Tentpole watch: 'Pacific Rim' teaser and 'Avatar' update

It's hard to think of tentpoles releasing a year or two years from now when a juicy franchise like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey comes out just two Fridays from now. But today brings updates on two highly anticipated tentpoles: Pacific Rim and the Avatar sequels.

Guillermo del Toro, the original director of The Hobbit series before dropping out due to MGM's bankruptcy-related delays, turned his attention to Pacific Rim, an aliens vs. robots sci-fi movie that promises to show off del Toro's skills as a creature creator. Warner Bros. just released a viral teaser that reveals part of the plot in the form of a frantic news broadcast. The poor Golden Gate Bridge is cracked in half by an alien, who is then subdued and placed on a ship in the same manner as the T-Rex in The Lost World. When it comes to the blueprints of the robots, which were also released, I'm not quite as excited. They look like giant Iron Men or Transformers. There's not a lot of originality, at least in their form. How they perform in action may be a different story. The movie comes out next July.

 

 

The blue-hued, naturalistic aliens in Avatar will begin their CG creation late this year, according to an interview conducted with writer/director James Cameron in New Zealand, where he's hanging out and finishing up the script for the sequel. Apparently the script for Avatar wasn't finished at the time of production (normally a big no-no), leading to a lot of work for scenes that were later cut. A completed script for Avatar 2 plus working with creatures that have already been created in CG should mean the time from production to screen is shorter, though I wouldn't bet on that. Especially because Cameron imposed a new challenge for the series by setting it underwater, which should multiply the difficulty for both the CG team and the poor humans who have to spend a lot of time in water tanks. Though between Cameron's experience on The Abyss and Titanic, he's at home with the difficult filming conditions. Even with production starting late next year, it's unlikely the movie will release until 2015. By that time, the three-film series of The Hobbit will be done, and audiences will be more than eager to pick up where the 2009 Avatar left off.

Trailer breakdown: 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark'

By Sarah Sluis

Most people are either horror fans, or they aren't. But there's a certain type of creepy movie that tends to draw broader audiences. Usually they go a little lighter on the blood and guts, and they also tend to offer a story that's more than just an excuse to have a serial killer on the loose. Whatever's causing the horrific things to happen is usually interesting in its own right (The Sixth Sense, Rosemary's Baby). Director Guillermo Del Toro may be known for his lavish, elaborate worlds in Pan's Labyrinth or Hellboy, but he's also into all things creepy. The prolific creator has produced a number of movies, including the wonderful not-too-scary The Orphanage. The trailer for upcoming Don't Be Afraid of the Dark was just released, and I imagine it will hit the same notes as The Orphanage.

A few reasons why Don't Be Afraid of the Dark will be more than a typical horror movie

1. FilmDistrict is handling distribution, and they're currently riding high on the success of Insidious, a low-budget scary movie that's considered the most profitable movie of the year.

2. They get the haunted house right. The atmospheric details like a creepy heater fit well into the scary house narrative, and the demonic murals shown in the trailer take it a step further. You also have to believe that people would actually move into a dilapidated mansion, and the house looks just normal enough outside to make everything believable.

3. Katie Holmes. She may have pursued some not-quite-right films recently, but her performances are always on the mark. She's incredibly naturalistic and believable as an actor.

4. Child victim. It's always the children that are most susceptible to evil influences, and this film is no exception. There's something about a child victim that makes a horror movie that much creepier.

5. Last, and perhaps most important, is the influence of Del Toro, who re-wrote the screenplay from a 1970s TV movie and is producing. He has a real eye for the creepy, but I also think he benefits from giving ultimate directing control over to someone else. It makes for a movie with superior craftmanship but an appeal that goes beyond niche horror.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark comes out on August 26, the perfect time of year to get goosebumps from the combination of movie theatre air conditioning and a scary movie.

From 'The Hobbit' to 'Haunted Mansion'?

By Sarah Sluis

When Guillermo del Toro left his directing duties on The Hobbit because of production delays, I expected him to move on to something equally grand. But it's hard to one-up the world of Middle Earth, so it looks as though del Toro will be taking things down a notch, and going either more commercial, or more epic and

off the beaten path.

First up is an announcement that del Toro will tackle an adaptation of the theme park ride Haunted Mansion. While I've gone on that ride a number of times (its short wait times make it a good option for time-conscious theme park-goers) and enjoyed its friendly creepiness, I've never been "inspired" by it the way del Toro claims to be. He told THR that he has a room in his home devoted to memorabilia of the ride, and "When I'm depressed or when I have a problem, I ride the Haunted Mansion ride to clear my head." While I was momentarily buoyed by his clear passion for this idea, I was dismayed by the plan to make it a "four-quadrant" movie. I can't think of many scary movies that appeal to both kids and adults. More likely, there will be either bored adults or kids who remember the movie as a scarring experience. Del Toro will co-write and produce the movie, with a "possibility" of directing.

In an exclusive, Entertainment Weekly speculates that del Toro will next direct At the Mountain of Madness, based on his adaptation of a 1930s H.P. Lovecraft novel. The plot centers on a Shackleton-esque group of explorers traversing the Antarctic who encounter a group of tentacled monsters. I love the way open spaces can look creepy, from Christopher Nolan's Alaska-set Insomnia to the famous cornfield scene in North by Northwest, so I'm more on board with this project due to its setting alone. Since it's expected that del Toro will announce his next project when he previews another haunted house film he co-wrote and produced, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, to Comic-Con audiences this weekend, we'll be kept in blissfully short suspense.