Microsoft, Peter Jackson shelve Halo film
Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Microsoft have announced a halt to plans for a movie based on the popular video game Halo.
The announcement Wednesday comes less than two weeks after the film’s major studio backers, Fox and Universal, pulled out of financing. Pre-production had already begun at Weta, the New Zealand-based company run by Jackson and his partner, Fran Walsh.
"At this time Microsoft, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh have mutually agreed to postpone making a feature film based on the Halo video game," Microsoft said in a statement.
"While it will undoubtedly take a little longer for Halo to reach the big screen, we are confident that the final feature film will be well worth the wait," the company said.
The film was due to be released in 2008.
Fox and Universal pulled out in mid-October after trying to renegotiate the film’s budget and Jackson’s take of the profits.
The original budget was pegged at about $135 million US but reports say it could balloon to $200 million US.
At the time the two studios pulled out of the project, both Microsoft and Jackson released statements saying they would forge ahead, based on the software company’s video game. A Weta spokesperson also said at the time that work was continuing on the film, although no crew or stars had been cast.
The game concerns future super-soldier Master Chief as he battles to save mankind from an alien race. A sequel is expected next year for Microsoft's video game console Xbox 360.
Jackson is currently working on the adaptation of Alice Sebold’s book The Lovely Bones, and a remake of the 1954 Second World War battle drama, The Dambusters.
'Superman II': The Other Director's Cut
Time Warner plans to issue a director's cut of Superman II on Nov. 20 that will feature the work of director Richard Donner, who was fired from the movie and replaced by Richard Lester midway through the movie in 1979.
According to Wednesday's London Times, the film will include 15 minutes of previously unseen footage of Marlon Brando as Superman's father, Jor-El.
The film also employs footage from Donner's screen tests and numerous alternate sequences. In fact, according to the Times, the film uses less than 20 percent of the footage shot by Lester.
A spokeswoman for Warner Home Video told the newspaper that the new film was made possible because producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind, who fired Donner, sold their interest in the film to Time Warner.
A critic for Britain's Empire magazine who viewed the new version said that it was plagued with continuity problems arising from the fact that Donner was forced to make do with footage on hand, including the screen-test footage.
"It's patchy (Reeve's hairstyle changes from shot to shot), badly lit and stagy, but watching Reeve's performance is electrifying," according to the Empire review.
Weinsteins Wonder What Would Have Happened If...
Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein have suggested that they might have remained with the Disney Co. had Robert Iger been running it while they were there instead of Michael Eisner. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Bob Weinstein said that they now "have a very good relationship with Bob Iger ... He's set a fantastic tone. There's no animosity. It's actually been good. We've wondered if we'd still be there." Weinstein said that what caused "friction" with the previous regime was that "we walked in every day with the attitude that we were running our own company." The Weinsteins also told the newspaper that their recently acquired Genius video distribution unit has already produced a profits bonanza for their company, putting it ahead of analysts' projections. "When people read Genius's profit statement next year, and the size of the company that we're building, I think they'll weep," Harvey Weinstein told the Journal.
Paramount Snaps Up Scorsese's Stones Documentary
On Wednesday Paramount Pictures acquired North American rights to Martin Scorsese's long-planned Rolling Stones feature documentary, due in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Scorsese started filming the untitled project Sunday (Oct. 30) in New York during the Stones' performance at President Clinton's celebrity-packed birthday bash at New York's Beacon Theatre, and will also film at the Beacon tonight. Clinton's remarks at the event are expected to be included in the film, which will also include historical and contemporary behind-the-scenes footage and interviews.
At the first Beacon show, the White Stripes’ Jack White guested on “Loving Cup,” while Christina Aguilera sang “Live With Me” and Buddy Guy played guitar on “Champagne & Reefer.”
Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson ("The Aviator," "JFK") is supervising the photography. Veteran docu filmmaker Albert Maysles also will provide backstage coverage, while the A-list cinematographers operating cameras in the auditorium will include Mitch Amundsen (2nd unit, "Mission: Impossible III"), Stuart Dryburgh ("The Piano"), Robert Elswit ("Good Night, and Good Luck"), Ellen Kuras ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"), Andrew Lesnie ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy), Emmanuel Chivo Lubezki ("The New World"), Anastas Michos ("Mona Lisa Smile"), Declan Quinn ("In America") and John Toll ("Braveheart").
Financed by Steve Bing's Shangri-La Entertainment and longtime Stones tour promoter Michael Cohl's Concert Promotions International, the film is being sold by Fortissimo Films in foreign territories at the American Film Market, which opens today.
David Tedeschi, who most recently worked with Scorsese on "No Direction Home," will edit the film; Tom Fleischman ("Departed") is the rerecording mixer, with Bob Clearmountain ("Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London '75") mixing the music.
Miami Vice - Universal makes up for the long wait with double the Vice
2005 saw the first and seasons seasons of Miami Vice released on DVD, but the studio held off on releasing anything new in 2006 (except for a combo pack with both seasons), even though there was a movie in theaters (and coming to DVD in December).
We just heard a rumor that'll make up for the lack of releases in 2006 - the studio currently has plans to release seasons three and four in March, 2007.
Of course that's subject to change, as any announced title is, but it's a darn good sign!