Source: IGN | Collider | Posted By: Dan Geer

Two new fascinating featurettes have made their way online for Oblivion, director Joseph Kosinski’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi film starring Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, and Andrea Riseborough.

The first featurette deals with recreating the sky view from the sky tower in the film using projected footage of real sky (shot at the summit of Maui’s Haleakalā volcano) to surround the tower, and why using blue screen to achieve the same effect would prove to be too problematic. The second featurette focuses on the bubble ship we’ve seen in the trailers, and what it was like for the actors to “fly” it. Both are enlightening and fun, and definitely worth a look. Hit the jump to watch!

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Source: Disney Movie Trailers | Posted By: Dan Geer

Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful is certainly a visual treat once we reach the actual Land of Oz with Oscar Diggs, actor James Franco’s character who eventually becomes the great and powerful wizard we all know from the original 1939 MGM musical. Every sequence is filled with color and beauty created by some of the most talented artists in both CGI and practical set design.

However, even before we reach the colorful widescreen portion of the film, we are treated with a delightful black and white opening credits sequence in a 4:3 aspect ratio (like the 1939 film) that is quite creative in its visual and musical presentation. It really serves as a great introduction into the kind of film we are in for when going into it, and lets us know that the creators behind Oz seem to have an incredible passion for the source material, whether it’d be the L. Frank Baum books or the previously-released Oz films.

Today, Disney has made this sequence available for all to watch online. It simply is great fun to watch, whether you have already seen the film or not. Check it out below!

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Source: Yahoo! Movies | Posted By: Dan Geer

Joseph Kosinski’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi film Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman, is hitting theaters April 12th, and to help gear up for the new film (which looks fantastic, by the way), Yahoo! Movies has released a new featurette with Kosinski and Cruise discussing the plot and setting of the film.

The featurette is really nothing more than an extended trailer for the film, but should still prove to be interesting for those looking forward to the film. Hit the jump to check it out!

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Source: Star Wars Official Website | Posted By: Dan Geer

Ever since Disney acquired Lucasfilm back in October last year and announced that Star Wars: Episodes VII-IX would be produced, fans of Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars have been wondering for quite some time now what the fate of the show would be. At first, people thought that maybe the show would continue on a Disney network, but after the recent announcement that the 3D re-releases of Star Wars: Episodes II & III would be postponed in order to focus all efforts on the new live-action Star Wars films, we then suspected that Disney/Lucasfilm would see fit to end The Clone Wars after it ended its fifth season since their focus obviously lies somewhere else.

As it turns out, the rumors were basically true, in that yes, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is coming to an end. However, it is simply winding down, meaning that we will get more episodes of the show in the future, which we have already known were in production for quite some time before Season Five even ended. These new episodes, however, will not air on Cartoon Network (the network only signed a five-season deal), and an announcement is imminent as to where fans can find these all-new episodes. This decision, as well as the postponement of Seth Green and Matthew Senreich’s Star Wars: Detours, have both been made in light of not only Disney/Lucasfilm’s setting their sights on the new Star Wars films, but also an entirely new animated series set in an era of the Star Wars universe previously unexplored on film or television.

Hit the jump for the official press release, as well as a video from Star Wars: The Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni discussing the future of the show, and presenting an all-new clip from an upcoming episode!

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Source: NBC | X-Files News | Posted By: Dan Geer

The Tonight Show crowd erupted in applause the other night when X-Files actor David Duchovny answered Jay Leno’s question of whether or not a third film in the popular sci-fi franchise would ever see the light of day.

In short, Duchovny continues to show a great interest in returning to the franchise, and still encourages fans to campaign for The X-Files 3 by writing to 20th Century Fox. Hit the jump to watch the clip from The Tonight Show and find out more on how you can help bring Fox Mulder and Dana Scully back to the big screen!

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Source: Yahoo! Movies | Posted By: Dan Geer

A film that I have been cautiously optimistic about is director Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful, starring James Franco as Oscar Diggs, a small-time magician with “dubious ethics” who gets whisked away in a hot air balloon from his dusty Kansas home to the Land of Oz, where he becomes the wonderful Wizard we all know from the original 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. Based on what we see in the trailers for the film, this could end up being an enjoyable, family-friendly fantasy film (say that ten times fast), or a visual disaster like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. After all, the film is from the producers of Burton’s 2010 film, and one of his production designers also worked on Oz.

However, this new featurette, which discusses the costumes and makeup of the film, really shows us that it has the potential to succeed where Alice in Wonderland failed. It simply conveys a sense of confidence in the material and world being created here, and shows us that, through a healthy combination of practical sets and CGI (a technique Burton could have used more of with Alice), we may just have a movie worthy of author L. Frank Baum’s classic Wizard of Oz series, and maybe even the original 1939 film. Hit the jump to check out the featurette!

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Source: The Playlist | Collider | Posted By: Dan Geer

Even though J.J. Abrams’ upcoming gig as the director of Star Wars: Episode VII is on everyone’s radar right now, his next film, Star Trek Into Darkness, is only a few months away, so let’s at least give this other little film of his a little more time in the spotlight, shall we?

Paramount Pictures has just released a behind-the-scenes featurette for the film, which highlights the IMAX and 3D formats of the movie, and discusses how this film will up the ante in terms of visuals and storytelling. We can definitely expect a bigger film this time around. Hopefully it’ll be even better than the first. Hit the jump to watch!

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Source: LA Times | Posted By: Dan Geer

While The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey did not earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture this year (all three of The Lord of the Rings films were nominated, with The Return of the King winning the award in 2004), it did manage to get nominated for three other Oscars, including Best Visual Effects.

In light of the nomination, the LA Times has posted three new featurettes highlighting the amazing creature effects of the Goblin King, Gollum, and Azog the Defiler. Head on over there now to watch all three!

Source: Star Wars Official Website | Posted By: Dan Geer

The fifth and final episode of Star Wars.com‘s The Future of Star Wars video blog has arrived, featuring Lynne Hale, director of Lucasfilm communications, once again interviewing newly-appointed Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and Founder George Lucas.

For the final installment of the video blog series, Kennedy and Lucas both briefly discuss how they feel about Lucasfilm’s transition into the future with Disney’s recent purchase of the company, and how the change will affect them. While it doesn’t offer anything new regarding the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII, it’s always good to see these two share their optimism with us regarding the bright new future the company has. Check it out below!

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Source: Comic Book Movie | Posted By: Dan Geer

One of the greatest scenes in Marvel’s The Avengers is, of course, the massive battle that takes place in New York City, pitting S.H.I.E.L.D.’s assembly of Earth’s greatest superheroes against the evil alien Chitauri invaders and Thor’s brother, Loki. In approximately three minutes, ILM summarizes the steps they took in creating one of the most memorable action sequences in movie history. Hit the jump for a fascinating look behind the effects of The Avengers!

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