BOP Daily News
September 27, 2004
The spirit of BOP News lives on in
This is So Last Week,
our pop culture week-in-review,
presented in a pleasing quiz form.
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Gale Anne Hurd, the producer behind films such as Hulk and The Punisher, and comic book specialists Platinum Studios are joining forces to produce Atlantis Rising, a political sci-fi thriller about an underwater kingdom and the surface world coming to the brink of war, with both civilizations hanging in the balance. Based on a Platinum Studios graphic novel, Atlantis Rising was created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and written by Scott O. Brown. Sources allege that the trouble between Atlantis and the air-breathers starts when a famous Atlantean folk singer tries to visit Sea World but is denied entry and sent back to the ocean.
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Director Zak Penn will helm a comedy set around an international poker tournament that will star Ben Affleck, David Schwimmer, William H. Macy, Richard Kind and German director Werner Herzog. The movie will film in February at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. Penn will present each cast member with a fully fleshed-out character and then work with them to form the basis for what will be mostly improvised scenes. Penn added that he'll enlist other card-playing actors to take part in the ensemble. Of course this is a comedy, so Penn will probably need to actually cast some funny actors other than William H. Macy.
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Paramount Pictures is in talks to bring back The Italian Job stars Mark Wahlberg, Oscar-winner Charlize Theron, Seth Green, Mos Def and Jason Statham for the sequel being developed by producer John Goldwyn. The follow-up to the $106 million grosser is targeted for a November 2005 release. F. Gary Gray, who directed Wahlberg and Theron the first time out, is the studio’s first choice to helm the project. Ed Norton, who had to be strong-armed by the studio to fulfill his contractual obligation to star in the original, will not be back. Instead, Norton is set to star in some other film no one will likely see.
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The following requires no punch line: Fans of John Williams are up in arms over an apparent glitch in the new Star Wars DVD set in which the left and right channels fed to the rear speakers in surround sound are reversed in the original Star Wars movie (Episode 4). John Takis, who frequently analyzes film scores for Internet groups, points out that the violins can be heard coming from the left surround-sound speakers and the cellos from the left. "It is essentially a 124-minute audio glitch," Takis writes on the John Williams fansite, www.JW-Music.net. "The sound effects are correctly positioned in the surround channels. It's just the music that's backwards." Takis also takes issue with other aspects of the sound mix for the original movie. "Remember the awesome fanfare version of the Force theme that kicks off the Death Star battle?," he writes "Good luck hearing it this time around; it's virtually inaudible."
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Sony’s acquisition of MGM is now being categorized by Sony as “definitive”, which more or less means that the purchase will go through as long as regulatory approval is given. MGM’s board of directors approved the deal, which looks like it is headed for a mid-2005 close. The acquisition is reportedly worth around $4.8 billion. Coming up, James Bond and Spider-Man team up to catch the newly formed villainous team of Hannibal Lecter and the aliens from Men in Black.
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"If there's one thing I know, it's never to mess with Mother Nature, mothers-in-law and mother-freaking Ukrainians. "
Previous edition's quote: Carlito's Way
Box Office Prophets offers quality, reliable news about the entertainment industry. BOP is also entertaining. To that end, please be advised that some content in this column is intended to be humorous and should not be considered factual.
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