Jon Favreau sees Iron Man 3 and The Avengers in 3D

"I really love the 3-D," director Jon Favreau told MTV at the San Diego Comic-Con. "I think 'Up' was probably my favorite movie I've seen this year."

Marvel has plans to make at least one more "Iron Man" film, as well as an "Avengers" film in 2012 that will feature Tony Stark. If Favreau has his way, he'd like at least one of those films to be three-dimensional.

"I like all the new technologies, 3-D being one of them. James Cameron had brought me around a few months back to see what he was doing with 'Avatar'; that's what's been seen now by many of the fans," he said of the 3-D footage shown last week. "It was exciting to go in there and see what he's doing with cutting-edge technology. He's just a great storyteller as well, and to see a great filmmaker working with the cutting-edge of this technology is amazing."

"I talked to Marvel after I'd seen [Cameron's footage] about doing 'Iron Man 2' in 3-D," he said. "I was hoping to get a shot at doing it this time around, but it didn't work out that way. ... There are a few drawbacks to it at this point — there's more cost involved, and it also forces you to shoot digitally. My cinematographer [Matthew Libatique] really likes film, and 'Iron Man' had a certain look because it was film."

As of right now, Favreau isn't certain he'll direct "Iron Man 3" or "The Avengers." But Feige is on record as saying that he'd like to see Marvel films jumping off the screen soon, and Favreau is convinced that the technology will be there for whichever film he makes next.

"We haven't had any talks about [me directing 'Avengers'], although we do have talks about what the content of 'Avengers' will be," Favreau said of the film expected to feature Iron Man, Nick Fury, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow and others. "I'm going to be involved in some capacity with it, but as far as directing goes, we're still working on this one. ... I'm happy they brought me back to do 'Iron Man 2.'

"But I think that, as the digital technology gets better, 3-D is going to be a lot easier," the filmmaker continued. "Certainly for 'Iron Man,' I think it would work out well."

Would you like to see the Marvel superheroes go 3D?

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Joe Dante is in The Hole

Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling) was at the San Diego Comic Con where he debuted a trailer for his latest feature The Hole in 3-D. It's his first film since Looney Tunes: Back in Action although he has done a couple of Masters of Horror episodes and a zombie-themed CSI:NY.

The Hole stars Teri Polo, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble and Quinn Lord. Written by Mark L. Smith (Vacancy), it concerns a family that moves into a new home. There they discover a hole in the basement that feeds off of their darkest fears and manifests them. It sounds a bit like a cross between The Gate, Sphere and Poltergeist. STYD managed to speak to the director about his new film.

"I read a lot of scripts, seldom do they strike me on a character level," says Dante. "This is not a big movie, it's a modest picture. I managed to convince them to do it in 3-D because I thought of the visuals and also the drama. It's not a gore-fest. It's more in the line of The Others or The Devil's Backbone. It's creepy and sneaks up on you, and it's not filled with eyeballs on sticks poking out at you in the third row. Not that there's anything wrong with that, that's just not what this is, there are plenty of those movies out there. So the idea was to try and make the kind of movie they stopped making in the '80s when you can take your family to a scary picture and they were not traumatized, they were scared."

I like the sound of the creepiness rather than all out gore.

Regarding the 3D technology Dante had this to say. "We found a way to do it that only added a modest amount to the budget an we went ahead and did it. I think it was a great idea. It's an unusual 3-D movie in the sense that it's not what you expect from a 3-D movie. It's still got all of the stuff - breaking the frame - but to me it's immersive. You feel a little more like you're in the room with the people and what their problems are. I think you find that in some of the current 3-D movie, the animated ones at least."

He also said shooting went smoothly and that his fans will "find this to be a Joe Dante movie. It has its silly aspects, of course, as I do. But it's pretty straight-forward, a character picture. The kids are very good. I have Bruce Dern. It's a small cast and not a lot of locations, but people who are movie fans will get a lot of the references."

The Hole is still in post-production and doesn't have a release date yet.

"The trick is to not repeat yourself, but then again, what is Small Soldiers but Gremlins 3, so you can't escape that stuff."

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The Final Destination - French Poster

On what should have been a fun-filled day at the races, Nick O'Bannon has a horrific premonition in which a bizarre sequence of events causes multiple race cars to crash, sending flaming debris into the stands, brutally killing his friends and causing the upper deck of the stands to collapse on him. When he comes out of this grisly nightmare Nick panics, persuading his girlfriend, Lori, and their friends, Janet and Hunt, to leave...escaping seconds before Nick's frightening vision becomes a terrible reality. Thinking they've cheated death, the group has a new lease on life, but unfortunately for Nick and Lori, it is only the beginning. As his premonitions continue and the crash survivors begin to die one-by-one--in increasingly gruesome ways--Nick must figure out how to cheat death once and for all before he, too, reaches his final destination. The film marks the latest in the highly popular "Final Destination" series, and its first 3D installment, giving horror fans an especially visceral thrill ride.

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Dark Country - Trailer for Thomas Jane's new 3D thriller

I posted some cool photos for Thomas Jane's new thriller, Dark Country, back in March.

Now we have a trailer.

Good news is it also stars the mighty Ron Perlman and is due out on DVD on 6th October.

Two honeymooners rescue a mysterious car crash survivor in the Las Vegas desert. But their decision to save the man becomes increasingly regrettable when he turns on them, forcing the newlyweds to do the unthinkable.

In a blur of paranormal chaos, the couple must take drastic measures to cover up their actions from the local police, ultimately leading each character to an inescapable fate.

Dark Country - Trailer
by dreadcentral

Source: Quiet Earth

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Tron Legacy - Comic Con Trailer

The trailer that was shown at Comic Con 2009 for the now named Tron Legacy which is basically the same footage that was shown last year as a concept but in HD quality. A virtual-world worker looks to take down the Master Control Program.

Finally we get to see this in decent quality and oh my religious diety of your choice, it looks amazing. Jeff Bridges is and always will be the Dude!

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UPDATED: Avatar - Footage from the Comic Con Panel and news on Avatar day

James Cameron had some big news about his new sci-fi film, Avatar, at the San Diego Comic Con.

15 minutes of the film will be screened in digital theaters for free across the globe on August 21. After viewing the Avatar footage, I thnk an event such as this will serve the film well—at least, much more so than a typical trailer and marketing campaign.

We’re going to do something unprecedented. It’s a social marketing experiment. We’re going to take over as many IMAX 3D theaters and other select 3D theaters worldwide on August 21 and we’re going to let an international global audience come see 15 minutes of Avatar for free. It’s going to be Avatar day.

UPDATE: Here is the official press release from Fox about Avatar Day.

On August 21, the world will get its first look at director James Cameron’s motion picture epic AVATAR, when Twentieth Century Fox and Cameron debut the film’s trailer everywhere – while select cinemas and IMAX® theaters will screen extended footage prepared by the renowned filmmaker for this global “Avatar Day” event.

The worldwide trailer launch will be presented in all formats, including IMAX® 3-D, IMAX® 2-D, digital 3-D, digital 2-D, and 35mm 2-D. The trailer will also be available online.

The extended look at AVATAR will unspool only on August 21 – and only in 3-D – in select theaters and IMAX®. Details on locations and reserving tickets for this extraordinary and unprecedented experience will be announced soon.

In addition on the 21st, Ubisoft® will unveil the trailer for their videogame James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game, and Mattel will reveal the action figures for the film’s Avatar and alien Na’vi characters.

AVATAR takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption, discovery and unexpected love, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, AVATAR delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

AVATAR opens in theaters everywhere December 18, 2009.

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Lobo, the main man, heading to a cinema screen Avatar style as PG-13?

Joel Silver has his eye on DC Comics' Lobo, the intergalactic biker with a fowl mouth and Gene Simmons-styled eye makeup.

However, the movie version of Lobo might be slightly more family-friendly than his original comics incarnation, according to Silver.

"I think it's structured now as a PG-13 movie," Silver told a group of reporters, according to SCI FI Wire. "I think we've done it that way, but I love it."

Some of the reckless Czarnian bounty hunter's behavior, such as his impromptu ripping off of Starfire's top in the DC series "52," for instance, would certainly need to be toned down for a PG-13 rating, but Silver thinks the technology already exists to bring the character to life visually. And he's looking to James Cameron's work for the answer.

"When any of you see 'Avatar,' see pieces of it, the technology is genius, the stuff that's out there that is doable is fantastic," he noted.

The story for the proposed film is already in its early stages, and bringing it into production sounds like something Silver wants make happen in the near future.

"Lobo is one I'm very excited about maybe doing one day, hopefully soon," Silver said. "I think we can do it. We've got a script we like."

Now I love a bit of Lobo mayhem, but a PG-13! Sure it will get the people in but you miss the ultra violence that the character is all about. Still it would be great to see him in hyper realistic 3D.

Do you feel Lobo could work as a PG-13 film?

Source:

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Despicable Me - Trailer

In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon (Yes, the moon!) in Universal's new 3-D CGI feature, Despicable Me.

Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.

The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.

It also features the voices of Russell Brand and Jason Segel.

Due out on 9th July 2010.

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Elfie Hopkins And The Gammons - Teaser Trailer for Jaime Winstones new horror film

Yesterday I mentioned the new film, Elfie Hopkins And The Gammons, starring Jaime Winstone. She plays Hopkins "a teenage misfit and 'wannabe detective' Elfie Hopkins, whose investigations are limited to annoying small-minded residents of the rural village where she lives, until the charismatic but suspicious Gammons family arrive."

Now Quiet Earth have dug up a teaser trailer for the first British 3D horror film.

Have a look - what do you reckon? Good or bad? I'm not sure if it will just be a lot of style over substance. Seems a little too self aware from the trailer.

Elfie Hopkins and the Gammons teaser
by blankytwo

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Greetings, Program! Tron 2 synopsis

After the script review that made the Tron sequel seem rather lacklustre, Disney have now released a synopsis of the new film that sounds rather cool.

TRON is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

I can't wait to see this. Not sure if the name of the new film will be Tron 2, Tr2n or TRON. What do you think of the plot synopsis?

Source: BusinessWire Thanks to Pam for the link

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Jaime Winstone to star in first British 3D horror film

Jaime Winstone (Donkey Punch, Dead Set) will star in Elfie Hopkins And The Gammons.

Ryan Andrews is directing for producers Michael Wiggs and Steve Matthews of Size 9.

Andrews tells the site that his film will be "a quirky horror and an eclectic mix of comic book characters, British pop culture and fantasy setting in an unusual and twisted world."

The film is the first UK horror production to be shot in 3-D. According to Screen Daily, Winstone "will play a teenage misfit and 'wannabe detective' Elfie Hopkins, whose investigations are limited to annoying small-minded residents of the rural village where she lives, until the charismatic but suspicious Gammons family arrive."

Judging by the description this will either be really good or absolutely embarrasing. Which way do you think it will go?

Source: ScreenDaily

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Avatar - Our first proper look at the alien Na'Vi

The 3D CG film that will supposedly change the face of cinema is getting closer everyday.

Now this Comic-Con banner gives us our first proper glimpse at the blue skinned alien Na'Vi in James Cameron's Avatar. They are all totally CGIified over a motion captured performer.

What are your thoughts on the image?

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Avatar - Footage of James Cameron's sci-fi 3D film has been seen and it is stunning

The first footage from James Cameron's Avatar has been screened to the public for the first time in Amsterdam at the Cinema Expo International.

It looks as if everyone who saw it was stunned.
Market Saw said: Until now, all we saw was the base in 3D, mostly humans and now the 2 N'avi Avatars.
They look NOTHING like the drawing you've seen. They're living creatures with blue skin, bigger yellow eyes than humans with tails. The avatars even look like their human connectors. You will NOT believe the detail. Jake's character will get a wound in a scene we saw later, it looked so real. You could see beneath the skin's first layer, like only real wounds show. We later meet creatures that look like the evolutionary link between a pherodactyl and a bird. They can connect with the N'avi and hunt with them. They connect with only ONE N'avi and do this by swallowing the N'avi's tail with their mouth so they stay connected.

The world outside is amazing. It all lives, breathes and works.
You will not believe the amount of leaves that look like someone created that jungle for real. Later scenes involved Grace, Norm and Jake in the jungle exploring. Jake encounters a animal which stomps towards him, Grace tells him to stand his ground. He does and the animal backs away to reveal a more sinister animal behind them. Jake fights it and runs.

ComingSoon: “jaw-dropping experience.” … “3-D until now has been used as a gimmick.” On the human characters inhabiting their Avatars: “It took my breath away. I thought–just like you guys–that I’ve seen it all with Gollum, or The Hulk, but Cameron has done it again. These creatures seem so real, that within minutes you forget you’re watching an enormous and very blue CGI character. Even the eyes are totally convincing. The characters have real personalities and a soul.” … “How the hell is it possible that I never once felt like I’ve been watching a movie where almost everything comes out of a computer?” … “The effects are in a league of their own. After some disappointing or even pointless 3-D movies, Avatar maybe the first movie where 3-D is properly utilized.”

Sounds as if James Cameron has got his King of the World hat on with this one. I'm still not sure if the story will be as good as the look of the film.

If you happen to be going to this years Comic Con you may be able to see some footage of the film.

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Alice in Wonderland - First proper look at Tim Burton's Wonderland.

There have been hints and teases as to how Tim Burton's adaption of the Lewis Caroll classic would look. There was nothing definite until now. Below are character posters of The Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and The White Queen (Anne Hathaway).
They finished shooting after just 40 days the live action is being merged with CG animation and motion-capture creatures, and then transferred into 3-D.
The traditional tale has been freshened with a blast of girl power, courtesy of writer Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast). Alice, 17, attends a party at a Victorian estate only to find she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty society types. Off she runs, following a white rabbit into a hole and ending up in Wonderland, a place she visited 10 years before yet doesn't remember.
Mia Wasikowska plays Alice. In the top photo you can see the White Rabbit, voiced by Michael Sheen. All in all it is looking very nice. However, I've never been a fan of the story. One of those things that always irritated me a little. I will probably still go and see the film and will marvel at the look of it all, but it does not fill me with as much joy as it does some people.

Source: USA Today

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Terminator 2 in 3D and Avatar in post-production since March 2008

At 2009's 'Produced By' Conference, in Los Angeles, James Cameron's packed session revealed some pretty juicy stuff about Avatar and Terminator.

Reports from Nikkie Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily include the startling revelation that "Jim Cameron acknowledged he's still in post-production on Avatar and has been since March 2008 even before live action photography ended."

Here's the good stuff from her report from notes taken within the closed door seminar.

"I feel like I've been living in a cave for a year," he told the "Produced By" Conference. No kidding!

He also enthusiastically endorsed the Avatar videogame which debuted at E3. "I'm not personally a gamer, but my younger brother Dave is a big gamer," Cameron noted, and together they made sure they liked it. He noted that "in some cases the videogame branded with film hasn't been as good as a film." He didn't name names, but he said the Avatar game will be "the same quality level" as the movie.

Cameron also told the audience he is up-converting Terminator 2 to 3-D if it’s cost effective.

Cameron talked again about how he wrote the script for Avatar back in the mid-1990s when he and Stan Winston co-founded Digital Domain. But when he took the screenplay to their special effects lab, Cameron was told it was just not possible to make the film with the current technology. So he sat on the project for more than a decade.

Cameron and his people on the panel expressed confidence that, by the time Avatar is released by 20th Century Fox on December 18th, there will be "several thousand 3-D screens" capable of showing the film.

Cameron also explained that so much has changed since he shot the Universal Studios Tour's Terminator 3-D ride: back then in 1995, each camera weighed 235 pounds and he had to shoot it wide open so he used so much light no one else could do night shoots at the same time. For Avatar, he created the Fusion Camera System technology for photo-realistic computer-generated characters through motion capture animation.

Cameron said that he wants 3-D to be less noticeable so it doesn't "take people out of the experience". He stressed that Avatar is not going to hit audiences on the head with 3-D even though almost every shot is green screen. But not 3-D constantly. He wants "one immersible experience" with 2-D and 3-D together and the audience so engrossed that they "won't notice the difference" .

'Christmas' could very well be soon known as 'Avatar' in the true Sci Fi households. Only six months to go! We're hoping to get some early footage (hoping). Keep your eyes peeled, right here.

Terminator 2 in 3D would be great but even better would be Aliens. Thanks to Pam for sending me the link.

Source: Sci-Fi

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The plot of James Cameron's Avatar

Avatar Producer Jon Landau spoke to /Film about the plot of James Cameron's 3D Sci-Fi epic. There are lots of spoilers to the plot here so beware.

Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) has lost the use of his legs, so he accepts the chance to become part of a mining operation on the planet Pandora, where a new mineral is the solution for Earth's energy production. The planet Pandora is so harsh, the usual armor and environmental suit options aren't enough, so humans have come up with a clone program, combining DNA from humans and Na'Vi, the native species on Pandora, to create half-human, half-Na'Vi Avatars that are a genetic match for the individual human.

Jake Sully's brother was one of the original Avatars, but he's dead now. So the corporation asks Jake to come to Pandora and "pilot" his brother's very expensive Avatar, because his DNA is a match. That means Jake will be able to walk again.

The story flashes forward a few years, and Jake has arrived on Pandora, a planet of indescribable beauty, including the weird flora and fauna and the bioluminescence. Floating mountains soar above 900-foot-tall trees. Working for the mining corporation, Jake has a nasty encounter with a Viperwolf, one of Pandora's vicious creatures, and he nearly dies. But an arrow kills the creature — and it's been fired by one of the Na'Vi, played by Zoe Saldana, who starts telling Jake the truth about life on Pandora.

Jake starts to realize the Na'Vi live in harmony with nature, dangerous as it is, on Pandora. And he decides to help the Na'Vi fight for their freedom from humans — even though it means his Avatar will be driven away, and he'll lose the ability to combine with it. He'll give up his ability to walk, in order to save these noble savages. Landau described the film as not dissimilar to Pocohontas. The power suits make up a small part of the film. Cameron is definitely contemplating a sequel.

People who have seen the 3D footage say it is stunning, especially when you see Pandora at night and everything glows with that bioluminescence that must have been inspired by Cameron's undersea adventures.

Everyone is saying that this is going to change the face of cinema forever. It is sounding a bit like the old Harry Harrison Death World novels mixed in with classic Western stories. It doesn't actually grab me as much as I though it would. I'm really looking to see it all and I want to get lost in Pandora when I put on the 3D glasses.

What if it looks amazing but isn't actually a very good film?

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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Our first look at James Cameron's Avatar

IGN have the first proper look at the world of James Cameron's Avatar. Not through images from the film. Instead they are from the video game that has been developed in conjunction with the film. In the video below Cameron talks about the film and the game at the recent E3 press conference.

Cameron said that the movie takes place in the 22nd century, on a large Earth-like moon called Pandora, with rain forests, 1000-feet tall trees, and many different types of creatures. The new story in the game will parallel the story in the movie, meaning you can play the game without worry of spoiling any of the movie.

Video Game - E3 2009 - E3 '09 Live

What do you think of the screenshots?


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The Final Destination - Poster for fourth in the series

This is the film that was called Final Destination: Death Trip 3D, but it has since been renamed to The Final Destination.

Eric Bress and David R. Ellis, who wrote and directed Final Destination 2, are back for the fourth which is due out in August.

This one starts out at a Nascar race so lots of crashes for people to narrowly avoid Death and then later die in various wacky ways. As it is going to be in 3D the crashes should be pretty good to watch.

Quite a nice poster. Thanks to Ugo for posting it.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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Avatar - Concept art from James Cameron's Sci-Fi wonder

The good folks over at Marketsaw were given permission by Fox to publish these lovely pieces of concept art from James Cameron's highly anticipated film, Avatar.

The images are from a book called The Art of Avatar which has a forward by Peter Jackson.

/Film describe the above picture as "This one appears to show action from a set piece rather near the end of proceedings. Fleeing in the foreground is another one of the futuristic flying machines (most likely the Dragon Gunship, I think) and behind it is one of the native beasts of Pandora. This one, I think, is a Bansheeray."

The picture below shows more of the mech suit that had been previously posted. That could be Sam Worthington's character in the suit.
This artwork is lovely and to think that we will be seeing it all in 3D is mind blowing. It does look like Cameron may really be changing the face of cinema as we know it.

What do you think of the concept art? Excited?



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Robert Downey Jr is Oobermind

I first mentioned this back in February. Now Variety have the news that Robert Downey Jr. and Tina Fey have been case in a 3D Animated feature for DreamWorks called Oobermind.

Downey will voice a supervillain who finds life a little dull after vanquishing his good-guy rival Metro Man. The superhero-themed film, based on a script (previously called "Master Mind") from Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films, will open 5th November 2010.

I do like the sound of this and Downey Jr and Fay are both quality actors. I just hope it is a bit better than recent DreamWorks animated films (Kung-Fu Panda, Shrek 2 & 3 etc) as they have not been too good. Presumably the name was changed from Master Mind as that character exists in the DC Comics world.

Looks as if Dr Horrible will have some company with a villain being the lead.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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