User:Bignole/Future films and reference guidelines

Important things to remember

 * 1) I studio expressing opinion that they want to, or will make a movie does not satisfy the policy on crystal balling. Regardless of what some believe, saying something is not proof of action. This isn't to say that the information on the proposal to make a film should be ignore/removed/deleted, just that it would not be best served as its own article.
 * 2) Hiring a director, writer, or cast are not definitive of production. All positions are easily replaceable, especially in early stages of development, and sometimes even during the production itself.
 * 3) Production start dates are key to satisfying the argument of crystal balling, but, vague dates are not. For example, a studio saying that a film will begin production in Fall 2008 is vague, and subject to change between the current date, and the supposed "start" date. Dates that are more specific, like April 2008, are better for determining that a film WILL be made. But use judgement; citing a production start date of April 2009, when the current year is 2007 is hardly a concrete start date.
 * 4) Articles that do not satisfy these requirements should be remanded to the subject's article (e.g. the novel of the adaptation, the character of a comic book series, ...).
 * 5) It may be wise to keep all information leading up to the start date on the main subjects article, and only create the actual film article when the start date has actually arrived. Not creating the article immediately will not hinder the information, or the future status of the film article.

Halted projects
Here are examples of films that were "definitely" going to come out, but have since been put aside for various reasons. Further proof that articles should not be created until films are actually in production.
 * Halo (film)
 * Logan's Run (2007 film)
 * Canceled Superman films

AfDs of future projects

 * Keep The Punisher 2 (closed, kept)
 * Delete Red Dwarf: The Movie (closed, deleted)
 * Delete Battle Angel (closed, deleted)
 * Delete In the Blood (closed, deleted)
 * Delete Full Moon Fever (closed, no consensus)
 * Delete Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (closed, merge/redirect)
 * Merge Tomb Raider 3 (closed, deleted)
 * Delete Mortal Kombat: Devastation (closed, deleted)
 * Delete Baby Geniuses 3 (closed, deleted)
 * Delete Ender's Game (closed, merged)
 * Delete Alice (closed, deleted)
 * Delete The Green Hornet (closed, redirected)
 * Delete Gears of War (closed, deleted)
 * Delete Sin City 3: Hell and back (closed, deleted)
 * Keep Jurassic Park IV (closed, keep)

Reliability of Internet Movie Database

 * Director Mark Steven Johnson has said, "IMDB is a bizarre site that tends to get a lot wrong." The IMDb page for his film, Ghost Rider, once listed David Arnold as the composer, where Johnson refuted this information and said he had never met Arnold.  (Christopher Young was the actual composer.)
 * IMDb listed director Alfonso Cuarón to helm Magneto, but the name has been removed since.
 * IMDb changed New Line Cinema to Warner Bros. for The Hobbit, a rumor which they denied. IMDB claimed the heads of NL had been sacked, and NL sought a correction.

Plot detail

 * Manual of Style (writing about fiction)

Novelization vs. film
Many times novelizations of films will be released before the films themselves. These are not reliable sources in the way of determining what will happen in the plot of the film. There are many examples of novelizations deviating from their source material (i.e. the script for the film):
 * MarvWolfman.com February 2, 2007 blog entry of Marv Wolfman, author of Superman Returns novelization
 * MarvWolfman.com July 5, 2006 blog entry of Marv Wolfman
 * COMICON.com July 14, 2006 interview with Marv Wolfman
 * Silver Bullet Comics Undated interview with Wolfman
 * Scifi Dimensions 2003 interview with Chris Claremont, author of X2: X-Men United novelization
 * TheXverse.com May 2006 interview with Claremont, also author of X-Men: The Last Stand novelization
 * PeterDavid.net September 2003 blog entry #1 of Peter David, author of Spider-Man 2 novelization
 * PeterDavid.net September 2003 blog entry #2 of Peter David
 * PeterDavid.net August 2006 blog entry of Peter David, also author of Spider-Man 3 novelization

Film trailers
Also, film trailers can be misleading. Often times editors like to add plot information, based on information attained in a trailer. What happens in a film trailer does not always equate to what happens in the film. What you see and hear do not always match up. Examples of misleading trailers include:
 * The Prestige. The trailer gives the impression that Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) has magical powers, with Cutter (Michael Caine)'s line "This was made by a man who can do what magicians pretend to do" taken out of context, used to refer to Borden rather than Nikola Tesla (David Bowie).
 * Transformers. The May 2007 trailer featured what sounded like an orchestrated version of the television theme song. This was not in the film.
 * The Simpsons Movie. Producer James L. Brooks noted, "We saw a trailer the other day, and somebody said 70 percent of the things in it - based on where we were eight weeks ago are no longer in the movie, because we keep on fooling around." This included a scene where Reverend Lovejoy says, "Here's the money shot!"