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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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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Damon Lindelof won't be back to write a 'Prometheus' sequel

There probably aren't a lot of people clamoring for a Prometheus sequel right now, as the film was a disappointment on just about every imaginable level. Even me, who enjoyed it quite a bit, recognize it didn't quite measure up to expectations, and probably would have preferred Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof dial things back just a little. If there is going to be a follow-up, Lindelof apparently won't be writing it, and they spoke to Collider and gave a rather lengthy explanation as to why....

Lindelof: "Ridley [Scott] and I talked at great length during the story process of the first movie about what subsequent movies would be if Prometheus were to be successful.  And I think that the movie ended in a very specific way that hinted at, or strongly implied that there were going to be continuing adventures worthy of writing stories.  What those stories would be would not necessarily usurp or transcend the Alien franchise as we saw it because we know that the Nostromo hasn’t come along yet.  So the idea was to set up a universe that… Is it a prequel?  Okay.  If that’s what we want to call it, sure.  But the sequel to this movie is not Alien.  The sequel to this movie is this other thing. "

"So Ridley and I talked about what that other thing might be, and he was excited about doing it.  But then I think what ended up happening was that the movie came out, and there was a reaction to the movie.  And I got really wrapped up in Trek, and really wrapped up in this movie that I’m producing and writing with Brad Bird.  And I have a TV project that I was really passionate about.  Ridley and I had a meeting after Prometheus came out where we started talking again about where this journey would go.  And in that meeting I said to him, unfortunately, before he could ask me and go through the discomfort of whether he was going to ask me or not… It’s sort of like having a date where you’re letting the other person know, “I’m in another relationship.”  So I can’t tell you that he asked me and I said no.  But I did communicate to him that I was working on these other things."

"The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite.  Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it.  And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in.  The idea of building a sequel to it—from the ground up this time—with Ridley is tremendously exciting.  But at the same time, I was like, “Well that’s probably going to be two years of my life.”  I can’t do what J.J. [Abrams] does.   I don’t have the capability.  I’m usually very single-minded creatively.  I can only be working on one thing at a time.  So I said to him, “I really don’t think I could start working on this movie until I do this other stuff.  And I don’t know when the other stuff is going to be done.”  And he was like, “Well, okay, it’s not like I asked you anyways.”  He and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him.  But much to the delight of all the fanboys, I don’t see myself being involved in Prometheus-er"

So no Lindelof for the sequel, whatever form it will take. That's fine with me, and maybe we'll even see Scott take a step back into a producer role and let someone else take over. That may be the best thing if more Prometheus flicks are going to happen.

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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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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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Review: 'Prometheus', directed by Ridley Scott

After what has seemed like an eternity of waiting, Prometheus is finally here. No other film this summer has been more hyped, more eagerly anticipated, or had more speculation thrust upon it. Many of those questions have been kicking around our heads since Ridley Scott  showed the first Alien bursting from a human chest back in 1979. Other questions have revolved around the nature of the film itself. Would it be a sequel? A prequel? Or something else entirely different? The combination of secrecy and Scott's return to his sci-fi classic has risen the expectations for Prometheus to an incredible level.

That may be the biggest thing holding back Prometheus for a lot of people, that it somehow doesn't meet the lofty goals we set upon it. A line of reasoning like that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and thinking that way will shut some out of what is truly an awe inspiring, ambitious film that will appeal to newcomers, but also will speak volumes to long time fans. Does that mean it's perfect? Of course not, but walking into any film hoping it meets that criteria is a fool's errand.

Speaking of foolish quests, that's what lies at the center of the story, hammered together with gusto by writers Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts.  Without giving too much away, the opening sequence simply can not be missed, both for the jaw dropping grandeur of it, but for its significance to the rest of the story. Not much is going to make sense if you walk into the movie a few minutes late, so save that bathroom trip for after the final credits. Emboldened by the discovery of ancient cave drawings that seem to hint at an invitation by an alien race, the infamous Weyland Corporation puts together an expedition into the stars, led by archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw(a riveting Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway(Logan Marshall-Green, who looks like Tom Hardy's skinnier twin). The mission isn't simply to find the presence of extraterrestrial life, but is really the ultimate existential journey to discover the origins and purpose of humanity. So this isn't just some leisure trip.

They're accompanied by a host of colleagues, each with their own motivations for tagging along. The Weyland Corporation has invested a lot of money into the project, so they send ice queen corporate stooge, Meredith Vickers(Charlize Thereon) to lord over everything. The company is further represented by the mysterious android, David(scene stealer Michael Fassbender), who seems to have an unnatural curiosity about humans and an equally disturbing love for Lawrence of Arabia. Janek(Idris Elba) is the ship's blue-collar captain, who along with a number of other hired hands, is just looking to fill his bank account. He doesn't have a stake in answering the larger questions of the universe, and would rather spend his time trying to get Vickers in the sack. Everyone is about to see their faith, or lack thereof, tested in a way they never could have expected.

Waking up from two years of forced hibernation, it isn't long before they land on their destination, a desolate looking planet full of deep, cavernous mazes of unnatural design. Once they've grabbed their space gear, a thorough search of the subterranean depths turns up everything we know spells bad news. A gigantic stone head, surrounded by little pods filled with some nasty goo. Think they're smart enough to leave that stuff behind? Of course not. It ends up on the ship, and soon after all Hell breaks loose.

What people forget about both Alien and Aliens is that they were meant to be horrors first, one decidedly more psychological than the other. The paranoia festering through the ship will remind many of Scott's 1979 classic, as the most terrifying aspect is what we don't see happening, like the thought of an extraterrestrial finding purchase in someone's body, or the shady human machinations in the background. In the midst of all this, issues of love and faith and duty make for a powder keg of ingredients. While Prometheus may not have nearly as many impactful scares as Alien, that's really not the point. And still, a scene involving Shaw and a laser surgery device is the most squirm inducing thing you're likely to see all year. Trust me, it's even more disturbing to see Shaw afterwards.

Scott hasn't lost a beat when it comes to establishing massive set pieces, and Prometheus may be the most beautiful film he's ever shot. The dazzling opening sequence alone, filmed in Iceland and featuring raging rivers against a frigid, mountainous backdrop, will leave you slack jawed. It's a state you'll likely stay in for much of the film. From the natural landscapes to H.R. Giger's iconic creature designs, to the dazzling technology employed, Prometheus just looks and feels epic.

As questions of evolution and creationism swirl around in the first half of the film, too much time is wasted on explanatory dialogue that goes nowhere. Some of the subplots, of which there are many, just completely fall flat. There's a pretty big one, involving Vickers and the Weyland Corporation, that seems like it was tacked on at the last moment, even though it adds not a lick of texture to the story. Also, the soundtrack, which was such a huge part of making Alien the gem that it is, doesn't have much of a presence except in that opening scene. Eventually, as many questions still continue to linger, it does appear that Lindelof and Spaihts give in to turning Prometheus into a rather conventional action flick, perhaps because they knew some would complain about the lack of loud booms and explosions. That's not to say this half of the film is any less effective. It's superbly staged and intense, but a completely different animal than what we were given earlier.

Does every loose end left over from Alien get resolved satisfactorily? Probably not, and the best advice is to try and look at the film on its own terms, and stop trying to connect the two. Just sit back and enjoy it. Prometheus in more ways than one shares a DNA thread with Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, in that they both ponder some of the great wonders of the universe, the type we rarely see explored in a big budget Hollywood movie. And much like that film, the answers, or lack thereof, aren't going to make everybody happy. The point is to make you think, and talk about it long after the credits have rolled. Prometheus is a bold, audacious film that restores Alien to its former glory atop the science fiction heap.

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The new U.K. trailer for 'Prometheus' features a different tone and new footage!

It might seem counter-intuitive that a film under as heavy a shroud as Prometheus would get not one, not two, but three trailers released within the span of a weekend. There's the understandable possibility of some Prometheus overload. Too much information too fast! But before shutting yourself off to any more info on Ridley Scott ambitious sci-fi flick, check out the latest UK trailer and get a slightly different view.

The new trailer released today features a much more relaxed tone than before, aided by a softer soundtrack that I think adds to the overall mystery. Then it all explodes into sh*t around the halfway point and draws even closer ties to the Alien mythos Scott and writer Damon Lindelof keep trying to pull themselves away from.

One more time, with feeling! Check out the latest trailer for Prometheus below. I promise you'll want to cryogenically freeze yourself until June 8th....

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1st look at Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott

The good folks over at Slashfilm are over at San Diego Comic Con and they've managed to snag this image from Ridley Scott's Alien "prequel", Prometheus. Our friend Brendon Connelly over at Bleeding Cool kinda got a confirmation of it's legitimacy from writer Damon Lindelof himself. What the heck is going on in it? That's anybody's guess. Here's hoping we see some actual footage soon!

PLOT
Visionary filmmaker Ridley Scott returns to the genre he helped define, creating an original science fiction epic set in the most dangerous corners of the universe. The film takes a team of scientists and explorers on a thrilling journey that will test their physical and mental limits and strand them on a distant world, where they will discover the answers to our most profound questions and to life’s ultimate mystery.

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Beware! The possible plot of Prometheus lies within!

One of the most fascinating things to watch over the last few months has been the secrecy behind Ridley Scott's upcoming sci-fi film, Prometheus. What started out as a definite prequel to Alien turned into some sort of spinoff with "Alien DNA" supposedly at the heart of the story. Damon Lindelof(Lost), who wrote the script, has kinda gone both ways on what it would actually entail. Same with Scott. Is "Alien DNA" literal? Or are there just thematic similarities between the films? Well, all the wondering my be moot now, as i09 has been sent what appears to be a total reveal of key points of the plot. Hell, it's basically the entire plot. So consider the below image "Spoiler Space", with the plot immediately following...

Earth. Year 2058.

 Archaeological digs in Africa reveal alien artifacts that humans were genetically engineered by a advanced alien race (space jockeys). These “Alien Gods” also terraformed Earth in order to make it habitable for their human creations. Amongst finds are coordinates to the Alien God’s home-world, to Paradise. Months later the Weyland Corp launch the spaceship PROMETHEUS and his crew, into deep space to make first contact. Thanks to faster than light travel a few years later the PROMETHEUS enters the Zeta Riticuli star system. Humans are greeted by their makers, then transported further into space to a scary yet fascinating world. The Alien Gods are proud of their “children”, their first creation to reach such levels of intelligence.

As a reward they share bits of their astonishing bio-based technologies with the humans. But for one crew member of the Prometheus it’s not enough. In a treacherous act he steals the “bio-source code” to Terraforming, a technology at the origin of all Gods’ power, that could make humans equal to the gods. The Alien Gods may be scientists but are also ruthless conquerors, destroyers of worlds who will not accept humans as equals. They unleash on the escaping human crew their favorite bio-weapon, a creature used to “clean up” worlds before colonization. But something goes wrong in the process and humans manage to turn the bio-weapon against their makers. Giving birth to a smarter, nastier, bigger breed of gut eating creatures. Creatures that will be the demise of Paradise. What’s left of the Prometheus crew manages to escape the doomed planet.

On their trail a survivor Alien God in very familiar ship with one ultimate mission.

Bring the wrath of the Gods to Earth.

If that description holds up, it makes it pretty clear why the film was titled Prometheus. It also means somebody's head is going to roll tomorrow morning if not sooner. To me it reads as completely legit, and fits in perfectly with all we've heard so far. Part of me hopes it's fake because I don't want to know anything about what's coming up. We'll probably never truly know the answer until Prometheus comes out next year on June 8th.

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Say Bye-Bye to Ridley Scott's 'Alien' prequel! Say Hello to 'Prometheus'

Yes!!!  Sorry, I'm a huge fan of Alien and Aliens, but I never wanted to see a prequel made. I had high hopes for it, but it still bothered me that those classics were being revisited so long after the fact. Whoops, getting ahead of myself here. Deadline just dropped the serious bombshell that the film has turned into something completely different at the hands of Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof, and now 20th Century Fox have announced that film, 'Prometheus'.


A release date of March 9th 2012 has already been established, and Noomi Rapace appears to be completely on board as well. Ridley Scott had been pursuing her big time for his film. That's not all, two huge stars are circling the project as well: Charlize Theron and Angelina Jolie. Dude. I am stoked! Even moreso by what Ridley Scott has to say about it!!

Scott:  "While Alien was indeed the jumping off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien’s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative. I couldn’t be more pleased to have found the singular tale I’d been searching for, and finally return to this genre that’s so close to my heart."

How cool is that?  Projects change all the time, scripts for one movie become something completely different. But it's rare that it happens with a project so high profile, with a built in audience like this. Fox is taking a bold step giving up the Alien name and taking on something brand new.

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Story details emerge about Ridley Scott's prequel to Alien(SPOILER!!!)

I hate spoiling anything about any movie, no matter how insignificant it might be. So just know that what you're about to read, if true, gives a lot of details about the plot to Ridley Scott's Alien prequel. I'm not giving spoiler space, so from here on out you've been warned. 

Whatsplaying.au supposedly got a copy of the script, penned by Lost's Damon Lindelof. I say "supposedly" but now that the site has taken everything down at the request of the studio, I'm going to assume everything they had was legit.  So what I'll be describing is being pulled mainly from Slashfilm. In fact, I might as well quote them.

The story follows a group of terraforming aliens the script calls ‘Growers’ — these are seemingly of the race from which comes the original film’s ‘space jockey.’ There’s a strange sequence in which the Growers use a bit of mind control to instigate a homosexual encounter between Fin and Karik, two male human slave farmers. The aliens, you see, are a single-sex species and don’t understand the male-female breeding requirements of humans.

The title alien — the xenomorph — is a creature used by Growers as part of the terraforming process, and at a point in the script it develops into the creature we know and love. So we won’t see it in the form we know right off; this will be a payoff later in the script.

Into the group of Growers and human slaves comes a ship crewed by “the usual Alien misfits” complete with a female character that sounds like Vasquez from Aliens, and another woman named Truks that is reportedly the role for which Gemma Arterton was considered. Ridley Scott has also reportedly met with Lance Henricksen, though how the guy who fit into the established Alien storyline might work in this film, I can only conjecture. (I’d guess he’d appear only towards the end, as the xenomorphs are out of control, in a story thread that would point right towards the original Alien.)

The summation is that this script is “a deep movie — part science-fiction, part psychological drama, part, dare I say, romance.”

If all this is true, I'm seriously digging it already. Looks like we could be getting some of the best of everything that made the first two Alien flicks great. A lot of action with the arrival of the human combatants in the second half, along with some tense psycho drama in the first half.

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Lindelof's 'Alien' Prequel script completed; Natalie Portman to star?

I have many worries about Ridley Scott's upcoming prequel to 1979's Alien, but the least of those was the script by Damon Lindelof(Lost). The guy is a certified sci-fi geek and will handle the material probably in the same way I would want to. Vulture is reporting that Lindelof has turned in the script and 20th Century Fox is ecstatic over it. Good news. Estimating a budget of roughly $150M, Lindelof managed to keep the huge money siphoning special effects sequences to a minimum while also maintaining a PG-13 tone in terms of dialogue and violence.  Curious news.

Even better, the report also states that Natalie Portman(who must be tired of having her name mentioned for every movie ever made. She's probably up for the next Transmorphers flick too) has met with Ridley Scott's people and is at the top of their list for the main female lead, a "female Colonial Marine General". The belief is that if Portman passes, Noomi Rapace(The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) moves up to the top of the pack. Awesome news.

While I agree with the idea that if Alien came out now and you scrubbed all the cussing out it would probably be a PG-13 flick, movies nowadays that specifically aim for that rating tend to be pretty weak. They lack tension(the very thing Alien movies have been built on) and due to to fear of attaining the dreaded 'R' rating far too often the stakes are diminished. I still have confidence that Lindelof/Scott can pull it off.

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