Today's Double News: Now the Panopticon Sees You

Here's two bits of news I posted on MovieScene yesterday:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/149192/now_you_see_me_2_in_de_planning

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/149193/tarsem_singh_regisseert_sci-fi_film_the_panopticon


Panopticons! I like panopticons! I used the term in my master thesis on science fiction films between 1968 and 1977 (with Hal 9000 as the prime example of a panopticon, but certainly not the only one from that era). From the plot synopsis given of this film, I don't see the panopticon yet (it might be the protagonist himself, but if so, he has forgotten it), but I'm pretty sure it'll be made clear in the movie itself. I'm looking forward to this film, I have liked Tarsem Singh's films so far, or at least the two I've seen, The Fall and Immortals (but then, he hasn't made many movies at all). Granted, he's all style over substance, a visual artist though not so much a narrative genius, but his visuals are gripping and evocative enough to keep intriguing me. It'll be fascinating to see him do some more science fiction-ey fare no doubt. So far there's little more to say on the topic, since all we have is a director and a brief plot breakdown. I'll keep track of this one for sure though.

I still haven't seen Now You See Me. I wish I had that one night at Pathé de Munt, where they launched 3,000 euros in 5-euro bills into the theatre when the same thing happened in the actual movie, as a promotional stunt. Now that is what I call a convincing 3-D effect! Nevertheless, the mixed things I heard about this movie have kept me from seeing it so far in favor of other films and I'll probably miss it entirely as it's on its last legs here. It seems the movie doesn't need my money though (if it were to get any at all, since I don't have to pay for my dose of movies anymore, like the regular audience does), it's doing well enough without me. But that doesn't justify rushing a redundant sequel into theatres, though the term 'redundancy' is itself redundant when Hollywood smells money. They better be careful not to go overboard in terms of budget like the big blockbusters Now You See Me is currently beating at the box office. After all, the film may not have been that expensive - though 75 million dollars isn't exactly cheap either - but it has a surprising abundance of big names (Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Jesse Eisenberg, Melanie Laurent and Mark Ruffalo among them), and if those need to be back for the second installment, they'll want more money: it's an inescapable natural law. Of course they can go the alternative route and reintroduce the same concept with a new cast of characters, but I doubt the audience would take kindly to that if it's really titled Now You See Me 2, which also remains to be seen. In fact, just like is the case with The Panopticon, there's not enough confirmed information to go on just yet in order to either discard this sequel as a bad idea (though many, if not most, sequels are), or to hail it as a welcome addition to the first film. Right now, we simply see nothing yet.