The
War of The War of the Worlds
08-17-04
.
(Press Release) Steven Spielberg and Cruise-Wagner
Productions, who last week announced their intention to rush into production
their previously announced feature film based on a modernized interpretation
of H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds”, may soon find themselves with a
real war on their hands, in the form of the multi-award winning and best-selling
Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of “The War of the Worlds”.
Wayne’s company is in pre-production on
his own $48 million feature-length animated film using state-of-the-art
CGI and Motion Capture technology. His team already have a completed script
and storyboard including an original prequel explaining why the Martians
leave their planet to invade Earth during the time of Victorian England.
While the H.G. Wells novel is in the public
domain in the US and certain other territories, Wayne owns all worldwide
rights to his musical version, and all major rights to the original H.G.
Wells novel including merchandising, soundtrack and commercial tie-ins,
across Europe and much of South America, with the exception of the feature
film rights which are owned by Paramount Pictures in those same territories.
Ironically, a joint venture between Wayne
and Paramount was initiated in 1979 but never materialized, but when approached
at that time to direct the Musical film Spielberg himself stated that it
would make a “unique and visionary film”.
Wayne, currently in Los Angeles for meetings
with various companies (including Paramount and Viacom Consumer Products)
in relation to “The War of the Worlds”, is also completing production of
his new television series – The Book of Tennis Chronicles, to be distributed
by Fox Sports worldwide.
He commented “these are interesting times
for “The War of the Worlds”. There is no doubt that its profile in its
different forms is going to be spectacular.
From what I understand, Cruise/Spielberg’s
production will be set in more contemporary times, probably the USA, unlike
my Musical Version which is set as H.G. Wells wrote it - in Victorian England.
The excitement to me was always that through the eyes of humanity in the
1890’s, as opposed to today, a superior force from another planet was far
more terrifying and would be far more difficult to defend against.
With a new multi-project contract with
Sony Entertainment UK, including a 5.1 Surround Sound remix, to spearhead
a 2005 international re-launch, Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War
Of The Worlds is one of Sony Music’s crown jewels in virtually every territory.
Since its first release in 1978 it has clocked up worldwide sales in excess
of 12 million records. The re-launch project is a major priority both domestically
and internationally, including the United States and will be backed by
the full weight of Sony’s marketing and PR expertise in every key territory.
Two other projects in development based
on Wayne’s musical work, include a major Theme Park attraction and a large
scale multi-media live touring show, which will include some 20 minutes
of animation from Wayne’s CGI film.
Timed with the Sony re-launch in 2005 will
also see the launch of the official “The War of The Worlds” website, including
full e-commerce capability. A wide variety of new and existing merchandise
will be offered based on the original artwork from the double album, as
well as a new comic book, and PC and Playstation computer games, which
have already enjoyed commercial success, with new versions also planned.
Last month, Wayne’s double CD of club renditions
from TWOTW, ULLAdubULLA, unexpectedly reached No. 1 on Apple’s iTunes album
charts.
[Reader advisement: The preceding press
release was submitted to antiMUSIC for publication. The content of this
press release has not been verified by antiMUSIC or our publisher iconoclast
entertainment group. ]
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