Zack Snyder's 'Sucker Punch' will be a special brand of girl crazy

Moviegoes won't see the mad-house girls of "Sucker Punch" until 2011, but director Zack Snyder has comely young inmates -- including Abbie Cornish, right -- in training already.

After the bloody hyper-reality of "300" and the alternate-universe intensity of "Watchmen," filmmkaer Snyder is ramping up for "Sucker Punch," a surreal action film about a young woman who hopes to brak out of an pyschiatric unit with the help of the her four new wild-child friends, who may just be in her head.

The stars of the film are Emily Browning (“Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”), Jamie Chung ("Dragonball Evolution") Jena Malone (“Into the Wild”), Cornish (“Stop-Loss”) and, joltingly, Disney's very own Vanessa Hudgens of "High School Musical" fame.

Cornish, who plays the leader-of-the-pack Sweetpea, said that Snyder (below, left) has the starlets working out like Spartan warriors.

“Sometimes," she said, "I forget I’m an actor. We’re training so hard." How hard? She said their five-day-a-week morning is “doing martial fighting, swords and choreography -- just kicking butt with guns and everything imaginable. And then we do a training session in the afternoon. It’s like being a stunt person, really, not an actor at all. “

Cornish has been generating some Oscar buzz with her radiant turn as Fanny Brawne in Jane Campion’s "Bright Star," which weaves a tale out of the 19th century romance between Brawne and doomed British poet John Keats. Don't expect any corsets in "Sucker Punch," though, which sounds like some high-octane mash-up of "Fight Club" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

"The film is a dream in a way, “ explains Cornish, which is set in the 1960s. “It operates on three levels. A reality, then a sub-reality where the psych ward world shifts into this strange high-roller's brothel. Then there’s this dream world where it goes into these crazy action sequences that are totally removed from time and space.” 

Cornish added that It’s still Sweatpea in the dream world, but “just all of a sudden she becomes a crazy killing machine and she’s decked out in a really cool outfit.“

Stay tuned for a lot more on this film here at Hero Complex...

-- Rachel Abramowitz

RECENT AND RELATED

Zack Snyder among Hollywood players with video-game ventures

Is "Watchmen" the "Fight Club" of comic-book films?

Alan Moore on Watchmen film: "I will be spitting all over it"

SILLY VIDEO "Watchmen," Saturday morning safe!

"300" plus 1? What's the future of the Spartan sequel?

"Watchmen" screenwriter David Hayter on the film's "moral certitude"

Rorschach ski masks? Alan Moore won't be pleased

 

CREDITS: Abbie Cornish in the movie "Candy" -- Think Film Co. Zack Snyder -- photo by Spencer Weiner\Los Angeles Times.

Hollywood hits restart as more filmmakers venture into video games

Alex Pham and Ben Fritz take a look at the latest videogame ventures by Hollywood players, which adds to the long and wobbly history of big-screen specialists in the small-screen sector. Here's an excerpt from the story in today's Los Angeles Times. -- G.B.  

The Hollywood moguls behind such films as "The Dark Knight," "Watchmen" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" are looking for their next blockbuster in a new realm: video games.

An increasing number of big shots from the movie business are seeing new opportunities in the $50-billion global interactive entertainment industry. Power producers such as Jerry Bruckheimer and Thomas Tull, as well as hot directors such as Gore Verbinski and Zack Snyder, have all recently dived into the still-growing game market.

The hordes descending on Los Angeles this week for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the annual trade show known as E3, testify to the industry's growing cultural and financial clout. The Hollywood players are diving into games for new creative challenges but also because consumers are continuing to snap them up during the recession even as they cut back on some other media such as movie DVDs.

"We're in the entertainment business," said Bruckheimer, producer of such action films as "Top Gun" and "National Treasure." "We will entertain you in the theaters, on TV and on your game platforms."

Some game-industry insiders may feel like they've seen this movie before, and it didn't end well.

Hollywood's love affair with games dates to the 1970s, when Warner Communications bought Pong-maker Atari Inc. In 1982, George Lucas, intrigued by the technical magic involved in making interactive entertainment, started Lucasfilm Games (now called LucasArts), which creates games based on the "Star Wars" and Indiana Jones movie franchises.

Six years later, Walt Disney Co. began its own computer game division. Steven Spielberg declared his ardor for games in 1995, creating DreamWorks Interactive in Los Angeles. And media tycoon Sumner Redstone began in the late 1990s to amass shares in Midway Games Inc., the Chicago developer of Mortal Kombat.

Happy endings were elusive. Warner shed Atari in 1984 after it bled nearly half a billion dollars. Spielberg sold his studio to Electronic Arts Inc. in 1999.

And in November, Redstone liquidated his 87% stake in Midway for a mere $100,000 and claimed $800 million in losses. It's now in bankruptcy.

Only Lucas' and Disney's game studios have survived. But this new crop of Hollywood suitors is promising to treat game development right...

READ THE REST

-- Alex Pham and Ben Fritz

RECENT AND RELATED

Back from the dead: Will "Ghostbusters" game revive films?

EXCLUSIVE: We've got the "Ghostbusters" Wii trailer

E3 Week: Gore Verbinski talks games and "Bioshock" film

A new-look Harley Quinn for "Arkham Asylum"

Sci Fi's "holy grail" project will meld TV and gaming   

CREDITS: At top, Zack Snyder photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images. The middle image is Gore Verbinski shot by Matt Sayles/Associated Press. At bottom is Jerry Bruckheimer, photo by Seth Wenig/Associated Press. "Ghostbusters: The Videogame" image courtesy of Atari

Is 'Watchmen' the 'Fight Club' of superhero films?

Some films are "must-see," but "Watchmen" is more than that: Zack Snyder's masked-man epic is  the "must-discuss" movie of 2009.

Like some spandex-cinema version of "Eyes Wide Shut," "The Passion of the Christ" or "Fight Club," the movie has divided not only the critics but also the paying audience and, in a curious way, stirred debate among people who haven't even seen it.

"Watchmen" is the torrid topic on Twitter, an ongoing soapbox subject at YouTube, and the inspiration of a free-for-all on Facebook. One of my old friends has changed his Facebook photo to a frowning yellow face to mourn the movie's failure; one of my other pals has changed his image to the pulsing blue face of Dr. Manhattan to celebrate the film's triumph. For fans of the bestselling graphic novel of all time, it's not enough to see the $150-million adaptation, they must weigh in whether it is Epic Film or Epic Fail.

One fan's view, left on the comments page here at Hero Complex: "Stunning, 'Watchmen Is a visceral assault on the in the senses. Go see it You'll like it." Another respondent was less inspired: "Worst movie ever." Fans couldn't even agree on what they saw on the screen. One Hero Complex reader wrote: "I came out astonished. The movie is a great adaptation of that novel staying as true to its roots as possible." Another moaned: "Why change the story from the book?"

There are quite a few predictions that the movie will drop off considerably after the opening-weekend surge by hard-core comics fans and the mainstream-media reviews (which were not especially kind; check out the critics roundup I posted or just read Kenneth Turan's sharply executed review, which is about the best I've read and representative of the widely held view that in essence boils down to the statement "If you're a passionate fan of the book you'll enjoy the film, but otherwise..."). But even the money-making performance of the film is open to interpretation, as you can see in Patrick Goldstein's Big Picture column today.

Personally, I thought the film had outsized amibition, an obvious passion for the source material and some truly great moments (that staggeringly good early montage sequence, the sequence where Dr. Manhattan slides back-and-forth through time recounting his life journey and, well, pretty much any scene with Jackie Earle Haley) but long chunks where it feels somewhat hollow. I found myself wondering how anyone who hadn't read the book could hang in for the loooong haul of the movie. I also winced whenever the actor playing Richard Nixon came on screen with his hambone imitation and rubber nose.

At the same time, I'm oddly proud of the film for even existing. It took a comic book series I adored since the day it came out and made it, with great reverence, into nothing less than the boldest popcorn movie ever made. Snyder somehow managed to get a major studio to make a movie with no stars, no "name" superheroes and a hard R-rating, thanks to all those broken bones, that oddly off-putting Owl Ship sex scene and, of course, the unforgettable glowing blue penis.

I think there's a good chance that, like "Fight Club," this movie will echo in pop culture for quite a while and become a landmark moment that will take on different contours when viewed in hindsight. Not everyone agrees with me, of course ...

FIRST LOOK: 'Black Freighter' from 'Watchmen' sets sail on March 24

On the page, one of the most gripping aspects of "Watchmen" was the story-within-a-story of "Tales of the Black Freighter," the gruesome maritime yarn about a sailor watching the world around him tumble into dark madness. "Freighter" brought such story symmetry and symbolism value to "Watchmen" that many people (including Alan Moore) often cite it when they declare the comic-book epic to be simply "unfilmable." "Watchmen" the film hits theaters on March 6, and while the running-time restraints of Hollywood make the secondary tale completely impractical, director Zack Snyder  has been outspoken in his desire stay aboard the "Black Freighter" in some fashion. Here's his solution....

This animated adaptation from Warner Premiere of the grim pirate tale will be sold on DVD ($27.95) and BluRay ($35.99) and hits stores on March 24. "Freighter," which is R-rated, features the voice of Snyder's old "300" buddy, Gerard Butler, as well as Jared Harris ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"). Snyder co-wrote with Alex Tse (the same scripting tandem behind the feature film) while Daniel DelPurgatorio is directing.

(Daniel DelPurgatorio? Wow, a name that evokes both the author of "Robinson Crusoe" and the writings of Dante...that's pretty spot-on for the ethos of "Black Freighter"!)

'Twilight,' Ron Moore and Christian Bale, all in Everyday Hero headlines

Welcome to the latest edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe....

THE NEXT BIG 'THING': The Sci Fi flagship show "Battlestar Galactica" is winding down (we've already told you how the channel will try to soldier on without it) so what is Ron Moore going to be up to while he waits to launch "Caprica"? According to Michael Fleming, writing in the trades, Moore will be taking on a script about the alien who came in from the cold: "Universal will add a new chapter to 'The Thing,' lining up another take on the paranoid horror classic most recently brought to the screen by John Carpenter in 1982. Studio has set 'Battlestar Galactica' exec producer Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen to direct the re-imagining. New project borrows heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr. short story 'Who Goes There,' the basis of the Carpenter film and 1951 Howard Hawks original 'The Thing From Another World.' It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp ... Van Heijningen has shot blurbs for brands including Toyota, Pepsi, Heineken, Bud Light and Visa. He is also developing 'Army of the Dead' at Warner Bros. with producer Zack Snyder." [Variety] ALSO: Hollywood is gearing up more than a dozen other remakes of classic sci-fi films; you can read about it here.

FAR TO GO, DAKOTA: The "Twilight" fans, a famously mellow and forgiving bunch, are going to love this tidbit from gossip maven Elizabeth Snead: "Dakota Fanning is really, really excited about taking on the role of Jane, the Volturi vampire in 'Twilight's' sequel, 'New Moon.' However, she hasn't even read the book yet. Fanning admitted at this afternoon's junket for her new film, 'Coraline,' that she's only halfway through reading the first 'Twilight' book. Asked if there was any movement on 'New Moon,' Dakota replied, 'It's not 100% for sure yet that I will be doing it, but it's definitely not like a rumor or anything. It's definitely a possibility and something I'm excited about.' Asked if there was any particular scene from the book that she was looking forward to doing, she said, 'I don't know ... I just think the character is what I'd be excited about. It's kind of evil, it's a vampire, it's really cool.'  Does she have any favorite vampires from films? 'I don't. The only vampire movie I've seen is 'Twilight.' " [Dish Rag]

ZACK SNYDER REVEALED: Writer Nisha Gopalan has contributed to the Hero Complex, and we always enjoy her work. That's especially the case with her new interview with "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder, who confesses to dark chapters in his past (Attending Renaissance fairs! Making beer commercials! Hanging around with naked blue men!) and also talks about casting his son as young Rorschach. Here's a chunk of the Q&A exchange: "'Why on Earth would you cast your 11-year-old son in this movie as a younger version of Rorschach, an abused sociopath whose mom was a hooker? My son was in '300,' too, as the young Leonidas -- he fights the dad, and then he punches a kid in the face. [Laughs] I feel like he’s together enough actually, that he can handle [the 'Watchmen' role]. I didn’t try to get too deep into it. Though there is a woman yelling at him, 'I should’ve had that abortion!' " [Nylon Guys] ALSO: Check out all "Watchmen" coverage at Hero Complex right here.

ON THIS DATE: Christian Bale celebrates his 35th birthday today and now clearly reigns as the dark prince of fanboy cinema. He has played Batman in two films (one of which now stands as the second-highest grossing film in U.S. box-office history) and he will star in the new "Terminator" franchise that launches this summer. He has played a dragon slayer, reluctant gunfighter, a serial killer with a penchant for Huey Lewis hits and (in one of my favorite recent films) a magician with a dark secret. To see some video scenes of the Wales native through the years, keep reading....

Jackie Earle Haley finds the voice of Rorschach

SNEAKS 2009: "WATCHMEN"

   

Today is the big 2009 Movie Sneaks issue of the Los Angeles Times Calendar section, and in it I have a story on Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach in Zack Snyder's "Watchmen." I talked to  him in Vancouver many months ago during a set visit that will be yielding several more stories before the movie's release in March.

The fiery prison-riot scene was over and, mopping the sweat from his brow, actor Jackie Earle Haley was heading back to his trailer in search of some lunch. It was a crisp fall day in 2007 on the set of “Watchmen,” the most challenging comic-book movie project ever filmed, and Haley was trying to soak in every heroic moment. “I’m just happy to be here, to be part of something like this,” said Haley, a child star in the 1970s (“The Bad News Bears,” “Breaking Away”) who saw his film dreams fade as he ended up driving a limo, delivering pizzas and doing other odd jobs.

After more than a decade off the Hollywood grid, Haley surged back on the scene with his Oscar-nominated performance as a sex offender in the 2006 film “Little Children,” and with “Watchmen,” may have the opportunity to deliver another memorable character. “This is one of those roles that stays with you a long time, for the actor and the audience,” Haley said of Rorschach, the grim vigilante at the center of the epic movie, which brings to life the landmark 1986 graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The actor added muscle and went into dark areas to essay a hero who is more like “Taxi Driver’s” Travis Bickle than Batmobile owner Bruce Wayne.

“The one thing that’s super difficult about this part is to find that place of release,” Haley said. “Actors continually need to push away all inhibitions, and you need to reconcile your mind with where the character is. You need to find the moment and communicate.”

And then there’s the really hard part: “I have to do all of that with a sock over my head.”

'Watchmen' ruling, Eartha Kitt and 'The Green Hornet' all in Everyday Hero headlines

Welcome to the holiday hangover edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe. Today is Dec. 26. 2008, and, like the egg nog you find in your fridge in March, there's nothing but sourness in today's update....

FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN: Just when you thought the long, strange odyssey of the "Watchmen" film adaptation had settled into a steady stroll toward a March release date, a California courtroom decision looks at the Rorschach test and sees something completely different. Now the release date of the film may actually be pushed back. An old friend, Michael Cieply, has the story: "In a surprise ruling, a federal judge in Los Angeles said he intended to grant 20th Century Fox’s claim that it owns a copyright interest in the 'Watchmen,' a movie shot by Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures and set for release in March. The decision was disclosed in a five-page written order issued on Wednesday. Gary A. Feess, a judge in the United States District Court for Central California, said he would provide a more detailed order soon. Fox has been seeking to prevent Warner from releasing the film. The superhero adventure, based on the 'Watchmen' graphic novel, is being directed by Zack Snyder (who also directed '300') and has shaped up as one of most eagerly anticipated releases for next year. A Warner spokesman, Scott Rowe, declined to comment on the ruling and the studio’s plans. At an earlier hearing, the judge said he believed that issues in the case could be settled only at a trial, which was scheduled for late January. On Wednesday, however, Judge Feess said he had reconsidered and concluded that Fox should prevail on crucial issues. 'Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the "Watchmen" motion picture,' the ruling said. Fox acquired rights to the 'Watchmen' graphic novel in the late 1980s for the producer Lawrence Gordon, but eventually dropped its own plan to make a movie from its story, about the underside of life for superbeings." [New York Times]

EARTHA ANGEL: Entertainer Eartha Kitt died on Christmas Day at age 81. Kitt replaced Julie Newmar as Catwoman on the old "Batman" television series starring Adam West, and she was also nominated for an Emmy for her work on "I Spy." She also gave a delightful edge to "The Emperor's New Groove" as the villain of the 2001 animated hit. The best Kitt obituary I've seen was on the BBC website and here's an excerpt: "Once described by Orson Welles as the most exciting woman in the world, Kitt's smouldering, feline drawl in memorable hits, such as Santa Baby, Old Fashioned Millionaire and I Wanna Be Evil conveyed a wealth of innuendo. Ostracized at an early age for her mixed race heritage, international star Kitt defied criticism of her illegitimate past and conquered the entertainment world with finesse. Born in 1927, she endured a tough childhood. Kitt's mother, who worked on a cotton plantation, was just 14 when she gave birth, the white father thought to have been the son of the plantation owner. Kitt's features, neither black nor white, led to her being accepted by neither community. She was given away by her mother at the age of eight to live with an aunt in Harlem, New York City. Little did she know that this would be the start of a long showbiz career. With a flair for the dramatic, Kitt, aged 15, auditioned for the famed Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe and won a spot as a featured dancer. The work took her worldwide, and her unique style was enhanced as she became fluent in French during the European tour. It was during a performance in Paris that she caught a certain director's eye, and was cast as Helen of Troy in Orson Welles' production of 'Dr Faust'." [BBC]

CHOW SAYS CIAO TO "HORNET": I'm playing a bit of catch-up on news that was reported in the days leading up to Christmas, such as this item in the trades by Michael Fleming about some turbulence with "The Green Hornet," a film that started as an action movie and then became a comedy and now appears to be losing some of its star power: "There's been another change in the 'Hornet' nest: Stephen Chow has dropped out as director of 'The Green Hornet' but will still play Kato in Columbia Pictures' latest bid to get the crimefighter to the bigscreen. The studio and producer Neal Moritz are in the process of setting a new director to keep the picture on track to begin production by spring. The character began on radio in the 1930s and is best known from the '60s TV version. But a bigscreen translation is having a long gestation, going through many incarnations, including as a proposed George Clooney vehicle. Chow, who directed and starred in 'Kung Fu Hustle' and 'Shaolin Soccer,' signed in September to direct the film and play the role originated in the TV series by Bruce Lee. He stepped out as director over creative differences. The film was scripted by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and Rogen is starring as the masked crime fighter. The script will likely be polished, and a director could be in place by year's end." [Variety]...BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE: A few days later the AP then reported that Chow might skip on the acting role in Hornet as well to free up his schedule to work on a Jack Black superhero comedy, which we can only pray will be half as funny as this Tenacious D music video for Wonderboy.

THE LION AND THE MOUSE: You know the economy is rough when the Walt Disney Co. walks away from a proven franchise because they don't want to ante up the investment. Veteran Hollywood reporter Claudia Eller has the lowdown on Disney's decision to bow out of the "Chronicles of Narnia" series, which is poised for it third installment, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader": "A Disney spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that the Burbank studio decided not to exercise its option to co- finance the third movie in the franchise based on C.S. Lewis' classic children's books because of 'budgetary considerations.' Though the budget of the movie came in significantly below the $200-million cost of 'Prince Caspian,' the second film in the 'Narnia' series, it could still escalate during production, and that made Disney wary, according to a person close to the movie. Disney was partners with Walden Media, which owns the rights to the books, on the first two 'Narnia' films. Disney's decision not to proceed with 'Dawn Treader' shows how it is being more selective in the number of pictures it releases. Studios are scrutinizing costs more carefully and in many instances passing on expensive pictures that until recently might have been given an automatic green light. Disney was also uneasy that the budget of 'Dawn Treader' was subject to other uncontrollable factors, such as uncertainty about the tax breaks and rebates, a weak U.S. dollar and the high cost of visual effects. One person close to the matter said there were also 'creative' differences between Disney and Walden, and that the two disagreed on when to release the film in 2010. Walden said Wednesday that it hoped to find a new financial partner and proceed with plans to shoot the film in the first quarter of next year with director Michael Apted." [Los Angeles Times]

ON THIS DATE: Character actor Vincent Schiavelli died on this day in 2005 in Sicily at the age of 57 after a battle with lung cancer. The Brooklyn native enjoyed a long career built around comic timing and his world-weary eyes. Most people will remember him in the films "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Better Off Dead" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," but fanboys will also recall him in the great cult classic "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension," "Batman Returns" and "Tomorrow Never Dies," as well as his television in work in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "The X-Files," just to name a few. In his honor today, let's all say "big-boo-TAY" over and over and giggle when people stare at us.

(P.S.: If you want to see the trailer for "Buckaroo," it is at the bottom of this post...)

'Star Trek' in Rome, 'The Watchmen' and Omega in Everyday Hero headlines

Today's edition of Everyday Hero, your handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe....

When in Rome, do as the Romulans do: Reporter Ariel David of the Associated Press has this report from the Italian capital regarding the new "Star Trek" film: "Director and producer J.J. Abrams visited the Eternal City on Friday to give a sneak peek of the early years of Capt. James T. Kirk and the other characters who warp around the galaxy in the upcoming 'Star Trek' movie... 'I want fans of Star Trek to come watch it, but the truth is I made the movie for future fans,' Abrams said at the presentation in a Rome theater...the preview and four 'Star Trek' scenes were strictly controlled, with security keeping out cameras and other recording devices. This much we can say: The brash and womanizing Kirk had a less than glorious start to his career, since the film introduces him as a bar-brawling biker in 23rd-century Iowa. The movie follows the young troublemaker, played by actor Chris Pine, as he meets up with his future crew, getting off to a rocky start with most of them, including Zachary Quinto’s edgy and hostile Spock. The peek given Friday also featured plenty of action sequences, including a hair-raising space dive and a sword duel at high altitude above an alien planet as the crew battle the villains led by Eric Bana. The movie is also likely to enthrall fans with inside jokes, including a scene that pokes fun at the accent of Russian character Chekov, as well as a cameo by Leonard Nimoy, who reprises his original role appearing as an aging, time-traveling Spock." {Associated Press, via Yahoo]

"Watchmen" on the witness stand?: This upcoming Sunday the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times is dominated by a huge image of Rorschach -- I have an advance copy here on my desk right now and its startling to see this familiar image by Dave Gibbons printed sooo large. Right above the blank-faced hero is a strip of photographs of just some of the Hollywood players who had a stake in the "Watchmen" property at some point in its long, messy trip to the screen. The accompanying article by John Horn is the most comprehensive explanation to date of the legal issues that entangle the Warner Bros film planned for next March. An excerpt he begins with a quote from director Zack Snyder: " They haven't stopped us,' Snyder said in early October, after he had shown dozens of journalists some footage from his film and was asked about the lawsuit. 'We are just acting like we're making a movie.' Even now that the movie is in postproduction and is stirring intense anticipation, 'Watchmen' presents other challenges for its distributor. Its R rating will keep out some younger moviegoers who made multiple trips to the PG-13-rated 'The Dark Knight.' And it very well may be hard to build a franchise like 'X-Men'; the 'Watchmen' movie has an ending that, like a comic-book version of 'Titanic,' hardly encourages a sequel no matter how good the grosses. A prequel certainly could be made but Snyder, a devoted fan of the graphic novel, has called it a terrible idea and vowed to oppose it. As Snyder hurries to finish the film and 'Watchmen's' release date approaches, the Fox and Warners lawyers continue battling over documents, depositions and the film's script, which Fox says Warners won't share. It's unclear if Fox can really prevent Warners from releasing the film. Warners will likely ask [U.S. District Court Judge Gary] Feess to dismiss the case once all the evidence is collected, a motion Fox is certain to oppose. The more likely outcome is Fox studio chief Tom Rothman or Warners' head Alan Horn striking some sort of compromise deal in which the studios share the movie's costs and proceeds. But because Warners already is sharing the portion of the film it didn't sell to Paramount with financing partner Legendary Pictures, the studio doesn't have that much to divvy up..." [Los Angeles Times]

The "Omega" force: The crossover between "legitimate" literature and comics continues. David S. Ulin, the books editor of the Los Angeles Times, has a review of the new Marvel collection "Omega: The Unknown," which has an intriguing pedigree: "It's fitting that 'Omega: The Unknown' (Marvel: unpaged, $29.99), Jonathan Lethem's first foray into comics, should come with a blurb from Michael Chabon. Chabon, after all, is the only other literary novelist I can think of who has made the jump to writing superhero comics -- with 'The Escapist,' which grew out of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.' Unlike 'The Escapist,' 'Omega' isn't an original creation; it's based on a little-known Marvel series from the 1970s. (It lasted just 10 issues.) For Lethem, though, 'Omega' was influential, helping to inspire his 2003 novel, 'The Fortress of Solitude.' He's a fan, in other words, as is his collaborator Karl Rusnak, and that's a defining factor in their 'Omega,' which also ran for 10 issues, in 2007 and 2008. Gathered for the first time in one volume, it is a strange and wonderful hybrid: a superhero comic that reads with all the ambiguity of fiction, set in the Manhattan neighborhood of Inwood and -- like "The Fortress of Solitude" -- merging the fantastic with the most mundane aspects of teenage urban life." [Los Angeles Times]

Credit: Photo of J.J. Abrams by Dan Steinberg/Associated Press. Dave Gibbons art from "The Watchmen," courtesy of DC Comics.

Scream 2008 Awards are a sign of the times

I went to the Spike TV Scream 2008 Awards and have plenty of things to report back from it. First off, here's a story I wrote that was published on the front page of the Los Angeles Times this morning.

The Oscars present Hollywood as it wishes to be -- refined, glamorous and high-minded -- but on Saturday night at the Greek Theatre, the Spike TV Scream 2008 Awards showed the movie industry as it truly is in 2008: obsessed with superheroes, overflowing with fake blood and relentless in its pursuit to sell popcorn to teenagers. And despite a name that sounds like a B-movie convention, the Scream Awards turned out to be so of-the-moment in their target audience that top studio executives, major stars and A-list directors not only attended, they talked backstage about the show as a sign of the times.

"There's a feeling that film and comic books and all these genres that didn't used to get respect are having this truly dynamic moment right now," said Zack Snyder, director of "300" and the upcoming R- rated superhero epic "Watchmen." "Just look around tonight and you get this feeling things are going into interesting places."

The Scream Awards, which will air Tuesday night on the Spike TV cable channel, are hardly a ratings powerhouse, but you wouldn't have known that from the celebrity turnout. Anthony Hopkins, Samuel L. Jackson, Winona Ryder and Gary Oldman appeared to present or receive awards, and two of the most successful filmmakers alive arrived on stage in dramatic fashion -- "Sweeney Todd" director Tim Burton floated in via hot-air balloon like the Wizard into Oz, and "Star Wars" mogul George Lucas entered accompanied by a marching regiment of stormtroopers.

'Watchmen' wants to be the 'GoodFellas' of super-hero cinema

SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to know anything about "Watchmen" before you go see it next March, don't read this post.

I saw about 20 minutes of footage from the "unfilmable" film on Wednesday and I'm very happy to report that Zack Snyder has a found a way to make "Watchmen" truly watchable.

The most pressing question in all of the fanboy universe right now is whether Snyder's adaptation of the landmark 1986 comics epic "Watchmen" will deliver a classic finally realized or a merely bad idea pursued too long. Alan Moore, who wrote the original graphic novel, has been steadfast in mocking the basic notion of making a movie out of his sprawling, layered and uniquely structured tale and, to be sure, the story uses many devices (such as a secondary story presented as a book-within-a-book) that defy translation in any mainstream film, but does that mean that the core story of the graphic novel itself cannot be taken to the screen in an artistically and commercially viable film?

The true answer to that question will come in March with the release of the film. But I can tell you that, judging by the footage I saw on Wednesday, Snyder has approached the source material so deftly and with such acute understanding, that this adaptation is absolutely a worthwhile endeavor.

Snyder, who as a public speaker is enthusiastic and charmingly scattered, chatted a bit before the screening and in the small room of journalists, Hollywood types and selected fan press, you could sense a real surge of excitement when the lights dimmed.

For so many people (myself included), the first "Watchmen" reading experience all those years ago was a pivot-point in our pop-culture lives and, for better or worse, seeing it come to life on a screen is a stirring occasion.

Alan Moore on 'Watchmen' movie: 'I will be spitting venom all over it'

For the record, Alan Moore has not softened his view on Hollywood nor its plan to bring his classic graphic novel "Watchmen" to the screen next March.

"I find film in its modern form to be quite bullying," Moore told me during an hour-long phone call from his home in England. "It spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms. The 'Watchmen' film sounds like more regurgitated worms. I for one am sick of worms. Can't we get something else? Perhaps some takeout? Even Chinese worms would be a nice change."

Moore is often described as a recluse but, really, I think it's more precise to say he is simply too busy at his writing desk. "Yes, perhaps I should get out more," he said with a chuckle. In conversation, the 54-year-old iconoclast is everything his longtime readers would expect -- articulate, witty, obstinate and selectively enigmatic. Far from grouchy, he only gets an edge in his voice when he talks about the effect of Hollywood on the comics medium that he so memorably energized in the 1980s with "Saga of the Swamp Thing," "V for Vendetta," "Marvelman" and, of course, "Watchmen," his 1986 masterpiece. The Warner Bros. film version of "Watchmen" is due in theaters in March although the project has encountered some turbulence with a lawsuit filed by 20th Century Fox over who has the rights to the property. Moore has no intention of seeing the film and, in fact, he hints that he has put a magical curse on the entire endeavor.

"Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come."

Moore said all that with more mischievous glee than true malice, but I know it will still pain "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder when he reads it. The director of "300" absolutely adores the work of Moore and has been laboring intensely to bring "Watchmen" to the screen with faithful sophistication. But I don't think there's any way to win Moore over, he simply detests Hollywood. Moore said he has never watched any of the film adaptations of his comics creations (which have included "V for Vendetta," "From Hell," "Constantine" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") and that he believes "Watchmen" is "inherently unfilmable." He also rues the effect of Hollywood's siren call on the contemporary comics scene.

"There are three or four companies now that exist for the sole purpose of creating not comics, but storyboards for films. It may be true that the only reason the comic book industry now exists is for this purpose, to create characters for movies, board games and other types of merchandise. Comics are just a sort of pumpkin patch growing franchises that might be profitable for the ailing movie industry."

Comic-Con: All eyes on 'Watchmen' today

I've been interviewing movie stars and filmmakers for eight years for The Times, and I don't know that any of them are more affable than Zack Snyder, the director of "300" who, today, will have all eyes on him in Comic-Con's huge Hall H during the 10:55 a.m. panel devoted to "Watchmen." (*An earlier verison of this post said the panel would be at 11:55 a.m.) The release of that 1986 graphic novel (which, many people forget, was originally released as 12-issue comic book series) was a pivotal point in the history of comic books and no one is a bigger fan of the masterpiece than writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons.

"It's absolutely literary. It's so great to hand it to people who don't know graphic novels because it's a book. I mean I love 'The Dark Knight Returns,' it's one of my absolute favorites, but it still feels like a comic book, it has Batman and people, 'I know what this.' But you hand 'Watchmen' and right from that first page you get the sense that this is something different."

I have Snyder tell me all this while we're standing inside the Owl Ship, the aircraft from "Watchmen" that Snyder's team in Vancouver, Canada, meticulously built from scratch. It's an absolutely amazing construct and its very solid; it doesn't have the feel of a flimsy Hollywood prop. Climbing inside reminded me of a time I boarded a working submarine in Hawaii for a sea-floor cruise. Snyder says he still can't believe he was "handed all this money and told to go to Canada and make 'Watchmen' real," and that's one of the reasons this big heavy Owl Ship was brought to San Diego and put on display at the Warner Bros. booth (No. 4329) to give fans a sense of the lengths that the movie is going to to create Moore's world with gravity and substance, not just CGI gloss.

"Here's the coffeemaker back here. We even got those coffee cups flown from New York, you know, from Greek delis? The blue cups -- here they are." He opened up a cabinet and found them. "Isn't that great?"

Snyder left me around with the controls, and they have tactile feel of a real cockpit. There are small photographs pinned up on the wall, just as they were in the comics, and perched in one corner is a copy of "Under the Hood," a superhero's autobiography that fits prominently into the story's unfolding. "The guys glued the book there, you can't take it out. That's probably a good thing." These details may never been seen on screen but Snyder is such a devoted fan he wanted to start with the DNA-level particulars of the graphic novel so he could bring it alive. When i visited him on the set months ago, he had a battered copy of the graphic novel with him during scenes.   

On Thursday, fiddling with the flamethrower controls of the Owl Ship, it was clear that the book by Moore and Gibbons is somehow as important to him as his own film. "If I just end up making a three-hour advertisement for the graphic novel," he said, "I've done my job."

He's already done that. DC President Paul Levitz told me that just the release of the trailer for Snyder's movie has prompted such demand that DC has just ordered another 250,000 copies of the $19.99 trade paperback version of "Watchmen." Last week, 75,000 copies were sold, Snyder said, quoting a stat passed on to him from Warner Bros. Moore, as has been well-documented, has wiped his hands of Hollywood after watching his other creations reach the screen in disappointing fashion, such "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." I'm wondering if the reclusive British writer will be able to stay soured on the movie industry after Snyder is done borrowing the Owl Ship.

-- Geoff Boucher

Photo: Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan is shown as The Comedian in the mystery adventure film "Watchmen."  (AP Photo/Warner Bros., Clay Enos)