If you’re feeling a little Halloween withdrawl this Monday morning, just remember that it’s Halloween every day when you’re a genre fan! And to prove it, today’s Movie Morsels offers nothing but treats, including a new clip from Interstellar and a rediscovered animated short adaptation of a Stephen King classic. We’ve also got good news if you’ve been dying to see Birdman but can’t find a theater in which it’s playing, as well as the first word on Alex Garland’s adaptation of Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, the latest on Clive Barker’s Hellraiser reboot and more!
Birdman
If you don’t live near one of the two hundred and thirty-one theaters in America that screened Birdman this weekend, you’re luck might soon change — after the film doubled it box office take to reach a total of five million dollars, Fox Searchlight has decided to almost double the number of theaters the film is playing in, to roughly found hundred and fifty nationwide. “The studio is eyeing college towns and mid-size cities such as Des Moines, Syracuse, Dayton and Corpus Christi that have healthy cinephile crowds. If Birdman plays well next week — a big if given that Interstellar and Big Hero 6 debut — the studio could eventually have it in six hundred theaters or more by the middle of November.”
[Variety]
Interstellar
And speaking of Interstellar… With only four days until Christopher Nolan’s latest debuts, Warner Brothers has released a clip from the film, featuring a scene in which Matthew McConaughey’s character meets with his daughter’s schoolteacher, who causes him some alarm when she reveals the school’s policy on teaching about America’s lunar landing. It’s a creepy glimpse at a future that sometimes seems all too possible…
[JoBlo]
Annihilation
If Interstellar has whet your appetite for more thoughtful big-screen science fiction, Alex Garland appears ready to slake your thirst. Last week, the trailer for the acclaimed screenwriter’s feature film directorial debut Ex Machina arrived online, and after its warm reception we’ve learned that Paramount has signed the 28 Days Later scribe to both write and direct its adaptation of award-winning novelist Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, the first book in his Southern Reach Trilogy. In Annihilation, “A team of four (a biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor) set out into a place known as Area X. The area is abandoned and cut off from the rest of civilization. They are the 12th expedition. The other expeditions have been fraught with disappearances, suicides, aggressive cancers, and mental trauma.”
The Flash
With Grant Gustin tearing up the small screen as Barry Allen, some fans of the Scarlet Speedster have expressed concern over Ezra Miller’s casting in the role in the upcoming feature film version of The Flash. Gustin’s colleague, actor Stephen Amell, who helped introduce him to TV audiences when his character first appeared on Arrow, says that while he’s all in favor of Gustin appearing in a film, the DC Universe has already proven it’s big enough for two Flashes. Asked if he would like to play Oliver Queen should the character appear in a movie, Amell, replied, “Yeah. Of course. And I feel like it should be Grant doing the movie. But the important thing to remember is just because Grant Gustin plays the part of Barry Allen doesn’t mean Ezra Miller can’t also play Barry Allen. There can be different interpretations of the character. Anyone who is a fan of the comics knows the Flash character is one of the forces that leads to parallel universes. And who knows, they might find a fantastic actor to play Oliver Queen on the feature side who has a different take on the character. I’m certainly a departure from the typical Oliver Queen from the comic books. I just think that everybody needs to be patient with the whole thing. The fact that DC and Warner have announced all these comic book features is nothing but good for business.”
Battleground
And in today’s No-really-Halloween-ain’t-over-til-we-say-it’s-over-now-here’s-another-treat department… A long-forgotten animated adaptation of a favorite Stephen King short story has been rediscovered. Animator Mikhail Titov and Kiev’s Kievnauchfilm created this 1986 short adapting the horror maestro’s 1972 tale “Battleground”, which depicts a hit man’s fight for life against a platoon of toy soldiers. Enjoy!
[i09]
Hellraiser
Oh, okay, one last bit of spooky goodness for you. In promoting the Blu-ray release of his restored Nightbreed Director’s Cut, Clive Barker has dropped a few hints about what we can expect from the upcoming remake of his debut film Hellraiser. After its countless inferior sequels, Barker has his work cut out for him in restoring Pinhead’s evil name, but it sounds like he’s up for the challenge.
“I think the phrase is ‘reboot,’ although I’ve never really understood what that meant. I wanted to make sure we sounded some fresh notes. The movie actually begins on Devil’s Island. I wanted to fold into the Hellraiser narrative something about the guy—the Frenchman Lemarchand—who made the mysterious box, which raises Pinhead. I figured, ‘Well, what would have happened to him?’ He might well have been taken to Devil’s Island [a penal colony] and I thought that would be a pretty cool place to start the movie. We’re waiting for Bob to come back to us and see when we’re going to actually make the movie.”
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What do you think of today’s top stories? Let us know in the comments below!
Images: Paramount Pictures, DC Comics, Miramax Films
But is a found hundred still more than a lost hundred that was located in a bush?
The William Hurt version of Battleground (made for TV) was amazing. Nearly non-dialogue, too.
Grant Gustin is what’s keeping me from being able to get into The Flash tbh. Nothing against the guy personally he’s just not a great actor, and his character is super flat. The costume, action, and effects are all good, but the show all together feels super hokey to me. I dunno. I’ll give it a season.