UPCOMING FOXES: EMILY AND FAMILY GUY

20th Century Fox plans a feature film on "Emily the Strange" that mixes live-action with animation according to Variety.

From her 1993 debut on promotional stickers and T-shirts distributed from the creator Rob Reger's garage, Emily has grown into an entire industry, including an apparel line, three bestsellers published by Chronicle Books and an upcoming quarterly from Dark Horse Comics.

"I had the idea to turn Emily into a movie about five years ago, following the first wave of publicity for the character," Reger said. "Since then, I've been approached by many studios and producers, but only Fox was willing to make me a true partner in the process, and thus ensuring the integrity of the character."

The deal follows Chris Meledandri's (Fox Animation studio) coup of acquiring rights from Theodor Geisel's estate to make a CGI-animated pic from the Dr. Seuss classic "Horton Hears a Who" with producer Blue Sky.

On DVD: Fox has also announced the direct-to-DVD movie Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story Unrated.

In this exclusive 83 minute DVD premiere, featuring brand new, never before seen content, Stewie, the maniacal baby genius, is distracted from his plans for world domination when he sees a man who looks just like him on television. Convinced that this man must be his real father (after all, how could he possibly share genetic material with the dimwitted Peter?), Stewie sets off on a cross-country road trip to find him.

The DVD, will be released on September 27. Bonus features include an alternate "Unrated" Audio Track (!), Full Screen Feature,"Making of" Featurette and more.

"Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin" is something of a thank you to the show's fans who bought so many DVDs, MacFarlane said.

TIFF 2005 GETS 16 N.A. PREMIERES

indieWIRE's reports the Toronto International Film Festival has issued a press announcement for the 30th annual festival, running September 8-17, 2005.
Planners unveiled twenty of the films that will screen in various sections, including 16 North American premieres on tap for the event.

Noah Cowan, Co-Director of the Festival, has this to say of the first 20 titles announced for the festival: "This is a wonderful opportunity for audiences to see these films for the first time in Canada, and in many instances, North America. The 20 titles out of the approximately 250 total features we'll be programming are the cream of the festival circuit, and are among the highlights of the international cinema scene."

In the international Masters section we'll see Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "L'Enfant," (winner of the Palme d'Or at this year's Festival de Cannes) Michael Haneke's "Caché," "Don't Come Knocking," from Wim Wenders, Alexander Sokurov's "The Sun," Hou Hsiao Hsien's "Three Times," and Lars von Trier's "Manderlay."

The Visions section presents Tsai Ming-Liang's "The Wayward Cloud," as well as Eric Khoo's "Be With Me," and Vimukthi Jayasundara's "The Forsaken Land," a winner of the Camera d'Or in Cannes this year.

Contemporary World Cinema section features nine films so far, seven of which are North American premieres. Carlos Reygadas acclaimed Cannes 2005 film, acquired by Tartan, is on tap. It is described as "the story of a man who struggles to come to terms with a guilty conscience after the death of a kidnapped child. Also set is Hany Abu-Assad's "Paradise Now" which was a hit at the Berlinale and later acquired by Warner Independent, described as the story of "two friends reunited to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv." Other films set for the section include Mohammad Rasoulof's "Iron Island" from Iran, Cristi Puiu's "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" from Romania, Laila Marrakchi's "Marock" from France, Wang Xiaoshuai's "Shanghai Dreams" from China, Thomas Vinterberg's "Dear Wendy," Rakhshan Bani-Etemad's "Gilaneh" and Mark Donfirm-May's "Carmen In Khayelitsha," winner of the top prize at this year's Berlinale, from South Africa.

Two American films are already on tap for Toronto's Special Presentations section. Mike Mills' "Thumbsucker" from Sony Classics and Noah Baumbach's "The Squid And the Whale" from Samuel Goldwyn Films are both set for the section, after debuting at Sundance.

We'll report on the Midnight Madness line-up when the films are announced.

BILLY CONNOLLY's PET ZOMBIE FLICK

On Film* Lions Gate Films and Anagram Pictures have nabbed Billy Connolly to star in FIDO according to The Hollywood Reporter. Joining Dylan Baker, Carrie-Anne Moss, Tim Blake Nelson and Henry Czerny in this film about a little boy, Timmy, and his best friend, a 6-foot-tall domesticated zombie named Fido. FIDO is a highly-stylized dark horror comedy set in a small town that has been frozen in an idyllic world reminiscent of the 1950's. Whoever thought they'd cross Sean of the Dead with Lassie?

In other upcoming film news, the Tim Burton Collective site reports that Warner Bros. have updated the official Web site for Tim Burton's forthcoming stop-motion animated movie The Corpse Bride.

Cinema giants merge: Cineplex swallows Famous Players

Wanna buy a movie theatre?
The big news for movie going Canadians yesterday was the announced buyout of Famous Players by Cineplex Galaxy, who owns less theatres and made less in revenues last year. (?) Under an agreement with the federal Commissioner of Competition, Cineplex Galaxy will have to sell off 35 theatres, with 284 screens and annual box office revenues of $100 million, to complete the deal - which will see Viacom getting $500 million for Famous Players.
Cineplex has agreed to sell theatres in Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, Vancouver, Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, London, St. Catharines, Kitchener, Hamilton, Kingston, Ottawa, Toronto, Gatineau, Montreal and Quebec City.
Which theatres in each city will go on the market is undetermined at the moment.
So who's going to buy all those movie houses? Will this the beginning of the 'branded' theatre? Say for example an MGM movie house that will only show MGM films, similar to the fast food outlets that will only sell you one brand of pop. Interesting times.

UNIVERSAL RELEASES RINGU 2, LUGOSI & HAMMER HORROR

Some upcoming goodies from Universal: They are releasing The Ring Two, Ringu 2 and the 4-disc Ringu Anthology of Terror box set on 8/23. There'll be 3 different versions of The Ring Two, extras will include a new Fear on Film: Special Effects featurette. Ringu 2 will be available in an anamorphic widescreen unrated version. The 4-disc Ringu Anthology of Terror will include the original Ringu, Rasen, Ringu 2 and Ringu 0, all in anamorphic widescreen and featuring the original Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 audio (with English, French and Spanish subtitles).

Slated for 9/6 release are The Bela Lugosi Collection (single disc with Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Raven, The Invisible Ray, Black Friday and The Black Cat) and The Hammer Horror Collection (a 2-disc set containing Brides of Dracula, The Curse of the Werewolf, The Phantom of the Opera, Night Creatures, Paranoiac, Kiss of the Vampire, Nightmare and The Evil of Frankenstein).

First sex doll invented by the Nazis?

An article on blogcritics maintains that during World War II, Hitler's war machine created the world's first sex doll: Borghild. The 'field-hygienic project' was an initiative of Himmler, who regarded the doll as a 'counterbalance' for the sexual drive of his stormtroopers. The project was considered 'Geheime Reichssache', which meant 'more secret than top secret.'
The world's first sexdoll or 'gynoid' was built in 1941 by a team of craftsmen from Germany's Hygiene Museum in Dresden. Psychiatrist Dr. Rudolf Chargeheimer wrote the following note as the project went forward: The sure thing, purpose and goal of the dolls is to relieve our soldiers. They have to fight and not be on the browl or mingle with 'foreign womenfolk.'
Eventually, the project appear to have been put on the back-burner and what remained of the project was destroyed in the bombing of Dresden in 1945. Further reading available at Salon.com.

Verrry interesting, but what does this have to do with movies you might ask?
Heck, I'm not really sure. Maybe I'm just a sucker for weird news items about sex dolls, or wacky Nazis, naawww that's can't be it. More likely I'm just looking for any excuse to plug the recent dvd release of the exploitation flick S.S. GIRLS from Media Blasters. This Italian film, was directed by Bruno Mattei in the Seventies and starred Gabriele Carrara, Macha Magall and Marina Daunia.

A Blast From The Past - Old Theatres Pt. 2

Continuing our look back some of Toronto's most popular movie theatres in the seventies... (Part 2 of 4)

The Fine Arts Cinema (Yonge St. at Castlefield)

One of two independent theatres covered here, the Fine Arts deserves attention. A great deal of care has been taken to create a special character quite unlike the usual manufactured dazzle of chain cinemas. Done entirely in muted brown and cream tones and accentuated with good graphics, the Fine Arts has a restrained and subtle ambience that is immediately appealing. The refreshment bar offers several types of espresso and there are chairs throughout the lobby for those viewers with an inclination for quiet conversation before the screening. The sound system is good here and every care is taken to see that the surroundings increase the viewer's enjoyment. The operators of this cinema know what they are doing and do it with style.

The Hollywood Theaters (Yonge St. north of St. Clair)
The designer of the Hollywood should be complimented, for the decor of this cinema complex is simple and stylish. Both the north and south screening rooms are quiet, elegant and comfortable. Prints and equipment are cleaned frequently to maintain quality and if the run is a particularly long one management will replace the original print. Films start on time, end on time, and in general everything runs smoothly. Unlike many other theatres, the Hollywood does not abandon latecomers or leave them to stumble about in the dark. Ushers direct late arrivals to their seats and do so as quietly as possible. An evening at the Hollywood would be almost perfect if someone could persuade the staff to be a little friendlier - on a busy evening it's hard to avoid the feeling of being herded on your way in.

The Imperial Six Cinema (Yonge St. south of Dundas)
This flagship of the Famous Players' fleet is a good illustration of what happens when you gild an architecural lily. The original theatre was done in creditable Louis XVI, but when it was subdivided in the early Seventies the result was a rather uneasy compromise between grace and glitter. Still it's an impressive theatre, and all six screening rooms are clean and comfortably furnished. Their sound head, a Simplex XL, is new and well matched with a Simplex 35 projector. The system is in mint condition and nicely controlled. Control is somewhate less apparent in the audience, however, where rowdies are occasionally permitted to keep up running commentaries on the film with no interference from staff.
More to come.

ARGENTO'S TRAUMA ON DVD IN AUG.

 

Trauma by Dario Argento is slated for DVD release on August 23rd 2005, according to Fangoria's website. Anchor Bay has had this new disc in the works for some time, and stars his daughter Asia along with Christopher Rydell, Brad Dourif and Piper Laurie. It's a longer and complete cut of this later Argento chiller and features an audio commentary by author/Argento expert Alan Jones.

TORONTO'S FESTIVAL OF FEAR Con Guest List

Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear is being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on August 26-28 '05.
The impressive guest list features Clive Barker, Elvira, Linda Blair, Margot Kidder, Tony Todd, Gunnar Hansen, Ken Foree, Elijah Wood, Crispin Glover, Jeff Lieberman (Satan's Little Helper), Ed Long and Damien Glonek (of Living Dead Dolls), Jhonen Vasquez (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac), James Marsters (Spike from Buffy), Brian Keene (The Rising) and more...

BUFFY ACTRESS PLAYS A WHAT??

SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR is set to play a porn star in RICHARD KELLY's new movie SOUTHLAND TALES. The film is set in Los Angeles in 2008 and will also star wrestler-turned actor DWAYNE 'THE ROCK' JOHNSON.


The storyline entwines the lives of an action star stricken with amnesia, an adult film star developing her own reality television show and a policeman who holds the key to a vast conspiracy - all taking place during a three-day heat-wave and culminating in a huge 4th of July celebration.


Kelly - acclaimed director of cult film DONNIE DARKO - is also writing a prequel to the movie, which will be published as six separate 100-page graphic novels in the run-up to the film's release in 2006.

Watchmen Movie axed by Paramount

Watchmen Movie axed by Paramount


Empiremovies.com reports that "After months of guesswork, Paramount Pictures has finally pulled the plug on The Watchmen, putting it into turnaround and taking it out to other studios."

The film's budget was rumored to be $100 million and new the new studio head
apparently found it too expensive. Alan Moore's celebrated superhero graphic novel, with director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy)
attached, had been aiming for a summer start.