Filmism.net Dispatch February 4, 2008
So it's either not surprising (given the cultural impact) or very surprising (give then – on reflection – Golden Compass-like performance) that they've announced a sequel. Will it be a superior creative effort building on great idea a la Aliens, or a straight to video, brand-name cash-grab a la Blair Witch II?
Is the news that Microsoft has offered $50bn for Yahoo! of interest to movie fans? Few online media companies operate without a stake in film content, so keep your eyes on it.
Only weeks out of shotting, one-shot One Hour Photo director Mark Romanek has bailed on The Wolf Man, with names like Ratner, Darabont and Mangold thrown about. If you ask me, regardless of the project's quality it would have bought big budget kudos to the one-time director. Should he have whored himself to a studio committee just for the exposure, with only one other major movie under his belt? Without The Wolf Man, Romanek might just end up another struggling helmer.
New rights-holder Platinum (Michael Bay) Dunes is trying to resurrect Freddy Krueger like Halcyon did with The Terminator franchise. I know the stereotype of the indestructible killer is popular, but...
And finally, even though Peter Jackson buried the hatchet with New Line head honcho Bob Shaye over Lord of the Rings accounts, he's passed the reins of the Hobbit movies to fellow fat, bearded comic book nerd Guillermo Del Toro.