Star Trek -- the deleted Klingon scene!

Bits of this scene were included in the trailers for last summer's Star Trek reboot, but the scene itself was ultimately cut from the film. Star Trek comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray November 17.

Canadian box-office stats -- October 25

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest.

Zombieland -- CDN $8,020,000 -- N.AM $67,308,000 -- 11.9%
Law Abiding Citizen -- CDN $4,530,000 -- N.AM $40,318,000 -- 11.2%
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs -- CDN $12,280,000 -- N.AM $115,204,000 -- 10.7%
Couples Retreat -- CDN $7,600,000 -- N.AM $78,213,000 -- 9.7%
Astro Boy -- CDN $676,718 -- N.AM $7,017,000 -- 9.6%
The Stepfather -- CDN $1,780,000 -- N.AM $20,352,000 -- 8.7%
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant -- CDN $512,316 -- N.AM $6,348,000 -- 8.1%
Where the Wild Things Are -- CDN $3,310,000 -- N.AM $53,960,000 -- 6.1%
Saw VI -- CDN $899,189 -- N.AM $14,800,000 -- 6.1%
Paranormal Activity -- CDN $1,730,000 -- N.AM $62,477,000 -- 2.8%

Noah's Ark cartoons -- an update

This news is about a month old now, but better late than never.

Variety reports that Rising India -- which, despite its name, is based in the United States, apparently -- is teaming up with Unified Pictures to produce and distribute their animated version of Noah's Ark, the development of which was first announced two years ago.

Rising India is contributing $40 million to the movie's overall budget, and the actual making of the movie will take place in Los Angeles and Singapore. The companies hope to have the movie ready for a theatrical release in the fall of 2011.

This is but one of several cartoons about Noah's Ark -- whether literal or quasi-allegorical -- that are in various stages of development or production right now. Other such films that I have noted here include:

1. Noah's Ark: The New Beginning -- Promenade Pictures
   
2. Rock the Boat -- Gaumont
   
3. Not the End of the World -- Illuminated Films
   
4. Aardvark Art's Ark -- Warner Brothers

At least two Noah-themed cartoons have been released overseas as well, in the last few years, though as far as I know they have not yet come to North America, except for the occasional special screening:

1. El Arca -- Patagonik Film Group
   
2. The Missing Lynx -- Kandor Graphics

And then there are the seemingly defunct projects that were once being developed by Bill Cosby and Walden Media -- to say nothing of recent and proposed live-action efforts like Sold Out!, Darren Aronofsky's Noah and Evan Almighty (2007).

Luxo Jr. is in deep, deep trouble.

First the Pixar mascot finds himself at the centre of a lawsuit over Disney's unauthorized use of the Luxo brand in its merchandising. And now this. It's a sad, sad day.

For the price of a regular movie ticket, you too can be a producer!

Three years ago, Bruce Marchiano -- who played Jesus in two Visual Bible productions in the early '90s and will apparently do so again in the animated film The Lion of Judah -- announced that he hoped to finance a new word-for-word adaptation of the Gospel of John by persuading 250,000 people to donate $100 each to the project.

Now, he's hoping for 4.5 million people to donate $10 each by March 2010, and he hopes to have the film -- which currently goes by the title Jesus ... No Greater Love -- ready for audiences by May 2011. The video below makes the pitch. Make of it what you will.

Canadian box-office stats -- October 18

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest.

The Invention of Lying -- CDN $1,970,000 -- N.AM $15,497,164 -- 12.7%
Zombieland -- CDN $7,100,000 -- N.AM $60,640,317 -- 11.7%
Surrogates -- CDN $3,870,000 -- N.AM $36,327,650 -- 10.7%
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs -- CDN $11,490,000 -- N.AM $108,201,645 -- 10.6%
Law Abiding Citizen -- CDN $2,030,000 -- N.AM $21,039,502 -- 9.6%
Couples Retreat -- CDN $5,920,000 -- N.AM $62,617,735 -- 9.5%
The Stepfather -- CDN $957,737 -- N.AM $11,581,586 -- 8.3%
Toy Story + Toy Story 2 in 3D -- CDN $2,120,000 -- N.AM $28,554,678 -- 7.4%
Where the Wild Things Are -- CDN $1,670,000 -- N.AM $32,695,407 -- 5.1%
Paranormal Activity -- CDN $473,434 -- N.AM $33,171,743 -- 1.4%

Moses gets an action-movie upgrade

Variety reports that 20th Century Fox is developing a new movie about Moses. While there have been numerous cartoons and TV movies about Moses over the last few decades, this will presumably be the first major live-action version of the story produced for the big screen since Cecil B. DeMille's second version of The Ten Commandments (1956).

Like every other ancient epic being made these days, the studio plans to pattern this film after Braveheart (1995) and 300 (2006), and that could pose a challenge to the filmmakers, given that most versions of this story have focused on the divinely ordained miracles -- the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the giving of the Law -- and have never really had any hand-to-hand combat.

However, the studio plans to incorporate non-biblical traditions about Moses into the storyline -- such as his conquest of Ethiopia, as reported by Josephus, perhaps? -- and the Bible does depict Moses and the Israelites getting into skirmishes with the Amalekites and with Og the gigantic king of Bashan, etc., so there is certainly material to work with, there.

In fact, the battle with the Amalekites takes place between the crossing of the Red Sea and the receiving of the Law at Mount Sinai, and I can remember discovering this when I was a kid and being a bit disappointed that DeMille's film had skipped over that episode. So in principle, I would not only have no objection to a battle scene or two in a life-of-Moses movie, but would actually kind of welcome it. (I'm not so keen on the more genocidal aspects of the Israelites' military campaign, though, admittedly.)

The script for the new film will be written by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, who recently wrote a new version of Moby Dick for Timur Bekmambetov, the director of Wanted (2008) and Night Watch (2004); they also wrote the college comedy Accepted (2006).

Hmmm... the story of Moses and teen comedy... now where have I seen these two things juxtaposed before?

Did Mel himself come up with that last line?

Either way, it's interesting, given that it was widely reported, back when The Passion of the Christ (2004) came out, that Mel Gibson himself had provided the hand of the Roman soldier for the close-up in which Jesus is about to be nailed to the cross -- and that this cameo, of sorts, had religious significance for him.



The Edge of Darkness -- Mel Gibson's first major acting gig since M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (2002) -- opens January 29.

VIFF 2009 -- movie-going schedule

I've been so swamped with work, family matters and actual movie-going that I haven't had a chance yet to post my tentative Vancouver International Film Festival movie-going schedule -- but now that it's Thanksgiving and I'm home with a cold, I might as well get around to it. As with the schedules I posted in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, this list is highly flexible and will be revised continually as the festival proceeds. Any films that I do not end up seeing will be deleted from this list. Any articles I write shall be linked to from here. And as I blog the films that I see, I shall link to those posts from the titles listed here.

ARTICLES

'Preview: Vancouver film festival touches on spiritual, religious themes,' BC Christian News, Oct 2009 -- my monthly film column highlights Camino, Letters to Father Jacob, My Year without Sex, Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam and Defamation.

'Film Fest offerings coming back to a theatre near you,' BC Christian News, Nov 2009 -- my monthly film column highlights Amreeka, Prom Night in Mississippi and Letters to Father Jacob.

SCHEDULE -- LAST UPDATED OCT 16, 12:55AM.

FILMS I SAW IN ADVANCE:

Double Take (dir. Johan Grimonprez; Belgium, 80 min.)
In Search of Beethoven (dir. Phil Grabsky; UK, 138 min.)

THU OCT 1
13:30 -- GR7 -- Bluebeard (dir. Catherine Breillat; France, 78 min.)
16:00 -- PAC -- Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl (dir. Manoel de Oliveira; Portugal, 63 min.)
21:45 -- GR7 -- Antichrist (dir. Lars von Trier; Denmark, 109 min.)

FRI OCT 2
12:45 -- GR7 -- A Shine of Rainbows (dir. Vic Sarin; Canada/Ireland, 100 min.)
18:45 -- GR7 -- Excited (dir. Bruce Sweeney; Canada, 85 min.)
21:30 -- GR7 -- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (dir. Terry Gilliam; Canada/UK, 122 min.)

SAT OCT 3
18:45 -- PAC -- Empire State Building Murders (dir. William Karel; France, 73 min.)

SUN OCT 4
21:15 -- GR1 -- Zooey and Adam (dir. Sean Garrity; Canada, 83 min.)

MON OCT 5
15:00 -- GR3 -- Shameless (dir. Jan Hrebejk; Czech Republic, 88 min.)

TUE OCT 6
14:00 -- GR1 -- It's Not Anime (dir. misc.; misc., 101 min.)
16:15 -- GR7 -- It Might Get Loud (dir. Davis Guggenheim; USA, 97 min.)

WED OCT 7
11:00 -- GR7 -- The Young Victoria (dir. Jean Marc Vallée; Canada/UK, 100 min.)
13:30 -- GR7 -- Leslie, My Name Is Evil (dir. Reg Harkema; Canada, xx min.)

THU OCT 8
Busy with work and family.

FRI OCT 9
16:15 -- GR7 -- Cole (dir. Carl Bessai; 100 min.)
19:00 -- GR7 -- Amreeka (dir. Cherien Dabis; Canada/Kuwait/USA, 97 min.)
21:30 -- GR7 -- Tetro (dir. Francis Ford Coppola; USA, 127 min.)

SAT OCT 10
16:00 -- GR7 -- My Year without Sex (dir. Sarah Watt; Australia, 96 min.)
18:45 -- GR7 -- A Prophet (dir. Jacques Audiard; France, 150 min.)

SUN OCT 11
19:00 -- RID -- Letters to Father Jacob (dir. Klaus Härö; Finland, 75 min.)
21:00 -- RID -- The Eclipse (dir. Conor McPherson; Ireland, 88 min.)

MON OCT 12
Busy with work and family.

TUE OCT 13
13:30 -- GR7 -- Prom Night in Mississippi (dir. Paul Saltzman; Canada, 90 min.)
16:00 -- GR7 -- Broken Embraces (dir. Pedro Almodóvar; Spain, 127 min.)
19:00 -- GR7 -- Chloe (dir. Atom Egoyan; Canada/France, 99 min.)
21:30 -- GR7 -- The Damned United (dir. Tom Hooper; UK, 98 min.)

WED OCT 14
Busy with work and family.

THU OCT 15
19:15 -- GR1 -- I Remember (dir. André Forcier; Canada, 89 min.)
21:30 -- GR7 -- Ninja Assassin (dir. James McTeigue; USA, 99 min.)

FRI OCT 16
22:15 -- GR7 -- Queen to Play (dir. Caroline Bottaro; France, 101 min.)

Canadian box-office stats -- October 11

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest.

Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day -- CDN $2,650,000 -- N.AM $2,650,000 -- 100%
The Invention of Lying -- CDN $1,500,000 -- N.AM $12,327,000 -- 12.2%
Zombieland -- CDN $5,240,000 -- N.AM $47,801,000 -- 10.9%
Surrogates -- CDN $3,390,000 -- N.AM $32,573,000 -- 10.4%
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs -- CDN $9,990,000 -- N.AM $96,251,000 -- 10.4%
Fame -- CDN $2,070,000 -- N.AM $20,042,000 -- 10.3%
Whip It -- CDN $881,394 -- N.AM $8,766,000 -- 10.1%
Capitalism: A Love Story -- CDN $884,821 -- N.AM $9,095,000 -- 9.7%
Couples Retreat -- CDN $2,720,000 -- N.AM $35,340,000 -- 7.7%
Toy Story + Toy Story 2 in 3D -- CDN $1,610,000 -- N.AM $22,676,000 -- 7.1%

A couple of discrepancies: Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day was #10 on the Canadian chart (it wasn't on the North American chart at all, though if it were, it would be #25), while Paranormal Activity was #5 on the North American chart (it was #18 in Canada).

Canadian box-office stats -- October 4

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest.

Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day -- CDN $2,260,000 -- N.AM $2,260,000 -- 100%
The Invention of Lying -- CDN $786,389 -- N.AM $7,027,472 -- 11.2%
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs -- CDN $8,430,000 -- N.AM $81,501,320 -- 10.3%
Fame -- CDN $1,690,000 -- N.AM $16,507,188 -- 10.2%
Surrogates -- CDN $2,640,000 -- N.AM $26,284,134 -- 10.0%
Zombieland -- CDN $2,470,000 -- N.AM $24,733,155 -- 10.0%
The Informant! -- CDN $2,510,000 -- N.AM $26,469,331 -- 9.5%
Whip It -- CDN $436,480 -- N.AM $4,650,812 -- 9.4%
Capitalism: A Love Story -- CDN $443,965 -- N.AM $4,849,067 -- 9.2%
Toy Story + Toy Story 2 in 3D -- CDN $848,726 -- N.AM $12,491,789 -- 6.8%

A couple of discrepancies: Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day was #7 on the Canadian chart (it wasn't on the North American chart at all, though if it were, it would be #23), while Love Happens was #10 on the North American chart (it was #11 in Canada).

Family-friendly horror movies?

Will family-friendly horror movies take the place of slasher films and the like? Variety magazine seems to think that that is a possibility -- and at least one of the filmmakers leading the charge just happens to be a Christian.

The trade paper reports that Scott Derrickson, who has discussed his faith and filmmaking with CT Movies a couple of times, has signed on to direct a remake of the Danish grade-school thriller The Substitute for Spooky Pictures, a brand-new outfit set up by Sam Raimi and Columbia Pictures.

Derrickson has plenty of experience as a maker of horror movies for grown-ups -- among other things, he directed the R-rated Hellraiser: Inferno and the PG-13 The Exorcism of Emily Rose (which is also available on DVD in an "unrated" edition) -- but this new venture, according to Variety, is aimed at "family audiences".

The Substitute itself will concern "a terrified sixth-grade class as the students race to reveal to their parents that their new substitute teacher is an evil alien being."

Variety notes that Spooky Pictures is not the first family-oriented scary-movie brand to be created in recent months. Three weeks ago, the Disney studio announced that it had struck a deal with horror maestro Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, etc.) to create 'Disney Double Dare You', a new production label that will make "animated films full of chills and thrills for audiences of all ages".

Variety writer Marc Graser writes that the rise of these labels "signals the kind of thrillers Hollywood may soon be unspooling at the megaplex," and speculates: "Should the labels find an audience, the shift away from slasher fare and the like, often referred to as 'gore porn,' is likely."

Derrickson, for his part, has a number of other projects in development at the moment, including adaptations of John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost and Dan Simmons's Hugo-winning sci-fi novel Hyperion Cantos; it remains to be seen which of these movies will get the green light first. His last film was the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves.

Canadian box-office stats -- September 27

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest.

Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day -- CDN $1,320,000 -- N.AM $1,320,000 -- 100%
Inglourious Basterds -- CDN $14,310,000 -- N.AM $114,420,733 -- 12.5%
Jennifer's Body -- CDN $1,350,000 -- N.AM $12,470,373 -- 10.8%
Love Happens -- CDN $1,470,000 -- N.AM $14,708,710 -- 10.0%
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs -- CDN $6,040,000 -- N.AM $60,474,555 -- 10.0%
9 -- CDN $2,610,000 -- N.AM $27,227,811 -- 9.6%
The Informant! -- CDN $1,920,000 -- N.AM $20,700,946 -- 9.3%
Fame -- CDN $926,192 -- N.AM $10,011,682 -- 9.3%
Surrogates -- CDN $1,330,000 -- N.AM $14,902,692 -- 8.9%
Pandorum -- CDN $295,362 -- N.AM $4,424,126 -- 6.7%

A couple of discrepancies: Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day was #3 on the Canadian chart (it wasn't on the North American chart at all, though if it were, it would be #13), while Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself was #5 on the North American chart (it was nowhere in the Canadian Top 20).