Star Trek Sequel Talk, Men-from-Mars Sold, & Iron Man Previs Online...

Paramount Already Asking Abrams for Trek Sequel

(sliceofscifi.com)                             Paramount Pictures wants a sequel to J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek film and it's still a year before "Star Trek" hits theaters.

Reporting to TrekMovie.com, one of the film's writers, Roberto Orci, said that "they already want to lock us down to write the sequel. Take that as you will."

Orci went on to further add that Paramount Pictures wants all of the existing team (actors and behind the camera people) back for the sequel.

This is very encouraging news and indicates the studio's confidence in the Abrams vision for the future of Trek, even if Orci humbly told TrekMovie…"They haven't even seen the movie yet, so this news should not be taken as evidence that we are anything special. It's a quite normal practice."

If Mr. Orci doesn't mind, I will take at least a few minutes to be excited.

New 'Hulk' Boasts Better Effects, Smashing Foe

(usatoday.com)             Hulk want do-over.

In the Ang Lee Hulk film jumping on cars and
gamma-radiated dogs and fighting Nick Nolte wasn't satisfying for
fans who wanted to see demolition. It's not only important for them to
see Hulk smash. They want someone who smashes back.

And that someone is Abomination. Think of him as a Hulk on steroids
who got cut off in L.A. traffic.

Marvel has a reputation for unlikely choices for its heroes: Norton,
Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. But the
choice of 5-foot-7 Brit Tim Roth as the monstrous villain surprised
even Roth.

"I mean, movie stars want to be in comic-book movies, and I'm a
character actor," he says. "And a short one. But it's amazing what
they can do with Lycra and (computer-generated) effects."

Indeed, that could be what determines the fate of the Hulk. Where the
2003 film was hammered for clunky visual effects, Hulk redux employs a
motion-capture special effect in which actors' faces are coated with
an infrared paint so that stars' faces, down to their wrinkles, show
up when they turn into computer creatures.

"There's no comparison" between the effects of the two films, says
Gale Anne Hurd, producer of both Hulk movies. "We had access to the
cutting edge, and you want that if your sequel is going to raise the
action. You can put more pop in the popcorn when you believe the
actors are really 'hulking out.' "

But it will take more than improved effects to resurrect the
not-so-jolly green giant.

"It looks like this is closer to what fans want, which really is to
connect to our memories of Hulk," Butler says. "Among the Marvel comic
heroes, there's Spider-Man, (X-Men's) Wolverine and the Hulk. We want
to love him. We just need a reason to."

Games No Threat To Hollywood, Experts Say

(mtv.com)                  Hollywood execs need not worry about the half-billion-dollar gorilla that has been absorbing a lot of video game players' time. "Grand Theft Auto IV," which sold 6 million copies in its first week, is no threat to the movie industry, according to gaming experts.

Before the latest edition of Rockstar Games' interactive crime drama was released last week, members of the gaming and film industries, as well as the press, pondered whether "GTA" was going to hurt the release of the "Iron Man" movie. Games of "GTA" magnitude don't typically hit stores at the same time as the first big movie of the summer.

"GTA" netted $500 million in its first week of worldwide release. "Iron Man" netted an impressive $101 million, better than expected. So maybe gaming's biggest and baddest aren't a threat?

Video game developer Kellee Santiago of That Game Company doesn't think anyone was considering not seeing "Iron Man" so they could play Rockstar's game. "Is it seriously something any one of us thought about?" she asked. "It seems much more plausible to say, 'Can't wait to see "Iron Man" and then come home to "GTA"!' What's the conflict?"

Wedbush Morgan Securities financial analyst Michael Pachter, one of the most outspoken commentators about the gaming business, also doesn't believe "Grand Theft Auto" was ever a threat to "Iron Man," despite earlier reports. "In the U.S., 'GTA' sold to around 3 million people, while 'Iron Man' was marketed to an addressable market of over 100 million moviegoers," he said in an e-mail. "So 'GTA' impacted 3 percent of the 'Iron Man' addressable market, and probably only half of these people are big enough losers to be unwilling to leave their beloved 'GTA' (when on mission 147) for two hours over the weekend in order to see a great movie. That suggests that the impact on 'Iron Man' box office was around 1.5 percent, too small to measure in any case."

If anything, games can pose a threat to television, explained Brian Crecente, managing editor of gaming blog Kotaku. Movies, he said, are safe. "Going to the movies for most is still viewed as an outing, a special treat. Games are more like television, something to do in your home or on your own."

Pachter said that even as games consume more of people's attention, they're a small distraction from all the other available entertainment. "I don't see games as a threat to Hollywood box office, per se," he said. "I think that games are a part of the total entertainment-consumption experience, so game purchases should be considered in the context of TV watching (including VOD, PPV, HBO and DVD rental), moviegoing, sporting-event attendance, music purchases, book purchases, magazine purchases and even surfing the Web. If we spend 35 hours a week being entertained, and the average person's video game consumption increases from two hours a week to three hours a week over time, all of the other categories of entertainment will suffer by roughly 3 percent. Again, it's difficult to measure, and the consumption numbers I used for illustration are probably too high."

"Dune" To Rise Again

(scifi.com)         Josh Zetumer is in negotiations to write the
latest movie incarnation of Dune, Frank Herbert's sprawling SF epic,
for Paramount Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The award-winning 1965 novel--the first in a series of six books about
a futuristic struggle for control of a precious spice called Melange
on the desert planet Arrakis--was first adapted by David Lynch into a
financially and critically disastrous 1984 film (though Herbert
apparently liked it). It also was turned into a more successful SCI FI
Channel miniseries in 2000.

Kevin Misher is producing the new version through his Paramount-based
Misher Films. Herbert's son, Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson, who have
co-written several additional Dune novels, will co-produce. Peter Berg
is attached to direct.

ILM Concept Artist To Give Commencement Speech

(theday.com)              That imposing machine that helped Tony Stark into his armor-like superhero suit in the movie "Iron Man"? You can trace the way it looks to artist Aaron McBride.

That creepy, cursed crew member in "Pirates of the Caribbean" who is a human merged with a hammerhead shark? It, too, was partly McBride's creation.

McBride is a concept design artist, meaning that he creates drawings that computer-imaging or model-making folks then use as templates for their work.

Right now, post-"Iron Man," he's moved on to a new project. He's doing creature design for the next, still-cloaked-in-secrecy Harry Potter movie.

On Saturday, the Ledyard native will return to his alma mater, Pine Point School in Stonington, to speak at graduation ceremonies.

VFX Merger:  Pixion Buys Men-from-Mars

Century Communications, one of India's largest independently owned
media companies and owner of leading Indian vfx company Pixion, is
making its first move into the global arena with the acquisition of
U.K. based, vfx house Men-from-Mars.

Emmy and BAFTA nominated Men-from-Mars was established in 2000 by
Simon Frame and Phil Attfield (former principles of renowned vfx house
Men in White Coats). The company has produced vfx for more than 60
feature films

Men-from-Mars built a highly economic vfx pipeline that delivered the
film on time and budget, with a creative team of fewer than 36
artists.

Century Communications has acquired Frame and Attfield stakes, as well
as Welsh Media Company Barcud Derwen's shareholding for an undisclosed
sum. It is believed that the sale and the commitment of inward
investment into the company in the coming months will be more than 2
million pounds.

Frame and Attfield will retain strategic and management control of the
company, and will also continue as board directors. Tom Horton, who
joined Men-from-Mars in April 2007 in a senior management role, has
also been appointed as a board director and will take the role of
Managing Director.

Watch Iron Man's Previs Reel

(forums.cgsociety.org)             Pixel Liberation Front provided a
complete visualization solution for Marvel's Iron Man, directed by Jon
Favreau. Academy Award winning VFX Supervisor John Nelson collaborated
with our team for 19 straight months. In early pre-production, PLF
assisted suit designer Phil Saunders with motion-test suit concepts
and 3d design implementations. We then moved forward with
previsualization on ten different sequences.

PLF's team size expanded and contracted as the needs of the production
changed. As the shoot progressed, PLF transitioned into a Postvis
team. We worked closely with both VFX and Editorial to complete
preliminary versions of the VFX shots. This included tracking and
animating effects into plates. The flexibility to tweak and revise
sequences allowed the filmmakers to quickly hone in on the most
effective solutions for the VFX shots without the added cost of a
large vendor. As shots were approved for delivery to the final
vendors, PLF provided 3D scene data for both Industrial Light and
Magic and The Orphanage.

PLF also completed 35 shots for the show as a final effects vendor.
PLF's shot responsibilities included designing and compositing the
Stark Industries operating system as well as creating the graphics for
the Combined Aerospace Operations Center (CAOC) during the movie's
"dogfight."

In addition, PLF Supervisor Kent Seki worked in conjunction with VFX
vendor The Orphanage to create 53 shots of Iron Man's Heads-Up-Display
(HUD). These shots included Iron Man's point of view (POV) as well as
shots of Robert Downey Jr. inside the mask itself, surrounded by the
graphics that overlay his POV. Acting as a liaison between the
production and the vendor, Seki supervised these highly conceptual
shots that combined live action with graphics.

Pixel Liberation Front appreciated the privilege to work with such a
talented and collaborative production.

Take a look:   http://www.thefront.com/showreels.php?view=16

New Dark Knight Roller Coaster Thrills with Stunning Special Effects

(nj.com)                  The Dark Knight roller coaster. Where: Six Flags Great Adventure, 1 Six Flags Blvd., Jackson. When: Daily; park hours vary by date. How much: General admission, $49.99; tickets booked online, $39.99. Kids shorter than 54 inches, $29.99.

It's another Batman summer -- both at the movie theaters, and at Six Flags Great Adventure.

The amusement park recently launched "The Dark Knight," a new indoor roller coaster, this one geared to entertain kids as well as older thrill seekers. (The new Batman movie, also called "The Dark Knight," opens July 18.)

The $7.5 million new coaster, filled with special effects like flames and video clips, officially opened May 15. "It is the most advanced special effects ride in the park," said Al Rubano, director of facility maintenance and construction for Six Flags.

All those special effects -- and the unusual indoor setting -- received rave reviews from early riders.

"I screamed so bad, it was bouncing (echoing) off the walls," said Kayley Zumsteg, 7 of Barnegat after getting off the ride for the first time.

"It was really fun and had cool effects," said Dawn Palmieri, 41, of Marlboro. "My kids loved it -- they didn't want to get off. I lost my voice screaming."

The roller coaster is different from other coasters because it's enclosed, Palmieri noted. "You couldn't see what was coming up next, which was the best part."

There are voice-overs and video clips from the movie featured throughout the ride, which takes passengers past the Gotham City police building and other Batman landmarks.

"I think The Dark Knight offers our guests the best of both worlds," Rubino said. It is geared for those who like thrill rides, Batman fans and families with children. (Kids must be 42 inches tall to ride with a parent and 48 inches tall to ride alone.)

"I think the ride will have a tremendous entertainment value and be very popular," he said.

The ride opens with a video "press conference" featuring city fathers discussing plans for Gotham City -- until they are rudely interrupted by the villiam of both the ride and the movie, The Joker. This short pre-ride show, featuring snippets of the film, is followed by a trip to a loading area that looks like a subway station. Guests get onto individual subway-like cars and the special effects begin with billboards. The ride lasts one minute and 40 seconds and travels from 14 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour at a vertical drop.

The ride was manufactured by Mack Rides in Germany and replaces Skull Mountain at the park. The same ride also opened in Six Flags Chicago.

Transformers 2 Gets Longer Name

(ComingSoon.net)            DreamWorks/Paramount has confirmed that
the full title for Michael Bay's sequel will be Transformers 2:
Revenge of the Fallen.

The movie began shooting on June 2nd in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. While
details of the movie's plot a closely-guarded secret, expect a key
character from the first movie to make a dramatic comeback and attempt
to settle a score.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is scheduled for a June 26, 2009 release.

Worth a Mention on Vacation

Be back in a week!