Confirmed: Burton Developing 'Monsterpocalypse'

Rumors were popping up online for a few weeks, but we now have official confirmation: Tim Burton is currently developing Monsterpocalypse. He is supposed to be directing and producing this film.

The Disney/DreamWorks movie is based on the game of the same name, which features epic battles of monsters played out on a board. Maybe Burton will exercise his fondness for Japanese Godzilla films in his project.

Game creator Matt Wilson will be a co-producer on the movie. John August will be the screenwriter, and is currently consulting with Wilson. It has also been revealed that visual effects master Ken Ralston (Return of the Jedi, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland) will be on board on this 3D movie. Ralston and Burton are currently developing the look of the monsters.

/Film described the plot:

"The plot involves giant monsters who attack earth. After the humans fight back, the monsters retreat, but it is quickly discovered that they didn’t leave, but instead burrowed underground and are sending some sort of signal into space. The humans prepare for a possible future attach and developed giant robots that will fight the monsters if and when they return."


/Film's Peter Scierra spoke with producer Roy Lee (The Ring, The Departed, How to Train Your Dragon) over the weekend. Here's the interview, containing plenty of details about this forthcoming popcorn movie:


Peter: Hey Roy.

Roy: Hey Peter. How are you?

Peter: Good. So we’ve been hearing rumors that there is a film version of MONSTERPOCALYPSE with John August writing it and many have speculated that Tim Burton might direct? I wanted to see if you could confirm those rumors.

Roy: I can confirm that Tim Burton is developing it to direct. He’s working closely with John August on story. And this is the first time that Ken Ralston was brought in this early to do conceptual drawings and the visuals for the movie itself. I don’t know if you know Ken, but he’s won several Oscars for, I guess, maybe “Cocoon”, “Roger Rabbit”, “Back to the Future”, “Forest Gump”, all those, as well as working with Tim on “Alice in Wonderland”.

Peter: This is a board game, so what is the take on the film adaptation?

Roy: The general take on the film that I can give you is that the giant monsters come to earth and start wreaking havoc. The humans, at this point, fight back. And they feel like they’ve destroyed them, but they quickly learn that the monsters that come had actually not died and just sort of burrowed underground and are sending some sort of signal into space. Apparently, it is probably going to be a distress signal. So the humans know that something is going to be coming, they just don’t know what yet. And they know how big these monsters can be. Then it cuts to many years later when nothing has come back, but the humans have prepared for possible monsters coming back. And by this time, they have developed these giant robots that will fight the monsters when they come. That is what is going to take place. But most of the movie is going to be during that battle between the giant robots and the giant monsters.

Peter: So that part where the monsters return, is that just like the first 30 minutes of the movie?

Roy: Yes. The opening is just the basic present day, and then we go years into the future.

Peter: Wow. The MONSTERPOCALYPSE universe also encompasses other properties, like Voltron. Will those properties also be a part of the movie?

Roy: Not Voltron… The company that owns Voltron approached us, Matt Wilson, to be able to utilize the robots for the world of MONSTERPOCALYPSE. But we are not using anything from there to the movie, because a lot of the robots and monsters will be created by Tim himself and the cast.

Peter: OK, cool. So John August is…it sounds like you have a script, or you have a treatment right now?

Roy: He’s writing the script right now.

Peter: He’s writing the script right now. If this happens, when does this look like this happens in the schedule? This would definitely be after Dark Shadows, I assume?

Roy: That is something that we are not clear on, just because Tim has several opportunities that will be placed in front of him whenever these scripts are done, because both scripts of Dark Shadows and MONSTERPOCALYPSE are being written as we speak. So I can’t say what would happen if “Dark Shadows” comes in great and ours doesn’t, or the opposite. So it’s really just up in the air.

Peter: how big are these robots?

Roy: These robots would be the size of a very tall building, where the crew that is inside of each one of these robots…we’re not sure how many people are manning it. It’s almost as if, like, the robots are spaceships, but they are actually shaped like robots and walk around the Earth, where you have a crew inside them, like, with a captain, controlling different parts of the robot to fight these monsters.

Peter: Do we see that? Are we inside the bridge like Star Trek, or is it mostly outside seeing them fight the monsters?

Roy: Nope. You’ll be inside the robots and watching from outside.

Peter: Oh, really cool. And how big are the monsters, may I ask?

Roy: They will be just as big. Have you seen anything about the board game?

Peter: Yes, I’ve seen many photos of the board game, but I’ve never actually played it myself.

Roy: Well, yeah. Conceptually, the pieces are…you have like these buildings, and then the players are fighting against each other playing either the monsters or the robots. And those monsters and robots are the same size as the buildings.

Peter: Well, very cool. And is Tim doing any of the designs himself?

Roy: Oh, yes. Ken Ralston and Tim are working on the design. Tim has a very distinct style in the way he handles a lot of his creatures and the images that he uses in his movies that will be, I’m sure, reflected in our movie as well.

Peter: Well, very cool. Thank you for your time Roy. I know you are probably a very busy guy. I really appreciate it.

Roy: Sure. And a couple things. Tarik Heitmann, Gerald Moon, and Doug Davison are the exec producers.

Peter: And Matt Wilson, the creator of the game is…

Roy: Co-producer.

Peter: How involved is he?

Roy: He is very involved in the sense that the writer, John August, is consulting him and talking to him about just what choice he made in the game. He’s been very helpful in just explaining some of the mythology behind some of the creatures. Because we are using some of his creatures, as well as his robots. I mean it’s going to be sort of sub-everything.

Peter: And I assume that this is probably being developed as a 3D film?

Roy: That would be correct. I mean that’s where Ken is saying there is no reason why we shouldn’t, because seeing major cities destroyed and monsters fighting with robots would naturally lend itself to a 3D movie.

Peter: It sounds like it’s going to be lots of fun, so hopefully it gets made sooner rather than later.

Roy: I’d say there is a good chance that we would be in theaters by the end of 2012.

Peter: OK. Well, very cool Roy. Thank you very much. And again, I appreciate your time.

Roy: You are welcome. Sure thing.

Burton on Blood in "Sweeney Todd"

Tim Burton has stated that the highly stylized use of blood in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was crucial for the story. He says that he let the bosses at DreamWorks and Warner Bros. know that "blood was part of the production" as soon as he proposed his desire to make the movie version of the musical.

Talking about their initial meetings, he said: "It's an amazing thing that [we said]: 'We're gonna do an R rated musical with no professional singers, with lots of blood, about a serial killer and cannibalism', and they go 'Great!'. That was unheard of, I've never had that happen in my life before."



The filmmaker added that the fake blood used for the movie was orange, sticky, and curiously sweet. "It was our own special recipe, very sticky, very sweet and it burns your eyes."

The young Ed Sanders, who plays Toby in the film, also gave his opinion of the purposefully unrealistic gore in the film: "For a start, [it] was orange, and you could also see it actually pumping in through the pipes around the people they were killing's necks."

Good thing for star of the film Johnny Depp, who revealed that he is squeamish of seeing blood.

"There's a lot of blood-letting in the film but I like to keep mine inside me thank you very much.

"I'm not very good with the sight of my own blood. Nobody likes to be prodded or poked in any way, whether it's in the doctor's office or in jail."

Depp continued: "I always look away when I draw blood at the doctor's office. The blood we use is very theatrical. That's one of the reasons it still feels like a play to me. The realistic edge is off."

Burton admitted that he shared Depp's phobia, but didn't have a problem with their false blood concoction used during filming.

Depp Happy His Daughter Recovering, and The New York Times Discusses "Todd"

Johnny Depp is thankful that his daughter, Lily-Rose, who was seven when a mystery illness struck her last March, is recovering. "To say it was the darkest moment, that's nothing," the actor told Entertainment Weekly. "It doesn't come close to describing it. Words are so small." At the time the illness affected his daughter, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, in which Depp plays the title role, was only three weeks into shooting. "I didn't know if I was coming back," he recalls. "I remember talking with [Tim Burton], saying, 'Maybe you need to recast.' "

But Burton and the rest of the crew and cast went on a brief hiatus, allowing Depp to be with his daughter without having to change such a primary casting decision. "We've adjusted his schedule to fit in with his needs," DreamWorks said in a statement at the time. "Everybody's with them in good spirits." Depp and his partner, Vanessa Paradis, are relieved that Lily-Rose, now 8, has made a complete recovery. "Now every single millisecond is a minicelebration, man," Depp says. "Every time we get to breathe in and exhale is a huge victory. She pulled through beautifully, perfectly, with no lasting anything."

Photo by Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com

Meanwhile, the New York Times has reported on the Burton-Depp collaboration, Sweeney Todd. In the article, much of the cast and crew mention the process of bringing the Sondheim musical to the big screen. Production designer Dante Ferretti recalls how Burton acknowledged the importance of having actors perform in physical sets, using computer-generated backdrops and environments minimally, and how the look of the film should be more of a horror movie kind of London than a completely historically accurate Victorian-era London. Ferretti, whose work goes back to collaborating with Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, states that the production team made the film's version of London "a little bit more frightening, more dark, more interesting."

Depp recalls that he never wanted to be a singer, because he felt that singers always get "too much attention." But when offered the role of Sweeney Todd for Burton's cinematic version, Depp, cautiously, accepted. During the filming of the third installment of the Pirates of the Carribean franchise, Depp studied the songs from the musical thoroughly, practicing to and from the sets. Depp says he would drive "two hours to work and two hours back listening constantly, learning the melodies in the car."

Depp also recalls on how classic horror film stars influenced his performance in Todd. Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and, especially, Peter Lorre were sources of macabre inspiration for the actor. Richard D. Zanuck, a producer of Todd, remarked that "Johnny in front of his victims with the razor is almost like a ballet dancer, dancing around them," in the film.

The article also mentions the blood and gore effects of the film, helping bring a stylized touch to the musical tale of the murderous barber. Mr. Zanuck states that the crew had "done tests and experiments with neck slashing, with the blood popping out. I remember saying to Tim, 'my god, do we dare do this?'"

Mike Higham, the music producer of the film, noted how economically Burton conveys his ideas. "He can say three words, and he completely sums up what his vision is," Higham says. "You get those three words and you go."

Burton on the set of Sweeney Todd. Photo by Peter Mountain/Paramount Pictures.

New "Sweeney Todd" Wide Release Date: December 21st!

DreamWorks and Paramount have decided to give Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd a wide release in the United States for Christmas. The original wide release date was January 11th, 2008, assuming that the film didn't have the potential to be a commercial success. But some studio executives saw some clips of the upcoming movie, and realized the film has much broader appeal than they assumed before (despite it being a violent musical). Variety wrote, "The hope is that "Sweeney" will be the sort of signature role for Depp that Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise was." However, the article stated that, "at the same time, DreamWorks and Paramount aren't likely to go out with "Sweeney." The studios aren't planning on releasing the film in more than 1,500 theaters in the United States on opening weekend.

Rumors of "Sweeney Todd" Cuts Dismissed

Much fuss has been appearing online saying that Warner Bros. wanted Tim Burton to cut some of the more gorey and bloody scenes from Sweeney Todd in order for the film to receive a PG-13 rating by the MPAA. But Variety has stated that these claims are false. "DreamWorks has always said it was an R," says Anne Thompson of Variety. "Anyone who knows the show knows that it involves killing and meat pies."

Mark Salisbury, who is writing the companion book to Sweeney Todd, also dismissed the rumors of Todd receiving a post-production slashing. Salisbury wrote on his blog, "all those reports of Burton being asked to cut back on the blood in the movie, don't believe a word of it."