The
Reel
Editor: Anna Jefferson
New DVD
Releases
May 5th
Selma Black or White
Spare Parts Black Sea
Mr. Turner Miss Julie
May 8th
Fifty Shades of Grey
May 12th
Mortdecai Still Alice
Blackhat Extraterrestrial
The Cobbler Just Before I Go
Kingsman: The Secret Service
May 19th
American Sniper
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out
of Water
May 26th
Seventh Son The Loft
The Duff Sons of Liberty
May 29th
Unfinished Business
The
Invisible
Returns
Man
The works of H.G. Wells have sparked
the imaginations of readers and film
audiences throughout the past couple of
decades, and its not hard to see why. His
fantastical premises, mixed with enough
scientific thought to be grounded in a
reality, have provided great imagination
fuel which filmmakers have used to adapt
several different versions of his greatest
works. Now, one such work is going to
be resurrected. Prepare yourself for the
return of The Invisible Man.
The Tracking Board broke the
scoop that Sony is beginning
development on their own
telling of the classic story, with
Lucy Fisher and Douglas
Wick being named as the
producers shepherding the
project into reality. Oddly enough, Wick
had previously brought another invisible
man into the world via a Sony banner,
as he was a producer on the 2000
Kevin Bacon film
Hollow Man. So
making someone
disappear
shouldnt be too
hard for Wick and his producing partner.
Even stranger is the fact that if you
took Hollow Mans synopsis, and made
it into an assuredly PG-13 suspense
thriller, youd have something extremely
close to what the following details
on the projects approach suggest:
The studio is developing a new spin that
will make the Invisible Man the villain of
the film, with the audience following the
May
hero that is tasked to hunt him down.
Considering that the original novel, the
1933 Universal classic, and the Kevin Bacon
thriller all see our protagonist engage in
the typical descent into madness, this
doesnt feel like that new of a spin on the
story. Each version of the character seems
to go mad and try to use their new found
freedom from morals in a plot to create
chaos and anarchy - and each scenario
sees our invisible man dead in the end. The
big difference is that the classic Universal
Monsters version of the story
tries to redeem our protagonist
through death, giving him one
last moment to admit that the
powers hes discovered are
something humanity should
not have in their grasp.
Which leads to the obvious wrinkle in
the plans of Sonys new, more antagonistic
reboot of The Invisible Man: Universal
is still developing their own version
of the property, which will
undoubtedly be at least
somewhat based off
of the 1933 film. So
while Sonys version
of the project will have us rooting for Griffin
to be taken down by whatever hero is cast
to take him down, Universals version will
most likely be a story of misguided science,
minimal insanity, and a mans quest to
become human again. In other words, the
Universal version of The Invisible Man will
fit in perfectly with the shared universe
that began with Dracula Untold.
Unfriended Again?
Photo courtesy of cinemablend.com
Unfriended is exactly the kind of
film studios love. Its a movie that was
produced for practically nothing and
made millions at the box office. After
debuting in U.S. theaters on April 17, the
film has earned more than $25 million.
So it shouldnt come as a major shocker
that Universal has green lit Unfriended 2.
According to Bloody Disgusting, the sequel
to Unfriended, which is being hailed by
critics as the most creative horror film of
the year, is officially in the works. Nelson
Avengers: Age of Ultron got the summer
blockbuster ball rolling this weekend,
bringing the same massive audience turn
out that it has enjoyed around the world for
the last week. But, as big as its launch was,
there wasnt quite enough cash to top its
predecessor.
Age of Ultron banked $187 million this
weekend, the second largest domestic
opening ever. The sequel missed the mark
Greaves, who
wrote the script
for the first film,
is already drafting
the treatment
for Unfriended 2.
Unfriended was
produced by Timur
Bekmambetov and
directed by Leo
Gabriadze. Taking
place entirely
on a MacBook
screen, the film
follows six high
school friends who
receive a Skype message from their
deceased classmate, Laura Barns. A year
earlier, a video was anonymously posted
online, showing her drunk and passed out
at a party, and led her to commit suicide.
Her ghost returned to seek vengeance on
all six of her classmates in an attempt to
scare them into revealing who posted the
video. The premise sounds a bit juvenile,
but the results were widely praised.
Unfriended marked another successful
venture from Blumhouse Productions,
Avengers
Barely Misses
the Mark
set by Avengers in 2012 by $20 million. The
question now is whether or not it will hold
up in the long haul to out-gross the first
Avengers flick and its $623 million domestic
total and $1.5 billion international grand
total.
Marvel Studios now holds the top
three all-time biggest opening weekends.
Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron hold
the first and second place spots with $207
million and $187 million respectively while
Iron Man 3 has third highest with its 2013
$174 million debut.
Everything else in theaters took an
expected hit, dipping harder than usual
by 55%-70% from last weekend under the
weight of the super hero dynamo. The one
exception was Cinderella which dropped
only 15%, jumping back into the top ten on
its eighth weekend in release.
which has essentially been the purveyor
of micro-budget horror flicks since
Paranormal Activity. If Insidious, The
Purge, Sinister, and, yes, even Ouija are
indications, these folks have pretty much
mastered the formula for little cost, big
rewards. As they learned through Ouija,
which was bashed by critics but still racked
up enough money to warrant a sequel,
theres a market for horror aimed at teens.
Unfriended definitely hit that note with
its central cyberbullying subject matter.
Its unclear where a story for Unfriended
2 might go. As Gabriadze and Greaves
told Indiewire in an interview, most of
the script, such as the chat messages,
was actually written in post, while it was
suggested that the actors improvise in
order to establish genuine reactions.
The essence of Unfriended was to film
a horror story within the confines of a
Skype conversation, which the filmmakers
likened to The Blair Witch Project. Taking
something fresh like this and trying to
replicate its success with the same framing
device but a different situation could easily
go the cheap route. So far, though, theres
no real sign that Unfriended 2 will bomb.
What To Look
For This Summer
Paper Towns
July 24, 2015
Adapted from the bestselling novel by
author John Green (The Fault in Our Stars),
Paper Towns is a coming-of-age story
centering on Quentin and his enigmatic
neighbor Margo, who loved mysteries so
much she became one. After taking him
on an all-night adventure through their
hometown, Margo suddenly disappears-
-leaving behind cryptic clues for Quentin
to decipher. The search leads Quentin and
his quick-witted friends on an exhilarating
adventure that is equal parts hilarious and
moving. Ultimately, to track down Margo,
Quentin must find a deeper understanding
of true friendship--and true love.