First Trailer and Poster for Disney's 'Tomorrowland' starring George Clooney

It may not have quite the sizzle or number of exclusive as San Diego, but the New York Comic-Con is taking place right now and with it are first looks at some major projects. One of those is Brad Bird's ultra-secret Tomorrowland, and after debuting footage earlier today Disney has now brought it online to tease the futuristic sci-fi film.

We only get a brief glimpse of star George Clooney in this teaser, but his narration gives us a small hint at the wonder Bird and writer Damon Lindelof are trying to portray...

"What if there was a place, a secret place where nothing was impossible? A miraculous place where you could actually change the world. You wanna go?"

Mostly we get a look at Britt Robertson as Casey, a bright, intuitive girl who discovers a special pin that transports her across time and space to Tomorrowland. There she encounters Frank (Clooney), a former boy genius now jaded and disillusioned. Hugh Laurie, Judy Greer, Tim McGraw, Keegan-Michael Key, and Kathryn Hahn co-star.  Tomorrowland opens May 22nd 2015. Check out the trailer and Marvel's NYCC chat with Lindelof and Bird. 


Tomorrowland : bande annonce teaser VO HD by cloneweb


Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird of Tomorrowland Bring the Good Vibes and Talk the Movie at NYCC 2014. by NewTrailers BOS

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Samuel L. Jackson Says Frozone is Part of 'The Incredibles 2'

Disney and Pixar finally gave fans what they had been asking for when Bob Iger announced that a sequel to The Incredibles was in development. We still don't know much about the storyline Brad Bird is putting together, but Samuel L. Jackson, who voiced the superhero Frozone, has been told he'll be back. In a conversation with Digital Spy, Jackson said...

"Every time I run into Brad (Bird) he always tells me Frozone is going to be part of whatever's going on, so I have to believe that. I guess they would be the Incredibles without Frozone, but I think Frozone would be a wonderful, wonderful addition to what's already there. I'm just looking forward to seeing what Jack-Jack turned into."

Jack-Jack was the baby of the Incredibles family, revealed to have a wide array of powers at the end of the film. Here's hoping they don't jump ahead too many years and alter the dynamic that worked so well before. Right now we have no firm word on who will be returning, or who will direct.

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Possible major plot details emerge for Brad Bird's 'Tomorrowland'

Brad Bird, Damon Lindelof, and Disney may be trying to throw us a curveball when it comes to their top secret project, Tomorrowland. And why wouldn't they? If the goal is to keep it as far under wraps as possible, why would they ever lead us nosy Internet geeks in the right direction? So far we've been led to believe the film is a riff on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, inspired by a box of old story notes Lindelof discovered on the Disney compound. But it may have all been a ruse, if the casting call discovered by HitFix is any indication.

The call sheet continues a rather significant plot blurb that does include Tomorrowland theme park, but also girl robots, alternate dimensions, and much more. If it's true, then pretty much everything we thought we knew has been totally off the mark. Check it out for yourself....

"A teenage girl, a genius middle-aged man (who was kicked out of Tomorrowland) and a pre-pubescent girl robot attempt to get to and unravel what happened to Tomorrowland, which exists in an alternative dimension, in order to save Earth."

There's a lot more to it than that. HitFix says the middle-aged man is named Frank Walker, and is the character played by George Clooney. Frank was booted out of Tomorrowland at the age of 11 by David Nix, who is the villain played by Hugh Laurie. Before Frank was kicked out, he fell in love with Athena, a little girl who saw great promise in him, and also happens to be a robot. Here's the rest of Hitfix's detailed description...

"By the time we meet Frank in the film, he's much older, and George Clooney is set to play the part.  Nix is the role that Hugh Laurie is signed for, and by the point the main story of the film kicks in, Nix has been in charge of Disneyland for many years, and he's become rotten, corrupt.  Athena, unchanged since Frank was a young man, plays a key role in the film, and the hero is a girl named Casey who has a quick scientific mind that becomes important as the story unfolds.  Nix is a guy who values technical accomplishment over creative thinking, and when he throws Frank out of Tomorrowland, he's not alone.  Every creative thinker is banished, allowing Nix to focus purely on aesthetics and technical advancement for its own sake."

So this version of Disneyland in the story sounds really dark, much darker than we'd expect Disney to be too gung-ho about. They aren't trying to jump in front of all this Escape from Tomorrow stuff by presenting their own dark take on the amusement park, are they? Eh, probably not, but it does make me wonder how much of this story is legit. Like I said earlier, this is a top secret project, so it's doubtful they'd spill such crucial plot points just to do a little casting. My guess is that this is an elaborate ruse, with small kernels of truth buried in there somewhere.  But taken at face value, then it sounds like exactly the sort of film I'd expect from Bird and Lindelof, and the sort of big adventure Disney doesn't do nearly enough anymore.

I'm sure there will be more mysteries to come before Tomorrowland opens on December 19th 2014.

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Brad Bird pulls name out of running for 'Star Wars: Episode VII'

This is surely going to deflate a few Pixar fans who were hopeful of Brad Bird(Ratatouille, Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol) taking over the Star Wars: Episode VII directing gig. Bird had been a top choice for a lot of people, especially when it was revealed that he was one of the handful who received screenwriter Michael Arndt's story treatment. But with his upcoming Disney sci-fi project, 1952(aka Tesla), developing with Damon Lindelof it seemed unlikely he could fit something as massive as Star Wars in.

After being inundated with tweets asking about his involvement, Bird finally put any doubt to rest, although fans tried their best to turn his refusal into some sort of slam against the trilogy...

“@rsavenell: You are on people's lists as top choice for Star Wars, yet haven't confirmed. Please end this tease!”Not doing Star Wars.
— Brad Bird (@BradBirdA113) November 18, 2012

“@geoffbreedwell: You're not doing EP7? Why not? You're perfect for it!”Thanks. But the science fiction film I AM doing is gonna be cool.
— Brad Bird (@BradBirdA113) November 18, 2012

“@gregaveryowens: Totally just saw @BradBirdA113 slam Star Wars. Brilliant!” I'm not slamming Star Wars. I'm just doing "1952"! Sheesh! 

What a douche for trying to blow Bird's statement out of proportion.  I'm actually pretty happy about this, because I don't want anything to interfere with 1952, which sounds amazing and original in its own right. So the search continues, and to the best of my knowledge we're still looking at Matthew Vaughn and Colin Trevorrow as the two prime candidates for the job.

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*UPDATE* George Clooney joins Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof's '1952'

*UPDATE* THR is now saying 1952 is working under the title of 'Tesla'. Presumably this would be Nikola Tesla, the famous inventor and physicist who had more than a passing interest in the extraterrestrial. *

How exciting must it be to work at Disney right now? Think about it. They just picked up LucasFilm and the Star Wars franchise; they've already got Marvel and the vaunted Avengers; and let's not forget The Muppets, Pixar, and everything else the Mouse House has specialized in for decades. Incredible. Now one of their most top secret of projects has just taken a big step forward with the addition of Hollywood's biggest star: George Clooney.

Variety reports that Clooney is in talks to star in 1952, the sci-fi film from Brad Bird(Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol) and writer Damon Lindelof(Prometheus). Details are being kept heavily guarded for now, but we know the idea springs from an idea Lindelof came up with after a visit to Walt Disney's personal archives where he found a box labeled '1952' and included story notes for a film about alien contact. I've speculated that it has to do with NASA's rocket missions during that year, which also happens to be one of the most active times for UFO sightings in this country's history. So expect something along the lines of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The film is not officially green lit, but with Clooney reportedly on board that's expected to change very quickly. Filming begins next year, probably after the actor wraps up work on the historical heist film, The Monuments Men.

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Michael Arndt may script 'Star Wars VII'; J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Brad Bird eyed to direct

We're starting to get closer to finding out who will take on the most sought after jobs in all of Hollywood, guiding the next of George Lucas' Star Wars trilogies. With Matthew Vaughn and Colin Trevorrow's names already floating out there as potential directors, the latest news has Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt(Toy Story 3, Little Miss Sunshine) having penned a 50-page story treatment to cover the entire trilogy, and may be tasked with banging out the screenplay.

Arndt apparently wrote the treatment months ago, long before the Disney/LucasFilm deal happened, so this clearly puts him in the pole position to script the whole thing. Obviously, the Disney folks are quite familiar with Arndt as he's part of Pixar's elite "brain trust", and has a couple of projects already in the pipeline for the Mouse House. He also wrote the script for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which along with the the excellent Toy Story 3 gives him more major franchise experience than most. He also happens to be a Star Wars expert, lecturing frequently about creative storytelling and frequently talks about how satisfying the ending of Episode IV is.

As if the thought of nailing a screenwriter as well-regarded as Arndt isn't big enough, the treatment is expected to be shown to Brad Bird, J.J. Abrams, and Steven Spielberg, with hopes that one of them will want to direct it. The chances of that happening are slim, but Disney wants to cover all of the bases. I think Bird may be more open to the idea than many other sites want to admit, but we'll just see how that shakes out.

And hey, at least we know one guy who wants nothing to do with Star Wars....

Zack Snyder: “I don’t think I’d be interested in [directing it]. I’m a huge ‘Star Wars’ fanatic. I just think doing [episodes] seven, eight and nine is just a slippery slope. It’s a whole other mythological experiment I’m excited to see, but it’s a lot of effort.”

It was like millions of people suddenly just sighed a deep breath of relief, and were suddenly contented. [Vulture/Deadline/HeroComplex]

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Details emerge on Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof's '1952'

It was a pretty big deal back in May when we learned that Disney had set up a mystery project for Brad Bird(The Incredibles) to direct from a script by Damon Lindelof(Lost). Little was revealed about it, but speculation was that it was meant to be a major sci-fi film, working under the title of 1952. One of the most active years in NASA's history, it was a time when they were experimenting heavily with rocket technology. Or it could deal with the 1952 incident in which a number of UFO sightings were reported in Washington, DC over the course of a few weeks. Could that play a part? I think the clues are starting to point to that being the case.

Sources tell Vulture that the film is being developed along the lines of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and will follow a man in his 40s. Set in the modern day, it will largely deal with aliens making contact on Earth. As for the title? Apparently it's in reference to a box of files Lindelof found in Walt Disney's personal development lab. They had been marked 'That Darn Cat!' in reference to the 1965 film, but it was crossed out and '1952' written in its place. Inside, Lindelof found a bunch of documents regarding a potential film on alien contact.

So this is sounding even better than before, especially if Lindelof and Bird are reviving some long-thought dead project of Walt Disney's. A heavy J.J. Abrams-esque viral campaign is being planned, and with Bird and Lindelof expected to hold a Q&A later today in Hollywood, I'm guessing more details on all of it will be revealed.

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MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 4 Update

Lots of Mission Impossible 4news out there all of a sudden, and I can only assume it has to do with all the buzz around JJ Abrams' Super 8 project, since he is also co-producer on MI:4. Yesterday, Paramount announced that the latest adventure of superspy Ethan Hunt has been pushed back to December 16th, 2011. The original release date of May 27, 2011 is now officially open but there is speculation that Super 8 will fill that slot soon.

Sinct Tom Cruise and Abrams' involvement was never in doubt, the only question that remained was who would direct? There had been discussions with both Edgar Wright(Shaun of the Dead) and Brad Bird(The Iron Giant), but in a recent conversation with Empire Online, Cruise put any questions to rest...

“I dig Edgar. Very nice guy, very smart, very talented, I’d really like to do something with him,” said Cruise, talking to Empire recently in Los Angeles. “I met Edgar on the set of Mission 3. Simon Pegg and those guys are hilarious. I love Shaun Of The Dead. It’s amazing. But we’re working with Brad right now. I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about it but everything’s signed... Brad is doing it.”

This'll be Bird's first time directing a live-action feature after having spent the entirety of his career working on animation. He first came to fame in 1999 with his wonderful The Iron Giant(still my favorite film of his), before heading to Pixar and helming both The Incredibles and 2007's Ratatouille.

 

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