A short Avengersspin-off film will be screened this Friday at the San Diego Comic-Con. Titled Item 47, the short will also appear on the Blu-ray/DVD for The Avengers when it is released on September 25 of this year. The premise for Item 47(July, 1947, anyone?) reads as follows: “Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford star as a down-on-their-luck couple who find one of the discarded alien guns from the finale to The Avengers and proceed to make some incredibly bad decisions. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents (Maximiliano Hernandez, returning from Thor and The Avengers, and Lost’s Man in Black Titus Welliver, making his Marvel debut) are given the job of cleaning up the mess and stopping this modern Bonnie and Clyde (not coincidentally named Benny and Claire).” Yes, thank goodness the heroic Men in Black of S.H.I.E.L.D. are on call to snatch the matches from the babies’ hands. God forbid extraterrestrial technologies should ever be made available for utilization by the public. Please, officialdom, keep this stuff locked safely in your vault where it belongs!
“What made Ridley Scott revisit the world of his iconic movie Alien more than 30 years later? The reasons are complicated, writes Damon Wise, and the results aren't what you'd expect.”
Article featuring comments from Ridley Scott indicating that Prometheus might be the beginning of a whole new franchise. Read it here.
Men in Black 3 stuff
MIB 3 director Barry Sonnenfeld tells io9 what he has learned from the second movie’s mistakes and how his threequel is better as a result.
Meanwhile, Lee Spiegel of The Huffington Postreminds us of the real-life MIB encounters that inspired the movie franchise.
Finally, on the MIB front, it’s an “illegal alien” face-off between MIB 3 and Mars Attacks over at Bryce Zabel’s Movie Smackdown site. Go see who wins!
Former SETI Director: Hollywood’s aliens are too nasty!
Former SETI Director Jill Tarter tells Universe Today that Hollywood’s alien invasion movies are a big bag of bollocks… but phrases it more politely than that…
“While Sir Stephen Hawking warned that alien life might try to conquer or colonize Earth, I respectfully disagree. If aliens were able to visit Earth that would mean they would have technological capabilities sophisticated enough not to need slaves, food, or other planets. If aliens were to come here it would be simply to explore.
Considering the age of the universe, we probably wouldn’t be their first extraterrestrial encounter, either. We should look at movies like ‘Men in Black III,’ ‘Prometheus’ and ‘Battleship’ as great entertainment and metaphors for our own fears, but we should not consider them harbingers of alien visitation.”
Lovable ‘80s TV alien ALF is headed for the big screen according to his creator Paul Fusco, who tells The Hollywood Reporter:
“ALF could be more outspoken now than ever, because the world is a whole different place than the '80s. And I think the character still stands up and certainly has more to say now than ever,” he says. “I think we would approach it in a fresh way. I don’t think we would duplicate the TV show, but I think we would maybe put it in a storyline where we would explain how ALF got here and put him with a new family and let the character speak for himself.”
Read more about the history – and possible future – of ALF, here.
Sticking with the ‘80s theme...
Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats... ho!!!
This is old news (it was first reported in February of last year), but I’ve never mentioned it on Silver Screen Saucersuntil now. Five years ago, Warner Bros. Pictures announced it would be producing a big screen CGI adaptation of the 1980s animated TV series, ThunderCats. However, the project got lost in development hell, and there it remains to this day. Fans of the heroic alien cat-people thingies might be interested in the following test footage for the movie that found its way online last year (don’t get excited, though. It’s naff)...
The best alien invasion movie ever?!
Last but not least, visionary filmmakers Michael Bay (Transformers) and Peter Berg (Battleship) have teamed-up to bring us their dream project ;-) Could this be the greatest alien invasion movie ever? View the trailer here...
New MIB 3 featurette goes behind the scenes with legendary Hollywood 'monster maker' Rick Baker and gets up close and personal with the movie's aliens...
Men in Black 3 star Will Smith today told BBC Radio 1 host Chris Moyles that his 13-year-old son Jayden (himself a Hollywood star) put President Obama on the spot recently during a private tour of the White House. The subject of Jayden’s enquiry – aliens!
Remarkably, Obama anticipated Jayden’s question before the young star even had chance to ask it, and the President’s response was suitably tantalising:
“The aliens, right? OK, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of extraterrestrials but I can tell you if there had been a top secret meeting and if there would have had to have been a discussion about it, it would have taken place in this room.”
Watch the video of Will Smith’s accounting of his son’s Presidential UFO encounter here...
The line between documented UFOlogical fact and speculative pop-cultural fiction has always been blurry, but it disappeared in spectacular fashion back in 1997 with the release of the hugely successful Men in Black. As any student of the UFO subject knows, civilian encounters with the enigmatic ‘MIBs’ have been documented for decades in relation to mysterious aerial objects, and those who have been unfortunate enough to attract the attention of these black-clad mystery-men typically describe them as creepy, imposing and outright threatening in their behaviour. But Steven Spielberg’s big-budget production (based on the comic book by Lowell Cunningham) re-spun MIB-lore in favour of the Men in Black themselves and of government secrecy surrounding the UFO phenomenon. It was a message encapsulated by Will Smith’s Grammy Award-winning title rap for the movie’s soundtrack:
The good guys dress in black, remember that
Just in case we ever face to face and make contact...
We’re your first, last and only line of defense
Against the worst scum of the universe
So don’t fear us, cheer us
If you ever get near us, don’t jeer us
We’re fearless...
Let me tell you this in closin' I know we might seem imposin' But trust me, if we ever show in your section Believe me, it's for your own protection Cuz we see things that you need not see And we be places that you need not be So go with your life, forget that Roswell crap Show love to the black suit, cuz That's the Men in That's the Men in...
And, well, you know the rest.
In the minds of the many unfamiliar with UFOlogy, Men in Black would now and forever be associated exclusively with a movie and a song of the same name – with science fiction cinema (and Will Smith) rather than reported historical encounters. Moreover, MIBs went from being sinister witness-harassers to heroic “galaxy-defenders.” Such is the power of entertainment.
This power that entertainment – particularly cinema – wields over our perceptions of complex political issues was something legendary 20th Century Fox Production Chief Darryl Zanuck understood with crystal clarity. In 1943, while serving with the Army Signal Corps, Zanuck said: “If you have something worthwhile to say, dress it up in the glittering robes of entertainment and you will find a ready market... Without entertainment, no propaganda film is worth a dime.”
The Men in Black franchise may not be movie propaganda in the traditional sense (in that it was not pushed into production by the state for political ends), but it serves the UFO-related interests of the national security state nonetheless in its presentation of a just cover-up of extraterrestrial visitation orchestrated by a covert, yet entirely righteous organisation that, by necessity, operates without legal oversight for the good of all mankind.
If the time ever comes when Disclosure is forced upon the US government and the President is called upon by his citizens to justify the UFO secrecy that has metastasised for over sixty years behind the most impenetrable layers of America’s national security state, he need not prepare an elaborate speech, but say, quite simply: “Go watch Men in Black.”
Sony Pictures has just released the theme song for the upcoming Men in Black 3.
Performed and co-written by Armando C. Perez (a.k.a Pitbull), the song features a sample of the 1950s hit "Love is Strange." Which really is strange considering the movie is set in 1969.
The title of the song: "Back in Time" (I know... Huey Lewis! Back to the Future! Right!?). Here it is...
Legendary monster make-up artist Rick Baker spoke enthusiastically at last summer’s San Diego Comic-Con about his alien creature designs for the upcoming Men in Black 3. As sizable chunks of the time-travel-themed movie are set in 1969, Baker said he had been allowed to indulge his passion for retro alien beasties, telling his Comic-Con audience:
“Right from the first movie, I was always saying to Barry [Sonnenfeld], ‘Let’s do aliens that look like aliens we’ve already seen... Let’s say that Paul Blaisdell, who did the effects for Invasion of theSaucer Men, actually had a real encounter with an alien and tried to recreate it on film, so there are saucer men in the Men in Black headquarters. And let’s have E.T. in there, operating the phone.' Barry didn’t like any of those ideas, he thought they were stupid. But when Men in Black 3 came along and I heard about the time-travel element, I said, ‘Okay, it’s set in 2012, so we’ll have aliens that look like 2012 aliens in that part of the film. But when we go back to 1969, wouldn’t it be cool to have retro aliens? Big brains, bug eyes, stuff like that?’ I thought they should have a totally different, retro feel. And they agreed to it, thank God. So I got to make a whole bunch of cool stuff.”
Well, here we are in March, 2012, with just two months to go before the movie’s release, and finally we’re afforded a glimpse at the fruits of Baker’s labour. These photos come to you via Russia’s Stark Industries...
It seems Baker has been true to his word about drawing inspiration from Invasion of the Saucer Men, which helped popularise the term “little green men” in 1957. 1953’s Robot Monsteralso gets a nod!
Lady Gaga is to make an appearance in the upcoming UFO movie 'threequel' Men in Black 3, according to the the star of the franchise, Will Smith...
Gaga's acting skills will not be stretched too far, however, as undoubtedly the songstress will be playing an alien. Incidentally, anyone wanting to learn more about Lady Gaga's apparent links to the conspiratorial, esoteric, and occult should head on over to TheVigilant Citizen, where you'll find a number of in-depth analyses of her highly symbolic music videos, public performances and fashion statements.
Men in Black 3 is due for release May 25. View the trailer here...
The viral marketing campaign for Men in Black 3 is intensifying in anticipation the movie’s May 25 release date. Late last year, a mock conspiracy theory blog popped up run by a UFO-obsessed 14-year-old boy calling himself "BugEyes126.” He’s been posting paranoid little rants since December 2011.
Last week, he posted a sketch of a particle accelerator, along with the following note:
“I was doodling in science class yesterday, this image that I just couldn't get out of my head. Wasn't sure if it was something I've seen before or maybe just from a dream I had. My lab partner saw it in my notebook and said it kind of looked like some large particle accelerator?
So I looked it up, and these “colliders” can cost over 6 billion dollars! Yeah, billions spent to build this just to “see what would happen”. Not sure I buy it.
Using it to secretly transport aliens to and from distant plants seems more likely… Not that I think the Men In Black Suits have anything to do with this. They wouldn't use this for interplanetary transport of ETs. It's just a giant school science project! Right?”
Sketch posted on the MIB III viral blog
Is this a hint from the makers of MIB III that a particle accelerator will play a role in the movie’s story? If so, judging by the sketch, it will be none other than the Large Hadron Collider, which has already been the subject of much conspiratorial chatter around the world.
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, near Geneva
BugEyes126 also posted another blog entry earlier this month. It reads as follows:
“I keep finding this formula online, and I have a hunch it has something to do with the Men In Black Suits.
Any idea what this is or what it could mean? Can anyone help me decipher what this is all about?”
Sorry, BugEyes, I can’t help you. I never liked equations. Any scientists / mathematicians out there?
Columbia Pictures has provided ComingSoon.net with two posters for Men in Black 3. Towards the bottom of each poster is a disguised weblink - TheMenInBlackSuitsAreReal.com - which leads to a viral Facebook account run by 'BugEyes126', who has left the following message:
"I've uncovered that there's these Men in Black suits who monitor and police alien activity on earth. Up until now no one believes me, so I'm on a mission to prove that they're real and that's why I started this Facebook page. More soon."
Men in Black 3 opens in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on May 25. It is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and stars Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson, Nicole Scherzinger, Alice Eve and Michael Stuhlbarg.
... Yes, seriously. Or so says director Barry Sonnenfeld.
Sonnenfeld - who is the director of the Men in Black franchise - is teaming up with comic book writer Grant Morrison to develop a graphic novel and movie sharing the same name: Dominion: Dinosaurs Versus Aliens.
"The graphic novel will chronicle a secret prehistoric world war battle. When an alien invasion attacks Earth in the age of the dinosaurs, the planet's only hope is the giants that roam the planet with, it turns out, a lot more intelligence than previously realized."
Things haven't been going too smoothly of late for the third installment of the Men in Black franchise with its script having been subject to a number of rewrites and the film's production currently on hiatus. Nevertheless, Columbia Pictures is standing firm on its scheduled release date of 25 May, 2012.
The film's plot will see Will Smith's 'Agent J' travel back in time to 1969 to team-up with a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones' MIB curmudgeon 'Agent K' in order to once again save the world from 'the worst scum of the universe.'
With Josh Brolin in the role of the young 'Agent K' and with other new cast members including Emma Thompson and Alice Eve (with the latter playing a younger version of the former), as well as Jemaine Clement on villian duty, Columbia Pictures clearly is hoping that some fresh faces and a temporal change in scenery will breath new life into the MIB universe. The other added ingredient this time around, of course, is 3D.
