Action movies can seem dime-a-dozen, so when a series like Die Hard comes along to deliver winner after winner (after winner after winner), you know you've found your pot of gold. Given success so big that there's a fifth installment in the works, AMC has declared Sat., Mar. 17 Die Hard Day in honor of one of the greatest action franchises ever. St. Patrick, keep your luck-- we don't need it when Bruce Willis is here to save the day. Here are seven reasons why these flicks deserve their very own holiday:
1. It's Already Several Holidays Rolled Into One The first two movies take place on Christmas Eve, and with pyrotechnics more dazzling than the grandest fireworks display, the franchise ups the ante on the Fourth of July. Then, hero John McClane takes on a band of terrorists to save his wife-- a gesture so romantic that St. Valentine himself can't compete.
2. John McClane Is the Patron Saint of Action Movies To be declared a saint, you need to have performed a miracle or two. Well, McClane defends a building, then an airport, then New York City, and then the U.S.A. What's next? The world? Sounds like it's time to start canonization.
3. As Soon As One Movie's Over, You're Ready for the Next Just finished trick-or-treating? The stores are already rolling out Thanksgiving decor. January 2nd? MLK Day can't come soon enough. And just like that, an installment of Die Hard has you jonesing for the next flick's action.
4. The Series Lends Itself to Theme Parties You've attended countless Labor Day barbecues and God knows how many ugly-sweater holiday shindigs, right? Next time, throw a Die Hard party instead. One costume idea: Just don a black undershirt, go shoeless, and keep quoting McClane: "Nine million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister."
5. It Has the Best Theme Song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Be My Valentine? Please. Die Hard goes upscale with Beethoven's 9th.
6. It Generates a Lot of Money Okay, so the Die Hard franchise's $1.1 billion box office total doesn't touch the $17.6 billion Americans spent on Valentine's Day this year. Bet it's more than we spend on Flag Day, Groundhog Day or Arbor Day!
7. It's Got a Catchphrase "Merry Christmas!" "Happy New Year!" "Trick or treat!" "Gobble gobble!" Die Hard Day comes with a warm greeting, too. All together, now: "Yippee-ki-yay!"
Don't miss AMC's Die Hard Day when it starts on Sat., Mar. 17 at 11:30am.
WonderCon in Anaheim: March 16-18, 2012! WonderCon, one of the country's best comics and pop culture conventions, moves to Anaheim, CA and the beautiful Anaheim Convention Center for 2012. Taking place the weekend of March 16-18 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), WonderCon is coming off its best year ever, with over 49,000 attendees in its 25th annual event in San Francisco in 2011.
Moscone Center South, the home to WonderCon for the past six years in San Francisco, is undergoing renovation work in the first six months of 2012, and dates were not available in our regular venue. Rather than miss a year, Comic-Con International, which has put on WonderCon since 2002, decided to look for an alternative venue for the popular show. The Anaheim Convention Center is the largest convention center on the West Coast, and one of the largest in the world. It's location - right next to the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Theme Parks - offers attendees warm weather, numerous hotel rooms, and great dining opportunities. Anaheim is easy to get to from all over the country, whether by air (LAX, Long Beach, and John Wayne airports), train, or car (via Interstate 5).
The Anaheim Convention Center is within easy walking distance of Disneyland's free Downtown Disney district, featuring shopping and fine dining, including ESPN Zone, House of Blues, Rainforest Cafè, Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen, and Tortilla Joe's. In addition, the center is right down the street from The Shops at Anaheim GardenWalk, which features Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., California Pizza Kitchen, McCormick & Schmick, P.F. Chang, Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine, and The Cheescake Factory, among other restaurants and shops.
WonderCon offers attendees, professionals, and exhibitors the complete convention experience. In addition to the Exhibit Hall featuring comics and items from the many worlds of the popular arts, fans can expect exclusive programming from the top comics publishers in the country, movie and television panels, anime, autographs, games, the Masquerade, and portfolio review, providing one of the best conventions out there. With the change of venue to Anaheim in 2012, WonderCon is more than ever a Òmust-attendÓ event on the convention calendar, especially with the addition of the beautiful Anaheim Convention Center and surrounding area as a bonus to both long-time and new attendees. Make it a long late-winter weekend in Anaheim and visit WonderCon, then take in Disneyland right next door after the convention!
We, at Zenescope Entertainment, find it hard to believe that Grimm Fairy Tales is approaching its 75th issue. When we started publishing the comic book back in 2005, we just hoped it would make it to issue six so we could collect it into a graphic novel. But at some point it took on a life of its own; we began to dream of all the possibilities and mediums it could be translated into. Wouldn’t it make a great live action TV series? What about an animated anthology? We had some interest from different studios and producers but for one reason or another a deal never materialized. We never gave up hope of Grimm Fairy Tales becoming more than a comic book but it began to look like a real long shot.
Then we met a very talented director named Jon Schnepp. Jon has directed a ton of great stuff like The Venture Bros. and Metalocalypse and he loved our series. He got the material and had an incredible take on turning it into an animated series right from the start. We began to think that maybe we didn’t need the Hollywood system to turn Grimm Fairy Tales into one seriously cool animated series. Jon has done a ton of work with Titmouse and he knew they would get behind a project like this. Grimm Fairy Tales has a tremendous, loyal fan base and we felt that this was something they would want to see. All we needed was the money to produce it. That’s why we’re here at Kickstarter. Through this incredible site and with the help of our amazing fans we can make this series a reality. And best of all we can make it the way it should be made…bad ass and sexy.
The goal of $175,000 is for the pilot. Anything beyond that goes to adding more episodes to the series. The more we get, the more you get.
So, why Kickstarter?
Kickstarter has been a great resource for creative minds to get the support they need to bring their dreams to life. With the crowd-source fundraising that Kickstarter offers, we can give you, not the big studios, the final say on this project, and reward you for your support.
We also want to include you, the fan, in the process as much as possible. Bringing this project to life is going to be hard, and we want you to get to see behind the curtain. That's why we're going to be shooting a lot of exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage to include with the series so that you really get to see how we made it all happen.
The Myth
Grimm Fairy Tales has been the flagship series of Zenescope Entertainment since the company started. Zenescope Entertainment has grown to a top comic book publisher due to its continued success. Grimm Fairy Tales is currently the longest running independent color comic being published today. In our Grimm universe, all of the characters, fairy tales, legends and fables are based in the modern world. These good and evil fairy tale characters are waging a war for the control of earth and mankind.
The Man
Jon Schnepp will be directing this project. He is a very talented animation director, having already seen a great deal of success working on such series as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Metalacolypse, and Space Ghost. He has worked with premiere animation studio Titmouse inc, and his work has been featured on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. He will be in charge of bringing the grimm, grit, and gore of popular comic book series alive in the animated series being funded here. But, he won't be doing it alone. Not only will Jon be working closely with the creators of the comic book, Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco; he'll be enlisting a top-tier animation studio to create this vision....
Titmouse Inc. is a premiere animation studio, with top-tier talent and experience. Jon Schnepp has worked with them before on many of his projects, and much of their work rounds out the Adult Swim animation block on Cartoon Network. You can't get any higher profile than Adult Swim, which has replaced Saturday mornings as THE place to watch the best animated series. Titmouse has worked on a wide variety of projects, and that's exactly why we approached them. There is no studio in the industry that is better suited to develop an animation anthology than they are.
We want to create the highest quality animated series possible, and that's why we've chosen the best.
The Finished Project
So, Zenescope Entertainment, with Director Jon Schnepp, and Titmouse Inc. are coordinating to bring you the epic Grimm Fairy Tales Animated Series. The funding will go towards making the pilot episode of the series, as well as additional behind the scenes footage from all of the companies involved. It will give fans a real sense of the work that goes into making an animated series, as well as a deeper look at each of the teams involved. Fans and newcomers alike will get to know the artists, writers and all the other minds behind this project.
What You're Getting...
We wanted to make sure you're getting something, no matter what you donate, so there will be a reward at every donation level. We also wanted to make sure we are giving you the opportunity to get into this series as much as possible, and that is why we have a wide range of rewards.
The goal is, of course, to get this series created, and so we wanted to make sure to offer the series at a fair price. $175,000 will be able to get the pilot made at a very high quality if we reach that goal, all further funding will go towards adding more episodes to the series. The pilot is the goal, and if the goal is met...the sky's the limit.
... if you want to see them all, see the rewards list on the webpage. They will continually be updating the webpage with images of our rewards to give you a better idea of what you're getting.
In Conclusion
We have wanted to make a Grimm Fairy Tales Animated Series for years. In the capable hands of Jon Schnepp and Titmouse Inc, we can't help but get excited about the possibilities.You now have the chance to be a part of that dream. We are ready to give you an epic animated adventure, and all we need is your support.
