John Carter Of Mars - First Trailer

Walt Disney Studios have just released the first teaser trailer for "John Carter of Mars", due for release 2012. 

John Carter of Mars is inexplicably transported to the mysterious and exotic planet Mars, and becomes embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions and discovers that the survival of the planet and its people rests in his hands.


Visit the official website at http://www.disney.co.uk/john-carter


John Carter is a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). John Carter is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

I featured the teaser poster and concept art images a short while back but it's great to actually see what the film is going to look like although I am a little worried....

This is Pixar director Andrew Stanton's first foray into live action film making and although both Wall-E and Finding Nemo were brilliant films they were both Stanton stories but John Carter isn't. It's an Edgar Rice Burroughs story and one I never thought could be brought to the big screen.

Andrew Stanton in John Carter Production Meeting 

copyright Disney

Andrew Stanton is a very strong story man having been involved in story for all 3 Toy Story films along with A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and Wall-E but I am not sure from this trailer if it will match up to his animated work.

To me it looks like a cross between Prince of Persia and Conan The Barbarian and seems to offer nothing new, which is something Andrew Stanton normally delivers in spades. Lets hope I am wrong and to be fair this is just the teaser trailer and there is still a lot of post production to be done before it's release this time next year.

Eamon Butler, former Disney Animator, now Head of Animation 

@ Double Negative discussing some of the props from the film

New Hobbit Images - "Fili" and "Kili"

To the left are Dean O'Gorman as "Fili" and Aiden Turner as "Kili" in a brand new promotional picture from The Hobbit.

Two of the youngest Dwarves, Fili and Kili have been born into the royal line of Durin and raised under the stern guardianship of their uncle, Thorin Oakensheild. Neither has ever travelled far, nor ever seen the fabled Dwarf City of Erebor. For both, the journey to the Lonely Mountain represents adventure and excitement. Skilled fighters, both brothers set off on their adventure armed with the invincible courage of youth, neither being able to imagine the fate which lies before them.

This brand new picture follows hot on the heels from my previous post of the second Hobbit production diary.

The picture was taken by renowned Australian photographer James Fisher who has taken photographs of some of Australia finest including Nicole Kidman, David Wenham and Hugh Jackman. To see more of his amazing work visit http://www.jamesfisher.com.au/

Arnie Will Be Back.......in a Western?

Lionsgate Studios have announced that Arnold Schwarzenegger will make his leading man movie return in an upcoming western titled The Last Man. The 63 year old action star's last major role was in 2003's Terminator 3 but was last seen in a small cameo role in good friend Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables.

Lionsgate said Arnie "will bring incredible magnetism" to the role of a border town sheriff who takes on a drugs lord.

The movie will be directed by Korean director Kim Jee-woon but there is no release date as yet.

Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows - First Trailer in HD

I teased you yesterday with two posters for Guy Ritchie's follow up to 2009's Sherlock Holmes and a promise of the first trailer. Well here is that trailer for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows in HD which features Robert Downey in drag, Jude Law on honeymoon and Girl With The Dragon Tattoo's Noomi Rapace as a fortune telling gypsy. Who could ask for anything more ?

Pooh, Potter, Muppets, Sherlock and Batman !

There seems to be so many new trailers and posters being released this week that I have decided to post them all together today.

First up, a couple of short trailers for Winnie The Pooh that spoof (or should that be take advantage of) the final instalment of Harry Potter.

The Winnie The Pooh movie had its UK release in April but US audiences have to wait until July 15. It's a very sweet little movie that harks back to the early days of Disney but I'm guessing ticket sales won't be huge for this given its clash with the Boy Wizard.

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Next up is the latest post for 'The Muppets' due for US release November 23 and UK release Feb 17th 2012. The movie stars Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Chris Cooper and is Directed by James Bobin.

The story sees Adams and Segel's characters raising money via a Muppet Telethon to prevent greedy oil magnate Tex Richman who discovers oil underneath the Muppet Theatre. It's then up to Kermit the Frog to reunite the Muppets who have all gone their seperate ways.

Segel pitched an idea to Disney in 2008 who then offered him to develop a script with Nicholas Stoller. 

The movie promises lots of cameos, some cracking musical numbers and quite a few laughs. I look forward to this.

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Here is the teaser poster for The Dark Knight Rises, due for release 20 July 2012. Once again directed by Christopher Nolan and Starring Christian Bale as 'Bruce Wayne'/'Batman', Anne Hathaway as 'Catwoman', Tom Hardy as 'Bane', Gary Oldman as 'Jim Gordon' and Marion Cottilard as 'Miranda Tate'.

With a budget of $250 million this will be the final part of Nolan's DC Comics character trilogy and rumours suggest it may be filmed entirely in IMAX format film but not in 3D

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Lastly, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the follow up to the hugely successful 2009 movie. This film reunites original stars Robert Downey Jnr. as 'Holmes', Jude Law as 'Watson' and Rachel McAdams as 'Irene Adler' and this time the team join forces to try and bring down their biggest enemy.....Professor Moriarty. Two new additions to the cast are ProductionDiaries favourite Stephen Fry as Sherlock's brother 'Mycroft Holmes' and Jared Harris as 'Moriarty'. The film is due for release for release December 16 and I think these 2 teaser posters look great. TheProductionDiaries.com will feature the first trailer in the next few weeks so keep checking back.

TinTin Full Length Trailer

What do you get if you take the directing skills of 'Jaws', 'Jurassic Park', and 'Saving Private Ryan', mix it with the producers of 'Lord of the Rings' and 'King Kong' and then combine it with the writers behind 'Sherlock', 'Attack the Block' and 'Hot Fuzz' and 'Shaun of the Dead' ?????

Well the answer is The Adventures of "TinTin: The Secret of the Unicorn", a new performance capture film from Director Steven Spielberg and Producer Peter Jackson. The film stars Jamie Bell as Herge's famous explorer with Andy Serkis as 'Captain Haddock' and Simon Pegg & Nick Frost as 'Thomson & Thompson'.

The movie combines the three stories 'The Crab With The Golden Claws', 'The Secret Of The Unicorn' and 'Red Rackham's Treasure' and will focus on TinTin's first encounter with Captain Haddock and the discovery of instructions as to the whereabouts of a sunken ship and, of course, lots of treasure.

Filming took place in just over 30 days, starting at the end of January 2009 which sounds quick but that is the beauty of performance capture, its nice and speedy due to not having to set up lights etc. Its only afterwards the hard work really starts in post production. Weta Digital (Avatar) will be providing the mammoth amount of CGI required whilst king of the movie themes, John Williams will be providing the score. 

The film will be the first in a trilogy of films with the second being directed by Peter Jackson and the third being co-directed by both Steven and Peter. It's scheduled for release in Decmber 2011 and I think this will be the start of a great trilogy !

We featured the teaser trailer a few weeks ago but here now for your pleasure is the full length international trailer.

New Hobbit Production Diary Number 2 and Dwarf Pics

Peter Jackson has recently uploaded a brand new production diary from the set of The Hobbit and also released some great new pictures of John Callen as 'Oin' and Peter Hambleton as 'Gloin' and another of Jed Brophy as 'Nori', Adam Brown as 'Ori' and Mark Hadlow as 'Dori'

Distant cousins of Thorin Oakenshield, these two doughty Northern Dwarves join the Company out of a sense of loyalty to their kin, and also because they have a substantial sum of money invested in the venture. Along with Bombur, Gloin is the only other married Dwarf in the Company (there being a shortage of female dwarves in general). His wife is an acclaimed beauty with a particularly fine beard. Gloin is the proud father of a young son, Gimli, who will go on to become part of the famous Fellowship of the Ring.

'Oin' and 'Gloin'

These three brothers, all sons of the same mother, could not be more different from each other. Dori, the oldest, spends much of his time watching out for Ori, the youngest; making sure hes not caught a chill or got himself killed by Wargs or Goblins. Nobody quite knows what Nori gets up to most of the time, except that its guaranteed to be dodgy and quite probably, illegal. Dori, Nori and Ori are intensely loyal to each other and whilst they are perfectly happy fighting amongst themselves, woe-betide anyone who means harm to one of these brothers.

'Nori', 'Ori' and 'Dori'

And lastly, here is the second on set production diary from Peter Jackson and its really interesting to see Andy Serkis in the 2nd unit Director's Chair. Peter, as with all of his 'large scale' films prefers to shoot in blocks and then edits along the way which also gives Weta ample opportunity to start work on the mammoth amount of visual effects shots.