Anime adaptations looming

Sam, jk, you know. I fell asleep while Charmed was on the other day, it must be in my subconscious or something,lol.

Ha ha, Yeah I didn't think Charmed had ever got as hardcore as wicked city .

Thanks for recommending Speed Racer, Peter! I'm not sure if I've ever been swept up in a films climax quite like I was with Speed Racers abstract impressionist finish.

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/07/david-fincher.html

OK. So it's in the trades, so I might as well tell it.
Earlier this year, I got a call from David Fincher saying he'd like to include a 3D animated Aeon Flux short as one of the segments in the new Heavy Metal movie being developed for Paramount. Paramount owns the character, so it seemed like a perfect fit.

I wrote a 12-16 minute script and did designs for a version of AF that would play as a 3D CG R-rated theatrical short. David was very enthusiastic about my story, and I was excited about the prospect of finally doing Aeon unconstrained by both TV budget and content standards. As long as the movie was to be made at Paramount, I was pretty much guaranteed that Aeon would be included in the lineup. Other directors, writers and artists prepared proposals, all of which was compiled and presented to the Paramount execs. It was (and is) an amazing collection of pitch art, the likes of which has rarely been seen.

Paramount passed on the whole package. Heavy Metal 3D may still get made at another studio, but of course, without Aeon.

I should add that working on the pitch was a real privilege and a pleasure, in spite of the end result. Thanks to Tim Miller at Blur studios for all his support, and I look forward to seeing Goon:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i1ede78880f527007bf209c6ad5e03c5f

Blur did a fantastic job with the intro to the AF game, (although not what the Heavy Metal version would have looked like).

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/7825.html?type=

Aww, makes me sad. I do think it's kinda cool that David Fincher had a role in things... he's a favorite director of mine. I kind of consider him an "MTV alum" like yourself, Peter (since he got his start in music videos). I wonder if that played a role in your pairing?

By the way, if anyone likes this sort of high-quality CG stuff, here's a new trailer for the coming Final Fantasy XIII:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36222.html

I won't speak for the story quality, but I always love the designs for Final Fantasy games.

I'm not sure I understand, why can't Aeon be included if another studio decide to do the project?

Because Paramount owns Aeon Flux. I guess conceivably it could possible somehow to buy the rights for a single project, but I'm sure it'd be a legal nightmare.

As Matt says, it would be a financial and legal liability for another studio to acquire the rights to use the character for a short segment of a feature film. There's nothing in it for them to go to the extra trouble-- unless they could be convinced that including Aeon Flux would increase box office. Plus, most studios already have rights to their own characters which could be repurposed for such use.

For more samples of Blur studio's work, their website has a nice selection. It's just a small fraction of their output.
They are very prolific and versatile, though their definite specialty is superheroes, scifi and fantasy action. You can easily imagine what a 3D R-rated feature from them would look like.

http://www.blur.com/

Looks like Blur has done a lot of video game work, too.

Speaking of trailers and adaptations, surely some of you have been hearing about Watchmen?

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/hd/

I knew nothing about the original book or the movie until just recently, but now I'm really intrigued. What do you guys think? If it's as close to the source material as I hear it will be, this will be a very atypical comic book movie, which will be nice in this period of oversaturation.

Also, can anyone say "Demiurge"?

That is a real drag about Aeon. Let's hope somehow...someway....

Actually, I'd rather see something some of Peter's newer ideas.. *cough Lovula *cough... where can I get one of those T shirts anyway?

It seems any story for Aeon could be retro-fitted onto another character without a great deal of trouble. I suppose you wouldn't have the established backstory though.