I’m happy to see that the Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000 Kickstarter has hit $3.3 million, meaning they’ll produce at least six episodes.
At $4.4 million they’ll make nine episodes, but at this point $5.5 million (twelve episodes) is looking like it might be a stretch.
Also Patton Oswalt is joining the cast as TV’s Son of TV’s Frank, a move I’m pretty “meh” on (though I can see the physical resemblance between Frank Conniff and Oswalt).
Sunday I saw Kung Fury, the crowd-funded parody of every cheesy 80s cop show, science fiction movie, and fighting video game, rolled into one absurdist package.
It has everything you could ever ask for in a short film featuring a kung fu cop traveling back in time to stop Hitler, including dinosaurs, Tron-era grid computer graphics, obviously fake video compositing, and a soundtrack that sounds like it was composed by Giorgio Moroder after a 72-hour Jolt Cola binge.
The Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000 Kickstarter has hit their $2 million goal, which means it’s funded and they’ll do at least three new episodes.
Everybody Smile!
And they still have 25 days to go! Now let’s hope they make it all they way to their 12 episode $5.5 million stretch goal…
It’s one thing for there to be a legal battle over the rights for a good movie, but it’s quite another when the battle is over Manos: The Hands of Fate, one of the worst films of all time. (Note: That article is up on Playboy.com, so it might be blocked at your place of work.)
In 2011, a collector of film prints uncovered the original negative of Manos and embarked on an inexplicable project to restore the film with all the white-glove attention archivists give to Hollywood classics. His efforts would incur the wrath of a mysterious man with a fake New Zealand accent named Rupert, as well as Joe Warren, Hal Warren’s embittered son, who intends to preserve the Manos legacy at all costs.
Hal Warren’s son comes off as more than a bit of a jerk. “I’m the director’s son! I’m entitled to a cut even if the work is out of copyright!”
Mareth, Glenville. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Alternate Histories, 2014. First edition small trim sized chapbook, a Fine copy, new and unread. Transcribed script for the movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
Warren, Harold P. “Manos” The Hands of Fate. Alternate Histories, 2014. First edition small trim sized chapbook, a Fine copy, new and unread. Transcribed script for the movie Manos: The Hands of Fate.
Wood, Edward D. Plan 9 From Outer Space. Alternate Histories, 2014. First edition small trim sized chapbook, a Fine copy, new and unread. Transcribed script for the movie Plan 9 From Outer Space.
All bought for $20 from the Kickstarter. My only complaint is that the font size is ridiculously small…
What, you’re saying the words “staggeringly successful,” “critically acclaimed” and “franchise” don’t apply to Sharknado?
All I have to say about that is: I had a great deal more fun watching Sharknado than I did Attack of the Clones.
In other Sharknado-related news, The Asylum is crowd-funding a scene in Sharknado 2: The Second One. Personally, I think $50,000 for a single scene is more than a bit high. Give The Asylum’s previous track record, with that much money I would expect them to make an entire film…