The Force will be with you…for 32 years… That’s right, this past week included the 32nd B’day of Star Wars: A New Hope or – if you’re a purist – just Star Wars. I love the original series, yet they will forever be overshadowed by the CGI mess of the prequels, like a terrible entrée that leaves a disgusting “I’m so in love with you” taste in your mouth, thus deeply affecting the way you eat your main.

Thankfully there was also some interesting news announced this week which helped to calm my geeky mind, enough to put away my George Lucas voodoo doll anyway (which is full of pins attached to small pieces of paper reading “Be good again!” –  so far I have yielded no results).

So let’s have a look shall we?

Toy Story 3 Teaser
We reported last week on a rumour that the teaser for Toy Story 3 would be attached to Pixar’s latest film UP, which opened across the US this week. Thankfully, those murmurs were true.

Pixar have a track record of showing very little in their teasers, and this is no exception. We’re told absolutely nothing about the plot, but are immediately thrown back into the world of the first two movies.

I can’t help but smile every time I watch this teaser, it’s great to see the gang again. When Toy Story 3 is released next year, it will have been 15 years since the first film premiered. I can hardly believe it’s been that long. This amount of time also speaks volumes about Pixar’s commitment to story and making sure they get it just right before going into production….unlike some sequel happy animation companies *cough*DreamWorks*cough*.

Toy Story 3 is expected to hit our screens on the 24th of June 2010…here’s hoping it doesn’t get delayed like UP.

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Pandorum Trailer
There’s hasn’t been a lot of hype surrounding Pandorum, a science fiction film Ben Foster and Dennis Quad as two crew members of a space ship who are suddenly awakened from suspended animation to find something creepy lurking in the dark.

 

Sounds like a cool – if not familiar – premise eh? After watching the trailer, I’m not quite sure what to make of this film. It seems to start out pretty well but there’s a point (involving a ‘kick ass’ female character) that took me by surprise and made me think oh, it’s one of those movies. Silly action fun maybe, deep sci-fi movie? Probably not.

No release info for Pandorum, but it looks like it’ll fly onto our screens around December.

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45 seconds of G.I Joe
Speaking of silly action, MTV recently posted a 45 second clip from the upcoming G.I Joe movie. I originally thought this would be a mindless enjoyable flick, but now I’m kind of afraid that it won’t even be enjoyable. It looks almost too ridiculous and also contains a ‘shocked crowd’ sound effect which I’ve heard roughly one million times before, you’ll know what I mean when you hear it.

 

Rise of Cobra is expected to blow up the Eiffel tower (where’s Team America?) on the 6th of August.

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And in other news…

 

Alien reboot/origin story?
It’s been revealed that Ridley Scott, along with Michael Costigan and Tony Scott, is on board to produce a new film in the Alien franchise. Apparently this story will take place before the first film. Not much else is known at this point except that Carl Erik, a commercial director who works for Scott’s production company RSA is slated to direct…wait what?!

This may not be horrible news though, as Erik does seem to have a lot of artistic talent and with Ridley Scott producing, it can’t turn too sour, can it?

Below is one of Carl Erik’s commercials, what do you think of this announcement?

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer remake?!
Hollywood has once again proven that it is running out of fresh ideas, with the announcement that a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie is in the works….and without series creator Joss Whedon!
I’ve never watched the show myself, but I know it has a HUGE fanbase with Whedon pretty much holding a god-like status. It seems pretty insane that he wouldn’t be involved in this film, but I suppose it’s only early days. No word yet on if Sarah Michelle Gellar will return as the titular character. Oh Hollywood, when will you learn?

 

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Update on Anchorman 2
Will Ferrell has been making the rounds in Australia, doing press for Land of the Lost. He recently spoke on the radio show Jono & Dano (creative name eh?) and revealed that he “is meeting next week” to discuss Anchorman 2. Now, who he’s meeting with is unknown, but I think it’s pretty safe to say it’s probably co-writer and director Adam McKay.

 

I think the first film is pretty damn hilarious, but it almost feels like they caught lightning in a bottle. Do you think it’s possible that they could re-create the same hilarity?

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Roth update
Eli Roth, director of the Hostel films spoke to Empire Magazine about his next two projects (aside from his role in Inglourious Basterds).
Thanksgiving, which will be a full length feature based on his faux trailer for Grindhouse will be shot in only 18 days:

 

“I just want to go, go, go. Get as much footage, and as many kills as possible, and not be self-conscious. Because when you’re moving at that speed, you’re not thinking, you’re just feeling and you’re going on instinct. And that’s where the best stuff comes from.”

Endangered Species, Roth’s first big budget effort, will be a sci-fi film….other than that, we don’t know much about it.

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Paul casting
Following the announcement last week that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost will be undergoing heavy makeup/costumes to realize their characters in Paul, Variety has shed some light on the supporting characters in the film…including who will play the CGI alien.

 

Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader and Jane Lynch have been cast in supporting roles, which makes me even more excited for the hilarious-ness of this movie. But who’s voicing Paul? Seth Rogen. That seems to be the icing on the cake for me, is there any way I can freeze myself until this movie is released?

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Tintin to be viewed by your children, not you
The release dates for the Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson Tintin trilogy were recently announced. With ‘international’ (meaning non US) countries receiving the film a month or two before the United States. This isn’t too much of a surprise, because the franchise is much more popular outside of America. So what are the actual dates?

 

International: October 2011
United States: December 2011

2011? Really? They’ve just finished principle photography! I guess there is a tone of work involved in the post production process, since the whole film is being created with motion capture technology.
I’m hoping that Spielberg and Jackson can show Robert Zemeckis how to make a Mo-Cap movie that actually works.

Yep, that’s my third dig at Zemeckis in as many weeks. Sorry.

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That’s it for this week. As usual, if you’re at all interested you can follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/spikeshinizle
If you feel I’ve missed something, or just want to say hello, you can e-mail me at:
jon.d.asquith(at)gmail(dot)com