Richard Starkings has announced that his Elephantmen comic book series (home of Hip Flask) has been optioned by Zucker Productions for development as a feature-length film. No word yet on whether the project would be live action, CGI, or some combination of the two. Also, we’re not being told yet if Jerry Zucker (Ghost) will be directing or simply producing. We do know that Starkings will be creating the story treatment for the feature himself. If you’re not familiar with the world of Elephantmen, here’s a quick summary from the press release for the film project: “Elephantmen is an Eisner Award winning series first published in 2002 under Starkings’ Active Images imprint. In 2006 Image Comics approached Starkings to bring the book under their umbrella. The story of the Elephantmen takes place in Los Angeles in the not too distant future — in a world where human/animal hybrids were created to fight a war between Africa and China. Scarred by their experiences in war and seeking to somehow find their own humanity, the Elephantmen are now scattered throughout the world amongst the humans they were created to kill. Elephantmen is a brilliant commentary on racism, miscegenation, global warming, stem cell research and warfare. Created and written by Starkings, the series features artwork by Ladrönn, Moritat, and Boo Cook.“
The Power of the Viewing Public…
We can’t put this any better, so we’re lifting this verbatim from Box Office Guru:
“The big story this weekend came in third place [behind Date Night and Clash of the Titans — ye ed-otter] where the 3D animated film How To Train Your Dragon witnessed a remarkably low 13% decline in its third round for an estimated $25.4M gross boosting the 17-day total to a terrific $133.9M. Short-sighted film industry watchers and impatient Wall Street investors prematurely dismissed Dragon and DreamWorks Animation after its less-than-stellar opening weekend two weeks ago. The company’s stock dropped 8% on the first trading day after the debut with analysts lowering their estimates for the final domestic take to just $152M. Dragon will now crush that mark next weekend and looks on course to break the $200M barrier too becoming the second biggest 3D toon of all-time behind just the $293M of Up. Beating Pixar’s Oscar winner may not be possible, but outgrossing other competitors like Monsters vs. Aliens, Ice Age 3, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs makes Dragon a powerful performer. The PG-rated film was indeed slow out of the gate, but amazing word-of-mouth coupled with school holidays for spring have made Dragon the must-see film for kids and parents. Competition for families and 3D screens remains extremely light for the next five weeks so the Viking pic’s strong run should continue. Reaching $250M cannot be ruled out at this point given the road ahead since Dragon will be able to earn at least five times its opening figure, if not more.”
In other words, keep spreading that amazing word-of-mouth, people!
Dinosaurs Rock… for Kids!
Our wonderful, wonderful weird world…
They’re a musical band called Hevisaurus. They’re a heavy metal band for children (wrap your brain around THAT concept for a moment) that is creating quite a stir in Finland. Why? Because live on stage and in their videos the band’s members dress up in full-body dinosaur costumes! And the kids have been eating it all up. Their first album Jurahevin Kuninkaat is a certified hit in Scandinavia, and several of the band’s videos (like this one and that one) are getting a lot of views on YouTube. One thing there is not a lot of (yet) is background information on the band, other than the fact that members of several well-known heavy metal acts (including Dio and Sonata Artica) play in the group. But who conceived this? And who designed and built the costumes? Inquiring furry fans want to know! Interestingly, it seems that the actors inside the costumes really ARE musicians and really DO play their instruments, at least live in concert. If you can navigate your way through the Finnish, you can check out their web site and MySpace page.
Hevisaurus pose!
Hevisaurus rock!
Marmaduke Strikes!
Happy Easter (yes belated) and welcome to spring, everyone!
The march of CGI-enhanced talking animals continues. This time it’s Marmaduke, that famously over-sized Great Dane from the long-running newspaper strip by Brad Anderson, comes to the big screen this coming June. But this time, Marmaduke talks — with the voice of Owen Wilson, no less. Also in the voice cast are George Lopez (playing a cat this time — fickle!), Fergie (as a collie who catches Marmaduke’s eye), Kiefer Sutherland (as a purebred rottweiler who gives our mutt-ish hero grief), Ron Perlman, Emma Stone, Tom Wilson, and Damon Wayans Jr. Quite a cast. The film was directed by Tom Dey, and is being released by 20th Century Fox. You can check out the trailer on YouTube and elsewhere on the net.
Godzilla Returns in 2012
This will either excite you are make you groan: Legendary Pictures has finally sealed a deal with Toho Company to create a brand-new American Godzilla feature film, schedule for release in 2012. No word yet on a director, writer, human star, or monstrous co-stars for this new film. Some may recall the last time (shudder) that Godzilla emerged from American movie studios under the command of director Roland Emmerich (2012, Independence Day) and writer Dean Devlin (Independence Day, Stargate). At the time the fan response world wide was… less than enthusiastic (and less than pretty). This time around, the folks at Legendary are swearing that they are all Godzilla geeks and that they “get” the appeal of The Big G and his movies. We shall certainly see. You can check out the official Legendary Pictures press release at Rotten Tomatoes.
Captain Long Ears
New from Amaze Ink and Slave Labor Graphics: 8-year-old Michael has lost his father in a terrible accident. Though his mother is consumed by her grief, Michael insists on keeping a birthday tradition: Putting on his rabbit/spaceman costume and going to the local theme park as Captain Long Ears. If his mother won’t go, then Michael will simply go there with his imaginary friend, a purple gorilla named Jam. Trouble ensues, however, when Captain Long Ears and Jam take it upon themselves to rescue the theme park’s prize elephant… whether it wants to be rescued or not. This new black & white graphic novel was written and illustrated by Diana Thung. Look for it in May.
Legends of the Guard… Mice, this time
David Petersen’s award-winning comic and story-book series Mouse Guard gets a new twist, as some of the most creative minds in the world of comic books join him to tell all-new tales in Legends of the Guard, a new 4-issue full-color mini-series (coming this May from Archaia Entertainment). “Inside the June Alley Inn, located in the western mouse city of Barkstone, mice gather to tell tales, each trying to out-do the other. A competition, of sort, begins. The rules: Every story must contain one truth, one lie, and have never been told in that tavern before.” Story-tellers this time around include Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), Ted Naifeh (Courtney Crumrin), and Alex Sheikman (Robotika). In future issues we’ll see contributions by Katie Cook, Guy Davis, Gene Ha, Sean Rubin, Mark Smylie, and many more.
Training Dragons
Anticipations are running high for Dreamworks Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon, which hits movie screens this Friday, March 26th. As of this writing the film has a 100% “fresh” / 0% “rotten” rating at Rotten Tomatoes.com — likely to go down as more reviews come in, of course, but still one heck of a high to be starting from. Many critics have noted the flying sequences in this 3D CGI film to be especially exciting. If you’ve not heard, the story follows the adventures of Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel), a young viking in a land constantly at war with various species of fire-breathing dragon. When Hiccup’s new invention — a sort of bolo-catapult — injures a young dragon, the human is surprised to find himself befriending the beast (he names it “Toothless”). In the process, Hiccup finds out far more about dragons and his own people than he ever expected. Of course, getting humans together with unusual non-human friends is nothing new for directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders: They’re the team that gave us Disney’s Lilo and Stitch.
Surprise Furry Extras
Folks running out to pick up the new DVD/Blue Ray of Spike Jonze’s live-action Where the Wild Things Are will find an interesting extra included: A brand-new short (24 minute) film based on Higglety Pigglety Pop, another book by Maurice Sendak. Using a combination of live action, puppetry, stop-motion animation and more, the film tells the story of Jennie, a fluffy white terrier dog (voiced by Meryl Streep). When she finds that she is bored and thinks “There must be more to life”, Jennie sets out to become leading lady of the World Mother Goose Theater. Unfortunately, she’s informed that the leading lady has to have experience. And Jennie has no idea what “experience” even is, let alone where to find it! Setting out on a quest for it, Jennie winds up as a nurse-maid for a very strange baby who refuses to eat. And nurse-maids who fail to convince the baby to eat are fed to the ravenous lion living in the basement! Only Maurice Sendak comes up with plots like this, folks… The production company for Higglety Pigglety Pop also created the Oscar-Nominated short film Madame Tutli-Putli. Clips from the former and the latter are up on YouTube.
