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Weekend Newsreel:
June 9, 2006
Compiled By The FilmBuffOnLine Staff
Overlord
Finally Sees US Screens:
Director Stuart Cooper’s 1975 film Overlord, which seamlessly
mixed archival military film footage with original material to tell
a soldier’s-eye-view of the D-Day Invasion, is finally making its
way to theater screens in the United States, thanks in part to the
recent documentary Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004).
Originally intending to make a documentary, Cooper combed through
more than 3,000 hours of actual combat footage held by the Imperial
War Museum in London to combine with his own footage to tell the
story of a young British Armey recruit (Brian Stirner) as he trains
for the Normandy Invasion. Although Overlord won the Silver
Bear jury prize at the 1975 Berlin Film Festival and played across
Europe to rave reviews, it never was picked up for American
theatrical distribution, probably due to country’s involvement in
the closing days of the Vietnam war. The film was championed by
Jerry Harvey, the programmer for the legendary Los Angeles cable
outlet Z Channel, where it swiftly gained the attention of film
makers and aficionados around Hollywood. Director Cooper credits the
appearance of clips of the film in Z Channel, which told the
story of Harvey and the cable outlet, with reviving interest in the
film. Overlord will be released on DVD in 2007 from Criterion
Collection.
Popeye on
DVD:
Earlier this week, Warner Home Video announced that they will be
releasing the complete run of Popeye theatrical cartoons
originally produced by the Fleischer Studios and later Famous
Studios between 1933 and 1957. The cartoons will be remastered and
restored and will be released in chronological order in sets similar
to the studio’s Looney Tunes collections.
Deja View:
The 1986 psychological horror film The Hitcher will be
getting a remake courtesy of screenwriters Eric Bernt and Jake Wade
Wall and director Dave Myers. Sean Bean will take over the title
role and will terrorize Sophia Bush. . . It has been reported that
director
Kinji Fukasaku’s
controversial 2001 Japanese film Battle Royale - in which a
government program randomly dumps a class of ninth graders onto a
remote island with instructions to kill each other as part of a
warped reality television program – is set to be remade at New Line
Pictures with
Neal Moritz (The
Fast And The Furious) and Roy Lee (the Americanized versions of
The Ring and The Grudge) producing. No director or
screenwriters have been attached to the project yet. Ironically, the
film’s original producers, Toie Studios, were unable to secure
American distribution for the film due to its violent content. . .
Japanese director Takashi Miike has announced that he will be
helming a remake of the classic Japanese film Dai Majin
(1966) for Kadokawa Pictures. . . The Weinstein Company is currently
developing a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s classic Seven Samurai
(1954) with John Fusco working on the screenplay. Asian actress Ziyi
Zhang is currently in negotiations with the Weinstein Company for a
role in the film as part of a three-picture deal. Seven Samurai
has already been remade as The Magnificent Seven (1960) and
the science-fiction film Battle Beyond The Stars (1980).
Opening This Week
June
9
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A Prairie Home Companion-
website
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Agnes And His Brothers
(NY)
-
Cars-
website
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Crossing The Bridge: The
Sound Of Istanbul (NY) -
website
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The Heart Of The Game (NY,
LA)- website
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Uncut (NY)-
website
June
14
June
15
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