20th Century Fox were the first guys to make a movie showcase presentation at this year’s, and indeed the first Empire Big Screen, which is taking place at the 02 Arena/ complex in Greenwich, London all weekend. We were there shortly after 10am at the Indigo and were treated to an introduction to the whole event by Empire’s own Chris Hewitt, and then from a Fox representative.
First up was a showing of a Fox director’s montage featuring interviews with the likes of James Cameron, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Cameron Crowe, Ang Lee, Ridley Scott, Matthew Vaughn and some guy named George Lucas, all of who have or have had great relationships with the studio over the years. They muse about their dealings with the studio, about becoming filmmakers and the films that they have made at Fox.
We are then treated to a showing of the RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES trailer, along with some superb behind the scenes footage of the Andy Serkis mo-cap stuff, and there were some superb interviews with the special effects guys at WETA and director Rupert Wyatt. Nothing new, but I personally had not seen a great deal of the motion capture technology used in the process of making the film, and was impressed at how much Serkis was involved on the set in terms of making the character of Caesar come to life.
We were then given a look at footage, rather like an extended trailer, from IN TIME, the new film starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. We have seen this on the net a couple of weeks back, so nothing new again, but I really like the look of this movie and according to the rep, this will secure Timberlake’s status as the new action star in Hollywood.
Next we were given our first 3D trailer of the day in the form of the recently debuted trailer of THE DARKEST HOUR, the new film to star Emile Hirsch, produced by Timur Bekmambetov. Then the programme switched to Fox Searchlight and the new trailer for MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, a new film that I personally had not seen anything for online leading up to today. Again, this is also online (see below).
Finally Fox pulled their rabbit out of the bag, the first look at the 3D print for TITANIC, which will be released in cinemas across the world next April.
Now, hear this from me first (along with everyone else sat next to me, all of whom were in aggreement), the print is stunning – even on the small screen in the Indigo arena that we saw this on. It looks perfect in terms of the 3D, and although quite dark, it possibly going to (pardon the pun), blow everyone out of the water come next year. The sound too, is loud and explosive, and yes, I was taken back to TITANIC! We saw six scenes in total, including Rose’s arrival at the boat in the dock, the meeting between her and Jack on the stairs in the middle of the ship, the Irish dance below deck, the hitting of the iceberg, the initial sinking of the ship, and the actually final sinking of the ship… While some of the action on screen is laughable, and while my feelings about the movie have not changed, the 3D will make Cameron and indeed Fox many more millions come next April.
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