Talking 'Batman 3,' 'Indy 5,' 'Star Trek 2,' 'Wanted 2' and More
Even talk of 'The Haunting in Georgia,' 'Bond 23' and a 'Ghostbusters 3' mention
The news and rumors related to upcoming sequels has hit ludicrous speed and my brains are going into my feet! Most of these will either never come true or won't come true for another year or two, but let's see what they have to offer anyway.
The first story comes from The Guardian by way of the Daily Express (which is to say it is almost certainly false) saying Michael Sheen is reported to be in negotiations to play Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the 23rd official Bond picture, set for release in 2011. The news comes as a result of Peter Morgan boarding the project as screenwriter and the history Sheen and Morgan have together. Considering Morgan isn't directing I'm not sure why that would mean Sheen would instantly be considered, but that is just me.
Next comes new quotes from Wanted director Timur Bekmabetov discussing Wanted 2 with the Russian news website RIA Novosti (via Russia InfoCentre) saying, "In July we will start preparation for the film. I think in the late autumn or winter shooting will be performed. The shooting will take place in America, India and Russia."
Bekmabetov says they have found a way to bring back to life Angelina Jolie's character and follows that up saying, "As for the character played by Kostya Khabenskiy, we'll think about it. We might possibly resurrect him as well."
This moves us to the BBC where Shia LaBeouf was asked about the possibility of an Indiana Jones 5 to which he answered, "Steven [Spielberg] just said that he cracked a story on it before I left and I think they're gearing that up."
Personally this doesn't surprise me in the least since I can't believe Spielberg and Harrison Ford would be interested in leaving the franchise on such a sour note. Then again, it is only now so many people are coming around and disliking Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull after it originally received a 76% "Certified Fresh" rating at RottenTomatoes on top of $317 million at the domestic box-office. Gotta love those folks that wait to see what the general consensus is before actually having an opinion.
One person not holding his tongue regarding Indiana Jones 4 is Year One helmer Harold Ramis who is gearing up for a return as Dr. Egon Spengler in a proposed Ghostbusters III telling Movieline, "The Star Trek reinvention worked great because they able to project back in time. We're not going to tell an origin story of who the Ghostbusters were before you met them in the first movie. But I would hate to do Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. It didn't seem like there was a lot new going on there — just more of the same and not as interesting."
Speaking of Star Trek, a little bit of news regarding Star Trek XII has come out lately via an interview SCIFI Wire had with screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci in which Orci is quoted saying:
"I think the major lesson we learned is that fans were willing to accept differences and surprises, provided that they were somehow echoes or inspired by canon… We still have to be true to Star Trek the next time around, but we've also been blessed with being able to be unpredictable. And that doesn't mean we can just be shocking for no good reason and just throw everything away. It still has to echo everything that Star Trek has been."
Sounds about right if you ask me. It also helps if you simply make an entertaining film.
Speaking of entertaining films, remember The Dark Knight? Well, rumors are now swirling thanks to Batman On Film and their well-placed anonymous sources saying Christopher Nolan is by no means a guarantee to direct Batman 3, but Warner Bros. does have a shortlist of directors they'd consider having take his place should it come to that.
The site does give some reasons as to why Nolan would possibly not consider coming back including:
- The death of Heath Ledger in January of 2008 rocked Mr. Nolan hard. So hard that Chris was convinced that TDK was going to be it for him and Batman on film.
- The Joker was going to return in Batman 3.
- "You are correct in reporting that he is developing story ideas with [Jonathan Nolan] and David Goyer, but it will be until AT LEAST 2012 before we see the Caped Crusader back [in theaters]. And that is only an EARLY ESTIMATE at best right now. They are even saying it might not be until 2013."
- Basically, the Batman film franchise is back to square one. As far as a story or a Batman 3, "Right now, there is none," says our guy.
So, it looks like a Batman 3 may be a ways off, but one film that may be in our near future is The Haunting in Georgia, a sequel to this year's surprise horror hit The Haunting in Connecticut, reports The Hollywood Reporter. David Coggeshall is writing the script and the new film is expected to take a similar path of the original telling the story of a family that moves to a new state and begins to experience spooky events at their home. Only this time… it's in Georgia! Dum-dum-dum!
Photo: Paramount/DreamWorks
Finally, thanks to Michael Bay via SlashFilm we get a bunch of curious factoids related to next week's release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen:
Robots
- 14 robots last time, 46 robots this time (ILM only)
- If you had all the gold ever mined in the history of man, you could build a little more than half of Devastator.
- Optimus Prime will be life size on IMAX screens in many forest fight shots.
- Devastator's hand is traveling 390 miles per hour when he punches the pyramid.
- The pyramid destruction simulation was 8 times bigger than the old rigid simulation all-time record holder at ILM.
- All robot parts laid out end to end would stretch from one side of California to the other, about 180 miles
- Devastator's parts stacked tip to tip would be as tall as 58 empire state buildings.
- If all the texture maps on the show were printed on 1 square yard sheets, they would cover 13 football fields.
Disk space
- TF1 took 20 Terabytes of disk space. Trans2 took 145 Terabytes. Seven times bigger!
- 145 terabytes would fill 35,000 DVDs. Stacked one on top of the other without storage cases, they would be 145 feet tall.
Rendering times
- If you rendered the entire movie on a modern home PC, you would have had to start the renders 16,000 years ago (when cave paintings like the Hall of Bulls were being made) to finish for this year's premiere!
- A single imax shot in the movie (df250) would have taken almost 3 years to render on a top of the line home PC running nonstop.
- IMAX frame render times: As high as 72 hours per frame!
Imax
- Optimus Prime will be life size on IMAX screens in many forest fight shots.
- Imax frames take about 6 times longer than anamorphic to render.
- IMAX frame render times: As high as 72 hours per frame!
ILM screen time
- ILM Screen Time is about 51 minutes.
Devastator
- Devastator is as tall as a 10 story building.
- Devastator has more than 10 times the number of individual parts found in an average car.
- Laid out end to end, Devastator's parts would be almost 14 miles long.
Devastator totals
- Number of geom pieces: 52632
- The total number of polygons: 11,716,127
- The total length of all pieces: 73090 feet
- The total length of all pieces: 13.84 miles
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As long as George Lucas wields the greatest degree of creative control, future Indy films will be no better-and in all likelihood, be even worse-than Indy 4.
I don't know about you guys, but all this sequel talk (except for Star Trek, of course) is driving me crazy. Which is why I'm glad I feel the same way as Nolan regarding Batman 3 (7?), so that's a plus.
I can't wait until the "Big Brother" the movie comes out!
That sucks, I want Nolan to come back for the third. It won't be the same if he dosn't direct. But the good thing if he dosn't direct is that the characters might actually be able to correspond with the rest of the DC universe.
They should bring in Robin and Batgirl at the same time in the next one. It will do wonders.
Without Nolan, I feel like Batman 3 would not be as enjoyable. He did an amazing job with TDK, and he knows what direction to take the films and anyone could screw that up.
Michael Sheen is a great addition to any cast and movie. He would be great for the Bond series. With Craig + Sheen the movie could be the best yet.
I cant wait for the next Star Trek, this recent film blew my mind how good it was.
To me, Indy 4 was great until the very end where they took it a little too far, but what do you expect…Spielberg has a thing for Aliens.
so when you say "So hard that Chris was convinced that TDK was going to be it for him and Batman on film" do you mean thats it for Nolan in general or just with the Batman series??
@Art: I didn't say that, that is a quote from Batman-On-Film, so you'll have to click on over there and ask those guys.
It will hurt the movie that the joker can't return, but there are tons of villians to turn to. Why don't they go a Bane storyline? He breaks Batman's arm. Add Johny Depp as the Riddler, as well as the side-stories with the mobsters and all that, get Batman being back in the good light of Gotham, and RETURN TWO-FACE! That would be a great movie, probably not as good as the Dark Knight, but as long as it's good as Batman Begins, who cares?
I know it hurt Nolan with Heath, but 2013? I say let David S. Goyer direct it.
Bring on another Indy. Cyrstal Skull was far better than Temple Of Doom. That movie was way more cheesy, with a dumb mine cart chase that looked like it came from a donkey kong game. The return of Karen Allen was a highlight.
It certainly seems more and more obvious that the idea would've been to have The Joker in Batman 3 all along, and as cool as that would be, I can't see anyone being recast in that role and doing anything but a disservice to it, so I'm glad that they're rethinking the whole scenario.
Unfortunately, The Dark Knight seemed like such a natural extension of Batman Begins because Nolan had that story in mind. If Batman 3 was as clear in mind with what was going to happen, then will Ledger's death affect the story of 3 and make it less than what it should be?
I would hate to see 3 and feel like it didn't connect to the other 2.
@Scott: It was pretty obvious right from the start(i.e. after watching TDK) that Nolan had planned to bring The Joker back for the third movie and I've had the same fear for sometime about the third movie not being a natural continuation of BB and TDK because of Heath's death and the changes they'd have to make to the script. However, I thought the Nolan brothers were up to the task especially considering that there are still so many charismatic and dynamic Batman villains left to feature like The Riddler, Black Mask, Catwoman etc. But I'm not sure how a movie without Nolan would end up. If indeed he doesn't return, I hope they don't try too hard to force a closure to the trilogy(The Last Stand anyone?) and just continue the franchise by keeping the themes and references to the previous two installments intact without completely aping them in terms of story-telling and direction.
Oh and as much as it annoys me to see actor changes for a role in the same franchise, I wouldn't be complaining too much if they dropped Bale. He was the weakest part of TDK and his Batman/Bruce Wayne is a much bigger and dumber jerk than the character in the comics ever was.(Don't get me wrong, I'm not retroactively hating him after Terminator and while I found him to be pretty competent in Begins, I never liked him in TDK right from the beginningl).
I love how Batman talk has taken over! Here's my addition.
Bale has stated that Nolan sent him some books to help him decide if he would play Batman. The books (comics, graphics novels, trades, whatever) were Year One, Long Halloween, and Arkham Asylum. From a story perspective Begins matches up with Year One (Batman's origin) and Dark Knight matches Long Halloween (Batman-Gordan-Dent relationship and the Two Face origin). It stands to reason that the plan for a third film would have followed an Arkham storyline.
Just hire Joseph Gordon-Levitt to play Heath Ledger as Joker. His VMan cover shot should be enough to convince anyone of the likeness.
@Seiko: Night club shoot out, beating heart, rope bridge, and Short Round… I'd watch Temple over Skull any day.
Won't you guys just face the facts and admit that Indy 4 was a GOOD movie? I'm sure half of the people who didn't like it decided they didn't like it long before they actually saw it, and the other half just thought they'd dislike it because of the bandwagon mentality.
This is a classic case of the Pop Culture Gods dictating public opinion. More people on Earth liked Indy 4 than disliked it, yet we hear almost no good opinions about it in articles. It has become cool to dislike Indy 4, and that's why most people dislike it. They have no opinions of their own, and so just tag along with the loudest people.
Just because you are loudest doesn't mean you are right. Indy 4 was a GOOD movie. Not great, but it wasn't supposed to be great. It was pulp-inspired fun, just like the other three.
@Kevin Klaw: Wow Kevin! Thanks for putting opinions in perspective. I'm sure you know exactly what everyone is thinking. I mean, I didn't like the movie, but now that I know I'm wrong for thinking that, I have totally changed my OPINION! Thank you just doesn't say how grateful I am that you pointed out the err of my ways.
@Steve: Nothing I said was directed towards you personally. I'm sure there are some people who genuinley disliked Indy 4 for genuine, original reasons. The problem is, those people are few and far between. The vast majority of Indy 4 haters are insincere and refuse to believe they are wrong. In many cases, the haters actually think they are in the majority, which is patently wrong.
It was a good movie. Not a great one, but a good one. That's all we should have asked. I'm not directing any hate towards the people who sincerely disliked it, but towards the people who only dislike it for the Pop Culture reasons and because it is cool to do so (like the guy who wrote this article), and think that automatically makes them right.
The only reason I would have to see Batman again is if David Fincher was to direct, he is the only director that could create a dark world fitting the storyline, if they were to bring the joker back the ONLY person I think could give Heath a run for his money is….Joaquin Phoenix! you doubt me? he damn near looks like all of the drawings of the Joker! we all know he can act, and I think he could even be darker than Heaths joker, But in all honesty the joker should not be returned anytime soon in a Batman film, maybe give Joaquin to the Riddler!
@Kevin Klaw: Wow, you are just all about assumptions aren't you. Nice to meet you Kevin, happy to see you know so much about me now that I am learning more about you. I assume you have read my review of the film as well as the rest of my reviews to make your informed opinion.
'INDY 4' was a travesty
I'm proabably one of the few people that actually liked "Indy 4." I'm really hyped up for the sequel. I really think either Joseph Gordon Levitt or James Franco should play the Joker, and either Johnny Depp or John Hannah should play the Riddler. Brittany Murphy should play Harley Quinn. Why isn't Spiderman 4 on here? They really need to bring in Carnage, Mysterio, Vulture, Lizard, and Chameleon.
If Chris Nolan were not to return then: Sam Raimi; David Fincher. I totally forgot: Angelina Jolie or Kate Beckinsale for Catwoman, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin. Jon Lovitz as Penguin??? (Just a joke, that would suck though).
Most people liked Indy 4. Maybe not as much as the original three, but it was still a decent movie. Its nearly impossible to revisit something that has become such an icon and do it justice. Thats why many felt let down by the Beatles reunion tracks. Its not that they're bad on their own, people were just expecting the best Beatles songs ever when they've lived with the original albums for 30 years. The newest Star Wars films were not horrible films compared to other sci fi films, they just didn't compare to 25 years of obsession and worship of the original three.
I've gotta have my say after reading all the comments.
Batman without Nolan will be a disaster.
Bond with Craig and Sheen will be awesome.
Indy 4 was terrible and here's why, terrible plot, terrible story, terrible effects, terrible acting and I could go on. The Last Crusade and Raiders were the best. Lets not spoil those anymore with a 5th installment.
Star Trek sequel would be welcome as that was a great reboot for an old classic.
That's just my opinion tho!!
Indy 4 wasn't that bad, I think it's terribly underrated. Hopefully, Indy 5 will tie everything up at the end and give a fitting end to the series. Harold Ramis criticizes Indy 4 for being "more of the same, and just not interesting." Ghostbusters II, anybody? I rest my case.
@Seiko: A bane movie would be a great idea for them to go with. The problem with the storyline you are referring to is that Bane does not break Batman's arm, he breaks his back and it is the "KnightFall/KnightQuest/KnightsEnd" storyline (greatest batman series ever written btw). It's when Bruce Wayne gives up the batman costume to a murder then re-trains his body to take it back by defeating the new Batman. Very difficult to do in only the third movie if they plan to make seven (especially since robin and nightwing are both integral parts of that storyline).
Personally I would love to see Nolan stay on because I have been overly inpressed with the chemistry between him and Bale. Having Joker is a possibility but may only serve to harm the movie since everyone will know its not Heath Ledger (hence no point in trying to be identical). On a Joker side note…Mark Hammond anyone (Luke Skywalker from Star Wars and the voice of Joker in almost every Batman cartoon)? I know many people who absolutely loved the Dark Kinght, thought it was the greatest movie ever and saw it multiple times in theatres. I would love to see a storyline introduciing a Catwoman (NOT HALLEY BERRY!), with Talia Al Ghul as a secondary love interests besides Catwoman (possibly bringing Damien Wayne into the picture). For Batman's next foe, I would love to see Hush make his mark or as was suggested earlier continuing the storyline into Arkham Asylum with M.H. as Joker.
Super Bonus – If they could have a Clark Kent, Dianna Troy, Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen, Arthur Curry and/or John Jones aka J'Onn J'Onzz cameo to start off a Justice League movie (hopefully with them fighting Starro the Conqueror).
Indy 4, great indy flick, not so great movie.
By that if you go in expecting just another indy adventure, you'll be fine.
Hammond? i thought to darryl, the guy from SNL, sorry, spelling is a pet peeve, and to get Luke's name wrong (Hamill), well that's sacrilegious :P (and it's Halle)
After walking out of that Joker flick, I immediately thought of Scarlett (in reference to that 'it'll do fine against cats' comment)
As for who to take over Heath's Joker, it'll be interesting to see how his last role comes out (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) in which Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell play his character, physically altered, but will they attempt to keep them looking very similar to Ledger?
That would take Depp out of the running for the Riddler.
But here's an idea, one that could make me the laughing stock of the board.
Jim Carrey as the Riddler. Yes he already played him, but I suggest he would not play him the same. That Riddler was part of the cartoony Batman, and yes I'm a Carrey fan, and I know he'd pull it off. Just the general public would assume he'd try to be funny, but was he funny in The Number 23 or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (and I mean trying to hard to be funny where not needed)
Before you pass final judgement, let's wait and see what his new movies are like.
Wanted, I liked it, and was surprised when they killed off Jolie, what seemed like an unnecessary death, looks like they are kinda kicking themselves, hopefully they bring he back in a believable way (one that is believable in the Wanted world)
As for Bay and Transformers, I'll go and probably like it, but I always think of ImaginationLand when I hear Bay's name.
I think I read something about Post-Salvation Bale, something unrelated to his role, but I found that Salvation was basically the redemption of Marcus Wright.
And that is a good comment about JGL, I remember him flapping his arms to Tony Danza, then Tommy Solomon. Would be interesting to see, sadly I have not seen his recent work (although I intend to, when it's cheap to buy)
enough talk, I was only drawn to this via the Indy 5 link from theforce.net.
enjoy tearing apart the post: :P
haha thank you anthony i was typing in a hurry and couldnt think of luke's last name…i had to search it the next day because i was sure it was wrong but didnt have time to check while typing lol.
The riddler would be interesting to see and i am a carrey fan but was not impressed with the way he played that role. I think to keep with the most recent movies they would have to find someone who is not as "funny." The riddler was not really big on the funny jokes, that was the joker. The riddler was just close to Batman's intelligence level. He always had elaborate plans and would test Batman's intelligence with clues written in riddle form. He also started as a villain but later becomes an ally of Batman's and a PI. In short they need to keep with the darker stories because typically that is what is drawing so many people to see this new series of Batman movies over the last ones.
I loved Wanted, just wished they would have stuck to the comics, i mean seriously the movie was rated R, why not throw in one of the biggest villains in the series, "Shithead" who was made of 666 piles of the worst people on earths shit. There was so much cursing already that saying shit that many more times couldnt have hurt it more. I hope they make a sequel and bring him into it.
BTW – Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen was an AMAZING movie. I cant wait to go see it a second time this weekend! Do not walk away at all in the middle or you may miss one of the biggest scenes of the movie! (Trying not to give away too much lol)
for batman 3 why could they not take the frank millar route, making batman an oap and re casting the joker to someone older i.e robert eglund (Freddie Kruger) but adapt it to nolans world in some way and ignore other parts such as the superman part etc.
ps indy 4 was mediocre and spielberg et al can do better maybe just tell lucas to stay away
Star trek is great cant wait for the next one
I always loved the idea of making a batman where he is old and being faced by a young villain and an old joker. Stories about superheroes past their prime doing one last hoorah are always intriguing. Maybe even a Keaton/Nicholson reunion wouldn't be out of the realm (with Burton directing?). Star Trek was refreshing and very entertaining and maybe after this trilogy is complete they'll think about making a TNG prequel trilogy. I was hyped to see Indy 4 but was real dissapointed. I'm sorry but the action was stale, the acting was subpar, Ford looked like he was afraid of his whip, and the aliens were too much.
i liked indy 4 and hope they make a 5th aleins were a gd idea but i heard somewere that indy could find the mellenium falcom with han solos dead bodey in it while searching 4 atlantus that would be bad. Jim carrey should play the riddler and jonney depp should play the joker. daneil craig better come back 4 bond 3 he is a gd actor. i cant wait 4 star treck 2 the prequel was amazeing.
here's a thought or two. Star Trek 12/2 should feature a proper villain such as Khan,with none of the time bending antics of the first movie. The new Bond movie should cap the first two Craig films thus creating a sort of origin of 007 trilogy and have the introduction of Q and Moneypenny as well as more of the Monty Norman Bond theme. Batman 3 should have Ellen Page as Robin and David Tennant as Riddler. And as for Indy 5,they just should not bother. The phrase flogging a dead horse springs to mind.
um i dunno bout tennant 4 the riddler but i agree with bond they should also introuduce blofeild they have to make indy 5 cause they can't leave the series with him just settling dwn even i agree thats bad
As far as I'm aware the Blofeld character is caught up in some sort of copyright nonsense and the notion of SPECTRE in the post cold war era seems a bit far fetched,unless the organisation called "Quantum" mutates into something like it,which is plausible. Not that SPECTRE was ever feasible. But to re-introduce an over arching "super villain" when the producers have been struggling for a more realistic dynamic to the series would be a serious step backwards. Oh and Ellen Page for Robin is a genius idea.
well i thought that quantum could turn 2 spectre and the guy at the beginning of QOS could be head untill blofeild comes or they could make a movie of the new book devil may care
Possible,I suppose. The only problem is that the novel is actually a sequel to the Fleming books and as such is set in the cold war era,but I think in a post-Daniel Craig series of films it could be cool to actually make Bond as period pieces.
well they could make a proper prequel like how he like first came into MI6 a bit like the young bond books but him as like 18-25 sort of thing
they should make a proper prequel with him doing missions b4 his 007 rank set b4 casino royale
Just started watching "Raiders" for the first time since for ever. There is "Raiders" and there are a bunch of other films that happen to feature Indiana Jones. None of them come even close. "Raiders" is by far and away the best of the four.
the catwoman should be keira knightly
Catwoman can keira my knightly.
i can't wait for new moon i loved twilight and have read all the books
I think that Heath Ledger death is a tragey, but that doesn't mean they have to kill off the Joker. There is alot of actors out there that can bring the Heath Ledger Joker back. And one of the actors out there that can dig deep into a character is Daniel Day-Lewis. Chris Nolan doesn't need to quit the Batman triogly he should go through and make it. And Joker was suppose to be in the next film so bring the Joker back and let Daniel Day-Lewis be the Joker.
I hope Troi’s mom is in Star Trek 2.