Tom Cruise given a soaking at premiere

It appears Tom Cruise was fired on by a water pistol waving person at his London Premiere. Nothing to be seen of it here, but there are pictures from the premiere up at the BBC site.

First look at concept art for War Of The Worlds

MSN has an amazing looking piece of concept art up for Spielberg's War Of The Worlds. Click here to see the scene where the Tripods attack the ship, much featured in the trailers but this may give us a clear indication of how cool this scene may be.

New War Of The Worlds trailer

An internet exclusive trailer is available to view at Yahoo Movies. In keeping with the campaign to date, the trailer gives away a few more tantalising glimpses of the alien tripods.

2nd Mars Express Boom deployed

New Scientist magazine is reporting that the 2nd of two booms on the european Mars Express spacecraft has been deployed. Both booms (the first was deployed some time ago) have been a problem for mission managers because of worries that they might not deploy fully. If sucessful, the Mars orbiting craft may be able to start prospecting for signs of water within the next week.

First War Of The Worlds review

Aint It Cool News has a first review of War Of The Worlds from the German premiere. This is pretty safe to read as it is not so much a review as a general impression, so you won't be getting any spoilers to speak of. (Paramount are not terribly keen on any reviews appearing prior to the release at the end of this month). As reviews go, this is a very positive one.

German War Of The Worlds Premiere

Spielberg's War Of The Worlds had it's German premiere last night. The German title is Krieg der Welten which is essentially War Of The Worlds. The German site Prosieben has a mass of material including video and photos from the premiere.

Tit-bits of plot from Japan

This "review" which is dignifying the term does lets slip a few very minor points. Read it here at Yomiuri.

Rivers on Mars

21 new rivers have been identified on Mars by the Mars Odyssey probe. More details can be found here.

War Of The Worlds running time set

The official running time for War of the Worlds is 117 Minutes (1 Hour and 57 Minutes).

Spielbergs War premieres in Japan

War Of The Worlds has had it's world premiere in Japan. The director and his stars were on hand for the event, at which Spielberg revealed "the first tripod is killed in Osaka." Here is a round up of links to pictures from the premiere.
rediff.com
News 24
BBC
And a great selection here at eve of the war.

New Japanese TV Spots

You can view two new Japanese Television spots for the Spielberg War Of The Worlds movie here.

Aurora spotted on the Red Planet

Europe's Mars Express spacecraft has spotted an Aurora on Mars. BBC news has more here.

New TV Spot for Spielberg War Of The Worlds

Another TV spot has airred featured some tantilising new glimpses of the Martians and the Red Weed. Check it out here at the Moviebox.

International Premiere Dates Announced

Spielbergs War Of The Worlds will premiere in the following cities and dates.
Japan – June 13th in Tokyo
Germany – June 14th in Berlin
France – June 17th in Marseilles
United Kingdom – June 19th in London
Spain – June 21st in Madrid
USA – June 23rd in New York

Phoenix Mars Mission approved

NASA has approved a new mission to Mars for 2007. Unlike recent missions, The Phoenix lander is a stationary device intended to land on the northern plains and conduct extensive investigations into the Martian soil with a long robotic arm. More info can be found here.

Hitachi War Of The Worlds site

Hitachi has launched a War Of The Worlds site as part of their global tie-in with Spielberg's War Of The Worlds movie. Some interesting promotional material to be found on the site.

War Of The Worlds rated PG13

Spielberg's War of the Worlds has received a rating of PG-13 for “Frightening Sequences of Sci-Fi Violence and Disturbing Images."

Japan premiere confirmed

Paramount have released a statement clearing up the confusion at the reported cancellation of the Japansese premiere.

Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise will be having its world premiere in Tokyo, Japan on Monday 13 June, Stewart Till, Chairman and CEO of UIP confirmed today in London.

The cancellation mistakenly reported today was simply a change of venue. UIP Japan had originally planned the world premiere at the Budokhan however then decided sometime ago to relocate to the Virgin Roppongi given its more central and convenient location.

Paul Takaki, President of UIP Japan said today that he is extremely proud to be hosting the world premiere and looks forward greatly to welcoming Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning to Japan for this spectacular event on 13 June.

Tom Cruise will continue the promotion of War of the Worlds through Europe with premieres in Berlin, Marseille, London and Madrid. War of the Worlds opens worldwide on June 29.

NASA's Opportunity breaks free

After spending several months trapped in a crater, the Opportunity rover has inched it's way free of a dust filled crater. Controllers will spend several days accessing the rovers position before continuing the incredible trek across the Martian surface.

Japan Premiere still on for War Of The Worlds

The Spielberg/Cruise War Of The Worlds movie was reported by ABC News to have been cancelled due to security considerations. Some 7000 people apparently won the right to see the movie several weeks ahead of it's western premiere. However, Paramount via their webmaster program for the movie are denying the cancellation and promise an update on the situation soon.

New Pendragon War Of The Worlds trailer

The final Pendragon trailer is out now on the How Stuff Works site. I can't say it fills me full of hope. The effects are extremely variable, and the acting has a desperately amateur feeling to it. Lets hope its just a bad trailer. They are really trying for period authenticity and perhaps disjointed scenes in isolation do not do it justice, but judge for yourself here.

Steve fought the law and Steve won

Steven Spielberg has banned a British judge from a private advance screening of The War Of The Worlds. The Judge bought the opportunity at a charity aution for several thousand dollars, only to recieve a cease and desist order from UIP, who had given away the prize only to have it vetoed by Spielberg.

New War Of The Worlds trailer

The last and biggest theatrical trailer is available now. Lots more tripod action, though it still does not give much away. Becoming more and more obvious that this is going to be (hopefully) a character driven movie rather than a massive effects fest.

New War Of The Worlds clip from Oprah Winfrey

They are coming thick and fast now. The Oprah Winfrey show recently guested Tom Cruise and here's a link to an exclusive clip that was broadcast during the interview. As suits Oprah, it's a quiet moment, the lull before the storm.

Steven Spielberg interviewed by Wired Magazine

Wired magazine has a detailed interview with Steven Spielberg which goes into considerable detail on the computer generated effects and features a number of new images.

New trailer on the way

A big new trailer for the Spielberg War Of The Worlds movie will premiere online at 12:01 AM Eastern Time on Friday May 27, 2005 on Apple.com.

Another War Of The Worlds clip

A long clip from War Of The Worlds is online at MSN, featuring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning fleeing the oncoming alien assault.

War Of The Worlds clip at Yahoo

A new clip has appeared online at Yahoo.com. It features Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning getting a serious case of the creeps in a basement

Cool speculation on Spielberg aliens

Aint It Cool news has posted a set of cool illustrations of the War Of The Worlds invaders, but take note, these are not "official" images, but rather a flight of imagination based on the brief glimpses we have thus far been afforded in the trailers.

Mobile Phone game for War Of The Worlds

Some details on a mobile phone game based on Spielbergs War Of The Worlds have been released. It seems you control a tripod, which is certainly an interesting approach seeing that you are in charge of destroying the earth. Details here.

Mars orbiting spacecraft snaps neighbour

For the first time ever, a spacecraft orbiting another world has snapped a picture of another spacecraft. On 21 April 2005, NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, which has orbited the Red Planet since 1997, caught the Mars Odyssey orbiter on camera from 90 kilometres away.

Spielberg War Of The Worlds site updated

The War Of The Worlds site for the new Spielberg/Cruise movie has been updated with a revised homepage, 7 new wallpapers and additional images. Click here for the site.

New trailer! Tripods Tripods Tripods

That needed saying three times. The newest teaser trailer to the War Of The Worlds has hit and we finally get to see Tripods (well, their legs) in a breathtaking attack scene on the helpless survivors of an assault on a ship. Think swooping tentacles, think people plucked from the water. On top of that, we get some first hand evidence that Cruise is going to go man on alien with one of the creatures in what looks increasingly like the house beneath the cynlinder chapter in the original book. Check out this amazing trailer at AOL.

Mars Opportunity rover inching out of crater

The Opportunity Rover has been trapped in a crater on Mars for some time now due to it's wheels failing to gain the necesary traction to climb out. NASA scientists are now beginning a painfully slow inch by inch escape plan. More details from the BBC here.

New Asylum War Of The Worlds trailer

The newest trailer for the direct to video version of War Of The Worlds from Asylum is up on their website and you can find some good looking screen grabs at War Of The Worlds Invasion. It looks far from high art, but it certainly delivers the goods in terms of big bangs and a commendable looking reverance for the original material.

Ane Robinson and Gene Barry in Spielberg movie

Ane Robinson, star of the very first War Of The Worlds movie (George Pal, 1953) has been talking about her brief role in the new Spielberg production alongside her original co-star Gene Barry. Robinson explains that they play Dakota Fanning's grandmother and grandfather, though they are not reprising their roles from the original movie. The interview was carried on SCI FI Wire

War Of The Worlds set report, part 2 at AICN

AICN columist Quint has posted the second part of an amazing set report from The War Of The Worlds. The conversation ranges over a lot of films, but there are some choice morsels of information on the WOTWs, specifically insights into the way Spielberg is shooting the movie and several great behind the scenes photographs.

New War Of The Worlds Wallpapers

The official site for the Spielberg/Cruise movie of War Of The Worlds has added 9 new wallpapers.

Martian Icecaps Investigated

A new study form Oregon State University is shedding light on the Martian polar caps. The report has been published in the latest issue of Nature but details can be be found here.

Mars Express first boom deployed

After considerable problems with locking the first of the three Marsis (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) booms into place, mission scientists have reported sucess by swinging the probe round to warm the boom. After at least a weeks analysis of the problem, the other 2 booms (two 20 metre poles and one 7 metre pole) will be released. The booms will send low-frequency radio waves to the surface where they will be used to search for water reserves.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launches in Aug

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is due for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 10th. The probe carries six instruments, including the most powerful telescopic camera ever flown to another world. Details as small as a kitchen table will be resolved and these sent back to earth at a rate 10 times faster than any previous mission to Mars. This is the next step in identifying landing sites for future probes and possibly humans.

On set report from Spielberg's War Of The Worlds

Aint It Cool news regular Quint has been lucky enough to get to visit the War Of The Worlds set. A great report is up on AICN, but in a nutshell, several fantastic on set photographs and a lot of incidental detail can be found here. Expect fighter jets attacking tripods and lots of battle scarred refugees. You can read the full report here.

A novel trailer for a graphic novel

Best Sellers Illustrated have launched an interesting idea at their web site to promote a new graphic novel interpretation of The War Of The Worlds. It's a promotion in movie trailer style, with voice over, sound effects and featuring snippets from the novel. Nice idea and an interesting looking modern take on the War Of The Worlds. Written by Stephen Stern, writer/creator of the cult comic-book, Zen Intergalactic Ninja, and illustrated by Arne Starr, longtime Star Trek artist for DC Comics, with a cover by legendary artist Frank Brunner View the trailer here.

Opportunity spinning its wheels

The Opportuntity rover on Mars has been stuck in a crater since 26th April. NASA engineers are running simulations to try and find a way out. The rover has far exceeded it's expected lifetime and returned a wealth of data from the red planet.

Mars Express radar boom deployment delayed

A problem has been detected with one of the 13 segments of the MARSIS radar on Mars Express. It will allow Mars Express to map the subsurface of the Red Planet, searching for underground reservoirs of water. Until the problem with the 10th segment of the boom, the second boom deployment will be delayed.

Detail on the Hitachi/War Of The Worlds promo campaign

Hitachi is teaming up with the Spielberg War Of The Worlds movie to promote their plasma tvs. Details here.

New behind the scenes features from Spielberg War Of The Worlds.

The LA Times Calender Live site has a great feature with behind the scenes footage, new images and an interview with Spielberg.

It's All Alien To Me

It appears that the next war of the worlds poster will be in an alien script, which perhaps ties in with the mysterious text spotted on the sidewalk outside a recent science fiction convention that in turn let to a holding page for a site owned by Paramount. I wonder if Paramount are laying down a challenge to clue solvers to try and translate the text?

Mars Polar Lander found?

Michael Malin, president and chief scientist of Malin Space Science Systems, which operates the camera aboard Global Surveyor, believes he and his team have identified the remains of the missing Mars Polar Lander. More details here.

Jeff Wayne web site up

Jeff Wayne has his website up in anticipation of the re-release of his seminal musical version of War Of The Worlds, and a CGI movie version.

What is the alien glyph?

A visitor to a science fiction convention spotted some odd markings on a sidewalk in Denver Colorado. A website address was included and thus the mystery deepened. The site has keywords in its meta tags for War Of The Worlds and other enterprising detectives found the site is registered to Paramount. A viral marketing campaign in the making perhaps? Is there a secret message in the symbols? Check it out here (and try refreshing the page to see the colours change). And the sidewalk image can be seen here.

The search for water on Mars

The European Mars Express spacecraft in orbit around Mars is soon to deploy a radar boom that will search for signs of water miles below the surface. The boom has been stowed away since the craft reached Mars orbit because mission controllers feared it might swing from its release position too fast and damage the spacecraft. Full story here.

Spielberg still believes in ET

Interviewed by the Associated Press, Spielberg said. "I have to certainly believe what my heart tells me. That the first time there is a meeting of the minds between extraterrestrials and human beings, it's going to be friendly."

Hmm, only if we don't shoot first.

Spielberg alludes to big effects

An interesting article has been published with comments from Speilberg. Speilberg says this his most special effects heavy movie in some time and reveals that he originally planned a War Of The Worlds theme park attraction, but could not get the rights at the time. Read the whole store here.

War Of The Words

Looks like Tom Cruise got more than he bargained for in an interview with the German magazine Spiegel. As reported on Cultnews.com, a reporter grilled the War Of The Worlds star on why he had a tent up on the set of the movie to promote his belief in Scientology.

The war (for an audience) is hotting up

By my count, this makes the 4th War Of The Worlds movie to be announced. Just to recap, we have the Speilberg version, the Tim Hines version, the revised Jeff Wayne version and now, the "David Michael Latt" version: Much as i'd like to be positive about this, the fact that www.imdb.com has the movie listed as "invasion" very much suggests this is a quick rename of a movie to cash in on the hype over the other versions, unless this was the cover story. Hines kept his version super secret for a long time. The Independence Day-like poster is a bit of give-away that this straight to video movie has some pretty cheap and cheerful credentials. But hey, who am I to judge sight unseen. It might be fun. Offical website is here, though the link for trailer is dead.

Hitachi chooses War of the Worlds

In the first of what are sure to be numerous tie-ins, Hitachi are teaming up with Steven Spielbergs War Of The Worlds to promote their flat screen televisions. More info here.

War Of The Worlds game

You can now play an online game of The War Of The Worlds at the Spielberg movie site. Its a neat little game which puts you in various situations in which you have to flee the invaders while picking up survivors. Played on my slightly creaking PC, it was a slow experience with lots of pauses, but I'll give it a go on my high speed work connection and report back if it runs better.

War Of The Worlds graphic novel

An interesting looking update of War Of The Worlds is due out May 2005. Its a modern reworking of the story and has a cover by Frank Brunner. Fifteen pages are available for preview on the publishers site.

War Of The Worlds tie in game for April 14th

A highly complex online multi player game is to be made available on the War Of The Worlds site, this April 14th. Quoting the press release, it will be "a human-survival game that echoes the themes and real world environments of the film, the game calls upon players to rescue survivors, collect objects, and escape danger in varying combinations. Players will try to escape maze-like boards while avoiding cataclysmic alien destruction. The game is free for users worldwide and will be available in seven different languages. Designed as both a single and multi-player game, the game’s objectives are scaled to the number of people playing; in addition, multi-player boards will require players to work together to complete their mission. In the weeks approaching the film’s release, additional maps – of increasing complication and difficulty – will become available". You can check out some great screen shots here at Ugo.com

Europe back to Mars

The European Space Agency is planning a Mars rover for arrival in June of 2013. Full story here.

New look site for War Of The Worlds

The Spielberg/Cruise version of War Of The Worlds has a newly refreshed site here. Still not giving much away but plenty of content.

More Spielberg WOTW pics leak

Some interesting new images have shown up on this German site

And this makes three!

A third War Of The Worlds movie is in the works. Its a 48 million dollar all CGI film, and the one and only Jeff Wayne is behind it. This could be great and is in preperation to coincide with a release of his amazing musical version.
The official site (with just holding page for now) is here, but Waroftheworldsonline has some exlusive CGI test films.

War Of The Worlds (not the Spielberg version) Pushed back to late April

(Official Poster: click for larger image)


"H.G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
RELEASE DATE PUSHED BACK."
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2005

The Principals of Pendragon Pictures announce the push
back of the theatrical release date of H.G. WELLS' THE
WAR OF THE WORLDS from March 30th, 2005 to late April
with the exact date yet to be announced.

"The push back is due entirely to production," states
director Timothy Hines. "I've worked for seven year on
this film and as the release deadline approached I was
faced with a very simple choice, rush the picture or
push the release date back and do the movie right."
Hines is unapologetic about the push back. "This was
absolutely the right thing to do. My picture, H.G.
WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is an epic with thousands
of special effects. It would have been absurd to cut
scenes or rush effects when the movie was so close to
completion. The thousands of fan letters that pour in
every week reflect that this decision is correct and in
the end it was the only way to go. Nobody remembers
that some episodes of STAR WARS have been up to a year
late, that Francis Ford Coppola, Kubrick and many other
directors have routinely missed deadliness to get their
picture right. H.G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is all
we hoped it would be and more."

A few private test screenings have brought
overwhelmingly positive responses. Test audiences have
reacted with strong emotions ranging from tears to
triumphant. "I'm not surprised at the powerful reaction
to the movie from our test groups," says Hines. "We did
the book. Wells was a powerful writer. THE WAR OF THE
WORLDS is a tragic story. It's a horror story. I didn't
play the battles between the human artillery and the
giant three-legged fighting machines triumphantly.
This is humanity losing its planet to an invading
force. Well, for a time anyway. That people have shown
they are moved by the movie says we got it right."

The exact April theatrical release date of H.G. WELLS'
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS will be announced shortly, though
the DVD release is locked. The picture is presold for
DVD into 60,000 retail stores in the U.S. and Canada
and will hit the shelves June 15th, 2005. Worldwide DVD
presales are in progress.

Two books on the making of Pendragon's H.G. WELLS' THE
WAR OF THE WORLDS will hit the bookstores on June 1st.
The books are published by Retrovision in association
with Ed Gross, the east coast editor of CFQ
(Cinefantastique) Magazine.

THE MAKING OF H.G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
Book One: The Lost Film
A comprehensive behind the scenes look at the War of
the Worlds film that wasn't, taking the project from
its point of conception, through the design stage,
negotiations with studios and talent, conversations
with Dreamworks and Paramount and, finally, the impact
of September 11th on the production. Book one
culminates with the decision to mothball the project
and the reasons behind it. From there, the entire
original script is offered, which is accompanied by
storyboards and production illustrations.

THE MAKING OF H.G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
Book Two: All's Well That Ends Wells
Book two begins with a recap of the events of Book One,
primarily the terrorist attacks of September 11th, and
the filmmakers' sense of responsibility that they could
not go forward with the movie that they had envisioned,
feeling that it mirrored reality too closely. Tracked,
is the hit the film took in terms of budget, dropping
from $42 million to $8 million and eventually up again
to $20+ million. Creatively, the decision to harken
back to the H.G. Wells novel is explored, and that this
is the first version to truly tap into the source
material. The new screenplay is included accompanied by
numerous production designs and finished sequences.
Also included are interviews with cast members and
behind the scenes special effects personnel to tell the
entire story of the making of the film.

To pre-order the THE MAKING OF H.G. WELLS' THE WAR OF
THE WORLDS books contact Retrovision at
http://www.retrovisionmag.com .

On another note, director Timothy Hines addresses some
of the many rumors floating around concerning the
competition between his and Spielberg's respective
productions, amongst which are that Hines is financed
by George Lucas in retaliation for Spielberg cutting
into Lucas' STAR WARS business or that Paramount and
Dreamworks have publicity attack teams that use the
acronym DDP (Discredit Discourage Pendragon).

"Most of these rumors are laughable," smiles Hines, "I
would love it if George Lucas threw some support in our
direction. If Lucas and Spielberg actually do have
tension about Spielberg cutting into STAR WARS
business, I know nothing about that. Concerning our
film, it really exists, it will be distributed and all
who wish to see it in the end will have their
opportunity to do so."

Japanese Trailer seeing red

A slightly different Japanese trailer for the War Of The Worlds (Spielberg version) is up at the apple Japan site. Interesting point: Since we learn that Spielberg's aliens do not hail from Mars, has anyone told the Japanese? Because that looks a lot like the planet Mars on their poster! Hunting around Japanese websites (search for "uchu sensou" which seems to the Japanese title - Altavista translates it as "space war"), I came upon this great large size image of the Japanese poster. It's not quite Mars, but pretty close in spirit don't you think. Check it out here.

Is rival WOTWs going straight to DVD?

With no sign of exactly who is going to release Timothy Hines authentic version of The War Of The Worlds in cinemas, an interesting news item surfaces on Forbes. Could it be the movie is going to ship on DVD in June just in time to ride the coat-tails of Cruise and Spielberg? A little sad if true.

New Trailer, and what a trailer!

By no stretch of the imagination is this shaping up to be H G Wells' War Of The Worlds (that's what we have the Pendragon version for), but this new trailer for the Spielberg movie is simply astounding. Great tension.

New behind the scenes photo from Spielberg movie

A new image can be found here.

New Teaser Trailer

A second teaser to the Speilberg movie is expected March 18th.

Mobile Martians

In what is sure to be the first of many tie-ins to the Spielberg WOTWs movie, Gameloft have secured the mobile phone game rights.

Gritty invasion faithful to original novel.

Rick Carter, the production designer for Spielbergs WOTWs has been telling Sci-Fi Wire that the film is to be extremely realistic in style. Also revealed, the New Jersey location is indeed a bit of a homage to the Orson Welles broadcast. Also speaking to Sci Fi Wire, Doug Chiang, the conceptual artist on the movie has been talking about his desire to keep faith with the orginal novel.

Japan sees a slightly diffrent invasion

The Japanese trailer for Spielbergs WOTWs seem to be a slightly different edit to those seen thus far in America.

Was it Martian Hackers?

Apparently hackers defaced the War Of The Worlds website for the new Spielberg movie.

Jeff Wayne War Of The Worlds sounds off again

SonyBMG Music Europe is to release War of the Worlds in SACD surround sound this summer. Full details here.

Dig that weed

Some images have surfaced taken by a local snapper on an outdoors set of the Speilberg movie. This is our first look at the red weed.

Spielberg reveals link to Orson Welles broadcast

A great on set visit report at Filmforce reveals that Spielberg actually owns one of the few surviving original scripts to Orson Welles 1938 War Of The Worlds broadcast! (He claims its the only one, though I am aware of one other earlier surviving draft.) Don't expect any great connection between his movie and the broadcast, but nice to know he is aware of the broadcast and it's part in the history of The WOTW.

Teaser Trailer

Having watched the new teaser trailer a few times now, I just can't shake the feeling that we are seeing too much of this sort of stuff? Don't get me wrong, the effects look great, but we've seen exploding buildings and flying gas tankers so many times now. Of course the trailer has to grab you by the scruff of the neck so perhaps there is some real substance to this movie. Come on Steven, give us something a bit different?

Plane crash set from WOTW

Some interesting pictures have surfaced of what is claimed to be a plane crash set from Spielbergs WOTWs.

New trailer available tonight

The trailer to be aired during the Superbowl will be online here
I snuck a look unofficially a few days ago on another site (since removed) and it certainly packs a wollop, but the scenes of destruction (expect to see an express way getting ripped to shreds) have that oh so familar feel from previous effectfest movies. There has to be more than endless scenes of destruction.

Those Martians better be good.

Another tantilising image from the Spielberg WOW.

More WOW pics. What are they looking at?

I detect a pattern here with Spielberg WOW images. Are they trying to wip up speculation at exactly what Tom and his co-stars are looking at? Bring on the Martians!

They Live!

The theatrical trailer for the Pendragon version Of The War Of The Worlds is up and running and boy is it interesting. A bit highly strung in places (I don't think its the best edited trailer I have ever seen) but the overall feel is very encouraging. And yes, Martians do move in this one. For one brief moment you can see a Martian tripod striding along and there is a pretty cool shot of Big Ben in London getting decapitated. HG Wells would have loved it. Part of the appeal of writing the book for him was certainly the satisfaction he got from knocking hell out of the established order of things. This movie is clearly going to deliver in spades.
Trailer is here.

New WOTW pictures

A couple of new pictures have surfaced and pretty interesting they look too. The more I see of this, the more I hope the Spielberg movie it is at least trying to stick to the spirit of the original novel. Looks like lots of refugee action as people flee the advancing Maritians.

Dakota Fanning in incredibly nice shock

Young Dakota Fanning, starring alongside Tom Cruise, has really nice things to say about her co-star but gives nothing away in this interview.

War Of The Worlds pictures

Some very cool looking pictures are out from the Spielberg/Cruise version.
Click here

Steven Spielberg teaser poster out

The teaser poster to the movie can be viewed here.

Poster for Pendragon War Of The Worlds movie. Is that a leg I see?

Pendragon pictures have released the first poster for their WOTW's movie. Looks like our first very small glimpse of a Martian war machine, well, a leg of one.

Clouds on Mars

Nasa scientists report some striking new discoveries from their Mars rovers, including more evidence of past water and some clouds that look strikingly Earthlike.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/12/14/mars.rock/index.html

Life imitating art on Mars

In a move reminiscent of the battles waged in the Mars novels of Kim Stanley Robinson, it has been proposed that areas of Mars should be protected from human encroachment.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/12/10/mars.parks/index.html

War Of The Worlds trailer out now!

The teaser trailer for the spielberg/cruise version of The War Of The Worlds is out. Teasers generally give little away, but this is worth the download. No sign of the Martians, but an impressive scene as people emerge from their homes to watch the fireworks kick off over a line of hills. Trailer is at http://www.waroftheworlds.com
Most interesting is the voice over. Very Orson Welles, though the standard Voice Over man has always sounded a little like Welles, so it may just be wishful thinking by me.

Life on Mars

NASA scientists say "data from Nasa's Mars rover Opportunity shows its unique landing site is a prime spot for a return mission to look for life" More here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4063181.stm

Pendragon bites back

Its so interesting to see these two competing versions of the War Of The Worlds come together.
Pendragon just unleashed some more material online including a second trailer. Its looking a bit more exciting than the first and we get our first look here at some artillery lined up against the Martians. My money is on this being the most interesting of the two films. Its a shame that special effects will likely make or break it and course with $100 million dollars in the war chest of the oposing camp, its a bit of a one sided battle, but here is hoping that interlect and passion for the material at least hold their own. There is room for these two versions to each succeed on their own merits. Bring em on.

http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/wotw-hinesthree.htm - interview with the director.
http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/wotw-roundup.htm - roundup of all the material on the site.
http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/wotw-videos.htm - new footage. The inteviews with the cast are interspaced with a new trailer.

Like this in particular from the director in regard to the Martians and their war machnes. Sounds very intriguing.

"... it's as if the medievalists, they had these giant overscaled catapults that they would use to sling these huge bales of fire the size of a wagon at each other. And so we sort of applied the idea that what if the medievalists had somehow stumbled on computer technology. How frightening would these massive overscaled iron and copper age kind of energies be, applied to computer use. And that's about as much as I can say ..."

Here's one to bookmark

The official site for the Cruise version of the WOTW's (its going to get difficult distinguishing between this and the Pendragon version in these posts) is up and running, though for now its just a single page of promotional art. Rather nice, but bears an uncanny resembalance to the logo for the seldom remembered (and I think much underated) TV series of many a year ago. See what you think here. http://www.waroftheworlds.com/

Pendragon director speaks

The mailing list of the H G Wells society was privy to the following fasinating missive from the director of the forthcoming War Of The Worlds movie.

H. G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS will have a major world theatrical release on 30 March 2005. There is no winner or loser concerning Pendragon and Paramount. The winner/loser scenario might be true if both films were coming out at the same time. Whereas Pendragon's version will be released a full three-months in advance of Paramount's version, there is no direct toe-to-toe competition. Indeed, the release of Pendragon's version supports the release of Paramount's version.

Our distribution is a consortium of distributors of which more are signing on every week. The date posted on our website, 30 March 2005, is the worldwide release date. Some minor adjustments may be made country to country, based on a variety of factors relating to individual distribution contracts within each region.

The post-production of H. G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is an exciting, amazing and challenging experience. Each day, as scenes are cut together, another piece of Wells story comes to life. At present, we are cutting together and placing effects in the Shepperton shoreline sequence. Retakes and miniature photography will conclude in December on schedule.

In answer to your question put forth by some of the fans as to how we are recreating Woking, most of the structures from the correct time period in Woking were leveled in the 1960's in massive revitalization projects. Sadly, buildings dating back as far as the 1600's were leveled to make way for modern developments. Some period buildings were rebuilt as replicas with modern materials. Many turn-of-the-century houses and inns remain and were usable. However, much of turn-of-the-century Woking had to be recreated through CGI and miniatures. We used many reference source materials, archived photos and history books about Woking, some of which are only available in Woking and its nearby regions.

I must return to the editing suite at this time.

Best regards,

Timothy HinesDirector, H.G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

Extra Extra (well, actually a 1000 extra)

The news just keeps flooding in from the location work on the Cruise version of WOTW.
The saratogian reports that upwards of 1000 extras are to be recruited for scenes to be filmed soon. Athens deputy mayor Andrea Smallwood had this to say. 'They're bringing in a 168-foot ferry,' Smallwood said. 'People will run down Second Street onto the boat.'
Is this to be the movies take on the Thunder Child chapter of the book, in which terrified refugees take to waves and are defended from the Martians by a warship? It's the sea in the book and a river at Athens, so either this is an example of the "re-imagining" of the book, or some CGI magic will be at work in post production.

War Of The Worlds teaser trailer is up

Pendragon Films have issued a teaser trailer for their version of The War Of The Worlds. The trailer is high on melodrama and low (well, totally absent) on Martians. Kudos to them though for what looks to be a picture perfect retelling of the book. Should be very interesting to see it go head to head with the Cruise version.Trailer can be found here.
http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/wotw-hinestwo.htm

First picture of Cruise filming WOTWs

The New York times has snagged a shot of Cruise filming for the new movie. No sign of Martians yet and who are these guys he is with. Local resistance fighters perhaps?

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Signs of war !!

This from "northjersey.com" on the filming thus far in the Ironbound section along a portion of Ferry Street.

"The street scenes have reflected the havoc of an all-out invasion, with rubble scattered about, a crater in the ground and windows being blasted out of prefabricated houses, according to production sources and witnesses lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Cruise and many extras have been spied running for their lives before the rolling cameras since filming commenced Sunday."

War Of The Worlds filming

Thanks to an informant I learn things are well under way for the new movie.
"I LIVE IN NEWARK, NJ. AND JUST THREE BLOCKS AWAY FROM MY HOUSE STEVEN SPIELBERG AND TOM CRUISE AMONG OTHERS ARE FILMING WHAT IS GOING TO BE A NEW VERSION OF WAR OF THE WORLDS. I CAN'T WAIT FOR IT TO CAME OUT. JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS. THEY ARE ALSO SHOOTING IN BAYONNE, NJ."