Thompson On Hollywood

Abrams Goes Viral for Fringe

J.J. Abrams has a new TV series coming up, written by Transformers writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Fringe. It's due on Fox Tuesday nights in the fall. The two hour pilot alone cost $10 million.

It looks like Abrams could be going viral again to promote it. (Remember Lost and Cloverfield?) He's keeping folks guessing. UPDATE: The Fringe TV-press DVD screener has been leaked online.

Here's the nail-biting Fringe trailer (X-Files meets Lost meets Twin Peaks?):

Also coming up for Abrams, besides the reinvention of Paramount's Star Trek franchise (also with Kurtzman and Orci), is a project which the new John Lesher studio regime just scooped up, based on a NYT article published last Friday, writes Variety:

The studio has paid mid-six figures for a New York Times article written by Penelope Green about a Gotham home whose owners discovered secret panels and hidden clues that led them on a mystery-filled scavenger hunt.

Abrams will produce the film via his Par-based Bad Robot shingle. Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky have been tapped to write.

The Fifth Avenue home, described as a giant '20s-era co-op with Central Park views, was gutted several years ago at the behest of a couple, who later moved in with their four children. An architectural designer who oversaw the rehab job left behind a series of messages, games and treasures, unbeknownst to the family, who eventually unraveled a mystery that featured a poem, a book, a soundtrack and a host of historical figures.

Cloverfield is Fun

Cloverfield is fun. It's a hand-held, cleverly manipulated monster movie told from the point-of-view of a bunch of Manhattan 20-somethings trying not to get killed. Some of them die. They pass the camera back and forth. Cloverfield is a fitfully scary, amusing, annoying rollercoaster thrill-ride that lasts 74 minutes. It cost only $25-million--so who cares how big the opening is this weekend? I will bet money that the pic does well with moviegoers in the end. God forbid it should build word-of-mouth. Doesn't anyone believe in that anymore? It works like a charm.

J.J. Abrams talks about his mystery box.

UPDATE: Jeff Wells has the tracking numbers, which are ticking up.

But critics may be harsh, judging from one friend of mine who wrote me this response: "i thought my eyes were bleeding when i left. i thought my head was going to explode." My sense was that it played for the fan boys at the screening on the Paramount lot last night. Variety critic Justin Chang and I ran into a headless Statue of Liberty on our way out, swathed in moonlight.

And the LAT's Mark Olsen writes up the making of the movie.

Preview of 2008

Tis the season for previews of 2008.

Here's this weekend's annual LAT sneak preview of 2008.

Reelz Channel.

Jeff Sneider.

The Vanity Fair cover story on Indy 4, plus follow-up blog.

[Vanity Fair photo by Annie Leibovitz.]

The Movies Destroy New York City

As I Am Legend rocks the boxoffice (David and Nora were disappointed) and J.J. Abrams' Cloverfield looms, several media outlets are checking out Hollywood's love affair with destroying New York.

Here's the NYT.com.

New York's Culture Vulture.

Here's the Cloverfield trailer:

And the 1998 Godzilla:

And The Day After Tomorrow:

Trailer Watch: Cloverfield

Harry Knowles has a clip from Cloverfield, Paramount's new monster movie due January 18.