michael bay
Latest
Michael Bay's '6 Underground' hits Netflix on December 13th
Want to see how Michael Bay's approach to blockbuster movies works in the streaming world? You're about to find out. Netflix has announced that Bay's 6 Underground will reach the service on December 13th -- and if the trailer is any indication, the director hasn't strayed far from his formula. Ryan Reynolds stars as a ghost operative who joins a misfit group taking on "truly evil people." In Bay's world, that means over-the-top set pieces (magnetic weapons, anyone?), fast camera cuts and explosions... lots of explosions.
Angry Birds Transformers goes back to the 80s in new trailer
Hoping to distance itself from the glossy, modern efforts of noted explosion connoisseur Michael Bay, Rovio has issued a trailer for Angry Birds Transformers that hearkens back to the series' glory days, an era when men were men, women were women and robots were anything Hasbro's toy designers could imagine. [Image: Rovio]
Jobs, directed by Michael Bay
The upcoming Steve Jobs biopic is going through some growing pains, with would-be director David Fincher no longer on board to guide the project. We've already taken a look at what the flick could look like, depending on which director ends up taking the helm, but one film guru was left out: Michael Bay. The acclaimed director of Transformers, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor was a bit miffed at being left off the list, so he hit me up with this reimagined version of the Jobs movie trailer. Enjoy!
Ubisoft teams with Sony Pictures for feature-length Rabbids movie
We've known for a while that Ubisoft was planning to bring the manic, mush-mouthed Rabbids to the silver screen, but we now learn that the gaming giant has tapped Sony Pictures to aid in the attempt. "Sony Pictures has tremendous experience developing hybrid live-action-and-animated blockbusters for audiences around the world, which makes them a natural fit for what we want to achieve with a Rabbids film," said Ubisoft Motion Pictures executive director Jean-Julien Baronnet in an announcement this morning. "This deal deepens our partnership with Sony Pictures and highlights our holistic approach to bringing Ubisoft's brands to new audiences while still maintaining the brands' creative integrity." This Rabbids film is only the latest effort by Ubisoft to break into the motion picture business via the publisher's popular video game characters. Last August we reported on a deal between Ubisoft and Sony Pictures to develop a film based on the Watch Dogs franchise, while a Ghost Recon film is currently in the early stages of production under the watchful eye of producer and noted explosion aficionado Michael Bay. There is currently no word on when the as-yet unnamed Rabbids film will debut, nor any information on its cast and crew. [Image: Ubisoft]
Ghost Recon movie extracts former 'Human Target' series writers
The television writing duo behind the short-lived comic-book adaptation of Human Target, Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia, have been double-tapped to bring Ubisoft's Ghost Recon franchise to the silver screen for Warner Bros., SlashFilm reports. The Michael Bay-produced action movie is one of many properties video game publisher and developer Ubisoft has been attempting to develop internally. Ubisoft already has actors tied to films based on its Splinter Cell and Assassins Creed franchises, as well as a Watch Dogs film in development with Sony. No director has been set for the Ghost Recon film; however, SlashFilm postulates that Bay could sign on, depending on the speed at which a screenplay is development. Ghost Recon follows a group of U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers that complete military operations in secret around the globe. The video game's most recent installment, Ghost Recon: Future Solider, mixed modern tactics with near-future technology.
Ubifilms for Ghost Recon, Watch Dogs, Far Cry and Rabbids coming
Ubisoft has been bitten by the acting bug it seems, as the company is preparing film adaptations of Watch Dogs, Ghost Recon, Far Cry and its zany mascots, the Rabbids – of course, this won't be the first movie to bear the Far Cry name. For all these films, Ubisoft will have full creative control, Variety reports. Ubisoft will select screenwriters, directors, actors and other positions necessary to make these movies, and isn't looking to simply repeat the games' existing stories. Last week, Ubisoft announced it was working with Michael Bay to bring Ghost Recon to the big screen at Warner Bros – an announcement we missed during the madness of E3. "These are not adaptations," Ubisoft Motion Picture CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet told Variety. "We will create a brand new story. Always." The Rabbids film – not to be confused with the TV show announced last week – will be a live-action film where the Rabbids star as CG characters, like The Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks or Bill Murray's only regret, Garfield. There is currently no timetable for these films, as Ubisoft still needs to secure scriptwriters. Ubisoft has two other films in the works right now: an Assassin's Creed movie starring Michael Fassbender – which has been pushed a month to June 2015 – and a Splinter Cell flick with Tom Hardy as Sam Fisher.
Transformers Blu-ray 3D comes home January 31st in Ultimate and Collector's editions
After a quickie Blu-ray dropped in the fall sans-extras, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is getting a full fledged release January 31st complete with 3D and four hours of bonus features. There's actually two versions coming, first up is the $39.99 four disc Ultimate Edition with a 2D copy on one disc, a Blu-ray full of extras, a Blu-ray 3D copy, and a DVD with the film in standard def plus iTunes / Windows Media Player compatible digital copies. Even though it's coming with that old school digital copy disc, this flick will also be Ultraviolet ready, so if you're packing the correct assortment of logins and software it can be downloaded or streamed on other devices. The other release is a $99 seven-disc Limited Collector's Edition Blu-ray Trilogy set that dedicates two discs each to the first two movies, and three for DotM as well as a signed plaque from the director. We may have to wait to see Martin Scorsese's Hugo to see a Blu-ray 3D release to watch a good movie on the format, but the extensive work done in creating Transformer's visual effects should definitely hold over AV junkies until Avatar gets a wide release. Check out the press release with a full list of extras and a picture of the LCE after the break.
NASA building a harpoon to fire at comets, suddenly renders plot of 'Armageddon' plausible (video)
Whatever Michael Bay uses to propel that "high-concept" imagination of his, he's obviously passed some of it to the boys at NASA's Goddard Space Flight center. A team there is developing a hollow-bodied harpoon that can be fired from a cannon toward comets too dangerous to land on. Once landed, it fills up with sub-surface samples before winched back aboard the waiting space craft. It's currently being tested by firing the harpoon (using a six foot ballista) into a bucket of dirt -- if they fired it horizontally it'd travel about a mile. After the break we've got video explaining this madness in some detail -- which we promise is Aerosmith-ballad free.
Michael Bay trailer for Need for Speed: The Run doesn't remind us of anything
Michael Bay knows his way around swiftly moving metal machines, which may be why EA Black Box recruited him to direct a cinematic trailer for Need for Speed: The Run. It's fast-paced, sleek, sexy and gritty, and we could easily see it, starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox's lips, in the previews before The Rum Diary. However, EA would have to change the name. Need for Speed: Rise of the Runatron, would work, we think.
Transformers Blu-ray 3D release coming to Japan in January, still no release date for US
The United States got a quickie Blu-ray release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon a couple of weeks ago sans-extras and 3D, with only a promise they would be delivered "in the coming months" but that is not the case across the Pacific. In Japan Paramount has announced the Blu-ray 3D version is coming January 20th complete with English and Japanese soundtracks. There's still no date for a full-fledged release around these parts, so if you're an early adopter (if you have a 3D TV, it's a pretty safe bet) your first chance to bring the billion dollar blockbuster home as Michael Bay intended may come with some extra kanji on it.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon Blu-ray due September 30th, 3D version later
Besides being a lightning rod for the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD wars, the Transformers series also racked up some of the biggest HD sales ever, and now we'll see if the latest entry, Dark of the Moon, keeps up that trend. Paramount has announced it will be released September 30th in Blu-ray/DVD combo form for $29.99, with a "deluxe" release including Blu-ray 3D expected in "the coming months." There's no specifics on any extras included in this release, but it looks like PHE is going the Avatar route and saving those for later. For those anticipating the 3D release, hopefully this doesn't equal a similar exclusivity period, but until the disc is actually announced we won't assume anything. If 154 minutes of Michael Bay exploding things sounds like a good idea to you, check after the break for a press release and schedule that Friday off -- you have somewhere to be.
Michael Bay and James Cameron chat about shooting movies in 3D (video)
Two of the biggest action movie directors going right now, James Cameron and Michael Bay, took some time out to talk about shooting movies in 3D ahead of the release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon this summer. You can check out the entire conversation, put on by Paramount and The Hollywood Reporter, in the video above, where Bay talks about some of the challenges faced in shooting the movie and how the technology pioneered by James Cameron for Avatar has continued to progress. Making Transformers in 3D caused the movie to cost about $30 million extra, but it didn't cause any shooting delays. We'll find out if it was worth it, or if audiences have started to turn against wearing the glasses when the movie comes out June 29th.
Michael Bay's The Island is finally coming to Blu-ray in the U.S. June 21st
More than five years after we suggested the upscaled DVD (ah, the old days) for your HDTV viewing pleasure Paramount has finally seen fit to schedule The Island for release on Blu-ray in the United States on June 21st. The treatment of this release is basic at best, with 1080p video with 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack and extras ported over from the DVD in standard definition. However, after being released in Europe and sitting in limbo for years we're just glad this action thriller starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi and Djimon Hounsou is coming out at all. Plus, it's directed by Michael Bay so for those who haven't seen it there is at least some assurance things will blow up real good. The original trailer and more details are after the break.
Chinese make Optimus Prime out of junk; Garbage Pail Megan Fox still nowhere to be found
Some Chinese dudes decided they couldn't wait a year for Michael Bay to drop his next 3D Transformabomb, so they went troweling around the local junkyards until they came up with the 10,108 car parts needed to erect this 33-foot Optimus Prime. We heard that 10 minutes after this picture was taken, OP tried to do a mating dance for the Olympic Stadium, but she didn't bite. Better luck next time!
Transformers 3 is using the Arri Alexa Pace cameras from Avatar to go 3D
After a bit of back and forth, Transformers 3 has been confirmed as yet another action flick jumping on the 3D train. The good news (unless you were really happy to hear that Megan Fox would no longer be a part of the franchise) is that they're filming in 3D as opposed to converting it in post production (like Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland and The Last Airbender) as revealed by master of the 3D camera himself, Vince Pace. Apparently nothing would do for Michael Bay but Jimmy C's best, requiring the cameras used in Avatar and the upcoming Resident Evil flick. Just in case you were wondering, our friends at Cinematical have put together an impromptu list of recent/upcoming 3D movies that will be using a 2D to 3D conversion process (Harry Potter, Narnia, Piranha 3D) and those originally shot in 3D (Tron Legacy, Saw VII 3D) -- so you know what to expect before you put your cash down for a ticket.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Blu-ray debuts October 20, check out one of the special features now (Video)
You'll have to wait until October 20 to get a good look at Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's IMAX sequences, but you can see an exclusive clip of one of the behind the scenes segments featured on the disc right now. Check the behind the scene pre-vis breakdown after the break along with a list of Blu-ray exclusive specs for this 2 disc set, with Blu-ray fanboy Michael Bay at the helm we have high expectations to this followup to a movie that blazed trails on two different high definition disc formats. even that case at the right is getting in on the augmented reality packaging trend, letting webcam owning users access a special website with even more adventures involving, surprisingly enough, ridiculously large transforming robots from outer space. Check the Transformers ROTF official website for more info.
Michael Bay plans The Dark Knight-style IMAX sequences for Transformers 2 Blu-ray
Hope you liked The Dark Knight's treatment of its shot-for-IMAX scenes, as it may be a trend. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen director (and Blu-ray fan for life) Michael Bay has stated that among other unspecified extras, the disc release will see similar frame filling transfers that let viewers see top to bottom. This is your chance to be heard, are you a fan, or just want everything in one aspect ratio?
'Asteroids' heading towards the big screen?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal has won an all-out "bidding war" over the film rights to Atari's classic Asteroids video game. We're not entirely sure who all was involved in this "war," but the conflict couldn't possibly be prompted over the universal themes tackled by the story of the plucky little triangular spaceship and the asteroid field it inhabits. As the Reporter, um, reports: "As opposed to today's games, there is no story line or fancy world-building mythology." Michael Bay is rumored to be very interested in directing.[Via George Ruiz]
Michael Bay strikes again, pulls out Samsung cellphone at LG promo event
We're not sure what LG expected when it invited Micheal Bay to speak about the company's promotional support of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen at CTIA, but let's be honest -- they probably should have known dude was going to blow something up. Unfortunately for the gathered LG employees, this time Mike-Mike delivered a figurative explosion, telling the crowd "I don't know anything about mobile phones. In fact, look at my phone -- it's a thirty-nine dollar Samsung." Ouch -- that's roughly the equivalent of throwing a Ford in with the rest of the Autobots. Making matters worse, LG president of mobile products Juno Cho tried to salvage the moment by offering Bay his personal phone, but was rebuffed because "all my contacts are in the other one." Yeah, that's probably not the best way to play it -- although we're guessing Samsung's already angling for TouchWiz to feature prominently in Transformers 3.[Via Gartenblog]
First Transformers featurette available via BD-Live
Since the year between HD DVD & Blu-ray releases wasn't enough time to get all the features on-disc, BD-Live connected owners of the Transformers Blu-ray disc can download "Robot Ninjas" starting today. Promised to be the first of many downloadable add-ons, this one gives a look behind the scenes of the fights in the movie, specifically Bumblebee vs. Barricade. High-Def Digest mentions that next up is a "What Effing Happened to Mason City" feature, as these fill in the gap until the sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hits theaters. Wondering what in the name of Michael Bay's righteous indignation you're missing? Check out a clip from the feature after the break.
