Tuesday 16 November 2010

Morning News Bulletin

Good morning all.

The Morning News Bulletin is your daily roundup of film news that happened over the last couple of hours while we were fast asleep over here in SA.

Today's news include the official final list of films to be considered for nomination for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, our first look at Cars 2 and Cowboys and Aliens and a deleted scene that will be included in the upcoming Avatar Extended Edition DVD and Blu-Ray sets. See more details after the jump.



Yesterday the final list of animated movies  to be considered for nomination for the Best Animated Feature Film category was announced and it pretty much includes every animated film released during 2010. The fact that even the stinkers like Alpha and Omega, and Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore have made the list just goes to show what a non-event this announcement really is. The final list is:
  • “Alpha and Omega”
  • “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore”
  • “Despicable Me”
  • “The Dreams of Jinsha”
  • “How to Train Your Dragon”
  • “Idiots and Angels”
  • “The Illusionist”
  • “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”
  • “Megamind”
  • “My Dog Tulip”
  • “Shrek Forever After”
  • “Summer Wars”
  • “Tangled”
  • “Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue”
  • “Toy Story 3”
Although Despicable Me was really good and is the real dark horse for this award, we all know that for all intents and purposes this will be a two-horse race between How To Train your Dragon and Toy Story 3. Personally my money is on Toy Story 3 but I wouldn't be too surprised if How to Train Your Dragon won it because DreamWorks is going to be lobbying hard for this one. The three official nominees will be announced on the 25th of January 2011 with rest of the Oscar Nominees.

In other animation news, the first official image and synopsis from the upcoming toon sequel Cars have surfaced on the interwebs. It speaks volumes about the consistently high standards of Pixar's animated films that their worst film, on a relative scale anyways, is still light years better than most of the dreck heaped upon us year after year by most of the other animation studios. With the release of Cars 2 I'm guessing that Pixar want to put right what went wrong with the first Cars film, mainly the storyline, and and hopefully elevate it to the same level of critical and commercial success enjoyed by the Toy Story franchise. I have included below, via slashfilm, the official image and the synopsis. As I a bonus you might want to check out the teaser trailer which was released a couple of weeks back. Fingers crossed that they get it right this time around!


Cars 2 Official Image
Official Synopsis:
Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of ) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2” when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.  Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.






Cars 2 is coming to theatres June 2011.

I'm sure at one point or another as a kid you must have imagined how awesome it would be to have a movie about cowboys fighting against aliens. Seriously, I know you did. So you'll be pleased to know that there is one currently being made with plans to release it next year and it's already got a trailer coming out tomorrow. While we wait for the trailer to come out tomorrow, an official poster and synopsis has been released on Yahoo Movies but luckily for you I've got them right here.

  

Official Synopsis:
1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. It's a town that lives in fear.

But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.

Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella, he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents - townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors - all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.


Now I don't know about you but I'm officially sold on this movie and the poster looks pretty cool. This movie definitely has some potential to be one of the big blockbusters of 2011.  Then again, if a movie starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde and Sam Rockwell, that's directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man 1 & 2), produced by Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) and Steven Spielberg with a screenplay by Roberto Orci (Transformers and Star Trek), Alex Kurtzman (Transformers and Star Trek) and Damon Lindelof (Lost) doesn't turn out to be at least half-decent, then I will lose all hope in Hollywood!

Avatar has made over $2,77 billion (approximately R 19,33 billion) in worldwide box office receipts so you can bet your mortgage on the fact that its home studio, 20th Century Fox will milk this cash cow till it's blue in the face (pun intended).
As if putting out a bare bones DVD and Blu-Ray and re-releasing it in theatres with a blockbuster 8 minutes of extra footage is not enough for one calender year, we can now expect an Extended Collector's Edition
 DVD and Blu-Ray to be released by the end of this month. To help promote the impending release fox has released online a deleted never before seen scene that will be included in the Extended Collector's Edition. Have and look and see if it makes it worth buying the DVD or Blu-Ray again:



As an added bonus check out the trailer for the Extended Edition:



And that brings us to the end of today's bulletin. Please feel free to let us know what film news has been on your mind lately as well as any comments you might have on these stories. Later!

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