TORONTO MOVIE/TV NEWS

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Universal Unleashes The Next Big "Thing"

Sneak Peek new images from director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s, Toronto-lensed "The Thing", a Universal, sci fi horror prequel to director John Carpenter's 1982 feature, following a 4 month shoot @ Toronto's Pinewood Studios.

According to Universal, "The Thing" will be released April 29, 2011.

"...Antarctica. An extraordinary continent of awesome beauty. It is also home to an isolated outpost where a discovery full of scientific possibility becomes a mission of survival when an alien is unearthed by a crew of international scientists.

"The shape-shifting creature, accidentally unleashed at this marooned colony, has the ability to turn itself into a perfect replica of any living being. It can look just like you or me, but inside, it remains inhuman.

"In the thriller 'The Thing', paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet.

"Paleontologist 'Kate Lloyd' (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up.

"When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, 'Carter' (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish..."

Carpenter's "The Thing" originally adapted the 1938 "Astounding Magazine" 'novella' "Who Goes There", by author John W. Campbell Jr.

The short story was also the basis of the 1951 feature "The Thing From Another World" from producer Howard Hawks and director Christan Nyby.

Premise of Campbell's original story focused on a group of scientific researchers, isolated in Antarctica, that discover an alien spaceship buried in the ice. The men unwittingly recover the alien pilot that can assume the shape, memories and personality of any living creature.

Strike Entertainment's Eric Newman and Marc Abraham produced "The Thing" prequel, with David Foster executive producing, from a screenplay by Eric Heisserer.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek Carpenter's "The Thing", "The Thing" video game and Nyby's "The Thing"...