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Stuff You Need to Know, Friday, August 22, 2008

Some sites will write 500 words to tell you that somebody’s directing some film. The actual information you need to know can usually be given in one-tenth that amount. We boil it down for you to save time. Just because we don’t have a life, doesn’t mean you can’t have one.

  • Amazon is having a Blu-Ray sale where you can save up to 50% off. The Blade Runner five-disc Blu-Ray is still going for $25. Iron Man two-disc Blu-Ray is pre-orderable for 30% off, same with Band of Brothers Blu-Ray and The Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-Ray. Sale is on until August 29th.
  • Casablanca Ultimate Collector's Edition

  • The aforementioned Casablanca Ultimate Collector’s Edition is now available for pre-order on both the DVD (click here) and Blu-Ray (click here) flavored versions. That’s out December 2nd.
  • [ad#longpost]

  • Dead Set is a six-part series coming later this year to E4 in the UK, about what happens to the people inside the Big Brother house when a zombie apocalypse occurs outside. Wow, reality television for the rest of us! Source: io9.
  • Impressionism is a play coming to New York City in the spring that will star Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen. That’s enough to get me to want to see it, I don’t know about you. Source: Variety.
  • CBGB Records is releasing Living Colour: CBGB OMFUG Masters: August 19, 2005: The Bowery Collection. This is Living Colour’s performance at the CBGBs benefit. “This is a pristine live recording, direct from the soundboard.” Does it make me say nice? Yes. Nice. Comes out October 28th. I’ll keep an eye out for the pre-order.
  • Miyazaki‘s new film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea has made 10B yen or US$93.2M in Japan the first Japanese film to cross that line since Howl’s Moving Castle, which, no coincidence, was also a Miyazaki film. No U.S. release date yet, dammit. Source: Variety.
  • Quantum of Solace will now open November 14th instead of November 7th. This all due to the schedule shifting kicked off by Harry Potter moving to next year. Source: Variety.
  • The feature film version of The Sweeney, a 1970s cult TV show from the UK, has been placed on hold when Fox Searchlight realized that they were making a feature film version of a 1970s cult TV show from the UK. “Fox execs are believed to have had doubts the $16 million pic, while looking a sure-fire hit in Blighty because it’s based on a cult 1970s TV series, would sell elsewhere without a major star.” On one hand, um…YA THINK? On the other hand, if you can’t make back $16M on a cop movie that will do well in the UK, and with Brit fan audiences worldwide, not to mention all the various other media it will show up in (downloadable, DVD, Blu-Ray, pay per view, etc etc etc) then yeah, you might want to pull the plug. They want to get production set for next year, but don’t hold your breath. Source: Variety.
  • Alex Proyas (Dark City) is helming a feature based on The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag by Robert A. Heinlein. Budget is $40M-$50M. “Originally published in 1942, the offbeat tale centers on a man who becomes increasingly disturbed when he realizes he cannot account for his activities during the day, or even what he does for a living. He divulges his problem to the husband-and-wife partners of a private detective agency, and their investigation leads to a series of revelations they could never have fathomed.” Production is expected to start, if it does, in 2010. Source: Hollywood Reporter.
  • 3 comments

    • I like the sound of Dead Set. Really, you could take that into any genre you felt like, with practically no effort. Damn Europe, they get all the cool stuff. And the Unpleasant Profession of Johnathan Hoag is a nice premise, if it beats the predicted demise of civilization in 2012.

    • RE: The Sweeeny
      The show was also the template for Life On Mars’ depiction of the 70’s cops. Fox is also involved in the LoM remake for ABC. So there’s another reason.

    • I guess with Virginia Heinlein out of the way Hollywood can now ruin and destroy Heinein’s work at will.
      Though I really have enjoyed Dark City.