Paramount, Dreamworks End HD-DVD, Blu-Ray In Summer

Paramount and DreamWorks has announced that its last releases for the HD-DVD format will be this upcoming Tuesday. In addition DreamWorks has officially announced it’s no longer supporting HD-DVD. In theory the way is now paved for Transformers for Blu-Ray but apparently the company is still working out its Blu-Ray plans and it appears as a result they will not be released Blu-Ray movies until summer. Strangely slow response time to but then it is a studio with many many many cooks involved in any given decision.

Transformers 2 and SAG Strike

The Writer Strike may be over but June 30th is another date to watch for as that is when the Screen Actor's Guild strike could start. If that occurs apparently it will stop Transformers 2 production and could delay the release of the film. Hopes are high that an agreement could be worked out, but in the meantime the studios are preparing for the worse by delaying the greenlighting of films or not starting production on films that may not complete by the contract expiration date.

From Variety when talking to Michael Bay about the issue:

"Transformers 2" director Michael Bay said the labor cloud has made the process harder, but not impossible as he tries to keep the film on track for its June 26, 2009 release.

"If there is a strike, we shut down, but shutting down isn't that big a deal," Bay said. "You make accommodations, you make a deal with vending houses on equipment and on the stages where you are shooting. You hope for the best, but you can't be incapacitated by the possibility that there will be a strike. We've got to get this town back to work. I can't imagine anyone wants another strike, we're all tired. Hopefully clearer heads will prevail."

Bay said that the sequel is still recovering from the writer's strike, and that he's playing catch-up after getting back his trio of writers, Ehren Kruger, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

"They did a detailed outline before the writer's strike, and now they are in Michael Bay jail, holed up in a hotel and working feverishly," Bay said. "We're paying for a beautiful suite and they are getting a lot of work done. Hiring three writers was unusual, but it has been a godsend in getting us to where we need to be. Somehow you find a way to get it done."

Rachael Taylor Out of TF2?

The lovely Rachael Taylor (love her Australian accent), one of the cast members of Transformers, attended the WonderCon 2008 convention. IESB briefly interviewed and she discussed her upcoming movie Shutter. She also talked about her chances of appearing in Transformers II and apparently her expectations are low. When asked about returning to the sequel she said "I doubt it, kind of. If they could find a way to write a young Australian computer data analyst into the second one I would be stunned." She seems ok though if she doesn't return adding "It would also be really nice to see a bunch of other actors take over the franchise in a way. I am really proud of the little piece I did in the movie...a new cast can give it an injection of new life that would be cool."

With my interest in Megan Fox waning with time (case of more read/see, the less impressed I am becoming), given a choice between Megan returning or Rachael, I would take Rachael. However, I am inclined to agree that her return seems like a long shot but you never know what Bay and co are cooking up and if there is a government angle (highly likely) to the sequel, then it stands to reason that someone "experienced" with TFs would be sent to interface with them when things start going boom. As always, time will tell.

The full video interview is here.
(source)

Transformers Blu-Ray Delay?

Apparently Dreamworks hasn't made the jump to Blu-ray just yet due to the contract they have with Toshiba. Back in August, Dreamworks was given $100 million to join the HD-DVD camp and now that that camp has been shuttered...they are contractually obligated to continue to produce movies on the HD-DVD format only. At least until Toshiba gives them permission which they haven't yet. It’s probably just a simple matter between lawyers but until it is sorted out, don't expect any announcements for Transformers on Blu-Ray. (source)

Working Transformers Cell Phone

A new 3G cell phone is coming to Japan and apparently its designers are fans of Transformers. The Softbank 815T PB actually transformers from working cellphone to robot. Apparently the phone was made for a Japanese TV show named Ketai Sousakan 7. It’s supposed to come out sometime in April but no plans on whether it will make a stateside visit.

Transformers 0 for 3 At Oscars

Transformers struck out at the Oscars tonight, losing all three categories it was up for. Sound Mixing and Sound Editing went to The Bourne Ultimatum and Visual Effects was won by The Golden Compass.

I haven't bothered to watch the show since I saw 4 of the 5 Best Picture noms and was a bit horrified that they where the contenders. Juno is a silly movie with Ellen Page playing herself (wait till her next movie comes out to prove me right). Michael Clayton was incredibly full of itself and didn't really have much purpose and atrocious pacing. No Country for Old Men was just bizarre, where half the cast served no other purpose then to balloon the screen time and chew scenery. If you can remove half your cast and it has no effect on the picture then you have a poor picture. Oh and playing an un-emotional killer shouldn't be Oscar winning, that use to be called bad acting as anyone can do it (see Jason Voorhees). I tried to watch There Will Be Blood but its pacing problems and that horrendous atonal music was just a bit much for me.

As far as actors go, if you are a "Method" actor, to me you are no actor. It’s just a crutch. A true skilled professional should be able to switch in and out of their roles as simple as changing clothes. Just like a skilled engineer, cook, and so forth can just do what they do whenever the need arises. A writer doesn't have to "become" a character to write in their voice, they just have the skills to do it and call on it when needed. I think a true actor should be able to do the same. By being "Method" the person is essentially saying they don't have that critical skill set and they shouldn't be awarded for that.

My point is sadly the Academy that rewards these things tend to go for tried and true rather then genuine innovation in movies. I blame it for skewing 55+ in the average age for the voting members. They vote on the movies that remind them of the films they use to perform in and grew up on (those from '40s to '70s). It wouldn't surprise if most probably never saw Transformers because "It was too loud" but saw Golden Compass with their grandkids. Tech and sci-fi is still frowned upon because it reminds them of their horrible execution of way back when.

I think the safe, familiar voting of the Academy combined with the secrecy is a huge failure to the art it’s supposed to represent. If the academy wasn't its own secret society, where the votes where public (and therefore would have to explain), I think the results would be much more dynamic. It is also why the ratings go down each year because my generation and the next is a lot more skeptical of award shows then the previous and tend to notice the pattern of these strange and disagreeable choices more quickly. Maybe I will feel different if there was a movie to root for (other then Transformers) for the first time in years but there wasn't. In other words, it’s just another year of the same o same o. It saddens me because I use to like the awards and the more I see how it really works, the greater the disappointment. So ends the diatribe.

Congrats for the nominations and maybe better luck with Transformers 2.

"The Oscars: 20th Time’s the Charm?"

Vanity Fair has a brief interview with Transformers Sound Mixer Kevin O'Connell. He is nominated for Transformers, making it his 20th nomination in 24 years yet he has not yet won. Hopefully this will be his year as Transformers does deserve credit for its special effects and sound.

The full interview is here.

The Oscars are later tonight starting at 8:00PM EST, with Jon Stewart hosting. No idea when the Transformers related categories (below) may air however. The list of nominees is here.

Sound Mixing: The Bourne Ultimatum, No Country for Old Men, Ratatouille, 3:10 to Yuma, Transformers

Sound Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum, No Country for Old Men, Ratatouille, There Will Be Blood, Transformers

Visual Effects: The Golden Compass, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Transformers

The Onion: CGI Oscar for Bay

The Onion, an online satire site, decided to have a little fun with Michael Bay by writing an article "reporting" that experts have used visual special effects to create a Best Director Oscar for Bay. The project, paid for by Bay, costs $125 million.

"Viewers are going to be blown away by how believable-looking we've been able to make Michael Bay accepting the highest award in film appear," said senior technical director Zsolt Krajcsik, who also worked with Bay on the 2003 film Bad Boys II. "The podium, the backdrop, the sense of creative achievement that hangs about him—it's all so vivid and detailed that you'd swear it was real."

Read the hilarious article here.

Brian Goldner New Hasbro CEO

Brian Goldner has been promoted to Hasbro's new Chief Executive Officer after the previous CEO Alfred J. Verrecchia stepped down. Its seems like this is a reward to Goldner for returning Hasbro to high profits thanks to his decisions in emphasizing existing core product lines and expanding into movies. Goldner is the executive responsible for the Transformers movie deal and the growth of the toy line overall. He also helped worked out the GI Joe deal that will hopefully do the same to that line that the movie did to Transformers - help it go mainstream beyond the hardcore fans and kids. Congrats to Brian Goldner. (source)

Paramount Officially Going Blu-Ray

With the demise of HD-DVD, it was inevitable, but Paramount went ahead and made it officially just in case some didn't figure it out. No date on when discs will hit shelves but I am sure it will be as soon as possible with Transformers leading the charge. I am guessing end of March, early April.

Transformers Nominated for 2 Saturn Awards

Transformers has been nominated for Best Science Fiction Film and Best Special Effects. The Saturn Awards are giving out each year for movies and TV by the Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror Films. Basically its a pat on the back from the Sci-Fi genre and a way to reward those movies since the classic Hollywood award machine looks down on the genre. The winners will be announced on Tuesday, June 24th.

Saturn Awards

Best Science Fiction Film nominees:
Cloverfield
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
I Am Legend
The Last Mimzy
Sunshine
Transformers

Best Special Effects nominees:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Transformers
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Spider-Man 3
300

Don't forget, this Sunday is the Oscars where hopefully Transformers will take home a few.(source)

Universal and Hasbro Form Partnership

Universal Pictures and Hasbro have announced a six year partnership to make at least four movies based on Hasbro properties. The deal does not include Transformers and GI Joe. The plan is to have the first movie from the deal out by 2010 or 2011. This deal also may play into the plan to create a rollercoaster ride based on Transformers for one of Universal's parks.

Clearly the deal was fueled by Transformers success. Copycatting for copying sake never works but maybe Universal will throw the right people at the various projects to make it worthwhile. Does this mean Monopoly the Movie is coming soon? (source)

Orci Comments More on TF2

Roberto Orci has been commenting on the Don Murphy boards about Transformers 2 and he signed on again and provided more tidbits and teases.

From the "Hey Roberto" thread:
- Starscream will have more English lines.
- Prime "will always be central, but our structure allows the freedom to have others step up. Will know more later" in regards to which Transformer will be the focus of the sequel.
- Will be Decepticon only scenes.
- Sequel tone will be similar to TF1 but higher stakes, some humor but Transformers will more closely align with fan expectation, but reminded that could change. "Hopefully, we'll be better at modulating [the tone] this time."
- Commenting on Bay's writing comments: "Bay's statements should be taken merely as confirmation of his enthusiasm and desire to make his date. He does not want anyone to lose confidence in the project."
- Confirmed a mix of new and existing G1 characters but no specifics on who.
- No comment on whether Cybertron will be in the movie.
- No decision yet on whether Bumblebee will have lines or continuing issues with his voice box.
- Hasbro has been working with Bay on character designs over the Writer's Strike so while writing continues, more then likely the "core group is somewhat locked" but they could still add or remove characters if need to.
- In regards to different "species" from Bay: "You can also probably guess what he means in his non-fan way." (My guess is different sub-genres of TFs, ie Constructions, etc).
- An unformatted sample from first draft of TF1 can be found here. It’s to show how the writers describe action beats, "very detailed and easy to read...for everyone involved in the movie that has to understand the tone and scale of the action."
- TF2 will have different story structure then TF1, which was the three storylines coming together at Hoover Dam.
- No date on when the first draft will be turned in, have 10-12 weeks to get it together but of course Bay et all would probably like it sooner. Apparently they are hunkered down in a hotel near Bay's office so probably get a draft done fairly soon.

If you are interested in hunting for further bits from Orci, the above summary ends at page 104. Its shame can't do a similar thread with Orci and the other writers for Star Trek XI.

Transformers to XBox Live UK

Paramount Pictures has confirmed that it has extended its deal with Microsoft to bring its library of films to XBox Live for rent. As a result, starting tomorrow, Feb. 19th, Transformers will be available in the XBox Live Marketplace video Store.

Now the article is written from the UK perspective and since I don't have an XBox 360 I don't know if Transformers is already available stateside on the XBox and this is just an expansion into the UK or if it’s coming out both US and UK tomorrow. I guess look for it and learn the hard way starting tomorrow. (source)

Toyfair '08 Transformer Galleries

Toyfair 2008 was held over the weekend in New York where Hasbro revealed some details of the various Transformers lines for the rest of the year. TFormers.com has the details and the galleries but here is that info more or less summarized.

Transformers: Animated
- Will have Laserbeak, whose alt mode is a guitar
- The release date of the line is June 22, 2008 with second wave in the Fall.
- Galleries: Bumper Battlers, Activators (swing loaded transformations), Battle Pack ($20), Supreme Class ($40), Voyager Class ($20), Deluxe Class ($10), toy display

Transformers movie- Releasing more Transformers movie toys (most cases simply a new color scheme for existing toys).
- The Hasbro design team has been working with Paramount on Transformers 2 for weeks.

Masterpiece- No plans at this time

Alternators/Binal-Tech
- Hasbro expressed interest in the line but no plans yet

Transformers Crossovers
- New name for Transformers Star Wars
- Expanded to include Transformers Marvel

Transformers Universe
- Catch all line for release of previously toys, mostly Cybertron line
- Includes Classics 2.0 coming toward end of year
- Galleries: Legends, Classics Galvatron, Robot Heroes, Misc, Marvel Transformers, Classics 2.0, classics toy display

The Towel Has Been Thrown

Michael Bay has cause to celebrate this weekend Toshiba has officially thrown in the towel on HD-DVD for reasons previousily discussed. Blu-Ray is now the official high definition disc. Toshiba will lose hundred of millions of dollars in the lost and is going to halt production of HD-DVD players and recorders as it exits the business.

If you have been waiting, you can now buy with piece of mind. My recommendation is to just go ahead and get the low end Playstation 3. Even if you’re not a gamer, it costs about the same as a separate Blu-Ray player but can use it to download movies, music and of course play games. More bang for the buck so to speak. Of course if you don't own a HDTV (like me) don't even bother to get a player, it would be just a waste of money until you do and by then the players and discs may be cheaper.

Michael Bay FiOS Ad

Michael Bay is featured in Verizon's new FiOS ad that includes the full-scale Bumblebee model, Transformers footage and things going boom. (source)

Blu-Ray Unofficial Winner of Format War

Well, it looks like Michael Bay's wish has come true. Today the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart announced that by June 2008, it would sell only Blu-Ray discs and players marking the unofficial death of the HD-DVD format. This, along with Best Buy, Blockbuster, and Netflix declaring their intent to go Blu-Ray, its all over except Toshiba throwing in the towel (which they are rumored to do soon).

The end of the war began when the Blu-Ray camp successfully bribed Warner Bros with $300 million the balance of power squarely onto their side and hasn't moved since. Now with the retailers announcing defections, it is over. So for you with HD-DVD players and disc, you soon will own a piece of history. Don't buy any new movies either; soon the ones that exist will be on clearance anyway. In the end, it seems those that are willing to bribe the most, won. I am just glad I sat this format war out but I do wish that consumers, not bribery, had been the deciding factor.

Orci Comments On TF 2

Roberto Orci, one of the writers of Transformers 2, popped into Don Murphy's message board and briefly posted a few comments:

So we got back to work this week and we find out Bay and production has been prepping the entire movie off of our pre-strike outline! The very one we turned in the night before the strike.

We had two weeks on the outline. We're still going through the prep schedule to find out what has been prepped so far down the road that it can be changed and what can't.

[Bay] essentially transferred our outline into screenplay format and came up with some really fun gags and a few descriptions of the kind of hardware he will need for production.

Also when asked if the robots would have lot of screen time, he said "You bet your ass." To sum - the writers' are back to work. (source)

Rumor Smash - No Progress on Transformers 2?

There are reports going out on the various websites that Dreamworks has told MTV that no progress has been made on Transformers 2 which contradicts reports from Michael Bay himself. I believe this rumor to be false and misreading the source article.

The actually line is "DreamWorks Studios claims to have no production office set up for the "Transformers" sequel" All that means it what is says, there are no offices at Dreamworks Studios. Considering the strike just ended and Bay has his own production offices, effects company, and working with ILM, and actually shooting doesn't begin until June, he may not need the space.

Another line in the article says "there are no status updates relating to their projects". Of course this comes from "executives close to several major films derailed by the strike." Well, as this blog has shown in many cases, Bay has refused to be derailed by the strike, going as far as to write a draft of the script. Also Dreamworks has lots and lots and lots of executives. The ones quoted for the article are more then likely not the same executives (say Steven Spielberg) that would be kept apprised of Transformers 2 progress.

Finally, there are people other then Bay that have indicated that pre-production is in full swing. Shia LaBeouf has already seen pre-viz, Scott Ferrar and other members of the TF2 visual effects also indicated progress at a recent interview at the VES awards show. Basically if Bay is lying, its one vast and completely unnecessary conspiracy by multiple people to mis-state the progress on Transformers 2.

Or, more simply, the article and its sources have it wrong.

Update: Bay commented on his board about the article, "Oh really???? Is that why 20 people in production are in my office right now, another 20 art designers another location, scouts in two countries, one back east??? Don't ever bet against me in making my date - June 2009!"