Movies

Tolkien Biopic to Be Released on May 10, 2019

/ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Fans Society / Leave a comment

The first still images from the upcoming #Tolkien biopic film have been released. They show Nicholas Hoult as the iconic #fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien. Born 1892 in South Africa, Tolkien was orphaned as a teen after his parents died. The film (directed by Dome Karukoski) will follow these formative years as he attends school in Birmingham and finds companionship with a group of outcasts.

The still images that were released offer snapshots from J.R.R. Tolkien’s life, including his younger years with future wife Edith (being played by actress Lily Collins) and the approach of World War I. The events of that war would come to impact Tolkien’s work with #TheHobbit, #TheLordOfTheRings, and #TheSilmarillion. For example, his war experience inspired The Fellowship of the Rings, and his relationship with Edith affected how he wrote the literary romance between Aragorn and Arwen.

Nicholas Hoult as J.R.R. Tolkien in "Tolkien"

Nicholas Hoult as J.R.R. Tolkien in “Tolkien”

Nicholas Hoult & Lily Collins in "Tolkien"

Nicholas Hoult as J.R.R. Tolkien & Lily Collins as Edith Bratt in “Tolkien”

Nicholas Hoult as J.R.R. Tolkien (Right) with School Chums

Nicholas Hoult as J.R.R. Tolkien (Right) with School Chums in “Tolkien”

Lily Collins (as Edith Bratt) & Nicholas Hoult (as J.R.R. Tolkien) in "Tolkien"

Lily Collins (as Edith Bratt) & Nicholas Hoult (as J.R.R. Tolkien) in “Tolkien”

References

Advertisements

91st Academy Award Nominees

/ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Fans Society / Leave a comment

The 2018 #Oscar nominees have been announced and eight #SciFi & #Fantasy films have been nominated in multiple categories, including for “Best Picture”!

The eight sci-fi & fantasy films that have received at least one nomination are as follows:

  • #AvengersInfinityWar
  • #BlackPanther
  • #ChristopherRobin
  • #IsleOfDogs
  • #MaryPoppinsReturns
  • #ReadyPlayerOne
  • “#Solo: A #StarWars Story”
  • “#SpiderMan: Into the Spider-Verse”

Award Categories Breakdown

For Best Animated Film:

  • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

For Costume Design:

  • Black Panther (Ruth Carter)
  • Mary Poppins Returns (Sandy Powell)

For Music (Original Score):

  • Black Panther (Ludwig Goransso)
  • Isle of Dogs (Alexandre Desplat)
  • Mary Poppins Returns (Marc Shaiman)

For Music (Original Song):

  • “All the Stars” from Black Panther
  • “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns

For Best Picture:

  • Black Panther

For Production Design:

  • Black Panther (Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart)
  • Mary Poppins Returns (Production Design: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim)

For Sound Mixing:

  • Black Panther (Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin)

For Visual Effects:

  • Avengers: Infinity War (Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick)
  • Christopher Robin (Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould)
  • Ready Player One (Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk)
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story (Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy)

Total Number of Nominations for Each Film

Here’s how many nominations each sci-fi & fantasy film received:

  • Black Panther: 6
  • Mary Poppins Returns: 4
  • Avengers: Infinity War: 1
  • Christopher Robin: 1
  • Isle of Dogs: 1
  • Ready Player One: 1
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story: 1
  • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: 1

References

Paramount Has Reportedly Shelved “Star Trek IV”

/ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Fans Society / Leave a comment

In not-so-good news for #StarTrek fans, #Paramount has reportedly shelved plans for #StarTrekIV. Contributing factors appear to include:

  • Poor box office revenue for “Star Trek Beyond”, the third film.
  • Contract negotiations with Captain Kirk star Chris Pine (and Chris Hemsworth, who played his father George in the 2009 reboot) collapsed around August, 2018, which we reported about.
  • Attached director S.J. Clarkson has moved on to direct the upcoming>Game Of Thrones prequel pilot.

References

“Mortal Engines” is a Box Office Failure, but “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is a Huge Hit

/ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Fans Society / Leave a comment

While the dystopian #SciFi film #MortalEngines was a box office failure on its opening weekend (earning disastrous $7.5 million domestically), the animated “#SpiderMan: Into the Spider-Verse” earned the largest December animated opening with $35.4 million at the box office. Also, while “Mortal Engines” earned more outside of the U.S., its total box office take for opening weekend globally was only $42 million. This is a far cry from the film’s budget of $100 million, which is now what its estimated loss is going to be.

“This is a true Christmas disaster and a lump of coal for Universal,” said Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “They took a big swing, and they struck out.”

The question is, why did “Mortal Engines” do so poorly? In spite of the fact that the CGI spectacle was co-written and co-produced by Peter Jackson (who directed all of the highly successful #LordOfTheRings and #Hobbit films), the film earned a very poor 27% Tomatometer score by film critics from #RottenTomatoes, and audience ratings were equally poor at 58%. Audience ratings on IMDb are also rather mediocre at 6.5.

“Mortal Engines” has been a marketing challenge for its distributor, Universal, and it’s based on author Philip Reeve’s book series that’s not that widely known in the U.S. With the exception of Hugo Weaving, the movie lacks any major movie stars and has a plot that’s difficult to convey in a television spot or a poster. “Mortal Engines” focuses on “predator cities,” which are mobile urban centers on wheels that roam around the planet preying on smaller cities, robbing them of resources in order to sustain themselves. This hard-to-comprehend plot was one reason several studios (including Warner Bros. and Fox) passed on the project.

On the flip side, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is the 13th time this year that a film based on a Marvel property has been top at the box office. The critically-acclaimed animated film received a 97% Tomatometer score from film critics on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as an audience rating of 95%. Similarly, the film has a rating of 8.8 on IMDb.

Mortal Engines Spider-Man

References