Abrams' New Captain And A Few 1-18-08 Namedrops

Chris Pine

J.J. Abrams has finally enlisted the Captain of the Enterprise.

Friends Dave and Thomas dropped me a line that relatively unknown actor Chris Pine will take the captain's chair for the much anticipated movie due out next Christmas. Pine had to drop out of his current role in White Jazz, according to director Joe Carnahan, to take the role of Kirk.

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Also, in Abrams-related news, Roger Michell has signed on to direct the New York comedy "Morning Glory" for Paramount.

This really isn't big news except that Bad Robot's J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk are producing. This is part of the 5-year deal Abrams has with Paramount that includes 1-18-08.

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One last note, 1-18-08 got a mention in viral marketing with the horror/sci-fi television series Alive which launched a gory viral-marketing campaign -- before the series pilot was even produced.

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Weekend Update: 1-18-08 Ripoff And The Slusho Site Updated

Two new buttons have been added to the Slusho homepage. The first one advertises 'Distribution Opportunities' and encourages you to join the Slusho family as they are getting ready to expand to the West.

It goes on to say that as soon as Slusho gets the FDA and other paperwork approved, representatives and scientists will be sent out to teach you how to operate and mix Slusho correctly.

Two notes of interest are that the Slusho website references the parent company, Tagruato, for the first time. Second, they refer to Slusho's secret ingredient by name as 'Seabed's Nectar.'

Here is the text from the 'distribution page':

Join the Slusho! Team soon!!! Distribution Opportunities available by contacting us through our parent, TAGRUATO! Extensive research reveals that our incredibly tasty flavor mixtures would be loved throughout the West! Become a pioneer, spread Noriko's dream and purchase a Slusho! machine for your store today! We will send representatives and scientists who will train you on how to operate our machine, and preserve the flavor of our special ingredient, Seabed's Nectar!! And what is more, we will have the special flavor tasties delivered bi-weekly, right to your storefront!!! We are highly optimistic that the FDA and other such organizations will quickly approve our ingredient for consumption in the West. They need only look to the East to see its remarkable health benefits
- it is nutritious and thrifty!

TEL +81-3-5403-6318
18KagashimaD@tagruato.jp

The second button does not link to anything yet but when you click it a text ballon comes up and states: "We are coming. We will find you soon."



Also, Film Threat points out a copycat movie studio that is cashing in on the success of 1-18-08 by producing their own version to be released on DVD the same week the official 1-18-08 movie heads to theaters. It also looks like this isn't the first time this company has done this.

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Abrams Casts Sulu and Scotty

A quick switch of gears as there is no news on the 1-18-08 front since the Tagruato (see Cloverfield Has Its Hanso) site updated last week. In J.J. Abrams-related news, Abrams is keeping busy with his latest movie and it isn't 1-18-08.

The much anticipated Star Trek movie due out late next year is produced by Abrams Bad Robot Productions as well as being directed by Abrams. Most of the creative crew of 1-18-08 will be used on the Star Trek project as well.

I'm a big fan of Abrams, as you may have guessed by now, and I'm excited to see if he can bring back the excitement to a stale Star Trek franchise. I also wonder if he will use any viral marketing like 1-18-08 for the movie or even if he will stick the trailer for Star Trek into the opening week of 1-18-08.

Abrams has made some interesting choices in casting the Star Trek crew that got a boost today when the Hollywood Reporter announced the casting of Sulu and Scotty. The biggest name up to now was the casting of Zachary Quinto (Heroes) as a young Spock.

John Cho, who played Harold in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, has been cast as Sulu, and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is set to play Scotty. Earlier this week, Eric Bana (Hulk, Munich) was cast as the villian, Nero.

Pegg has experience with Abrams already after having a small role as tech wizard Benji in Mission: Impossible III, the only other major motion picture Abrams has directed.

Cho appeared in one episode of Felicity which was directed by 1-18-18's Matt Reeves (1 of 5 he directed) and written by J.J. Abrams.

See Final frontier for Cho, Pegg>

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Enough Cloverfield Already!

The following article is from Eric D. Snider of Film.com who seems to be a little jaded about the whole 'Cloverfield/1-18-08' experience:

"Producer J.J. Abrams is being cagey about his new film, opening Jan. 18. A tantalizing trailer appeared in front of Transformers and got everyone talking, everyone except J.J. himself.

In fact, here is a list of things that are still a secret about this movie:

1.) What it's about.

2.) What
it's called.

3.) Everything else.

Oh! But for fun, J.J.'s people have put secret little games on the Internet, where you can solve riddles and find tiny hints about the movie's content! And there are message boards everywhere: "Look at this clue I found!" "I heard a rumor about such-and-such!" "Here's a website for a fake corporation that figures into the plot!" The blogs re buzzing with whatever little tidbits they can find. It's like a treasure
hunt! Fun! Ha ha!

NO.

J.J., as soon as you're ready to talk about your movie, I will be glad to listen. But until then? I don't care. I'm not gonna play your stupid games. You don't want to tell me anything about it? Then I don't want to see it. You can keep trying to "hype" your film by not saying anything, but it's not going to work. The effect of you not discussing it will be me not thinking about it. "

...Continue Article> Enough loverfield Already!

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Fox scares up J.J. Abrams' 'Fringe'

J.J. Abrams is one busy man.

His Bad Robot projects coming up for the new year include our 1-18-08 as well as the newest season of 'Lost,' a project for HBO (rumored cancer survivor story), and the new Star Trek movie.

Now add a new series for Fox that Abrams will help bring to the small screen called 'Fringe.' The two-hour pilot budgeted at over $10 million which puts it near the 'Lost' budget.

Variet explains the storyline of Fringe' as:

"...elements of "The X-Files" and Paddy Chayefsky's "Altered States" with what Abrams calls "a slight 'Twilight Zone' vibe." It will focus on brilliant but possibly crazy research scientist Walter Bishop, his estranged son and a female FBI agent who brings them together..."(source)

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Cloverfield Is Still 1-18-08, ...For Now

Rumors have circulated that the release date of the Slusho fueled Cloverfield movie has been moved or changed. One guy even wrote me to say that the new trailer omits '1-18-08' at the end and simply says 'Coming 2008.'

My guess is that is he saw an international trailer. The official site is still going by the date '1-18-08' and the official movie trailer page on Apple not only has '1-18-08' on its page but the trailer itself still has the release date '1-18-08' on the end.

Also of note, Paramount's main page simply refers to the movie as '1-18-08' and has taken off any 'untitled' reference. With a little over 3 months to go until release, Bad Robot needs to pop out a title soon.

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Jamie and Teddy Video 2

Cloverfield/1-18-08 viral site about Jamie and Teddy saw another video updated. This second video is another video journal from Jamie as she sends Teddy a message about nothing really interesting. You can view video 1 here and video 2 here.

The movie opens in less than 4 months so the activity on the Internet has started to increase. The creation of the Tagruato website has definitely gotten my interests up. While I have yet to see what exactly this site, or the lame MySpace accounts for that matter, have to do with the movie other than just being filler material to flush out character development for the incredibly bored, I am holding out that something interesting might come in the future. Maybe some clues will open up to use through Tagruato to find some answers.

One date of note is December 9th, which Jamie mentions as when she is allowed to open a present from Teddy.

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