J.J. Abrams Talks Star Trek 2

In an interview with Collider, J.J. Abrams set the record straight on some controversies that emerged from this summer’s blockbuster Star Trek, and laid the groundwork for an eagerly anticipated sequel. One of the elements that was praised in his take on the classic sci-fi series is how much fun it was for both diehards and nonfans, and Abrams says he and writing team of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are trying to keep that feeling.

One of the ways he may be looking at adding an element of wonder to the production is filming the sequel in 3D.

J.J. Abrams Talks Contemporary Star Trek

With the summer movie season over, and September not wowing anyone so far (The Informant should be good), it’s as good a time as any to look ahead, and the people behind one of this year’s biggest movies, J.J. Abrams’ rebooted Star Trek, have started talking about what direction to take the sequel. Among the most common feedback from fans according to writer Roberto Orci, has been to make the film relevant modern day issues.

Viral??: Cloverfield 2?? (Part 2)

Last month we showed you what could possibly be the start of a viral campaign for Cloverfield 2. Three days ago, user abcharu21 put up a second video and it too, may be linked.

While the first video mostly contained images of fountains and Asian babies, this new one is a video of a girl in a gray hooded-sweatshirt talking into the camera about being excited to be in New York while images of soldiers can be seen spliced in. At the end of the video, it appears that the girl that has been talking is lying unconscious on the ground. Once again, this is not a verified video, but I will say that the quality is strangely high for an amateur. So we pose the question again: real or fake?

And just so you know, the translation of the title is:  “Establish – 0041.avi” in Japanese. Video after the jump.

Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau Play Cowboys and Aliens

After having so much fun together working on Iron Man and its sequel Jon Favreau has apparently joined Robert Downey Jr. on an adaptation of Cowboys and Aliens. According to the new blog at The Hollywood Reporter, the director has joined the Dreamworks/Universal project which RDJ has been attached to for over a year. It’s only fair that as soon as Eric goes on vacation one of his favorite actor-director combos decide to work together again.

Briefs: September 2nd

– Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer is expected to announce the company will be ready to sell televisions capable of displaying 3D visuals by the end of 2010 according to the Financial Times. Eric already talked about James Cameron’s plans to bring his Real 3D to homes and it looks like that’s where the technology is going in the future. In addition to televisions, Sony will be making the Playstation 3 and Blu-ray players compatible with the technology as well.

Viral??: Cloverfield 2??

For all I know, this could simply be an experiment in editing rather than a hint that there is another Cloverfield on the way (hence all of the question marks), but seeing as the video is lighting up the switchboards on film blogs across the interwebs, I feel as though I should give it some attention.

Yesterday, YouTube user “abcharu21” uploaded a video titled “そこに何ですか？- R U THERE?” which contains random images of a triceratops fountain and an asian baby spliced together. The weird stuff starts happening 25 seconds in though, as the video starts to get shake and get fuzzy (sounds like Cloverfield to me) and a large blurry mass appears over the city. The person holding the camera begins to run and in the last few seconds, a street sign is shown with the word “Cloverfield” on it.

I personally don’t know what to think, but the video certainly is reminiscent of the viral campaign for the first film. What do you think? Real or fake? Check out the video after the jump.

J.J. Abrams Starts Work on Mission: Impossible 4. Really? Why?

Variety reports that super-producer J.J. Abrams is working with Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures on bringing back the Mission Impossible series for a fourth time. With usual collaborators Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman busy with a handful of other projects (Star Trek, Cowboys and Aliens, and the damn view-master movie), Abrams turned to Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec who worked with him on Alias to write the screenplay.