It’s no secret that Hollywood’s reserve of fresh, innovative ideas is beginning to peter out. Like a booming coal mine during the industrial revolution, the once abundant minerals have been exhausted and all that remain are fragmented film scripts that inevitably end up on the infamous Hollywood ‘Black list’ – a collection of unproduced screenplays that reside in development hell for varying reasons, such as a lack of funding from a studio. And so, executive heads search for unique storylines that don’t stray too far from what audiences’ desire.
A flurry of reports have suggested that Microsoft will lift the curtain on the Xbox 720 on May 21st. Long-time industry analyst Paul Thurrot has claimed that the proposed next-gen console will launch in ‘early November’ with a price tag of $500 and will also be available for $300 via an as-yet-unknown form of subscription. Thurrots’ claims have been independently backed up by The Verge, who understands the reveal date to be accurate.
Last week, Microsoft was thrust inadvertently into the global limelight after one of their employees expressed his opinion on the rumours surrounding the still unannounced Xbox 720. Communicating via Twitter, Adam Orth was responding to gamers concerned about the hearsay ‘always online’ component by telling them to ‘deal with it’. Microsoft condemned the comments in an official statement which you can read below.
Jane Got A Gun. In truth, a gun was about the only thing Jane seemed to own for an extended period of time. Over the last month or so, the film has undergone several internal shifts both in the acting and directing camps. First, we had the exit of Michael Fassbender, then, in a bizarre turn of events, the director Lynne Ramsay left the film after citing production problems which also prompted Jude Law’s departure, too. It’s been a bumpy four weeks for the Western, but now Deadline has reported that Bradley Cooper has been cast to steer the production back on track.
As a project, I have a lot of respect for Elysium. Though the film is slated for release on August 9th in the States, the studio and director Neill Blomkamp have favoured a less-is-more style of advertising. It’s effectively garnered a sense of excitement for the film without risking overexposure and today we get a glimpse of two new stills from the film (via Judao).
The curious case of Star Wars 1313 rumbles on today. Following Wednesday’s closure of LucasArts by Disney, a source over at Kotaku has revealed that just before the game’s showcase at last year’s E3 conference, head honcho George Lucas shifted the story’s focus to Boba Fett – the masked bounty hunter.
As part of the acquisition of LucasFilm back in October, Disney also picked up their revered gaming studio, LucasArts. It was a news story that pretty much melted the internet and one which raised more questions than answers. However, in a statement released today, some of those questions were unfortunately answered. The newly appointed parent company has shut down LucasArts and will instead licence out properties to third-party developers and Disney Interactive.
Who knew that Marvel were such advocates of secrecy, eh? The studio embedded a Tesseract-like treasure chest of concept art and set photos for Phase 2 within their newly released Blu-Ray box set, aptly titled Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One – Avengers Assembled. The collection hit retail earlier this week and curious fans were led to this site where they were asked to enter the code provided in their product. And, boy, they weren't left disappointed.
Marvel Studios aren’t shy of overexposure, it seems, after the company lifted the curtain on the 5th TV spot for their so-close-you-can-almost-taste-it Iron Man 3. The third film in the superhero franchise will be helmed by Shane Black and is poised to focus on a Tony Stark who has been pushed against the wall by the relentlessly savage villain known as The Mandarin.
Come in, sit down and relax and let our handy guide accompany you during your Easter break, because this week promises some truly cracking – sorry, I couldn’t resist – releases to accompany you in your chocolate induced coma.
