The new movie still lacks an official title. But it's a reworking of a spec script called Mysterious Travels that suggests that Treasure Island, Gulliver's Travels and Jules Verne's Mysterious Island all took place on the same island. It'll be funded entirely by New Line, although Walden Media (which co-financed Journey) will remain as co-producers. Also returning is director Eric Brevig; the involvement of Fraser and other actors from the original has not been confirmed as yet.

Another 3-D 'Journey' for New Line [Hollywood Reporter]

Variety explains:

The Chinese government is keen to encourage the development of the 3-D industry, so the genre has a special quota category aside from the normal quota governing foreign imports. This allows WB to get an extra film into mainstream release and charge prices up to $15 for tickets.

Not that this story necessarily ends well:

However, some auds were unhappy with the cost of tix, and there were troubles with the one-size-fits-all 3-D glasses, which reportedly made some people feel dizzy. Others were upset at having to pay $100 in compensation for damaged glasses.

I think that they should've complained more about the actual quality of the movie, but that may just be me...

China heats 'Earth' with 3-D [Variety]

The Montreal Gazette reports that around 130 special effects artists who worked on the movie have been owed payment since November of last year, when Meteor Studios - the producers of the film, who have since filed for bankruptcy - closed their effects studio upon completion of their work. After months of unsuccessfully trying to get paid by Meteor's parent companies, Evergreen Digital LLC and Discovery Trademark Holding Co., the artists have resorted to the lawsuit and even more desperate measures:

Brendan Fraser, star of the 3D action film that has grossed more than $102 million U.S. worldwide to date, has even gone to bat for the former Meteor Studios Inc. workers by making personal calls to the shareholders of the local company, which filed for bankruptcy in March.

Meteor's bankruptcy papers blamed the WGA strike as the main source of financial losses. Both parent companies aren't commenting on the case:

"Discovery Communications held a passive non-controlling shareholder interest in Meteor Studios, an independent company incorporated under the Quebec Companies Act," Katie Wolfgang, vice-president of international communications at Discovery, said in an email from her Maryland office yesterday.
"All matters related to the management of Meteor Studios, its employees and operations have been handled directly by Meteor Studios principals since the inception of the company."

Evergreen spokesman John Hernandez wasn't available for comment at the company's Denver headquarters.

Centre of the Earth effects artists file suit to recover their lost wages [Canada.com]

Anyone who's spent time with Newton's law of universal gravitation can tell you that we're all being pulled toward the center of the Earth. In fact, if you were to drill a hole through the Earth and jump through, you wouldn't fall to the other side and stay there — you would fall through the center, heading for the surface on the other side, and then be pulled back to the center by the gravitational force of the Earth. You would oscillate back in forth this way (with a period of about an hour and twenty minutes, by the way) until you ended up suspended at the exact center of the Earth. And you'd be stuck, unless you had some serious propulsion.

The virtual journey we're about to go on should be a little more straightforward — and a lot less dangerous.

0-35 KILOMETERS DOWN: THE CRUST

This is the outer shell of the Earth, and it comes in two categories: the continental crust, or the part right under our feet; and the oceanic crust, which is the layer of rock at the bottom of the seas. While the continental crust is composed mainly of silicon and aluminum oxides, the oceanic crust is made up of mafic rocks — that is, mostly magnesium and iron. The continental crust tends to be less dense than the oceanic crust, but both are formed by lower-density materials in the mantle that rise to the surface over time. Temperatures of the crust get higher as you venture further down, and they can reach up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit on the boundary with the upper mantle.

35-2890 KM DOWN: THE MANTLE

Here's where it gets interesting. Though the crust and the upper mantle (up to about 660 km down) are effectively solid, after that temperatures become so high that the material of the mantle becomes plastic — which means that under a certain level of stress, the body of the lower mantle actually begins to flow like a liquid. In the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth, what sent our heroes running was lava at 200 degrees Fahrenheit; I wonder what they'd do if someone told them that temperatures in the mantle range between about 1000 to 7200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Because of the mantle's plasticity, deformation of the metals can occur in areas called "subduction zones," and over time these metals change location within the mantle layer. Extreme pressures near the bottom — try about 1.4 million atmospheres — cause the material to deform like a fluid, and it rises up to relieve the pressure. Below about 650 kilometers, all of the minerals in the mantle start to destabilize and convect like this. Once they reach a higher point in the mantle, however, the release of pressure and the cooler surrounding area lead to a drop in temperature of the stressed metals. The lower-density metals can also rise to the upper boundary, eventually becoming part of the Earth's crust. This entire "downwelling" process is extremely chaotic — that is to say, freakishly nonlinear. But it works.

2890-5150 KM DOWN: THE OUTER CORE

As less dense materials and their chemically-bound buddies migrate to the Earth's crust, the denser metals remain in liquid form as a layer surrounding the Earth's core. In the outer core, these metals are mostly iron and nickel, heated at temperatures approximately between 7200 and 9000 degrees Fahrenheit and pressurized to over 1 million atmospheres. The film features a biosphere at the core heated by explosive gases, but that's, um, just plain wrong. It also shows our intrepid explorers heading to the core through "volcanic tubes," but as classic as the wooden-railed mine cart ride is, that's a fantasy that would disappear instantly into molten rock under the extreme heat and pressure of the outer core — not to mention the mantle first.

Since obviously no one can get down this far (the deepest humans have gotten is a smidge over 12 kilometers), seismologists have determined details about the mantle and the core by analyzing reflections and refractions of earthquake waves at the surface. They also estimate that convection in the outer core is responsible for sustaining the Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere — that's a concept that's very confused in Journey when Fraser and his cohorts leap across "magnetic rocks" at the center of the planet. In case you're also confused by the giant overhanging mushrooms and the ethereal beauty of the caverns and waterfalls, let me clear that up for you: They don't exist, either.

5150 KM DOWN TO CENTER: THE INNER CORE

The inner core of the Earth is a solid ball of metal — specifically, nickel and iron (just like in the outer core). So you can say goodbye to the fantastic creatures of Verne and Brevig, because there's nothing alive down here. The pressure at the center of the Earth is over 3 million atmospheres, and geologists estimate that the temperature can rise to over 10000 degrees Fahrenheit; even Brendan Fraser can't withstand that. It's the extreme pressure that "freezes" the inner core into a solid, and in fact, scientists believe that the inner core was liquid until 2-4 billion years ago.

A 2005 report in Science claims that the inner core rotates about 0.3 to 0.5 degrees more per year than the Earth's surface. This "super-rotation" probably acts to stabilize the magnetic field created by the outer core, so you have the inner core to thank for your working compass. And in case mine-cart rollercoasters, jagged stalactites, and huge 'shrooms don't do it for you, remember that the real center of the Earth is a spinning sphere of superheated metal. Not too shabby, eh?

"Structure of the Earth" [Wikipedia]
World Book at NASA: Earth [NASA] Earth images by Jeremy Kemp and SEWilco from Wikipedia.

You don't go to a movie where people fight dinosaurs and fall through giant lava tubes deep into the Earth expecting to find yourself in a tightly-wrapped little story with deliciously good quips. Probably you're there for the 3D roller coaster rides (there is one of those) and water slides (one of those too). But what sneaks up on you as you watch this movie is how intelligently put together it is: Not too long, always snappy, it doesn't mire itself in meaning or tacked-on emotional subplots (though there actually is a touching subplot about fatherhood).

Frasier specializes in himbo-with-a-heart-of-gold roles — he's one of a very few actors who can actually pull off being hunky and smart at the same time. And that's just what he has to do in this tale of Trevor, a tectonophysicist (i.e., a guy who studies earthquakes) whose dry research takes him into an amazing lost world. I think what makes this flick the perfect vehicle for Frasier, who actually worked quite a bit on the script, is its goofy science humor. With his nephew Sean in tow, Trevor sets off to find his missing tectonophysicist brother (Sean's dad), who it turns out was secretly a Vernian. Yes, a Vernian. In this flick, there is a secret cabal of scientists who believe that Jules Verne's science fiction novel Journey to the Center of the Earth was actually ALL TRUE. There's a great moment when Trevor shoves the original Verne book right into your face, in full 3D mode, just to emphasize the freakiness of it all.

Things just get sillier and more fun from there. Trevor and Sean go to Iceland's Ásgeirsson Institute for Progressive Vulcanicity, which is probably the best name I have ever heard for any research institution. There, they meet up with ass-kicking mountain guide Hannah, who winds up helping them escape from scrapes with sea monsters and lava flows and other pesky aspects of life beneath the planet's crust.

Once we do make it to the strange land of giant mushrooms, dinosaurs, and glowing birds that rests improbably in an "air bubble" inside a lava flow inside the Earth's core, the film gives us exactly what we want. Long shots of the bizarre landscape, crazy rides on ancient mine trains, and a zany fistfight with meat-eating plants. Again, I think it's crucial here to emphasize that the writing is part of what makes this work. Eye candy is great, but too many filmmakers get so carried away with showing off their effects that the story never takes us anywhere. Here, director Eric Brevig knows when we're done with caring about dino effects, and want to see something else.

In Journey, with a few short brushstrokes, we get a meaty quest tale with characters who (delightfully) never take themselves entirely seriously. When the action slows, we get a new strange hurdle, like sea monsters or a bunch of rocks floating in a "magnetic field." And in between the zaniness, there's a genuinely warm connection that develops between Trevor and Sean, who are both mourning the loss of the same man: Trevor's brother and Sean's father. Still, we don't linger on that for too long. There are a couple of brief scenes that are a bit weepy, but mostly we get a lot of fun mega-science style problem solving.

And can I just say that this movie managed to deliver some of the greatest mega-science moments ever? Seriously, riding a T-Rex skull through the earth on top of a giant geyser on top of a giant volcano? I could watch that again and again. Plus, I love a movie with a scientist hero, whose goal in life isn't to plunder treasure but just to get people interested in tectonophysics.

In an interview with Superhero.com, Nolan expresses his disinterest in the 3D craze:

I’m interested in the massive canvas, seeing that larger-than-life canvas that IMAX gives you, and you create a massive quality by the clarity and the size and brightness of the images. So that gives you a great physical sense, like you would get in a 3D movie, but it doesn’t diminish the scale of it. So you’re still dealing with a huge, larger than life canvas, that I think is the best way to use that format. I also hate wearing those glasses.

Charlotte Huggins, the producer of Dragons and also producer of 3D pictures Journey to the Center of the Earth and Fly Me to the Moon called the change a challenge. "4K [IMAX] is the next challenge ... and the special venue really pushes the envelope," she said.

How many other producers and directors will be abandoning 3D craze and hefting the massive cameras required to shoot a film in 4K.

James Cameron is still intent on playing in both sides of the pool. Never officially stating that he will be releasing Avatar on IMAX but still hinting at the possibility.

So what will happen to our dear little indie house theaters? Will they go the way of the Drive-In making ways for massive IMAX screens and a plethora of strained necks, bad backs and headaches formed by overstimulated corneas? Gone will be the days of pre-drinks before the movie. Have you ever tried to watch an IMAX movie after a bottle of red? Not a good idea.

[Hollywood Reporter]

Iron Man 2:

Thor won't be making a cameo in Iron Man 2, says director Jon Favreau. He also mentions he's seen early art from from the Captain America movie, and it looks great. [IESB]

Hellboy 2:

Variety also posted its review of Hellboy 2, and it includes some spoilers. As the movie starts, Hellboy's girlfriend Liz is pregnant, but he doesn't realize this at first. There's an early sequence where he battles a giant green forest deity, cradling a baby in his arms. We see a flashback to 1955, where Professor Broom (John Hurt) reads Hellboy more of that story about the making of the mechanical Golden Army to protect the Elves against the humans. The crown controlling the army gets split up, with one part going to the humans and two parts to the ancients.

Fifty years later, Hellboy is working for the Department of Paranormal Research and Defense. His boss wants Hellboy to be discreet and low-profile, so of course he gets thrown out of a burning building and onto a police car. It turns out the Elf Prince Nuada wants to reactivate the Golden Army, but his sister Princess Nuala hides her piece of the all-important crown. The army finally does get awakened, in Ireland, and Hellboy fights Nuada on top of a giant clockwork mechanism. [Variety]

Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3-D:

Variety also posted its early review of Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3-D, with more spoilers. Brendan Fraser plays Trevor, whose brother Max disappeared years ago. Max's bratty teenage son Sean shows up for a visit, bringing a box of Max's papers including a copy of Jules Verne's Journey To The Center Of The Earth. It turns out Max had a theory about volcanic "tubes" that could carry you past the Earth's magma layer into the planet's core. He takes Sean off to Iceland to discover the truth. They hook up with a mountain guide, Anita, who believes Verne was actually writing the truth. They ride a broken down mining rail, over a steep cliff, plummeting miles below sea level into a giant jewel-encrusted cave. They cope with carnivorous plants, Alien-like fish, and dinosaurs. [Variety]

Transformers 2:

Jon Voight (the Secretary of State in the first Transformers) says he won't be back for the sequel. [Collider]

Also, I totally missed the snippet towards the end of this article, where Michael Bay mentions a bit about the plot of Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen. Sam Witwicky goes off to college at an Ivy League-esque East Coast school, but Mikaela (Megan Fox) can't afford college. She travels from L.A. to visit him at his school. [NJ.com via TrekMovie]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Garret Dillahunt's Terminator, Cromartie, will be a regular in the second season of the Terminator movie spin-off show Sarah Connor Chronicles. Cameron (Summer Glau) has some issues after surviving that explosion at the end of season one, and everybody changes at the end of the first episode. We'll also see Cameron trying to eliminate other girls in John Connor's life, if she feels they pose a strategic threat. [E! Online]

Smallville:

Young-Superman show Smallville is casting three characters for the first episode of season eight: a guard, a scientist and a researcher, all of whose storylines relate to Chloe somehow. Also, Clark has a surprise for Lois when he returns to Metropolis. [Kryptonsite]

Doctor Who:

So what exactly happened at the end of Saturday's episode of time-travel soap Doctor Who, when the dying Doctor started to regenerate? Nobody knows, but there are a few theories:

1) The Doctor has a failed regeneration, with his severed hand involved somehow, and as a result he turns into two different Doctors, both played by David Tennant. (We showed some pics of Tennant wearing two different colored suits on the beach where he said goodbye to Rose in season two.)
2) The Doctor has a failed regeneration, which splits him into two Doctors, one played by David Tennant (thanks to the severed hand?) and the other played by David Morrissey (who's in the Christmas special later this year playing a character referred to as "the other Doctor" on the actors' trailers.)
3) The Doctor has a failed regeneration, which splits him into two Doctors — one of whom is actually Donna. (Not sure where this one comes from, actually.)
4) The Doctor "rolls back" his regenerations for a bit, and turns into Sylvester McCoy, the Doctor from the late 1980s. (The main evidence for this is that Syl was interviewed for Doctor Who Confidential, and was wearing a version of his old costume on camera.)
5) The Doctor's regenerations are tied to the Master's now, so he somehow turns into John Simm. (This has apparently been debunked. Simm won't be back this week, but the Master will show up sometime in 2009.)
6) Something different will happen.
All we do know for sure is that Tennant was filming the Christmas special a while back, so he's definitely not being gotten rid of — unless that was the most elaborate foiler ever. [Doctor Who Forum]

But if you really can't wait, here's someone's fanfic of what might happen on Saturday. [Yo-Mawari]

We do know that Sarah-Jane Smith won't die, because Elisabeth Sladen says she's in the middle of filming a second season of Sarah-Jane Adventures already. [Spoiler TV]

And here's a trailer for Saturday's episode, which reveals almost nothing, except that Davros wants to reduce the universe to atoms, which will become nothing. "The destruction of reality itself!" (What if Davros actually succeeds, and then reality reforms itself, because of nature abhorring a vacuum?) [Planet Gallifrey]

Heroes:

"Villains" is volume three, not season three, of superhero melodrama Heroes — the show's third season will consist of both volumes three and four. (Volume three is just 13 episodes.) The season doesn't introduce many new characters, but some new villains will show up. There's definitely more to Nathan's assassination than meets the eye. Also, we'll explore what will happen if "Sylar were only the tip of the iceberg" in terms of morally corrupt people with superpowers. [Collider again]

For a remake of a 49-year-old movie based upon a 144-year-old book, the movie industry is looking at upcoming Brendan Fraser flick Journey To The Center Of The Earth as a sign of things to come. Why, you may wonder? Well, it's got something to do with another retro technology as well as Disney's tween popstar Hannah Montana.

The movie, released on July 11th, is being seen by many as a test for just how well live-action 3-D movies will do with the summer blockbuster audience:

Live-action 3-D pics are considered risky to start with, and producing them carries extra cost. Although they can still be unspooled on 2D screens, 3-D is more problematic for [DVD and video]... "It's sort of a tricky proposition right now to make live action 3-D movies because you have to make sure it works on both formats," acknowledges New Line topper Toby Emmerich. "We think it does."

The movie will play on 800 3-D screens nationally (many of them owned by co-producer Walden Media's boss, Philip Anschutz), and the people behind the movie are hopeful that it can at least equal the record of the last major 3-D live action success: Disney's Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (You may mock, but it made $65.3 million in limited release last year in the US alone. That's about $20 million more than Speed Racer). If it fails at the box office, expect minor panic from all of the other 3-D movies currently in production (including James Cameron's Avatar, Tim Burton's live-action remake of Alice In Wonderland and the fourth installment of the Final Destination franchise).

Will viewers make 'Journey' in 3-D?" [Variety]

Warner Bros. has released a new synopsis of Journey:

During a scientific expedition in Iceland, visionary scientist Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser), his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) and their beautiful local guide, Hannah (Anita Briem), are unexpectedly trapped in a cave from which their only escape is to go deeper and deeper into the depths of the Earth. Traveling through never-before-seen worlds, the trio comes face-to-face with surreal and unimaginable creatures—including man-eating plants, giant flying piranha, glow birds and terrifying dinosaurs from days past. The explorers soon realize that as volcanic activity increases around them, they must find a way back to the earth's surface before it is too late.

With spectacular photo-real environments and revolutionary new filmmaking techniques, "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is an epic adventure that takes audiences directly into the heart of our heroes' voyage, bringing them along for a wild, visceral ride

• Here's another source repeating the rumor that the Battlestar Galactica finds Earth... but it's Earth in our 22nd. century. And there will be a twist of "M. Night Shyamalan proportions." And someone important, maybe Starbuck, dies (again.) Take this with a grain of salt, especially since the source believes Tricia Helfer played Xena. (I'm glad it wasn't us making that mistake!) [SpoilerGeeks]
• In Journey to the Center of the Earth, Brendan Fraser's character (Trevor Anderson) has lost his brother, who believed absolutely that Jules Verne's book was true. And so Fraser takes his nephew, the missing brother's son, on a quest for the missing Max Anderson, using the book as a guide. [IESB]
• Another day, another batch of Lost spoilers. Kate and Sawyer don't patch up their recent quarrel any time in the next few weeks. Next week's episode is a Juliet-centric episode, in which all of Juliet's flashbacks take place on the island... and the actor playing Charles Widmore guest stars. Also, Juliet has to make a dangerous trip to the Orchid Station, a facility conducting "highly volatile and potentially dangerous" research. She has to trek through a field full of skeletons. And Juliet initiates a kiss with Jack! [E! Online]
• More Lost spoilers: season four is about who gets off the island. Season five is about why the Oceanic Six have to go back to the island, and season six is about what happens when these characters get back to the island. And one of the Oceanic Six will die while off the island. [Spoilerati]
• And here's another clip from this week's Lost episode:
• On Jericho, Major Beck will feel betrayed by both Heather (whom he has some romantic tension with) and Jake (whom he hand-picked to be sheriff.) In the case of Jake, the Major may break out the Guantanamo-style interrogation techniques to get the bottom of things. But when it comes to Heather, there will probably just be pouting. [E! Online again]
• Here's some dialogue from the March 7 Stargate: Atlantis episode, "The Last Man": Sheppard: Somebody turned up the heat. Hello? If this is a surprise party, it's not my birthday. Sheppard (cont'd into comm): This is Sheppard, anyone read? I repeat, this is Sheppard, anyone on this channel?. Sheppard (cont'd): All right, this is either the most elaborate practical joke of all time, or I'm in serious trouble here. Sheppard (cont'd into comm): This is Sheppard, anyone on this frequency? McKay (v/o over comm): Sheppard, is that really you? Sheppard (into comm): McKay? McKay (v/o over comm): I can't believe it. It actually worked! Sheppard (into comm): What are you talking about? What the hell is going on here? McKay(v/o over comm): Iimagine you're a little confused right now. God, for you, like, what, five minutes has passed? Sheppard (into comm): Rodney! [Gateworld]

1. Environmental Guilt. Many people are paralyzed by guilt over how much we've trashed the environment, and though they try to buy green and recycle they are overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness. Trying to cope with this, people yearn for stories about a world where humans aren't around anymore to muck things up.

2. Future Ennui. Sometimes it seems like we do nothing but plan for the future: You have to do everything from balancing your homework load so you can get into college, to balancing your checkbook so you'll have retirement savings. Living your daily life while planning for tomorrow can be a huge drain on your mental resources. You're constantly asking yourself about what to do now to make the future work out. Which politician should we vote for to improve our neighborhoods or our nation? How can we plan for a perfect vacation, a perfect wedding, or a perfect science project? Stories about a world without people are relaxing. We don't have to worry what we would do because we're just not there.

3. Fear of Extinction. OK, this one is obvious. We may be sick of planning for the future, but we're also scared shitless that the future will smack us on the head and wipe us all out. Who could have predicted Hurricane Katrina or the Asian Tsunami? What if next time the disaster is global in scale? We imagine the world without ourselves as a coping mechanism, a way to accustom ourselves to the idea that no matter how much we plan, we still may not make it as a species.

4. Evolution Degree Zero. A world without humans is a world where we've hit the reset button. All our mistakes are undone, and we can start fresh. Maybe humans will evolve again, better this time.

• Brendan hadn't read the original Journey book and went out to find a copy at his local Borders. He found the last copy in a Jules Verne anthology.
• He found out that during World War I, soldiers on all sides of the conflict it was being read by soldiers in the trenches in multiple translations.
• He compared the first version of the script he saw to a three-day old smorgasborg, "It would give you indigestion because so many people had already been going through it." So he pitched a new version to director Eric Brevig, and they made extensive changes to the script, returning it closer to Verne's original version.
• Fraser remembered being wowed by the computer-generated knight coming out of the stained glass window in Young Sherlock Holmes, and we now take amazing effects for granted.
• They were able to view "morninglies" and "nightlies" since they were shooting with digital cameras, instead of viewing them once at the end of the day, or the next day, which is traditionally how it happens.
• 60% of the film has digital enhancements and CGI elements of some kind.
• Brendan's favorite films from his own career are: Gods and Monsters, The Quiet American, The Mummy, and George of the Jungle.
• He went on to say "I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize for Monkeybone," and he called it an "$80 million dollar arthouse film."
• When a fan asked Brendan what advice he'd give to an up and coming actress, he said "I'll give you the same three words I was given when I was in training in Seattle, 'Have courage.'" When asked what the third word was, he said "I'm not very good at math."
• Brendan wants all of us to "take a leap of faith" with this "beta" version of where we're heading with 3D filmmaking, and he says the movie is as important as when sound first came to the movies in The Jazz Singer. Based on the trailer we've seen, we're not sure if we'll be leaping into that hole. However, the 3D footage they showed late sure looked tactile and tasy.

When I started putting this poll together, I was shocked by how many remakes are currently on the slate. Some of them are more definite than others: Jason Statham in Death Race, Brendan Fraser in Journey to the Center of the Earth and Keanu Reeves in The Day The Earth Stood Still are definitely happening. (Oh, and Will Ferrell's Land of the Lost.)

Less definite: Gerard Butler is supposed to be starring in the remake of Escape From New York, with a director TBA, but some reports say Butler has pulled out. (Butler himself said recently he's still considering doing it.) Peter Berg's Dune is in the early stages, and so is Roland Emmerich's Fantastic Voyage. Robert Rodriguez's Barbarella is in limbo, but he's still trying to get it made with Rose McGowan.

Even less definite: The remakes of Logan's Run and Metropolis seemed so uncertain, I left them out of the poll. Oh, and I forgot to include The Greatest American Hero and Scanners, which are also in the early planning stages, in the poll.

I started to make a joke along the lines of, "next they'll remake Westworld or something," only to realize a Westworld remake is also in the planning stages.

So leaving out the super-iffy Westworld, Greatest American, Scanners, Logan's Run and Metropolis, there are still a lot of forthcoming remakes to choose from. Which one fills you with the most revulsion?

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Fraser's scientist character has been discredited because of his crazy theories, but then he discovers the passageway into the deep caverns underground. The film was shot using the 3-D camera system developed by James Cameron for 2009's Avatar.

• Brendan Fraser rules in art films like The Quiet American and Gods And Monsters, but he has a history of Monkeybone-ing his way through a horrendous spate of lighter films.
• The lack of buzz about a movie coming out in July is a little worrying.
• Let's just pray that an earlier Journey script, in which an explorer finds vampires at the Earth's center, left no trace on this one.
• It's another pointless 3-D movie, cashing in on Beowulf's success and Avatar anticipation.
• Fraser has a 13-year-old nephew tagging along, played by Josh Hutcherson (Zathura, Little Manhattan).
• Director Eric Brevig is another newbie who's only done special effects work before (just like Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem's Strause brothers.)

[Slashfilm]