Scifiwire Movie News - 11/29/2004 - Halo, Spidey 3, Transformers, War of the Worlds

[Granite]

Scifiwire Movie News - 11/29/2004

Halo the movie
Spidey 3 writing in progress
Transformers movie news
War of the Worlds shooting in Virginia

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Halo the movie

The Ain't It Cool news Web site reported a rumor that Bungie Software, publishers of the popular Halo video-game series, are in talks with director Ridley Scott and Ronald Shusett to adapt the game and its recently released sequel into a feature film.
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Spidey 3 writing in progress

Sam Raimi told SCI FI Wire that he and his brother Ivan are still in the earliest stages of writing Spider-Man 3. "We've finished a 50-page document and now I'm working with my storyboard artist to work out some of the visuals," Raimi said in an interview while promoting the DVD release of Spider-Man 2. "And I'm about to start working with Alvin Sargent [who received the "Screenplay by" credit on Spider-Man 2] on the first draft of the screenplay."

Raimi noted that he's still toying around with different possibilities for a chief villain or villains to duke it out with Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), a.k.a. Spider-Man, in the second sequel. "I actually haven't figured it out just yet," he said. "I'm trying to determine Peter Parker's journey as a human being, what it is that he'll be learning on this next adventure, as a kid growing up, what life lessons [he'll experience]. Once I know what that is, I'm going to try to develop obstacles in his path, like any dramatic writer would do. And out of those conflicts will come the drama. Either he'll be able to overcome these conflicts or he won't. But once I know his journey, and therefore the conflicts that are in his path, I'll choose that villain that best represents those conflicts. That's the way in which I've been approaching this, and I'm still not quite there in determining the villain." Spider-Man 2 arrives Nov. 30 on DVD, while Spider-Man 3 is set for release on May 4, 2007.
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Transformers movie news

John Rogers, who wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Transformers movie, told IGN FilmForce that the big-screen adaptation will be a "big-scale movie." "Ordinary humans who discover the robots, scientists who tinker with That What Must Not Be Tinkered With, and cool soldier types teaming up with our new Autobot friends," Rogers told the site. "The name 'Witwicky' will be spoken. Even now, I say too much."

Transformers is based on the popular line of toys, comics and cartoons. "I was a big fan as a kid," Rogers said. "It was one of those tricks of age that once I grew out of it as a toy, I kind of assumed it no longer existed. It was a bit of a shock to find out they're still such major cultural icons. My new hobby is collecting ads from around the world starring cars transforming into funky robots. It's amazing how many there are. From a writing standpoint, what drew me to it was the chance to write widescreen fights on a scale not often done in Hollywood, and also cool human characters faced with such bizarre revelations." The Transformers is slated for release in the summer of 2006.
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War of the Worlds shooting in Virginia

Steven Spielberg has chosen Virginia's Shenandoah Valley as an additional filming location for his Martian-invasion epic War of the Worlds, the Associated press reported. Jean Clark, tourism director for the Rockbridge County area, told the news service she does not know exactly when or where the movie will be shot but only that "they're shooting something," the AP reported.

The upcoming H.G. Wells adaptation starring Tom Cruise began filming Nov. 7 in New Jersey and upstate New York. It is scheduled for release on June 29, 2005.
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[Charismaslover]

All good news,

Spidey 3 should be a brilliant movie as they are already getting the drafts written, and with over 2 and a half years till it's released it should be an improvement over the second movie, although that was a very good sequel.

I wonder if they will be able to pull of a Transformers movie and make it look realistic and not special effects that look out of place.