In case you hoped to see Watchmen or the Hobbit...

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:34 pm

There's been legal hiccups.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=21982

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:58 am

Well ****.

Somewhere Alan Moore is cleaning up the remains of a calf and mumbling "excellent."

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:26 pm

woah... i didn't even know they were making a film of the watchmen!
how badly are they going to [composite word including 'f*ck'] that one up i wonder?

Dreadwind's Ghost · Post by **Dreadwind's Ghost** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:04 pm

Professor Smooth wrote:Well ****.

Somewhere Alan Moore is cleaning up the remains of a calf and mumbling "excellent."

Funny. I said something very similar on another forum.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:58 pm

Eh, not very bothered by Watchmen, since I'm not a fan, and it's so hard to make a film sufficiently faithful to the original property without the creator controlling everything with an iron fist. ( i.e Sin City, wich I'm not a fan of either.)

Bummed out about the Hobbit tho...

I loved the original graphic novels, ( aye, unlike LOtr I read it in comic-form) and was really looking forward to Jackson and Del Toro's team-up.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:01 pm

Dammit

I was just getting excited by this
http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/02110 ... erview.php

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:02 pm

Legion wrote:woah... i didn't even know they were making a film of the watchmen!
how badly are they going to **** that one up i wonder?

Well, it's Zack Snyder, who's done Dawn of the Dead and 300 so... uhm. Pass.

Don't think they should even attempt it, tbh.

Pretty elementary mistake, isn't it? Not checking if somebody else owns the film rights before you start...

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:53 pm

Predabot wrote:Bummed out about the Hobbit tho... I loved the original graphic novels

Wow! I didn't realise Tolkien drew the original story! Nifty....

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:58 pm

Actually, that's a myth.
It was originally Pat Lee who drew The Hobbit.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:04 pm

Yeah, but only after Alex Milne did the breakdowns.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:46 pm

Were the other Stunticons involved? Was Menasor Smaug?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:50 pm

No, but I think this riff may be heading for a dead end.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:22 pm

Legion wrote:
Predabot wrote:Bummed out about the Hobbit tho... I loved the original graphic novels
Wow! I didn't realise Tolkien drew the original story! Nifty....

Errm, assuming you're not being ironic as is ussually the case with just about everybody's posts on this board..

Nah, mate. Tolkien didn't draw it ( altho I was surprised to find out that he did actually design the first edition of the real, non-illustrated, books cover and dust-binding). I didn't mean the original novel by Tolkien but a comic-version, that came out in the 80's.

The comic was first released as a 3-issue mini-series in 1989, with abridged and adapted text from the novel, by writers Chuck Dixon ( Batman, Marvel Knights, Moon Knight) & Sean Deming and artist David Wenzel ( Avengers - The Korvac Saga, Marvel Team-up ) and it was great!

Had wonderful illustrations and was done in a manor that even younger folks can read and understand the story. It was published by Eclipse ( american publisher of Alan Moore's Miracle Man)

It was later reprinted by Eclipse in 1990 as a collected Graphic novel, and then reprinted by HarperCollins in 2001 and finally in 2006 came a special edition with better scans of the painted, and now revised and touched up, original artwork.

I think you'll love it, if you try it.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:33 pm

Predabot wrote:
Legion wrote:
Predabot wrote:Bummed out about the Hobbit tho... I loved the original graphic novels
Wow! I didn't realise Tolkien drew the original story! Nifty....
Errm, assuming you're not being ironic as is ussually the case with just about everybody's posts on this board..

He's referring to the fact that you said "the original graphic novel" in regard to The Hobbit. The Hobbit is a prose story. Any graphic novel is an adaptation.

You implied that it started life as a comic.

Analogous conversation:
- "They're remaking Planet of the Apes."
- "Oh? I always enjoyed the original with Mark Wahlberg."

See? See??

Oh, sod it.

Cathy_Quinn · Post by **Cathy_Quinn** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:49 pm

The Soddit was the sequel to Bored of the Rings

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:15 pm

Preds is right that it's a beautiful graphic novel, although Dixon worked a little too hard to keep all Tolkien's dialogue on the page. The art gets crowded.

Hey, I could sell this as a review.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:41 am

Brendocon wrote:
Predabot wrote:
Legion wrote: Wow! I didn't realise Tolkien drew the original story! Nifty....
Errm, assuming you're not being ironic as is ussually the case with just about everybody's posts on this board..
He's referring to the fact that you said "the original graphic novel" in regard to The Hobbit. The Hobbit is a prose story. Any graphic novel is an adaptation.

You implied that it started life as a comic.

Analogous conversation:
- "They're remaking Planet of the Apes."
- "Oh? I always enjoyed the original with Mark Wahlberg."

See? See??

Oh, sod it.

precisely!

i can never be bothered to post that sort of explanation, so i just resort to sarcasm... it's easier.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:30 pm

Trousers set to shatter:
http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/image_021908.html

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:06 pm

The Hobbits underway now too. Del toro at the helm with PJ at his side.

SUpposedly its going to be two movies etc..

Oh, Gears of War 2 is on its way.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 4:26 pm

Pics of the Watchmen cast:

http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 5:58 pm

Gah! You beat me, Spidey!

Silk Spectre looks a little less real than she did in the comic... hmm. Comedian: nailed. Ozymandias and Nite Owl will take a little while to get used to in those suits. Rorschach: amazing.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:46 pm

pretty damned funky all-round if you ask me!

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed May 28, 2008 4:26 pm

This is interesting (from sci-fi.com)

Watchmen's Tales Due On DVD

The New York Times reported that Zack Snyder, director of the upcoming Watchmen movie, will release the comic-within-a-film Tales of the Black Freighter as a DVD within days of Watchmen's opening.

Snyder had originally contemplated either incorporating the pirate-themed comic into the film itself or adding it as a DVD extra on the Watchmen DVD.

But Warner Brothers, which is releasing Watchmen, will now release Tales as a separate-but-related Snyder-helmed movie exclusively on DVD five days after the main movie rolls out in theaters. The DVD will also include a documentary-style film called Under the Hood that will delve into the characters? backstories.

Fans of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen graphic novel will recognize both Tales and Under the Hood as key side narratives that inform and illuminate the main storyline, about a group of costumed superheroes who investigate the death of one of their own in an alternate-history 1980s New York.

Eventually, Tales of the Black Freighter will be followed about four months later by the DVD release of Watchmen itself and then an "ultimate" edition in which the two are edited together into one megamovie, the newspaper reported.

Watchmen is slated for release on March 6, 2009.

More Hobbit news too:

Del Toro, Jackson Talk Hobbit

Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, who will respectively executive-produce and direct two upcoming films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit, interacted with each other and fans during an international Internet chat dubbed "An Unexpected Party," answering dozens of the 6,000-plus questions sent in and offering tidbits about things to come.

According to the filmmakers, 2009 will be dedicated to preproduction on both movies, with the films set to be shot back to back in New Zealand in 2010. The Hobbit will open in December 2011, followed by the tentatively titled Film Two in 2012. Several actors and behind-the-scenes figures from Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy are confirmed or likely to return, among them co-stars Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis, writer-producers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, composer Howard Shore and conceptual designers Alan Lee and John Howe.

Del Toro and Jackson confirmed that the first film will tell the story of The Hobbit, while the second will be an original tale bridging the period between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. And, they said, del Toro's films will be designed to stand on their own while syncing up with Jackson's Rings trilogy.

"I believe that it's a little bit of both; the world must feel like the same world, [in] the aspect ratio, music, essential established costume and production design trademarks," del Toro wrote from England. "But I would love to bring a lot of new flavors to the table. The Hobbit is, in essence, an overture to a massive symphonic work, so main themes are reprised, but new modulations and new colors are introduced, thematically and texturally."

Jackson, who was in New Zealand, added, "I love Guillermo's symphonic allusion. The 'overture' can have a different flavor, a different texture, yet be a carefully crafted introduction to what's to follow. Film Two is perfect to dramatize the shift in Middle-earth that propels us into the dark days of LOTR. If LOTR is World War I, then The Hobbit is like an Edwardian adventure tale, set in the days before [the] world notices the looming storm clouds."

Jackson, responding to a question about why he chose not to direct the Hobbit films, explained that "essentially competing against my own movies" seemed to be an unsatisfying way to spend the next five years. However, he wrote, "I love Tolkien and care deeply about the movies we made. I couldn't bear the idea of somebody else making them without our involvement. Being a writer and producer is the perfect way for me to work here. Guillermo has the ultimate responsibility of directing, and for him it's easier to make these movies feel different, simply because he's not me, and he therefore has an original vision, with new ideas to offer."

Del Toro, meanwhile, explained that The Hobbit was the only one of Tolkien's works with which he connected as a youth and that he dreamt of Mirkwood and Smaug for "ages." However, once he saw that Jackson had undertaken the Lord of the Rings trilogy he assumed that The Hobbit "would never come to be" for him. When it did, he leapt at the opportunity.

"The proposition of spending half a decade [to] craft these films received, as Peter will attest, a five-second 'YES' from me," del Toro wrote. "To people in my industry I'm usually a guy that tries to generate his own projects, and I remain very elusive when people try and attach me to big projects. For decades I have passed on films of enormous scope, but this is a fantastic privilege and I immediately said, 'Yes.'"

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed May 28, 2008 5:21 pm

Hrm. I suppose splitting it up into separate film, animation and documentary is one way to handle the complexity of Watchmen.

Not convinced, though. Part of the joy of reading it is the shift back and forth between the supporting works, which add depth to the main story without ******* the narrative.

Can't help but fear some of the characters will come off shortchanged. I remember finding the autobiography more fascinating than certain parts of the actual story.

Still, I am increasingly excited. And scared.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu May 29, 2008 10:20 am

this 2nd hobbit film is interesting, perhaps they can drawn on elemnts of the silmarlion to create it?
hopefully, kick ass battles x lotr x 50...

Post by **Best First** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:19 am

hmm, if its gonna be set between the Hobbit and LOTR then thats not really what the Silmarillion covers is it? Most of it predates the Hobbit doesn't it?

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu May 29, 2008 12:00 pm

True, but I wondered if it would look back on the events that shaped middle earth leading up to LotR?, much like how in they show the rings being forged in Fellowship of the ring?

Post by **Best First** » Thu May 29, 2008 12:20 pm

hmm, don't get me wrong, i'd love to see it, but apart from maybe Sauron fleeing Mirkwood i don't think there is much esle they would use without sending things off on a bit of a tangent.

could be wrong tho!

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Thu May 29, 2008 5:41 pm

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Thu May 29, 2008 5:42 pm

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/