Cloverfield Roundup

What could possibly be more important than news on the upcoming J.J. Abrams flick, Cloverfield /1-18-08?

How about a sequel to one of the greatest surf movies of all time. Yes, they're going to make Point Break 2! We can finally know the fate of Johnny Utah and Bodhi.

Oh, I can die happy now...

While everything else is downhill from there, I guess I'll just have to see what else is going on. Actuall, only a tiny amount of Cloverfield -1-18-08 related news brewing today. Most of J.J.'s news is centered around the Star Trek movie he's making while the Cloverfield/1-18-08 gets a news update once every 2 weeks.

As you may know, the big news this week is the pre-screen of the new Cloverfield/1-18-08 trailer by CHUD. While only time will tell its validity the real fact that only 11 weeks remain until the movie actually hits.

The Bad Robot homepage got a minor update this past week. This is the production unit of J.J. Abrams and it features only a bad robot graphic. The only difference is the picture size. It's about 1/3 the size it used to be and was for years. A small and insignificant update but the fact they are glossing up their homepage (which is linking via the official Apple trailer) might mean some updates coming soon.

Which leads me to this great find by Cloverfield News about one of the production houses, The Third Floor, who is working on the Cloverfield/1-18-08 movie. As a huge fan of cinema and future producer I find the work that The Third Floor does highly interesting and extremely valuable.

The Third Floor does pre-viz, or pre-visulization. Think of it as electronic storyboards where directors can have quick models of their movies created to see how they will look finalized. Very important when you're working with CG monsters and sets. Their work also includes texturing and 3-D tracking.

They have a great sample reel of their movies clips which demonstrates their work. This group is huge and has done animatics for George Lucas on Star Wars III as well as a range of movies from the Narnia series to Cloverfield.

• Bad Robot Homepage>
• Surf's Up! Point Break 2>
• The Third Floor Inc., Previsualization for Cloverfield/1-18-08>
  

So while we're waiting on Cloverfield/1-18-08 to bring us some news, lets check out what else is going on in the world of movies.

• National Treasure: Book of Secrets has launched a new trailer (here). The original cast and crew including Nicolas Cage return. And how can they top stealing the Declaration of Independence? By kidnapping the President, of course.
• Indiana Jones 4 has wrapped and gotten a nice, new website (here) complete with the Indian Jones theme music.
  
• The X-files are coming back to the big screen. Word is Chris Carter and gang will reunite for a brand new motion picture (here)
• Unlike Cloverfield, the new Dark Knight flick has a healthy viral campaign. Check out the new developments including a new movie still of Heath Ledger as The Joker (more)