It’s April Fool’s Day and that means the Internet is awash with a combination of real news and goofy red herrings. Since you’re an optimistic and trusting person, your knee-jerk reaction is probably to give every single thing you read the benefit of the doubt, but unfortunately, some of these rumors and news stories are just a little too exciting or downright bizarre to be believed at face value.
You could go through and check every single one of them yourself, but to quote a famous philosopher…
Luckily, the fine folks here at Cinema Blend have spent the morning running down these rumors for you, and we’ve compiled a long list of the ones that you should get a kick out of, rather than start making plans to see/ do/ read/ (other verbs).
Here is an incomplete list of 2014's most interesting April Fool's hoodwinks...
Whatcha gonna do? Who says Transformers director Michael Bay has no sense of humor? (And no, racist twin robot cars don’t count!) The massive-budget filmmaker tried to slip one past his fans on April 1, posting a story to his official site that Bad Boys 3 and 4 would be racing into theaters in 2017 and ’18. Now, we almost believe this. Bay LOVES a good sequel. Hollywood adores franchises. And honestly, Will Smith could use a huge hit after After Earth. But the fact that this story has been ignored by every trade means Bay’s barking up the wrong tree. Now, if he wants to do a Pain & Gain follow up, we’re all ears.
Back to the Lillypad. Listen, Muppets Most Wanted might not have performed up to studio expectations, given the success of the recent Muppets reboot, but that doesn’t mean Disney has to completely scrap the franchise and start over. Which is why this story on Bleeding Cool about a planned CGI reboot for Kermit and his crew (hysterically titled Muppets Most Wanted… Again) has B.S. scribbled all over it. I do like their suggestion that the next Muppets movie needs cameos by characters from Star Wars, Marvel and Tron. It can’t hurt.
Bring home the bacon. Netflix enjoys a good April Fool’s Day prank. Last year they offered up strangely specific genre suggestions. And this year, they are tempting audiences with two new "original" films aimed at foodies. Sort of. Time reports that Sizzling Bacon and Rotisserie Chicken are available to stream on the service. And people are writing "reviews" of the features after they stream them. Can’t wait for the holiday spinoff, Yule Log.
Hold the Laughs? We reported on this. I still can’t tell if it’s real or a gag. But Yahoo Movies claim that a "Joke Free" version of Adam McKay’s Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues will be released, turning the comedy into a melodramatic weeper. They even have a great clip. Far-fetched? I mean, they recently released an R-rated cut of the movie, so anything’s possible. (But we think this one’s just false.)
Throne for a loop. Excited for the end of Game of Thrones? So are we. But don't believe for a minute the story over on ScreenRant that Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin is recruiting authors to help him bring his story to a close so that it syncs up with HBO's ongoing adaptation. This is the one story that really fooled me today. It seemed so real! Click the comments of their story, though. You might be surprised by what you find.
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads. Have a Back to the Future junkie in your family? It’s all but guaranteed they would adore a Flux Capacitor Car Charger from ThinkGeek. I mean, they can’t actually buy it. It’s a fake product… as fake as a time machine built out of a DeLorean! But I bet we end up seeing this product in stores before we ever see hoverboards.
The same site has a Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise flying disc, and an Alien "Chestbuster in a Can." They may be bogus, but THIS is real (and really amazing).
Hero Blend. Marvel, obviously, is huge. DC Comics is catching up. Could you imagine a film that combined their collective might? Comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis sure can, which is why he teased his Tumblr fans with the promise of the return of The Amalgam Universe, which combines huge heroes from both worlds! It ain’t happening, but the laundry list of authors and artists Bendis would lure back for this dream project has us salivating: Geoff Johns, Olivier Copiel, Bryan Hitch, John Romita jr., Alex Maleev, Mike Deodato jr., and John Byrne, who would be "making his long awaited return to mainstream comics." If only.
Sequel King. Stephen King got in on the action, posting on his site that he planned to follow up his Shining sequel -- Doctor Sleep -- with a sequel to Christine. Only, psyche! It was a lie! Are we having fun yet?
Switching Gears. This isn’t so much a prank as it is a strategic editorial plan. Film School Rejects dedicated their content to body-swapping movies like Freaky Friday and Face-Off. And they take the gag one step further by "body swapping" content with Pajiba! So tell us, guys, which one of you is really Fred Savage, and which one is Judge Reinhold?
Bye, Bye, Bye! This one’s just mean. Ryan Seacrest told followers Justin Timberlake agreed to join an NSYNC reunion tour, promising two new songs in 2015. Nope. Guess we’ll have to stick with the old songs.
Head Games. Do you spend a lot of time surfing Reddit? Get ready for Headdit, a (fake) service that surfs Reddit using your facial reactions! Now that’s interactive.
A Nice Chianti. Like all of the above projects, this new cooking show starring Mads Mikkelson’s Hannibal Lecter isn’t real. But we REALLY wish that it was, because we’d fill our DVR with every episode.
Not In The Mood. And finally, the rental service RedBox claims to know when you are feeling blue, so they claim to be launching a new technology that can make movie recommendations based on your emotions. Need to be cheered up? Rent the Anchorman sequel. Gravity is perfect for when you want to feel like solid gold. Sadly, this tech doesn’t exist… but of all the things we talked about here, this one feels like it’s right around the corner.
