Black Friday Week Geek Deals: Monday

As Black Friday approaches, a bunch of really great movie deals are hitting the web. We'll try to bring you a daily round-up of links throughout the week. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy Combo $15.99 Harry Potter Years 1-5 Box Set [Blu-ray] $54.99 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [Blu-ray] $14.99 Slumdog Millionaire $7.99 The Fountain [Blu-ray] $9.99 Bullitt [Blu-ray] $8.99 The Passion of the Christ (Definitive Edition) [Blu-ray] $8.99 The Terminator [Blu-ray] $7.49 Dogma [Blu-ray] $7.99 24: Season 7 $19.99 The Simpsons: Season 1, 3-10 $12.49 each 7am - 11am EST, 4am - 8am PST  Blazing Saddles - $2.00  Yes Man - $5.00  The Polar Express - $5.99 11am - 3pm EST, 8am - 12pm PST  Blood Diamond - $2.00  Nights in Rodanthe - 5.99  17 Again - $10.00 3pm - 7pm EST, 12pm - 4pm PST  Facing the Giants - $2.00  National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - $5.99  My Sister's Keeper - $10.00 7pm - 11pm EST, 4pm - 8pm PST  Black Book - $2.00  Looney Tunes: Golden Collection - $14.99  Righteous Kill - ...

Smallville Ratings Are Improving: Best In A Year

Even though Smallville has been stuck in the death slot of Friday nights, (thanks, CW), the ratings for the Tom Welling-starring fantasy series are improving. Now admittedly Smallville is not capturing 8 million viewers like NBC’s Law & Order or 7.9 million viewers like Ghost Whisperer on Friday nights, but it is picking up. Smallville drew in [...]

ARABIAN NIGHTS Gets a 3D Makeover

Director Chuck Russell is taking Arabian Nights into the third dimension. To give you an idea of what kind of director Russell is, here are some films that he’s made, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Blob, The Mask, Eraser, and Scorpion King. I Guess a 3D Arabian Nights film is the [...]

Upcoming 3D Version of the Arabian Nights Makes Prince of Persia Sound Culturally Reverent

There have been many filmed versions of the collection of folk stories and other tales called the One Thousand and One Nights, better known in the US as the Arabian Nights. Now we can add one more to the pile. Who's directing? That would be Chuck Russell, a man whose films span a broad range of quality: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (fairly awesome), The Blob remake (great stuff), The Mask (starting to worry) and The Scorpion King (uh-oh). Where's this Arabian Nights going to fall on his best to worst list? Variety reports that Russell has co-written the picture with Barry P. Ambrose. Budgeted at $70m, the film is planned to start next spring. The angle is that the story offers 'a new spin,' which is often code for 'we've slapped familiar names on some stuff we made up over beers.' Indeed, the trade says the film "follows a young commander ...

Chuck Russell Directing an Arabian Nights Remake in 3D

Another day, another remake. Today I am sad to report that the 1942 classic Arabian Nights is going to be ravaged in a $70 million remake being directed by Chuck Russell. Variety reports that Russell, whose credits include A Nightmare on Elm Street: Part III, The Blob, The Mask, Eraser, and The Scorpion King, will be "reworking" Arabian Nights into a 3D film with a "new spin on the classic" story. In this version, we will follow a young commander who, after his king is killed in a palace coup, joins forces with Sinbad, Aladdin and his genie to rescue Scheherazade and her kingdom from dark powers. Sounds like it'll be a good time. "Through the use of a new generation of visual technologies, we will be able to quite literally take audiences around the world on a magic carpet ride," Russell said. I hope that quote gave you chills. I ...

Get Ready for Arabian Nights in 3D

With Disney's Prince of Persia set to hit theaters next year, Hollywood might soon begin a love affair with romantic visions of the Middle East. Next on the block? A 3D "reworking" of the Arabian Nights, the classic series of tales that consists of such famous stories as "Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp" and "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves." According to Variety, Chuck Russell, who previously directed The Mask and The Scorpion King, will be taking on director's duties with an estimated budget of $70 million. Rather than focus on a classic telling of Arabian Nights, Russell, who co-wrote the script with Barry P. Ambrose, has decided to mix and match the various tales with the overarching framework of the collection. Originally, Arabian Nights, or One Thousand and One Nights was presented as a collection of stories recited by Queen Scheherazade to her new husband, the king, as she attempts to stave off her execution each night. In Russell's reworking, however, the heroes of the Arabian Nights, such as Aladdin and Sinbad, join forces to rescue the queen and her kingdom from mysterious powers. Source: Variety

Arabian Nights...In 3-D!

It's the time of year you hear a lot of the phrase, "This is a copycat league," referring to the way NFL teams use what seems to be working for somebody else. The best current example is the Wildcat formation. Most teams have incorporated it, but Miami's still the only club that gets it right.

That happens all the time with movies, too. And in the same week that we saw our first trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Dark Horizons is carrying a story that claims Chuck Russell will direct a 3-D version of Arabian Nights. The collection of folk tales is really called One Thousand and One Nights, but calling it Arabian Nights has been the western response for centuries.