What was shot as Winged Terror is now airing as Flying Monkeys on SyFy on March 9th! Despite knowing the film was shot in Louisiana (at the same time as Heebie Jeebies), there isn’t much out there for Flying Monkeys. Electra Avellan, Alvin Chon, Christopher Matthew Cook star (IMDB doesn’t seem to have any big names at all) and the director, Robert Grasmere, was one of the writers of Baby Geniuses and is making his directorial debut.
This has the potential to be utterly ridiculous or ridiculously awesome. Let’s hope it isn’t the worst sin of all…boring! I can say that there doesn’t seem to be any Oz puns in the listed cast, even if the airing seems to coincide with being a mockbuster for Oz: The Great and Powerful.
This Saturday you can get your Heebie Jeebies on with SyFy”s newest creature flick! Robert Belushi, Cathy Shim, and Michael Badalucco star, as they battle a CGI mess! Robert Belushi you might remember from being Jim Belushi’s son. Did you not watch According to Jim every day???? Cathy Shim you may remember from Reno 911! or Reno 911!: Miami. Michael Badalucco you may remember from The Practice. Writer Trent Haaga wrote a film called Deathbone, which has the tagline “Prepare to be boned.” That’s all I could find out about Deathbone. This is Thomas L. Callaway’s second feature, though he has a massive career as a cinematographer.
We pray to the spirits of SyFy and our departed brothers and sisters: Mega Shark, Sharktopus, Python, and Mammoth
With the rumors/news of both Marvel’s far future plans for their films and the Star Wars stand alone flick, it would seem that the box office will be getting a bit greener, and not from the cash these films will rake in.
It’s not really a spoiler any more, since several sites rushed over each other to post the news in the headlines of their damn articles, but Latino-Review quoted a source as saying that the Phase 3 Marvel films will include Planet Hulk and World War Hulk. This presumably means that Hulk will be shot into space either at the end of Avengers 2 or the beginning of Planet Hulk. Then by the time Avengers 3 comes about, Hulk will return and be very angry. If you’ve never read the Planet Hulk comics, you literally need to drop everything (even your baby!) and run out and read the comics. It is one of my favorite stories of the past decade, and even got me reading comics again after a long absence (though I went back to ignoring comics again as the last few series I followed have ended and Hulk got really stupid after WWH.) Planet Hulk is basically Hulk transported into a John Carter of Mars style story. It’s full of pulpy goodness, monsters, zombies, fighting, more fighting, evil kings being evil, and weirdo aliens. It’s even been turned into a cartoon feature (though they neglect to include the ending that causes Hulk to return for World War Hulk!)
So needless to say, I hope this part of the rumor is true.
Secondly, the other big rumor is there might be a Yoda stand alone film, possibly an origin story. I personally don’t give a frak about Yoda’s origin and hope it stays mysterious forever, but a Yoda adventure could be cool if done right. But I have no reason to think it will be done right. I also have no reason to think this won’t make a bajillion dollars no matter how done wrong it is. Despite my dark, bitter heart, I know this will be a cash cow and can see why some people are excited. So I will be cautiously optimistic, because that sounds positive even though I can easily spin it into “I told you so, suckers!” when Yoda starts rapping.
With all this green, it is the perfect time for a John Carter (of Mars, dammit!) sequel! Do it, Disney!
**Congrats to Turkish romantic comedy Celal ile Ceren for rocketing to the bottom of the IMDB Bottom 100 list! You deserve it. From the look of the trailer, we’re now exporting Kevin Jameses across Europe!
**Once Jon Chu gets done “post-converting” GI Joe Retaliation (or whatever the fuck they’re really doing to it), he’ll be helming the adaptation of the Young Adult novel Matched by Ally Condie. It’s one of those books where in a dystopian future everyone is told what to do and one woman fights the system and rejects her arraigned marriage to do what she wants. Dystopian futures are so hot right now!
**Neil Burger will direct Shailene Woodley in Divergent, based on the Young Adult novel by Veronica Roth. Shailene Woodley is Beatrice Prior, and Evan Daugherty wrote the screenplay. It’s one of those books where in a dystopian future everyone is divided into a few factions who follow strict rules and one woman fights the system and rejects the rules to do what she wants. Dystopian futures are so hot right now!
**Marie Lu’s YA novel Legend is also headed to the big screen, with Andrew Barrer and Gabe Ferrari writing the script and Jonathan Levine directing. It’s one of those books where in a dystopian future a teenage boy Robin Hood causes trouble and a teenage girl cop hunts him down and fights the system by falling in love with him. Dystopian futures are so hot right now!
**Veronica Rossi’s YA novel Under the Never Sky has….guess what….been optioned for the big screen! It’s one of those books where in a dystopian future a teenage girl is kicked out of her domed city for fighting the syste— setting fires??!!? and has to team up with a teenage savage to avoid cannibals. Dystopian futures are so hot right now!
**Source Code and Moon director Duncan Jones will now direct the Warcraft movie, which means the Warcraft movie will now be awesome.
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Trailer for Men in Suits, a documentary about performers in rubber monster suits. Lots more info here.
Kasra Farahani’s scifi short Noon joins the ever-increasing list of shorts that have been optioned for movies. There have been enough of these that it’s a trend. So get off your lazy butt and make a scifi short!!!
**We already got dueling Die Hard in the White House flicks this year, but next year we’ll have dueling Hercules movies! Aside from the Dwayne Johnson/Brett Ratner flick, Renny Harlin is making his own, which will be more Gladiator than super hero. Hercules 3D will presumably be in 3D.
** Tyrannoneustes lythrodectikos is the awesome ancestor to crocodiles that needs its own SyFy flick, stat! I can just see her now, fighting the system to eat the man she loves. Metriorhynchid super-predators are so hot right now! Via
Until next time, remember there are more Baby Geniuses films coming! A lot more!
A sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has awoken from slumber and possibly snagged Michelle Yeoh to reprise her role of Yu Shu Lien. Fans of wuxia stories will know that Crouching Tiger is actually the fourth book in a series. The fifth book Silver Vase, Iron Knight is what will become the next feature. The Weinstein Company is behind this new film, having secured the rights of Wang Du-Lu’s Crane-Iron Series (though it seems Wang’s heirs aren’t happy at the amount of money, so expect some lawsuits eventually!) and are bringing Ronny Yu to direct the sequel, with John Fusco (The Forbidden Kingdom) having written the script.
Fusco says
“This introduces a new generation of star-crossed lovers, and a new series of antagonists in a battle of good and evil. It has a Knights Errant quality. There is an alternate universe in the books, a martial forest that exists alongside the real world, full of wandering sword fighters, medicine men, defrocked priests, poets, sorcerers and Shaolin renegades. It’s so vast and rich, and I found characters from the second and third books in the series to create a most interesting stew while being as true to the source material as I could be.”
How good this ends up being will be a mystery, though I seriously doubt it will approach Crouching Tiger in quality. I say that not as a pessimist, but a realist. I can be perfectly fine on its own laurels, but it will be burdened with the association to the original classic.
