Spielberg Digs Up Clues
Steven Spielberg is having a Clues encounter of the 39 kind.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker is pumping up his already crowded slate with another would-be blockbuster. DreamWorks has acquired the big-screen rights to The 39 Clues, a multiplatform adventure series hitting stores in September from Scholastic Mediaa publisher that knows a thing or two about launching mega-franchises, having foisted a little something called Harry Potter on us Yanks.
As first reported in Variety, Spielberg will produce the film and could also direct should one of several other projects he’s been developing fail to get off the ground. A search is already under way for a screenwriter to adapt the franchise.
Scholastic will roll out Clues over a period of two years, beginning with the first installment, The Maze of Bones. Nine other literary adventures are expected to follow, accompanied by a set of collectible cards and an online game that will run for two years and give Netizens the chance to solve a mystery and win a $10,000 grand prize.
“The 39 Clues takes creative leaps to expand the story experience from the pages of the books to multiple stages of discovery and imagination,” Spielberg said in a statement.
The franchise centers around the most powerful family in the world, the Cahills, whose relatives include Napoleon and Houdini. In the first book, Cahill matriarch Grace alters her will at the last minute to give her descendants a choice: Either accept $1 million or receive one of 39 clues hidden around the globe that will reveal the source of the family’s power.
Based on Maze of Bones author Rick Riordan’s outline for the 10-book series, there would be enough material for as many as three or four movies.
After reviving Indiana Jones last month to the delight of moviegoers and his accountant (the sequel has grossed nearly $400 million worldwide and counting), Spielberg has plenty in the pipeline.
The pending projects include The Trial of the Chicago 7, chronicling the 1968 protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the high-profile conspiracy trial that followed; Lincoln, a presidential biopic starring Liam Neeson; and two Tintin adventures he’s developing with Peter Jackson.
Disaster Movie Trailer - Why?!
On theCast tonight a discussion about the new Disaster Movie trailer turned into an examination of the spoof film. Neil from FilmSchoolRejects had to remind me that spoof movies were not always the bottom of the comedy genre. Mel Brooks and Monty Python created highbrow (or at least highbrow in comparison to contemporary spoof films) films which were not only praised during their time, but have gone on to become classics.
What is the difference? What has become of this genre. Watching the Disaster Movie trailer you will quickly realize that the film doesn’t even stick to the core concept presented in the title. What does Iron Man, Juno, Enchanted or Hancock have to do with disaster movies? Modern spoof films rely too much on recent pop culture references, likely because the audience for these films have such small attention spans. Any core story elements are lost, and the pop culture overload results in the loss of timelessness. The movie is only funny (if funny at all) at this moment in time.
A film like Spaceballs will always be funny because it works on its own. Sure, it helps that the subject of the spoof - Star Wars, is timeless, but even if you lived in a vacuum where Star Wars was never made available, Spaceballs would still be funny. You invest yourself in the characters and story, and in effect the comedy is elevated. I seriously doubt much time was spent on the story or characters in any one of the spoof comedies that have plagued our cinemas for the last decade. They are shot and dumped into theaters in a fraction of the time that it takes a real screenwriter to produce a first draft. That said, enjoy the Disaster Movie trailer below. Tell me your thoughts in the comments.
You can watch the trailer in High Definition on MySpace. Disaster Movie his theaters on August 29th 2008.
Why Hollywood Can’t Make a Grand Theft Auto Movie
Because everyone has been wondering, Nikki Finke explains why Hollywood probably won’t make Grand Theft Auto: The Movie. In its first week, Grand Theft Auto IV sold approximately 6 million copies worldwide and grossed over $500 million, more than most movies make theatrically. So it seems only logical that Hollywood would be interested in bringing the the controversial video game series to the mainstream. As it turns out, Fox Atomic actually owns the rights to “Grand Theft Auto”, but not a film based on the game. Atomic is developing a remake of the Ron Howard directed / Roger Corman produced film with the same name from 1977. And by “developing”, we mean that it is one of hundreds of projects that Fox Atomic has sitting around waiting for a screenwriter.
And I’ve never heard this before, but Finke claims that a legal settlement dictates that Fox can’t make a video game out of the Ron Howard film, and more importantly, Rockstar isn’t allowed to make a feature film based on their video game series. And as much as fans of the game would love to see a big screen movie, I’m not sure that it could capture the free-roaming magic of the game. Besides, many aspects of the game series are closely inspired by the classic mob films. I even remember reading interviews with Rockstar where they admit this obvious fact. What’s to stop a big screen adaptation of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or Grand Theft Auto 4 from feeling like a Scarface rip-off?
Sienna Miller Time in Sherwood Forest
Sienna Miller is reporting for maiden duty.
The British starlet says that she has signed on to play Maid Marian in the upcoming Ridley Scott film Nottingham, a fractured take on the classic tale of philanthropic swashbuckler Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men.
In Scott and screenwriter Brian Helgeland’s version, Russell Crowe, who has been attached to the project for more than a year, will play the historically wretched Sheriff of Nottingham as a good guy investigating a series of crimes committed by Robin and his cohorts.
“It’s happening. I just found out. It’s the most exciting news in the world,” Miller told the BBC.
“It’s ridiculous,” she added, calling the chance to work with Crowe and Scott “as good as it gets.”
“But there’s this looming actors’ strike, so it’s not 100 percent sure that it’s going to be made, but it’s looking pretty certain.”
Scott just finished directing Crowe for the fourth time in the CIA thriller Body of Lies.