Classic Japanese Flick Battle Royale Gets US 3D Release

  |    by: films

Surely this can’t be possible? Kenji Fukasaku’s classic dystopian nightmare, Battle Royale, has never seen the light of day in America. I remember seeing this at the pictures back in, it must have been, 2001? That’s almost a decade.

Anchor Bay have picked up distribution rights to finally give the Yanks a blast of cinematic awesomeness that introduced Chiaki Kuriyama to the world (Quentin Tarantino definitely saw it because he cast her in Kill Bill). She was absolutely kick-ass in both QT’s flick and Fukusaku’s!

Yes, we all know Battle Royale II: Requiem was a bag of shite, but the original is an out-and-out masterpiece. And Takeshi Kitano’s in it too – and he rocks! Think of Battle Royale as Lord of the Flies meets The Running Man.

Anchor Bay plan to retrofit the movie into 3D and release it sometime in 2011. Quite why they’re going for 3D is a bit of a mystery because the film is quite brilliant without it. Maybe they think audiences need an added incentive to experience the film in 3D. Crap retrofitted 3D at that.

The famous distribution company also have the right to retrofit Battle Royale II: Requiem, which sadly was unfinished by director Kenji Fukasaku – he died – leaving his son to pick up the megaphone in his place. It’s a rubbish sequel by any standard.

If you’ve never seen this wonderful film and you get the chance to: take it.

Source: Movieline.

Director Chris Smith Approached To Direct Pride And Prejudice And Zombies?

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God bless Twitter. While perusing the news feed this morning I came across a mysterious but heavily suggestive message via the ace Clout Communications regarding director Christopher Smith (Severance, Black Death) and the possibility he could jump into the seat vacated by the likes of David O. Russell and Mike White on Pride, Prejudice & Zombies.

On Twitter, Clout Communications put a shout out under: ‘message from Chris Smith re: Pride, Prejudice & Zombies’:

“I’m in discussion with my agent about various film projects-watch this space”

Now of course nothing is mentioned but it’s a potentially interesting mix. Smith proved with Severance he could handle horror and comedy with aplomb. Black Death, his most recent flick, was pretty cool. The project based on Seth Grahame-Smith’s literary mash up has been fraught with danger and rejections. Natalie Portman left followed by David O. Russell. Screenwriter Mike White signed up for a tale of ninjas, romance, zombies and afternoon tea before he left, too.

So then we’ll watch this space and see whether it pans out. Smith is certainly a director on the up and Black Death will surely have some people taking notice. Let’s hope it works out for him. Somebody’s got to save this project from rotting like a corpse.

Source: Twitter.

First Look – Space Jockey From Ridley Scott’s Prometheus

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An eager FilmShaft reader has just alerted us to a leaked image from Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien prequel/spinoff, Prometheus. Delving further into the world of the mysterious “Space Jockey” which featured in the original film, the story exists within the Alien universe and yet expands far beyond what we already know into it’s own story.

With production set to begin on the film soon and an impressive array of names including Michael Fassbender, Logan Marshall-Green, Idris Elba, Sean Harris and Idris Elba, Sean Harris being linked to the film, it’s exciting times for sci-fi fans.

Well now it finally looks like we’re getting our first sneaky peek of the aforementioned Space Jockey in the shape of concept art, leaked online. The image was first posted over at AvP Galaxy and seems to show the alien sporting a Predator-style shoulder cannon. Another thing of note is the distinct lack of legs on the design.

While this image is supposedly genuine, we’re still awaiting confirmation, but it’s close enough to the original Space Jockey from 1979’s Alien (pictured top left) to be plausible. Take a look at the image below and let us what you think, is this what you were expecting? It does have a distinct HR Geiger style to it, maybe it’s closer related to the infamous Xenomorph than previously thought?