Gremlins Olympics Poster?

I spotted this online and had to share. It seems WB tried to ride the wave of publicity surrounding the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 1984 to promote their film Gremlins. How is this possible you ask?! It says "Summer Games" on the poster not Olympic Games. That torch he is holding though is pretty spot on to the official one used. Seems like a rare find indeed!
via.

FROM UP ON POPPY HILL

Original Japanese Poster

Still Frame from Japanese Trailer

From up on Poppy Hill is out in theaters now.

The story takes place in a Japan that is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics – and the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the new generation struggles to embrace modernity and throw off the shackles of a troubled past.

I would really like to see this one. The film references the Tokyo 2014 Olympics as you can see from the image and description above.

London 2012 Olympic film "First"

I stumbled across an article about this documentary this morning. The film revolves around 12 first time Olympians competing at the London 2012 games. Hopefully it will end up on video for everyone to enjoy!

Details from the Fathom Events website:

Date: Thursday, May 30th
Time: 7:30 PM (local time)
Ticketing: Tickets are available by clicking on the orange “Buy Tickets” button. If online ticketing is not available for your location, you can purchase your tickets by visiting the box office at your local participating cinema. A list of participating locations can be found on the Theater Locations tab.

Special Fathom Feature: Exclusive interviews with London 2012 Olympians including swimmer Missy Franklin, gymnast John Orozco, boxer Queen Underwood and BMX racer Caroline Buchanan.

Every four years, the most talented athletes from around the world prepare to follow their dreams and take their place in history at the Olympic Games. The only documentary about the London 2012 Olympic Games supported by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIRST: The Story of the London 2012 Olympic Games follows 12 first-time Olympic athletes on their journey from their homes in different corners of the globe to meet their fate in London.

Presented by NCM Fathom Events, New Moon and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), this exclusive one-night event in select cinemas nationwide on Thursday, May 30 at 7:30 PM (local time) features the uplifting stories of 12 young warriors.

The event includes exclusive personal interviews with America’s swimming sweetheart Missy Franklin, gymnastics hero John Orozco, boxing legend Queen Underwood and Australian BMX daredevil Caroline Buchanan as they discuss how the London 2012 Olympic Games changed their lives forever.

Oscar-Winning 'King's Speech' Scribe David Seidler to Write 'Games Of 1940'

After winning the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for The King's Speech, David Seidler has committed to another WWII-era inspirational story. He will team with Italian writer Luca Manzi to script Games of 1940 for producers Kennedy/Marshall Company and RT Features.

The drama is based on the true tale of a group of multinational POWs in a Nazi prison camp who decide to compete against each other in their own version of the Olympics after the 1940 games were canceled due to the escalating war. They risked their lives to stage the games under the noses of the guards. Seidler and Manzi have collaborated in the past, and they came across the event while touring a Polish sports museum.

Via.

Olympic documentarian Bud Greenspan dies at 84

Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan, who presented his subjects 'as people first and athletes second,' won eight Emmys and a Peabody, died of Parkinson's disease on December 25, 2010, at the age of 84 in New York City.

Select filmography:

• Beijing 2008 America's Olympic Glory (2009)
• The First Miracle: 1960 U.S. Olympic Men's ice hockey Team (2006)
• Bud Greenspan's Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory (2005)
• Whirlaway! (2005)
• Salt Lake 2002: Bud Greenspan's Stories of Olympic Glory (2003)
• The 1972 Munich Olympic Games: Bud Greenspan Remembers (2002)
• Bud Greenspan Presents Michelle Kwan (2002)
• Bud Greenspan's Stories of Winter Olympic Glory (2002)
• Sydney 2000: Gold from Down Under (2001)
• Favorite Stories of Olympic Glory (2000)
• Kings of the Ring: Four Legends of Heavyweight Boxing (2000)
• Nagano '98 (1998)
• Ageless Heroes (1998)
• Atlanta's Olympic Glory (1996)
• 100 Years of Olympic Glory (1996)
• America's Greatest Olympians (1996)
• Real Athletes/Real History: History of African-Americans at the Olympics (1996)
• 16 Days of Glory/Lillehammer (1994)
• 16 Days of Glory/Barcelona (1992)
• Mark Spitz Returns to Munich (1992)
• 16 Days of Glory/Calgary(1988)
• 16 Days of Glory/Seoul (1988)
• An Olympic Dream (1988)
• The Golden Age of Sport (1988)
• For the Honor of Our Country (1987)
• Time Capsule: The 1936 Berlin Olympics (1986)
• The Heisman Trophy Award Show (1981-1985)
• 16 Days of Glory/Los Angeles (1984)
• America at the Olympics (1984)
• Time Capsule: The 1932 Los Angeles Olympics (1982)
• Sports in America (1979)
• Wilma (1977)
• The Olympiad (1976)
• The Glory of Their Times (1971)
• Jesse Owens Returns to Berlin (1968)

Via LA Times & Wikipedia.

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: Go For Gold!

I came across this Olympic related kids DVD and I thought I would share it here. It's called Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: Go For Gold! from Nick Jr. The cover states that it features "Michelle Kwanzleberry" an obvious homage to Olympic Figure Skater Michelle Kwan. It seems very cute and fun.The product description for the DVD states the following:

Get Ready, Get Set, Go! In this athletic-themed collection, Wubbzy and his Friends learn all about teamwork, fair play and good sportsmanship. What happens when Wubbzy joins a hoopty-hoops team? Why is Wubbzy so upset about being small? How do Wubbzy's friends prove that cheating at games is wrong? Michelle Kwan as Michelle Kwanzleberry and Tiki Barber as Touchdown Tiki star in this collection that takes the Gold!

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: Go For Gold! (Amazon Link)

Yellow Submarine remake in the works...

According to Variety, Disney and Robert Zemeckis are planning to remake The Beatles 60's classic animated film Yellow Submarine. Zemeckis plans to use the 3-D performance-capture format that was used to create his Polar Express and Beowulf films.

What does this have to do with the Olympics you ask? Variety suggests, "Disney hopes to have the film ready to premiere around the 2012 Summer Olympics." It looks like Disney is hoping to ride the wave of publicity and excitement surrounding all things British during the next Summer Olympic Games.

'Olympia' feature film announced

This sounds really intriguing! Can't wait to hear and see more on this as production begins.

From Variety:
Danish helmer Asger Leth has signed on to helm "Olympia" for Columbia Pictures.

Mark Gordon ("10,000 BC") is producing the love story, which is set against the backdrop of the ancient Olympic Games in Greece as war waged between Athens and Sparta. Lawrence Inglee also produces.

Robert Rodat ("Saving Private Ryan") wrote the screenplay, and helmer Gavin Hood penned a rewrite.

Leth made his feature directorial debut with the documentary "Ghosts of Cite Soleil," which chronicled the final months of Jean-Bertrand Aristide's regime in Haiti. That film nabbed the DGA Award for documentary in January.

Olympic connection at this years Cannes Film Festival

From the IOC:
A great honour for the film “13 Days in France” by Claude Lelouch and François Reichenbach, being shown tonight as part of the Cannes Film Festival.

"It’s not the official film of the Olympic Winter Games, it’s not a sports film or a thematic film, it’s just a film. Some directors who happened to be in Grenoble in February 1968 quietly filmed what was happening around them, what was happening inside them”, said Claude Lelouch ahead of the projection. The result is phenomenal: 13 days which show how the Olympic Games are in tune with their contemporary setting.

The projection in Cannes is a first. The original projection could not take place as the Cannes Festival was halted out of solidarity with the strikers in the spring of 1968.

This IOC restoration work is part of a global approach aimed at creating and preserving the Olympic patrimony, a veritable legacy for humanity.

The Games in Grenoble were marked by their sociocultural context, but also by first-class sporting performances. Jean-Claude Killy dominated the men’s Alpine skiing events, with an extraordinary hat-trick. Toini Gustafsson was outstanding in the women’s cross-country skiing, winning two individual events and a silver medal in the relay. Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov successfully and gracefully defended their Olympic figure skating title. American skater Peggy Fleming was the only person from her country to win a gold medal, and did so with a performance close to perfection. As a two-man and four-man bob pilot, the legendary Eugenio Monti won two gold medals.

Blades of Glory lands on DVD

The thinly veiled Olympic figure skating spoof Blades of Glory is being released on DVD today. The film hit theaters earlier this year to pretty good box office success. The movie didn't fare to badly with the critics either garnering a 69% freshness rating from Rotten Tomatoes. I haven't seen the movie yet but this quote by John Anderson from Variety seems to represent that majority of reviews...

There may be an overabundance of pain jokes, crotch jokes and painful crotch jokes, but at the end of the program, this farce is the triple axel of comedy.

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Blades of Glory (Widescreen)