Transformers ROTF Co-Writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci Say The Sequel Is Darker.

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Is the Transformers Franchise going Dark for success?

Sci-Fi wire had the interview with the co-writers of one of the biggest franchise releases we will see this summer.

"Actually, I think you'll find that it has all the same tone of the first movie," Kurtzman said. "The story's a little smoother, and it's a little bit darker, so it does dip in there a little bit, but it has all the same humor, if not more than the first movie."

What could this mean? Could maybe Prime not make it through this next one?




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RSVP For The 20 City Transformers 2 Trailer Premiere Event

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies Posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 2:10 pm by: Peter Sciretta

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Paramount Pictures has released the official list of RSVP e-mails for the 20 city Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trailer premiere which is taking place on April 29th. If you live in one of the 20 cities and would like to attend the event, send an e-mail your your name and information.

The trailer is attached to a one-time screening of Michael Bay’s 2007 film Transformers. Paramount is also holding a costume contest - come dressed as your favorite Autobot or Decpticon to enter to win a trip to Los Angeles for the premiere of Revenge of the Fallen in June. The movie will be presented in IMAX in the five top markets: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Toronto. No word on if the new trailer will also be presented in IMAX at the selected theaters, but if it is, it might be the first time we see Transformers footage, shot in IMAX, on the IMAX screen.

Click on the flyer above to see the e-mail addresses that you need to RSVP to. Please note that seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first come, first served basis. So arrive really early. Full list of cities/theaters after the jump.

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Update on 'Transformers 2' Trailer Premiere in 20 Cities

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies Paramount Pictures have let out the RSVP e-mail address for the 20 cities 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' trailer premiere event.

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More info on how to attend the "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" trailer premiere in 20 selected cities has been shared. Paramount Pictures, via Slash Film, have released the official list of the RSVP e-mails to the special event. The e-mail address for each city listed can be seen in the flyer for the event.

It should be noted that seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first come, first served basis. Transformers Live Action Movie Blog, which has sent an RSVP of its own, confirmed the matter, posting the reply to its RSVP. "Thanks for the RSVP for the special screening of TRANSFORMERS. The screening is FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE," the reply message read. "PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY, as this RSVP is to establish an accurate head count and does not guarantee seating. No one will be admitted once the screening begins."

Aside from the RSVP news, Slash Film also noted that there is a change done for the Dallas screening. The screening for "Transformers" in which a new trailer to the action fantasy's sequel will be attached will no longer take place at Cinemark Movies 17. It has been moved to Studio Movie Grill Royal Lane. Still, the screening schedule remains the same. The full list of cities/theaters for the screening has been outed earlier.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is set a year after the end of "Transformers". It follows Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky and Megan Fox's Mikaela Banes as they become the target of attack by Decepticons because of Sam's knowledge about the origins of the Transformers. This DreamWorks action movie will blast off in U.S. theaters on June 24, but before then, its new trailer will hit the big screen attached to "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and "Star Trek".


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How Hasbro Is Getting Movies Made About Its Toys

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Mattel More Reluctant to Hand Over Brands to Hollywood Talent

by Claude Brodesser-Akner

Published: April 23, 2009

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- As cash-strapped consumers spend less, Mattel and Hasbro have been feeling the pain in their toy chests. Last week Mattel, the world's largest toy maker, posted a first-quarter loss of $51 million dollars. At No. 2 Hasbro, first-quarter profit was down 47% compared with the same period the year before, to just more than $19 million.

The final touches are being made on a superhero-comedy script based on the long-defunct, elastic-limbed muscleman, Stretch Armstrong.

But thanks to markedly different Hollywood strategies, things may get a lot better a lot sooner at Hasbro. In an April 20 conference call with analysts, Hasbro's CEO, Brian Goldner, said with two summer blockbusters afoot -- a "Transformers" sequel and a GI Joe movie -- Hasbro expects overall increases in sales and earnings this year.

While both toy companies own scores of iconic brands and have aligned with top Hollywood talent agencies in the past couple of years -- Mattel with Creative Artists Agency, Hasbro with William Morris after a stint at Creative Artists -- Hasbro has been more aggressive about rolling the dice and transferring its properties to celluloid.

Hasbro is pursuing a strategy of finding long-term studio homes for its brands and involving top writers and directors early on in the creative process, while Mattel has taken a property-by-property approach that is far less trusting of Hollywood talent -- and has yielded far fewer potential film projects so far.

Hasbro has already had success dusting off its "Transformers" franchise, and GI Joe, another once-popular brand, will blast into theaters this summer, also via Paramount Pictures. But what's truly remarkable is how many other Hasbro properties are being developed with major Hollywood talent.

• Peter Berg ("Friday Night Lights," "The Kingdom") is in negotiations to adapt the Milton Bradley naval-warfare game Battleship for the big screen.
• "National Treasure" screenwriters Cormac and Marianne Wibberley are in negotiations to write a script inspired by Parker Brothers' Ouija; "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" director Michael Bay will produce.
• "Bruce Almighty" screenwriter Steve Odekerk is putting the final touches on a superhero-comedy script based on Kenner's long-defunct, elastic-limbed muscleman, Stretch Armstrong.

What these and other fast-coalescing Hasbro titles have in common (see "Tinseltown Showdown") is that they're set up at Universal Pictures in a six-year deal brokered by the William Morris Agency in February 2008.

At the time, Hollywood was skeptical of basing feature films on narrative-free entertainments such as Ouija. But William Morris agents Rob Carlson and John Fogelman had persuaded Hasbro to decamp from Creative Artists and sign at their agency in late spring 2007 by promising a great deal more than just a press release: They would get Universal to agree to make at least at least four movies based on Hasbro properties in six years. And if the studio didn't take steps toward making those movies, Universal would have to pay Hasbro millions of dollars in penalties.

Mr. Fogelman, an agent for 18 years, is also a toy scion: His grandfather was one of the founders of Tyco, which was the third-largest toy company in America when it sold to Mattel in 1997. As such, he knew well that a toy maker could molder in a movie studio attic if precautions weren't negotiated beforehand.

"Historically, Hasbro had 'GI Joe' set up at Warner Bros. for 20 years [in the 1970s]," Mr. Fogelman said. "So Hollywood just gobbled up that intellectual property and then tried to figure out the script."

To skip development hell, William Morris recruited Bennett Schneir, an executive who had spent the past dozen years working for director Robert Zemeckis on movies such as "Cast Away" and "The Polar Express," to serve as Hasbro's Hollywood point man. His job: identify top writers and directors to connect with Hasbro properties.

But why was Universal persuaded by Hasbro's pitch?

"I think what were seeing in the world at large is the power of brands distinguishing themselves," said Universal Pictures Chairman Marc Shmuger, who was previously the studio's marketing capo. "As we're gripped with fear and anxiety, we look for something we can rely on and trust. Look what just happened when we brought back the original cast of 'Fast and Furious.' And so the value of brands has changed, and with the value of brands changing, what the owners of the brands want to accomplish changes too."

Hasbro's Mr. Goldner said, "I quickly realized they value brands like we value brands."

Mr. Goldner's strategy was to "reinvent, reignite and re-imagine" Hasbro brands such as Stretch Armstrong by delivering "immersive entertainment experiences" developed by Mr. Schneir, and then relaunching the toys.

But Mr. Schneir said whether a certain toy or game might make a great movie is better determined by "creative stewards" such as Mssrs. Odekerk and Berg than by suits like himself. As a result, "there's a real enthusiasm and excitement to work with these brands," Mr. Schneir said.

While Hasbro has thrown open its gates to directors and writers, Mattel has been far more wary.

"We like to make sure there's a story that lends itself to the motion-picture genre," said Barry Waldo, VP-worldwide entertainment and consumer products at Mattel. He added: "We don't like to take a brand, lock it up at a studio, and hope that the creative minds can come up with the answer. That's a very scary proposition. ... And the studios respect us for bringing a property to them that's not merely a white sheet of paper that says, 'We don't know what to do with this, but please, help us make a movie out of it.'"

Mattel has announced only three film projects -- one of which insiders say will likely remain in neutral for a while: After "Speed Racer" spun out with producer Joel Silver last summer, Warner is likely less to take another lap with Mattel's car-themed "Hot Wheels."

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A Transformers Game Not Based on the Movies?

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Activsion's enxt big game may have an original story

It seems that no matter how good the Transformers movie games are, they'll always be flawed by the fact they're based on the movies, their constrained by the boundaries of the films storyline. But what about a game not based on the movies?

Activision is working on a Transformers game due for release in 2010. Which makes sense, since they like to exploit their franchises, and exploit them annually.



But there's no Transformers movie due in 2010. Which means the game - apparently being worked on by Activision's newly acquired High Moon studios, the team behind the Bourne Conspiracy game - won't be based on either of the movies.

Which could be good! It could mean High Moon will be given the freedom to come up with their own levels and design decisions. It could also mean that, without a movie to cash in on, they could go and make a Transformers game based on, oh, Gen 1. Or the original film. Or even Beast Wars.

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Seek, and you might find

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies In animal scientist Temple Grandin's most recent book, Animals Make Us Human, she discusses the "blue ribbon emotions" her colleague, neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, believes guide human and animal behavior.

These primary emotions (typically rendered in all caps) are RAGE, FEAR, PANIC, LUST, CARE and PLAY. All animals need to experience the positive emotions, and too much of the negative ones leads to all sorts of neurotic behavior.

Perhaps the most interesting of these emotions is SEEKING, which Grandin says is "the pleasure of looking forward to something really good" as opposed to "the pleasure of having something good."

Grandin says SEEKING is such a gratifying emotion that researchers long misidentified the SEEKING system as the brain's "pleasure center." SEEKING - the positive side of wanting, anticipating and being curious about something that's coming up - feels great, even better than actually having the thing.

That's why coming attractions always seem better than the movies themselves. If SEEKING is as good as it gets, then we can't help but be disappointed in the actual experience. (Cue Peggy Lee: "Is that all there is?")

And so, with the cinematic flotsam of the first quarter of 2009 mostly out of the way and with the highly anticipated Watchmen now in theaters, it's a good time to look forward to movies that sound far more interesting than they probably will turn out to be.

For instance, Kyle Newman's Fanboys has finally made it into limited theatrical release, and it should pop up in Arkansas theaters within a few weeks. Chances are either you know a lot about this movie or you've never heard of it. Set in 1998, it's about a group of allegedly grown-up friends who have never outgrown their childhood fascination with Star Wars. Their SEEK systems are being stimulated by the impending release of George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, but they've reason to suspect that one of their number - a cancer victim - won't make it to opening weekend. So they drive across the country on a quest to break into Lucas' ranch and steal a print of the film.

The reviews have been mixed, with some critics observing that Phantom Menace didn't live up to its hype either. Still, I get as many queries about when this benighted, low-budget feature is coming as I do all the other movies mentioned here combined. Maybe soon. Maybe never. Don't get your hopes up either way.

Even James Cameron seems to understand the problems of elevated expectations - while he's been emphasizing the incredible technical complexity of his mysterious years-in-themaking project Avatar (scheduled for a Dec. 18 release), he's also said that he doesn't know if it "will be a great film from a narrative and critical standpoint." What he's promising is that the movie will "be an experience unlike other movies," and that its use of motion capture and 3-D technology will be cool. Having been knocked out by the 3-D effects in Coraline, I'm anxious to see how Cameron raises the ante.

A friend who pays attention to such things considers Coraline the biggest advance in special effects since Cameron's Terminator 2, but the real question raised by the approach of Terminator Salvation is whether Christian Bale's famous intensity (as evidenced by the recently leaked recording of his salty tirade against a hapless crew member) will translate into a brilliant performance. Were it not for the presence of Bale I wouldn't be holding out much hope for this McG-directed installment. It's scheduled for release May 21.

On the other hand, we were more excited about Monsters vs. Aliens (March 27) before we saw its now ubiquitous trailer; Planet 51 (Nov. 20) and Pixar's Up (May 29) may be better animation bets, and I'm hopeful Planet 51 will become my favorite Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson movie.

I'm not especially psyched about Race to Witch Mountain (March 13), which looks, from the trailer, like a banal remake of the forgettable 1975 Disney movie Escape to Witch Mountain. That's not to say it won't be great - I like to wait until after I've seen a movie before reviewing it- but it doesn't do much for my SEEK system.

But that's beside the point - I admit to being intrigued by X-Men: Origins: Wolverine (May 1), even though I haven't really cared much for the series to date, simply because Liev Schreiber is playing Wolfie's nemesis Sabretooth. I understand a lot of comic geek types are upset with Schreiber's casting because they think of him as an intellectual actor. Well boys, Hugh Jackman only looks big on the screen - Schreiber has personally assured me he could take Hugh in a street fight.

The less I say about Star Trek (May 8) the better. But I will say that Chris Pine, the new James T. Kirk, was the worst thing about Bottle Shock, a charming movie with a couple of weak spots. He should do better with this role.

A lot of people are looking forward to Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (June 26), but very few of them are middle-aged movie critics. That doesn't really matter very much, considering that Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox are back, now does it?

The same might be said for

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (July 17), which was pushed back from December. Normally that's not a good sign, but the built-in Potter audience ensures a robust opening weekend, and the fans are enthused by the trailer. So it'll probably be another sturdy installment in the series, which ought to end with next year's Deathly Hallows. Right?

I can't believe we've actually come to this, but G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra opens on Aug. 7. I'm more interested in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, (Aug. 21). Sure, it'll be sadistic and ultra-violent and saturated with movie brat brio and a genuine love for the form.

I'm also still interested in The Road, John Hillcoat's take on the Cormac McCarthy novel, even though it still doesn't have a U.S. release date (it is scheduled to open in Argentina on June 18 and in Finland in October, which can't really be counted as good signs). Another project deferred from last year, Joe Wright's The Soloist, with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx, is scheduled to open on April 24.

I can't imagine better casting than Benicio Del Toro as The Wolf Man (Nov. 6). And I can't imagine how a Martin Scorsese film, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer and Jackie Earle Haley could misfire. So I'm penciling in Shutter Island (Oct. 2) as my pick to click (even though I've heard the Dennis Lehane psychological thriller on which it's based is "practically unfilmable").

I'm also wired for Michael Mann's Public Enemies (July 1), which stars Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis.

Looking even further down the road, I'm really excited about what North Little Rock native Jay Russell will do with Steve Niles' graphic novel Wake the Dead, which should surface in the summer or fall of 2010. And then there's the Farrelly Brothers' The Three Stooges, which may or may not star Johnny Depp as Moe Howard and Sean Penn as Larry Fine. While the Farrellys reportedly have no idea who to cast as Curly, Mel Gibson would seem to be the obvious choice.

I'd SEEK that one out. Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies

Geek Daily: New 'Prince of Persia' and 'Wolverine' Photos, Green Lantern, and Megatron

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The weekend may have belonged to Watchmen, but a few geek tidbits managed to make their way online for Monday. The best comes by way of ComingSoon.net, who caught up with The Green Lantern producer Donald De Line. He denied they were casting Hal Jordan as young as those Anton Yelchin rumors suggested. Jordan will be in his "late '20s, early '30s."

In the category of "eye candy" comes these two new photos of Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince of Persia, courtesy of The Huffington Post and residing now in the gallery. These aren't no paparazzi shots, these are the real candlelit deal:

Gallery: Prince of Persia

SuperheroHype.com also has a new photo of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, and the official X-Men Origins: Wolverine site has been updated with new character bios and downloadables. The best part? When you go there, Wolverine says his catchphrase. My heart jumped in my chest a little. I won't deny it.

Gallery: Wolverine

Meanwhile, Michael Bay was revealed to be a big fat liar. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen cowriter Robert Orci confirmed on TFW2005 that Megatron returns. Hugo Weaving double-confirmed it to Adelaide Now, and hinted how the character might return: "I think in the last one, doesn't Optimus Prime pick up a little bit of, a little shard of the cube, or the thing that's left, and he takes it with him. Maybe there's something there... but I don't know." Bay was then forced to confess on his official website: "Okay cat is out of the bag. Megatron is back -- but you will only get to see him from the long lost past. We go way back in time as this movie explains the mythology of the Primes. He is not a tank like everyone suggests, but an alien vehicle. But sadly he does not has much screen time." Should you believe him? That's up to you.

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