"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[Vincent Pereira]

Personally I'm glad Raimi jumped ship instead of allowing the powers-that-be to f**k up a Raimi-directed SPIDERMAN 4 the way they f**ked up SPIDERMAN 3. I still can't believe they didn't leave Raimi alone to make the film he wanted to with 3 given how successful- critically as well as financially- SPIDERMAN 2 was. Let them reboot it, I'm sure they'll hire a visionary like Brett Ratner or McG to direct it and Wall Street will be happy.

Vincent

[Jeff Kleist]

I frankly thought that Spidey 2 was a nigh-perfect Spider-Man film. The first one had a lot of shakey bits, but the second one, fantastic, and felt just right start to finish, especially the beautiful re-creation of the classic cover of him walking away from the suit in the trash can.

I hope whoever is assigned to the project resists the temptation to re-tell the origin story, to target the 8-14 demographic instead of keeping it broad, and to retain as many of the Raimi supporting cast as possible. You will not find a better JJJ than JK Simmons, period. It's like the man stepped right off the page, and keeping Rosemary Harris isn't a bad idea either, despite her advancing years. I'm sure whoever comes in will wipe the slate clean just for the sake of making it their own however.

Personally I'm sad we'll never see him tackle Kraven's Last Hunt or a Lizard film. While I don't relish Tobey MacGuire doing those stories, I do think Raimi would have delivered something incredible.

[micks_address]

I'm with you Jeff, when i left the theatre after watching spiderman 2, i thought i'd seen the best comic book movie adaption i'd ever seen.. it was perfection and how we went from the perfection of 2 to the average 3 i'll never quite understand.. i mean i know the stories about the studio etc but why would you want to meddle with something that was so succesful? its such a shame really.. it was on course to being a brilliant trilogy of films.. i was really hoping that the studio had learned from 3 and said to Sam Raimi to just take all the time he wanted to make 4/5 and do it his way.

i have seen mention of James Cameron being interested in Spiderman so maybe we're headed for a 3D evolution of the franchise?

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I frankly thought that Spidey 2 was a nigh-perfect Spider-Man film. The first one had a lot of shakey bits, but the second one, fantastic, and felt just right start to finish, especially the beautiful re-creation of the classic cover of him walking away from the suit in the trash can.

I hope whoever is assigned to the project resists the temptation to re-tell the origin story, to target the 8-14 demographic instead of keeping it broad, and to retain as many of the Raimi supporting cast as possible. You will not find a better JJJ than JK Simmons, period. It's like the man stepped right off the page, and keeping Rosemary Harris isn't a bad idea either, despite her advancing years. I'm sure whoever comes in will wipe the slate clean just for the sake of making it their own however.

Personally I'm sad we'll never see him tackle Kraven's Last Hunt or a Lizard film. While I don't relish Tobey MacGuire doing those stories, I do think Raimi would have delivered something incredible.

[Dennis M]

Hi Guys,

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there has been a Shark missing from the waters here.

Our good friend SharkShark was banned from the forum ala AVS style.

"vBulletin Message

You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.

Date the ban will be lifted: Never"

Actually it was even more draconian then AVS, no warning was given.

Look, I'm sure this was some kind error. Can someone please help the Shark out. I think he's starting to suffer from withdrawal symptoms.

Unfortunately once banned the site gives you no vehicle to communicate. At least to my knowledge.

[Uxi]

Definitely disapointed about Spidey. Franchise did not rebooting. Don't want to see the development story again.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Dennis M

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there has been a Shark missing from the waters here.

I don’t know anything about it but, I’ll PM one of the administrators.
Could be some kind of error or misunderstanding.
I have no idea.

[Penton-Man]

My PM box is flooded this morning with inquiries concerning a rumored street date of 2/9/2010 for Taxi Driver, as apparently a retailer has a preorder listed for that date.

That date is not accurate.

[Doctorossi]

Who can suss Taxi Driver? I'm still trying to get confirmation on updated source materials for the pending Goodfellas re-issue. Getting info about announced titles out of the studios is like pulling teeth!

[Mr. Cinema]

One thing that does excite me about the Spiderman reboot is the first draft of that story was written by James Vanderbilt, who also wrote the sensational Zodiac. Of course, he was also responsible for The Rundown, Darkness Falls, and Basic.

Oh, and the reboot means no more Kirsten Dunst! She was okay as Mary Jane in the first film, but I'm ready for someone different, especially after those 2 brutal singing parts in the 3rd film.

[SpaceDog]

I think it's a shame that the studio interfered with Raimi's vision. I agree with the prior posters that Spider-man 2 was head and shoulders above the other 2 films - especially the muddy Spider-man 3.

I'm glad Raimi decided to depart rather than be restricted.

I hope Sony is wise enough to hire a talented director & writing team and let them tell the story the way they see fit. Too many management hands in franchise films tend to ruin them.

[Arkadin]

really sad about "Taxi Driver"
I just don't get Sony anymore.
They seem to have pretty much abandoned classic titles for some reason.
really frustrating.
god only knows when "LoA" and "Bridge On River Kwai" will be coming.
Sony is a real disappointment as far as older titles at this point, and I really wish they would offer some explanation as to what is going on.
I mean they just basically say nothing anymore.

[Dennis M]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I don’t know anything about it but, I’ll PM one of the administrators.
Could be some kind of error or misunderstanding.
I have no idea.

Thanks Penton,

I'm figuring it's some type of snafu.

[mark antony]

Hey Penton, not sure if you missed...

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...ostcount=11846

Thanks

[Jeff Kleist]

Who can suss Taxi Driver? I'm still trying to get confirmation on updated source materials for the pending Goodfellas re-issue. Getting info about announced titles out of the studios is like pulling teeth!

Welcome to my world

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Welcome to my world

Yeah, no envy there, man.

[mark antony]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

really sad about "Taxi Driver"
I just don't get Sony anymore.
They seem to have pretty much abandoned classic titles for some reason.
really frustrating.
god only knows when "LoA" and "Bridge On River Kwai" will be coming.
Sony is a real disappointment as far as older titles at this point, and I really wish they would offer some explanation as to what is going on.
I mean they just basically say nothing anymore.

So just beacuse a few of the studio's greatest classic's haven't been announced yet, they are a disappointment?

So are pixar a disappointment because no incredibles announced yet, or universal because no spartacus or scarface or warner bros because...

It's still early day's in a format that's already had quite a few more classics released than sales figures may actually warrant.

As for sayig nothing anymore, when did they actually speak to you in the first place?!

M

[Mr. Cinema]

Originally Posted by mark antony

So just beacuse a few of the studio's greatest classic's haven't been announced yet, they are a disappointment?

So are pixar a disappointment because no incredibles announced yet, or universal because no spartacus or scarface or warner bros because...

It's still early day's in a format that's already had quite a few more classics released than sales figures may actually warrant.

As for sayig nothing anymore, when did they actually speak to you in the first place?!

M

Year 4 is still early days in the format?

2010 looks to have more classics than any year previously which is good, but I don't think it's unreasonable for someone to say the word disappointment when discussing BD related things.

Universal hasn't really released that many catalog titles have they? How many Disney catalog titles have been released? 15? THAT is a disappointment. Their output of 35-40 titles PER YEAR is what I would consider a disappointment. If every studio followed their release pattern, we'd have a very small selection to buy from. I'm glad other studios have picked up the slack, particularly Warner Bros, who get ripped a new one every day on this site from different posters.

So yes, certain studios could be considered disappointing when discussing certain BD related topics.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by mark antony

So just beacuse a few of the studio's greatest classic's haven't been announced yet, they are a disappointment?

Personally, I can really see both sides on this one.

Regarding Sony, specifically... the stuff they do release, they seem to get right. I don't care how slowly they go, if they all come out like Dr. Strangelove. And I know that they're putting the love into Lawrence- take your time and do it right, I say.

Meanwhile, from a more general perspective... when I bought my BD player a year ago, 5 of my top 20 were available on BD. Today (and I do mean just today), 6 are available. A little acceleration would be nice...

[Arkadin]

well I am certainly entitled to my opinion as are you.
Sony has released like only 1 or 2 titles from before 1960, and for me that is a huge disappointment considering all the Columbia classics.
They also have already released the restored sd versions of "LoA" and "Bridge On the River Kwai" over a year ago.
They released "Passage To India" over a year ago and made it look like the beginning of a line of Columbia classics.
uhhh what happened?
I just looked over the list of every Sony title at bdstats.com, and as far as classic older titles they are a huge disappointment.
yes they are.
regarding Universal--they have been a HUGE disappointment also regarding classic titles.
no question about it.
a MASSIVE disappointment.
It's not opinion--it is FACT.
before 1060--how many titles?
uhhh how bout a big FAT 0

.

[neo_reloaded]

Yeah, Universal and Disney have been pretty abysmal on the catalogue front. Disney has a few classics out and done in great quality, but we're talking literally 4-5 that I can think of. Sony hasn't been fantastic in this area either - I mean, no complaints on the quality of what they have put out, but it seems most catalogue releases are very contemporary.

Paramount, Fox/MGM, and ESPECIALLY WB, have been the studios releasing the most interesting spread of titles. I'm amazed at the sheer breadth of stuff WB puts out, and there isn't a single title I'd point to as a real technical failure. Yes, some light DNR issues here and there, and some lossless problems in 2008 and earlier, but nothing near the few real duds we've unfortunately gotten from some other studios. As much as everyone loves to bash them, I think the BD landscape would be a very different place without WB's continued support.