04/24/08 OUTLANDER at Cannes

OUTLANDER will once again be making the festival rounds. We've received word that the film will be present at this years Cannes festival, but at this moment it's unclear in what fashion.

The festival runs May 14th to the 25th and they have already released their list of this years official selections (which don't include OUTLANDER) and special screenings so it's almost a guarantee that OUTLANDER will be at Wild Bunch's setup in the film market. What we don't know is whether they are going to have any market screenings or if they'll just bring along the same promo reel that was well recieved when they took it to the Berlin Film Festival a few months back.

We'll keep you posted as soon as we find out more. The official Cannes screening schedules should be available May 10th and we fully expect Wild Bunch to post their own Screening Schedule in a similar time frame.

04/21/08 BREAKING NEWS: Outlander Poster Revealed

It's starting! The publicity machine is finally moving. IMPawards has posted an international poster for Outlander online here. It's a pretty amazing poster and gives a real sense of the epic scope of the film. Check out the extra large version by clicking on the thumbnail to the right. There's a cool pyramid of Viking character's topped by Jim Caviezel's Kainan, and a Moorwen silhouette looming above in the clouds.... Fantastic!

Let us know what you think about the poster by discussing it in this thread at the Forum.

04/16/08 Backgrounders Reminice - Farewell Fred Allen

Jim Dorey sent us a message to let us know about a recent article in the Truro Daily Times. Like Jim, the subjects of the piece - Wayne Falle, Sandy McCallum, and Fred Allen - were also a background performers (or extras as they are often called) in Outlander. In the article Wayne and Sandy remember the experience of contributing to the filmmaking process along with their friend Fred. You can read their accounts here.

They don't offer a lot of really new info but they did provide an interesting description of the first few scenes of the movie:

Falle then explained: "What the movie 'Outlander' was all about, Jim Caviezel, he was the outlander and he had crash-landed his spaceship and he was the only survivor. Found by the Vikings, they took him captive and back to their village. The opening scene they were bringing the outlander into the village, he was tied to a drag and hauled by a horse with a number of Vikings guarding him. In that scene Fred and I, Vikings, we were walking out of the village with our axes as we were going to the woods to cut wood. It developed into quite a story I guess."

There is a bit of a sad note to this story though. Since filming ended over a year ago, Fred Allen succumbed to cancer and passed away in December. Our thoughts are with Fred's family and friends. And perhaps as sad is that Fred will never get to see his work in Outlander on the big screen. Certainly Wayne and Sandy will be thinking about their friend when the film plays finally.

[Editorial Note = Wayne and Sandy seem to be under the impression that the movie has played in russia. While a release date was originally online for Russia for the spring, those same sources have since all been adjusted to September. It's also likely that the movie will play in the USA and Canada either in the late summer or early fall of this year but probably (but not necessarily) before Russia. If the movie is delayed, it's possible the movie could be pushed to 2009 but there doesn't seem to be - at this moment - any reason for the Weinstein Company to push it back. Three years would be a worst case scenario.]

04/12/08 New Community Outlander Forum - Updated Look

Along with an updated layout for our front page, we're happy to announce that we've set up a dedicated place for Outlander fans to discuss the movie. You can visit the forum here. Registration isn't required for the Outlander forum but you will need to sign up if you want to participate in a number of the other crius.net forums. Please read the forum rules, and most importantly, have fun.

04/04/08 Collectible Outlander Replicas

The good folks at Strongblade let us know that they are currently working on licensed prop replicas from Outlander that will eventually be available from their online store. They hope to have the first ones completed by July. So you will need to keep checking their site for more info as it becomes available. We'll be doing the same so well let you know more here as soon as more info becomes available. Strongblade is working on exactly which items to offer for sale but are currently looking at a few sword designs and daggers. There's also a Dragon Pendant that will likely be offered as well as a few other items, including possibly Gunnar's Hammers, that they are considering. These items all sound pretty exciting so keep checking back for more info on what items will actually be available for purchase.

Also you might want to have a look at some of our weapons and armor galleries for examples of what kinds of replicas might be offered.

03/26/08 Status Update - The Rumor Mill

We're back from spring break with a bit of clarification today, and some hints at when to expect to see Outlander in theaters. First of all, Ascendant Pictures' work on the film was completed at the end of January. The effects were completed and all shots rendered out by Spin Productions back in November (Spin is currently working on effects for the Max Payne movie that just started shooting). Since then the audio mixing, and musical score was completed and other post processing was completed on Outlander by Deluxe. The movie, as noted, was then delivered at the end of January.

Now, the production company and distributors are working on a release date. We have good word that they are looking for something "before late August."

At a glance July seems like a write-off. July starts off with Hancock on the 2nd and the following week has Hellboy II which also stars Outlander's Ron Perlman. The Dark Knight opens on the 18th and the last weekend of July sees the X-Files sequel in release. Reportedly, the X-files movie is also a creature feature of sorts and it would seem like it wouldn't be the best weekend to open another monster movie with sci-fi tendencies.

August does seem a little more open. It's first week sees The Mummy 3 hit theaters but the following week has Journey 3-D which may be a fun ride-type movie but doesn't sound like serious competition. The Pineapple Express sounds like some kind of stoner comedy and you would hardly think that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants sequel would be competing for the same demographic.

August 15th is a little tougher with the Dragonball movie, and the High profile comedy Tropic Thunder. The week of the 22nd seems questionable with The International starring Clive Owen - which is a thriller about an Interpol agent trying to expose a financial institutions dealings with an arms ring - and Bangkok Dangerous which stars Nicolas Cage as a hitman. The last Friday of the month has Babylon A.D. slated which is some kind of Sci-Fi action thriller starring Vin Diesel.

To us, August 8th and August 22nd look like the best bets, though the 15th isn't an impossibility. All we can say is that summer can't come fast enough! Also keep your eyes on the festival circuit. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that the movie might be present in some form or other at upcomming festivals like Cannes in May. Once a release date is settled on, expect the publicity campaign to start soon after.