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Everything I know about Tim Burton's failed 1998 superhero film Superman Lives I've learned from Kevin Smith's great recollection in An Evening with Kevin Smith. Starring Nicolas Cage as the titular protagonist, kooky producer Jon Peters guiding it as long as he could and possibly hosting a giant spider in the third act, this would have been not only a wildly different take on the iconic Man of Steel but vastly eccentric from anything produced in the superhero genre then-or-now. Smith can only give one man's account, though, and like any movie there are more than a handful of people who need to come together to make it happen. To writer/director Jon Schnepp's credit, the filmmaker rounded up as many of those people as he could and successfully made a movie about one that failed to do so entirely. The film in question, The Death of "Superman...

Longtime film aficionado (and sometimes filmmaker) Kevin Smith revealed on Twitter Thursday that A24 will release his horror thriller Tusk on Sept. 19, 2014. He also announced on the social media site that the trailer for his latest will premiere at his Comic-Con panel on July 25, one endearingly titled “The Musk of Tusk: An Evening with Kevin Smith.” Two of the film’s stars, Genesis Rodriguez and Haley Joel Osment, will be present in Hall H next Friday, as well.

The thriller originated from an idea on the writer/director’s SModcast podcasts. Smith and producing pal Scott Mosier talked about a situation where a homeowner could live in a place free of charge if he or she agreed to dress as a walrus. Smith asked his Twitter followers to tweet “#WalrusYes” if this had potential to become a feature film. Alas, based on the movie’s title and teaser poster...

Good news for Kevin Smith fans – of whom I consider myself. A24 has announced the release date for ‘Tusk’ and it’s Sept. 19th. ‘Tusk’ will be getting the Sdcc treatment when Kevin takes to Hall H for “The Musk of Tusk: An Evening With Kevin Smith.” Everyone is assuming a trailer will be making its debut and if it does – you know you’ll be able to find it here.

In ‘Tusk’ Justin Long … Continue reading →

Horrornews.net...

If you’re heading to Comic-Con next week, you can be among the first to see the first trailer for Kevin Smith’s Tusk. We have details on when and where you can check it out, plus the movie’s release date has been revealed.

“Tusk follows Wallace (Long) a journalist on a mission. He finds the story of a lifetime in Mr. Howe (Parks), a worldwide adventurer with amazing tales and a curious penchant for walruses.”

Tusk is directed and written by Kevin Smith based on a conversation he had with friend Scott Mosier in the 259th episode of SModcast, titled The Walrus & The Carpenter. The film stars Justin Long as Wallace the journalist, Michael Parks as the walrus-obsessed Mr. Howe, Haley Joel Osment as Wallace’s best friend, and Genesis Rodriguez as Wallace’s girlfriend. A24 has announced that they will release Tusk to theaters on September 19th.

A24 has set a September 19th release date for Kevin Smith's upcoming horror film Tusk. In the film, Michael Parks plays a creep who lures Justin Long’s character (a dude who runs a podcast) into his abode and then slowly turns him into a walrus. Genesis Rodriguez co-stars wth Haley Joel Osment. Tusk is getting the Hall H treatment at Comic-Con this month. Kevin Smith will take the stage for a panel called "The Musk of Tusk: An Evening With Kevin Smith."

The post Kevin Smith’s Tusk Gets September Release Date appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

We're back with the horror highlights of Day 2 of this year's Sdcc, and you better rest up! On tap are "The Walking Dead," "Bates Motel," "Sleepy Hollow," Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Scream Factory, and More!

What you'll find below is just the tip of the iceberg (and it does include a few "fringe" panels that we thought might be interest). Be sure to visit the official San Diego Comic-Con 2014 website for the full lineup.

Day 2: Friday, July 25, 2014

10:00 Am - Publishers Weekly: Behind the Digital Line

As digital comics have become a driving force of the medium, more publishers and creators have launched digital first lines of comics. How do publishers and creators deal with the unique properties of the web and tablet? How do readers react? Are they an evolution from webcomics or their own medium? And how will technological evolution affect storytelling as more choices arise? Pw's...

Chicago – After wrapping up recently, the “Just for Laughs Chicago” comedy festival was a rousing success, as established and new comic performers entertained audiences all over the Windy City. Shows featured such diverse talents as Vince Vaughn, Patton Oswalt, Kevin Smith, Tj Miller and Janeane Garofalo.

Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com took photos of the top performers as he captured the Just for Laughs scene. Click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through the slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. All images © Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com.

JustForLaughs1: Vince Vaughn presented his ‘Comedy Showcase’ to close the festival. JustForLaughs2: The notable film director participated in ‘An Evening with Kevin Smith.’ JustForLaughs3: Patton Oswalt appeared at the historic Vic Theatre in Chicago. JustForLaughs4: Pete Holmes was part of ‘The Nerd Show’ at the Up Comedy Club. JustForLaughs5: Comedian...

Chicago – If a collective chorus of guffaws is heard throughout the Windy City this week, blame it on the ‘Just for Laughs Chicago’ 2012 Festival. From June 12th-17th, stages large and small throughout Chicagoland will feature some of the hottest comedy acts, stars and the taping of the ‘Conan’ TBS chat show, featuring Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter.

Every day through Sunday, June 17th, over one dozen venues will be open for a variety of acts, in both types and sizes. HollywoodChicago.com has compiled the highlights of each day, with both the name acts and something more Chicago-centric to celebrate one of comedy’s great American cities. For a complete schedule, including ticket buying information, click here.

The ‘Conan’ Show is in Chicago through June 14th

Photo credit: TBS

Tuesday, June 12

”Conan”

The “Conan” TBS show will be taped at the Chicago Theatre with load-in beginning at 4pm from today through June 14th.

Chicago – Kevin Smith is not a subtle guy. The director/writer/actor and comic book geek supreme has a new book out called “Tough Sh*t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good.” In it, he relates how his unlikely empire was built, and how he became the force within it. He was recently in downtown Chicago, promoting the life lessons at Books-a-Million on March 30th.

Smith first came on the scene in 1994, when at 23 years old he made the independent film legend, “Clerks.” Since then, he has had film hits (“Chasing Amy”), misses (“Mallrats”) and everything in between, all while maintaining his dream comic book store in New Jersey and acting in such films as “Live Free or Die Hard.” Smith will also appear in Chicago on June 14th as part of the “Just for Laughs Chicago” Festival, in “An Evening with Kevin Smith” at the Chicago Theater.

Following the huge success of fan favourites “An Evening With Kevin Smith” and “An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder”, the acclaimed filmmaker, writer, actor and raconteur responsible for such diverse movies as “Red State”, “Cop Out”, “Zack And Miri Make A Porno” and “Clerks II” releases his first new stand-up DVD in five years in the form of Too Fat For 40.

Filmed on the evening of Kevin Smith’s 40th birthday before a crowd of rabid fans at the Count Basie Theatre in his home town on Red Bank, New Jersey, this comedy special comes to DVD on 23rd January 2012 (coinciding with the release of “Red State” on DVD and Blu-ray) as a two-disc edition featuring the full, uncut and unexpurgated three-and-a-half-hour version of Smith’s performance and including a Bonus DVD loaded with extra features including additional encore Q&A footage and a look behind the scenes.

Following the huge success of fan favourites An Evening With Kevin Smith and An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder, the acclaimed filmmaker, writer, actor and raconteur responsible for such diverse movies as Red State, Cop Out, Zack And Miri Make A Porno and Clerks II releases his first new stand-up DVD in five years in the form of Too Fat For 40.

Filmed on the evening of Kevin Smith’s 40th birthday before a crowd of rabid fans at the Count Basie Theatre in his home town on Red Bank, New Jersey, this comedy special comes to DVD on 23rd January 2012 (coinciding with the release of Red State on DVD and Blu-ray) as a two-disc edition featuring the full, uncut and unexpurgated three-and-a-half-hour version of Smith’s performance and including a Bonus DVD loaded with extra features including additional encore Q&A footage and a look behind the scenes.

Kevin Smith: Too Fat For 40

Stars: Kevin Smith | Directed by Joey Figueroa, Zak Knutson

Kevin Smith is back with the fourth of his his stand-up DVDs, Too Fat For 40. Following the success of An Evening With Kevin Smith and An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder, the fan-favourite filmmaker returns with his first new stand-up DVD in five years – which was filmed on the evening of Kevin Smith’s 40th birthday before a crowd of fans at the Count Basie Theatre in his home town of Red Bank, New Jersey.

Taking its name from Smith’s much-publicised spat with Southwest Airlines where they declared him “too fat to fly” (which he actually discusses at length during the show), Too Fat For 40 is yet another routine filled with anecdotes and stories which are rife with Smith’s now-typical self deprecating humour – however like his previous show, A Three-vening with Kevin Smith,...

Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg might be working on the script for his planned "Beetlejuice" sequel at the moment, but they already have their sights on the stars. The original film's stars, that is. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Grahame-Smith explained that he plans on approaching Michael Keaton to reprise his role in the sequel, he just doesn't have a script to present him with yet.

"When Warner Bros. came to us about it, we said the only way we'd do it if we got Tim [Burton's] blessing and involvement, and we got that, and the star of the movie has to be Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice, and it's a true continuation 26 years later. Not just throwing him in as a cameo going, 'Hey, it's me. I endorse this movie,'" he said.

Assumedly the sequel won't head to Hawaii like the originally planned follow-up did. Burton had hired writer...

In a move that makes so much sense that I could kick myself for not thinking of it first, noted fanboy filmmaker and obscene raconteur Kevin Smith is developing a daily half-hour syndicated talk show. A note of warning to any stations thinking of buying this program: Expect comic book references, Star Wars gags and dick jokes. Lots and lots of dick jokes.

Vulture has gotten hold of an email sent to potential guests by the show's booking staff, and it reveals what Smith has in mind for his latest career move. Apparently, the tentatively titled Kevin Smith Project will be a "Regis and Kelly talk show at the opposite end of the day for the opposite kind of audience — the 12-34 demo. Kevin and his co-host will talk water-cooler topics at the top of the show, followed by a celebrity interview and a comedy segment from the field (a la The Daily Show)." And,...

A question I often ask myself when I see a movie is “Who is to blame when a film goes wrong?” Is it the director, the studio, the writers? Is it the actors? All these questions but no easy answer. In collegiate and intermediate sports it always seems the coach is the one who takes blame for a bad loss, citing preparation, bad decisions and other stuff as the reasons the team underperformed. In professional sports you rarely see it, fingers get pointed in all directions and that is because generally its all those things where the fingers are pointing. In films however, no one ever comes out to be accountable for the failure of a film but have no problem relishing in the glory if a film is highly celebrated. I see no difference in the corporate world as accountability is the one thing that is scarce from any business place,...

As we mentioned in our coverage of director Kevin Smith's decision to purchase the rights to his own movie, Red State, at the Sundance Film Festival auction he held and distribute the movie himself, this man knows how to play the game...and he's playing it intently.

A new video has made its way to the web of Smith joining some of his favorite people on the planet (second only to film press, perhaps): the protesters! If you've ever seen An Evening with Kevin Smith then you know he tells many hilarious stories from his career, including one about the vicious protesters that showed up to boycott his not-so-serious religious comedy, Dogma. So when Smith sets out to make a horror movie inspired by the truly evil Westboro Baptist Church's infamous leader, Fred Phelps, you can expect that these people known for protesting the funerals of respected public figures and fallen U.

This is a reach back in time, but far before Bryan Singer made his big budget Superman adaptation, Tim Burton was actually set to direct the movie from a script by Kevin Smith. It sounds strange to even think of such a duo now -- and if you've seen Smith's An Evening With Kevin Smith then you know of the many hilarious stories that came from that endeavor -- but it was happening for a time, and Burton did some work setting up his Man of Steel.

Steve Johnson, a special effects and makeup artist who worked on the movie before it was scrapped, has now released a ton of pictures from what they came up with. Most of the images show either the test suit they were working on for Superman, and some concept stuff they were developing.

You can see exactly what we mean by clicking on over to the other side.

Kevin Smith has been very busy since the release of Cop Out. He's planning a television special, building a theatre in Los Angeles, and will begin shooting his horror film Red State in August. Full details after the jump. I've always been a huge fan of Kevin Smith's question and answer specials. Love or hate the man's movies, you'll agree that he sure knows how to tell a funny and compelling story on stage. His three "An Evening With Kevin Smith" DVD releases are a testament to that. It now looks like the filmmaker is planning the next one for television. Smith tells E! Online (found via BleedingCool): I've been very blessed, and I've been celebrated by a bunch of people many times over the years. So much so that the idea of throwing myself a birthday party just to be like, "I'm 40, motherf--kers!" just feels, for me,...

This isn’t the first time a set titled the “[insert name] collection” has debuted with a less than stellar compilation of films attempting to represent a filmmaker or actor’s career. What Miramax did right here was calling it a “3-Movie Collection” thus letting themselves off the hook for not having some of Kevin Smith’s better films. The set includes Clerks, Chasing Amy and Jay and Silent Strike Back which means the collection might not all be the crème de la crème de Smith, but it certainly lets you see a wide range of the man’s talents as a director. However, I think the best way to think of this set is as a sign of his career financially and not necessarily professionally.

With Clerks, Kevin Smith operated on a shoestring budget and cast his friends in the leads after deciding he didn’t have the chops to handle...

As many of you probably know, back in the late 90's Tim Burton had been hired by Warner Brothers to direct a new Superman movie based on the Death of Superman storyline with Nicolas Cage signed on to star. The screenplay was written by Kevin Smith, and if you've seen An Evening With Kevin Smith, you know that the movie was shaping up to be a total disaster. Thankfully, that particular movie never ended up seeing the light of day, but now, courtesy of TimBurton.jp [1], we have our first look at an alleged costume test for Nic Cage as the Man of Steel. I have a hard time believing this is real, but when I think back to Kevin Smith's stories, I have to admit, it's possible. Check out the embedded video above and just bask in the glory of what could have been! [1] http://www.timburton.jp/movies/supermanlives/090921costumetest.

If any of you have been following the development of the rebooted Superman franchise, you might know that Nicolas Cage was at one point attached to be The Man of Steel under Tim Burton's direction in the '90s. The movie had gotten as far as the pre-production stage before the plug was pulled.

Now, timburton.jp claims to have a glimpse of what might have been...and it looks as though we have all collectively dodged a speeding bullet. Using the below video player, you can witness what is purported to be some images from Cage's 'Superman Lives' screen test, showing the actor in costume.

But is it real or a fake?

Some sites have suggested that this is a Photoshop job utilizing a toy for Cage's body. Under close scrutiny this does seem plausible: his cape does not appear to sit on his shoulders and there does...

Filmmaker (and occasional PopWatch guest editor) Kevin Smith is holding a 24-hour marathon Twitter Q&A fest on Monday, where he'll field questions from his followers for a solid day. Follow him at @ThatKevinSmith, and consider yourself warned about the graphic language and adult situations. Yes, the tweetathon is to publicize his new book Shootin' the Sh*t with Kevin Smith, but given how freewheeling and awesome his live Q&As are, this isn't exactly a talking-points kinda promo event. I'll admit to being a total Smith devotee -- I think I watched Mallrats on a continuous loop for basically all of ninth grade -- but for the unconvinced among you, I say: Put on your headphones and watch this clip from An Evening with Kevin Smith where he talks about trying to write a Superman movie. Smith's a staggeringly natural storyteller, and while I'm partial to the longer format,...

Tim Burton: Superman Lives Reports of director Tim Burton's efforts to get a Superman film on screen were all over the press in the late nineties. Renowned comic book geek and writer/director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy, Zack And Miri Make A Porno) had written a script entitled Superman Lives (which included various ridiculous plot points enforced by producer Jon Peters, which Smith hilariously discusses on his An Evening With Kevin Smith spoken word DVD), and Burton was keen to make it happen. Nicolas Cage signed on to play Superman, with various other casting rumours (Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, Chris Rock as Jimmy Olsen, Tim Allen as Braniac, Courteney Cox as Lois Lane and Michael Keaton as Batman) proliferating throughout the media with varying degrees of accuracy.