Planet 51 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Carriers
A decent looking tale of an apocalyptic plague and four friends attempt to survive it. If you've read The Stand or seen the mini-series based on it the idea seems kind of similar. Chris Prine, the new James T. Kirk stars and I thought the faces drawn on the surgical masks were a nice touch. Things start getting germy on September 4.

Couples Retreat
Four couples head to a tropical resort where they learn that couples' therapy is a mandatory part of the program. The impressive cast includes Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, and Kristen Bell. The retreat commences on October 9.

Planet 51
There's a new full length trailer for this animated comedy about a human astronaut landing on an alien world that looks strikingly like an American suburb. The residents of the planet see the visitor as a threat and it looks like there's probably a decent message for kids about prejudice, but this one doesn't thrill me. The idea is cute and they get points for the use of The Killers' song "Spaceman" but it didn't have me laughing. Planet 51 touches down on November 20.

Imagine you're a green alien living happily among other green aliens on a tiny planet somewhere. Then one day an astronaut from Earth shows up and starts terrifying everyone. And he has the voice of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson! Except maybe contractual stipulations demand that he not be called "The Rock" anymore. Still! Scary!

That's the premise of Planet 51, a computer-animated comedy that has finally, after some shuffling, been acquired by Sony and scheduled for a Thanksgiving 2009 release. The voice cast includes Johnson, Gary Oldman, Justin Long, Seann William Scott, John Cleese, and Jessica Biel. The directors are a trio of video game programmers named Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad, and Marcos Martinez, and the script is by Joe Stillman, who co-wrote the first two Shrek films.

As we reported last November, Planet 51 was originally picked up by New Line and would have been that studio's first CG release. Then New Line was folded into Warner Bros., so the film became that studio's property, and they planned to release it next summer. But according to Variety, Planet 51's producers wanted it to come out this November instead -- and that didn't work for Warners because they're already releasing a Harry Potter film in that slot. So they let the film go, and now Sony has it. The producers will get their November release date, but it'll be 2009, not 2008. Presumably, everyone's happy now.

But should they be?

When Christopher Campbell blogged about the upcoming CG-animated film Planet 51 last November, he suggested 3D and a few actors for the lead. Well, the actors are different, but when the film hits screens next year on July 24, it will travel to the third dimension. As for the cast, Variety reports that the voices taking this space adventure are Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, and Seann William Scott.

The Rock leads the cast of voices as the astronaut Chuck Baker. He lands on Planet 51 and thinks he's the first to step onto the surface. Not so, naive space traveling man. He soon discovers "green people who live in an innocent world right out of the 1950s, complete with the paranoia that they will be overrun by alien invaders." Whoops. There is no word on who the rest of the actors will voice, but I'll go out on a limb and say that planet's various greenies.

Now, when Christopher talked about the flick, he mentioned that the dude looked a little like Buzz Lightyear. He's definitely not far off -- Chuck looks like the typical CG lead. It's too bad they couldn't try to change up the look a bit, instead of continuing the goofy white boy look. I know, it's hard to come up with different looks since we all look alike, but as artists, that's their job! Argh... Maybe the next animated flick will mix things up a bit.

It seems a bit late, but New Line has finally joined the animated film business. Fortunately for them, they've avoided the attempt to set up something in-house, choosing instead to acquire something already in the works. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio has picked up Planet 51, which is being produced by Spain-based Ilion Animation Studios. Scripted by Shrek and Shrek 2 co-writer Joe Stillman, the film is about the titular planet, which is visited by an "alien" from Earth. I guess it's kinda like a reverse E.T., where NASA astronaut Chuck Baker befriends a young native of Planet 51 and must avoid capture. According to the film's IMDb page, in which it's titled Planet One, Stillman is co-directing with Jorge Blanco. However, The Hollywood Reporter lists the co-directors as Blanco, Javier Abad and Marcos Martinez, all of whom apparently worked together on a video game titled Commandos.

Planet 51 is currently in production but doesn't seem too far along. Ilion hasn't yet cast the voices, which typically come first. Considering that at first glance I thought the promo image was of Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear (yeah, my eyesight is bad), I suggest they just go ahead and get Tim Allen for the lead. And then they should cast Henry Thomas as the alien kid, because all animated films these days need to be full of referential jokes. I also have to add another suggestion to New Line and Ilion: make the film in 3D. With an expected release date of March 2009, Planet 51 is teetering on the edge of the future, as Dreamworks Animation has already declared 2009 to be the year it begins releasing all its films exclusively on 3D screens. It's first, Monsters vs. Aliens, is even set to come out that same month. Now, Planet 51 may not need to be too competitive if it can hit theaters a few weeks earlier (MvA is set for end of month), though chances are audiences will forget about a lame-old 2D release once the real attractions arrive. With a budget of $60 million, Planet 51 probably can't afford to be so easily dismissed.