FrankMarshall Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Mere days after Shia LaBeouf gleefully announced that Steven Spielberg had "cracked" the story for Indiana Jones 5 comes another confirmation that it'll rear its ugly head. Empire Online caught up with Indiana Jones' longtime producer, Frank Marshall, who didn't go so far as to green-light it, but revealed that they'll start hashing out ideas before too long.

"It's really about the script," said Marshall. "Once we see that, we'll see. We're not going to wait another 20 years. We'd all love to make another one. I'm anxious to hear the idea!" But he quickly added that he really didn't know what Spielberg was cooking. "Until there's a script, nothing's definite. I haven't heard the idea." (He should ask LaBeouf. I bet he knows.) Marshall also confirmed that Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford were equally eager to return for a fifth outing. "Yeah. We had a great time making the last one and, as Harrison said, we need to make this one soon. We're not getting any younger."

While talk is talk, and plans vanish, bear in mind that they were already chattering about a fifth outing before Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hit theaters, and were still dreaming of it after, despite the negative reviews and fan backlash. I have no doubt it'll happen regardless of what the fans say or think. When it does, that shrieking sound you hear? That'll be the death cry of my fangirl soul ... and I'm sure it won't be the only lament visited upon the heavens.

With every movie of the '80s and '90s being dusted off and revisited, a return to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is not only unsurprising, but probably inevitable. MTV News caught up with Robert Zemeckis, who revealed that he was seriously considering a return to Toontown. "I'll tell you what is buzzing around in my head now that we have the ability - the digital tools, performance capture - I'm starting to think about Roger Rabbit."

Of course, Zemeckis couldn't provide any further details. Two years ago, Frank Marshall told MTV that a sequel was still kicking around, and that all that had prevented it was the lack of digital technology. "It came pretty close. We shot a test. We had a script. But unfortunately, we didn't have computer generated animation quite yet -- it was just too expensive." Because Roger Rabbit would be in the entire movie as opposed to only about 48 minutes of animation, it was impossible to do at the time. Obviously, technology has updated to the point that an entire Roger Rabbit movie could be done with CG and clearly, Zemeckis would love to use his motion capture on the big, goofy bunny ... and can you imagine what they'd do with Jessica Rabbit to top Angelina Jolie as Grendel's Mom? I'm a little creeped out just thinking about that.

A Roger Rabbit sequel isn't a bad idea, but as with so many of these properties, it just feels like the ship has sailed. New technology should mean new stories, not just a return to 1988. I imagine I'm alone in that, and everyone else is dying for more Roger Rabbit even after 20 years. But will you like him as well if he's a dead-eyed motion capture and not a lovable toon?

It seems a safe bet that any sort of sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit would be a pretty big hit, but back when the filmmakers were originally thinking about the idea, the concepts just seemed too expensive (and difficult) to tackle. But now with today's CGI magic, it wouldn't be all that tough to get a Roger Rabbit sequel off the ground ... provided you have a solid screenplay, of course.

Don't get too excited just yet, toon-fans, because the sequel certainly isn't about to get rolling anytime soon. But the MTV Movies Blog did just talk to producer Frank Marshall about the possibility of Roger's return, and the guy certainly didn't seem averse to it: "For the first time ever, Marshall also revealed details of the plot of "Roger Rabbit 2," and if you thought Toontown was a trip, you should have seen where they were sending Roger next. "New York!" Marshall enthused of the setting for the second film." (Click here for the full piece.)

The conversation closed with Marshall playfully promising to get in touch with the Pixar boys regarding Roger Rabbit 2, but hey, stranger things have happened.

Other than ComicCon stuff, it has been awhile since we got a new video from LucasFilm at IndianaJones.com. The last one, right before the Con was a really disappointing look at the international buzz for Indiana Jones IV. Then, of course, we got the confirmation that Karen Allen would be returning as Marion Ravenwood. In her introduction at ComicCon, there was mention of the family being reunited -- I took this to mean it was official that Indiana (Harrison Ford), Marion and Indy Jr. (Shia LaBeouf) were a family in the sequel. So, I saw the title of LucasFilm's latest video, "Reuniting the Family," and figured it would give further proof that the Joneses would be a happy unit. That was obviously stupid of me. How could I believe they'd give any story info away that easily?

The video is actually a montage of scenes from Raiders, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade, inter-cut with interviews about the reunion of the family behind the camera. Featured is Ford, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy. And as if to really annoy me, the video features too much Kate Capshaw and Alison Doody and not enough Allen. It even starts off with a tease of Marion saying, "Indiana Jones. Always knew someday you'd come walking back through my door." Then Spielberg comes on and says, "I'm excited about making Indy 4, if for no other reason than to get a reunion with our original family." Another thing that made me sad: all the footage of John Rhys-Davies (nothing against Ray Winstone, but I'm really going to miss Sallah).

Maybe one day -- before Memorial Day, 2008, perhaps? -- we will find out the whole deal behind Marion's return to the franchise. By then we will hopefully also have a real title and maybe some confirmation that this movie is indeed a full-circle-back to the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark. But in the meantime, let's keep watching these hype-making videos that give us nothing new. It's better than twiddling our thumbs for the next nine and a half months, I guess.