Christmas came early to the Sony lot in Culver City on Monday, as I attended the first official holiday party of the 2011 season on behalf of IAR. It’s hard to believe that it’s not even Halloween yet and we are already talking about Christmas, but the halls of Sony Pictures Animation were fully decked complete with Christmas Carolers, cocktail wieners, and non-alcoholic eggnog. The shindig was to celebrate the upcoming release of Sony’s animated holiday film Arthur Christmas, which will be delivered into theaters on November 23^rd.

The movie is being produced by Aardman Entertainment (Chicken Run, Flushed Away) in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment and is co-directed by Sarah Smith and Barry Cook, based on the script by Smith and Peter Baynham (Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan). The film takes place on Christmas night and attempts to explain how Santa is able to give toys to every boy and girl on the planet in just one evening. In addition to impressive 3-D computer animation, the film boasts an exceptional cast of voice actors including James McAvoy (X-Men: First Class), Hugh Laurie (TV’s House), Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge!), Bill Nighy (Underworld), Ashley Jensen (TV’s Extras), and Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake).

In part two of my interview with Husbands co-creator and writer Jane Espenson, Jane tells us a little more about her experience in web content and how each project differs and offers advice for up-and-coming web content creators. You can read the first part of the interview here.

Fox Searchlight Pictures along with Camelot Pictures are set to release Margaret on Friday, September 30^th to limited platform release.  With a stellar cast that includes Anna Paquin (True Blood), Allison Janney (The Help), Matthew Broderick (Tower Heist), Matt Damon (Contagion), Kieran Culkin (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers), the film centers on a seventeen year-old New York City high school student, Lisa Cohen (played by Paquin), who is convinced that she has inadvertently played a role in a bus accident in Manhattan’s Upper West Side that caused a woman’s horrific death.

Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count On Me, which was nominated for two Academy Awards), and produced by the late director Sydney Pollack (Three Days of the Condor), Gary Gilbert and Scott Rudin with the late director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) as executive producer, the film takes the audience along on the tumultuous journey as she tries to make things right.  Met with opposition at every turn as she takes legal action against the bus driver (Ruffalo), she is torn apart with guilt as revelations about telling the truth in the real world prove frustrating and disappointing.

Some of the earliest wins in web content came out of the 2007 – 2008 Writer’s Guild strike Most people, whether they are web series fans or not, are aware of the explosive success of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Another high-profile win for the web space came out of a derivative series based on a little sci-fi show called…Battlestar Gallactica.

I watched the first series of Battlestar Gallactica webisodes religiously.They featured a lesser-known character played by an actor I have been a fan of for years and so I was thrilled he was getting more attention, while also getting to build out the intricate universe of the series. The webisodes also lead into the new season of the show, with the character featured in the new season, who they proceeded to kill in the premiere episode…but we don’t need to get into that. (I never quite forgave the show for that.)

What was so lovely about the Battlestar Gallactica web “experiment” is that they continued to support the medium even after the strike was over, doing several web series in between seasons of the show. For Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy, they brought in veteran TV writer and fan-favorite Jane Espenson to co-write and executive produce. Jane has written for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, The O.C., Gilmore Girls, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Game of Thrones, and Torchwood: Miracle Day among other series. She also co-created Syfy’s Warehouse 13. She’s got street cred and the series went on to be nominated for an Emmy as well as winning a Streamy Award.

And now Jane has moved from a derivative web series to team up with actor and internet entrepreneur Brad Bell ( AKA Cheeks) in creating her first original, independent web series, a delightful and unique romantic comedy called Husbands. I had a chance to screen episodes of the series at Big Screen Little Screen LA and had the wonderful opportunity to interview her via e-mail to discuss her background as a writer, the unique opportunities that come with working on the web, and asked her to give tips to web series creators just starting out.

Comic books have become a rich resource that Hollywood has been tapping into for many years now. While Superman first took flight in the late ‘70s, and Batman began patrolling Gotham on the big screen in the ‘80s, the super hero movie genre really took off in the last decade with film franchises like Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight. With the recent prequel X-Men: First Class, the upcoming reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel, and The Avengers on the horizon … it doesn’t seem like the genre is going away anytime soon. So here at IAR, any time we have the opportunity to speak with someone in the comic book industry about their latest project, comic book adapted movies and the marriage of Hollywood and comics, we’re going to jump at the chance. We call it…. IAR’s Comic book Corner!

In the comic book industry, licensed comics (comic books based on properties from other forms of media) have been given a bad rap … and rightly so. In the past they have been used as nothing more than a cheap marketing tool, a throwaway pamphlet that is intended to raise awareness about the impending film or TV series. Well that is all about to change with the September 21st release of Archaia Entertainment’s Immortals: Gods and Heroes, based on Relativity Media’s upcoming film Immortals, which will hit theaters on November 11th.

The graphic novel is a stunning, two-sided hardcover anthology collection that features several all-new tales of Greek myths as told by some of the top talent in the industry including Jock (The Losers), Ben McCool (Captain America), Ron Marz (Green Lantern), Phil Lester (Green Arrow), Jim McCann (Return of the Dapper Men), Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Grey (Jonah Hex), and Ben Templesmith (Choker). Immortals: Gods and Heroes is set to serve as an irreplaceable companion piece to the upcoming movie directed by visionary filmmaker Tarsem Singh (The Fall, The Cell), which stars Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), Luke Evans (The Hobbit), Isabel Lucas (Transformers), Kellan Lutz (Twilight), Stephen Dorff (Blade), and the man-who-will-be-Superman, Henry Cavill (Man of Steel).

One man who is no stranger to comic books or movies is writer/producer F.J. DeSanto. Beginning his career as an assistant to legendary comic book adapted film producer Michael E. Uslan (Batman, The Dark Knight) on the film Constantine, DeSanto went on to co-produce Frank Miller’s The Spirit with Uslan, which is based on Will Eisner’s classic hero. The two men would eventually team-up once again to bring The Spirit back to the page with a series written for DC Comics. DeSanto is also well versed in the world of licensed comics having written Star Trek: The Next Generation: Manga for TOKYOPOP. Now the writer/producer is channeling his love for comics and movies into a new story for the upcoming Immortals: Gods and Heroes, which hits stores today.

Every once and a while, in between the sequels and prequels, the reboots and remakes, super hero films, computer animated children’s movies, and R-rated comedies, Hollywood will produce a socially important film.

In fact, there is actually a long tradition in Hollywood of making socially responsible movies going all the way back to 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird, which dealt with racism in America. Since then we’ve seen Tinseltown concentrate its energy on illuminating such important social issues as AIDS (Philadelphia), slavery (The Color Purple), abortion (The Cider House Rules), the environment (Erin Brockovich), the Holocaust (Schindler’s List), and the impact of war (The Deer Hunter). But seldom has Hollywood taken a long look at the troubles that affect human rights in Africa.

With the exception of the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda, the problems in eastern and southern Africa have gone greatly ignored in popular motion pictures. Only thanks to the actions of Hollywood movie stars like George Clooney, Angelina Jole, and Brad Pitt do most Americans even know about the difficulties surrounding African areas such as Sudan. But now two new films are shining a spotlight on the human rights issues plaguing East African countries. First, Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster’s feature film Machine Gun Preacher, which chronicles the life and times of drug dealing criminal turned activist Sam Childers and his work defending Sudanese orphans. The movie stars an all-star cast of exceptional actors including Gerard Butler (300), Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone), Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), Kathy Baker (Clean and Sober), and Souleymane Sy Savane (TV's Damages). The second film is a documentary entitled Bouncing Cats, which takes a look at how dancing and hip-hop is empowering youth in war-torn Uganda. 

Hollywood’s tendency to produce remakes of their own classic films is nothing new, but recently we’ve seen Tinseltown begin to tap into the back-catalog of terrific movies that were produced in the ‘1980s. It began with remakes of classic horror films from the era like Friday the 13^th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, and it continued this past summer with Fright Night, not to mention the upcoming remake of Sam Raimi’s groundbreaking The Evil Dead. But the trend has also spilled over into other genres as we saw with last year’s knockout hit The Karate Kid. And you can expect more ‘80s remakes in the near future with films like Red Dawn, Highlander, and Escape From New York on the horizon, as well as the recently announced Dirty Dancing remake from director Kenny Ortega. But one ‘80s remake that has already caused a lot of controversy among fans is Footloose, which opens in theaters on October 14^th.

A few months back, I was invited to attend an exclusive advanced screening of the film at the Paramount lot on behalf of IAR. I have to say that I was completely blown away by how much I enjoyed the film and I really think it is an extremely impressive piece of filmmaking. The original Footloose is of course the movie that first launched Kevin Bacon’s illustrious career and many fans thought it was blasphemy to recast the role and remake the film, but director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan) really made it work by updating the story while staying true to what everyone loves about the original. He also had the difficult job of casting a new actor to play the iconic role of Ren McCormack and Brewer really hit the jackpot when he found newcomer Kenny Wormald, who truly gives a star-making performance. I can assure fans of the original that this movie is one of the most faithful, loving remakes ever made, and incorporates much of the classic music that you remember from its predecessor.

Comic books have become a rich resource that Hollywood has been tapping into for many years now. While Superman first took flight in the late ‘70s, and Batman began patrolling Gotham on the big screen in the ‘80s, the super hero movie genre really took off in the last decade with film franchises like Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight. With the recent prequel X-Men: First Class, the upcoming reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel, and The Avengers on the horizon … it doesn’t seem like the genre is going away anytime soon. So here at IAR, any time we have the opportunity to speak with someone in the comic book industry about their latest project, comic book adapted movies and the marriage of Hollywood and comics, we’re going to jump at the chance.

Comic book writer Brandon Thomas is best known for his work on popular mainstream comic books like Spider-Man Unlimited, Marvel Age Fantastic Four, and Tales of The Thing for Marvel, and Robin for DC Comics. However, the popular scribe has recently seen his longtime passion project, The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury: Time Runs Out, finally hit shelves in a new hardcover edition from Archaia Entertainment. The graphic novel follows the futuristic adventures of the title character, a sci-fi hero who comes from a long line of heroic heritage.