other people’s tired creations and markets them after their “sell by” dates.
Given the news coming out of Venezuela of food shortages and of Chavez’s government thugs stealing grain and other foodstuffs from farmers and shop owners because the country now can’t produce enough food to feed itself (a recurring theme in socialist countries), I’m completely appalled that Stone would have the nerve to be out right now promoting this film and claiming that Chavez isn’t a dictator. Did Stone bother asking the Venezuelan people what they think of this?
3D is great but they have to find a way to lower the price. There is no way in this economy that people will continue to pay $14 and up just to see a movie in 3D unless its something that is getting a huge amount of positive buzz … and maybe not even then.
At a graduation the other day and one of the kids (an “A” student) had just finished “All Quiet etc.” and I asked him if he liked it and if it wasn’t too old fashioned. He loved it and so did most of his class. Good is good I guess.