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Author
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Topic: "In the Event of a Moon Disaster" (FilmNation)
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-23-2011 05:27 PM
   
Variety reports that FilmNation Entertainment has acquired the rights to the spec script, "In the Event of a Moon Disaster" by former Variety writer Mike Jones. FilmNation principal Glen Basner confirmed the sale Monday and told Variety that the budget on the project will be north of $35 million, making "Moon" the largest Filmnation production to date. The company's planning to go out to directors shortly.Story will focus on a revised version of the first moon mission, in which disaster hits the astronauts. In the actual Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent two hours on the lunar surface. |
328KF
Member Posts: 1234
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 08-23-2011 10:07 PM
Story will focus on a revised version of the first moon mission, in which disaster hits the astronauts. Really?  |
bruce
Member Posts: 916
From: Fort Mill, SC, USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 08-24-2011 06:59 AM
That's just what we need right now; taking the last thing this country participated in with overwhelming optimism and joy and turn it into a disaster film. Perfect. |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 08-24-2011 07:26 AM
LOL (no smilies for this!) at Bruce's post (maybe it wasn't meant to be funny, but it made me laugh!). Not the film. |
stsmithva
Member Posts: 1933
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 08-24-2011 08:06 AM
Well, just getting the rights to a script sure doesn't mean it's going to actually be made. I won't guess at the ratio, but a lot of spec scripts just sit in files until the option runs out. This Hollywood insider information is based on subscribing to "Entertainment Weekly" for several years in the 1990s. |
garymilgrom
Member Posts: 1966
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 08-24-2011 08:12 AM
Bruce look at the bright side - perhaps a disaster movie would remind the public how hard spaceflight is and how good NASA was at it. |
Fra Mauro
Member Posts: 1586
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 08-24-2011 08:50 AM
I guess it would be an alternate history type of movie. This will either be excellent or a total flop. |
328KF
Member Posts: 1234
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 08-24-2011 10:12 AM
Why don't they just get around to actually making the movie based on First Man? At least that would be based in reality.We don't need to inspire our kids with over-dramatized alternate history. The real events and the people involved should do that job just fine, even if a little artistic license is thrown in by Hollywood. |
ilbasso
Member Posts: 1522
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 08-24-2011 12:13 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Fra Mauro:
I guess it would be an alternate history type of movie...
Great. They've re-booted Star Trek, Batman (twice), Spiderman...why not Apollo?
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bwhite1976
Member Posts: 281
From: Belleville, IL
Registered: Jun 2011
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posted 08-24-2011 12:28 PM
quote:
Originally posted by 328KF:
We don't need to inspire our kids with over-dramatized alternate history. The real events and the people involved should do that job just fine, even if a little artistic license is thrown in by Hollywood.
I agree. Why not use "First Man" or "Deke!" or "Countdown," or "Light this Candle" or... These books based on events and human experiences of adventure and bravery that actually happened. Why invent an alternate story? The general public already knows pretty much nothing beyond Apollo 11 and 13, so a movie about Apollo 15 or Skylab for instance would be a new story for most. On a side note wasn't the rights for "First Man" bought by Clint Eastwood a few years ago? Shows how long it an take to get these movies made... |
Fra Mauro
Member Posts: 1586
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 08-24-2011 02:06 PM
While I would love to see movies about Skylab, or Armstrong or Apollo 15, by today's standards they would be boring — without random acts of violence or bathroom humor, many movie companies wouldn't touch such a "non-event." |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-24-2011 02:32 PM
This needn't be an either/or situation and in fact, the success of fact-based fiction films can lend to greater interest in non-fiction films (reference the film projects born out of the success of "Titanic," including Cameron's own "Ghosts of the Abyss"). quote:
Originally posted by bwhite1976:
On a side note wasn't the rights for "First Man" bought by Clint Eastwood a few years ago?
It was, but he let the rights expire and Universal Studios acquired them. The last update (in 2009) was that a screenwriter had been assigned to rework the earlier screenplay and Temple Hill Productions (of the "Twilight" franchise) was attached. |
mikej
Member Posts: 481
From: Germantown, WI USA
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 08-24-2011 05:10 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
rework the earlier screenplay and Temple Hill Productions (of the "Twilight" franchise)
Great! Now Neil Armstrong will be a vampire.I can see it now: The reason there are no direct images of him on the surface is because of the mirror in the camera, and it was all a NASA cover-up... |
star61
Member Posts: 294
From: Bristol UK
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 08-25-2011 02:05 PM
"I have the farts, again. I got them again, Charlie... I haven't eaten this much citrus fruit in 20 years! And I'll tell you one thing... I ain't never eating any more."Apollo 16 could supply the bathroom humour...  |
328KF
Member Posts: 1234
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 08-25-2011 05:29 PM
Hey maybe they can work in that pen-in-the circuit breaker story where Aldrin shoves his Fisher AG-7 (product placement) through the panel just as the count reaches "0"! Talk about drama! |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 08-26-2011 10:33 AM
APOLLO 16!A new comedy/drama coming this fall! The mission is cut short due to a technical problem; geologists who selected the landing site for the promise of volcanic activity are embarrassed when there turns out to be none. Commander accidentally kicks chord ruining a $1 million experiment! A hot mike during discussion of flatulence! A lunar Grand Prix! A jumping salute to the flag! The media and public pay little attention! Starring Colin Farrell as John Young, Brian Cranston as Thomas "Ken" Mattingly III, Johnny Knoxville as Charlie Duke, and Timothy Olyphant as Capcom Tony England. Rated PG-13 due to discussions of flatulence and adult language. |
BBlatcher
Member Posts: 57
From: Savannah, GA, USA
Registered: Aug 2011
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posted 08-26-2011 11:55 AM
Wait, someone is thinking of making a film based on First Man, i.e. Neil Armstrong? That seems counter productive, as Armstrong keeps his distance. Add in the fact that he got be first man through a combination of talent and random chance and it seems silly. Not that facts and truth will matter in movie though!Rocketman, a story about Pete Conrad of Apollo 12 sound more interesting. I just finished it and was blown away by the man. Good stuff! In my perfect world, the "When We left Earth" miniseries would have be a three film trilogy, that covered Mercury to Apollo, with focus on the latter, as seen through the eyes of Deke Slayton or a fictionalized version of him. Make it story of estranged father and son, with the son coming home to take care of his ill father, who was always off involved in the space program. To me, there's a big question about the space program of the '60s: What did it cost and was it worth it? I don't mean just financially, but the emotional and mental costs on not just the astronauts or mission control or contractors, but their families as well. Set all that against the backdrop of the '60s, as America literally exploded with social change and you have deep, complex movie, hopefully with lots of great shots of the spacecraft! |
328KF
Member Posts: 1234
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 08-26-2011 04:59 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Delta7:
Johnny Knoxville as Charlie Duke
Haha! Perfect! I'll be the Lunar Olympics would be a bit more "interesting." |
dogcrew5369
Member Posts: 750
From: Statesville, NC
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 08-27-2011 01:16 PM
Johnny Knoxville as Charlie Duke? I doubt Charlie would see that coming. Played on the big screen by a Jack Ass. Maybe the lunar Rover would be named the General Lee too. |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 10-23-2011 05:58 PM
I know someone who worked with the script writer and he says he read it. He said it was really powerful stuff but would likely, "Confuse the heck out of future school kids who'll see it and ask their parents confused questions about a conflicting message of history," much like how some school kids are now getting in trouble for citing in school reports about WW2 on how Hitler was actually gunned down in a Parisian movie theater in 1944 because they saw it happen in the movie, "Inglorious Basterds" without realizing that movie too was a work of fiction... |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 07-13-2016 12:25 PM
Funny, not a word about this movie in a long time. The guy I know who read the script said he's only heard, "a giant sucking sound" from any studio on this film and said he thought it was in "development hell," as it's called when a movie never goes anywhere.There are a lot of scripts that are bought in Hollywood but never get made as movies, I know, as I did a lot of research for a WW2 movie that after six years, finally got axed. I couldn't imagine how much money went into location scouting and such for a film that'll never make a dime... |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-13-2016 04:55 PM
The Apollo astronauts committed a cardinal sin in the eyes of Hollywood... they made safe landings, they succeeded in their tasks, and (worst of all) they came home safely. The one exception was Apollo 13, and although the astronauts actually survived, the very real suspense and drama made for a decent Hollywood blockbuster.Personally, I'm glad the other missions didn't qualify for the Hollywood blockbuster treatment. |
cfreeze79
Member Posts: 455
From: Herndon, VA, USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 07-13-2016 06:30 PM
Wasn't this movie called, "The Martian"?I heard it did well...  |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 07-13-2016 07:54 PM
I remember as a kid one time, sometime in the early 80s, I'd guess, the 1976 movie, "The Eagle has Landed" came on TV and I was horribly disappointed that it took place in WW2 and was not about Apollo 11.Years later, I finally saw that movie and realized it's a great film and today it's one of my favorites... but STILL, the title must have confused people every now and then. |
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