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TracySUPERHERO FEVER HITS AUSTRALIA
July 30th 2007 06:59
You've probably noticed the influs of Superheroes in Australia at the moment. One of Hollywood's top producers, Avi Arad, whose credits include the Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises, said he would shoot several big budget films in coming years in Australia based on comic book superheroes.
Arad had a taste of filmmaking in Australia with this year's hit, Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage, which was made in Melbourne.
The producer said he was impressed with Australia's talented film crews and special effects house. "Some of the bigger projects I am working on now inevitably will end up in Australia,'' Arad told AAP in an interview in Los Angeles.
Arad has more than 10 films based on comics on his production slate, including Captain America, The Avengers, Thor, The Punisher 2, Ant-Man, Iron Fist and two spin-offs of the X-Men films, Wolverine (starring Hugh Jackman) and Magneto.
Arad would not name the films he planned to shoot in Australia, but he did reveal he was attempting to hire an Australian director for one of the movies. He declined to reveal the director's name, but there has been speculation Australian director Alex Proyas is earmarked as to direct the film adaptation of another Arad project, Silver Surfer.
The Silver Surfer was introduced to film fans this year in the latest Fantastic Four film.
Proyas directed the small budget Australian movie, Garage Days.
Proyas is best known in Hollywood for his 2004 sci-fi film I, Robot, starring Will Smith.
Ghost Rider cost $US110 million to shoot in Melbourne, but made $US230 million at the global box office and tens of millions more in DVD and video sales.
"I love working in Australia,'' Arad said. "It's such a fun place with great technical talent and some amazing special effects houses.''
Arad said a sequel to Ghost Rider was yet to be planned.
The 57-year-old recently left his post as chairman and chief executive of Marvel Studios to form his own production company, which includes Marvel properties Hulk, Spider-Man and next year's much-hyped Iron Man, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr.
Arad's next project is the Bratz movie, based on the popular girls' dolls.
Bratz, a live-action film, was shot in Los Angeles and will open in Australian cinemas on September 20.
"Bratz is X-Men for girls,'' Arad said.
Interesting cinematic experiences ahead it seems/
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Comment by katyzzz
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Oh, good, just called by to say hello.
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Yes, I'm back! Good to see you, hope you're well,
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Comment by Tracy
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Thanks for that info. I haven't seen Dark City but I just read about it and it sounds pretty appealing and definitely dark which I like. Think I'll have to put that on my 'to see' list.
Byeee
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Comment by Tracy
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Looking foward to hearing what you think of it when it comes out,
Tracy