Screenhead

Apparently the whole Rock Band / Guitar Hero / I think I’m a real musician because I got three stars on a video game trend is carrying on wildly unabated and is now producing movies.

Sure, South Park went for Guitar Hero a couple seasons back or so, but now, we’re getting movies out of it.  Fake musicians are becoming part of the movie landscape, and I’m horrified.

First off, we’ve got Adventures of Power, which is all about–get this–AIR DRUMMING.  Some guy who works in a mine with his dad packs up and goes to New Jersey to compete in an air drumming tournament.  I’ve got the trailer below just in case you doubt me.

Now that I’ve reinforced my credibility by showing you the trailer, I can also point you toward one that’s so new it doesn’t have a trailer I can find yet–Air Guitar: The Movie.  This is about the, and frankly, this’ll kill you–world of competitive air guitar.

I’m horrified.  I’m horrified that Hollywood clearly thinks so little of us that these are actually considered commercially viable.

I Kissed a Vampire is a musical take on what it’s like falling in love when you’re in the middle of turning into a vampire!  I always wanted to know what it was like, the stuff teenagers go through. The series stars High School Musical alumni Lucas Grabeel and Drew Seeley, along with newcomer Adrian Slade. 

Dylan (Grabeel) is terrified when a nasty bat bite transforms him into one of the living dead. His world is turned upside down, and he has to figure out how to balance his budding romance with Sara (Slade), the girl next door, and the bloodthirsty desires his magnetic vampire mentor Trey (Seeley) is constantly urging him to give in to.

The iTune musical looks kind of silly but fun in a bloody way.

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ET’s behind-the-scenes look at Nine, the movie musical based on the provocative Broadway show, articulates vibrant and stimulating women who were apart of world-famous film director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis).  The women include his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), and his film star muse (Nicole Kidman), his confidant and costume designer (Judi Dench), an American fashion journalist (Kate Hudson), the whore from his youth (Fergie) and his mother (Sophia Loren). The film is directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago). The movie will be in the movie theatres November 25, 2009.

Nine looks great

I am not sure if I like Fame yet. The plot is not coming through on all their trailers, and now the music video is cool to watch, but where’s the story?

Susan Varney (9), Christopher H (63) and DanV (111) are the winners! 

Arguably one of the world’s most famous  music performers in history, the late Michael Jackson’s story lives on in Devotion: An Unauthorized Tribute to Michael Jackson, coming to DVD Sept. 1, 2009.

On June 25, 2009, the world seemingly stood still as news spread that Michael Jackson – “The King of Pop” and one of the most beloved, successful and iconic performers in history – was dead.

Devotion is a multi-faceted and personal look at Michael’s rise to the top and how he conquered the world, changed music forever, fell from grace and shocked us all with his departure on the eve of history’s biggest come-back tour. Includes interviews with family, friends, fellow celebrities and music industry insiders.  Yet, we mustn’t forget the prescription drugs he took to further his downward spiral.  He leaves a legacy but also a lesson to learn. Stay away from harmful prescription drugs!

Featurettes: “The Memorial”; “Media” – a look at a life-long bombardment of press coverage; “Global Phenomenon” – examining the world-wide sensation; “Charity Work” – explores the star’s philanthropic dedication, supporting 39 charities

Yahoo just posted the movie poster for This is It, which says it all. Soon after Michael’s passing we were told that an enormous amount of footage had been filmed of Michael Jackson rehearsing for his comeback tour. 

Sadly those concerts cannot happen now, but director Kenny Ortega (High School Musical, II and III) has taken the rehearsal material and edited the work into a theatrical presentation that’ll hit screens near the end of October.

Please note that Screenhead is sponsoring a Michael Jackson DVD giveaway here.  It’s a tribute to Michael Jackson.

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Screenhead has the opportunity to give away 10 copies of Barney: Jungle Friends, which is available as a special DVD/CD set on September 15^th, from Lionsgate Family Entertainment.

Grab your safari hat and get ready for a one-of-a-kind musical Jungle adventure! Join your best friends Barney, BJ, and Baby Bop as they laugh, dance, and sing through an enchanted rainforest and learn about all of the amazing plants, animals, and insects that call the rainforest their home. Watch and learn as kids play with monkeys, collect butterflies, and search for the legendary Higgledy Piggledy Pear Tree in this super-dee-duper tale of friendship and fun!

Post your name and Screenhead will pick the winners Friday, September 25, 2009.

Disney and director Robert Zemeckis are talking it up to remake Yellow Submarine, the 1968 psychedelic animated film based on the music of The Beatles.  This is awesome because Zemeckis movies bring justice to turning this classic into a remake.  Zemeckis knowledge of performance-capture and 3-D animation will make the film. Although I really doubt it can be the same kind of movie as The Beatles production because no one can redo The Beatles, not even Zemeckis.  It really is about making the deal to use all of the songs in the original movie. If that doesn’t happen, well…no deal, no movie.

Disney has been working on the intricate rights deal to give Zemeckis access to 16 original Beatles songs for the movie. There is nothing like The Beatles music and what a coup this would be for Disney and Zemeckis.

The deal isn’t solid yet, but if Variety is reporting this as breaking news, it must be close to a sealed deal. The plan is to have Yellow Submarine ready to premiere around the 2012 Summer Olympics.

When the deal is solid we will see a union of cutting-edge 3-D feature technology with a strong, growing interest in The Beatles, again.  Interestingly, The Beatles appeared just in the film’s closing scene.  Hired actors (John Clive, Paul Angelis, Goeffery Hughes) provided the voices for the animated characters of Beatles Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.  So, realistically just having the music from the original movie could prove successful with The Beatles icon heavily connected by their music.

The original story took place in a magical setting called Pepperland, an undersea paradise protected by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  The band gets captured by the music-hating Blue Meanies and a soldier is dispatched to Liverpool to bring back the Fab Four, who jump in the submarine and save the day.

Obviously, the cinch to this deal and success of the remake is Zemeckis’ ability to use a treasure trove of classic Beatles tunes, starting from the title song to “All Together Now,” “Baby You’re a Rich Man,” “All You Need Is Love,” “When I’m 64,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.”   Those songs are buzzing in my head now, I love their music.

Apparently,  the deal has been months in the making with ”armies” of lawyers (sounds expensive) and the rights will include the future prospects of a Broadway stage musical similar to what Disney accomplished with “The Lion King.”

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Hugh Jackman is attached to play American showman P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman on Earth, an original contemporary musical to be penned by Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City).

Jackman will play the showman with a penchant for hoaxing a gullible public as he creates the three-ring circus that made him famous. The musical also focuses on his infatuation with singer Jenny Lind — the so-called Swedish Nightingale.

The movie will carry a contemporary musical score, and the studio is in talks with British singer-songwriter Mika to write music and lyrics.  I can hear the melodies now!

The musical follows the old Hollywood tradition wherein musicals were scripted with specific actors in mind. The Lind role is being scripted for Anne Hathaway, who held her own with Jackman in his opening Oscar’s number.

Jackman has a penchant to bring musicals back to the big screen. The Greatest Show on Earth adds another to the properties he is developing.  Another one of those properties is a David Magee-scripted Carousel remake wherein Jackman also wants Hathaway as his female lead in the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic.

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Rob Marshall is just about to take the helm of Disney’s fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film.  If he takes the job, it will put the film back on track for a 2010 start with Johnny Depp, once again, as Captain Jack Sparrow.

According to Disney, even though Marshall has not confirmed his commitment, things are looking pretty good.  So good in fact, the studio has begun casting new characters for the movie.  

The studio wants to solidify the production of the Pirates film so they can have Depp star in it before he does The Lone Ranger for them.  The Pirates franchise brings in a lot of money for Disney with the first three movies grossing $2.6 billion worldwide.

The fact that Marshall is even being considered the director for the fourth Pirates is a surprise, yet a turn that may take the franchise down a more refreshing voyage.  If anyone is familiar with Marshall’s work, a choreographer-turned-director, you know he made his feature directing debut with the Oscar-winning musical Chicago and followed by Memoirs of a Geisha, a film that underperformed at the box office, but I thought was well-crafted.  Of late, Marshall has returned to the musical genre with Nine, starring a stellar cast:  Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson and Sophia Loren.  Nine opens November 25, 2009, Thanksgiving weekend, by the Weinstein Co.

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