Promising Movie News!
There are quite a few movies coming out in the next few years that are based on stories that are extremely dear to me. I don’t know whether to be thrilled or terrified. The right director needs to be chosen for each of these movies. I’m sort of a Guillermo Del Toro fanboy. I hate comic book/superhero movies but he somehow made the Hellboy franchise one of my favorites. Pan’s Labyrinth is one of my all-time favorite movies. It is tied for the #1 spot with a few others.
So that’s why I say that I’d be relieved if I found out that Del Toro was going to direct all of the following films. So without any further ado, here are the upcoming films that I wish they weren’t going to make but am extremely excited about anyway:
Bran Mak Morn
Bran Mak Morn is a character who was created by Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian. He’s the king of the Picts, blah blah blah. Google it. I’m a HUGE Howard fan. I love Conan, and Bran Mak Morn is right up there with him. There is almost no news on this movie. No actors, no director, no story, nothing. That makes me nervous.
Solomon Kane
Another character by Robert E. Howard. He’s a puritan that goes around vanquishing evil. Just think Van Helsing only not boring (hopefully). This movie wrapped in April ‘08 and is set to come out in ‘09. James Purefoy is starring as the hero. There’s no news yet on which of the Solomon Kane stories the movie will be based. I just hope they don’t try to write their own story (shudder).
At the Mountains of Madness
Oh my goodness. I can’t express how excited I am about this one. I love H.P. Lovecraft and this is probably my favorite story in the Cthulhu mythos. And guess what? The screenplay was written by Guillermo Del Toro and he is set to direct it! Out of this entire list, this is the only movie that I am the least anxious over. I know it’s in good hands. Read the book before the movie comes out. You have plenty of time. It’s short.
A New Conan Movie
I don’t think I need to restate how much I love Robert E. Howard’s stories; especially Conan. So you can imagine how I must have felt when I read the following bits of news about this movie:
“Now Lionsgate is anxious to get this into production right away and are trying to launch a franchise by making it a $100 million R-rated origin film. ‘We all want this movie to go into production as soon as possible. It’s a fast-tracked movie.’”
YES!
“Blackman and McCain…are not going to be venturing back into the same territory as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie. Instead, they’re going all the way back to Robert E. Howard’s pulp stories first published in the 1930s.”
Oh thank goodness! As much as I love the first two Conan movies, they were NOT the original Conan. Arnold made him seem like a stupid ape. It’s not his fault of course, he barely spoke english at the time. But Conan is supposed to be intelligent, well educated, scholarly, and philosophical…and savagely violent when he needs to be. Arnold’s Conan was a dumb brute. I won’t even get started on the story line. The only part that resembled any original Conan story was when they climbed the white tower to steal that jewel. That comes from “The Tower of the Elephant”. One of my favorite Conan stories.
“Fans expect (these types of movies) to be more true to the source material. There’s no reason there couldn’t be a Conan movie every two years. He’s almost like Batman: He’s a dark hero. He’s a hard hero. He has to be badass, but we also have to like him.”
Be still my beating heart! A Conan movie every two years! I know, it’s wishful thinking to hope that this will happen and that each film will be any good. But this guy seems to understand the character!
And then I read this….
“Triple H may be replacing California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role of King Conan: Crown of Iron, according to IGN Filmforce.”
NOOOOOOO!!!!! Conan is supposed to have a “…square-cut black mane…” and “…smoldering blue eyes…” I know because Robert E. Howard mentions it in every Conan story. Come to think of it, he used to describe Conan’s rippling bronze muscles in detail quite often while skipping over the description of his female counterparts. Hmmmmm, interesting.
Anyway, Tripe H doesn’t have the right face. And can he even act? Conan is supposed to be deep and brooding and full of sorrow. Is Tripe H going to portray him as the dumb brute? Only time will tell.
ATLAS SHRUGGED
Oh boy. Here we go. Fans of Ayn Rand’s masterpiece Atlas Shrugged have been wringing their hands ever since this was announced. This movie ABSOLUTELY MUST BE DONE RIGHT. Hollywood is a very political place and the philosophy of Atlas Shrugged is its polar opposite. I’m worried about how they will twist Ayn Rand’s message. Another thing to consider is the fact that the movie will have to be incredibly long. At least 3 hours. Multiple films is a possibility. Either way, the best we can hope for a message that has been watered down but otherwise stays true. At least that might get people to go out and read the book.
The only thing we know about the movie is that the lead role of Dagny Taggart is being played by Angelina Jolie. Eh. I don’t know what to think of that. She’s good in some movies and awful in others. It was rumored somewhere that Brad Pitt would play John Galt. I almost had an aneurysm. But later it was revealed to be nothing more than a rumor and that John Galt would be played by an unknown actor. Phew!
DO NOT RUIN THIS FOR US!
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