Calling All Heroes

With today's current stagnant economy, high unemployment, political unrest, and slew of recent natural disasters, it's no wonder that the populace still seeks to escape from harsh realities by watching movies. And what better way than watching a movie about heroes?

This summer's fare of films will not disappoint. New heroes to the scene will be "Green Lantern" (Ryan Reynolds), "Captain America" (Chris Evans), and "Thor" (Chris Hemsworth). Returning heroes Jack Sparrow of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", Sam Witwicky of "Transformers: Dark of the Moon", and "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2".

These movies don't just represent an escape to the fantasy world on our part. They symbolize the hope that the inner heroes in all of us can relate to these characters who live a life of doing the right thing, and when called upon, can emerge super.

The Next Generation...

In contemplating the future of movies, there are a few young actors on the horizon that have shown signs of becoming one of the great ones. I've picked two that I believe that,if they can stay true to their art, and not let the distractions of Hollywood consume them (yes, Lindsay Lohan, this means you), they can are great role models for prospective young actors and actresses still yet to be discovered

Abigail Breslin's first role in the movie thriller "Signs" earned her much praise from both audiences and fellow actors, for her serious focus on her role. Her film,"Little Miss Sunshine", a comedy drama, garnered her a nomination for an Academy Award. Even though she did not win the Oscar, her talent shows that it will be only a matter of when she will win it, not if she will win it.

Shia LeBouf first entered the scene as a cast member on the Disney Channel sitcom "Even Stevens", where he played the typical mischievous, pain-in-the-neck younger brother Louis Stevens. His talent was soon to be recognized on a rollercoaster of popular movies, the "Transformers" movies, "Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", "Wall Street 2", "Disturbia", and "Eagle Eye".  His ability to play diverse roles in the many genres of movies - comedies, action, drama, science fiction - have established him as a very talented artist.

The Expendables 2?

Expendables, starring Sylvester Stallone and many others, was a box office hit. Could we see a sequel in the future? According to Stallone, one is in the works and he will not direct or write it, as he did for the first one.

A planned August 17, 2012 release, it will reportedly feature Vin Diesel, Chuck Norris, and many other actions stars. I am excited for this sequel, the first one was really good, it reminded me of the 80's action films. So hopefully we hear more about the plot details and the definite actors.

Here's a fan made poster i found online, it shows the actors that might be in the film.

More Movie Theaters types?

We are all used to going to a first run movie theaters and used to the smell of popcorn and expenisve tickets. But could the movie theater idea be re worked into specialty theaters? For example, one of the theaters in your area could be theater that shows just black and white films or kids movies. Maybe a couple theaters in your area could also serve you food and beverages right to your chair.

These are a couple of ideas brought up on the internet to further the life of an movie theater. One idea was to have theaters that either show one kind of movie or format. For example go to a theater to see all black and white films, either old ones or new ones. Another example is the theater will be a kid friendly theater, complete with a kid friendly snack bar, bathrooms and theatre. Maybe bathrooms inside the theater, so adults dont miss the show and its convenient. Also the kid friendly theater would also not have cranky adults who are there on dates and get mad for kids distrubting the show. It would be a kid friendly theater.

A new theater that has been out the last few years but will see if it last in the future and maybe this will be the way theaters go. The concept is a theater crew member will bring you food and drinks. You can sit in your seat in the theater and order a steak dinner with a beer, all from the comfort in you chair. No more long lines, and missing your show. There are already a couple locations throughout the country, but time will tell this will catch on and make movie theaters very upscale.

Another idea to change the movie theater landscape, well my idea for the future, is to bring back drive in theaters. This would be a great way to go green and save money on building huge 20 theater buildings. I never been to one, but there are not too many left currently, but i feel if they brought them back and they had the old rate of a set price for a car load, i know they would be popular. The drive in theater model, only uses a set amount of acres and the use of speakers are not needed, just need your car stereo. I think this would be awesome, sit in your car and watch a movie.

In the future, movie theaters will be changing alot, hopefully they wont go the drain, because i like getting away and spending time with my girlfriend and see a movie at the local theater.

Smurfs, time to relive your childhood

What color does a smurf to turn and when you squeeze them? I do not know, but i do know that coming to a movie theatre near you, the smurfs will appear and be a 3D and cgi film. Heres the plot right from Wikipedia:

"Set in the Middle Ages, the evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) discovers the Smurfs' village and chases them into a wooded area. The Smurfs get scattered and Clumsy Smurf (voiced by Anton Yelchin) wanders into a "forbidden" grotto and some of the other Smurfs follow. Since it's also a blue moon, a magical portal within the grotto transports them into present-day Central Park in New York.^[4] They take shelter with married couple Patrick and Grace Winslow (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays) and try to find a way back to their village before Gargamel finds them"

Although, i did not grow up watching smurfs, i do remember seeing reruns on cartoon network and on tv, so im pretty excited for this. The is a rumor there will be a sequel or two to follow. So look forward it to be released this summer, either late July or August.

Reboots and Remakes Coming?

Finding the next original movie idea is harder than finding a needle in a hay stack. Since, its alot easier to take a movie previously created and remake with some different elements, could we see a rise in remakes and reboots. For example, The Batman Series, The next installment of the Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan, but after its release in 2012, Warner Brothers plans on rebooting the series shortly after.

I understand that Batman is high grossing franchise, but do it so quick??? Literally the last 20 years, have been 6 total films. But then again the Batman character will be reprised for the Justice League film, so althought its being rebooted, its getting reboot for a good reason.

Another example, The upcoming release of spiderman, it was original titled spiderman 4 but with delays and money problems, they decided to reboot it with a new director and cast

Im worried Hollywood will not come up with anymore ideas, and rely on past ones. So hopefully new ideas will be appearing on screen in the future.

BD-Live

There are radical changes on the horizon of how an audience watches a movie. There is a new technology called BD-Live that establishes a connection to the Internet to enhance your movie viewing experience by allowing viewer participation. The BD-Live works with a Blue Ray player or PS3. It allows viewers to save and share video clips of movies, participate in games and converse with other viewers while watching a movie.

The future of BD-Live is promising. It has the ability to establish a community base following for all movies, allowing the viewers to share knowledge or comments on the scenes as they are taking place. It also gives viewers the ability to converse with each other about other movies.

Walt Disney Studios figures prominently with the emergence of BD-Live. Many of the Disney films are available to the BD-Live community. This serves to enhance family bonding since family members across the country to view the movies together or play the games. Below is a link showing the many options BD-Live has for the consumer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F5uRBN03hA&feature=player_embedded

In the Near Future Will Animated Actors Replace Living Actors?

The future of computer animation will make it possible for the film industry to portray characters in movies without the need to employ human beings. The main challenge computer animators will face is the ability to match the animated character with human behavior, emotions and facial expressions.

Currently the film industry pays millions of dollars to actors and actresses to appear in their movies. The computer would simulate someone like Bruce Willis to portray a character and would pay Willis to license his face as a trademark. The executives would sit back and then let the computer do its magic. This technology would give animators the freedom to bring back deceased actors, such as Marlon Brando, to depict new characters. This would drastically reduce the overhead cost of the film makers and producers of paying out huge salaries to actors which could trickle down to movie-goers as a reduce cost to see the movie. Software development is the key to such an undertaking. This technology would give movie studios more flexibility and less dependence on high priced actors/actresses.

A risk this technology could encounter is if the movie industry can create such life-like animation, what would stop it from falling into the wrong hands and used as a way to manipulate the world. Suppose someone were able to reproduce a world leader to appear so life-like and have him/her give a speech that could have a negative impact on the world. It could be disastrous.

Smell-O-Vision

Imagine you are sitting in a dark movie theater and on the big screen the cast is sitting in a pizzeria enjoying a pepperoni pizza - suddenly the smell of pizza is wafting throughout the theater - this scenario is being considered by the movie industry.

Special machines will be placed underneath the theater sets and will be digitally controlled to emit smells during pivotal moments of the film. A floral scent will be released during a love scene, or a mixture of peppermint and rosemary will be used during an emotionally charged scene. Joy and happiness will be interpreted by a citrus mix of orange and grapefruit, while anger is depicted by the scent of eucalyptus and tree tea. The smell of gun smoke will saturate the air during an intense shoot-out. The use of these familiar scents is aimed at enhancing the audience's movie going experience.

Some problems with smell-o-vision is that the odors may not dissipate fast enough to keep up with the action on the screen, or the person sitting next to you is snacking down on a huge bucket of buttery popcorn or is wearing too much perfume clashing with the smells from the movie. What if people have severe allergies which are aggravated by the overpowering smells coursing throughout the theater? These problems would need to be addressed by the industry before such an endeavor can take place.

Having the access and ability to create smell-o-vision is just one part of the equation - there would be a need for it. There is a strong possibility the audience would grow tiresome of the constant barrage of smells. Smell-O-Vision is just a novelty at this time and whether is will bring people to the theater remains to be seen.

Are 3-D Movies making people sick?

Movie executives are predicting that 3-D movies are the wave of the future. But there is one little problem, people are getting sick from watching the special effects. Many viewers complain of feeling dizzy, nauseous, suffer from eyestrain and headaches.

AMC Entertainment is just one of several businesses that are currently upgrading theaters to accommodate this latest technology. The movie industry is moving forward in producing 3-D films regardless of the effects it has on the audience. The public has shown its lack of excitement over this latest trend. With 3-D movies costing on average $3 more per ticket, the box office is feeling the snub.

Berkeley's Visual Space Perception Laboratory is designing specialized 3-D glasses. The lens of these glasses are designed to accommodate the eye's natural inclination to focus on objects at various distances. The goal of these glasses is to reduce eyestrain. University of Arizona is working on a wearable helmet-like device whose purpose is to also reduce eyestrain. Is an audience willing to purchase these unique devices just to watch a movie? Time will tell. For now, sufferers can either close one eye while watching a 3-D flick or avoid going to see the movie.

Adapting Books into Movies

Many ideas for movie plots come from bestselling books. Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mocking Bird and The Color Purple became movie blockbusters, winning numerous awards and breaking box office records. The main problem with turning a wonderful book into a movie is that it usually strays from the original storyline.

Turning a book into a movie is quite difficult to do. Books rely on written descriptions and movies rely on imagery. Books inspire the reader's imagination. They dig in-depth into conversations, motivations and scenery. The book delves into the character's thoughts and emotions. The reader begins to envision what the character looks like and imagines the settings of the storyline. Each reader has their own individual vision of the story. A movie presents the characters, story and settings from one point of view - the director's. This can be disappointing to the reading public. Often the movie does not stick to the original plot. One dilemma screenwriters face when converting a book into a movie is taking the narrative and changing it into dialogue.

A book I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed was Water for Elephants. It is set during the depression and follows the story of a young man who dreams of being a veterinarian. His parents are killed forcing him to abandon college. To survive he joins a traveling circus. The movie version of this book opens April 22. It will be interesting to see how one person's vision of this story translates onto the big screen. The following link is the movie trailer of Water for Elephants.

http://www.chasingthefrog.com/catalog/video.php?vid=5261

Sequels Coming Soon?

Earlier in our blog, we did a post about sequels. Well now i will highlight a couple notable ones in production or being talk about to be made.

Men in Black 3:
Yes i know your all wondering, "really? they should have stopped after one" But its currently being filmed and thanks gosh Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones have reprised their roles in the 3rd film. The premise of the film they must go back to stop and alien from ruining the world. Actually Will Smith, Agent J, must go back in and see a young Agent K in order to save the word.
Planned Release date: May 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_in_Black_3

Monster University:
Sounds like a live action horror movie, but its actually the sequel to Monsters Inc, staring Billy Crystal and John Goodman. This is actually a prequel, documenting Sulley and Mike as they go to college and become best friends. This was obviolusly put into production after the success of Toy Story 3 and the great groundwork of the Monsters Inc. story created. When this comes out, i will be reliving my childhood again, just like TS3
Planned release date, Summer of 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsters_University#Prequel

CHiPs:
I know this is an older television series based on the day to day lives of two California Highway Patrolmen. This has been in development for many years and hopefully it will finally get made. I remember watching this show on reruns in late 90s on TNT and instantly go addicted. This was a tv series classic and would be a perfect one to make. One actor rumor to play Ponch is Wilmer Vederrama. He looks just like Erik Estrada and he fits the part.
Estimated released date, 2013 http://www.movieinsider.com/m3210/chips/
Chi

The Future: Cinema Dying?

With Netflex and Redbox taking over, and the time movies are released to Dvd and those companies, will we see the Cinema die? With big companies such as Fox and Warner Bros. planning to started a movie rental service that allows people to watch first run movies 2 months after they released. For about 30$ a movie, you can rent them HD and watch them in the comfort of your own home. Save money on gas, tickets, and food at the theater. So will movie theatres die if everyone rents them at home?
Movie Theaters make their money on a percentage of ticket sales and most of it on concession sales. So if 50% of there of loyal customers decide to stay home and watch a movie, then your neighborhood theater will go under.

This is one thing happening in the future:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-04-04/home-premiere-service-could-kill-the-movie-theater-experience/