Just a few more items that have come up in the last few days.
1. CHUD.com says Watchmen director Zack Snyder plans to shoot some of the parallel storylines that were cut out of the main film, possibly in animated form, and release them separately, possibly on a DVD that would come out at the same time the movie hits the big screen. Chris at Movie Marketing Madness says they should take the idea a step further and release the parallel films “in advance of the feature film for free through iTunes in much the same way Hotel Chevalier was released prior to The Darjeeling Limited.”
2. William Shatner is still annoyed that he hasn’t been cast in Star Trek XI. He recently told Extra TV: “How could you not put one of the founding figures into a movie that was being resurrected? That doesn’t make good business sense to me! . . . I’ve become even more popular than I was playing Captain Kirk. I’m good box office and I get publicity.” Three points come to mind in reply.
First, Captain Kirk died in Star Trek: Generations (1994; my comments), and in such a way that it would be exceedingly difficult to resurrect him even if they devoted an entire movie to doing so, the way Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) was devoted to bringing Spock back. And of course, this new movie will be too busy doing other things to do that.
Second, Spock was part of the franchise even before Kirk came along, so in a way it’s kind of fitting that the reboot should revolve around Spock more than Kirk. Plus, Leonard Nimoy brings a certain credibility to the film that Shatner lacks; the three Star Trek films that Nimoy directed or produced were all fairly good, while the one film that Shatner directed was one of the worst in the series.
Third, as Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere has argued, Shatner has become something of a parody of himself, so much so that it might be difficult to take him seriously as Captain Kirk again. Shatner himself inadvertently points in this direction when he says, “I’ve become even more popular than I was playing Captain Kirk.” Popular as what? And if he truly is more popular now than he was then, might not his current persona overshadow any attempt to return to one of his older, more serious roles?
3. Brett McCracken at The Search has some interesting thoughts on What Would Jesus Buy?, the anti-consumerism documentary produced by Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me (2004; my review) fame. He concludes:
I don’t know what Jesus would buy, but just like he’d be angry when his name is slapped on a pair of socks and sold to Christians for $10, I’m sure he’d likewise be pissed at his name being so cavalierly invoked to sell America on anti-consumerism.
4. Michael Ward has a fascinating article up at Touchstone magazine’s website on the astrological themes in C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. It’s must reading for anyone who would praise Lewis’s books while slamming the Harry Potter books and others like it for allegedly promoting occultism.
5. 20th Century Fox has apparently apologized to The Movie Blog for having one of their reviews yanked off of YouTube.
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