Friday, July 30, 2004

Summer of '05 is shappin' up in movie theaters

Incredible MJ has spotted on Magrathea website an interesting article from Hollywood Reporter where the magazine makes a preview of the summer' 05 openings in theatre. Of course, the dates are due to change, and the opening date of June the 3rd for Hitchhikers is not sure at all. But it gives us a good overview of the movie openings in Summer 05, and see who will be the h2g2 competitors.

So let's face the truth. Competition will be harsh. There are a lot of big possible blockbusters for this summer. In the SF category, h2g2 will have to compete with Star Wars III (May the 19th)! And some other long awaited movies will open this summer : Batman begins, Mission impossible 3, The Ring 2... And there will be some big comedies of course : "The Pink Panther" and "Fun with Dick and Jane" (star Jim Carrey). But these ones are quite differents from the Hitchhiker's universe and tone.

I think he strong point of Hitchhiker's will be his originality. The SF background can be a plus, with the third Star Wars movie opening a few weeks earlier. If the Star Wars movie is good, it can rise the public's interest regarding SF. Of course, the possible negative effect is that Hitchhiker's could be seen as a Star Wars' spoof.

MAY 6 - "Kingdom of heaven", (dir/Ridley Scott, star/Orlando Bloom), action adventure epic, 20th Century fox 6 - "The Ring 2" (dir/Hideo Nakata, star/Naomi Watts), horror, Dreamworks 13- "Kicking & Screaming" (dir/Jesse Dylan, star/Will Ferrell), comedy, Universal 13- "XXX : State of the Union" (dir/Lee Tamahori, star/Ice Cube), thriller, Revolution studios/Columbia 19 - "Star Wars III" (dir/George Lucas, star/Ewan Mc Gregor), Lucasfilm/Fox 27- "The longest Yard" (dir/Peter Segal, star/Adam Sandler), comedy, Paramount 27- "Madagascar" (dir/Eric Darnel & Tom McGrath), animated comedy family, Dreamworks

JUNE 3 - "The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" ! 3 - "The sisterhood of the traveling pants" (dir/Ken Kwapis, star/Amber Tamblyn) teenage drama comedy, Warner Bros 3 - "Tru Blu" (dir/Antoine Fuqua, star/Denzel Washington), drama, Imagine Entertainment/universal 10- "The adventures of Sark Boy and Lava Girl", (dir/Robert Rodriguez), action adventure 10- Untittled (dir/Bernie Mac-Ashton Kutcher), social comedy, Columbia 11- "Batman Begins" (dir/Christopher Nolan, star/Christian Bale), Warner Bros 24- "Fun with Dick and Jane" (dir/Dean Parisot, star/Jim Carrey) Columbia 29 - "Mission Impossible 3" (dir? star/Tom Cruise) Paramount

JULY 1 - "Chicken little" (dir/Mark Dindal), animated family film, Buena Vista/Disney 8- "Bewitched" (dir/Nora Ephron, star/Nicole Kidman), comedy, Columbia 15- "Charlie and the chocolate factory" (dir/Tim Burton, star Johnny Depp), family fantasy, Warner Bros 22 - The pink panther (dir/Shawn Levy, star. Steve Martin), comedy, MGM 29 - Shaggy Dog (dir/Brian Robins, star. Tim Allen), family comedy, Buena Vista/Disney 29 - Stealth (Dir/Rob Cohen, star. Josh Lucas), SF adventure, Columbia

Sunday, July 25, 2004

First h2g2 movie teaser shown in San Diego and now avalaible on the net ! + pic of special towel and dvd

The first Hitchhiker's movie teaser has been shown at the comic-con convention in San Diego this Friday. It has been shown with Pixar's "The Incredible". According to Travis Averey, one of the lucky bast****, who was kind enough to send me an email, Disney "gave (them) a DVD with the trailer on it and also a towel" ! Some got a poster! Lucky ones! These three items are already collectors. I really wish I had been in san Diego this Friday. Damn! But if you're a hardcore fan, you can always try Ebay. MJ Simpson spotted some of them on sale. Beware. Prices can rise very fast!

Here is a pic of the towel plus dvd the lucky ones got in San Diego ! (Note from Travis : "the towel isn't very impressive. It's more of a washcloth, but I wouldn't give it up if, well, the world ended.") :



Here is a poster :



And here is a pic from the teaser :



Travis did put an avi file on his webiste but due to heavy trafic, he had to stop. Now you can download it from my website (avi) or here (real media) !

Just watch it and you'll really understand what the word "cool" means! Just a word to finish : Some websites keep saying that the movie is due in theatres on June 3, 2005. Let's just say the h2g2 movie release date has not been decided yet. Of course it will be in summer 2005, but we can't say much more right now.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Good stuff in "Mostly Harmless 93" + info about my visit to Elstree studios

I received some days ago the last issue of "Mostly Harmless", the magazine of ZZ9, the official Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy Aprreciation Society. I wanted to tell you that as usual there is some really good stuff inside. MJ Simpson has written a long article about his visit to Elstree studios. He also made an interesting interview with Derek Evans, who is executive producer of the movie and Executive vice president of Spyglass Entertainment.

Otherwise, there are also some good non movie news : some sound info about "the h2g2 25th aniversary deluxe edition" (release 1st october) and the complete rundown of everthing that's on the BBC-three CDs set "Douglas Adams at the BBC" (release in september).

There is also the sequel of a big interview with Dirk Maggs, the director of the third radio series that will be broadcasted on Radio 4 from 21st september. If you want to know more about the third radio series (and the upcoming fourth and five radio series too) you can go on this page . You can even download a video preview thanks to Kevin Davies (you know him, it's the man who made the tv series' making of, and he was alsor Art Director of the Illustrated h2g2).

But well if I've go an advise for you, it's just : BECOME A ZZ9er! You'll get "Mostly harmless" plus you will gain access to some nice exclusive merchandise! (t-shirts, the towel, the world (in)famous Beelebears,...)

MY VISIT TO ELSTREE STUDIOS

In a few hours, I will take the Eurostar train to go to London. And the 16th, I'll go to Elstree studios to visit the movie set!! I'll share this incredible moment with two great guys : Nick Webb (author of the "Wish You Were Here. The Official Biography of Douglas Adams") and Jenz from "www.douglasadams.se". Of course, I will publish a report on this site as soon as I can. I'll come back at home on the 19th (day of my 33th birthday), so don't expect an update on this site before!

Tuesday, July 6, 2004

Two competitions to be an extra in the movie. The winners are known

Simon Mayo from Five Live Radio asked two questions during his show to win an extra part in the hitchhiker's movie. According to MJ Simpson, the price was "won by Nick Loven from Lincolnshire. Listeners were asked to invent a drink to rival the Pangalactic Gargleblaster and Nick’s suggestion was called the Viltvodle Charmhammer. Here’s his recipe:

Leave a glass of orange juice in the sun for half a day. Any sun will do, just don’t leave it too close to the centre or you’ll never be able to retrieve it. Add two drops of Jatravartid armpit sweat and as much Viltvodka as you can acquire. Finally pour the drink into a hollowed-out watermelon – sentient or non-sentient variety, depending on personal taste. Stir it with whiskers freshly plucked from an Arcturan Mega-leopard and decorate it with a Tananglian Zoopleflower – and an olive".
The question was posted too on Five Live's website.

And now the h2g2.com competition's winner : Adrian Cockle from Surrey! What a lucky boy. His photography was the one, among one hundred pictures, that got the attention of the judge... Martin Freeman!

h2g2.com will soon add "some of the best submissions to the Edited Guide so even if you didn't win you might still see your picture illustrating h2g2... And even better, for those non-UK Researchers who were unable to enter, we'll soon be launching a brand new photography scheme on h2g2 that will be open to all." Great! But they dont say fi the prize will be again an extra part in the hitchhiker's movie

Friday, July 2, 2004

An other chance to win a part in the movie as extra this monday on BBC Radio Five live

Yeah. After H2g2, it's Simon Mayo from Five Live Radio that will offer a small part in the hitchhiker's movie Monday on his show (from 1 to 4pm BST): "Five Live is offering one lucky person the chance to act alongside Hollywood stars in the new Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie. The winner of the competition which will be launched on the Simon Mayo programme on Monday 5 July will spend a day on location and could be in the final cut of the film!"

An extract of the terms and conditions are here : "The winner must be over 18 years. The winner must be able to attend a costume fitting session on either July 8 or 9 and attend full days shooting in London July 19. The winner will receive £100 to cover travel expenses. The extra's role may not appear in the final version of the film. The decision of the film's Director is final" It's not said if you've got to live in UK to participate, but well i guess that was the case too with the h2g2 competition.