This is crossposted on the Movie Noise and Comic Book Noise blogs.
I have been so busy with so many things that I had no idea there was a Gatchaman movie in the works; I did not know the animation studio working on it had all but gone out of business; and I did not know there was a single surviving production trailer out ‘in the wild’.
Luckily for me, the good folks over at twitchfilm.net have filled me in on everything, including this little bit of greatness:
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I received a press release today and although I usually don’t just post them, I was listening to Geek Brunch Episode 69 where they were talking about Rob Zombie’s Halloween and how it compared to John Carpenter’s Halloween. Since it was fresh on my mind, I decided ‘why not?’ So here is the press release in its entirety.
DIMENSION FILMS AND ROB ZOMBIE SCARE UP “H2,” SEQUEL TO 2007′S HIT FILM “HALLOWEEN”
Trancas International Films To Produce
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (December 16, 2008) — Dimension Films – the successful genre and specialty arm of The Weinstein Company – is pleased to announce that the company will make “H2,” the sequel to Rob Zombie’s 2007 reinvention of the horror classic “Halloween.” Once again, Rob Zombie has been tapped to write and direct. Malek Akkad of Trancas International Films, who also produced 2007′s Halloween with Dimension, will produce the sequel, along with Andy Gould of Spectacle Entertainment Group, Zombie’s long time manager and producing partner. The announcement was made today by Bob Weinstein, Co-Chairman of The Weinstein Company.
Dimension’s “Halloween” scored the highest Labor Day weekend opening ever with a record-breaking $30.6 million in its first four days of release and went on to gross nearly $60 million at the domestic box office in 2007.
Zombie’s “H2” will pick up at the exact moment the first movie stopped and follow the aftermath of Michael Myers murderous rampage through the eyes of heroine Laurie Strode.
“H2” will be Zombie’s fifth written and directed feature. Prior to the success of Halloween, Zombie released the critically-acclaimed film “The Devil’s Rejects” (2005), the follow-up to his cult classic “House of 1000 Corpses” (2004). Zombie just wrapped production on his animated feature film “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto” due to be released in 2009. Zombie, also an accomplished recording artist, has sold over fifteen million albums worldwide, making him one of Geffen Records’ top selling and longest running artists.
Bob Weinstein stated: “Following the success of 2007’s ‘Halloween,’ we are thrilled to be back in business with Rob Zombie, bringing a sequel to theatres. The fans have made it clear – and we agree – that they feel the franchise is in great hands with Rob Zombie.”
Rob Zombie said, ”I am very excited to be working with Bob Weinstein again and returning to the world of ‘Halloween.’ The remake laid the groundwork, now it’s time to really take Michael Myers to the next level. I believe we’ve just barely scratched the surface of where we can take this series.“
John Carpenter’s “Halloween” launched the Halloween franchise in 1978 and Moustapha Akkad, founder of Trancas International Films, executive produced the original classic. Akkad’s son Malek has continued with the franchise, producing “Halloween” (2007), “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” (1998) and now, “H2.”
“I am thrilled to be making ‘H2’ at Dimension, the home of the ‘Halloween’ franchise for the last 15 years,” commented Malek Akkad. “I look forward to working again with Bob Weinstein, as well as a filmmaker of Rob Zombie’s talent and stature.”
About The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company (TWC) was created by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films Corporation in 1979. TWC is a multi-media company that officially launched on October 1, 2005. Dimension Films, the genre label that was founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, is also included under the TWC banner.
During the Weinsteins’ tenure at Miramax Films the company released some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful independent feature films which received 249 Academy Award® nominations and won 60 Oscars®, have generated billions of dollars in worldwide box office receipts and billions more in home video sales. In its history, Dimension Films has released some of the most successful franchises including “Scream,” “Spy Kids” and “Scary Movie.
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According to Hollywood Reporter, The Hughes Brothers are making a sequel to ‘American Pimp’ called ‘Gentlemen of Leisure’.
I can’t wait.
Although I liked the original Marvel GI Joe series, I was never a fan of the cartoon and I wasn’t looking forward to the upcoming movie. However, with each new detail that comes out, the more I want to actually see it in the theatre. The latest is an image of Sienna Miller as The Baroness.
She looks very Kate Beckensale-ish to me, but that might be because I’m not really familiar with the actress.
May 27
Sex and The City is a new release this week.
May 8
Iron Sky Trailer
My friend Martha pointed me in the direction of this trailer. It looks very intriguing. I’m curious to see what the story is going to be like. The music for the trailer is haunting beautiful. I thought that it was either Madeleine Peyroux or Eva Cassidy at first, but it turns out that it is someone called Kaiti Kink. The names on the credits look to be Swedish or Iceland or something from that region of the world. We will probably never see it in the US, but it looks pretty cool.
Great news for Moon Bloodgood, who played in the late lamented (at least by me) television show Journeyman. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she will star in Terminator 4, along with Christian Bale, Sam Worthington and Anton Yelchin. I already had high hopes for T4 (after T3 they can only go up) even with McG as the director, but now I am actually looking forward to seeing it. Moon is a beautiful woman who can actually act. Good casting.
Related links:
Yahoo version of the Hollywood Reporter article
The more I see of this movie, the more the question comes to my mind: Is Cloverfield an Americanized version of The Host?
I’ve been avoiding as many spoilers as I can and I am relying just on the trailers that I see on TV and on the Web. It seems like there is a monster on the loose and a simultaneous plot about a disease of some sort. The big difference that I see is in the heroes of the story. The heroes of Cloverfield look like a bunch of pretty hipsters, while the heroes of The Host were a lot more unpretty and unhip.
Still, I will be there on January 18th and if I can, I will record a spoiler free podcast about the movie later that night.