frankenweenie Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When it comes to Preacher stories, you have to check your enthusiasm and optimism at the gate -- it seems like it's closer to the big screen this time around, but plenty of names have been attached before, so take this story as you will.

We know Sam Mendes will only direct if he likes the script, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, that script now has someone to write it, as Tim Burton-favorite John August landed the tricky job of adapting the Garth Ennis series. So while he lost Shazam!, he gained Reverend Jesse Custer ... and I might be biased towards rebellious preachers who are good in a fight, but I think that's a pretty respectable trade off, don't you?

It's pretty nice to be August now, actually -- in addition to trying to officially attach Mendes, he's also been confirmed to write Burton's stop-motion remake of Frankenweenie , and he's writing the Dark Shadows remake for Burton and Johnny Depp.

Assuming Preacher goes forward from this point ... are August and Mendes the right men for the story? While both do solid work, they also strike me as a bit safe. Neither have ever tackled material as dark and twisted as Preacher. But I might be underestimating their talent for depravity, and the fact that they are "unconventional" picks as opposed to someone like Kevin Smith means this could work out in one of those perfect, fateful ways.

Before we get started, I just want to make it clear that in Hollywood nothing is ever official until you see the press release (and you should probably take the following news with a big grain of salt). Over at the Alice in Wonderland fan site, talk has surfaced that Tim Burton has finally cast Alice in his live-action version of Alice in Wonderland (not to be confused with the long-suffering American McGee creation).

According to the commenter, Ian B: "My brother is working on the movie and he said Alice has been cast. He is a music supervisor for the movie and said there will be a press release about it on July 9th. The role was originally supposed to be Evan Rachel Woods but she backed out. Alice won't be played by a child but a 23 year old. From what I was told it's her first Burton movie, and her first big role in a film that will be released world wide." So who's the lucky gal? Say hello to Ryan Nikole Parker. Parker is not very well known, and other than a few TV credits is a relative newcomer to the business.

Burton struck the deal for Alice with Disney back in November, and according to comments on the IMDB message boards, he's already finished casting. Luckily for us, July 9th isn't that far away, so we won't be waiting long for the official word.

Sound off below on who you would like to see go down the rabbit hole with Mr. Burton.

[via The Bad and Ugly]

Sarah Michelle Gellar's Alice, which will focus on a damaged, adult version of the girl in baby blue, is about to get some solid competition from the company that made the original story so darned popular in the first place. Variety has reported that the great Tim Burton has signed on to direct Alice in Wonderland for Walt Disney Studios -- the same company that helped him bring Ed Wood and The Nightmare Before Christmas to the big screen. But that's not all -- when he's done with that, he'll put together a feature-length movie based on his 1984 short film Frankenweenie -- the story of a pet dog brought back to life by his owner. Turns out the Frankenweenie rumor from way back at the beginning of October is indeed true.

Man, I can only begin to imagine what Burton can cook up with both of these projects. The two films will combine live action and performance capture for a big 3D release, as is just all the rage these days. The Alice script is based on the Lewis Carroll classic, as opposed to Disney's treatment first treatment of it, and was written by The Lion King scribe Linda Woolverton. Once Sweeney Todd is all said and done, Burton will film his version of Wonderland in early 2008, and aims to wrap it up in May. However, for some reason, Variety is still calling it a pre-strike project.*

After dealing with hearts, bunnies, tea parties, and all the wonderful Wonderland shenanigans, Burton will give the same 3D treatment to his 23-year-old story. I would hope he's going to pen the film himself; however, that hasn't been confirmed. So, now the question is: who will Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp play?

*Variety has removed this comment from their post.

During an advanced screening of the upcoming Disney movie Enchanted, it appears Dick Cook, the Chairman of Walt Disney Pictures, let slip some news that wasn't supposed to be out there for at least another month. According to AICN, via someone who attended said Enchanted screening, Cook announced during the Q&A that Disney is prepping a stop-motion feature to be directed by "the creative mastermind behind the majority of stop-motion pictures in the last decade." It shouldn't take a genius to figure out the person he's talking about: Tim Burton. So once this news was out there, folks immediately began speculating as to which film Burton would be directing for Disney. That's when another person emailed AICN with the following: "It's a feature length remake of his short "Frankenweenie." All stop motion. Leave me completely anonymous, please."

For those who do not know what a Frankenweenie is, it's one of Burton's earlier short films (from 1984), and originally Disney was going to release the short. However, some claim the content was a bit too "questionable" for children, and the release plan was subsequently shelved. Eventually, the short showed up as an extra feature on the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD. Did Disney ask Burton to re-tool the film so that it would be more family-friendly, and give him the go-ahead to start planning a feature? It certainly seems logical, but do keep in mind these are all rumors as of now (and Disney seems to be going out of their way not to comment). Based on Mary Shelley's classic, Frankenstein, Frankenweenie follows a boy whose dog is hit and killed by a car. C'mon, you should be able to figure out the rest -- he brings dog back to life, people freak out, blah blah. Has anyone watched the original short? Would you be interested in seeing Burton bring it to the big screen in feature form? Chime in below ...