Extras! 12 February 2015

Welcome to The Extras! A daily dose of all the smaller movie related news, clips and just plain cool stuff that you might have missed!

• Avast, ye landlubbers! There be buried treasure over the horizon. And by “buried treasure”, I mean making our own series, ya savvy? Yes, infamous file-sharing service BitTorrent, most well-known for being a den of online piracy, have announced plans to start producing their own original series. They have reportedly teamed up with Rapid Eye Studios to identify, produce, and distribute original video content, which will be exclusive to their BitTorrent Bundle platform for 30 to 60 days, before being allowed on other distribution channels. Where they will probably get pirated.

• Everybody knows about the Odd/Even Star Trek Movie theory, about how only every second Trek movie is any good, but let me introduce you to my Good/Best/Okay/Suck (GBOS) Batman Movie Theory. Tim Burton’s original Batman was good, Batman Returns was fantastic, Batman Forver had some redeeming parts but was kinda sucky, and then Batman & Robin was atrocious. Same principle applies to Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. All of which may unfortunately just spell some bad news for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Suckness. 

And in case you were wondering, I came up with my theory after checking out this really cool video of Batman’s evolution in cinema.

• Poster of the day: HBO’s Westworld

• With star Luke Evans out, the planned reboot of The Crow is practically dead. But James O’Barr, creator of the comic that inspired the cult classic 90’s movie starring the late Brandon Lee, still has hope. Actually, he has more than hope, as he also has an actor in mind who he wants for the role in Being Human‘s Sam Witwer.

• Have you ever heard the story that Steven Spielberg wanted to direct the first Superman movie as a musical? Well lots of people have. And they believed it. Luckily, CBR’s Movie Legends Revealed is here to explain how although Spielberg was indeed heavily touted for the gig, and a Superman musical had already been proven to be very successful, a Spielberg directed Superman movie musical was all just a case of miscommunication.

• We know what you all thought about Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man deal, but there’s one very important person who still needs to weigh in on this: fellow Avenger Wolverine!

• You know how Oscar nominees who don’t win their categories are always saying that its fine, as it’s an honour to just be nominated? What they ‘re actually saying is that they don’t mind not going home with a tiny gold statue, because they all receive a swag bag stuffed with $125 000 in goodies (Yes, all those zeroes are supposed to be there). This year’s contents include things like a three-night stay at a resort in Tuscany, and a year’s worth of all-Audi A4 car rental from Silvercar valued at $20,000, among others.

• They’re making another Alvin and The Chipmunks movie, with this fourth entry in the $1.1 billion franchise to be titled Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip. I’m sorry, but I have no funny quip about this news, as I am suddenly filled with an all-encompassing sadness.

• Do you like well-made action movies? Have 20 minutes to spare? Then you should definitely check out this awesome video. And if your name is Olivier Megaton, then you damn well better be taking notes!

• When it comes to the planned TV adaptation of Rush Hour, we still don’t know who will be playing the parts made famous in the movies by Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, which is kind of bad news. The good news though, is that at least director Brett “X3: The Last Stand” Ratner won’t be the one helming the pilot. According to reports, that job has been taken by National Treasure director Jon Turtletaub. And while that Nic Cage adventure flick is by no means the greatest display of directing talent, Turteltaub does have a pretty solid record on TV though, having previously directed the successful pilots for Jericho, Harper’s Island and Common Law.

• Of all the Best Picture nominees for this year’s Oscars, the only one I am yet to see is Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. I get reminded of this grievous oversight all the time when I hear from people about how good it is. Not everybody is here to praise the movie though. No some people just want to talk about it honestly.

If you have anything you would like to contribute to Extras, whether it be interesting stories, funny videos, or artistic photos of yourself in morally questionable poses, feel free to drop a mail to kervyn@themovies.co.za.

Last Updated: February 12, 2015