Superman Will Return March 14, 2008
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-Usual suspects director Bryan Singer has confirmed that work has already started on a sequel to 2006’s Superman Returns.
Singer is in the developmental stages of the sequel after getting back together with writers since the writer’s strike ended last month.
Superman Returns scriptwriters Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris have both left the project and have been replaced by Star Trek and Transformers writers Alex Kurtzmann and Robert Orci.
Despite taking nearly $400 million at the global box office two years ago Superman Begins was a critical failure.
At this early stage no cast members have been officially announced there are rumours that Kevin Spacey will return as Lex Luthor.
There were also suggestions some months back that Brandon Routh would not be returning in the role of Superman.
- With the help of writers Jason Segel and Nick Stoller Disney are to bring the Muppets back to the silver screen.
The duo are all set to pen the script with Stoller also expected to be on directing duties.
This will be the seventh big screen appearance for the Muppets, beginning with The Muppets Movie sin 1979.
They were last seen in 1999 in Muppets From Space.
-Transformers and The Island director Michael Bay is in talks with Paramount Studios to remake classic
horror movie Rosemary’s Baby.
The original film was released in 1968 and was directed by Roman Polanski.
It followed a young couple who discover that hey are to have a baby, with Rosemary becoming pregnant under mysterious circumstances.
It is believed that Bay would act as a producer on the re-make alongside Brad Fuller and Andrew Form.
A writer to develop the script is yet to be found.
-The 32nd movie in the Carry On franchise, Carry On London, has been given the go ahead and could be released by the end of the year.
The script, which has already been approved, centres on a limo hire service that is taking celebs to the British version of the Oscars, the Herberts.
Nobody has been officially announced in terms of cast, Shaun Williamson had been liked to the lead role but dropped out when the film was delayed in 2004.
-Ultrviolent and Equlibrium director Kurt Wimmer is being lined up to write and direct the big screen adaptation of hit computer game Metal Gear Solid.
Metal Gear Solid is just one in a recent string of successful games
, including Hitman, Doom and Resident Evil, that has been adapted for the big screen.
First Image From Wolverine March 14, 2008
Posted by movies in : Pictures , add a commentHugh Jackman goes it alone next summer with Wolverine a spin for his character from the successful X-Men franchise.
Also starring Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston and Ryan Reynolds the film is rumoured to be looking at Logan’s dark past.
 Here is the first image from the movie.
New The Dark Knight Pics March 13, 2008
Posted by movies in : Pictures , add a commentAs the release date to the highly anticipated The Dark Knight gets ever closer here is a sneak peak at the latest pictures.
Are Remakes An Excuse For Lack Of Original Scripts? March 13, 2008
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Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Suspiria are just two of the films that are set to get a twenty first century remake according to reports in the last week.
This adds to the already announced Escape From New York, Akira and Last House on the Left which are all expected to reach cinemas by 2009, Michael bay is also rumoured to be in talks to revamp Rosemary’s Baby.
Just what has happened to all the original scripts?
It seems that Hollywood is not only content to let the big screen become littered with seventies and eighties knock offs it doesn’t seem to mind the poor quality of these movies, that are supposed to be bringing these classic movies to a new generation, either.
2007 was just the same when the paying cinema going public were treated to The Fog, Halloween and The Omen, all of which did poorly critically and commercially selling out the original concept and ripping off the money paying movie fans.
They should spent their hard earned cash on renting the original instead!
It seems, as with the sequels issue, Hollywood studios are desperately trying to make quick and easy money and it is the public that are losing out.
Over the last couple of years it has often been remarked upon how cinema attendances have been dwindling, and when they only have the opportunity to watch a poor man’s version of a classic is it really any wonder that they save their money and stay away?
It’s surprising then that movies such as There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men have done so little business at the box office.
The Oscar’s Best Picture category, which also included Atonement, Michael Clayton and Juno, as well as non nominated picture like Eastern Promises and Into the Wild were some of the best movies of last year all of them fresh and new.
However the low gross of the Oscar nominated movies did lead to some saying that the Oscars has become distanced from what has been successful at the box office and that nominations should follow, to a certain degree, public popularity.
But do we really want to see these remakes mixing it will top quality movies that deserve to be recognised?
However not all remakes have been a complete disaster as Ocean’s Eleven was arguably better than the original and 2007’s 3.10 to Yuma, starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, was one of the best movies of last year.
But it appears that this trend is not going to disappear with more and more films being given the modern day movie making seal.
Len Wiseman To Direct Shell Game March 12, 2008
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-Underworld and Die Hard 4.0 director Len Wiseman is to direct new action movie Shell Game.
The sci-fi movie is set in the future and follows a detective who is dealing with a moral dilemma as he leads an investigation into the black market.
The screenplay had originally been written by Justin Bondi and Andrew Lundington but Wiseman and Chris Morgan have begun work on the most recent draft.
The director will also handle the production.
-St Trinians director Oliver Parker is planning another adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray.
Based on the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray the film centres around Gray, no mention of casting, who shows no sign of ageing as he leads a corrupt life.
But the sins of his lifestyle are shown in the portrait that he hides in his attic.
-Rush Hour director Brett Ratner is in talks to direct Harbinger, based on Valiant’s comic.
The comic was a huge hit during the early nineties and followed a group of humans with powers that can be unlocked by ‘omega’ harbingers.
The story centres around teenager Pete Stanchek who has to fight another ‘omega’ who hasn’t used his powers for good becoming an evil corporate millionaire.
-According to Variety British filmmaker Neil Marshall is to write and direct Sacrilege, a horror film that is set in the Old West.
Although the film’s plot is being kept under tight wraps it’s been hinted that the film will have themes of isolation and paranoia and was influenced bu The Thing.
-1970s cult monster movie Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is to be given the 21st Century treatment in a remake.
Creators of the web series Ask a Ninja Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine are penning a new version of the movie that was originally released in 1978.
Nichols will also make his directorial debut with this project.
Is Marion Cotillard’s Hollywood Career Over? March 11, 2008
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After just two weeks of basking in her slightly unexpected Best Actress Oscar glory French star Marion Cotillard faces a backlash over 9/11 comments.
In an interview given to a French television network the thirty two year old actress appeared to suggest that the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre were stage in an attempt to avoid refurbishing them.
‘We see other towers of the same kind being hit by planes, are they burned? There was a tower, I believe it was in Spain, which burned for twenty four hours.
‘It never collapsed. None of these towers collapsed. And there (in New York), in a few minutes, the whole thing collapsed.’
The comments were made on a television programme in 2006 and footage for the show has, only recently, appeared on the Internet.
9/11 was the biggest tragedy in American history killing almost 3,000 people.
The actress, who won an Oscar for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose, went on to question America’s greatest historical moment questioning if they really did land on the moon.
‘Did a man really walk on the moon? I saw plenty of documentaries on it, and I really wondered. And in any case I don’t believe all they tell me, that’s for sure.’
However in an embarrassing u-turn that actress claimed that there had been a misunderstanding as she attempted to try and keep the Hollywood film industry, which is notoriously patriotic, on her side.
Her lawyer Vincent Toledano said: ‘Marion never intended to contest nor question the attacks of September 11, 2001 and regrets the way old remarks have been taken out of context.’
While she my have backtracked she hasn’t apologised for the comments that many in Hollywood, which is divided over the remarks, see as anti-American.
Tim O’Neil, a critic for The Envelope, said: ‘This crosses the line. You can say crazy things, they all do in Hollywood all the time, but she’s a foreigner who is perceived to be saying things that are anti-American.
He also suggested that if this video had been released sooner ’she probably would have lost the Oscar.’
The effect that this will have on her international, and in particular her Hollywood, career is yet to be seen as she is due to begin shooting Public Enemies with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale next week, a contract she signed prior to this outburst.
Public Enemies, which is directed by Michael Mann, will be the biggest role, in terms of being in a large money spinning movie, for the little known actress but may be her last in Hollywood.
‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ may not be the feeling in the Marion Cotillard camp as her career, that is yet really to take but looked very promising, burns down around her.
Mila Kunis Lands Role In Max Payne March 11, 2008
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-Actress Mila Kunis is to star alongside Mark Wahlberg in a big screen version of videogame Max Payne.
It is believed that Kunis, who starred in That 70s Show, will play an assassin who works with Payne (Wahlberg) to avenge the death of her sister.
The story will revolve around Payne, who is a cop who is haunted by the death of his family, uncovers a conspiracy when trying to solve a series of murders.
Max Payne is just the most recent in a long line of videogames including Hitman, Tomb Raider, Doom and resident Evil, to get a movie adaptation.
-Die hard 4 star Justin Long has signed on to co-star in Sam Raimi’s new movie Drag Me to Hell.
The film is Raimi’s long awaited return to the movie genre of horror.
But the project has already experienced castin problems as Ellen Page dropped out of the project due to a scheduling conflict.
She was replace by Alison Lohman who will play Long’s girlfriend in a morality tale about a character who becomes the victim of a supernatural curse.
-Funnyman Jim Carrey has signed up to star in Oscar nominated director Jason Reitman’s Pierre Pierre.
Pierre Pierre is the follow up to Reitman’s critical and commercial success Juno and centres on a self indulgent French nihilist who transports a stolen painting from paris to London.
- Adam Sandler, Seth Rogan and Leslie Mann will all star in director and producer of the moment Judd Apatow’s new comedy.
The film, which is expected to begin filming later this summer, is a co-production between Sony Pictures and Universal.
Although the plot is being kept under wraps Apatow is expected to write the script, direct and produce the movie.
Both Rogan and Mann worked together and with Apatow on last summer’s hit Knocked Up and Adam Sandler co-wrote the soon to be released Don’t Mess With the Zohan.
-Troubled star, and multiple Rassie winner, Lindsay Lohan has finally landed some work alongside her heroine Ann- Margret in a new Jack Black comedy.
Is the Franchise Damaging the Box Office? March 10, 2008
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With the rumours this week that Disney are planning a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, to add to the already successful franchise, surely it is time to look at the industry and ask the question has the business of the sequel gone too far?
Other projects that are rumoured to be on the cards, for Disney alone, include a third outing for National Treasure and a second Cars, which was arguably the weakest of the Pixar/Disney collaborations.
Plus movies like Batman, Hulk, Indiana Jones and The Mummy, which will all be fighting it out to be top of the box office this summer, are all, at least, on their second picture except The Mummy which is on it’s third and a fourth for Indy.
It follows the same pattern as last summer where Transformers, which will no doubt go on to be a franchise of its own, was the only original blockbuster as Pirates, Spidey, Shrek and Bourne all wrapped up their respective trilogies.
So I suppose my question is this is the big business for sequels damaging and clogging up the movie industry?
A second or third movie to a successful debut is, without a doubt, a great way for studios to make the big bucks exploiting the general public to buy into a franchise two or three times over, and yes I have done it myself.
Takes Pirates of the Caribbean for example Curse of the Black Pearl was a top of the range action adventure movie that created one of the biggest cinema icons, in Captain Jack Sparrow, of the last decade.
It succeeded where so many other pirate movies had failed that Disney pressed forward to produce two more films: Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End.
While both movies are in the top five biggest grossing films of all time, Dead Man’s Chest took just over $1billion at the global box office at three and At World’s End at five grossing just over $958 million, they failed to match Curse of the Black Pearl’s critical response.
There’s a famous saying that the first is always the best. But why is this why can’t the quality of the first movie be replicated in those to follow?
Did Disney’s haste to cash in on this unexpected success have a detrimental effect on the quality if these two movies?
And Pirates is not alone George Lucas’ second Star Wars trilogy, Shrek the Third, Spiderman 3 and Harry Potter and have all suffered from critical negativity despite most of them appearing in the top twenty biggest grossing films of all time.
Compare this to the recent Academy Awards Best Picture category which contained: There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno and Michael Clayton . Together they had one of the lowest box office grosses for this awards category in twenty years.
Despite this they are all high quality, original one off movies that achieved critical acclaim.
However the low gross of these movies did lead to some saying that the Oscars has become distanced from what has been successful at the box office and that nominations should follow, to a certain degree, public popularity.
But did we really want to see Spiderman 3 or Shrek the Third win a Best Picture Oscar? I don’t think so!
It is fair to say that the blockbusters are there as a form of entertainment, and while the Oscar nominees may have the backing of the critics they were all a bit dark and depressing.
And while I don’t actually have a problem with the idea of sequels it’s some of the second rate filmmaking that is being released in order to make money and exploit cinema goers that I have a major problem with.
I do genuinely hope that a fourth Pirates movie is on the cards as Sparrow is a great film character and Curse of the Black Pearl was such a fabulous movie.
It is rumoured that the film, if made, would be looking at a 2011 release so that gives Disney plenty of time to get together a great script and make up for mistakes made in the past with this franchise.
A Fourth Pirates Film On The Horizon March 6, 2008
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-While everyone may have thought that the success, and highly unexpected, Pirates of the Caribbean franchise had sailed into the sunset at the end of At World’s End it has been reported that Disney are planning a fourth movie.
The film is supposedly scheduled to be released in 2011 however no plot, cast members or director was hinted at in this report.
However many will assume that Johnny Depp
will be tied to this project as Captain Jack Sparrow, the character that made these movies such a success.
During promotion for the third instalment the popular actor did admit that he would be open to returning to this character in the future.
-The Weinstein Company has acquired the rights to Rita Marley’s account of living with reggae star Bob Marley, No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley.
It is believed that the film would follow Rita and Bob Marley rocky relationship which includes the birth of their children, his affairs and an assassination attempt.
No cast has yet been named.
This would not be the first time a Marley production has tried to tell the singer’s story as Warner Bros tried to get together a project based on Timothy White’s book Catch a Fire.
-Warner Bros, now the writer’s strike is over, are now moving forward to get The Justice League project off the ground.
Amendments are being made to the script and casting is going ahead in the hope that the film will be in cinemas by 2009.
The Justice League, based on the popular DC Comic, brings together some of the most beloved superheroes including Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
Rumoured to have already been cast is the O.C’s Adam Brody as the Flash, rapper Common as the Green Lantern, and Megan Gale as Wonder Woman.
What roles Superman and Batman will have in the new project is yet to be determined with both characters having stand alone projects. Batman actor Christian Bale claimed that he would not take part in the Justice League movies.
-Another comic book project being eyed up by Marvel is a CGI animated version of Avengers after seeing the success of Beowulf.
The Avengers, like the Justice League, are a superhero team that Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk.
-Terminator looks set to return to the big screen by 2009 Warner Bros have announced that Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins will be in cinemas in just over twelve months on May 22.
The film, which stars Christian Bale, is expected to begin shooting on May 5, after the actor wraps on Michael Mann’s Public Enemies with Johnny Depp.
The plot of the latest movie in the Terminator franchise is being kept a closely guarded secret but is rumoured to part of a three picture arc.
-Director David Gordon Green has announced that he will be remaking Dario Argento’s cult horror film Suspiria.
The original film which centres on a ballet academy where a young student realises that the teacher are witches is a dramatic change for the director who brought us Snow Angels and George Washington.
Ellen Page pulls Out Of Drag Me To Hell March 5, 2008
Posted by movies in : Casting News , add a comment           
           - Juno star and Oscar nominated actress Ellen Page has pulled out of new horror movie Drag Me To Hell, directed by Sam Raimi.
The twenty year old star was to play the lead role in the film, which had been expected to start filming on March 17, but has had to withdraw due to conflicting schedules.
A delay on the start of shooting has led to a clash with forthcoming role in psychological thriller Peacock as well as Whip It, Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut.
Beowulf actress Alison Lohman has reportedly taken up the role and they will begin shooting on the new date of March 31.
- Irish actor Ciaran Hinds has been cast as the villain in Race to Witch Mount
ain which stars Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
The film centres around two young children, brother and sister, who have paranormal abilities. With the help from taxi driver (Johnson) the pair go on the run to escape an evil group, led by Hinds, who want to exploit their powers.
The film is a remake of the 1975 adventure movie Escape to Witch Mountain and is expected to begin shooting in LA next month with The Game Plan’s Andy Fickman directing.
- Su
nshine and Troy actress Rose Byrne has been cast alongside Nicholas Cage in his new film sci-fi thriller Knowing.
Bryne will play the daughter of a woman who buried 1962 time capsule bearing the dates of the assassinations of historical figures, the hotel fire death of the wife of a professor (Cage) and an imminent world apocalypse.
I, Robot’s Alex Proyas will direct from Ryan Douglas Pearson’s script production begins in Melbourne, Australia on March 25.
- British actor Jason Isaacs has joined the as yet untitled Iraq war thriller directed
by fellow Brit Paul Greengrass.
The film, which is based on Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s non-fiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, unites Greengrass with his Bourne leading man Matt Damon, who is already on board.
Greg Kinnear and Amy Ryan are also on board the film which is expected, like the book, to blundered attempt by the U.S. government to re-build Iraq after the toppling of the Saddam Hussain regime.
Jason Issacs most recently starred in State of Play, a BBC drama.
Filming is currently underway in Spain.
- Rya
n Reynolds and British actor, and former Lord of the Rings/Lost star, Dominic Monaghan have joined the cast of X-Men spin off Wolverine.
Yes Wolverine aka Hugh Jackman is going it alone in a picture expected to released next summer. It’s been hinted that the film is a prequel, after a fashion, that allows us to look back at the origins of Wolverine and the shadowy Mutant X program.
Reynolds has landed the role of Deadpool and Monaghan as Beak, who has many bird like qualities.