War of the Worlds (NO SPOILERS, please!)

[Gorjirus]

This is a thread about Spielberg's upcoming movie, War of the Worlds.

A bit of info; this movie will beat out Titanic as the most expensive movie to make ever made.

[Jet Jaguar]

Then lets hope it makes the same kinda $$$ Titanic did

[Zigra]

The original War of the Worlds movie was so perfect that I'm not sure that I want to see some new WotW movie try to upstage it.........especially if it stars Tom Cruise.

[Gorjirus]

Yeah, but the original could of been longer and it could have had more scenes from the book in it. Or at least we could have seen the aliens and tentacles instead of shadows, which is what I remeber of the movie.

[King Gordy]

But we did see the aliens, remeber it looked like frog-like sorta thing with green, blue, and red lights in the middle of it's head. Even though in the book they were more like squids but both designs are cool. I wonder what they're going to look like this this new one.

[Showa Godzilla]

I hope this movie is more true to the movie than the first War of The worlds movie they made.The alien war machines looked a lot cooler than the saucers in the movie(yes I know the flying war machine appeared in the book but it wasn't that great).My older Brother read the book and thought it was great,but when he saw the movie he was dissapointed.He hated the alien designs,Hated the fact that the original war machines did not appear in the movie.

[Morgoth]

That would be the only way to go with this film, in my opinion. Set it in the late 1800's and keep it pretty faithful to the book. That said, as this is Spielberg we're talking about, I have serious doubts that the final film will be any good. The Spielberg who was a craftsman and took a great deal of time and care with his films doesn't exist anymore, if you ask me. His last films have been completely unwatchable, in fact, I can't think of one I've enjoyed since 'Saving Private Ryan' and even that movie had some horribly contrived sequences. Still, maybe the old Spielberg, the one who wasn't obsessed with slapping walkie talkies into the hands of Federal agents in ET, will come crawling out of his PC-riddled shell and we might see a decent movie. I just wouldn't put any money on that bet.

[Solar_Behemoth]

I really never liked the original War of the Worlds that much, but this is probably out of disappointment that it was barely based on H.G. Wells' classic novel. If Spielberg takes his time like he used to, makes it actually LIKE the book, then just maybe we'll have a classic in our hands.

And God I hope they don't use CGI to make the aleins come to life. Use some puppetry! CGI sucks! I would love to those original tentacled alien ships in action in a movie! See them destroying 19th century houses... ahhh....

Spielberg better do it right this time and USE his talent.

[Zigra]

I don't know, the original WotW movie is one of those rare films that I happened to like better than the book it's based on. But, that's just me

[Roehm]

I am anger by the remake of this film. The original was so god-like, that I feel the sequeal will fall very short of the original.

[Zigra]

Originally Posted by Roehm

I am anger by the remake of this film. The original was so god-like, that I feel the sequeal will fall very short of the original.

This movie isn't a sequel. It's not even a remake, either. It's suppose to be a whole new take on the original novel, rather than the 50s movie.

[The Great MM]

One thing is for sure...

there is no alien invasion movie that has been made that out does the instint classic...

"MARS ATTACKS"

Maybe this will...

but Mars Attacks will be tough compitition...

[anguirus55]

I hope Spielberg is struck by a golden shaft of light and decides to make it a period piece...but it's so expensive already that I doubt it. In that case, I just hope they use the book-style war machines and Martians and have city-trashing to die for.

[Jet Jaguar]

I hope its as good as the Album by Jeff Wayne

[Silversearchlight]

Originally Posted by Jet Jaguar

I hope its as good as the Album by Jeff Wayne

Damn! JJ beat me to it! Loved the book and movie. Anybody remember Wow: the Series?

[THE ONE AND ONLY]

I've read on some other boards that this adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic that it will be set in modern times. Sorry to to bring some of you down.

Personally, I was sort of edging toward a flick set in 1938, the year Orsen Welles freaked everyone out with his radio broadcast of the invasion story due to the fact it was done in the format of a news broadcast. So people thought the Martians were actually invading. It was covered in the made for television flick, The Night That Panicked America.

Speaking of the George Pal directed classic,there was a sequel ,or follow up to it be more exact. There was a short lived syndicated War of The Worlds series that debuted in 1988 and lasted to 1990. In it the Martian corpses were stuffed into barrels after they died,dumped off at a variety of toxic waste dumps, and everyone just tried to bury the whole incident and forget it ever happened. Unfortunatly, the Martians didn't die, the bacteria they were infected with caused them to go into a state of dormancy. Then thanks to the antics of a domestic terrorist group siezing control of one of the dumps, a container of radioactive waste is damaged releasing its contents on a bunch of the notable barrels. The radioactivity kills the bacteria, causing the Martians to revive, and they promptly start crawling into the terrorists bodies and seeking the rest of thier kind, and thier war machines. There was a novelized adaptation to the miniseries which I picked up when it debuted in which I read all this. Was anyone else aware of this series, which I wouldn't be surprised to see it show up again either on the Sci-Fi Channel, or better yet on DVD.

[Jet Jaguar]

And a fun TV series it was!
I wish SciFi or somebody would rerun it

[Raptor]

WOTW lends itself to about any time period, I believe. A Victorian period "take" on it has a certain appeal IMO, going back to when things might have been simpler, yet posing a most interesting threat to humanity. How it is LOGICALLY handled would be the key.

The TV series (first season) set up an interesting premise, bringing the Martians "up to speed", you might say. The first episode is one of my favorites with many elements reflecting both "classic" and modern views on the WOTW story.
WITHOUT WARNING was a TV movie that handled it from the news media side. It had a rather "fun" ending, I think!

[Raptor]

The Cypress Family Twin Theatre in Central Orange County (Cypress, CA) will be screening the original “War Of The Worlds” with Ann Robinson on August 28th.
There will be a life size working diorama on site, courtesy of KNB FX GROUP's Greg Nicotero. The ship was cast off the original Wah Chang design.

MORE INFO

[THE ONE AND ONLY]

I just heard today that The War of the Worlds will be debuting on Wednesday, July 27, of next year. The same date as the upcoming Fantastic Four flick.(Pleasure overload. ) Also fresh from the rumor mill, Alexis Denisof(Wesley of ANGEL) has been cast in the flick.

Also on the subject of the short lived television series that followed up the original flick in the late eighties, early ninties. Here's a link to a site that covers mainly the program's first season, but its intresting nontheless. http://www.war-of-the-worlds.org

[THE ONE AND ONLY]

This isn't the first remake (or new adaptation of the original) to to rear its tenticles. Back in 2001 a British studio called Pendragon Pictures was going about doing thier own take on the H.G. Wells classic. However, due to the incidents surrounding 9/11, they pulled the project because they figured no one would want to see cities getting wiped out. But apparently the studio has been quitely reworking the project in the intervening years ,and completing for a release by next year. For those of you disappointed about the Cruise/Spielburg flick being set in modern times, this version will be set in Victorian England like its source material. Heres an article covering the flick.http://www.chud.com/news/sept04/sept13warphp3

[Burkion]

Oh, goodie. I get to rant again if this movie turns into WINO*AKA; War of the Worlds in Name Only.* God damn you Steven! Why must you mess with just great classics???

[Raptor]

"CLASSIC" is so many ways!

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year and WOTW is always a part of it. I just came across this STUDY GUIDE which mentions a lot of great background we tend to overlook with the sheer enjoyment we've gotten from Orson Welles famed 1938 radio broadcast based on the novel that goes back to 1894, the various films, TV series and even TV movie adaptations.
The initial broadcast made the front page of the NEW YORK TIMES, the script is available if you don't have the audio tapes and Grovers Mill, New Jersey got on the map!
It may have caused a national panic but it's always great to get a glimpse of small town America, even if you sometimes have to put up with pesky Martians!

[THE ONE AND ONLY]

Just found this today. A official link to the remake's site. Not much else than some cool artwork, but its a start.http://www.waroftheworlds.com/ Also heres a photo from filming the flick.http://story.yahoo.com/news?g=events...&e=1&t=&prev=2

[Baran-no-goji]

[quote=henry_venetta]I really never liked the original War of the Worlds that much, but this is probably out of disappointment that it was barely based on H.G. Wells' classic novel. If Spielberg takes his time like he used to, makes it actually LIKE the book, then just maybe we'll have a classic in our hands.

And God I hope they don't use CGI to make the aleins come to life. Use some puppetry! CGI sucks! I would love to those original tentacled alien ships in action in a movie! See them destroying 19th century houses... ahhh....

Amen brother! Make it faithful and use the CGI VERY sparingly. I hope we get the old 70s-80s Spielberg style.