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SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR MOVIES
Updated 24 October 1998
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25 Oct 1997 exclusive preview: "Starship Troopers"
11 May 1997 exclusive preview: "The Fifth Element"
REVIEWS: 1997 SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS
SNEAK PRE-PREVIEWS: 1998 SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS
SNEAK PRE-PRE-PREVIEWS: 1999 SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS
NEWS: SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILM News of the Week
17 June 1997: ZEMECKIS BACK TO THE FUTURE IN CONTACT WITH DREAMWORKS
14 June 1997: JAPANESE OPENING OF "SCREAM" DELAYED BY REAL-LIFE BEHEADING
HOTLINKS: MISCELLANEOUS SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS
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X-Rated Sci-Fi/Fantasy Videos
Sci-Fi Attacks on Los Angeles
See also TIME TRAVEL: MOVIES AND TV-MOVIES ABOUT TIME TRAVEL OR TIME-LOOPS, below
TIME TRAVEL: List of 65 movies about time travel, last updated 19 July 1996
See also ALIENS: MOVIES AND TV-MOVIES ABOUT ALIENS (below)
ALIENS: list of 31 movies/TV movies with Aliens, last updated 19 July 1996
NEW: ALIENS on-line book of the year: Me Human, You Alien: How to Talk to an Extraterrestrial
Domestic Market Share of U.S. Distributors
SF Films of 1890-1910: List, links to reviews
SF Films of 1910-1920: List, links to reviews
SF Films of the 1920s: List, links to reviews
SF Films of the 1930s: List, links to reviews
SF Films of the 1940s: List, links to reviews
SF Films of the 1950s: List, links to reviews
SF Films of the 1960s: List, links to reviews
SF Films of the 1970s: List, links to reviews
SF Films of the 1980s: List, links to reviews
SF Films of the 1990s: List, links to reviews
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REVIEWS: 1997 SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS
The Absent-Minded Professor/Flubber
Alien Resurrection
An American Werewolf in Paris
Anaconda
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Batman & Robin
James Bond 18: Tomorrow Never Dies
Contact
Crash
Dante's Peak
Devil's Advocate
Event Horizon
Fairy Tale: A True Story (Illumination)
The Fifth Element
Gattaca
George of the Jungle
Godzilla
Hercules
Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves
Illumination (Fairy Tale: A True Story)
Kull the Conquerer
L5: First City in Space
A Life Less Ordinary
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Men In Black
Mimic
Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation
The Postman
Rocket Man
The Saint
Scream and Scream 2
The Sixth Man
Smila's Sense of Snow
Space Truckers (Star Truckers)
Spawn
Starship Troopers
Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition
Turbo: A New Power Rangers Adventure
Volcano
Warriors of Virtue
Wishmaster
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
Return to 1997 SNEAK PREVIEWS Table of Contents
NEWS: SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILM News of the Week
17 June 1997: ZEMECKIS BACK TO THE FUTURE IN CONTACT WITH DREAMWORKS
DreamWorks SKG rebounded from its foolish refusal to interview Your Humble
Webmaster for a job, last week, by announcing a dramatic production deal
today with Robert Zemeckis' new company ImageMovers.
Robert Zemeckis has made films grossing over $2,000,000,000
worldwide, including upcoming Contact, the "Back to the Future" trilogy, and
Oscar-winning "Forrest Gump." ImageMovers is run by Zemeckis, his
long-term partner Steve Starkey, and talent-agent-turned player Jack
Rapke. This was widely seen as enhancing the prospects for 3-year-old
DreamWorks SKG, founded by director Steven Spielberg, studio survivor
Jeffrey Katzenberg, and music/entertainment kingpin David Geffen.
Spielberg is seen as the mentor of Zemeckis, since Zemeckis' award-winning
USC student film.
DreamWorks SKG will release its first features this fall:
non-genre films "The Peacemakers (George Clooney of Batman & Robin and Nicole Kidman),
"Amistad" (directed by Spielberg, about an 1839 slave mutiny), and
"Mousehunt" (Nathan Lane).
ImageMovers films will be financed by and distributed by
DreamWorks SKG domestically, with Universal handling video and
international distribution. However, the deal is not exclusive,
so Robert Zemeckis can still direct for other studios. Since he often
takes a year off between films, and is not attached to any movie
packages at present, it might not be until 1999 that a Zemeckis/Dreamworks
film is in production.
Starkey has been associated with Zemeckis since he was Associate
Producer on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (directed by Zemeckis). Jack
Rapke was a top agent who bolted from CAA (Creative Artists Agency) a
few weeks ago, where his blue-chip clients included Zemeckis and Ron
Howard ("Apollo 13"). Also hired into ImageMovers leadership is
Jennifer Perini, VP of Production for Warner Bros.
What Your Humble Webmaster, and you (my reader-with-flawless-taste)
hope for is that the Robert Zemeckis/Steven Spielberg team will
create some of the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
films ever made, in the very early 21st Century.
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
14 June 1997: JAPANESE OPENING OF "SCREAM" DELAYED BY REAL-LIFE BEHEADING
The Japanese 50-screen opening of "Scream" was set for 14 June 1997,
but was delayed because an 11-year-old boy in Kobe had his head
cut off by a murderer, and it was felt that "Scream", with its
depiction of a serial murder of California high school students,
might be in bad taste. Business is business, however, and the
nation-wide Japanese opening is being rescheduled.
Scream 2 set to open 19 December 1997.
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
The Absent-Minded Professor [Flubber]
Title: might also be released as "Flubber"
Story: Bouncy comedy about a scientist who doesn't know that he's
funny, does know that he has a great invention, and is more
worried about getting funding than he is about winning tenure
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures presents a Great Oaks production
Based on: this is a remake of the 1961 Fred MacMurray film about the
wacky genius who invented Flubber, but did you know that the
original film was based on a genuine person?
THE REAL "ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR" DIES
Director: Les Mayfield (1994 remake of "Miracle on 34th Street"; "Encino Man")
Writers: Samuel W. Taylor & Bill Walsh (the pair who wrote the 1961 screenplay)
Screenplay: John Hughes, Bill Walsh
Producers: John Hughes, Ricardo Mestres
Executive Producer: David Nicksay
Cinematography: Dean Cundey
Editors: Harvey Rosenstock, Michael A. Stevenson
Starring:
Professor Phillip "Ned" Brainard -- Robin Williams
see my essay on "Mork & Mindy" in my Ultimate SF TV site
TELEVISION: list of 250+ links, last updated 31 Dec 1996
Sara Jean Reynolds -- Marcia Gay Harden
Chester Hoenicker/Alonzo Hawk -- Raymond J. Barry
Smith -- Clancy Brown
Betsy -- Marcia Gay Harden
Wesson -- Ted Levine ("Silence of the Lambs", "Mad City")
Werner (Medfield Player #12) -- Kevin Lowe
??? -- Edie McClurg
Wilson Croft -- Christopher McDonald
Upset Rutland fan -- Scott Trimble
Biff Hawk -- Wil Wheaton
Weebo (voice) -- Jodi Benson
Production Design: Andrew McAlpine
Art Director: James E. Tocci
Special Effects: Don Bies (puppeteer), Phil Bray (still photographer),
Jessi Chan (visual effects supervisor), David Wainstain (special
visual effects) The miniature set of the town was 50 feet by 50 feet,
with most model houses 2 feet high and equipped with picket
fence, barbecue, and basketball hoop
Costumes: April Ferry
Music: Danny Elfman
Budget: $75,000,000 [according to June 1997 press release]
Anti-Gravity
Opening: 26 November 1997
official "Flubber" web site
Running Time: 1 hour, 33 minutes
Box Office: "Flubber" flew to #1 as a big hit for Disney during the
long (5-day) Thanksgiving holiday weekend. It grossed a
remarkable $35,800,000 in the debut weekend, the 4th best
Thanksgiving opening in U.S. history, for a $35,900,000
cumulative gross on 2,641 screens (a bouncy $13,590 average).
This put it well ahead of the strongly opening Alien Resurrection.
Robin William's star status was renewed, after the inconsistent
results of his previous three films: MGM/UA's "The Birdcage"
which grossed $124,100,000 domestically, his previous Disney
comedy "Jack" (vaguely science-fictional at times) which pulled
in $58,600,000 domestically, and the definite flop of Warner
Bros.' "Father's Day" at $28,500,000. What will he do next?
In Week #2, "Flubber" stuck at #1, with a 58% diminished but
still respectable 3-day weekend gross of $11,300,000 on 2,653
screens ($4,257 average) for a cumulative gross of an even
$50,000,000. It was still grossing twice as much as #2 Alien Resurrection.
In Week #3, "Flubber" was squeezed out of #1 ratings by the
astonishing superhit debut of Scream 2.
At #2, it was still ahead of #3 Universal's family comedy "For
Richer, For Poorer" debut, #4 Fox's family comedy debut "Home Alone 3",
and DreamWork's first live-action feature debut #5 "Amistad."
So "Flubber" was still America's first choice among a strong
crop of family comedies. With a 40% drop to $6,800,000 weekend
gross, on 2,679 screens ($2,530 average), "Flubber" had a
cumulative gross of $58,700,000.
In Week #4, "Flubber" dropped another 37% to $4,300,000
3-day weekend gross, on 2,612 screens ($1,638 average) for a
cumulative gross of $64,300,000. It ranked just below the
DreamWorks' comedy "Mouse Hunt" and just above Fox's family
comedy in its 2nd week "Home Alone 3."
In Week #5, "Flubber" bounced 26% upwards to $5,400,000
weekend gross, on 2,008 screens (levitating up to a $2,643
average) for a cumulative gross of $73,100,000. It ranked just
below the Hollywood debut of "American Werewolf in Paris" and
just above the sad flop debut of Warner Bros. The Postman
which the studio had hoped would save the year for them and
instead cut deeply into profits.
Reviews:
Paul Wunder, WBAI Radio, New York City: "Outrageously funny!"
Brian Sebastian, Movie Reviews and More: "It's the best Robin
Williams film since 'Mrs. Doubtfire.'"
Louis B. Hobson, Calgary Sun: "'Flubber' is a knee-slapping,
rib-tickling, side-splitting, gut-busting laugh-a-thon!"
John Anderson, Los Angeles Times, 26 Nov 97: "With all the
resilience, elasticity and recoil of Robin Williams'
career, 'Flubber' bounces into theatres today to begin the
holiday marketing march."
"In remaking 1961's 'The Absent-Minded Professor,'
which starred Fred MacMurray as the creator of flying
rubber, producer-screenwriter John Hughes and Co. have
chosen to change the title to something more commercially
viable than 'Disorganized, Middle-Aged Science Teacher.'
And they've made a few other changes, too. Professor Phillip
Brainard (Williams), a kind of Wallace sans Gromit, has been
given an airborne computer pal named Weebo.... Flubber
itself has been given an actual personality, somewhere
between primordial ooze and Chris Farley. And MacMurray's
old jalopy has been replaced by a 1963 T-Bird, which is
very nice and able to fly."
"Otherwise, this is your basic audience-friendly comedy
with a crisis--the immanent closing of Medfield College.
And a couple of thugs, Smith and Wesson.... And their boss,
the college-foreclosing Chester Hoenicker.... There are two
love triangles. One among Phillip, Sara and Wilson Croft...
who wants to steal Phillip's invention and his fiancee and
who gets her to wager herself on the results of the big
basketball game."
"[Marcia Gay] Harden and [Christopher] McDonald are
good, Ted Levine is very good (he was the killer in
'Silence of the Lambs' and the police chief in 'Mad City').
But amid all the Professor Irwin Corey-inspired double-talk
about what makes Flubber Flubber, the bigger mystery is
what Robin Williams contributes to all of this.... there's
a bit too much emotional distress in 'Flubber' and not quite
enough of the energetic slapstick that takes place at the
big basketball game, which Phillip fixes with Flubber (yes,
kids, he's cheating!) or the abuse that Smith and Wesson
take via the bowling ball and the golf ball that begin
bouncing at the beginning of the film and return to Earth
periodically with hilarious timing and accuracy. Director
Les Mayfield... has his moments, of course, but what
ultimately was needed in the case of 'Flubber' was a movie
with more bounce and less talk."
Terry Morgan, Pasadena Weekly, 28 Nov 1997: "Professor Phillip
Brainard (Robin Williams) is brilliant, but so
absent-minded he's forgotten to attend his own wedding to
Sara Jean Reynolds twice. He's intending not to do so a
third time when he accidently creates flubber, a sort of
flying rubber that also appears to have a mind of its own.
Having blown his last chance with his fiancee, Brainard
wants to show her the wondrous qualities of his invention,
but others... want to steal it for themselves."
"Williams is fine as the forgetful professor, but truly
secondary to special effects, which are essentially the
raison d'etre of this film. In fact, he is upstaged by one
particular effect, and flying robot called Weebo... that
surprisingly ends up as the movie's most memorable
character. Harden also does good work providing an
emotional reality to ground the story's flights of fancy.
The film moves pleasantly along at a brisk clip, but the
script... is fairly standard of its genre. The effects,
however, from Weebo to some marvelous sequences with the
flying car, from flubber to a recurring sight gag involving
the continual trajectory of two bouncing balls, are
terrific. I enjoyed this film more than I expected to, and
the kids in the audience I saw it with were literally
screaming with laughter."
"'Flubber' is that rarity, a fun film for the whole
family."
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
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Alien Resurrection
Story: Winona Ryder joins Sigourney Weaver against a pack of
interstellar smugglers; a Ripley clone is targeted by an
assassin (Winona Ryder) before they become allies; the real
enemy is a Queen Alien -- a breeder, on a spaceship due to
automatically return to Earth...
Studio: 20th Century Fox presents a Brandywine Production
Based on: the first 3 Alien films, and
characters created by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shosett
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("City of Lost Children") and Mark Caro
Writer: Joss Whedon
Producers: Bill Badalato, Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill
Cinematography: Darius Khondji
Editor: Herve Schneid
Starring:
Ellen Ripley (clone of) -- Sigourney Weaver ("Alien", "Aliens", "Alien 3",
"The Year of Living Dangerously", "Ghostbuster", "Ghostbuster 2",
"Working Girl", "Dave", "Gorillas in the Mist")
Annalee Call -- Winona Ryder ("Beetlejuice", "Little Women", "Reality Bites",
"Bram Stoker's Dracula", "The Age of Innocence", "The Crucible", "Heathers")
(she was a great fan of "Invaders from Mars",
"Farenheit 451", and "Alien")
(her real name is Winona Laura Horowitz)
(she was born 29 October 1971 in Winona, Minnesota; her
godfather was LSD guru Timothy Leary)
Dr. Gediman -- Brad Dourif
Johner -- Ron Perlman
Elgyn -- Michael Wincott
General Perez -- Dan Hedaya
Vriess -- Dominique Pinon
Dr. Wren -- J. E. Freeman
Distephano -- Raymond Cruz
Hilliard -- Kim Flowers
Christie -- Gary Dourdan
Purvis -- Leland Orser
Special Effects: Duboi/Blue Sky Studios
Special Effects Coordinator: Eric Allard
Special Effects Producer: Bruce Devan
Visual Effects Supervisors: Erik Henry, Pitof
Alien Effects Designed and Created By: Alex Gillis and Tom
Woodruff Jr.
Production Design: Nigel Phelps
Costume Design: Bob Ringwood
Music: John C. Frizzell
Web: Aliens: The Web Site info and music from
all three (so far) Aliens films, from biology to bureaucracy.
Some good stuff on this 4th film (Alien Resurrection). This
site endorsed by Sigourney Weaver.
Opening: 26 November 1997 (originally scheduled for 25 July)
Running Time: 1 hour, 49 minutes
Box Office: $45,500,000 domestic + $53,400,000 overseas = $98,900,000
worldwide in Calendar Year 1997 only, according to "Variety."
Here's how:
"Alien Resurrection" opened with a strong #2 rating, by
grossing $25,800,000 during the long 5-day Thanksgiving holiday
weekend, on 2,415 screens ($10,679 average). By way of comparison,
the 2nd film in the series ("Aliens") opened with $10,100,000 on the
regular weekend of 18 July 1986, and "Alien 3" debuted with
$23,100,000 over the 4-day Memorial Day weekend of 1992. "Alien Resurrection"
was outranked only by the surprise #1 debut of The Absent-Minded Professor/Flubber
and ranked comfortably above the #3 film: Fox's animated "Anastasia"
in its 3rd week (and from some bizarro alternate universe in which all
the problems of Russia were caused by Rasputin, with no mention
whatever of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Bolsheviks, or communism). Is
Fox ashamed of Capitalism, or what?
In week #2, "Alien Resurrection" stayed at #2, just below "Flubber",
and just ahead of the 3rd week of Paramount's "John Grisham's
The Rainmaker." This week, "Alien Resurrection" had a 3-day
gross down 60% to $6,700,000 on 2,449 screens ($2,720 average) for a
cumulative gross of $36,200,000.
"Alien Resurrection" plummeted 51% to a #3 week 3-day gross
of $3,300,000 on 2,326 screens ($1,401 average) for a #7 ranking
and a cumulative gross of $41,500,000. It now ranked just below
the 4th week of Paramount's "John Grisham's The Rainmaker" and
just above Fox's "Anastasia" in that animation's 5th week.
By week #4, "Alien Resurrection" had slipped off the top 10
domestic box office list, and I'll add weekly and cumulative
rankings and grosses at some future time.
Reviews:
Leah Rozen, People Magazine: "'Alien Resurrection' rocks! An
operatic, juiced-up marvel that pulses with energy."
Dennis Cunningham, WCBS-TV: "A startling blast of thrills,
action, and sheer stimulating imagination."
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "A visual marvel!"
Terry Morgan, Pasadena Weekly, 28 Nov 1997: "There's little more
frustrating to a film critic or even a film lover than see
a project with all of the elements for success proceed to
fail miserably. It's one thing to see a movie where
obviously nobody involved had a clue, much less any
ambition towards excellence.... If, however, high
expectations are exceeded, it's likely you have a classic on
your hands. This was the case with the first two films of
the Alien series: one a masterpiece of sci-fi horror, the
other one a primer on topnotch action and suspense. 'Alien 3'
was a fatal misstep, literally killing off its protagonist,
and likely the series as well. Now we have 'Alien Resurrection'
here to revive the franchise. Depending on how you look at
the glass half full/half empty equation, this movie is
either the third best or second worst of the series."
"Some time after her suicide, Ripley... has been
brought back to life via cloning. This was done
specifically to harvest the embryonic alien queen embedded
within her, so military scientist [Dr.] Wren can utilize the
knowledge. Also on board the research ship are a crew of
smugglers including the mysterious Call... When all hell
breaks loose, as it inevitably does in dealing with the
clever aliens, Call and her shipmates must fight for their
lives alongside Ripley. Ripley, however, is not the same
woman she once was. now possessing a mental and a genetic
kinship with the alien queen. When Call needs to trust her
the most, it is not at all certain that she can."
"One of the most frustrating things in this movie is
that Weaver's new Ripley is actually set up as a pretty
intriguing character, but then the fact of her alien
kinship is left unaccountably by the wayside halfway through
the picture. Why even bring it up if you're not going to
do anything with it? Weaver has sly fun with the initial
mystery, but she is betrayed by the script. Ryder is
seriously underutilized as Call, whose one dramatic plot
point is rather silly. The one person who comes out of this
well is Ron Perlman, whose energetically abusive
performance as one of the smugglers recalls the similarly
great Bill Paxton in Aliens, a high compliment.
"Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet brings little of the visual
creativity he has displayed in earlier films, surely the one
thing he was brought onboard to provide. The script by Joss
Whedon starts out promising enough but slowly goes nowhere,
descending to a conclusion that drew laughs from the audience
I saw the film with. Most damning is the utter lack of
suspense; the film is largely devoid of scare value. This
Resurrection, sadly, doesn't take.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, 26 Nov 1997: "If you need to
read a review to decide if you want to see 'Alien Resurrection,'
you absolutely shouldn't be going.... [the series has] devolved
into something that's strictly for hard-core horror junkies who
can't get enough of slime, gore and repulsion....
state-of-the-art repulsion... new levels of disgust are
reached and surpassed.... French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet,
whose fascination with highly stylized grotesquerie and
pretentious dead-end weirdness was last on display in the
unfortunate 'City of Lost Children'".... Cinematographer
Darius Khondji's visual style, grandly described in the
press kit as 'signature chiaroscuro lighting and muted
colors' looks as if it were shot under the sickly fluorescent
lighting of a decrepit hospital emergency ward."
"One reason 'Alien Resurrection' places so much emphasis
on the stomach-turning is that only so much can be done with
these films in terms of plot. In fact Ellen Ripley... neatly
summarizes what's to come, when she says of the monster,
'She'll breed, you'll die, everyone will die.'"
"Yes, Ripley is back, more or less. Dead herself for
200 years, she's been cloned from a drop of her blood (ain't
technology grand?)... with one of those unspeakable aliens
growing inside her."
"All this takes place on the Auriga, a renegade space
laboratory under the command of Gen Perez (Dan Hedaya at his
most Nixonian). Having missed the previous films, the
general's obnoxious minions are under the illusion that the
aliens can be made practical use of. 'The potential for
this species,' one of them smugly says, 'goes way beyond
urban pacification.' You don't say."
"Though she's done this three times before, Weaver is
actually the best thing in the new 'Alien.' Playing someone
dead seems to have liberated the actress in unexpected ways,
and her Ripley, fortified with superhuman strength and
skills this time around, has enough confidence and panache
to amuse and entertain."
"Winona Ryder,... attracted to this role apparently
because she's a serious sci-fi fan..., mostly looks lost in
the film's overstylized environment...."
"Simple as all this is in outline, the film's plot still
contains a number of too-tricky twists that are explained so
fast (it is an emergency, after all) that no one but buffs
will be able to figure out what is happening. As an example
of the mindless pursuit of misguided self-interest, 'Alien
Resurrection' is not much different from the deluded
scientists it so archly mocks."
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
Return to 1997 SNEAK PREVIEWS Table of Contents
An American Werewolf in Paris
Story: "Things are about to get a little hairy..."
Studio: Hollywood Pictures / Cornerstone Pictures / J&M Entertainment
Based On: a character created by John Landis in
"An American Werewolf in London"
Executive Producer: Anthony Waller
Producer: Richard Claus
Co-Producer: Alexander Buchman
Screenplay: Tim Burns & Tom Stern, Anthony Waller
Director: Anthony Waller
Cinematographer: Egon Werdin
Editor: Peter R. Adam
Starring:
Werewolf Gal -- Julie Delpy
American -- Tom Everett Scott
??? -- Vince Vieluf
??? -- Paul Buckman
??? -- Julie Bowen
??? -- Pierre Cosso
??? -- Tom Novembre
??? -- Terry L'Hermitte
Music: Wilbert Hirsch
Visual Effects: Santa Barbara Studios
Production Designer: Mattgias Kammermeier
Opening: 25 December 1997
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
Return to 1997 SNEAK PREVIEWS Table of Contents
Anaconda
Story: Amazon expedition by film-crew turns weird as obsessive loner
seeks a mythical giant snake creature
Studio: Columbia Pictures presents a CL Cinema Line Films Corporation
production (Hollywood "power lawyer" Jake Bloom negotiated the
3-year 1st-look contract between Columbia and Cinema Line, which
resulted in "Anaconda" and has now expired)
Based on: very loosely on "The Feathered Serpent" by D.H. Lawrence, rumor goes
Executive Producer: Susan Ruskin (veteran producer, worked closely
with Gene Wilder, found script and bought it for Cinema Line in
late 1993).
Producers: Verna Harrah, Leonard Rabinowitz, Carole Little
(Carol Little runs a $200 million Los Angeles-based fashion
empire, and it's now chic for fashion moguls to dabble in
movies, as with Isaac Mizrahi in "Unzipped." Leonard Rabinowitz
is the ex-husband of Carol Little, and Verna Harrah was Leonard's
girlfriend. Sounds like a movie right there!)
(Verna Harrah says "I'm a big fan of 'Alien' and science
fiction movies" so watch for more sci-fi from CL Cinema Line Films
Corporation, of which Little & Rabinowitz now own only 5%.
Little prefers small arty films such as "Lone Star" and "Sling
Blade.")
Director: Luis Llosa ("Fire in the Amazon", "The Specialist")
Editor: Michael R. Miller, A.C.E.
Production Designer: Kirk M. Petruccelli
Art Director: Barry Chusid
Director of Photography: Bill Butler, ASC
Co-producer: Beau Marks
Writers: Hans Bauer and Jim Cash & Jack Epps, Jr.
Starring:
Paul Sarone, the snake hunter -- John Voight
John Voight gets mixed reviews. Some say that he's absurdly
over the top, hamming it up mercilously, but others say
that his intensity makes the movie memorable, and is one of
his best performances ever.
Danny Rich, the side-kick -- Ice Cube
Some reviewers are glad that Ice Cube survives, because "he
carries the movie... if Ice Cube wan't in it, you'd be
cheering the snake" and others say that he was well cast,
with his tough-guy sneer and heart of gold make him someone
to root for.
Terri Flores, documentary director -- Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez is hot, hot, hot right now. The bubbly New
Yorker was the heart and soul of "Selena", winning rave
reviews, and worth every penny of her $1,000,000. In 1996
she was radiant in "Jack" and in "Blood and Wine." Look for
Jennifer Lopez as an Apache Indian in Oliver Stone's
forthcoming "U-Turn", starring with Sean Penn and Nick Nolte.
Jennifer Lopez plays a brave, physical woman in
"Anaconda", about which role she says "that's one of the
reasons I took [the part]. I was offered another movie at
the same time. It was like 'Am I going to be the woman
between two men again, or am I going to be a strong woman
character who's a hero of an action movie... I wanted to
have control." She admits that "Anaconda" is
unintentionally funny, but says "I laughed at it. I think
it's hysterical. I mean, what else do you want when you go
into a movie? You want to moved emotionally... whether you
laugh or you cry... I'm lucky, my movies this year do that."
Dr. Stephen Cale, anthropologist -- Eric Stolz
Critics complain that the talented Eric Stolz is almost
wasted in "Anaconda", being disabled and literally sleeping
through most of the film, waking up just in time for
heroics. Co-star Jennifer Lopez says "after Eric Stolz
is taken out of the loop, there [Terri Flores] is, left
with the ball in her hand."
Warren Westridge, the narrator -- Jonathan Hyde
Gary Dixon, the sound mixer -- Owen Wilson ("Bottle Rocket")
Kari Kuhrer, the production manager -- Denise Kaberg
Vincent Castellanos -- ???
Special Effects: Walter Conti did 40-foot Animatronic snake;
Sony Pictures' Imagworks' John Nelson did digital graphics;
waterfall scene where snake captures prey in mid-air is amazing
FX magic. No question: this film LOOKS great due to special
effects far superior to the script.
Music: Randy Edelman
Soundtrack: Edel America Records
Costume Supervisor: Kathy Monderine
Rated PG-13
Opening: 18 April 1997
Review: This film shot to #1 in box office grosses, with $16,500,000
in ticket sales on the opening weekend, thereby displacing Jim
Carey's "Liar, Liar", which makes my nasty review, below, look
pretty foolish. Based on this success, Carole Little and
Leonard Rabinowitz are developing new projects through "St.
Tropez Films" and sold most of CL Cinema Line Films Corporation
to Verna Harrah (widow of gambling casino mogul William F.
Harrah). Leonard Rabinowitz and Verna Harrah lived together for 5
years, until December 1996, during which time they bought the
original "Anaconda" script from Hans Bauer, went through several
rewrites with Jim Cash & Jack Epps, Jr., shot on location in
Brazil for 16 weeks (and in the L.A. Arboretum in Arcadia,
California). Meanwhile, Carole Little and Leonard Rabinowitz
were still married, but their divorce should be final in July
1997, which took off some pressure and made them even better
business partners. Isn't Hollywood weird?
In the second weekend, box office was $12,000,000 for a
2-week total of $32,700,000, still at #1 above "Liar Liar" and
proving that "The snake has legs" (sorry).
"Anaconda" was blasted out of #1 in the third week by
Volcano, slipping
to #3 with $7,300,000 right behind the debut of "Romy and
Michelle's High School Reunion."
In its fourth week, "Anaconda" was #6, grossing $5,000,000
for a four-week total of $49,800,000.
In Anaconda's week 5 The Fifth Element opened at #1 with $17,000,000 on
opening weekend, at 2,500 screens for an average of $6,813,
ranking above the opening of "Father's Day" with Billy Crystal and
Robin Williams and above the 2nd week of "Breakdown." Next in
line was Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
at #4, Volcano at #5,
and Anaconda squeezed in at #8.
Anaconda had now cumulatively grossed $53,100,000 with $2,700,000
on this 5th weekend at 2,302 screens for an average of $1,158.
Anaconda was right above The Saintat #9 in its 6th week
at 1,730 screens for an average of $903, and with a $54,800,000 gross.
As of 20 May 1997, according to Exhibitor Relations Co.,
Anaconda ranked 10th, with a 3-day weekend gross of $2,200,000
for a total so far of $56,000,000 and was on 2,032 screens for
$1,093 average -- not bad for the 6th week in release.
By the weekend of 27-29 June 1997, "Anaconda" had slithered
to #20 in the box office list, with a slender $200,000 gross on
200 screens ($1,028 average) for a cumulative gross of $61,600,000
in its 12th week. That put it just below "Gross Pointe Blank"
in the ratings.
For week #14, including the weekend of 11-13 July 1997,
"Anaconda" bit back, rising to #17 with $400,000 weekend gross
on 551 screens ($804 average) and a cumulative gross of
$63,300,000. It ranked just below Paramount's "Breakdown" and
just above Touchstone's "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion."
REVIEWS:
Roger Ebert: "Two Thumbs Up! This movie is fun."
Thelma Adams, New York Post: "A creepy, crawly guilty
pleasure!"
Ron Brewington, American Urban Radio Network: "Utterly
breathtaking! Great special effects!"
R.A., New Times, Los Angeles, 1-7 May 97: "Paraguayans and
documentary filmmakers should rise up in protest....
the movie is so unrelentingly idiotic and
suspenseless, from the cheesy composite snake to
Voight's triple-decker-ham-sandwich performance, that
the hissing is likely to come from the audience, not
the screen."
Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate: "The best creepy, crawly
creature film in years!"
Anne Brodie, CFTO-TV: "Thrills, chills, squirms and
screams... what fun!"
But Your Humble Webmaster Says:
Excessive, unintentionally funny, scenes intended to be
frightening are merely gross (i.e. regurgitated human).
Cinematography self aware (camera shot from inside snake's
mouth). John Voigt is over the top as Paraguayan snake hunter
Paul Sarone, who is caught up in Dr. Steven Cales's (Eric Stoltz)
quest for "the Shirishama" -- "the elusive people of the mist."
Terri Flores, a documentary director (Jennifer Lopez)
wants to capture the Shirishama on film. Kari Kuhrer, production
manager (Denise Kaberg) wants to capture a man with her low-cut
blouses and miniskirts. And speaking of capturing,
snake-obsessed Paul Sarone (John Voight) explains that the
Anaconda wants to capture prey: "It holds you tighter than your
true love, and you get the privilege of hearing your bones break
before the power of their embrace causes your veins to explode."
Dr. Stephen Cale passively hides in his tent, John Voigt
sneers, leers, snarls, and chews the scenery, muttering classic
lines in a pseudo-Paraguayan accent: "Don't make me out a
monster, I didn't eat the captain."
Director Luis Lopez said in a preview screening, according
to Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan, "This film was
supposed to be my big break and it turned out to be a big
disaster."
"L.A. Entertainment's" Eric Layton says "bogged down by a
sophomoric script and situations so absurd, you've got to
laugh... this film slithers perilously close to ... parody."
The snake is 40 feet long. The film seems much longer.
Anaconda @ movieweb
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
Return to 1997 SNEAK PREVIEWS Table of Contents
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Story: Spoof about swinging 1960's undercover agent who tracks his
nemesis Dr.Evil into the late 1990's. The science fiction part
of the plot is that Dr.Evil has been both cryogenically frozen
and shot into space, and Austin Powers is also cryopreserved to
follow his nemesis.
Austin Powers official web site
very clever web site spoofs the 1960's -- "The Groovy Years" --
with Op Art, Andy Warhol styling, psychedelia, and animation of
those silly dance crazes
Studio: New Line Cinema presents in association with Capella International/
KC Medien a Moving Pictures/Eric's Boy production
Based on: sort of "I Spy" and "The Man From Uncle" meets "The Time
Machine" during "30 Something", with a parody-of-a-parody of the
Matt Helm and Our Man Flint flicks.
Executive Producers: Eric McLeod, Claire Rudnick Polstein
Producers: Suzanne Todd, Demi Moore, Jennifer Todd, Mike Meyers
Director: Jay Roach
Writer: Mike Meyers
Editor: Debra Neil-Fisher
Starring:
Austin Powers -- Mike Meyers
Dr.Evil -- also Mike Meyers
Vanessa Kensington -- Elizabeth Hurley
Basil Exposition -- Michael York
Number Two -- Robert Wagner
??? -- Ron Lowe
??? -- Carrie Fisher
Mrs. Kensington -- Mimi Rogers
Scott Evil -- Set Green
Alotta Fagina -- ??
Special Effects: ???
Production Design: Cynthia Charette
Director of Photography: Peter Deming
Casting: John Papsidera
Costumes: Deena Appel
Music: George S. Clinton
Running Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes
Opening: 1 May 1997
Box Office: "Austin Powers" opened at #2, with $10,000,000 on its
opening weekend. In its 2nd week The Fifth Element opened at #1 with $17,000,000 on
opening weekend, at 2,500 screens for an average of $6,813,
ranking above the opening of "Father's Day" with Billy Crystal and
Robin Williams and above the 2nd week of "Breakdown." Next in
line was Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
at #4, with $7,100,000 for the weekend, at 2,1877 screens for an
average of $3,230 and a cumulative gross of $19,500,000.
Volcano kept
smoking at #5, and Anaconda squeezed in at #8.
Anaconda had now cumulatively grossed $53,100,000 with $2,700,000
on this 5th weekend at 2,302 screens for an average of $1,158.
Anaconda was right above The Saintat #9 in its 6th week
at 1,730 screens for an average of $903, and with a $54,800,000 gross.
As of 20 May 1997, according to Exhibitor Relations Co.,
"Austin Powers" ranked 4th (just above Volcano),
with a 3-day weekend gross of $5,800,000
for a total so far of $27,500,000 and was on 2,187 screens for
$2,672 average -- very good for the 3rd week in release.
As of 28 May 1997, according to Exhibitor Relations Co.,
"Austin Powers" hung on at #4, (well below the megablockbuster The Lost World: Jurassic Park,
and the opening week of #2's "Addicted to Love", and just below
the 3rd week of The Fifth Element),
with a 3-day weekend gross of $5,600,000 for a total so far of
$35,100,000 and was on 2,187 screens for $2,578 average -- good
for the 4th week in release, especially against the super
dinosaurs.
In week #5 of release, "Austin Powers" ranked 7th (just
below Paramount's "Breakdown" and just above Universal's "Liar
Liar") with weekend gross of $3,200,000 on 2,118 screens ($1,499
average) for a cumulative gross of $39,300,000.
Week #6 missing from database; will attempt to reconstruct.
In week #7 of release, "Austin Powers" rebounded to 5th (just
below Warner Bros.'s "Addicted to Love" and just above Disney's
"Gone Fishin'") with weekend gross of $2,100,000 on 1,540 screens
($1,359 average) for a cumulative gross of $46,000,000. The
rebound might be due to the tepid #1 opening of Fox's "Speed 2."
As it entered week #8 of release, "Austin Powers" retreated to
6th (just below Fox's "Speed 2" in a pallid 2nd week, but pulled
ahead of Warner Bros.'s "Addicted to Love" and stayed above Disney's
"Gone Fishin'") with weekend gross of $1,300,000 on 1,329 screens
($960 average) for a cumulative gross of $48,500,000. The
slip from 5th to 6th was due to the simultaneous openings of
Batman & Robin and TriStar's "My Best Friend's Wedding"
at #1 and #2.
In week 9, "Austin Powers" hung out at #10, with 3-day
weekend gross of $671,100 on 993 screens for an average of $676
and cumulative gross of an even $50,000,000. It ranked just
below the 15th week of Universal's "Liar Liar" and just above
the 3rd week of "Ulee's Gold" and the 5th week of "Gone Fishin'."
By week #11, "Austin Powers" was off the top-10 list, and
ranked at #15, with weekend gross of $500,000 on 772 screens
($653 average) and cumulative gross of $51,900,000. It ranked
just below Orion's "Ulee's Gold" and just above Paramount's
"Breakdown."
Reviews:
John Anderson, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 97 says:
"Poor Mike Meyers. Didn't anyone ever tell him that you
can't spoof camp?... the satire's long been exhausted...
The gag? Upon thawing, both characters [played by Myers]
are so out of touch with '90s mores and crime that the
result is a comedy of errors. Errors, yes. Comedy, we're
not so sure.... the material satirized [James Bond,
"The Avenger", "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.] was a good deal
more self-aware and therefore hipper than anything Meyers
has cooked up.... Along the way, male-anatomy jokes are
beaten into the ground with an insistence that's
mortifying.... pointless... a movie whose sense of humor is
aimed at those far too young to get the big joke, and all
but guaranteed to turn off those who do."
Leah Rozen, People Magazine: "Effervescent and dead-on funny!"
Joanna Langfield, The Movie Minute: "Mike Meyers is a comic genius!"
Dianne Kaminsky, CBS-TV, Houston: "Brilliantly funny! The
funniest movie since 'Airplane'!"
Paul Wunder, WBAI Radio: An hour and a half of non-stop laughter!"
Leo Quinones, KIIS-FM, Los Angeles: "Austin Powers is
devastatingly hip! Peace, love. 'Austin Powers,' baby!"
Joel Siegel, Good Morning America: "'Austin Powers' is a very,
very funny movie!"
Janet Maslin, The New York Times: "'Hip! Funny! 'Austin's' hard
to resist!"
Jeffrey Lyons, WNBC-TV News: "Mike Meyers is hilarious!"
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: "'Austin Powers' is as
witty a creation as the blissed-out Wayne Campbell!"
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: "A funny movie that only gets
funnier!"
Siskel & Ebert: "Two thumbs up!"
Peter Rainer, New Times, Los Angeles, 1-7 May 97: "It's no
secret--Austin Powers is one swingin' mess. If you're
hankering to see a movie that sends up swinging '60s London
and Carnaby Street and vintage James Bond movies, don't
bother to check out Austin Powers.... [which], God forbid,
may be a 'personal' film. Or it may be just another stop on
Myers's weird-foreigner hit parade--an accented goof to
place beside such "Saturday Night Live' creations as
Dieter, the host of the German avant-garde show 'Sprockets',
and Stewart, the kilted proprietor of the All Things
Scottish boutique.... Rip Van Winkle scenario doesn't
really hold up because Myers [and]... Roach don't seem to
have much sense of the present.... Elizabeth Hurley and
Robert Wagner and Michael York stand around looking waxen
and clueless...."
Jane Horowitz, Los Angeles Times: "Spiffy spoof."
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
Return to 1997 SNEAK PREVIEWS Table of Contents
Batman & Robin
Story: The Dynamic Duo, joined by Batgirl, battle Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy
Studio: Warner Bros.
Based on: Batman characters created by Bob Kane and published by DC Comics
see my essay on "Batman" in my Ultimate SF TV site
TELEVISION: list of 350+ links, last updated 31 Dec 1996
and see: The Batman - Batfan Page
a site dedicated to the 1960's Batman series with history, trivia,
villains and heroes (by David W Sutton, Affordable Locksmith).
Also, there was a 1949 movie called "Batman and Robin"
(reissued in 1986 as "An Evening with Batman and Robin"). The 1949
Columbia film was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett, and starred
Robert Lowrey as Bruce Wayne/Batman, John Duncan as Dick Grayson/Robin,
Jane Adams as Vicki Vale, Lyle Talbot as Commissioner Gordon, and
an uncredited Eric Wilston as the butler Alfred. The 1949 film
was written by Bob Kane (creator of comic books Batman
character), George H. Plympton, Joseph F. Poland, and Royal K. Cole.
Executive Producers: Benjamin Melinker and Michael E. Uslan
Producer: Peter MacGregor-Scott
Director: Joel Schumacher
Editor: Dennis Virkler, A.C.E.
Director of Photography: Stephen Goldblatt, A.S.C.
Screenplay: Akiva Goldsman (and uncredited Christopher McQuarrie)
Novelizations: Warner Books and Little Brown
Starring:
Bruce Wayne/Batman -- George Cloony ("E.R.")
Dick Grayson/Robin -- Chris O'Donnell
Barbara Wilson/Batgirl -- Alicia Silverstone ("Clueless")
Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze -- Arnold Schwarzenegger (recovered from elective
heart surgery)
Poison Ivy -- Uma Thurman ("Pulp Fiction")
Alfred Pennyworth -- Michael Gough
Commissioner Gordon -- Pat Hingle
Julie Madison -- Elle Macpherson
Dr. Jason Woodrue -- John Glover
Bane -- Jeep Swenson
Mrs. B. Haven -- Vivica A. Fox
Nora Fries -- Vendela Kirsebom
Banker -- Coolio
Gossip Gerty -- Elizabeth Sanders
Special Effects: John Dykstra, A.S.C., Matt Sweeny
Stunts: skating, hockey, skyboarding
Production Designer: Barbara Ling ("Batman Forever") created new
Bat-vehicles, redesigned Wayne Manor, Gotham City's museum and
observatory, headquarters for Mr.Freeze and Poison Ivy
Music: Elliott Goldenthal
Soundtrack Album: Warner Sunset Records, featuring music by The
Smashing Pumpkins, Jewel, R. Kelly, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, R.E.M.
Costumes:
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze incorporated 2,500 "grain of
wheat" lightbulbs strung together with wires, making to the total
costume weight over 50 pounds. His "leisure wear" of furry
slippers and robe (decorated with rhinestone-eyed polar bears)
weighed over 45 pounds.
Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy costume is a magenta gorilla suit
stitched together from 448 Santa Claus wigs and beards with
black tips and roots.
Budget: $175,000,000
Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Web: Batman and Robin posters
this web site has graphical "teasers" from storyboard, trailer,
set photos, and posters. It leads you through four different
web pages, one each for Batman, Robin, Mr.Freeze, and Poison Ivy.
Opening: 20 June 1997
Box Office: $107,300,000 domestic + $126,400,000 overseas = $233,700,000
worldwide in Calendar Year 1997 only, according to "Variety."
Here's how:
"Batman and Robin" enjoyed the 7th highest non-holiday
3-day opening ever, with a powerful $42,900,00 weekend gross on
2,934 screens, for a per-screen average of $14,612. This put it
at roughly double the gross of TriStar's "My Best Friend's
Wedding", which had the hottest opening gross of any romantic
comedy at $21,700,000. Disney/Touchstone's "ConAir" slipped to #3.
Warner Bros. executives were shocked when "Batman and Robin"
plummeted to #3 in the 2nd weekend, grossing $15,700,000 on
2,942 screens for a diminished $5,349 average. The cumulative
gross was $75,200,000 as the Dynamic Duo was beaten by the
opening of Paramount's "Face/Off" and by the resurgent Hercules.
"Batman and Robin" barely edged out Sony/TriStar's surprisingly
successful "My Best Friend's Wedding" which grossed $15,000,000
in its 2nd weekend for a cumulative gross of $49,200,000. "Batman and Robin"
was not helped much by Disney/Touchstone's "Con Air" dropping
dramatically to #5 in its 4th week week $5,900,000 gross and
cumulative $78,500,000.
The 3rd week provided a further 29% drop in "Batman and Robin"
gross, with $11,200,000 for the weekend ($3,816 per screen) and a
cumulative gross of $90,700,000. At #5, it was ranked just
below "My Best Friend's Wedding" (down only 3% in its 3rd week)
and just above the debut of the Fox comedy "Out to Sea."
In Week #4, "Batman and Robin" dropped another 49% to 7th place,
with weekend gross of $4,100,000 on 2,701 screens ($1,513 average),
cumulatively raking in $98,800,000. It ranked just below the
2nd week of Fox's "Out to Sea", and just above the 6th week of
"Con Air." Much of this slippage can be ascribed to the powerhouse pair on
top of the market: Men In Black in its second week at #1, and
Contact opening at #2. The science fiction audience is spread
thin this summer!
"Batman and Robin" slid further to #10 in week #5. The
weekend gross was $1,800,000 on 1,916 screens (a diminished $929
average) for cumulative gross of $102,800,000. Warner Bros.
execs boasted about breaking the $100,000,000 barrier in just 5
weeks, but their boasts sounded hollow -- some experts said that
this would kill the Btamna franchise. To the contrary, rumors
flew hot and heavy about who would star in the next Batman film,
with Madonna's name being frequently mentioned.
Reviews:
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 1997: "The strutting
bully that was the Batman franchise is no more. 'Batman and Robin'
... preens and blusters, but there's no knockout punch...
so overloaded with hardware and stunts, it's a relief to
have it over... lives and dies by the aesthetic of excess,
the familiar idea that anything worth doing is worth
overdoing. You may admire its surface, but it's far too
slick for even a toehold's worth of connection.... has the
eerie feeling of having no beginning, no middle, and no
end. Watching it is like stumbling into the world's
longest coming attractions trailer, or a product reel for a
special effects house... the family values 'Batman'...
While 'Batman and Robin' is not lacking in events, its
crises are invariably bogus... indifferently acted....
If all else fails, and it invariably does, it is possible
to admire the scenery in 'Batman and Robin.' Really....
a massive Gotham City that never fails to intrigue the
eye... all that money can buy... it's a shame that money
can't buy even more."
Bill Klein, NBC-TV: "The Best 'Batman' ever! More action!
More special effects! More humor! More everything!"
Liz Smith, L.A. Times Syndicate: "The Best of the 'Batman' movies.
The summer's super treat. An enviable supercast of
charismatic actors. A heck of a good time."
Bonnie Churchill, National News Syndicate: "The Best 'Batman' ever!
Joel Shumacher has pulled out all the stops. Action films
don't get better than this."
Ron Brewington, American Urban Radio Networks: "The summer hit!
Sensational entertainment! Non-stop, kick-butt action."
Bobby Wygant, NBC-TV: "The most spectacular 'Batman' ever!"
Jules Peimer, WKDM Radio: "Hop in the Batmobile for the thrill of
your life. A sure-fire hit. A sizzling blockbuster."
Don Stotter, Entertainment Time-Out and Network One: "Spectacular.
Tops any 'Batman' ever!"
Patty Spitler, CBS-TV: "This Batman' is the best bang for your
buck! Non-stop, over-the-top action."
Jeffrey Lyons, WNBC-TV: "The special effects are astonishing!
A blockbuster. Astonishing. Oscar-calibre special effects.""
Joy Browne, WOR Radio (New York): "My favorite 'Batman' so far!
It's funny, sexy and delightful!"
Peter Rainer, New Times (Los Angeles), 19-25 June 1997: "Bring
earplugs to 'Batman and Robin.' A pair of noseplugs
wouldn't hurt either.... one long head-splitting exercise
in clueless cacophony... the real bad guy is Mr.Sound....
'Batman and Robin' features George Clooney as Batman, who's
a staunch and square-jawed as the Jerry Robinson/Bill Finger
Batman of the 1950s comics -- or Adam West. Clooney
doesn't go in for a lot of heavy brooding like his
predecessors, particularly Michael Keaton; Clooney's Bruce
Wayne isn't tortured any longer, just a little annoyed....
Any display of bona fide human emotion in this enterprise is
quickly quashed by the din.... The opening credits give us
full frontal body armor and codpieces, and, in a touching
display of gallantry on the part of the filmmakers, Batman's
and Robin's bodysuit nipples are far more pronounced than
Batgirl's. [Mr.] Freeze's get-up is the one original touch
in the movie; he's like a cross between a steroid-pumped
Tin Man and Brigitte Helm from Fritz lang's Metropolis....
[no] penchant for satire, or humor above the level of an
Afterschool Special. But [Poison Ivy by Uma] Thurman has
her moments, especially when she's blowing pink love dust at
her victims; she's like a rain-forest Mae West. She's the
only actor in this film who seems to know what to do with a
laugh line....The people who made this movie -- which, as
always, is set up for a sequel -- will be laughing all the
way to the bank.
Tom Shales: "The goal of 'Batman and Robin' is to beat you as
senseless as it is... numbing... no glee or excitement...
dark... so dark, you wonder if billionaire Bruce Wayne didn't
pay his electric bill... everything and nothing is
happening up there on the screen... a lover's quarrel...
codpieces big enough for a whole school of cod... [Batgirl]
serves no function, and isn't believable anyway...
Mr.Freeze ... seems to have a good time ... carefully
monosyllabic ... this movie isn't worth stealing, but two women
steal it anyway... [Alicia Silverstone is] saucy and
spunky... Alfred contributes to a subplot... the very
disease that took Mr.Freeze's wife's life... an attempt to
control death itself, duhhh, right ... Clockwork Orange
crowd... many parts of Gotham City look like Dresden after
the war... an 800 ton gorilla... proposed titles for the next
film in the series, 'Batman Gets Killed' or 'Batman Comes Out'
or 'Batman meets Godzilla, and Godzilla wins."
Joel Siegel, Good Morning America: "A lot of fun."
Michael Medved, New York Post: "Dazzling. Breathtaking."
Jack Matthews, Newsday: "The most stunning picture out there."
Janet Maslin, The New York Times: "Big. Bold. Lavish."
Gene Siskel: "Dazzling. Action-filled. High-powered."
Jim Ferguson, Prevue: "Wonderful fun. An exciting adventure."
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
Return to 1997 SNEAK PREVIEWS Table of Contents
James Bond 18: Tomorrow Never Dies
Story: 007 keeps having adventures and romances, this time with the
star of Lois & Clark, who plays the wife of a powerful and
deadly media mogul with ties to the secret past of James Bond
Studio: United Artists / Danjaq Productions / Eon
Based on: the immortal creation of Ian Fleming's novels,
James Bond, 007
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Producer: Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli
Line Producer: Anthony Wayne
Screenplay: Bruce Feirstein
Editors: Michel Arcand, Dominique Fortin
Starring:
James Bond, 007 -- Pierce Brosnan (007 in "GoldenEye"; TV's
"Remington Steele", "The Mirror Has Two Faces", "Mars Attacks!",
"Dante's Peak", "The Deceivers", The Fourth Protocol",
"Mr.Johnson", "Death Train", "The Lawnmower Man",
"Mrs.Doubtfire, "Love Affair")
[Bond Girl, Villain's Wife] -- Teri Hatcher ("Lois & Clark")
Jack Wade -- Joe Don Baker
Miss Moneypenny -- Samantha Bond
"M" -- Judi Dench
"Q" -- Desmond Llewelyn
Stamper (Henchman) -- Gotz Otto
Elliott Carver (The Villain) -- Jonathan Pryce
Wai Lin -- Michelle Yeoh
Henry Gupta -- Ricky Jay
Robinson -- Colin Salmon
Admiral Roebuck -- Geoffrey Palmer
Minister of Defense -- Julian Fellowes
General Bukharin -- Terence Rigby
PR Lady -- Daphne Deckers
Dr. Kaufman -- Vincent Schiavelli
Dr. Dave Greenwalt -- Colin Stinton
Master Sergeant 3 -- Al Matthews
Stealth Boat Captain -- Mark Spalding
HMS Chester: Captain -- Bruce Alexander
HMS Chester: Firing Officer -- Anthony Green
HMS Devonshire: Commander Richard Dey -- Christopher Bowen
HMS Devonshire: Lieutenant Commander Peter Hume -- Andrew Hawkins
HMS Devonshire: Lieutenant Commander -- Dominic Shaun
HMS Devonshire: Yeoman -- Julian Rhind-Tutt
HMS Devonshire: Leading Seaman -- Gerard Butler
HMS Devonshire: Sonar -- Adam Barker
HMS Bedford: Admiral Kelly -- Michael Byrne
HMS Bedford: Captain -- Pip Torens
HMS Bedford: Air Warfare Officer -- Hugh Bonneville
HMS Bedford: Principal Warfare Officer -- Jason Watkins
HMS Bedford: Yeoman -- Eoin McCarthy
First Sea Lord -- David Ashton
Staff Officer 1 -- William Scott-Masson
Staff Officer 2 -- Laura Brattan
Nadia Cameron -- Beth Davidson
Liza Ross -- Mary Golson
Jeff Hobbs -- Hugo Napier
Philip Jones -- Rolf Saxon
MIG Pilot -- Vincent Wang
General Chang -- Philip Kwok
??? -- Cecile Thomsen
Special Effects: Cinesite (Europe) Ltd., The Computer Film Company,
Rushes, The Frame Store
Special Effects: John Richardson (supervisor), Chris Corbould
Production Design: Allan Cameron
Music: David Arnold, Frank Denson
Costume Design: Lindy Hemming
Title Song: Sheryl Crow
Gossip: 5 years ago Pierce Brosnan's wife Cassie died of ovarian
cancer, now he is married to Keely Shaye-Smith (reporter on
TV's "Unsolved Mysteries") and have just had their first child
together (Dylan Thomas Brosnan), Pierce's 4th (including the 2 of
Cassie's whom he adopted). Pierce is busy producing "The
Nephew", a low-budget drama set in Ireland (with his partner Bill
St.Clar), using his own $5,200,000.
He'll star in James Bond 19 (still untitled) with Hong Kong
actress Michelle Khan as female lead.
Lawsuits: there's a big legal tangle over exactly who has the right
to make new James Bond films. There are two contenders, and the
messy story will be explained here Real Soon Now...
Opening: 19 December 1997
Box Office: "Tomorrow Never Dies" had a thrilling debut week, opening
at #2, with a 3-day weekend gross of $25,100,000 on 2,807
screens ($8,957 average). It had opened about a week earlier in
Great Britain and other overseas countries, and had grossed a
hefty $61,000,000 worldwide by Tuesday 23 December 1997. It
karate chopped the amazing Scream 2 down to #3,
and was barely edged out of place by the #1 debut of Paramount/Fox's
"Titanic" (which grossed $28,600,000 on 2,674 screens during the
same 3-day weekend).
In Week #2, "Tomorrow Never Dies" held on to #2 ranking, down
19% to a 3-day weekend gross of $20,500,000 on 2,807 screens ($7,296
average). Again, it was below "Titanic" (which grossed $35,500,000 in
its 2nd week), and this time was about $8,000,000 above the #3 debut
of the Sony/TriStar comedy starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt:
"As Good As It Gets"
Week #3: to be done
In Week #4, "Tomorrow Never Dies" to #5 ranking, down
45% to a 3-day weekend gross of $7,500,000 on 2,807 screens ($2,683
average). It ranked below the #3 week of New Line's political comedy
"Wag the Dog", and well above the #6 DreamWorks live-action
"Mouse Hunt" in that film's 4th week. The domestic cumulative
gross now stood at $103,400,000 and the worldwide gross at
$241,000,000.
Reviews: {to be done}
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
Return to 1997 SNEAK PREVIEWS Table of Contents
Contact
Story: Astronomer picks up radio signal from extraterrestrial
civilization, and experts use it to build a warp-drive spaceship to the core
of the galaxy
Studio: Warner Bros. presents a Southside Amusement Company production
Based on: novel "Contact" by CARL SAGAN
(with Ann Druyan now co-credited for the Story)
Executive Producers: Joan Bradshaw and Lynda Obst
Producer: Steve Starkey (teamed with Robert Zemeckis on "Forrest Gump)
Co-Producers: Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan
Screenplay: James V. Hart, Michael Goldenberg
Director: Robert Zemeckis ("Back to the Future", "Forrest Gump",
"Romancing the Stone", Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "Death Becomes Her")
Cinematography: Don Burgess, A.S.C.
Editor: Arthur Schmidt
Producer: Lynda Obst [In 1980 Lynda Obst was the development executive who
bought the story from Carl Sagan, on a contract to PolyGram
Pictures under Peter Guber. She, Sagan, and his wife Ann Druyan
developed the story into a 113-page treatment. Guber turned into
a producer and took the project to Warner Bros. where he was
busy developing several scripts that remained in "development
hell." The Guber took over Sony Pictures Entertainment and
naturally attempted to carry "Contact" with him, but Warner
Bros. would not let go of it, and handed it to Lynda as producer.
In 1991 Warner Bros. "greenlighted" the movie, and invested in
five rewrites of the screenplay. Now, at last, we'll see the
results of this 17 years of development.]
Starring:
Ellie Arroway (discoverer of ET) -- Jodie Foster
White House Assistant Chief of Staff -- Angela Bassett
("Waiting to Exhale", "Strange Days")
Palmer Joss (spiritual advisor to the President, in love with
Jodie Foster's character) -- Matthew McConaughey
National Security Advisor Michael Kitz -- James Woods
Dr. David Drumlin -- Tom Skerrit
S. R. Hadden -- John Hurt
Richard Rank -- Rob Lowe
Ted Arroway -- David Morse
Kent Cullers (Kent Clark?) -- William Fichtner
Rachel Constantine -- Angela Bassett
U.S. President -- Sidney Poitier
Ellie Arroway's Lawyer -- William Aylward
Young Ellie Arroway -- Jena Malone
Fisher -- Geoffrey Blake
Vernon -- Sami Chester
Davio -- Timothy McNeil
Cantina Woman -- Laura Elena Surillo
Minister -- Henry Strozier
Hadden Suit -- Michael Chaban
Willie - Max Martini
Larry King -- Larry King
Ian Broderick -- Thomas Garner
KOB-TV Reporter -- Conroy Chino
Jeremy Roth -- Dan Gifford
Senator Valencia -- Vance Valencia
Donna J. Kelley -- Donna J. Kelley
Leon Harris -- Leon Harris
Claire Shipman -- Claire Shipman
Middle Eastern Anchor -- Behrooz Afrakhan
Japanese Anchor -- Saemi Nakamura
Latina Anchor -- Maria Celeste Arraras
Tabitha Soren -- Tabitha Soren
Geraldo Rivera -- Geraldo Rivera
British Anchor -- Ian Whitcomb
Jay Leno -- Jay Leno
Natalie Allen -- Natalie Allen
Robert D. Novak -- Robert D. Novak
Geraldine Ferraro -- Geraldine Ferraro
Ann Druyan -- Ann Druyan
Richard Rank -- Rob Lowe
Tech -- Mak Takano
Joseph -- Jake Busey
Kathleen Kennedy -- Kathleen Kennedy
Decryption Hacker -- Michael Albala
Major Demo -- Leo Lee
Chairman of Joint Chiefs -- William Jordan
Joint Chief -- David St.James
Jill Dougherty -- Jill Dougherty
Drumlin Aide -- Haynes Brooke
John Holliman -- John Holliman
Bobbie Battista -- Bobbie Battista
Dee Dee Myers -- Dee Dee Myers
Bryant Gumbel -- Bryant Gumbel
Linden Soles -- Linden Soles
Major Russell -- Steven Ford
Major Russell's Son -- Alexander Zemeckis
Major Russell's Daughter -- Janie Peterson
French Committee Member -- Philippe Bergeron
Doctor Patel -- Jennifer Balgobin
British Committee Member -- Anthony Fife Hamilton
NASA Public Relations -- Rebecca T. Beucler
NASA Technician -- Marc Macaulay
Voice of NASA -- Pamela Wilsey
??? -- Eamonn Hunt
Special Effects: ???
Steve Starkey told the L.A. Times "I don't think we're going to
be classified as science fiction as such. This story feels like
real drama--it's set in 1997-- so when it starts drifting into
uncharted territory, you don't know when that happens. We don't
start the movie with a gigantic spaceship going overhead and a
man in a black suit."
Music: Alan Silvestri
Soundtrack: Warner Bros. Records, CDs, and Tapes
Production Design: Ed Verreaux
Location: The Very Large Array network of radio telescopes operated in
Socorro, New Mexico, by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Budget: $90,000,000
Opening: 11 July 1997
Web: Contact: the Movie official site
Box Office: "Contact" opened at a remarkably strong #2, beaten only by
the super-smash Men In Black in that other alien flick's 2nd week.
The serious science fiction drama of "Contact", as opposed to
the sophisticated spoof of "Men in Black", grossed $20,600,000
for the weekend on 1,923 screens for a solid $10,705 average (the
best per-screen gross of any film this week). It has almost
twice the gross of the #3 film, Paramount's "Face/Off" in its 3rd week.
The high public interest in the Pathfinder/Sojourner unmanned
Mars mission may have helped. Co-author Ann Druyan made
numerous TV appearances, ably speaking for her late husband Carl
Sagan. Ann Druyan spoke at the Planetary Society's "PlanetFest '97"
in Pasadena, where thousands of people joined scientists,
astronauts, and science fiction authors for a look at the
incoming Mars pictures. Your Humble Webmaster actually declined
a chance for a free screening of "Contact" before its official
opening, due to schedule pressure. And I hate to miss a
screening. My review will have to appear here later this month.
In Week #2, "Contact" was edged out of 2nd place by the
debut of George of the Jungle.
"Contact" grossed $16,100,000 for the weekend ($400,000 less
than the Walt Disney apeman spoof) on 2,194 screens (a strong $7,345
average) for a cumulative 2-week gross of $47,400,000.
In Week #3, "Contact" descended to 4th place, still below
week #2 of George of the Jungle.
"Contact" grossed $9,700,000 for the weekend on 2,314 screens
($4,194 average) for a cumulative 3-week gross of $65,000,000.
The slip from #3 to #4 can surely be ascribed to the Sony/Columbia
powerhouse "Air Force One", which opened at #1 with $37,100,000
to become the top non-holiday opening this year and the all-time
hottest opening between 4th of July and Labor Day. "Contact"
ranked just above the inane Paramount debut of "Good Burger."
In its 4th week, "Contact" slid to #6, just below the
$7,800,000 debut of Fox's "Picture Perfect" (which was fine with
Fox, who'd only spent $18,000,000 on the picture). "Contact"
ranked just above the Walt Disney kid-and-dog flick "Air Bud"
which opened with a disappointing $4,700,000 in 7th place. I
think it good news that people would rather see extraterrestrial
contact than a dog playing basketball.
{week 5 missing from database, will reconstruct later}
The 5th science fiction film in the top-10, Warner
Bros.' Contact, slipped to 9th in its 6th week.
More precisely, "Contact" slipped 36% from week #5 to week #6,
with 3-day weekend gross of $2,900,000 on 1,451 screens ($1,980 average)
and a respectable 6-week cumulative gross of $88,600,000. This put
it well below the 1-2-3 triple blockbusters of Miramax's "Cop Land"
debut with a stellar cast headed by Sly Stallone, the 4th week
of Sony/Columbia's "Air Force One", and the 2nd week of Warner
Bros.' Mel Gibson vehicle "Conspiracy Theory." Thus,
Event Horizon was the leader of the 4-5-6-7 sci-fi quad with
#5 New Line's Spawnin its 3rd week, #6 Disney's George of the Jungle
in its 5th week, and #7 Sony/Columbia's Men In Black in its
7th week. "Contact" ranked just below Fox's "Picture Perfect" and
just above Gramercy's "How to Be a Player."
Once "Contact" slipped off the top 10, its run was by no
means over. For example, after 13 weeks in release (the weekend
of 3-5 October 1997) "Contact" grossed $800,000 in a 3-day
weekend on 896 screens ($888 average) for a cumulative gross of
$99,000,000. Although the ranking had dwindled to #12, the film
was ready to crack the $100,000,000 blockbuster level by
mid-October -- good news for the future of genuine Science Fiction
in the movies.
Web: CARL SAGAN Eulogy by his foremost protege
Contact--the Movie official web site
Lawsuits: This film is now tied up in a lawsuit between producer/director
Francis Ford Coppola and the estate of Carl Sagan. Coppola claims
that Sagan contracted with him to do a TV miniseries of "Contact" and
that the movie infringes this deal. Mrs.Sagan counterclaims that
Coppola waited until after Carl Sagan died to launch this lawsuit,
because Carl would have denied the deal. Feelings run hot on both
sides of this argument. Fans just want to see the movie, which
promises a new level of special effects, astronomical concepts, and
space-time travel based on equations from Caltech's Black Holes and
Spacewarp expert professor Kip Thorne and his graduate students.
Reviews:
Arch Campbell, WRC-TV, Washington, DC: "One of the best movies of the decade."
Gene Shalit, Today: "The season's first superb major motion picture.
Jodie Foster gives it everything she's got--which is
plenty. 'Contact' is gripping and stunning."
Siskel & Ebert: "Two thumbs up!"
Pat Collins, WWOR-TV: "Remarkable. Thoughtful. Wonderful.
Another Oscar for Jodie Foster."
Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate: "'Contact' is dazzling and utterly
amazing! Zemeckis' visionary film combines the science-fiction
of 'Close Encounters' with the humanity of 'Forrest Gump.' You
must see 'Contact'!"
Terry Morgan, Pasadena Weekly , 18 July 1997: "Science fiction is
an odd genre. This is not to talk about the bug-eyed
monsters or zap guns or alien landscapes; science fiction
is a weird genre because while masquerading as the future
it is always a story about now. On some level the sci-fi
story will always be the projection of the author's fears
or desires, the future as utopia or dystopia
It's a genre entirely dependent on time. The wild
futuristic concerns of Jules Verne are today anachronisms,
today's 'Apollo 13' would have seemed thoroughly
unbelievable 40 years ago. What is interesting about the
new film 'Contact' is that it delves behind the core of all
science fiction, from the existential question of 'is
anything out there?' to the spiritual question of 'why are
we alone?'"
"Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) is listening for answers.
Alone most of her adult life, through her work as a radio
astronomer she is searching for meaning that has otherwise
eluded her. This changes one day when she does indeed find
something, a coded message from deep space, the first
contact from an alien intelligence. Decoded, the message
turns out to be schematics to build a ship, a vehicle that
will apparently take one person to meet the aliens. Ellie
would seem to be the obvious choice but she has plenty of
governmental opposition. Even if she does go, the
retrieving of the answers she's always been searching for
may cost her her life."
"Foster is well cast as the determined but only human
Arroway, her performance detailing the cost of pursuing any
big dream. Matthew McConaughey fares less favorably as her
ex-lover/media guru, his character essentially there only to
move the plot forward at one or two points, more of a
thematic idea than a role. Tom Skerritt is hissably fine
as Arroway's egotistical boss, and John Hurt is wonderfully
deranged as her megarich business sponsor."
"Director Robert Zemeckis is to be commended for
attempting such an original piece of work, a story about
the first contact that is more about the desire for there to
be extraterrestrial life (or God) than about the
consequences of meeting it. Similarly, Carl Sagan whose
book this is based on, and the screenwriters James V. Hart
and Michael Goldenberg, deserve kudos. Therein lies the
problem with 'Contact', however. As happy as I was to
watch the political machinations surrounding such an event,
and as excited as I was to listen to the theological
discourse (intelligent fare in a Hollywood movie), I was
genuinely let down when the contact is finally made. The
way it occurs makes a certain amount of sense and plays into
the film's finale, but after a long debate on faith vs.
science, I wanted a payoff, and in this movie the
conclusion is deliberately weak. On some level this is
admirable, rigorously maintaining the sense of reality, but
on a movie-going level I was disappointed. 'Contact' works
as smart drama, but as sci-fi it ultimately fails to
deliver."
Peter Rainer, New Times (Los Angeles), 10-16 July 1997, p.26:
"A lot of ink has been shed in the press lately about the
'seriousness' of ['Contact'].... 'Forrest Gump made Zemeckis
a guru; now he's being primed as a philosopher king. Is it
rude to suggest that the high-mindedness of 'Contact'--the
deepthink about science and religion and the soullessness of
modern society--isn't on a much more elevated plane than
most science-fantasy books and movies?"
"Just about every piece of sci-fi has its mite of
'meaning.' In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a sci-fi
movie--even 'Attack of thre Crab Monsters'--that doesn't
work in the Is God Out There? angle. 'Contact' is being
applauded because is presumes to rise above its origins,
when its origins are all-of-a-piece with its pretension."
"And 'Contact' sure is pretentious. It doesn't deliver
on the deepthink, and it lacks the charge of good, honest
pulp. It's schlock without the schlock.... It's too chunky
with data, and it barely registers a romance...."
"With his principled scepticism and his genius for
popularizing science, [Carl] Sagan certainly was a force
for good in the world, but--bless his heart--he wasn't much
of a pulpster or sentimentalist... his characters were
mouthpieces in the maelstrom... what still comes through in
the book is the spiritedness of the scientist's quest... we
can still respond to Sagan's ecstatic commingling with the
universe."
"But [the filmmakers] are gassy with uplift. They
provide the sob-sister sentimentalities and sermonettes that
Sagan was too smart, or too clueless, to include.... [they]
don't build on the intelligence in the book; they tenderize
it. 'Contact' is a movie about intelligence that doesn't
credit the audience with having much of it...creaky prologue...
soggy psychologizing..."
"Ellie's counterpart, in one of the weirdest roles in
recent movies, is ... Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey) [who]
shows up looking shaggy and hip--less Billy Graham than
Bruce Springsteen.... If the filmmakers had any sense of
fun, they would have had Ellie the Unbeliever cry out 'Oh.
God!' in the throes of passion [when Joss gets lucky on his
first date with Ellie]."
"What would any of us really do if we were contacted
by extraterrestrials? It's a large question. 'Contact'
brings it back down to Earth with a thud by undercutting the
awe with blather from government agency types {to be done}"
Bernard Weinraub, New York Times, 6 July 1997, p. H9:
"Robert Zemeckis is scared. Not scared simply because his
new film, 'Contact,' is appearing in the most crowded summer
season in movie history. he's especially scared because
it's a $90 million studio film that was made for -- pardon
the expression -- grown-ups, a film that confronts the
tensions between science and religion, intellect and faith."
"There's not a dinosaur in sight."
"'There are no villains in black hats, no car crashes
and explosions, no gunfire,' Mr.Zemeckis said... 'It's got
some big special effects, but... the pressure is on me
because I feel responsible for the possibility that if this
film doesn't work, it'll be harder for the next guy to make
a film about SOMETHING...'
His most notable successes... are stamped by an unusual
blend of comedy, special effects and fantasy, but all have
an underlying seriousness. And even his mishaps, like
'Death Becomes Her,' a surprisingly sour comedy, have
displayed a sense of invention rare in mainstream Hollywood
movies."
"If any director could be expected to make a hit
fantasy-drama that revolves around difficult ideas--at the
same time saving a project that had been on the drawing
boards for almost 20 years-- it's Mr.Zemeckis. Still, he
and his producers are anxious."
"'This film does not underestimate the American public,'
said Lynda Obst... 'If we're right, it's fantastic. And if
we're not, well, it'll make moviegoing just a bit more dreary.'"
The movie centers on the astronomer Ellie Arroway [Jodie Foster]
whose life has been dedicated to proving the existence of
intelligent extraterrestrial life."
"One morning, amid the huge listening dishes... Arroway
has her belief vindicated when she receives a message from
a distant star.... In the international frenzy that follows,
Arroway fights the whims of bureaucracy to maintain control
of her communications with the alien civilization. But
beyond this, she seeks to square her commitment to science,
which has been all-consuming, with her dawning awareness of
theological concerns...."
"'Hopefully, the movie provokes us to ask the questions
that Carl [Sagan] asked all his life about our place in the
universe,' said Ms.Obst. 'Is there intelligent design to
the universe? Are we alone? If we are alone, what does
that mean, and if we're not what does it mean.'"
"Such questions are generally not the sort raised by
Hollywood movies these days, and underlying that fact is a
large practical question: can a lavish film be about
intellectual issues but also have enough drama to lure big
audiences?"
"'The hope is, there's enough spectacle that people
will feel entertained and be able to enjoy the intellectual
side of the film,' said [producer] Steve Starkey... 'Bob
[Zemeckis] always likes quoting [Francois] Truffaut that
good cinema is a blend of truth and spectacle. That's what,
we hope, embodies 'Contact.'"
On-Line Audience Raves (these and more on the website listed above):
Daniel Alonso, Miami FL: "I was totally amazed and overjoyed
after seeing this movie. Thank you for making a movie that
I could recommend to anyone to see."
Mimi, Lansing MI: "A few hours ago I saw 'Contact.' I saw the
movie with my kids, 10 and 12 years old. We all loved it. This
was a magnificent film."
Gary Greene, Woodinville WA: "Not since '2001: A Space Odyssey'
have I been impressed and moved by a motion picture!
Congratulations on a masterpiece of filmmaking."
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Crash
Story: Death and Sex are surrealistically connected by automobile accidents
Studio: Fine Line
Based on: J. G. Ballard's novelette, considered unfilmable by many experts
Executive Producers: Robert Lantos, Jeremy Thomas
Co-Executive Producers: Chris Auty, Andras Hamori,
Producer: David Cronenberg
Co-Producers: Stephane Reichel, Marilyn Stonehouse
Director: David Cronenberg
Assistant Director: David Webb
Writer: David Cronenberg
Cinematographer: Peter Suschitzky
Editor: Ronald Sanders
Starring:
James Ballard -- James Spader, in black leather
(car interior in "warm leatherette")
Catherine (Mrs. James Ballard) -- Deborah Kara Unger
Dr. Helen Remington -- Holly Hunter
Gabrielle -- Rosanna Arquette
Vaughan -- Elias Koteas
Jackie Kennedy -- Christine Carmichael
Colin Seagrave -- Peter MacNeill
Vera Seagrave -- Cheryl Swarts
Airport Hooker -- Yolande Julian
Salesman -- Judah Katz
Tatooist -- Nicky Guadagni
A. D. -- Ronn Sarosiak
Grip -- Boyd Banks
Man in Hanger -- Markus Parilo
Camera Girl -- Alice Poon
Trask -- John Stoneham, Jr.
Auto Wreck Salesman (voice) -- David Cronenberg (uncredited)
Production Design: Carol Spier
Costume Design: Denise Cronenberg
Special Effects Coordinator: Michael Kavanaugh
Music: Howard Shore (orchestration, conductor)
Location: Toronto (although the setting was London in the book)
Opening: Spring 1997
REVIEWS:
Highly mixed reviews, due to sexually explicit,
techno-sadomasochistic nature. Details:
Manhola Dargis, L.A. Weekly, 21-27 March 1997:
"Perhaps the most sexless movie ever made about sex, death
and cars. Set in an antiseptic metropolis in the near future,
it's a dreamy, droning story about a handful of car crash
survivors who come together again and again--automotively,
habitually, orgasmically--in order to retrieve the erotic charge
of their crackups, ecstatic fusions of steel and skin, fuel and
blood.... meant to explore the death of feeling in the modern
world with clinical, stomach-churning accounts of abraded, layed,
and violated flesh.... Cronenberg's version of "Crash" by
contrast [with Ballard's text] is a model of aesthetic
humility... an aggressively unerotic choreography of deviant sex
and bad driving... a fugue of mood and meaning... disaffected in
a late 20th century kind of way... a flatline of a movie... chock-
full of bravura set-pieces--Cronenberg has invented a memorable
prosthesis for James' gnarled leg, along with a wonderful scene
that re-creates James Dean's fatal smash-up as the ultimate in
performance art--but he's taken a gravely literal, at times absurd
approach to Ballard's concept of the loss of affect. All the
actors... deliver their lines in groggy monotones and move as if
swimming through aspic.... For all the director's visual flair,
his trademark flashes of gallows humor and his few good moments
(Rosanna Arquette's Gabrielle, a minor character in the book, is
one of the movie's perverse triumphs), there's never a sense that
he's made 'Crash' fully his own.... That doesn't take away the
real shock of the movie.... The problem is, there's nothing BUT
shock... no anguish, revulsion, heat or transcendence... No wonder
his characters look so bummed--like us, they're suffering from
post-ironic burnout."
M.S., New Times, Los Angeles, 1-7 May 97: "Cult auteur David
Cronenberg crashes and burns--his talent, that is--in this
vain attempt at a techno-age 'Persona'.... It follows a demented
explorer named Vaughan... into an insane new world where twisted
metal, curvy skin, automotive oil, and bodily fluids merge into a
carnal cocktail.... Cronenberg settles for putting this vision
on-screen... with an analytic coolness and simplicity. It's a
rank miscalculation."
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Dante's Peak
Story: Small-town mayor and volcanologist warn about pending volcano eruption in Los Angeles
Studio: Universal Pictures presents a Pacific Western production
Executive Producer: Ilona Hertzberg
Producers: Gale Anne Hurd & Joseph M. Singer
Director: Roger Donaldson
Writer: Leslie Bohem (and uncredited Allan Scott)
Cinematography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Starring:
Volcanologist Harry Dalton -- Pierce Brosnan
Mayor Rachel Wando -- Linda Hamilton
Paul Dreyfus -- Charles Hallahan
Lauren Wando -- Jamie Renee Smith
Graham Wando -- Jeremy Foley
Ruth -- Elizabeth Hoffman
Greg -- Grant Heslov
Terry Furlong -- Kurt Trutner
Nancy -- Arabella Field
Stan -- Tzi Ma
Les Worrell -- Brian Reddy
Dr. Jane Fox -- Lee Garlington
Sheriff Turner -- Bill Bolender
Mary Kelly -- Carole Androsky
Norman Gates -- Peter Jason
Jack Collins -- Jeffrey L. Ward
Elliott Blair -- Tim Haldeman
Marianne -- Walker Brandt
Warren Cluster -- Hansford Rowe
Karen Narlington -- Susie Spear
others {to be done}
Special Digital Effects and Animation: Digital Domain ("Apollo 13")
really cool 3-D by Dr. Ken Jones ("Terminator 3-D")
Special Effects Coordinator: Roy Arbogast
Music: John Frizzell
Theme: James Newton Howard
Soundtrack: Varese Sarabande CD & cassette
Edited by: Conrad Buff A.C.E., Howard Smith A.C.E., Tina Hirsch A.C.E.
Production Designer: Dennis Washington
Costume Design: Isis Mussenden
Director of Photography: Andrej Bartowiak A.S.C.
Novelization: Berkley Books
Opening: 7 February 1997 (maybe sliding to 7 March 1997)
Dante's Peak website
[watch out: the web site is very cool, but takes forever to
download]
Box Office: $67,200,000 domestic + $110,200,000 overseas = $177,400,000
worldwide in Calendar Year 1997 only, according to "Variety."
Here's how:
"Dante's Peak" was released two months before the other
volcano flick of the season, Volcano.
But Dante's Peak opened more strongly than the later rival, and
captured $18,600,000 for the best February opening of any movie
ever, beating "Volcano's" opening week of $14,700,000. "Dante's
Peak" was also widely felt to have a better script and more
scientific plausibility (often a plus for the hard-core science
fiction audience).
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Deep Rising
Story: Not a good idea to hijack an abandoned pleasure boat
in the South Seas unless your gang of jewell thieves enjoys
being attacked by sea monsters
working title (1996) was "Tentacles"
Studio: Walt Disney Productions/Calamari Pictures/Hollywood Pictures
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures (USA), Tobis Filmkunst (Germany),
Ascot Elite (Switzerland)
Based on: ???
Screenplay: Stephen Sommers
Director: Stephen Sommers
Director of Photography: Howard Atherton
Editors: Bob Ducsay, John Wright
Executive Producer: Barry Bernardi
Producers: John Baldecchi, Laurence Mark
Associate Producer: Howard Ellis
Starring:
John Finnegan -- Treat Williams
Trillian St.James -- Famke Janssen
Simon Canton -- Anthony Heald
Joey Pantuci -- Kevin J. O'Connor
Hanover -- Wes Studi
The Captain -- Derrick O'Connor
Mulligan -- Jason Flemyng
Vivo -- Djimon Hounsou
Mason -- Clifton Powell
Mamooli -- Cliff Curtis
T-Ray Jones -- Trevor Goddard
Leila -- Una Damon
Billy -- Clint Curtis
Production Design: Holger Gross
Special Effects: Dream Quest Images, Industrial Light & Magic
Creature Designer: Rob Bottin
Visual Effects Coordinator:
Costume Design: Joseph A. Porro
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Runtime: 106 minutes
Release: 30 January 1998 (Australia: 7 May 1998, Great Britain: 15 May 1998,
Germany: 28 May 1998, France: 24 June 1998)
Box Office: {To Be Done}
Reviews:
Robert Ebert, (c) Chicago Sun-Times -- "'Deep Rising' could also have been titled
'Eat the Titanic!' It's about a giant squid that attacks a luxurious cruise
ship in the South China Sea. Like all movie monsters, it has perfect timing
and always bursts into the frame just when the characters are least
expecting it. And it has an unsavory way of dining. 'They eat you?' asks one
of the survivors. 'No--they drink you.'"
"The mechanics for a movie like this were well established in the 'Alien'
pictures, and 'Deep Rising' clones the formula. Survivors are trapped inside
giant vessel. Creature finds its way around air ducts and sewer pipes, popping
out of shaft openings to gobble up minor characters (the first victim is sucked
down the toilet).
"D'ya think they have meetings in Hollywood to share the latest twists?
I've been seeing the same gimmicks in a lot of different pictures. Evidence:
No sooner does the snake in 'Anaconda' release a slimy survivor from its
innards than the squid in 'Deep Rising' does the same thing. No sooner is there
an indoor jetski chase in 'Hard Rain' than there's one in 'Deep Rising.'
No sooner does a horrible monster crawl out of the air ducts
in 'Alien Resurrection' than it does so in 'Deep Rising.' And last week I saw
'Phantoms,' which was sort of 'Deep Rising Meets Alien and Goes West.' In that
one, the creature emerged from the depths of the Earth rather than the sea, but
had the same nasty practice of living behind piles of undigested remains.
"An effort has been made by Stephen Sommers, writer-director of 'Deep Rising,'
to add humor to his story, although not even the presence of Leslie Nielsen could
help this picture. The hero, Treat Williams, is a free-lance skipper of a
power-cruiser who hires his craft out to a gang of vile and reprehensible bad
guys, led by Wes Studi. They want to hijack a new casino ship on its maiden voyage.
The owner of the ship (Anthony Heald) makes several speeches boasting about how
stable it is; it can stay level even during a raging tempest. I wonder if those
speeches were inserted after the filmmakers realized how phony their special
effects look. Every time we see the ship, it's absolutely immobile in the midst
of churning waves.
"No matter; the creature attacks the ship, and by the time Williams delivers
the pirates, it seems to be deserted. Except for the evil owner, of course, and a
jewel thief (Famke Janssen) who was locked in the brig and survived the carnage.
"This type of movie depends much upon the appearance of the monster, which has
been designed by f/x wizard Rob Bottin ('John Carpenter's The Thing'). There is a
vast evil squid head and lots of tentacles (which seem to have minds of their own,
and lots of mouths with many teeth). So vicious is the squid, indeed, that only the
cynical will ask how it can survive for long periods out of water, or how and why
it emits its piercing howl, which goes reverberating through the air shafts.
"There's comic relief from Williams' engine room man, Pantucci (Kevin J. O'Connor),
who plays the Donald O'Connor role and is always wisecracking in the face of
adversity. And Djimon Hounsou turns in an effective supporting performance as one
of the more fanatical members of the pirate gang (he played Cinque in 'Amistad' and
shows a powerful screen presence once again, although on the whole I'll bet he
wishes the giant squid movie had come out before the Spielberg film).
"Bemusing, how much money and effort go into the making of such a movie, and
how little thought. It's months of hard work--for what? The movie is essentially
an 'Alien' clone with a fresh paint job. You know something's wrong when a fearsome
tentacle rears up out of the water and opens its mouth, and there are lots of
little tentacles inside with their own ugly mouths, all filled with nasty teeth,
and all you can think is, 'Been there, seen that.'
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
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Devil's Advocate
Story: Join "The Firm" and and fight for your Soul, in court if necessary
Studio: New Regency/Warner Bros./Koppelson Entertainment
Based on: novel by Andrew Neiderman, and also loosely on "The Devil and Samuel Webster",
lots of nasty lawyer jokes
Screenplay: Lawrence D. Cohen, Tony Gilroy, Robert Mark Kamen, Jonathan Lemkin
Director: Taylor Hackford
Director of Photography: Andrej Bartowiak A.S.C.
Editor: William Henry
Executive Producers: Erwin Stoff, Michael Tadross
Producers: Anne Kopelson, Arnold Kopelson
Co-Producer: Stephen Brown
Starring:
young lawyer Kevin Lomax -- Keanu Reeves
Senior Partner John Milton/Lucifer -- Al Pacino
Mary Ann Lomax -- Charlize Theron
Phillipe Moyez -- Delroy Lindo (uncredited)
Alexander Cullen -- Craig T. Nelson
Allessandra Cullen -- Monica Keena (uncredited)
Eddie Barzoon -- Jeffrey Jones
Mrs.Lomax -- Judith Ivey
Leamon Heath -- Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Christabella -- Connie Nielson
Barbara -- Heather Matarazzo
Pam Garrety -- Debra Monk
Weaver -- Vyto Ruginis
Melissa Black -- Laura Harrington
Diana Barzoon -- Pamela Gray
Gettys -- Christopher Bauer
Don King -- Don King
Alphonse D'Amato -- Alphonse D'Amato
??? -- George Wyner
??? -- Neal Jones
Production Design: Bruno Rubeo
Special Effects: Out of the Blue Visual Effects
Visual Effects Coordinator: Carla Attanasio
Costume Design: Judianna Makovsky
Music: James Newton Howard
Rumors: lots of problems with the film, including Keanu Reeves's
southern accent
Running Time: 144 minutes
Box Office: "Devil's Advocate" opened very strongly at #2, just below
the opening of Sony/Columbia's "I Know What You Did Last Summer"
(a teen thriller with the second highest October opening ever,
just behind the sci-fi "Stargate" which grossed $16,700,000 in
its 1994 debut) and just above Paramount's "Kiss the Girls"
(which had opened at #1 the week before).
With $12,300,000 in the weekend, on 2,161 screens (a powerful
$5,632 average) "Devil's Advocate" was expected to "have legs"
and stay at #2 for a while.
As predicted, "Devil's Advocate" held onto #2 in week #2,
still sandwiched between "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and
"Kiss the Girls." The $10,200,000 4-day gross on 2,351 screens
($4,347 average) for $26,600,000 cumulative gross meant only a
16% drop from opening week.
By Week #3, "Devil's Advocate" was one step down from
heaven, rated #3, having had $7,370,000 weekend gross
on 2,404 screens ($3,065 average) for cumulative gross of
$37,300,000. It was virtually tied with the #2 debut of the MGM
anti-Chinese Richard Gere hit "Red Corner", and just below the
wider-release porn-industry drama "Boogie Nights."
Week #4 saw "Devil's Advocate" ranked #4, with $5,100,000
4-day weekend gross on 2,207 screens ($2,301 average) for
$45,000,000 cumulative gross. After a 31% decline from the
previous week's gross, "Devil's Advocate" ranked just below
Sony/Columbia's savvy surprise teen hit "I Know What You Did
Last Summer" (which has almost exactly kept pace with 'Devil's
'Advocate' after opening the same week), and just above MGM/UA's
"Red Corner."
"Devil's Advocate" was down to #7 in week #5, with 3-day
gross of $3,500,000 on 2,016 screens ($1,737 average) and a
devilishly big cumulative gross of $50,500,000. This ranked it
just below Sony/Columbia's teen-smash "I Know What You Did Last
Summer" in its 5th week and just above MGM/UA's "Red Corner" in
week #3.
Opening: 16 October (originally scheduled 17 August 1997)
Reviews:
Paul Tatara, CNN Online (c) CNN -- "Poor Satan. He just doesn't hold the emotional
sway that he used to, now that he's mired in the ironic 90s. There was a time
when filmmakers could spread goose bumps across an audience simply by having a
man with a pointy beard chuckle and rub his chin, but those days are long gone.
And it's only getting worse."
"In the 70s it took something as elaborate as Linda Blair's neck doing
aerobics to convince us that we weren't just looking at a bunch of actors
pretending. By now, though, turning on the 6 o'clock news is scarier than
anything you're bound to see at the theater. Our spirituality has actually
become jaded."
"Jaded or not, it seems like a studio could come up with something creepier
than 'The Devil's Advocate,' which stars Al Pacino and actor-like performer
Keanu Reeves as lawyers who are ... evil! This would be frightening as hell if
it weren't already common knowledge, but the scattershot script doesn't even
manage to make it much fun. You don't care about any of the characters, so there's
no fear of something nasty happening to them, and, with the exception of Pacino
(who plays the devil himself), it's terribly miscast."
"Let's face it, if Keanu Reeves walks in and announces that he'll be defending
you in your triple murder case (as he does for Craig T. Nelson in the movie), you
would be wise to run out and buy 30 or 40 cartons of Marlboros. You'll be needing
them in jail. To top it all off, director Taylor Hackford expects us to feel like
we're staring into the Heart of Darkness because a bunch of rich guys get a kick
out of slinky women and really expensive furniture. I'm not exactly running around
with a pitchfork, but, hey, with the exception of the furniture, I'm right with 'em.
"Like 'Rosemary's Baby' (It pains me to mention Polanski's classic in the same
article as this turkey), 'The Devil's Advocate' is set in New York City, and
attempts to wring hellishness out of the escapades of a ladder-climbing careerist.
Reeves plays a hot-shot lawyer from Gainesville, Florida, a man so brilliant he's
never lost a case.
"Snicker.
"His wife (Charlize Theron) is a curly-haired cutie who seems even more greedy
and ambitious than her husband. In fact, Theron and Reeves are so self-centered
it's a little difficult to feel sorry for them when Keanu's tainted soul commences
to ruining the happy household. In the opening scene, Reeves even grills a junior
high school girl on the stand, forcing her to look like a liar when she says that
her (quite guilty) teacher molested her. The girl starts crying, but it could just
be her embarrassment from watching Reeves."
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Event Horizon
Story: in 2047, the jerry-rigged pre-production spaceship "Event Horizon"
has been missing for 7 years, and turns up at the edge of the Solar
System, in orbit around the planet Neptune, so 7-person search and
rescue ship Lewis & Clark goes to find out where the spaceship has been
and what happened to its crew; but something is very very wrong...
could it be ghosts of dead astronauts, or aliens, or some
side-effect of the experimental warp drive? "Infinite Space,
Infinite Terror."
Studio: Paramount Pictures and Lawrence Gordon present a Golar Production
in association with Impact Pictures
Based on: "The Shining" meets "Alien" with the philosophy of "Solaris"
Executive Producer: Nick Gillott
Producers: Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, Jeremy Bolt
Screenplay: Philip Eisner
Novelization: Tor Books
Director: Paul Anderson ("Mortal Kombat")
Cinematography: Adrian Biddle, B.S.C. ("Aliens")
Editor: Martin Hunter
Starring:
Capt. Miller (head of investigation team) -- Laurence Fishburne
Dr. William Weir (spaceship designer) -- Sam Neill
Peters (emergency technician) -- Kathleen Quinlan ("Apollo 13",
"Twilight Zone: The Movie")
Starck (navigator) -- Joey Richardson
Cooper (emergency technician) -- Richard T. Jones
Justin (engineer) -- Jack Noseworthy
D.J. (trauma surgeon) -- Jason Isaacs
Pilot Smith -- Sean Pertwee
Special Effects: supervised by Richard Yuricich, A.S.C.,
shot almost completely indoors on 8 London
soundstages (mostly for the interior of the "mile-and-a-half
long spaceship", including the rotating 100-foot "meat grinder"),
plus a day-and-a-half of outdoors shooting in
the gardens of Pinewood Studios, as a flashback to a children's
birthday party. 700 computer-generated images, including those
to create the illusion of weightlessness
Production Design: Joseph Bennett
Supervising Art Director: Michael Stevenson
Set Decorator: Crispian Sallis
Costumes: John Mollo's spacesuit costumes weighed 65 pounds each, yet
Laurence Fishburne was reportedly affectionate towards his,
which he dubbed "Doris." Actors repeated the old joke from
Project Mercury that space capsules used to be so small that you
didn't get into them, you put them on. The spacesuits have
their own air, lights, and sound.
Music: Michael Kamen
Soundtrack: London Records
Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Opening: 15 August 1997
Web: Event Horizon official site
Box Office: "Event Horizon" opened strongly at #4, with 3-day weekend
gross of $9,500,000 on 2,311 screens ($4,116 average). This put
it below the 1-2-3 triple blockbusters of Miramax's "Cop Land"
debut with a stellar cast headed by Sly Stallone, the 4th week
of Sony/Columbia's "Air Force One", and the 2nd week of Warner
Bros.' Mel Gibson vehicle "Conspiracy Theory." On the other hand,
"Event Horizon" was the leader of the 4-5-6-7 sci-fi quad with
#5 New Line's Spawnin its 3rd week, #6 Disney's George of the Jungle
in its 5th week, and #7 Sony/Columbia's Men In Black in its
7th week. The 5th science fiction film in the top-10, Warner
Bros.' Contact, slipped to 9th in its 6th week.
"Event Horizon" dropped 54% to a #7 ranking in week #2, with
4-day weekend gross of $4,400,000 on 2,328 screens ($1,872
average), and a cumulative gross of $17,700,000. The drop can
be partly ascribed to the double debut of #1 "G.I. Jane" and #2
"Money Talks." Still, "Event Horizon" topped the #8 debut of
Universal's "Leave it to Beaver."
Reviews:
Colin MacLean, CBS Newsworld: "'Event Horizon' will scare the
living daylights out of you. Intelligent, visually awesome
and dramatically satisfying."
Mark Montgomery, Sci-Fi Channel: "An electrifying marriage of
science fiction, suspense and classic horror. Leads us to
a realm we've never seen before."
John Platt, Sci-Fi Buzz: "Be prepared to be scared! As intense
as 'Aliens' and as truly frightening as 'The Exorcist."
Dave Kehr, Los Angeles Daily News: "A gripping late summer surprise."
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug 1997, p.F16:
"In the area of science-fiction horror, state-of-the-art
technology gives and takes away. It makes possible wonders
no one could have imagined and creates terrors so excessive
it's dreadful to look at the screen. 'Event Horizon' has a
knack for both, and that's something of a shame."
"For watching the dark doings that results when
spaceship Event Horizon returns from a mysterious trip
'beyond the boundaries of known scientific reality' leads
to the odd wish it had been made in a different time. Yes,
you'd sacrifice the special effects and the excellent model
work, one of the film's prime assets, but you'd also
sidestep the current hip fascination with creating
repulsion, sickening and revolting an audience. Maybe
that's not strictly a trendy desire, but it's not
previously been joined with the kind of killer technology
that makes it so graphically possible."
"There are, as it turns out, several things to appeal
to an adult audience about 'Event Horizon.' .... It's
especially well-cast for what is basically a piece of pulp
fiction. And Philip Eisner's script holds our interest,
partly via a plot twist that fans of 'Forbidden Planet' will
find familiar."
"Director Paul Anderson... well knows how to build
suspense and increase tension. But counter-balancing all
that is 'Event Horizon's' position as a sci-fi splatter film,
intent on drenching the screen in blood and gore whenever
possible. Though the script provides an excuse for the
charnel house ambience, that doesn't make it any more
pleasant to watch."
"Laconic no-nonsense Captain Miller (Lawrence Fishburne)
whose idea of a big speech is 'You know the rules, people:
someone drops the ball, we get the call.'..."
"Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill), the troubled scientist
who designed the Event Horizon. He explains that the lost
ship was able to in effect fold space, creating what he
calls 'a dimensional gateway' that enabled it to evade the
laws of physics and fly faster than the speed of light."
"The Event Horizon, it's soon determined, is a ghost
ship with its crew--who have left behind a strange and
terrifying captain's log--all dead and gone. It's also an
extremely spooky place that causes all kinds of aberrant
instrument readings. So no one is too happy when
disastrous circumstances force ... the Lewis & Clark crew
to temporarily abandon their ship and set up on the
derelict vessel."
"Though explaining exactly what's happening and why is
not always this film's strength, it becomes clear that the
Event Horizon is playing frightening mind games with
everyone on board. Dr.Weir seems to understand more than
he's willing to let on, and those who remember the strange
powers of 'the monsters from the id' in 'Forbidden Planet'
will know some of the places this film is headed...."
"To sell this kind of B-movie material, an A-cast is
always helpful, and starting with the always-convincing
Fishburne, 'Event Horizon' has one. Why fine performers
want to be reduced to saying lines like 'optimum approach
angle is 14 degrees' is unclear (unless it's a desire to have
a 'Star Trek' knockoff experience) but the film is better
off for their presence."
"It's also helpful that several of the actors, the
director and key production personnel are British. It
gives 'Event Horizon' a bit of a different feel, as does the
arresting production design by newcomer Joseph Bennett.
Expertly photographed by Adrian Biddle... Bennet's brooding,
at times medieval sets are as convincing as they are
different."
"Director [Paul] Anderson gets points for skillfully
choreographing all of this, but he loses them for a
consistent desire to brutalize the audience. Even before
scenes with gouged-out eyes, 'Event Horizon' uses
over-amplified sound and a shock style of editing to
unmercifully pulverize viewers."
"This technique can't help but be effective up to a
point, but the number of people who equate being
efficiently tortured with being well entertained is, one
hopes, a finite one. Otherwise the prognosis for film and
society is about as grim as the doing's on that sinister
ghost ship."
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The Fifth Element
Story: 24th Century New York is the setting for a wild adventure.
Every 5,000 years a window between dimensions opens, allowing the
evil force of negative life to threaten all positive life in our
universe. A fiery dark planet appears, and the priest Cornelius
who knows the parallel dimension legend warns the Federation
President, who ignores him and bombs the planet, with each bomb
increasing its size.
Korben Dallas, a secret agent turned cab driver, joins with
Cornelius and punkish Leeloo (an angel or God or something) in
fighting the mercenary Mangalores and their boss Zorg "agent for
all that is evil."
Studio: Columbia/Gaumont
Distributor: Sony is U.S. distributor
Based on: New York wants to take "Bladerunner" away from L.A.
and crossbreed it with the French comic book "Metal Hurlant"
["Heavy Metal"]
Meaning of Title: The Greeks believed that the four elements of
Earth, Air, Water, and Fire combined to create the fifth element, the
quintessence, of life
Co-Producer: Patrice Ledoux, Iain Smith
Director: Luc Besson ("La Femme Nikita", "The Professional")
Writers: Luc Besson ("La Femme Nikita", "The Professional") &
Robert Mark Kamen. Besson, at 16 "wrote 200 pages as a novel,
read it, threw it in the trash, and began all over again... then
[20 years later] I started to think again about making it. The
first script was 400 pages.... As soon as I had the first draft I
started to pre-produce the movie.... I saw 500 or 600 designers
and ended up choosing seven, then we had this team together for
12 months, working on ideas for the main characters.... You do
that for one monster and then you have to do that for
everything--each car, costume, weapon.... The movie was too
expensive. Because we started with [later screenplay draft] 250
pages, so the budget was $135,000,000 [so he took a year off to
direct 'The Professional']... After 5 months of preparation we
shot for 22 weeks, by the end of the production I was sleeping at
Pinewood--because there were a few weeks where we had three
crews working at the same time."
Story: Luc Besson
Editor: Sylvie Landra
Starring:
Korben Dallas -- Bruce Willis (23rd century secret agent turned
cab driver)
Leeloo -- Milla Jovovich (goddess/pawn in the ultimate good-evil battle)
Zorg -- Gary Oldman (amoral weapons dealer)
Cornelius -- Ian Holm (priest with heart of gold)
Ruby Rhod -- Chris Tucker ("House Party 3", "Friday",
"Panther", "Dead Presidents"; 24-year-old Atlanta-based
stand-up comic plays androgynous druggy entertainer)
Federation President Lindberg -- Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jr.
Billy -- Luke Perry
General Munro -- Brion James
Fog -- Lee Evans
Diva [alien singer] -- Maiwenn Le Besco
Extras -- 900
Special Effects: Mark Stetson and 300 workers at Digital Domain
Besson said to Iain Blair ["Film & Video" April 1997]
"Mark Stetson was in charge of the effects and has his own unit,
so we'd work in tandem." Stetson started work in July 1995
"starting breakdowns and meeting with Luc [Besson] and Dan
[Weil]. At Pinewood, effects cinematographer Bill Neil and I
shot over 100 plates, after an initial location shoot in
Mauritania. Karen Goulekas, the digital effects supervisor, also
came over to London and together we set up a previsualization
unit and started developing shots from the storyboards.
[meanwhile, cityscape miniatures were built at Digital Domain]
at the same time, we started all the CG work, using [software
such as Side Effects'] Prisms, Alias/Wavefront and Softimage for
development and modeling, and [Discreet Logic's] FLAME for
rendering. We ended up with 220 shots, ranging from alien
planets to the desert, so it was a very interesting job."
Then edited on 3 Avids at Besson's rented Malibu home.
Digital Domain (based in Venice, California) was responsible
for 224 shots. Mark Stetson, who used to run a profitable
high-quality miniature effects shop with partner Bob Spurlock,
told Christine Bunish [Post, 16 May 1997, pp.124-5] "It was the
first large production to go entirely in-house at Digital Domain."
The 15 minutes of onscreen effects were "a big achievement for
us and did a lot to expand the pipeline at Digital Domain since
we were also doing shots for Dante's Peakand Titanic concurrently."
Animators mostly used Prisms 3D software plus Softimage for
the laboratory DNA-to-body reconstruction scene, Alias for the
cityscape, compositing with Digital Domain's proprietary Nuke
software, so in-house Flame compositing, and output to film on
Celco Extreme MPX film recorder.
Production Design: Dan Weil ("the Big Blue", "La Femme Nikita",
"The Professional") responsible for 9 stages and 24 major sets
which he calls "a great deal of quite fantastical" effects
constituting "a full spectrum of visual effects work" from
digital mattes to total digital scene creation, in which he
"created a future and traveled extensively in it An extensive
chase cityscape of New York was 1/4 to 1/3 of the work, which
used matte paintings, digital traffic, miniature flying cars,
composited actors, and digital pigeons. Mark Stetson had
directed New York City effects six times before ("The Hudsucker Proxy").
Art Directors: Jim Morahan, Kevin Phipps, Michael Lamont
Set Decorators: Maggie Gray, Anna Pinnock, Paul Weathered
Director of Photography: Thierry Arbogast
Costumes: Jean-Paul Gaultier
Monsters: Nick Dudman ("Interview with the Vampire", "Alien 3",
"Batman")
Music: Eric Serra
Soundtrack: Virgin Records
Novelization: HarperPrism
Locations: Royal Opera House at Covent Gardens, Mauritania
Budget: $70-90,000,000, the most expensive French film ever made
Running Time: 2 hours, 7 minutes
Promotion: opens the 50th Cannes Film Festival, after screening
Gaumont threw a party for several hundred guests that cost
between $1,000,000 and $3,000,000 with 1-acre tent, huge lighted
balloon looking like planet, mock-up of flying cruise ship, huge
pyramid, fashion show on mechanically-raised platforms, concert
by Nenah Cherry, three-course dinner, and entrance only to those
wearing a specially-designed Swatch watch.
Opening: 9 May 1997
The Fifth Element @ movieweb
Box Office: $63,800,000 domestic + $200,100,000 overseas = $263,900,000
worldwide in Calendar Year 1997 only, according to "Variety."
Here's how:
"The Fifth Element" opened at #1 with $17,000,000 on
opening weekend, at 2,500 screens for an average of $6,813. It
ranked above the opening of "Father's Day" with Billy Crystal and
Robin Williams and above the 2nd week of "Breakdown." Next in
line was Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
at #4, Volcano at #5,
and Anaconda at #8.
After the second weekend, which grossed $11,600,000 in ticket
sales, "The Fifth Element" stayed at #1 in the box office,
although sales were down 32% from the opening week.
As of 20 May 1997, according to Exhibitor Relations Co.,
"The Fifth Element" was still #1, on top of a booming box office
in America (just above Warner Bros.' "Father's Day", also in its
2nd week), with a 3-day weekend gross of $11,400,000
for a total so far of $34,200,000 and was on 2,500 screens for
$4,564 average -- extremely good for the 2nd week in release.
As of 28 May 1997, according to Exhibitor Relations Co.,
"The Fifth Element" slipped to #3, on top of a booming box office
in America (below the megablockbuster The Lost World: Jurassic Park
and the opening week of "Addicted to Love"), with a 3-day weekend
gross of $8,000,000 for a total so far of $46,000,000 and was on
2,500 screens for $3,209 average -- good for the 3rd week in release,
especially consider the killer dino flick as competition.
In the 4th week of release, "The Fifth Element" slipped to
#5 (Just below the New Line comedy "Trial and Error") with $4,000,000
weekend gross at 2,500 screens ($1,613 average) for cumulative
gross of $51,500,000.
5th week missing from database; will attempt to reconstruct.
In the 6th week of release, "The Fifth Element" slipped to
#8 (just below the Columbia animal comedy "Buddy") with $1,500,000
weekend gross at 1,560 screens ($951 average) for cumulative
gross of $58,000,000.
In week 7 of release, "The Fifth Element" slipped to #9
(Just below the Warner Bros. comedy "Addicted to Love", but
pulling ahead of the Columbia animal comedy "Buddy") with $865,000
weekend gross at 1,066 screens ($811 average) for cumulative
gross of $59,800,000. The reduced gross is due to the smaller
number of screens, and to to the simultaneous openings of
Batman & Robin and TriStar's "My Best Friend's Wedding"
at #1 and #2.
In week #8, "The Fifth Element" dropped off the top-10 list,
ranking at #12 with $400,000 weekend gross on 662 screens (($562
average) for cumulative gross of $60,700,000. It ranked just
below Orion's "Ulee's Gold" in that film's 3rd week, and just
above Buena Vista's "Jungle2Jungle" in its 17th week.
Webmaster's Review: by Jonathan Vos Post
---------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1997, by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.
May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered,
in its entirety, and without charge.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Wow! Your Humble Webmaster took his wife and 8-year-old son to see
"The Fifth Element" as a Mothers' Day treat, 11 May 1997, and went
prepared to scoff, but instead enjoyed the film immensely.
This is perhaps the most perfect movie ever made in the "Space Opera"genre,
but raised to a higher level by an impeccable sense of comic timing.
Again and again, we cut back and forth between subplots with
stop-watch accuracy of pace. 2 hours and 7 minutes makes for a
long film, but the accelerating tension/release rhythm makes the
time fly. My son's favorite part was the swift intercutting of
the Diva's stage performance and Leeloo's kick-butt martial arts
mastery over the hulking Jean "Moebius" Giraud/Jean-Claude
Mezieres Mangalores, in a cross between Bruce Lee and the Three
Stooges, with Feydeau farce precision.
The "Space Opera" genre is not necessarily a branch of
anti-literate Hollywood "sci fi", but can be an entertaining mix
of highbrow conceptualization and low-brow melodrama, as expertly
penned by the likes of Isaac Asimov, Iain Banks, Leigh Brackett, Ray Bradbury,
Edgar Rice Burroughs, John W. Campbell, Arthur C. Clarke, Edmond Hamilton,
Robert A. Heinlein, Robert Sheckley, E. E. "Doc" Smith, Olaf Stapledon,
Jack Vance, and even H. G. Wells himself, to mention 14 of the
many fine writers who have penned timeless Space Opera.
Brian W. Aldiss, in his anthology "Space Opera" [Garden City NY:
Doubleday, 1974] identifies various key indicators of "Space Opera."
If I may take the liberty of interpolating from his delightful
introduction, and explaining how "The Fifth Element" scores 100%
according to the Aldiss Criteria:
(1) Style and Mood staunchly traditional: both the weakness and
strength of the film are that everything has been seen before,
the fingerprints of generations of filmmakers from the past are
visible in each scene, and yet -- as with music -- each note is
both predictable and yet slightly surprising in execution. Luc
Besson is not a scholar, he didn't know what Plato had to say
about quintessence, but he has a very sure grasp of the
tradition in which he confidently, exuberantly works his silver
screen magic.
(2) Hitherto unknown places to explore: we first see a mysterious temple in
Mauritania, Earth upside-down from space, and then the unknown gigalopolis
of future New York, before taking us to still-undiscovered alien
star systems. Visually, we are always breaking through
horizontal barriers to drop down through a floor, leap up through
a hole in the ceiling, or dive vertically through 3-D traffic.
My son mentioned this to me in the car: nothing important happens
on the ground. Except for the camel-stepping desert at the
opening, everything is suspended in mid-air, on the edge of a
cliff, or bursting from one level to another -- giving the same
sense of new places to explore as in a contemporary computer game.
(3) Continuity between Past and Future: like the animated cartoon of
"The Jetsons", the future here is a strict point-by-point satire
of the exact present. Cars can fly, but are still recognizably
cabs. Scientists can assemble alien bodies chemically from DNA,
and yet people still eat McDonalds' hamburgers, drink coffee,
and smoke cigarettes. Cops are cops, stewardesses are
stewardesses, media stars are irritating, and mothers still nag.
(4) Tremendous sphere of space/time: we have galactic transportation
at faster-than-light speed, although the implications of this
are never worked through, and we have danger recurring every
five thousand years, tick by tick in an implied clock of eons.
Many planets are presumed to be colonized, so that it is taken
for granted that some are there purely for posh vacations.
(5) A pinch of reality inflated with melodrama: for the implausible
to work on us, there must be a context of gritty plausibility,
which this film provides through ingeniously detailed art, set,
costume, makeup, and production design. When LeeLoo walks,
Harold Lloyd-like, inches from falling a mile into the canyons of
Newer New York, she gets dirt on her palms from touching the
unscrubbed walls. Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but
Leeloo gets dirty, wet, cold, and bloody enough to make us feel
for her.
(6) A seasoning of screwy ideas: the nuttiest notions are thrown in
our lap with no attempt at reasonableness. For example, the
Manichaen conflict between Good and Evil is a given, not given
any depth, and presuming that a "supreme being" incarnated in a
young woman can be vulnerable to mere bullets. The borders
between Terrestrial and alien space can be cordoned off with a
line of beacons. Hint: one-dimensional lines cannot contain
three-dimensional volumes.
(7) Heady escapist stuff: this film is not trying to preach a
pseudo-religious metaphysical dogma about the Light and Dark
Sides of the Force, or make any other didactic points. It is
supposed to be fun, and achieves this with no apologies about the
need to escape. Luc Besson, fortunately, has little more than a
hint of Existentialism, and a thankful freedom from
Deconstructionism or other Franco-philosophical baggage.
(8) Charging on with little regard for logic or literacy: There are
more holes in this plot than in all the cheese in Switzerland.
To pick a few at random: there is no room to squeeze more more
base pairs, sugars, or phosphates into DNA, let alone for a
gadget to reconstruct Leeloo from a form of DNA never before
examined by human or computer. There are robots for cleaning up
a broken waterglass, and for pouring booze into a glass at an
airport bar, but no robot police, robot soldiers, or robot
baggage handlers at that same airport. There are at least two
species of aliens shown -- the good ones and the nasty
Mangalores, and yet no diplomats or multi-species protocols seem
to exist other than territoriality, and negotiation down the
barrel of a gun. Corben Dallas' mom can get through to the
President by phone the moment she wants to. And maybe the Supreme
Being can learn all of Earth history on the updated World Wide Web
by just clicking on menus, but how come the modem and line are
never slow and the system never crashes once?
(9) Often throwing off great images, excitements, aspirations: the
various styles of hieroglyphics, weapons, vehicles, and alien body
forms, combined with the tackiness of the airport and the
exaggerated grandeur of the opera stage, and the facts that vast
populations seem to exist on Earth without ecological breakdown,
and that humans can fly from one solar system to another, are
routine to science fiction, and yet are presented here with
enough passion to create the so-called "sense of wonder."
(10) The Earth should be in peril: this is quite explicit here. Both
Cornelius and Corben have the stated assignment to "save the
world." The President is told of the threat. The Generals
mis-react to it, but acknowledge it. The flaming anti-planet
comes within seconds of crashing into the Earth in what would be
a bigger explosion than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs
65,000,000 years ago.
(11) There must be a quest: the quest is to find the four stones that
represent the four elements and which are vital parts to the
super-weapon that will save the Earth. All the factions of good
guys and bad guys scramble, and step on each other's toes, to get
that quadruple maguffin.
(12) There must be a man to match the mighty hour: Bruce Willis is
that man, a perfect fighter, although evidently an imperfect
cabbie, Major, husband, son, and legal client. He is just
resentful enough of Authority to have the anti-hero flavor, while
otherwise being an ideal Eagle Scout, killer, and gentleman. He
nevers hurts as much as in "Pulp Fiction" or "Twelve Monkeys",
but he is not just walking through the part. He's having fun, yet
we know that he sincerely appreciates the film on its own terms.
(13) That man must confront aliens and exotic creatures: the alien
Leeloo literally drops in on him, and Corben/Bruce is never at a
loss on how best to tactically confront anybody, whether it be
mugger, superior officer, or monster. On the other hand, he never
does resolve things with his mom, and fails to stop the
stewardess from putting him to sleep in his Japanese-style
bunk-cubicle.
(14) Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher:
spaceships of various sizes and designs whiz, blast, whirr, and
swoop quite three-dimensionally through the cis-lunar and
interstellar vacuum. Yes, yes, we all know that sound doesn't
travel in a vacuum. But soundtracks do.
(15) Blood must run down the palace steps: the violence is usually
disconnected from genuine suffering, as is appropriate for a
cartoon. And yet we have an occasional emphasis in extreme
close-ups of dark blood from the forehead of mighty Zorg, ignored
flesh wounds on "Die Hard" Willis, blue blood and blue tears from
Diva (the literal Lucia de Lamermoor opera-singer of the Space
Opera), and bleeding stigmata on Leeloo.
(16) Ships must launch out into the louring dark: launch they do,
blasting the walls away in front of them if necessary, or
stomping little alien parasites in the loading docks. The
political reality is troublingly police-statish, but by gosh the
trains run on time.
(17) There must be a woman fairer than the skies: Leeloo, played by
Milla Jovovich as brilliant/naive goddess/pawn in the ultimate
good-evil battle, is gorgeous, and that is drummed into us at
every opportunity by the reaction shots on the faces of
scientists, priests, and hero alike. I never heard of her before
the buzz about this film, but she is instantly a star. Milla can
actually act, and gives an emotional depth to what could have
been mawkish and silly if misplayed.
(18) There must be a villain darker than a Black Hole: Zorg, as played
by Gary Oldman, openly admits that he's a "monster" after he
unsuccessfully tries to persuade the contradictory but magnetic
Father Cornelius (half Obi Wan Kenobi, half the stammering
minister of "Four Wedding and a Funeral") that chaos and destruction
are good for life. He fears nobody, except the ultimate force of
evil whose emissary on Earth he has been chosen, by some
plot-thread never glimpsed. His merest sense of "disappointment"
means instant death to minions or innocent bystanders alike. He
also encapsulates management's corporate arrogance of our
bottom-line down-sizing age.
(19) All must come right in the end: there is, of course, a happy
albeit hazy ending. Comedy and space opera both require this.
Boy meets girl, boy nearly loses girl, boy gets erotically
entwined with girl at the end, as James Bond always does. Of
course, the champagne is poured prematurely, so that a final twist
of fear can be created, with a final cliff-hanger. But we know
that everyone lives happily ever after, although it's not clear
whether Corben Dallas can get divorced quickly enough to avoid
bigamy, and with an illegal ("no files") alien at that.
(20) The future in space, seen mistily through the eyes of yesterday:
again, this is not a "hard science fiction"
prognostication of a scientifically valid future, but it does
meet our media-hypnotized expectations about a future in which
problems of racism and sexism have been solved (as in "Star Trek"),
and, through unexplained technology and socio-economics, the stars
are ours.
Although not all these indicators are valid even for each of the
stories that Aldiss assembled in his theme anthology, his list is
indicative, and shows how deeply correct Luc Besson's intuition
and obsession are in this particular genre.
Stephen Schaeffer of the Boston Herald called this: "A 'Star Wars'
for the 90's!" "Star Wars" is also inarguably Space Opera, and
this hits the nail on the head. "The Fifth Element" is a
tighter, faster, hipper "Star Wars" for a more frenetic and
self-aware decade. It may make me enemies in the involuted and
incestuous science fiction film community, to say so, but I believe
that "The Fifth Element" is, for all its manifest flaws, a
better-styled work of pure Space Opera entertainment. Wow!
---------------------------------------------------------------
Other Reviews: heard from screening viewers: "Loved the first half, hated
the second", "It was violent, but the violence was funny",
"Really cool graphics", "plot and dialogue right on target",
"Milla Jovovich is the real star, makes alien lingo heart-felt",
"Luc Besson shoots for the Moon, and hits the asteroid belt",
"Gary Oldman really over-the-top, but hair and southern accent
absurd"
Joe Leydon, NBC-TV: "A jaw-dropping, mind-blowing epic that
gives you everything!"
David Sheehan, CBS-TV: "Bruce Willis takes 'Die Hard' into the
23rd Century."
Stephen Schaeffer, Boston Herald: "A 'Star Wars' for the 90's!"
Jane Horowitz, Los Angeles Times: "Great-looking, totally confusing."
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 97: "When it comes to
saving the world, Bruce Willis is your man.... Willis holds
together French filmmaker Luc Besson's elaborate, even campy
sci-fi extravaganza, which is nearly as hard to follow as last
year's 'Mission Impossible.' But it's also a lot warmer, more
fun and boasts some of the most sophisticated, witty production
and costume design you could ever hope to see.... [regarding the
plot] all becomes clear enough at the finish.... What an
amazing world Besson and his legions of craftsmen have created
for us to behold.... Production Designer Dan Weil has
envisioned New York as a kind of city-state that seems to pay
homage to Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis'.... One tricky plot
development after another... a vast cruise ship with interiors
that would make Donald Trump's Taj Mahal casino seem
understated.... Chris Tucker makes RuPaul--or for that matter
Dennis Rodman--seem as calm and sedate as Whsitler's
mother.... The look and feel of 'The Fifth Element' is clearly
more important to Besson than the narrative--oh, for a soupcon
of old-fashioned clarity--and it recalls 'Blade Runner' with a
touch of Gallic 'Barbarella' insouciance thrown in for good
measure (pastiche is clearly Besson's passion here). In some
sequences there is that grunge look that harks back beyond 'Star
Wars' to John Carpenter's 'Dark Star' (1974), which may be the
most influential least-known movie of the past couple of
decades.... the special effects, indeed all technical and
creative aspects of the film, are stupendous. The cast is a
delight but it's Willis who is the film's true 'fifth element',
giving it life, depth and humanity."
Tom Shales, Washington Post (as heard on National Public Radio": A flat-out
disaster.. mess... facetious... a combination of two of the
worst films of all time, 'Hudson Hawk" and 'Joon'... special effects
are elaborate and virtually nonstop... quite a fabulous vision,
but wasted... like piles of money burning up onscreen... some of
the smaller touches are cute... has some appeal for young people
who like 'Dungeons and Dragons'... time is too precious to waste
on a piece of junk like this... worst of all is Chris Tucker in
a potentially career-ending performance... it's horrible, it's
torture... not just a movie to avoid, but to run from and
hide."
Joe Leydon, NBC-TV: "4 stars! A mind-blowing, jaw-dropping epic!
The first big blast of the summer!"
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: "This film is primed to
explode! A kick-ass sci-fi jamboree!"
Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald: "A 'Star Wars' for the 90s!"
Larry Ratliff, Fox-TV: "A sky-high sci-fi entertainment thrill
ride! The 'E' in 'the Fifth Element' stands for 'extraordinary!'"
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "Willis is the life of the part! A
visual knock-out! Eye-popping effects."
Alan Silverman, Voice of America: "A dazzling sci-fi adventure spiced
with unexpected humor."
Leonard Maltin, Entertainment Tonight: "Wildly imaginative, but even
better, it's funny."
Manohla Dargis, L.A. Weekly: "By all rights this SF cartoon,
chock-a-block with discount effect, soft-boiled attitude and
genre cliche, should be a disaster from start to finish--and in
many ways it is. Too long by half, burdened with the shabbiest
F/X this side of 'Invaders from Mars', and offering up some
seriously weird performances [Lister and Tucker, this] pricey
foray into science fiction is a muddle of miscues and narrative
bloat--along with a whole lot of serious fun. Bruce Willis
plays the straight man with raised eyebrows, Ian Holm nicely
plays comic relief, and Milla Jovovich, a flawless beauty,
plays savior in what is essentially a hash of Hugo Gernsback
[the pioneering editor of "Amazing Stories" magazine in 1926]...
The drop-dead costume design is by Jean-Paul Gaultier, the
wonderful aliens are by Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Claude
Mezieres, among others... disposable script... As the
archvillain who looks like Hitler and sounds like Billy Bob
Thornton, Gary Oldman is flat-out wonderful--he not only seems
to know the movie's ridiculous, but that its very absurdity is
its reason for being."
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
Return to 1997 SNEAK PREVIEWS Table of Contents
Gattaca
Story: Genetically-ordinary human "in-valid" tries to pass himself off as
one of the enhanced-DNA elite, because he wants to fly in space
with Gattaca Aerospace Corporation (the name "Gattaca" is short for a
sequence of 7 DNA nucleotides). Using another's DNA identity
and name is a crime variously called "borrowed ladder" or
"de-gene-erate", and our hero's predicament becomes even riskier
when a Gattaca project director is murdered, and the murder
investigation threatens to uncover our protagonist. Will he
overcome all odds and be the navigator on the manned mission to
Saturn's giant moon Titan? Read my sneak preview, below.
Studio: Jersey Films (Danny DeVito) / Columbia / TriStar
Title: the working title was "The Eighth Day"
Based on: very loosely on Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"
Producers: Danny DeVito, Gail Lyon, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher
Screenplay: Andrew W. Niccol (NEW ZEALAND)
Director: Andrew W. Niccol replaced a busy Luc Besson ("Fifth Element",
"The Professional")
Cinematography: Slawomir Idziak
Editor: Lisa Zeno Churgin
Starring:
Vincent Freeman/Jerome -- Ethan Hawke
Irene Cassini -- Uma Thurman ("Pulp Fiction")
Hugo Coldspring (cop) -- Alan Arkin
Caesar (janitorial supervisor) -- Ernest Borgnine
Investigator/Anton Freeman -- Loren Dean
Eugene Morrow/Jerome -- Jude Law
Director Josef -- Gore Vidal
Lamar -- Xander Berkeley
Marie -- Jayne Brook
Antonio -- Elia Koteas
Delivery Nurse -- Maya Rudolph
Head Nurse -- Una Damon
Pre-School Teacher -- Elizabeth Dennehy
Geneticist -- Blair Underwood
Younger Vincent -- Mason Gamble
Younger Anton -- Vincent Nielson
Young Vincent -- Chad Christ
Young Anton -- William Lee Scott
Personnel Officer -- Clarance Graham
German -- Tony Shaloub
Gattaca Hoover -- Carlton Benbry
Sequencing Customer -- Grace Sullivan
Sequencing Technician -- Ken Marino
Cavendish -- Cynthia Martells
Gatacca Trainer -- Gabrielle Reece
12-Fingered Pianist -- Ryan Dorin
Cop on the Beat -- Dean Norris
Gatacca Detective -- Russell Milton
Beaten Detective -- George Marshall Ruge
Blood Test Detective -- Steve Bessen
Mission Commander -- Lindsay Ginter
Production Design: Jan Roelfs
Special Effects: ???
Music: Michael Nyman composed and conducted
Costume Design: Colleen Atwood
Clones, genetic engineering and
biotechnology in science fiction
Opening: 24 October 1997 (slipped from 9 May), in Australia 30 October 1997
Box Office: "Gattaca" opened a surprisingly high #5, with a 4-day
gross of $4,300,000 on 1,279 screens ($3,378 average), which put
it just below the 3rd week of Sony'TriStar's "Seven Weeks in
Tibet" and just above Paramount's fantasy "Fairy Tale--A True Story."
After 2 weeks in release, "Gattaca" ranked #9, with $2,600,000
weekend gross on 1,279 screens ($2,022 average) and $8,200,000
cumulative gross. Columbia just wasn't promoting this
intelligent and humane film hard enough. It ranked juyst below
the debut of Paramount's "Switchback" and just below Paramount's
gender-farce "In & Out."
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Your Humble Webmaster's Sneak Preview:
Copyright 1997, by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
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I loved it! This is a remarkably good,
intelligent, well-acted surprise work of genuine science
fiction -- and the secret missed by reviewers is that it serves
seamlessly as a prequel to the masterpiece "Bladerunner."
Consider: (1) In "Gattaca", genetic engineering has changed
society in two ways. Individuals are immediately identifiable
by analysis of their DNA from a drop of blood, strand of hair, or
flake of skin; and this is used to enforce a genetic caste system
with optimized children discriminating against natural
"god-children." In "Bladerunner" the genetic engineering as
advanced to the point that genetically perfect "replicant"
androids are created, superior in every way to ordinary humans,
so much so that they are kept in check only by an unbreakable
programmed-in death within 5 years.
(2) In "Gattica", human spaceflight has advanced to manned
exploration of the outer solar system. By the time of "Bladerunner"
humanity has expanded to flights to other solar systems, and
there's an interstellar war in the background.
(3) In "Gattica", cops use a combination of traditional
flat-foot tactics and high-tech detection, but covert family ties
between detective and suspect complicate the chase (I don't
want to give away the plot-twist). In "Bladerunner", we are
supposed to wonder whether or not the cop-protagonist is himself
a replicant, with false memories so that he doesn't know, and
supposed to empathize with the pursuer-pursued love affair.
(4) In "Gattica", we have a dystopia have had to wait a most of whose citizens
are fooled into thinking it's a utopia. By the time
of "Bladerunner", it's obvious that things have taken a
perhaps-irreversible turn to the dark side.
(5) Both films deal with morally ambiguous aspects to the
eternal conflict between the rights of the individual and the
needs of the collective society, thrown into stark relief by
literally life-or-death struggles within a film-noir detective
format with hidden-agenda players.
(6) Both films share Philip K. Dick's ontological anxiety
about one's own identity, and what it means to be human.
If you saw "Gattaca" immediately followed by "Bladerunner"
at a film festival, you'd exult at the long-arc vision of the
coherent pair.
By the way, my 8-year-old son perceptively commented that
this film shares a number of aspects with "Apollo 13": (1) both
are long, slow, and lacking in kid-friendly action adventure, yet
(2) both are not o much about space travel as about the kind of
men and women who want to be involved in space travel, and (3)
both have very close calls but result in happy endings, and so
the bottom line is that "gattaca" is "pretty good."
I say it's flat-out extraordinary for a film to be
successful at the most erudite level, and for a smart 4th grader.
This film is better than its critics know, far better than its
weak advertising campaign, far deeper than its trailer promises.
The world it warns us about is all-too possible. See this movie
now, and then think about its message long and hard!
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Reviews:
Neil Rosen, NY1 News: "Easily one of the best films of the year!"
Veronica Mixon, The Philadelphia Tribune: "Sci-Fi at its best!
Ethan Hawke gives a riveting performance."
Ron Brewington, American Urban Radio Networks: "Gripping,
fascinating and suspenseful! A real thriller!"
Bruce C. Steele, Out Magazine: "Visually stunning and smartly
conceived, Uma Thurman is radiant."
Michael Tunison, Entertainment Today: "Hollywood is great at
aliens. It long ago cornered the market on spaceships,
rayguns and giant insects. But the science fiction
traditionalists didn't begin with Buck Rogers. You wouldn't
know it by watching the movies, but before square-jawed
pulp heroes blasted their first bug-eyed monsters, the
genre was the realm of H. G. Welles' serious speculation --
the literature of "What If?" that brought us George Orwell's
1984, Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451, and Aldous Huxley's
Brave New World.
"Anyone interested in sci-fi's special facility for
probing humankind's noblest strengths and deepest flaws should
rejoice at the fact that, smack in the middle of the
Independence Day/Men In Black
revitalization of the genre's lowbrow end, at least a couple
of attempts have also been made to treat it seriously.
Earlier this summer the excellent Contact put Earth in
touch with technologically advanced aliens in a relatively
plausible manner. Now 'Gattica' revisits another sci-fi
staple -- an independent thinker's clash with the conformity
of a dystopian near-future society.
"Like Huxley's and Orwell's genre milestones,
writer-director Andrew Niccol's film pits an outsider
against a frighteningly efficient Brave New World Order.
In this case, an obsession with using technology to reach
genetic perfection with new generations of test-tube babies
has led to a new caste system based on how promising a
individual's DNA profile is -- their potential for
intelligence, physical prowess and other traits.
"The not-so-subtly named Vincent Freeman is considered
a freak of nature because he was born live from his other's
womb, with a completely random set of genes -- an 'invalid'
in the era's parlance. With such a limited genetic future
(he's myopic, at-risk for various diseases at an early age,
etc.), Vincent is considered unfit for any but the most
menial of occupations. So it's only with the greatest
amount of trouble and personal sacrifice that he's able to
work towards his life's dream -- leaving the planet for a
tour with the space corps. He's only able to enter the
elite training program at 'Gattica' (OK name for a training
center -- lousy name for a film) by engaging in an
elaborate identity-switching ruse with the genetically superior
Eugene (Jude Law), who, unknown to the authorities, has
been paralyzed in an accident abroad. Since Eugene can no
longer use his top-notch DNA profile in the workplace, he
rents it to Vincent -- an illegal scheme that puts both
young men in serious danger.
"Niccol uses this device to give his film a
suspense-thriller spine, complete with a pair of cops
(Alan Arkin, Loren Dean) closing in as Vincent's
long-awaited launch day approaches. There's also a lukewarm
love interest (Uma Thurman) who doesn't know the awful
truth about Vincent's genes. Vincent's deception would have
given the piece more than enough tension-producing genre
punch, but Niccol proceeds to go overboard by turning it
into an unnecessary and uninteresting murder mystery -- the
death of a flight instructor at Gattaca. If viewers are
able to suspend their disbelief through the various
farfetched measures Vincent takes to fool the
Establishment's identity-checking security system (packs of
Eugene's blood underneath fake finger tips; a hidden
dispenser of Eugene's urine under Vincent's clothing),
they'll have more trouble doing so with convenient facts as
no one at Gattaca recognizing Vincent even when his photo is
displayed on every computer screen.
"However plausible the backdrop, a gaunt-looking Hawke
(he's even given that Gen-X goatee), brings just the right
underdog Everyman quality to the hero, investing the film
with a disarming humanity. It's especially important that
he does so since Thurman, who alternates between
surprisingly strong character turns in films and
surprisingly flat ones, is in the latter mode this time
around. Her attempt at a chilly genetic superwoman is
cringe-inducing, especially when contrasted by Hawke's
relaxed naturalness.
"Lovers of a good, grim dystopia have had to wait a
long time since the last important addition the the genre,
1985's Brazil. 'Gattaca' doesn't revolutionize the
tradition, but its nice to see somebody give the giant bugs
a momentary rest and take a shot."
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
Return to 1997 SNEAK PREVIEWS Table of Contents
George of the Jungle
Story: Live Action remake of cartoon; "Watch Out For That Tree!"
Y.A.R.O.T.O.T.A. (Yet Another Ripoff Of Tarzan Of The Apes)
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures presents a Mandeville Films Avnet/Kerner production
Based on: the low-budget 17-episode animated spoof series by Jay Ward
Productions, Inc. ("Rocky and Bullwinkle"). The original
1967 animation was directed by Gerard Baldwin, Frank Braxton,
Pete Burness, Jim Hiltz, William T. Hurtz, Lew Kieller, John
Walker. It starred (voices only): June Foray as Ursula and Nell;
Paul Frees as Narrator, Baron Otto Matic, others; Bill Scott as
George, Super Chicken, and Tom Slick. The executive producer
was Ponsonby Britt; Skipp Craig and Roger Donley edited; and the
music was by Sheldon Allman and Stan Worth (see "Song", below).
The original cartoon now airs on the Cartoon Network.
Screenplay: Dana Olsen, Audrey Wells
Story: Dana Olsen
Director: Sam Weisman
Cinematography: Thomas Ackerman, A.S.C.
Editors: Stuart Pappe, Roger Bondelli A.C.E.
Executive Producer: C. Tad Devlin
Producers: John Avnet, David Hoberman, Jordan Kerner
Co-Producer: Lou Arkoff
Starring:
George of the Jungle -- Brendan Fraser ("Encino Man", Showtime's
"Twilight of the Golds", soon to be in independent film
"Still Breathing") (and who worked out beforehand until his
body fat was reduced to 4%)
Ursula Stanhope -- Leslie Mann ("The Cable Guy", "Last Man Standing",
"She's The One", "Birdland" [TV], "Virgin High")
Wise Ape (voice) -- John Cleese
Puppeteer -- Pons Maar
Lyle Van de Groot (Ursula's fiance') -- Thomas Haden Church
(TV's "Ned & Stacey")
Thor -- Abraham Benrubi
Beatrice Stanhope -- Holland Taylor
Kwame -- Richard Roundtree
Max -- Greg Cruttwell
Narrator (voice) -- Keith Scott
Betsy -- Kelly Miller
Arthur Stanhope -- John Bennett Perry
Ursula's Friends -- Afton Smith
George Jr. -- Moah John Cardoza
George Jr. -- Benjamin John Cardoza
??? -- Michael Chinyamurindi
??? -- Abdoulaye NGom
??? -- Lydell M. Chesier
??? -- Spencer Garrett
??? -- Jon Pennell
??? -- Lauren Bowles
??? -- Samantha Harris
Production Design: Stephen Marsh
Art Directors: David Haber, Mark Zuelzke
Set Decorator: Kathryn Peters
Visual Effects: Dream Quest Images (CGI makes the elephant, Shep,
frolic like a dog)
Special Creature Effects: Jim Henson's Creature Shop
Stunts: the swing-from-the-San Francisco-Bay-Bridge stunt is performed
by Joey Preston
Costumes: Lisa Jensen
Product Placement: clothes by Armani, shoes by Nike, and this is done
so obviously that we're supposed to find it funny
Music: Mark Shaiman (twice-nominated for Oscars: "The American President",
"The First Wives Club") and also scored both "Addams Family"
films. Here, he lushly orchestrates the original melody, slyly
inserts it into big-band and Afro-World-Music stylizations, and
provides lavish sweetening and animal-noise sampling. "On this
movie, I got to use every burlequey, vaudeville-shticky musical
idea I've ever wanted to do," he told Jon Burlingame ("The
Jungle Ditty Everybody Knows", Los Angeles Times Weekend, 17
July 1997, pp.10-11). Jon Burlingame authored "TV's Biggest
Hits" [Schirmer Books].
Song: Stan Worth and Sheldon Allman's 1967 signature song
"George, George, George of the Jungle,
Friend to you and me
(scream: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!)
Watch out for that tree!"
Stan Worth was a semi-successful singer/musician, and
Sheldon Allman was a game-show theme composer ("Let's Make a Deal")
as well as a nightclub performer and character actor (the mean
veterinarian in "Hud" and prison chaplain in "In Cold Blood).
Between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m., at Allman's house, as supervised by
Jay Ward, Stan & Sheldon had written not only this immortal ditty
but also the theme songs for two other Jay Ward cartoons: "Super Chicken"
and "Tom Slick." The tune was basically Stan's, and the words
were mostly Sheldon's. Sheldon Allman's line "away he'll schlep
on his elephant Shep" is surely the first Yiddish in TV themesongs.
Stan Worth arranged, sang, played keyboards, and conducted a
7-man band for the original TV recording; he died in a 1980
plane crash. Allman quit while he was ahead, and never recorded
another cartoon song, although he did write two "Mr. Ed" songs
("The Empty Feedbag Blues" and "Pretty Little Filly With The Pony Tail."
Sheldon Allman also wrote a musical starring Frankenstien,
Dracula, and Wolfman entitled "I'm Sorry, the Bridge is Out,
You'll Have to Spend the Night" with co-author Bobby Pickett
(the singer of "Monster Mash").
For this movie, the Seattle-based band 'The Presidents of
the United States' rewrote the verses (keeping the original
chorus) under music producer Don Was. Their version is the
end-title theme, and the Mark Shaiman-sweetened version is used
for the MTV video and the movie's animated (Jay Ward-style)
opening credits.
Budget: $50,000,000 [according to June 1997 press release]
Running Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Preview statements by the Star: Brenden Fraser told Los Angeles Times
calendar reporter (Sunday 13 July 1997): "Playing George
presented me with some really bizarre acting choices I've rarely
been asked to make. Like being in a loin cloth and grasping by
my fingernails from a vine as I swing towards a stationary
object, screaming, while monkeys hold up numbers. To prepare, I
went to Rockreation, the closest postmodern thing I could get to
vine swinging. It's in Santa Monica, an indoor rock climbing
facility with textured wallsand footholds and handholds.
Learned to climb things, cut my fear of that.
Opening: 18 July 1997
Web: George of the Jungle official site
Brenden Fraser says "I'm a cyberjunkie. I use the Internet as a
very helpful tool as an actor. Right now I'm researching a
project I'm in with [Sir] Ian Mckellen called 'Gods and
Monsters,' from the Christopher Bram book 'Father of
Frankenstein.' It's based on James Whale, who directed more
than 20 films, most notably 'Frankenstein' and 'Bride of
Frankenstein.'"
Box Office:
"George of the Jungle" had a surprisingly strong opening
at #2, with weekend gross of $16,500,000 on 2,506 screens
($6,600 average) and a cumulative 1-week gross of $22,900,000.
It ranked below only the powerhouse Men In Black
in that Columbia film's 3rd week, and displaced Contact
for the #2 spot.
Keeping its #2 rank in week #2, "George of the Jungle" kept
swinging with weekend gross of $13,200,000 on 2,554 screens
($5,167 average) and a cumulative 2-week gross of $48,100,000.
It ranked below only the Sony/Columbia powerhouse "Air Force One",
which opened at #1 with $37,100,000 to become the top non-holiday
opening this year and the all-time hottest opening between 4th
of July and Labor Day. "George of the Jungle" moved just ahead of
Men In Blackin that Columbia film's 4th week.
In Week #3, "George of the Jungle" hung on the vine
with 3-day weekend gross of $8,900,000 on 2,605 screens
($3,408 average) and a cumulative 3-week gross of $64,300,000.
It ranked below only the Sony/Columbia powerhouse "Air Force One",
which stayed at #1 with $25,700,000 for the weekend and
$80,700,000 cumulatively; and the surprise hit, opening at #2, Spawn. "George of the Jungle" stayed just ahead of
Men In Blackin that Columbia film's 5th week.
{week 4 missing from database, will reconstruct later}
"George of the Jungle" slipped 24% from week #4 to week #5,
with 3-day weekend gross of $4,800,000 on 2,431 screens ($1,980 average)
and a 5-week cumulative gross of $84,600,000. This put
it well below the 1-2-3 triple blockbusters of Miramax's "Cop Land"
debut with a stellar cast headed by Sly Stallone, the 4th week
of Sony/Columbia's "Air Force One", and the 2nd week of Warner
Bros.' Mel Gibson vehicle "Conspiracy Theory." Thus,
Event Horizon was the leader of the 4-5-6-7 sci-fi quad with
#5 New Line's Spawnin its 3rd week, #6 Disney's George of the Jungle
in its 5th week, and #7 Sony/Columbia's Men In Black in its
7th week. The 5th science fiction film in the top-10, Warner
Bros.' Contact, slipped to 9th in its 6th week.
"George of the Jungle" slipped another 35% down the vine to
week #6, where it ranked #9 with $3,100,000 4-day weekend gross
on 1,909 screens ($1,647 average) and a cumulative gross of
$90,500,000. "George" ranked just below the debut of
Universal's "Leave it to Beaver" and just above the 8th week of
Men In Black.
Even after 12 weeks from release, "George" was still
swinging at #20. After the weekend of 3-5 October 1997, "George"
had a gross of $500,000 on 757 screens ($604 average), placing
it just below Tri-Star's "My Best Friend's Wedding" and giving
it a solid cumulative gross of $101,400,000 -- breaking the
hundred megabuck barrier.
Reviews:
Siskel & Ebert: "Two thumbs up!"
Jim Svejda, KNX Radio: "The Best Disney Comedy in years."
Jimmy Carter, Nashville Network: "One of the funniest films that
I have seen in a long time."
Ron Brewington, American Urban Radio Networks: "The funniest film
of the summer."
Bill Zwecker, WMAQ-TV (NBC), Chicago: "A comedy smash."
Roger Moore, Winston Salem Journal: "Howlingly funny."
Mike Cidoni, WOKR-TV (ABC), Rochester NY: "Watch out! Here comes
the surprise smash of the summer."
Bill Bregoli, Westwood One Radio: "The most fun you will have in
the movies this summer."
Don Stotter, WDZL-TV (Independent): "Everyone will love this
wild and funny ride."
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, Wednesday 16 July 1997, p.F5:
"...Plucky but maladroit, this Tarzan knockoff is liable to
bang into almost anything but, like those Timex watches, he
takes a licking and keeps on ticking.... If you're looking
for something silly, you've got nothing to worry about....
This version ... tries to recapture the wised-up cleverness
of the original but only partly succeeds. Sporadically
playful, it ends up wearing as thin as any film geared to a
preteen sense of humor is bound to do. What that means is
that any audiences that might be charmed by the film's
self-mocking attitude will have to endure a long string of
jokes about flatulence and people getting hammered in the
crotch... that's an awful lot of slapstick to put up with
from anyone who is not Jim Carrey."
"Unseen but all-important is the narrator (Keith Scott)
whose mellifluous voice delivers knowing asides referring
to things like 'the big and expensive waterfall set.' It
also moves us '46 vines away' from George's territory to
introduce the 'terrifying intruder' who turns out to be
madcap heiress Ursula Stanhope (Leslie Mann) on an
adventure-seeking safari in Africa."
"Soon enough Ursulais joined by her arrogant snob of a
fiance', Lyle Van de Groot (Thomas Haden Church)... He's
accompanied by a pair of poachers thinly-disguised as guides...
[who] are ever so interested in jungle legends of a gigantic
White Ape ["sounds like a drink"], 7 feet tall... but soon
enough Ursula is gone, and it just might be that big galoot
has made off with her. That galoot, of course, would be
George, who, not surprisingly, given all the knocks on the
head he's taken, is not the sharpest coconut in the
jungle. Though the character is meant to be an innocent,
Frasier's playing is closer to feeble-mided and befuddled,
which puts a crimp in his audience appeal...."
"[The animatronic] Ape [voice by John Cleese] is the
most successful of the film's nonhuman characters... [who]
sniff's 'George's Secrets: there's the shortest book ever
written.' This kind of off-handed humor appears often
enough to keep 'George of the Jungle' genial, but even by
the standards of the genre, there's not a banana's worth of
plot... to offer narrative nourishment...."
"The film remains mildly amusing, but [self-conscious
product placement] ends up canceling out the humor and the
innocence. Given that 'King of Jungle only here to help' is
George's constant refrain, he could have started by bailing
out his own film."
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Godzilla
Story: big lizard stomps town
Studio: Columbia/TriStar
Based on: original low-budget Japanese films
Screenplay: ???
Producer: Dean Devlin? ("Independence Day")
Director: Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day")
Starring:
love interest -- Leslie Mann ("George of the Jungle", "The Cable Guy",
"Last Man Standing", "She's The One", "Birdland" [TV],
"Virgin High")
Special Effects: ???
Opening: Winter 1997, slipped to Summer 1998.
Was grounded for budget revision. See
SNEAK PRE-PREVIEWS: 1998 SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS
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Hercules
Story: Feature Animation by the team that brought you "Aladdin" and
"The Little Mermaid", trying to cash in on the Hercules/Xena craze
in the studio's 35th animated feature. Herc, the awesomely
strong but (in the myths) anger-prone, selfish, and very stupid
son of God-King Zeus is taken from his home on Mount Olympus via
a plot by Hades, God of the Underworld (in the myth, of course,
it's Pluto, God of the Underworld, but that might be confusing
to Disney fans). As Hades tries to conquer the universe,
Hercules and his sidekick Phil have to stop him. They do.
Studio: Walt Disney / Distributed by Buena Vista
Based on: Greek legend. See my essay on Greece as the origin of
science fiction Countries D-to-J
Screenplay: Ron Clements & John Musker, Bob Shaw & Donald McEnery
(stand-up comics) and Irene Mecchi
Producer: Alice Dewey and John Musker & Ron Clements
Director: John Musker & Ron Clements
Editor: Tom Finnan
Assistant Editor: Julie Rogers
Songs: Alan Menken (melody) & David Zippel (lyrics)
Musical Conductor/Vocal Arranger: Michael Kosarin
Starring:
Hercules -- Tate Donovan
Young Hercules -- Joshua Keaton
Young Hercules (singing) -- Roger Bart
Philoctetes (Phil) -- Danny DeVito
Hades -- James Woods
Pain -- Bobcat Goldthwaite
Zeus -- Rip Torn
Narrator -- Charlton Heston
Panic -- Mat Frewer
Hermes -- Paul Shaffer
Hera -- Samantha Eggar
Amphitryon -- Hal Holbrook
Megara (Meg) -- Susan Egan
Cyclops -- Patrick Pinney
Alcmene -- Barbara Barrie
Atropos -- Paddi Edwards
Burnt Man -- Corey Burton
Nessus -- Jim Cummings
Apollo -- Keith David
The 3 Fates:
Clotho -- Amanda Plummer
Lachesis -- Carole Shelley
The 7 Muses:
Calliope -- Lillias White
Clio -- Vaneese Thomas
Melpomene -- Cheryl Freeman
Terpsichore -- LaChanze
Thalia -- Roz Ryan
Production Design: Gerald Scarfe (artist/cartoonist "Pink Floyd--The Wall")
Special Effects: over 1,000,000 drawings were made, wearing out 72,000
pencils in the process.
Supervising Animator: Andreas Deja (Hercules)
Web: Hercules official web site
Game: there will be a PlayStation CD game released the same day, fo
more on this see Disney's Hercules Game
Opening: 25 June 1997 slipped to 27 June 1997?
see my essay on "Rocky and Bullwinkle" in my Ultimate SF TV site
TELEVISION: list of 350+ links, last updated 31 Dec 1996
Box Office: {opening week figures to be done}
In the 2nd week of release, "Hercules" slipped to #10, with
$852,000 gross on 2 screens for a cumulative gross of $1,500,000
and an Olympian $462,052 per screen. This is due to the seats
for the Manhattan movie and stage showing at a pricey $15 to
$55. When "Herc" goes to wider release, the per-screen average
will drop enormously, but the weekly gross will shoot up, and so
the ranking will rise beyond this week's #10 on the list.
In week 3, as predicted, Hercules shot to #2, with 3-day
weekend gross of $21,500,000 on 2,872 screens for an average of
$7,470 and a cumulative gross of $23,700,000. "Hercules" was
close behind the debut of Paramount's "Face/Off", directed by
John Woo and starring John Travolta and Nicholas Cage, which opened
at #1 with $23,400,000. The surprise was that "Hercules" rose
above Batman & Robin.
These numbers strongly suggest that "Hercules" will gross
over $100,000,000 in North America which is good news for Disney,
but not great news. After all, "The Lion King" grossed
$312,000,000 in the same U.S./Canadian market.
The 4th week gave "Hercules" an 11% shove down towards the
underworld, with a still-strong $19,100,000 weekend gross. In
3rd place, Herc was still below "Face/Off" and the tremendous
$84,100,000 debut of Columbia's Men In Black.
Classical romance edged above modern romance, with the Hercules-Meg
love-in just above the 3rd week of "My Best Friend's Wedding."
In Week #5, "Hercules" dropped 32% from 3rd to 4th place, with
weekend gross of $8,340,000 on 2,930 screens ($2,846 average),
cumulatively raking in $66,500,000. It ranked just below the
3rd week of Paramount's "Face/Off", and just above the 4th week of
TriStar's "My Best Friend's Wedding." Much of this slippage can be ascribed
to the powerhouse pair on top of the market: Men In Black
in its second week at #1, and Contact opening at #2.
The science fiction/fantasy audience has a tough time choosing
between winners in this record-breaking summer.
"Hercules" slipped further in week #7, with weekend gross
of $5,200,000 on 2,541 screens ($2,043 average) for a cumulative
7-week gross of $76,800,000. It ranked (once again) just below
"My Best Friend's Wedding", and just above the slightly lower
than expected debut of Miramax's "Operation Condor" (starring
Jackie Chan).
In Week #8, "Hercules" descended to 9th place, still below
"My Best Friend's Wedding", and just above the slightly lower
than expected 2nd week of Miramax's "Operation Condor" (starring
Jackie Chan). "Hercules" grossed $3,200,000 for the weekend on
1,957 screens ($1,610 average) for a cumulative 7-week gross of
$83,400,000. The slip to #9 can surely be ascribed to the
Sony/Columbia powerhouse "Air Force One", which opened at #1 with
$37,100,000 to become the top non-holiday opening this year and
the all-time hottest opening between 4th of July and Labor Day.
Reviews:
Mason Woods, WAFB-TV (CBS): "Disney does it again!"
Peter Plagens, Newsweek: "'Herc' is the ultimate action hero."
Time Magazine: "A hit!"
Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate & American Movie Classics: "'Hercules'
is a mighty, titanic 10!"
Pat Collins, WOR-TV, New York: "Absolutely wonderful!"
Marshall Fine, Gannett Suburban: "It delivers big time!"
Janet Maslin, New York Times: "'Hercules' is divine!"
Diane Kaminsky, KHOU-TV (CBS): "Don't miss 'Hercules'!"
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "It rocks!"
Jack Matthews, New York Newsday: "A triumph! The surest bet
this summer for family entertainment."
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 1997: "... Light on
its feet and continually amusing, this free-spirited
show-biz version of Greek mythology ranks with the best of
modern Disney animation. Cleverly constructed to appeal to
boys and girls, children and adults, it also has in 'City of
Angels' Tony-winning lyricist David Zippel, the first
person since the late Howard Ashman who's been able to
write the kind of snappy musical patter these features
thrive on... [a] wisecracking aura with a dollop of
romantic poignancy.... brisk and successful cut-and-paste
job on the original material, nervily mixing and matching
elements from all over classical mythology.... 'A Funny
Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' comic tone....
[the Greek chorus] introduce characters, provide back
story, and jump-start the film into an up-tempo gear it
never abandons.... Though no one can duplicate what Robin
Williams did for 'Aladdin', the irresistible James Woods as
Hades ... comes surprisingly close ... and never pauses for
breath.... The most impressive [monster] (and the film's
only nod to Hercules' stories 12 labors) is the protean
Hydra, a beat that grows a new head whenever one is cut
off. A technological marvel, the Hydra is the film's most
impressive computer-generated character, and no wonder: the
press notes say a team of 15 artists and technicians worked
on the five-minute sequence for two years.... Though
they're not big star names, without the excellent, feeling
work of [Tate] Donovan as the adult Hercules and Susan Egan
as Meg, 'Hercules' would have had considerably less
impact.... The animation ... has just enough of a different
look to it to make things interesting.... Enertain[s] like
crazy. It's hard to believe that lines that move can move
us so much, but they do."
Michael Sragow, New Times (Los Angeles), 19-25 June 1997:
"Slapstick decadence is the dominant style at the Disney
studios this summer, reaching all the way from Touchstone
Picture's hit 'Con Air' to the 35th Walt Disney animated
feature, 'Hercules.' It's a moviemaking mode that weds
anything-for-a laugh to anything-for-a-jolt, leaving
imagination and authenticity in the lurch. Instead of
creating a world that audiences can escape into, these
movies presuppose a pseudo-hip TV frame of reference. And
the action they stick into the frame makes a deliberate
mishmash of a viewer's mental circuitry: ANY response to
what happens onscreen begins to seem appropriate."
"When Steve Buscemi enters 'Con Air' in a Hannibal Lecter
getup, moviegoers react with the same laughter and applause
as when Billy Crystal made his Lecter entrance for the Oscar
show. A similar chaotic pandering permeates 'Hercules', in
which the moviemakers underline every reference with a
thick and not-so-magic marker. It's not enough that Paul
Shaffer be cast as Hermes, the winged messenger (it's
actually a funny casting idea)--there also has to be a shot
of him slamming the piano keys the way he does for David
Letterman.... But 'Hercules' fries itself to a crisp, then
mucks around in the ashes....[a] tuckered-out, off-the-top-of-the-head
extravanganza."
"What makes this desperate farce-spectacle so sad is
that it's an outgrowth of the earned success of 'Aladdin'....
Unlike 'Aladdin', 'Hercules' is ALL patter, ranging from
snappy to sappy.... When Disney gods start hurling
platitudes, better duck and cover.... [the Greek 'Hercules']
embodied male rage and the frustration and regret that keep
fueling it... [but Disney took] the sexual rivalry out of
Hercules' origins... he's merely a mildly confused good guy...."
"If you're after a deeply humorous account of a hero's
life, you'd do better with the chapter on Hercules in Edith
Hamilton's 'Mythology'--it's a masterpiece of informed
drollery, studded with pointed comments such as
'Intelligence did not figure strongly in anything he did,
and was often conspicuously absent.' Hamilton finds it
amusing that the Greeks would love this brawny figure
despite 'his simplicity and blundering stupidity; his
inability not to get roaring drunk in a house where someone
was dead.' Now THAT would be a daring scene for Disney..."
"What's 'academic' about 'Hercules' aren't the few
remnants of the Greek legend left in it but the
tried-and-untrue Disney motifs strewn throughout... It's the
Disney brand of legendry that's grown tired. The
irreverence that Musker and Clements have made their
specialty comes off as a restless, reckless tic... it's
hard to distinguish self-criticism from self-promotion...
This movie's overstuffed bag of tricks falls apart, because
nothing in it is organic or interlocked... at the center of
'Hercules' is a lug who erodes into invisibility under a
manic stream of pop consciousness... it plunges into an
unholy mix of sass and sanctimony... at the inert core of
this film rests the same old follow-your-dream stuff, done
without any gusto or conviction."
"[On the plus side] there is some fizzy filigree in the
[Production design by] Gerald Scarfe... He exerts an
astringent influence on the conception of the monsters, the
Fates, and Hades.... The casting is on the mark. Meg's big
number 'I Won't Say (I'm in Love)' ... is wistfully catchy,
a relief after the go-for-broke gospel numbers. Some other
sounds and images stay pleasurably in the mind, such as the
Fates gleefully cutting mortal coils, or Hades pointing
towering dumb-cluck Titans in the right directions.."
"But there's more graffiti here than filigree: the
frenetic activity and joke-mongering swamp the striking or
affable moments. 'Hercules' is split so many ways that you
could say it has multiple personalities. Or none."
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Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves
Story: 4 grownups accidently shrunk, kids think they're alone and
launch big party, parents must survive party and cockroach to
rewire stereo as loudspeaker
Based on: sequel to "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" (1989) and Dean Cundy's 3-D
"Honey I Shrunk the Kids" for Disneyland, "Honey, I Blew Up
the Kids" (1992), "Honey, I Shrunk the Website" (1999)
Studio: Walt Disney -- directly to Videocasette release (no theatrical)
Producer: Barry Bernardi
Screenplay: Karey Kirkpatrick, Nell Scovell, Joel Hodgson
Director: Dean Cundy
Cinematography: Raymond Stella
Editor: Charles Bornstein
Starring:
Wayne Szalinski -- Rick Moranis
Diane Szalinski -- Eve Gordon
Adam Szalinski -- Bug Hall
Jenny -- Allison Mack
Patty -- Robin Bartlett
Gordon -- Stuart Pankin
Mitch -- Jake Richardson
sister-in-law -- ???
??? -- Lisa Wilhoit
Production Design: Carol Winstead Wood
Cinematographer/Special Effects: Dean Cundy, A.S.C.
("Back to the Future 1,2,3", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "Hook",
"Death Becomes Her", "The Flintstones", "Jurassic Park",
"Apollo 13") over 300 composite shots (40 minutes total) out of
entire film at 73 minutes
Visual Effects Supervisor: Tim Landry
Music: Michael Tavera
Supervising Sound Editor: Greg Meador
Opening: 18 March 1997 (Great Britain: July 1997 )
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Illumination
Title: was finally released as "Fairy Tale: A True Story"
Story: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini are friends, but Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle ("Sherlock Holmes") believes in the
supernatural, while Harry Houdini is a skeptic, so they clash
over photographic "evidence" found by a pair of kids that there
really are fairies
Studio: Wendy Finerman Productions/Icon Productions/Paramount
Based on: very loosely on the lives of the two great men, Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, and a famous hoax of their time
in which two children in 1917 take a photograph which some people
are convinced represents scientific evidence that fairies are real.
Executive Producer: Paul L. Tucker
Producers: Bruce Davey, Wendy Finerman, Mel Gibson
Screenplay: Ernie Contreras, Charles Sturridge
Based on a Story by: Albert Ash, Tom McLoughlin, and Ernie Contreras
Director: Charles Sturridge
Cinematography: Michael Coulter
Editor: Michael Coulter ('Sense and Sensibility')
Starring:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- Peter O'Toole
Harry Houdini -- Harvey Keitel
Francis Griffiths -- Elizabeth Earl
Elsie Wright -- Florence Hoath
Arthur Wright -- Paul McGann
John Ferret -- Tim McInnery
Polly Wright -- Phoebe Nichols
Harry Briggs -- Bob Peck
E. L. Gardner -- Bill Nighy
Scared Sergeant -- Anton Lesser
John Ferret -- Tim McInnerny
James Collins -- Jason Salkey
Jean Doyle -- Lara Morgan
Adrian Doyle -- Adam Franks
Denis Doyle -- Guy Witcher
Houdini's Assistant -- Joseph May
Portly Gentleman -- John Bradley
Peter Pan -- Anna Chancellor
Stage Manager -- Leonard Kavanagh
Mrs. Thornton -- Lynn Farleigh
Lucy -- Sarah Marsden
Judith -- Tara Marie
Margie -- Alannah McGahan
Production Design: Michael Howells ('Emma', 'Orlando')
Costume Design: Shirley Russell
Music: Zbigniew Preisner (who scored the films of the late Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Special Effects: FrameStore
"Unicorns in the Garden",
incursions of the supernatural into ordinary life
Opening: 24 October 1997
Box Office: "Fairy Tale: A True Story" opened to a respectable
$3,500,000 4-day gross, ranking it at #6, just below the debut of
Gattaca and just above
Paramount's gender-comedy "In and Out" in it's 6th week.
Opening on 1,058 screens, "Fairy Tale" earned a strong $3,323
screen average. We infer that children like it, but parents
don't mind taking them to the theatre. Critics differ about how
much magic there really is, and whether "Fairy" can fly for long.
After 2 weeks in release, "Fairy Tale" had a respectable
weekend gross of $2,900,000 on 1,278 screens (average $2,271)
which placed it at #7, just below TriStar's visually gorgeous but
financially disasterous "Seven Years in Tibet" in its 4th week,
and just above Paramount's "Switchback." Cumulative gross stood
at $7,100,000.
Week #3 saw the film at #10, with $2,100,000 4-day gross on
1,286 screens ($1,664 average) for a 3-week gross of $10,000,000.
It stood just below Paramount's "Kiss the Girls" in its week #6.
This was a 26% drop from the previous week's performance.
Reviews:
Edward Guthmann, Chronicle Staff Critic
San Francisco Chronicle, October 24, 1997: "'Fairytale: A True Story,' which opens today
at Bay Area theaters, is a delicate look at imagination and the power of believing. It's
also that rare species: a family film that doesn't condescend to children.
"Directed by Charles Sturridge ('Brideshead Revisited'), it is based on
actual incidents in rural England in 1917: Two young girls took photographs
that seemed to capture a group of fairies -- luminous, winged, about five
inches high -- in their garden.
"The photographs were challenged, mocked by the press and debated by such
luminaries as ``Sherlock Holmes'' author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who
defended their veracity, and magician/escape artist Harry Houdini, who
called them fakes. Spiritualist societies took up the girls' cause and
swarms of curiosity seekers, lugging cameras and butterfly nets, visited the notorious
garden.
"Although based on fact, 'Fairytale' unfolds like a children's fable --
dreamlike and unexpected -- and employs the same dramatic logic that powered
'The Secret Garden.' It gives us a world in which children -- and the
occasional grown-up -- are able to perceive magic while most adults,
afflicted with skepticism and education, cannot.
"It's also set during World War I, which gives Sturridge a chance to
contrast the girls' discovery with the bleakness of war -- and to underscore
the characters' longing for hope and grace.
"When 'Fairytale' begins, 8-year-old Frances Griffiths, played by
Elizabeth Earl, has just returned from colonial Africa and is yearning
for a father believed to be missing in action. Her uncle and aunt, played by Paul
McGann and Phoebe Nicholls, have lost a son to pneumonia, and when they take
in Frances, she infuses their 12-year-old daughter, Elsie (Florence Hoath),
with gaiety and adventure.
"Sturridge, whose direction is gentle but a tad somber, focuses on Frances
and Elsie and turns the adults into peripheral figures who struggle to
understand. Peter O'Toole, looking old and unusually subdued, plays the
magnanimous Doyle, a proponent of the fairy photographs and author of the
1928 book 'The Coming of the Fairies.'
"It's Doyle who debates the nonbelieving Houdini, played by Harvey Keitel,
and reminds him, 'There is a point where learning teaches you nothing.'
"It's not difficult to detect Sturridge's own bias or that of screenwriter
Ernie Contreras. Their story of shadows and enchantment, intuition and
childhood, is subtly effective and splendidly produced, with photography by
Mick Coulter...; visual effects by Tim Webber, who
creates a flock of fairies with dragonfly wings; production design by
Michael Howells...; and shimmering music by Zbigniew
Preisner...
"The only minus in 'Fairytale' is the film's lack of humor. Sturridge
brings skill, confidence and respect for his subject, but his rebuke to
science and skepticism deserves an occasional wink and sense of
spunk."
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Kull the Conquerer
Story: Barbarian with Heart of Gold adventures from Cimmeria and points west.
Kull (Kevin Sorbo) is a barbarian mercenary who kills an insane king and
seizes the throne. An ancient witch (Tia Carrere) and machiavellian
noblemen conspire to oust Kull. Kull, after being deposed,
joins forces with a slave girl and a priest. The three set out
to quest for "The Breath of Valka" -- the only magic which can
defeat the witch.
Studio: Korsola Productions/Universal
Based on: stories by pulp-magazine genius Robert E. Howard ("Conan"),
particularly on the collection of stories published in 1967
Science Fiction/Fantasy Authors: H
Robert E. Howard's life was the subject of the recent film "The Whole Wide World"
{hotlink to be done} and who is best known for "Conan the
Barbarian" (filmed 15 years ago and making a star of Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Check out the biographical details and wonderful use of language
in The Poetry of Robert E. Howard
Executive Producers: Beverlee Dean, Jeff Franklin, Steve Waterman
Producer: Rafaella De Laurentiis
Screenplay: Charles Pogue ("Dragonheart")
Director: John Nicoletta ("Vanishing Son")
Cinematography: Rodney Charters, Buzz Feitshans IV (second unit director)
Editor: Dallas Puett
Starring:
Kull -- Kevin Sorbo ("Hercules: The Legendary Journeys")
Akivasha -- Tia Carrere ("True Lies", "Wayne's World",
"High School High")
Zaerta (slave girl) -- Karina Lombard ("Legends of the Fall")
Taligaro -- Thomas Ian Griffith ("Excessive Force")
Ascalante (priest) -- Litefoot ("The Indian in the Cupboard")
Juba -- Harvey Fierstein ("Independence Day")
Tu -- Roy Brocksmith ("Total Recall")
Ducalon -- Douglas Henshall
Enaros -- Edward Tudor Pole
King Borna -- Sven-Ole Thorsen
Dalgar -- Joe Shaw
Cpatian -- Terry O'Neill
??? -- Pat Roach
??? -- John Hallam
??? -- Peter Petruna
??? -- Boris Bacik
??? -- Paul Kynman
??? -- Paul Weston
Production Designer: Benjamin Fernandez
Supervising Art Director: Pier-Luigi Basile
Supervising Set Director: Giorgio Desidri
Costumes: Thomas Casterline, Sibylle Ulsamer
Special Effects Supervisor: Kit West
Visual Effects Supervisor: Richard Malzahn
Special Visual Effects & Animation: Metrolight Studios
Music: Joel Goldsmith
HEROIC FANTASY: also known as "Swords & Sorcery"
Opening: 29 August 1997
Running Time: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Preview: Rafaella De Laurentiis told Iain Blair ["Film & Video",
April 1997, p.50] "I first went to Jadran [Film Studios in Zagreb]
and scouted all of Croatia when I was working on 'Conan the
Barbarian' back in 1982, so I was very familiar with the
facilities. Then in 1994 I went to Slovakia to shoot
'Dragonheart' and used a lot of really good crew members from
Croatia. They've worked on a lot of big American films, so
they're all very experienced. [Simultaneously I was developing
'Kull'] so I kept a lot of the same props and even stored one big
set. And when we were ready to shoot 'Kull', because some of it
takes place at sea, the Croatian coast was the obvious location.
[I was] a little nervous at first [because of the war, but] we
had absolutely no problem. [Working through jadran, we built a
complete village and rebuilt a ship for sequences shot near
Split, and] we ended up shooting for three weeks, and the team at
Jadran was great and provided us with 60 crew members. I'd work
there again, and the crews are so great that I actually took a
lot of them with me to Rome when we filmed 'Daylight.'
The production was previewed in "Robert E. Howard's Barbarian
King Comes to the Silver Screen", by Dan Perez, "Realms of
Fantasy" magazine, Vol.3, No.6, August 1997. Kevin Sorbo
compares Kull and Hercules: "They both have long hair! [Kull] is
much darker. Yes, they're heroes, but they're heroes on totally
different sides of the spectrum of what the definition of a hero
would entail. Because [Kull] is a much darker person. he has a
lot more skeletons in his closet, so to speak."
"For me, from an actor's standpoint, it was a kick to play
someone like this, because Hercules [as filmed, not in the Greek
Myths!] is kind of a goody two-shoes, let's face it. Yeah, he
can get mad and things like this, but [Kull] has got a chip on
his shoulder throughout... He's just a nastier guy, and he was
more fun to play."
Box Office: "Kull the Conqueror" opened at #9, with $3,500,000 in
its debut 4-day gross, on 2,091 screens ($1,650 average). It
ranked just below the 3rd week of Miramax's "Cop Land" and just
above the 9th week of Men In Black.
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L5: First City in Space
Story: Space colony is Earth orbit, late 21st century. The future
history includes the following approximate dates: space station 2010,
human Mars landing 2040, humans to Jupiter and beyond 2070. The
space colony, at Lagrange Point 5, is running out of water,
according to Scientist-Grandfather's calculations, so Yoshio
decides to travel to a comet and attach rockets to it so as to
redirect its orbit towards L5 as a water supply. Never mind
that, if it misses, it might wipe out civilization on Earth, as
the dinosaurs were smashed 65 million years ago. But I digress.
The 10,000 L5 residents are saved, and Chieko and family watch
the whole thing on hologram (i.e. computer special effects, which
are the best part of the film).
Studio: Imax (hence film negative is 65 mm horizontal, printed to 70 mm
with 1.44:1 aspect ratio)
Based on: various books and articles by space activists
Screenplay: Toni Myers
Director: Allan Kroeker (live action), Toni Myers
Cinematography: Andrew Kitzanuk
Starring:
Flight Commander Father Yoshio Mori -- Dennis Akayama
Scientist-Grandfather -- Colin Fox
Narrator -- Martha Henry
Dr. Genevieve Mori -- Genevieve Langlois
Chieko Mori -- Rachel Walker
Special Effects: ???
SPACE: MOVIES AND TV-MOVIES ABOUT SPACE
Opening: 11 October 1996, but not seen by many until 1997
REVIEWS:
Jan Herman, Los Angeles Times: "'Mall in Space' would be a more
fitting title."
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A Life Less Ordinary
Story: "Divine Interveners" come to Earth and get enmeshed in a
kidnapping by a cleaning man who is disgruntled over being replaced
by a robot. The "Divine Interveners" (angels somehow supervising
human life on Earth) help to bring the cleaning man and his
boss' daughter together, and then to make the kidnap victim save
the kidnapper from the vengeful dad. Well, it's not ordinary.
Studio: Channel Four Films / Figment Films / PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Based on: ???
Producer: Andrew MacDonald
Line Producer: Margaret Hilliard
Screenplay: John Hodge
Director: Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting")
Cinematography: Brian Tufano
Editor: Masahiro Hirakubo
Starring:
kidnapper Robert -- Ewen MacGregor
victim Celine -- Cameron Diaz
God -- Sean Connery
Gabriel -- Dan Hedaya
O'Reilly -- Holly Hunter
Jackson -- Delroy Lindo
Naville -- Ian Holm
Celine's Mother -- Judith Ivey
Mayhew -- Ian McNeice
Al -- Tony Shaloub
Elliott -- Stanley Tucci
Lily -- K. K. Dodds
Tod -- Maury Chaykin
Felix -- David Stifel
Ted -- Frank Kanig
Mel Winkler -- Frank
Ms. Gesteten -- Anne Cullimore Decker
Walt -- Christopher Gorham
Hiker -- Timothy Olyphant
Rental Car Agent -- Jayceen Craven
Customer -- Jan hanks
Bank Daughter -- Mary-Cristina Schaub
Secretary -- Toni Lynn Byrd
Attendant -- Duane Stephens
Karaoke Cowboy -- Robert Kellog
Client -- Chuck Gowdy
Bank Teller -- Kitty Brunson
Bank teller -- Crystal Martinez
Special Effects: FrameStore
Production Design: Kave Quinn
Costume Design: Rachael Fleming
Music: David Arnold
Locations: Utah
Runtime: 103 minutes
Opening: 24 October 1997 (USA), 26 November 1997 (France)
Box Office: "A Life Less Ordinary" opened at #9, with $2,010,000 on a
4-day gross, on 1207 screens ($1,664 average), just below Rocket Man
and just above Warner Bros. "L.A. Confidential."
In week #2, "A Life Less Ordinary" had a box office more
ordinary at #16. Weekend gross of $800,000 on 1,208 screens ($701
average) and only $3,500,000 cumulative gross. The angel's
wings had been clipped. It ranked just below the 3rd week of
Grammercy's "Bean" (I liked Rowen Atkinson's short TV skits and
the cruelly-funny "Blackadder" much more) and just above
DreamWorks' first live-action feature "The Peacemaker" in that
female-directed action flick's 6th week.
Reviews: 45+ reviews
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The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Story: Dr.Malcolm finds that some dinosaurs have escaped, and are not
in a good mood
Studio: Universal/Amblin Entertainment
Based on: Jurassic Park (this is a sequel);
Michael Crichton's novel "The Lost World" whose title was taken
from a 1912 bestselling novel by Arthur Conan Doyle which directly
inspired three more faithful movie adaptations (starting with 1925
with nice dinosaur animation, Wallace Beery as Professor Challenger,
in Marion Fairfax's screen adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle novel)
Science Fiction/Fantasy Authors: C Crichton
Science Fiction/Fantasy Authors: D Several Doyle hotlinks
SF Films of the 1920s: List, links to reviews
Screenplay: David Koepp
Executive Producers: Stephen Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy
Producers: Gerald R. Molen and Colin Wilson
Director: Stephen Spielberg
Editor: Michael Kahn, A.C.E.
Starring:
Dr. Ian Malcolm -- Jeff Goldblum
Dr. Sarah Harding -- Julianne Moore
Nick Van Owen -- Vince Vaughan
John Hammond -- Sir Richard Attenborough
Roland Tembo -- Pete Postlethwaite
Peter Ludlow -- Arliss Howard
Kelly Malcolm -- Vanessa Lee Chester
Dieter Stark -- Peter Stormare
Ajay Sidhu -- Harvey Jason
Eddie Carr -- Richard Schiff
Dr. Robert Burke -- Thomas J. Duffy
Tim Murphy -- Joseph Mazello
Lex Murphy -- Ariana Richards
Carter -- Thomas Rosales
Cathy Bowman -- Camilla Belle
Mrs. Bowman -- Cyndi Strittmatter
Mr. Bowman -- Robin Sachs
other {to be done}
Production Design: Rick Carter
Director of Photography: Janusz Kaminski, A.S.C.
Special Effects: Industrial Light & Magic ("Star Wars", "Jurassic Parl",
"Forrest Gump", "Casper", "Jumanji", "Dragonheart", "Twister",
"101 Dalmatians")
Live Action Dinosaurs by Stan Winston
Full Motion Dinosaurs by Dennis Muren, A.S.C.
Special Dinosaur Effects by Michael Lantieri
The largest model made was a Mom and Pop pair of T. Rex
that weighed over 12,000 pounds and stood 2 stories high.
Music: John Williams
Game: there is a retail computer game based on the film, to be
released in July 1997, for more, see
-- The Lost World: Jurassic Park (the Game)
Opening: 23 May 1997
Box Office: $229,100,000 domestic + $382,300,000 overseas = $611,400,000
worldwide in Calendar Year 1997 only, according to "Variety."
Here's how:
You've probably heard by now that "Lost World: Jurassic Park"
crushed, chewed, and swallowed all opposition to have the biggest
box office opening of all time. On Thursday night previews (22
May 1997) the film took in over $2,500,000 and by the end of the
4-day Memorial Day weekend holiday, the film had grossed an amazing
$90,200,000 more. As Mark Wheeler quipped "In Hollywood-speak,
that's almost a Disney compensation package weekend."
By Tuesday 27 May 1997, the 5th day, the gross had
passed $100,000,000 faster than any movie in history. By
contrast to other blockbusters, 1996's "Independence Day" took 7
days to pass $100,000,000; 1993's prequel "Jurassic Park" took 9
days to pass $100,000,000. According to Exhibitor Relations Inc.,
"Lost World: Jurassic Park" opened on a record 5,000+ screens
and, over the long weekend, grossed $92,700,000 on 3,281 screens
for a monstrous average of $28,262. Even more amazing, "Lost World:
Jurassic Park" accounted for 62% of the TOTAL box office gross
that weekend for the United States of America.
"Lost World: Jurassic Park" stomped all opposition in its
second week of release, grossing an additional $34,100,000 on
3,282 screens for a robust $10,395 average. Still at #1 (ahead
of "Addicted to Love" in week 2, "Gone Fishin'" in week 1,
"Trial and Error" in week 1, and The Fifth Element in week 4),
The 2-week gross was $141,500,000 which is the fastest rise of
any movie in history. True, box office dropped 62% from opening
weekend, but that's because kids are back in school.
3rd week missing from database; will attempt to reconstruct.
In the 4th week of release, "Lost World: Jurassic Park"
remained strong, grossing an additional $12,500,000 on
3,565 screens for a $3,500 average. It slipped to #3 (below #1
"Speed 2" in its opening week, and #2 Con Air in week #2; and ahead
of "Addicted to Love" in week 4, and The Fifth Element in week 6),
The 4-week gross was $190,700,000 which is the fastest rise of
any movie in history. The film might even rebound to #2 if
Fox's "Speed 2: Cruise Control" or Disney/Touchstone's "Con Air"
lack legs, especially as "Speed 2" opened weaker than expected.
In Week #5, "Lost World: Jurassic Park" cracked the $200 million
barrier, with weekend gross of $8,000,000 bringing the
cumulative gross to $205,000,000. It played on 3,086 screens
for an average of $2,605. Ranked at #4, it was close behind a
slipping "Con Air" in that action pic's 3rd week. Your Humble
Webmaster predicts Batman & Robin to stick at #1
for several weeks, TriStar's "My Best Friend's Wedding" to stay at #2,
but "Con Air" to drop below the dinosaur blockbuster, putting
"Lost World" back up to #3 in the near future. "Lost World" did
outlast Fox's "Speed 2: Cruise Control", which dropped to #5 in
its 2nd week.
In its 6th week, "Lost World: Jurassic Park" slid to #6,
grossing $4,500,000 on 2,607 screens for an average of $1,740.
The cumulative gross topped $213,200,000. The dinosaur flick played
just below the crashing and burning "Con Air", and just above
the sinking "Speed 2: Cruise Control."
Week 7: "Lost World" dropped 19% from the previous week,
grossing $3,700,000 for the weekend ($1,884 screen average) for
a cumulative gross of $218,300,000. It ranked just below
Disney/Touchstone's "Con Air" (down 16% in 5th week), and just
above the debut of "Wild America."
In Week #8, "Lost World" dropped another 48% to 10th place,
with weekend gross of $1,400,000 on 1,422 screens ($950 average),
cumulatively raking in $221,100,000. It ranked just below the
weak debut of the Martin Short fantasy/comedy "A Simple Wish."
Much of this slippage can be ascribed to the powerhouse pair on
top of the market: Men In Black in its second week at #1, and
Contact opening at #2. The science fiction audience is spread
thin this summer!
Website: Lost World: Jurassic Parkofficial site
Reviews: {to be done}
Daily Scoop: "The movie is like Jurassic Park, only without the
rich character development." [intended as a joke]
Your Humble Webmaster says:
Postmodernism includes "appropriationism" -- boldly taking
snippets of classic artworks to juxtapose in ironic contexts. I
suggest that "Lost World: Jurassic Park" is the most successful
appropriationist postmodern film ever made. This is NOT theft,
or plagiarism, because the borrowings are open and respectful.
Examples: (1) the title refers to 1912 bestselling novel by
Arthur Conan Doyle; (2) the ship is named "The Venture", which
is the same name as the ship in "King Kong"; (3) screenwriter
David Koepp acknowledges that the extending-seats dino-hunting
jeeps are based on the ones John Wayne drove in "Hatari" (1962);
(4) the climax, where an angry mommy T-Rex bashes San Diego,
looks like a deliberate copy of the climax of "Gorgo" (1961),
even to the screaming Asian extras running for cover, as shot
from an overhead vantage (in fact, Spielberg confided to Daily
Variety's Army Archerd that there will be Japanese subtitles in
this scene, for the Asian release of the film); (5) the release
date is precisely one year before the release of the remake of Godzilla;
(6) the literal cliff-hanger, with the good guys' trailer on the
edge of a precipice, is exactly what Kurt Russell faced in
"Breakdown" (often compared to Spielberg's 1971 "Duel"); (7) the
attack on San Diego also has echoes of "Attack of the Killer
Tomatoes" (1978), produced by Steve Peace, now a California State
Assemblyman (Democrat, Chula Vista) who sponsored a bill
requiring grocery stores to indicate whether tomatoes are
vine-ripened or artificially ripened.
This film was, it seems, designed for my 8-year-old son, who
enjoyed "Jurassic Park" but was so scared of the
T.Rex-in-the-museum scene that he retired to the lobby. In this
slick, visually gorgeous sequel, there are deaths aplenty, but
with the blood and guts sanitized. Sure, people get eaten by
thunder lizards, but: (1) the little girl brutalized by small
dinosaurs gets battered off-screen; (2) whether stepped on or
bitten in half, people never spurt or leak bodily fluids;
(3) one human hand is cut off, but there's no close-up of
arterial bleeding; (4) the profanity is mild compared to
contemporary television; (5) kids are scared by a calculated
amount by showing other kids under threat, and by nasty hunters
being politrially incorrect in there treatment of the nice
dinosaurs. All over the world, parents will be telling their
kids "don't worry, no actual dinosaurs were injured in the
filming of this movie."
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Men In Black
Story: An interstellar terrorist in loose on Earth, and the
Immigration & Naturalization Service is in charge of Illegal
Aliens, right? Pair of hip detectives, "J" and "K" work for a
mysterious organization "Men in Black" who clean up the evidence
at alien landing sites to cover up for the government.
Earth, you see, is a voluntary "safe zone" for galactic
political refugees "kind of like Casablanca without Nazis", but
this has all been concealed from the public. The "Men in Black"
ultrasecret agency keeps the more dangerous aliens in line,
especially Edgar, who disguises himself in a local dude's skin
while searching New York for the microminiaturized Arquillian
Galaxy, one of the most valuable items in the cosmos.
Studio: Amblin Entertainment in association with MacDonald/Parkes Productions,
released by Columbia
Based on: the Comic Books "Men in Black" meet "Coneheads" and "The Fugitive"
actually, based on a novel which was based on the Lowell
Cunningham/Marvel/Malibu comic book series
Screenplay: Ed Solomon (also has screen story credit)
Executive Producer: Steven Spielberg
Producers: Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald
Associate Producer: Steven R. Molen
Co-Producer: Graham Place
Producer: Walter Parkes ("Twister")
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld ("The Addams Family", "Get Shorty")
Cinematography: Don Peterman, A.S.C.
Editor: Jim Miller
Starring:
immigration leader J -- Will Smith ("Independence Day", "Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air)
K -- Tommie Lee Jones ("The Fugitive")
Edgar -- Vincent D'Onofrio
Dr. Laurel Weaver (New York's Deputy medical examiner) -- Linda Fiorentino
Zed (MiB boss) -- Rip Torn
Jeebs -- Tony Shalhoub
Special Effects: Alien make-up effect by Rick Baker (Oscar-winner)
and special/digital effects by ILM (Industrial Light & Magic).
The weapons, explosions, flying car, and especially the aliens
(both cute and scary, for different species) and their
fascinating flying saucer interiors will help make this the
surprise hit of the summer (after the expected blockbuster of
Jurassic Park 2).
Production Design: Bo Welch
Art Director: Thomas Duffield
Set Decorator: Cheryl Carasik
Music: Danny Elfman
Soundtrack: Columbia Records
Costume Design: Mary E. Vogt
Locations: Guggenheim Museum, 1964 World's Fair Grounds in Queens,
Battery Park vent room for the Holland Tunnel
Merchandising: According to John Calley, the head of Sony Pictures'
movie operations [L.A. Times, 16 May 97, p.D5] his mandate is
making more "franchise" films such as Warner Bros.' "Lethal
Weapon" and "Batman" series, because these make big bucks
domestically, reap more revenues overseas, and cash in on video
and merchandise sales. Sony prays that "Men in Black" and the
1998 "Godzilla" will fit this model. Calley swears "I've lived
off those kind of franchise pictures all my life." Sagansky, in
charge of Sony's TV and international strategy, agrees that Sony
is being transformed from a "transaction-oriented culture" to a
"marketing-based kind of company.... [If Calley] is going to
have pictures with a long life, you've got to have a structure
here that can exploit that... When 'Men in Black' comes out,
we're going to come out in the fall with an animated [TV] show,
a toy line, and as John [Calley] works toward a sequel, we're
going to keep that alive."
Running Time: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Rating: PG-13 (language and sci-fi violence)
Opening: 2 July 1997
Web: Official Men In Black site
Preview: the trailers got laughs and "ooohs" from the audiences
witnessed by Your Humble Webmaster. The wry, hip attitude of
the stars, the fast-paced action, the casual aliens within the
government, the terrifying monsters, and the little alien inside
the skull of a humanoform robot all impressed the crowds.
"Looks like a hit," said one viewer.
Box Office: $250,000,000 domestic + $313,000,000 overseas = $563,000,000
worldwide in Calendar Year 1997 only, according to "Variety."
Here's how:
"Men in Black" opened at #1, with a surprisingly strong $84,100,000
gross in 5 days, averaging $27,859 per screen. It far
outstripped the popular Paramount "Face/Off" in that hit's 2nd
week, and had over 4 times the weekend draw of #3 Hercules in
the animated feature's 4th week.
In its 2nd week, "Men in Black" held onto the top slot
against the strong opening of Contact. MIB grossed $30,100,000
for the weekend on 3,020 screens (average $9,954), bringing the
cumulative 2-week gross to a whopping $139,600,000. It had
slipped 41% from its enormous debut week, but still "had legs",
as they say in the industry, by holding onto #1.
"Men in Black" stayed on top, at #1, in its 3rd week, with
weekend gross of $19,000,000 on 3,102 screens ($6,135 average)
and a cumulative 3-week gross of $172,100,000. It ranked above
the opening of George of the Jungle which in turn
ranked barely above the 2nd week of Contact. MIB grossed $30,100,000
Slipping to #3 rank in week #4, "Men in Black" alienated
nobody, with weekend gross of $12,400,000 on 3,180 screens
($3,884 average) and a cumulative 4-week gross of $194,000,000.
It ranked below only the Sony/Columbia powerhouse "Air Force One",
which opened at #1 with $37,100,000 to become the top non-holiday
opening this year and the all-time hottest opening between 4th
of July and Labor Day, and the cleverly-stupid #2 George of the Jungle.
"Men in Black" stayed ahead of Contact, #4 in its 3rd week.
Slipping slightly to #4 rank in week #5, "Men in Black" was still
unforgettable, with weekend gross of $8,000,000 on 2,932 screens
($2,732 average) and a cumulative 5-week gross of $208,100,000.
It ranked below only the Sony/Columbia powerhouse "Air Force One",
which stayed at #1; the surprisingly strong #2 debut of New Line's Spawn;
and the stupidly-clever #3 George of the Jungle in it's 3rd week.
"Men in Black" stayed ahead of Contact, #6 in its 4th week;
but the low-medium budgeted ($18,000,000) "Picture Perfect"
squeezed in at #5 for Fox.
{week 6 missing from database, will reconstruct later}
"Men in Black" slipped 26% from week #6 to week #7,
with 3-day weekend gross of $4,200,000 on 2,261 screens ($1,860 average)
and an awesome 7-week cumulative gross of $225,300,000. This put
it well below the 1-2-3 triple blockbusters of Miramax's "Cop Land"
debut with a stellar cast headed by Sly Stallone, the 4th week
of Sony/Columbia's "Air Force One", and the 2nd week of Warner
Bros.' Mel Gibson vehicle "Conspiracy Theory." Thus,
Event Horizon was the leader of the 4-5-6-7 sci-fi quad with
#5 New Line's Spawnin its 3rd week, #6 Disney's George of the Jungle
in its 5th week, and #7 Sony/Columbia's Men In Black in its
7th week. The 5th science fiction film in the top-10, Warner
Bros.' Contact, slipped to 9th in its 6th week.
"Men in Black" dropped 31% from week #7 to week #8, with
4-day weekend gross of $2,900,000 on 1,835 screens ($1,570
average) and a galactic cumulative gross of $230,500,000. This
week, it ranked just below the #8 debut of Universal's "Leave it to
Beaver" and the #9 showing of George of the Jungle
in "George's" 6th week.
In week #9, "Men in Black" slipped to #10, just below the
debut of Kull the Conqueror. With 4-day gross of $3,400,000 on
1,561 screens ($2,149 average), MiB reached the cumulative gross
of $235,100,000 -- unquestionably THE hit of the summer.
By week 14, "Men in Black" was down to #16, with $700,000
weekend gross on 922 screens ($746 average) and $243,000,000
cumulative. The film was destined to gross over a quarter BILLION
dollars before overseas, video, the Saturday Morning animated
series, and the merchandising kicked in. That makes it a
billion buck franchise, guaranteed to spawn a sequel. And I, for
one, can hardly wait!
Week #18 brought in $600,000 weekend gross on 1,010
screens ($615 average) for a #19 ranking, and a cumulative gross
of $245,000,000. It stood just below 20th Century Fox's 6th week
of "The Edge" and just above Columbia's 15th week of "Air Force
One."
REVIEWS:
David Ansen, Newsweek: "A hip, clever comedy, 'MIB' is the cure
for moviegoers' summertime blues."
David Denby, New York Magazine: "An inventive and hilarious
summer season spectacle."
David Sheehan, CBS-TV: "A wildly original, fiercely funny treat.
'Men in Black' is this summer's surprise hit."
Bill Zwecker, NBC-TV: "If you only see one movie this summer
make sure it's 'Men in Black.' An absolute delight. Tommy Lee
Jones and Will Smith are the perfect comedy team."
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "This summer's number one joy ride!
A playfully hip and hilarious comedy. Director Barry
Sonnenfeld loads the bases with action, fantasy, laughs and
hits a grand-slam."
Steve Oldfield, Fox-TV: "A galaxy above the competition. If you
see only one movie this summer, make it 'Men in Black.'"
John Corcoran, KCAL-TV, Los Angeles: "The best movie of the
summer so far, by far. The best space men on earth
adventure since 'E.T. the Extraterrestrial."
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 1997: "... Wised-up and
offhandedly funny, 'Men in Black'... introduces us to the
super-secret government agency, known as MiB for short, that
makes ... aliens toe the line. Starring the inspired
pairing of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, 'Men in Black.'
is a genially twisted riff on the familiar alien invaders
story, a lively summer entertainment that marries a deadpan
sense of humor to the strangest creatures around."
"Based on obscure comic-book material, 'Men in Black'
has maintained the energy and sass of the form... Barry
Sonnenfeld is an excellent director for this point of view,
and 'Men in Black' is a blend of the strngths of his
previous films, the knowing humor of 'Get Shorty' and the
visual razzmatazz of 'The Addams Family".... [Tommy Lee]
Jones has a definite flair for gruff, acerbic humor...
[Will] Smith [has] a glib, engaging cockiness...."
"Hard to ignore because it's partly unexpected is the
film's slime factor. 'Men in Black' has periodic moments
of gross-out humor that will not be to everyone's taste,
and when Edgar the invader finally reveals himself, he turns
out to be more disturbing and off-putting than the film's
genial tone would have you expect."
"But mostly what you get with 'Men in Black' is the
opportunity to spend some quality time with the Kings of
Cool in a world where inconvenient memories get erased and
supermarket tabloids offer the most reliable alien tips...."
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Mimic
Story: Scientist couple did genetic engineering to help people,
but their experiments threaten themselves and all of the greater New York
metropolitan area (you know, my wife and I are both scientists,
and never once threatened to destroy the world). It all boils
down to cockroaches -- really nasty ones, supposedly sterile but
now starting to breed, mutate, and grow...
Studio: Dimension Films Mimic
presents a film by Guillermo Del Toro
Based on: Blame it all on Mr. & Mrs. Charles Darwin, Pierre & Marie Curie,
Crick & Watson? No, this film is based on a science fiction
story by the late Donald A. Wollheim
Executive Producer: Michael Phillips
Producers: Bob Weinstein, Ole Bornedal, B. J. Rack
Co-Producers: Scott Shiffman, Michael Zoumas, Cary Granat,
Richard Potter, Andrew Rona
Co-Executive Producers: Stuart Cornfeld and Harvey Weinstein
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Cinematography: Dan Laustsen, D.F.F. (Denmark)
Editor: Patrick Lussier
Screenplay: Guillermo Del Toro, Matthew Robbins, John Sayles, Steven Soderbergh
Screen Story: Matthew Robbins & Guillermo Del Toro
Screenplay: Matthew Robbins & Guillermo Del Toro
Story: Donald A. Wollheim
Starring:
(Male Scientist) Peter Mann -- Jeremy Northam
(Female Scientist) Susan Tyler -- Mira Sorvino ("The Mighty Aphrodite")
Dr.Gates -- F. Murray Abraham
Chuy -- Alexander Goodwin
Manny -- Giancarlo Giannini
Leonard -- Charles S. Dutton
Josh -- Josh Brolin
Jeremy -- Norman Reedus
Remy -- Alix Koromzay
Casting: Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kerry Barden
Costume Design: Marie-Sylvie Deveau
Music: Marco Beltrami
Soundtrack: Varese Sarabande CDs
Locations: Los Angeles and Toronto, subway chase
Creature Design: TyRuben Ellingson, Rob Bottin
Creatures Created By: Rick Lazzarini / The Character Shop (Budweiser Frogs)
Visual Effects Supervisor: Brian M. Jennings
Production Design: Carol Spier (several David Cronenberg films)
Art Director: Tamara Deverell
Set Decorator: Elinor Rose Galbraith
Web: Mimic official site
Clones, genetic engineering and
Budget: $25,000,000
Running Time: 1 hour, 42 minutes
Opening: 21 August 1997
Box Office: "Mimic" opened strongly, with $7,800,000 4-day weekend
gross, putting it in 4th place, very close behind the 5th week of
Sony/Columbia's "Air Force One" (at $7,900,000), which had
dropped 36% from its previous weeks from the one-two punch of
the debut of Disney/Buena Vista's #1 "G.I. Jane" and New Line's
#2 "Money Talks." "Mimic" ranked just above Warner Bros.'
"Conspiracy Theory," which was #5 in its 3rd week. "Mimic"
opened on 2,255 screens for an average of $3,467.
In Week #2, "Mimic" slipped somewhat to 7th place, with
4-day gross of $6,200,000 on 2,256 screens ($2,741 average) for a
cumulative gross of $16,900,000. It ranked just below the debut
of Alicia Silverstone's weak directorial debut in
Sony/Columbia's "Excess Baggage", and ranked just above
Miramax's "Cop Land" in its 3rd week.
Reviews:
Jeffrey Lyons, NBC-TV: "The scariest movie this summer!"
Richard Corliss, Time Magazine: "It works as both pulp and poetry!
It gets scare shivers tickling the lay audience while
connoisseurs nod sagely at the canonical resonance."
Siskel & Ebert: "Two thumbs up, way up! A spectacularly good
and exciting film."
Greg Procaccino, ABC-TV: "A heart-pounding, sci-fi thriller!"
Ray Sawhill, Newsweek: "An elegant scare picture! A virtuoso at
tension and atmosphere. An effective successor to 'Scream and Scream 2'
that is also a feast for film buffs."
Michael Calleri, CBS-TV: "A smart, hip adrenaline rush! This is
what going to the movies is all about."
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Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation
Story: Derivative superheroes battle a warlord who wants to conquer Earth;
doesn't the bad guy realize that if he did take over our planet,
the administrative overhead would eat him alive?
Studio: a Lawrence Kasanoff/Threshold Entertainment production,
released by New Line Cinema.
Based on: this is the sequel to a film based on a violent videogame;
I admit that I thrilled at beating my 7-year-old in the Ed Boon/
John Tobias Nintendo-64 version
Producer: Larry Kasanoff
Executive Producers: Alison Savich, Carla Fry, Brian Witten
Screenplay: Bryce Zabel (executive Producer of NBC's "Dark Skies)
& Brent Friedman
Story By: Lawrence Kasanoff, Joshua Wexler, John Tobias
Director: John Leonetti
Cinematography: Matthew F. Leonetti
Editor: Peck Prior
Starring:
Liu Kang -- Robin Shou
Kitana -- Talisa Soto
Rayden -- James Remar
Shao-Kahn -- Brian Thompson
Sandra Hess -- Sonya Blade
Motaro -- Deron McBee
Jade -- Irina Panteva
Jax -- Lynn Redd Williams
Shao Kahn -- Brian Thompson
Shinnok -- Raynor Scheine
Sindel -- Musetta Vander
Sheeva -- Marjean Holden
Nightwolf -- Litefoot
Johnny Cage -- Chris Conrad
Ermac -- John Medlan
Cyrax/Scorpion -- J. J. Perry
Rain -- Tyrone Wiggins
Baraka -- Dennis Keiffer
Smoke -- Ridley Tsui
Sub Zero -- Keith Cooke
Mileena -- Dana Hee
Noob Saibot -- Nosaj Samoht
Elder God of Fire -- Lance Legault
Elder God of Water -- Carolyn Seymour
Special Effects: ???
Larry Kasanoff points out "The morphing in 'Terminator 2' was
incredible. Five years later, kids can buy it for 20 bucks and
do it on their home computer."
Production Design: Charles Wood
Art Director: Nathan Schroeder
Costumes: Jennifer L. Parson
Music: George S. Clinton
Locations: filmed in Jordan, this was the world's first film to use a
crew integrated from Israelis and Jordanians. Peace in the Middle
East was brought one step closer...
GAMES/SOFTWARE: list of 77 links, last updated 17 April 1997
New: Previews of 15 Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror computer games of 1997 (updated 14 April 1997)
Opening: 21 November 1997 (originally scheduled for 1 August 1997)
Running Time: 1 hour, 31 Minutes
Box Office: Producer Larry Kasanoff told the Los Angeles Times
(12 May 1997) "The fan base of science fiction goes 10 times. Those
kids get out of the theatre and go right back in line." The
original "Mortal Kombat" movie grossed above $120,000,000
worldwide, much less than "Independence Day" at $800,000,000,
but just as profitable compared to Mortal Kombat's much lower
production costs.
"Mortal Kombat Annihilation" astonished Hollywood by opening
at #1, with $16,800,000 three-day gross on 2,140 screens ($7,837
average). It overwhelmed the #2 film, also aimed at kids,
Fox's "Anastasia" in this Disney-imitation by Don Bluth's
heavily promoted 2nd week. For that matter, both "Mortal Kombat
Annihilation" and "Anastasia" easily beat the #5 ranked
re-release of Disney's "The Litle Mermaid." The Los Angeles
Times (25 Nov 97) cites Exhibitor Relations Co. as quoting New
Lines Cinema's Al Shapiro (President, Domestic Theatrical
Marketing) that exit polls showed "Mortal Kombat Annihilation"
playing well with audiences from ages 9 through the 30s.
In Week #2, "Mortal Kombat Annihilation" was still strong
with a #6 ranking (just below Universal's "The Jackal" and just
above Warner Bros.' "Midnight in the Graden of Good and Evil."
The ranking was based on a 5-day Thanksgiving holiday gross of
$9,400,000 on 2,140 screens ($4,405 average), a 60% drop from the
previous week, for a cumulative gross of $27,800,000.
In its Week #3, "Mortal Kombat Annihilation" slipped
slightly to #7, with a 62% decrease to $2,600,000 on 2,140 screens
($1,219 average) for a cumulative gross of $31,400,000. This put it
right below the 3rd week of Warner Bros.' "Midnight in the Garden of
Good and Evil" and right above the 8th week of Sony/Columbia's teen
thriller "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
By week #4, "Mortal Kombat Annihilation" dropped off the
top 10 list, and I'll summarize weekly and cumulative grosses at
some future time, after I expand my listings and previews for
1998 science fiction, fantasy, and horror films.
Reviews:
Bob Heisler, Los Angeles Times (24 Nov 1997): "Rule No. 1 of
fantasy movies: Box office rules."
"The mortal world was saved for a generation in 1995,
when Liu (Robin Shou) defeated the champion of the Outworld
in 'Mortal Kombat,' the movie."
"Case closed. Now, everyone, back to the video game
to train for the next battle in, say, 20 years. The portal
between the Realm of Earth and the Outworld was closed with
the solemn promise that things would remain hunky-dory for
Liu and his friends."
"Not so fast, pathetic humans."
"The Elder Gods didn't count on 'Mortal Kombat' making
more than $100 million, including rentals. And that's not
counting foreign sales."
"So rip open the portals and prepare Earth to meet its
doom."
With holdovers playing Liu and his romantic interest
Kitana (Talisa Soto), a new director... and a new flock of
martial artists leaping, kicking, and twirling, 'Mortal Kombat
Annihilation' arrived Friday. The sequel is quite serious,
charmless and critic-proof (in fact, it wasn't screened for
the media), and it may attract the teenagers who have made
the game so popular."
"Then again, it may not."
"Unlike with the video game, the outcome here is as
certain as an episode of 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.'
There will be a martial arts fight to the finish between
good and evil. In this corner, the folks who play by the
rules, the puny mortals. In the other corner, the folks
who don't, the Outers, who really mess things up--at least
geographically--before they're through."
"Unlike with the video game, there is no apparent
violence. Mortal and monster alike tumble from tall
buildings, fall against crumbling walls, bounce off a
variety of surfaces with no bruises or blood. Oh, a couple
of bad guys dissolve, females get to fight in the mud, and
Jax (Lynn Red Williams) has to tear off his cybernetic,
arm-length gloves before he can do his thing, but people
only die when thrown into a pit of fire or when their necks
are snapped with a loud soundtrack crack. Oddly,
amazingly, the neck is the only bone broken anywhere."
"There are lessons, of course. Underestimating the
power of the human spirit gets you into trouble every time.
Earth does not bend to the will of tyrants. Cheaters never
win. What closes can also open again. And vice versa."
"Characters from the first movie appear in this one,
at least briefly, and because they are played by new faces,
they must be introduced by name. So you'll see Johnny Cage
and Sub-Zero, but don't blink."
"The martial arts sequences themselves are carefully
choreographed dance routines, but provide neither spiritual
enlightenment nor enthralling action. The video game
elements--multilevel sets, the tendency for a bad guy to
suddenly morph or throw out a dragon-headed coil from his
midsection--are simply curves in the same thrill ride."
"More than a few hands will reach out for a joystick
to get more involved, but alas, this is not a game. It's
only a movie."
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The Postman
Story: Ordinary guy in 2013 A.D. helps to heal an America shattered by a nuclear war.
I know this sounds strange, but it's an upbeat
post-nuclear-holocaust story, with an appeal to traditional
American moral values as snail-mail reknits the nation back
together.
"The Year is 2013. A war has destroyed the United States of
America leaving the country in anarchy, its people defeated and
all communications in ruins. An army of warriors called the
Holnists are determined to keep the struggling townships isolated
from each other so that they may continue their reign of terror
and keep survivors devoid of the hope that life as they
remembered it will ever return."
"A stranger discovers the remains of a mail carrier's rusted
jeep. Inside, he finds its driver's uniform and a sack of
undelivered mail. He decides to wear this uniform, hoping it
will make it easier for him to get food and shelter from the
townspeople. Instead, he discovers that the mail he carries
serves as a reminder to the people of the way they once lived
their lives."
"Slowly, a new patriotism begins to take hold in the hearts
of the countrymen. The mail he carries has become a symbol of
hope, order and a reconnection with the places and loved ones of
their past. More importantly, it gives the citizenry the courage
to battle the Holnists to regain control of their beloved
country."
"And the stranger, now named The Postman, becomes the
reluctant leader of a revolt against the forces of destruction,
the Holnists."
Studio: Warner Bros./TIG Productions
Based on: Novel "The Postman" by best-selling scientist/author David Brin
Authors: B
Screenplay: Brian Helgeland, Eric Roth
Director: Kevin Costner
Cinematography: Stephan F. Windon
Editor: Peter Boyle
Producers: Kevin Costner, Steve Tisch, Jim Wilson
Starring:
Gordon Krantz/The Postman -- Kevin Costner
General Bethlehem -- Will Patton
Gibbs -- Todd Allen
Mercer -- Rex Linn
Idaho -- James Russo
Getty -- Joe Santos
Ford Lincoln Mercury -- Larenz Tate
Abby -- Olivia Williams
Sheriff Briscoe -- Daniel von Bargen
Bridge City Mayor -- Tom Petty
Luke -- Scott Bairstow
Bandit 20 -- Giovanni Ribisi
Irene March -- Roberta Maxwell
Old George -- Ron McLarty
Ellen March -- Peggy Lipton
Woody -- Brian Anthony Wilson
Billy -- Shawn Wayne Hatosy
Eddie -- Ryan Hurst
Michael -- Charles Esten
Ponytail -- Annie Costner
Cavalryman -- Steve Bowers
Cavalryman -- Stormy Cox
Cavalryman -- Dave Crowe
Cavalryman -- Rob Culbertson
Cavalryman -- Lee Day
Cavalryman -- Whit Edwards
Cavalryman -- Mark B. Farris
Cavalryman -- Jim Hamilton
Cavalryman -- Billy Jack
Cavalryman -- Patric Johnstone
Cavalryman -- James L. Kirk
Cavalryman -- Rick Reed
Cavalryman -- Howard Schmidt
Cavalryman -- Tim Williams
Cavalryman -- Dave Wilson
Production Design: Ida Random
Costume Design: John Bloomfield
Music: James Newton Howard
Special Effects: Sony Pictures ImageWorks, Cinesite, Caliban Filmworks
Web: The Postman official site
on Thursday 17 July 1997 there was a Vxtreme Video webcast
available free at Vxtreme Video
of Kevin Costner, live, directing a scene from "The Postman."
Opening: Christmas 1997
Box Office: "The Postman" posted a very disappointing $5,300,000
weekend gross on 2,207 screens ($2,643 average) for a cumulative gross
of $6,800,000. Since the film cost a rumored $80,000,000 to produce,
the #9 debut ranking, which would have marked success for a low
budget film, instead signaled a financial disaster for Warner Bros.,
which had hoped that the Kevin Costner epic would save 1997 for the
studio, instead faced a monumental flop. This was sad for a picture
based on such a strong novel. Jay Leno started making at least one
joke about the movie every night. He said, for example, that an
earthquake in Los Angeles panicked people so much that they ran into a
theatre where it was playing. Argus Hamilton joked to the Los
Angeles Times "The IMF gave $67 billion to South Korean banks. In
return, the banks agreed to reduce their work force and, for the
third and final time, to never back a Kevin Costner movie again."
Fans of "Postman" novelist David Brin had to laugh to keep from
crying, especially since "The Postman" rated just below the 5th week
of Disney's hit "Flubber" and just above the debut of the Disney stinker
"Mr.Magoo."
Reviews: The Postman:
Link List of On-lIne Reviews (by Internet Movie Database)
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Rocket Man
Story: Man and Woman in battle of the sexes aboard a mission to Mars
Studio: Walt Disney / Buena Vista / Caravan Pictures / Gold-Miller
Based on: it couldn't really be derived from the title
"Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus", could it?
No, it's about Fred Randall, a computer geek somehow selected to
be on the crew of the first manned mission to Mars, where he
falls in love with the girlfriend (wife?) of the Captain.
Wacky humor is intended.
Executive Producers: Oren Aviv, Jonathan Glickman, Jon Turteltaub
Co-Executive Producer: Richard H. Prince
Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Eric L. Gold
Co-Producers: Jamie Masada, Peter Safran
Screenplay: Craig Mazin, Greg Erb
Story: Oren Aviv, Craig Mazin, Greg Erb
Director: Stuart Gillard
Cinematography: Steven B. Poster
Editor: William D. Gordean
Starring:
Fred Z. Randall -- Harland Williams
Officer Julie Ford -- Jessica Lundy
Mission Commander Captain Overbeck -- William Sadler
Paul Wick -- Jeffrey DeMunn
Ben Stevens -- James Pickens Jr.
Flight Surgeon -- Don Lake
Gary Hackman -- Peter Onorati
Bud Nesbitt -- Beau Bridges
Ulysses -- a chimpanzee
Mrs. Randolph -- Shelley Duvall
others -- {to be done}
Special Effects: ???
Production Design: Roy Forge Smith
Costume Design: Daniel Orlandi
Music: Michael Tavera
SPACE: MOVIES AND TV-MOVIES ABOUT SPACE
Opening: Fall/Holiday 1997
Box Office: Opening week {to be done}
Week #2 found "RocketMan" at #7, with $3,000,000 weekend gross
on 1,839 screens ($1,625 average) and $8,700,000 cumulative
gross. It ranked just below Fox's 4th week of the surprise hit
"Soul Food" and just above week #4 of DreamWorks SKG's "The
Peacemaker" (which had holes in its plot big enough to fly an
A-bomb through).
Week #3 was down 31% from week #2, with $2,100,000 4-day gross on
1,867 screens ($1,111 average) and $11,200,000 cumulative
gross. It ranked just below week #6 of Paramount's gender-comedy
"In & Out, and just above Fox's A Life Less Ordinary.
By week #4, "Rocketman" had dropped from the top-10 orbit,
and was ranked #11, with $1,500,000 weekend gross on 1,760
screens (an anemic $827 average) and $13,000,000 cumulative gross.
It ranked just below week #10 of Paramount's gender-comedy
"In & Out, and just above the 12th week of Fox Searchlight's delightful
"The Full Monty" (well on its way to becoming the top-grossing
film in Great Britain history).
Reviews: 16+ Reviews
on-line link list by Internet Movie Database
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The Saint
Story: Why would anyone want to steal the work of a scientist?
Well, a couple of jerks did it to me, and I'm suing them for $4,400,000;
but in this story, someone hires The Saint to steal a scientist's
life work and it throws him into an international adventure
Studio: Paramount Pictures presents in association with
Rysher Entertainment / David Brown/Robert Evans productions /
Studio Trite
Based on: the "Saint" series of books by Leslie Charteris;
Director: Philip Noyce
Director of Photography: Phil Meheux, B.S.C.
Executive Producers: Paul Hitchcock, Robert S. Baker
Story: Jonathan Hensleigh
Story: Jonathan Hensleigh & Wesley Strick
Editor: Terry Rawlings
Production Designer: Joseph Nemec III
Costume Designer: Marlene Stewart
Music: Graeme Revell
Starring:
Simon Templar/The Saint -- Val Kilmer (role created by George Sanders and Roger Moore)
Dr. Emma Russell (Chemist) -- Elizabeth Shue ("Adventures in Babysitting",
"Cocktail", "Back to the Future 2", "Leaving Las Vegas")
Ivan Tretiak -- Rade Serbedzija
Ilya Tretiak -- Valeri Nikolayev
Dr. Lev Botvin -- Henry Goodman
Inspector Teal -- Alun Armstrong
Tretiak's Aide Vereshagin -- Michael Byrne
President Karpov -- Yevgeni Lazarev
Frankie -- Irina Apeximova
General Sklarov -- Lev Prygunov
Inspector Rabineau -- Charlotte Cornwell
Woman on Plane -- Emily Mortimer
Russian prostitute -- Lucija Serbedzija
other -- {to be done}
Special Effects: Computer Film Company (CFC)/London ("IMAX l-5: First
City in Space", "The Borrowers"), Cinesite (Europe) Ltd.,
Bionics, Digital Film
Location: filmed on location in Russia and Paris
Budget -- $75 million?
Opening: 4 April 1997
Runtime: 116 minutes
Box Office: $61,400,000 domestic + $56,700,000 overseas = $118,100,000
worldwide in Calendar Year 1997 only, according to "Variety."
Here's how:
Grossed $16,300,000 on opening weekend, placing "The Saint"
at #2, close behind "Liar Liar."
The Saint official movie web site
Soundtrack: Music from "The Saint" soundtrack is on sale from
Virgin Records.
Featured artists are: Orbital, Sneaker Pimps, Moby, Fluke,
Luscious Jackson, The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Duran Duran,
Daft Punk, David Bowie, Superior, Dreadzone, Duncan Sheik, and
Everything But The Girl
Box Office: 4th weekend gross was $3,200,000 for 8th place.
In its 6th week The Fifth Element opened at #1 with $17,000,000 on
opening weekend, at 2,500 screens for an average of $6,813,
ranking above the opening of "Father's Day" with Billy Crystal and
Robin Williams and above the 2nd week of "Breakdown." Next in
line was Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
at #4, with $7,100,000 for the weekend, at 2,1877 screens for an
average of $3,230 and a cumulative gross of $19,500,000.
Volcano kept
smoking at #5, and Anaconda squeezed in at #8.
Anaconda had now cumulatively grossed $53,100,000 with $2,700,000
on this 5th weekend at 2,302 screens for an average of $1,158.
Anaconda was at 1,730 screens for an average of $1,158, and
ranking right above The Saint
at #9 in its 6th week, with $1,600,000 on 1,730 screens for an
average of $903, and with a cumulative gross of $54,800,000.
REVIEWS:
Diane Kaminsky, CBS-TV "Move over James Bond, here comes 'The Saint'"
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: "Kilmer... a mysterious and
charismatic hero... a fun-filled frolic... wit and flair."
Bill Diehl, ABC Radio Network: "A sexy sizzler of a thriller!"
George Pennacchio, ABC-TV: "Non-stop spy thrills laced with a
wonderful sense of humor. Val Kilmer is terrific!"
John Leonard, CBS Sunday Morning: "Two fast-paced hours!"
Pat Collins, WWOR-TV: "Val Kilmer is a sexy, seductive, sinfully
good saint."
David Sheehan, CBS-TV: "The chemistry between Kilmer and Shue is
electric!" {say, that sounds like Electrochemistry, a good
subject for science fiction...}
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "Val Kilmer is one weirded out
dude, someone whose duplicitous soul comes from quite a
different movie than the James Bondish action-adventure saga the
rest of the story aspires to be. And Kilmer's fascination with
disguise gets old remarkably fast."
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Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 3
Story: When a mad killer cuts loose, only slasher movie fans know what
will happen next, but those fans are characters in a
post-modernist self-aware film which is about the Horror genre
while exemplifying it effectively. The sequel will be released
during the Christmas holiday, 1997.
Studio: Dimension Films presents a Wes Craven production
Based on: Every scary and every silly slasher film ever made
Director: Wes Craven ("Bad Moon Rising" 1997, "Vampire in Brooklyn" 1995,
"A Nightmare on Elm Street 7" 1994, "The People Under the Stairs" 1992,
"Night Visions" TV 1990, "Shocker" 1989", "The Serpent and the Rainbow" 1988,
"Casebusters" TV 1986, "Deadly Friend" 1986, "Chiller" TV 1985,
"The Hills Have Eyes II" 1985, "Invitation to Hell" TV 1984,
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" 1984, "Swamp Thing" 1982, "Deadly Blessing" 1981,
"The Hills Have Eyes" 1978, "A Stranger in Our House" TV 1978,
"It Happened in Hollywood" 1973, "Last House on the Left" 1972)
Executive Producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, and
Marianne Maddalena
Producer: Cary Woods and Kathy Conrad
Co-Producer: Dixie J. Capp
Co-Executive Producer: Stuart M. Besser
Writer: Kevin Williamson
Editor: Patrick Lussier
Production Designer: Bruce Alan Miller
Director of Photography: Mark Irwin, A.S.C., C.S.C.
Starring:
Deputy Dewey Riley -- David Arquette
Sidney Prescott -- Neve Campbell
Gale Weathers -- Courtney Cox
Stuart -- Matthew Lillard
Tatum Riley -- Rose McGowan
Billy Loomis -- Skeet Ulrich
Randy -- Jamie Kennedy
Casey Becker -- Drew Barrymore
Phone Voice -- Roger Jackson
Steve Orith -- Kevin Patrick Walls
Casey's Mother -- Carla Hatley
Neal Prescott -- Lawrence Hecht
Kenny -- W. Earl Brown
Mrs. Tate -- Lois Saunders
Sheriff Burke -- Joseph Whippe
Reporter #1 -- Lisa Beach
Reporter #2 -- Tony Kilbert
Hank Loomis -- C. W. Morgan
Mrs.Riley -- Lee McCain
Cotton Weary -- Liev Shreiber
Cheerleader in Bathroom -- Leonora Scelfo
Ghost Teen #1 -- Troy Bishop
Ghost Teen #2 -- Ryan Kennedy
Mask Reporter -- Lisa Canning
Young Girl -- Bonnie Wood
Girl in Bathroom -- Nancy Ann Ridder
Check-Out Lady -- Lucille Bliss
Bored Teen -- Kurtis Bedford
Party Teen #1 -- Aurora Draper
Party Teen #2 -- Kenny Kwong
Teen on Couch -- Justin Sullivan
Girl on Couch -- Angela Miller
Uncredited appearances:
Obnoxious Reporter -- Linda Blair
Janitor Fred -- Wes Craven
Maureen Prescott -- Priscilla Pointer
Principal Himbry -- Henry Winkler
Special Effects: ???
Music: Marco Beltrami
Genre: Horror
Soundtrack: TVT Soundtrax (hit single: "Drop Dead Gorgeous"
from Republica)
Opening: 20 December 1996, so technically "Scream" is a 1996 film, most
people saw it in 1997, so that's why it's on this web page;
The Japanese 50-screen opening of "Scream" was set for 14 June 1997,
but was delayed because an 11-year-old boy in Kobe had his head
cut off by a murderer, and it was felt that "Scream", with its
depiction of a serial murder of California high school students,
might be in bad taste. Business is business, however, and the
nation-wide Japanese opening is being rescheduled.
Scream Again, also known as Scream 2, opened 12 December 1997.
Dimension Films
Box Office: Mirimax was right in expanding the release pattern four
months after the original narrower opening, as shown by the
three-day weekend box-office gross of the last weekend in April =
$1,400,000 on 1,242 screens for an average of $1,156 $/screen,
bringing the 19 week total to $93,000,000 and securing the #8
slot ahead of 'The Devil's Own' and 'Chasing Amy.'
By the end of May, "Scream" quietly surpassed the
$100,000,000 mark in its 24th week of release. Picking up
$780,200 on 796 screens ($980 average) the cumulative gross stood
at $100,200,000. It never got the mega-publicity of "Lost
World" or "The Fifth Element" or "Batman and Rabin", but it
proved to have "legs" as they say -- standing tall week after
week as a reliable scary sophisticated film whose sequel looks
like a good business proposition.
Better than that! "Scream 2" was reported to have grossed
an almost unbelievable $39,200,000 on its debut 3-day weekend, on
3,112 screens ($12,611 average) for the best December opening in
Hollywood history. Dimension President Cary Granat said
(according to Robert W. Welkos, Exhibitor Relations Co., and the
Los Angeles Times): "The [marketing] research and screenings
that we did had us very excited but we were completely surprised
at the extent of how big the film was when it opened." This
opening shoved The Absent-Minded Professor/Flubber
out of first place in the box office competition.
But wait... the next week Miramax/Dimension admitted that
it had exaggerated the opening weekend gross for "Scream 2" --
they now put the debut at $33,000,000 and blamed the $6,200,000
discrepancy on demand by 449 theatres that demanded the film but
never got around to actually receiving the reels and projecting
them. It was still a #1 opening, but some faces were red... and
not with blood on the outside. By this point, the original
"Scream" had grossed $103,000,000, after opening at just $6,400,000
and growing by word of mouth. Typically, a sequel earns about
2/3 as much as the original film, but Wes Craven and his team
made a bigger than usual investment in spending $24,000,000 to
make the sequel. The intense "Scream 2" debut was $13,000,000
less than the record-breaking summer 1995 debut of "Batman Forever."
Only a couple of other horror films ever opened with over
$30,000,000 grosses: 1992's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and 1994's
"Interview with the Vampire."
In "Scream 2" week #2, there was a 58% decline in gross
revenues, and a slip to #3 rank, due to the simultaneous powerful
openings of #1 Paramount/Fox's "Titanic" (with special effects
rivalling any sci fi), and #2 MGM/UA's James Bond 18: Tomorrow Never Dies.
The super-sequel grossed $13,900,000 in the 3-day weekend, on
2,638 screens ($5,277 average), for a cumulative cash register
ring-up of $55,100,000.
The 3rd week of "Scream 2" marked a 35% decline in gross
revenues to a weekend take of $9,100,000 on 2,670 screens
($3,402 average) and a cumulative gross of $71,100,000. It
ranked #6, just below the debut of Tarantino's Miramax/Dimension
film from the Elmore Leonard novel "Rum Punch" -- the film
"Jackie Brown", and a hair above "American Werewolf in Paris."
Week #4 {to be done}
The 5th week of "Scream 2" marked a 51% decline in gross
revenues to a weekend take of $3,600,000 on 2,332 screens
($1,536 average) and a cumulative gross of $90,800,000. It
ranked #9, just below week #3 of Tarantino's Miramax/Dimension
film from the Elmore Leonard novel "Rum Punch" -- the film
"Jackie Brown", and well above the 5th week of DreamWork's
"Amistad" (a critical success, but not as profitable as the
unsinkable "Titanic" which neared the $200,000,000 mark and
still floated as #1 on the box office ocean)
Spinoffs: The box office success of "Scream" reportedly helped Wes Craven
land a $1,000,000 book deal with Simon & Schuster. The book
will be titled "The Fountain Society", and Wes will write the
first sentence any day now...
Murders: a California teenager murdered two, including his mother,
and said he got the idea from "Scream 2"... more {to be done}
Reviews: MTV Movie Awards Nominee
Scream 3: rumored to be directed by Wes Craven, with a
Kevin Williamson screenplay, for late 1999 release
Return to MOVIES Table of Contents
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The Sixth Man
Story: Basketball star dies, and his ghost returns to boost the
chances of the Washington Huskies in the NCAA championship
Studio: Touchstone (Disney), Distributed by Buena Vista
Based on: Unfortunately, the title "Dead Man Can't Shoot" was too
close to this year's "Dead Man Can't Dance" (Live Entertainment's
CIA/nuke thriller) and the Final Four was over before the film
hit many screens
Director: ???
Writer: ???
Starring:
slam-dunk dude -- Kadeem Hardison
??? -- Marlon Wayans
Special Effects: ???
Opening: Last weekend of March 1997
Box Office: The opening weekend grossed $6,000,000 and the second
weekend pulled in $2,900,000 so the film hung in at #8 after 2
weeks, just under "Junge 2 Jungle" and "Selena" and just above
"Return of the Jedi" in Jedi's 4th week of re-release.
Reviews: Peter Goddard of "The Toronto Sun" says "The Funniest Sports
Flick since 'Bull Durham." I've not found any reviews that
focus on the fantasy concept, or relate this to classic ghost
movies. But I'll keep looking.
Thelma Adams, New York Post: "A great Disney family comedy!"
Jack Matthews, Los Angeles Times: "Angels in the
Backcourt... terrific!"
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Smila's Sense of Snow
Story: Half-Eskimo Greenland woman finds surprises while
investigating the death of a boy, and changes her
self-understanding. I won't give away the sci-fi "surprise"
ending, but there is a speculative intelligence to the film
which comes straight from the novel.
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures presents a Bernd Eichinger production
somehow involving Constantine Films
Based on: best-selling novel by Peter Hoeg (VERY scientific and philosophical)
Screenplay: Ann Biderman
Director: Billie August (a Billie August Film)
Producers: Bernd and Martin Moszkowicz
Starring:
Smila -- Julia Ormond
??? -- Gabriel Byrne
??? -- Richard Harris
??? -- Robert Loggia
??? -- Vanessa Redgrave
Special Effects: Digital Filmworks did postproduction on a rock
representing a meteorite inside an ice cave by enhancing it and
adding steam with Alias Power Animator composited with Avid
Illusion for color correction to make the cave darker and more
mysterious. Digital Filmworks also inserted a boat into 10
shots, where the boat came from 35 mm still shots, cut and pasted
from original background, tracked with Hammerhead Rastrack,
pasted into Avid Illusion, made to move with the camera through
2D DVEs, and color corrected to fit the new scenes, and the
whole shebang data-stored on a Viewgraphics "Data for D-1."
[Thanks to 16 May 1996 "Post" magazine, pp.116-7]
Music: Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson Williams
Costume Designer: Barbara Baum
Editor: Janis Billeskov Jansen
Production Designer: Anna Asp
Director of Photography: Jorgen Persson
Opening: 28 February 1997
Reviews:
Kenneth Turan , Los Angeles Times: "Danish Director Billie
Augusts's version of Peter Hoeg's international bestseller is
bland, stodgy, and homogenized."
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Space Truckers (Star Truckers)
Story: Well, they say that the Space Shuttle is just a glorified
big-rig carrying cargo into orbit, so why not make a film that
revels in blue-collar values about real truckers in space? On
the other hand, why?
Studio: ???
Based on: ???
Executive Producer: Guy Collins
Producers: Mary Breen-Farrelly, Stuart Gordon, Greg Johnson, Ted Mann, Peter Newman
Co-Producer: Morgan O'Sullivan
Screenplay: Stuart Gordon, Ted Mann
Director: Stuart Gordon
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Editor: John Victor-Smith
Costume Design: Anne Bloomfield, John Bloomfield
Music: Colin Towns
Starring:
John Canyon -- Dennis Hopper
Mike Pucci -- Stephen Dorff
Cindy -- Debi Mazar
Keller -- George Wendt
Mister Cutt -- Vernon Wells
Carol -- Barbara Crampton
E. J. Saggs -- Shane Rimmer
Nabel/Macundo -- Charles Dance
Trooper Officer -- Tim Loane
Trooper -- Ian Beattie
Building Commander -- Olwen Fouere
Tank Patrol -- Roger Gregg
Tech Leader -- Dennis Akayama
Chopper 4 -- Seamus Flavin
Chopper 3 -- Jason O'Mara
Bitchin' Betty -- Sandra Dickenson
Jackie -- Graeme Wilkenson
Mel -- Sean Lawlor
Jerry -- Lonnie R. Smith
Delia -- Carolyn Purdy-Gordon
others {to be done}
Special Effects: Electric Image (London) ISDN networking of daily rushes
Genre: SPACE: MOVIES AND TV-MOVIES ABOUT SPACE
Opening: Fall/Holiday? 1997
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Spawn
Story: Hero Al Simmons is a government agent who dies in combat in Vietnam,
shot by his own agency, and he comes back to half-life
seeking revenge (hey, it worked for "The Crow"). The undead
antihero can change shape, is internally conflicted between the
dark motive of revenge and the glimmering decency of wanting to
save the people he loved. He is blocked by his nemesis, the
evil "Violator" who is sent by the Master of Hell, who also
employs "Clown" disguised as a homeless wanderer.
Studio: New Line Cinema presents, in association with Todd McFarlane
Entertainment, a Dippe' Goldman Williams production
Based on: the Comic Books "Spawn" by Todd McFarlane
Screenplay: ???
Director: Mark A. Z. Dippe' (his first feature film; he did FX for "The
Flintstones" and "Jurassic Park"; episodes of "Beauty and the Beast")
Producer: Clint Goldman
Executive Producers: Todd McFarlane, Alan C. Blomquist
Co-Executive Producers: Brian Witten, Adrianna A. J. Cohen
Screenplay: Alan McElroy, based on a Screen Story by
Alan McElroy and Mark A. Z. Dippe'
Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro
Editor: Michael N. Knue, A.C.E.
Novelization: Avon Books
Starring:
Spawn/Al Simmons -- Michael Jai White
Violator/Clown -- John Leguizumo
Jason Wynn -- Martin Sheen
Cogliostro -- Nicol Williamson
Wanda -- Theresa Randle
Terry -- D. B. Sweeny
Special Effects: ILM, Santa Barbara Digital Sets, and The Band from
the Ranch; effects include protective armor that morphs to new shapes
Mark Dippe' comments "It's hell to make a [special effects]
picture. You start with great ideas and things go wrong. It's
like you're on a canoe down a river where a dam has broken. And
the whole time, you have to keep your head clear to steer that
canoe" [L.A. Times, 12 May 1997].
According to "The Making of a Monster" by Paul Zieke
[L.A. Times, Business Section, p.D1, 6 Aug 1997] "New Line
Cinema paid preeminent special-effects house Industrial Light & Magic
$8,500,000 for a total of 85 'shots' in the movie 'Spawn.' If
that sounds like a lot, keep in mind that it took more than 70
people nearly 11 months to complete the work. 'Spawn'
special-effects supervisor Steve "Spaz" Williams explained the
laborious process of creating the movie's ultimate monster, the
reptilian Violator. (1) "First, we created [with
Chatsworth-based KNB Efx Group, which also did makeup for the
film] a 24-inch poly-resin model and an 11-foot metal and rubber
model that was used in a few of the practical shots." Time and
manpower: 3 1/2 months, 20 people. (2) "We took the small model
and sawed it up--its legs, arms and head. We took it to
Cyberware in Monterey, where they used a Cyberware scanner to
shoot a vertical laser. A camera collects the impression and
turns it into data, which goes into a computer. The next day,
we got a data tape to take back to ILM." Time and manpower:
2 days, 5 people. (3) "At ILM, we rebuilt the model on the
computer; we fit the parts together like Legos. We built the
armature for the character and worked out movements, like joint
rotations. Then, we 'painted' the computerized model and gave it
texture." Time and manpower: 2 1/2 months, 20 people. (4) "Finally,
we start animating the character, making him 'act.' After we
complete work on a shot, we have to transfer it to regular film
stock; at that point, we have to make the shot blend in with the
rest of the scene by changing lighting or adding fake 'grain' to
match the other footage... I turned in the last shot on July 21
[about a week and a half before the film opened]."
Visual Effects: Steve "Spaz" Williams
Animation Supervisor: Dennis Turner
Special Make-Up and Animatronic Effects: Kurtzman, Nicotero & Berger
EFX Group, Inc.
Costumes: Dan Lester
Music: Graeme Revell
Soundtrack: Immortal/Epic CDs and Cassettes; new music from
Filter with Crystal Method, Korn with The Dust Brothers,
Marilyn Manson featuring The Sneaker Pimps, Henry Rollins with Goldie
Production Design: Philip Harrison
Casting: Mary Jo Slater, C.S.A.
Tie-Ins: HBO cable launches the animated TV series "Spawn" at
midnight, 16 May 1997
Running Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes
Opening: 2 August 1997
Web: Spawn official home page
Box Office:
"Spawn" opened with a remarkable $21,200,000 three-day weekend
gross on 2,536 screens ($8,364 average) for a #2 spot, only
slighty behind Columbia's "Air Force One" in its 2nd week of
release. "Spawn" was thus New Line Cinema's 4th best debut ever,
behind only "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "Mortal Kombta",
and "The Mask." It ranked well above the #3 George of the Jungle
in that Walt Disney film's 3rd week in release.
{week 2 missing from database, will reconstruct later}
"Spawn" slipped 44% from week #2 to week #3, with 3-day weekend
gross of $4,900,000 on 2,478 screens ($2,012 average) and a
3-week cumulative gross of $46,700,000. This put
it well below the 1-2-3 triple blockbusters of Miramax's "Cop Land"
debut with a stellar cast headed by Sly Stallone, the 4th week
of Sony/Columbia's "Air Force One", and the 2nd week of Warner
Bros.' Mel Gibson vehicle "Conspiracy Theory." Thus,
Event Horizon was the leader of the 4-5-6-7 sci-fi quad with
#5 New Line's Spawnin its 3rd week, #6 Disney's George of the Jungle
in its 5th week, and #7 Sony/Columbia's Men In Black in its
7th week. The 5th science fiction film in the top-10, Warner
Bros.' Contact, slipped to 9th in its 6th week.
Reviews:
Darcel Rockett, The Arizona Republic: "'Spawn' is by far the best
movie of the summer.It picks you up in a tornado of special
effects and eye-enticing visual imagery."
Jim Wilson, FOX-TV: "'Spawn' rules! It's the ultimate summer thrill ride."
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: "3 1/2 stars! 'Spawn' is unforgettable."
Joseph B. Mauceri, World of fandom: "'Spawn' is not your father's
superhero, 'Spawn' is a superhero for the next millennium."
Leo Quinones, KIIS-FM, Los Angeles: "'Spawn' delivers action, intensity, and
one heck of a kick."
Dave Kehr, The New York Daily News: "Spectacular!"
Michael Snyder, KITS-FM, San Francisco: "Astonishing! 'Spawn' is
a banquet of high-tech eye candy. 'Spawn' rocks."
Thelma Adams, New York Post: "Dazzling, nonstop special effects."
Mason Wood, CBS-TV: "'Spawn' is a heck of a good time."
John Anderson, Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug 1997: "'Spawn' is Hellish--
and That's a Compliment. If you're in the mood for Julie
Harris in 'The Belle of Amherst,' there's probably no need
to read further. If, however, what you want is an anguished
superhero from hell whose face looks like the inside of an
all-weather radial, 'Spawn' might be just the movie for you....
Al Simmons, a rogue member of a rogue agency who is sent to
hell by his superior, Jason Wynn, when he's virtually
incinerated during a germ-warfare 'experiment' in North Korea....
While down there, he makes a pact with Satan: by agreeing to
lead the forces of hell against heaven at Armageddon, he is
allowed to return to Earth and see his beloved wife, Wanda....
Inspired by the Tim Burton school of gothic urban decay, and
with a few episodes of the old 'Beauty and the Beast'
series under his belt, director Mark A. Z. Dippe' does a
considerable job recreating the feel of McFarlane's books
[graphic novels]; the scenes in hell are particularly
ghoulish and otherworldly; the fire-scarred Simmons, who
has metamorphosed into Spawn, takes the disquiet and
self-loathing of the modern comic hero to new heights--or
depths-- especially when you consider that he's already
dead. The special effects are effective and aggressive,
although one might occasionally confuse a divine vortex with
a flushed toilet."
"Any questions will be answered in the sequel, which
seems inevitable given that the final words of 'Spawn' tell
us in no uncertain terms that the story hasn't ended. But
then, 'Spawn' is mostly about establishing its hero and
seeking revenge: Spawn, cape aswirl and eyes aglow, wants
Wynn and is relentless in his pursuit."
"Spawn doesn't actually return to Earth until five years
have passed; finding wanda married to his best friend Terry
doesn't help his disposition. Neither does the fact that
he's caught on the horns of an infernal dilemma. The evil
Clown, played by an antic but very funny John Leguizumo (he
gets all the good lines), is intent on filling satan's army
with lost souls; to that end, he devises a sheme whereby
Spawn's killing of Wynn will unleash an unstoppable viral
plague.... Posturing like hell's boulevardier is Cogliostro,
another hellian who urges Spawn to reject Stan and preserve
life. Spawn, already in need of some serious dermatology,
now has this end-of-the-world thing to worry about."
"There's lots of action and lots of dubious theology,
and the religious right will be tying itself in knot trying
to figure out whom to boycott.... 'Spawn,' meanwhile, does
what it's supposed to do, which is make a comic come to
life. Or is it death?"
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Starship Troopers
Story: Human civilization in interstellar war against giant insect
culture on other planets. In the novel, it was giant spiders,
but in either case the motorized computerized combat spacesuits
would have been way cool. A genuinely great science fiction war
film, the best ever made in this genre. See below for more.
Studio: a John Davidson Production, released by Columbia/TriStar (Sony)
[but Disney owns 50% of foreign rights]
Based on: novel "Starship Troopers" by the incomparable Robert A. Heinlein
Authors: H
Screenplay: Ed Neumeier ("Robocop")
Director: Paul Verhoeven ("Robocop", "Total Recall", "Basic Instinct",
"Showgirls")
Cinematographer: Jost Vacano ("Das Boot", "Robocop", "Total Recall")
Editors: Mark Goldblatt, Caroline Ross
Producers: John Davidson, Alan Marshall
Starring:
Johnny Rico -- Casper Van Dien (forthcoming "James Dean")
Carl Jenkins -- Neil Patrick Harris (TV's "Doogie Howser")
Dizzy Flores -- Dina Meyer
Carmen Ibanez -- Denise Richards
Ace Levy -- Jake Busey
Professor/Lieutenant -- Michael Ironside
Sgt. Zim -- Clancy Brown
Zander Barcalow -- Patrick Muldoon
others: {to be done}
Special Effects: ???
Creature Visual Effects Supervisor: Phil Tippett
Production Design: Allan Cameron
Art Directors: Steve Wolff, Bruce Robert Hill
Costumes: Ellen Mirojnik
Music: Basil Poledouris
Running Time: 2 hours, 9 minutes
Opening: 7 November 1997 (was originally to be 2 July 1997)
Budget: $70-100,000,000
Web: Unofficial Starship Trooper Site
Scoop: I've spoken to extras who complained about the filming, in the
desert, while wearing padded "spacesuits", who sweated away 5
pounds of water per shooting day. They haven't yet seen the
post-production, so they don't know what the monsters look like
while they had to act as if they did. But the extras all say
that this should be genuine
-----------------------------------------------------------
Your Humble Webmaster's Sneak Preview:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1997 by Magic Dragon Multimedia
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This is the greatest military science fiction film of all time!
My 8-year-old son and I saw this masterpiece screened in late
October at the Cary Grant Theatre in Sony Studios. Because it's
R-rated, my son will not be allowed to see it when it opens two
weeks later. But he and I were stunned by its straight-ahead
power, even though he found it almost tearfully sad in places.
Hey, it's a war film -- some of the good guys die. War is hell,
whatever planet it is fought upon. So we wonder: why is the
studio hoping to sell a hundred million dollars worth of toys and
other merchandising, when children are legally banned from the
theatres? Best guess: they'll sneak in anyway, driven by the way-cool
TV ads and schoolyard word of mouth.
The special effects are astonishing -- hordes of giant killer
insects (confusingly called both Arachnids and "bugs") could
never have been believable in a previous generation of
filmmaking. But, combined with non-star but earnest acting, the
film is admirable in every regard.
I'll be detailing this at length later, but the most
important thing is this: the movie is 95% faithful to the
profoundly serious yet entertaining novel by Robert Heinlein.
I didn't expect them to keep in the political philosophy (you
must serve in the military to become a citizen) or the anti-sexism
(co-ed army shower scenes). But they did. Some critics will
attack this film as politically incorrect, as did the critics
of three decades ago, when the book was released. Heinlein was
even called a "fascist" -- but this film is true to his deeper
patriotism and individualistic morality. There is a plethora of
pseudo-Nazi iconography, but I'm sure that it is knowingly
ironic in intent -- the one-world government's stylized Eagle
logo, the trenchcoat worn by the intelligence officer, and so
forth.
Here you can see the best space-battle ever filmed, with
starships sliced in half by plasma beams. Starships would not
really be arrayed so close as to collide with each other in
battle, but it makes for an awesome armada, beyond "Star Wars"
and "Battlestar Galactica" on steroids.
Here you can see true science fiction, with sociological
extrapolation piled on engineering and biology. The worst
howler is the coffee tilting in the cup from a gravity field
outside the starship, a silly copy of the rippling coffee in
Jurassic Park. Now that I think of it, there is also the almost
identical scene of the cow being shredded by Velociraptors in
"Jurassic Park" and a cow being shredded in "Starship Troopers."
Don't flinch at stealing from successful films, if you want to
succeed in Hollywood.
I missed the body armor/powered spacesuits (which make the
Mobile Infantry genuinely mobile, in the book), but
they would have made it hard to identify the actors in mid-battle.
I missed the father-son reconciliation scene in the book --
here, when Buenos Aires is wiped out by aliens, Dad and Mom are both
snuffed.
My friends who served in Korea and/or Vietnam quibbled
that 'Starship Troopers' was too limited by World War II
weaponry. "Machine guns in the 23rd century?" they sniff, "plus
the occasional tactical nuke grenade? Where are the lasers?
Where is the air support? Where are the armored personnel
carriers, the flame throwers, the bazookas, the Stinger
missiles, let alone the phasers and blasters and tractor beams?
Didn't they have lasers in boot camp?" My 8-year-old son insists
that the lasers in boot camp were merely laser designators. My
vet buddies have a point, in that Heinlein served in World War
II, and saw the future through anti-Axis glasses. But then
again, so did J. R. R. Tolkien. A more subtle complaint was
raised by science fiction author/scientist Dr. Thomas McDonough,
who thought the Arachnids were ecologically impossible, with no
visible food sources on the desert planet we saw. I point out
that we didn't see much of the begs' underground burrows, where
they could have had slaves as food on the hoof, or slave species
raising plants to feed other prey.
But by and large, this is a rare example of a great science
fiction book being crafted into a great science fiction film.
You must see this movie. Then be prepared to argue. Caution: superb
special effects may distract you from the fact that there are real
ideas and a real story!
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Box Office: "Starship Troopers" conquered the galactic box office in
its opening week, with a #1 debut from $22,100,000 4-day weekend
gross on 2,971 screens (a stellar $7,425 average). This was
almost double the weekend gross of Gramercy's "Bean" (which had
already grossed $140,000,000 in foreign markets since its June
debut in Australia).
"Starship Troopers" slipped 55% to #2 in its second weekend, with
$10,000,000 on 2,971 screens ($3,377 average) and a $39,200,000
cumulative gross. It was pushed out of first place by the debut
of Universal's "The Jackal", an action film starring Bruce
Willis and Richard Gere, and the first release by Universal
since 29 Aug 97's Kull the Conquerer.
The 3rd week marked another 53% decline, to #7 rank, with
3-day weekend gross of $4,700,00 on 2,822 screens ($1,668
average) and a cumulative gross of $46,300,000. I'd guess that
adults craving action opted for Paramount's "John Grisham's The
Rainmaker" (#3) and Universal's "The Jackal" (#4) while kids
were siphoned off to "Mortal Kombat Annihilation" (#1), Fox's
"Anastasia" (#2), Disney's re-release "The Little Mermaid" (#5),
and Gramercy's "Bean" (#8).
The 4th week brought another 42% decline, to #10 rank, with
5-day Thanksgiving weekend gross of $3,900,00 on 2,397 screens
($1,645 average) and a cumulative gross of $51,000,000. It
stayed below the 7th week gross of "Bean."
In week #5, "Starship Troopers" held on to #10 ratings, with
3-day weekend gross of $1,300,00 (down 54% from Week #4) on 1,854 screens
($682 average) and a cumulative gross of $53,000,000. It
stayed below the 8th week gross of the Gramercy comedy "Bean."
Not a hit, not a flop, but a film that will eventually show a modest
profit in overseas and video release.
By week #6, "Starship Troopers" was lost in space, no longer
on the top 10 list of domestic box office gross. I still like
the film very much, and intend to see it a 3rd time. Later,
I'll update the weekly and cumulative grosses and ratings. And
let's hope for more Robert Heinlein films!
Reviews:
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: "Sensationally Exciting!
Like 'Star Wars' it's ground zero for a new generation of
Thrill Seekers."
Jeff Giles, Newsweek: "The battles are magnificent!"
Robert Hoffler, Buzz Weekly "****! A Must-see!"
Sam Hallenbeck, Fox-TV, Tampa, Florida: "One hell-of-a-rock-and-roll
rocket ride! A real blast!"
Dave McDonnell, Starlog: "The Best War Movie Ever!"
Paul Wunder, WBAI Radio, New York City: "An eye-popping
explosively entertaining epic!"
Maria Salas, CBS Telenoticias: "One of the best science fiction
movies ever!"
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "Forget the Terminator, it's
the Exterminator you'll be looking for after experiencing
'Starship Troopers.' A film whose self-proclaimed motto
is 'Kill anything that has more than two legs'..."
"Based on Robert A. Heinlein's classic 1959 science
fiction novel... 'we're in this for the species, boys and
girls.'"
"[Directed] by Paul Verhoeven..., a director for whom
excess is never enough, 'Troopers' does not fit any
reasonable definition of a quality motion picture. But it
certainly is a jaw-dropping experience, so rigorously
one-dimensional and free from even the pretense of
intelligence it's hard not be astonished and even mesmerized
by what is on the screen."
"Part of the reason is those darn bugs. Besides the
hordes of gigantic Warriors, who attack in unstoppable
waves like the Japanese in xenophobic World War II movies,
there are flying bugs, crawling bugs, gargantuan
fire-breathing Tanker bugs and even, Lord protect us, a
deep-thinking Brain bug that knows lots more than we'd like
it to."
"Constructed out of a complex combination of model and
miniature work and computer-generated imagery, 'Starship Troopers'
impressive futuristic world of bugs, spaceships and total
war makes you wonder about the sanity of the technicians
who spent lonely hours making innumerable insects look good
on camera. There must be less taxing ways to make a living."
"But where 'Starship Troopers' has it all over similar
effects-laden efforts like 'Independence Day' and 'Twister'
is its complete lack of pretense. There's no mock emotion
here, none of the nauseating pseudo-sensitivity ... [of]
Judd Hirsch's character in 'Independence Day.'
What Ed Neumeier's script provides instead is a
cheerfully lobotomized, always watchable experience that
has all the simple-mindedness of a live-action comic book,
with no words spoken that wouldn't be right at home in a
funny paper dialogue balloon. Not just one comic book
either, but an improbable and delirious combination of
'Weird Science', 'Betty and Veronica' and 'Sgt.Rock and His
Howling Commandos.'"
[a few days later, Arthur Metz of Los Angeles
corrected the above: "Kenneth Turan's review of the film
'Starship Troopers' makes reference in passing to a comic
book 'Sgt.Rock and His Howling Commandos.' I believe he is
conflating DC's WWII comic "Sgt.Rock" with Marvel's WWII
comic 'Sgt.Fury and His Howling Commandos.']
"Also thrown into this high-energy mix... is the
fascist utopianism of the original Heinlein novel..."
"'Starship Troopers' offers no shortage of all manners
of carnage. The bugs are both nuked and blown away by
what's been reported as the most ammunition ever used in a
major motion picture, while the hapless humans are
repulsively chomped up, dismembered, impaled, beheaded and
completely slimed on by the enemy. 'Bugs don't take
prisoners,' our troops are warned and, for better and
worse, neither does 'Starship Troopers'."
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Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition
Story: 20th anniversary of "Star Wars" celebrated with release
including some never-before seen footage and new digital
soundtrack. All true Star Wars fans have already seen this
film, often several times, so I won't bother with details.
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: George Lucas
Starring:
Original Cast
Special Effects: Industrial Light and Magic
Space Opera
Opening: already
Where did the Names come from?:
Eric P. Nash, in the New York Times, Sunday 26 January 1997 had
a dandy essay entitled "The Names Came from Earth."
George Lucas told Mr.Nash that "Basically, I developed the
names for the characters phonetically. I obviously wanted to
telegraph a bit of the character in the name. The names needed
to sound unusual but not spacey. I wanted to stay away from the
kind of science fiction names like Zenon and Zorba. They had to
sound indigenous and have consistency between their names and
the culture."
For those of you who already know that Darth Vader's face
mask was based on the grille of a '56 Chevy, prepare to memorize
trivia NOW!
Mr.Nash researched 20+ novels, trading cards, RPGs, guides,
and websites, to come up with the following list [restructred and
edited for this web site]:
- Darth Vader: from Dutch roots, roughly
"Dark Father"
- Anakin Skywalker: "Anakin" derives from the
race of giants in the biblical "Genesis", and "Skywalker" as
a phrase for the Norse god Loki, known for fire and
sneakiness and trouble.
- Luke Skywalker: "Luke" is from Greek
"leukos" or "light", as opposed to the Dark Side of the
Force and "Darth" [Dark]. In the Gospels, Luke was a
gentile who converted to Christianity, which is appropriate
for a boy who becomes absorbed by the religious power of The
Force. An early draft of the screenplay has the name "Luke
Starkiller." Either way, the hero is "Luke S.", which can
easily be pronounced "Lucas!"
- Tatooine: Luke Skywalker's home planet is a
variant of "Tataouine", a town in Tunisia, which is the
country where the desert scenes of "Star Wars" were filmed.
- Princess Leia Organa: The Carrie Fisher role
is evocative of "Princess Dejah Thoris", princess of the
Martian city of "Helium" in Edgar Rice Burroughs' tales of
John Carter of Mars. She also has echoes of "Lady
Galadriel of Lothlorien" in J.R.R. Tolkein's "Lord of the
Rings." "Organa" equals "organic" in the sense of the
forest versus the mechanical power of the Empire, according
to Lucas' biographer Dale Pollock.
- Hans Solo: Harrison Ford's character springs
from "Han" as an archaic variant of "John" in order to put
us back in mythic time. "Solo" means the lone-gun
swashbuckler who must grow to trust others and work as part
of a team for the sake of a cause beyond his narrow
agenda. The name also connects to "Napoleon Solo" in "The
Man From U.N.C.L.E.", which name actually first appeared as
a minor bad guy in the James Bond novel "Goldfinger."
- R2D2: Lucas tells that the robot's name came
from a sound editor's once calling out "R2D2" as shorthand
for "Reel Two, Dialogue Two" during the filming of Lucas'
prior hit, "American Graffiti." Lucas said to himself
"R2D2? I like the sound," jotted it down in his notebook,
and planned to use it again someday.
- Chewbacca: Everyone's favorite Wookiee was
reportedly inspired by Lucas' malamute "Indiana", which was
the name given to the hero of the "Indiana Jones" movies.
Wookiee was originally an ad lib in Lucas
first feature film, "THX 1138", where a character said "I
think I ran over a Wookiee back there,"
- Obi-Wan Kenobi: Alec Guiness' character,
also called "old Ben Kenobi," is discovered to be a Jedi
knight who brings Luke to the power of the Force.
Appropriately, then, "Obi" is the sash used to tie a
Japanese kimono, thus suggesting the oriental martial arts,
and relating to "Wan" which is close to Japanese honorific
"san." "Obi" also sounds like "OB" as an abbreviation for
"Old Ben", and the buzz on the Net is that his name is
really "OB-1" as a coded reference to the Clone Wars
history in the future 6 episodes of the planned 9-movie
series.
- Ewoks: the fighting teddy bears get their
name from "Miwok", the Indian tribe indigenous to San Rafael,
California, where Lucas built his Skywalker Ranch. In "The
Return of the Jedi" we see the Ewoks in the forests of the
moon Endor, which was the name of the witch
in the biblical Book of Samuel.
- Boba Fett: some say, on the World Wide Web,
that this is based on another hotshot jockey, Bob Falfa,
the drag racer played by Harrison Ford in "American
Graffiti."
- Banthas: the screw-horned shaggy beasts of
the honky Sand People, derive from "Banth", a creature found
on "Barsoom", the adventurous Mars of Edgar Rice Burroughs' tales
of John Carter of Mars.
- Jawas: These mutant descendants of the
cartoon chipmunks Chip 'n Dale, relate to Indonesian Islam, and
to the trance music of Morocco, called "Gnawa." By the way, the
son of Your Humble Webmaster met a character in a "Dale" chipmunk
outfit at Disneyland when the boy was shy of 3 years old; it was
his first encounter with a genuine celebrity, and so he was
first excited, then a bit shy. For a look at the world
through this boy's eyes, check out his web page at:
"Gruesome"
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Turbo: A New Power Rangers Adventure
Story: Quintet of superhero teenagers in tights power-up their Turbo Zords
and clash with a Space Pirate
Studio: 20th Century Fox presentation of a Saban Entertainment/
Toel Co. production
Based on: a sequel to a money-making franchise of TV and toys, i.e.
the 1995 film "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" and the "Power
Rangers ZEO" children's television series
Producer: Jonathan Tzachor
Directors: David Winning and Shuki Levy
Writers: Shuki Levy & Shell Danielson
Cinematography: Ilan Rosenberg
Editors: Harry Richardson, B. J. Sears
Costumes: Danielle Baker
Production Designer: Yuda Ako
Art Directors: Steve Miller, David Lazan
Set Designers: Khurt Alex Geisse, Marcos Alvarez
Set Decorator: Julie Bolder
Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes
Starring:
Divatox -- Hilary Shepard Turner
Adam -- Johnny Yong Bosch
Tanya -- Nakia Burrise
Tommy -- Jason David Frank
Kat -- Catherine Sutherland
Justin -- Blake Foster
Special Effects: Calico Entertainment
Opening: Spring 1997
Review: Kitschy comic-booky look, very slick special effects,
rock & roll soundtrack, cool anti-crime gadgets, nicely
megalomaniacal villainess with all the good lines of dialog,
could have been stupid but has enough wit to keep the parents
entertained when their kids drag them to this movie.
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Volcano
Story: Los Angeles is darn near wiped out by a volcano erupting in
the mid-Wilshire area. The L.A. County Museum of Art and the La
Brea Tar Pits are at the center of the action, while the
mayoral race between incumbent Riordan and challenger Tom Hayden
(ex-radical ex-husband of Jane Fonda) was for some reason
ignored.
Lava drools down Wilshire Boulevard and through Metro Rail
tunnels, sometimes flowing uphill.
Ad Hook: "The Coast is Toast"
Studio: Fox 2000 Pictures presents a Shuler Donner/Donner and
Moritz Original production; a Mick Jackson film
Based on: the Rodney King riots, the Northridge Quake, and the
Altadena Malibu Fires rolled into one
Executive Producer: Lauren Shuler Donner
Producer -- Andrew Z. Davis ("The Fugitive"), Neil H. Moritz
Director: Mick Jackson ("The Bodyguard", "L.A. Story")
Writer: Jerome D. Armstrong and Billy Ray
Story: Jerome D. Armstrong
Book: novelization published by Harper Paperbacks
Editor: Michael Tronick, A.C.E., Don Brochu
Technical Advisor -- volcanologist Rick Hazlett (Professor of Geology
at Pomona College) who says he was inspired to become a
volcanologist by seeing Disney's "Fantasia" as a child.
Production Designer: Jackson DeGovia
Director of Photography: Theo Van de Sande, A.S.C.
Starring:
Mike Roark (emergency management czar) -- Tommy Lee Jones
("Batman Returns", "Blown Away")
partly modeled on Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness
Coordinator Bob Canfield (much seen after 1994 Northridge
quake)
Roark's daughter -- Gaby Hoffman
Emmit Reese (Roark's assistant) -- Don Cheadle ("Devil in a Blue Dress")
Dr. Amy Barnes (seismologist) -- Anne Heche ("Donnie Brasco")
??? -- Keith David
Special Effects: Marty Bresin supervisor, 80% scale model of Wilshire
corridor constructed on 17-acre McDonnell Douglas parking lot in
Torrance and gleefully awash in fake lava.
Music: Alan Sylvestri
Sountrack: ???
Costume Designer: Kirsten Everberg
Locations: MacArthur Park, Beverly Center mall, Metro Rail tunnel,
Emergency Operations Center
Budget -- $70 million
Opening: 25 April 1997
Volcano official web site
Box Office: $47,500,000 domestic + $73,500,000 overseas = $121,000,000
worldwide in Calendar Year 1997 only, according to "Variety."
Here's how:
"Volcano" blasted into the #1 box office slot with a
debut week of $14,700,000 thus blowing Anaconda
out of #1,where it had been #1 for its first two weeks in a row.
This was a good opening, but not as good as the other volcano
flick of the season, Dante's Peak,
which was released two months earlier, and which captured
$18,600,000 for the best February opening of any movie ever.
"Volcano" slipped from #1 after just one week as people
flocked to the opening thriller "Breakdown" and the comedic
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
"Volcano" slipped to #3 with a gross of $9,500,000 which was down
35% from opening weekend.
3rd weekend gross was $4,500,000 for 5th place. In its 3rd week The Fifth Element opened at #1 with $17,000,000 on
opening weekend, at 2,500 screens for an average of $6,813,
ranking above the opening of "Father's Day" with Billy Crystal and
Robin Williams and above the 2nd week of "Breakdown." Next in
line was Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
at #4, with $7,100,000 for the weekend, at 2,1877 screens for an
average of $3,230 and a cumulative gross of $19,500,000.
Volcano kept
smoking at #5, on 2,650 screens for an average of $1,696 and a
cumulative gross of $34,100,000. Anaconda squeezed in at #8.
Anaconda had now cumulatively grossed $53,100,000 with $2,700,000
on this 5th weekend at 2,302 screens for an average of $1,158.
Anaconda was at 1,730 screens for an average of $1,158, and
ranking right above The Saint
at #9 in its 6th week, with $1,600,000 on 1,730 screens for an
average of $903, and with a cumulative gross of $54,800,000.
As of 20 May 1997, according to Exhibitor Relations Co.,
"Volcano" ranked 5th (just below Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery),
with a 3-day weekend gross of $3,600,000
for a total so far of $38,900,000 and was on 2,636 screens for
$1,364 average -- reasonably good for the 4th week in release.
As of 28 May 1997, according to Exhibitor Relations Co.,
"Volcano" still smoked at #8, (well below the megablockbuster The Lost World: Jurassic Park,
and just below the 10th week "Liar Liar", and just above the 2nd
week of "Night falls on Manhattan" and the 5th week of "Romy and
Michele."). "Volcano" had a 3-day weekend gross of $2,300,000
for a total so far of $42,400,000 and was on 1,736 screens for
$1,330 average -- good for the 5th week in release, especially
against the super dinosaurs.
By its 10th week, "Volcano" sputtered to #18 on the
box-office list, with $300,000 weekend gross on 482 screens ($600
average) and a cumulative gross of $46,700,000. It ranked just
below Warner Bros.' "Fathers' Day" in its week #8, and just
above "Grosse Pointe Blank" in that Hollywood film's 12the week.
Reviews:
Your Humble Webmaster's favorite line: "Find me a scientist
who can tell me what the hell is going on!"
But see other quotes in Sci-Fi Attacks on Los Angeles
Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson said "Why are we trying
to employ a method of scientific analysis to this garbage? After
reading the script, it's totally fictional, totally
unrealistic. This is entertainment. I would like to leave it at
that and let Hollywood have its entertainment," and then he
asked Caltech to have its attorney write to Fox and demand that
Caltech's name not be used in the film. It is not.
Stan Williams, volcanologist at Arizona State University says
(1) the methane bubbling up in the La Brea Tar pits is from
decay of organic material underground, NOT from lava;
(2) Vulcanism is possible at Mammoth Lakes in California, near
Portland, Oregon, and other West Coast locations, but NOT Los
Angeles;
(3) The film has "a complete absence of scale", i.e. NO WAY could
lava be stopped by freeway barriers and firetrucks
Response from Laura Ziskin at Fox 2000 Pictures: "We are not
claiming this is a scientific fact. It is as likely as the
dinosaurs being brought back to life."
Metro Rail officials (Metropolitan Transportation Authority)
really really hate the scenes where their fictional counterparts
refuse to shut down the subway in the face of Los Angeles Emergency
Preparedness warnings. An insider complained to Your Humble
Webmaster that these scenes are "ripped off from the movie 'The
Money Train' because real subway officials don't play with
passengers' lives."
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "Volcano glows with
heat... mightily impressive special effects... particularly
convincing... unnerving. As written by Jerome Armstrong
and Billy Ray, 'Volcano' also manages some sly moments that
will be appreciated around town. A subway motorman reads '
Screenplays That Sell'... sense of continuous urgency...
great sense of pace... predictable implausibilities... crisp
work from its principals, especially Tommy Lee Jones...
after the horrendous dramatics of 'Twister', 'Independence Day'
and 'Dante's Peak', a disaster movie that's not a disaster
can be reason enough to smile."
Richard Corliss, Time Magazine: "You'll have a hell-lava time."
Paul Wunder, WBAI Radio: "Explosively entertaining, An
eye-popping thriller."
Jim Ferguson, Prevue Channel: "Tommy Lee Jones takes on the
forces of nature, and wins.... Take the ride--Volcano has it
all."
Don Stotter, Network One: "Non-stop excitement and suspense."
Terry Morgan, Pasadena Weekly: "Volcano blows. Latest
disaster flick sags like a leaky balloon... all that remains
after the hullabaloo is a lot of hot air... the City of Angels is
about to become angel food... The one nice thing one can say
about 'Volcano' is that the acting by the leads isn't bad.
Sadly, the script is. Director Mick Jackson is hampered by the
dreadful script as well as his cast, but brings no apparent
visual panache or flair for suspense... the screenplay by Jermone
Armstrong and Billy Ray misses its mark so completely it's
semi-astounding. The satirical or visual possibilities inherent
in trashing L.A. are mind-boggling, yet the most they came up
with was a billboard of Angelyne crashing to the ground. The
entire film remains confined to the terrifically boring setting
of the Miracle Mile area of Wilshire Boulevard. The special
effects aren't particularly special. If you want a decent
volcano film, wait for Dante's Peak on video."
Jane Horowitz, Los Angeles Times: "Lava'll keep us together,
as fast, funny disaster epic with brotherhood message proves."
David Ansen, Newsweek: "A radiant gusher of movie magma."
Shiela Benson, Cinemania Online: "One rip-roaringly
satisfying time in the dark."
Matt Levitz, Syndicated Radio: "The first great action film of
the year!"
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Warriors of Virtue
Story: in 4 words: Teenage Mutant Ninja Kangaroos;
Seems to be "Star Wars" meets "Power Rangers";
characters based on the five "elements" of Chinese alchemy,
namely "Water, Metal, Wood, Fire, and Earth."
Studio: MGM / A Law Brothers Production
Based on: "In a world beyond your wildest imagination, a battle for
the universe has begun." Well, I'll match my wildest
imagination against yours anytime, and as for "battle for the
universe", see my summary of Brian Aldiss' analysis of
Space Opera
Executive Producer: Joseph Law
Producers: Dennis Law and Ronald Law and Christoper Law and
Jeremy Law and Patricia Ruben
Screenplay: Michael Vickerman and Hugh Kelley
Novelization: Boulevard Books
Director: Ronny Yu (who helmed the wonderful "Bride with White Hair")
Editor: David Wu
Starring:
Komodo -- Angus Macfayden (Evil character is draining The
Lifesprings of Zubrium which are a fountain of youth, and
to which he is addicted).
Ryan Jeffers -- Mario Yedidia (smart kid with a brace on his leg,
who gives highschool football quarterback a winning play
and is tricked into a cruel initiation in the sewers, where
he falls into a magical world -- Tao)
Elysia -- Marley Shelton (the lovely but troubled character helps
Ryan, but embroils him in the war between the nice
Roo-Warriors and the evil Komodo)
Master Chung -- Chao-Il Chi (the character is a cross between
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Master Splinter and Star Wars'
Obi-Wan Kenobi)
Ming -- Dennis Dun
Tsun -- Adrienne Corcoran (personifies Earth and Loyalty)
Yee -- Doug Jones (personifies Metal and Righteousness)
Yun -- Jack Tate (personifies Water and Benevolence)
Lai --Don W. Lewis (personifies Wood and Order)
Willy Beest --
Chi -- J. Todd Adams (personifies Fire and Wisdom)
Mudlap -- ???
-- ???
Special Effects Director: John Gajdecki
Special Effects: Tony Gardner and Alterian Studios (Makeup and animatronics)
Production Designer: Eugenio Zanetti
Director of Photography: Peter Pau, H.K.S.C. ("Bride with White Hair",
"Double Team")
Costumes: Shirley Chan
Action Choreographer: Siu-Ming Tsui
Running Time: 1 Hour, 43 minutes
Music: Don Davis
Soundtrack: Kid Rhino
Location: Almost entirely made in Beijing, China
Warriors of Virtue official web site
Opening: 2 May 1997
Box Office: Debut weekend grossed $3,600,000 for 7th place slot.
Reviews:
John Anderson, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 97, said "Strategically
positioned for a line of its own lunch boxes... an ambitious
kung fu fantasy with a muscular visual style, a fairly
consistent level of hysteria and an admirable sense of its
own goofiness.... Manufactured mythology... magic
marsupial[s]... mystical boiler-plate... recycling is as
important a theme as the inherent cruelty of teenagers...
Much of the film is fun, but a lot is confusing... Hong Kong
director Ronny Yu keeps things fluid in the pre-Tao
sequences, and the scenes in which Ryan's wise friend Ming
displays his kung fu cooking style in the kitchen of a
neighborhood Chinese restaurant are electric. But the
fight scenes in Tao are claustrophobically tight, there's
little sense of space and the story bogs down in its own
myth and moralizing.... Half fairy tale, half thriller...
having as much of an identity crisis as Hong Kong itself.
Andy Klein, New Times, Los Angeles, 1-7 May 97: "Ronny Yu...
has managed to bypass the Jean-Claude Van Damme initiation
rites by making this children's flick... another version of
your standard 'Neverending Story/Wizard of Oz' stuff, only
less comprehensible. There are plot leaps that suggest
imprudent cutting.... It's almost shot in that weird
'step-printed' semi-slo-mo style that Sammo Hung used in
'Ashes of Time'.... moderately diverting, probably
entertaining for rugrats... a little disappointing for Yu
fans."
Barbara & Scott Siegel, Siegel Entertainment Syndicate: "Mix one
part 'Star Wars', one part 'The Wizard of Oz', with five parts
super hero kangaroo, and you've got an exuberant film."
Maria Salas, CBS-Telenoticias: "A wonderful family adventure...
for kids of all ages."
Mose Persico, CFCF-12, Montreal: "Magical... An adventure to be
shared with the entire family!"
Brandon Judell, America Online: "A classic children's film."
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Wishmaster
Story: watch out with wishes -- as many a fairytale has warned,
getting what you asked for can be horrible beyond belief
Studio: Live Entertainment
Executive Producer: {To Be Done}
Producers: {To Be Done}
Screenplay: {To Be Done}
Novelization: {To Be Done}
Director: {To Be Done}
Editor: {To Be Done}
Starring:
{To Be Done}
Special Effects Director: {To Be Done}
Special Effects: {To Be Done}
Production Designer: {To Be Done}
Director of Photography: {To Be Done}
Costumes: {To Be Done}
Action Choreographer: {To Be Done}
Running Time: {To Be Done}
Music: {To Be Done}
Soundtrack: {To Be Done}
Location: {To Be Done}
{To Be Done} official web site
Opening: {To Be Done} 1997
Box Office: In its debut week, {To Be Done}
By week #2, {To Be Done}
After 3 weeks, "Wishmaster" ranked #10, with $1,500,000 weekend
gross on 1,727 screens ($892 average), for $13,300,000
cumulative gross. It stood just below Fox Searchlight's
heart-felt working-class comedy "The Full Monty."
Reviews:
{To Be Done}
SNEAK PRE-PREVIEWS: 1998 SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS
Apt Pupil
Armageddon
The Avengers
Baby Geniuses
Blade
The Borrowers
Carrie II
Dark City
Deep Impact
Deep Rising
Dr. Dolittle
The Thirteenth Warrior (a.k.a. Eaters of the Dead)
Fallen
Godzilla
Indiana Jones 4
Instinct (a.k.a. "Ismael")
Ishmael (a.k.a. "Instinct")
Lost in Space
The Matrix
Meet Joe Black
Mighty Joe Young
Mission Impossible 2
The Mummy
My Favorite Martian
Phantoms
Practical Magic
Quest for Camelot
Return from the Planet of the Apes
Small Soldiers
Soldier
Species II: Offspring
Speed Racer
Sphere
Star Trek 9
Superman
Tarzan and the Lost City
Virus
What Dreams May Come
X-Files
X-Men
X--The Man with the X-Ray Eyes
Apt Pupil
Story: High school student uncovers Nazi war criminal in his hometown,
blackmails the Nazi to find out more about Holocaust, gets in too
deep, ends up in murder
Studio: TriStar/Phoenix Pictures (Divisions of Columbia Pictures)
Based on: Stephen King novella (King optioned the story to Singer
for $1)
Screenplay: Brandon Boyce
Producer: was to have been done in 1997 but Spelling Entertainment
pulled out. Mike Medavoy (former head of TriStar) formed his
own production company, Phoenix Pictures ("The Mirror Has Two
Faces", "The People vs Larry Flynt") and approached Bryan Singer.
Next, Jane hamsher, Tim Herbert, Kenneth Kokin, and Don Murphy
came on board.
Associate Producers: Tom DeSanto, John Ottman, Scott Rudin
Director: Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects", "Apt Pupil", "X-Men")
Cinematography: Tom Sigel
Editor: John Ottman
Starring:
Todd Bowen -- Brad Renfro (Played Huckleberry Finn in
Touchstone's "Tom and Huck", also in "Sleepers" and "The Client")
Kurt Dussander/Arthur Denker -- Sir Ian McKellen ("Richard III")
Ed French -- David Schwimmer (NBC-TV "Friends")
Mr. Bowden (Todd's dad) -- Bruce Davidson
Monica Bowden -- Ann Dowd
Victor Bowden -- James Karen
Agnes Bowden -- Marjorie Lovett
Detective Getty -- Michael Artura
Kevin Spirtas -- Kevin Blair
Ben Kramer -- Michael Byrne
Joey -- Joshua Jackson
Archie -- Elias Koteas
Becky Trask -- Heather McComb
Agent Richler -- Joe Morton
Weiskopf -- Jan Triska
Music: John Ottman
Production Design: Richard Hoover
Costume Design: Louise Mingenbach
Special Effects: ???
Location: "Santo Donato High School" is actually Elliott Middle School,
in Altadena, California, less than 2 miles from Your Humble
Webmaster.
Budget: $14,000,000
Openings: 23 October 1998 in USA (1 May 1998 Denmark, October U.K.,
5 Nov 1998 Argentina, 11 Dec 1998 Iceland, 4 Feb 1999 Germany,
15 Apr 1999 Slovakia)
Pre-Preview: Director Bryan Singer grew up in Princeton, New Jersey
as a friend of actor Ethan Hawke and screenwriters Christopher
McQuarrie (Academy Award for best original screenplay "The Usual
Suspects" directed by Bryan Singer, starring Kevin Spacey who
won best supporting actor). An adopted child, he's placed his
mother in "Apt Pupil" as a secretary and his father as a hospital
administrator.
Singer went to USC as an undergraduate and there had
McQuarrie write "Public Access" which shared the Grand Jury
Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, which led him to Spielberg
and Robert Altman who sponsored him for Directors Guild of
America, after which he directed "The Usual Suspects."
Lawsuits: Constance and Philip St.Albin allege that their 14-year-old
son Devin was forced to appear nude or nearly nude (in G-string) in a
dream sequence concentration camp shower scene without permission
and in direct violation of a strict supervision/no nudity
agreement. They filed suit against TriStar, Phoenix Pictures,
and Columbia Pictures. A second such suit has also been
rumored, involving another child actor.
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Armageddon
Story: Science Fiction adventure, probably Space Opera, involving a
meteor that threatens to wipe out human civilization, as opposed
to "Deep Impact" which is about a Comet that threatens to wipe
out human civilization. Bruce Willis, an ultra-tough oil
driller, is sent on a near-suicide mission to destroy the meteor.
Action scenes on Shuttle, Asteroid Rover, MIR space station...
Studio: Touchstone (Disney), Jerry Bruckheimer Pictures
Based on: capitalize on success of Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element
Variously described as "Sci-Fi The Dirty Dozen" and "Sundance in Space"
Screenplay: Jonathan Hensleigh (Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Jumanji,
The Rock, The Saint, Virus, Hulk [1999]),
Robert Roy Pool
Executive Producers: Jonathan Hensleigh, Chad Oman, Jim Van Wyck
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer ("Con Air", "The Rock"), Michael Bay, Gale Anne Hurd
Associate Producer: Barry H. Waldman
Director: Michael Bay ("The Rock", "Bad Boys")
Editors: Mark Goldblatt, Chris Lebenzon
Starring:
Harry Stamper (oil driller) -- Bruce Willis
NASA Administrator Truman -- Billy Bob Thornton
Grace -- Liv Tyler
A. J. Frost -- Ben Affleck
Chick -- Will Patton
Rockhound -- Steve Buscemi
Oscar Choi -- Owen Wilson
Lev Andropov -- Peter Stormare
General Kimsey -- Keith David
Jennifer Watts -- Jessica Steen
Colonel Sharp -- William Fichtner
Quincy -- Jason Isaacs
Tucker -- Anthony Guidera
Jayotis "Bear" Kurleen -- Michael Duncan
NBT Tech -- Andy Milder
Max -- Ken Hudson Campbell
Gruber -- Grayson McCouch
Colonel Davis -- Marshall R. Teague
Lt. Halsey -- Greg Collins
CBS Reporter -- Gary Rogers
??? -- ???
Special Effects: POP Film
Production Design: Michael White
Costume Design: Michael Kaplan
Music: Trevor Rabin
Budget: Disney's most expensive film ever, at $100,000,000
[according to June 1997 press release], or $150,000,000
asccording to the Los Angeles Times, or closer to $200,000,000
including marketing through July 1998.
Opening: 1 July 1998
Review:
I hated the stupid holes in the plot, even as I gasped at the
special effects. Why talk about a "Vandenburg" launch when we
see super-shuttles launch from Cape Canaveral (Vandenburg Air
Force Base was originally planned to be launching shuttles from
the California coast)? Why spend a minute in astronaut training
explaining why the asteroid's gravity was too low and so
spacesuits had special jets to keep your feet on the ground, and
then never showing that technology? How could an asteroid "as
big as Texas" (i.e. as big in cross section as Texas, since it
was not flat) not be seen until less than a week from earth, when
our telescopes today have spotted everything over ten miles
across out to Pluto? Why did Bruce Willis have to drill to
exactly 800 feet into said asteroid, instead of just 790 or so?
Why so much banal dialogue, barely rescued by good actors? Why
such a loud, crude, dumb, manipulative Sci Fi disaster movie ...
when with a little more effort, a classic Science Fiction film
could have been crafted? It's not from a lack of money, that's
for sure. And I can't fault Disney/Touchstone from laughing all
the way to the bank. But what a wasted opportunity.
Box Office: Is "Armageddon" a hit or not? It drew a hefty $36,100,000
weekend gross in its debut (3-5 July 1998) on 3,127 screens for
a powerful $11,541 per-screen average, and $54,200,000 gross by
the end of week #1, good enough to be ranked #1 (comfortably
above Dr. Dolittle) but that was well below the $41,200,000
with which the very similar Deep Impact opened.
Any executive producer or studio boss would murder to get such box office
receipts, and yet it under-performed for this highly desirable
holiday weekend -- when Men In Black and Independence Day scored
mega-hit openings in the two previous summers. Fortunately for
Disney, that studio had 3 other movies in the top 10 that same
week (Mulan; Six Days, Seven Nights; and The Horse Whisperer).
Week #2: to be done
During week #3, ranked #3, with a 3-day gross of
$16,600,000 on 3,184 screens ($5,211 average) for a cumulative
gross of $129,100,000. It ranked just below the 2nd week of the
Warner Bros. hit "Lethal Weapon 4" in that film's 2nd week, and
just above the debut of 20th Century Fox bad-taste comedy smash
"Something About Mary" (which cost only $25,000,000 to make, and
might have domestic gross of $100,000,000).
Week #4 saw "Armageddon" ranked #5, with a 3-day gross of
$11,200,000 on 3,127 screens ($3,569 average) for a cumulative
gross of $149,600,000. It ranked just below the 2nd week of the
20th Century Fox bad-taste comedy smash "Something About Mary"
and right above Dr. Dolittle
This answered the question "Is "Armageddon" a hit
or not?" with a resounding "yes!" It is a mega-moneymaker, with
projected domestic box-office receipts of $185,000,000 (and these
domestic grosses are typically just 55% of gross, or 20% of
final revenue, which includes overseas theatrical, video, and TV
income).
Week #5 saw "Armageddon" slip to #8, with a 3-day gross of
$7,600,000 on 2,491 screens ($3,035 average) for a cumulative
gross of $163,100,000. It ranked just below the 4th week of the
Warner Bros. hit "Lethal Weapon 4", and right above the 6th week
of Dr. Dolittle
Week #6 {to be done}
Week #7 allowed "Armageddon" to cling to the top 10 at #10,
with a 3-day gross of $4,100,000 on 1,786 screens ($2,317 average)
for a cumulative gross of $180,000,000. It ranked just below the
3rd week of the Warner Bros. action flick "The Negotiator"
and right above {to be done} in the week marked by the debuts
of Fox's "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" (at #2) and Warner Bros.'
The Avengers (at #3).
Week #8 revealed "Armageddon" at #13, with $2,700,000
weekend gross on 1423 screens ($1,922 average) and cumulative
gross of $185,000,000. It ranked just below Warner Bros.'
comedy "Wrongfully Accused" in its debut week, and just above
the 4th week of the Warner Bros. action flick "The Negotiator."
Week #9 showed "Armageddon" ranked #12, with $188,500,000
cumulative gross, projected to reach $195,000,000 domestically
before being retired to stud in overseas, television, and video.
By Tuesday, 8 September 1998, after the 4-day Labor Day
Weekend (The USA's traditional end of the cinematic summer
season), "Armageddon" was clearly the summer's biggest trosser,
yet also the summer's most expensive film. It is now projected
to gross $195,000,000 domestically and perhaps $250,000,000 in
overseas revenues yet to come, plus significant ancillary
revenue. Although slightly slowed by the release of the
thematically similar Deep Impact opened.
it is still a super-profitable movie because it has only one
minor profit participant. In combination with the animated
"Mulan" (with estimated worldwide gross of $350,000,000 and huge
video and merchandising revenues), "Armageddon" helped Disney
become the #1 studio in Summer 1998, with some $530,000,000
domestic gross from 6 films, half of which are profitable
("Armageddon", "Mulan", and "The Parent Trap"). Disney also had
good gross from "The Horse Whisperer" (cost $75,000,000 and
domestic gross estimated $75,000,000) and "Six Days, Seven
Nights" (cost $65,000,000 and domestic gross estimated
$72,000,000), but those two had large production and marketing
expenses, and will neither make nor lose much money. Only the
parody "Mafia!" (cost $30,000,000 and estimated domestic gross
$21,000,000) was a clear loser for Disney in Summer 1998.
At the end of week #12, "Armageddon" rebounded to #9, with
$1,300,000 weekend gross on 1,259 screens ($997 average) and cumulative
gross of $195,800,000. It ranked just below week #8 of Fox's
marginally Fantastic little-girl-flick "Ever After" (which now
had $59,600,000 cumulative), and just above Paramount's thriller
"Snake Eyes" in that film's 7th week.
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The Avengers
Story: British super-agents pitted against a brilliant mad scientist
in a battle that will rock the British Empire, and possibly the world,
but John Steed will not lose his bowler hat nor mess up his tie, and
Emma Peel will not disturb her hair-do. And didn't that mad
scientist used to be a British super-agent himself? Oh, that was another
series of movies....
Studio: Warner Bros.
Based on: the 1961 TV series of the same name (and "The New Avengers" [1976])
1960s: Science Fiction TV 1960-1969
Screenplay: Don MacPherson (from TV series written by Sydney Newman)
Executive Producer: Susan Ekins (Executive Producer of: Soldier [1998],
Vegas Vacation [1997]; Associate Producer: The Specialist [1994],
Pure Country [1992], The Karate Kid II [1986])
Producer: Jerry Weintraub
Director: Jeremiah Chechik (Diabolique [1996], Tall Tale [1994],
Benny & Joon [1993], National lampoon's Christmas Vacation [1989])
1st Assistant Director: Terry Needham
2nd Assistant Director: Adam Somner
Cinematography: Roger Pratt
Editor: Mick Audsley
Starring:
John Steed -- Ralph Fiennes
Emma Peel -- Uma Thurman
Sir August de Wynter (Mad Scientist) -- Sean Connery
??? -- Eileen Atkins
Mother -- Jim Broadbent
Bailey (De Wynter's Assistant) -- Eddie Izzard
Bully Boy -- Shaun Ryder
Father -- Fiona Shaw
Alice -- Eileen Atkins
Trubshaw -- John Wood
Invisible Jones (voice) -- Patrick Macnee (John Steed on TV series)
Special Effects: Cinesite (Europe) Ltd., The Computer Film Company
Production Design: Stuart Craig
Music: Michael Kamen, Joel McNeely
Costume Design: Anthony Powell
Stunts: Dickey Beer
Production Manager: Gerry Toomey
2nd Unit Production Coordinator: Emma Mager
2nd Unit Production Manager: Michael Murray
Budget: $65,000,000
Rumors: Filming has wrapped in February 1998, and post-production is
underway, after a June 1997 fire swept through the Pinewood Studios
set, and some sets had to be rebuilt.
Rumors that the film was a miscast bomb flickered through
The Industry when Warner Bros. refused to give free screenings
of the film to critics. But the opening week's gross showed
that ordinary Americans were brought into theatres by the
stylish trailers and TV ads, plus memories of the sometimes
superb television show.
Opening: 14 August 1998 (slipped from Spring 1998 to 26 June 1998)
Web: Opening Prospero's Books
Very good fan-created web site. The name refers to
Shakespeare's "The Tempest" (at the end of which the magician
Prospero breaks his magic wand and throws his books of magic into
the ocean)
Box Office: "The Avengers" opened at #3, with $10,300,000 weekend
gross on 2,466 screens ($4,179 average).
DreamWorks/Paramount's "Saving Private Ryan" was in its 4th week
at #1, and Fox's "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" opened just
ahead of "The Avengers" with $11,300,000 weekend gross.
The film was now projected to be a modest money loser, with an
projected $32,000,000 in domestic box office recipts -- only half
what the film was estimated to have cost. Eventual gross will
show the loss even though U.S. receipts (roughly 55% of gros)
make up only about 20% of the ultimate revenue (which includes
overseas theatrical, video, and television revenue streams).
In week #2, "The Avengers" plummeted 64%, with $3,700,000 weekend
gross on 2,466 screens ($1,486 average). This dropped it to #10
rating, just below Disney's 4th week of the remake of "The
Parent Trap." Cumulative gross was now $17,800,000. This was
projected to be $25,000,000 in eventual US box-office receipts,
and since the film cost $65,000,000 to make, it is horrible news
for Warner Bros. -- a big loss when they needed a big profit.
By Tuesday, 8 September 1998, after the 4-day Labor Day
Weekend (The USA's traditional end of the cinematic summer
season), it became sadly clear that "The Avengers" was one of
the 2 worst money-losers of the season. It cost $65,000,000 to
make and market, yet was now projected to expect only $23,000,000
in domestic receipts. To summarize Warner Bros. results for
Summer 1998, they raked in over $300,000,000 for their 8 summer
releases, but not one was a definitive cash cow. The best
results were from "Lethal Weapon 4" which cost $135,000,0000
and is estimated to earn $130,000,000 domestically plus
$300,000,000 overseas, and yet is a borderline perfomer because
of its major profit participants. 2 other summer releases look
like break-even cases because their grosses did not cover high
costs: "The Negotiator" (cost $45,000,000 and domestic gross
estimated $42,000,000) and "A Perfect Murder" (cost $65,000,000
and estimated domestic gross $68,000,000). Another 2 summer
releases will at least not lose much cash: "Why Do Fools Fall In Love"
(cost $18,000,000 and estimated domestic gross $10,000,000) and
"Wrongfully Accused" (cost $22,000,000 and estimated domestic
gross $10,000,000). But Warner Bros. was seriously hurt by the 2
biggest losers of the summer: "The Avengers" and "The Quest for
Camelot" (cost $80,000,000 and estimated domestic gross
$23,000,000).
Reviews: {to be done}
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Baby Geniuses
Story: Two mad scientists are trying to crack the Baby Talk code, but
a bunch of cute high-IQ babies try to stop them by wrecking the
laboratory
Studio: Crystal Sky Communications, Inc. / Triumph / Sony Pictures Entertainment
Based on: "Rugrats" meets "Hackers", story by Steven Paul
Screenplay: Bob Clark, Steven Paul
Story: Steven Paul
Producers: Steven Paul (1997: Boys Will Be Boys, 1997: The Protector,
1996: Bombshell, 1996: Exit in Red, 1996: Whispering, 1995:
Hourglass, 1994: A Million to Juan, Co-Producer of NYPD Blue [TV]);
David Saunders
Director: Bob Clark (The Ransom of Red Chief [TV, 1996], Derby [TV, 1995],
Fudge-A-Mania [TV, 1995], Stolen Memories [TV, 1995], It Runs In
The Family [1994], Arthur Miller's The American Clock [TV, 1993])
Cinematography: Stephen M. Katz
Starring:
Dr. Elena Kinder -- Kathleen Turner
Dr. Heap -- Christopher Lloyd
??? -- Kim Cattrall
??? -- Dom DeLuise
??? -- Ruby Dee
??? -- Kyle Howard
Sly/Witt (voice) -- Miko Hughes
??? -- Peter MacNicol
??? -- Randy Travis
??? (voice) -- Seth Adkins
??? -- Kaye Ballard
??? -- Kim Cattrall
??? -- ???
Special Effects: Michael Burnett Productions, Inc.:
computers morph infants so that they seem to be talking
Digital Compositor: John Cornejo (CVFX)
Mrs.Turner's Costumer: Cynthia Flowers
Stunt Coordinator: Michael R. Long
Budget:
Opening: 10 April 1998
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Blade
Story: Wesley Snipes is half-human, half-vampire, because a vampire
bit his mother while she was pregnant, but he is all-too-human
as he tries to save people from Vampires. The vampires have
their claws into every important aspect of human society -- they
own the police, they are heavily into a high-tech portfolio, and
their ruling council is split on whether to remain underground
or to openly rule their human prey. Snipes, as Blade, must stop
them from unleashing the blood god on an unsuspecting world...
Studio: Forces / Amen Ra Films / New Line Cinema
Based on: adapted from a comic, in turn loosely based on "Interview with
the Vampire" meets "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." As Screenwriter
David S. Goyer puts it: "He's similar to the Clint Eastwood character
in 'Unforgiven.' Blade's struggling against his own fear and his
own confused sense of his identity. He doesn't belong in either
world, but when he's faced with killing vampires, he's faced with
killing himself."
Screenplay: David S. Goyer ("Dark City", "The Crow: City of Angels",
"Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." [from Marvel comix, produced
in May 1998 as a 2-hour TV movie for Fox Television). David
grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, loved "Incredible Hulk" and
"Spider-Man" comix, and figured he'd grow up to be a homicide
detective. But he won national short fiction awards while
still in high school, and was accepted to Film School at USC.
He perfected his craft on action flicks for Jean-Claude
Van Damme and Steven Seagal. "Comics helped me to fill a void,"
he told John Polly of The Los Angeles Times (25 Aug 98, p.F1),
"teaching me about right and wrong, courage and justice. I also
like that superheroes tend to be working outside the system and
are pretty flawed. That's what makes them attractive."
Executive Producers: Avi Arad, Joseph Calamari, Lynn Harris, Peter Frankfurt,
Stan Lee
Producers: Avi Arad, Rober Engelman, Stan Lee, Wesley Snipes
Co-Producer: Andrew J. Horne
Director: Stephen Norrington (alien creature effects on 1992 "Alien 3",
make up of Grand High Witch in 1990 "The Witches", mechanical
character designs of 1985 "Return to Oz")
Cinematography: Theo Van de Sande (Volcano;
"Colors Straight Up" [1997]; "Bushwacked" [1995]; "Wet" [1995];
"Exit to Eden" [1994]; Swalows Never Die in Jerusalem" [1994];
"It Was a Wonderful Life" [1993]; "Wayne's World" [1992];
"Eyes of an Angel" [1991]; "Once Around" [1991]; "Big Girls Don't
Cray... They Get Even" [1991]; "Body Parts" [1991]; "Let the
Good Times Roll" [1991]; "The First Power" [1990]; Miracle
Mile" [1989]; "Rooftops" [1989]; "Crossing Delancey" [1988];
"The Alien" [1980]; many other credits]
Editor: Paul Rubell
Starring:
Blade -- Wesley Snipes
Deacon Frost -- Stephen Dorff ("Blood and Wine"; "City of Industry")
Abraham Whistler -- Kris Kristofferson
Palentine (Vampire Lord) -- Judson Scott
Pearl -- Eric Edwards
Mercury -- Arly Jover
Dragonetti -- Udo Kier
Quinn -- Donal Logue
Racquel -- Traci Lords
Krieger -- Kevin Patrick Walls
Karen (hematologist) -- N'Bushe Wright (Dead Presidents)
Curtis Webb -- Tim Guinee
Vanessa -- Sanaa Lathan
Nurse -- Donna Wong
Senior Resident -- Carmen Thomas
Resident -- Shannon Lee
Heatseeking Dennis -- Kenneth Johnson
Creepy Morgue Guy -- Clint Curtis
Pallantine -- Judson Scott
Japanese Doorman (as Sidney Liufau) -- Sidney Liufau
Kam -- Keith Leon Williams
Paramedic -- Andray Johnson
Paramedic -- Stephen R. Peluso
Pragmatic Policeman -- Marcus Aurelius
Blood Club Bouncer -- John Enos III
Martial Arts Kid (as Eboni Adams) -- Eboni "Chrystal" Adams
Reichardt -- Lyle Conway
Menacing Stud -- Freeman White III
Vampire Underling -- D. V. DeVincente
Frost's Goon -- Marcus Salgado
Frost's Goon -- Esau McKnight, Jr.
Von Esper -- Erl
Crease -- Matt Schultze
Pleading Goon -- Lennox Brown
Party Girl -- Yvette Ocampo
Slavic Vampire Lord -- Irena Stepic
Russian Woman -- Jenya Lano
Russian Vampire -- Levani
Special Effects: Blue Sky/VIFX (digital visual effects, miniature
photography); Image Savant / Digiscope / Flat Earth Productions /
Post Logic /Wildcat Digital Effects (digital wire removal) / 525
Post Productions (digital compositing) / The Production Plan, Inc.
Visual Effect Producer: Matthew Justice
Special Make-up: Greg Cannom
Production Design: Kirk M. Petrucelli
Costume Design: Sanja Milkovic Hays
Music: Mark Isham
Budget: $45,000,000
Rumors: Screenwriter David S. Goyer is now crafting a script for Eddie Murphy,
producing TV shows, and collaborating on a comic book series for
DC Comics. He is attached to "Evermere" -- the first of a
trilogy of fantasy epics "It's kind of like 'The Wizard of Oz'
for grownups" joked David, who wrote and will serve as Executive
Producer in a new company fopunded by Andy Vajna and Mario
Kassar (former heads of Carolco). He's also co-producing a
fact-based "Mission to Mars" for Hollywood Pictures, about the
first manned voyage to the Red Planet.
Openings: 21 August 1998 (USA); September 1998 (U.K.), 6 October 1998 (Australia),
30 October 1998 (Denmark), 7 January 1999 (Germany)
Box Office: "Blade" stunned the industry by opening at #1, knocking
DreamWorks' megahit out of 1st place (where it had reigned 4 weeks).
"Blade" had 3-day gross of $17,100,000 (compared to $10,100,000
for "Saving Private Ryan"), running on 2,322 screens ($7,353 average).
Projected domestic gross was put at $55,000,000 -- so it
remained a toss-up whether "Blade" would be a minor moneymaker,
or a major moneymaker. Only later weeks would tell the story.
The media focussed attention on both the charismatic star, Wesley
Snipes, and the writer, David S. Goyer.
In week #2, "Blade" remained in 1st place, with $10,900,000
3-day weekend gross on 2,351 screens ($4,647 average) and
cumulative domestic gross of $34,700,000. This was a drop of
only 35% from week #1 to week #2 (an unsually good figure), so
the projected domestic gross was inched upwards to $60,000,000.
"Blade" ranked above Fox's "Something About Mary", which in a
rare maneuver actually rose from #3 in its 6th week to #2 in its
7th week (partly because of adding 215 screens to 2,401 total,
partly by marketing and word-of-mouth) and $116,200,000
cumulative gross (now project to $150,000,000).
By Tuesday, 8 September 1998, after the 4-day Labor Day
Weekend (The USA's traditional end of the cinematic summer
season), it became clear that New Line will either break even or
even show a slight profit from "Blade" -- once the foreign
revenue rolls in. We eagerly await a sequel in the 2000 A.D.
timeframe -- this is one Independent studio that's done it right.
Week #4: {to be done}
Week #5 saw "Blade" ranked #7, with $3,300,000 weekend gross
on 2,375 screens ($1,374 average) and a cumulative domestic
gross of $61,300,000. It stood just below the 9th week of
DreamWork's World War II masterpiece "Saving Private Ryan", and
just above the 8th week of Fox's girl fantasy "Ever After."
Reviews: I saw this film 7 September 1998 with my 9-year-old son, and
we both enjoyed it very, very much. The fast-paced martial-arts
scenes were wonderfully choreographed and technically very
accurate (according to a 5th degree black belt sword fighter I
consulted). The deft balance of Dark Fantasy and Science Fiction
was unusually effective -- the range from "the vampire bible" to
high-tech computer archives was exciting. The acting was
impeccable -- Wesley Snipes is a major, major star now. The
pace, sets, production design, camera work, music -- all belnded
to a seamless heart-throbbing thriller. I think we'll go see it
again.
- Blade : une critique!
- MovieGuru.com
- eye WEEKLY
- Film Ink - Executive Summary
- Journal Now
- New York Times (registration required)
- Salon Magazine
- Screen It! (spoilers)
- San Francisco Chronicle
- San Francisco Examiner
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Critic:
Snipes Plays Stylish Vampire Hunter in Well-Cut `Blade'
(Friday, 21 August 1998): "Wesley Snipes' ``Blade'' has vampires, guns with silver bullets and
pale bodies that blister and explode in the sun. It has big acting,
big effects and enough big noise and quick cutting to scare off
anyone not used to going to the movies these days.
Yet don't dismiss ``Blade'' as a typical thriller or as some
kind of inflated style piece -- there's more than that going on. Big
as it is, ``Blade'' is meticulous and subtle, not just in its camera
technique but in the way it works its themes and creates a mood.
I love the way director Stephen Norrington uses odd little
one- and two-second shots. Sometimes he does it to convey
information. For example, he suggests that a woman might be turning
into a vampire by giving us a split-second, overexposed shot of the
street as seen through her eyes. Are her eyes getting sensitive to
bright light, by any chance?
Other times Norrington will throw in a shot for no reason
except that it has a subconscious rightness. A brief flash of a young
blond vampire baring her teeth ends one sequence. The shot is sexy,
scary and weird, and it comes out of nowhere. ``Blade'' feels of a piece.
It feels like the director was in tune with the material and knew what
he was doing.
The main thing Norrington was doing was making nice, fat,
industrial-sized pop entertainment, and he compromises nothing on
that score. ``Blade,'' which opens today, is based on the Marvel
Comics series. It's about a stalker of vampires (Snipes) who has some
vampire blood himself, which gives him special powers.
Vampires can run faster and jump higher, but their most
interesting quality is their eyesight. Like a bird, they're capable
of processing visual information faster than we can. That's why, when
the film shows things through a vampire's eyes, everything is speeded
up and has a throbbing strobe effect. But when we see humans through
the eyes of a vampire, they seem to be going in slow motion.
As Blade, Snipes looks great. What an outfit: black leather
coat, leather vest, black sunglasses, Grace Jones hairstyle. Like
Jean-Claude Van Damme, this is one action hero who is not going to
let a life-and-death struggle with the forces of evil get in the way
of his weekly salon appointments. I admire that.
Blade isn't feeling good, though. In addition to the
physical complications having to do with vampire blood, he's
emotionally screwed up. As an infant, he lost his mother to a
vampire. The search for Mommy is an underlying motif and informs his
relationship with Karen (N'Bushe Wright), a gorgeous hematologist he
has to protect.
Stephen Dorff... who is getting very good at playing smirky
young villains, is Deacon Frost, an up-and-coming vampire. In the world
of ``Blade,'' vampires are a powerful, unseen influence on every aspect
of human society. Too flamboyant to hide in the shadows, Frost wants
to dominate humans.
The picture sets up a conflict between ``pure-blood''
establishment vampires and the decadent breed of youngsters who just
want to pillage and have fun. While Blade is on a
metaphorical search for Mom, Frost is out to kill Daddy.
The production design and cinematography -- beautiful sets,
beautifully lit -- are worth special attention. In the board
room where the top vampires meet, everything is dark blue and
shadowy, the faces pale and bluish. Everyone looks as if he could use
a good meal."
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The Borrowers
Story: 4-inch-tall "Borrowers" live undetected in the home of the
"human bean" family "The Lenders", until nasty banker/land
developer John Goodman sets about to evict or destroy them
Studio: Working Titles Film UK / PolyGram
Based on: the children's novels of the same name by Mary Norton,
who also wrote the books that became the Disney film "Bedknobs
and Broomsticks"
(see her bibliography in Authors-N)
Screenplay: Gavin Scott and John Kamps
Executive Producer: Walt deFaria
Producers: Tom Bevan, Eric Fellner
Co-Producers: Liza Chasin, Debra Hayward, Richard Talalay
Line Producer: Mary Richards
Director: Peter Hewitt ("Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey")
Cinematography: Trevor Brooker, John Fenner
Editor: David Freeman
Starring:
Ocious P. Potter -- John Goodman
Pod Clock (head of the Borrower family) -- Jim Broadbent
Homily Clock -- Celia Imrie
Officer Steady -- Hugh Laurie
Peagreen Clock -- Tom Felton
Arrietty Clock -- Flora Newbigin
Exterminator Jeff -- Mark Williams
Peter Lender -- Bradley Pierce
Spiller -- Raymond Pickard
Joe Lender -- Aden Gillett
Victoria Lender -- Doon Mackichen
City Hall Clerk -- Ruby Wax
Dustbunny -- Andrew Dunford
Minty -- Bob Goody
Swag -- Patrick Monkton
Milk Man -- Dick Ward
Wrigley -- George Yiasoumi
Special Effects: The Moving Picture Company, The Film Factory at VTR,
FrameStore
Visual Effects Supervisor: Peter Chiang
Production Design: Gemma Jackson
Art Director: Andrew Ackland-Snow
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
Costume Design: Marie France
Budget: $29,000,000
Opening: 13 February 1998
Box Office:
Premier week: "The Borrowers" had a 4-day opening weekend gross
of $6,100,000 on 1,535 screens ($3,958 average) which was good
enough for a #6 ranking, just below the 8th week of
Sony/TriStar's "As Good As It Gets" and just above the 2nd week
of Sony/Columbia's "The Replacement Killers."
Week #2 marked a 34% drop in revenues, to a #7 ranking (beneath
the 9th week of "As Good As It Gets"; and just above the debut of
Sony/Columbia's "Palmetto." "The Borrowers" had a weekend gross of
$4,000,000 on 1,593 screens ($2,518 average) for a cumulative domestic
gross of $11,200.000.
In Week #3, "The Borrowers" slipped slightly to 4-day weekend gross
of $2,800,000 on 1,606 screens ($1,763 average) which was good
enough for a #7 ranking, just below the debut of Disney/Touchstone's
"Krippendorf's Tribe" and just above the 2nd week of Dimension's
"Senseless" and a cumulative domestic gross of $14,500.000.
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Carrie II
Story:
Studio: United Artists, distributed by MGM-UA
Executive Producer:
Producers: Paul Monash
Based on: Sequel to Brian DePalma's "Carrie" released 1976,
which in turn was based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King
Screenplay: Rafael Moreu, Howard Rodman
Director: Robert Mandel
Editor: Richard Nord
Starring:
Sue Snell -- Amy Irving
Carrie -- Emily Bergl
??? -- Jason London
??? -- Dylan Bruno
??? -- Zachery Ty Bryan
Chuck -- Elijah Craig
Tracy -- Charlotte Lopez
??? -- Rachel Blanchard
Karen, Jr. D.A. -- Teddi Siddal
??? -- Justin Urich
??? -- ???
Locations: North Carolina (shooting in May 1998)
Special Effects: ???
Opening: 1999 (slipped from 1998)
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Dark City
Story: John Murdoch discovers that his memories are fake, and so his very
life may be a construct. He has awakened in a hotel room and
soon finds out that he is wanted for a series of grotesque
murders. He stumbles on an underworld group ("The Strangers")
who are made up like Murnau's Nosferatu, can distort reality,
who seem to able to stop the flow of time, and to change the
people resident in the city. John Murdoch must now stop "The
Strangers", prevent them from changing him or taking over his
mind, and find out who he really is.
His estranged wife, torchsinger Emma Murdoch, and the
credulous Inspector Burnstead, try to figure out "The Strangers",
who do evil things with knives, and why everyone but John go
unconscious at midnight and lose all memory of the previous hours.
Studio: Mystery Clock, New Line Cinema
Title: has meandered from "Dark World" to "Dark Empire" to "Dark City"
Based on: loosely on the ontological/epistemological fiction of Philip K. Dick
Authors: D
or maybe Dick meets Kafka where Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" joins
Tim Burton's "Gotham City"
Screenplay: Lem Dobbs, David S. Goyer, Alex Proyas
Producers: Andrew Mason, Alex Proyas
Director: Alex Proyas (from Australia) ("The Crow" -- 1994)
Cinematography: Darlusz Wolski
Editor: Dov Heonig
Starring:
Inspector Frank Burnstead -- William Hurt
John Murdoch -- Rufus Sewell ("Carrington")
Dr. Daniel Poe Schreber -- Kiefer Sutherland
Emma Murdoch/Anna -- Jennifer Connelly
May -- Melissa George
Mr. Hand -- Richard O'Brien
Mr. Book -- Ian Richardson
Mr. Wall -- Bruce Spence
Mr. Rain -- Nicholas Bell
Mr. Sleep -- Satya Gumbert
Mr. Sleep filiming double -- Noah Gumbert
Mr. Quick -- Frederick Miragliotta
Eddie Walenski -- Colin Friels
Karl Harris -- John Bluthal
Husselbeck -- Mitchell Butel
Stromboli -- Frank Gallacher
Hotel Manager/Vendoe -- Ritchie Singer
Taxi Driver -- Justin Monjo
Stranger -- Peter Sommerfeld
Stranger -- Jeanette Cronin
Assistant Stranger -- Paul Livingston
Assistant Stranger -- Michael lake
Schreiber's Assistant -- David Wenham
Automat Cop -- Alan Cinis
Automat Cop -- Bill Highfield
Mr. Goodwin -- Terry Bader
Mrs. Goodwin -- Rosemary Traynor
others {to be done}
Special Effects: DFILM Services
Visual Effects producer/Supervisor: Mara Bryan
Production Design: George Liddle, Patrick Tatopolous
Custom Design: Liz Keogh
Music: Trevor Jones
Opening: 27 February 1998 (slipped from Fall/Holiday 1997)
Running Time: 1 hour, 42 minutes
Box Office: The debut 4-day gross of $5,600,000 was the weekend's
strongest opening, good enough for a #4 ranking, below the 11th
week of "Titanic", the 3rd week of "The Wedding Singer", and the
13th week of "Good Will Hunting." The wide following was seen
at 1,754 screens (average $3,180).
After 2 weeks in release, "Dark City" had weekend gross of
$2,800,000 on 1,754 screens ($1,618 average) for a #9 ranking,
just below Sony/TriStar's "As Good As It Gets" (11th week) and
just above PolyGram's fantasy "The Borrowers" (4th week).
"Dark City" now had a cumulative
gross of $10,200,000.
Reviews:
Stephen Holden, The New York Times: "Relentlessly trippy! It
could easily inspire a daredevil cult of moviegoers who go
back again and again to experience its mind-bending twists
and turns. It's a visually arresting ride."
Roger Ebert, Siskel & Ebert: "'Dark City' is one of the year's
best films! It's an astonishing visual and dramatic triumph."
Richard Corliss, Time Magazine: "Luscious and chilling, 'Dark City'
is a reminder of how sensuous movie watching can be. It's
a wonder to see."
Dennis Lim, Village Voice: "An eye-popping convolution of
neogothic fantasy and old-school sci-fi paranoia."
Jeffrey Lyons, WNBC-TV: "'Dark City' is a fascinating, bizarre
and brilliantly conceived thriller."
Marshall Fine, Gannett Newspapers: "'Dark City' is fascinating,
visionary filmmaking. The most unique-looking film in
ages. A frightening dream, a dizzying trip."
Thelma Adams, New York Post: "It does what no other movie has
done so far this year: grip an audience with its sheer
visual intensity and deliver a clear, concise humanist
message."
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Deep Impact
Story: A comet prepares to smash into the Earth, and three
simultaneous plot-lines converge on an equally inevitable
trajectory. Director Mimi Leder paid advisors including comet
scientists and astronauts, and didn't seem to make much use of
their expertise. After all, the race was on to beat the 1 July 1998
release date of Armageddon.
Studio: Zanuck/Brown Productions / DreamWorks SKG / Paramount
Executive Producers: Joan Bradshaw, Walter F. Parkes, Steven Spielberg
Producers: David Brown, Richard D. Zanuck, D. Scott Easton (Associate)
Based on: ???
Screenplay: Bruce Joel Rubin, Michael Tolkin
Director: Mimi Leder ("The Peacemaker", TV's "ER")
2nd Unit Director: Tom Priestley, Jr. (L.A., 2nd unit Director of Photography)
2nd Unit Director: Mark Vargo (Washington DC, 2nd unit Director of Photography)
Cinematography: Dietrich Lohmann
Editors: Paul Cichocki, David Rosenbloom
Assistant Editor: Peter G. Parise
Starring:
Spurgeon Tanner (Aging Astronaut) -- Robert Duvall
Jenny Lerner -- Tea Leoni
Leo Biederman -- Elijah Wood
Robein Lerner -- Vanessa Redgrave
Jason Lerner -- Maximillian Schell
U.S. President Beck -- Morgan Freeman
Alan Rittenhouse -- James Cromwell
Oren Monash -- Ron Eldard
Gus Partena -- Jon Favreau
Beth Stanley -- Laura Innes
Andrea Baker -- Mary McCormick
Don Biederman -- Richard Schiff
Sarah Hotchner -- Leelee Sobieski
Mark Simon -- Blair Underwood
Eric Vennekor -- Dougray Scott
Chuck Hotchner -- Gary Werntz
Stuart Caley -- Bruce Weitz
Ellen Biederman -- Betsy Brantley
Morten Entrekin -- O'Neal Compton
Chloe -- Rya Kihlstedt
Vicky Hotchner -- Denise Crosby
Mikhail Tulchinsky -- Alexander Baluyev
Marcus Wolf -- Charles Martin Smith
Fleeing Pedestrian -- Len Berdick (uncredited)
McCloud -- W. Earl Brown
??? -- Charles Dumas
Refugee -- Phil Haven (uncredited)
Astronomy Club Member -- Joel Nater, Jr. (uncredited)
Locations: big tidal wave sequence in Washington DC wrapped,
one other impact being filmed now
Budget: $75,000,000
Special Effects: Industrial Light & Magic
Visual Effects Producer: Denise Ream
Visual Effects Supervisors: Scott Farrar, Michael Lantieri
Visual Effects Co-Supervisor: Bill George
Visual Effect Coordinator: Harrison Zanuck
Display Graphics Supervisor: Todd A. Marks
Technical Director/Sequence Supervisor: Tom Martinek
Art Directors: Gary Kosko, Andrew Neskoromny, Tom Valentine
Set Designers: Josh Lusby, Richard F. Mays, Suzan Torres, Dean Wolcott
Casting: Allison Jones
Music: James Horner
Costume Design: Ruth Myers
Stunt Coordinators: M. James Arnett, Charles Croughwell
Runtime: 120 minutes
Opening: 8 May 1998
Box Office: "Deep Impact" smashed onto American screens with a debut
at the #1 box-office spot, with $41,200,000 weekend gross.
As it was to turn out, this was a better opening than the
similarly-themed and later-released Armageddon
which was to open with $36,100,000 in the essential 4th of July weekend.
In week #2, "Deep Impact" stayed in the #1 spot, earning
$23,300,000 in the 3-day weekend on x,xxx screens (average
$7,299) for a total gross of $74,000,000.
The film beat Robert Redford's "The Horse Whisperer", which
opened at #2 with $14,000,000. Warner Bros.' animated "Quest
for Camelot" debuted at #3, with a disappointing $6,400,000.
Weeks #3-#8 {to be done}
Week #9 saw "Deep Impact" ranked at #14, with weekend gross
of $800,000 on 1,116 screens ($699 average) and cumulative gross
of $137,200,000. That week, "Deep Impact" ranked just above
Columbia's "Can't Hardly Wait" and just below the 7th week of Godzilla.
By Tuesday, 8 September 1998, after the 4-day Labor Day
Weekend (The USA's traditional end of the cinematic summer
season), it was obvious that "Deep Impact" was one of the 8
biggest super-money-makers for the summer season, with costs of
around $88,000,000 for making and marketing easily offset by
estimated domestic gross of $140,000,000. This was the surprise
hit, despite its early release in th season, and has now raked in
beyond $300,000,000 in overseas gross. Even though Paramount
had to split the profits with DreamWorks, they also split the
cost with them, and so they still do quite well. The same
partnership split costs and profits on "Saving Private Ryan" --
another of the summer's Big 8 (cost $65,000,000 and estimated
domestic gross $190,000,000). "The Truman Show" (cost
$65,000,000 and estimated domestic gross $125,000,000) was
another huge summer hit (as well as an Oscar likely) and because
of the lack of profit participation, surely the studio's #1
profit center. "Dead Man on Campus" (cost $12,000,000 and
estimated domestic gross $15,000,000) will eke out a small
profit. The only loser of the studio's 4 summer films was the
thriller "Snake Eyes" (cost $70,000,000 and estimated domestic
gross $55,000,000) where at least Paramount shares the pain with
partner Disney -- and the film could end up with a slight loss or
a slight gain, it's too easy to say.
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Deep Rising
Story: Cruise ship is taken over by something really creepy from the
bottom of the deep blue sea -- sea-monsters with tentacles
Studio: Hollywood
Executive Producer: Barry Bernardi
Producers: Laurence Mark and John Baldecchi
Based on: ???
Screenplay: ???
Director: Steve Sommers ("The Jungle Book")
Starring:
John Finnegan -- Treat Williams
Hanover -- Wes Studi [as leader of the hijackers]
Trillian -- Famke Janssen
Pantucci -- Kevin J. O'Connor
Locations: Burnaby (British Columbia) for high-seas and underwater
(purporting to be the South China Sea)
Special Effects: ???
Opening: Feb 1998 (slipped from October 1997)
Box Office:
Debut Week: "Deep Rising" opened with a 3-day weekend gross
of $4,700,000. This gave it a rank of #8, just below New Line's
prescient "Wag the Dog" (week #6), and just above Warner Bros.'
"Fallen" (week #3).
Week #2, had a weekend gross of $2,500,000 on 1,788 screens
($1,408 average) for a cumulative gross of $8,400,000. This
week, it ranked #10, just below the 2nd week of TriStar's
"Desperate Measures" and just above Warner Bros.' 4th week of
"Fallen"
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Dr. Dolittle
Story: The 20th Century Dr. Dolittle had a childhood ability to talk
with animals, but repressed it completely, until he just misses
crashing his car into stray dog Lucky, who tells him off -- and
revives his talent
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Executive Producer: Jenno Topping
Producers:
Based on: 1967 Rex Harrison movie, in turn based on Hugh Lofting novel
(note: first filmed as animation in 1927, see hotlinks below)
Screenplay: ???
Director: Betty Thomas (The Brady Bunch, Private Parts)
Starring:
Dr. Dolittle -- Eddie Murphy (who gets at least $17,500,000 salary)
??? (dog) -- Norm MacDonald
??? (dog) -- Ellen Degeneris
??? (guinea pig) -- Chris Rock
??? (pigeon husband) -- Gary Shandling
??? (pigeon wife) -- Julie Kavner
??? (rat) -- John Leguizamo
??? (rat) -- Reni Santoni
??? (tiger) -- Albert Brooks
??? -- ???
Locations:
Special Effects: Henson's Creature Shop (animatronics for "Babe")
Visual Effect Supervisor: Jon Farhat (The Mask, The Nutty Professor)
Opening: 26 June 1998
Hotlinks: Dr.Doolittle and His Animals (1927)
Box Office: Opening week: {to be done}
Week #2 saw "Dr. Dolittle" slip to #2 rank, with $19,700,000
weekend gross (3-5 July 1998) on 2,871 screens ($6,853 average)
for cumulative gross of $64,800,000. This ranked it just below
the opening of Touchstone/Disney's Armageddon
and just above Disney's "Mulan" in that animation's 3rd week.
Week #3 {to be done}
During Week #4, "Dr. Dolittle" dropped to #5 rank, with $9,500,000
weekend gross (17-19 July 1998) on 2,805 screens ($3,379 average)
for cumulative gross of $105,400,000. This ranked it just below
the opening of 20th Century Fox's comedy smash "There's
Something About Mary", and just above Disney's 2nd week of "Small
Soldiers."
Week #5 found "Dr. Dolittle" slipping to #6 rank, with $7,300,000
weekend gross on 2,509 screens ($2,908 average) for cumulative gross
of $118,000,000. It ranked just above the debut of MGM/UA's
"Disturbing Behavior" and just below the 4th week of Armageddon
During Week #6, "Dr. Dolittle" dropped to #9 rank, with $4,600,000
weekend gross on 2,184 screens ($2,101 average) for cumulative gross of
$126,100,000. This ranked it just below Touchstone/Disney's Armageddon
and just above the 2nd week of Disney/Touchstone's expensive flop parody
"Mafia!"
By Tuesday, 8 September 1998, after the 4-day Labor Day
Weekend (The USA's traditional end of the cinematic summer
season), it was obvious that "Deep Impact" was one of the 8
biggest super-money-makers for the summer season, with costs of
around $68,000,000 for making and marketing easily offset by
estimated domestic gross of $140,000,000. As a result, 20th
Century Fox is right behind Disney for summer box office gross,
and almost surely #1 among all studios for for summer profit.
The total gross is in the neighborhood of $525,000,000 and more
is still coming in from 3 summer releases (especially "There's
Something About Mary"). 5 of the 7 Fox summer films will make a
profit, which will greatly assist the parent company "News Corp."
in its 3rd Quarter 98 income, perfectly timed for an Initial
Public Offering of stock in News Corp.'s Entertainment
Division. Not one of Fox's 7 summer flicks cost over
$70,000,000 and so they can easily handle the two weakest movies:
political comedy "Bullworth" (cost $35,000,000 and estimated
domestic gross $27,000,000) and the break-even "How Stella Got
Her Groove Back" (cost $25,000,000 and estimated domestic gross
$36,000,000). The surprise mega-hit was "There's Something About Mary"
(cost $25,000,000 and estimated domestic gross $150,000,000).
of which the estimated $80,000,000 in video rentals alone will
pay for marketing and production. It is certain now that
putting Eddie Murphy in the lead of "Dr. Dolittle" was a
master-stroke of family comedy planning, now that the overseas
gross appears to equal the domestic gross, and the icing on the
cake will be the video sell-through. Part of the Fox summer
equation, of course, is the X-Files movie,
(cost $65,000,000 and domestic gross estimated $83,000,000)
which might yet take in $200,000,000 in worldwide theatres and
significant ancillary revenue in sell-through video cassettes.
Even the 2 flicks aimed at women will show profits: "Hope Floats"
(cost $32,000,000 and domestic gross estimated $60,000,000),
and "Ever After" (cost $25,000,000 and domestic gross estimated
$60,000,000).
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The Thirteenth Warrior/Eaters of the Dead
Story: Action/adventure in which a band of Vikings, joined by Emissary
Antonio Banderas (a sort of Arab ambassador), engage in ultimate
combat with monsters that can devour anything or anyone
Title: also known as "The Vikings"
Studio: Disney
Based on: Michael Crichton novel "Eaters of the Dead"
Screenplay: Michael Crichton & William Wisher Jr.
Executive Producers: Ethan Dubrow, Andrew G. Vajna
Producer: Michael Crichton & John McTiernan
Director: John McTiernan (Die Hard)
Starring:
Ibn Fadlan (Emissary) -- Antonio Banderas ("The Mask of Zorro")
??? -- Maria Bonnevie
??? -- Omar Sharif
Herger -- Dennis Storhoi
??? -- Diane Venora
Viking-King -- Sven Wollter
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Digital Matte Supervisor: Charles Darby
Art Directors: Richard Harrison, William Heslup
Music: Wolf Kroeger
Opening: slipped to 1 january 1999 (previously 31 July 1998 slipped from Spring 1998)
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Fallen
Story: Cop chases a serial killer suspect who might be Satan or
another fallen angel
Studio: Turner Pictures/Atlas Entertainment/Warner Bros.
Based on: ???
Screenplay: Nicholas Kazan
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Cinematography: Tom Sigel
Editor: Lawrence Jordan
Starring:
John Hobbes (cop) -- Denzel Washington
Jonesy -- John Goodman
Lt. Stanton -- Donald Sutherland
Lou -- James Gandolfini
Jimmy -- Allelon Ruggerio
Gretta Milano -- Embeth Davidtz
Edgar Reese -- Elias Koteas
Art -- Gabriel Casseus
Charles -- Robert Joy
Sam -- Michael Pagan
Tiff -- Aida Turturro
??? -- Graham Beckel
Ron Yates -- Bob Rumnock
Production Design: Terence Marsh
Special Effects: ???
Costume Design: Colleen Atwood
Locations: Philadelphia
Opening: January 1998 (slipped from Fall 1997)
Box Office:
Debut: "Fallen" opened with a 4-day weekend gross of $10,400,000
on 2,448 screens ($4,249 average).
Week #2: {To Be Done}
In Week #3, "Fallen" had 3-day weekend gross of $2,800,000 on
2,150 screens ($1,314 average) for a ranking of #9, just below
Deep Rising and just above the 3rd week of Paramount's "Hard Rain."
After 3 weeks, "Fallen" had a cumulative gross of $21,400,000.
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Godzilla
Story: big lizard stomps town, lays eggs
Studio: Columbia/TriStar/Centroplis
Centropolis Entertainment is a new company created to produce
films and television, and to contract special effects with the
team that did Independence Day. Godzilla is their first
project, but they've also hired teenage director Andy Hurst
for another film, and are producing "The Visitor" as a new
science fiction television series for Fox, starring John Corbett
as a man who visits the Bermuda Triangle and returns with strange
powers and abilities. The Visitor, John Corbett, was the DJ on "Northern
Exposure."
Based on: Toho Studios' original low-budget Japanese films:
1954 Godzilla (starring Raymond Burr)
1955 Gigantis the Fire Monster
1962 King Kong vs. Godzilla
1964 Godzilla vs. the Thing
1964 Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster
1965 Monster Zero
1966 Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
1967 Son of Godzilla
1968 Destroy All Monsters!
1969 Godzilla's Revenge
1971 Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster
1972 Godzilla on Monster Island
1973 Godzilla vs. Megalon
1974 Godzilla vs. the Cosmic Monster
1975 Terror of Mechagodzilla
1985 Godzilla 1985
1989 Godzilla vs. King Ghidrah
1992 Godzilla vs. Mothra
and see also:
Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969)
Gorgo Versus Godzilla (1969)
Screenplay: Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich
Executive Producers: Roland Emmerich, Ute Emmerich, William Fay
Co-Executive Producers: Robert N. Fried, Cary Wood
Producer: Dean Devlin ("Independence Day"; writer of "Stargate" and
"Universal Soldier")
Director: Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day") -- rumor is that
Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and Joe Johnston (Honey I Shrunk the Kids)
were the original choices to direct "Godzilla", and then Jan De Bont
was sent in by the studio to straighten out the then $130,000,000
budget, and finally in 1996 the studio brought in Devlin & Emmerich
Editor: David Siegel
Starring:
Dr. Niko Tatopoulos -- Matthew Broderick ("Addicted to Love"; "The Cable Guy",
producer of an acted as Richard Feynman in "Infinity";
"The Road to Wellville", "Glory", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off",
"Ladyhawke", "Wargames", adult Simba's voice in "The Lion King"
Ursula -- Leslie Mann ("The Cable Guy", "Last Man Standing",
"She's The One", "Birdland" [TV], "Virgin High")
Victor "Animal" Palotti -- Hank Azaria
Lucy -- Arabella Field
Audrey Timmonds -- Maria Pitillo
Philippe Roche -- Jean Reno
Charles Caiman -- Harry Shearer
Colonel Hicks -- Kevin Dunn
Lucy Palotti -- Arabella Fields
Mayor Ebert -- Michael Lerner
Jean-Claude -- Philippe Bergeron
Dr. Elsie Chapman -- Vicki Lewis
Sergeant O'Neal -- Doug Savant
Dr. Mendel Craven -- Malcolm Danare
Leonard -- Jack Moore
Jules -- Steve Gianelli
Arthur -- Brian Farabaugh
Jean-Luc -- Christian Aubert
Murray -- Robert Lesser
Field Reporter #1 -- Jonathan Dienst
others {to be done}
Visual Effects Producer: Terry Clotiaux
Visual Effects Supervisor: Volker Engel
Digital Effects Supervisor: Steven T. Puri
Creature Effects: Patrick Taopoulus
Costume Design: David A. Porro
Music: David Arnold
Budget: $125,000,000 to produce; $50,000,000 for worldwide marketing;
$150,000,000 promotional tie-ins by Taco Bell, Hershey Chocolate,
Duracell, Electronic Arts, Trendmasters (the toymaker)
Opening: Winter 1997, slipped to May 1998.
Was grounded for budget revision.
Web: Official Godzilla Site
includes trailers, production photos, cast and crew chats, and
more -- a well-done site indeed
Box Office: Weeks #1-#6 {to be done}
Week #7 had "Godzilla" ranked #13, with weekend gross of $800,000
on 1,162 screens ($700 average) and cumulative gross of $134,000,000.
This ranked the big momma lizard just below the 2nd week of the
re-released "Gone With The Wind" (whose cumulative gross, by the
way, was $194,800,000 including the original release) and
just above Paramount's Deep Impact.
Reviews:
Ashley Grayson, science fiction agent:
*** Ashley's Lizard Review ***
The real key to the awful Godzilla movie is to look at it from the
monster's point of view. This is really the best film about visiting
New York since Jack Lemon's "The Out of Towners."
Premise: Godzilla is just a simple giant radioactive lizard from the
boondocks, but he knows New York City is the place to become sexually
active.
The action: As soon as Godzilla sets foot on Manhattan Island:
He's immediately treated with suspicion by the New Yorkers.
He gets shot at and no one ever comes to his aid.
He can't find a place to stay and has to sleep in the Subway.
He can't get into a restaurant and the only food he can find on the
street is sushi.
Central Park is full of heavily armed muggers.
He's stalked by tv-camera toting paparazzi.
Every time he tries to grab a cab it makes a U-turn and speeds off in
the other direction.
The only food his kids like is popcorn at the Garden.
There's no day-care and his latch-key children are all home alone when
the building is bombed.
The only guy who appears to understand him, sets him up to be shot by
the authorities.
So what's so different here?
⌐ 1998 by Ashley Grayson
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Indiana Jones 4
Story: Hero archaeologist beats bad guys in colorful location shots
with gosh-wow special effects, with story rumored to involve
either Area 51 and crashed flying saucer or then again maybe
Atlantis, but in any case set after World War II and at the start
of the Cold War
Studio: Paramount
Based on: the previous films, and maybe some of the unsuccessful but
good-looking and witty "Young Indiana Jones" TV series
Screenplay: ???
Producer: Steven Spielberg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring:
Indiana Jones -- Harrison Ford
Dr. Jones -- Sean Connery
Indiana's Brother -- Kevin Costner or Tom Selleck
??? -- Karen Allen
??? -- John Rhys-Davies
Special Effects: ???
Opening: December 1998-January 1999 possible (slipping from Summer 1998)
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Instinct (a.k.a."Ishmael")
Story: Anthropologist lives with gorilla tribe, is accused of
attempted murder, is probed by psychiatrist
Studio: Touchstone
Based on: award-winning novel "Ishmael" by xxx
Executive Producers: Gail Katz, Wolfgang Petersen
Producers: Barbara Boyle, uncredited Hunt Lowry, Michael Taylor
Screenplay: Gerald Di Pego
Script Supervisor: Thomas Johnston
Director: John Turteltaub ("Phenomenon")
Cinematography: Philippe Rousselot
Editor: Richard Francis-Bruce
First Assistant Director: Bill Elvin
Second Assistant Director: Andrew Bernstein
Unit Production Manager: Bill Johnson
Production Supervisor: Yvonne Yaconelli
Starring:
??? -- Cuba Gooding, Jr.
??? -- Anthony Hopkins
??? -- John Ashton
??? -- Donald Sutherland
??? -- Maura Tierney
Special Effects: ???
Production Design: Garreth Stover
Art Director: Chris Cornwell
Set Decorator: Larry Dias
Costume Design: Jill M. Ohanneson
Music: Danny Elfman
Sound: Peter J. Devlin
Casting: Renee Rousselot
Genre: BAMBI'S CHILDREN: animals who speak, think, or act human
Opening: Slipped from Christmas Holiday 1998 to some time in 1999
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Lost in Space
Story: Dad, Mom, and kids stranded in the cosmos after their
rocketship is smashed. Dark, serious, fun, sci-fi, and TV
retread strangely brewed together. Earth in the 21st Century is
drifting deeper into ecological collapse (think of David Brin's
novel "Earth") as rocketeer Prof. John Robinson (William Hurt)
sets out to colonize a planet named Alpha Prime. Along with him
come his biochemist wife Maureen Robinson (Mimi Rogers), his
his daughters Judy and Penny, his genius 10-year-old son Will,
dashing Don West, and psychotic Dr. Zachary Smith (Gary Oldman).
Studio: Prelude Pictures/New Line Cinema
Based on: TV series 1960s: Science Fiction TV 1960-1969
and hoping mightily to become a lucrative franchise
Screenplay: Akiva Goldsman ("Batman & Robin", "A Time to Kill",
"Batman Forever", "The Client", "Silent Fall")
Executive Producers: Mace Neufeld, Robert Rehme
Producers: Akiva Goldsman, Stephen Hopkins, Mark W. Koch
Director: Stephen Hopkins ("The Ghost and the Darkness")
Starring:
Prof. John Robinson -- William Hurt (role created by Guy Williams)
Maureen Robinson -- Mimi Rogers (role created by June Lockhart)
("The Mirror Has Two Faces")
Don West -- Matt LeBlanc (role created by Mark Goddard)
(TV's "Friends")
Judy Robinson -- Heather Graham (role created by Marta Kristen)
("Boogie Nights")
Will Robinson -- Jack Johnson (role created by Billy Mumy)
Penny Robinson -- Lacy Chabert (role created by Angela Cartwright)
(TV's "Party of Five")
Dr. Zachary Smith -- Gary Oldman (role created by Jonathan Harris)
The Robot -- (role created by Bob May)
The Robot (voice) -- (role created by Dick Tufeld)
The Spaceship -- Jupiter II
Creator/Producer -- (TV series created/produced by Irwin Allen)
Story Consultant -- ???
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Special Effects: ???
Budget: $70,000,000
Opening: 3 April 1998
Box Office: Opening week: {to be done}
Weeks #2-13 {to be done}
Week #14 found "Lost in Space" ranked at #18, with weekend gross
(3-5 July 1998) of $300,000 on 535 screens ($577 average) for
cumulative gross of $68,100,000. This placed it just below Sony
Pictures Classics' "The Opposite of Sex" in week #7, and just above
Dream Works' "Paulie" in that parrot-comedy's 12th week.
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The Matrix
Story: In the 22nd Century, computers run the world -- completely. A
secret band of revolutionaries attempts to overthrow the
electronic dictators, by battles in both reality and cyberspace.
The story opens when an ordinary and likeable young man "Thomas
Anderson") discovers that what he thought was his reality is just a
virtual reality created by the computers that have taken over the Earth.
Studio: Warner Bros.
Based on: the Cyberpunk fiction of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Producers: Barrie M. Osborne, Joel Silver
Screenplay: ???
Directors: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski
Starring:
Thomas "Neo" Anderson -- Keanu Reeves (Johnny Mnemonic,
Chain Reaction, Feeling Minnesota, Speed)
Morpheus -- Laurence Fishburne
Trinity -- Carrie-Anne Moss
??? -- Joe Pantoliano
??? -- Hugo Weaving
??? -- ???
Special Effects: Mass Illusions LLC
Stunt Coordinator: Woo-ping Yuen
Location: Sydney, Australia
Cyberpunk: the Genre
Production: started in January 1998
Opening: Fall or Christmas Holiday 1998
Rumors: Laurence Fishburne as the leader of the anti-computer freedom
fighters is shaved bald
Budget: over $100,000,000
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Meet Joe Black
Story: Alien disguised as human falls in love with Earth woman
Based on: loosely a remake of "Death Takes a Holiday" [1934]
Genre: Aliens on Earth {hot link to be done}
Studio: Universal City Studios
Executive Producer: Ronald L. Schwary
Producer: Martin Brest
Co-Producer: Martin Brest
Director: Martin Brest
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Screenplay: Bo Goldman
Starring:
Joe Black/Death -- Brad Pitt
William Parrish -- Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkin's daughter -- Claire Forlani
??? -- Marcia Gay Harden
??? Jeffrey Tambor
??? Jake Weber
??? -- ???
Effects: Industrial Light & Magic
Production Design: Dante Ferretti
Preview: ???
Opening: Fall or Thanksgiving-Christmas Holiday 1998
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Mighty Joe Young
Story: 13-foot tall gorilla pretty much does what he wants to
Studio: Disney
Based on: remake of original Mighty Joe Young movie (1949)
Screenplay: Mark Medoff ("Santa Fe" 1997; "Homage" 1995;
"City of Joy" 199; TV "Apology" 1986; "Children of a Lesser God" 1986;
"Off Beat" 1986; "Good Guys Wear Black" 1979; "When You Comin'
Back, Red Ryder?" 1979)
Producer: ???
Director: Ron Underwood ("Speechless" 1994, "Heart and Souls" 1993",
"City Slickers" 1991, sci-fi: story & screenplay for "Tremors" 1990,
executive producer of "Tremors 2" 1995)
Starring:
??? -- Naveen Andrews ("The English Patient", "Kama Sutra",
"True Love and Chaos", "Peacock Spring" [TV], "The Buddha of
Suburbia", "Double Vision" [TV], "Wild West", "London Kills Me")
??? -- Regina King ("Jerry Maguire", "A Thin Line Between Love
and Hate", "Friday", "Higher Learning", "Poetic Justice",
"Boyz N the Hood", "227" [TV])
??? -- Bill Paxton ("Titanic", "Twister", "Independence Day",
"Apollo 13", "Future Shock", "Predator 2", "Aliens",
"Weird Science", "The Terminator")
??? -- David Paymer ("The Sixth Man", "Howard the Duck")
??? -- Charlize Theron "Devils Advocate", "That Thing You Do")
Special Effects: Rick Baker (Special Makeup Effects) ("Men in Black",
"Escape from L.A.", "The Frighteners", "The Nutty Professor",
"Batman Forever", "Ed Wood", "Wolf", "Beauty and the Beast" [TV],
"It's Alive 3", "Captain Eo", "Cocoon", "Greystoke",
"Videodrome", "An American Werewolf in London", "The Howling",
"The Fury", "The Incredible Melting Man", "Star Wars", "Food of
the Gods", "Flesh Gordon", "The Thing with Two Heads")
Budget: budgeted at $80,000,000 [according to June 1997 press release]
Opening: 19 December 1998 (slipped from Summer 1998)
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Mission Impossible 2
Story: team of good guys commit black-bag covert operations against
bad guys, in a way guaranteed to provide "plausible deniability"
in case they fail, to keep the agency's funds from being slashed
or the President from being impeached. Y'know, that sounds
awfully realistic these days...
Studio: Paramount Pictures presents a Cruise-Wagner production
Based on: The hit yet confusing Mission Impossible film which was in
turn based on the TV series, see: Ultimate Science Fiction TV Web Guide
Screenplay: Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore, William Goldman, David Marconi, Michael Tolkin
Producer: Tom Cruse, Paula Wagner
Director: John Woo
Starring:
Ethan Hunt -- Tom Cruise
Luther Stickwell -- Ving Rhames
??? -- Paul Newman
Special Effects: ???
Rumor Disproved: Oliver Stone will replace Brian DePalma
Rumor Confirmed: will slip to 1999 release date
Opening: Summer 1998, possibly after the big bucks roll in from
Indiana Jones 4
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The Mummy
Story: There are things in Egyptian pyramids that humans should stay
the hell away from -- or else the Mummy's Curse will follow them
until horrible death ensues -- but what can this possibly have to
do with Ireland, and buried family secrets?
Studio: Unapix / Goldbar / Trimark
Based on: the Classic 1932 movie "The Mummy" {hotlink to be done}
Producers: Sean Daniel, James Jacks
Screenplay: Stephen Sommers
Director: Stephen Sommers
Editor: Bob Ducsay
Starring:
??? -- Alison Elliot
??? -- Stephen Dunham
??? -- Brendan Fraser
??? -- John Hannah
??? -- Rachel Weisz
??? -- ???
Special Effects: Industrial Light & Magic
Music: Jery Goldsmith
Horror: the Genre
Opening: Fall or Christmas Holiday 1998
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My Favorite Martian
Story: Human-appearing Martian stranded in small town tries to
rebuild spaceship but gets caught up in local affairs.
TV Sit-com was about Los Angeles Sun reporter Tim O'Hara rescuing a
crashed Martian who looked human (except for extensile antennae) and had
both telepathic and telekinetic powers (see Extra-Sensory Perception),
plus Invisibility and a mind filled with advanced technology.
Like all good aliens, he just wanted to fix his spaceship and go
home, while he stayed with Tim in Mrs. Brown's boardinghouse. He
developed a crush on Mrs. Brown, and imagined that Officer Brennan
also had romantic leanings towards her -- which he manifestly did.
The show worked to the extent that Ray Walston's character was
so convincingly portrayed, and failed to the extent that the episodic
sit-com adventures went nowhere.
Studio: Walt Disney
Based on: 1960's TV series [CBS, 29 Sep 1963- 4 Sep 1966]
Screenplay: ???
Producers: ???
Director: Donald Petrie ("The Associate", "The Favor", "Richie Rich",
"Grumpy Old Men", "The Opponent", "Opportunity Knocks", "Mystic Pizza",
"The Equalizer" [TV])
Starring:
Uncle Martin/The Martian -- Christopher Lloyd [role created by Ray Walston]
Tim O'Hara -- Jeff Daniels [role created by Bill Bixby]
Brace Channing -- Elizabeth Hurley
Lizzie -- Daryl Hannah
Armitan -- Ray Walston
Mrs. Lorelei Brown -- ??? [role created by Pamela Britton]
Angela Brown (1963-64) -- ??? [role created by Ann Marshall]
Mr. Harry Burns (1963-64) -- ??? [role created by J. Pay O'Malley]
Detective Bill Brennan (1964-66) -- ??? [role created by Alan Hewitt]
The Police Chief (1965-66) -- ??? [role created by Roy Engle]
[TV series Creator -- Jack Chertok ("My Living Doll")]
[TV series Producer -- Jack Chertok]
Special Effects: Tippett Studio
Music: John Debney
Budget: ???
Opening: Fall or Holiday 1998
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Phantoms
Story: Small Colorado town (rewritten to "Snowfield, California") suffers an
incomprehensible mass murder of over 100 people, or is it something
even darker? Hundreds more are missing... Has a vast army of
underground creatures been awakened from uneasy sleep to plague
the living?
Studio: Dimension Films/Miramax Films presentation of a Neo Motion
Pictures production in association with Rave House
Based on: Novel "Phantom" by horrormeister Dean Koontz
Executive Producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Dean Koontz
Producers: Steven A. Lane, Michael Leahy, Robert Pringle, Joel Soisson
Screenplay: Dean Koontz & Tegan West (and uncredited Joel Soisson)
Director: Joe Chappelle
Cinematography: Richard Clabaugh
Editor: Randolph K. Bricker
Starring:
Timothy Flyte -- Peter O'Toole
Sheriff Bryce Hammond -- Ben Affleck
Dr. Jenny Palley -- Joanna Going
Deputy ??? -- Nicky Katt
Lisa Palley -- Rose McGowan
Deputy Stu -- Liev Schreiber
Special Effects: Richard Greenberg, Bruce Schulter
Costumes: Dana C. Litwack
Music: David Williams
Production Design: Deborah Raymond & Dorian Vernacchio
Art Directors: Daniel Bradford, Ken Larson
Set Designer: Jack Bishop
Set Decorator: Barbara Cole Kaye
Opening: January 1998 (slipped from 24 October 1997)
Running Time: 1 hour, 36 minutes
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Practical Magic
Story: Two sisters in New England discover an uncanny ability to
manipulate cause and effect, and a web of Fate and counter-fate plots
entwine with deadly possibilities...
Studio: Warner Bros.
Based on: Novel by Alice Hoffman
Screenplay: Robin Swicord (Matilda [1996] writer/co-producer,
The Perez Family [1995] writer-executive producer,
Little Women [1994] writer/co-producer, The Red Coat [1993]
writer-director, Shag [1989])
Executive Producer: Sandra Bullock
Producer: Denise Di Novi (Almost Heroes [1998], Message in a Bottle [1998],
Ed Wood [1994], Cabin Boy [1994], Little Women [1994], The
Nightmare Before Christmas [1993] Production Designer, Batman Returns [1992],
Edward Scissorhands [1990], Meet the Applegates [1990], Heathers [1989])
Director: Griffin Dunne
Cinematography: Andrew Dunn
Starring:
Sally Owens -- Sandra Bullock
Gillian Owens -- Nicole Kidman
Young Sally Owens -- Camilla Belle
Aunt Francis -- Stockard Channing
Aunt Jet -- Dianne Wiest
??? -- Lucinda Jenney
Gary Hallet -- Aidan Quinn
Jimmy -- Goran Visnjic
Kylie -- Evan Rachel Wood
Antonia -- Alexandra Artrip
Michael -- Mark Feuerstein
??? -- Chloe Webb
??? -- ???
Set Designer: Robin Standefer
Production Coordinator: Karen Shaw
Assistant Director: Josh McLaglen
Second Assistant Director: Michael J. Moore
Special Effects: ???
Music: Michael Nyman
Opening: 16 October 1998
Box Office: "Practical Magic" opened in #1 place, with 3-day weekend
gross of $13,100,000 on 2,652 screens ($4,941 average). This was
very similar performance to star Sandra Bullock's previous
film, "Hope Floats", which opened at $14,200,000 on its first
weekend, or star Nicole Kidman's previous film "The Peacemaker"
(co-starring George Clooney), which opened with $12,300,000 in
Sepetmber 1997. "Practical Magic" finished above the #2 film,
Universal's "Bride of Chucky" (which had $11,800,000).
Reviews:
Philip Wuntch, Guide Live "A crafty chick flick about likable witches!"
Andy Jones, Roughcut: "It's Stockard Channing and Dianne Weist, who play The
Aunts -- a pair of spunky senior witches who light the screen on fire."
E! Online: "Slick and mostly successful!"
Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Jopurnal Sentinel: "'Practical Magic' is delightful sweetmeat
for Halloween."
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: "The movie doesn't seem sure what tone to
adopt, veering uncertainly from horror to laughs to romance."
Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune: "The trio of credited writers exhibits a complete
failure of imagination!"
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: "A witch comedy so slapdash, plodding, and
muddled it seems to have had a hex put on it."
David Hunter, Hollywood Reporter: "A disappointing brew of slick commercial
moviemaking and old-fashioned romantic fantasy!"
Sean Means, Film.com: "The only thing unpredictable about 'Practical Magic' is the unpleasant
surprise one feels when the movie reveals itself as a irritatingly creepy supernatural
thriller, rather than the offbeat romantic comedy the ads make it out to be."
Jack Garner, Rochester Chronicle: "A mediocre mishmash of female-bonding comedy,
schmaltzy romance and blessedly brief horror about latter-day witchcraft!"
Eve Zibart, Washington Post: "Not that the movie isn't fun in spots; it's just a
TV-ready mix of camp and curdle."
Julie Hinds, San Jose Mercury News: "A flat, unappealing potion!"
Ben Williams, New York Citysearch: "A big mess!"
Bob Fenster, Arizona Republic: "What a disappointing mess made from such a
promising premise!"
Susan Stark, Detroit News: "A saga that lacks the courage of its own
odd convictions."
Emanuel Levy, Variety: "Part comedy, part family drama, part romance, part
special-effects mystery-adventure, and not entirely satisfying on any of
these levels."
James Bernadinelli, :
"...counterprogramming for the Halloween season. While other distributors are dumping
the more traditional October fare of 'The Bride of Chucky', 'Apt Pupil', and
'John Carpenter's Vampires' into theaters, Warner Brothers is trying for a somewhat
different approach -- blending classic horror elements (witches, potions, curses, and
zombies) into a female bonding story with a touch of supernatural romance. Unfortunately,
like far too many films, this one gives up the ghost during the last fifteen minutes,
saddling an otherwise-enjoyable film with a dumb ending."
Film Ink:
Journal Now:
"[the screenwriters] can't decide whether the film is a spoof, a romantic comedy or
something else. As a result, it doesn't succeed on any level. Despite a charismatic
cast and a promising premise, the film never gets out of first gear. Too often, the
whimsy feels forced."
MovieGuru.com: Practical Magic
Mr. Showbiz:
Kevin Maynard, MR.SHOWBIZ: "Practical Magic doesn't cast much of a spell!"
New York Times (registration required)
Film Psychosis
Radio Free Movie Review:
"Light hearted and fun!" -- Andrew Manning
Salon Magazine
Screen It! (spoilers):
"The film consequently feels anemic and scattered most of the time."
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Examiner
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Quest for Camelot
Story: The girl Kayley and her blind buddy Garrett go on a Quest to
rescue Kayley's mother Lady Juliana, who has been kidnapped by
the evil Ruber, who also intends to grab King Arthur's magical
sword Excalibur. Merlin the Magician sets them in the right
direction, as they struggle to save the kingdom of Camelot and
its endangered King. They have sometimes action-based,
sometimes comic, sometimes romantic episodes with various other
characters, including a 2-Headed Dragon, an unpleasant Griffin,
and others.
Studio: Warner Bros. (their first feature-length fully animated film
Based on: VERY loosely based on King Arthur legends
Screenplay: ???
Producer:
Director: Frederik Du Chau (from BELGIUM, first major feature film directed
Starring:
Kayley (voice) -- Jessalyn Gilsig
Kayley (songs) -- Andrea Corr
Garrett (voice) -- Cary Elwes
Garrett (songs) -- Bryan White
Ruber (voice) -- Gary Oldman
2-Headed Dragon (voice) -- Don Rickles
2-Headed Dragon (voice) -- Eric Idle
Lady Juliana (voice) -- Jane Seymour
King Arthur (voice) -- Pierce Brosnan
Merlin (voice) -- Sir John Gielgud
Griffin (voice) -- Bronson Pinchot
??? (voice) -- Jaleel White
??? (voice) -- Gabriel Byrne
??? --
Special Effects: 750 people total in crew, combining CGI and
conventional cel animation
Music: Patrick Doyle
Songs: David Foster & Carole Bayer Sager
Opening: May 1998
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Return from the Planet of the Apes
Story: The Apes send a time-machine spacecraft to Earth which is
contaminated with a child-killing virus designed to wipe out humans
(based on Lord Jeffrey Amherst giving smallpox-infected blankets to
Native Americans). Astronauts try to find the spacecraft and the plague
in order to create a vaccine.
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Based on: previous films in the series, and the original novel by
Pierre Boulle [Vanguard, 1963]. Movie spinoff novels included:
* Avallone: Beneath the Planet of the Apes [Bantam, 1970]
* Gerrold: Battle for the Planet of the Apes [Award, 1973]
* Niven?: Escape from the Planet of the Apes [Award, 1973]
* Jakes: Conquest of the Planet of the Apes [Award, 1974]
and spinoffs from the TV series included George Alec Effinger's:
* Man the Fugitive [Award, 1974]
* Escape to Tomorrow [Award, 1975]
* Journey Into Terror [Award, 1975]
* Lord of the Apes [Award, 1976]
as well as the "Return to the Planet of the Apes" spinoff books
by "William Arrow":
* William Rotsler: Visions of Nowhere [Ballentine Books, 1976]
* Don Pfeil: Escape from the Terror Lagoon [Ballentine Books, 1976]
* William Rotsler: Man the Hunted Animal [Ballentine Books, 1976]
Screenplay: ???
Producer: Oliver Stone replaced James Cameron?
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- Arnold Schwarzenegger
Special Effects: ???
Opening: Winter 1998/1999, possibly after the big profits start rolling in
from the X-Files movie
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Small Soldiers
Studio: MCA-Universal/Dreamworks
Executive Producer: Walter F. Parkes
Producers: Michael Finnell, Colin Wilson
Co-Producer: Paul Deason
Director: Joe Dante (Gremlins)
First Assistant Director: Benita Allen-Honess
Cinematography: Jamie Anderson
Editor: Marshall Harvey
Writers: Ted Elliott, Zak Penn, Adam Rifkin, Terry Rossio, Gavin Scott
Story: Animated film about a troop of toy soldiers that come to
life in a suburban town (Winslow Corners, Ohio), trying hard not to
rip-off "Toy Story."
In this case, the animated toy soldiers accidently got a military
robot chip installed in them, which makes them tactically
effective... There are Good toy soldiers (the Gorgonites) and
Bad toy soldiers (the Commando Elite), and eventually two human
teen-agers (and their parents) are deeply entangled in the plot.
Shooting: ???
Sequels: ???
Starring:
Major Chip Hazard (the Commando Elite leader) (voice) -- Tommy Lee Jones
Christy Fimple -- Kirstin Dunst
Alan Abernathy -- Grgory Smith
Phil Fimple -- Phil Hartman (TV's Saturday Night Live)
Larry Benson -- Jay Mohr
Brad -- Jonathan Bouck
Irwin Wayfair -- David Cross
Stuart Abernathy -- Kevin Dunn
??? -- Archie Hahn
Gil Mars -- Dennis Leary
Irene Abernathy -- Ann Magnuson
Marion Fimple -- Wendy Schaal
Mrs. Kegel -- Alexandra Wilson
??? (voice) -- Dick Miller
Ralph -- Robert Picardo
??? -- Jacob Smith
Archer (voice) -- Frank Langella
Kip Killagin (voice) -- Ernest Borgnine
Butch Meathook (voice) -- Jim Brown
Link Statis (voice) -- Bruce Dern
Brick Bazooka (voice) -- George Kennedy
Nick Nitro (voice) -- Clint Walker
Slamfist/Scratch-It (voice) -- Christopher Guest
Insaniac (voice) -- Michael McKean
Punch-It (voice) -- Harry Shearer
Gwendys Doll (voice) -- Sarah Michelle Gellar
Gwendys Doll (voice) -- Christina Ricci
Globotech Phone Operator -- Cheri Oteriaturday Night Live)
Special Effects: Stan Winston Studio (60 in crew), Industrial Light and Magic
Visual Effects Supervisor: Stefan Fangmeier
Animation Supervisor: David Andrews
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Costume Design: Carole Brown-James
Budget: $58,000,000
Merchandising: huge deal between DreamWorks SKG and Burger King for
exclusive restaurant rights for Gorgonites and the Commando Elite
Release: originally scheduled for 10 July 1998
Reviews: {to be done}
Webmaster & son saw this film 18 July 1998 and review Real Soon Now...
Box Office: Debut wek: {to be done}
Week #2 saw "Small Soldiers" hanging in at rank #6, with
$8,600,000 3-day weekend gross on 2,613 screens ($3,310 average)
for a cumulative gross of $30,300,000. It ranked just below the
5th week of 20th Century Fox's Dr. Dolittle, and just
above the 5th week of Disney's "Mulan.
Week #3 saw "Small Soldiers" hanging in at rank #9, with
$5,300,000 3-day weekend gross on 2,512 screens ($2,117 average)
for a cumulative gross of $40,500,000. It ranked just below the
unexpectedly poor debut of Disney/Touchstone's "Mafia!" and just
above the 6th week of Disney's "Mulan."
The film now looks like a minor moneymaker, with roughly
$50,000,000 projected domestic box-office gross, which will make
its profit on overseas theatrical, video, and TV income.
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Soldier
Story: A group of colonists on a distant planet come uner overwhelming
attack, and their only defender is an out-of-date soldier of
long-since concluded interstellar war...
Based on: ???
Genre:
Studio: Warner Bros.
Executive Producer: Susan Ekins (Executive Producer of: The Avengers [1998],
Vegas vacation [1997]; Associate Producer: The Specialist [1994],
Pure Country [1992], The Karate Kid II [1986])
Producer: Jerry Weintraub
Director: Paul Anderson (Event Horizon)
Cinematographer: David Tattersall
Writer: David Webb Peoples (Twelve Monkeys [1995), Deadfall [1993],
Unforgiven [1992], Hero [1992], Leviathan [1989], The Blood of Heroes [1988],
Blade Runner [1982])
Starring:
Todd -- Kurt Russell
Caine -- Jason Scott Lee
Sandra -- Connie Nielsen
Captian Church -- Gary Busey
Colonel Mekum -- Jason Isaacs
Mace -- Sean Pertwee
Omar -- Danny Turner
Jimmy Pig -- Michael Chiklis
Red -- Max Daniels
Jimmy Pig's Wife -- Elizabeth Dennehy
Slade -- Paul Dillon
Chester -- Jesse D. Goins
Judith -- Ashley Nolan
??? -- Wyatt Russell
??? -- ???
Production Design: David L. Snyder
Effects: Matte World Digital, Cinema Production Services
Preview: ???
Opening: Fall/Holiday 1998
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Species II: Offspring
Story: The implacable alien seductress Sil of "Species" was killed,
alright, but her clone "Eve" again seeks to breed while being stalked
by government scientists and while stalking a human/alien hybrid.
Alien DNA is in every cell of an infected hybrid astronaut, who comes
home to Earth with an unquenchable urge to impregnate lots of gorgeous women.
Based on: This is a sequel to "Species" {hot link to be done}
Genre: Aliens on Earth {hot link to be done}
Studio: MGM
Producer: ???
Director: Peter Medak
Starring:
Sil -- Natasha Henstridge [model in real-life, space-slut in film]
??? -- Michael Madsen ("Species")
??? -- Marg Helgenberger ("Species")
??? -- James Cromwell
??? -- Mykelti Williamson
Locations: University of Maryland sequences are in the can
Preview: ???
Opening: 5 June 1998
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Speed Racer
Story: Boy can drive cars fast, tangles with bad guys
Based on: The animated TV show
Genre: ???
Studio: Warner Bros.
Producer: ???
Director: ???
Starring:
??? -- ???
Preview: ???
Opening: Summer 1998, possibly leading up to Warner Bros. release of
Superman 5
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Sphere
Story: Submarine crew finds 400-year-old sunken alien spaceship.
Since Norman Johnson, a Jewish psychologist (Dustin Hoffman)
had written an academic paper proposing his set of friends as an
alien first-encounter team, they end up down there with the
ancient spaceship, and soon both they and their computer start
having weird experiences...
Studio: Warner Bros. presents a Baltimore Pictures/Constant C Production
in association with Punch Productions, Inc.
Based on: 1987 novel "Sphere" by Michael Crichton
Screenplay: Michael Crichton, from an early draft by Stephen Hauser
(former assistant to Barry Levinson), which was rewritten by
Paul Attanasio ("Donnie Brasco"), adaptation by Kurt Wimmer
Director: Barry Levinson ("Sleepers")
Executive Producer: Peter Giuliano
Producers: Michael Crichton, Barry Levinson, Peter Giuliano
Cinematography: Adam Greenburg
Editor: Stu Linder
Starring:
Norman Johnson (Jewish psychologist) -- Dustin Hoffman
Beth Halpern (neurotic biochemist) -- Sharon Stone
Harry Adams (the laid-back mathematician) -- Samuel L. Jackson
Harold Barnes -- Peter Coyote
Miguel Torres -- Benicio Del Toro
Fletcher -- Queen Latifah
Ted Fielding (hypercompetitive astrophysicist) -- Liev Schreiber
Edmunds -- Marga Gomez
Production Design: Norman Reynolds
Special Effects: Flash Film Works
Note: had spent $5 million preproduction before being "drydocked"
18 Oct 1996, with 200-300 Vallejo, California workers dismissed,
while script rewrite was undertaken
Music: Elliot Goldenthal
Soundtrack Album: Varese Sarabande CD
Web: Matt Boudreau's "Sphere" site: unofficial
Official "Sphere" site
Genre: SPACE: MOVIES AND TV-MOVIES ABOUT SPACE
Opening: U.S. and Australia: February 1998;
originally planned for December 1997 (possibly Christmas)
Running: 2 hours, 8 minutes
Reviews:
Janet Maslin, The New York Times: "Rich in techno-terror."
Michael Medved, The New York Post: "Thrills! Diabolical
surprises! An A-team cast. The shocks and tension that
Barry Levinson expertly provides will pump adrenaline
through moviegoers. Have a ball."
Tim Sherno, WSNV-YV, Miami: "The master Michael Crichton does it
again. An all-star cast with non-stop action and an incredible
story."
Box Office:
Debut week: "Sphere" had a strong opening 4-day weekend gross
of $16,600,000 on 2,814 screens ($5,894 average) for a debut
ranking at #3, below only the supersmash "Titanic" (9th week) and
New Line's "The Wedding Singer" (the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore
romantic comedy with the 2nd highest-ever opening of a rromnatic
comedy ["My Best Friend's Wedding" was tops]). This placed it
just above the 11th week of Miramax's "Good Will Hunting."
Week #2 marked a 54% drop in revenues, to a #3 ranking (beneath
the 10th week of "Titanic" and the 2nd week of the New Line
romantic comedy "The Wedding Singer" (starring Adam Sandler);
and just above the 12th week of Miramax math-film "Good Will Hunting."
"Sphere" had a weekend gross of $7,700,000 on 2,814 screens
($2,731 average) for a cumulative domestic gross of $26,900,000.
Week #3 marked a __% drop in revenues, to a #6 ranking (beneath
the 10th week of "As Good As It Gets" and just above the
Disney/Touchstone Debut of "Krippendorf's Tribe." "Sphere" had a
weekend gross of $3,800,000 on 2,238 screens ($1,702 average) for
a cumulative domestic gross of $32,500,000.
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Star Trek 9
Story: Star Trek The Next Generation film, story speculation swirls
lately on the internet... Some say that The Federation tries to
conquer a planet where magic works, others say that the
Enterprise is trying to thwart a loose-cannon Admiral while in
conflict with a race of aliens called the Son'a, Picard falls in
love, Riker and Troi try for romance again
Based on: The familiar franchise
Studio: Paramount
Producer: ???
Director: Jonathan Frakes
Starring:
Captain Picard -- Patrick Stewart
??? -- Brent Spiner
??? -- Jonathan Frakes
??? -- Michael Dorn
??? -- Gates McFadden
??? -- Marina Sirtis
??? -- LeVar Burton
cameo as Federation leader -- Arnold Schwarzenegger
Preview: ???
Opening: Thanksgiving 1998
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Superman 5
Story: Superman versus one or more super-villains including Braniac
and Braniac's creation Doomsday
Title: Superman Lives; or maybe, Superman Reborn
Based on: The comics, novels, TV shows, and three prior feature films.
The cartoon strip "Superman" was created by Jerome Siegel and drawn by
Joseph Shuster in the early-to-mid 1930s, and began in Action Comics in
1938. They sold all rights to the comic and the character, and were
living in poverty and obscurity until fans persuaded DC Comics to give
them a stipend, after the character "Superman" had earned over
$1,000,000,000 for publishers, television, and film studios.
The other films in the franchise:
Superman (1978)
Superman II (1980)
Superman III (1983)
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
Genre: SUPERMEN:
Studio: Warner Bros.
Producers: Jeff Levine, Jon Peters
Director: Tim Burton ["Batman", "Nightmare Before Christmas",
"James and the Giant Peach"]
Screenplay: Akiva Goldsman [1998 "Lost in Space",
1997 "Batman and Robin",
1996 "A Time to Kill", 1995 "Batman Forever",
1994 "Silent Fall", 1994 "The Client"]
(after scripts were rejected from Kevin Smith and Wesley Strick)
Starring:
Clark Kent/Superman -- Nicholas Cage
Braniac -- Jim Carey [having proven himself as a supervillain in
his role as "The Riddler" in Batman 2]
Doomsday --
Batman -- Michael Keaton (cameo)
Locations: Pittsburgh as Metropolis?
Production Design: Rick Heinrichs
Special Effects: Boss Film Studios, Digital Domain
Superman's suit can become transparent or translucent
as needed (or when he x-rays himself)
Digital Illustrator: Franois Audouy
Production Illustrators: Harald Belker, James Carson, Jacques Rey
Supervising Art Director: John Dexter
Music: Danny Elfman
Preview: Nicholas Cage said, in various wire reports 5 May 1997,
that he wants to portray the Man of Steel as "a freak, but a
beautiful freak in that he really cares about people....
I wouldn't be afraid to talk about his loneliness and his
feeling like an alien, never fitting in and so always
compulsively needing to do heroic acts so people would like him
and he would feel loved.... But that part's still up in the air.
No pun intended."
Release: November/December 1998 but may slip to 1999 if shooting
starts in July 1998
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Tarzan and the Lost City
Story: Tarzan intends to save a timeless mystical city
Based on: The books
Studio: ???
Producer: ???
Director:
Starring:
Tarzan -- Casper Van Dien ("Starship Troopers")
Opening: Late April 1998
Preview:
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Virus
Story: Aliens consider Human civiliation no more than an infection of
a galactic virus which needs to be wiped out. Jamie Lee Curtis
is on board a Russian research ship when a killer alien decides
to go for a cruise.
Studio: Universal
Based on: Dark Horse comic book "Virus"
Screenplay: Dennis Feldman (writer/producer 1995 "Species", co-producer
1991 "Dead Again", writer/director 1987 "Real Men"),
Jonathan Hensleigh (Executive Producer 1997 "Con Air", writer 1997 "The Saint",
uncredited writer 1996 "The Rock", writer 1995 "Die Hard 3", story 1995 "Jumanji",
writer 1993 "A Far Off Place"), Chuck Pfarrer
Director: John J. Bruno (executive producer 1996 "Paperblood", visual effects
supervisor 1996 "Terminator 2:3D Battle Across Time",
production assistant 1995 "Steel Frontier", visual effects supervisor
1994 "True Lies", visual effects supervisor 1993 "Cliffhanger",
visual effects supervisor 1989 "The Abyss", visual effects art
director 1986 "Poltergeist 2", visual effects art director 1985
"Fright Night", special effects director/sequence director 1981
"Heavy Metal", artist 1974 "The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat")
Producers: Gale Anne Hurd, Mike Richardson
Starring:
??? -- Jamie Lee Curtis
??? -- Donald Sutherland
??? -- William Baldwin
??? -- Cliff Curtis
??? -- Joanna Pacula
??? -- Marshall Bell
Special Effects: Tippett Studios
Storyboards: Rodolfo Damaggio
Locations: Wilmington, North Carolina; Newport News, Virginia
Opening: 14 August 1998 (slipped from 24 October 1997)
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What Dreams May Come
Story: Visually superb Afterlife Romance
Studio: Metafilmics / Interscope / PolyGram
Based on: Novel by Richard Matheson
in the movie context of:
Outward Bound [1930], Between Two Worlds [1944], A Matter of Life and Death [1946],
Down to Earth [1947], Heaven Can Wait [1978], Beetlejuice [1988],
Always [1989], All Dogs Go to Heaven [1989], Defending Your Life [1991],
and Bill & Ted'd Bogus Journey [1991]
Screenplay: Ronald Bass
Director: Vincent Ward (from New Zealand) ("Map of the Human Heart" Director/writer [1992],
"The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey" Director/writer TIME TRAVEL [1988],
"Vigil" Director/writer [1988])
Producers: Barnet Bain, Alan C. Blomquist (co-producer), Stephen Deutch (Associate Producer)
Executive Producers: Ronald Bass, Ted Field, Erica Huggins, Scott Kroopf
Cinematographer: Eduardo Serra
Editors: David Brenner, Maysie Hoy
Starring:
Chris Nielsen -- Robin Williams (Flubber, Dead Poet'sSociety, Good Will Hunting,
Hamlet, Jumanji, Father's Day, Deconstructing Harry, Jack,
The Birdcage, The Secret Agent, Nine Months, Being Human,
Toys, Mrs.Doubtfire, Alladin, The Fisher King, Good Morning Vietnam)
Albert -- Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire, As Good As It Gets,
Do Me A Favor, The Audition, Losing Isaiah, Outbreak,
Lightning Jack, Judgment Night, A Few Good Men, Gladiators, Hitz)
soon to appear in "Instinct", and as Producer/Star of "A Murder of Crows"
Annie Nielsen -- Annabella Sciorra ("Cop Land" [1997], "Underworld" [1997], "Highball" [1997],
"Mr. Jealousy" [1997], "The Funeral" [1996], "The Addiction" [1995], "The Cure" [1995],
"The Innocent Sleep" [1995], "National Lampoon's Favorite Deadly Sins" [1995],
"Mr. Wonderful" [1995], "Jungle Fever" [1991])
The Tracker -- Max von Sydow
Marie Nielsen -- Jessica Brooks
Ian Nielsen -- Josh Paddock
Leona -- Rosalind Chao
Production Design: Eugenio Zanetti
Special Effects: P.O.P. Digital Film Group, Mass Illusions, Digital Domain,
CIS Hollywood, MastersFX, Cinema Productions
Music: Michael Kamen
Costumes: Yvonne Blake
Budget: $70,000,000 or $85,000,000 (reports differ widely)
Storyboards:
Locations:
Opening: 28 Sep 98 USA Previews, 2 Oct 98 USA opening, 15 Oct 98 Australia,
26 Nov 98 Germany, 27 Nov 98 Austria, 3 Dec 98 Singapore
Web: Official Site
Internet Movie Database
Runtime: 113 Minutes
Box Office: Week #1 {to be done}
Week #2 {to be done}
Week #3 saw "What Dreams May Come" ranked #6, with $6,400,000 in
3-day weekend gross on 2,506 screens ($2,555 average). The
cumulative gross was $41,100,000. "What Dreams May Come" ranked
just below the debut of Disney/Touchstone's "Beloved" (which
debuted at #5 but had the highest top-10 per-screen average of
$5,440), and just above Paramount's "A Night at the Roxbury."
Reviews:
Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: "`What Dreams May Come' is so breathtaking,
so beautiful, so bold in its imagination!"
John Powell, JAM! Showbiz: "What Dreams May Come is a soulful piece as you'll ever see!"
David Hunter, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: "A visual feast not to be passed up and bound to pack
an emotional punch for many viewers!"
Todd McCarthy, DAILY VARIETY: "A heaping serving of metaphysical gobbledygook
wrapped in a physically striking package."
Sarah Gilliam, RADIO FREE: "One of the most beautiful movies of the year!"
E! ONLINE: "Ultimately it's too trippy--and drippy--for all its visual finery and erudite musings."
Edward Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly: "A visually breathtaking work!"
Harry Knowles, AIN'T IT COOL: "This film portrays some of the most beautiful
and stunning use of digital effects yet!"
Jackie Loohauis, MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL: "Muddled and confused!"
SCREEN IT!: "The film greatly suffers from a lack of any substantial plot!"
OREGON LIVE: "It's such a lavish, awesome spectacle!"
Sean Means, FILM.COM "Few films delight the eye the way Vincent Ward's 'What Dreams May Come' does!"
Jack Garner, ROCHESTER CHRONICLE: "Visually breathtaking and intellectually intriguing!"
Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE: "As rare and odd, and visually breathtaking, as modern
filmmaking gets!"
BOSTON GLOBE: "The afterlife movie soars to new visionary heights in 'What Dreams May Come.'"
Eleonore Snow, MR. SHOWBIZ: "Dripping with bold visual aplomb and sugar-coated mysticism,
Vincent Ward╒s film is a staunch romantic's romance for those who believe╤-or want to
believe╤-in eternal love."
Sean Elder, NEW YORK CITYSEARCH: "This movie is all fat!"
Karen Hershenson, CONTRA COSTA TIMES "'What Dreams May Come' is a like an abstract painting,
full of vivid brushstrokes that hint at deeper meaning."
Susan Stark, DETROIT NEWS: "In both concept and execution, they testify to
painfully banal sensibilities."
Owen Gleiberman, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: "If the film's morose sentimentality sidesteps
ludicrousness, it's also not very dramatic."
Christopher Brandon, ROUGH CUT: "The imagery, though it's [sic] constantly switching moods,
remains delicious."
Stephen Hunter, WASHINGTON POST: "It's not much, other than the vision thing."
Scott Renshaw, HOLLYWOOD HOTLINE: "Williams is certainly a fine performer, but there are times
when he's giving a 'serious' performance that he looks like he's trying way too hard."
Bob Fenster, ARIZONA REPUBLIC: "Here's what's wrong with giant movie screens:
You can fill them with extreme close-ups of Robin Williams' face!"
James Berardinelli, REELVIEWS: "Director Vincent Ward's view of heaven is surreal and spectacular!"
James Berardinelli's ReelViews:
"'What Dreams May Come' has the sensibilities of an art film placed into a big-budget
feature with an A-list cast. Although it is undeniably a tear-jerker, it's probably not
mainstream enough to enthrall audiences and assure a big return at the box office.
It is arguably too offbeat. The storyline, which has Chris relishing the serenity of
heaven before taking a trip through hell, is compelling, even if the ending
is a little too cute. Part of the reason the movie works is that the characters are
likable. Most of us would love to have the kind of relationship that Chris and Annie
enjoyed, so it's not hard to root for them to somehow find each other again, even with
the chasm of death dividing them. Also, the production design is truly amazing, coming
in second only to Dark City for the most visually arresting picture of the year."
MovieGuru.com:
"Robin Williams stars in this $70 million production of the Richard Matheson book.
That is a pretty darn big budget for a movie with no explosions. Instead, the money was
used to create amazing sets of heaven. Williams... takes the lead this time. The movie
starts with he and his wife's death. In heaven he is shown around by Cuba Gooding Jr. ...
in yet another Oscar caliber supporting performance. He meets is children and old friends.
He soon starts to wonder of [sic] his wife died as well and where she is. He begins to
realize that much of the imagery in this place resembles his wife's paintings. He fins [sic]
out that she died, but went to H-E double hockey sticks (HELL). He decides heaven
sucks without his wife, so he decides to do whatever it takes (even a trip to Hades)
to get back with her. This weird guy called The Tracker helps him out.
"What Dreams May Come is a flawed film, and like Simon Birch, a large part of this
was because it didn't stay true to the novel. A big problem is that the first 30-45
minutes is exposition. All that time is spent telling us about Chris's (Williams) life
was like and how heaven works. Then, when we finally get to some action, it doesn't
get much better. Unlike the novel, Chris's kids are dead, and they pop up in heaven
with different bodies. It [sic] supposed to surprise and move us, but it annoyed me.
"Matheson doesn't stick to any religion's traditional heaven. He takes parts out of
many interpretations of heaven to make his own...."
eye WEEKLY:
James Cowan: "...mythic, baroque, an epic, and elegy... It steals its title from 'Hamlet'
and borrows from Dante, Homer, and Van Gogh... It's a love story that talks to your head,
not your heart... The afterlife is magnificently rendered... eye candy and brain food,
but no nourishment for the soul."
Film Ink - Executive Summary:
"For Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams), his love for his wife Annie (Annabella Sciorra) defines
the core of his being and completes his very soul....If Destiny decrees that Chris must journey
to the very depths of Hell to be with her, then he will... and he does!...and experiences
a world bound only by his imagination....In this alternative realm, Chris delights in the
knowledge that Heaven for him is existing within one of Annie's magnificent paintings.
When Chris is told that Annie can never join him in his Heaven, he vows to find her.
Guided by a sage Tracker (Max Von Sydow) and his unconditional love for Annie, he embarks
on an epic odyssey through a tapestry of timeless illusions to try to free her from
the endless torments of Hell.... Although many people have traveled to death's doorway,
and peered into the dark abyss on the other side, the ability of filmmakers
to "take us there" has fallen short in the view of many. In this film, technology is pushed
to the limits in order to allow the full expression of the vision of the filmmakers;
to show us their view of Chris Neilsen's heaven and hell. Visually, the effect is
stunning, and the talents of the artists and craftspeople who helped create this film
should be applauded."
Hollywood Jesus:
"'Ah, go to Hell!' We talk about Hell all the time. We send everyone we know
there when we get upset. And everyone thinks that if there is a Heaven, they will go there
after death. Most believe that some people will actually go to Hell, but very few believe
they personally will go to Hell. We all wonder about life after death. We like to think of
our loved ones going to a "better place." Despite all this, few movies have ever
depicted Heaven and/or Hell.
"For this reason alone I believe this is going to be a powerful film. I think it will
spur conversations. It will furnish popular culture a collective way of visualizing and
discussing Heaven and Hell. I am very excited about this film. Reports indicate that the
visual effects are outstanding. It should be very compelling.
"I am impressed that Max Von Sydow is in the film. He played Jesus in 'The Greatest
Story Ever Told' and the 'Exorcist' priest. What a great casting idea.
"Why do people go to Hell? What on earth determines such a fate?
Can love overpower Hell? What is heaven like? Do people look the same outside their bodies?
What assurance can anyone have of Heaven? Is Heaven a place of restoration?
Is Hell eternal? Can there be life after Hell? Get ready for some great conversation by
taking your friends out to coffee after this film."
Journal Now
Nitrate Online
New York Times (registration required):
Stephen Holden, NEW YORK TIMES: "All the weeping and hugging the characters do
can't make up for the film's fatal lack of texture and psychological nuance."
Film Psychosis:
By Nathaniel R. Atcheson:
"I've seen films that deal with death and afterlife, but I don't think I've seen any that
conquer the subject with such unrelenting determination as Vincent Ward's 'What Dreams May Come'.╩
It's so refreshing to see a Hollywood production that succeeds by ignoring all the standard
conventions and cliches of the genre.╩ This film is profound and deeply interesting -- it
handles disturbing subjects with unflinching sincerity.╩ And though it has its roots in
many other works -- from Dante's Inferno all the way up to the films of Bergman -- it still
manages originality and uniqueness.
"But these aren't the elements that will stick with you, for 'What Dreams May Come' is
one of the most visually astounding films I've ever seen.╩ It's a wealth of truly beautiful
sets and special effects, seamless and visionary images of things that can't exist in our
world.╩ That's what makes this such a memorable film experience -- it takes you places you
have never been, and shows you things you can't see anywhere else.╩ In a time when most
films don't exhibit the even lowest degree of creativity, here is a film that registers as
art and serves its purpose both in sensation and perception.╩ Your eyes and your mind will
feed on all that Ward's film has to offer.╩
"At the same time, however, the film's flaws are almost as obvious as its virtues.╩
It suffers from a terribly disjointed narrative -- the chronology is difficult to understand,
and there's not always a strong sense of momentum. ╩ As a whole, the film may not have you
feeling absorbed as much as you may feel trapped -- at times, it's so visually arresting
that it seems like you're living the nightmare.╩This is a positive attribute to a point,
but this film comes inches away from being intolerably depressing."
Radio Free Movie Review:
Sarah Gilliam, RADIO FREE: "One of the most beautiful movies of the year!"
Screen It! (spoilers):
[an interesting matrix or tabular presentation of micro-comments]
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle: "Dull Story."
San Francisco Examiner:
David Armstrong, EXAMINER STAFF CRITIC (Oct. 2, 1998) "It's just a bad "Dream'"
Headline: Robin Williams stars in cloying, effects-laden story of love in the afterlife
Review (excerpts): "When the history of Big Talent in Bad Movies is written, the
name Robin Williams will be writ large. Protean, quicksilver smart and too prolific for
his own good, Williams appears determined to appear in every movie out of Hollywood.
As a result, he makes many mediocre to bad pictures along with keepers such as
'Good Will Hunting' and 'Moscow on the Hudson,' the early dramatic role that showed
he could act.
"Williams' latest, "What Dreams May Come," is a scary example of bad movies
happening to good people. A shamelessly manipulative and soft-centered treatment of
undying love in the afterlife, "Dreams" was directed by Vincent Ward, whose bio is
yet another cautionary tale about ambition. A New Zealand filmmaker who made the
extraordinary "The Navigator" and the quite respectable "Map of the Human Heart,"
he has set aside, at least for now, the creativity of his early small-budget efforts.
"The computerized special-effects in "Dreams" must have pumped up the $85 million
budget considerably. So, too, the star salaries for Williams....
"It's the special-effects and art-direction, though, that are the real
stars of 'Dreams,' shot on Bay Area soundstages. Bright digitalized sets, saturated
colors and backgrounds of almost palpable, three-dimensional quality infuse the
sometimes-inspired visuals. The backdrops are informed by famous styles of
painting, and the heaven 'n' hell storyline they reflect combines strong elements of
Hieronymus Bosch and 'Fantasia'-era Disney. It's art history on acid."
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X-Files
Story: Two cool Government agents are still trying to figure out what the
government knows and doesn't know about extraterrestrial life on
Earth. The film will be set up by a 1997-98 TV season special
finale cliffhanger, and massive promotion. The plot revolves
around the Oklahoma City-style bombing of a government
building in Dallas that has something to do with aliens,
cloning, killer bees, the Consortium, the origin of the
extraterrestrial virus, the connection between Mulder and
Cancer-Man, and JFK.
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Based on: hit TV series, see: Ultimate Science Fiction TV Web Guide
Producer: Chris Carter (who will leave the TV series at the end of his 5 years)
Screenplay: Chris Carter
Director: Rob Bowman (who directed several of the TV episodes)
Starring:
Fox Mulder -- David Duchovny (rumored to be getting $4,000,000
for the film role plus $100,000 per episode of the 1998 TV
season, for which he has another year to go on his 6-year
contract)
Dana Scully -- Gillian Anderson (rumored to be getting several
million dollars for the film role plus $80,000 per episode of the
1998 TV season, for which she has another year to go on her 6-year
contract)
Cancer-Man --
Rest of Cast: {to be done}
Special Effects: ???
Opening: 19 June 1998 (as Fox's first event film of the summer)
Pre-Preview: Filming is supposed to have wrapped in August 1997, and
post-production should be done in late April 1998
Rumors: Scully and Mulder will be in a film sequel, while another
FBI odd couple replaces them on the TV series for season #6
Box Office: Here are the calculations. Since 18,000,000-20,000,000
viewers watch the hit TV series, if 18,000,000 people go to the
movie theatres at an average of $4.50 per ticket, that would be
an $81,000,000 gross. But since there are an estimated 30,000,000
X-Files fans around the world, the overseas market could be
equally huge. Executives at the Fox television network won't talk openly
about such figures, but the truth is out there. 20th Century Fox,
the sister company for movie-making, is equally hush-hush, with
Head of Production Tom Rothman saying only that it will be "a
worldwide event movie" [Los Angeles Times Calendar, p.46, 15 May
1997].
Opening week: {to be done}
Week #2: {to be done}
Week #3 saw "The X-Files" ranked #5, with $6,300,000 gross
over the 3-5 July 1998 weekend, on 2,602 screens ($2,403 average)
for cumulative gross of $67,100,000. It ranked just below
Universal's "Out of Sight" and just above Paramount's "The Truman Show."
Week #4: {to be done}
In Week #5, "The X-Files" ranked #12, with $2,000,000 gross
over the 17-19 July 1998 weekend, on 1,451 screens ($1,381 average)
for cumulative gross of $78,300,000. It ranked just below
the 4th week of Universal's "Out of Sight" and just above Paramount's
31st week of "Titanic" (which by now had domestic gross of
$590,500,000).
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X-Men
Story: Mutant superheros battle evil and angst; action/sci-fi
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Based on: comic book series
Screenplay: ???
Director: Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects", "Apt Pupil")
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Opening: Mid 1998
Rumor: Will slip to 1999
Pre-Preview: Director Bryan Singer grew up in Princeton, New Jersey
as a friend of actor Ethan Hawke and screenwriters Christopher
McQuarrie (Academy Award for best original screenplay "The Usual
Suspects" directed by Bryan Singer, starring Kevin Spacey who
won best supporting actor). An adopted child, he's placed his
mother in "Apt Pupil" as a secretary and his father as a hopsital
administrator.
Singer went to USC as an undergraduate and there had
McQuarrie write "Public Access" which shared the Grand Jury
Prize at the Sundance Film Festval, which led him to Spielberg
and Robert Altman who sponsored him for Directors Guild of
America, after which he directed "The Usual Suspects."
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X--The Man with the X-Ray Eyes
Story: Remake of 1963 Roger Corman cult classic
Studio: DreamWorks SKG / Orion Pictures
Based on: 1963 Roger Corman cult classic
Screenplay: Bryan Goluboff ("The Basketball Diaries")
Director: Tim Burton ("Batman", "Edward Scissorhands",
"Nightmare Before Christmas")
Starring:
??? -- Jamie Lee Curtis
??? -- Donald Sutherland
Special Effects: ???
Opening: Fall/Holiday 1997
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SNEAK PRE-PREVIEWS: 1999 SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS
Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
AI
Alien Love Triangle
American Legend; or, I Am Legend
American Psycho
The Astronaut's Wife
Avatar
Barthe
Batman: Dark Knight
Bedazzled
The Bionic Man
James Bond #19
Bride of Chucky
Colony 12
Cosm
Duke Nukem
Ender's Game
Fantasia 2000
Farenheit 451
Forbidden Planet
Freddy vs. Jason
Frost
Gargoyles
The Gelfin
The Ghost
Ghostbusters III
The Green Mile
Highlander 4
The Hulk
I Married a Witch
Idle Hands
Independence Day 2
Inspector Gadget
The Iron Giant
Jumanji 2
The Lamia
Men in Black 2
Mephisto in Onyx
The Secret of Nimh II
The Nutty Professor 2
Rendezvous with Rama
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Shrek
Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists
Software
Star Wars 1
Supernova
Thunderbirds
Total Recall 2
Toy Story 2
Twister 2
The Wild, Wild West
Wonder Woman -- {to be done}
WW3.COM
Other 1999 films, which have not yet been determined by Your Humble
Webmaster to be science fiction, fantasy, horror, or what...
- Age of Aquarius (1999) SF?
- Cybersex and Pretzles (1999)
- Guam Goes to the Moon (1999)
- In Your Dreams (1999)
- Instinct (1999)
- Into Thin Air (1999),with Sylvester Stallone
- Mefisto in Onyx (1999)
- Meltdown (1999)
- Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1999)
- Mission: Impossible 2 (1999)
- Mystery Men (1999)
- Nemo (1999)
- Ninth Gate, The (1999)
- Nutty Professor II, The (1999)
- Ogniem i mieczem (1999)
- Outside Ozona (1999)
- Passionnément (1999)
- Planet Ice (1999)
- Planet of the Apes (1999)
- Project: Destroy (1999) (TV)
- Rendezvous with Rama (1999)
- Resurrection (1999)
- Scream 3 (1999)
- Sinbad and the Veil of the Mists (1999)
- Star Wars: Episode I (1999)
- Superman Lives (1999)
- Toy Story 2 (1999)
- Twenty Billion (1999)
- U-571 (1999)
- Wand, Die (1999)
- Wonder Woman (1999)
- X-Men (1999)
- Zero Hour (1999)
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Duke Nukem: The Movie
Model for cut&paste
Story: ???
Studio: ???
Based on: ???
Screenplay: ???
Producers: ???
Director: ???
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Inspector Gadget (1999) more data @IMDB
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***********
************
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Story: Moose and Squirrel have antic pun-filled adventures
Studio: MCA/Universal Pictures
Based on: the 1950's and 1960's TV series "Rocky and His Friends" (1959) and
"The Bullwinkle Show" (1961)
1960s: Science Fiction TV 1960-1969
Screenplay: ???
Producers: ???
Director: ???
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle data on IMDB
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AI
Studio: ??? (Great Britain)
Distributor: ???
Producer: ???
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Based On: collaboration with British science fiction author and former
linguistics professor Ian Watson
Writers: Stanley Kubrick, Ian Watson, many rewriters: ???, and ???
Story: Little boy grows up in a cyber-dominated future
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Rumors: currently in pre-production, the schedule keeps slipping
because Kubrick can't keep his hands off yet another edit of
"Eyes Wide Shut." Almost no leaks to track down, except the one
about a well-known artist being involved in a rewrite.
Release: later and later in 1999, may slip to 2000 or (dare I say
it) 2001
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Alien Love Triangle
Studio: Figment Films (Great Britain)
Distributor: Dimension Films
Producer: Andrew MacDonald
Director: Danny Boyle, ???, and ???
Based On: original title "Change of Luck"
Writers: John Hodge, ???, and ???
Story: Anthology film with 3 segments and probably 3 different
directors. Courtney Cox is a male alien disguised as a human
female, married to Earth human Kenneth Branagh
Starring:
??? -- Kenneth Branagh
??? -- Heather Graham
??? -- Courtney Cox (Scream, Scream 2, TV's "Friends")
Music: Simon Boswell
Digital Effects Producer: Drew Jones
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American Legend; or, I Am Legend
Studio: ???
Distributor: ???
Producer: ???
Director: Ridley Scott
Based On: Remake of 1971 Charlton Heston adaptation ("The Omega Man")
of Richard Matheson novel "I Am Legend"
Writers: ???
Story: Only one man left alive as global plague makes everyone else
into zombies. San Francisco is a riot after dark...
Starring:
??? -- Arnold Schwarzenegger
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Release: was set for Summer 1998
Budget: projected at over $100,000,000
Rumor: "Variety" says that studio execs killed the picture, due to
budget, and that both Director Ridley Scott and Star Arnold
Schwarzenegger are attached to other projects now. But maybe
the film can rise from the dead...
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American Psycho
Story: Generation-X serial killer is very hip, and very crazy
Studio: Warner Bros. / Single Cel Pictures / Quadra Entertainment /
Lions Gate Films / Muse Productions
Based on: the novel by Bret Ellis
Screenplay: Mary Harron, Guinevere Turner
Executive Producer: Michael Paseornek
Producers: Chris Hanley [1998 "The Revenant"],
Edward R. Pressman [1998 "Crow: The World of Gods and Monsters",
1996 "The Crow: City of Angels", 1996 "The Island of Dr. Moreau",
1994 "The Crow", 1987 "Masters of the Universe",
1981 "Conan the Barbarian", 1974 "Phantom of the Paradise",
executive producer of 1995 "Judge Dredd"]
Ron Rotholz, John Michael Stipe
Director: Mary Harron [1996 "I Shot Andy Warhol"]
Starring:
??? -- Leonardo DiCaprio is rumored to be attached
??? -- Christian Bale [1997 "Metroland", Voice of Thomas in 1995 "Pocahontas",
1987 "Empire of the Sun", 1990 TV "Treasure Island"]
??? -- Willem Dafoe [John Geiger in 1997 "Speed 2", Carravaggio in 1996 "The English Patient",
T.S. Eliot in 1994 "Tom & Viv", Clark in 1994 "Clear
and Present Danger", Bobby Peru in 1990 "Wild at Heart"]
??? -- Jared Leto [1998 "The Thin Red Line", title role in 1997 "Prefontaine",
title role in 1997 "Basil", Jordan Catalano in 1994 TV "My So-Called Life"]
Special Effects: ???
Music: Danny Elfman
Budget: ???
Rumors: Leonardo DiCaprio is rumored to be attached
Opening: ???
American Psycho (1999) @IMDB
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The Astronaut's Wife
Studio: New Line Cinema
Executive Producer: Mark Johnson
Producer: Andrew Lazar
Director: Rand Ravich (his debut as Director; was screenwriter of
Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh, and others -- see below)
Cinematographer: Allen Daviau
Editor: Steve Mirkovich
Based On: ???
Writer: Rand Ravich (The Maker, 1997; Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, 1995;
Crime Lords, 1990)
Story: Astronaut returns from mission and begins acting very weird
Starring:
Spencer Armacost -- Johnny Depp (Ed Wood, Donny Brasco, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)
??? -- Clea DuVall (first major feature film)
Jillian Armacost -- Charlize Theron (The Devil's Advocate, 2 Days in the Valley)
??? -- Blair Brown
Cameraman -- Jim Jenkins (uncredited)
??? -- Joe Morton
??? -- Donna Murphy
??? -- Tom Noonan
Production Design: Jan Roelfs
Costume Design: Isis Mussenden
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Story: Animation character has identity crisis when he meets the
fictional character and the real person that the fictional character
is based on, in a Cyberpunk kind of virtual reality way
Studio: Lightstorm Entertainment [1997 "Titanic", 1995 "Strange Days", 1994 "True Lies",
1996 "Terminator 2: 3-D", 1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day"]
Based on: ???
Screenplay: ???
Producers: ???
Director: ???
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: Digital Domain
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Avatar (1999) more data @IMDB
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Barthe
Studio: ???
Producer: Danny DeVito
Director: Danny DeVito
Based On: ???
Writers: ???
Story: Alien's true love flees from him under false suspicion that
he's been unfaithful, and he pursues her; tabloid news reporter
searches for aliens for his big story
Starring:
Tabloid Reporter -- Danny DeVito ( similar to his role in L.A. Confidential)
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Rumors: Danny DeVito will get to work on this full-time after he
finishes his co-starring with Jim Carrey in the Andy Kaufman
biography "The Man in the Moon." He wants to get bigger
box-office action than the last time he tangled with aliens --
in "Mars Attacks!"
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Batman: Dark Knight
Studio: Warner Bros.
Producer: ???
Director: Joel Schumaker
Based On: the darker tone of the Batman graphic novel of the same name
Writers: ???
Story:
Starring:
John Wayne/Batman -- George Clooney
Scarecrow -- Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Spacey, John Travolta
have all been all rumored
Harley Quinn -- ???
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Rumors: besides the conflicting buzz about the Scarecrow and the new
villain Harley Quinn, not much leaks out of this franchise
tightly locked down into pre-production
Release: Summer 1999
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Story: Short-order cook Stanley Moon, in love with Wimpy Burger
waitress Margaret Spencer but with no hope of being the object of
her affections, decides to commit suicide, but is seduced into
signing a contract with the Devil (George Spiggott/Peter Cook).
The devil transforms him according to 7 successive wishes, first
as a genius (upstaged by Spiggott as a cynical genius), then as a
rock star (upstaged by Spiggott as a bored punker singing "Go Away,
Get Lost, I Hate You"), then as a titan of industry (upstaged by
Spiggott, who crushes him on the stock market). He is also put
in contact with the personified 7 Deady Sins. Eventually, he
comes to realize how infantile his fantasies are, and how much
his real life means to him.
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Based on: remake of the 1967 20th Century Fox film Bedazzled",
directed by Stanley Donen, starring Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, and
Raquel Welch
Screenplay: Larry Gelbart ["M.A.S.H.", 1998 "Chicago", 1997 TV "Weapons of Mass Distraction",
1993 TV "Barbarians at the Gate", 1982 "Tootsie",
1977 "Oh, God!", 1966 "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum",
1966 "The Wrong Box"]
Producers: ???
Director: Harold Ramis [Director of: 1999 "Ghostbusters III", 1996 "Multiplicity",
1993 "Groundhog Day", 1983 National Lampoon's Vacation, 1980 "Caddyshack"]
Starring:
George Spiggott -- ??? (role created by Peter Cook)
Stanley Moon -- ??? (role created by Dudley Moore)
Margaret Spencer -- ??? (role created by Eleanor Bron)
Lust -- ??? (role created by Raquel Welch)
Vanity -- ??? (role created by Alba)
Anger -- ??? (role created by Robert Russell)
Envy -- ??? (role created by Barry Humphries)
Avarice -- ??? (role created by Danielle Noel)
Sloth -- ??? (role created by Howard Goorney)
Inspector Clarke -- ??? (role created by Michael Bates)
Irving Moses -- ??? (role created by Bernard Spear)
Randolph -- ??? (role created by Robin Hawdon)
Lord Dowdy -- ??? (role created by Michael Trubshawe)
Mrs. Wisby -- ??? (role created by Evelyn Moore)
Vicar -- ??? (role created by Charles Lloyd Pack)
St. Peter -- ??? (role created by Lockwood West)
Sister Phoebe -- ??? (role created by Betty Cooper)
Special Effects: ???
Music: George Fenton
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Bedazzled (1999) more data @ IMDB
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The Bionic Man
Studio: ???
Producer: ???, Lionel E. Siegel , Kenneth Johnson
Director: ???
Based On: 1960's TV show "The Six Million Dollar Man",
which aired on ABC, 18 Jan 1974-6 Mar 1978, which was in turn
based on the novel "Cyborg" by aerospace wizard Martin Caidin, whose
novel "Marooned" became the film which inspired the actual US-USSR
Apollo-Soyuz mission, the first time the Americans and Russians
cooperated in manned spaceflight before today's Shuttle/Mir peacemaking.
Writer: Josh Whedon ("Alien Resurrection")
Story: Critically injured test-pilot is rebuilt into a cyborg, who is
the ultimate government agent/superhero.
Starring:
Colonel Steve Austin -- ??? (role created by Lee Majors)
Oscar Goldman -- ??? (role created by Richard Anderson)
Dr. Rudy Wells -- ??? (role created by Alan Oppenheimer 1974-75
and Martin E. Brooks 1975-78)
Barney Miller -- ??? (role created by Monte Markham)
??? -- ???
Rumor: retitle as "The Six BILLION Dollar Man"
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Story: More adventures with Secret Agent 007
Studio: MGM-UA presents a Danjaq Productions/Eon production
Based on: the immortal creation of Ian Fleming's novels,
James Bond, 007
Screenplay: Neal Purvis [1991 "Let Him Have It"], Robert Wade [1991 "Let Him Have It",
and author of the 1964 novel under pseudonym Wade Miller]
Producers: Barbara Broccoli [1997 "Tomorrow Never Dies", 1995 "Goldeneye"]
Michael G. Wilson [1997 "Tomorrow Never Dies", 1995 "Goldeneye",
1989 "License to Kill", 1985 "A View to a Kill", and
executive producer on 1981 "For Your Eyes Only" and 1979 "Moonraker"]
Director: ???
Starring:
James Bond -- Pierce Brosnan [1997 "Tomorrow Never Dies", Harry Dalton in 1997 Dante's Peak,
Donald Kessler in 1996 "Mars Attacks!", 1995 "Goldeneye",
Stuart Dunmeyer in 1993 "Mrs. Doubtfire", Dr. Lawrence Angelo in 1992
"The Lawnmower Man", Phileas Fogg in 1989 TV miniseries "Around the
World in 80 Days", and title role in 1982 TV "Remington Steele",
voice of 1998 "The Quest for Camelot"]
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Music: David Arnold
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
more Bond 19 data on IMDB
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Bride of Chucky
Story: ???
Studio: ???
Based on: the endless series of stupid "Chucky" movies
Screenplay: ???
Producers: David Kirschner, Laura Moskowitz
Director: Ronnie Yu
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Bride of Chucky (1999) more data @IMDB
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Colony 12
Story: Deadly problems on a space colony far from Earth
Studio: Ohana Films
Based on:
Screenplay: Mark Hockley, John P. Mesa
Producer: Tina Mesa [Visual Effects production manager on 1997 "DNA",
Visual Effects Producer on 1996 "Maximum Surge",
1995 "Cutthroat Island", 1995 "The Deolitionist",
1995 "Galaxis"]
Director: John P. Mesa [Visual Effects Supervisor or Co-supervisor on: 1998 "Talos the Mummy",
1998 "Very Bad Things", 1997 TV "Team Knight Rider",
1997 "Quicksilver Highway", 1997 "DNA", 1996 "Robinson Crusoe",
1995 "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh", 1995 TV "Land's End",
2nd Unit DP on 1995 "The Darkening", and many credits
as visual effects cameraman]
Executive Producers: Ulrich P. Bruckner, John P. Mesa, William Mesa
Starring:
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Rumors: in Pre-production as of 1 March 1998
Opening: ???
Colony 12 (1999) more data @ IMDB
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Cosm
Story: African-American lady physicist accidently creates a wormhole
into a super-rapidly evolving universe, through particle accelerator
experiment at Brookhaven, which appears like a shimmering
basketball, and emits energy beams that kill one scientist. She
steals it, and heads for her office at the University of
California at Irvine, while being chased by government agents
and more sinister figures.
Studio: Blue Tulip Productions (Jan de Bont) for 20th Century Fox
Based on: 1998 novel by Gregory Benford
Screenplay: Jan de Bont, Robert E. Collins
Producers: Jan de Bont [Producer of 1999 "Zero Hour", 1997 "Speed 2"],
Michael Peyser [Executive Producer of 1996 "Matilda", 1986 "F/X",
1985 "Desperately Seeking Susan"; Producer of 1995 "Hackers";
Associate Producer of 1985 "The Purple Rose of Cairo", 1983 "Zelig",
and 1982 "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy"]
Director: Jan de Bont [Director of 1997 "Speed 2", 1996 "Twister", 1994 "Speed"]
[Cinematographer on: 1992 "Lethal Weapon 3", 1992 "Basic Instinct",
1990 "Flatliner", 1990 "The Hunt for Red October", 1988 "Die Hard",
1986 "Clan of the Cave Bear", 1983 "Cujo"
Starring:
??? -- Angela Bassett
??? -- Dustin Hoffman
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Cosm (1999) more data @IMDB
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Duke Nukem: The Movie
Story: ???
Studio: Threshhold Entertainment [1997 Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation,
3D Realms. GT Interactive
Based on: Video Game "Duke Nukem" and its novelizations by
Dafydd ab Hugh and others
Screenplay: ???
Producers: Lawrence Kasanoff [1998 "Beowulf", 1997 Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation",
1995 "Mortal Kombat" (also the screenwriter);
Executive Producer of 1995 "Strange Days", 1995 TV series "Mortal Kombat",
1994 "True Lies", 1994 "A Gnome Named Gnorm", 1991 "Ghoulies 3",
1990 "Blue Steel", 1990 "Class of 1990", 1989 "Dream a Little Dream",
1989 "Far From Home", 1988 "The Conjurer", 1987 "Blood Diner"]
Director: ???
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: Threshhold Entertainment's Digital Research Lab
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: Summer 1999
Duke Nukem: The Movie (1999) more data @IMDB
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Ender's Game
Studio: Chartoff Productions presents a Fresco Pictures production
Producer: Robert Chartoff
Director: ???
Based On: award-winning science fiction trilogy by Orson Scott Card
Writers: Orson Scott Card, ???
Story: Precocious boy excels in military school, trained to fight the
interstellar "buggers." Hints of incest with his sister.
Starring:
Ender (6 years old) -- ???
Ender (12 years old) -- ???
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Web Site: Ender's Game official
Rumor: Orson Scott Card delivered his completed screenplay, but it's
being rewritten to avoid comparisons with Starship Troopers
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Fantasia 2000
Story: Adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier"
Studio: Walt Disney Productions
Based on: 1940 masterpiece by Walt Disney (which, by the way, he
pronounced Fant-a-see-a")
Screenplay: ???
Producer: Donald W. Ernst [Executive Producer of 1993 "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey"]
[Editor of: 1989 "Tummy Trouble", 1985 "Starchaser: The Legend of Orin",
1978 "The Lord of the Rings"]
Directors: Gaetan Brizzi [1985 "Asterix et la surprise de Cesar"],
Paul Brizzi [1985 "Asterix et la surprise de Cesar"],
Hendel Butoy [1990 "The Rescuers Down Under"],
Francis Glebas,
Eric Goldberg [supervising animator of 1997 Hercules,
assistant animator on 1977 "Raggedy Ann and Andy"]
Editor: Lois Freeman-Fox [1993 TV "And the Band Played On", 1992 TV "Majority Rule",
1992 "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot", 1990 "Air America",
1989 "Turner & Hooch", 1989 "K-9", 1987 "Like Father, Like Son", 1985 "Teen Wolf"]
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Visual Effects Supervisor: Dave Bossert
Art Directors: Dan Cooper, Dean Gordon, Michael Humphries, Carl Jones,
Keith Lesser, James Levine
Music: Bruce Broughton -- (transitions)
Paul Dukas -- "L'apprenti sorcier")
Edward Elgar -- "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1"
Modest Mussorgsky -- "A Night on Bald Mountain"
Amilcare Ponchielli -- "La Gioconda"
Dmitri Shostakovich -- ???
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky -- "Nutcracker Suite Op. 71a"
Ludwig Van Beethoven -- "5th symphony in C minor, Opus 67"
Budget: ???
Rumors: Originally titled Fantasia 1999, but schedule slipped.
I was very impressed by the stills and design sketches I saw at
the 1998 World Animation Celebration in Pasadena
Opening: ???
Fantasia 2000 (1999) more data @IMDB
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Farenheit 451
Producer/Director: Mel Gibson
Based On: the novel by Ray Bradbury rather than a remake
of the Francois Truffaut movie
Story: Near-future world of "firemen" who burn books, where people
are lulled into total-immersion entertainments of interactive
soap operas and real-time manhunts of "Enemies of the State", and
one fireman is seduced into the forbidden pleasures of reading
Studio: Icon Entertainment International
Screenplay: Terry Hayes (1999 Planet of the Apes, 1998 From Hell,
1996 Mr.Reliable, 1989 Dead Calm, 1985 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome)
Shooting: ???
Starring:
??? -- Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise
??? -- Sean Connery
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Sequels: ???
Release: Fall 1999
Rumors: Still in pre-production, and dissent in rewrite about
portrayal of Cyberspace
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Forbidden Planet
Studio: ???
Producer: ???
Director: ???
Based On: remake of original film, rather than a sequel as originally
planned, supposedly according to Harlan Ellison. The original
film, it is widely known, was a sci-fi remake of Shakespeare's
"The Tempest."
Writers: ???
Story: Explorers on alien planet encounter mad scientist, lovely
daughter, and alien technology that unleashes "mosnters of the id"
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
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Freddy vs. Jason
Story: Yet more Freddy Krueger combined with yet more Nightmare On Elm Street
as the two successful slasher series are mated, hoping that
they breed true at the box office
Studio: New Line Cinema
Based on: The following earlier films in both series --
Friday the 13th (1980)
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)
Nightmare on Elm Street, A (1984)
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge, A (1985)
Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A (1987)
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, A (1988)
Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, A (1989)
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
Screenplay: David J. Schow [1994 "The Crow", 1991 "Critters 4", 1991 "Critters 3",
1990 "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III"]
Producer: Sean S. Cunningham [Producer of: 1993 "Jason Goes to Hell", 1993 "My Boyfriend's Back",
1989 "Deep Star Six", 1989 "The Horror Show", 1987 "House II: The Second Story",
1986 "House", 1985 "The New Kids", 1983 "Spring Break",
1974 "Case of the Full Moon Murderers", 1972 "Last House on the Left";
Director of: 1989 "Deep Star Six", 1985 "The New Kids", 1983 "Spring Break",
1982 "A Stranger is Watching", 1980 "Friday the 13th",
1978 "Here Come the Tigers", 1978 "Manny's Orphans",
1974 "Case of the Full Moon Murderers", 1971 "Together]
Director: Rob Bottin [Creature Designer on: 1998 Deep Rising,
1997 "Mimic"; special make-up effects on: 1996 "Mission Impossible",
1995 "Se7en", 1987 "The Witches of Eastwick", 1985 "Explorers",
1985 "Legend", 1982 "The Thing", 1981 "The Howling", 1980 "The Fog",
1980 "Maniac", 1978 "Piranha", 1977 "The Incredible Melting Man",
1976 "King Kong";
Special Effects on: 1993 "Robocop 3", 1992 "Basic Instinct",
1991 "Bugsy", 1990 "Total Recall", 1987 "Innerspace",
1987 "Robocop", 1981 "Tanya's Island";
plus various actor and creature designer credits]
Starring:
Freddy Krueger -- Robert Englund
Jason Voorhees -- Kane Hodder
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ILM (Industrial Light & Magic)
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Freddy vs. Jason (1999) more data @IMDB
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Frost
Studio: Warner Bros.
Producer: ???
Director: Troy Miller
Based On: Original working title was "Frosty the Snowman" but that had
legal problems
Writers: ???
Story: Comedy/Drama about a boy whose deceased musician father (who
neglected his son, and died on Christmas Eve) returns to life
as a snowman
Starring:
??? -- Michael Keaton
??? -- Kelly Preston
??? -- Mark Addy
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Gargoyles
Story: ???
Studio: ???
Based on: the 1994 Saturday Morning animation TV series about kindly
angst-ridden Gargoyles and theor troubled relationship with
human beings and other hostile powers
Screenplay: ???
Producers: Michael Reaves [Co-Producer of 1994 TV series "Gargoyles"]
[Writer of 1994 "Gargoyles: The Heroes Awaken",
1993 animated "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm",
1993 TV "Full Eclipse"],
Greg Weisman [Co-Producer of 1994 TV series "Gargoyles"]
Director: ???
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Gargoyles (1999) more data @IMDB
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The Gelfin
Studio: Universal Pictures presents an Imagine Entertainment production
Producer: ???
Director: Brian Grazer and Stephen Surjik [1997 TV "Weapons of Mass
Distraction", 1995 "Little Criminals", 1993 "Wayne's World 2",
the 1993 "Excelsius Dei" episode of "The X-Files", 1990 TV series "Avonlea"]
Based On:
Writers:
Story: Comedy version of the Genie in a Bottle legend
Starring:
Genie -- Cuba Gooding Jr. (replacing Chris Farley, originally cast)
[1998 "Instinct" a.k.a. "Ishmael", Otis Redding in 1998 "Blaze of Glory",
Frank Sachs in 1997 "As Good As It Gets", Rod Tidwell in 1996 "Jerry Maguire",
Major Salt in 1995 "Outbreak", Corporal Carl Hammaker in
1992 "A Few Good Men", Tres Styles in 1991 "Boyz N the Hood"]
??? -- Vince Vaughn [Nick Van Owen in 1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park,
Clay Hewitt in 1997 "The Locusts", Trent in 1996 "Swingers",
Max in 1994 "At Risk", Jamie in 1993 "Rudy"]
??? -- ???
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The Ghost
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Producer: ???
Director: ???
Based On: novel by bestselling romance author Danielle Steele,
in her first major motion picture deal (22 of her 69 novels have
become TV miniseries, which for some reason kept Hollywood away
from her door)
Writers: Danielle Steele and ???
Story: Architect is abandoned by his cheating wife, moves to a mansion
in Vermont, mansion is haunted by lady ghost, architect
eventually finds and reads the diary she wrote when alive, which
somehow heals his emotional wounds, and he is free to fall in
love again
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
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Ghostbusters III
Story: When supernatural events pour through into our mundane world,
who ya gonna call?
The literary subgenre being spoofed is: UNICORNS IN THE GARDEN: magic events within our mundane world
Studio: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Based on: sequel to the first two films in the franchise:
Ghostbusters (1984)
Ghostbusters II (1989)
Screenplay: Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis
Executive Producer: Trevor Albert [1996 "Multiplicity", 1993 "Groundhog Day"]
Producers: Dan Aykroyd, Ivan Reitman [Producer on: 1998 "6 Days, 7 Nights", 1997 "Fathers' Day",
1997 "Howard Stern's Private Parts", 1996 "Space Jam", 1994 "Junior", 1993 "Dave",
1992 "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot", 1990 "Kindergarten Cop", 1989 "Ghostbusters II",
1988 "Twins", 1986 "Legal Eagles", 1984 "Ghostbusters", 1981 "Stripes",
1981 "Heavy Metal", 1978 "Animal House", 1977 "Death Weekend", 1975 "Shivers";
Executive Producer on: 1997 "Commandments", 1996 TV "The Late Shift",
1993 "Beethoven's 2nd", 1988 "Casual Sex?", 1988 "Feds", 1983 "Spacehunter: Adventures
in the Forbidden Zone", 1978 "Blackout", 1977 "Rabid";
Director credits, many, starting with 1973 "Cannibal Girls" and 1979 "Meatballs"]
Director: Harold Ramis
Starring:
Dr. Raymond Stantz -- Dan Aykroyd
Dr. Egon Spengler -- Harold Ramis
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ILM (Industrial Light & Magic)
Budget: ???
Sound: Dolby
Music: George Fenton
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Ghostbusters III (1999) more data @IMDB
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The Green Mile
Story: ???
Studio: Warner Bros. presents a Castle Rock Entertainment production
Based on: novel of the same name by Stephen King
Screenplay: Frank Darabont [writer of: 1998 "Saving Private Ryan", uncredited 1996 "The Fan",
uncredited "Eraser", 1994 "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein",
1994 "The Shawshank Redemption", 1989 "The Fly", 1988 "The Blob",
1987 "Nightmare on Elm Street 3"]
Producers: ???
Director: Frank Darabont [Directed: 1998 TV "From the Earth to the Moon" (2nd segment),
1994 "The Shawshank Redemption", 1990 TV "Buried Alive",
1990 TV "Till Death Do Us Part", 1983 "The Woman in the Room";
started as a set dresser on 1984 "China Blue" and
transportation captain on 1982 "The Seduction"]
Starring:
Paul Edgecombe -- Tom Hanks
Janice Edgecombe -- Bonnie Hunt
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
The Green Mile (1999) more data @IMDB
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Highlander 4: Search for Connoa
Studio: ???
Producer: ???
Director: ???
Director of Photography: ???
Based On: the previous 3 films in the franchise, but closer to the TV series
Writer: ???
Story:
Starring:
Highlander Duncan MacLeod -- Adrian Paul
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
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The Hulk
Studio: MCA-Universal Pictures
Producer: Gale Ann Hurd [Produced: 1998 "Armageddon",
1998 "Virus", 1998 "Snake Eyes", 1997 "Switchback", 1997 "Dante's Peak",
1997 "The Relic", 1996 "The Ghost and the Darkness", 1994 TV "Witch Hunt",
1994 "No Escape", 1994 "Safe Passage", 1992 "Raising Cain", 1992 "The Waterdance",
1989 "The Abyss", 1988 "Alien Nation", 1988 "Bad Dreams", 1986 "Aliens",
1984 "The Terminator", 1981 "Smokey Bites the Dust";
Executive Producer of: 1990 "Tremors", 1990 "Downtown";
writer of 1984 "The Terminator"]
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh (writer on "Die Hard: With a Vengeance", "Jumanji",
1996 "The Rock", "The Saint", "Virus")
Director of Photography: Oliver Wood
Based On: comic book "The Incredible Hulk"
Writer: Jonathan Hensleigh
Story:
Starring:
Novak -- Gregory Sporleder [1998 "Clay Pigeons", 1998 "I Woke Up Early the Day I Died",
1997 "Men With Guns", Willie in "Twister", 1996 "Andersonville",
Captain Frye in 1996 "The Rock", 1996 "Skin and Bone",
Rob in 1995 "The Outpost", 1994 "Renaissance Man",
1994 TV "State of Emergency", 1993 "True Romance",
1993 "Fatal Instinct", 1992 "A League of Their Own",
1992 "Trouble Bound", 1990 "The Grifters",
1990 TV "The Kid Who Loved Christmas", 1989 "Say Anything",
1989 "Cold Justice", "Tadeus" in 1988TV "Murphy Brown"]
??? -- Lynn "Red" Williams [Jax in 1997 "Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation", Sabre in 1989 TV "American Gladiators"]
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ILM (Industrial Light & Magic)
Hulk (1999) more data @IMDB
Rumors: either canceled or on hiatus after $25,000,000 has been spent in development hell,
with orders from MCA-Universal Pictures to shrink the
projected budget to comfortable under where it had drifted: $100,000,000
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I Married a Witch
Story: ???
Studio: ??? presents a Cruise-Wagner Productions production
Based on: remake of the 1942 black & white United Artists comedy produced and
directed by René Clair, and written by Marc Connelly
and Robert Pirosh, based on the novel "The Passionate
Witch" by Thorne Smith and Norman Matson, which in turn became
the TV series "Bewitched"
Screenplay: ???
Producers: Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner
Director: ???
Starring:
Wallace Wooley -- ??? (role created by Fredric March)
Jennifer -- ??? (role created by Veronica Lake)
Dr. Dudley White -- ??? (role created by Robert Benchley)
Estelle Masterson -- ??? (role created by Susan Hayward)
Daniel -- ??? (role created by Cecil Kellaway)
Margaret -- ??? (role created by Elizabeth Patterson)
J. B. Masterson -- ??? (role created by Robert Warwick)
Tabitha -- ??? (role created by Eily Malyon)
Town Crier -- ??? (role created by Robert Greig)
Vocalist -- ??? (role created by Helen St. Rayner)
Justice of the Peace -- ??? (role created by Aldrich Bowker)
Justice's wife -- ??? (role created by Emma Dunn)
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Rumors: Based more on Thorne Smith's original novel than on the TV "Bewitched",
but with cameos from the TV series, and costumes similar to
the Edith Head ones from the 1942 film
Opening: ???
I Married a Witch (1999) more data @IMDB
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Idle Hands
Studio: TriStar / Columbia / Team Todd
Producers: Andrew Licht, Jeffrey A. Mueller, Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd
Director: Rodman Flender (Leprechaun 2) -- a protege of Roger Corman
Director of Photography: xxx
Based On: xxx
Writer: Terri Hughes, Ron Milbauer
Story: High school girl's hands are possessed by the devil, in this
"slacker slasher" film
Starring:
Anton -- Devon Sawa
Mick -- Seth Green
Debi -- Vivica A. Fox
Randy -- Jack Noseworthy
??? -- Eldon Henson
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Location: partly shot in Altadena/Pasadena (but I was too busy to
visit the set, darn it)
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Independence Day 2
Studio: Columbia/TriStar/Centroplis
Screenplay: Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich
Executive Producers: Roland Emmerich, Ute Emmerich, William Fay (?)
Co-Executive Producers: Robert N. Fried (?), Cary Wood (?)
Producer: Dean Devlin ("Independence Day"; writer of "Stargate" and
"Universal Soldier")
Director: Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day")
Editor: David Siegel ("Godzilla")
Director of Photography: xxx
Based On: Independence Day
Story: Not all the aliens on Earth have been killed, and the
remaining battle-hardened monsters will not fall for the same
tricks. The aliens have been continuing their technological
development and have a new type of super-weapon, plus good
anti-virus software. Earth's multinational coalition begins to
break apart (the way George Bush's Desert Storm coalition did),
and politics weakens humanity -- while the Mother Ship
reinforcements approach the Solar System.
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Rumors: an expensively-promoted novelization series will hype the
franchise, along with other spin-offs and merchandising, and increase
profits to a goal of over $100,000,000; there seem to be some
snags in the negotiations between Sony and Fox similar to that
between Paramount and Fox for "Titanic", but Devlin & Emmerich
are said to hold a grudge towards their previous studio...
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Inspector Gadget
Story: The title role is a bumbling spy, sort of a James Bond meets
Inspector Clouseau, who has amazing cartoonish gadgets that pop
out of his shoes or hat, and is helped by his dog "Brain."
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures presents a Caravan Pictures/DiC Entertainment production
Based on: animated TV series "Inspector Gadget" (1983)
Screenplay: Jeff Berry, Kerry Ehrin [1996 "Mr. Wrong"], Dana Olsen [credited with the Story of
1997 "George of the Jungle";
writer of 1992 "Memoirs of an Invisible Man", 1989 "The 'burbs",
1983 "Going Berserk, 1982 "It Came from Hollywood", 1981 "Wacko"]
Producers: Roger Birnbaum [1998 "6 Days, 7 Nights", 1998 "Holy Man", 1998 "A Small Miracle",
1997 "Rocket Man", 1997 "G.I. Jane", 1997 "Gone Fishin'", 1997 "Grosse Pointe Blank",
1997 "Metro", 1996 "The Rich Man's Wife", 1996 "First Kid", 1996 "Celtic Pride",
1995 "Powder", 1995 "The Big Green", 1995 "While You Were Sleeping",
1994 "Angels in the Outfield", 1994 "Heavyweights", 1994 "Houseguest",
1994 "The Jerky Boys", 1994 "A Low Down Shame", 1994 "Tall Tale",
1993 "The Three Musketeers", 1985 TV "Scandal Sheet", 1985 "Sure Thing";
and Executive Producer of: 1998 "Flash", 1997 TV "Angels in the Endzone",
1997 "The Beautician and the Beast", 1996 "Maximum Risk", 1996 "Before and After",
1994 "Angie", 1987 TV "Bay Coven", 1987 "Who's That Girl?"],
Andy Heyward [Executive Producer of: 1998 "Meet the Deedles", 1995 TV "Sailor Moon",
1990 TV "The Wizard of Oz", 1989 TV "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!",
1987 TV "The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin", 1985 "MASK", 1985 "Here Come the Littles";
Supervising Producer of 1986 TV "The Real Ghostbusters"],
Gregg Hoffman [co-producer/music supervisor 1992 "Only You"],
Jordan Kerner [1999 "30 Wishes", 1997 "Red Corner", 1997 "George of the Jungle",
1996 "D3: The Mighty Ducks", 1996 "Up Close and Personal", 1992 "D2: The Mighty Ducks",
1994 "The War", 1993 TV "The Switch", 1992 "The Mighty Ducks", 1991 "Fried Green Tomatoes",
1990 "Funny About Love", 1990 TV "Heat Wave", 1989 TV "Breaking Point",
1987 "Less Than Zero";
Executive Producer of: 1995 "Miami Rhapsody", 1995 TV "Naomi & Wynonna",
1993 "The Three Musketeers", 1993 TV "For Their Own Good", 1992 TV "The Nightman",
1991 TV "Backfield in Motion", 1989 TV "Do You Know the Muffin Man"]
Director: David Kellogg [1991 "Cool as Ice"]
Starring:
Inspector Gadget (voice) -- Don Adams [Agent 86 Maxwell Smart in 1965 TV "Get Smart!"]
Brain/Dr.Claw (voice) -- Frank Welker [most recently the voice of Malebolgia in 1997 "Spawn"]
Penny (voice) -- Holly Berger or Cree Summer
Chief Quimbly (voice) -- Maurice LaMarche
Capeman (voice) -- Townsend Coleman
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Inspector Gadget (1999) more data @IMDB
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The Nutty Professor 2
Studio: Disney
Executive Producers: James D. Brubaker, Tom Shadyac
Producers: Brian Grazer
Director: F. Gary Gray [1998 "The Negotiator", 1996 "Set It Off", 1995 "Friday"]
Director of Photography: xxx
Based On: The Nutty Professor (Eddie Murphy's remake)
Writers: Barry W. Blaustein, Steve Oedekerk, David Sheffield
Story: Nutty Professor's family visits the White House
Starring:
Sherman Klump/Buddy Love -- Eddie Murphy
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
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The Iron Giant
Story: ???
Studio: Warner Bros. Animation
Distributed by: Warner Bros.
Based on: Novel of the same name by Ted Hughes, which he adapted into a play
Screenplay: Andy Brent Forrester [1998 "Dancer, Texas Pop. 81",
1998 "Dennis the Menace 2", 1987 "North Shore"],
Tim McCanlies [Writer/Director of 1998 "Dancer, Texas Pop. 81"]
Producers: Allison Abbate [Executive Producer of 1995 "Runaway Brain"],
Des McAnuff [Director of 1998 "Cousin Bette", 1998 "Monterey Pop"]
Director: Brad Bird [Director of "Family Dog" episode of 1985 TV "Amazing Stories";
Executive Consultant of 1997 TV "King of the Hill",
1994 TV "The Critic", 1989 TV "The Simpsons", who started as an
animator for 1982 "The Plague Dogs" and writer of
1987 "*batteries not included"]
Starring:
The Iron Man -- Ted Hughes (One of England's leading poets, best known in the US
as the husband of the tragic poet Sylvia Plath)
Annie Hughes (voice) -- Jennifer Aniston (Office Space, 1998: The
Object of My Affections, 1997: 'Til There Was You, 1997:
Picture Perfect, 1996: She's The One; TV: Friends)
Dean McCoppen (voice) -- Harry Connick Jr.
Kent Mansley (voice) -- Christopher McDonald
Earl (voice) -- M. Emmet Walsh
??? (voice) -- James Gammon
??? (voice) -- Chloris Leachman
??? (voice) -- John Mahoney
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Music: Pete Townshend (of "The Who", with many film credits: Pete Townshend data @IMDB)
Technical Director: Andy King
Story Artist: Piet Kroon (Quest for Camelot, An American Tail: Fieval Goes West)
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Iron Giant, The (1999) more data @IMDB
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Jumanji 2
Story: ???
Studio: Columbia Pictures/TriStar Pictures presents a
Teitler Film/Interscope Communications production
Based on: Sequel to 1995 "Jumanji" (data @IMDB)
which was from a Jonathan Hensleigh/Greg Taylor/Jim Strain screenplay
and story of the book by Chris Van Allsburg
Screenplay: Adam Rifkin (a.k.a. Rif Coogan) [Directed: 1998 "Denial", 1994 "The Chase",
1993 "Psycho Cop 2", 1992 "The Nutt House", 1991 "The Dark Backward",
1990 "The Invisible Maniac", 1989 "Tale of Two Sisters",
1988 "Never on Tuesday"; wrote screenplays for:
1998 "Small Soldiers", 1998 "Denial", 1997 "Mouse Hunt",
1994 "The Chase", 1991 "The Dark Backward", 1990 "The Invisible Maniac"]
Executive Producer: Robert W. Cort?, Ted Field?, Larry J. Franco?
Producers: Scott Kroopf?, William Teitler?
Director: Joe Johnston ? ["1995 "Jumanji"]
Cinematography: Thomas E. Ackerman ?
Editor: Robert Dalva?, Randy Thom?
Starring:
Alan Parrish -- Robin Williams
Van Pelt/Sam Parrish -- Jonathan Hyde
Judy Shepard -- Kirsten Dunst
Peter Shepard -- Bradley Pierce
Sarah Whittle -- Bonnie Hunt
Aunt Nora -- Bebe Neuwirth
Carl Bently -- David Alan Grier
Carol Parrish -- Patricia Clarkson
Young Alan -- Adam Hann-Byrd
Young Sarah -- Laura Bundy
Exterminator -- James Handy
??? -- ???
Special Effects: Amalgamated Dynamics. ILM (Industrial Light & Magic)
Production Design: James D. Bissell
Costume Design: Martha Wynne Snetsinger?
Music: James Horner?
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Jumanji 2 (1999) more data @IMDB
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The Lamia
Story: Supernatural women tangle the lives and loves of mortals
Studio: ???
Based on: ???
Screenplay: ???
Producers: ???
Director: Sam Raimi [Executive Producer of: 1997 TV "Spy Game", 1996 "Darkman 3",
1995 TV "American Gothic", 1995 TV "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys",
1995 TV "Xena: Warrior Princess", 1994 TV "M.A.N.T.I.S.", 1994 "Darkman 2",
1991 "Lunatics: A Love Story", 1989 "Easy
Wheels", 1988 uncredited "The Dead Next Door",
1982 "The Evil Dead";
Producer of: 1994 "Timecop", 1993 "Hard Target;
Director of: 1998 "A Simple Plan", 1995 "The Quick and the Dead",
1993 "Army of Darkness", 1990 "Darkman", 1987 "Evil Dead 2",
1985 "Crimewave", 1982 "The Evil Dead",
1978 "Clockwork", 1978 "Within the Woods", 1977 "It's Murder!";
Writer of: 1994 "The Hudsucker Proxy", 1994 TV "M.A.N.T.I.S.",
1993 "Army of Darkness", 1992 (as Alan Smithee, Jr.) "The Nutt House",
1990 "Darkman", 1987 "Evil Dead 2", 1985 "Crimewave", 1982 "The Evil Dead",
1978 "Within the Woods"]
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: ???
Budget: ???
Rumors: ???
Opening: ???
Lamia, The (1999) more data @IMDB
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Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Studio: Universal Pictures
Producer: David Zucker (1998: BASEketball, 1996: High School High,
1995: A Walk in the Clouds, 1994: Naked Gun 33 1/3, 1988: Naked Gun)
Director: Ben Edlund (TV animation The Tick)
Based On: remake of 1964 Jalor Productions/Aco Embassy Pictures film,
also known as "Santa Claus Defeats the Aliens" (directed by
Nicholas Webster, starring John Call, screenplay by Glenville
Mareth from a story by Paul L. Jacobson)
with new comic twists
Writers: ???
Story: flying saucers versus reindeer and sleigh... Plot starts with
TV show kidnapping some Martian children, whose parents decide
to retaliate by capturing Santa Claus
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Opens: 1 January 1999?
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Men in Black 2
Story: Pair of hip detectives, "J" and Dr. Laurel Weaver, work for a
mysterious organization "Men in Black" who clean up the evidence
at alien landing sites to cover up for the government.
Earth is a voluntary "safe zone" for galactic political refugees
"kind of like Casablanca without Nazis", but this has all been concealed
from the public. The "Men in Black" ultrasecret agency keeps the more
dangerous aliens in line.
This sequel includes X-Files spoofs and Independence Day spoofs,
plus a cameo by Sean Connery as a representative of a rival
government agency.
Studio: Amblin Entertainment in association with MacDonald/Parkes Productions,
released by Columbia
Based on: Sequel to Men In Black, which in turn is based on
the Comic Books "Men in Black" meet "Coneheads" and "The Fugitive"
actually, based on a novel which was based on the Lowell
Cunningham/Marvel/Malibu comic book series
Screenplay: Ed Solomon?
Executive Producer: Steven Spielberg
Producers: Walter F. Parkes? and Laurie MacDonald?
Associate Producer: Steven R. Molen?
Co-Producer: Graham Place?
Producer: Walter Parkes? ("Twister")
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld ["MIB", "The Addams Family", "Get Shorty"]
Cinematography: Don Peterman, A.S.C. ?
Editor: Jim Miller ?
Starring:
Agent J -- Will Smith ["MIB", "Independence Day", TV "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"]
K -- Tommie Lee Jones ("The Fugitive") in cameo and flashback only?
Dr. Laurel Weaver (New York's Deputy medical examiner) -- Linda Fiorentino
Zed (MiB boss) -- Rip Torn
Jeebs -- Tony Shalhoub
Agent 007 -- Sean Connery (cameo)
??? -- ???
Special Effects: Alien make-up effect by Rick Baker (Oscar-winner)
and special/digital effects by ILM (Industrial Light & Magic).
Production Design: Bo Welch ?
Art Director: Thomas Duffield ?
Set Decorator: Cheryl Carasik ?
Music: Danny Elfman ?
Soundtrack: Columbia Records
Costume Design: Mary E. Vogt ?
Budget: ???
Rumors: Planning and budget for this began in earnest within one week
of the powerhouse debut of "Men in Black"; David Duchovny will
join the cast; Will Smith, Tommie Lee Jones, and Barry Sonnenfeld
are each demanding a minimum paycheck of $20,000,000 -- and
Sony might just pay (hoping to make another half-billion
dollars as they did with the first film of the franchise)
Opening: ???
Men in Black 2 (1999) more data @IMDB
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Mephisto in Onyx
Studio: ???
Producer: Samuel L. Jackson
Director:
Based On: novella by Harlan Ellison
Writers: Harlan Ellison, Greg Widen
Story: Serial killer swaps minds with a psychiatrist "mind jumper"
in unique racially-charged story of great power and emotional
depth
Starring:
??? -- Samuel L. Jackson
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
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The Secret of Nimh II
Studio: MGM
Executive Producers: Rich Irvine, James L. Stewart
Producer: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy
Director: Don Bluth
Based On: animated feature, sequel to The Secret of Nimh, in turn based on children's
book "Mrs.Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
(winner of the Neberry Medal) and sequels by Jane Leslie Conly
Writers: Don Bluth, Will Finn, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy
Story: Smart rats
Starring:
Jeremy (voice) -- Dom DeLuise
Mrs. Frisby -- Elizabeth Hartman
??? -- ???
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Release: direct to video Christmas 1998 or January 1999
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Rendezvous with Rama
Studio: PolyGram / Propaganda Films
Producer: ???
Director: David Fincher
Based On: 1973 novel by Arthur C. Clarke ("2001") and its sequels
Screenplay: Andrew Kevin Walker ("Se7en")
Story: Padua, Verona, and Venice wiped out by meteors in 2077, so
Project Spaceguard started to find anything heading towards Earth.
In 2130, Humongous 50-mile long alien spacecraft "Rama" cruises into
Solar System, and is explored by team of astronauts on the
spaceship "Endeavor", who can't seem to find anyone aboard to be
steering Rama... The builders of "Rama" seem to do everything
in threes... Are there creatures, robots, or intelligent aliens
on Rama? Will hotheaded politicians seek to nuke Rama?
Starring:
Endeavor Crew
Commander William Tsien Norton -- Morgan Freeman
Lt. Commander Karl Mercer -- ???
Executive Officer Lt. Commander Kirchoff -- ???
Surgeon Commander Laura Ernst -- ???
Lt. Joe Calvert -- ???
Dr. Carlisle Perera -- ???
Ravi McAndrews -- ???
Willard Myron -- ???
Lt. James "Jimmy" Pak -- ???
Lt. Boris Rodrigo -- ???
Sgt. Pieter Rousseau -- ???
Sgt. Ruby Barnes -- ???
Blackie, Blondie, Goldie, Brownie -- various chimps
Rama Committee Back on Earth and Moon:
Dr. William Stenton -- ???
Professor Emeritus Olaf Davidson -- ???
Ambassador Dr. Bose -- ???
Dennis Solomons -- ???
Sir Lewis Sands -- ???
Sir Robert Mackay -- ???
Dr. Thelma Price -- ???
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Set Designer: ???
Opening: 31 December 1999?
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Shrek
Story: ???
Studio: Dreamworks SKG / Red Feather Photoplays
Based on: comic book series of same name
Screenplay: ???
Producers: John H. Williams [1997 "Seven Years in Tibet", 1986 TV "The Rise and Rise
of Daniel Rocket", 1986 TV "Rocket to the Moon", 1983 "True West"]
Director: ???
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
Special Effects: part live-action, part computer animation
Budget: ???
Rumors: filming as of 5 January 1998
Opening: ???
Shrek more data @IMDB
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Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists
Studio: ???
Producer: Sriram Rajan
Director: Gordon Hunt [directed "1997 TV "Fired Up", 1995 TV "Caroline in the City",
1992 TV "Mad About You"; writer/producer of 1984 "Starring... the Actors"],
Alan Jacobs [Producer of 1997 TV: A Call to Remember, 1995
TV: Past the Bleachers, 1994: Nina Takes a Lover
(Writer-Director-Producer), 1993 TV: Call of the Wild,
1992 TV: An American Story], Evan Ricks
Based On: Animated film based on the anonymous fables 1,001 Arabian Nights
Story:
Writer: Jeff Wolverton (CGI Technical Director of 1997 Hercules)
Shooting: ???
Sequels: ???
Starring:
Akron the Wizard (voice) -- Leonard Nimoy
King Chandra (voice) -- John Rhys Davies
King's Guard (voice) -- Mark Hamill
Sinbad (voice) -- Brendan Fraser (George of the Jungle)
??? -- Jennifer Hale
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Software
Studio: Phoenix
In 1990 Rucker sold the novel's movie rights to New Line,
but Phoenix bought those rights in Fall 1997
Producer: Edward R. Pressman (The Island of Dr. Moreau)
Director: Scott Billups
Writer: Larry Wilson (Beetlejuice) [several early scripts exist, one
with rewrite by John Shirley, but Larry Wilson has supposedly begun
from the novel instead]
Based On: Cyberpunk novel of same name by Rudy Rucker
Story: Intelligent robots on the moon, called "boppers", run amok and
come to Earth to steal human brains, freeze them, slice them,
and download their memories and consciousness into more robots.
The boppers can't understand why earthlings don't appreciate this
service...
Shooting: ???
Sequels: "Wetware" and "Firmware" also optioned
Special Effects: may involve Rudy Rucker's Cellular Automata software
Starring:
??? -- ???
bit part -- Rudy Rucker
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Star Wars Episode One
Producer/Director: George Lucas
Studio: several are fighting over an estimated $1 Billion projected gross
Based On: this will be the first film in the trilogy of fils which
occur BEFORE the currently re-released Star Wars Trilogy.
Story: the Clone Wars force the creation of the Jedi Knights, and
young Darth Vader grows up. The Clone Wars end the old
Republic and start the rise of the Empire. The Mandalorian Army
fights gallantly. There's no Kevin Costner on a rather
different Water World. The top 12 Jedi Knights provide a warped
replay of King Arthur and the Knights of Camelot.
Shooting: Leavesden Studios (outside of London)
Sequels: the next films are tentatively set to be released in 2001
and 2003, with locations in Scotland and New Zealand
Starring:
??? -- Pernilla August
??? -- Ahmed Best
??? -- Samuel L. Jackson
??? -- Jake Lloyd
??? -- Ewan McGregor
??? -- Liam Neeson
??? -- Natalie Portman
Anakin (8 year old) -- ???
Queen Padme Naberrie Amidala
Young Obi-Wan Kenobe -- ???
Young Darth Vader -- ???
Release -- May/June 1999
Sample fan website:
Blue Harvest (Sweden)
Blue Harvest
"A Hitch Hiker's Guide to StarWars. Behind the scenes of StarWars
galore."
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Supernova
Studio: United Artists
Distributor: Imperial Entertainment
Executive Producer: Ash R. Shah
Producers: Daniel Chuba, Jamie Dixon
Director: Walter Hill replaced Geoffrey Wright
Based On: Rescue space-ship in deep space receives call of distress
from a freighter which has sustained strange damage, and all
hell breaks loose in the attempted rescue, in part because
someone on board is homicidally deranged
Screenplay: David C. Wilson [The Perfect Weapon (1991)]
Story:
Shooting: begins April 1998
Sequels: ???
Starring:
??? -- James Spader
??? -- Vincent D'Onofrio
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Thunderbirds
Studio: ???
Producer: ???
Director: Peter Hewitt
Based On: the British TV puppet series
Thunderbirds, ATV (Great Britain), 1965,
Perhaps the best of the puppet series created and produced by the
Andersons. A future family performs rescue operations undersea, in
the air, and in space, with really nifty keen vehicles.
Creator/Producers -- Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson
Special Effects Supervisor -- Derek Meddings
Story:
Shooting: ???
Sequels: ???
Starring:
Lady Penelope --- Kristin Scott Thomas
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Total Recall 2
Studio: Miramax (purchased sequel rights from bankrupt Carolco
for $3,000,000)
Producer/Director: Jonathan Frakes
Based On: the first Total Recall film, itself based on the
Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember it for you Wholesale"
Story: Some sort of alien action is going under the surface of Mars,
and there's a conspiracy trying to cover it up, while Ah-nold
tries to kick the conspiracy's collective ass
Shooting:
Sequels: ???
Starring:
??? -- Arnold Schwarzenegger
Rumors: Dimension Films paid $3,150,000 for sequel rights to Total
Recall, but promise to keep within a $60,000,000 budget, which is
proving difficult, as Arnold Schwarzenegger gets $20,000,000 to
begin with.
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Toy Story 2
Studio: Disney Animation and Pixar Studios
Executive Producers: Steve Jobs, John Lasseter
Producers: Ralph Guggenheim
Director: Colin Brady, Ash Brannon
Based On: the Disney 1995 computer-animated breakthrough hit
Story: Andy goes to summer camp, leaving the toys on their own to save
Woody from a toy collector who will stop at nothing
Shooting: Originally slated to be a direct-to-video with an
October 1998 release, it is now scheduled to be released to movie
theatres in the Christmas 1999 season
Sequels: ???
Starring:
original cast, including
Woody (voice) -- Tim Allen
Buzz Lightyear (voice) -- Tom Hanks
Mr.Potato Head (voice) -- Don Rickles
Slinky Dog (voice) -- Jim Varney
Rex (voice) -- Wallace Shawn
Hamm (voice) -- John Ratzenberger
Bo Peep (voice) -- Annie Potts
Andy (voice) -- John Morris
??? (voice) -- Joan Cusack
??? (voice) -- Estelle Harris
??? (voice) -- Wayne Knight
??? (voice) David Ogden Stiers
Release: 24 November 1999
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Twister 2
Studio: Disney Animation and Pixar Studios
Producer/Director: Mel Gibson
Based On: the 1996 tornado flick
Story: there's a whole new kind of super-storm, and the government
wants our hero and heroine to figure out how it works, and build
a gadget to predict it or stop it -- but evil politicians want to
turn the super-storms into super-weapons. One killer storm
trashes a major city.
Shooting: Originally slated to be a direct-to-video with an
October 1998 release, it is now scheduled to be released to movie
theatres in the Christmas 1999 season
Sequels: ???
Starring:
original cast, including
??? -- Helen Hunt
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The Wild, Wild West
Studio: ???
Producer: Will Smith? (TV show was produced by 1st season Fred Freiberger
all other seasons Michael Garrison)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Based On: the 1960's TV show (CBS, 17 Sep 1965-7 Sep 1970)
Story: James Bond meets Gunsmoke. James T. West (not to be confused with
James T. Kirk) was a secret agent for President Ulysses S. Grant, in
real life the military genius who boozed his way through the White
House, surrounded by corrupt aides, went bankrupt, and wrote the best
Presidential autobiography ever -- for the money. James T. West's
focus was the alarming number of revolutionary, radical, criminal, and
anarchist groups constantly plotting to take over America.
Assisted by Secret Service Agent Artemus Gordon, master of
disguise, they traveled by special railroad car equipped with the
tools and materials needed to make a vast array of gadgets and gizmos.
James T. West's nemesis was the brilliant but irrevocably evil
Dr. Miguelito Loveless. Anachronistically daffy? Delightful?
We'll see...
The rumor now is that Dr. Arliss Loveless has created a
huge robot called the Tarantula to assassinate President Grant.
Shooting:
Screenplay: in rewrite by Brent Maddock
Sequels: ???
Starring:
James T. West -- Robert Conrad reprises his TV role
Artemus Gordon -- Kevin Kline replaced George Clooney
Miguelito Loveless -- ???
??? -- Will Smith
??? -- Kenneth Branaugh
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WW3.COM
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Producer: ???
Director: ???
Writer: John Carlin (author of article "A Farewell to Arms")
Based On: information warfare, cyberpunk, cold war thrillers,
and maybe Your Humble Webmaster's May 1979 Omni Magazine
article "Cybernetic War", and John Carlin's article
"A Farewell to Arms"
Story: Cyber-Terrorists try to bring a nation to its knees, but are
stopped by cyber-soldier defense forces
Shooting: ???
Sequels: ???
Starring:
??? -- ???
??? -- ???
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HOTLINKS: MISCELLANEOUS SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS
The Internet Movie Database:
1,000 science fiction films, with links, cast, plot summaries,
etc. Essential, yet as sprawling as a city-sized amoeba
Aliens: The Web Site info and music from
all three (so far) Aliens films, from biology to bureaucracy. This
site endorsed by Sigourney Weaver.
David╒s Home Page (Star Wars)
Fiction Into Film
started as a school project, grew into an alphabetical listing of
several hundred science fiction/fantasy/horror films which were
adapted (sometimes loosely) from stories, novels, plays, and other
literary ur-texts. Cross-linked to The Internet Movie Database.
Sometimes incomplete or erroneous, due to possible over-dependence on
tips supplied by readers -- but who am I to talk? I also welcome e-mail
from readers!
Foiled inside look at a "no-budget scifi film"
* "The Continuing Adventures of a No-Budget Film"
* Brief Summary
* Quotes from the Stars
* Guest Book
* Q&A
* What's New
* Foiled in Detail
* Cast
* Crew
* Diary
* Links
* Awards
* Reel Ring -- links through a daisy-chain of film homepages
Museum Arakeen (Dune)
ID4: Independence Day
The Lost Highway: an unusually
sophisticated surreal official web site for David Lynch's
controversial film
Mars Attacks
Metropolis the classic film
Off-World (Bladerunner)
Post Views: Australian experts review SF movies
Robocop 2: WWW Science Fiction Film Page
Sci-Fi Entertainment (Trek, X-Files, Star Wars)
Science Fiction Gallery (Film/TV)
Sci-Fi Central (Film/TV)
The SciFi Site (Film/TV)
The 2001: A Space Odyssey Resource Archive
Dave's Monster Star Wars page by Dave Scarbrough:
if you've got a java-enabled browser, you'll get Star Wars music, and
more... perhaps the largest list of Star Wars pages in the galaxy
Star Wars Rendering Central
Star Wars Storyline
The New Republic (Star Wars)
Ultimate Star Wars Link Page
Verne: Movies from Jules Verne Stories
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My Competitors
(who are also pretty cool)
And here are some hotlinks to my colleagues/competitors in the Science Fiction Film
Web business:
Ronnie Cramer's Cult SF Film Page Read the thumnail summaries or
order by mail the following 58 cult classic Sci-Fi Films:
The Alien Agenda: Out of the Darkness (1996)
The Amazing Transparent Man (1959)
Assignment Outer Space (1962)
The Astounding She Monster (1957)
Atom Age Vampire (1961)
The Atomic Man (a.k.a. Timeslip) (1955)
Attack of the Giant Leeches (19xx)
Battle Beyond the Sun (1963)
Battle of the Worlds (1961)
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
Beyond the Time Barrier (1959)
The Brain from Planet Arous (19xx)
Cat Women of the Moon (1953)
Cosmic Monsters (1958)
The Crawling Eye (1958)
The Crawling Hand (1963)
Creation of the Humanoids (19xx)
Devil Girl from Mars (1954)
Dinosaurus (1960)
The Doomsday Machine (1967)
Fantastic Planet (1973)
First Man Into Space (1959)
First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
The Flesh Eaters (1963)
Four Sided Triangle (19xx)
Future Women (1975)
Giant Gila Monster (1959)
The Head (1959)
Hideous Sun Demon (1959)
The Keeper (1975)
Killers from Space (1954)
The Killer Shrews (19xx)
Last Woman on Earth (19xx)
The Love Factor (19xx)
Mars Needs Women (1966)
Mesa of Lost Women (1952)
Missile to the Moon (1958)
Nude in His Pocket (1962)
Phantom from Space (1953)
Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1956)
The Phantom Planet (1961)
Planet of Storms (1962): Soviets on Venus
Science Fiction Theatre [television]
Star Odyssey (1977)
Teenage Monster (a.k.a. The Meteor Monster) (1958)
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1992)
The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959)
This Is Not A Test (1962)
The Unnatural (1952)
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)
The War Game (1965)
The Wasp Woman (1959)
Wild World of Batwoman (a.k.a. She Was a Hippy Vampire) (1966)
Woman in the Moon (1929)
The Yesterday Machine (1963)
Zontar, the Thing from Venus (19xx)
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Check out Cinemarquee --
"A computer showcase designed primarily as an entertainment
investment magazine, forming a link between professionals in
the entertainment business."
Nice stuff on science fiction, fantasy, and horror:
Science-Fiction,Fantasy, Horror
e-mail John Edgerton of Cinemarquee
"We of the Cinemarquee have created a cinema resource for the rising
producer, professional film-maker, student of film, aspiring screenwriter
and novelist. We have been gathering movie resources since our creation:
the Major Studio sites, Movie Data, Moviepage Connection, Movielink,
Movieweb, Flicker, Filmmaker, Zuzu's Petals, Horror Hotel, Screenwriter's
Resource ...etc. We have begun creating a Science Fiction link that is
dedicated to my cousin Gene L. Coon, Producer of Star Trek and one of the
main writers."
Cinemarquee starts with a nice graphic of the Egyptian Theatre (Boise, Idaho)
and then offers hotlinks to:
About Cinemarquee
Producers
Entertainment Lawyers - Contracts
Film Financing
Cinemarquee Academy of Dramatic Arts
Celebrities
Guilds, Organizations and Associations
Crews for Hire
Security/ Bodyguards
Psychologists
Hollywood Gossip and Movie Entertainment
Entertainment Festivals and Workshops
For Sale or Rent
Entertainment Investments
Computer Investments
The Music Industry
Screenplays
Novels, Books, Poetry
Plays
Concerts and Events: Tickets
Circuses
Fundraising
Games
Entertainment Souvenirs
Coming Attractions
Chat Client
Search
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Science Fiction Gallery (text only version)
fans survey the evolution of science fiction films and television,
enthusiastically but not all that well organized or spelled,
with sections on:
Science Fiction Gallery's All Time Favorites
The Classic SCI FI of all time
Sci Fi pioneering silent films and early Serial Talkies
B Movies in the Long Dry Spell
Television Finally Comes of Age
An Explosion of Science Fiction Hits Japanese TV
and with special pages (in random order, apparently) on:
The Abyss
Aliens
Back to the Future I, II, III
Barbarella
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Dark Star
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Dr. Strangelove
Dr. Who
Dune
Flash Gordon
Forbidden Planet
Last Action Hero
Leviathan
Logan's Run
Metropolis (1926)
NASA
Planet of the Apes
Predator
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
Road Warrior
Soylent Green
Star Gate
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek, the original series
Star Trek films
Star Wars
Terminator 2
THX 1138
Time Cop
Village of the Damned (1960)
The War of the Worlds (1952)
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Strange Fun A slick and quirky website that
covers Science Fiction Film reviews, Science Fiction television
reviews, Comics, Star Trek, peculiar graphics, and promises to
enlighten us about "Hong Kong action, Japanese anime, Hindi musicals"
or whatever else tickles the webmasters' fancy.
As of 12 Jan 1997, Science Fiction film reviews (with ratings,
cast list, and stills) include:
Bogus
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
The Island of Dr. Moreau
John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.
Mars Attacks
101 Dalmatians
Space Jam
Star Trek: First Contact
There is also a weekly column on science fiction television by Ken
Shapiro, and Science Fiction Video reviews (with ratings, cast list,
and stills) including:
The Arrival
Casper
The City of Lost Children
Crumb
Dragonheart
Independence Day
James and the Giant Peach
Rumble in the Bronx
Toy Story
Twister
Opinionated, pulling no punches, witty, and graphically cool, this is
a web site to watch. Who knows what it might grow into, or perhaps
mutate would be a better term...
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Forbidden Planet Movie Page
This Italian science fiction film site gives greatest emphasis to the
classic "Forbidden Planet" and to a list of Star Trek sites, with a
strong net-political stand against Viacom (Paramount's parent
corporation) "trying toi eliminate every 'unofficial' Star Trek
homepage out there, so that next year Microsoft Network's Star
Trek:Continuum will be the only Star Trek site available on the Net."
This site also gives out a "Forbidden Planet Hot Site Award" of
which I am a winner *blush blush*
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Zeta Tanuki's Cybperpunk page
a very individualistic student at Kapi'olani Community College in
Hawaii probes deeply into:
"Near Future Films"
"Near Future TV/Videos"
"Near Future Printed Material"
"Other Things of Interest"
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Movie Review Search Engine
no emphasis at all on Science Fiction; coverage is spotty unless the
film has big box office, in which case this does point to lots of
mainstream reviews plus some by Science Fiction specialists.
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Dan Sachar reviews
Dan Sachar runs a film club at Swarthmore, and has some reviews of
B-Movie horror and sci-fi films:
Dan's Science Fiction Movie Page
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Videoflicks has some reviews of videotapes,
but no special emphasis on (and therefore spotty coverage of) science fiction
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All New York film reviews
For New York City movie-goers, with emphasis on what's playing in New
York when, and what reviews from local media exist; no special
emphasis on science fiction
you might also be interested in my definitive and opinionated encyclopedia of Science Fiction
Television, with cast lists and analyses:
TELEVISION: list of 350+ links, updated 4 June 1997
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A nicely extensive website on Horror literature, film, and film posters is:
The Cabinet of Dr.Casey
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For several carefully selected handfuls of hotlinks to horror TV, film,
actors, directors, and writers, check out:
The Dark Side of the Web
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X-Rated Sci-Fi/Fantasy Videos
I, your humble webmaster, don't buy x-rated videotapes, and don't want my
8-year old child to see them. But, as a scholarly reviewer, I cannot deny
that there is an overlap between the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre and the
x-rated "sexvids", and as some sort of service to the public, if only to
warn the sensitive away from this sort of material, I have a little list
here, substantially based on "The X-Rated Videotape Guide" by Robert H.
Rimmer, New York: Harmony Books, 1984. I am a happily married man who
strongly believes in monogamy. I also believe in Freedom of Speech.
I in no way endorse the following.
"Alice in Wonderland", Xtra-Vision/Media (and soft-core Vid America
version), 1975
Produced/Directed by Bill Osco/Bud Townsend
Actually has a plot, stolen from Lewis Carroll
"Angel Above, Devil Below", Cal Vista, 1975
Produced/Directed by anonymous
Literally devilish, said to be clever, actresses and actors never
seen before or since
"Aunt Peg's Fulfillment", Cal Vista, 1982
Produced/Directed by Arthur Cutter/Wes Brown
I have no idea why Mr.Rimmer ascribes a "supernatural" content
"Baby Rosemary", Select Essex, 1975
Produced/Directed by Bill Steele/Hoard Perkins
Parody of "Rosemary's Baby" with sex/death cult
"The Blonde", VCX, 1980
Produced/Directed by Eliot and Harry Lewis
Involves reincarnation, future perspective, Hollywood aesthetics
"Blondes Have More Fun", Select/Essex, 1975
Produced/Directed by John Seeman
Professor Brains invents aphrodesiac PQM2; said to be a comedy
"Blue Magic", Quality, 1981
Produced/Directed by Par Sjostedt
Screenplay by Candida Royalle?
Gothic, 300-year-old woman, voodoo doll, enslavement spell
"Blue Voodoo", Gold Stripe, 1983
Produced/Directed by Armand Weston, Dianna Chambers, Romeo Davis
Magic/voodoo/nightclub with sex and death horrifyingly combined
"Cafe Flesh", VCA, 1982
Produced/Directed by Rinse Dream/F. X. Pope
5 years after nuclear World War III, only 1% of population is still
sexual, and are forced to provide show-biz entertainment. Actually
popular in the art-house scene, actually attempts to tell a science
fiction story. Shown to me by the science fiction club of Alabama,
who then apologized to me for it. Disturbing.
"Caligula", Penthouse Products, 1980
Produced/Directed by Bob Guccione/Franco Rosselini, Tinto Brass
Starring Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Malcolm McDowell,
Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, Guido Mannari, many others
$15,000,000 production was by far the most expensive X-rated film of
all time, with an R-rated version later released when box-office
grosses were poor, based on Suetonius' "Lives of the Twelve Caesars"
circa 48 A.D. A woman took me to see this in Seattle once, and was so
disgusted by the decapitations and indecencies that she dragged us
out of the theatre. Overacted, by genuine stars who obviously did it
for the money. Lavish, extravagant sets and costumes.
"Captain Lust and the Pirate", International Home Video Club, 1979
Produced/Directed by Beau Buchanan
Funny and dramatic, unfortunately spawned dozens of crummy imitations
using gothic backgrounds. But this film is endearingly swashbuckling.
"The Erotic Adventures of Casanova", Hifcoa, 1979
Produced/Directed by Michael Merlino/John C. Holmes
18th century swordsman in his dreams, the psychiatric patient finds
antique letters from Casanova, or is he crazy?
"Casanova II", Hifcoa, 1982
Produced/Directed by Troy Benny
Paris 1751 shofts to the present, magic perfume, said to better than
"The Erotic Adentures of Casanova."
"Cinderella", Vidamerica, 1977
Produced/Directed by Charles Band/Michael Pataki
Soft-core musical about the fairy tale, corny and sincere.
"Descendants of Grace", Blue Video, 1974
Produced/Directed by Richard Bolla/Bobby Astyr
Said to be one of the stupidest sexvids; vaguely involves ghosts
"The Devil and Miss Jones", VCX, 1972
Produced/Directed by Gerard Damiano ("Deep Throat")
Actual acting, dramatic suicide, from Hell back to Earth for virgin
granted a chance to fulfill the desires whose repressions led to the
suicide in the first place. Don't bother with the sequel.
"The Devil Insider Her", Blue Video, 1978?
Produced/Directed by Leon De Leon
"Scary", "explicit", shows sexuality as inherently evil
"Delicious", Video-X-Plus, 1981
Produced/Directed by Bill Eage/Philip Drexler
Sorceress who can make people see her as naked when she's not.
"Devil's Ecstasy", Xtravision, 1974
Produced/Directed by Robert Keith/Brandon Carter
Sex/witchcraft/satanism, "interesting cinematography"
"Devil's Playground", VCX, 1974
Produced/Directed by R. Owen Teegee/Rik Taziner
"Sleazy-looking Lucifer", should be avoided due to apparent youth of girls
"Dirty Looks", VCA, 1982
Produced/Directed by Chuck Vincent
Seems to be postmodernist or hypermedia-like in structure
"Dracula Exotica", TVX, 1981
Produced/Directed by Ken Schwartz/Warren Evans
Genuine storytelling in 1490 and 1990; elaborate costumes.
"Dracula Sucks" a.k.a. "Dracula's Bride", Media, 1979
Produced/Directed by Darryl Marshak/Philip Marshak
Both hard- and soft-core version exist. Makes explicit the implicit
sexuality of the vampire legend. See "Lust at First Bite."
"Dracula" a.k.a. "Blood for Dracula", Video Gems, 1974
Produced/Directed by Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey
Probably made simultaneously with Andy Warhol's "Frankenstein" as both
use the same key actors. Very bloody.
"Dream Lover", CDI Home Video, 1985
Produced/Directed by Jim Reynolds
Haunted house story.
"Dr.Love and His House of Perversions", VCA, 1978
Produced/Directed by Robert Michaels
Dr. Franken Schlong blows up his lab; worse than most
"The Enchantress", 4-Play Video, 1984
Produced/Directed by Bruce Seven
Aphrodesiac powers from magic crystal medallion
"The Erotic Adventures of Candy", Wonderful World of Video, 1978
Produced/Directed by Gail Palmer
A parody of Voltaire's "Candide", itself a satire
"Femme Fatale", Vista Video, 1985
Produced/Directed by Mike Stryker/Vanessa Cruz
Real-estate puzzle of haunted house
"Fiona on Fire", TVX, 1978
Produced/Directed by Kenneth Schwartz
Based on "Laura", this is a genuine murder mystery, with a real plot
as well as a wide range of sexuality.
"Flesh Gordon", Media, 1978
Produced/Directed by Howard Ziehm, William Osco, Michael Benveniste
The biggest-budget X-rated film made in its era, over $1 million,
not surpassed until the star-studded "Caligula",
this lovingly parodies "Flash Gordon" and has real awareness of
science fiction pulp-magazine history. Emperor Wang the Perverted
shoots Sex Rays at Earth from Planet Porno. Flesh Gordon and Dale
Ardor fly a phallic spaceship, fight the Penisaurus, and kill a King
Kong parody with a death ray. Unfortunately, I have a lawsuit
against one of the bit-part actors, and that spoils my fun with this
video, which gave sci-fi sex its best shot yet.
"Frankenstein", Video gems, 1973
Produced/Directed by Carlo Ponti, Paul Morrissey, Andy Warhol
Bloody and macabre, no genitals shown, Andy Warhol tried something
interesting here, and there is real acting. Funny yet gross.
"Friday the 13th, Parts 1, 2, 3", Paramount, 1980-82
Produced/Directed by Steve Miner
Major studio, hence no explicit sex, but clearly there is a perverse
connection between sexuality and violence (albeit implicit).
"Future Sex", Now Showing, 1984
Produced/Directed by Laurence T. Cole
Androids, the "Sextapo", in a world where sex is banned
"Heat Wave", Command, 1973
Produced/Directed by Midas Gettrich (an obvious pseudonym)/Umberto
Corleone (Cecil Howard?)
Libido is associated with the Devil.
"Heavenly Desire", Cal Vista Visual Entertainment, 1979
Produced/Directed by Jaacov Jaacovi
Parody of Thorne Smith "Topper" where Old West ghosts sexually haunt a
fraternity
"The House of Strange Desires", Now Showing, 1985
Produced/Directed by Lawrence T. Cole
Demons live on orgasm energy.
"I Dream of Ginger", Vivid Video, 1985
Produced/Directed by Herschel Stevens/Scotty Fox
Parody of "I Dream of Jeannie" with genie-in-a-bottle
"Intensive Care", Blue Video, 1974
Produced/Directed by Jack B. Nuss/David Sear
Dr.Scrotum, test-tubes, corpse-becomes-vampire
"Jezebel", Cal Vista, 1979
Produced/Directed by Sam Norvell/Charles Adamson
Transmigration/devil/gypsy amalgamation.
"Judgment Day", Cal Vista, 1978
Produced/Directed by Bella Maria/Jon Cutala
Suicide, St.Peter with halo, deaths reversed
"The Kinky Ladies of Bourbon Street", Quality, 1978
Produced/Directed by Francis Le Rois/Henri Outrandy
Cemetery past/present confusions
"Looking for Love", VCX, 1985
Produced/Directed by anonymous
Afro-aphrodesiac plant and sex-therapist
"Lure of the Triangle", Visual Entertainment, 1979
Produced/Directed by Robert Angrove/Phillip Ronald
Bermuda Triangle/Atlantis/mermaids/scuba-diving theme.
"Lust at First Bite", VCA, 1979
Produced/Directed by Dale Alexander/Phillip Morris
Complete version of a Dracula story with partial releases "Dracula
Sucks" and "Dracula's Bride." Said to be gory, but with
cinematography, acting, and music above average.
"Lust in Space", Paradise Visuals, 1985
Produced/Directed by Frank and Ernest Macintosh/Miles Kidder
Planet Zitcom is 46 lightyears away, and is ruled by Vixanna, who
keeps all sex to herself. Escapee arrives in Los Angeles.
"Lust in the Fast Lane", Paradise Visuals, 1984
Produced/Directed by "Adam"
Ghoul/vampire so-called surprise ending
"Mary, Mary", Select/Essex TVX, 1975
Produced/Directed by Bernard Morris
Sophisticated cinematography/ambiance sell-your-soul story
"Nocturna", Media, 1979 -- actually R-rated and shown on TV
Stars John Carradine & Yvonne de Carlo
John Carradine as Dracula, and a sexual rock & roll sequence
"On Golden Blonde", Paradise Visuals, 1984
Produced/Directed by Michael Phillips/"Adam"
Prematurely in Heaven, woman sent back to Earth in other women's
bodies temporarily.
"The Other Side of Lianna", L.A. Video, 1984
Produced/Directed by L. M. Burton/Drea
Grimm's-style fairy tale about devil's helpers
"Pandora's Mirror", Caballero Control, 1981
Produced/Directed by Warren Evans
17th Century/1920s mirror-magic, makes no sense
"The Psychiatrist", Select/Essex, 1978
Produced/Directed by Peter Balakoff/Belinda Balakoff
Who is crazy and who is sane? Satanic subversion.
"Ring of Desire", Select/Essex, 1982
Produced/Directed by Peter Balakoff
Plot revolves around magical amulet.
"Occasional laughter and good dialog."
"Ring of Pleasure", Fantasy/Caballero, 1975
Produced/Directed by anonymous
Magical ring gets woman a rich boyfriend
"Rites of Uranus", IVP (formerly CVX), 1975
Produced/Directed by anonymous
Charles Manson-type commune, should have been scarier.
"Sensual Encounters of Every Kind", Select Essex TVX, 1978
Produced/Directed by Harold Lime/Ramsey Carson
Jeweled talisman makes people irrestable. Resist bothering to see
this.
"Sexcalibur", Select/Essex, 1983
Produced/Directed by Dadas Christi/Dinin Dicimino
3-D film; sorcery and knight in armor.
"Sex Dreams on Maple Street", Essex, 1985
Produced/Directed by Duck Dumont/Charles De Santos
Ghosts from 50-years in past.
"Sexorcist Devil", Arrow, 1974
Produced/Directed by Hans Leek/Sven Hellstrom
Satanist cult. "Not scary, only amateurish."
"Sex Rituals of the Occult", Quality/Video-x-X-Pix, 1975
Witches, black masses, said to be dull.
"Sexteen", VCA, 1975
Produced/Directed by Lynn Metz
The angel of death hassles teenagers
"Sinderotica", Essex, 1985
Produced/Directed by Alan Hitchcock, Leslie Marie, John Silver
Sleazy Cinderella retelling.
"Space Virgins", Creative Video, 1984
Produced/Directed by Sol Starr/Phil Marshak
Screenplay by Bill Margold & Mark Weiss
Space sluts from planet Zona, with amusing dialogue filled with
computer-nerd jokes and a few actual ideas
"Star Babe", Cabellero, 1977
Produced/Directed by Anne Perry
"Star Wars" parody, aboard Starship Orgasm, to save Earth from Darth
Vader-type and the Planet Phallus. Waste of time.
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", Wizard, 1974
Produced/Directed by Tobe Hooper
A cult-classic with no nudity or explicit sex, which implicitly
related sex and violence, and is far sicker than any pornography as
such. Cemetery horror. A forerunner to the "splatterpunk" fiction
of the late 1980s.
"A Thousand and One Erotic Nights", Select/Essex, 1982
Produced/Directed by Sandra Winters/Stephen Lucas
Loosely based on Richard Burton's unexpurgated translation, including
genie & fisherman story, and prince on golden horse who can travel
through time
"Through the Looking Glass", Quality, 1976
Produced/Directed by Jonas Middleton
Said to be a sexvid classic with genuine gothic drama and
"cinematographic tour of madness that must have been inspired by
Hieronymus Bosch's paintings."
"Trashi", Cabellero, 1980
Produced/Directed by Jo Anne Lewis/Louis Lewis
Dr.Frankentein is "Dr.Schtup" here, having built a household of female
robots: "every woman has some good parts."
"Urges in Young Girls", VCA, 1984
Produced/Directed by Janus Ranier/David Christopher
Astral projection with magic mirror, low budget and stupid
"Visions", Quality, 1977
No dialogue at all in this surrealistic video which one gradually
realizes is supposed to be the unconscious hallucinations of a man in
cardiac arrest, trapped in a half-alive state as medica try to pull
him through. Metaphysical Fantasy, with no genre cliches.
"Wickerman", Media, 1973
Produced/Directed by Peter Snell, Robin Hardy, Anthony Shaffer
Starring Edward Woodward (Breaker Morant) Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento,
Britt Eklund
X-rated but a very sophisticated film, wrongly marketed as horror.
Produced in Scotland, on an imaginary pagan island, where a detective
gradually comes to realize that he is to be seduced and then
sacrificed. Well-written, gorgeous cinematography, fine acting.
Erotic without in any way descending to porn.
"The Wizard of Aahs", Essex, 1985
Produced/Directed by John Gold
Women rule in 2069; men banished to space station.
"X-Rated Cartoons", VCX, date?
Produced/Directed by ???
Fairy tales (Hansel & Gretel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty),
Bugs Bunny, and Porky Pig in a way which must have driven the Disney
attorneys into a frenzy; said to be particularly offensive to women
Conclusion: don't waste your time seeing any of these, with the possible
exception of "Wickerman". Watch real science fiction and fantasy movies,
and develop your genuine imagination.
Adult video rental has outstripped (pun) the overall video market,
according to a survey by Adult Video News, with doubling of revenues over the
past 5 years to an orgiastic $4,200,000,000 annually in the United States, or
approximately a quarter of all U.S. video rentals, despite a modest
decline from the peak in 1995. Jeffrey H. Douglas, Free Speech Coalition's
Executive Director, explains these obscene profits in terms of the
average cost of the cassettes' rental at about $1.00 more than the
overall average rental fee of $2.76. In the first 3 years of VCR sales,
some 70% of purchasers acknowledged that the primary reason they bought the
devices was to watch "adult titles" at home. We don't really know what
fraction of America's 28,000 video specialty retailers carry adult films --
some of the giants, such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart do not, while the huge
Blockbuster chain is slipping into at least soft-core "wild" or
"screwball" titles. 70% of adult videos are rented by men, 19% by
male-female couples, and only 2% by women. Think about that the next time
you deny that X-rated films degrade women.
For an examination of sex in science fiction literature, click on:
Science Fiction Sex
Forrest J. Ackerman's "Nine Favorite Science Fiction Movie Nude Scenes"
in "The SF Book of Lists", p.258, ed. Malcolm Edwards & Maxim Jakubowski,
New York: Berkeley (1982):
- Jenny Agutter, in loose, revealing, almost transparent and then wet
gowns in Logan's Run, an otherwise rotten film.
- Julie Christie, one of my major feminine obsessions (ah! Don't Look Now,
Dr Zhivago, Darling, ah again!) is spied upon by the sinister
computer in Demon Seed as she takes a shower.
- Jessica Lange in the clutches of King Kong, in the de Laurentis
version. Not strictly nude, although I gather from reports on the
shooting of the movie that her top kept slipping off under the pressure of
the mechanical hand of the giant ape. I leave my imagination to do the
rest and conjure up a delightful breast and nipple. Also a nice wet scene.
- Brooke Adams in Kaufman's version of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers,
walking in a naked daze among the selves and shelves of pods.
- Sigourney Weaver's stripping down to her underwear under the watchful
eye of the monster in Alien. Again, not strictly a nude scene, but
full of potent eroticism.
- Sara Kestelman in Zardoz, freckles and all.
- The running girl in the fantasy sequence of A Clockwork Orange.
The slow motion, her anonymity and the full frontal effect all combine
to make this another strong scene.
- Valerie Perrine on Tralfamadore in Slaughterhouse-Five. Playing
Billy Pilgrim's dream-girl Montana Wildhack, Valerie Perrine showed much
more in the Playboy pictorial of the shooting and almost everywhere
else since, but there's a delightful hint of puppy fat and such a
mischievous twinkle in her eye!
- Judy Bowker, almost virginal in the horrendous Clash of the Titans
but offers us a brief back view of her compact body before indulging
bra-less in the spray, which, although not on a par with Jacqueline
Bisset's famous wet tee-short scene in The Deep, nevertheless
provides some guilty pleasure.
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Up to 1997 SNEAK PREVIEWS Table of Contents
Sci-Fi Attacks on Los Angeles
Because Los Angeles is the home to the Hollywood movie industry, the
city has been assaulted by disasters and extraterrestrials more than any
other city in the world -- sorry, Tokyo.
In Volcano, we have
lines of dialogue such as:
"Lava? In L.A.?"
and
"Better take the freeway--Wilshire [Boulevard] looks pretty bad."
But that's only the tip of the iceberg. Some other memorable moments
from sci-fi films:
"Once again, the LAPD [Los Angeles Police Department] is asking Los
Angelenos not to fire their guns at the spacecraft."
[Newsman Gary Cruz, Independence Day]
"All trains as far as Long Beach are covered by either a bazooka team
or flame-throwers."
[Military Official, before the giant ants attack in Them!]
"Tsunami! Surf's up big time now. This is gonna be some kind of
bitchin' ride."
[Peter Fonda, about to surf Sunset Boulevard in Escape from L.A.]
"This is KTTV Studios in Hollywood, to Mt.Wilson. We are being
attacked by the Slime People."
[TV Announcer in The Slime People]
"People turning south on the freeway were startled to see three
flying saucers, high over Hollywood Boulevard."
[Narrator in Plan 9 from Outer Space]
"The Target of the A-Bomb is this nest of Martian machines in the
Puente Hills."
[Newsman in remake of War of the Worlds]
"Ladies and gentlemen, you're witnessing a manhunt for the biggest
man in existence. We're in Griffith Park."
[News anchor Stan Chambers in War of the Colossal Beast]
And let's not forget the novel by Robert Moore Williams:
"The Day They H-Bombed Los Angeles" [Ace, 1961]
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Domestic Market Share of U.S. Distributors
The Los Angeles Times, on Tuesday 11 November 1997, gave the following
data on Domestic Market Share and Number of Films in release for United
States distributors from 6 January 1997 through 9 November 1997:
| Distributor |
Films |
Market Share |
| Sony |
36 |
23.0% |
| Buena Vista |
30 |
14.4% |
| Warner Bros. |
25 |
11.7% |
| Paramount |
26 |
10.8% |
| Universal |
11 |
10.6% |
| 20th Century Fox |
19 |
10.2% |
| New Line |
25 |
6.3% |
| Miramax |
30 |
5.8% |
| MGM/United Artists |
16 |
1.6% |
Return to ULTIMATE SCIENCE FICTION WEB GUIDE Table of Contents
CLONES: NEW: annotated hotlinks
to films, books, and stories about clones, cloning, and genetic
engineering of animals and people
SPACE: NEW: 123 annotated hotlinks to films about space travel
TELEVISION: list of 319 links, 278 shows, last update 31 October 1997
TIME TRAVEL: List of 65 movies about time travel, last updated 6 March 1997
Go to Ultimate Mystery/Detective Web Guide
Copyright 1996, 1997, by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.
May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its
entirety, and without charge.
