(Now ribbed, for her pleasure)
WARNING: This issue contains more information about the STREET FIGHTER MOVIE than your sanity and common sense may handle.
WEIRD MOVIE QUOTES OF THE DAY (sorry, more Bobcat stuff) "I made POLICE ACADEMY III because I felt there were so many unanswered questions in the first two." -Bob Goldthwait, on his participation in this epic film saga "I get the film roles that Chevy Chase turns down." -Bob Goldthwait commenting on his remarkable film career
For some reason, somebody once thought that movies based on video games were a good idea. HA! THINK AGAIN!
TRON
This Jeff Bridges film is memorable if for no other reason than
being one of the first movies to used advanced (and at the time
INFINITELY expensive) computer animations. An evil computer takes
wants to take over the world. Everybody's fave early 80's group
JOURNEY wrote some new songs for the soundtrack. An ENTERTAINMENT
TONIGHT at the time reported that the millions of quarters sucked
in by the arcade game TRON made more money than the film itself.
SUPER MARIO-BROTHERS
John Leguizamo, Bob Hoskins, and Dennis Hopper star in this bizarre film,
that's pretty bad, but twisted enough to look at and scratch your head
in wonder for a while. This one pretty much put the nail in the coffin
of video game films for a while. At one point this was actually being
pitched as a Danny DeVito pic, but he decided on BATMAN FOREVER instead.
Perhaps if they made this movie a little more DONKEY KONG.
STREET FIGHTER: THE MOVIE
The great Peter Sellers' last movie was THE FIENDISH PLOT of DR FU MANCHU,
considered among many to be his worst. Raul Julia said goodbye to the
world in this debacle, which may not have been his worst (see GUMBALL RALLY),
but was bad enough. Witness the fine fightin'/"actin'" stylins' of
Jean Claude Van Damme and singer Kylie Minogue (the Austrailian Debbie
Gibson who wowed the world with her "LOCOMOTION" cover) The licensing of
the STREET FIGHTER II franchise is such where the "II" roman numerals need
to remain on all dolls, posters, and even video game sequels, regardless
of what generation it is, and up to the last minute, this film was almost
going to be released as STREET FIGHTER II: THE MOVIE, which would have
made it the first movie with a "II" that wasn't a sequel.
(An interesting aside: In "The Golden Age" of comic books, many titles would start out with Issue #2, as #1 issues were considered a risk, while a second issue would prove the title was somewhat established. The first issue of "THE HUMAN TORCH" (1940) is an early example.)MORTAL KOMBAT
Other films that sort of fall into this genre include THE LAST STARFIGHER, EVILSPEAK, ELECTRIC DREAMS, and JOYSTICK.
Longtime Marvel Comics super-hero staple THE FANTASTIC FOUR was actually made into a full-length feature film, and was shelved indefinitely by the production company just days before the official premiere. Why, you may ask? Let me tell you, it's a tricky tale.
The production company that owned the rights to make a FF film, spent many years just sitting on the property. Due to a clause in their contract, they had to make something by a certain date, or they would lose all rights completely. Enter Roger Corman, master of the low budget film.
Corman's company was approached to make a FF movie for an amount under $3 million dollars. After creating some appropriately fantastic costumes for the main characters, (largely unknowns), and some creative special effects using home computers and the like, a relatively decent finished product was reached, considering what they had to work with $$ wise. Just as the film was completed, and even tours among sci-fi conventions of the key players, the movie was pulled.
It seemed that a better deal was made to produce a $40 million of the FANTASTIC FOUR, and the production company didn't want a chintzy version floating around on there, even on video. Supposedly Disney is going to pump some money into it, with Christopher Columbus directing. Meanwhile, the film is in movie limbo, the only visible traces of it are a sneak preview on the direct to video CORMAN gem CARNOSAUR.
Thanks for your time...
Send comments, corrections, and perfume scented hankies to:
Robert A. Berry
4019149@mcimail.com