Jalopnik: Speed Racer Movie

Speed Racer Sucked, Took In Less Than $20 Million On Opening Weekend

Ray Wert — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:40:00 EDT

So we hear Speed Racer kind of sucked, which despite our fervent wishes otherwise, we kind of guessed after watching those damned trailers. In fact, depending on which studio numbers you used, came in either in 2nd place or 3rd place this past weekend, behind the juggernaut that is Iron Man and the silly romantic comedy What Happens In Vegas. Anyone care to guess exactly why the movie sucked? Was it the cartoon-ish graphics? Was it Chim-Chim? Was it — gasp — Christina Ricci? Was it the over-priced cost of $160 million to develop the movie — an amount that allowed the Wachowski brothers to spend more time playing and less time directing? [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

Full Speed Racer Preview Blows Minds, Bends Physics

Ben Wojdyla — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EDT

The final preview for the live-action Speed Racer movie is out trailer-style, and after watching it, we're pretty sure we know what the acting process for this looked like. It was hours and hours sitting in front of a green screen making "vroom-vroom" sounds and acting surprised and/or determined. The tripping balls part was added afterwards — and there seems to be a hell of a lot of that. The movie about our childhood racing hero and his creatively outfitted Mach 5 will be rolling into theaters in just a couple of weeks, and if this preview can't makes a case for seeing it in iMax, nothing can.

[There's a full HD version available at IGN.com, if you're into that kind of thing]

New Speed Racer Trailer Shows Regenerating Tires And Speed As A Kid

Travis Hudson — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:45:00 EDT

Here we have the latest trailer for the live-action Speed Racer movie. It drops some backstory and provides our first insight into what made Speed Racer a demon on wheels. We're still not that impressed by the Wachowski brothers' extravaganza, based on these early looks. However, there's definitely some kinda cool stuff going on with Speed's famous set of wheels. For example, this trailer shows the Mach 5's ability to replace its own shredded tires while flying through the air. I bet Tony Stewert is really jealous right now.

This trailer also shows Speed Racer as a kid, depicts heartfelt chats with his mom (Susan Sarandon!) and even includes a scene of Speed and Trixie parked on a hilltop, likely getting ready to get it on and make little big-eyed anime racer children. By the way, is anybody else having trouble seeing Matthew Fox of "Lost" fame as Racer X? [Gizmodo]

Speed Racer Goes International In New Trailers For the Non-'Merican Scene

Ray Wert — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:44:03 EDT

So crap about the Wachowski Bros. new proto-anime-animation colored in Superman ice cream notwithstanding, the two new trailers revealed this weekend for Speed Racer are finally giving us auto-lovers a real live Racergasm. Some of the new driving sequences, although fantastically fantastic n' fake looking, are even starting to grow on us a little. But then of course this whole thing requires us to suspend disbelief — especially when Speed Racer whips out the strange clutch-less hold at race-start he's got going on (unless he's got some 4th pedal in there for like "turbo" or something). But whatevs, it is a movie, isn't it? We'll suspend disbelief. Are you interested in more? Then check out the Jalopnik Speed Racer tag for our full coverage — including the Mach 5 live and in the flesh (or you can just hit the jump to see that) — and then head on over to our sister site obsessed with sci-fi to catch a glimpse at their hard-core Speed Racer action.

First Pictures From Speed Racer Movie

Matt Hardigree — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:15:00 EST

[*UPDATE* If you're getting to this post we've got the Speed Racer Trailer, and you should watch it. That is all.] Whatever your opinions of the Wachowski Brothers, it's hard to stop your heart rate from speeding up a little when you see the photos from the new Speed Racer film. The men behind The Matrix have decided to put their skills behind the project, and have brought John Goodman and Christina Ricci along for the ride. Oh yeah, and Chim Chim is going to be there, too.

We've heard mixed sentiments about the film, and we've got sort of high standards for the Speed Racer remake based on inflated memories of how much we loved the show in our youth, but if someone was to make book on whether or not we were going to see this on the biggest screen we could find &mdash we'd take that action. [USA Today]