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Tag: Ender’s Game Movie

Summit Releases Official Synopsis for ‘Ender’s Game’

Summit Entertainment has released the official synopsis for Ender’s Game. As a fair warning to people who have not read the book, this synopsis contains book SPOILERS.

In the near future, a hostile alien race (called the Formics) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander, Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young children to find the future Mazer. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite.

Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham, himself, to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.

Note that I say book spoilers. With Summit pulling Mazer Rackham’s presence as Ender’s teacher this early on, it sounds like the movie will possibly be eliminating the long timeline put forth in the books to condense the story down.

What do you all think? Will Mazer’s relativistic space travel be cut and the story’s timeline be altered for the film?

November 19, 2012
60% of ‘Ender’s Game’ to Feature Visual Effects

As is to be expected with a movie set in space with aliens and children flying in zero gravity, a large part of Ender’s Game will feature visual effects. According to a recent China Daily article, over half the movie will feature special effects to be worked on by Galloping Horse, the company that recently acquired Digital Domain.

About 60 percent of the film, focusing on conflicts between humankind and aliens in the Earth’s future, features special visual effects, according to Ivy Zhong, vice-chairperson of Galloping Horse.

Digital Domain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September and sold off their projects, which hopefully won’t delay post-production too much, since Ender’s Game will be the first project the two companies focus on. The need for that much special effects certainly makes the delay in the movie’s release look like a very good thing.

Source: China Daily

November 10, 2012
‘Ender’s Game’ Officially One Year Away

We still have a long way to go, but today ‘Ender’s Game’ fans can look at their calendars and know that we’re now officially one year away from the release of the movie starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, and Ben Kingsley.

November 1, 2012
‘Ender’s Game’ to Be Released in IMAX Theaters

In a conference call today with analysts, Lionsgate revealed that Ender’s Game will be getting an IMAX release next November. Opening three weeks before ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’, the highly anticipated sequel to ‘The Hunger Games’, Ender’s Game will be the first of two Lionsgate IMAX movies in one month.

Another interesting bit to come out of that call is the fact that Lionsgate execs referred to Ender’s Games as a “franchise”, which is an exciting prospect for fans hoping to see a sequel to the movie put into production.

“There’s a lot of books,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said. “We’re excited about the franchise.”

But he did temper expectations slightly, noting, “it’s a very different kind of franchise than ‘The Hunger Games.’”

There’s no arguing that fact, with the book sequel to Ender’s Game taking place thousands of years later. However, you never know with movies. They could just age Ender down (as opposed to up for Ender’s Game) greatly to keep actor Asa Butterfield on as Ender Wiggin for potential sequels. Let’s hope the movie is a success, thus ensuring us more movies in the Enderverse!

Source: Yahoo! Movies

August 10, 2012
Promotional Poster for ‘Ender’s Game’

While people were fooled by a fan-made poster making the rounds last month, this poster, which was posted today to Facebook and Twitter by what appears to be a movie theater in Mexico (El Planeta del Cine) seems like it could be the real deal.

Posted among several other movie posters including Pacific Rim, Smurfs 2, and Fast and Furious 6, the Ender’s Game teaser poster is tagged with Comingsoon.net and does appear to match the other officially titled items. It’s very simplistic, showing only the title, but it’s still something.

What do you think? Official or not?

Update: The teaser poster was unveiled at the 2012 Licensing Expo going on in Las Vegas, NV now.

Update 2: Summit has informed us that although it’s an Ender’s Game promotional poster, it’s not considered their first official teaser poster and will not be marketed for sale.

June 12, 2012
‘Ender’s Game’ Officially Wraps Production in New Orleans

Many cast members began tweeting that they’d wrapped Ender’s Game earlier this week, but some cast and crew were still on set for a final day of filming today including Hailee Steinfeld, stunt coordinator Garrett Warren, and Mandy Safavi.

Hailee Steinfeld tweeted about her last day and wrap.

Garrett Warren posted the photo of his chair back with a caption of the movie officially wrapping today.

Removing my chair back! Enders game new Orleans is officially wrapped!!! Wheels up!

Congratulations to the cast and crew on finishing up today! All us fans can’t wait until we start seeing stills, posters, teasers, trailers, and clips in the torturous 508 days to come!

June 10, 2012
Photo Gallery: Last Week of Production on ‘Ender’s Game’

Here’s a gallery of images collected from around Twitter coming off the set of Ender’s Game as they wrap up production today (June 9) in New Orleans, LA.

June 9, 2012
‘Ender’s Game’ Production Blog Talks Flash Suit Construction

The latest entry in the Ender’s Game production blog is here and they’re talking about costume designer Christine Bieselin-Clark, who has done work on movies such as TRON: Legacy, Watchmen, and 300.

It’s obviously a tough and daunting job to create something that fans have been imagining in their heads for nearly 30 years.

Are the suits loose or tight fitting in your imagination? Are they completely colored in the army colors or are they a single color with the army colors on the fringes? Or do you not have much of an image of it in your mind, with more focus put on the look of the Battle Room itself?

In truth, the suits in the books aren’t described with very much detail other than being tight:

Worse, the suits were confining. It was harder to make precise movements, since the suits bent just a bit slower, resisted a bit more than any clothing they had ever worn before.

Ender gripped the handhold and flexed his knees. He noticed that along with the sluggishness, the suit had an amplifying effect on movement. It was hard to get them started, but the suit’s legs kept moving, and strongly, after his muscles had stopped. Give them a push this strong, and the suit pushes with twice the force.

Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game (pp. 55-56)

Ender does mention his new Salamander suit given to him on his birthday as feeling loose, but since they’d tailored that one for him, it was probably designed with growth in mind and the suits are probably tight fitting.

So how did Bieselin-Clark go about creating them?

With science fiction, there’s a danger in creating a look that seems so foreign it becomes alienating. For ENDER’S GAME, we wanted to make a future that looked both functional and logical. We wanted it to be a future where you can picture yourself in their shoes.

But of course, it is the future. For the uniforms, all synthetic materials were used, meaning no loud silk florals. And for the flash suits… well, we actually had to create them out of thin air.

Christine built the flash suits from virtually non-existent fabrics designed by our incredible production team. The idea was to take cues from “extreme sports” to inspire our design, using real world practicality as opposed to the heightened reality of superhero spandex and a cape.

And the best part? They look pretty darn cool.

The grid suits in TRON: Legacy looked pretty phenomenal, so if she brings that experience into the mix the suits will likely have a wonderfully modern and sleek look to them.

Similar to how actor Chris Hemsworth worked out a little too much and then didn’t fit his Thor costume, it must have been a nightmare to measure growing teenagers and then make suits from scratch while considering their growth during filming.

Speaking of big men, they also joke about the size of Nonso Anozie.

And then there’s having to make a uniform for Nonso Anozie, who plays Sergeant Dap.

Normally, a bolt comes with nine yards of material, and can make 2-3 suits. Or, in Nonso’s case, one suit became a living example of the expression “the whole nine yards”.

Amazing! It’d be awesome to see a side by side photo of Aramis and Nonso.

510 days left, folks. We’re still a really long ways away, but hopefully the next production entry comes soon! Executive Producer Mandy Safavi assured us on Twitter there are a couple more coming.

June 8, 2012
EnderWiggin.net Visits the Set of ‘Ender’s Game’

Earlier this week, I found myself standing where I never thought I’d be: on the set of Ender’s Game.

As some of you may know, it’s nearing the end of filming in New Orleans, Louisiana and Summit Entertainment was kind enough to give the Ender’s Game fansites press access.

It was my first visit to New Orleans and I was thrilled to be there, but all the wondrous sights of the city were nothing compared to the anticipation I had about the set. It consumed my mind as my day of departure neared and I tried lots of different things to prepare myself for the visit.

Of course, I re-read Ender’s Game. I obsessed over Google maps of the set area and constantly told myself how much it was going to suck. That I would end up spending most of my day doing what I’ve usually done on sets while doing background work, which is sit around reading a book I brought with me to kill time. Whenever I don’t want to find myself disappointed I usually build up negative anticipation about the whole thing.

I didn’t, however, insult the studio by actually bringing a book with me to read. I would have brought a copy of Ender’s Game in the hopes of getting it signed, only I forgot it in my hotel room, along with my notepad. Oops. Which turned out fine because they were so nice they actually gave me one to use. In the end, all my negative mood building was completely unnecessary.

I wish I could go into detail about everything and spill it all now, but unfortunately we have to keep it all in until we get closer to the movie’s release. We wouldn’t want you all to read it, get excited, then forget it in the tortuous 525 days left until the movie’s release. The awesome part is there’s so much for me to write about that I’ll probably be able to split it into a 10 post series once we’re given the green light to talk about it. Well, maybe not that many, but there’s a lot to say. I’m frantically typing it all out so that I don’t forget anything.

Before you guys start thinking access to the set has bought my devotion to the movie, let me just assure you that it wasn’t being allowed there that has me convinced; it’s what we got to see. Everything simply blew my mind and eased every concern I had with the production. Normally nothing can compare to the grandeur you imagine in your head, but they made my imagination seem small, stale, and boring in comparison.

The people we met and talked to were all so passionate about the film they were making. One of the other journalists in our group made sure to nail down personal relationships with the book right off the bat in nearly every interview and I don’t recall a single person we talked to saying they hadn’t read the book. They’re all fans and they all love Ender just as much as we do.

Yet another great part about the visit was the opportunity to meet and get to know my fellow fansite admins from Ender’s Ansible, Ender News, and Ender’s Game Fansite (click to read their writeups!). In my work with The Hunger Games, I didn’t get to meet all the great people I talk to every week for close to a year, so it was so nice to be able to meet everyone so early on. Funnily enough, all four of us were ladies and we had a nice little chat at the hotel the night before the visit. We also got to meet awesome people from various websites and press outlets including J-14, IGN, Nerdist, and HitFix. All of them were great to meet as well.

With a whopping 15 months to go until the world gets to see what magic they’re creating over in New Orleans, it’s hard to be sitting back at home frantically trying to capture in writing our wonderful experience, knowing that the finished product is so far away.

My thanks to our gracious hosts and to Summit Entertainment for making us feel so appreciated and welcome. I’m so completely excited for the year and a half to come, when stills start to surface along with posters and teasers and clips and trailers. Here at EnderWiggin.net, we’ll be sure to keep you up to date with it all!

May 24, 2012
‘Ender’s Game’ Production Team Accepting Fan Questions

This week’s image in the Ender’s Game Production blog features a photo of producer Roberto Orci holding papers and hovering over his chair with a set of headphones on.

What’s even more interesting, however, is what appears to be a piece of the set behind him. You can see what looks to be a curved doorway and the interface of a computer system behind him.

In addition to the usual photo and image, they’ve opened themselves up to questions from fans!

“I need you to be clever, Bean. I need you to think of solutions to
problems we haven’t seen yet.”

In Dragon Army, Ender encourages input. So do we. That’s why we’re
opening this blog up to you, the readers.

Ask us a question about ENDER’S GAME — something you’ve been dying to know. We’ll select our favorites (or as many as we can) from the comments section and start answering them.

To submit a question to the makers of Ender’s Game, head on over to the Ender’s Game Production blog.

May 10, 2012
Brandon Soo Hoo Wraps Fly Molo on ‘Ender’s Game’

Brandon Soo Hoo, who plays the character Fly Molo in the film adaptation of Ender’s Game, tweeted today that he’s finished shooting his scenes for the movie, which is currently filming in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Follow Brandon on Twitter @bsoohoo.

May 9, 2012
‘White House Down’ Lines Up Next to ‘Ender’s Game’

When Ender’s Game first made the move from March 2013 to November 2013, its only competition was Singularity, which is currently stalled in pre-production.

Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Ender has new competition to be released the first weekend in November, a movie called White House Down directed by Roland Emmerich.

White House was acquired by Sony based on a script by James Vanderbilt, who also penned this summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man and Total Recall. Mythology Entertainment is producing.

The movie revolves around a paramilitary takeover of the White House. Emmerich (2012, The Day After Tomorrow) and Sony are in the process of casting.

With Emmerich directing it sounds like it could turn out to be decent competition for Ender, though it may end up being hurt by its twin brother movie White House Taken starring Gerard Butler.

Out of the twin Snow White movies, Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror Mirror, SWATH seems poised for winning between the two shows, so something similar could happen between two White House movies about the exact same plot.

May 9, 2012
‘Ender’s Game’ Release Date Pushed to November 1, 2013

Although it’s been reported that Ender’s Game is nearing the halfway point of it’s production, currently happening in New Orleans, Louisiana, Summit Entertainment announced today that the release date for the movie has been pushed back nearly 8 months from March 15, 2013 to November 1, 2013.

This slates the movie to open just three weeks before Lionsgate’s already highly anticipated The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire.

Lionsgate and Summit hope to boost interest in Ender’s Game by opening it so closely to Catching Fire, since they can use the Hunger Games sequel to publicize Ender’s Game. Also, delaying the release will allow Summit and Lionsgate to market and publicize a fully finished film.

This is rather disheartening news, since 8 months is quite a long time when we just recently passed through the one year mark until the movie’s release. However, with the additional time, perhaps it will give Lionsgate the time needed to build buzz for the film adaptation, which has been through numerous failed attempts to bring the movie to the big screen over the last 30 years.

Source: THR

April 9, 2012