JJ Abrams to Produce Adaptation of Apartment Featured in New York Times
Paramount has purchased the rights to an article which ran in the New York Times on June 12th called Mystery on Fifth Avenue. JJ Abrams will produce a feature film based on the article which describes a 14th-floor apartment on upper Fifth Avenue which contains a Rube Goldberg maze of systems and contraptions conceived by a young architectural designer named Eric Clough. Apparently the apartment comes with its own soundtrack and a book, featuring a fictional narrative which will help their four pre-teen children uncover some the secrets, messages, games and treasures hidden inside the furniture and walls.
Screenwriters Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky (The Rocker) have been hired to weave the idea into a feature film. I can definitely see a movie in the same vein as Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events or Spiderwick Chronicles (but without the fantasy elements), where a group of children must uncover the secrets of their New York City apartment, possibly in an attempt to save their parents or grandparents. You can read the entire article on NYTimes.com, or better yet, check out 15 photos from the real life Fifth Avenue apartment at this link.
source: THR
Paramount Wants Star Trek Sequel; Transformers 2 to be Self Contained
Paramount is not only interested in another Star Trek sequel, but they are apparently trying to sign the contracts to bring the writers back for a follow-up
“I can give you a spoiler about the Studio’s state of mind (not about the movie itself). The spoiler is that they already want to lock us down to write the sequel,” co-writer Roberto Orci revealed to TrekMovie. “Take that as you will.
And by US, he means the entire team behind the new Star Trek film, including producer Damon Lindelof, executive producer Bryan Burk and director/producer JJ Abrams. But even Orci admits that no detailed discussions have yet to take place.
It’s previously been reported that main cast have options for two additional films, which is standard practice with any potential franchise contract now-a-days. I think it will all depend on next Summer’s opening weekend. Based on the production time-lines of Paramount’s other recent sequels, Transformers and Iron Man, its safe to speculate that a Trek sequel, if greenlit, could hit theaters as early as Summer 2011.
And speaking of Transformers, Michael Bay insists that Transformers 2 will be completely self contained. The sequel will not serve as a teaser for a third film - like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest or The Matrix Reloaded.
“You know how those sequels they do the second one so you go see the third one? Transformers 2 is it,” Bay told MTV. “First one was just introducing, setting up stuff, so we can go a lot farther. Let’s just say [this] is not a lame sequel.” … “The robots are going to surprise a lot of people because we go with a lot of different levels.”
But that also doesn’t mean that audience demand won’t lead to a third film (actually, I’m pretty sure it might).
Disclaimer: Before you ask, the Transformers 2 teaser poster is a fan creation.
We Always Knew Kristen Bell Was a Hero…
Hot damn! Joe Adalian over at Variety is reporting that Ms. Kristen Bell (of kickass Veronica Mars fame, of course) will be taking her ass-whooping awesomeness over to Heroes this season.
The nature of her character, named Elle, is shrouded in mystery, but apparently she has ties to Claire, HRG and Peter, and she kicks off her multi-episode arc with a little criminal activity. Aw, Veronica would be proud.
Zachary Quinto's Sylar will be absent for a stretch midseason while Quinto (pictured above at the wedding with Bell and fellow Hero Masi Oka) shoots the new Star Trek with JJ Abrams—perhaps Elle is a substitute minion of evil?
Is Kristen Bell's casting on Heroes not the coolest news ever? Would you like this gig to go permanent? Discuss in the Comments section below!
FOX gives OK to $10 million JJ Abrams pilot
JJ Abrams, of Lost, Alias, and Felicity fame, has another TV show coming up, this time on FOX.
Fringe will star Kirk Acevedo and Tomas Arana and is about a young female FBI agent who teams up with a scientist to investigate odd phenomena and other sci-fi happenings. Wait, is this X-Files 2?
More interesting than the plot of the show is the price tag for the pilot episode: $10 million. That’s just for the pilot episode. I hope it doesn’t turn into one of those shows that has a great-looking, expensive pilot episode (*cough* Smith *cough), hooks viewers in, and then the rest of the show falls apart. But I have faith in Abrams. He has a great track record, enthusiasm, and is an actual fan of the genre and not just a producer, so I’ll give this a shot.