Corey

Charming commercial for Star Wars Weekends at Disney.

This morning I got the chance to speak with Alan Gilmore, the Art Director of the Harry Potter films and Universal Orlando’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I talked with Gilmore about the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride which was officially revealed this morning, and also got more details on the new Diagon Alley theme park expansion expected to open next month. (No official date has been released other than “Summer 2014.”)  Hit the jump to learn the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts secrets revealed from my interview and more.

 

The Line For The Ride Is A Show You Won’t Want To Miss

The queue for Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts is a show experience that features animatronics, audio, projection, lights, sounds, and nearly every other trick in the book.

 It’s a bit like the first Harry Potter ride. [Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey] Many guests found the queue experience was so good they thought it was the ride, then they went on the real ride as well. So we’ve kinda done that again. The queue is a full experience in itself. Its quite nice that people who get to the ride and be like, “oh my god there’s more.” You get to experience the unfolding of the story, which is really cool.

There will be a fast pass line which will let some guests bypass much of the queue, and sadly also the story moments. The experience in the real line is supposedly cool enough that first time visitors will want to wait in line to get the full interactive experience.

The Unexpected Second Ride in This Attraction: The Gringotts Elevators

The Gringotts ride is not the only ride guests will take inside this attraction. Guests will board a set of elevators which will take them down “30,000 feet to the subterranean Gringotts vaults.” Gilmore says these elevators are a ride in themselves:

Thats a very cool trick that Universal has designed with the filmmakers — where you actually ride elevators. They are really cool elevators, and thats a really cool show in its own right. You arrive in a little station in the caverns where you board your car.

Elevator experiences aren’t new in the theme park game, but its always cool to have more story and experience in the ride queue. Disney’s classic Haunted Mansion uses hidden elevators to transport guests to the underground attraction during the queue show experience, but most guests dont even notice they are on an elevator. Disney also employed ”hydrolators” at Epcot’s The Living Seas, used to bring guests up from the bottom of the ocean seaport in which the experience was supposedly set. And of course, Disney’s Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror is an accelerated drop tower thrill ride set in a ride vehicle-themed old hotel elevator.

Don’t Call It a Roller Coaster — Its a Completely New Ride System

12 guests will board a car on tracks for the four-minute long Harry Potter and Escape from Gringotts ride, but Universal Orlando officials are refusing to call the attraction a “roller coaster.”

Its a new system, it replicates the tracks below Gringotts from the movie — you feel like you’re on those tracks spiraling around. Because the ride is fully 3D, the scenery is very big in this one, the 3D screens are much bigger than normal, so its a new way to pass through a ride. Its a whole new system. You can go very quickly. You go various speeds, and there are scenes and you pick up many moments from the story. When you’re going at high speeds it can be very exciting. The whole thing is quite new.

The ride also features new projector technology and a nearly 360-degree screen which will help immerse riders in the story at one point.

The Dragon Will Come to Life Inside the Ride

The 60-foot-tall fire-breathing dragon on top of the Gringotts bank attraction building comes to life inside the ride.

The dragon is in the story, and hes the guardian of the vaults. So you’ll encounter him along with all the main characters from the film. In the storyline, he visits you at several points and eventually, hopefully, the main characters escape.

Voldemort and Other Characters Make the Ride Experience Different From the Movie/Book

But the story won’t play out exactly like it does in the films. Some Harry Potter fans will notice Voldemort in one of the released images, and the dark lord does not go to Gringotts in the original story. But thats because the story diverts into its own experience:

Because this is a very unique storyline, in Harry Potter and the escape from Gringotts, Bellatrix Lestrange has infiltrated the bank vaults and Voldemort has infiltrated them with her as well.  Voldemort’s moment in the story is quite exciting.

The Diagon Alley Experience Will Feature More Interactive Experiences

As for the new London/Diagon Alley sections of Universal Orlando theme park, Gilmore says that we should expect more yet-to-be-announced interactive experiences like the extremely popular Ollivanders wand shop in Islands of Adventure.

“There are many many layers to this new project, some of which haven’t been revealed yet. Yes, there will be a lot more interaction in the streets. The shops have a lot more layering and detailing, and there are a lot more moments people can be involved in. The overall design is much more intricate than the first project, more places to go, more ways to experience the land — its more immersive.

Guests will be able to walk around a small piece of London before being transported to Diagon Alley.

We have a modern day London facade recreating the Charing Cross Road, which was featured in the movies and the books. And we have a London underground station. There is a special entrance to Diagon alley that you have to sort of navigate. there is a replication of the movie, of how Harry Potter passes through, revealing Diagon alley. It is absolutely spectacular and enormous.

Don’t Expect a Moving Transforming Brick Wall Entrance to Diagon Alley

In the movie, Diagon Alley is accessible from London through the Leaky Cauldron, which is on Charing Cross Road, set between a bookshop and a record shop. A small wall in the courtyard transforms from a small hole to a large archway.  Gilmore admits that the designers found it would have been too complicated to completely replicate the moving wall entrance to diagon alley as seen in the movies. Instead they created a static sculptured wall which represents what we’ve seen in the Harry Potter cinematic world.

• Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts Video Explores The New Ride
• ‘Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts’ Photos and Details Revealed
• First Video: Inside Gringotts Bank at ‘The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter’ Expansion
• Theme Park Bits: Back To The Future, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Little Mermaid, Frozen, Haunted Mansion
• Theme Park Bits: Harry Potter Closings, New ‘Lion King’ Stage Show and Disney Explorers
• Theme Park Bits: ‘Ratatouille’ Opening Date Announced; Spider-Man, Harry Potter And Frozen

The post ‘Harry Potter’ Art Director Alan Gilmore Reveals ‘Escape From Gringotts’ Secrets appeared first on /Film.

The Social Security Administration just released its 2013 list of baby names in the United States. And once again, Game of Thrones rules. There were 1135 Aryas, 241 Khaleesis and 67 Daeneryses born in 2013. And 15 Theons and five Robbs. But some new names also came on the scene.

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Above we have a piece from artist Maurico Abril, showing a three-way footrace between Superman, Sonic and The Flash. I know Supes and The Flash have faced off in a race in the comics, and I saw it at least once in the JLA animated series, but so far as I know, Sonic’s been involved. […]

This is perhaps an unintended effect from shooting the first image of Batman with a Leica Camera M Monochrom  Mr. Zack Snyder, but besides being excited about the Batman that will be seen in  “Batman vs Superman” people are just wondering, why does Batman look so Sad? Yesterday Zack Snyder, director of the upcoming “Batman vs Superman, released our first look at Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader, and overall the reaction seem to have been pretty positive. Unfortunately, social media takes a life of its own and people around the world are taking this somewhat grim look at Batman and trying to figure out why he is so depressed. Here are some of the most popular “Sad Batman memes” I could find, enjoy:   What do you guys think? Are depressed Batman memes better than Hail Hydra memes? Do you think this will reflect badly on the upcoming movie? Leave your thoughts down bellow,

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An official release date has been locked in for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the first installment in a planned trilogy of Harry Potter spinoff movies.

Warner Brothers has set a November 18, 2016 release date for the movie, which will be based on the book of the same name by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. Rowling will take on the task of adapting her book into a screenplay herself. [...]

The post ‘Harry Potter’ Spinoff Movie ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Gets A Release Date appeared first on Geeks of Doom.

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i can sit and lay down but i dont really want to shake hands

The Affleck Batman colorized by Chip Zdarsky.



Liam Brazier.



Nashville's Dark Knight.



Corey Rollins.

Death Got No Mercy available at Amazon.

IT’S FUCKING WEDNESDAY. DID YOU KNOW HAWAIIAN PUNCH WAS INVENTED AS AN ICE CREAM TOPPING?

TIP OF THE FUCKING DAY: 

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ORDEAL AND AN ADVENTURE IS YOUR ATTITUDE.

PERSON OF THE FUCKING DAY:

TURNS OUT JACKIE’S BROTHER WAS A DAMN GOOD ATHLETE, TOO. more»

EDUCATE YOUR IGNORANT ASS:

A GUIDE TO GRILLING SOME FUCKING FOOD. more»

FUCKING MIND-BLOWING BOOK OF THE DAY:

COME UP WITH SOME KICKASS IDEAS. more»

USEFUL SHIT OF THE GODDAMN DAY:

EXERCISE YOUR BRAIN AND YOUR BOWELS. more»

WEBSITE OF THE FUCKING DAY:

PLAY A PIANO WITH OTHER MOTHERFUCKERS. more»

AWESOME-AS-SHIT VIDEO OF THE DAY: 

CAN YOU MAKE A MOVIE SO FUCKING BAD IT IS GOOD? more»

SWEET-ASS PICTURE OF THE DAY:

THE SCOTTISH MOTHERFUCKING HIGHLANDS. more»

Georges St-Pierre‘s burgeoning Hollywood career has been boosted by what’s likely a dream project for the Jean-Claude Van Damme fan.

The former longtime UFC welterweight champion, who’s on hiatus from his professional fighting career, has reportedly been cast for a remake of the 1989 action film “Kickboxer.”

St-Pierre and pro wrestler/WWE vet Dave Bautista will have supporting roles in the film, which stars Alain Moussi in the leading role previously played by Van Damme.

St-Pierre, who announced a semi-retirement following a narrow November win over Johny Hendricks, had a handful of movie roles in 2009, but the 32-year-old scored his biggest gig as Batroc the Leaper in this year’s big-budget blockbuster, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” Few details have been released about this latest project, but a production schedule and release date are likely to be determined in the coming months.

“Kickboxer,” which tells the story of a man who must learn kickboxing to avenge his brother, became a cult classic over the past couple decades, and it’s especially popular among MMA fighters.

A summary of the remake:

David and Kurt Sloan are the descendants of a well-known Venice, Calif. dynasty of champions. Both are top-notch fighters and athletes in the prime of their lives. When David wins the Karate World Championship, a promoter lures him to Hong Kong despite Kurt’s protests that the man is a crook. Not soon after, Kurt receives a letter from David and heads to Thailand to meet him. When he arrives, he discovers his brother is dead. The man responsible is the viscous Tong Po. Desperate to seek revenge, Kurt turns to Xian Chow, his brother’s former mentor. To defeat the man who killed his brother, Kurt must look within himself to find the strength and courage of a champion.

Stephen Fung will direct the “Kickboxer” reboot, and Ted Field of Radar Pictures is producing.

Filed under: News, UFC

After months of rumors and speculation, and much fan debate, Channing Tatum is confirmed to play Gambit from the X-Men universe. Producer Lauren Shuler-Donner actually reached out to Tatum after he commented that he would like to play as the Ragin' Cajun in an interview back in September. According to the actor, if he did get the role, he would be using a real cajun accent.

So where does Gambit fit in the whole X-Men franchise now that the film's chronology will likely change dramatically due to the events in X-Men: Days Of Future Past? What does Shuler-Donner have to say about this? Hit the jump to learn more [...]

The post Confirmed: Channing Tatum Will Play Gambit appeared first on Geeks of Doom.

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Watercolor heroes, Blule

Transformers: Age of Extinction

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Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Jack McBrayer are about to make that sweet Adult Swim money. The network announced they will star together in a series about the former stars of a 1980′s Lassie-esque television series reunited after fifteen years and several downward spirals. In other 30 Rock alumni news, Tracy Morgan will also spend his days talking to a puppet. It will not be televised though.

Also coming soon to Adult Swim is Mike Tyson Mysteries, a new series that follows an animated Mike Tyson as he opens a private-investigation firm. Jim Rash co-stars as a pigeon. Imagine paying your rent with money you made voicing a pigeon. (AV Club)

The post Triumph And Jack McBrayer Team Up For Adult Swim Buddy Series appeared first on Screen Junkies.

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