Rare TINTIN Volumes Stolen!

Two rare “Tintin” volumes were stolen in Belgium this summer.  The first was a first edition of Tintin au Congo (Tintin in the Congo) allegedly taken from a glass case at the Royal Museum Of Mariemont in Belgium.  The second was a first edition of Le Crabe aux pinces d’or (The Crab with the Golden Claws) was allegedly taken from a sale in Namur, Belgium.  The video above supposedly shows these thefts and the couple involved.

Tintin has been a popular comic book character in Europe since the forties.  The character is expected to gain greater fame with the release, later this year, of  “The Adventures of Tintin”.  A CGI mocap film, directed by Steven Speilberg, and produced by Peter Jackson.

Source.

I AM LEGEND Make Up Test!

Before they made the decision to go 100% CGI, Steve Johnson did this practical make-up test for I Am Legend.  Why did director Francis Lawrence reject this?  He thought it limited performance.  We don’t see that at all.  There’s more performance in this little test than in all the CGI in the final film.

Update: More about THUNDERBIRDS Reboot!

The web was a buzz this week when Gerry Anderson announced there will be a new Thunderbirds television show.  Now, in an article written exclusively for the Sun newspaper, he’s telling more.

First up, here’s the big bit he reveals:

The new version will be made with CGI, on computer.

Small weep.  We were hoping for puppets.

So will this be a reboot or a continuation?  Anderson answers that as well:

[T]here is a lot of spade work to do because the original programme is very old.

It was made nearly 50 years ago and the world has changed.

It won’t look like the old Thunderbirds. Not at all.

Take something like Thunderbird 2, which seemed to be the favourite with the fans – that would have to be updated.

But we would be careful that there would be something about the design that they felt they know.

So a reboot.  Clearly.

What does Anderson think is the key to a successful Thunderbirds series?

Thunderbirds remains popular because the scripts were written on the basis that the audience would get to know the characters in the first part of the show.

Then we would put them in an impossible situation, so the audience would follow every word because they felt the character was a friend who needed assistance.

We created characters who would please pretty much everybody. My favourite was probably Parker, because he was a bit of a boy and working for a titled woman and was very experienced at cracking safes.

Nice.  Love the fact that Anderson’s a Parker fan.

Finally, who will the show be aimed at?  Will it exclusively be for kids or will it have more of a family appeal?

I have never believed in children’s programming, and the show is watched by people of all ages.

I’m a child at heart, so I wrote things that appealed to me and it followed that it would appeal to children as well.

That’s a great approach.  We’re kids at heart too.  And we don’t wanna feel left out of a new Thunderbirds show.

So although we’re not that crazy about the CGI approach everything else he says has us quite excited.  How about you?  Offer your thoughts in the comments section!

Photos: GREEN LANTERN Set Pix

This gave us our first look at set pix from the Green Lantern movie.  First up we saw Peter Sarsgaard as GL’s big-headed nemesis Hector Hammond:

And now a shot of Ryan Reynolds in a motion capture suit.  As GL movie mavens already know the Green Lantern suit will not be a literal costume, but a CGI creation.  And this photo gives some suggestion of what the costume might be like.

We think that bit hanging from his waist is the upper part of the suit.  And the dog?  Your guess is as good as ours.   We’re guessing it’s just some set mutt.   And, no, MTV, we don’t think it’s Ch’p:

Sorry, Ch’p, but we think your chance at big screen glamor is a way off.  Quite a way.

Video: 2012: Trailer 2

This one gives us a better sense of the plot.

It also suggests one question:  Is there a famous monument or building that Roland Emmerich hasn’t destroyed on film?

Video: A Christmas Carol Featurette – Performance Capture

Arguably the most famous ghost story gets yet another film treatment. This story seems especially suited to performance capture technology.

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South Bend Tribune Impressed by “Little Spirit” and Leopoldo Gout!

They call it:

one of the best original animated Christmas programs to be released in years.

More of the article:

“Little Spirit” Shows Big Potential!

By Jeremy D. Bonfiglio

Leopoldo Gout is a name that may be more familiar with fans of graphic novels and suspense fiction, but that is about to change.

Gout, who co-wrote “Daniel X, Alien Hunter” with novelist James Patterson and the supernatural thriller “Ghost Radio,” which hit bookstores in October, also is the man behind “Little Spirit: Christmas in New York.”

The hour-long holiday special, which airs Dec. 10 on NBC (a Spanish-language version also will be broadcast Dec. 13 on Telemundo), is without a doubt, one of the best original animated Christmas programs to be released in years.

Gout, who was born and raised in Mexico and now lives in New York, has not only attracted an all-star voice cast that includes Danny DeVito, Lucy Liu and Brian Williams, but he also has managed to stylistically blend the look of traditional painting with contemporary 3-D technology to create an aesthetic that is both classic and innovative.

“What we wanted is to imagine a Marc Chagall or a Frieda Kahlo painting and then make it move,” Gout says by telephone on a conference call with reporters. “You want it to express something that had the feeling of a moving painting.”

Read the rest of the article here.