Movies in development

Movies, like the weather, are seasonal, and also like the weather movies can be erratic and have the potential for ruining your day. Unlike the seasons of the year, there are five movies seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and the Holiday season.

I can't seem to see heart?

The movies are carefully released like farm bred Pandas in the hope that they will flourish. There are of course exceptions to the soft and slow rules of movie releasing. When a studio has a couple of films that could be Oscar worthy (The Great Gatsby) they might be delayed, or if there are terrible problems that need to be resolved (World War Z), and of course when movies are released straight to DVD where the overheads are less (i.e. the film appears to suck).Generally you get the blockbuster movies released for the American summer and holiday season, but as that includes such movies like Transformers 3, it is not really an indication of quality.

One of the favorite things to do in our house is to see what films are coming up. It is something fun to look forward to, or complain about.  So in an attempt to give you the same sort of thrill or sense of dread here are a few films currently in production.

King Harald

Produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and written by Mark Smith who wrote The Hole. This appears to be a film about Harald Sigurdsson better known as Harold Hardrada. A king of Norway who is probably most famous for not conquering England in 1066.

I am a student of Nordic history and culture so this movie both excites me and fills me with dread. There are very few good movies about Vikings (as they are incorrectly but more commonly known), but hopefully the recent TV production by the history channel will set a good standard.

Dead Space
The movie about the Computer game. Mostly these movies are fairly bad, but as Uwe Boll has not been named as the director it might not truly suck.  I have never played this game but I understand that this is a good combnation of science fiction horror. Well it will be if it isn't directed by Uwe Boll.

Justice league

The current eta for this is 2017 and I have not seen anything specific online. But as you expect it will be Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash and Green Lantern smashing bad guys in high def 3d action. Watch this space.

Prometheus 2
I wanted to love the first film, and there should have been so much to love; Idris Elba, Noomi Rapace, Guy Pearce, Michael Fassbender, and Rafe Spall. It was the dazzling prequel to one of my favorite movies. But despite  some pretty good stuff, over all it was a bit dumb.  And here is the sequel. While I imagine that it will be Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender fighting aliens and that in of its self could be fun I am done. Ridely Scott is still a great visual director but all the asthetics in the world can't save a rubbish story.

Bladerunner 2 
Also directed by Ridley Scott  here is the plot summary
"Set some years after the first film, in which an ex-detective had to hunt down and eliminate a team of humanoid androids that had escaped from an outer space mining company."
Again filled with excitement and dread. Mostly dread. 

Squirrels
 "A young man returns home to uncover the mystery behind his father's death only to find a pack of flesh-eating squirrels hell bent on destroying everything in their path."

The guys behind this are complete unknowns so make of this what you will. Better than Sharknado? your guess is as good as mine.

Doctor Strange

So along with the current successful run of Marvel super hero movies we have Dr. Strange.  Disney/Marvel are looking at several of these  which is good news for the fans. But I think we are all nervous after The Green Lantern,  but then I am not a massive fan of comics. 

Dodgeball 2 Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller are forced to team up to fight an even bigger threat. The original film starred the two as rival gym owners who agree to compete in a winner-takes-all dodgeball championship. While I loved Dodgeball I am less than enthused by this sequel.

How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack   
A production by the famous Robert Zemeckis ( Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit) about

Garden Gnomes who mount a home invasion. I think this will depend on the writers and directors.

Point Break

Well well this classic cop movie is being remade. But this time instead of surfing it is extreme sports. This is good new for Gary Busy who hasn't realised that the first film has finished, but bad news for Chris Hemsworth who many studios confuse for Patrick Swayze.

War craft
The movie based on the ludicrously successful online computer game. While this will probbaly be hated by the hard core fans, if they can spare the two and a half hours away from their addiction to actually watch it of course. Even if it is bad with over 8 million subscribers world wide it is of course a great investment with a ready audience. Duncan Jones  who directed the rather silly  Source code  is the director for this project which does not inspire me. It is currently scheduled for release in 2015.

Flight of the Navigator

A remake of that classic 1986 film. Another oppertuity for hollywood to crush my childhood no doubt. 

The Forever War

This is a great book, and it would make a great film.  A classic sci fiction novel that hasn't dated all that much. Unfortunatly it is been made by Ridley Scott, who undoubtedly will fill it with fantastic actors, wonderful cinematogrpahy and a rubbish script. It is the sort of movie that I wonder if I should even see in the worry that it will marr the story I love so much.

Animal Farm

Another adaptation of the book. I quite like the 1954 version myself. Interestingly it is directed by

Andy Serkis so this good be a good film as he is a good director. But I think we need to know more.

Creature From the Black Lagoon
 Another remake of a 1954 classic, no doubt filled with great effects and A list actors but absolutly no soul. Hopefully the studio who has learn the lesson of The Day the Earth Stood Still 2008 (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/day_the_earth_stood_still/)

This is of course just a wee selection of some of the movies in development.  Some good, some well we'll have to see. Is there any film that you would like to see? Let me know.