Paramount extends deal with Abrams

Paramount Pictures has extended its overall deal with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Prods., keeping the company on the lot through 2013.

The deal comes as the studio moves into promotional warp speed for the May 8 release of "Star Trek," which Abrams directed and produced.

Abrams and long-time producing partner Bryan Burk set the company at Paramount in July 2006.

Bad Robot is growing into an important supplier of the Paramount film slate. The company's first release was "Cloverfield," which grossed $170 million worldwide. "Star Trek" is the company's second film, and Bad Robot begins production in June on "Morning Glory," the Roger Michel-directed film that stars Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams to be released in 2010.

"Today's announcement is meaningful to me in many ways," Paramount Pictures Corporation chairman/CEO Brad Grey said. "Bad Robot was one of the first deals we made to help rebuild the studio. J.J. has since become part of the fabric of Paramount, and we look forward to continuing our fruitful creative collaboration for many years to come."

"Bad Robot has had an incredibly fun and productive collaboration with Paramount," Abrams said. "We feel like we're just getting started."

Cloverfield 2 Progress???

Ever since Cloverfield came out about a year ago, fans have asked J.J. Abrams at every last opportunity whether or not we'll ever one day see a sequel. He's always had the same answer - if there is a good story that they come up with, they'll do it, but they're not going to be forced to make one just for money. In essence, he'll let us know when he comes up with a good story, and no, there isn't a secret sequel in development. Well, at WonderCon yesterday, another fan brought up the topic of Cloverfield 2 again and Abrams' answer, while pretty much the same, might finally be an indication that he does have an idea.

Abrams actually said a lot of important things, so here's his full response to the question yesterday:

"We're actually working on an idea right now… The key obviously at doing any kind of sequel, certainly this film included, is that it better not be a business decision. If you're going to do something, it should be because you're really inspired to do it. It doesn't really have to mean anything, doesn't mean it will work, but it means we did it because we cared, not because we thought we could get the bucks."

"We have an idea that we thought was pretty cool that we're playing with, which means there will be something that's connected to Cloverfield, but I hope it happens sooner than later because the idea is pretty sweet."

Again, don't read too much into his response, but it sounds like they have an idea and, as he says, they want to do it "sooner than later" because it could be pretty damn good. I'm not one of those Cloverfield fanatics who is foaming at the mouth for a sequel, but I enjoyed the first one, and would love to see a sequel that ups the ante in some way, rather than just re-uses the monster. I have more confidence in J.J. Abrams than I do most filmmakers out there, so if he claims he's got a good idea, then I'm all for it. Let's hope there is some truth to this update and Abrams isn't just stirring the Cloverfield pot yet again, just to appease the fans.

My Best Movies Of 2008

1. Wall-E: Easily, without question and hands down the best film of 2008. The movie is a brilliant mixture of humor, emotion and message. Never before have I seen a character so engaging, likable and emotionally investable without ever really saying a word (other than Eve a couple of times). It is the #1 critically rated film of the year for good reason.

2. The Dark Knight: Sometimes you just have give it up for the leader. And this one dominated the box office for the best of reasons: outstanding technical elements, a story that thrills and provokes and a crackerjack cast led by the cackling Joker of the late, great Heath Ledger. If only every blockbuster were this good.

3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The special effects alone make you stare in wonder, as Brad Pitt seamlessly transforms from senior to newborn. But there's also grand fable and epic inspiration in this life lived backwards, with David Fincher's skilful direction pulling it all together.

4. Kung Fu Panda One of two fantastic animated films in the first half of 2008. The great thing about both animated features this year is that neither one of them relies on silly pop culture references and actually have a fun story to tell. So many animated films today think name dropping pop culture icons and mimicking them is an easy out for a source of comedy, but, as Shrek has proven, it’s an old tactic that many audiences are wise to.

5. Cloverfield I Loved it.... So what? I don't care what many critics said about it — I loved this movie!

6.Ping Pong Playa Easily the funniest movie of the last two years. It eventually hit theaters earlier this year, but barely anyone knew it even existed. It was sad to see it go unnoticed because not only does its lead actor, Jimmy Tsai, and its director, Jessica Yu, deserve plenty of praise for their skills, but it is literally one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

7. Tropic Thunder I certainly was skeptical when I heard that Ben Stiller was directing himself and Jack Black in a war comedy, and then there was that whole business of Robert Downey Jr. in black face, which got a lot of "what the ?!?!" reactions. Amazingly, this works, not really as a spoof of war films as much as a war film gone horribly wrong, and it's already up there as one of my favorite comedies. The opening war sequence is really impressive, but when it gets into the relationship between a group of actors stranded in a South-Asian jungle filled with armed drugdealers and the behind-the-scenes of making such a film, that's where the movie delivers the best laughs of the year. Robert Downey Jr. as Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus playing a black soldier was particularly genius--well worthy of what looks to be another Oscar nomination in the fallen actor's comeback year--but it was the work of the ensemble as a whole that made the movie so funny.

8. HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY One of the best action movie of the year didn't make the most money at the box office or even come inside the top ten. What it did do is bring Guillermo del Toro's artistry of Pan's Labyrinth to a superhero template and went far beyond where most action films dare to tread. He ended a set piece on a sad and contemplative note with the defeat of the Forest Elemental. He took us to a world unlike any we'd seen before with the Troll Market. He contemplated the conflict between the fantastical and the mundane and where a demon, sent to destroy us all and instead working as our protector, finds a new destiny. GdT did all of this and more with "Hellboy II" and while I respect "Hulk" and "Iron Man", Big Red easily bests them both.

9. Iron Man I think the first half of Iron Man is utterly fantastic, this film suffers from major final act problems that are too many to mention here. Simply put, turning what could have been a kick ass war on terrorism into a monster movie wasn’t what the first hour was building toward.

10. Hulk I believe this may be the first time ever that I actually enjoyed watching an all out CGI vs. CGI monster mash battle. The climax in The Incredible Hulk was a fun and extremely loud brawl that gave me plenty of enjoyment.

Cloverfield sequel still possible

Paramount is still pushing for ‘’Cloverfield’’ director Matt Reeves to come up with a sequel. And though the ‘’Felicity’’ vet is open to the idea of a follow-up to his monstrous 2007 hit, Reeves says he’s waiting till he and producer J.J Abrams find an idea they really like rather than rushing a cheap money-grabbing follow-up into production.

“Wanting something to happen and coming up with the right idea are two very different things”, Reeves, whose working on a new version of “The Invisible Woman”, tells MTV.

The filmmaker says there have been on-and-off talks about doing one for the past nine months or so. “At times it’s gone dormant and then its come back up again”.

“There are a couple ideas that have potential but we haven’t quite cracked it yet,” he says, adding, “When we were in Japan we thought, wouldn’t it be cool to do it here”.

Reeves says the sequel probably won’t pick up right at the end of the first film, and fix on that flick’s survivors (if there were any). Rather they have discussed a sequel that “wasn’t necessarily right after that night but had intersections with the original.”

Heck, Reeves might not even direct the sequel.

“There was the thought that maybe we’d bring in some young exciting people and we’d produce their take.”

“I don’t know at this point,” Reeves said. “I think if we find something that would be incredibly fun to make and that we would want to watch then that’s what would push it over the top. It’s a weird puzzle.”

Source: www.moviehole.net

Cloverfield DVD

With Cloverfield hitting DVD on April 22, ShockTillYouDrop.com has exclusively learned of a bonus disc that Best Buy will be offering that features 30 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage with T.J. Miller (Hud in the movie).
• Commentary: Commentary by Director Matt Reeves
• Featurette: The Making of Cloverfield
• Featurette: Cloverfield Visual Effects
• Featurette: I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge
• Featurette: Clover Fun
• Additional Scenes: Congrats Rob
• Additional Scenes: When You're in Japan
• Additional Scenes: I Call That a Date
• Additional Scenes: It's Going to Hurt
• Additional Scenes: Alt Ending #1
• Additional Scenes: Alt Ending #2
• Easter Eggs: Slusho!
• Easter Eggs: Person of Interest - JLVD Video 2
• Easter Eggs: Person of Interest - JLVD Video 5
• Easter Eggs: Person of Interest - JLVD Video 9
• Easter Eggs: Person of Interest - JLVD Video 11
• Easter Eggs: Rack 'Em & Pack 'Em
• Easter Eggs: Fighting the X