News Archive - March 2004

27 March

Starship Troopers 2 Info
Phil Tippett (right) on the set of "Starship Troopers 2" Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, the sequel to the 1997 movie, will be released on DVD on April 19.

The straight-to-video movie was filmed during one month in mid-2003. This is the directorial debut Starship Troopers 2 for Phil Tippett, who has been a stop-motion animator and a visual effects supervisor since 1977 (including the creature effects for the original Starship Troopers)

According to producer Jon Davidson, who worked with Tippett on different movies since 1978's Piranha, they wanted to work as a producer/director team for years. He claims the key for this movie was the low budget and that Sony got a huge bargain on the visual effects in exchange for allowing Tippett to helm the film.

Trailer
TV Spot (or this, or this)
Tippett Studio

26 March

More Info about Fast Company Special Edition DVD
Amazon offers the Fast Company Special Edition DVDs: The single disc version ($17) and the 2-Disc Limited Edition ($25.5)

Buy.com also offers the DVDs: The single disc version ($15) and the 2-Disc Limited Edition ($22)


Some more info about the DVD, from Fangoria (January 12):

At our just-concluded Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, Blue Underground's Bill Lustig, David Gregory and Jay Douglas previewed a number of their upcoming DVD releases, including a really exciting one for David Cronenberg fans.

Later, Fango caught up with Gregory for the full details: "We're doing a release of Fast Company April 27, and we've got Cronenberg's involvement," he says of the director's little-seen 1979 drag-racing drama. "The only way Cronenberg will do things like commentary is if he approves the transfer. Of course, that was fine with us, because we always like to get the filmmakers invovlved if we can. So we did a new transfer from the original negative under the supervision of cinematographer Mark Irwin, who has worked with Cronenberg six times. As a result of that, I went up to Toronto right before the Fango convention and did the commentary with Cronenberg.

"He was very happy and surprised that we had restored a nude scene into the film that he thought was lost," Gregory reveals, "and also very happy with the transfer. And he was able to put Fast Company into the context of his other films; often people consider it an anomaly, but to him it's one of his most personal movies. I should also mention that the film will have a new 6.1 Surround audio track."

But the good news for the director's fans doesn't stop there. "In addition to this, when he heard we were restoring the film and interviewing William Smith, John Saxon and Mark Irwin for the special features, he knew we were serious about doing a special edition, so we asked if we could also restore his early short features Stereo and Crimes of the Future, with a view to putting them on a second disc to be released with Fast Company. So Fast Company will be released on both a single disc and a double disc, with those two movies, for the Cronenberg completist."

25 March

Cronenberg Special Edition DVDs
rhett from HorrorDVDs brings the following news on some of Cronenberg's early movies coming out on Special Edition DVDs:
On April 27, Fast Company will be released by Blue Underground in both a single disc ($20) and a 2-disc limited edition version ($30).

Both will have the following features:
  • Anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
  • 6.1 DTS-ES, 5.1 DD EX, 2.0 DD and the original mono soundtracks
  • A new transfer from the original negative supervised by cinematographer Mark Irwin
  • A "lost" scene
  • Commentary by David Cronenberg
  • Interviews with William Smith and John Saxon
  • Interview with cinematographer Mark Irwin
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Still & photo gallery
  • Claudia Jennings bio

    The second disc of the 2-disc limited edition will also contain the following:
  • Crimes of the Future
  • Stereo
  • David Cronenberg bio
  • Additional still & photo gallery
    On June 1, Rabid will be released by Ventura Distribution for $25.

    It will feature the following (as well as a few still unannounced):
  • Remastered anamorphic widescreen
  • Commentary by David Cronenberg
  • Still gallery
  • Trailers
    (Thanks to reddragonbb)
  • 20 March

    Fast Forward, 1 Year Later
    Greetings.

    Well, it's been a year since I put the site on hold. Is it back? I'm not sure. I might post some news once in a while, but definitely not as frequently as it used to be in the good days. Maybe not at all. We'll see. Too bad most of the other Cronenberg sites seem to have frozen too.

    Still, you might have noticed that some sections - such as Movies and Others - are kept updated, and two new sections were added: Awards and Music.

    The site keeps getting visitors on a daily basis, so it seems that people are still enjoying it. I'll do my best to keep it that way.

    All the best,

    Painkillers Pushed to a Back Burner
    You may have noticed the bad news concerning Painkillers in the FAQ section:

    According to Jam! from November 28th 2003, Cronenberg has "pushed Painkillers to a back burner". He's quoted as saying: "Because a film takes two or three years of your life, I have to be excited about a script and Painkillers just isn't doing it. I may return to it at a later date, but I've just begun working on a new idea that may or may not be my next film."


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