{"id":1106,"date":"2008-01-08T20:27:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-08T20:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/01\/newsbites-del-toro-mary-rambo-childhood\/"},"modified":"2008-01-08T20:27:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-08T20:27:00","slug":"newsbites-del-toro-mary-rambo-childhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/01\/newsbites-del-toro-mary-rambo-childhood.html","title":{"rendered":"Newsbites: Del Toro! Mary! Rambo! Childhood!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Time for a few more quick news links.<\/span><\/p>\n

1.<\/a> Guillermo Del Toro<\/a> once said<\/a> that he had declined the opportunity to direct The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/a><\/i> (2005) because, as a lapsed Catholic, he did not want to make a movie in which Aslan died and came back to life. But now, he tells the MTV Movies Blog<\/a> he would like to direct the film version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows<\/a><\/i> \u2026 and while I won\u2019t get into any spoilers, let\u2019s just say that there are many Christian fans of the book who might find this a tad ironic.<\/p>\n

2.<\/a> Scarlett Johansson can\u2019t get enough of the Tudors. Her turn as one of Henry VIII\u2019s mistresses in The Other Boleyn Girl<\/a><\/i> won\u2019t hit theatres until the end of February, but already, Variety<\/a><\/i> reports that she has signed on for the lead role in Philip Noyce\u2019s Mary Queen of Scots<\/a><\/i>. The character was played by Samantha Morton just a few months ago in Elizabeth: The Golden Age<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

3.<\/a> A suite of themes from Rambo IV<\/a><\/i> is now up at composer Brian Tyler\u2019s MySpace page<\/a>. They sound decent enough.<\/p>\n

4.<\/a> MTV Movies Blog<\/a> says Kimberly Peirce, director of Boys Don\u2019t Cry<\/i> (1999) and the upcoming Stop Loss<\/a><\/i>, wants to make a film version of Arthur C. Clarke\u2019s Childhood\u2019s End<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

First published in 1953<\/a>, Childhood\u2019s End<\/i> is partly about the appearance on Earth of benevolent aliens who happen to resemble the traditional folkloric depictions of devils. The idea that we should not be prejudiced against good aliens who happen to look like demons was later picked up by Star Trek<\/a><\/i> (1966-1969), where Mister Spock was occasionally compared to Satan; an entire episode<\/a> of the animated series (1973-1974) even posited that Lucifer himself was just a misunderstood extra-terrestrial.<\/p>\n

Childhood\u2019s End<\/i> is also one of Clarke\u2019s earlier explorations of the idea that humanity needs to evolve to the next phase of its existence, and that this might be done with help from outer space; the best-known articulation of this theme is, of course, 2001: A Space Odyssey<\/a><\/i> (1968; my comments<\/a>), which Clarke co-wrote with Stanley Kubrick. It has been years since I read Childhood\u2019s End<\/i>, but as I recall, this theme is handled quite poignantly there.<\/p>\n

5.<\/a> Nikki Finke<\/a> at Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting that there has been a major shake-up at Walden Media:<\/p>\n

Sources are telling me that Walden Media let go many many staff. I\u2019m told among those exiting are head of production Alex Schwartz and Executive VP Jackie Levine as well as the physical production department, public relations staff, music staff, legal staff, etc. Cary Granat will retain his CEO title but his reign is over and he\u2019s now marginalized to just overseeing Narnia<\/i> and other Walden franchises and some already \u201cgo\u201d movies. CFO David Weil stays and oversees. The speculation is that Walden is bringing in a new head of production to develop a new slate and a new team.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You may recall that, three months ago<\/a>, Variety<\/i> ran a story asserting that Walden was poised to challenge Disney\u2019s dominance in the family-movie field. But since then, Disney has had great success with The Game Plan<\/a><\/i> ($89.5 million), Enchanted<\/a><\/i> ($119.8 million so far) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets<\/a><\/i> ($170.9 million so far), while Walden has stalled with The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising<\/a><\/i> ($8.8 million), Mr. Magorium\u2019s Wonder Emporium<\/a><\/i> ($31.4 million) and The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep<\/a><\/i> ($31.2 million so far) \u2014 though admittedly, within the next week, The Water Horse<\/i> should pass Because of Winn-Dixie<\/a><\/i> (2005, $32.6 million) to become Walden\u2019s fifth-highest-grossing film ever<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At any rate, you can\u2019t help wondering if the current \u201cshake-up\u201d at Walden is related to the company\u2019s disappointing performance since that Variety<\/i> article was published a few months ago.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time for a few more quick news links. 1. Guillermo Del Toro once said that he had declined the opportunity to direct The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) because, as a lapsed Catholic, he did not want to make a movie in which Aslan died and came back to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNewsbites: Del Toro! Mary! Rambo! Childhood!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Time for a few more quick news links.1. 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