In advance of its May 8th release, Paramount has already preemptively greenlit a sequel to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, and has confirmed that screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci will be back. Joining those two, however, will be Damon Lindelof, a Paramount producer and writer for "Lost" who helped get this Star Trek reboot off the ground with J.J. Abrams to begin with. No decision has been made on whether Abrams will return to direct the sequel. Although we can expect to hear a lot more about this in May, soon after it hits theaters. It looks like Abrams has indeed already successfully rebooted this franchise!
SCI FI Wire talked to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman about coming up with the new story, about what robots you might see and about possibly getting Leonard Nimoy to voice a character.
What would Pixar’s WALL-E look like if it was an anime series starring human characters instead of robots? Or what about Finding Nemo set on land instead of the ocean? These two Pixar/Andrew Stanton reimaginings were found on 4chan. The Finding Nemo art (available after the jump) is credited to Andrew Kalko, but I’m not sure who created the Wall-E piece.
Disney has released a new featurette titled Inside Up: Discovering a Lost World on IGN today that looks at what went into creating the South American jungle that Carl and Russell end up at in Pixar's Up. This is why I love Pixar and everything they do. And yes, I'm happy to give more exposure to a Pixar movie on the very day that DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs Aliens hits theaters, because they have such an extreme amount of passion for what they do. And if you're one of those people that are skeptical about Up, then please watch this, as it'll give you a better idea of the story and inspiration behind Pixar's latest work of art.
Watch the Inside Up: Discovering a Lost World video:
By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.
Pixar's Up is directed Pete Docter, one of the original Pixar members who directed Monsters, Inc previously and wrote the stories for Toy Story and Toy Story 2. The film is co-directed and written by Bob Peterson, who also wrote Finding Nemo. Disney will debut Up in theaters everywhere on May 29th this summer.
Paramount Pictures has extended its overall deal with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Prods., keeping the company on the lot through 2013. The deal comes as the studio moves into promotional warp speed for the May 8 release of "Star Trek," which Abrams directed and produced.
Abrams and long-time producing partner Bryan Burk set the company at Paramount in July 2006.
Bad Robot is growing into an important supplier of the Paramount film slate. The company's first release was "Cloverfield," which grossed $170 million worldwide. "Star Trek" is the company's second film, and Bad Robot begins production in June on "Morning Glory," the Roger Michel-directed film that stars Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams to be released in 2010.
"Today's announcement is meaningful to me in many ways," Paramount Pictures Corporation chairman/CEO Brad Grey said. "Bad Robot was one of the first deals we made to help rebuild the studio. J.J. has since become part of the fabric of Paramount, and we look forward to continuing our fruitful creative collaboration for many years to come."
"Bad Robot has had an incredibly fun and productive collaboration with Paramount," Abrams said. "We feel like we're just getting started."
A new International Poster has been posted online via IESB.net who posted the Empire Exclusive release.
The post is alright and hits on the important elements of a character centric franchise, showing the Enterprise in its prelaunch construction state. It conveys enough about the movie to get the point across, but its the same images we have seen splashed everywhere promoting this movie.
They manage to just barely dodge the “floating photoshop heads” but only just barely. And they are not even new pictures of the faces. They are the same recycled images we have already been exposed to a dozen times.
I am excited for this movie, and I hope that soon we might actually see a poster that matches my enthusiasm.
While browsing through some of the collections of international posters, I came across TrekMovie.com and found one from Germany that looked great. This poster here is probably my favorite one so far.
A chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members.
Star Trek is directed by J.J. Abrams (of "Lost" and Mission: Impossible III) and is written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (of The Island, Mission: Impossible III, Transformers, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen). This is the 11th movie in the Star Trek universe, following most recently Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002. Star Trek is set to land in theaters everywhere on May 8th, 2009 this summer!
Angels & Demons is directed by prolific filmmaker Ron Howard, of everything from Willow to Backdraft to Apollo 13 to A Beautiful Mind to the previous The Da Vinci Code. The script was written by veteran screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, of Lost in Space, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, and I Am Legend most recently. This film is based on Dan Brown's popular bestselling novel of the same name. Sony Pictures will be debuting Angels & Demons in theaters everywhere on May 15th this summer.
The team of Orci and Kurtzman have taken a bow out on Transformers 3, choosing to leave to pursue other projects. This leaves a job opening to pen Bay’s next scene of giant robots making splodey messes and selling GM cars.
Summit Entertainment has debuted the second teaser trailer for Imagi's Astro Boy animated movie on Hulu. This is a vast improvement over that original teaser, with more scenes, more footage, and less of the cheesy animation that I'm so worried about. I'm actually really digging the way this looks now and have a feeling we're all going to be in for a treat in October. I know I'm going to get torn to shreds by making this comparison, but in a very basic sense, Astro Boy seems a lot like Iron Man for the kids, with a kid who is actually a robot, not inside of a robot, first getting his bearings and everything. Anyway, check this out!Watch the second teaser trailer for Astro Boy:
Set in futuristic Metro City, AstroBoy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist to replace the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving father's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the man who had rejected him.
Astro Boy is directed by ex-Disney animator David Bowers, of Flushed Away previously, with a screenplay written by Timothy Harris, of Brewster's Millions, Kindergarten Cop, and Space Jam previously. Imagi Animation, the studio behind TMNT last year, is developing this animated film which is based on Osamu Tezuka's manga series. Astro Boy will arrive in theaters everywhere on October 23rd this year.
Now that you've seen it, what did you think? Director Alex Proyas is best known and loved for two films from his past - The Crow and Dark City. When he directed I, Robot in 2004, many people thought he finally hit the bottom of the barrel, but now he's back, five years later, with another edgy new dark thriller. So is this Proyas' triumphant return? Did Nic Cage make a comeback, too? Was this as formulaic and as boring as most people seemed it would be? Or was Knowing as edgy and thrilling as Proyas' two prior cult classics? Sound off below, leave your thoughts, and let us know what you thought of Knowing!
Woops. Someone at Paramount heard wrong. Yesterday news that Transformers 3 had been scheduled for a July 1st, 2011 release date, alongside a number of other exciting movies. But apparently Paramount jumped the gun. Michael Bay posted the following on his own official forums: "I said I was taking off a year from Transformers. Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3 - they asked me on the phone - I said yes to July 4 - but for 2012 - whoops! Not 2011!!! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots." Will it be rescheduled?I'm a bit amazed that such a huge mistake was made and that Paramount even announced the wrong date. Well, it falls in line with the exact pattern that Bay followed for the first two, so it could make sense that they'd push for the same two year schedule for the third sequel. Additionally, this is the first time Bay has ever followed through with a complete trilogy. He's only ever actually made one sequel - Bad Boys II - but this will be the first time he continues on. It's obvious that this is a passion project for him and that he was indeed born to direct Transformers. He just needs a break, too! So will they push it back to 2012?
Apparently there's a lot more to Neil Marshall than we ever thought! After scaring us all with The Descent, he went on to direct Doomsday, a mash-up of everything old and new, proving that he's got a lot of things going on in his mind besides just claustrophobic horror. Next up for Marshall is Centurion, an epic action adventure film set in 117 AD about a group of Roman soldiers who must fight for their lives behind enemy lines after their legion is decimated in a devastating guerrilla attack. Seen below via Empire is ex-Bond girl Olga Kurylenko as the character Etain, described as "a savage-looking Pict warrior woman."
"Etain is kind of revenge incarnate," Marshall tells Empire. "Her family were butchered by the Romans, she had her tongue cut out by the Romans, she's had a hell of a time and she's out for Roman blood." So does that mean she won't be speaking at all in the film? "She's quite furious, because one sense is not there - she can't speak - all the others are more developed. She sees very well and hears very well: she is an animal!" In addition to Kurylenko, Centurion stars Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Noel Clarke, and David Morrisey. And of course, it is both written and directed by Neil Marshall. Stay tuned for more details!
It's a sad day for Hollywood. They've finally crossed that line that no one wanted them to ever cross. New Line has greenlit a MacGyver feature film. Legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis and his daughter Raffaella are producing, along with series creator Lee Zlotoff. No word on whether the original MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson, will be involved, but our guess is that he's not going to have anything to do with this. New Line hasn't hired a writer yet either, but they hope to find a script "that can acknowledge how the concept has staked a place into pop culture yet still makes for a serious and fun adventure movie."
As a quick refresher, MacGyver was an adventure TV series that first debuted in 1985 on ABC and eventually got two spin-off made-for-TV movies both in 1994. Richard Dean Anderson starred as an incredibly resourceful secret agent for the Phoenix Foundation who frequently would escape from dangerous situations with ingenious and lightning-quick engineering trickery (refer to this MythBusters episode). If this news itself wasn't painful enough, just listen to this pitiful pun from New Line's Richard Brener. "We think we're a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise." Goodness…
Vin Diesel was chatting about the relase of the new video game based on Chronicles of Riddick and also mentioned they are working on a Riddick 3.“Maybe we’re too tight-lipped about the next ‘Chronicles of Riddick’ film, and I think circa the release of [Dark Athena] that’s probably when you’ll start hearing more about the next ‘Riddick’ film,” Diesel said. “It is underway and I almost think it’s a coincidence that we haven’t heard anything, that there hasn’t been a lot of public stuff on the ‘Riddick’ movie.
I think it is smart for Diesel to return to franchises that he was famous for to begin with. He has had so many flops that he needs some in the win column.
Riddick has always worked out well for Vin, and he suits the role so well. I enjoyed the Riddick films.
Chronicles of Riddick director David Twohy's latest film is thriller called A Perfect Getaway. It stars Milla Jovovich and Steve Zahn as two lovers on honeymoon in Hawaii who discover they're being stalked by a pair of killers, played by Kiele Sanchez and Timothy Olyphant. Seems like a twisted and tropical mix of Funny Games and The Strangers. This was originally supposed to hit theaters this week, but Universal has since pushed it back to mid-August. To keep us excited, Twohy himself has posted two photos of his leading ladies, Jovovich and Sanchez, over on his official blog, which are the very first photos from the film.
I don't know else to say about this, but I guess I'm curious? I'm wondering what the title, A Perfect Getaway, has to do with the story. Is it just saying that Hawaii was the perfect "getaway" vacation for these two or is there some secondary meaning to it? Twohy's blog is actually a pretty cool read. "After a 100% stage show like Riddick, I wanted to do something outdoors… So I got what I wished for, anyway, since APG wound up being 95% exteriors." We'll keep eye our out for more on this as the year progresses.
It’s been the worst-kept secret in Hollywood (well, apart from the one about [CENSORED] being massively [CENSORED]) for months, but finally it’s been officially confirmed that Dakota Fanning has joined the cast of Twilight sequel, New Moon. You now have permission to squeal with excitement, Twilight fans.The extraordinarily precocious Fanning – no relation to Irish music journo Dave Fanning, we presume – will play ancient and morally ambiguous bloodsucker Jane in the Chris Weitz-directed movie, which had better start filming soon, given that it’s got a November release date.
Jane, of course, is a member of the Volturi, a clan of Italian vampires that I knew all about and didn’t have to look up on Wikipedia, honest. Immortal peacekeepers that protect the secret of vampirism, they factor into the plot when Robert Pattinson’s Edward Cullen [Spoiler Alert] takes his massive hair to Italy, moping over the apparent loss of his soulmate, Bella (Kristen Stewart), and yearning for death. Or a new stylist.
The child-like Jane is one of the more prominent members of the clan, and has the ability to create illusions of pain. It seems that Fanning – who has admitted to being a big fan of the Stephenie Meyer novels on which the film series is based – may well be perfect casting for the role.
Other members of the Volturi, including their leader Aro, who can read thoughts once he’s touched the person involved, Marcus, who senses relationships (what a spectacularly useless power), and Alec, who can block senses, have yet to be cast. But expect firm announcements on those fronts very soon.
Warner Bros.' dark superhero pic "Watchmen" grossed an estimated $55.7 million from 3,611 theaters in its domestic B.O. debut, coming in lower than expected but still scoring the best opening of the year and one of the best showings ever for an R-rated film.Studio had hoped for the pic to transform into a March tentpole and match, or best, the $70.9 million opening of Zack Snyder's previous film "300," which bowed on the same frame in 2007.
"Watchmen's" running time, however, was 2:40 before trailers. At that length, theaters couldn't play as much runs of the pic as they did "300," which ran under two hours.
"Watchmen," based on the iconic graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, played heavily to fans, i.e., males between the ages of 17-34. After that, "Watchmen" appeared to have some trouble broadening out. Pic was considered a hard R, because of its graphic violence and sex.
"Watchmen's" 124 Imax runs were sold out throughout the weekend. Imax runs accounted for $5.5 million; the circuit's best opening weekend number after "The Dark Knight" ($6.3 million).
"Watchmen" nabbed the third highest March opening, and the fifth highest opening ever for an R-rated film.
Gyllenhaal plays Dastan, a young prince in sixth century Persia who must join forces with Tamina (Arterton), a feisty and exotic princess, to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.
Universal Pictures has updated the official website for Fast & Furious, opening in theaters on April 3rd. The action-thriller, directed by Justin Lin, stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso, Gal Gadot, Shea Whigham, Tego Calderon and Liza Lapira.
To be fair to Michael Bay… he did warn us over a year ago that he would purposefully leak fake information about Transformers 2 in order to keep everyone guessing and blur what rumors and “leaks” are true and which ones aren’t. As an online film fan I hate that… but I’ve got to admit it was probably the most brilliant thing he could do. One of the things he said early on was that Megatron was NOT going to be back in Transformers 2. I think most of us suspected this was one of those “fake” pieces of news since, how can you have a Transformers movie without Megatron in some way, shape or form?
But with information leaking out… including a picture of a Megatron toy in the full Transformers 2 packaging, it looks like Bay has had no choice but to come out and confirm that Megatron is indeed back. Our friends over at IESB give us this:
From Bay’s site, “Okay cat is out of the bag. Megatron is back —- but you will only get to see him from the long lost past. We go way back in time as this movie explains the mythology of the Primes. He is not a tank like everyone suggests, but an alien vehicle. But sadly he does not has much screen time. Michael”
This is like A-Rod having to admit he did roids after getting caught. But here’s the thing… even though Bay has admitted Megatron will be back, I don’t think he’s telling the truth about how much Megs will be in the movie. I suspect he’ll have a much larger role than what Bay is letting on right now. What do you think?
You can also watch the Up trailer in High Definition on Yahoo
By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.
Pixar's Up is directed Pete Docter, one of the original Pixar members who directed Monsters, Inc previously and wrote the stories for Toy Story and Toy Story 2. The film is co-directed and written by Bob Peterson, who also wrote Finding Nemo. Disney will debut Up in theaters everywhere on May 29th this summer.
There are many beautiful things about Slumdog Millionaire… such a great movie and in my opinion totally deserving of Best Picture (I mean… since Wall-E wasn’t nominated). But today I came across a story that has me more than a little disgusted.Instead of trying to paraphrase what I read… I’ll just let you read it. Monika over at Cinematical tells us the following:
When we think of child actors, it’s easy to think of rich, overly indulgent scenarios like the one Don McKellar outlined in Childstar. But that’s not always the case — especially for the tykes of Slumdog Millionaire. It only lost two of its ten Oscar nominations, but for the young Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubiana Ali, post-Slumdog life isn’t coming up roses.On the heel of news that the kids were getting trust funds and school funding, The Telegraph reports that they are reeling after their whirlwind taste of luxury life at the Oscars. Azhar has been suffering from a 103 temperature and vomiting since returning home, a condition which isn’t helped by the fact that he doesn’t have a physical home to rest in (although neighbors are trying to build a metal structure for the kid to rest in out of the sun). Meanwhile, Rubina still wears the now-stained gown she wore to the Oscars, wishing to live in America and sleep in “a proper bed and live where the air does not smell of poo.”
The piece, which includes a lot of heart-breaking words from the children, points out how challenging it is for these kids to see and experience the absolute opposite of their lives, only to return to it and feel forgotten. So far, there have been no flats for the families to move to, and reports say that Azhar has even been beaten for wanting to sleep rather than talk to a journalist offering his family money.
Often an actor will agree to do a movie for a certain amount of money, and then if the movie does HUGE business at the boxoffice they want a bigger piece of the pie (funny how they never offer to give some of their money back if the movie bombs and the producers lose money…. but that a debate for another time). My position has always basically been: If you agree to do a movie for a certain amount, then do it for a certain amount since you didn’t risk anything and don’t stand to lose anything if it fails, you don’t deserve to reap the rewards if it succeeds.
Now remember, we’re often talking about MILLIONS of dollars here. The situation usually involves an actor who made, for example, $2 million, and now wants $5 million or something like that. Maybe made $300,000 and now wants a million. That’s a totally different situation than what we’re talking about here.
The producers of the film aren’t suddenly responsible for these kids just because they used them in a movie. But come on… you didn’t just use them in your movie… you plucked them out of their environment, dressed them up in little suits and dresses and paraded them around Hollywood to increase the “cute” image of your film and get more attention for yourselves. For fuck’s sake, no one is suggesting giving them a million dollars… but how about just making sure they’ve got a place to live and consistently something to eat? I know you’re going to have to spend a lot of money to keep those 8 Oscars you won polished up and shinny… but maybe you can dig deep and help out those kids who help you get the Oscars and attention and millions at the box office in the first place.
To me, this whole thing is disgusting.
But what is his role? Ah, only true Transformers fans may know this? In Transformers in 2007, Hugo Weaving provided the voice of Megatron. For a while it was thought that Megatron wouldn't return in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, with Michael Bay even going as far as to flat out say that Megatron is not in it. But Weaving revealed to the Australian site AdelaideNow that he is returning and that he has already recorded his voice for the role. "I've already done it," he said. "I had this strange conversation where [Bay] seemed to imply it was all a big secret. So there you go - I've given you the secret scoop."
So how is Megatron resurrected? Well, of course he's not going to tell us that, and I wouldn't dare write about it even if he did, but this is the answer he gave. "I think in the last one, doesn't Optimus Prime pick up a little bit of, a little shard of the cube, or the thing that's left, and he takes it with him. Maybe there's something there… but I don't know." Of course, the All Spark, it heals the robots, it fixed the little Frenzy guy when he got near it in the first movie. That would make sense, wouldn't it? Anyway, we're going to say that reveal for the actual movie, but it's good to hear one of my favorite actors is still back in action!
If the new Public Enemies trailer wasnt exciting enough, we've got yet another new trailer today. Fox has debuted the final trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine over on MTV. It's somewhat of an amalgamation of the three TV spots, with some additional footage thrown in as well. The first thing I'll say is that this looks so much better than before because it finally looks polished and the effects look really good. Secondly, both Gambit and Deadpool look badass and I can't wait to see them in action. But does this look like it'll be one of the best summer movies or not?
Additionally, USA Today put out a batch of slick new character photos. I still think this looks awesome, I guess I'm just slightly skeptical given all the bad things we've heard, but we will see soon enough!
Watch the final trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine:
Wolverine lives a mutant life, seeks revenge against Victor Creed (who will later become Sabretooth) for the death of his girlfriend, and ultimately ends up going through the mutant Weapon X program.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is directed by South African filmmaker Gavin Hood, of the Oscar winner Tsotsi and Rendition previously. The script was written by veteran screenwriter David Benioff, of 25th Hour, Troy, and The Kite Runner previosuly. The character of Wolverine was first created by Len Wein and John Romita Sr. back in 1974. Fox will debut X-Men Origins: Wolverine in theaters everywhere on May 1st.
Yesterday, Columbia Pictures released the first two photos of Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt in Phillip Noyce’s thriller Salt. But the photos weren’t much to look at, just Jolie wearing different color wigs. Today the good folks at slashfilm.com posted a third (better) photo of Jolie as Salt. Click on the image above to enlarge. The film tells the story of a CIA officer who is outed as a Russian sleeper spy, and must evade capture by those who are convinced she’s aiming to assassinate the president.
You can also watch the Public Enemies trailer in High Definition on Apple
Public Enemies is directed by Michael Mann, of Heat, Ali, Collateral, and Miami Vice previously. The screenplay is based on Bryan Burrough's book of the same name and was adapted by Ronan Bennett (A Further Gesture). Later, Michael Mann and Ann Biderman (Copycat, Primal Fear) wrote a revised screenplay before shooting. Universal is bringing Public Enemies to theaters everywhere on July 1st this summer.
Leonardo DiCaprio is in final negotiations to star in Christopher Nolan’s Inception. As of right now, we know almost nothing about this film, other than that it is a contemporary sci-fi action movie set in “the architecture of the mind”, whatever that means. The plan is to begin shooting this Summer, with a July 16th 2010 release date.It’s hard to really comment on this story since we know next to nothing. One thing is for sure, DiCaprio is a three-time Academy Award nominated actor, and very capable of turning out a good performance. Anyone have any idea what Inception is about? Last week, it was rumored that both DiCaprio and Ellen Page had been cast in the film (although, I can’t find the original source of this rumor), so might Page be next?
source: Variety
There are still plenty of secrets to be revealed when it comes to Pixar’s Up, and that even goes for those lucky folks to have seen the 45 minute preview presentation. The latest juicy crumb to have fallen from the high table reveals the basic design of the film’s main villain. I’ll pop the full size picture below the break (too tall to go at head of the story) and then you can tell me who - if anybody he looks like to you.
Editor’s Note: Because the villain doesn’t really appear in the first 45 minutes of the film, this might be considered a spoiler. Continue at your own risk.
The film’s villain is Charles Muntz, and he looks an awful lot like Kirk Douglas to me. Christopher Plummer is providing Muntz’ voice, giving him a lead role in two of my most anticipated films of the year - Up and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.
The French DisneyPixar blog that ran the image also offer us snaps of more toys, including Carl, Russel, Dug the dog, Kevin the big, big, big bird and some of the - minor spoiler alert - talking-collar meanie mutts. Ruff.
At the beginning of Up, Charles Muntz is a globe trotting explorer idolized by the lead characters. A scrapbook of his adventures plays a key part in the romantic prologue, bringing together Carl and his true love Ellie; later, when Muntz appears as a character in the main plot himself, he’s positioned more as an antagonist. His full character arc is still being kept a mystery but, judging by Pixar’s previous characterizations, it’s going to be subtle, nuanced and effecting stuff.
Notice how the model Muntz is dressed - once a pilot, always a pilot, I guess. I’m expecting a swooping, swirling, Miyazaki-baiting aerial set piece with Muntz in his plane, The Spirit of Adventure, causing trouble for Carl, Russel and the balloon-hoisted house. Pure guesswork, but if you want to bet, spit on your palm and put it here.
There’s plenty more Up merchandise to be unveiled, from pillow cases and picture books to lunchboxes and pyjamas. I’ll be scrutinising every piece for even the mildest, teasing clue.
What do you get if you cross the poster for Road To Perdition and Johnny Depp? Why, the new poster for Michael Mann's Public Enemies, in which Depp plays legendary outlaw John Dillinger opposite Christian Bale's lawman.
The film's been shooting in Wisconsin and Illinois, and tells the story of FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Bale) and his attempts to capture Dillinger and his notorious gang. His contemporaries included Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum), Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi), Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Homer Van Meter (Stephen Dorff). Billy Crudup plays legendary FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover.
Click the image above to view larger Public Enemies poster on MSN Movies
The previous paragraph, incidentally, proves two things. First of all, that people had much more interesting names in the 1930s. Secondly, Michael Mann's assembled a very interesting cast. The film's out here on July 3.
Looks like Bruce Willis is getting sued over, and is suing over a project called “Three Stories About Joan”.Here’s the thing. Film producers are desperate to get “names” attached to their projects to make them stand out… and when you finally get a “name” attached you use that name to get other people involved, to get distributors interested and get other “names” interested as well. Basically, getting a “name” can make or break your project, especially when it’s a name like Bruce Willis.
At the same time, talent like Bruce Willis takes a big risk when they commit to a project. They have to block out weeks or months of time… time they could be working on other project and making millions of dollars. It means they have to turn down other big projects that come along because they’re already committed. So if the project you’re committed to suddenly falls through, they can be out millions of dollars.
So it appears the situation at hand goes something like this:
- The producers of “Three Stories About Joan” had an agreement with Bruce Willis to star in and direct.
- Bruce pulled out
- The Producers are suing Willis for $4 million for pulling out
- Bruce is going to counter sue saying the producers broke the agreement first by failing to put up money into an escrow on time
- It’s all basically a big mess.
If everyone is telling the truth here (which rarely happens) then I’m going to have to side with Willis on this. People in this business flake all the time, so if someone misses putting up money by a certain agreed upon deadline, then you have no option but to assume they’re gong to flake or be unable to meet their obligations.
According to reports, Keira Knightley will star in the upcoming film “Never Let Me Go”, a movie apparently about cloning (haven’t we already seen this a few times in the last couple of years?) The good folks over at ComingSoon give us the following:
Keira Knightley will star in the sci-fi thriller Never Let Me Go for Fox Searchlight Pictures, reports Variety. Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) will direct the cloning-themed film, which will also star Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan. Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich are producing through their London-based DNA Films. Alex Garland, who wrote the screenplay, is producing as well. Film 4 is also involved as a producer.
Ok, let’s put the whole cloning gimmick aside for a moment and talk about Keira Knightley. There are times when I think this woman is just complete dead weight in a movie. Movies like Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3 and Domino were not just bad films… she was bad in them. No… horrible.
But then you catch her in something like The Duchess (not a very good film, but she was solid in it) or Atonement and she can blow you away. I’m starting to think that when you put her in anything other than a period piece where her lack of ability can be covered over by her natural accent and a good script, she’ll flop terribly. As a matter of fact, 2 of her upcoming projects (My Fair Lady and King Lear) put her once again in period pieces.
Or maybe she’s fantastic. We need to see her in more before we can really say.
The end of the world is nearly here and this is what the future looks like. These are the indivdual character one sheets a full Terminator Salvation quad and a whole bunch of stills, just in time to remind us of their faces before the new trailer hits later today.
Featuring shots of a serious Christian Bale armed to the teeth, Worthington showing off a rather fetching trench coat and Terminator with glowing eyes, gritted gnashers and a massive gun, there are also stills of Bale and Bryce Dallas Howard examining some Terminator specimens as well as Worthington held at gunpoint by Anton Yelchin, and facing off with Bale.
Ever since Cloverfield came out about a year ago, fans have asked J.J. Abrams at every last opportunity whether or not we'll ever one day see a sequel. He's always had the same answer - if there is a good story that they come up with, they'll do it, but they're not going to be forced to make one just for money. In essence, he'll let us know when he comes up with a good story, and no, there isn't a secret sequel in development. Well, at WonderCon yesterday, another fan brought up the topic of Cloverfield 2 again and Abrams' answer, while pretty much the same, might finally be an indication that he does have an idea. Abrams actually said a lot of important things, so here's his full response to the question yesterday:
"We're actually working on an idea right now… The key obviously at doing any kind of sequel, certainly this film included, is that it better not be a business decision. If you're going to do something, it should be because you're really inspired to do it. It doesn't really have to mean anything, doesn't mean it will work, but it means we did it because we cared, not because we thought we could get the bucks."
"We have an idea that we thought was pretty cool that we're playing with, which means there will be something that's connected to Cloverfield, but I hope it happens sooner than later because the idea is pretty sweet."
Again, don't read too much into his response, but it sounds like they have an idea and, as he says, they want to do it "sooner than later" because it could be pretty damn good. I'm not one of those Cloverfield fanatics who is foaming at the mouth for a sequel, but I enjoyed the first one, and would love to see a sequel that ups the ante in some way, rather than just re-uses the monster. I have more confidence in J.J. Abrams than I do most filmmakers out there, so if he claims he's got a good idea, then I'm all for it. Let's hope there is some truth to this update and Abrams isn't just stirring the Cloverfield pot yet again, just to appease the fans.
Well Street Fighter has hit the theaters. Just for context, a year ago Jonh over at themovieblog.com wrote this about Street Fighter: Now, if you’re sitting there reading that cast list and thinking “my dear sweet lord, this this is going to be horrible”, let your mind be at peace. The good news is that the man who directed such classics as Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds and Cradle 2 the Grave, Mr. Andrzej Bartkowiak is directing so there’s nothing to worry about. Oh wait a second… all those movies SUCKED. Yeah, not a lot of hope for this disaster in the making.
And sure enough… as of this moment Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li is sitting at a big 0%. Maybe it’s just me… but I can’t remember another wide release film that held a 0% after being released in theaters. Who knows… maybe it’ll get lucky and someone will give it a positive review in the next few days… but I think the odds of that are pretty low.
So the big question here is… is anyone surprised?
When production first began on Terminator Salvation, rumors began to circulate that Warner Bros wanted the film to be PG-13. At Comic-Con last year, McG assured fans in attendance that he is under no pressure to deliver a PG-13 rating. Referring to the studio executives for this film, McG explained “I’ve been given their blessing to make the picture…and if it’s a rated R picture, then that’s that.” He elaborated that he’s not against the idea of a PG-13 rating, but that the ultimate rating will depend completely upon what the final vision for the film is.Today McG mentioned having a topless scene of the film's lovely heroine Moon Bloodgood, who is being seen as a homage to Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor, and in his usual flair of showmanship, he put it to the audience whether or not they want to see that scene in the movie. Needless to say, the mostly male audience enthusiastically chose the former.
It seems to me that the only reason that Warner Bros would want the scene cut from the film is if they want a PG-13 cut of the film. There is no other possible reason. McG publicly called out the name of the Warner Bros executive that is pushing for the removal of the shot in question, and made it clear that he would like to keep the shot in. And while McG didn’t flat out say that he wants to fight for a R-Rating, that’s how it came across to me and most everyone in the convention hall. And making a public statement is a strong message to the movie studio producing the film. McG’s vision is evidently R-Rated after all, but will the film be edited down for a more marketable (potentially more profitable) PG-13 rating?
