There are 2 major motion pictures in production both by giant directors and both are called Avatar.

James Cameron (Titanic, Terminator 2) finally ends month of silences on the secret filming he’s been doing on sound stages as he announces his “Avatar.” Its set for a 2009 release, and will feature humans at war with aliens in robot bodies. I think its human robots, but there might be alien robots too. And its the future. I can’t make sense of this, except it has nothing to do with that damn boat so I’ll take it. Harry Knowles spoke with Jim, but that interview was cut short when Malibu caught fire.

M. Night Shyamalan is decreasing in popularity the last few years, but I’m still a fan. Night’s “Avatar?”

I am not kidding. He’s adapting the faux-anime Nickelodeon series into a live action movie. I’m barely familiar with this series, so I took a look at Wikipedia and it doesn’t look like his usual fare. Well its got some supernatural elements, but its pretty far removed from “I see dead people” or “those we don’t speak of.”

Night’s not betraying his roots because he actually wrote the adapted screenplay for “Stuart Little” which is a movie I shamelessly admit to liking and have seen several times.

Now, the battle royale: Who gets to keep the title? Cameron’s management and Nickelodeon both claim to have had their names registered with the MPAA. Nick’s cartoon has been on the air for about 2 years, Cameron has had a script for 12 years, but has only been filming for 4 months. I predict Cameron will have to bend, since he’s not working with an established franchise.

A quick update – new images of Bumblebee and Optimus Prime are now available, as book covers. Bumblebee graces the cover of a sticker book, and Optimus is on the cover of the movie novel, sure to be a literary wonder for all time. The synopsis for the novel actually reads:

The Transformers are back – hitting cinemas in June 07 – and this time they have even more battles to win! Now you can read their adventure in this action-packed novel! Get ready for the return of the mighty Transformers in the action packed movie novel! Filled with amazing battle stories, this retelling of the Transformers story is perfect for older fans. It even includes cool movie photo inserts!

Both books should be available for purchase on July 4th.

IESB.net brings us the initial news and the cover images, which are mirrored after the jump.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

There’s a new trailer available at the Invincible Iron Man official site, and it gives a decent glimpse of what the story will be like in the movie. It’s an interesting choice of enemies for Iron Man – ancient Chinese elemental creatures? It hardly feels like any sort of a definitive Iron Man story, let alone one worth using in his premiere solo adventure … until you check some of the desktop images at the site, clearly showing classic Iron Man villain Mandarin playing a large role in matters. Not that Mandarin’s role has been a secret mind you – It was in the advertised synopsis since day one. Just makes it all the more odd that he’s being hidden in the trailer.

As for the movie, I’m wondering how we’re going to go through three different armors (initial grey, underwater yellow, and good classic old ketchup-and-mustard, er, red-and-gold) over the course of a single story. I guess only time – 19 days to be exact – will tell.

Also, the Hellboy Animated movie (Sword of Storms) has a sequel due to hit in February, called Blood and Iron. The trailer can be found HERE. According to the Animated Hellboy blog, one of the scenes from the trailer isn’t from the movie; it’s from an “extra special DVD extra”, whatever that might mean. The blog also talks about plans for a third movie to follow this one, but will only be greenlit if DVD sales warrant it.

You’ve probably seen the trailer by now. What you might not have seen is the Japanese version of the trailer. It contains mere seconds of additional footage, padded out with Speilberg and Bay introducing the movie to Japanese audiences. Check it out.

For those of us who wanted to see more than the back of Prime’s head in the trailer, he stands tall on the cover of Empire in the UK (see left)

And of course we have more toys. Barricade, Starscream, Bumblebee, Brawl, and Ratchet all in deluxe mode. Theres also some prototypes for tiny Barricade, Prime, and Megatron….
[Read the rest of this entry…]

The new Indiana Jones movie, which is set to be released in May 2008, will begin filming this year. Co-writer George Lucas himself has stated that “It’s going to be fantastic. It’s going to be the best one yet,” and I for one am inclined to believe him as he had the same thing to say about every one of his Star Wars prequel movies!

Old man Harrison Ford will be reprising his role as Indie though there has only been speculation over whether or not even older man Sean Connery will be making an appearance as his Dad. Other casting rumours include the return of Karen Allen as Indie’s love interest, John Rhys-Davies as Gimli the dwarf and even Natalie Portman as his daughter.

Source: MSN Movies

Update! Lucas Backpedals: “We are still working on Indiana Jones, hopefuly we can get that going.”

IDW, the publisher currently bringing Transformers comics to the stands, has released info about a Movie Prequel Comic that will be starting in February 2007. It’s a four-part mini, with the books being 32 pages each, and it’s being written by Chris Ryall (Zombies VS. Robots) and Simon Furman (more Transformers books than can possibly be listed), with Don Figueroa (not as many as Furman, but plenty nonetheless) on art. Interestingly, Ryall also happens to be IDW’s Publisher and Editor-in-Chief.

Here’s what he had to say about the book:

This is no peripheral movie tie-in. Rather, it’s a fully realized, generations-spanning tale that also sets up and explains much of the backstory in the coming movie. With Paramount and Hasbro’s assistance, we’re able to show you the characters and explain some situations that are integral parts of the movie. It should also assuage any early fan trepidation and show that this prequel and the movie together are going to comprise quite an epic TRASNFORMERS story.

Ultimately, while I’m unfamiliar with Ryall’s previous work – and I’m a little curious how the writing chores are being split up – with big guns Furman and Figueroa attached to this project, this books is sizing up to be a pretty safe bet for my money. And what’s more, if that blacked out image is any indication, this book should provide a clear look at what some of the characters – if not all – will look like, at least with Cybertronian alt-modes.

UPDATE: Wizard has a short blurb on the book with the full version of the blacked-out image colored.

Marvel released their first glimpse of what the Silver Surfer will look like in the Fantastic Four sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, and this image is it. To be honest, this image really tells me nothing, as with nothing around for comparison or reference, this might as well simply be a drawing. That said, we’ll get our first look at the character in motion once the trailer releases today with Night At The Museum.

More details from the article at USA Today:

With computer-generated imagery techniques similar to those used to create Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, the slippery Surfer, voiced by Doug Jones, “will look somewhere between gun metal and fluid metallics so you can see the body motion, the breathing, the muscle tone, the mood,” says Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad.

The Surfer’s mood is key to the story. After striking a deal with the evil Galactus to save his planet, the once-human Surfer wreaks havoc throughout the cosmos. “He is a highly emotional being, trapped inside fluid metal,” Arad says.

The hotly anticipated trailer for the 2007 Transformers movie from director Michael Bay is now online at Yahoo UK.

At 1 PM EST, this trailer will be available in multiple formats on the US Yahoo Movies site.