Posts Tagged ‘J.J. Abrams’
Posted by Bryan in Latest News, Television & Web Series on March 8th, 2010
If J.J. Abrams had created Fringe ten years ago, it could have served as a coy little meta-joke about the writer/director/producer’s career to that point. But today, with the news via Entertainment Weekly that Fringe has been picked up for a third season on FOX, the name is a true oxymoron.
Abrams began his career writing assigned scripts for a few big-budget Hollywood productions (Armageddon, Joy Ride), before finding his niche in the realm of network television. He gave Keri Russell minor stardom in the WB college dramedy Felicity, and then made a splash by essentially tweaking a similar premise with the qualifier “what if she was also a spy,” and creating Alias. Despite critical praise for his creations, neither managed to garner huge ratings. Nevertheless, Abrams would gain further critical attention with his next brainchild, Lost, and manage to accumulate enough clout to be hired on to direct a few huge blockbuster franchise films — Mission Impossible III and Star Trek.
In the midst of his rising stardom, Abrams carved out enough time to create his first televised serial since Lost (excluding a string of other short-lived Abrams-produced offerings that bore little more than his stamp of approval), the paranormal detective tale, Fringe.
Since debuting two seasons ago, the series has proved relatively prosperous for the network that is forced to measure all ratings against their one cultural behemoth, American Idol. Although a recent timeslot shift to the more crowded Thursday nights has led to a decrease in overall viewership — estimates are at 7.6 million viewers per episode, enough for just 50th overall in the key 18-49 demographic — FOX clearly still feels kindly enough to keep it around.
J.J. Abrams produces alongside longtime collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. It stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown and Jasika Nicole. Currently on a hiatus, Fringe will return with new episodes beginning April 1.
Posted by Dominic in Movies on June 22nd, 2009
I work at a hotel, and every morning I pick up a USA Today and check the Life section for any possible cool movie related news. Very rarely are toys of any kind covered-excluding Christmas of course-but this morning I was stoked to see a spread on the upcoming toys for the much anticipated J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek film, opening May 8th.
Now I must admit I’m more of a Star Wars toy collector, and one of the main reasons for that is the scale. In recent years Star Trek figures have been produced in the 6 inch scale, were as I am more a fan of the 3 ¾ scale of action-figure when (1/6th scale excluded of course).
Looks like Playmates has found a way to tempt my wallet with their upcoming 3 ¾ scale line, featuring articulated figures as well as playsets, such as the bridge of the Enterprise and the transporter room.
There will be more collector focused lines of course, and look for many toy and collectable companies to try their hand at merchandise relating to the upcoming film.
For now head over to USA Today and check out a few pictures of these awesome toys. With the New York Toy Fair just around the corner look for more details to surface on all the upcoming products for Star Trek and many other properties.
Posted by Jocelyn in Movies, Reviews on May 17th, 2009
As I sat in my home town theater, sandwiched between two sisters in their prom best waiting for the midnight showing of Star Trek, the typical happened: technical difficulties delayed our long awaited experience. My sisters, who opted to meet me at the theater instead of attending their after Prom (no contest), leaned over to me and whispered epically, “The calm before the storm”. No truer words have ever been spoken.
Star Trek opens with an action packed star battle with a rogue pack of Romulans (my favorite Star Trek alien race) that brought me right back to the classic shaky camera shots and blaring deck alarms from the series. We watch a fantastically emotional back story about James T. Kirk’s father, mother, and his tragic welcome to the world. After our heart strings were tugged and all systems were set to Trek, we got the ever so familiar theme music and larger than life graphics that welcomed us with open arms. We were involved right away. The possibility for the new Trek to be a let down, however, was high, but the level of expectation from loyal fans left a small margin open for error on J.J. Abram’s part. So, understandably, I waited with baited breath for this night. I was not disappointed.
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Posted by Jocelyn in Movies, Reviews on May 5th, 2009
The scifi Fox show Fringe will be returning with a second season next year. Created by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci, Fringe has been winning audience numbers during its Tuesday night time. It rates as No. 1 new skein this season among adults 18-49. The show reminds me a lot of the X-Files, and is definitely a fun watch. it stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, and John Noble. This season ends May 12, but will be back to entertain!
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The Hammer Films‘ film The Resident has just added Christopher Lee to play the roll of August. Lee is best known for playing villains in horror films, including the roll of Count Dracula in a series of earlier Hammer films. Other films include Wicker Man and Sleepy Hollow. Lee will be working along side Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The pic is set to film in New Mexico this June, and is being directed by Antti Jokinen. The name may be changing to Invasion Of Privacy. I like The Resident better, myself.
Hilary Swank will play a doctor who moves into a Brooklyn loft. Becoming suspicious that she’s not alone in her new home, she discovers her landlord is a stalker.
Posted by Jocelyn in Latest News, Movies on May 2nd, 2009
Lost masterminds J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof have big plans to work through Abrams’ Bad Robot Prods. to develop a franchise out of Stephen King’s long running series The Dark Tower. Begun in 1970 and stretching to 2004, the series consists of seven novels. It’s wide grasp of different genres can account for part of its popularity (fantasy, scifi, horror, and western). It reaches out to a broader audience.
The series follows a gunslinger knight, Roland, on his quest to find the Dark Tower, a mythical building said to be the nexus of all the universes. Roland’s world is of a magical nature, with all the fines of King Arthur’s court. It is a feudal society that greatly resembles the American old west. It is ripped apart by wars and disasters. Everything is in chaos.
“Damon Lindelof and I talked to Mr. King,” Abrams told IGN while promoting the upcoming “Star Trek” film. “We got the rights for ['Dark Tower'] as a film. Damon is obviously still on ‘Lost’ and we’ve been working on ‘Star Trek’ together. As soon as ‘Lost’ is done, hopefully we’ll begin tackling that.”
The duo hasn’t done much focusing on The Dark Tower due to the huge task of completing Lost. They do know they want the scope to be very much like Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and are hoping for seven separate films. Nothing will move forward substantially until Lost is over, which has only one season left.
Posted by dominie in Movies on April 30th, 2009
With J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek hitting theaters in no time now, Paramount Pictures has released an official extended synopsis for the film. Read to begin salivating.
The greatest adventure of all time begins with “Star Trek,” the incredible story of a young crew’s maiden voyage onboard the most advanced starship ever created: the U.S.S. Enterprise. In the midst of an incredible journey full of optimism, intrigue, comedy and cosmic peril, the new recruits must find a way to stop an evil being whose mission of vengeance threatens all of mankind.
The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals born worlds apart. One, James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine), a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy, a natural-born leader in search of a cause. The other, Spock (Zachary Quinto), grows up on the planet Vulcan, an outcast due to his half-human background, which makes him susceptible to the volatile emotions that Vulcans have long lived without, and yet an ingenious, determined student, who will become the first of his kind accepted into the Starfleet Academy.
Kirk and Spock could not be more different. Yet, in their quest to figure out who they really are and what they have to give to the world, they soon become competitive cadets-in-training. With their drastically opposite styles, one driven by fiery passion, the other by rigorous logic, they also become defiant, contentious adversaries, each equally unimpressed with the other, each going all out to be among the special few chosen to join the crew of the most advanced starship ever created, the U.S.S. Enterprise.
The crew is headed by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). Joining him are the ship’s Medical Officer Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban); the man who will become the ship’s Chief Engineer, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (Simon Pegg); Communications Officer Uhura (Zoë Saldana); experienced Helmsman Sulu (John Cho); and the 17-year-old whiz kid Chekov (Anton Yelchin). All will face a harrowing first test that will set in motion the loyalty, camaraderie, daring and good humor that will bind them forever.
In the midst of it all, Kirk and Spock will come face-to-face with an undeniable destiny: a need to forge an unlikely but powerful partnership, enabling them to lead their crew to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Posted by dominie in Movies on April 23rd, 2009
I don’t normally just post images and rarely post first look photos, but not surprisingly I cannot resist Star Trek. Below are 15 new images courtesy of /Film.
Starring Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Eric Bana, and Leonard Nimoy, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek is due out May 8, 2009!
Posted by dominie in Movies on April 15th, 2009
Baby Spock. Courtesy of AICN. Click on the link to be redirected to Harry’s thoughts!
Posted by dominie in Movies on April 14th, 2009
Hi Kids! It goes without saying I cannot wait to see JJ’s new Star Trek coming to theaters May 8th. The day is fast approaching yet still such a lagger. In the meantime Facebook has just posted the latest HD clip from the film–Kirk and McCoy’s first encounter! Log into your Facebook account or clip the link below for YouTube.
From director J.J. Abrams (”Mission: Impossible III,” “Lost” and “Alias”) and screenwriters Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (”Transformers,” “MI: III”) comes a new vision of the greatest space adventure of all time, “Star Trek,” featuring a young, new crew venturing boldly where no man has gone before. The film is a chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members.
Watch Clip: Kirk Meets McCoy
Posted by dominie in Movies on April 10th, 2009
Paramount has just debuted the new poster for the IMAX release of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. Does it look a little familiar to you? Both the final theater (below) and IMAX (left) posters are posted for view plus a link to seven additional images from the film from DVD-Forum.
Personally, I like the concept but I’m greedy for even more images, so a new poster would have been a nice Friday bonus.
Less than one month away… Star Trek hits theaters on May 8, 2009!
Posted by dominie in Movies on April 1st, 2009
According to Bloody Disgusting, Cloverfield 2 has commenced filming! Right from under our noses director Matt Reeves has returned to Cloverfield in Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. Bloody Disgusting exclusive reports reveal that their spies have ben talking to P.A.’s and Craft Services working on the set. The site speculates that perhaps this is the reason for the delay in the remake of Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In. Click here for the full report at Bloody Disgusting. 
Posted by dominie in Movies on March 31st, 2009
In addition to their latest sequel news, various sites such as /Film and MTV have reported that Paramount Pictures has released a pack of Star Trek trading cards, which reveals new, never-before-seen images from the highly anticipated reboot film.
Among the batch of images is one of an Orion slave girl (Diora Baird), young Spock meets older Spock, Scotty’s alien friend, the Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, and several more if you click over to MTV.com
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember seeing trading cards in the recent past for these big Hollywood movies anymore. Thumbs up to Star Trek’s marketing department. I think it would be a great way to assimilate the new younger generation!
Directed by J.J. Abrams, Star Trek 11 is set for release on May 8, 2009.
If J.J. Abrams had created Fringe ten years ago, it could have served as a coy little meta-joke about the writer/director/producer’s career to that point. But today, with the news via Entertainment Weekly that Fringe has been picked up for a third season on FOX, the name is a true oxymoron.
