Last year, Niell Blomkamp’s District 9 changed how major studios looked at small science fiction projects. Before, ideas like “aliens in a dystopian future” were mostly reserved for direct-to-video productions. But now more and more studios are investing in scripts like these, hoping to ride the Avatar or District 9 success. Enter Jim.
The story behind Jim can be considered a little complicated, to say the least, so try to stay with the official synopsis, because it takes an interesting turn in the middle.
Being steadily crushed under the weight of debt, unemployment, and increasing isolation, Jim reaches a breaking point. Over a game of solitary Russian roulette he contemplates an unspeakable act of violence as a way of leaving his mark. He is stopped short by a vision of his deceased wife who convinces him that he should instead focus his remaining resources into an act of creation. Armed with his wife’s frozen eggs and a new resolve, Jim secures the services of a large biotech firm to help him create an heir who will be engineered to overcome the obstacles of common men.
Meanwhile in the distant future Niskaa, the leader of a group of genetically modified beings, controls a race of worker clones in a super-industrialized, post-human Earth. As he tries to restore his decrepit empire he comes face to face with a young clone that shows an unprecedented capacity for reason and empathy. Somehow connected to Jim via dreams, the clone manifests secrets of Nature that Niskaa has not accounted for…
The film comes from first-time writer/director Jeremy Morris-Burke, and looks like it could just be a new era for independent science fiction films. Check out the first trailer after the jump. Catch Jim in NY and LA theaters on October 8th and 16th.
Back in 2005 an unknown director named Neill Blomkamp made a science fiction short with a few friends, a modest budget, and a Canadian production team. The short, titled Alive in Joburg, blew away many powerful people with its premise and blend of CG effects and documentary stock footage. Included in those powerful people was mega-director Peter Jackson, who decided to aid Blomkamp in adapting his low-budget short into a larger film called District 9, which turned into an overnight success.
Now, independent writers, directors, and 3D render artists everywhere ran back to their typewriters to come up with interesting and original new ideas, knowing that Hollywood is turning to them for a fresh start to an industry bogged down with sequels and reboots.
There are hundreds of nice attempts, but none of them have really stuck out as something that could be expanded into a major film. A year ago, a Uruguayan science fiction short titled Panic Attack!, by Fede Alvarez was the subject of a Hollywood bidding war, in which Sam Raimi got the rights to adapt the short. Now, it looks like we’re getting another great short for Hollywood to set their sights on with Ricardo de Montreuil’s The Raven.
The film is set in a dystopian future (2074), where futuristic robot cops have the authority to take down those who break the law with extreme force. The only person who has the potential to change everything is Chris Black, aka The Raven. Black has supernatural abilities that, if used in the right way, could save the free world.
The 82nd annual Academy Award nominations were announced this morning. This is the first year that the Best Picture category has been expanded to ten films. Here is a list of the major category nominees.
For a complete list of all nominees, visit the official site of the Oscars. The Awards take place on Sunday, March 7 at 8/5P on ABC.
Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’nique, Precious
Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibie, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia
Avatar is getting a lot of fanfare at the moment. As it passes the $700 Million mark, people can’t help but wonder if it will go on to beat The Dark Knight’s billion dollar box office take. However, as huge as Avatar is, I still maintain there was a much better film about aliens this year, District 9 (which, incidentally made it onto Chris’ Best Films of 2009 list).
With only an estimated $30 Million budget, District 9 made over $200 million worldwide. Sure, that doesn’t hold a candle to Avatar’s current numbers, but keep in mind James Cameron’s epic cost well over $250 Million. Probably more when you factor in marketing expenses. Given that, District 9 could be considered just as successful.
One might think that with such success District 9 director Neill Blomkamp would be eager to take on a film the likes of Avatar. His stance is quite the opposite, however. Speaking with the L.A. Times, Blomkamp expressed little to no interest in high budget filmmaking, citing reluctance to bend to studio demands:
“That’s exactly right and that’s precisely the reason I don’t want to do high-budget films. I’ve said no already to doing the Hollywood movie thing with big budgets. And that is the exact reason.”
The “exact reason” Blomkamp is speaking of is the recent trend of studios emulating other films instead embracing original content:
“We seem to be in a place now where filmmakers make films based on other films because that’s where the stimuli and influence comes from…And that’s my goal, really, is not to draw from other films in terms of the overall inspiration and stimuli. You can in terms of design and tone and stuff, certainly, but not in terms of the idea and the genesis of that idea.”
With the release of District 9 imminent, two new clips — via MTV — have been released to give fans a small taste of what life is like in the mysterious District 9. The clips feature the local MNU (Multi-National United) representative and what they have discovered about alien weaponry. They also invite you to walk around the alien slums with Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) to experience first-hand the conditions there.
As a warning, the clips rely on a shaky cam so it might be a bit unsettling, but rest assured that the process is used to enhance the experience. Directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson, District 9 will be in theaters Friday.
Hoping to drum up support for the lesser-known fantasy horror film, Legion, Sony Pictures paired it with the highly anticipated District 9 at Comic-Con on Friday. They then upped the ante by having producer Peter Jackson on hand to make sure the crowds showed. Variety is reporting that the daring move might just pay off.
The panel opened with Legion’s director, Scott Stewart, presenting the film’s clip, after commemorating the experience on his iPhone. Legion is the story of a band of strangers in a post-apocalyptic world, one of whom is a pregnant diner waitress who just happens to be carrying the new messiah. The film is exciting and visually compelling, juxtaposing hyper-violence and religious imagery to slightly campy effect.
Stewart was joined by actors Adrianne Palicki, Doug Jones, Tyrese Gibson and Paul Bettany, who talked about the joys of making their “angels with machine guns” film and the film’s religious subject matter. Stewart said that Legion was “not a religious movie,” but more of a cross between Terminator and The Exorcist. When the panel concluded, you could almost hear the collective increase in heart rates. Legion opens in theaters January 22, 2010.
The crowd was then treated to about seven minutes of footage from District 9, with Jackson sharing the stage with director Neill Blomkamp and star Sharlto Copley. Jackson explained that the creation of District 9 had been an “unusual experience” because of Blomkamp’s decision to do the film in a highly improvised manner without strict adherence to a formal script.
Of all the movies coming up during the rest of this year, one that we’re particularly excited about is District 9, written and directed by Neill Blomkamp and Exec. Produced by Peter Jackson. We’ve talked about this movie before and had some info such as a poster and an earlier look at a shorter trailer for the film.
Now, we can bring you a good look at the new, full-length trailer for the sci-fi drama which stars Jason Cope, Kenneth Nkosi, and William Allen Young. At this point, we still don’t know a great deal about the story of the film. But from what we do know, an alien race has come to earth and is stranded in South Africa. At that point, the aliens are seen as yet another mistrusted minority, treated as “non-humans” and forced to live in a dangerous ghetto and work for little to no pay.
But when a human encounters some strange, non-human, technology that begins to affect him in disturbing ways, his perspective on the situation changes drastically and hes compelled to act. Expect to see District 9 in theaters August 14. Until then, click through to check out the full trailer.
We talked about this movie on the most recent episode of The Flickcast and both Matt and I thought it looked pretty interesting. The movie in question is Neill Blomkamp’s debut feature film District 9. The film, which was also written by Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson, tells the story of a race of aliens living among humans in South Africa. Of course, the alien’s motives are somewhat of a mystery and as often happens in these type of movies, things are not always what they seem and don’t go as expected.
Previously, both Matt and I had seen a trailer for this film where the alien’s face was obscured with pixelization. Now, thanks to the folks at Film School Rejects and YouTube, the “uncensored” trailer for District 9 is now online. Plus, courtesy of Yahoo Movies we also have the new poster to show you as well. Check out the trailer below and a bigger version of the poster after the jump. District 9 opens on August 14th.
Last year, Niell Blomkamp’s District 9 changed how major studios looked at small science fiction projects. Before, ideas like “aliens in a dystopian future” were mostly reserved for direct-to-video productions. But now more and more studios are investing in scripts like these, hoping to ride the Avatar or District 9 success. Enter Jim.
Back in 2005 an unknown director named Neill Blomkamp made a science fiction short with a few friends, a modest budget, and a Canadian production team. The short, titled 
With the release of District 9 imminent, two new clips — via 
We talked about this movie on 
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