Ok, if you aren’t fully convinced about Speed Racer’s potential, watch this, it should push you over to the other side of the fence. But it you’re a little Speed Racered (I know it’s not a real word, sound awesome though) you should watch it anyway…you know you want to.

Just as The Matrix films did with the Animatrix DVD release, there will be a collection of 6 animated stories released on DVD as Batman: Gotham Knight. Supposedly these stories take place between the events of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and sort of “sets the stage” for the upcoming summer movie. Yahoo has just released a trailer for the DVD and it looks very interesting.

The DVD will be released July 8th and the 6 directors involved in the project are Yasuhiro Aoki, Futoshi Higashide, Toshiyuki Kubooka, Hiroshi Morioka, Jong-Sik Nam, Shoujirou Nishimi.

Screenrant.com has posted some new details regarding the next Star Trek movie, directed by J.J. Abrams and coming out Summer ‘09. There was a Star Trek panel at Creation Entertainment’s 16th Annual GRAND SLAM: THE SCI-FI SUMMIT in Burbank, CA over the weekend and these are the key points:

• The budget on the film is far below $200MM.
• The film will be rated PG-13.
• The release date was pushed back to summer ‘09 because Paramount really wants it to be a summer blockbuster.
• The intent was to re-invent the Star Trek franchise, and that is why they went all the way back to start at the beginning.
• The script was written with Leonard Nimoy in mind. Nimoy read the script and liked it. It seems he’s so pivotal to the story that they would have had a big problem if he hadn’t liked it.
• Yes, the USS Enterprise will be assembled in space, although parts of it will be assembled on Earth.
• Orci revealed that originally Steven Spielberg read the script and talked to J.J. Abrams about directing it during a set visit to the Transformers set. Abrams mentioned it to his wife, who also helped talk him into the final decision to take on the potentially scary project.
• Nimoy was there and said that Star Trek 11 is a gigantic movie. It’s the biggest film he’s ever worked on and that it will be worth waiting for. He also said that Paramount is losing money on this investment now because they really have a lot of faith in the film as a summer blockbuster.
• He also went on to say that he didn’t like the death of Kirk in Star Trek: Generations. He resented it. He then went on to say that it would have been damaging to the story to put Shatner in the film

This definitely feeds the speculation on what the movie is actually about. I agree with Nimoy that Generations pretty much sucked. But Kirk doesn’t have to be in everything, get over it. If you’re going to “reboot” the thing, then reboot it and don’t look back. I have to wonder though, are they going to “reboot” this thing every ten years or so and just keep it going forever?

Greetings, Screenhead.net. My name is Samuel D. Jennings and I will be a contributing writer here at Screenhead.net. I love movies, I know lots of otherwise useless movie trivia, and I get personally offended when a movie sucks (I’m looking at you, Jessica Alba). I look forward to sharing my highly opinionated views with you.

To read more about where I’m coming from, here is an opinion-piece I wrote on actors just before this years Oscars: Continue reading →

An interesting sci-fi movie which hasn’t received as much attention as it should have since its release is Renaissance. The story is based in Paris, the year 2054, in a totalitarian world where all movement is recorded. It follows the tradition of movies such as Blade Runner and Minority Report. What makes the movie interesting is the animation, done in black and white only and with amazing cinematography.

Tag Line: Paris 2054. Live forever or die trying.
Director: Christian Volckman

Natalie Portman is said to star in the new adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights as the story’s protagonist, Catherine Earnshaw. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be produced by Ecosse from a script penned by Olivia Hetreed, famous for Girl with a Pearl Earring. John Maybury will direct. Colin Ferrell has been said to also be considering signing on to the project.

88 Minutes: Al Pacino stars as a college professor/forensic psychologist who recieves a death threat which informs him that he has 88 minutes to live (how convenient that he has a feature length amount of time left) He is forced to use his skills to figure out who wants to kill him.

The Forbidden Kingdom is a kung-fu comedy about an American kid who zooms off to ancient China where he has to help free a king. I don’t like to pass judgement, but this doesn’t look like it has much promise.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the latest Apatow produced comedy, about a man who gets dumped by his girlfriend of six years, and find that trying to forget her isn’t as easy as he thought it would be.

Also opening are:

• Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden Morgan Spurlock’s newest documentary, in which he travels to the Middle East to discuss the war on terror. It’s opening to a limited release (i.e. 100 theaters) so count yourself lucky if you catch this one.
• Pathology is the story of  group of medical students who decide to attempt to commit the perfect murder.
• The Life Before Her Eyes is director Perelman’s follow up to The House of Sand and Fog. Starring Uma Thurman whose life starts to fall apart when she recalls a crime that happened 15 years ago that killed her best friend. Hmm…doesn’t sound like there is much of a story and the release (8 theaters) may be a hint as to its quality.