New photos of kids from 1971 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: Here’s a link to a Willy Wonka fansite (the old-school version) with scans of Poloaroids taken of the five kids from the 1971 flick, all grown up. Augustus is just creepy.
(Via Boing Boing.)
Meant to blog this last week – but Sam gets in the way of that sort of thing. Anyway, I got a pass from Amy to head out with some fellow geeks from work to catch the midnight showing of the Star Wars prequel, Revenge of the Sith. I’ve posted a bunch of photos on the moblog I shot of my fellow geeks that night, so check those out. Sounds like I added to what was really a phenomenal opening – surpassing Spiderman for opening weekend ticket sales. NPR this morning had a tidbit estimating that the sum loss of productivity from the ‘Wookie Hooky’ – people calling in sick on Thursday or Friday – at something approaching $600 million. Maybe Mr. Greenspan will be giving Mr. Lucas a call and asking for some help there…
Two of my favorite animated characters will soon be featured in their very own full-length film, Curse of the Wererabbit. Their official site reports a release this Autumn, and explains that the film has been in development for four years and will take over 18 months to shoot. A crew of over 200 people are involved in the production covering every aspect of the film making process, from the modelmakers and animators, set dressers and art directors to story artists, directors of photgraphy and editors. This is very funny stuff. Take a look at this video showing behind-the-scenes production. It’s amazing how painstaking claymation remains with current technology. And visit the BBC to see another hilarious short – Wallace’s take on Soccer, ‘Soccomatic’.
The first trailer for the upcoming Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy film was posted on the front page of Amazon.com today. Do not stop, do not pass go, etc., just get yourself over to there and watch it NOW. Warning: The video takes a about 60 seconds to load — traffic issues? or just a slow Flash player?
Of extra note – I reported earlier that the release date for the movie was May 6, 2005 – but Amazon’s info has moved this up one week to April 29.
I’m prepared to be hugely underwhelmed by this movie, some twenty years in the making. But I’m cautiously optimistic seeing this trailer, the first showing action from the film (the earlier trailer was just a CG tease). The trailer suggests a bit more of an ‘Independence Day 2005’ feel, and is perhaps less humorous in tone than I expected. But that’s probably just marketing spin for this, an early Summer release. Amazon also has a selection of new screenshots from the film, and the new movie poster, pictured above.