SAW 3D teaser pushes the 3D aspect too hard
Sep 10
There’s one way to sell 3D, and that’s to promise a subtle layer of immersion to suck viewers into the action. Then there’s the way Hollywood has actually chosen to sell 3D: throw shit at the audience’s face and make them duck instinctively.
Saw 3D falls squarely into the latter category. This new teaser actually has shit literally flying out of the screen to attack hapless cinemagoers. Sometimes I think 3D might actually be a good thing for cinema; today is not one of those days.
Saw 3D hits the States in the face on 29 October 2010; expect a similarly Halloween-ish date for other territories.
First THREE MUSKETEERS poster is just words on a page
Sep 03
It’s hard enough as it is to have any faith in The Three Musketeers (in 3D), what with it being directed by serial hack Paul W.S. Anderson and all, but it doesn’t help that the first poster for the film is exceedingly dull, and isn’t even the right shape to boot.
And as if that weren’t enough to thoroughly dishearten any interest I may or may not have potentially had for this project, the only name on the poster that’s even half-interesting is Christoph Waltz‘s. Sure, as part of a strong ensemble, actors like Milla Jovovich and Orlando Bloom are perfectly tolerable; thrown together with a stack of other merely-competent actors, however, the net result is crushingly mediocre.
Who knows — maybe I’m being far too harsh on Musketeers, and Anderson might in fact miraculously produce an enduring work of art that will thrill and entertain audiences for — wait, he directed Death Race? I take it back.
The Three Musketeers cross swords in the US on 15 April 2011. In 3D.
Oh wow, the new TRON LEGACY IMAX poster is not good
Sep 01
Disney have been pouring it on thick for most of the year, smothering the web with the juicy goodness that is Tron Legacy, their highly anticipated sequel to the 1982 classic Tron. The teasers, clips, posters and images have all been impressive from the get-go. Plus the project itself is to die for. Jeff Bridges will reprise his role as Kevin Flynn in an updated new-look Tron game setting in brand-spanking new 3D. The kind of 3D that actually looks tolerable.
But this new IMAX poster, when compared to the rest of the Tron Legacy marketing, seems below par. Maybe I’m just missing something, but I’m really not seeing anything worth getting excited for.
I’ll go watch the trailer again and get ready for December, when this puppy hits cinemas worldwide.
Turns out that AVATAR re-release didn’t do too well
Aug 30
With the DVD release mere months old, another DVD release a couple of months down the track, and an already congested sampling of 3D films currently in show (Step Up 3D, Piranha 3D, Toy Story 3D), it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock that a lot of people skipped return trip to Pandora.
Avatar managed to drum up $4 million over the past weekend, a paltry amount compared to its original $2.7 billion run. It only played on 800 screens, though, and managed a pretty-good $5000 per-screen average. But what happened to all those people that bragged about having seen Avatar 17 times? The folk that bought the DVD and Blu-Ray on opening day, the folk that dragged everyone they knew to go and see the movie, the folk that flooded the internet with hyperbolic fanboyism? Shouldn’t all those funs have bumped up Avatar‘s re-release gross?
My theory is that those people represent the vocal minority. Avatar didn’t make $2.7 billion the first time around from fanatical repeat-viewings; it made it from one-off punters, people curious to see what all the fuss was about, and from people who heard the movie was the second coming of Christ. Those people, casual moviegoers, probably don’t care to see a movie twice in the same year; if they do, they’ve probably already got the DVD and don’t want to have to shell out $20 plus silly glasses to see a movie they already own again.The $4 million, in this theory, comes mostly from those vocal but outnumbered fans, and not from the bulk of Avatar‘s core audience.
Well, that’s just my theory. Maybe if it had released on more than 800 American screens Avatar would have seen a greater return.
The Avatar re-release is in cinemas right now. Go see it quick, because it probably won’t last long.
James Cameron now speaks for NASA; also, AVATAR DVD re-release information
Aug 25
Turns out NASA thinks James Cameron is something of a big deal. He’s now the public face of the organisation, and has appeared in a series of commercials advertising the good work NASA does. People seem to have lost interest in NASA (and astronomy in general) over the past fifty years, so hopefully Jim can do something to reinvigorate the public imagination. Check out one of the ads here:
In more annoying news, the forthcoming Avatar Special Edition DVD will apparently come with 16 minutes of additional footage. This far outstrips the theatrical re-release’s paltry 9 minutes, and puts fans in the uncomfortable position of choosing whether to double-, triple-, or quadruple-dip. I was moderately interested in seeing an extended Avatar, to see if it would magically fix all of the film’s problems (ha!), but now I might just wait till the Special Edition DVD instead.
And, while we’re on the topic, here’s a neat video demonstrating the technology behind Avatar‘s revolutionary camera system. I have no idea what a pound is, but apparently the camera only weighs 28 of them. Is it a Pound, as in the currency? Or perhaps a measurement of the pressure exerted by a hungry bear when it pounds on a beehive, desperate for the sticky nutrients within. I may never know.
Avatar invades cinemas again tomorrow (26 August 2010) here; US folk will have to wait till the 27th. The Special Edition DVD is due in November. A 3D DVD is due next year, too.
OPINIONS COUNT