Movies
Warner Bros. on a Video Game ‘Rampage’, Also Talks Rebooting ‘Kombat’
On the eve of the massively successful “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” web series launch, Warner Bros. Pictures has starting jawing about their potential feature film remake, which was previously held up by a lawsuit (Feb. 18, 2010). Exceeding their wild expectations, WB is pairing franchise creator Ed Boon with a filmmaker to make that happen. Boon already endorsed “Legacy” director Kevin Tancharoen to helm the big studio redo, says Variety.
“It’s important to have the creator of the game involved,” says Martin Tremblay, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “This is a team effort. You’re not developing a franchise without the support of the entire organization.”
Now that “Mortal Kombat” is blowing up, WB is focusing on developing more Midway games into features, such as Space Invaders and Rampage, which pits a giant Lizard, Gorilla and Wolf – Godzilla, King Kong and the Wolf Man, respectively – on unsuspecting towns, demolishing them.
How much do you (not) hope that the “Space Invaders” adaptation ends up like Disney’s 1990 Spaced Invaders (trailer below)?
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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