James Cameron, 4K remasters, and the use of AI
by John Abbitt | Jan 02, 2024 | Feature, News
The 4K remasters of James Cameron's The Abyss, True Lies and Aliens are coming in for criticism - and AI is getting some of the blame....
Posts by: John Abbitt
Independence Day UK: the audio film that tied in with the US blockbuster
by John Abbitt | Jun 05, 2023 | Feature
Ahead of the release of Roland Emmerich's Independence Day, an audio film was commissioned, made and broadcast in the UK......
The story behind George Miller's cancelled Justice League film
by John Abbitt | May 25, 2023 | Feature
The first Justice League movie was meant to be directed by George Miller, but was cancelled during production - here's the story......
The Abyss, Jurassic Park and when CGI replaced practical effects
by John Abbitt | Mar 31, 2023 | Feature
From The Abyss to Men In Black, there are many films that replaced practical effects with CGI during production - we take a look at some notable ex...
The story of the Red Dwarf film that never was
by John Abbitt | Mar 13, 2023 | Feature
OUR BEST EVER SUBSCRIPTION OFFER!...
The story of the original Predator suit that was worn by Jean-Claude Van Damme
by John Abbitt | Mar 02, 2023 | Feature
OUR BEST EVER SUBSCRIPTION OFFER!...
The film that almost gave us an animatronic Hulk
by John Abbitt | Mar 01, 2023 | Feature
Before Ang Lee was attached to direct Hulk in the early 2000s, the project began life as an attempt to make the Hulk with animatronics......
How Aeon Flux almost ended Karyn Kusama's directing career
by John Abbitt | Jan 25, 2023 | Feature
The tale of how Karyn Kusama’s directorial career was almost bought to halt when she tried to adapt the cult cartoon Æon Flux for the big sc...
The struggles of creating the opening scene for Waterworld
by John Abbitt | Jan 23, 2023 | Feature
The short opening of 1995's Waterworld turns the Universal logo into a flooded futuristic Earth - and it was rather difficult to pull off....
When widescreen VHS videos were first introduced
by John Abbitt | Jan 17, 2023 | Feature
If you remember the phrase 'pan and scan', you might just remember what a seismic shift the launch of widescreen VHS proved to be....
Indiana Jones 5 and the fake film rumours
by John Abbitt | Nov 21, 2022 | Feature
Indiana Jones 5 has been kept largely under wraps so far - but it's not stopped clickbait rumours from gaining prominence, as we discover....
David Fincher, Tony Scott, John Woo and more: the BMW mini-cinematic universe
by John Abbitt | Nov 16, 2022 | Feature
Under the eye initially of David Fincher, the story of BMW's James Bond-inspired advertising campaign, The Driver....
How Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was originally a much darker film
by John Abbitt | Oct 18, 2022 | Feature
It turns out there was a very different cut of Jim Carrey's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective - one that was meant to be much darker. A...
BOO: the nearly-completed $100m+ film that DreamWorks cancelled
by John Abbitt | Oct 13, 2022 | Feature
The story of BOO, an otherworldly animated film that DreamWorks cancelled at great expense when it was nearly complete....
The story of the Ghostbusters videogame that never was
by John Abbitt | Oct 10, 2022 | Feature, Gaming
In 2007, a company called Zootfly attempted to make a Ghostbusters video game - but when it released demos, things went wrong quickly....
The story of the cancelled Indiana Jones And The Staff Of Kings
by John Abbitt | Oct 04, 2022 | Feature, News
We take a look into two cancelled Indiana Jones projects - a video game and novel titled Indiana Jones And The Staff Of Kings. In...
The DVD special features that were supposed to have been deleted - but weren't
by John Abbitt | Sep 26, 2022 | Feature, News
We look into two memorable instances of studios deleting deleted scenes before a film's physical release - yet they didn't stay deleted for long....
VHS, DVD, Blu-ray: how Hollywood tried to crack down on piracy
by John Abbitt | Sep 13, 2022 | Feature, News
Hollywood has always struggled to draw the line between piracy protection and inconveniencing end users - and nowhere is that more evident than home...
The Crow reboot and its journey through development hell
by John Abbitt | Aug 23, 2022 | Feature, News
We take a look at the troubled history of the still unmade The Crow reboot - which has been in development hell for 14 years. A...
The strange emergence of the non-director approved DVD extended cut
by John Abbitt | Aug 09, 2022 | Feature, News
Are 'extended' and 'unrated' cuts of films worth investing in? Or are they just a marketing tactic to shift more discs? We take a look....
When physical media takes advantage of the film collector
by John Abbitt | Jul 27, 2022 | Feature, News
In the digital age, we remain fully supportive of owning physical copies of films - but do studios take advantage of fans and collectors?...
Stargate, and the short life of the 'making of' CD-ROM
by John Abbitt | Sep 21, 2020 | Feature, News
For a brief period, it look as if 'making of' CD-ROMs were going to be the next big thing - and Stargate was chosen to get them off the ground....
The Crow Chronicle: the DVD extra feature that got pulled late in the day
by John Abbitt | Aug 25, 2020 | Feature
How a feature length documentary on The Crow was completed and ready for its special edition DVD, and then had the plug pulled on it....
The Crow: City Of Angels and the lost fan edit
by John Abbitt | Jul 20, 2020 | Feature
How a fan re-edit became the closest cut of The Crow: City Of Angels to how director Tim Pope envisaged the film - and that's according to Pope...
When film and TV merged into games: the 90s rise of FMV
by John Abbitt | Jun 29, 2020 | Feature
When computers finally had the power to run games with video footage included, developers headed to films and TV shows for inspiration - with mixed...
