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Theatrical Trailer for The Book of Eli

Rob Keyes — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:19:52 +0000

The second trailer for the upcoming Denzel Washinton starrer, The Book of Eli, has debuted online ealier today and we have it here for your viewing pleasure.

The new promo builds on and extends what we saw from the first teaser trailer and shows off much more of the secondary characters, combined with plenty of action. We also get our first scenes of Mila Kunis in action as the character, Solara.

The story of The Book of Eli centers on Denzel’s character, Eli, travelling through the post-apocalyptic wasteland of America, protecting a book that may hold the key to civilization’s survival. On his journey, Eli meets Gary Oldman’s character, Carnegie, the man in charge of a run-down town, Carnegie learns about the book Eli possesses and puts his efforts into taking it for himself.

Here’s the new theatrical trailer:

This movie looks promising to me but I’m not big on Mila Kunis’ action-oriented character. After seeing her in an action role in Max Payne, her and weapons don’t work for me.

That being said, Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington can easily make up for that and I hope to see some awesome action from the leading man. The film’s cast also stars Jennifer Beals, Ray Stevenson, Malcolm McDowell, Michael Gambon and Tom Waits.

What do you think of the trailer?

The Book of Eli is directed by Albert & Allen Hughes and opens January 15, 2010.

Source: Yahoo

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The Book of Eli Trailer

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:45:34 +0000

Seems as though we here at Screen Rant have been under some kind of mass hypnosis for the last month; somehow between the entire staff, we are only JUST realizing that we never posted the first trailer for the Hughes Bros.’ post-apocalyptic film The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. We even covered the film at Comic-Con, but still managed to blank on posting the trailer. Go figure…

By now we’ve all seen the trailer in theaters or posted around the web, but for the sake of blogging record we’re going to post it here for you today. Better late than never, they say…

Sorry for the misstep, and we’ll be sure to keep our third eye open from now on to make sure you don’t miss a thing. Tip-offs from our readers are always welcome as well.

Check out the trailer for The Book of Eli:

If you missed our first look at The Book of Eli, the film centers on Eli (Washington), a man wandering the wasteland of America, protecting a book that may hold the key to civilization’s survival. When Eli runs across Carnegie (Oldman), the local “mayor” of a run-down town, Carnegie learns about the book Eli is carrying and makes a power play to possess the book for himself. Of course, Eli isn’t giving it up without a fight (as you saw in the trailer).

The Book of Eli was written by Gary Whitta (rumored screenwriter of the Akira movie), and stars Mila Kunis, Malcom McDowell, Michael Gambon, Jennifer Beals, Ray Stevenson and eccentric music-man, Tom Waits. It’s slated to hit theaters on January 15, 2010.

How did you like the trailer (sorry again for the lateness)?

Source: YouTube

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Warner Bros. Panel – Comic-Con 2009

Vic Holtreman — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:42:10 +0000

There was an opening video where writer of the original book Maurice Sendack and director Spike Jonze talked about the approach to the film. Sendack is very, very happy with Jonze’ vision of his original story and couldn’t say enough positive things. He said it is true to the spirit of the book and it’s an expansion of the story.

Max Records who plays the young boy in Where the Wild Things Are was the first guest and he was quite charming. They – showed about 5 clips which looked great – very rich and textured and Max is going to steal the film.

Book of Eli

For The Book of Eli there was an animatic that frankly I have no idea what had to do with the Denzel Washington / Gary Oldman starring film. When they showed the trailer however – it was very impressive. I really enjoyed seeing Denzel as a bad-ass action hero.

Denzel, Gary and Mila Kunis were on hand along with co-directors Albert and Allen Hughes.

The film takes place 30 years in the future after a war and not too many people are left behind. Denzel and Oldman were cutting it up and the crowd enjoyed it. It’s yet another post-apocalyptic film – but I guess you can never have too many post-apocalyptic films.

Nightmare On Elm Street

Jackie Earle Haley was present along with Brad Fuller, Sam Bayer and Andrew Form were in attendance.

They showed a series of scenes from the film – it looked like a trailer actually – and it was actually very good. Jackie Earle Haley looks like a great fit for the role. The footage opened with the townspeople chasing Freddie and lighting the warehouse where he is hiding on fire (no spoiler there, come on). It hinted that maybe Krueger was innocent, but it could just be him trying to save his own butt.

In this film Freddy will not be joking and it will be more of a straight-up terrorizing angle on the character. They’re looking to reintroduce the character to a new generation.

It does look like it’s going to be a fresh approach – not going for the black humor so much as an all-out horror movie.

The Box

Richard Kelly, director of Donnie Darko and now The Box, along with Cameron Diaz and James Marsten were in attendance. Based on short story Button, Button by Richard Matheson. They showed 4 1/2 minutes from the film and here’s the concept: Frank Langella (with a horribly disfigured but obviously CGI-effects face) shows up and offers Cameron Diaz a box with a large red button. If she presses the button, two things happen: Someone, somewhere dies – and he will bring her one million dollars in cash. Of course beyond the death of someone she doesn’t know there will be very serious consequences that Langella neglected to mention.

The film is set in 1976 and looked very interesting and unusual, and it seemed like there will be more to it then just a thriller.

Kelly said it’s the most personal film he ever made and it was a tribute to his parents and older films.

Jonah Hex

Director Jimmy Hayward was on hand along with Michael Fassbender, Megan Fox and Josh Brolin.

They just finished shooting the movie, Megan Fox’s last shot was done two days ago. Footage cut exclusively for Comic-Con. The footage was impressive – lots of action and tough guy dialog/scenes by Josh Brolin. It won’t be a “slow” Western – tons of actions, gunfights, explosions, etc. It looked really great and Brolin was good, but I couldn’t help thinking that I still would have loved to see Nathan Fillion in the role.

Megan Fox plays a prostitute that Hex has been seeing for years – he keeps her at a distance because everyone that comes into his life dies.

Some moron asked Megan Fox if she’d be interested in helping him kick-off his film career by filming a sex tape. He was pulled away immediately.

The audience reaction when Hayward asked if people would see the movie was good, but nowhere close to “bring the house down” like the reaction during the Kick-Ass panel yesterday. Josh Brolin said the film was only made for approximately $35MM – all the money is onscreen, there were no big paychecks for the actors and they did it for the love of the script/movie.

Josh Brolin was really very funny, goofing on one of the people who asked a question – but in a very nice way. He talked about how he liked working on really original stories.

Sherlock Holmes

Robert Downey Jr. walked out and the crowd went nuts. Personally I think this is a hint of how the Iron Man 2 panel is going to go tomorrow. He said Sherlock Holmes was the first superhero – an intellectual superhero and martial artist.

They showed and extended Comic-Con trailer for the film and it was very engaging, action packed and a lot of fun. It really highlighted what Downey is bringing to the role and I enjoyed the relationship between Downey and Jude Law as Watson. Watson is not as subservient in this version but more of a partner who actually sometimes saves Sherlock’s bacon.

They had one scene in particular that really highlighted Holmes’ great intelligence – in the boxing scene already shown in the trailer they go through his step by step thought processes on how to take down his huge opponent. Very analytical down to the consequences and recovery time, and then after that they show him execute his plan and it goes perfectly as he takes the guy down in about 4 quick steps.

Producers Susan Downey, Joel Silver and Lionel, Wigram along with Rachel McAdams were also in attendance. Downey Jr. had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand – he really is incredibly charming. He also talked about he and Joel Silver really wanting to go for it if they were going to attack such a well known and classic property, with the possibility of creating a franchise. He said that that actually most incarnations had really veered away from the original concept of the character and stories.

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Cool Posters for ‘Let Me In’ & ‘The Book of Eli’

Rob Keyes — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:04:26 +0000

Today we’ve got a little collection of the latest posters for you for Let Me In (the remake of Let The Right One In) and The Book of Eli to go alongside the new G.I. Joe posters that we also put up today.

None of these posters are official one-sheets for either of the films in question so to speak as some are special artwork exclusive to Comic-Con and others are concept work for early marketing of one of the films. Check them out after the jump.

/Film got a hold of some concept posters for the upcoming remake of Let the Right One in which were apparently used to help market the film internationally. They look pretty cool for what they represent but I’m not sure the movie itself will be so well received compared to the first one (especially since it’s an instant remake).

Check them out and see what you think:

Continue Reading ‘Cool Posters for ‘Let Me In’ & ‘The Book of Eli’’

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WB Comic-Con Lineup, Featuring Green Lantern: First Flight

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:50:28 +0000

Warner Bros. recently released the lineup of panels they’ll be presenting at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International. So if you are headed to Comic-Con this year and are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, Where The Wild Things Are, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Book Of Eli, Jonah Hex or even The Final Destination, then you’ll need to know where and when to show up for the panels.

Lucky for you Screent Rant loves our readers and has a nice list of the Warner Bros. panels at Comic-Con all ready for you, including the one that is my most anticipated: a preview screening of DC Universe’s animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight!

If you weren’t at the New York Comic Con screening of DC Universe’s last animated feature, Wonder Woman, you have no idea how enjoyable an event it can be. DC Universe tends to make more adult-oriented animated fare (Superman:Doomsday), which is a perfect blend for a Comic-Con crowd, a.k.a., a room full of adults who love animated superheroes.

Green Lantern: First Flight will premiere on Thursday July 23, 2009, in the San Diego Convention Center’s Ballroom 20 @8pm. If you want a look at the trailer for First Flight, go here.

First Flight is being helmed by DC Universe’s Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman) with Bruce Timm producing. Lending their voices to the film will be Christopher Meloni (Law And Order: SVU) as Hal Jordan; Victor Garber (ALIAS) as Hal Jordan’s nemesis, Sinestro; Michael Madsen as Hal Jordan’s alien mentor, Kilowog; and the lovely Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as Green Lantern Corps member, Boodikka.

Green Lantern: First Flight will also be available as a special edition 2-disc DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def on July 28, 2009. A sincgle disc DVD will also be available.

Here is a quick itinerary on the other films Warner Bros. will be showing off at Comic Con this year:

Thursday, July 23rd
3:30pm-4:30pm 3D SHOWCASE PRESENTATION IN HALL H
Film: The Final Destination
Talent: Craig Perry (producer)

Friday, July 24th
10:15am-12:30pm WARNER BROS. PRESENTATION IN HALL H
Films: Where The Wild Things Are, The Book Of Eli, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Box, Jonah Hex, Sherlock Holmes
Talent: TBD

1:45pm-2:45pm PRESENTATION AND Q & A W/ ROBERT RODRIGUEZ IN ROOM 6DE
Film: Shorts
Talent: Robert Rodriguez (director)

Which Warner Bros. film are you most looking forward to?

Sources: Slash Film & IESB

Header Image Source: Film School Rejects

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First Pics of Denzel Washington in ‘The Book Of Eli’

Kofi Outlaw — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:09:37 +0000

The Book Of Eli is a (spiritual?) post-apocalyptic movie starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman, directed by two of my favorite (underrated) directors, Albert and Allen Hughes, better known as The Hughes Brothers (From Hell, Dead Presidents).

Screen Rant hasn’t done much reporting on The Book Of Eli so far: we were waiting for a real first look at the film before we got too deep into it. Now we have that first look (thanks to USA Today), in the form of some production stills from the Albuquerque, New Mexico set of The Book OF Eli. Have a look:

Washington’s Eli comes to a fork in the road. Said Allen Hughes:

Eli’s iPod has run out of juice and to the right is the road that leads into Carnegie’s (Oldman) town. Eli makes the decision to go into town, power up his iPod and refill his canteen.

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: November 23, 2008

Niall Browne — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:09:35 +0000

This Week:

Timothy Olyphant is Crazy; an Arrested Development film is in development; Jason Bourne appears to just keep coming; Brian Grazer has stupid ideas for Magnum P.I and Mila Kunis reads The Book of Eli.

Box Office

It was predicted and it came to pass. Teen vampire film Twilight took a huge bite out of the box office this weekend with a massive gross of $73 million. The sequel(s) have already been given the green and it looks like this $37 million flick is going to be hugely profitable for fledgling studio Summit. Writer Stephanie Meyer, director Catherine Hardwicke and stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart should be pretty happy this weekend. I wonder if they’ve ever heard of type-casting?

Daniel Craig’s second James Bond outing should shoot up another $30 million over the weekend giving the 007 adventure a total gross of $110 million. By Monday morning Quantum of Solace should have grossed a fantastic $415 million worldwide. Expect James Bond to return.

Animated film Bolt is fighting for the runner-up spot with Bond. Expect the John Travolta – Miley Cyrus doggie film to bark up about $30 million. Animated sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa should bank another $14-15 million over the weekend while sleeper hit Role Models should make another $6-7 million. Clint Eastwood’s Changeling seems to be coming to a close with another $3 million this weekend. If awards don’t hit this thing then it will be seen as a major disappointment. It shouldn’t really harm Eastwood’s or Angelina Joile’s careers though.

Movie News

1. Hitman star Timothy Olyphant has signed on to star in a remake of George Romero’s The Crazies. According to The Hollywood Reporter:

“The story revolves around the inhabitants of a small Kansas town who are beset by death and insanity after a plane crash lets loose a secret biological weapon into the water supply. Olyphant is playing the town’s sheriff.”

Just what we need – another horror remake. However, having said that Olyphant has a certain charisma, so he might bring something to this.

Sahara director Breck Eisner (son of Michael) will direct the film.

When movie executives are taking meetings with the actor – do think that they don’t want to talk about the Olyphant in the room?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

2. For fans of Arrested Development there have long been rumblings that a feature film would find its way to the big screen. Many thought that the film had been arrested in development hell, but this week producer (and narrator) of the original show Ron Howard and creator Mitch Hurwitz have apparently signed deals for the film.

Personally I’ve never seen the show, but it has a lot of hardcore fans so, if they’re happy – then I guess that I am too.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

3. Hollywood loves a franchise, we all know that. The public love a franchise too – there’s nothing like going to see characters return like old friends every few years. Well, it looks like we are going to be seeing a lot more of Jason Bourne.

Earlier in the year Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass signed on to make a fourth adventure in the spy series, but now it looks like Universal want to go all Bond on Bourne and keep making films.

The studio has bought exclusive rights to the character of Jason Bourne and a first look option on other Robert Ludlum novels.

Source: Variety

4. Brian Grazer has shot down the rumor that Matthew McConaughey will star in a big screen version of Magnum P.I.

Speaking to MTV the producer said:

“I think the idea for Magnum P.I. is to find a counterpoint, to not try and find the new Tom Selleck but to find someone that is just so different that you go, oh my God! That guy is Magnum?!?

It’s so much about casting. You have to find the actor that adds through his own personality something to the title.”

Brian -I think that is completely stupid. It’s just a stupid idea. IF Tom Selleck isn’t going to be Magnum then McConaughey is perfect casting. Finding a bizarre choice – just for the sake of stunt casting reeks of stupidity.

You can quote me on that!

Source: MTV

5. Mila Kunis will be joining Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman in The Book of Eli.

In the film:

“A lone hero named Eli (Washington) who must fight his way across the wasteland of a near-future America to protect a sacred book that might hold the key to saving the future of humanity.”

According to the Hollywood Reporter:

“Kunis plays a woman named Solara, at first enlisted to betray Eli, she ultimately joins him in his quest”

The film starts shooting in February.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: November 2, 2008

Niall Browne — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:42:23 +0000

Welcome to the first Weekend Movie News Wrap Up of November. Let’s see what movie news we can read to take our minds off buying Christmas presents.

This week:

Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman read The Book of Eli; Samuel L. Jackson is a Dragon; Ridley Scott is howling; Shyamalan is a Devil and just what is Genesis: Apes?

Box Office

Halloween hit the box office hard this week! It’s no surprise that Saw V mutilated the number one spot on Friday with a gross of just over $3 million. Look for the horror franchise pic to gross $9-10 million by Monday morning.

Clint Eastwood’s Changeling should also make some change in the $9-10 million range over the weekend. However, expect the Angelina Jolie film to have legs like…er… Angelina Jolie. High School Musical 3 dropped by a terrifying 90% on Halloween night grossing a mere $1.7 million. Don’t worry Effronettes that’s because most of you were out trick or treating. The film should have banked enough on Saturday and Sunday to ensure it grosses about $10 million over the weekend.

Kevin Smith must be tad disappointed. Zak and Miri Make a Porno was supposed to open with around $18-20 million over the weekend – ensuring that this movie would break his final ceiling gross of $30 million. Looks like it won’t happen. The R-rated comedy should end the weekend with about half the expected gross, meaning a $8-9 million weekend.

Meanwhile the Haunting of Molly Hartly died a grisly death on its opening. Expect a ghastly $5 million weekend for the fright-pic.

Meanwhile here in the UK Quantum of Solace (check out my review here) killed all the competition with a record breaking opening day. The James Bond adventure took a mighty £4.94 million on Friday – the biggest Friday gross ever here! By comparison Casino Royale grossed £2.9m on its first day.

Movie News

1. Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman will team for the post apocalyptic western The Book of Eli. The film will be directed by The Hughes Brothers (From Hell), and the plot follows Washington as he tries to protect the titular book that could save the human race.

It’s good to see Oldman back on bad guy duties!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

2. The always busy Samuel L. Jackson will star as Sho’nuff, the Shogun of Harlem in a remake of the 1985 film The Last Dragon. According to The Hollywood Reporter:

“The updated plot will be along the same lines of the original, centering on young martial arts student Leroy Green in his quest through the streets of New York to achieve the highest level of martial arts accomplishment, known as the Last Dragon. Those who achieve the high ranking possess the Glow, making them the greatest fighter alive.”

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

3. Ridley Scott has acquired the rights to a werewolf movie written by Ian Jeffers. No details are known about the project but I wouldn’t hold your breath on Scott directing, the 71 year old has about a billion projects attached to his name. Although, having said that he might need a hit after Body of Lies. Russell Crowe as a werewolf? Seems possible.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

4. In July we told you M. Night Shyamalan had signed a deal with Media Rights Capital to form The Night Chronicles, a financing and production partnership that aims to produce one thriller a year for the next three years. Well now we can tell you that the first film from the shingle will be the supernatural thriller Devil.

John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle will direct and executive produce the film that was written by Brian Nelson.

Could be good, could be bad. I think it depends on your view of Shyamalan.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

5. Word on the street is that 20^th Century Fox has been developing a reboot of The Planet of The Apes. Apparently this film will have nothing to do with Tim Burton’s 2001 effort, but it will be a prequel film showing how the apes took over the earth!

According to CHUD:

“Things are different in this script, written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, which is called Genesis: Apes. Fans will know that Caesar in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is the result of a massive temporal paradox – his parents escaped to 1973 from a far future Earth. Further, Conquest takes place in a dystopian ‘future’ – 1991 – while Genesis: Apes is set in the modern day.

In this version Caesar is the result of a genetic scientist fooling around with the nature of things. When the baby monkey exhibits intelligence and the ability to talk, he takes the cuddly thing home to his wife, who is unable to bear children. Things go surprisingly well for a number of years until Caesar grows up and sees mommy getting attacked. The dutiful son steps in and accidentally kills the attacker.

Here’s where it takes off. In a scene paralleling Charlton Heston in the cage in the original Planet of the Apes, Caesar ends up in custody at an Ape Conservatory where he and the other apes are abused mercilessly. Caesar finds himself a primate without a world – he’s as smart as humans but will never be one of them (and is in fact tortured by them) and he’s initially rejected by his monkey brethren.”

This all sounds rather crazy and very much unlike the current regime at Fox. CHUD is skeptical that the film will ever see the light of day (as am I) but it would be a good way to reboot the franchise. The only problem is that it takes away the impact of the ending to the original film – if that is the way that they wanted to go in future films.

It’s a nifty and ballsy idea – but I don’t think that it is Planet of the Apes. The original is an iconic masterpiece that can’t be touched – but it would be fun to see a modern interpretation done with heart! As big a Tim Burton fan as I am, I felt that he did apes for the paycheck and his heart and visual styling weren’t in it. However, no one out there could really match Heston in the role (especially Mark Wahlberg) so a total change in franchise direction may be the only way to avoid comparisons to the original film (and franchise).

If Genesis: Apes does indeed make it to theatres I’d be amazed and impressed by Fox’s thinking. However, I can’t see that happening.

Source: CHUD

That’s it for another weekend. See you at the movies.

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