Took a brief break from this last week, but here’s another dose of short-but-interesting news items for you:
First off, some sad news; it was mentioned a few days ago that Charles Durning had died, but sadly he’s not alone (somehow these things always happen in groups, especially at the end of the year). Actor Jack Klugman, star of Quincy M.E. and The Odd Couple has passed away at the age of 90. Additionally, Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds and other marionette TV shows, has passed away at the age of 83. Both will be missed for their contributions to entertainment.
NBC has officially passed on picking up The Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane as a series, which really comes as no surprise. The pilot was mediocre, and it’s doubtful a series would have been able to recoup the high costs.
Originally scheduled for a direct-to-video release, Disney’s Planes, the spin-off to Pixar’s Cars franchise which curiously isn’t under the Pixar label, is now being given a theatrical release of August 9, 2013.
After Disney became leery of the project with the failure of Mars Needs Moms, Robert Zemeckis has decided not to do a remake of Yellow Submarine after all. This is probably a good thing — it’s hard to imagine anybody was really looking forward to a Beatles movie without the Beatles.
The Austrian town of Oberburgl is hoping to find Alfred Hitchcock’s lost second film, The Mountain Eagle, which was filmed there.
And finally, Quentin Tarantino is considering a companion piece to Inglourious Basterds, tentatively titled Killer Crow, about disenfranchised African-American soldiers in World War II.
Morgan on Media 
Apart from the soundtrack and the closing live-action, the Beatles had little to do with the original Yellow Submarine, either. The cartoon characters were voiced by different actors, which is why John sounds nothing like John. That said, the animation and design are so iconic and influential, a remake would still seem pointless, and almost tasteless.
Of course, we’re a bit biased in this household, as it’s one of Sid’s favorite movies right now.
It just seems like such an odd thing to be doing… even though it would still be the same “voice substitute” situation, the fact that two of the Beatles are dead does make it seem tasteless.
Nice, Robb Pratt who did a couple hand drawn Superman short films is a storyboard artist on Planes. The shorts he did were great, he was cool enough to talk with me about them, and made me interested in the movie. It’s kind of weird to see the franchise handed off like that, even though it’s within the same parent company, and it’s a spin-off rather than a direct sequel, it’s still a little weird.
Yeah, it’s just one of the odder little blurrings of the line between the two companies. I really would have thought it’d be under the Pixar label.
Very interesting news, Morgan. Sad to hear about Klugman; I didn’t know of his passing. I liked him in 12 Angry Men.
Planes looks awful; I didn’t know they were planning a remake of Yellow Submarine. Oh, and Killer Crow could be very interesting.
That thing with the lost Hitchcock film sounds very interesting. I’ll give it a read.
On Planes, I don’t know. It doesn’t look great to me, but I haven’t seen either of the Cars movies myself. Of course, I know those typically rank pretty low for most grown-up Pixar fans.
Cars is decent but the sequel is a waste of time. I think the lack of involvement from Pixar is not a good sign.
I think it’s weird more than anything. John Lasseter is still the one in charge of the project, so it’s not like it’s really some other company taking over.
Oh OK, didn’t know that.