Marvel Exploring Converting Iron Man 2 to 3D
Iron Man has taken flight in 3D. At least he has in a 1-minute demo reel which is said to be "hot" stuff and triggering all sorts of crazy ideas at Marvel, Paramount and now Disney.
Ain't It Cool News broke the news claiming 1 minute from Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 was recently converted to high quality digital 3D. Everyone who has seen this clip is so enamored by it that Marvel is soliciting bids from three companies to covert not only all of Iron Man 2 into 3D, but the first Iron Man for a spring 2010 re-release as well.
The conversion process utilized would be identical to how Disney is handling Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. The big difference is that film was created with 3D not only in mind but built into the budget. Turning Iron Man 2 into 3D will pile onto what is already probably a budget well north of $100 million.
Of course Iron Man 2 will gobble up mounds of cash next summer so it will be up to the studios to decide whether the investment is worth the up-charge on a ticket to a 3D movie. Now that 2009 has delivered several 3D films that outperformed their 2D counterparts, cinema's future is looking more and more three-dimensional whether filmmakers intend so or not.
Bryan Adams takes acoustic trek into winter
Bryan Adams will return to the road later this week for a North American theater tour that runs through year's end.
The 17-date excursion gets off to a slow start with one performance Friday (9/4) in Edmonton, followed by a three-week hiatus. The Canadian singer/songwriter will then climb aboard the tour bus for a more consistent schedule of shows beginning Sept. 26 in Denver. The outing wraps up along the East Coast with a Dec. 10 appearance in New Brunswick, NJ. Details are below.
Adams most recently released "11," his aptly titled 11th studio set. The musician followed the release with an "11 Days, 11 Cities" acoustic tour of Europe, as well a late-year solo-acoustic run throughout the US.
Earlier this summer, Adams was rewarded for his contributions to both music and philanthropic initiatives with a Canadian postage stamp bearing his image.
"I never thought about it," Adams said of this recognition in a recent interview with LiveDaily. "I got a message from a friend of mine saying, 'Congratulations getting on a stamp, but I'm not sure I'll be too keen about licking the back side of it.'"
September 2009
4 - Edmonton, Alberta - Telus Field
26 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
27 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kingsbury Hall
28 - Missoula, MT - Wilma Theatre
29 - Spokane, WA - Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox
30 - Calgary, Alberta - Calgary Telus Convention Centre
October 2009
1, 2 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Orpheum
23 - Miami, FL - Gusman Center for the Performing Arts
24 - Jacksonville, FL - Florida Theatre
25 - Greensboro, NC - Carolina Theatre
26 - Virginia Beach, VA - Sandler Center for the Performing Arts
27 - Charlottesville, VA - Paramount Theater
28 - Roanoke, VA - Jefferson Center
29 - Ashland, KY - Paramount Arts Center
December 2009
9 - Wilkes Barre, PA - Kirby Center
10 - New Brunswick, NJ - State Theatre
Rolling Stones Rep Denies Charlie Watts Quit The Band
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has not quit the band, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday, denying a news report from Australia.
The report, from the normally credible online outlet Undercover (www.undercover.com.au), stirred up a worldwide panic among fans, since Watts' departure would likely mean the end of the venerable group.
"Contrary to a fabricated story that ran this morning on a small music web site in Australia, drummer Charlie Watts has not left The Rolling Stones," spokeswoman Fran Curtis said in an emailed statement.
The Undercover report, attributed to "a source within the Stones inner-circle says," said Watts will never record or tour with the band again. It said the Stones were looking to replace him with New York session drummer Charlie Drayton, who has played on solo projects with Stones guitarist Keith Richards.
The Rolling Stones, which Watts joined in 1963 after a stint in the advertising world, have not released a new album since 2005's poor-selling "A Bigger Bang." Their last tour ended in London in August 2007. Future plans are unknown.
Watts, 68, does not contribute to the songwriting, but his spare, jazz-influenced drumming style is considered key to the band's success. He is closely involved in the design of the band's stage sets and merchandising, and gets the loudest cheers when the four members are introduced in concert.
He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2004, but it went into remission, and the band embarked on a three-year world tour the following year. During the 1980s, the famously clean-living drummer fought a drug addiction at a time when the band had essentially broken up.
Watts has traditionally been the most reluctant to tour, since he hates to leave his wife and Arabian horses at the couple's horse-breeding farm in Devonshire. The media-shy grandfather generally avoids the spotlight, and seems disdainful of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.
"Worked five years, and 20 years hangin' around," he glumly told a TV reporter while on tour during the 1980s.
Watts' eccentricities are part of the band's legend, such as tales that he owns a huge vintage-car collection but not a driver license, and allows horses to wander through the house. He also has a darker side, once punching Mick Jagger almost unconscious after the singer referred to him as "my drummer."
Movie sequels lift summer box office to new record
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Summer box office sales narrowly hit a new record in North America -- with a little help from an angry memo written by "Transformers" director Michael Bay.
The filmmaker in May accused Paramount Pictures executives of fumbling the marketing campaign for his June 24 release "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
"Right now we are not an event. We are just a sequel, which is very different," he wrote in the missive that was leaked to the media.
Fortunately for both parties -- if not for the overwhelming majority of critics who eviscerated the big-bang spectacle -- Paramount's marketing plan kicked into high gear and the movie became the top draw at the summer box office in North America.
The movie grossed $399 million in the United States and Canada, well ahead of the No. 2 choice Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" with $294 million.
When overseas sales are included, the rankings are reversed. "Harry Potter" earned $905 million worldwide, and "Transformers" $828 million.
The two franchise pictures helped the summer moviegoing season reach another record -- barely.
North American ticket sales totaled $4.18 billion for all films from May 1 through September 2, according to tracking firm Rentrak Corp. This represents a 0.01 percent rise from the year-ago haul of $4.14 billion.
"Even in a tight economy, consumers seeking a great entertainment value continued to flock to movie theaters to see blockbusters across action, comedy, drama and family-friendly genres," said Ron Giambra, Rentrak's executive vice-president of Theatrical Worldwide.
Summer is the most lucrative season for the studios, with ticket sales accounting for as much as 40 percent of annual theatrical income. With their target audience of young males in mind, they unleash costly "popcorn" pictures loaded with explosions and special effects.
The top five was rounded out by the Pixar cartoon "Up" ($290 million), the surprise Warner Bros. bawdy hit "The Hangover" ($270 million) and Paramount's "Star Trek" reboot ($257 million).
That's not to say other demographic groups were completely ignored.
Counterprogramming efforts such as "The Ugly Truth" ($86 million) and the early Oscar bait "Julie & Julia" ($71 million and counting), both from Columbia Pictures, scored with female audiences. Sandra Bullock enjoyed the biggest movie of her career (before adjusting for inflation) with Disney's "The Proposal" ($160 million), the No. 9 movie of the summer.
At the other end of the scale, notable bombs included Paramount's Eddie Murphy comedy "Imagine That" -- a $55 million project that grossed $16 million.
Universal struck out with such disappointments as the costly Johnny Depp gangster drama "Public Enemies," which grossed $97 million, Sacha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" ($60 million), and Will Ferrell's "Land of the Lost" and director Judd Apatow's "Funny People" with about $50 million each.
Universal, a General Electric Co unit, lags the six major studios in market share so far this year, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo.
Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros, leading in No. 1 openings this year, rules the pack with 20.6 percent, followed by Viacom Inc's Paramount (18 percent), News Corp's 20th Century Fox (12.5 percent), Walt Disney Co (12.1 percent), Sony Corp's Columbia (11.9 percent) and Universal (9 percent).