"When I was a kid, I read C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia”, upteemth times. Before I’d ever read “The Hobbit” or “Lord of the Rings”. The visuals those books produced in my head were amazing. I’ve never even wanted to see these books in film - didn’t think they could do it. But after Peter Jackson’s amazing feat with “LoTR”, someone was bound to try bring to life the fabulous characters and settings. Here’s the news:
“Doug Gresham, the step-son of C.S. Lewis gave a lecture last night and ‘Jon’ was in attendance: “He was asked what his opinion was of the forthcoming live-action Narnia movies. He said “I rather think they are going to be great… since it was my idea.” He said that he had just inked the deal that morning to give a green light for production but didn’t want to reveal studio names as “that would all come out in the press soon.” He said that he would be co-producing it and Andrew Adamson would be directing. His main goal was that the special effects would not be the star of the show but instead, it would be his father’s story. ‘Never change the words of the master’”. ‘Lord of the Rings’ tool/FX makers Weta have the contract to handle the film’s technical elements whilst Andrew Adamson (“Shrek”) will direct with a mid-2004 release planned” (WETA involved? “Shrek” director? YEAH!)
And speaking of “LoTR”, something on “RoTK”:
"The One Ring has details on the third film from a recent WETA lecutre at Victoria University: “With The Return of the King, Massive (the software used to create CG armies) is apparently being stretched to its limits. Peter Jackson is saying that the great battle must be several times larger than that of Helm?s Deep. Weta Digital has only now just finished the extra footage for TTT DVD that will be released later this year and is now starting work for RoTK. In TTT there were approximately 800 Computer Graphics shots. They are expecting in excess of 1000 for the third film”
(can you say, “I wanna see this NOW”? - I can…repeatedly).
“Riddick”: Vin Diesel has just spoken about this sequel to “Pitch Black”. Filming begins shortly. “Riddick” take place about 5-years after the events in “Pitch Black”. He is also hinting at a “LoTR” type of shoot: where they are filming two (or three) sequels back to back or during the same schedule.
“Catwoman”: It’s final. Halle Berry will be the next big screen incarnation of DC Comic’s feline femme jewel thief. Pitof (“Vidocq”) will be directing. If you folks haven’t seen “Vidocq” yet. Do. Great visuals. I think his (Pitof) visual style would be perfect for this project.
“Superman”: Okay. It’s down to two actors. Brendan Frasier and a Mathew Bomer. “Mathew…who?” you ask. Well, if you don’t watch daytime soaps, like myself, you would ask that question. He’s in “The Guiding Light”. And he’s actually the stronger draw since his paycheck would be considerably less than Fraiser’s.
“X2”: Man, saw some freakin’ amazing stills yesterday from this movie. Here’s where you can see Nightcrawler with tail. www.darkhorizons.com/news03/nightail.jpg BAMF!
That’s it for now!