The Hollywood archives are packed with movies that, for myriad reasons, have somehow slipped between the cracks, never to be heard from again.
No film sums up that unfortunate group more than 1994's The Fantastic Four, a property now getting rebooted for a second time with a lavish budget and inescapable marketing campaign. We look back at seven movies the industry (and the filmmakers behind them) wants to sweep under the carpet.
1. The Fantastic Four
Bernd Eichinger snapped up the film rights to Marvel's first family in the '80s for a pittance, and with the clock ticking down on his ownership he teamed up with B-movie specialist Roger Corman to produce a $1 million picture in less than a month. With a cast of unknowns and music video director Oley Sassone at the helm, The Fantastic Four ended up getting buried by Marvel in a bid for brand protection.
Avi Arad,...
No film sums up that unfortunate group more than 1994's The Fantastic Four, a property now getting rebooted for a second time with a lavish budget and inescapable marketing campaign. We look back at seven movies the industry (and the filmmakers behind them) wants to sweep under the carpet.
1. The Fantastic Four
Bernd Eichinger snapped up the film rights to Marvel's first family in the '80s for a pittance, and with the clock ticking down on his ownership he teamed up with B-movie specialist Roger Corman to produce a $1 million picture in less than a month. With a cast of unknowns and music video director Oley Sassone at the helm, The Fantastic Four ended up getting buried by Marvel in a bid for brand protection.
Avi Arad,...
- 8/7/2015
- Digital Spy
'Given the clunkiness of the finished product, you suspect that the bulk of Al Fayed's reported £2.5m investment was spent finding anyone willing to lend their names to the project'
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The insipid slushfest Diana hits DVD this week, but a more galvanising portrait of the late princess is to be found online, where fervent analysis of her untimely demise continues apace. Last month, the web's already extensive collection of Diana exposés grew three sizes stupider overnight when Unlawful Killing – a long-unavailable 2011 documentary funded by Mohamed Al Fayed and directed by 90s irrelevance Keith Allen – found its way on to YouTube. Given the overwhelming clunkiness of the finished product, you suspect that the bulk of Al Fayed's reported £2.5m investment was spent finding anyone who'd be willing to lend their names to the project. All the key players refused to be interviewed, so...
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view
The insipid slushfest Diana hits DVD this week, but a more galvanising portrait of the late princess is to be found online, where fervent analysis of her untimely demise continues apace. Last month, the web's already extensive collection of Diana exposés grew three sizes stupider overnight when Unlawful Killing – a long-unavailable 2011 documentary funded by Mohamed Al Fayed and directed by 90s irrelevance Keith Allen – found its way on to YouTube. Given the overwhelming clunkiness of the finished product, you suspect that the bulk of Al Fayed's reported £2.5m investment was spent finding anyone who'd be willing to lend their names to the project. All the key players refused to be interviewed, so...
- 3/1/2014
- by Charlie Lyne
- The Guardian - Film News
The 7th annual Sydney Underground Film Festival, which runs this year on September 5-8 at the Factory Theatre, opens with a real bang when they will screen cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s latest cinematic odyssey, The Dance of Reality. This is Jodorowsky’s first film in over twenty years and is an imaginative and playful quasi-autobiography.
The rest of the four-day celebration is packed with more film oddities and excursions into surreal and transgressive territory. One particular highlight that is not to be missed is Don Swaynos’ incredibly crowd-pleasing comedy Pictures of Superheroes, about a slacker cleaning woman’s descent into an absurd world she can’t escape. Read the Underground Film Journal’s review of Pictures of Superheroes here.
Other twisted fiction films screening include Drew Tobias’s sick and twisted See You Next Tuesday, Cody Calahan’s apocalyptic Antisocial and Lloyd Kaufman’s highly-anticipated sequel Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol.
The rest of the four-day celebration is packed with more film oddities and excursions into surreal and transgressive territory. One particular highlight that is not to be missed is Don Swaynos’ incredibly crowd-pleasing comedy Pictures of Superheroes, about a slacker cleaning woman’s descent into an absurd world she can’t escape. Read the Underground Film Journal’s review of Pictures of Superheroes here.
Other twisted fiction films screening include Drew Tobias’s sick and twisted See You Next Tuesday, Cody Calahan’s apocalyptic Antisocial and Lloyd Kaufman’s highly-anticipated sequel Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol.
- 8/15/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Posters for The Expendables 2, The Bourne Legacy, Anna Karenina, The Day, The Impossible and Bait 3D.
Recently someone tweeted the question to Bruce Campbell "What's the point of Remaking The Evil Dead?". He responded "To freak your shit" along with this picture.
"As if he weren't already a legend, "Sons of Anarchy" actor Ron Perlman showed up in his full "Hellboy" makeup and costume for a day of hanging out with a six-year-old boy undergoing treatment for leukaemia…" (full details)
"The Steve Coogan-led, Michael Winterbottom-directed biopic about British porn baron Paul Raymond 'The King of Soho' is now untitled after a challenge from Raymond's son, Howard. Howard Raymonf is mounting a rival biopic about his father in which 'Thor' star Tom Hiddleston is playing the porn magnate…" (full details)
"Andre 3000's upcoming Jimi Hendrix biopic 'All is By My Side' won’t actually include any...
Recently someone tweeted the question to Bruce Campbell "What's the point of Remaking The Evil Dead?". He responded "To freak your shit" along with this picture.
"As if he weren't already a legend, "Sons of Anarchy" actor Ron Perlman showed up in his full "Hellboy" makeup and costume for a day of hanging out with a six-year-old boy undergoing treatment for leukaemia…" (full details)
"The Steve Coogan-led, Michael Winterbottom-directed biopic about British porn baron Paul Raymond 'The King of Soho' is now untitled after a challenge from Raymond's son, Howard. Howard Raymonf is mounting a rival biopic about his father in which 'Thor' star Tom Hiddleston is playing the porn magnate…" (full details)
"Andre 3000's upcoming Jimi Hendrix biopic 'All is By My Side' won’t actually include any...
- 7/9/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Keith Allen's Princess Diana documentary has been momentarily scrapped. Allen's Unlawful Killing, which questioned the circumstances surrounding Diana's death, was unofficially screened at Cannes last year. A spokesperson for the film told The Sun: "Unlawful Killing has been sold all around the world. "But there was a specific form of insurance needed by the Us distributors to cover them for their French and UK offices. This proved impossible to secure. The film has been withdrawn in perpetuity." (more)...
- 7/5/2012
- by By Paul Millar
- Digital Spy
Controversial film about Princess Diana's death, directed by Keith Allen and funded by Mohamed Al Fayed, fails to secure insurance for Us distributors
A controversial documentary questioning the circumstances of Princess Diana's death has been shelved after insurers refused to indemnify the makers against potential libel lawsuits, reports the Sun.
Unlawful Killing, directed by Keith Allen and funded by Diana's partner Dodi Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, was screened at Cannes last year, though it was not part of the official festival. It alleges that "dark forces" within the British establishment worked to cover up the true details of Diana's death in 1997.
Producers admitted last year that lawyers had warned them to make 87 cuts if they wanted to show the film in Britain, but the makers had hoped to show the film in the Us and other territories to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the deaths...
A controversial documentary questioning the circumstances of Princess Diana's death has been shelved after insurers refused to indemnify the makers against potential libel lawsuits, reports the Sun.
Unlawful Killing, directed by Keith Allen and funded by Diana's partner Dodi Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, was screened at Cannes last year, though it was not part of the official festival. It alleges that "dark forces" within the British establishment worked to cover up the true details of Diana's death in 1997.
Producers admitted last year that lawyers had warned them to make 87 cuts if they wanted to show the film in Britain, but the makers had hoped to show the film in the Us and other territories to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the deaths...
- 7/5/2012
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
Controversial Princess Diana movie 'Unlawful Killing' has been scrapped. The Keith Allen directed documentary about the deaths of Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed in a Paris car crash in 1997, claims the royal was murdered in an establishment plot involving her father-in-law Prince Philip but will not be released after producers failed to secure insurance to protect distributors against legal action. Lawyers had warned there are 87 contentious allegations that would have to be cut before a British screening and although there were plans to release it in the Us in August to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the deaths, the insurance was needed to protect the European offices of the distributors. A spokesman for the...
- 7/4/2012
- Monsters and Critics
Naomi Watts as Marilyn Monroe, Blonde Naomi Watts – instead of the previously rumored Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life, Best Supporting Actress nominee for The Help) — will play Princess Diana in Oliver Hirschbiegel's Caught in Flight, whose distribution rights are being offered to highest bidder by producing company Ecosse Films at the just-opened Berlin Film Festival, says The Hollywood Reporter. As per the Reporter, production is slated to begin in the U.K. later this year. Stephen Jeffreys' Caught in Flight screenplay follows Diana during the last two years of her life, when she became known less for her troubled marriage to Prince Charles than for her humanitarian causes, such as visiting AIDS patients and calling for an end to the use of land mines. (Since 1997, the year Diana died in a Paris car crash, more than one hundred and fifty countries have signed a treaty banning the use of land mines.
- 2/10/2012
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Naomi Watts takes leading role in Caught In Flight, the first serious feature biopic about the princess
There have been many films about 9/11, but surprisingly few about 8/31, Britain's own day of trauma – when Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed.
The announcement of a new film, Caught in Flight, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (who made Downfall) and starring Naomi Watts in the leading role, is the first serious feature biopic about the princess. It reportedly focuses on the last two years of her life.
Cinema has not been entirely silent on this subject. Stephen Frears' The Queen (2006) was all about the media-constitutional crisis in that frantic week between the princess's death and the funeral, but the focus was not on Diana: it was on Helen Mirren's shrewd yet troubled monarch and Michael Sheen's callow prime minister Tony Blair, the heroic survivors of this trauma.
There have been many films about 9/11, but surprisingly few about 8/31, Britain's own day of trauma – when Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed.
The announcement of a new film, Caught in Flight, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (who made Downfall) and starring Naomi Watts in the leading role, is the first serious feature biopic about the princess. It reportedly focuses on the last two years of her life.
Cinema has not been entirely silent on this subject. Stephen Frears' The Queen (2006) was all about the media-constitutional crisis in that frantic week between the princess's death and the funeral, but the focus was not on Diana: it was on Helen Mirren's shrewd yet troubled monarch and Michael Sheen's callow prime minister Tony Blair, the heroic survivors of this trauma.
- 2/10/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Keith Allen's documentary financed by Mohamed Al-Fayed Unlawful Killing, lines up distribution deals This will be interesting. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the controversial documentary alleging a cover-up after the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed in 1997 may be seen by the public soon. Keith Allen's Unlawful Killing documentary which was financed by Mohamed Al-Fayed, father of Dodi, has landed key distribution deals in territories which include Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Russia. This comes after Unlawful Killing screened for buyers at the Cannes Film Festival and generated mixed reviews. U.S. viewers may have a chance to see this one as apparently there's interest domestically, however, no deal has been drawn up as yet.
- 6/23/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Keith Allen's documentary financed by Mohamed Al-Fayed Unlawful Killing, lines up distribution deals This will be interesting. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the controversial documentary alleging a cover-up after the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed in 1997 may be seen by the public soon. Keith Allen's Unlawful Killing documentary which was financed by Mohamed Al-Fayed, father of Dodi, has landed key distribution deals in territories which include Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Russia. This comes after Unlawful Killing screened for buyers at the Cannes Film Festival and generated mixed reviews. U.S. viewers may have a chance to see this one as apparently there's interest domestically, however, no deal has been drawn up as yet.
- 6/23/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
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