Yeah I have to shake my head at this one. Outside of being a pretty good indication that the movie seems to be an action juggernaut, there's a spoiler in this trailer that made me stop and wince. I thought there's no need to include that one line in this thing, but there it is.
I will tell you below this line in white text - just highlight the area if you want to read it.
**SPOILER BELOW**
The trailer invest significant time I believe to the development of the love interest of Hercules. She is shown many times and it seems to me to be a major part of the movie and to Hercules' character development. Later in the trailer the narrator states "Revenge your family" while showing a shot of the women and their children I am assuming. Also, the narrator says "The Gods that have killed your family". *SIGH* I hate that marketers these days think they can get away with things like that.
**SPOILER ABOVE**
Moving on, I enjoyed the rest of the trailer but I DO NOT recommend watching it if you want a pristine viewing experience going into the theater.
The practical effects look AMAZING in this movie, but I'm not convinced yet about the visual effects. Something about the multi-headed water beast (Hydra?) bothers me. The lines are TOO sharp to me. Motion blur seems lacking. Perhaps in 3D it will all work out - I'm hopeful.
Dwayne Johnson is Dwayne Johnson. Charismatic, owns the screen and instant audience interest in his well being. I really want this thing to work but I don't know how well they have delivered yet. HERCULES opens on July 25 in 3D, IMAX 3D and flat. This is a 3D conversion.
Tim here, and I just finished the first day of CinemaCon. There's more that will happen through the rest of the week than today because today was a start day. Mainly registration, plus a opening dinner, but most importantly a presentation from Paramount Studios. Paramount showed exclusive footage from their upcoming line up of films. Stars were on hand for the presentations such as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (Hercules), Will Arnett and guest David Cross (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) entered in on segways, and finally Mark Wahlberg, his daughter, and upcoming stars Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor (Transformers: Age of Extinction).
I can't go into too much detail about the footage seen, but all these films are being released in Stereoscopic 3D. This means that all these movies will be pretty big at the box office. Hercules was more or less a new trailer, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the teaser trailer that's coming out this Thursday morning. The most amount of footage shown was for Transformers: Age of Extinction, which looks like it's bigger than any of the previous Transformers movies.
The footage we saw showcased a good deal of the beginning of the film that sets up the story. We see the relationship between Wahlberg's character and his daugher played by Nicola Peltz. He's a character the audience is instantly going to connect with and Wahlberg looks like he has fun with the role. We got to see plenty of explosions and destruction caused by the Transformers and the humans fighting them.The VFX for the film already look spectacular as we likely were seeing rough drafts or uncompleted shots (some shots still had green screen), and the movie could be the biggest in the franchise. It helps having a star like Wahlberg. Michael Bay wasn't in attendence because he was busy working on the the film.
In regards to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles teaser trailer it was pretty action packed. You'll be able to check it out later this week, but the advance preview did assure that I can tell you that it will feature the CGI turtles front and center. They look pretty massive standing in front of Megan Fox, who plays April O'Neil. Hercules will also be an action packed film, and with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at the film's center it should be a fun thrill ride.
Overall it was a great opening day. Sadly none of those presentations were in 3D, but I did check out a demonstration from Real D about their TrueImage technology that I'll write about later in the week. Also, MasterImage has their new MI-Horizon3D system which I got to check out so I'll write about that later as well. Keep an eye out for the 3D news here on MarketSaw reporting from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas!
About CinemaCon
CinemaCon will attract upwards of 5,000 motion picture professionals from all facets of the industry –from exhibition and distribution, to the equipment and concession areas – all on hand to celebrate the movie-going experience and the cinema industry. From exclusive Hollywood product presentations highlighting a slate of upcoming films, to must-see premiere feature screenings, to the biggest stars, producers and directors, CinemaCon will help jumpstart the excitement and buzz that surrounds the summer season at the box office.
CinemaCon is delighted to have both the International Cinema Technology Association (ICTA) and National Association of Concessionaires (NAC) as its tradeshow partners. CinemaCon is also delighted to have as its official presenting sponsor, The Coca-Cola Company, one of the industry's greatest and highly regarded and respected partners in the world of the movies.
Got some new pics and a B-roll for you guys to have a look at from Renny Harlin's HERCULES 3D starring Kellan Lutz.
Front and center in the media in this post are the 3D rigs from 3ality Technica - gorgeous instruments of native 3D are they not? Love it!! Check out the Red cameras securely placed within.
It's interesting to see how different productions and directors work on set. You can also get a good feel for the scale of this production in some scenes as what I am assuming to be the Assistant Director (AD) calling out instructions over some sort of PA system during one clip. Harlin is seen in quite a few shots.
Here is the storyline for the movie:
Lutz stars as Hercules, the mythical Greek hero, demigod and son of Zeus. Betrayed by his King and sold into slavery, Hercules must use his formidable strength to fight for his freedom and return to his true love, Hebe, the Princess of Crete (played by Gaia Weiss).
I'm looking forward to seeing Summit Entertainment's THE LEGEND OF HERCULES as it is a 3D production and from the looks of the clips it emulates GLADIATOR to a fair degree in the arena - which I love. Imagine seeing GLADIATOR in 3D? Yeah, me too. This should look amazing!
You many be aware that there are two variations of HERCULES coming up - this one is director Renny Harlan's starring Kellan Lutz.
Here is the storyline for the movie: Lutz stars as Hercules, the mythical Greek hero, demigod and son of Zeus. Betrayed by his King and sold into slavery, Hercules must use his formidable strength to fight for his freedom and return to his true love, Hebe, the Princess of Crete (played by Gaia Weiss).
**UPDATE: Well someone messed up at Summit, or they've got to get their act together, but just days after announcing very publicly that HERCULES: THE LEGEND BEGINS will open on February 4, 2014 - they change it to January 10, 2014. So let it be. The first of two Hercules movies is dropping on February 7, 2014January 10, 2014 as Summit has announced its intentions with the property. This is the Kellan Lutz movie, not the Dwayne Johnson starrer.
I don't have too much to say about the production yet as I wasn't all that thrilled with the first trailer and I haven't seen any 3D yet - hopefully that feeling goes away with the next trailer. Click here for all of our Hercules coverage. Here's the press release: Summit Entertainment, a LIONSGATE® (NYSE: LGF) company, has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Millennium Films’ action-adventureHERCULES: THE LEGEND BEGINS starring Kellan Lutz (THE TWILIGHT SAGA, the upcoming THE EXPENDABLES 3) and directed by Renny Harlin (DIE HARD 2, CLIFFHANGER). Summit will release the film in 3D and 2D nationwide on February 7, 2014. The deal was announced today by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger, and Avi Lerner, Chairman of Millennium Films. Lutz stars as Hercules, the mythical Greek hero, demigod and son of Zeus. Betrayed by his King and sold into slavery, Hercules must use his formidable strength to fight for his freedom and return to his true love, Hebe, the Princess of Crete (played by Gaia Weiss). The supporting cast includes Scott Adkins (THE EXPENDABLES 2), Liam McIntyre (“Spartacus”), Liam Garrigan (“Strike Back”), Johnathon Schaech (“Ray Donovan,” “The Client List”), Roxanne McKee (“Game Of Thrones”) and Rade Serbedzija (“Red Widow”). Screenplay is by Daniel Gliat. Producers are Danny Lerner, Les Weldon, Boaz Davidson and Renny Harlin. Executive Producers are Avi Lerner, Trevor Short and John Thompson. “We look forward to working with Millennium to bring this larger-than-life hero to theaters and action fans in the new year,” said Friedman and Wachsberger. “We are also very proud to work on a project starring Kellan, with whom we have grown very close throughout the release of all five TWILIGHT SAGA films as well as the production of THE EXPENDABLES 3 scheduled for release next year.” “We’re thrilled to be expanding our relationship with the very talented team at Lionsgate and Summit, who had such extraordinary success with Kellan in THE TWILIGHT SAGA franchise and with whom we have a great partnership on THE EXPENDABLES franchise,” Lerner said. “And I’m very pleased that ours will be the first movie in the 21st century to reintroduce modern audiences to this classic, timeless story.” The deal was negotiated on behalf of Lionsgate and Summit by Jason Constantine, Lionsgate’s President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions, Eda Kowan, Lionsgate’s SVP of Acquisitions, and Wendy Jaffe, Lionsgate’s EVP of Business & Legal Affairs for Acquisitions & Co-Productions, and on behalf of Millennium by Avi Lerner and Mark Gill.
HERCULES: THE LEGEND BEGINS opens on February 7, 2014January 10, 2014 in 3D.
Straight away - I don't know if HERCULES will be in 3D, but I'm guessing that they're going to have to convert it to 3D in post to effectively combat Renny Harlin's HERCULES 3D starring Kellan Lutz which is also due in 2014. One thing is certain, that's not a 3D rig in the photo. Either way, you have to enjoy Dwayne Johnson's tweets, especially when the man is on set. That's the case with his current project HERCULES which is currently shooting. Yes it's being directed by Brett Ratner and I've never been a great fan of his, but the RUSH HOUR movies made a mint (and were ok). I'm just not tuned into his work.
Back to Johnson - he seems to always have a great catchphrase with his set tweets too. Take the one that came with this photo:
Got a way with words right? We'll have more on whether HERCULES goes 3D and definitely more on HERCULES 3D from Harlin. Confused? Don't blame you! HERCULES opens on July 25, 2014 while HERCULES 3D is slated for March, 2014.
The first poster for HERCULES 3D has landed. Director Renny Harlin (CLIFFHANGER, DIE HARD 2) and Millenium have mounted their marketing campaign for their version (*sigh* Yes, there is another version getting ready for us too from director Brett Ratner starring Dwayne Johnson - due August 2014) and Harlin is shooting right now in Bulgaria.
Harlin's HERCULES 3D stars Kellan Lutz (TWILIGHT) in the titular role, Liam McIntyre (TV's SPARTACUS) and Scott Adkins (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING) playing King Amphitryon.
Apparently Harlin has $70 million to play with so hopefully we'll see a great product with great 3D. They're aiming for a March 2014 release to beat Ratner to the box office.
Twitch reports that the storyline for the movie will go something like this:
Myths are that during Amphitryon's absence, Alcmene (Hercule's mother) became pregnant by Zeus, who disguised himself as Amphitryon, when he visited her; she then became pregnant again by her real husband upon his return. Of these unions were born twin boys, of whom Iphicles was the son of Amphitryon, Hercules the son of Zeus.
Millennium has tapped Renny Harlin (DIE HARD 2, CLIFFHANGER) to direct their version of the Greek demigod in HERCULES 3D which is being positioned to be the first of two Hercules movies to be released in 2014.
If you will remember, Dwayne Johnson has been inked to star in HERCULES for Paramount and MGM. Their release date is August 8, 2014 while Harlin is aiming for March 2014.
Harlin says:"It's not a comic book, cartoony fantasy thing. It's closer to Gladiator than flying horses."
And he comments on the competitive productions: "I think these are very different kinds of movies in their approach to this legendary character. Obviously, Hercules has been portrayed in many different films, such as the Disney animated movie. I wish them luck. Ancient Greek mythology is an endless source of good stories ... Let's see both movies be successful."
Budget for HERCULES 3D is believed to be in the $70m range. No word on native 3D vs. conversion yet. More when I get it!
