Raja's Movie Ramblings: More Hollywood Movie Fairy Tales Coming Soon

With director Tim Burton's 2010 adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp  being a big success, Hollywood is now jumping on the bandwagon of adapting classic fairy tales into big Hollywood box office.

Three competing  Snow White movies are already in the works, but with a more adult edge to them.

First one out of the park is Mirror Mirror by Relativity Media, directed by Tarsem Singh, who's known for his sense of art direction style in such movies as The Cell (2000) & Immortals (2011) starring  future Superman Henry Cavill as the Greek demigod Theseus.

Starring  Academy Award Winning Actress Julia Roberts (for 2000's Erin Brockovick) as the Evil Queen.  

Lilly Collins (from 2011's Priest & Abduction) won the part of Snow White after Singh considered actress Saoirse Ronan (from 2011's Hanna) & Felicity Jones (from director Julie Taymor's 2010's adaptation of Shakespeare's the Tempest).

Actor Armie Hammer (from 2010's Social Network & starring in the upcoming Lone Ranger movie with actor Johnny Depp) beat out actors James McAvoy (2011's X-Men:First Class) & Alex Pettyfer (2011's I Am Number Four) as the Prince.

Arounding out the cast includes actors Nathan Lane (from 2005's The Producers) & Sean Bean (from director Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy & HBO's 2011 TV series Game of Thrones) as the Evil Queen's aid & Snow White's father the King. 

Mirror Mirror originally set for March 16, 2012, it was push back to March 30, 2012.

Universal Pictures has a different plan in mind with their Snow White project. Instead of going for the visual art style of Mirror Mirror, their setting their movie as an action fantasy like the Lord of the Rings trilogy titled Snow White & the Huntsman. 

Producers Joe Roth (Alice in Wonderland) & Sam Mercer (the Sixth Sense) has hired acclaimed commercial director Rupert Sanders for is first Big Hollywood movie, with a screenplay by Evan Daugherty. 

For the starring role of Snow White the producers looked at young actress like Riley Keough, Felicity Jones (again), Bella Heathcote, & Alicia Vikander before looking at the Twilight Saga & Runaways actress Kristen Stewart & Dakato Fanning, with Stewart winning the role.      

For the role of the Evil Queen, not to be out done by their rivals, the Producers cast their own Academy Award Winning Actress, Charlize Theron (for 2003's Monster).

The next part was for the Huntsman. The Producers offered the role to the likes of Johnny Depp, Viggo Mortensen, & Hugh Jackman before casting Thor's Chris Hemsworth in the role.The Huntsman is not the love interest, but plays more of that of a mentor as he teaches Snow White the art of war.

The Prince love interest is played by actor Sam Claflin (2011's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides).  

As for Snow White's dwarven companions, an amazing group of British character actors has been assemble, who have been re-imagined as being named after famous Roman Leaders.

Ian McShane is Ceasar, the eldest & leader. Stephen Graham is Nero, the angry one. Eddie Izzard is Tiberius, the biggest & burliest. Bob Hoskins is the blind Constantine. Toby Jones is the timid Claudius. Ray Winstone & Eddie Masron the twins Trajan & Hadrian.  Nick Frost is the youngest Gus.

What You Say, They Are EIGHT! You're Right! The rumour is that by the end of the Movie one of them is killed, making their number drop to the classic Seven. 

Set to be release June 1, 2011

Walt Disney also plans on their own Snow White remake with the Order of the Seven, a loosely adapted kung fu tale with abit of Seven Samurai thrown in.

Set to star Hanna's Saoirse Ronan as a 19th Century British expatriate in Hong Kong who teams up with a group of outlaw warriors who must battle an evil ancient empress. This will be directed by Michael Gracey. 

The casting for the seven warriors has yet to be done. My hope is that the producers cast an "All-Star" group of Hong Kong's Finest, like Jackie Chan, Jet Lei, Sammo Hung, Chow Yun-Fat, & Donnie Yen.   
No release date set at present.   

But Snow White is not the only fairy tale contender. Walt Disney also plans on a live-action remake of Sleeping Beauty titled Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie (2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider). 

Originally director Tim Burton was attached to the project until Walt Disney announced Robert Stromberg, the Production designer on Avatar (2009) & Alice in Wonderland will direct instead. No set dat as of yet.

In the works are adaptations of the classic French fairy tale of Beauty & the Beast by Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro (2004's Hellboy & 2006's Pan's Labyrinth), co-producing with Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) producer Denise DiNovi and screenplay by Andrew Davies (1995 BBC mini-series Pride & Prejudice and 2001's Brittget Jones' Dairy). 

Del Toro's 'Beauty' is Harry Potter's Emma Waston.    
No set date as of yet.

MGM & Paramount team-up to bring us Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 3-D, a action horror comedy by director Tommy Wirkola (director of 2007's Kill Buljo & 2009's Dead Snow) and produced by Will Ferrell. 

Actors Jeremy Renner (2009's the Hurt Locker & the upcoming Avengers as Hawkeye) & Gemma Arterton ( 2008's Quantum of Solace & 2010's Clash of the Titans) as the now adult siblings battling a witch's coven lead by actress Famke Janssen (Jean Grey from the X-Men movies). 
Set for January 11. 2013.

Director Bryan Singer retells the story of Jack & the Beanstalk with Jack the Giant Killer starring Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class) as the peasant hero Jack who must rescue the King's daughter (played by actors Ian McShane & Eleanor Tomlinson) from an evil two-headed giant (played by actors Bill Nighy & John Kassir) with the help of the Captain of the King's Elite Guard (played by actor Ewan McGregor).

Set for June 15, 2012 release.

If these Movies succeed, it seems that Hollywood has found another cash cow other than comic books to stripe mine.

~ Rajadevilman74

Comic Book Ramblings: It's Official! Before Watchmen Announced!

After months and years of rumours, this summer's comic book event of 2012  will be DC Comics publishing all-new stories expanding on the universe established in the acclaimed best-selling graphic novel WATCHMEN by legendary comic book writer Alan Moore & comic book artist Dave Gibbons.
Under the banner of BEFORE WATCHMEN, DC will release 7 inter-connected prequel mini-series

“It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee. “After 25 years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.”

DC has gathered some the comicdom's best writers and artist to work on these titles which include: 

RORSCHACH (4 issues)  by Writer Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS) and Artist: Lee Bermejo (JOKER)

MINUTEMEN (6 issues) by Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke (NEW FRONTIER)

COMEDIAN (6 issues) by Writer Brian Azzarello and Artist: J.G. Jones (FINAL CRISIS) 

DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) by Writer J. Michael Straczynski (SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE) and Artist: Adam Hughes (CATWOMAN)

NITE OWL (4 issues) by Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy Kubert (FLASHPOINT) and Joe Kubert (SGT.ROCK)

OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) by Writer Len Wein (SWAMP THING) and Artist: Jae Lee (BATMAN: JEKYLL & HYDE)

SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) by Writer Darwyn Cooke and Artist: Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL) 

Also each week, a new issue will be released, and will feature a 2-page back-up story called CURSE OF THE CRIMSON CORSAIR, written by original series editor Len Wein and with art by original series colorist John Higgins. There will also be a single issue, BEFORE WATCHMEN: EPILOGUE, featuring the work of various writers and artists, and a CRIMSON CORSAIR story by Wein and Higgins.

“Comic books are perhaps the largest and longest running form of collaborative fiction,” said DiDio and Lee. “Collaborative storytelling is what keeps these fictional universes current and relevant.”

The original WATCHMEN is still one of DC’s best-selling graphic novels and was named to Time Magazine’s top 100 English-language novels of all time, and many fans, critics and professionals have long held the position that it need not, and should not, be added to.

“The original series of WATCHMEN is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell. However, I appreciate DC’s reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work. May these new additions have the success they desire,” said Dave Gibbons, WATCHMEN co-creator and original series artist at DC's Blog The Source.

While co-creator writer Alan Moore, however, who has long been resistant to any follow-ups to Watchmen, told The New York Times, “I tend to take this latest development as a kind of eager confirmation that they are still apparently dependent on ideas that I had 25 years ago.”

Moore said that sometime in 2010 that DC came to him with an offer of returning the rights in return of doing a follow-up WATCHMEN project, something he originally wanted to do way back in 1989, but after an ugly conflict over royalties drove him away from the publisher. Moore declined the offer and feeling he told the story he wanted.

But even when film director Zack Snyder's 2009 movie was released talks about sequels rose when it was revealed that the cast had signed for any follow-up projects.

My worry is that this WATCHMEN project will end up as disappointing as writer-artist Frank Miller’s follow-up to his classic 1986 THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, the 2001 THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES BACK.

~ Rajadevilman74

Al Rio Dead

I was sad to read on Newsarama.com that Brazilian comic book artist Al Rio died at he age of 49, an apparent suicide from hanging.

His recent works include Grimm Fairy Tales for Zenescope and New Mutants Forever for Marvel Comics with writer Chris Claremount in 2010.

A beautiful pin-up artist who started out as animator for Disney in his native Brazil. It was in the mid-1990s that North American audiences took notice of him when he got his "big break" when he took over as artist on Wildstorm's Gen 13 series from then popular series artist J. Scott Campbell Not before long he would then go on a year long run on Wildstorm's DV8 series before co-creating with writer David Campiti Exposure, which he called "the sexist supernatural story ever".

He is survived by his wife Zilda & 3 children: Rene, Adrielle, & Isabel .
Services will be held in Fortaleza, Brazil this February 1.

                                                        Alvaro Araujo Lourenco do Rio
                                                              Born May 19, 1962
                                                              Died January 31, 2012