PrinceCaspian Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The Motion Picture Association of America does a few other things too, but its most visible impact on movie-going is its ratings system. G, PG, PG-13, R, or NC-17, you gotta have a rating for your movie if you want most theater chains to show it, and the MPAA's secretive clan of breast-counters and violence-ignorers decides which label its gets.

An overwhelming majority of films get the rating they deserve -- or, at the very least, a rating that's consistent with how the MPAA has rated other films with similar content. But some MPAA decisions are baffling, illogical, or just plain outrageous. Here are the ones that perplexed us the most this year.

The Worst MPAA Ratings of 2008

1. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (rated PG for "epic battle action and violence"). The MPAA says, "The ratings are intended to provide parents with advance information so they can decide for themselves which films are appropriate for viewing by their own children." It's all about parents looking out for their kids. So how in the name of C.S. Lewis did this film -- rife with stabbing, throat-slitting, decapitating, and large-scale slaughter, much of it perpetrated by teenage characters -- get a PG? Does the fact that most of the violence is bloodless (and therefore not realistic) somehow make it family-friendly? Had there been even one sexual reference, it would have gotten a PG-13. Thank goodness Disney only packed the film with killing instead!

After the disappointing box office of both Speed Racer and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian last month, it's apparent that May was too busy a month for all its blockbusters to succeed. Last week, Eric D. Snider initiated a discussion about Caspian's release date and many of our readers agreed that it should have been released in December, or any other month, for that matter. Couldn't it have been a success in February or October, too? As part of an initially popular franchise, you'd think it could stand to be released anytime of the year.

Earlier today, I responded to an interview in which two cinema industry honchos argued that big movies should be released 12 months in the year. Or, at least, the summer movie season should begin earlier, in April. Imagine, the first blockbuster of the year being released on Easter weekend. Or, when Easter is in March, April Fool's Day weekend. Unfortunately, the month doesn't have any Monday holidays with which to capitalize on a three-day-weekend release, but a two-day weekend didn't seem to hurt Iron Man's enormous opening.

One commenter on my earlier post noted that moving the summer season up to April will only make that month the busiest release month, just as May is currently. But there's a good chance Hollywood will recognize, after May 2008, the benefits of staying spread out. Plus, Memorial Day weekend will continue to be prime real estate, so tentpoles might be better spread out, as they should be according to their name (imagine going camping and placing all your literal tentpoles in one corner).

What do you think? Should the summer movie season begin earlier? Or is it just fine as is? Or did you think it actually began on April 18 with the release of the fantasy martial arts flick The Forbidden Kingdom?

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game Carrie Bradshaw plays whenever she's all dressed up with nowhere to go (see photo below). Last week, we asked you folks to bring us back some funny captions from your trip to Narnia for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and that you did! Congrats to Anthony G. for his inspired caption below ...

1. "According to Mapquest this is where the renaissance fair should be." -- Anthony G.

2. "The interns on Dr. Moreau's island weren't quite sure what they got themselves into after putting on their new uniforms" -- Josh B.

3. "Introducing the cast of High School Musical: Braveheart Edition." -- Kirby H.

See full image and all captions


This week, we all have sex on the mind -- and I wonder why? Could it be because the gals from Sex and the City are about to make their big-screen debut? I think mayyybe ... Since Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda are four very special ladies in our lives, we decided to give away some very special gifts to those who provide us with the best captions for the photo below. That being said, one grand prize winner will receive one Sex and the City Collector's Edition DVD set with all six seasons of the hit show, two different Sex and the City movie posters and one Sex and the City soundtrack. Meanwhile, two runners up will receive the two different posters and the Sex and the City soundtrack (info on the soundtrack after the jump). Not bad, huh? The perfect foreplay before Sex and the City arrives in theaters on May 30. Sound off below ...



See the official rules for this contest

Remember that rumor that we reported on several weeks ago -- the one from Jim Hill that said Disney was considering abandoning The Chronicles of Narnia franchise for John Carter of Mars? The response was, well, harsh. No one felt it could possibly be true.

Well, it might be. FirstShowing.net was at the Prince Caspian panel at New York ComicCon, where producer Mark Johnson confirmed that Disney was planning to end the series as a trilogy with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. There are "no plans" at present to film the remaining books -- although there is the possibility that if Caspian and Dawn Treader do well, Disney will revive it. As of now, there's no confirmation that Disney plans to replace Narnia with John Carter -- but you have to imagine they'll certainly explore all options.

The news doesn't surprise me at all. I think Disney's enthusiasm for the beloved fantasy franchise was admirable, but not entirely well thought out. I stand by my original opinion that the books become darker, stranger and nigh unfilmable from this point on. I think A Horse and His Boy would make a spectacular standalone film, though, and an ideal place to revisit the series if Disney ever revived it. Well, at least I'm getting Dawn Treader. I can live just fine without ever revisiting The Last Battle, but give me Narnian adventure on the high seas!

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian comes to theatres May 16th, 2008.

Is Paramount poised to have the best May imaginable at the box office between Mr. Stark and Dr. Jones? Can you take any movie with a monkey in it seriously? Will Pixar succeed again with WALL-E, or are robots the new Cars? Is a long-awaited sequel 'too little, too late' for X-Files fans? And will Hellboy 2 be the surprise smash of the season? Joining us this week on The Rocchi Review to talk summer's biggest movies is Scott Weinberg of Cinematical and FEARnet, and we try to answer all those questions and more. ... Cinematical's podcast content now has even better sound quality, and is now in iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:



As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

(Note: Above image was chosen totally at random. Yup. We'll go with that.)

It's beginning to look a lot like summer blockbuster season everywhere you go.

I've heard the words "calm before the storm" mentioned more times in the past week than I have all year. That's because it's almost April, which means the official start to the summer movie season is only one month away. One month! That's it! Are all of you as excited as we are? (Don't all stand up and cheer at the same time.) Anyway, pretty much all of the big summer flicks have released trailers by now (with the exception of The Mummy 3 ... and maybe something else that I'm forgetting -- it is Monday after all).

We've seen trailers for The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Speed Racer, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Incredible Hulk, WALL-E, Prince Caspian, Hellboy II, The X-Files, Wanted, The Happening, Hancock ... and so on. Of course, some films have been a little more aggressive than others -- like Iron Man (which comes out first), WALL-E (a few trailers, teasers and a very early viral campaign) and The Dark Knight (one teaser, one trailer and 50 billion viral sites). Indy's shoveled out a bunch of videos, as well as a trailer, and The Incredible Hulk has given us one trailer and a few images. One imagines all of these films will ramp up their marketing as their release dates draw closer.

But here's our question today: Which summer blockbuster trailer pumped you up most to see the film? Feel free to answer the poll below or write in your favorite in the comments section. (Me? I'm going with The Dark Knight.)

Here's a treat for anyone who blinked and missed the YouTube behind-the-scenes featurette that was floating around the Internet. SpoilerTV has some exclusive The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian stills -- though why Disney gave them to a television site is anyone's guess. No one else is posting them on their sites, just linking, so I'm following suit.

It has been so long since I read Prince Caspian that I'm rusty on the finer points -- but I really don't remember Caspian being so. . .mature. Wasn't there a The Sword in the Stone element to the book, with Caspian being very young, and having to lead an army to regain his throne before he was ready to do it?

I think Disney read the book, looked back at The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and said "What we're really missing is an Orlando Bloom to rally behind." And so we have a Caspian practically old enough to drink, one who is resembling Aragorn more and more with each image I see.

The stills are beautiful though (but no Reepicheep yet!) -- and maybe, despite my grumbling about accuracy, I will like it better than Wardrobe. It has to be good, otherwise all my hopes for my favorite book, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, will be dashed.

It seems crazy to me that studios "claim" release dates two and three years before the movies come out. I understand that it builds up anticipation, but hanging a release date over filmmakers' heads can't help the end result. For example, I attended a screening of the director's cut of Troy the other night (very cool), with director Wolfgang Petersen introducing. He discussed how at test screenings he realized the score of the film wasn't working. He wound up replacing it in a huge rush to make the release date, and it became one of many aspects of the final film he was unhappy with. Why not just give directors time to make the films they want instead of all the "starting without a finished script" -type stuff that goes on? Well, two upcoming movies -- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (or as I call it, TCONTVOTDT -- it just flows better) and The Wolf Man -- seem to be doing just that.

Prince Caspian, the second Narnia adventure, is still set for release this May, but TCONTVOTDT has been moved from May 1st, 2009, to May 7th, 2010. Taking its place on the '09 date is something called G-Force, "a Jerry Bruckheimer family-adventure about a band of animal commandoes trying to stop an evil billionaire taking over the world." If that plot description is any indication, Summer '09 is going to be a magical time at the cineplex! Mark Romanek's The Wolf Man, with Benicio del Toro in the title role, is being moved from November 18th, 2008 to Spring 2009. I love del Toro, and am really looking forward to that one. I wonder if the notoriously hairy Robin Williams was considered for Wolf Man? Might have saved money on makeup. Reasons have not been given for the release date changes, but Empire speculates that it likely has something to do with the actor's strike that could shake up the industry next June. Hopefully, putting some extra time and care into these movies will be a good thing.

The last flurry of news we got on the Narnia sequel was back in December, when Mark had reported that filming for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was set to begin in England and New Zealand. The film's start date was just around the corner, and there were still some substantial gaps in the cast. Several cast members have been falling into line recently, however, and Moviehole.net is reporting that at least one more part has been safely filled.

The latest addition to the ever-expanding cast is Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) as Trumpkin the Dwarf. Dinklage will play a leader in the resistance to King Miraz and supporter of Prince Caspian X as the true king. The cast list on NarniaFans.com also lists Vincent Grass as Doctor Cornelius and Alicia Borrachero as Queen Purnaprsmia. Ben Barnes will play Caspian and William Moseley (Peter), Anna Popplewell (Susan), Skandar Keynes (Edmund) and Georgie Henley (Lucy) will all be returning as the Pevensie clan. (Liam Neeson will also back as the furry Jesus figure Aslan). Although, this will probably be the last we see of Mosely and Popplewell, since their characters are getting a little long in the tooth for Narnia. Shooting was set to begin this month; so if Andrew Adamson wants to keep to his schedule, casting is going to have to be completed sooner rather than later.

You may or may not recognize the name of William Moseley. The young man played High King Peter in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe flick, and will return to reprise the role in the upcoming sequel, Prince Caspian. If you don't recognize his name, I wouldn't worry about it, because unlike Radcliffe and the stars of the Potter-verse, the children in Narnia will not be around for the full seven book run. Peter, in fact, will drop off after book two* and won't show up again in a major role until book seven.**

The Hook caught up with William Moseley recently and picked his brain for thoughts on the next flick. Moseley, like everyone else involved with the film, was not able to say much, because "They're keeping it really hush-hush. Whether it's even finished, I don't know." However, Moseley did verify shooting is still set to begin in January, and they expect it to carry well into summer. Moseley also talked about the challenge of acting opposite non-existent CGI characters, and had a very interesting take on it: "When you imagine Aslan you just see some highly individual perception-- I saw a majestic creature. I enjoyed being able to create my own Aslan instead of someone else putting it there in front of me." This makes a lot of sense to me. Moseley, like millions of the rest of us, has read and known Narnia since childhood; of course he had a personal vision of Aslan in mind. We all envision the characters and places we love in great books -- Lewis' description of heaven at the end of The Last Battle has served as my mental image of heaven since I was a child. Moseley was just lucky enough to be a part of his own imagination on the biggest stage in the world.

*Yeah, I'm using the original numbering and not the new chronological numbering. It is how the movies chose to deal with it, which I feel validates my long argued point that the magic of Narnia works best when revealed in the original order. Yes, I know Lewis was cool with chronological order, but I still prefer published order.
**Let's put aside the discussion of grown-up Peter in The Horse and His Boy until we learn how they plan to cast him.