Superman Leads The Way To Saturns
The list of nominations for the The Academy Of Science Fiction, Fantasy And Horror Films have been announced, and the Man Of Steel has come out ahead in the quantity stakes. Bryan Singer's Superman Returns nabbed 10 nominations in all, including Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Director. Other multiple nominees include Pan's Labyrinth,** Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer**, Stranger Than Fiction, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, X-Men: The Last Stand, and strangely, **Casino Royale **and Mission: Impossible III.
Open Water 2: Adrift
Remember Open Water, and how it had absolutely nothing to do with the similarly themed Adrift? Didn't you just cry when you found out that the two projects had nothing to do with each other? Well, cry no more, and behold the U.S. DVD release of Open Water 2: Adrift. Yes, that's right – not a frame of Hans Horn's film has been changed, but Lions Gate, who own the North American home viewing rights, have decided that it stands a better chance of being seen if they linked it by name only to their other people-stranded-in-the-sea movie. There's got to be a gag in there somewhere about the ocean not being big enough for the two of them…
Muppets: Civil War
No, it's not an offshoot of the ongoing Marvel comics series. In fact, it's not really a civil war at all – the headline just looked amusing to us at the time. The story is that Bob & Harvey Weinstein have bought the rights to four of the properties of the Sesame Workshop – that means anything featuring Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and their parent show, Sesame Street. It's interesting because the Weinstein's former partners - now business rivals – Disney, own the rights to anything involving Kermit The Frog and Miss Piggy. Next up: Teletubbies smackdown.
Bali bombing film banned in Bali
The first Indonesian film about the Bali bombings of 2002 is to be banned from being shown on the island itself, for fear of "opening up old wounds" and stirring further unrest among the Balinese people. The film examines the attack from various perspectives, with the central characters being Muslim militants who were blamed, an American surfer, and a local cab driver. Balinese Muslims were treated with hostility after the attacks, and the local government's film board doesn't want things to kick off again as a result of the film. But the burning question remains - will pirate copies be available from the market traders?
PS3 bundled with Bond
Not the newest of news, but you may not yet be aware that Sony have decided to bundle the first 500,000 units of their long-awaited PS3 with a blu-ray disc of Casino Royale. The move is designed to provide a tasty reminder to consumers that the PS3 is more than just a games console – a ploy that certainly worked in the States, who got a copy of Talladega Nights in the new format. Apparently, the response was so overwhelmingly positive (80% of customers contacted said that they would buy more blu-ray titles as a result), that the green light has been granted to follow suit for European release.