Clash of the Titans Go Greenscreen, Creepiest CG Human Yet, & Captain Leo...

Cloverfield Sequel On Hold

(scifi.com)                       Matt Reeves, who directed the monster thriller Cloverfield, told SCI FI Wire that plans for a sequel film have been put on hold until the filmmakers can come up with an idea as interesting as the original.

Reeves added: "We're still kind of toying with what it's going to be and whether or not we're going to find something that will be as exciting for us to make and, hopefully, for an audience to watch. So we'll see. It's really in the baby, baby stages. And right now it's definitely on hold until we come up with what that would be."

Press reports have suggested that some of the ideas for the next film include a prequel that would go into the backstory of the creature that attacks New York in the original or a parallel story set on the same night with different characters. Reeves said that both of those ideas have been under discussion.

"We did talk about that, and I think that we would find some way, if we did it," he said. "Some of the ideas we've come up with reference this idea and reference the film, so that there is a sense that it's related to this film. But it would be different. I would need [it] to be really different."

Meanwhile, Reeves has been talking about other potential ideas with producer J.J. Abrams and writer Drew Goddard that aren't necessarily related to Cloverfield.

"We have a couple ideas," Reeves said. "We have a couple pretty exciting ideas, but it's in the very, very early stages of that. And whether or not that will develop into something that we want to do is really unclear at this point. But as long as J.J. and Drew and I come up with something that seems worth doing, then I think we'll do it."

Gates Steps Down

(sliceofscifi.com)                      After 30 years of heading the most successful software business in world history and with his goal of seeing a computer in every home almost complete, Microsoft\u2019s Bill Gates will step down as that company\u2019s leader to concentrate soley on charitable work.

This comes after the announcement just this week that there are now 1 billion personal computers in the world with that number expected to double in just a little over 5 years and Gates\u2019 operating software governs the majority of them, making him and his wife Melinda, two of the richest people to have ever lived on the planet. Only King Solomon, Warren Buffett and Middle Eastern oil sheiks meander in that kind of territory.

Star Trek, G.I. Joe, & Transformers 2  Blow Off San Diego

(chud.com)                  Over the years, we've done a lot of commentary and some griping about how the major studios have made the San Diego Comic Con their own playground, and how big-ticket movies have really remade the show into something that barely resembles the cons of many years past. So why does it feel so strange to think that Paramount won't be attending this year?

Probably because last year was owned by the mountain. Indy and Iron Man made gigantic splashes there; the only thing anyone was talking about after the con was Jon Favreau's panel in the big hall. (It was also the venue in which the studio really started to work Beowulf.) I'm sure quite a few people were hoping for something similar this year for Star Trek, G.I. Joe, Transformers 2 and perhaps even Shyamalan's The Last Airbender. Not happening. Anne Thompson notes that Paramount says "the timing was off this year," which could mean so many possible things that speculation is pointless.

The studio says they might throw some viral materials the Con's way, but don't expect much. None of Paramount's geek-friendly films open until next year, so it's not like the studio is losing major marketing steam, but this still reads vaguely like the outfit has realized they might not need to spend extra money promoting things at Comic Con. In fact, with the exception of Shyamalan's movie, none of that slate needs the con at all. 

"WALL-E" Shoots For $60M Weekend

(Hollywood Reporter)                  R2-D2, C-3PO, Robby the Robot, Robocop and the T-1000 all better step aside to make room: As of this weekend, there will be a new robo-star in town.

His name is WALL-E -- an acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class -- and the little fella is a bit of a drone who has been left behind on Earth to clean up mankind's mess. The hero of Pixar's latest, similarly titled "WALL-E," he makes his debut Friday nationwide via Walt Disney Pictures.

While the weekend's other new wide release, Universal's R-rated action film "Wanted," should do a brisk business of its own, it's not looking to compete for the crowds expected to rush to embrace "WALL-E."

The early reviews have been ecstatic, hailing the Pixar team, this time headed by director Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo") for raising the animation bar again. So it's a safe bet that Pixar will enjoy its ninth successive No. 1 opening.

"WALL-E," which cost about $120 million to make, is not expected to open as big as 2004's "The Incredibles" ($70.5 million) or 2003's "Finding Nemo" ($70.3 million), but it should top the $47 million opening that "Ratatouille" achieved last summer as it pushes well into $50 million territory, possibly even flirting with the $60 million mark.

A Truly Amazing Photorealistic CGI Human?

(groovylikeamovie.com)              If anyone recalls, the completely CGI animated "Polar Express" was REAMED by critics for the lifelessness of its characters. I remember seeing the trailer, with it's Tom Hank-esque conductor leaning over and lecturing one of the kids—it was actually one of the scarier performances I'd scene in a trailer in awhile.

This would be the OPPOSITE of that.

Take a look:  http://www.groovylikeamovie.com/blog/?p=99

Behind The Scenes Of Hellboy II Creature VFX

(cinemablend.com)              Behind The Scenes Of Hellboy II Looking for a reason to be excited about Hellboy II? How about this one: It's not a bunch of crummy CGI. Guillermo del Toro is one of the few directors out there willing to go the extra mile to actually make his special effects look, you know, good. That means using a little bit of CGI mixed with a whole lot of old fashioned, practical, creativity.

In a brand new featurette just released for the film, Del Toro admits that they're pushing the boundaries of animatronics in this movie… and holy crap are they ever. The featurette shows off some of the work they've been doing, and it's pretty eye-popping. Del Toro's fantastical characters actually look real, because they are. He builds sets, he has real ten-foot tall monsters running around on them. How cool is that?

Check out the new Hellboy II: The Golden Army behind the scenes video:  http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Behind-The-Scenes-Of-Hellboy-II-9320.html

Weta Monster Project Has Budget Woes

(nzherald.co.nz)                             A movie version of Kiwi classic Under the Mountain, starring Sam Neill, is in jeopardy after a last-minute funding hitch.

More than 40 per cent of cash pledged to the remake of the popular 1980s TV series _ based on writer Maurice Gee's 1979 book _ has been pulled by British company Capitol Films.

Producer Richard Fletcher said he was "shocked" by the developments that had forced him to reassess funding options.

"Basically we were in active pre-production, and this significant financier defaulted just over a week before we were due to start principal photography. We got caught up in much wider issues that company has."

The fantasy adventure tale, set in the heart of Auckland, is about teenage twins who must face evil forces lurking beneath the region's volcanoes.

Weta Workshop in Wellington is set to create the underground creatures in the movie, as well as the special effects.

Mad Max 2 actor Bruce Spence co-stars, and two teenagers have signed to play redhead twins Rachel and Theo.

According to the LA Weekly News, A-listers Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci are among the Hollywood actors and directors left in limbo by the funding woes.

All production on Under the Mountain, was suspended on April 28. A plywood house built for exterior scenes in an Auckland park was removed earlier this month, and shooting had been set to start last month.

"WALL*E' Quicktime Virtual Set Tours

(CGsociety.com)     What's the future look like, according to 'WALL*E'? Bright and beautiful, which is saying a lot considering Earth is inhabited only by the titular robot that spends its days organizing the planet's leftovers. We've got three interactive set tours from Pixar's latest winning creation -- check them out. (Click on the screen to get started, then use the Shift key to zoom in and CTRL to zoom out.)

Take the tour:      http://movies.aol.com/movie-photo-bts/wall-e-quicktime-virtual-tour

Albuquerque Studios Lures VFX Shoots

(variety.com)                            The gritty urban tales that Will Eisner brought to life in "The Spirit" comicbooks of the 1940s are a world removed from the desert charm and sweeping vistas of Albuquerque, N.M.

But technology brings even the strangest bedfellows together, as shown by Albuquerque Studios' state-of-the-art soundstages, which made it possible for the city to attract Frank Miller's effects-heavy adaptation of "The Spirit."

Producer Deborah Del Prete had previously filmed in New Mexico and liked working there, but it took the kind of technical facilities that could handle the greenscreen-heavy virtual shoot planned for "The Spirit" to bring her back. "Without them having built that studio, they couldn't have attracted a movie like ours and a lot of the other movies that have come in after us," she says.

Jeremy Hariton, senior VP of the facility, says that was a major motivation for building the studio, which opened in June 2007 and welcomed "The Spirit" as its first feature film production. "Rather than being a location destination, we're able to attract films like 'The Spirit' that aren't here to shoot the vistas," he says.

Like the film adaptations of Miller's own comics in "Sin City" and "300," "The Spirit" is a cutting-edge virtual movie that needed the kind of large space and technical requirements only a studio can provide.

A visit to the set last November revealed the production spread across the studio's two largest stages, a space totaling 48,000 square feet, which had been divided into quadrants for shooting. Each section featured a small chunk of physical set, such as a truck, a patch of land or the side of a building, behind which either a greenscreen or blackscreen was draped from ceiling to floor.

The setup enabled Miller to direct a shot in which Gabriel Macht, who plays the Spirit, flips up from one level of a fire escape to another guided by wires that would later be painted out digitally. Later the same day, Miller moved across the stage to handle another shot, in which the masked Macht delivers a solid right cross to the jaw of Samuel L. Jackson's Octopus.

Supporting the production were comfortable, modern production offices that housed props, costumes and an art department covered in sketches and drawings, some by Miller himself, of Central City and its denizens.

Having such facilities bolsters the state's contention that its financial incentives are paying off. While "The Spirit" is completing more than 1,800 visual effects shots in Santa Monica and San Francisco, Albuquerque Studios is hardly standing empty: "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins" has since swooped in to occupy all six of the facility's existing stages, and two additional 18,000-square-foot buildings are set to accommodate season two of AMC's "Breaking Bad."

"We've pretty much rented the whole place, so it's almost like our own little studio," says "Terminator" location manager Michael J. Burmeister.

Unlike "The Spirit," the production is doing nearly half its shooting on exteriors, most of them within a one-hour driving radius of Albuquerque Studios. The team is also building a number of sets on raw land adjacent to the facility, using the space almost like a backlot.

"They start out in the desert, like Palmdale or Lancaster, so we're able to take advantage of the New Mexico landscape, then try to match some things in L.A.," Burmeister says. "If you're trying to do Times Square, it's a little more challenging." Unless, of course, you do it on greenscreen.

(moviehole.net)                         Bruce Banner may be an out-and-out good guy, but The Hulk can swing either way – he's like an out-of-control wrestler (in fact he was at one time, right?) who's hell-bent on destroying anything and everything in his path. If that thing in his way happens to be Captain America's head… so be it.

Louis Letterier, director of "The Incredible Hulk", tells the MTV Movies Blog that he'd like to see a similar storyline play out in the forthcoming live-action "Avengers" movie.

"I would love to see [the Hulk become the villain that fights the Avengers] because I think the best villains are always the ones whose agenda you understand," he enthused. "They're not synthetic to us in a way; they're not these one dimensional bad guys."

Meantime, Jon Favreau, director of "Iron Man", says if he is contracted to direct that film's sequel, you can count on the big green guy making a cameo appearance.

Game to Movie "War Heroes": "Full Metal Jacket" Meets "X-Men"

(cinematical.com)                Well, it certainly seems that Mark Millar is becoming very popular in Hollywood these days. Pretty impressive considering his first movie adaptation hasn't even hit theaters yet. In an interview with the Sunday Herald, Millar let it drop that there have been some offers for his latest series, War Heroes. Millar told the Herald that there have already been two offers for the rights to the property, making Heroes the latest in a series of Millar's books headed for the big screen.

Millar describes War Heroes as Full Metal Jacket meets X-Men (which already sounds pretty awesome), and the story is set a few years in the future after John McCain has been elected president (and now you know you're in the realm of fiction). In Heroes, the US has been racked by terrorist attacks, so the government offers up superpowers to anyone willing to enlist in the military. But nothing ever goes that smoothly in the world of comic books, so as the story progresses, some less than savoury characters sign up to get the coveted powers.

Millar, unlike other comic book stars, seems to be happy turning his books into feature films. But don't think he's a babe in the woods when it comes to Hollywood; he seems to have a pretty good grasp on how the game works, telling the Herald, "They'll buy a project based on just a title, a blurb and an image." And if they smell what the business calls "high concept," they will go into a feeding frenzy."

Providing the box office receipts for Wanted are as good as everyone involved expects, it shouldn't take long for War Heroes to get a feature film deal of its own. What do you think? Sound interesting?

(USA Today)        Real-life couple director Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan are teaming up to bring Red Sonja back to the big screen.

Neither of them were officially announced before. The only thing that was revealed previously was that Millennium Films had committed to reviving the Robert E. Howard-created property. David N. White was announced as the screenwriter.

Rodriguez added that the Barbarella remake he is set to direct, also with McGowan in the lead, was delayed because of the writers strike and possible actors strike.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Captain America?

(moviehole.net)                 Leonardo DiCaprio is Marvel's top choice to play Steve Rogers aka Captain America in the forthcoming superhero jaunt.

No brainer as far as I see it. Having cast heavyweights Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man and Edward Norton as The Hulk, respectively, it'd make sense for them to cast another A-lister in this new one. And if you're talking about huge box-office superstars that have a nice thick head of blond hair on top of their noggins, and the ability to get bruised and battered a bit and not cry too much afterwards about it, you can't go past Leo… or Brad Pitt.

And not surprisingly, Brad Pitt is apparently also on Marvel's wish list for the role (should Leo turn it down).

I've a feeling they may get DiCaprio – he did, after all, attach himself to a film version of "Spider-Man" in the early 90s, when James Cameron was directing it. Yes, he's a much bigger star now than he was then, but having seen what playing a superhero did for Downey Jr and Norton (who'll end up about three times as rich as what they were before the respective opening day's of their films), the youngster's sure to feel quite confident about slapping on some tights. But my god, how expensive is this "Avengers" movie going to be!? They'll have to cough up fees for Downey Jr, Norton, and whatever star they get to play Captain America? Someone's going to need to sell their mansion in Malibu to bankroll that thing!