I just got one of the WC movie crew jackets that Starlog was raffling off, in case anyone is interested. :) My significant other will get it. She's a huge WC fan. It'll make her month. :) It's not leather or satin. I kind of doubt it's gore-tex, though it look like it. It's the same stuff you see modern aviator jackets made of. It's reversible (turn it inside out and it's safety orange...), has 5 pockets and the WC movie logo over left breast and 'wing commander cast & crew luxembourg 1998' embroidered on the back. I also got a letter here (conveniently NOT addressed to me.. :) saying it's one of 2 they gave away.Congratulations gren!
The UglyThey also mention the large Wing Commander article they did for Gamespot...Wing Commander Movie: Yikes. Okay, so we weren't expecting Citizen Kane or Star Wars Episode 1 anyway, but this steaming pile isn't even rental-worthy. Memo to game designers. Stick to computer games.
This movie is probably already on video, but you can hear how Chris Roberts justified this "experiment" and read a retrospective of the entire Wing Commander series.
If you've read the book and haven't done so, I'd really appreciate you going to Amazon.com and writing a short review. Thanks!Peter Telep
1. Freddie Prinze Jr. (wearing helmet) plays a hotshot space pilot with incredible navicational skills in Wing Commander.
2. (L-R) Matthew Lillard, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Tcheky Karyo prepare for battle in Wing Commander.
3. Freddie Prinze Jr. (left) holds injured buddy Matthew Lillard in Wing Commander.
4. Freddie Prinze Jr. hunts the enemy in Wing Commander.
5. Wing Commander Saffron Burrows enjoys a rare moment of relaxation in Wing Commander.
6. Wing Commander Saffron Burrows gives a stirring speech to members of her squadron in Wing Commander.
7. Tcheky Karyo stars as Paladin in Wing Commander.
8. Jurgen Prochnow stars as Gerald in Wing Commander.
9. David Warner stars as Tolwyn in Wing Commander.
10. State-of-the-art, computer generated special effects are used to depict an epic space battle in Wing Commander.
11. State-of-the-art, computer generated special effects are used to depict an epic space battle in Wing Commander.
12. Director Chris Roberts on the Wing Commander set.
Promotional PossibilitiesTie-ins: Wing Commander is based on the very popular CD ROM game by Origin and book by Harper Collins Publishing.
Tie in with your local electronic game store to cross promote the movie and the game. Offer the store one-sheets sniped with your playdate information to help create a Wing Commander display. Ask the store to offer a discount on the Wing Commander game when customers present the store with a Wing Commander ticket stub from your theatre. Take your tie-in one step further and offer a discount on concession items when patrons purchase a Wing Commander ticket and present their receipt from your tie-in partner.
Tie in with your local bookstore to cross promote the movie and the book. Offer the store one-sheets sniped with your playdate information to help create a Wing Commander display. Ask the store to offer a discount on the Wing Commander book when customers present the store with a Wing Commander ticket stub from your theatre. Take your tie-in one step further and offer a discount on concession items when patrons purchase a Wing Commander ticket and present their receipt from your tie-in partner.
In-theatre: Decorate your lobby with Wing Commander one-sheets. Ask your tie-in partners to donate Wing Commander CD ROM games and books for display in your lobby. Hold a drawing opening night for a Wing Commander prize package including a one-sheet, CD ROM game and book.
Use old computer equipment and other high tech items to simulate a spaceship command center. Have theater staff dress up in Wing Commander type uniforms complete with space helmets.
Set up computer stations in your lobby on opening night loaded with the Wing Commander CD ROM game. Hold a Wing Commander game-off. Give prizes donated from your tie-in partners to the champions.
SLC PUNK! at the San Francisco Film Festival on Saturday (4/24) at 11 pm. James Merendino and Matthew Lillard will do interviews and sign posters/comic books/etc. at the festival!
| Dist. | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Release Weeks | Number of Theaters | |||
| 66 | Wing Commander | FOX | $27,922 | $11,431,590 | 6 | 103 | |
I've set up a mailing list at Onelist. People that want to be kept up to date on the latest news about the WC movie meeting can subscribe to it. Only I can send mail to everyone on the list, so people's mailboxes won't get cluttered.You can subscribe to the mailing list (I would recommend it) at http://www.onelist.com/viewarchive.cgi?listname=wcmovie
LOS ANGELES, CA -- (INTERNET WIRE) -- 04/14/99 -- Showscan Entertainment Inc. (OTC BB: SHOW) Wednesday announced plans to produce two new simulation thrill ride films, "Wing Commander" and "Street Fighter II - The Ride."I know where I'm going on vacation every summer for the next ten years..These productions are the first in history to fully utilize convergent media that crosses a variety of entertainment forms including video games, theatrical films and now simulation adventures.
"Consumers want to 'live' through movies and games. By making simulation thrill ride films based on recognizable brand name games and theatrical films, Showscan is leading the way in bringing together all of the critical, exciting and visual elements of entertainment today," said Dennis Pope, president and chief executive officer of Showscan.
"With the addition of these two titles, the thrill-seeking public will not only be able to play the game and see the movie, they will be able to experience the excitement firsthand. In essence, we are providing consumers with the interactive experiences they desire."
Pope added: "These new rides will add real brand name power to the Showscan library. They are key elements in the continuing development and implementation of our core business strategy to raise the bar of quality and excitement, to set new standards in simulation attractions and to create the largest and best simulation film library in the world."
In the first of the two productions, Showscan has formed Wing Commander Simulation Co., a partnership with executive producers George Wade and Alan Cole Ford to acquire the ride film rights to "Wing Commander." Based on the hit computer game series and the Digital Anvil/No Prisoners film of the same title released earlier this year by 20th Century Fox, the ride will take audiences into futuristic outer space combat.
"Wing Commander" has sold more than 9 million CD Rom games worldwide and is one of the top franchises in the computer game genre. Cole Ford said, "We believe this will add a whole new dimension to the Wing Commander franchise extending it far beyond its core game playing audience."
Digital Anvil's chief executive officer, Chris Roberts, who directed the "Wing Commander" feature film and created the game, said: "The Showscan ride is yet another evolutionary step for `Wing Commander.' We are thrilled about the opportunity to truly put audiences in the front seat of `Wing Commander''s spectacular action."
The partnership is currently in negotiations with several top effects and CGI companies in the film industry to round out the "Wing Commander" production team. Showscan, which will serve as producer and distributor of the ride, expects to release "Wing Commander" in January 2000.
| Dist. | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Release Weeks | Number of Theaters | |||
| 54 | Wing Commander | FOX | $53,927 | $11,385,523 | 5 | 173 | |
As a bit of trivia here, the #53 ranked movie over the weekend, Enemy of the State, was the movie I watched on the airplane during my flight to Austin.
Freddie Prinze Jr. is the new Mark Hamill. Kind of. In the upcoming sci-fi movie Wing Commander, opening March 12, Prinze plays rebellious pilot Christopher Blair, the role the Star Wars icon essayed in the CD-ROM series of games on which the movie is loosely based.Prinze, the red-hot star of the recent hit She's All That and son of the late comedian Freddie Prinze, admits that stepping into Hamill's boots caused him some serious grief.
"People started a controversy on the Internet," says the personable, energetic Prinze during a conversation at a Manhattan hotel. "People wanted to kill me because Hamill was Blair in the game, and suddenly he wasn't Blair anymore.
"I tried to explain to people, 'This is NOT an issue. Blair is 22 years old in the movie, and they just can't have Hamill do it.' Hamill is not 22, and he doesn't look 22.
"People were saying, 'You have big shoes to fill.' I did, but I wasn't going to do Mark Hamill playing Blair. He did his thing, and I'm doing my thing," Prinze says.
"Hopefully, that's how it will be received and, hopefully, the loyal fans of the game won't assassinate me."
The movie's plot: Blair carries with him knowledge of an impending invasion by an alien threat called the Kilrathi, and he teams with mates Maniac (Matthew Lillard), Deveraux (Saffron Burrows) and their commander (Tcheky Karyo) to marshal the forces of the Confederation and battle the Kilrathi.
"I was a huge fan of the game, but the film is basically World War II set 700 years from now," says Prinze, 22, whose other credits include I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and its sequel (1998), The House of Yes (1998) and Sparkler, a soon-to-be-released dark comedy in which he co-stars with Jamie Kennedy, Park Overall and Veronica Cartwright.
"Wing Commander all takes place in space, on these giant ships that are like submarines. It's very Das Boot'-ish, and (Das Boot star) Jurgen Prochnow is in the movie. He plays another commander and he hates me because I'm half-Pilgrim."
Half-Pilgrim?
"Imagine if Nazi Germany still existed and America had to team up with Nazi Germany to fight a common foe. There would be a lot of bad blood.
"In the movie, the Pilgrims were completely destroyed by the Confederation, which is basically Earth, and I'm half-Pilgrim. When everybody finds out about that there's this mad racism going on, and Jurgen's character, who was in the Pilgrim Wars, hates me."
Directed by Chris Roberts, who devised the CD-ROM games, Commander boasts more than 300 special effects shots (many of them digitally produced), a production design courtesy of Titanic's Peter Lamont and a cast that also includes David Warner as Adm. Tolwyn.
Ironically, Warner assumed his role after Malcolm McDowell, who played Tolwyn in the games and shared the screen with Warner in Time After Time (1979), passed due to his commitment to the recently canceled television series "Fantasy Island."
"We ended up making a really cool, character-driven movie," says Prinze, who's open to the idea of a sequel and looks forward to the avalanche of Commander tie-in merchandise, which includes action figures and a licensed magazine, jewelry and posters. "It's not silly sci-fi crap.
"The two kinds of movies I had to make before I died were a sci-fi movie and a war movie. Actually, I still have to be in a boxing movie and a Western before I die." Prinze laughs, then adds to his wish list.
"I also have to play a superhero before I die, and then I'll be happy. So, Wing Commander took care of two of my dreams at once."
| Dist. | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Release Weeks | Number of Theaters | |||
| 23 | Wing Commander | FOX | $365,913 | $11,236,859 | 4 | 498 | |
Britannia is in a panic! Early this morning, the sky darkened as a group of steel like birds descended upon the land. Like huge, terrible, flying dragons, the huge birds shoot fire from their gaping mouths at humans, creatures, and buildings without discrimination.I stood paralyzed when I first saw these mammoth beasts. I was minding my own affairs, handling my resources at the bank when the horrible monstrosity came near me. Some of the more veteran warriors and magicians near me charged towards the ferocious animal and attempted to use their high arts to conquer it. They thought this was nothing more than a new variety of monster, as yet undiscovered, and easily destroyed.
They were woefully mistaken. I watched in horror as the mighty ones fell all around me while the fire breathing steel bird still swooped about, doing damage to all in its path. Finally, my wits about me, I turned on heel and ran for the protection of my friend's house nearby, narrowly escaping the same fate of the fighters.
From the safety of the house, I quickly penned this report, and I hope to find eventually find a cryer to whom I can deliver the news, so that they might warn the other cities and villages of the attack. All seems in chaos, and I fear the worst. But if you are reading this, then perhaps my message has found its way into good hands. For this, I can only pray. And that we might have some brave souls who can defend us against this enemy.
Watch the skies! Beware! These huge birds may be those that are called Kilrathi, a mysterious race that only the wisest of sages are privy to. Written about in the ancient tomes, and prophesied of in the most secret of scrolls, the Kilrathi are said to be a race from beyond the skies, from between the stars. Most of the educated scholars who have heard of them, believed them to be fairy stories, conjured to frighten the young ones. But by the virtues, today I believe, and I warrant by the end of today, so shall all of you.
Go in peace, and may the virtues keep you safe.
Samuel Mekings
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