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Movie Trailers

Hercules: The Legend Begins – First Trailer for the Renny Harlin Project

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Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2) is back to work on his newest project, Hercules: The Legend Begins. The film will explore the origins of the fictional Hercules, son of Zeus. The plot centers around Hercules being exiled and fighting his way home to the woman he loves, Hebe, despite her being promised to his brother.

Kellan Lutz is set to star as the titular Hercules, but this won’t be Lutz’s first Greek mythological rodeo – you may remember him as Poseidon in the 2011 movie Immortals. He also took to the big screen in the cash cow Twilight trilogy as Emmett Cullen, so it’s safe to say Lutz’s screen presence won’t be an issue. However, there is a five hundred-pound elephant in the room – An itty bitty Brett Ratner film starring Dwayne Johnson. I think, wait, no I’m sure it’s called Hercules: The Thracian Wars. Yeah, that’s definitely it. Both films are coming out in 2014, so it will be very interesting to see which movie steals the other’s thunder.

Hercules

I think it’s safe to say The Rock isn’t gonna be upstaged by anyone. We’re several years removed from the Tooth Fairy, and I don’t see a return to those days any time soon. Not to mention the budgets for both films are wildly different: Thracian Wars is coming in at approximately $110 million, as opposed to The Legend Begins‘s modest $70 million. Money certainly doesn’t guarantee a movie’s quality, and doesn’t always guarantee box office success, so the $40 million discrepancy doesn’t necessarily point to The Legend Begins‘s demise (I invite you to read up on a feature film titled Cutthroat Island if you dispute that claim). We’ll have to wait until both films have hit theatres to see who wins out in the end.

The producers of The Legend Begins are aiming for a mixture of Gladiator and 300, however I’m also seeing remnants of Starz TV’s Spartacus. What’s unfortunate is many writers and critics are giving this film a bad rap already, solely based on the trailer. Judging a movie nine months before a release is a bold move. Keep in mind, before you follow the opinions of these critics, that trailers don’t always fall in line with the overall quality of the movie. Some of the most satisfying movies are the ones with the least revealing trailers. I hope it gets a fair shake and it looks like it has potential to satisfy fans of this genre.

Movie News & Opinions

Hercules Set Photos Instagrammed by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

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Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is giving it a good go at drumming up a bit of interest in his latest movie, Hercules: The Thracian Wars, by teasing set pictures and sneak peeks at his costume for his titular role as Hercules in Brett Ratner’s upcoming comic adaptation. His latest attempt comes courtesy of his Instagram feed and is a brief video giving as partial glimpse at his costume.

//instagram.com/p/dFphUzIh3l/embed/

Much like his Fast and Furious 6 co-star Vin Diesel has done with the upcoming Pitch Black sequel, Johnson is using social media to drive interest and create a bit of viral marketing for the movie, which seems to have relatively slipped under the radar. Johnson has posted several pictures from the set of him in various stages of make up and showing off scars and set pieces. Notably, Johnson has not revealed his face in any of these pictures. It would be interesting to see if this is due to Johnson sporting prosthesis of some kind. Or just a big bushy beard.

Hercules

Hercules: The Thracian Wars is an adaptation of Radical Comics limited series of the same name, written by Steve Moore and art by Cris Bolsin. Hercules: The Thratian Wars take place after all the legendary stories, including the 12 labors, and see’s the demi-god in the company of five trusted warriors and has been described “a revisionist take on the classic myth set in a grounded world where the supernatural does not exist.” Apart from Hercules himself being the son of the God Zeus, of course.

[quote]Haunted by a sin from his past, Hercules has become a mercenary. Along with five faithful companions, he travels ancient Greece selling his services for gold and using his legendary reputation to intimidate enemies. But when the benevolent ruler of Thrace and his daughter seek Hercules’ help to defeat a savage and terrifying warlord, Hercules finds that in order for good to triumph and justice to prevail… he must again become the hero he once was… he must embrace his own myth… he must be Hercules.[/quote]

The film is being produced by Paramount and MGM who will be hoping that their movie will do better than 2011’s Conan The Barbarian, another former Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle, that was a complete box office and critical failure. Paramount and MGM have placed the project in the hands of reliab[ly mediocre], if not groundbreaking, director Brett Ratner and scripted by Ryan Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos.  

Hercules set photos

As well as Dwayne Johnson as Hercules, the film also stars Ian McShane (Deadwood) as Hercules’ counselor and former warrior, Amphiarus, Aksel Hennie as Tydeus, Rufus Sewell (Dark City) as Autolycus, and Reece Ritchie as Iolaus. The villains of the piece will be Tobias Santelmann as the evil Rhesus along with John Hurt (Alien) as the King of Thrace. Ingrid Bolsø Berdal and Joseph Fiennes also join the cast.

Hercules set photos

To keep up to date with information and teases of Hercules: The Thratian Wars, as well as some pretty impressive pictures of muscles and tweets about weight training, follow The Rock. Hercules: The Thratian Wars will be released theatrically July 25 2014.