Ray Bradbury's 'Dandelion Wine' Latest for 'Black Swan' Producer

Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury, author of The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, A Sound of Thunder and, perhaps most famously, Fahrenheit 451.  And what better way to celebrate turning 91 than with official news of your semi-autobiographical novel Dandelion Wine heading to the big screen?  

First published in full in 1957, Dandelion Wine is actually a collection of short stories that mostly revolve around a 12-year old boy living in 1928 small town America discovering a wondrous world, and his place in it, for the first time.  It's a meditation on that pivotal summer we all experienced as young boys and girls; that one summer where the bright sun made everything seem magical, where you first realized that people weren't only mortal, but that they were interesting because they're mortal.  Or, in the words of Bradbury himself, "Dandelion Wine is my most deeply personal work and brings back memories of sheer joy as well as terror. This is the story of me as a young boy and the magic of an unforgettable summer which still holds a mystical power over me."

Black Swan producer Mike Medavoy, who has apparently held a fascination with the novel ever since adapting it as a film student in Soviet Russia years ago, and his producing partner Doug McKay will be shepherding the production alongside Bradbury and the husband and wife team of Natasha Shliapnikoff and Rodion Nahapetov, with the latter being the one actually penning the screenplay.

Did You Know: The '101 Dalmatians' Sequel Could Have Been a Weird Sci-Fi Tale?

Whenever you think about Disney's adorable dogs with spots in the 1961 animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians, you never think about sci-fi. But the author who wrote the story that inspired the movie, Dodie Smith, created a sequel to her novel about a bunch of pups that try to escape the evil Cruella de Vil -- and it includes extraterrestrial dogs, a nuclear war plotline, and other strange touches.

Both film sequels to the '60's version and the 1996 live-action movie -- 101 Dalmatians II and 102 Dalmatians -- have no connection to Smith's 1967 children's novel The Starlight Barking. Perhaps if the Mickey Mouse studio had looked at the bizarre sci-fi tale, their follow-ups to the popular classic animated movie would have been more successful than a direct-to-video release and a subpar Glenn Close film. 

The Starlight Barking picks up after the first novel, finding the Dalmatians waking up to a world where humans and animals have fallen into a deep sleep. The pooches travel to London to find out what's going on, but they don't hop a plane -- instead they "swoosh" or levitate. Weird. Eventually they meet up with an E.T. dog that tells them that they can hitch a ride to space with him in order to be safe from the dangers of nuclear war on Earth. It's a tough decision for Pongo -- who assumes the role as leader of the pack. Stay or go? 

Would you buy a ticket to see a movie about alien canines and flying dogs, trading 60's nuclear paranoia for Middle East tensions?

The Avengers' Countdown - D23 Footage Hypes the Hulk

John Gholson is a life-long Avengers fanboy who has previously covered all manner of superhero news at AOL. After dabbling with comic book self-publishing in the '90s, John moved on to study sequential art at the Savannah College of Art & Design, and currently produces a regular web comic, ‘Appetite for Destruction,’ for Tapsauce.com. He’ll also buy any comic with Hawkeye on the cover. You can read his Avengers Countdown here at Movies.com every other Monday.

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Opinions are mixed on Disney’s presentation for The Avengers at D23, the yearly fan expo for all things Disney. On the one hand, they showed a new trailer (twice); but on the other hand, that was all they showed, letting down some who expected Disney to pull out all the stops after waffling on Marvel’s participation at San Diego Comic Con.

The new footage, introduced by the principal cast, featured more Loki, positioning him as The Avengers’ number one bad guy, and, from the sound of it, a surprising amount of discussion concerning the Hulk (though the character was only featured in the closing shot of the new teaser). Fans went nuts for the following exchange:

Loki: “I have an army.”

Iron Man: “We have a Hulk.”

Interesting that Hulk, the least of these characters from a box office standpoint, is evoking such a strong reaction amongst fans. I think audiences are excited by Hulk’s wild card factor, one that should carry over from the comics to the screen. We know what Iron Man, Cap, and Thor are like on their own, but what are they like when working side-by-side with an unstoppable force of nature like the Hulk? Will they be able to control him? Will he be able to control himself?

The character should provide an x-factor to the typical superhero movie formula, and it will be interesting to see how Hulk figures into the team when all is said and done.

 

Avengers News Assembled

-- People hanging out near the Avengers’ set in Cleveland captured some FX-free footage of Thor fighting back-to-back with Captain America. It’s 100% spoiler-free, if you’re curious.

-- Facebook has free playable video games in their Marvel Arcade app, including ones based on Avengers like Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and Black Widow. (Although not Avengers-related, I have to give special kudos to whoever it was that decided to turn Marvel’s Damage Control into a video game.)

-- Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada answered questions over the weekend at D23, Disney’s massive, public expo. Precious little new information on The Avengers is addressed, but it’s worth a look.

-- ’Shattered Heroes’ is the new title for the comic book mini-series previously announced at SDCC as ‘Battle Scars.’ The cross-over is a follow-up to ‘Fear Itself,’ and shines a light on how the Avengers’ Big Three (Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man) deal with the fall-out from that Earth-shattering event.

 

The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Episode Guide

Season 1, Episode 6: “Breakout Part 1”

In this episode: All Hell breaks loose. Someone has orchestrated a mass prison break amongst all four of the super-powered pens. While SHIELD scrambles to straighten the mess, heroes like Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man, and Thor discover they’re no good at individually containing such a breakout.

Marvel Universe Watch: There are a ton of B-level Marvel baddies running around in this episode, including first appearances by The Red Ghost, Crimson Dynamo, Constrictor, Living Laser, Zzzax, and Whiplash. I can’t lump the first appearance of Baron Zemo in with that group because he’s A-list all the way. I’m hoping he gets more screen time when Captain America shows up again. This episode also contains the cartoon origin of Doc Samson, who’s gamma-irradiated during the Cube breakout.

 

Season 1, Episode 7: “Breakout Part 2”

In this episode: Picking up where Part 1 left off, SHIELD finds their hands full against a villain of their own creation, Graviton. After continually getting their butts handed to them, the heroes are able to convince SHIELD to loose the Hulk against Graviton. By the end of the episode, the heroes (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Wasp, and Hank Pym) decide to band together, functioning separately from SHIELD, as The Avengers.

Both Part 1 and Part 2 are one, big, long slugfest. Character development can still be found in moments like the one where Wasp refuses to back down, against Pym’s advice, even after seeing Thor suffer defeat at the hands of Graviton, or the moment in which Banner asserts some control over the mind of the Hulk, leading him into battle.

Marvel Universe Watch: You get the Avengers! Finally! What more do you want?

The Avengers, a Joss Whedon film, stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth. There are 256 days until release.

Video Sequel Attack! More 'Hellraiser', 'Howling', 'Wrong Turn', and 'Children of the Corn'!

We the loyal horror fans love to throw up our hands and complain (almost exclusively on twitter) whenever a new Hollywood remake rears its head. (But when a half-decent one like Fright Night shows up, nobody seems to care. Weird.) And it's true that recent years have been inundated by a non-stop deluge of horror remakes, sequels, remakes, prequels, remakes, and reboots. But mostly remakes. 

For a moment let us instead look ahead to the next few months on the video store shelves. We're looking at some titles that could make the worst of the Hollywood remakes (koffTHEFOGkoff) seem like masterworks from James Whale and David Cronenberg. Well, not really. I was just exagerrating to make a point. Anyway, check out these inevitable winners:

Children of the Corn: Genesis

If you include video and TV flicks -- and you'd have to -- this will be the tenth (!) film in the series. And I use the word "series" lightly. Lazy producers have been pecking on this corny corpse since 1984, and there seems to be no end in sight. The writer/director on Part 10 is Joel Soisson, who has more sequels in his credits than the actors who played Blondie and Dagwood. This one hits the bins next Tuesday, should you be as morbidly curious as I (obviously) am.

 

 

 

Hellraiser: Revelations

When Clive Barker takes to his own twitter feed to rabidly deny any involvement with a film -- you should listen. Internet buzz indicates that the Dimension boys (Harvey and Bob) cranked this sequel out in a hurry just so they could retain the rights to the property. Yes, they still have vague plans of remaking the original Hellraiser, although we'd kinda hoped that project was dead in the water by now. This will be the ninth chapter in this long-since-worthless franchise, and it comes from the writer of Megalodon and the director of the surprisingly bad Return to House on Haunted Hill. Oh, and for the first time ever ... Doug Bradley is not playing Pinhead. I wish Clive Barker could sue for defamation of a once-badass concept. This one hits on October 18. And what a stupid cover.

 

 

The Howling Reborn

Did you know there were seven sequels to The Howling? Did you know there was a film called The Howling? There was. It came out in 1981, as did Wolfen and An American Werewolf in London. Anyway, the last "chapter" hit video in 1995, but now we have a new Anchor Bay video release to kick around. It comes from first-time writer/director Joe Nimziki and it stars Lindsey Shaw and Ivana Milecivic, which is good news because they're both pretty. I know nothing about the plot, and let's be frank: it's probably better that way. This one also hits on 10/18, so feel free to settle in with a Hellraiser: Revelations / The Howling Reborn double feature, you rabid horror geek, you.

 

Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings

The first Wrong Turn was a nice splash of dark studio horror. The first sequel was made for video, but it was actually pretty damn fun. The second sequel was ... seriously not good. But Fox went ahead and gave Declan O'Brien a second shot, and the result is known as Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings. (Spoiler: it's a prequel.) One would have hoped for an all-new director, what with Mr. O'Brien busy doing stuff like Cyclops and Sharktopus* for Roger Corman, but nope: he's back for some more Wrong Turn, and this time he's written the screenplay too. Man, I can't wait to see how those cannibalistic hillbilly mutants ... got ... that way... Meh, sounds boring. (*Note: Cyclops and Sharktopus are two separate films. If "Cyclops and Sharktopus" ever does become an actual movie, somebody owes me a check.)

 

Watch: 'The Muppet Show' Theme Song Gets an OK Go Music Video

Not long ago we told you about The Muppets Green Album, which was an album full of Muppet-themed covers from bands like Weezer, My Morning Jacket, The Fray, OK Go and more. The album was just another in a long line of smart marketing maneuvers on the part of Disney as it tries to inject The Muppets back into popular culture as they get ready to debut an all-new Muppet movie this November 23rd.

And to promote The Green Album, they just released the first music video for The Muppet Show theme song, as covered by OK Go. Essentially it looks like every other quirky, hipster-ish OK Go music video, but with Muppets invading the space throughout. Highlights for us include the part where the band and The Muppets switch places, as well as the cameo from Statler and Waldorf ... because when don't those two angry old men steal the show?

Check it out below, as well as a behind-the-scenes clip.

Tune In: MTV to Air First 'Hunger Games' Footage This Sunday

Sure, MTV is hosting their annual VMAs (Video Music Awards) this Sunday, but there's still room to squeeze in a movie preview, right? Tossing Twilight aside this year, MTV will premiere the first footage from The Hunger Games during the VMAs this Sunday night, at which time it will also be available online. Jennifer Lawrence, who stars as the film's main character, Katniss Everdeen, will be on hand to introduce what we imagine will be some sort of teaser trailer for the highly-anticipated potential Twilight replacement, due in theaters on March 23rd, 2012.

We'll have the footage here at Movies.com once it's up along with reactions from our Hunger Games Countdown columnist Perri Nemiroff, as well as all the major Hunger Games fansites. So make sure to skip on over to our house to get the full rundown on the big footage premiere once it arrives.

Easter Eggs: Christopher Lloyd Teaches Kids About the Flux Capacitor in 'Jack and the Beanstalk'

The Fright Night remake may have flopped at the box office (despite largely positive reviews), but Colin Farrell’s wickedly cool portrayal of a modern-day bloodsucker still had us thinking about classic creatures of the silver screen at When Can I Watch headquarters.

Vampires are the rage. From the Twilight Saga to True Blood, the undead have never been more alive. But where can parents begin educating curious kids on Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, Count Dracula and the denizens of Transylvania. What, are you going to pop in Stephen Sommers’ Van Helsing? That’s child abuse.

Good thing there’s The Monster Squad, Fred Dekker’s ripped-from-the-drive-in horror comedy that has street-smart and pop-culture-savvy suburban teenagers standing up to vintage versions of the creatures that crawled from Universal’s scare vault. Think of it as the grandfather of Attack the Block. It’s also an ideal bridge from the animated adventures of Scooby Doo to the filmography of Boris Karloff.

So, let’s find a virgin who can read German, kick Wolf Man where it counts and figure out when you can watch The Monster Squad with your kids.

The Monster Squad may have teenage heroes, but Dekker didn’t make a kid movie. 

Dekker’s a true horror geek. He helmed the deliciously evil Night of the Creeps, and directed an episode of HBO’s Tales from the Crypt. Squad also benefits from the contributions of Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), who collaborated with Dekker on a screenplay that is equal parts homage to Universal’s classic monsters AND a sarcastic comedy made for modern (at the time) teen audiences who’d already gorged themselves on Ghostbusters, Gremlins, The Goonies and more.

The Monster Squad treats its horror seriously, which is a potential red flag for parents of younger kids. Makeup artists Katalin and Zoltan Elek rose to the geek challenge of bringing Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon to life on the same screen, then upped the ante with deadly skeletons, shrieking female vampires, a sucking vortex and a creepy, old character literally named Scary German Guy (who ends up being gentle and quite helpful).

The roughest patches for parents watching The Monster Squad with their kids, though, might come from the more realistic problems the young characters on screen face. Leader of the pack Sean (Andre Gower) endures parents who are on the brink of a divorce, and no longer bother hiding their verbal fights. Then there’s Horace (Brent Chalem), better known as “Fat Kid,” who -- surprise, surprise -- contends with bullies at his elementary school. Be prepared to talk about divorce and bullying during Monster Squad, because your kids might bring it up. 

More than likely, though, you’ll be watching it with older teens. The language in Monster Squad’s about what you’d expect to hear out of a PG-13 script. Tough kid Rudy (Ryan Lambert), a new addition to the club, also spies on Patrick older sister (Lisa Fuller), the squad’s beautiful young neighbor, and catches her in her underwear. Later in the film, she also stands in as the required virgin who has to read sacred text, so you might want to come up with an explanation for that term, if it’s a new one around your house.

That’s why I’m leaning toward older kids. A screening of The Monster Squad might have your children believing in the very same creatures that you’ve been telling your kids don’t exist. Just remember, as the boys’ principal tells them, “Science is real. Monsters are not.”