I have been doing some thinking recently (scary prospect, I know).

I recently began looking for Beacon's web presence in order to ask them questions, directly, about their Repiarman Jack Project.

What I found was quite unexpected and shocking...which prompted me to look further into the background and track record of Beacon, its owner/producer, and the details that we know, so far, about the Repairman Jack movie.

I would like to say, up front, that I am not trying to offend Beacon, its owner(s) or it's staff, nor FPW himself...I am simply providing information about the company, the project, and, in the end, making some guesses at the possible future of a Jack film.

From FPW's Repairman Jack Movie blog...Beacon’s latest position is that inferior scripts shopped in the past are making it difficult to find a director for the new, improved script. This is, of course, a situation that Beacon created for itself, albeit unintentionally.

Beacon is a relatively small, independent production company…they put out only one movie in 2005, 2007 and none are scheduled for 2008. In addition, three are already scheduled for 2009, so it is unlikely that we’ll see Rakoshi on film in 2009...their slate is full.

Also keep in mind that the current incarnation of Beacon has only been in business since 2002, when it was purchased by Holding Pictures, a company owned partially by Beacon’s founder, Armyan Bernstein. According to my research, Armyan has been with all the different incarnations of Beacon.

Since 2002, Beacon has released only 8 pictures. Only two of those films have made over $100,000,000 at the box office: Ladder 49 (2004) and The Waterhorse (2007), although it tanked in the US (no pun intended) with less than 40% of its box office receipts originating there.

Certainly, as an independent production house, box-office receipts do not necessarily determine the success of a film…but they certainly are necessary to A) ensure your ability to make future films and B) establish a franchise character.

My original indicator that Beacon was a small production company came when I visited their completely out-of-date web-site…the last movie showcased there is the Guardian (2006) and the last online press release was May 7, 2006.

Mr. Bernstein himself has been Executive Producer of only 2 pictures to gross over $100,000,000, out of 9 attempts since Open Range in 2003. One was Ladder 49 for Beacon and another was Dawn of the Dead (remake) with Strike Entertainment, another production house that he works with regularly. Both those films were released in 2004. His 6 movies since 2004 have either lost money or barely broke even, including Firewall, Children of Men and the Guardian.

At www.eguide.com, Bernstein has 25 projects listed in various stages of pre-production, one of which is Childhood’s End (no date announced) for Beacon/Universal by Arthur C. Clarke/Rafael Yglesias/David Franzoni (who wrote Gladiator/Amistad/King Arthur, etc)…and directed by Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry).

Rakoshi is one of those 25 projects, but no director is listed for it.

Lastly we should consider the most recent screenwriter to work on the much improved script…Chris Morgan…the one bit of good fortune in the, thus far, tragic story that is Beacon’s efforts on the Repairman Jack Movie.

A relative newcomer to screenplays, Morgan has been gaining popularity in Hollywood steadily since Cellular in 2004, which made about $36,000,000 world-wide (about $12,000,000) above its estimated budget.

Morgan’s next produced feature was Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift; generally considered to be a decent sequel, albeit peripherally related to the original FF movie. …Tokyo Drift made about $80,000,000 worldwide

His profile increased with Wanted in 2008 where he helped the comic series’ creators write the screenplay for a hit movie. Wanted pulled in over $150,000,000 and talk is already flying about a sequel or three.

His Sakura project should be out this year as well.

In 2009, the actual sequel to the original The Fast And The Furious (currently filming) is set for release, with all the original cast returning. Morgan wrote the screenplay for the David Ayer story (Ayer wrote the screenplay for the original FF movie).

Besides Repairman Jack I, Morgan has also penned as yet, un-produced scripts for The Psycho and The Darkness comic book adaptations, the Gears of War movie based on the video game (remember the popular Mad World song advert, from a few years back), and upcoming thrillers Nautica, Shell Game and Paris to Dakar.

As Morgan’s star rises, the chance that his screenplay for Repairman Jack I will be produced rises as well. So, if you love Repairman Jack, then you better hope that the FF sequel does gonzo box-office next summer and Morgan’s star continues to climb.

Where does that leave the Repairman Jack Movie?

The production company is small and, despite finding a capable screenwriter to improve the script, cannot seem to close the deal with any acceptable directors. The Producer has dozens of projects to work on and prioritizing the FPW project doesn’t seem to rate high on his list. The screenwriter is gaining popularity, but is not such a sure thing yet that his scripts are considered a “lock”

All of these factors point to production on the Repairman Jack Movie not commencing until at least 2010 at the earliest, meaning that the movie will not arrive in theatres until 2011 at the earliest. It is not however any stretch to imagine that those dates could easily be pushed by a year or two. That leaves just enough time to release the movie before the end of the world (according to the Incan calendar) occurs in 2013.

What do you think?

-Wapitikev

By the Sword Spoiler

In By the Sword, we learn that the First Age ended through geological upheavals, and indeed Flood myths abound in all cultures.

What could had caused this universal flood and buried the First Age civilization, without leaving too many tracks (that we know of)?

Hypothesis for the Flood have included:
- Floods more important than usual (as regularly happens)
- An asteroid crashing into the ocean
- A large tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea caused by the Thera eruption

It could have been indeed a volcano eruption. But not the “tiny” Thera. Let’s imagine an undersea supervolcano. Its eruption would trigger tsunamis that would wipe out any life on the sea shores and deep into the mainland. Earthquakes would destroy anything looking like a building. Then, millions of cubic meters of sea water vaporized by the lava would be hurled in the atmosphere and travel around earth, causing rain to fall for days and days and days, effectively drowning everything and causing mudslides.

As if earth had shaked itself of unwanted tenants and then taken a long shower.

Volcano eruptions from the past are known today because they left tracks. But what tracks could leave a volcano hidden in the depth of some ocean? Only destruction and flood myths.

...is an excellent little dramedic fable. The story is the oft told it's-not-how-you-look-but-who-you-are done with tons of offbeat elan and good acting. I've always enjoyed Cristina Ricci and she gives a great performance here as a girl born with a pig's snout for a nose and James McAvoy is equal to her performance as a suitor. This is one the whole family can enjoy, I highly recommend it.

O.K., so I'm online, trying to find the best price on "JACK", and I see a "new" novel written by "F. Paul Wilson & Nikki Niles" called "the lonely tombstone"! All excited about a FPW book that I do not own, and have not read, I click on the link, only to see the cover from "The Keep"!!!!
AND....to add insult to confusion, there is ANOTHER author listed along with FPW, and someone who is an illustrator!!! Someone, for my sanity's sake PLEASE explain this so that I may sleep at night.
Is this just another renaming of the FPW novels, and if so, why the extra author names? The Keep, which I bought back in the 70's when it first came out, was written by FPW alone. Did he bring on some help to re-write? Or is this just an attempt by the universe to keep my totally off balance, as I suspect!

Lexator

:yikes: saw this picture on the news. looks like a baby Rokoshi!

In By the Sword, we learn that there is but one Dog Lady, who appears under various incarnations, all women.

Who could she be?

We also learn that the Compendium of Srem contain more (and at the same time, no more) pages than there are in the book. That is, when you turn the last page, one disappears at the beginning of the book and a new one appears at the end (WHY can't FPW makes his books like that??? I always want more!).

Could the Dog Lady be Srem? A similar kind of magic could be at work here: one page, several versions, and one woman, several versions.

Also, we know that

Gateways – Harbingers – Bloodline spoilers

the Compendium is originally written in First Age squiggles, and when the Dog Lady performs her medicine mojo, she uses tin boxes inscribed with squiggles. OK, I guess that “squiggles” is not very much in the way of identifying an unknown script, but the Dog Lady performs a magic which is similar to the one that, as per Glaecken, was performed during the First Age.

What do you think?

I rented this recently and it was pretty good. Just imagine, Japanese anime meets the icon that is Batman. What results is a series of vignettes in different Japanese styles exploring different aspects of the character, some tied in to the movie and some going in completely different directions. The first story is about a group of teens telling tall tales about their Batman sightings. The drawing styles range from so-so to beautiful and all are animated wonderfully. The Bat suit looks completely different in each, but the one thing they do have is Kevin Conroy voicing Bruce Wayne/Batman, which kind of sounds silly in the stories that involve a young-looking Bruce Wayne. But overall, worth the rent if you can find a copy.

Always the jock in high school and college it's time to let my inner geek out. Last week at work a co-worker and I wondered who would win in a battle ewoks or gremlins. It turned into 2 bracket 32 team tourny. Some players may be obscure and I may have missed others. Here are the first round pairings.

1. Predators v. 16. E.T.
8. The Jedi v. 9. Trade Federation Battle Droids
5. Star Fleet v. 12. Gungans
4. The Empire v. 13. MIB
3. Necromongers v. 14. Colonial Marines(from the movie Aliens)
6. Kilrathi(aliens from the movie Wing Commander)V. 11. Wraith(Stargate Atl)
7. The Rebelion v. 10. Skynet/Terminators
2. The Borg v. 15. Ewoks
Bracket 2
1. Aliens v. 16. Gremlins
8. Romulans v. 9. The space fleet from Wing Commander
5. The Matrix Sentinals v. 12 Wookies
4. Cylons(new)v. 13. Planet of the Apes(new)
3. Psychlos(Battlefield Earth) v. 14. Sand People
6. Starship Troppers v. 11. Battle Star Galactica(new)
7. ID4 aliens v. 10.Tolneps(Battlefield Earth)
2. Klingons v. 15 Alien Nation

Yesterday I was discussing various firearms and ammunition with one of my gun buddies. I brought up frangibles, and he said something interesting.

In colder temperatures they do not work so well at all. Apparently they just disperse when they hit something, even a medium jacket and especially anything like a belt buckle. My guy says they're usually not lead anymore, but a polymer instead. He said you'd get zero penetration. The target may as well be wearing a vest.

I trust this guy for any gun information, since the man has more guns than Burt in Tremors, but it still sounds odd. Apparently other people have said this as well, since when I googled it I found it mentioned several times, but nothing concrete.

I brought this up to Paul and he suggested I mention it here. Anybody ever hear of this?

I just read the first three books and I was recently saying that the story warranted a movie. I hope Repairman Jack sees similar progress!

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=47320