This post contains spoilers for "Red Planet."
With the exception of "Total Recall" and "The Martian," films centered around our dusty neighboring planet have often fallen flat. Even among the duds, few have flopped as spectacularly as 2000's "Red Planet" starring Val Kilmer. With a production budget of 80 million, the unrealized blockbuster, co-produced by the Australian studio Village Roadshow Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros., brought in no more than 33 million from the worldwide box office, resulting in a significant loss.
A common theory behind the underperformance of "Red Planet" is that it lost out to its twin film "Mission to Mars" from director Brian De Palma that premiered eight months prior in March 2000. Neither film, however, was a financial success, and "Mission to Mars," with 106 million worldwide, barely made a profit on its own high 90 million budget. Audiences of "Mission to Mars" must have felt they'd seen enough of...
With the exception of "Total Recall" and "The Martian," films centered around our dusty neighboring planet have often fallen flat. Even among the duds, few have flopped as spectacularly as 2000's "Red Planet" starring Val Kilmer. With a production budget of 80 million, the unrealized blockbuster, co-produced by the Australian studio Village Roadshow Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros., brought in no more than 33 million from the worldwide box office, resulting in a significant loss.
A common theory behind the underperformance of "Red Planet" is that it lost out to its twin film "Mission to Mars" from director Brian De Palma that premiered eight months prior in March 2000. Neither film, however, was a financial success, and "Mission to Mars," with 106 million worldwide, barely made a profit on its own high 90 million budget. Audiences of "Mission to Mars" must have felt they'd seen enough of...
- 12/10/2022
- by Walter Roberts
- Slash Film
In one of the biggest swings in Europe’s market, Erik Barmack, the former Netflix VP of international originals, is teaming with Benjamin Munz, producer of “Blood Red Sky,” Netflix’s most-watched non-English movie of all time, on a tentpole high-speed German action film, “The Chase.”
Billed by Barmack as “‘The Fast and the Furious’ meets ‘Money Heist’” – which he helped bring to Netflix – “The Chase” marks the first movie out of the gate at Munz’s Berlin-based new label, Fright Zone, the first production company in Germany that will focus exclusively on developing and producing fantasy, action, horror and science fiction films as well as TV shows in and from Germany.
Overseen by founder and CEO Munz, Fright Zone will produce with Barmack, who is now working out of his own L.A. label, Wild Sheep Content, a company that he started with The Mediapro Studio, headed by Laura Fernández Espeso.
Billed by Barmack as “‘The Fast and the Furious’ meets ‘Money Heist’” – which he helped bring to Netflix – “The Chase” marks the first movie out of the gate at Munz’s Berlin-based new label, Fright Zone, the first production company in Germany that will focus exclusively on developing and producing fantasy, action, horror and science fiction films as well as TV shows in and from Germany.
Overseen by founder and CEO Munz, Fright Zone will produce with Barmack, who is now working out of his own L.A. label, Wild Sheep Content, a company that he started with The Mediapro Studio, headed by Laura Fernández Espeso.
- 4/1/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Fox International Productions Acquires Hot Commercials Director Anthony Hoffman’s ‘Fox Hunt’ Project
Exclusive- Acclaimed international commercial director Antony Hoffman has set up his feature directorial debut Fox Hunt with Fox International Pictures’ president Sanford Panitch. Panitch, widely respected as one of the savviest studio execs working in the international arena, sparked to Hoffman’s pitch about making a car chase action pic in China. Based on actual events, Fox Hunt is a character-driven, action film inspired by the case files and experiences of real-life…...
- 3/17/2015
- Deadline
Odd List Simon Brew 27 Sep 2013 - 07:49
It's not always smiles behind the camera, as this list of feuding co-stars proves. I Love Trouble, indeed...
It's a fallacy that everyone gets on together on a movie set. Just as in an everyday office, some people get on better with others. That's as you might expect. But when it comes to film, occasionally a disagreement between two stars becomes oh-so-apparent to pretty much anyone in the stalls at their local Odeon.
This isn't designed by any measure to be a definitive list (yep, Swayze and Jennifer Grey weren't best chums making Dirty Dancing), but here are some of the more interesting examples of where co-stars simply didn't get on...
Nick Nolte & Julia Roberts I Love Trouble
To date, we struggle to think of a more bizarre screen combination for a romantic blockbuster than that of I Love Trouble. The movie, a...
It's not always smiles behind the camera, as this list of feuding co-stars proves. I Love Trouble, indeed...
It's a fallacy that everyone gets on together on a movie set. Just as in an everyday office, some people get on better with others. That's as you might expect. But when it comes to film, occasionally a disagreement between two stars becomes oh-so-apparent to pretty much anyone in the stalls at their local Odeon.
This isn't designed by any measure to be a definitive list (yep, Swayze and Jennifer Grey weren't best chums making Dirty Dancing), but here are some of the more interesting examples of where co-stars simply didn't get on...
Nick Nolte & Julia Roberts I Love Trouble
To date, we struggle to think of a more bizarre screen combination for a romantic blockbuster than that of I Love Trouble. The movie, a...
- 9/25/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Idris Elba takes on the lead role in a dramatic, spy-themed advertising campaign for the 2013 Toyota Avalon, titled Only the Name Remains. It's the first-ever TV commercial for Elba, by the way, which was created in collaboration with Burrell Communications. Directed by filmmaker Antony Hoffman, Only the Name Remains begins with 3 somewhat suspenseful TV spots that follow Elba's secret agent character on the run from an old enemy, taking his Avalon on a city-wide adventure. The third and final spot in the television series ends with a cliffhanger, directing the audience to watch the conclusion at www.OnlyTheName.com. "'Only the Name Remains'...
- 4/12/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Idris Elba takes on the lead role in a dramatic, spy-themed advertising campaign for the 2013 Toyota Avalon, titled Only the Name Remains. It's the first-ever TV commercial for Elba, by the way, which was created in collaboration with Burrell Communications. Directed by filmmaker Antony Hoffman, Only the Name Remains begins with 3 somewhat suspenseful TV spots that follow Elba's secret agent character on the run from an old enemy, taking his Avalon on a city-wide adventure. The third and final spot in the television series ends with a cliffhanger, directing the audience to watch the conclusion at www.OnlyTheName.com. "'Only the Name Remains'...
- 4/12/2013
- ShadowAndAct
Oscar-nominated actor's preparations to play 37-year-old Welsh rugby star reportedly include surgery and weight loss
The Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke has reportedly undergone surgery and lost more than two stone in his ongoing effort to portray gay Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas in a forthcoming biopic.
Rourke, 59, has hired a top personal trainer to get him into shape to play Thomas, 37, and has already had work done on his eyes, says the Daily Mail's Baz Bamingboye. Producer Colin Vaines said the 22-year age gap between the two men was not relevant. "When Mickey's committed, as he is with this, he can do anything. The age isn't a problem," he said.
Apparently Rourke is intrigued by the prospect of exploring the psychology which allowed Thomas to hide his sexuality. "It's a film about a man who played rugby, who was so aggressive when he played – and he happened to be gay,...
The Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke has reportedly undergone surgery and lost more than two stone in his ongoing effort to portray gay Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas in a forthcoming biopic.
Rourke, 59, has hired a top personal trainer to get him into shape to play Thomas, 37, and has already had work done on his eyes, says the Daily Mail's Baz Bamingboye. Producer Colin Vaines said the 22-year age gap between the two men was not relevant. "When Mickey's committed, as he is with this, he can do anything. The age isn't a problem," he said.
Apparently Rourke is intrigued by the prospect of exploring the psychology which allowed Thomas to hide his sexuality. "It's a film about a man who played rugby, who was so aggressive when he played – and he happened to be gay,...
- 1/25/2012
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
Earthbound 'Red Planet' / Sci-fi thriller's eye-catching look can't
overcome clumsy script, thin characters
By Kirk Honeycutt
About all that survives in Warner Bros.' "Red Planet" is a sturdy turn by Carrie-Anne Moss as the movie's hero and arresting cinematography and production design by Peter Suschitzky and Owen Paterson, respectively, that give the planet a burnished, almost monochromatic look.
While Brian De Palma's "Mission to Mars" labored exhaustively to achieve an unstable mix of mysticism and studied realism, "Red Planet" crash-lands in a desert of one-note characters, banal dialogue and a general lack of excitement or tension. Mars apparently is not the planet on which to find a good script. Pluto anyone?
Few science-fiction movies in the past quarter-century have given off fewer sparks than "Red Planet". The film may concern the first manned expedition to Mars, but everyone appears to be going through the motions. Under the direction of tyro director Antony Hoffman, most of the performances contain a singular lack of energy. And plot turns in a script by Chuck Pfarrer and Jonathan Lemkin get telegraphed long before they arrive.
The year is 2050. Earth is dying because of massive pollution and global warming. A desperate humankind attempts to "terraform" Mars into a hospitable, oxygen-rich environment by seeding the planet with algae. But that project has gone awry, so Moss commands a scientific mission to the planet to figure out what went wrong and repair it.
Aboard are Val Kilmer, an all-purpose handyman; Tom Sizemore, a gregarious scientific analyst; Terence Stamp, the ship's spiritual guru; Benjamin Bratt, a moody and intense Air Force captain; and Simon Baker, a "last-minute replacement" who may not be cut out for space adventure.
The first 20 minutes are taken up with poorly scripted scenes of chitchat replete with flat dialogue and special "moments" between actors -- meant to establish characters and relationships -- that only emphasize their sheer superficiality. Especially annoying is an encounter between Kilmer and Moss, who has just stepped naked from a shower, that is designed to set up sexual electricity between the two.
Suddenly, everything goes haywire. A solar flare cripples the mother ship. Moss dispatches the others aboard an emergency shuttle to the surface of Mars while she stays behind to fix the ship. Then the shuttle crash-lands -- just isn't their day, is it? -- and Stamp sustains life-threatening injuries.
The crash also causes an exploration robot built something like a mechanical greyhound -- a creature we in the audience don't trust from the moment it comes onscreen -- to malfunction and turn its guerrilla-warfare tactics against the banged-up crew.
The beleaguered astronauts must now trudge around the barren landscape, meeting one obstacle or setback after another, while Moss putters in the ship, conversing occasionally with its mechanical navigator, named Lucille, a benevolent version of HAL from "2001". All these incidents and the solution to the disappearance of the seeded algae are pedestrian, to say the least. And no matter how many showers or revealing slips Moss slides into, it's hard to work up much excitement over the fate of these individuals.
The film is technically adroit. The spaceship and Martian surface have the true grit one imagines space travel a half-century from now might be like.
RED PLANET
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. presents in association with
Village Roadshow Pictures and NPV Entertainment
a Mark Canton production
Credits: Producers: Mark Canton, Bruce Berman, Jorge Saralegui; Director: Antony Hoffman; Screenwriters: Chuck Pfarrer, Jonathan Lemkin; Story by: Chuck Pfarrer; Executive producers: Charles J.D. Schlissel, Andrew Mason; Director of photography: Peter Suschitzky; Production designer: Owen Paterson; Music: Graeme Revell; Costume designer: Kym Barrett; Editors: Robert K. Lambert, Dallas S. Puett; Visual effects supervisor: Jeffrey A. Okun. Cast: Kate Bowman: Carrie-Anne Moss; Robby Gallagher: Val Kilmer; Dr. Quinn Burchenal: Tom Sizemore; Capt. Ted Santen: Benjamin Bratt; Dr. Chip Pettengil: Simon Baker; Bud Chantilas: Terence Stamp. MPAA rating: PG-13. Running time - 106 minutes. Color/stereo.
overcome clumsy script, thin characters
By Kirk Honeycutt
About all that survives in Warner Bros.' "Red Planet" is a sturdy turn by Carrie-Anne Moss as the movie's hero and arresting cinematography and production design by Peter Suschitzky and Owen Paterson, respectively, that give the planet a burnished, almost monochromatic look.
While Brian De Palma's "Mission to Mars" labored exhaustively to achieve an unstable mix of mysticism and studied realism, "Red Planet" crash-lands in a desert of one-note characters, banal dialogue and a general lack of excitement or tension. Mars apparently is not the planet on which to find a good script. Pluto anyone?
Few science-fiction movies in the past quarter-century have given off fewer sparks than "Red Planet". The film may concern the first manned expedition to Mars, but everyone appears to be going through the motions. Under the direction of tyro director Antony Hoffman, most of the performances contain a singular lack of energy. And plot turns in a script by Chuck Pfarrer and Jonathan Lemkin get telegraphed long before they arrive.
The year is 2050. Earth is dying because of massive pollution and global warming. A desperate humankind attempts to "terraform" Mars into a hospitable, oxygen-rich environment by seeding the planet with algae. But that project has gone awry, so Moss commands a scientific mission to the planet to figure out what went wrong and repair it.
Aboard are Val Kilmer, an all-purpose handyman; Tom Sizemore, a gregarious scientific analyst; Terence Stamp, the ship's spiritual guru; Benjamin Bratt, a moody and intense Air Force captain; and Simon Baker, a "last-minute replacement" who may not be cut out for space adventure.
The first 20 minutes are taken up with poorly scripted scenes of chitchat replete with flat dialogue and special "moments" between actors -- meant to establish characters and relationships -- that only emphasize their sheer superficiality. Especially annoying is an encounter between Kilmer and Moss, who has just stepped naked from a shower, that is designed to set up sexual electricity between the two.
Suddenly, everything goes haywire. A solar flare cripples the mother ship. Moss dispatches the others aboard an emergency shuttle to the surface of Mars while she stays behind to fix the ship. Then the shuttle crash-lands -- just isn't their day, is it? -- and Stamp sustains life-threatening injuries.
The crash also causes an exploration robot built something like a mechanical greyhound -- a creature we in the audience don't trust from the moment it comes onscreen -- to malfunction and turn its guerrilla-warfare tactics against the banged-up crew.
The beleaguered astronauts must now trudge around the barren landscape, meeting one obstacle or setback after another, while Moss putters in the ship, conversing occasionally with its mechanical navigator, named Lucille, a benevolent version of HAL from "2001". All these incidents and the solution to the disappearance of the seeded algae are pedestrian, to say the least. And no matter how many showers or revealing slips Moss slides into, it's hard to work up much excitement over the fate of these individuals.
The film is technically adroit. The spaceship and Martian surface have the true grit one imagines space travel a half-century from now might be like.
RED PLANET
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. presents in association with
Village Roadshow Pictures and NPV Entertainment
a Mark Canton production
Credits: Producers: Mark Canton, Bruce Berman, Jorge Saralegui; Director: Antony Hoffman; Screenwriters: Chuck Pfarrer, Jonathan Lemkin; Story by: Chuck Pfarrer; Executive producers: Charles J.D. Schlissel, Andrew Mason; Director of photography: Peter Suschitzky; Production designer: Owen Paterson; Music: Graeme Revell; Costume designer: Kym Barrett; Editors: Robert K. Lambert, Dallas S. Puett; Visual effects supervisor: Jeffrey A. Okun. Cast: Kate Bowman: Carrie-Anne Moss; Robby Gallagher: Val Kilmer; Dr. Quinn Burchenal: Tom Sizemore; Capt. Ted Santen: Benjamin Bratt; Dr. Chip Pettengil: Simon Baker; Bud Chantilas: Terence Stamp. MPAA rating: PG-13. Running time - 106 minutes. Color/stereo.
- 11/7/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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