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2009 | 2002

8 articles from 2009

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'Navigator' taking flight again

26 May 2009 4:37 PM, PDT | Monsters and Critics | See recent Monsters and Critics news »

Disney will be remaking the sci-fi adventure movie "Flight of the Navigator." According to The Hollywood Reporter, Brad Copeland is writing the remake which will be produced by Mandeville partners David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman. The 1986 original was directed by Randal Kleiser and written by Mark H. Baker, Michael Burton and Matt MacManus. It told the story of 12-year-old David Freeman, who is abducted by an alien spacecraft in 1978. David is gone for only a few hours, but due to faster-than-light travel, when he is returned to Earth, it is eight years later in 1986. Everyone else on Earth has aged eight years, but David is still physically twelve years old. Nasa scientists discover a connection »

- Adnan Tezer

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Daily news dose: Roger Donaldson to direct 'Umbra;' 'Buffy' remake in the works

26 May 2009 12:00 AM, PDT | screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news »

Here's your dose of film news for May 26, 2009:

• Roger Donaldson, whose credits include "Dante's Peak," "The Recruit" and "The Bank Job," is in talks to direct Relativity Media's "Umbra." Steven Karczynski wrote the script, but plot details are still kept under wraps. (Variety)

• Vertigo Entertainment is currently working on a remake of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but the Hollywood Reporter says creator Joss Whedon is not involved at this stage. The trade also says the project will not be connected to the television series. No writers are on board yet, and no studio has committed to the film yet.

• Speaking of remakes, Disney is in the planning stages of redoing "Flight of the Navigator," with Brad Copeland on board to write the screenplay. Randal Kleiser directed the 1986 original, about a boy who escapes Nasa scientists and experiences a unique adventure on a spaceship. (THR)

• If you just can't get »

- Franck Tabouring

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Disney to Remake Flight of the Navigator

25 May 2009 9:02 PM, PDT | TheMovingPicture.net | See recent TheMovingPicture news »

Disney is developing a remake of the 1986 sci-fi adventure movie Flight of the Navigator. Brad Copeland has signed on to write the screenplay and John Hyde, who executive produced the first one, will be back to produce. The original told the story of a 12-year-old boy who is abducted by an alien spacecraft in 1978 and reappears eight years later, still the same age and with no memory of what happened. Nasa scientists discover a connection between the boy and a downed spacecraft and try to exploit the boy, who ultimately escapes with the ship and attempts to reunite with his family. The movie grossed only $17 million when it was released but was later rediscovered on VHS, becoming a cult hit. It was directed by Randal Kleiser (Grease) and starred Joey Cramer, Paul Reubens, Veronica Cartwright, Cliff De Young and Sarah Jessica Parker. Copeland previously wrote Wild Hogs for Disney and is writing Nightcrawlers at Warners. »

- James Cook

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Disney Bringing Back Randal Kleiser's Flight of the Navigator

25 May 2009 8:49 PM, PDT | firstshowing.net | See recent FirstShowing.net news »

Another day, another remake. Disney is readying another launch of the sci-fi adventure movie Flight of the Navigator. The original film came out in 1986 and starred Joey Cramer as a boy who takes command over an alien spaceship and goes joyriding around the world. Disney has hired Wild Hogs screenwriter Brad Copeland to write the new script, but they haven't chosen a director yet. John Hyde, who executive produced the first one, will return in the same role this time as well. If this turns out anything like the Race to Witch Mountain remake (which was a classic Disney sci-fi from 1975 modernized), then I will be quite upset. Flight of the Navigator was made fairly inexpensively and only grossed $18 million in its theatrical run, becoming a bigger hit on VHS. I'm expecting Disney to pump some money into this, as it probably needs to be big and flashy ... »

- Alex Billington

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[DVD Review] Grease: Rockin' Rydell Edition

7 May 2009 12:40 AM, PDT | JustPressPlay.net | See recent JustPressPlay news »

Grease has been established as a film musical institution. The songs are memorable, the cast is superb and the story serves as the perfect connection to string you along from one melodic fix to the next. Even if it's weird to watch a collection of 20-somethings act like high school kids and sing about beauty school, summer nights and Sandra Dee, you'd be hard pressed to deny that Grease doesn't pull it off with a charming level of panache. Converting a play to film often comes at some expense to the material (this remains true in Grease), but the final product of Grease excels rather than falters. Director Randal Kleiser found the perfect formula for stage to film translation; as a result Grease has lingered as a classic musical beloved by adolescents and adults alike.

Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) and Danny Zuko (John Travolta) had a summer together that, if »

- Lex Walker

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Blu-Ray Round Up, May 5, 2009: ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,’ ‘Grease,’ ‘Saturday Night Fever’

5 May 2009 4:42 PM, PDT | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – Get on your dancing shoes before you hit the floor for the latest version of the toe-tapping Blu-Ray Round-Up, a special edition with three beloved flicks from the ’70s and ’80s with musical beats.

Only one (“Grease”) may be an actual musical, but people still remember the great soundtrack from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Saturday Night Fever” was all about The Bee Gees. All three titles were released on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009.

“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”

Photo credit: Paramount Synopsis: “Ferris Bueller. Larger than life. Blessed with a magical sense of serendipity. He’s a model for all those who take themselves too seriously. A guy who knows the value of a day off. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off chronicles the events in the day of a rather magical young man, Ferris (Mathew Broderick).

One spring day, toward the end of his senior year, Ferris gives »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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John Waters Exposes Himself at the Gagosian

13 April 2009 12:50 PM, PDT | Vanity Fair | See recent Vanity Fair news »

A detail of John Waters's Rear Projection, 2009. Chromogenic color print. Walking into the white abyss of the Gagosian art gallery Saturday, April 11th, for the opening of an exhibit by eccentric Balitmore film director John Waters, I was nearly mauled by a throng of his flamboyant admirers, dressed like extras from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Among the more conventionally attired were Randal Kleiser, Ricki Lake, Johnny Knoxville, Traci Lords, Jeremy Renner, Vincent and Shelly Fremont, Brett Reichman, Joe Dallesandro, Ed and Dan Ruscha, Kat Kramer, Mike Kelly, Patrick Painter and Greg Gorman. Waters’s latest collection, consisting of playfully displayed images and sculptures, is titled “Rear Projection,” a typically bawdy Watersian pun on the outdated filmmaking process wherein a foreground action is superimposed on a pre-filmed scene. (Think back to those old movies where the road is winding but charactes aren’t turning the wheel.) Like his films—which include Pink Flamingos, »

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Four Inevitable Disney Live-Action Remakes

12 March 2009 6:28 AM, PDT | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »

This week's "Race to Witch Mountain," starring Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino, is the latest remake-- ahem, modern reimagining from Walt Disney Studios. Though the Mouse House's animated classics remain sacrosanct (if the jumping-off point of direct-to-dvd sequels), the live-action library has been pillaged for endless redos intended for theaters or the Disney Channel, which is where a previous remake of "Escape to Witch Mountain" starring Robert Vaughn and Brad Dourif premiered in 1995. Nothing is safe from the remake button over at Disney, so here are four more properties we fully expect to receive the same treatment in the near future, and proposals on how best to bring the projects into the 21st century. The only reason the immortally cheesy "Tron" didn't make the list is because they're already shooting a sequel.

"The Black Hole" (1979)

Directed by Gary Nelson

One of the least kid-friendly casts in Disney history (including hep cats Robert Forster, »

- Matt Singer

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2009 | 2002

8 articles from 2009

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