Maurice Sendak, the author best known for Where the Wild Things Are, has passed away at the age of 83.  When he was 12, Sendak saw Walt Disney‘s Fantasia, and was inspired to be come an illustrator.  He worked for other authors before he wrote and illustrated his own children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are, in 1963.  He then won the Newberry Award, a distinguished honor for children’s literature, for illustrating Isaac Bashevis Singer‘s 1966 book Zlateh the Goat.  Sendak was deeply protective of having Where the Wild Things Are adapted into a movie, but finally gave his blessing to director Spike Jonze, who created the wonderful 2009 adaptation.  Sendak’s books have touched the lives of multiple generations, and he will be greatly missed.  Please click over to The New York Times for a full obituary chronicling Sendak’s rich life.

After the jump, you can find Spike Jonze and Lance Bangs‘s 2009 documentary Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak, Sendak’s brilliant interview with Stephen Colbert from earlier this year, and the trailer for Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are.  Our deepest condolences go out to Mr. Sendak’s family and friends.

What would make The Hobbit a better novel?  Aside from an editing of Tolkien’s long-winded description of every single thing, illustrations by Where the Wild Things Are creator Maurice Sendak would have been incredible.  Hero Complex has the story how this possibly brilliant collaboration fell apart.

To celebrate The Hobbit‘s 30th anniversary, the book’s American publisher commissioned Sendak to provide illustrations.  However, Tolkien still retained control over his material and asked Sendak to provide a couple of sample illustrations. Sendak begrudgingly obliged and provide two illustrations: “one of wood-elves dancing in the moonlight, and another of Bilbo relaxing outside his hobbit hole smoking his pipe beside Gandalf.”  Hit the jump to see these illustrations and to find out why Tolkien was unhappy with them.

On Friday afternoon I participated in a roundtable interview with director Spike Jonze and Max Records for “Where the Wild Things Are”. As I said when I posted the clips, I’ve thought the movie was an honest look at what it’s like being a kid and not being able to express how you feel. The film isn’t a fantasy, and it isn’t trying to sugar coat what you do when you’re upset at the world. While some are clearly going to have issues with the way Spike chose to make “Where the Wild Things Are”, I was spellbound and loving his universe. Also, I loved the way he had characters not say things when other movies would have tons of exposition. Many of his choices are unorthodox, and as an avid moviegoer and a fan of his work, I think he made a great film. Anyway, after the jump you can read what the star of the film and his director had to say about the movie. Also, I did video interviews with the cast, and those will be online the week of release.

I dread video games based off movies.  They’re cheap cash-ins on major movies so that when kids like the movie, parents are in for some pleading and whining until they shell out the $30 – $60 for a crappy game that the studio wanted to hit shelves as fast as possible so it could coincide with the movie’s release date.  I can only think of two good videogames based off movies: “Goldeneye007″ and “The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay” so for all of the movie-based video games ever released, there have been two worth buying.  There’s a ratio that inspires confidence.

Below you’ll find the trailer for the video game of “Where the Wild Things Are”.  I don’t know if this will be the third good video game movie-adaptation but I do know that my excitement for the film is so far ahead of the game that the distance could circle the globe a few hundred times.   The trailer may convince you different and I’m not saying it will be a bad game but it does have the advantage of my ridiculously low expectations. However, it does not raise those expectations as much as it confirms them.  See where your expectations land after seeing the trailer after the jump.

I’m going to lose all perspective when it finally comes time for me to see “Where the Wild Things Are”.  It’s my most anticipated movie of the year and I’m afraid I’m setting myself up to the point where I’m about to do a story with a headline, “I’m still excited for WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE”.

But we’re not quite there yet as this is a real story showing off four more character banners for the film.  The previous four looked great.  These look great too.  So does the entire film.  We’re gonna have to wait a few more weeks for that last one so you’ll just have to hit the jump and enjoy these posters for now.  “Where the Wild Things Are” hits theaters on October 16th.

Like most of you, I cannot wait to see director Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are”. Every bit of footage and every image released gets me more excited to see the final product. And with the October 16th release date a month away, the long wait for this movie is almost over. Anyway, five new images have been released and they’re after the jump. They’re cool as hell so take a look:

Warner Bros. have now released 4 new character posters on MySpace for Spike Jonze’s upcoming “Where the Wild Things Are” and like everything else that we have seen from the film so far, they are beautiful and awesome.  Sometimes I wonder if I am putting my hopes up too high for the film, but I have a strong gut feeling that this will be one of the rare times when a film lives up to it’s high expectations.  You can see the posters for yourself when you hit the jump.

My most anticipated film for the rest of the year is easily Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are”.  Like a lot of you, I’ve fallen more and more in love with the film with every new image, trailer, and poster that has popped out.  One of the things that was recently announced out of nowhere in hopes of promoting the film was that Spike Jonze had filmed a documentary about the man who wrote “Where the Wild Things Are”, Maurice Sendak, with plans of showing the documentary on HBO.  We now have a clip from that documentary. now entitled “Tell Them Anything You Want”, and you can watch it when hit the jump.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has just released a trailer for the “Where the Wild Things Are” video game. While I don’t know how I feel about a game based on the classic Maurice Sendak story, if it helps get kids into the theater to see Spike Jonze’s movie this fall, I guess I’m okay with it. So if you’re curious what the game looks like, it’s after the jump:

At this year’s Comic-Con, Warner Bros. premiered a great featurette on the man who created “Where the Wild Things Are”, Maurice Sendak. Apparently WB let Apple host it shortly after their panel, but due to my crazy schedule, I never saw the featurette or knew it was online. But thanks to WB sending me a link, I’m posting the video after the jump as it’s really great and if you’re a fan of “Where the Wild Things Are”, you’ll like seeing Maurice talk about his work and the upcoming Spike Jonze movie. Take a look:

Here’s a funny thing: the line yesterday for Hall H was absolutely insane.  If it wasn’t filled with die-hard “Twilight” fans, it was filled with hardcore “Avatar” fans (who had nothing tangible to be excited for at the time), and folks eager to see Disney’s 3D Panel.  But last night, at about 11pm, I was walking back to my hotel and I only noticed five or six people camped out in front of Hall H.  I went over and asked what they were standing in line to see this early.  And it was so refreshing to hear their answer: “Nothing in particular.  We want to see it all.”  These are the kinds of people that deserve the best seats.

And yet, with such major panels primed for Friday including a slate of Warner Bros. films and film from Disney-Pixar, it was odd that you could show up at around 1am or 2am in the morning (and maybe even a bit later, although as I walked by at around 7:30 this morning, it was pretty full, but not stretching down the block like yesterday (that would come a little later as the WB panel was beginning around 10am).  So why weren’t folks psyched like they were yesterday?  With such a line up of films, you not only get a lot of bang for your buck (they showcased SEVEN films, more than any other studio here), but all of them look pretty great.

So let’s kick off with the first film they showed and the one that brought tears to my eyes: Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s “Where The Wild Things Are”. My report is after the jump: