Movies
[EFM ’12] News Bites: ‘I Saw the Devil’ Director’s Next, International Sales
We need to get through all of this EFM garbage so we can focus on today’s New York Toy Fair. Everything seems to collide these days and muddles up the front page. It’s a good thing we don’t post every stupid thing that comes into our inbox or you’d never be able to tell what the hell was on the site. Enough ranting, back to berlin…
Out of Korea comes Doomsday Book, an omnibus sci-fi project by two helmers. Kim Jee-woon (I Saw the Devil, A Tale of Two Sisters) tells of a robot working for a temple, while Yim Pil-sung follows an innocent young man who becomes a zombie! Check out a first look above.
FilmNation has seen a stampede of deals for new Eli Roth earthquake thriller Aftershock, with deals struck for UK (StudioCanal), France and Spain (Wild Bunch), Germany (Universum Films), CIS (Top Film), Iceland (Sam Films), Middle East (Italia Film), Turkey (Aqua), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Indonesia (PT Amero), Malaysia (Dream Movie), Philippines (Multivision), Singapore (Dream Movie), Taiwan (Studio Solution Group), Thailand (M Pictures), Vietnam (Multivision) and South Africa (Ster Kinekor). US distribs are circling. Watch for that soon! Roth produces and stars alongside Selena Gomez and Andrea Osvart in the English-language thriller “about a group of friends who must survive the terrifying aftermath of a natural disaster, including the danger of escaped prison convicts.” The film is currently shooting in Chile.
UK genre specialist Jinga Films has sold all Canadian rights to Scott Leberecht’s urban vampire tale Midnight Son to Mongrel Media. Image Entertainment has acquired US rights with both distributors aiming to release in August 2012. Jinga has also sold US rights for Rhys Davies’s Zombie Undead, Thomas Szczepanski’s The Hunt and Andy Thompson’s The Scar Crow to MVD.
Movies
‘Werewolf By Night 2’? Michael Giacchino Says It’s Being Talked About But “Everything Takes Forever”
It was Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino who sat in the director’s chair for Marvel’s Disney+ Halloween special Werewolf by Night back in 2022, which was released in both throwback black & white as well as full color. But are we ever getting a sequel?
Giacchino tells Screen Rant in a new chat this week that he remains hopeful.
“We’re talking about it,” Giacchino explains. “Everything takes forever to do. There’s a lot of planning that has to happen. Everything has to fit in a particular place at a particular time.”
He adds, “So, nothing moves as fast as we’d like it to. But I hope one day that you will be sitting there watching another Werewolf by Night. That’s my hope.”
Inspired by horror films of the ’30s and ’40s, Marvel Studios’ Werewolf by Night takes place on a dark and somber night as a secret cabal of monster hunters emerge from the shadows and gather at the foreboding Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader.
In a strange memorial to the leader’s life, the attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for a powerful relic—a hunt that will ultimately bring them face to face with a dangerous monster.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her review for BD, “The MCU kicked the horror into overdrive with Werewolf by Night. The nearly hour-long feature presents as a classic horror movie, dropping viewers into the middle of a secret world of monster hunters. Film composer Michael Giacchino directs the special, penned by Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron. Giacchino focuses on evoking the classic horror vibe to assist in the initial worldbuilding. The events play out in monochrome, save for the vibrant red glow of the Bloodstone. Cigarette burns and film grain get added for that retro look. The rules of the hunt get relayed to the cutthroat candidates by way of reanimated dead, albeit in a much campier and family-friendly way via animatronics.”
“Aside from the aesthetics, Werewolf leans heavily into the mysterious,” Meagan continued. “The black and white cinematography more than sets the retro vibe; it allows the feature to remain accessible to a wider audience even as it lets its monsters and monster hunters spill plenty of blood. Toss in a Jack Pierce-inspired beast with practical application, and you’ve got a modern superhero story with a classic Universal Monsters makeover.”