THE BLOB Will Screen On Turner Classic Movies Later This Month

The Blob Trailer

The Blob will be oozing its way onto the Turner Classic Movies later this month as part of the cable channel’s month long “Out of This World: A Celebration of Sci-Fi Movies.”

The programming block will run every Tuesday evening, beginning tomorrow July 2. The Blob is set to air the night of July 16/early morning of the 17th as part of a group of films celebrating “Moon Movies/Creature Features.”

Taking a look at the lineup for the programming block, TCM has some great classics alongside our favorite Blobby star, so you really can’t go wrong with checking out any of the films in this lineup.

TCM’s Out of This World: Celebration of Sci-Fi Movies schedule is as follows –

July 2 — Early Sci-Fi

Metropolis (1927)

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Woman in the Moon (1929)

Things to Come (1936)

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)

July 9 — The 1950s

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

The War of the Worlds (1953)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

It Came From Outer Space (1953)

The Thing From Another World (1951)

Earth V. the Flying Saucers (1956)

July 16-17 — Moon Movies/Creature Features

Destination Moon (1950)

For All Mankind (1989)

Countdown (1968)

From the Earth to the Moon (1958)

First Men in the Moon (1964)

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

Them! (1964)

The Blob (1958)

The Fly (1958)

July 23 — The 1960s

The Time Machine (1960)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Five Million Years to the Earth (1968)

Marooned (1969)

12 to the Moon (1960)

Village of the Dammed (1960)

July 30 — 70s and 80s

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Stars Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977)

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Solaris (1972)

Logan’s Run (1976)

Westworld (1973)

2010 (1984)

FilmBuffRich on July 1st, 2019 | File Under News | No Comments -

Samuel L Jackson Hints BLOB Remake Moving Forward

Is the long in development remake of the 1958 classic The Blob starting to get some traction? Samuel L Jackson seems to think so and in a recent interview has stated that the film he has been attached to for two years could finally be oozing forward.

Speaking to the Toronto Star (via Blastr), the actor discussed why he likes appearing in genre films such as Jurassic Park and, most recently, King Kong. And in his comments he revealed that financing for the remake had come together and that things could be moving forward.

I’ve been preparing to use it my whole life. I’ve been running from or chasing King Kong, Godzilla the Wolfman, whatever, since I was a kid (in Chatanooga, Tenn.). We’d go home and pretend to do all that stuff. So I’m doing Kong for the same reason I’ll probably be doing The Blob. I just got a call the other day (where the producers) said they finally got their money from China to do Blob. I mean, I do a lot of movies, a lot of independent movies, for different reasons. But I’m a fan, and a lot of times I choose a movie because it’s something I would have chosen to see when I was a kid. How do you say no to that?

Note that Jackson states “probably.” But as the business normally goes, Jackson may have been attached to the project for the last two years, but even if the financing issues are in order, the producers still have to actually sit down and hammer out a deal with Jackson. Until then, nothing is certain.

The Sun’s story concludes by saying that “Jackson’s next big project after The Blob will be Avengers: Infinity War.” While it doesn’t state where they get this timeline, I am going to guess that it is an error on the reporter’s part. Infinity War is already in production and will be shooting over the next several month’s. Even if the jump right into pre-production, there is no way that the Blob remake producers will be able to get the film in front of cameras before Jackson needs to be on set for Infinity War.

FilmBuffRich on April 4th, 2017 | File Under News | No Comments -

THE BLOB Producer Jack Harris, 98

Jack Harris, the producer of the seminal 1950s monster movie The Blob, died earlier today at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 98.

Born in Philadelphia, Yeaworth got his start in show business at the age of six, as a child performer in Gus Edwards’ Kiddie Revue vaudeville show. As an adult he became active as a theatrical publicist.

Harris became interested in producing when he got into a argument with Rocketship X-M Robert L Lippert. Harris said that Lippert’s movies were “lousy” and hard to promote. Lippert responded that if Harris thinks he could do a better job than he should. While on tour promoting a Boy Scout-themed film Jamboree, Harris began cultivating the idea for what kind of movie he should make. He realized that both science-fiction and juvenile delinquency films were two genres that seemed to always turn a profit.

Teaming with Irvin “Shorty” Yeaworth, a director of short religious films based outside of Valley Forge who was looking to make a feature that could infuse some cash into his production company, Harris put the wheels in motion that would eventually result in 1958’s The Blob. The film was shot in the Philadelphia suburbs of Phoenixville, Downingtown and Royersford. Made for just $240,000, the film would go on to gross over $4 million.

Harris would reteam with Yeaworth a year for the science-fiction thriller The 4-D Man, which would again see them shooting in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Harris also exhibited an eye for upcoming talent, producing 1970’s Equinox, co-directed by future multiple Academy Award-winning special effects wizard Dennis Murren, Schlock, the 1973 directorial debut of John Landis, and Dark Star, the feature debuts of co-writers and co-directors John Carpenter and Dan O’Bannon.

Harris would return to The Blob for a 1972 sequel, Beware! The Blob, directed by Larry Hagman, the 1989 remake and reportedly had been in active in the more recent attempt to get a second remake launched.

FilmBuffRich on March 15th, 2017 | File Under News | No Comments -

BEWARE! THE BLOB! Coming To Blu-Ray On September 20

BewareblurayIt may not be as fondly remembered as the film that spawned it, but Kino Lober is bringing Beware! The Blob! to DVD and blu-ray next month as part of their Studio Classics line. This marks the first time that the Larry Hagman-directed sequel will appear in the format and Kino Lorber has remastered the film for High Def.

Here’s the release from Kino Lorber –

The Blob returns… more outrageous than ever in this 1972 sequel to the popular sci-fi classic! Plenty of familiar faces, including Robert Walker Jr. (Ensign Pulver), Larry Hagman (Dallas), Sid Haig (Busting), Burgess Meredith (Rocky), Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough), Godfrey Cambridge (Cotton Comes to Harlem), Cindy Williams (Laverne & Shirley), Carole Lynley (The Poseidon Adventure), Gerrit Graham (Used Cars) and Shelley Berman (You Don’t Mess With The Zohan) add to the fun. A geologist (Cambridge) unwittingly brings home an unusual frozen piece of debris from the North Pole. But when it accidentally thaws, the hungrier-than-ever Blob comes to life again, consuming nearly everyone in its path and terrorizing the town. No one is safe as it crawls into a bowling alley, oozes its way across an ice rink, becoming grotesquely bloated with the blood of its victims… can this bizarre creature ever be stopped? TV legend Larry Hagman directed this cult classic, the only feature film he ever directed – upon its 1980s re-release, the film was tagged “The Film that J.R. Shot!”.

Look for the disc going on sale on September 20 in stores and via Amazon.

FilmBuffRich on August 22nd, 2016 | File Under News | No Comments -

Steve McQueen Bio-Pic Getting Financing

steve-mcqueen

Financing for a film that would look at the life of Blob star Steve McQueen, appropriately titled McQueen, is starting to come together, according to a report from Deadline.

The film is the project of The Immigrant director James Gray and could possibly feature Gray’s Immigrant star Jeremy Renner in the title role, though Deadline states that both Channing Tatum and Ryan Gosling have expressed interest in the part in the past.

The film will be based in part on on the 2010 biography Steve McQueen: The Life And Legend Of A Hollywood Icon, written by Marshall Terrill and ” a unique story that is being kept under wraps about McQueen’s life that he wrote about at the time of his death in his own hand,” according to Deadline.

In a quote to Deadline, producer Graham Kaye stated –

[There is a diary] that was kept by his nurse in Mexico who gave it to the author of the book that was done on him by Marshall Terrill. Something happened in McQueen’s life that has been kept secret for a long time. We think we have a very interesting way into this story.

No screenwriter has been hired yet for the project.

FilmBuffRich on March 14th, 2015 | File Under News | No Comments -

Simon West BLOB Remake To Be More “Along The Lines Of ALIEN And PREDATOR”

A couple of months ago we learned that Simon West is the latest director to take on a remake of The Blob. Now the folks at Den Of Geek have caught up with West and have asked him some pointed questions about how he envisions reinventing the Blob for 21st century audiences.

It seems that West’s idea is to use modern visual effects technology, i.e. CGI, to bring to the screen a film that sounds more epic in scope than the original film.

Yeah, it’s definitely going to be on a much bigger canvas than the originals, which were much more small, niche genre horror movies. My version of The Blob’s going to be more sci-fi…

The blob itself will be more sophisticated, more along the lines of Alien and Predator and things like that – much more science-based, the way Jurassic Park made you believe you could bring back dinosaurs with a bit of DNA from a mosquito. This will be much more explained on where the blob comes from and how it works. It’ll be a much more sophisticated creature – because it is a monster movie rather than a horror in that sense.

West goes on to draw a parallel with another classic science-fiction film trope.

This thing’s come from another planet, and also, we don’t know how many there are. It’s fun at the moment – while I’m prepping this other film, The Blob is a bit longer term. I’m having a lot of designing this creature, what its talents are, its attributes, how you can think you’ve defeated it, but you haven’t. It’s fun inventing a creature like that – like the new Alien or the new Predator.

Well, I certainly like his enthusiasm and it does sound like a much better approach than former Blob-remake director Rob Zombie’s “not to have a big red blobby thing” attitude. Let’s hope in all that enthusiasm he doesn’t forget to do what Alien and Predator did so well – make us care about the characters on the run from and trying to stop the Blob.

FilmBuffRich on March 11th, 2015 | File Under News | No Comments -

Simon West Directing BLOB Remake

Blob

Director Simon West (Con Air, The Expendables 2) will be directing a remake of the classic 1958 horror classic The Blob.

Deadline is reporting the film will start shooting this summer, though there is no word on any cast or who may have written the screenplay.

West is quoted by Deadline as stating –

With modern CGI we can now fully realize the potential of The Blob. The world I create will be totally believable, immersive and emotionally satisfying. It’s a thrill to introduce an enduring icon to a wider audience and a whole new era of fans.

There have been several attempts to get a Blob remake off the ground over the past several years. Screenwriters Carey W. Hayes and Chad Hayes, the team behind the 2005 House Of Wax remake and 2013’s The Conjuring, wrote one attempt. Rocker-turned-director Rob Zombie was also attached to oversee a new version of the film, though he never got to the point where a script was written. Zombie infamously had stated that his intention for his remake was “not to have a big red blobby thing.” So perhaps we’re all better off that this attempt has been grounded.

FilmBuffRich on January 22nd, 2015 | File Under News | No Comments -

The Blob Is Coming To RetroCon Next Week

The Blob will be invading RetroCon next week, September 27th & 28th in the Philadelphia suburb of Oaks, PA!

Well, more specifically, Wes Shank, caretaker of the Blob, will be at the convention in the Philadelphia suburbs with his famous charge for all to see.

Tickets are $17 for Saturday and $15 for sunday, but that gets you access to the entire convention floor, the dealers rooms and panels. Additional guests include cartoon voice actors Michael Bell, John Moschitta, Jr., Michael McConnohie, Larry Kenney and Doug Stone, Doug “The Nostalgia Critic” Walker, James “Angry Video Game Nerd” Rolfe and BLobFest favorite Mr. Lobo.

You can find directions to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center here.

[googleMap width=”400″ height=”400″ directions_to=”false”]100 Station Avenue, Oaks, PA 19456[/googleMap]

FilmBuffRich on September 18th, 2014 | File Under News | No Comments -

BLOBFEST 2014 Media Roundup: Friday Night

Once again BlobFest brought out the local media. Here’s a quick wrap up of the coverage from this past weekend starting with all three Philadelphia local news stations reportage on the Friday night run out.

The Phoenixville Phoenix Reporter & Item is always onhand with great coverage of the weekend.

While the Daily Local has a nice slideshow of local businesses and how they decorated for BlobFest.

Costume contest judge Joel Hodgson was tweeting out pics from the weekend.

And there is this video from fan Shawn Proctor posted to YouTube.

FilmBuffRich on July 14th, 2014 | File Under BlobFest, News | No Comments -

BLOB Criterion Blu-Ray Wins A Rondo!

rondo awardCriterion Collection’s recent blu-ray edition of The Blob has won a Rondo Award! The high-def reissue of their original 2000 DVD issue snatched this year’s award for “Best Classic Horror DVD/Blu-Ray Release” based on the new 4K digital restoration the disc sported. The blu-ray beat out the likes of Golden Voyage Of Sinbad, House Of Wax, The Howling, White Zombie and more.

BlobCriterionAccording to the fine folks who run the Rondos-

The Rondo Awards, named after Rondo Hatton, an obscure B-movie villain of the 1940s, celebrate the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation. This year’s e-mail vote, conducted by the Classic Horror Film Board, a 19-year old online community, drew nearly 3,400 ballots. The 35-category ballot is the largest survey of the classic horror genre held each year, and nominees and winners tilt decidedly toward horrors of the 1920s-60s.

Unfortunately, the annual BlobFest celebration in Phoenixville was once again a bridesmaid, never a bride at the Rondos, taking another “Honorable Mention” in the “Best Fan Event” for the Friday Night Runout Re-enactment.

FilmBuffRich on May 20th, 2014 | File Under BlobFest, News | No Comments -