The Chronicles of Riddick 3 back in production!

Buried deep within all the posts that have been written for Matte Havoc there is a blurb or two that clearly states that I am a fan of the Riddick franchise. If you are unfamiliar with the character name, then you might want to head over to the nearest movie rental facility to check out a copy of Pitch Black (2000), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), or The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004). The third title, Dark Fury, is direct to video animated film that serves as a bridge in the stories between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. It does not really count as a third installment of sorts, but more like a half sibling or a Cliff Notes movie that exists as a method to help explain the continuity of the Riddick universe. Over the last couple of years, but prominently for the last year alone, actor Vin Diesel and movie director David Twohy have been publicly vocal about the promises of creating and distributing an official third installment to the series, which has left me a bit excited to see it come to fruition.

Back in September there was an intentional leak of concept art for the third movie, which includes the Riddick drawing at the top of this posted article. For the last couple of months I assumed Vin Diesel and Twohy were still working in the pre-production phase for the movie by working on the production design and the script. However, I was unaware they had actually started the production process. In the last week there was news of the production being temporarily shut down as a result of running out of funding. This was the first piece of information that I heard in regards to the crew actually start shooting the movie. It was a bittersweet announcement, because they actually began the process of creating the movie, but had to shut down when the money ran out. It was just another hurdle to slow down the process of filmmaking.

Jumping ahead by a couple of days to the new announcement that the production has found a new source of funding and will resume the filming the movie immediately. Hurray! A placeholder page has already been created on the IMDb website for the move, but the release date is still up in the air. I would not be surprised if the final cut does not arrive in the movie theaters until sometime in 2013, because I would imagine there will have to be a lot of computer generated effects to be created for the final cut. Well, I am looking forward to watching the movie whenever it might be release to the public.

The Bryans are bringing back The Munsters!

According to the news website Deadline Hollywood, two veteran entertainment producers, Bryan Fuller and Bryan Singer, will be joining together for a new project of adapting the original 1960s television series The Munsters into an “imaginative reinvention” for the modern day audience. Bryan Fuller has written a pilot script for the new series and NBC placed an order for it to be produced by Universal Television.

Instead of the original thirty minute, single camera sitcom format closely associated with the original series, the newly created adaptation will be an hour long drama show (probably shot in a single camera production style). Bryan Singer is in the midst of working on a contractual deal with NBC to direct and serve as an executive producer of the pilot episode. I would imagine Singer would be moving over to just the executive producer role for the possibility of future episodes that would be placed on order by NBC.

The new series might not add up to anything more than a summer filler product or a mid-season replacement. By looking at the majority of Fuller’s previous television projects I would have to take a guess that the newly revised Munsters family will be nothing more than a temporary program filler to entertain the television watching audience until a new batch of The Office episodes arrive at the start of the fall season.

Director and producer Bryan Singer is not a stranger to television. He has several television credits to his name, which includes serving as an executive producer for House, M.D. (2004-present), which he also directed the pilot episode in addition to another first season episode for the show. The other television heavyweight has garnered success as a producer, writer, and creator of several television shows in the last ten years or so. Bryan Fuller is closely associated with the instant cult classic series Dead Like Me (2003), Wonderfalls (2004), Pushing Daisies (2007-2009), and Heroes (2006-2009).

The LAMBs in the Director's Chair #21: John Carpenter

For those who are unfamiliar with the series The LAMBs in the Director's Chair might want to check out the on going event over at the Large Association of Movie Blogs website to catch up on the game. The somewhat monthly series is comprised of a collection of bloggers who contribute their writings and reflections upon the career of a pre-selected a film director. The focal point of this particular installment will be a stepping stone from the usual mainstream that a lot of movie theater attendees are adjusted to these days. Long time film director David Lynch has been known for distributing material with a very weird perspective on life, but he is a wiz at doing it so well that it invokes an emotional response every time. Would that not be the intention of art and filmmaking: an emotional and/or intellectual response to its material? In addition, he also knows how to tweak the soundtrack for the film in such a way that could blow the woofers right of the speaker cabinets (that would be a positive thing in this instance) in order to design a particular mood setting for the story of the film. The following installment of the series was posted on October 31, 2011 over on the LAMB website. A horror movie marathon is the most fitting activity for a lot of people when the Halloween holiday rolls around every year. However, there are not very many horror film directors who would closely associate with the annual holiday like John Carpenter. It was with his iconic film franchise, Halloween, which spawned an iconic character in the world of American horror cinema: Michael Myers. In the twenty-first edition of The LAMBs in the Director’s Chair series, the LAMB writers have submitted a collection of reviews and editorials covering the films directed by John Carpenter, which includes a couple of a reviews for Halloween (1978). Enjoy the reading adventure!

Sizzle Reel: [the films of] Christopher Nolan

Low on paper? Order from Dunder Mifflin!

Now the hardcore fans of The Office television sitcom can prove their dedication by ordering and using actual Dunder Mifflin paper products! It is the truth, I kid you not. The office supply web store Quill.com has garnered a licensing agreement with NBC Universal to sell cartons of Dunder Mifflin paper through their website for the affordable price of $34.99 for each case. The news was discovered via The Wrap news website and you can now order your own box of paper by visiting this link to the product page.

After seven years on television, which is a feat in itself these days with cancel happy TV executives, it surprising how it took this long for an office supply company to score a licensing agreement with NBC to connect fans of The Office with an actual product that is nothing more than a fictitious prop up to this point. It is the equivalent of the red stapler from Office Space or maybe the hatch from Lost. NBC Universal has agreed upon a contract with Quill Lincolnshire, Inc. to receive six percent of the profits earn from the sales of the product on Quill.com over the next two years. I would assume the contract could be renewed at the end of the two years if the product continues to sell in large quantities and if the television show continues to produce and broadcast new episodes for the next several years.

Anne (Hathaway) Getting Married

No! No, no, no! There goes my chance. Sigh.

Anne Hathaway is engaged to her boyfriend of three years, Adam Shulman, 30, whom she started dating just after her Italian ex-beau Raffaello Follieri was convicted of defrauding clients out of millions of dollars and sentenced to four years in prison. Hathaway's rep Stephen Huvane confirmed the engagement to USA Today. Adam Shulman is an actor who appeared on the 2005 TV series American Dreams.

How does this Adam guy hook up with an established actress like Anne Hathaway? Was it a cheesy pick up line at the bar? Does anyone want to place a bet on how long this Hollywood engagement and marriage will last?

Film director Ken Russell passed away (1927–2011)

Ken Russell, the British director whose daring and sometimes outrageous films often tested the patience of audiences and critics, has died at age 84. Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex Verney-Elliott said Monday. One of Russell’s biggest successes came in 1969 with Women in Love, based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and an Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson. Music played a central role in many of Russell’s films including The Music Lovers in 1970, and Lisztomania and Tommy in 1975. “My father died peacefully,” Verney-Elliott said. “He had had a series of strokes. He died with a smile on his face." (excerpt)

There is only two of Ken Russell's movies that I have watched so far: Tommy (1975) and Altered States (1980). I could tell between the two movies that Ken Russell was not a fan of keeping his work with a minimalism amount of presentation. It was a big presentation within both films. Between the two of them I would list Altered States as my favorite film, while I considered Tommy to be an average musical film. I usually would lean over to enjoying a movie filled with dark thematic elements over a musical film based upon the works of a famous rock band who I never really listened to before. He was marked as a controversial director by presenting human sexuality and other hot topics in the movies with a different and strong perspective that led the audience into uncomfortable territory of the movie watching experience. For more information about Russell's career I would recommend starting with the collection of links that are available on the Film Studies for Free blog.

Out of Tradition: Remember, Remember!