After the conclusion of his Lord of the Rings trilogy in 2003, Peter Jackson was on top of the world. The third film in the series, Return of the King, won 11 Oscars, tying Ben-Hur and Titanic as the most-awarded movie in Academy Awards history. After that runaway success, Jackson had carte blanche to do whatever he wanted. His 2005 remake of King Kong was a sizable hit for Universal, but he followed that up with an adaptation of The Lovely Bones that just didn't work. And then Jackson fell into the George Lucas trap. He spent several years crafting a return to Middle-earth with The Hobbit trilogy, milking one children's novel into three poorly-received movies. Since that trilogy's finale in 2014, Jackson has pretty much disappeared from the blockbuster scene. He's supposedly going to direct the sequel to The Adventures of Tintin, but its predecessor was released seven years ago, and there has been no significant traction in the years since. Instead, Jackson has turned to producing, putting his name on an adaptation of Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines. Jackson's frequent visual effects collaborator Christian Rivers will direct, and the hope is that this will be the start of a new franchise. Even though the release date is a year away, Universal has released a quick teaser trailer- check it out below!
I love weird science fiction and fantasy concepts. I think it's enormously exciting that, even in this day and age, we're still able to see original ideas on the big screen. Now, obviously this film is based on a series of novels, but have we ever really seen anything like Mortal Engines before? This teaser trailer doesn't give us much, and yet I find myself highly compelled by the idea of giant cities moving around on wheels. It's just strange enough to work, and while the plot remains an enigma (IMDb describes the events of the story as taking place after the "Sixty Minute War"), I'm intrigued by this brief look.
However, does anybody really think this is going to make money? Seriously. A $100 million dollar movie with no stars, relatively old source material, and competition that includes Aquaman, Mary Poppins Returns, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse- this thing is going to get crushed. Peter Jackson isn't the draw he once was (if he ever even was a draw), and there's an inexperienced director at the helm. I love these kind of bold ideas and strange offerings, but it's just a matter of fact that Hollywood needs to get smarter about how they're budgeted and released. I want Mortal Engines to succeed, just like I wanted Valerian to succeed. I just don't see it happening. But I would love to be surprised.
With a cast led by Avatar's Stephen Lang and Hugo Weaving, Mortal Engines will hit theaters on December 14, 2018.
I love weird science fiction and fantasy concepts. I think it's enormously exciting that, even in this day and age, we're still able to see original ideas on the big screen. Now, obviously this film is based on a series of novels, but have we ever really seen anything like Mortal Engines before? This teaser trailer doesn't give us much, and yet I find myself highly compelled by the idea of giant cities moving around on wheels. It's just strange enough to work, and while the plot remains an enigma (IMDb describes the events of the story as taking place after the "Sixty Minute War"), I'm intrigued by this brief look.
However, does anybody really think this is going to make money? Seriously. A $100 million dollar movie with no stars, relatively old source material, and competition that includes Aquaman, Mary Poppins Returns, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse- this thing is going to get crushed. Peter Jackson isn't the draw he once was (if he ever even was a draw), and there's an inexperienced director at the helm. I love these kind of bold ideas and strange offerings, but it's just a matter of fact that Hollywood needs to get smarter about how they're budgeted and released. I want Mortal Engines to succeed, just like I wanted Valerian to succeed. I just don't see it happening. But I would love to be surprised.
With a cast led by Avatar's Stephen Lang and Hugo Weaving, Mortal Engines will hit theaters on December 14, 2018.
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