Leaked Story Reel Featuring Chris Farley as Shrek
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Before Mike Myers took Shrek to an unprecedented high, there was one other actor in charge of giving Shrek life. Back in 1997, Chris Farley was in place to voice the gentle green giant. Unfortunately, following his untimely death, Myers took over the role, and the rest is history.
However, a story reel featuring Eddie Murphy's Donkey and Chris Farley's Shrek was released, showing fans what could have been. Farley's take on Shrek is noticeably different from Myers', as he's reminiscent of Farley's brand of sweet, but uppity character. The video is a good teaser showing what Farley's voice over work was like, and it's unfortunate that we'll never be able to find out what could have been.
If you want to get more of your Chris Farley fill, you can check out the documentary I Am Chris Farley in select theaters now, or you can wait for the VOD and home media release next Tuesday.
Red Band Trailer for Deadpool's Deadly Debut
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At one point, it seemed like Deadpool was forever going to be tainted and mishandled thanks to his "appearance" in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It's so hard to tarnish an insanely popular superhero, yet Fox found a way to do the Merc with a Mouth wrong in that film.
Since then, Ryan Reynolds, who portrayed the character, has wanted to make up for the lackluster characterization by making a stand-alone Deadpool film done correctly. The problem is, the character is so rooted in R-rated shenanigans and metafictional commentary and constant fourth-wall breaking that it was seen difficult to pull off efficiently in a film, especially one that necessitated an R rating for a film franchise that has always targeted the PG to PG-13 demographic (for maximum profit, of course).
All it took was constant support from Reynolds and a leaked CGI proof of concept to finally get the ball rolling. And after its successful showing at San Diego Comic Con 2015, the film's first official trailers were released last night on Conan. I won't go too much into the trailer to allow all of you to watch it for yourselves!
The red band (uncensored) trailer is above, while the green band trailer is below. Enjoy!
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The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki Blu-Ray Set is Available for Pre-Order
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Despite being a huge Hayao Miyazaki fan, my movie collection is sorely lacking some of his best works. Luckily, my patience (re: laziness) has paid off as Studio Ghibli is releasing The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki Blu-Ray Set. The collection, which will be an Amazon exclusive, features Miyzaki's full filmography (Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, and The Wind Rises), a television pilot for Yuki no Taiyo (Yuki's Sun) that Miyazaki directed, storyboarded, and animated in 1972, three episodes of Akado Suzunosuk (Little Samurai) that Miyazaki storyboarded, the uncut video of Miyazaki's retirement press conference, and The Great Dichotomy: Looking at the Works of Hayao Miyazaki by Tomohiro Machiyama, a book that explores and analyzes the themes of Miyazaki's filmography.
The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki Blu-Ray Set is going for $225 and can be pre-ordered from Amazon right now.
[via /Film]
Live-Action Naruto Film Adaptation Announced by Lionsgate
The insanely popular Naruto franchise continues to live on following its 15-year run as a manga. While video games and film sequels like Boruto: Naruto the Movie are set to come out (at the very least), but the franchise will be approaching new territories soon, as Lionsgate has announced a live-action film adaptation of everybody's favorite Hidden Leaf Ninja.
For those unfamiliar, Naruto is the story about an orphan growing up in a village full of ninjas. Overlooked and made fun of because of his lack of talents (and parents), Naruto trains and perseveres on his way to becoming the world's best ninja. In terms of popularity, it's typically been ranked towards the top of shounen ("for boys") anime alongside such series like Dragon Ball Z and One Piece.
Michael Gracey, who has done some VFX work on some upcoming films, will be making his directorial debut on the film. I'm guessing he was primarily chosen due to his visual effects work, as a film like Naruto would need a very dedicated and strong VFX team. However, despite Lionsgate's successes with adaptations like The Hunger Games and Divergent, it's hard for an American studio to successfully adapt anime into a live-action film. However, if the studio can pull off both Power Rangers and Naruto, Lionsgate could become the de facto studio for modern film adaptations.
As always, we'll have more on the Naruto film adaptation when developments arise.
[via /Film]
[The Weekly Swarm] 7/26 - 8/2
Have you all recovered from Lollapalooza yet? We'll have more coming from the weekend later this week, but first - time to revisit last week's content in this installment of The Weekly Swarm! Highlights for last week's Weekly Swarm include our editorial on revisiting heroes as villains via Bill Cosby and Atticus Finch, a series recap of the Mission: Impossible films, trailers for Seth Rogen's The Night Before, Michael Bay's 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Spotlight, our recommendations for Lollapalooza, and more!
Check out our full list of content from last week below.
Vilifying Our Heroes: How We Understand Our Problematic Faves
Series Recap - Mission: Impossible (1996)
Trailer for Victoria Teases Entire Film Shot in One Take
Seth Rogen Trips on Drugs in Red Band Trailer for The Night Before
Series Recap - Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Channing Tatum Might Leave Gambit Solo Film
Red Band Trailer for Michael Bay's Political Action/Drama, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
The Boston Globe's Massachusetts Catholic Church Sex Scandal Dramatized in Trailer for Spotlight
Series Recap - Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
Feel the Plight of the Chilean Miners in First Trailer for The 33
Series Recap - Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Brie Larson Destined for Breakout in Room Trailer
Ivan Reitman Shoots Down All-Male Ghostbusters Reboot Rumors
The Peanuts Movie Celebrates Franklin's Birthday
[Weekly Netflix Fix] Final July 2015 Update
Top Artists to See at Lollapalooza 2015
Watch the Lollapalooza 2015 Livestream Performances
Key & Peele to End After This Season
[Review] MTV's Scream: Exposed
[Weekly Netflix Fix] Final July 2015 Update
[Weekly Netflix Fix] Final July 2015 Update
The end of July is here, and with it comes an assortment of new Netflix Instant additions! As well all know, the highly-entertaining BoJack Horseman has returned for a second season (of which Bridjet reviewed recently). The other major addition to Netflix Instant is the Netflix-exclusive series, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, which is a prequel to the 2001 cult classic. Another personal recommendation is The Skeleton Twins, starring Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig.
Find all of the latest additions to Netflix Instant below!
BoJack Horseman: Season 2
The Business of Being Born
Cantinflas
The Human Experiment Invizimals: The Alliance Files
Tig
The True Cost
Glee: Season 6
Java Heat
Peace After Marriage
Je suis Femen
Set Fire to the Stars
Jim Norton: Contextually Inadequate
Teacher of the Year
Zero Motivation
The Avenging Eagle
Come Drink with Me
Hercules
Martial Arts of Shaolin
Out of the Dark
The Road to Fallujah
Shaolin Martial Arts
24 Days
The Guest
Sword of Vengeance
Dial a Prayer
52 Tuesdays
Comet
Marvel's Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.: Season 2
Almost Mercy
Donde Esta Elisa
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Season 5
Of Girls and Horses
Relaciones Peligrosas
Staten Island Summer
Still
Victoria
The Wrecking Crew
The New Black
The Skeleton Twins
Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp
The Peanuts Movie Celebrates Franklin's Birthday
On July 31, 1968, Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz broke down barriers by introducing the strip's first African American character, Franklin. Now, 47 years later, The Peanuts Movie is celebrating his first appearance with a social media campaign illustrating the character's background.
Following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a teacher by the name of Harriet Glickman wrote a letter to Schulz expressing the importance of adding an African American character to Peanuts, the country's most popular comic strip at the time. As stated earlier, Franklin Armstrong made his debut on July 31st, 1968, and represented the importance of desegregation and equality.
Nearly 50 years later, America still struggles with racism and racial inequality, especially in light of the rampant reports of police brutality and hate crimes recently, something fun like #FranklinDay is a way to celebrate and promote something positive. And hey, it works as a very smart and creative marketing tool for The Peanuts Movie.
Re-live Franklin's first appearance in Peanuts below, and Happy #FranklinDay!
Ivan Reitman Shoots Down All-Male Ghostbusters Reboot Rumors
Around the same time the Paul Feig Ghostbusters reboot was announced, there were rumors that another Ghostbusters film would be produced, directed by Captain America: The Winter Soldier's Joe and Anthony Russo with Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt rumored to star. The rumors were further perpetrated by claims that original Ghostbusters director made in regards to the "other" Ghostbusters film:
The second film has a wonderful idea that builds on that. Drew will start writing and the hope is to be ready for the Russo Brothers’ next window next summer to shoot, with the movie coming out the following year. It’s just the beginning of what I hope will be a lot of wonderful movies.
However, Reitman has recently come out to shoot down any and all rumors of the project with a statement:
There has been a lot of excitement recently about what is happening with the Ghostbusters franchise. As the producer of the new Ghostbusters film, I feel the need to clarify. There is only one new Ghostbusters movie and that is the Paul Feig directed version coming next July, presently filming and going fantastically. The rest is just noise.
It's unfortunate that Reitman mentioned any talk of a second Ghostbusters reboot film, especially after the mixed reception of the all-female Ghostbusters reboot. At the same time, this is a good vote of confidence for Feig's project and everybody involved with it. Does this mean we won't ever see a Tatum and Pratt Ghostbusters film? Of course not, but it would most likely depend on how Feig's film performs.
We'll see how the quest for more Ghostbusters plays out over time.
[via /Film]