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March 09, 2000
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January 28, 2000
©2000, To Be Continued...
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“What Lies Beneath” trailer to debut during Oscars
First peek at summer thriller finally near
Finally!! We'll all soon see a glimpse of Robert Zemeckis' latest masterpiece, What Lies Beneath, this weekend during the Oscar telecast on ABC. News on this big budgeted feature starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer has been very quiet, and promotion has been virtually non-existent, until now.
I'm told by a representative at DreamWorks to expect to see the brand new 30-second teaser trailer sometime during the Oscars (as well as the company's other big film, Gladiator). They didn't have any firm dates for other marketing for the film, but said that posters and the full-length trailer will hit theaters sometime in April. I'm assuming that'll also be when the official website (www.whatliesbeneath-thefilm.com) will also go online. I'm told there might be a second trailer cut later on prior to the film's July 21 opening, but that this will be the only teaser produced for the film.
Post production is still ongoing on What Lies Beneath, primarily on some remaining effects shots and Alan Silvestri's score. Word is that the DreamWorks film is approximately 90% completed now, and the concensus is that they have a very solid summer film on their hands. Honestly, with Zemeckis, Ford & Pfeiffer, how could they not?! 
It's hard to believe that it's already been three years since Bob's last sensational film, Contact. Thank goodness we won't have to wait another three years for his follow-up! Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt won't hit theaters until Christmas, but the second half of the film hasn't even been completed yet. Zemeckis, Hanks and crew head back to Fiji in April, and will also film some additional scenes in Memphis, Tennessee before principal photography wraps. And sometime during or immediately afterwards, Zemeckis will have to squeeze in producing duties on 13 Ghosts (see "Project Updates" below). Doesn't sound like Bob Z will even get a chance to blink over the course of the next several months.
I was told by the DreamWorks rep that a teaser trailer to Cast Away will be issued sometime in May, and that advance posters will appear in theaters in June. I'm supposing that the official site (www.castaway-thefilm.com) probably won't go online until late Fall. Regardless, 2000 will be a really great year for fans of Robert Zemeckis' work!
DVD's in July? Not so fast...
Well, put this one in the "uh-oh, not again" file. I'm now told now by our source that the information we recently published on the DVDs is slightly out-dated. Apparently, the dates we posted were the actual planned release dates for this summer, but that was way back last November when the discs' features document was revised. We're told now that the Christmas 2000 is indeed the correct time span, as has been claimed by Universal Studios Home Video for the past month or so. Sorry to have bolstered everyone's hopes for a July release, but apparently packaging the films as a 15th Anniversary collection wasn't considered by Universal to be in their best interest for very long, and that sales would be better if they held off another six months for a Christmas release. Oh sure, what's another six months after we've waited three full years?! Well, at least we now know what the discs are supposedly going to contain,
and that in itself at least is still very encouraging. Our source hasn't seen the latest target dates yet, but I'm confident we haven't heard the last of this on-going saga. Stay tuned...
“Thrill Ride” DVD gives brief look at ...The Ride
Reader Mark "Bob" Boszko informs me that the recent DVD release of Tristar's 1997 film Thrill Ride (March 14) contains some footage from Back to the Future...The Ride, which may interest fans:
"Columbia Tristar just released a DVD of the IMAX film, Thrill Ride, which contains some footage of BTTF The Ride... — not a whole lot, mind you, maybe a minute total, but it's worth checking out. Unfortunately, there's nothing from the pre-show antics of Doc (like the b/w stuff integrated with historical footage), nor the lab stuff with Biff, but there is the video of the dummies showing you how to act (or, rather, not act) in the 8-seater DeLorean, and some good footage from the ride film itself." [Thanks to "Bob" for the tip!]
Doc's Time-Travel Train gets a touch-up
BTTF.com staffer Danny Pesses snapped the following photos while vacationing at Universal Studios Florida on March 8:
We're not exactly sure what the work crew was assigned to do on the train, but it's certainly very encouraging to see Universal giving this massive prop some much-needed attention! We do know that the train will soon no longer be "hidden" behind a wall, as the wall will be coming down in the coming weeks ahead when Universal's latest attraction Men In Black: Alien Attack opens next month.
Project updates
ABSOLUTE ZERO:
Mary Steenburgen is staying quite busy these days. She's presently filming this action thriller about a botched NASA mission that causes the earth to fall out of orbit from the sun. Starring as Dr. Helen Nagle, Steenburgen's character along with her husband Dr. Franklin Nagle (played by Ed Harris) work around the clock to fight the extinction of the entire planet. [Courtesy of the IMDb]
THE BLIND BASTARDS CLUB:
Details are sketchy on this one. Billy Zane stars with Burt Reynolds and Angelina Jolie in this feature to be filmed in Australia. Aussie recording artist Marc Yellin has apparently been commissioned for the soundtrack. [Thanks to "Whitney" for the tip!]
CABARET:
Lea Thompson will take it to the stage in this national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical, launching in New Orleans next week beginning on March 28. Thompson stars in the lead role of Sally Bowles in this story of an English woman's romance with an American writer set against the background of a crumbling German at the start of the Third Reich. No word on whether Thompson will stay with the tour beyond its New Orleans run (March 28 - April 2) at the Saenger Performing Arts Center. For ticket information, contact the Saenger Theatre at 504-524-2490. [Thanks to "Dan" for pointing this one out!]
STUART LITTLE 2:
Michael J. Fox has been confirmed as returning to this Christmas 2001 sequel to reprise the voice of Stuart. Producer Douglas Wick told the Calgary Sun that Michael agreed to supply Stuart's voice for as many sequels as Sony/Columbia Pictures decides to do. The producer also mentioned that the rest of the original human cast — Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki — will also be back for this sequel. [Courtesy of Cinescape Online]
13 GHOSTS:
Robert Zemeckis' second feature film under the Dark Castle Entertainment banner is gearing up for principle photography in the comming weeks ahead. Zemeckis will produce this remake of the William Castle directed horror film, slated to be released by Warner Bros. on December 8, 2000. The original 1960 film required "Ghost Viewer" 3-D glasses to see the ghosts on the screen, but this time out the filmmakers will create a similar effect by having the audience wear some sort of special glasses with lenses that allow the ghosts to be seen during certain scenes. Apparently the film will indicate to the audience with a red light when they should put on the glasses and remove them. The horror film tells the story of a man who inherits a house from his deceased uncle, only to learn soon thereafter that the place is haunted by 13 ghosts, one of which is his dead uncle. Being strapped for cash, the nephew decides he must move his family out quickly and sell the house, but the
ghosts won't allow them to leave. [Compiled from reports at Dark Horizons, UpcomingMovies.com, and Cinescape Online]
— Stephen Clark
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