SNEAKS 2000: A Look at 10
Must See Pix for Y2K
(Continued from page 1)
Frequency - New Line Cinema
From director Gregory Hoblit (
Primal Fear) comes an original
science-fiction thriller starring Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel. In
Frequency, a stellar phenomenon enables a police officer to
communicate back to 1969 with his dead father. Through these unique
conversations between a long lost father and son, the son attempts
to prevent his father's death and track down his mother's killer.
Written by Toby Emmerich, the film is produced by Howard "Hawk"
Koch, Gregory Hoblit and Toby Emmerich, and, judging by the pre-release
info from New Line, promises to be an interesting visual treat that
will make use of a different posit on going back to the past. Instead
of using super high-tech time machines or spacecraft warping past
the speed of light, the producers have chosen to use the plausible
(well, almost anyway) science of electronic wave theory (you know,
radio, TV) to make conversations between a long-dead father and his
son possible. The effects, therefore, will combine what we know know
technologically with what was happening technologically in 1969.
Personally speaking, though my reason for going back to 1969 would
involve heavy psychedelics and taking the Magic Bus to Woodstock (not
to mention a deep need to cheat physics), from what I understand a
similar, but low-tech experience can be had simply by hyperventilating
into a paper sack and watching Soul Train.
Stay tuned for Frequency April 28, 2000.
Dinosaur - Walt Disney Pictures
With the possible exception of
Fantasia/2000,
Dinosaur
proves to be the most ambitious entry for Disney in the coming year.
Combining state-of-the-art computer character animation with digitally-enhanced
live-action backgrounds, this newest from the folks at Feature Animation
will transport moviegoers back to prehistoric times for an adventure
involving a three-ton iguanadon named Aladar, who has been raised
from an egg by a clan of lemurs (yep, them's mammals), and is eventually
reunited with his own kind.
Though they are being very tight-lipped about what's happening with
the production, Disney did let me know that major advances in computer
animation can be expected, with much of the effects being done by
Vision Crew Unlimited. It should also be noted that Disney's elite,
the crew at Imagineering, is
very involved in this project.
Don't worry about missing this one, it's not much of a stretch to
imagine all the marketing that will go along with its release, to
say nothing of the coming ride at Disneyland, the special merchandise,
the Happy Meals, etc.
Dinosaur is due to be hatched in May, 2000.
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Digging to freedom in Chicken Run. © DreamWorks,
LLC.
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Chicken Run - DreamWorks SKG
Would you believe Mel Gibson and the creators of Wallace and Gromit
joining forces to produce a stop-motion animation action adventure
with chickens in the leading roles?
DreamWorks debuts its latest in a series of animation firsts with
its release of Chicken Run, which marks its first full-length
stop-motion animation feature made by England-based Aardman Animations,
the Academy Award®-winning team behind the popular "Wallace
and Gromit" shorts. Mel Gibson (Braveheart), Julia Sawalha
(Absolutely Fabulous) and Miranda Richardson (Sleepy Hollow)
head the voice cast, which also includes Jane Horrocks (Little
Voice), Imelda Staunton (Shakespeare in Love), Benjamin
Whitrow, Lynn Ferguson, Tony Haygarth, Timothy Spall and Phil Daniels.
The story goes that our chicken heroes, Rocky, Ginger, Bunty, Babs
and Fowler are trapped behind barbed wire, fearing for their very
lives. Our fine feathered friends hatch a desperate plan to fly
the coop in an action-packed story that DreamWorks publicity refers
to as "poultry in motion..." At Tweedy's Chicken Farm,
where any chicken who doesn't make her egg quota can meet a "fowl"
fate, Ginger and her fellow flock are determined to break out before
they can be fried, filleted or fricasseed. Sounds egg-citing, doesn't
it?
The film is being created with Aardman's distinctive brand of clay
animation. A co-production with Pathé, Chicken Run
is directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park, and produced by David Sproxton
from a screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick and Jack Rosenthal. Jake
Eberts and Michael Rose are the executive producers.
Chicken Run is in incubation until June 23, 2000.
The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle - Universal
Pictures
Ever gone through over 50 pages of production notes? Jee-ZUS, I
just have. They were for Universal's upcoming release of The
Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, a live-action/animated extravaganza
starring Jason Alexander, Rene Russo and (can you believe this?)
Robert De Niro as three of the most terrifying villains in the history
of children's television -- Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale and Fearless
Leader, respectively, and in that order. Other big names include
Randy Quaid and Janeane Garofalo. Newcomer Piper Perabo co-stars
as Karen Sympathy, an eager and delicate F.B.I. agent, who unites
with the gallant Moose and Squirrel to avert the fiendish plans
of the animated antagonists who now exist in human form. Returning
as voice talent for Rocket J. Squirrel is none other than June Foray,
the original voice of Rocky for the `60s television series.
In launching their search for the right movie magicians to animate
the top-billed characters, two of R&B's producers, Jane Rosenthal
and Tiffany Ward, looked to the industry's finest FX experts, Industrial
Light & Magic, to conceive the TV icons in an entirely new realm.
Adds co-star Jason Alexander, "If what I heard was correct,
there's as many effects shots in this film as there was in the new
Star Wars, which is kind of staggering."
A key element as to how the characters Rocky and Bullwinkle are
going to look will be very much like they did in the `60s animated
show, "...But we wanted to give them dimension," states
producer Ward. "When we walked into ILM, that meeting was sensational,"
she enthuses. "...They've actually created what we call 2 1/2-D.
They (the animated characters) look slightly different, only because
they've now got dimension."
The contributions of visual stylists Dave Andrews (animation supervisor)
and Roger Guyett (co-visual effects supervisor) transcended the
original show's somewhat crude drawings which were all completed
in Mexico City. Andrews, a five-year ILM vet who supervised the
animation on Small Soldiers and Mars Attacks! and
was a computer graphics animator on Jumanji and Casper,
says, "You can't have limited animation like the original show.
It just won't hold up to the live-action plate. You could compare
this film to Roger Rabbit, but that still looks like a drawing,
too. This will have more of a 3D form to it."
Hmmm....sounds like we have to go just to see what they are talking
about! 2 1/2-D? I can't even imagine.
Universal will release The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle
summer of '00.
Titan A.E. - 20th Century Fox
Titan A.E. is one of those films that just won't die for
want of being made. Saved several times from the scrap heap under
the previous title Planet Ice, Titan producers Don
Bluth and Gary Goldman have pulled out all the stops to create the
ultimate fully animated space opera.
Set in the future, Earth has been destroyed by the dreaded Orej,
leaving earthlings like our reluctant boy hero Cale to fend for
themselves in a hostile galaxy dominated by ruthless aliens. A rebellious
teenager, Cale is stuck on a third-rate asteroid. But not for long.
Cale soon learns that the ring his father left him holds a map to
the legendary Titan, which holds the secret to salvation for what
remains of the human race. With the aid of the starship Valkyrie's
ragtag crew, Cale embarks on a heroic adventure through deep space.
With voice talent from the likes of Matt Damon (Cale), Bill Pullman
(Captain Korso) and John Leguizamo (Gune, the Valkyrie Navigator),
and an alternative rock musical score by the legendary Glen Ballard,
Alanis Morrisette's producer, this promises to be a Gen X cult classic.
I'm buying my Milk Duds before I get to the theater... I wanna seat
right down front!
Titan A.E.'s launch date is summer 2000.
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Val Kilmer walks upon the Red Planet. © 2000
Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Film Limited.
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Red Planet - Warner Bros. and, in selected
territories, Village Roadshow
Well, based on Red Planet's two leads, it is going to be
a beautiful film. Starring that hunky Val Kilmer (Batman Forever)
and sexy Carrie-Anne Moss (Matrix), Tom Sizemore (Saving
Private Ryan), Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order), Simon
Baker-Denny (L.A. Confidential) and Terence Stamp (The
Limey) are just icing on the cake. Directed by television commercial
director Antony Hoffman and produced by heavyweights Mark Canton,
Bruce Berman and Jorge Saralegui, Red Planet follows a team
of American astronauts making the first manned expedition to Mars,
in this tale penned by Chuck Pfarrer and Jonathan Lemkin.
When the earth becomes a dying planet, our heroes visit Mars on
a mission to start a new colony as man's last hope. Of course, there
are complications and when their equipment suffers life-threatening
damage, the crew must depend on one another for survival on the
hostile Mars surface. However, from what I've read, Red Planet
is trying to be more than an Armeggedon-like romp. While,
as usual, the astronauts struggle to overcome personality differences
based on their backgrounds and ideologies, the defining elements
of their fate promises to hinge on their doubts, fears and questions
about God, man's destiny and the irrefutable nature of the universe.
Not your usual bubblegum fair!
Once again mum is the word in regards to the effects, but with Digital
Domain in the mix, we can expect some pretty exciting shots. What's
more with principal photography shot in Jordan and Australia, the
filmmakers have gone all out to find some unusual landscapes to
call Mars -- add visual effects to that and Carrie-Anne Moss in
a form-fitting spacesuit... and, once again, you've got my eight
bucks!
Red Planet will land summer 2000.
Eric Huelsman is the over-paid, underworked er -- that's
underpaid, over-worked -- guy in charge of the Friedman 3D computer
animation program.
