Alice in Anaheim

From September 10th-13th Disney is putting on a D23 (D23 was the magazine that had the Alice spread) expo in the Anaheim Convention Center. Stay tuned for updates about the event.

Also Alice posters are for sale on Amazon:
UK~£24.99
US~$29.99

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp Should NEVER Split!

http://www.seattlepi.com/has asked the horrifying question: Should Johnny Depp and Tim Burton split up? My answer: NO WAY!

CHRISTINE CHAMP says: "I'm not suggesting the cineromance should end. But perhaps Burton and Depp might start seeing other people (at least more than they have been). In any case, I'll hurtle the speculation back at you... Is it time the long-term cinema couple see other people?"

Luckily the poll at the bottom shows that people love the duo and want more and more of them: 85% say they've made some great films, and 15% say they should explore other opportunities, to which I plead: Don't EVER split Johnny and Tim!

Farrell to Play Quixote?

It's been said that Colin Farrell may play Don Quixote now that Johnny Depp has dropped the role. Director Terry Gilliam is said to be "a fan of Colin and it's felt he's one of the few people capable of filling Johnny's shoes."

9-9-09

Tim Burton produced 9 comes to theaters in one month on September 9th-- 9/9/09, but if you simply CAN'T wait until then here's how to quench your thirst for Shane Acker's movie:

--Meet the Scientist at Facebook.com/9Scientist and read his notes.

--Explore the Scientist's lab at http://www.9experiment.com
and create your own talisman at http://talisman.9experiment.com/

--Watch the trailer at 9TheMovie.com

--Visit on your cell phone at 9.msite.tv

--Sign up for mobile alerts by texting '9" to 4FOCUS (436287)

--Be sure to download the reader by texting 'READER' to 4FOCUS (436287) so you can decipher the secret messages on the street and gain access to exclusive content!


Official 9 Film Synopsis:
A new era in animated storytelling begins on 9.9.09. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton (The Corpse Bride, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Nightwatch) join forces to produce wunderkind director Shane Acker's distinctively original and thrilling tale. 9 stars Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer and Crispin Glover and features the music of Danny Elfman. When 9 (The Lord of the Ring's Elijah Wood) first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are to survive, and they must discover why the machines want to destroy them in the first place. As they'll soon come to learn, the very future of civilization may depend on them.


And of course keep visiting HBCfanclub for the latest news about 9, Tim Burton and our beloved Helena!

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Trailer

An international trailer for "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" has finally arrived via Yahoo! UK. Providing many never-before-seen footage, the promo video offers a lot of footage with Heath Ledger portraying the mysterious stranger Tony character and shares first shots at the three actors, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, who fill in the role following his sudden death. (http://www.aceshowbiz.com)



Also, here's a picture of Danny Elfman at the LA premiere of Taking Woodstock:

Alice Video Game Screenshot

Disney Interactive has released this new screenshot from the Wii/PC version of the video game adaption of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

http://www.cinemablend.com/ reports:
"The Wii/PC version of the game follows the film's storyline and expands it in some respects. Alice, helped by friends like the Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat, must battle the Queen and save Wonderland. It's said to incorporate an "upgradeable combat system" and numerous unlockables to encourage replayability.

DS and mobile phone versions are also planned, though they obviously won't look quite so fancy. The Wii, PC, and DS will receive the game in March 2010 and the mobile game is due in February. If you want to ogle a slightly larger version of the screenshot, head over to Kotaku."

Create a 9 Talisman

A message from the Scientist:

I did it!

I have modified the Talisman for a new purpose. I shall not speak of the methods in which I am using the Talisman, as I do not wish to needlessly concern you all.

I need to follow my heart and trust in my abilities, an incredible challenge given that those same 'abilities' were the genesis of this disaster.

My work has just begun... but I see the spark of hope in what I am building. Now is the time to save our memories, for a new tomorrow.



Go create your own talisman at http://talisman.9experiment.com.

Burton, Acker, and Bekmambetov talk 9

There is an interview with the brilliance behind 9, Director Shane Acker and producers Tim Burton and Timur Bakmambetov over at http://screencrave.com. Here's a bit of it:

Tim, this is a very unique project. How did you get involved with this?

Tim Burton: Well I saw Shane’s short film and it just blew me away. It was amazing. After going through stuff myself trying to get movies made and people complaining like “Why doesn’t the character have any eyeballs?” and things like that, I think our goal was to just let Shane make his movie.

Did you get this financed as an independent film?

Shane Acker: Yeah, it was a negative pick-up. I mean, the idea was I guess Focus guaranteed the money to buy the film as long as it met X amount of criteria at the end which kind of gave us the creative space to make the film that we wanted outside of their direct input or involvement, although they were definitely involved in the process. We were doing it at such a modest budget that we were able to take the risks and do the things that we really wanted to do and explore in this medium that is typically a medium designed for more family oriented material.

How do you do an animated film with a low budget these days?

Tim Burton: We did it.

Shane Acker: Well, yeah. You just find the right creative team and you make the right decisions as you’re going forward and just be really dedicated to the project and be conservative about your design but not let it be really…because we’re making a world…

Tim Burton: You did your short pretty much in your basement or garage. Right?

Shane Acker: Yeah. I think the technology is in the hands of artists now. You don’t need a whole studio like Pixar in place to do these films. You can take the software and put the team together and make these films yourself, and I think it’s a pretty exciting time because it’s not about the technological challenge now. It’s just about the stories and what is the story that you want to tell.

Did you teach Tim that movies can be made for a lot cheaper?

Tim Burton: Oh yeah. I mean, it’s great. It does allow a certain freedom that you don’t get when you’re dealing with big budget studio [films]. Fair enough. This was such a pleasure. They made the movie and it just was such a pleasure to see if he’d be able to do it and do what they wanted to do without any negative involvement with things. So, it was very liberating to see this process happen.

Johnny Depp Quits Quixote and more Wonderland

Johnny Depp has walked away from a movie about Don Quixote because filming was delayed for a decade, due to weather bashed sets and a lack of financial ability to fix them.
Johnny said: "I wanted to shoot Don Quixote next spring. He said he's not available and we have both agreed that I'm going to die soon, so it would be nice to get this film under my belt."

Http://www.screenindia.com interviewed Tim Burton about his Alice in Wonderland among which are these questions:

Can you explain your vision for Alice In Wonderland?
No, because I still have a lot to do. (Laughs) I mean, we’re trying to make a movie. I just take versions and...because it’s kind of like comic material, although I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a movie that I’ve really liked based on it because it’s always kind of been a series of weird events. Everybody’s crazy and it’s sort of a passive little girl wandering around from episode-to-episode. So even though the books and the stories are iconic, I’ve never felt that there was a film that really kind of made it a film, translated from the story to a film. So that’s the attempt.

What does Johnny Depp bring to the Mad Hatter?
He likes dressing up. I think with the Alice In Wonderland characters, they’ve often been portrayed as just crazy without much subtext and I think he tried to bring something, an underlying human quality to the craziness. He tried to understand it a bit more...We try to give each character their own particular craziness. And he’s good at sort of exploring that, I guess because he’s crazy. I don’t know.

What is your relationship like with Depp?
We seem to get along well and I’ve worked with him many times. It’s always exciting to see what he brings to something. And it’s fun to work with him because it’s like it’s always something different and new and it’s just fun to see. That always is exciting to me.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Rob Marshall to Replace Gore Verbinski on Pirates 4

Reports have stated that Disney has been looking at many different directors to replace Gore Verbinski for the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and they seem to have settled with Mr. Rob Marshall.

"For those of you who aren’t so familiar with Mr. Marshall, the announcement comes as a shock because the director is best known for his musical work. He’s only got a few jobs on his resume, but the big one is the 2002 Best Picture winner Chicago, which starred Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, and Renee Zellweger. After that, he moved on to a less-musical period drama in Memoirs of a Geisha — which also pulled in some Oscar gold. His next due film is another musical based on an earlier screenplay written by the legendary Federico Fellini. The film is called Nine and it has a juggernaut cast including Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Dame Judi Dench, and Sophia Loren." (GeeksofDoom)

How do you feel about all of these cast (Bloom and Knightley) and crew not being in on #4? Frankly I am afraid that it's going to flop and it will ruin the franchise, all because they wanted more cash. Comment with your ideas and feelings and fears, are you happy that they're changing things up or do you want things to remain the same?