In an article from Superherohype, pre-sales of tickets for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is outselling JJ Abrams' Star Trek and the first Transformers movie.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen doesn't open till next week (June 24th), but as of this morning, the film already represents 45% of ticket sales on Fandango, the nation's leading moviegoer destination.
"For nearly two years - since the last Transformers opened - this new movie has been one of the most highly-anticipated films among fans on our site," says Rick Butler, Chief Operating Officer of Fandango. "Tickets for the new Transformers are already selling fast, so moviegoers should plan on buying their tickets in advance, as many showtimes are certain to sell out next week."
Fandango has surveyed nearly 2,000 moviegoers planning to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Among the findings:
* 88% of respondents said they are fans of director Michael Bay; 66% of them picked Transformers as their favorite Bay film.
* 77% of respondents say they were fans of Transformers when they were kids; 68% of those fans watched the cartoon series, while 61% played with the toys.
* 45% picked Optimus Prime as their favorite Transformer; 21% picked Bumblebee; 4% picked Megatron.
* 62% of respondents are 18-34 years old; 63% are male.
In a separate survey on Fandango, 36% of moviegoers picked Transformers star Megan Fox as the sexiest female star of the summer.
Considering the expectation that Revenge could make as much as $175 million in the states alone I can't say I am surprised. Currently Star Trek is the number one movie in the states with a $233M and worldwide total sits at 4th with $351.9M total after 40 days of release. Angels & Demons is the current worldwide box office king with a $440.7M total after 33 days of release. My prediction is Transformers 2 to blow by Star Trek's worldwide total by the 7th day of release and surpass Angels by the 13th day.
Side note, feel free to the Fandango links on this blog to order your tickets if ordering online.
Movietickets.com also released a brief bit of info on how Transformers 2 ticket sales are doing on their website.
As of today, U.S. ticket sales at MovieTickets.com for “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” are outpacing ticket sales for “Transformers” by almost 3-to-1 at the same point in the sales cycle – eight days prior to each film’s release.
Friday, June 19, 2009
ROTF The Game Art Director, Producer Interviews
Below is supposed to be interviews with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen The Game Art Director Justin Thomas and Producer Jason Ades from GameTrailers.com. What I hear is loud music and no words while mouths are moving. Maybe it’s just my browser but if it doesn't work for you, at least get to see more game play footage.
Transformers 2 Fun Facts
Over at MichaelBay.com, there is a new article that provides a bunch of impressive facts about Devastator, CGI effects and other stats in regards to making Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Memorize and annoy your friends by spouting these facts while watching the film :PRobots
- 14 robots last time, 46 robots this time (ILM only)
- If you had all the gold ever mined in the history of man, you could build a little more than half of Devastator.
- Devastator’s hand is traveling 390 miles per hour when he punches the pyramid.
- The pyramid destruction simulation was 8 times bigger than the old rigid simulation all-time record holder at ILM.
- All robot parts laid out end to end would stretch from one side of California to the other, about 180 miles
- Devastator’s parts stacked tip to tip would be as tall as 58 empire state buildings.
- If all the texture maps on the show were printed on 1 square yard sheets, they would cover 13 football fields.
Disk space
- TF1 took 20 Terabytes of disk space. Trans2 took 145 Terabytes. Seven times bigger!
- 145 terabytes would fill 35,000 DVDs. Stacked one on top of the other without storage cases, they would be 145 feet tall.
Rendering times
- If you rendered the entire movie on a modern home PC, you would have had to start the renders 16,000 years ago (when cave paintings like the Hall of Bulls were being made) to finish for this year’s premiere!
- A single IMAX shot in the movie (df250) would have taken almost 3 years to render on a top of the line home PC running nonstop.
IMAX
- Optimus Prime will be life size on IMAX screens in many forest fight shots.
- IMAX frames take about 6 times longer than anamorphic to render.
- IMAX frame render times: As high as 72 hours per frame!
ILM screen time
- ILM Screen Time is about 51 minutes.
Devastator
- Devastator is as tall as a 10 story building.
- Devastator has more than 10 times the number of individual parts found in an average car.
- Laid out end to end, Devastator’s parts would be almost 14 miles long.
Devastator totals
- Number of geom pieces: 52632
- The total number of polygons: 11,716,127
- The total length of all pieces: 73090 feet
- The total length of all pieces: 13.84 miles
Bay : Obama In Film
From Digital Spy, Michael Bay had a chance to meet US President Barack Obama and learned that he admires his work. Thanks to Chris for the link.
Bay said: "The Obama thing? I met him in an airport where he was carrying his bag by himself and we talked about movies and apparently he likes my movies. So I figured we'll just put him in."
The director joked that he was able to include the up-to-date reference because he had only completed making the film last Wednesday [6/10].
I should add that this doesn't mean that Obama filmed a scene; it just means that the movie makes a reference to him or maybe uses TV footage to indicate he is the current president in the movie. Since most movies were filmed last year (before the election) they normally wouldn't be able to make that kind of reference but since Bay didn't finished editing until last week, he had more flexibility to add that in.
Bay said: "The Obama thing? I met him in an airport where he was carrying his bag by himself and we talked about movies and apparently he likes my movies. So I figured we'll just put him in."
The director joked that he was able to include the up-to-date reference because he had only completed making the film last Wednesday [6/10].
I should add that this doesn't mean that Obama filmed a scene; it just means that the movie makes a reference to him or maybe uses TV footage to indicate he is the current president in the movie. Since most movies were filmed last year (before the election) they normally wouldn't be able to make that kind of reference but since Bay didn't finished editing until last week, he had more flexibility to add that in.
Transformers 2 In Guiness
Turns out that when Michael Bay said the movie would be bigger, he wasn't kidding as the production of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has entered the record books according the New Zealand Herald (via MB.com) as Bay and company talk about making the film. Thanks to Chris for the link.
Bay has made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the biggest explosion on film with actors present. That shot was filmed in New Mexico. Some have likened the film to that of a "war movie," to which Bay disagrees. "No, it's just more adventure and action. There are also more robots and they can do more things, but it's not a war movie."
"On the first Transformers we used real service people, not actors. With this one, we used every service - the navy and the army. Actually, after the first Transformers there was an increase in signing up for the military. It's almost like a big commercial to enlist in the army," says Bonaventura.
"I take you to places that have never been shot in a movie. The top of Petra has never been put on film, period. King Abdullah II let us take 36 helicopter loads of military men up there. We were able to use a crane, so we take the viewer on aerial shots of the pyramid that even National Geographic never got permission to do," he says. "They've all tried," he says again, making his point. "When John Turturro was filming on the pyramid, he had a tear in his eye. I said, 'Why are you crying? What's going on?' He said, 'You just don't get to do this in movies. You don't get to shoot in a place that's 4000 years old."' So, how was the big shot from Hollywood able to convince Middle Eastern royalty to let him have his way? "Because I'm a smooth talker," he jokes. "No, seriously, the Prince and the King of Jordan were big fans of Transformers. That helped."
"When we landed in Jordan or Egypt, Shia and I shared one car with the driver who was also the security guard. Michael's car was flanked by six other security vehicles to make sure he got to the hotel safely," she says. Now you can see why he's regarded as a rock star. Fox adds, "It was like they were driving the president."
Bay has made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the biggest explosion on film with actors present. That shot was filmed in New Mexico. Some have likened the film to that of a "war movie," to which Bay disagrees. "No, it's just more adventure and action. There are also more robots and they can do more things, but it's not a war movie."
"On the first Transformers we used real service people, not actors. With this one, we used every service - the navy and the army. Actually, after the first Transformers there was an increase in signing up for the military. It's almost like a big commercial to enlist in the army," says Bonaventura.
"I take you to places that have never been shot in a movie. The top of Petra has never been put on film, period. King Abdullah II let us take 36 helicopter loads of military men up there. We were able to use a crane, so we take the viewer on aerial shots of the pyramid that even National Geographic never got permission to do," he says. "They've all tried," he says again, making his point. "When John Turturro was filming on the pyramid, he had a tear in his eye. I said, 'Why are you crying? What's going on?' He said, 'You just don't get to do this in movies. You don't get to shoot in a place that's 4000 years old."' So, how was the big shot from Hollywood able to convince Middle Eastern royalty to let him have his way? "Because I'm a smooth talker," he jokes. "No, seriously, the Prince and the King of Jordan were big fans of Transformers. That helped."
"When we landed in Jordan or Egypt, Shia and I shared one car with the driver who was also the security guard. Michael's car was flanked by six other security vehicles to make sure he got to the hotel safely," she says. Now you can see why he's regarded as a rock star. Fox adds, "It was like they were driving the president."
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Transformers 2 Moscow Premiere Videos
Next stop on the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen promotional train was Moscow, Russia for the premiere held on June 16th. Below are five videos of Bay and company walking the carpet. Megan Fox continues to show remarkable consistency with style something that Hollywood starlets tend to fail at. Also a rare video appearance from Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel as they appear to be enjoying themselves and joking around. I am not sure what location is next as the US premiere isn't until June 22nd but I assume any day now the cast will start appearing on stateside talk shows to promote the movie.
Film Journal Talks Metal With TF Writers
I guess Transformers I and II writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have recovered from their two month promotional tour for Star Trek as Film Journal (found on TFW2005) has posted a new article about the duo. Unless they are prepping the help with The Proposal which they produced. Any case, much of the article covers ground read before over the last year about looking at other sequels for inspiration, writing a story with an emotional core, getting locked in hotel rooms with Ehren Kruger after the strike, and so forth. The entire article can be found here.
"For us, the action always emerges from the characters; the audience tunes out random action scenes that don't move the plot forward or take the characters in some new direction," Kurtzman says. "So in Revenge of the Fallen, there are several sequences that we pitched to Michael in detail as part of the characters' stories and he ended up shooting them almost exactly as we pitched them. Of course, he also comes up with great ways to embellish the sequences and no one is better at that than he is."
That information will come in handy as the duo makes their long-planned transition to directing. "The plan is to find the right film for us to direct in the next couple of years," Orci reveals. "We're happy being the guys that write the words, but we want to try everything. It's possible that we'll each direct our own projects, but we might be too jealous of what the other is doing and so we'll both have to do it!" While neither claims to have a dream project right now, there is one franchise that Orci says he's hoping to see realized on the big screen someday. "I'd love to see [Nintendo's] The Legend of Zelda done right."
More Revenge Interview From ET
Entertainment Tonight (ET) has released its third video interview in a series (one, two) of whenever they run out of footage. This time we get a little bit from Tyrese Gibson as he talks about nicknames for Bay (Boom Boom Bay-ster) and Megan Fox (Foxy).
Ice Cream Truck Twins And Arcee Video Reviews
Peaugh strikes again, posting a video review of Deluxe Ice Cream Truck Twins and Arcee. The truck is a buy for me and Arcee (along with the other cycles) should be a pass for everyone.
We Are Autobots Site Launches
Paramount Pictures has launched a new website for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen called We Are Autobots. The site uses something called "Augmented Reality" that makes use of your webcam to interact with the website. Below is the press release that explains it better then I can.
PARAMOUNT LAUNCHES TRANSFORMERS AUGMENTED REALITY EXPERIENCE – WE ARE AUTOBOTS.COM
To promote the international release of TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, Paramount Pictures International (PPI) is making ground-breaking use of augmented reality (AR) and face tracking technology to give Transformers fans the opportunity to picture themselves with the original 3D CGI head of Optimus Prime.
Visitors to We Are Autobots can also find a hidden holographic message from Bumblebee featuring an exclusive montage of Decepticon footage from the new movie. TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN is released in the UK and Ireland on June 19th and internationally on June 24th 2009.
‘We Are Autobots’ has been developed using the original 3D models of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee that appear in the film. It was developed for PPI by creative marketing agency Picture Production Company (PPC), working in conjunction with augmented reality specialists Total Immersion.
Please visit here for a video demo. (or below)
TV Spots #14-16
Three new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen TV Spots in HD care of MichaelBay.com. The first spot (#14) is the one we saw yesterday that previews the kitchen bots.
TV Spot #14 - Space Moms
TV Spot #14 - Space Moms
More Reviews; Variety Confirms Todd As Fallen?
Variety has posted its review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen from the London premiere of the movie. As part of that, they posted a partial cast list that seems to confirm that Tony Todd is the voice of The Fallen. It also shows that Anthony Anderson voices Jolt. While Todd's deep voice is perfect for Fallen, not sure about Jolt who I don't think even has lines in the movie so I can't help but wonder if Variety's list is from IMDB which is not 100% accurate. Thanks to Jennie for the link and Carnivac for the reminder.
Now on to few more reviews.
Variety Review
With machines that are impressively more lifelike, and characters that are more and more like machines, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" takes the franchise to a vastly superior level of artificial intelligence. As for human intelligence, it's primarily at the service of an enhanced arsenal of special effects, which helmer Michael Bay deploys like a general launching his very own shock-and-awe campaign on the senses. Otherwise, little seems new compared to the first installment, except that this version is longer, louder, and perhaps "more than your eye can meet" in one sitting. It will reap similar B.O. rewards worldwide.
But the true stars here are the Transformers themselves, who continually steal the spotlight from the flesh-and-blood cast, even in scenes of tragic death or comic relief usually reserved for real actors.
The Hollywood Reporter
With its intelligence at the level of the simple-minded, however, the film is not likely to attract moviegoers who seek something more than a screen filled with kaleidoscopes of colored metal. Fan boys will no doubt love it, but for the uninitiated it's loud, tedious and, at 147 minutes, way too long.
Empire Online (3/5)
Devastator..lumbers up the dusty colossus, a shot tilts up to its mid-section, revealing two wrecking balls dangling down. Yes, Michael Bay...has one-upped himself: Decepticon testicles. If the thought of that gag makes you laugh, chances are you’ll have a ball with Revenge Of The Fallen. If not… well, Bay really doesn’t care. His first and only sequel since Bad Boys 2 is, like that film, marked by swaggering confidence, wild excess and a string of bad-taste jokes. ...The plot, meanwhile, is as baffling as before, not only bringing back the abstruse Allspark but throwing in a new MacGuffin called the ‘Matrix of Leadership’. It tries harder to be funny but is actually less so.
What saves it, just about, are the effects. At times the frame is so packed with whirring cogs and twirling cranks that you could replicate the effect by staring at the innards of a domestic appliance, but when these CG moto-men from another world duke it out, the images are often so screwy it’s impossible to do anything but sit and stare. The Shanghai-set opening sequence is lunatic fun, with Optimus Prime leaping onto the face of a colossal, rampaging unicycle and ordering it to, “Pull over”. And while Prime’s later forest face-off against a trio of Decepticons suffers by comparison to a recent film’s spar between a big ape and three dinosaurs, there are more flawlessly rendered money shots in the last 40 minutes alone than in a dozen less ambitious blockbusters.
ROTF Berlin Premiere Video
From serieasten.tv is a news report from the Berlin Premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on June 15th (or 14th not sure). Most of the report is in German, but the responses to questions to the actors and Bay is in English. Shia talks about growing up on Transformers ("the male Barbie") and GameBoy. Personally I like the huge fragmented Decepticon symbol you see in the background in some shots. I previously posted links to pictures from the event here.
Sadly no option to embed, so click here to view the video.
ROTF Game Multi-Player Walkthrough
A new walkthrough video from GameTrailers.com for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen The Game. This time it’s the player as Starscream as he takes on other plays in the multi-player mode. It almost makes me want to buy a current gen system to get the game. Mostly a Wii-man myself but due to the graphics, this game is something you either get for the 360 or PS3 or don't bother to get at all.
Third Arcee Revealed
It took long enough but finally the third Transformers of the Arcee trio has been revealed. The image from TFG2 is of the purple bike that a MV Agusta USA designed bike. For the movie, Arcee is one personality spread over three bikes. The individual naming is for the toys, probably to make it less confusing to kids. What that third toy name is for purple Arcee has not been revealed.
Update: I could have sworn I posted the Arcee bio before but I can't seem to find it so here it is from TFW2005. Of note, the bio suggests Arcee is one bike, not three. Thanks to G0M3Z for the link.
Deluxe Arcee Bio
Arcee jumped at the chance to join up with Ironhide and the other Decepticon hunters on Earth. She proved such an effective warrior that she was quickly given command of her own strike team, made up of robots similar to her in attitude and design. together with the Autobots she leads, she stalks the Decepticons in silence, creeping close enough to look them in the optics before she strikes.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
BD-Live Revenge Of The Fallen Scene
As previousily posted, the new BD-Live content for the first Transformers Blu-ray disc is now live. As part of that, there where three new clips. I believe the first two was Wheelie vs Mikaela and NEST vs Demolisher. This one found on TFW2005 is Sam and company getting captured by Grindor.
WARNING, while the video is fine the sound is a very irritating noise so turn the volume down before playing. I figure you would rather have the video with aweful sound then nothing at all.
Turn Your Speakers Down !!
WARNING, while the video is fine the sound is a very irritating noise so turn the volume down before playing. I figure you would rather have the video with aweful sound then nothing at all.
Turn Your Speakers Down !!
Below are links to a bunch of new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen galleries that TFW2005 has posted. All are toys we have seen before but just lots more images to check out. Picture to the left is Legends Fallen found here.
Scout Dune Runner - Large gallery of the non movie character toy and compared with other scout class toys.
Voyager and FAB Grindor and Scorponok - The Blackout repaint in grayish white with a new head mold that makes an appearance in the movie as a means of trying to get hold of Sam and company. Includes comparisons of the two toys along with repaint of Scorponok.
Knockoff ROTF - For your amusement, follow the link to check out knock off versions of Demolisher, Breakaway, and Depthcharge (but created at Voyager size scale).
Isabel Lucas ROVE Interview
Isabel Lucas was on Australian show ROVE last week to promote Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. She answers the usual questions about getting the job (help from Spielberg), working with Bay (challenges his actors) and how to run in heels. In addition, click here for a short, humor segment she participated in.
Blu-Ray Extra Features Now Live
According to Relentless, if you have Transformers on Blu-ray, the extra features and sneak peak at Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is now up on BD-Live. The features include a new scene from ROTF, new documentaries and Transformers I cut scenes. Exactly how you access it BD-Live is something you will have to work out for yourself as I don't have a Blu-ray player. As for DVD owners, I know my copy didn’t come with an online code so not sure how that is going to work out. I am hoping the extra features will make their way to YouTube.
Scalan15 adds that if your having a problem find the new content, "you need to delete the prior transformers BD Data file, once you delete that and start the disc up it should work."
Update: From Aaron comments, most of the features are not new. As for the new scene, it what takes place after their adventures with Alice and before the The Doctor may or may not torture Sam.
"Sam, Mikaela and Leo are driving away from something (picks up mid-scene, so no idea what's going on). An Mh-53 picks them up, no markings to indicate if Blackout/Grindor (it's fast), drops some sort of hook on them, lifts them airborn to drag away. This leads to the scene we've seen many times with a car rotating in mid-air with Sam holding on for dear life from the passenger door. It goes on to imply they've been flown a long distance to a warehouse where the car is dropped from a height of 50+ feet, crashes thru the glass roof of the building, lands on concrete and immediately settles on the roof of the car, the airbags deploy. Then the scene we've seen several times of a saw blade opening up the car and Starscream overlooking the newly opened insides of the car. Never shows if anyone gets out OK or runs away."
Scalan15 adds that if your having a problem find the new content, "you need to delete the prior transformers BD Data file, once you delete that and start the disc up it should work."
Update: From Aaron comments, most of the features are not new. As for the new scene, it what takes place after their adventures with Alice and before the The Doctor may or may not torture Sam.
"Sam, Mikaela and Leo are driving away from something (picks up mid-scene, so no idea what's going on). An Mh-53 picks them up, no markings to indicate if Blackout/Grindor (it's fast), drops some sort of hook on them, lifts them airborn to drag away. This leads to the scene we've seen many times with a car rotating in mid-air with Sam holding on for dear life from the passenger door. It goes on to imply they've been flown a long distance to a warehouse where the car is dropped from a height of 50+ feet, crashes thru the glass roof of the building, lands on concrete and immediately settles on the roof of the car, the airbags deploy. Then the scene we've seen several times of a saw blade opening up the car and Starscream overlooking the newly opened insides of the car. Never shows if anyone gets out OK or runs away."
Transformers 2 London Premiere
Early today in London was the premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with most of the cast (no Isabel Lucas) on hand for the celebration. Below are videos of the blue Autobot carpet and links to Bay, Shia, and Fox signing autographs.
As for pictures, have them too. Megan Fox continues to dazzle in her black dress and it seems everyone is having a good time.
HeyUGuys blog | LaBeoufPhotos.info | Shia-Labeouf.biz | PopSugar
In addition, the Zoe Griffin blog provides a look at the press conference for the trio as they answer a few questions and she provides her opinion on the proceedings.
Megan Fox - Another blunt reponse from Megan about fame.
Shia LaBeouf - Few TF facts, and Shia reminding the reporters how is name is pronounced and click here for her observations on how he is not sexy.
Autobot Blue Carpet, London
More videos: Megan Fox | Shia LaBeouf | Michael Bay
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
