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The live-action 'Pokémon' movie starts production next year
Last week the rumblings of a live-action Pokémon movie were just that. But now Legendary Pictures has confirmed that it has secured the rights for a Detective Pikachu flick, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The game it's based on isn't available stateside just yet, but perhaps it will be by the time production starts on the movie next year. We now know that Universal is doing the distribution work outside of Japan. However, any other details are light.
A live action 'Pokemon' movie could finally happen after 'Go'
Following the smashing success of Pokemon Go, Legendary Pictures is reportedly working harder to secure rights to the Pokemon franchise for a live action film, Deadline reports. We first heard that the studio -- which was behind recent geek-friendly films like Warcraft, Pacific Rim and Godzilla -- was trying to capture the Pokemon license back in April. As is usually the case with film rights, these things take time. It makes sense for Legendary to make a bigger push for the franchise now, given just how well Pokemon Go has taken off. It's credited for increasing Nintendo's overall value by $7.5 billion on Monday, even though the console maker is only a partial owner in The Pokemon Company.
Can 'Warcraft' break the curse of the video game movie?
There's a special place in cinema hell for video game movies. From 1993's cringeworthy Super Mario Bros. -- a high-profile abomination that even Nintendo wants to forget -- to the basic-cable-worthy schlock that was Mortal Kombat and even the underwhelming Jake Gyllenhaal-vehicle Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, games have failed to make the big screen translation. But that's precisely why director -- and son of the late, great David Bowie -- Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) agreed to tackle the theatrical debut of developer Blizzard's real-time strategy game Warcraft. "There's been a rough track record of movies based on video games," says Jones. "I do like the challenge. I like the idea of maybe making a film which is way better than anyone expected it to be because I know the expectations are all over the place."
Here's a sneak peek at the new 'Warcraft' movie trailer
Legendary Pictures today released a 16-second clip of the trailer for Duncan Jones' upcoming World of Warcraft movie. The trailer itself will debut this Friday at Blizzard's BlizzCon event while fans will have to wait until June 10th to see the movie in all of its CGI-dominated glory.
Godzilla and King Kong will share one cinematic universe
Because everything needs a cinematic universe, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. have announced that Godzilla and King Kong will share one across three movies scheduled to follow the Godzilla flick released in 2014. There will be Kong: Skull Island in 2017, Godzilla 2 in 2018 and finally, Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020, while the press release dangles the possibility of other "famous creatures" joining in. While the idea of giant monsters and robots fighting is hardly new, the prospect of real-life robot combat plus an inevitable slew of spinoff toys, videogames and new effects for these movies has us more than ready. Perhaps it's even time for another Rampage -- does Warner Bros. still own those old Midway trademarks? [Image credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy]
Fly over a giant 'Warcraft' city in a 360-degree video
Duncan Jones' Warcraft movie doesn't hit theaters for another year, but that isn't stopping Legendary Pictures from giving you a first-hand look at the cinematic version of Azeroth. The studio has released a 360-degree YouTube video (also available in VR, if you use Android and iOS apps) that has you flying over the human capital Stormwind on the back of a gryphon. While this isn't as juicy as a full-fledged trailer, it'll give you a sense of the movie's grand scale: there are giant towers, narrow streets and majestic mountains. Something tells us that Stormwind won't look quite so pristine once Jones is finished with it, so give this clip a look if you want to see the fantasy city at its best.
Point-and-click classic 'Myst' is getting a TV show and a new tie-in game
Need a shot of early-'90s nostalgia? The classic PC adventure game Myst is getting a TV adaptation. The game's creators at Cyan Worlds have signed a deal with Legendary TV and Digital Media (a branch of the film production company) and the show will apparently bring a tie-in game to go along with it, according to Deadline. The companion game sounds very much like it'd be appearing on tablets, considering Legendary cites a statistic that 70 percent of slate owners use their device while watching TV "at least several times" per week, something Cyan sees as a way to expand its interactive narrative. Variety points out that Legendary has yet to decide whether the show will be a traditional broadcast program or if it'll be a digital project (its movie based on the Dead Rising series is a Crackle exclusive).
YouTube and Guillermo del Toro to make one director's nightmare a reality
Want a shot at filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy) peeking over your macabre masterpiece? Sure you do. Come September 22nd, YouTube Spaces is opening its doors to Partners with over 10,000 subscribers and giving them access to a handful of del-Toro-inspired sets as well as pro-grade equipment, in part, to find new voices within the genre. It's also a promo for del Toro's upcoming horror flick Crimson Peak. Del Toro (above) will review the finished products and the best one will get the push to either a digital series or fully-fledged movie. As Variety points out, this runs along the lines of the apparently popular competition Legendary Pictures held to help promote the Godzilla reboot earlier this year. Let's just hope the end results for this contest skew more toward Lights Out rather than, say, #GodzillaProblems. [Image credit: Getty Images]
Thomas Tull on the World of Warcraft Movie
At his keynote address for the Hollywood & Games conference, Thomas Tull, Legendary Pictures chairman, talked briefly about Legendary's work with Blizzard on the upcoming World of Warcraft movie. Of course he doesn't give us anything concrete, but some of the things he's saying gives me a good feeling about the film's prospects. For example:I have very strong feelings -- from the movie side -- that making movies based on games just because they sold well is a really bad idea. There've been some like that that weren't up to snuff just out of the gate. It doesn't matter to us if it's based on a graphic novel like 300, or a TV show – if there's a great universe and story, that's what's interesting to us.A well-done movie based on the lore of World of Warcraft could be a cool thing -- and it certainly sounds like that's what the people at Legendary want to do. [Fan art by Ya Lee, and thanks Simon for the tip!]
Diablo movie in the works? [Updated]
No, this isn't the latest World of Warcraft news, but since I think many of you are as much Blizzard fanboys/girls as I am, this tidbit may be of interest. Rumors are starting to circulate about an upcoming Diablo film in partnership with Legendary Pictures (yep, the same folks we know are working on the World of Warcraft film -- though, no, we don't have any recent updates on that project). How did this rumor get started, you ask? Well, if you check Legendary's home page, you'll see a project called "Diablo" listed under their in development section (in the "Films" section on the lower left, you have to scroll down a bit to see it). And how do we know this is Blizzard's Diablo and not something else? Blizzard holds the trademark to the name "Diablo" for films and games, and they've taken steps to protect the trademark in the past -- the Vin Diesel movie A Man Apart was originally to be called El Diablo. However, Blizzard sued, claiming they trademarked the title and intended to make a movie based on their game, and the title was changed. And since Blizzard has already partnered with Legendary to bring World of Warcraft to the big screen, this seems plausible, though I imagine Blizzard is going to be saving any big announcements like this for BlizzCon.[Via BlizzPlanet]Update: Legendary has removed "Diablo" from their in development section. A mistake, perhaps?
Blizzard's Paul Sams on the Wow Movie
Everyone has been buzzing about the announcement last week of a live-action Warcraft film, and now Gamespot has an interview with Blizzard exec Paul Sams, where he discusses some of the goals in bringing WoW to the big screen." We're not trying to take what we've done and...try to make a literal translation to the big screen. What we want to do is to make a great movie that happens to be set in a video game universe. That's a differentiator, and a key differentiator."It sounds to me like they have the right attitude about the project, as no direct adaptation, if one is even possible, is going to please everyone. The best idea is for them to craft a solid, compelling story that happens to be set in the gameworld we all know & love, and just try to make a good film first & foremost. From this interview, it seems that's exactly what they're trying to do, so lets just hope the suits don't stick too many fingers in the pie between script & screen...
