Posted Sep 4th 2008 8:05PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Deals, Fandom, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
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We've stayed away from all the
Ghostbusters rumors these past couple days because last time we crossed this road, we were told nothing existed. Well, seems that's not at all true:
Variety reports that
Lee Eisenberg and
Gene Stupnitsky (
The Office, Year One) have been asked to write a script for a
Ghostbusters sequel (reported earlier today by
Pajiba.com) that may or may not "pass the torch to a new group of ghost chasers." Funnily enough -- and even though he flat out told us he had nothing to do with it -- this is totally in line with those early rumors that "The Apatow Clan" would be involved in some capacity; namely Seth Rogen. When
we asked him about it during the
Pineapple Express junket, however, the man denied knowing a thing. Then again, he's an actor ... and he's paid pretty damn well to pretend.
The Apatow connection is also there in that these two writers are behind the Apatow-produced
Year One, which, ahem, is being directed by Harold Ramis -- who, in case you forgot, played Dr. Egon Spengler in both
Ghostbuster movies. No word from Columbia Pictures on the project, and
Variety is simply throwing out all the same fluff that's been reported on other sites for months now. Could we see a reunion and a torch passing? Will the Apatow folks take over the
Ghostbusters franchise? I'd certainly be down for it.
You?
(And now we shall continue to run circles around this monster until someone finally caves ...)
Posted Sep 4th 2008 6:02PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Drama, Thrillers, Deals, Paramount, Scripts, Newsstand
After the unpleasantness that was
You, Me and Dupree,
Anthony and
Joe Russo are looking to explore a different kind of darkness -- the gritty and corrupt city of Ciudad del Este. According to
Variety, they're set to direct
Ciudad, which will be based on a graphic novel they're writing for Oni Press.
The story will follow a battered hostage negotiator, who travels to Paraguay and the above mentioned city to rescue a kidnap victim. They've been researching the story for years, traveling to crime-infested cities across the world to flesh it out more. Ciudad del Este is next on the travel agenda, a city labeled by the U.S. government as "a threat to national security" that shelters terrorists, drug runners, and all manner of scary people. So stay safe, you two.
The brothers are said to be aiming for a return to their indie roots with this one -- they were formerly behind
Pieces, and the seedy George Clooney outing
Welcome to Collinwood. (That's a bit of a lost film, isn't it? Weren't those the days when people were still screaming he should have stayed on
ER? How things change.) I wish I could say more, but the graphic novel won't be out until 2009, and there's nary a preview on Oni's website. All we can do at this point is give them props for their research, wonder if George Clooney liked them enough to play the weary hostage negotiator, and make glib comparisons to
Proof of Life or even
Man on Fire.
Posted Sep 4th 2008 11:32AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Independent, Thrillers, Scripts, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek
Matthew Vaughn's
Kick-Ass seems to be one of
the projects of the moment -- either because it's a super slow news time or because
Mark Millar has taken over the Internet. I suspect the latter.
When this movie was
officially pushed into gear, much was made of the violence of Millar's book, and how Vaughn refused to tone it down for the film. Studios fled screaming from it. But according to
Nicolas Cage, it's not going to be excessive. "When I said 'yes' to this movie, it was to a script," Cage told
MTV. "Then I started seeing the comics which are pretty far out in terms of violence. But I think Matthew and the script have a different style to it. I'm not fond of gratuitous violence ... There will be some moments of action that will be violent, but there will be a sense of elegance to it. [
Matthew Vaughn] doesn't want to get gratuitous with it. At least that's what Matthew has told me."
Now, perhaps this is all a matter of perspective -- what studios see as over-the-top and gratuitous, Vaughn and Cage don't. But on the snap judgment surface, it sounds as though Vaughn is watering down Millar's book, which is hard to believe when he was so dedicated to the blood and guts that he funded it himself. I want him to stick to his guns (no pun intended) and make the movie that shocked studio executives. My future katana-wielding daughter must be portrayed accurately, in all her foul-mouthed and blood drenched glory. (For the record,
I trained her,
not her father. As if I would trust such a delicate task to anyone else.)
Posted Sep 4th 2008 10:02AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Warner Brothers, Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Dark Knight Spoiler Warning ...No more speculation, no more talk of ret-con and false funerals -- Harvey Dent
is officially 100% dead. It comes straight from the mouth of
Aaron Eckhart, who revealed his character's fate in no uncertain terms to
ComingSoon.net "He is dead as a door nail. He ain't coming back baby!"
And lest you doubt that he knows the mind of Christopher Nolan, well, Eckhart asked him whether Two-Face would ever be coming back. "I asked Chris [Nolan] that question and he goes, "You're dead" before I could even get the question out of my mouth. 'Hey Chris, am I?' 'You're dead!' 'Alright, cool.'" There's no chance it will be rewritten or retconned, as he was never even contracted for a third film. "No, I'm not coming back. I think unfortunately, Heath [Ledger] was supposed to go on and that didn't work out. I'm nobody. I'm a cog. I have no say over this sort of stuff. I'm sure that there's so many other characters that they could whip together. I heard Angelina Jolie was going to be Catwoman or something like that. I thought that was a great idea. I'd like to be in that one."
Dent's death has now been confirmed via the novelization, the script, the actor, and the director. Though I would say that's as definitive as it gets, fanboys and girls across this great Internet refuse to accept it -- they just believe in Harvey Dent
too much. But since we do live in a world where no comic character stays dead, where 299 Spartans can rise again, and Chev Chelios survives a fall from a helicopter, I guess you can hardly blame them.
Posted Sep 3rd 2008 6:32PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Images
The
Green Lantern movie seems to be creeping
very slowly to the pre-production line, but at least it isn't dead. You probably remember that we had
a tiny update back in June that it was happily shaping up into a proper origin movie, rather than a slapstick version starring Jack Black. Now, courtesy of illustrator
Brian Murray, comes concept art he created for scriptwriter (and potential director) Greg Berlanti. This art helped seal the deal, and win the franchise for Berlanti Television. A glance through the gallery below tells you why -- it's exciting and cinematic, the kind of thing your mind starts filling in and speeding up. If this is what is floating around at Warner Bros,
Green Lantern could be shaping up to be something on par with
Iron Man. But my desperation to talk about another DC character other than Batman may be showing. The diehard
Lantern fans may have a different take than I -- is this the look of Hal Jordan to you?
[via
Filmonic and
Comics2Film]
Posted Sep 3rd 2008 2:03PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Religious
It's so creepy when something you just found yourself chatting about with a fellow geek pops up in your newsfeed -- proof that
Magdalena does answer to a higher power! If you were praying for an update,
MTV has not one, but an entire week they're devoting to the spear-wielding superheroine.
MTV has a video interview up with the lovely
Jenna Dewan, who's playing Patience, the most recent inheritor of the Magdalena powers. According to her, they're following the comic book pretty closely except for one touchy area -- while honoring Magdalena's heritage and bloodline, they're sidestepping the religious element of the book. "When I started this I said I didn't want it to be a religious movie - the Catholic Church versus everyone else. I wanted it to be somebody who knows she has something inside bigger [than herself], this spiritual want to help people," Dewan said. "That's really what we're focusing on - fighting the darkness for the light, rather than the Catholic Church and religion. There is that element of it but it's more about fighting people who are evil in this world."
Now, I always thought of the Magdalena as the girl version of Stephen Sommers' Gabriel Van Helsing and not particularly controversial, but we do live in touchier,
Golden Compass censoring times. As Dewan points out, Patience is one of the only Magdalenas who questions the authority of the Church and decided she would work independent of its control. Wouldn't it have been cool to see that religious conflict onscreen? Ah well. My previous jokes about chastity and skimpy costumes aside, I'm happy to see
Gale Anne Hurd bringing another tough chick (and one from the comics, no less) to the screen -- with or without the sacrilege.
Posted Sep 3rd 2008 11:02AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, Scripts, Family Films, Newsstand, Dreamworks, Steven Spielberg
Remember that ginormous project called
39 Clues that was
announced awhile back -- a worldwide mystery to span books, interactive games, trading cards and a movie deal, courtesy of Steven Spielberg? The first book in the series,
The Maze of Bones, hits shelves all over the world next Tuesday, the same day as its interactive online game. Will it spark an obsession along the lines of
Twilight or
Harry Potter? Time will tell.
Steven Spielberg has confidence in it, though. Acccording to
Variety, he's hired his old pal
Jeff Nathanson to pen the script, marking their fourth collaboration together. They paired up previously on
The Terminal,
Catch Me If You Can, and
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Spielberg is still eying
Clues' director's chair, and it will be interesting to see where this can fit into his busy schedule, where
Tintin and
Lincoln were taking precedence. Does he want this worldwide money hunt (the prize for solving the project's mystery is $10,000) to be over
before the movie, or will the bloom be off the rose by then? What if the whole multiplatform concept fails spectacularly? Are the books still filmable? The ambition of
39 Clues leaves me doubting whether it can deliver -- but I can hardly pretend to have better judgment than Spielberg. At any rate, I'll be watching the book pages with interest to see what audiences make of
The Maze of Bones -- if anyone out there buys it, give us the scoop!
Posted Sep 3rd 2008 9:45AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Warner Brothers, Celebrities and Controversy, Distribution, 20th Century Fox, Newsstand, Politics, Comic/Superhero/Geek
The date has been set for Warner Bros and Fox to go head to head -- and it should soothe the fearful. According to
The Hollywood Reporter, the studios will be going before the judge on January 6th. There's plenty of time, even at a snail's pace, for the issue to be resolved before the March 6th opening. (It's like the court is going along with the movie marketing -- we'll get a video journal the same day. There really
is no such thing as bad publicity in Tinseltown!)
Furthermore, U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allan Feess says that Fox shouldn't attempt to file a preliminary injunction against Warners to stop the release of the film because the issues surrounding the case were too complex to be solved in an interim basis. Instead, both studios are being ordered to put their cases together, and start expedited discovery and depositions. This thing could get quite big -- as the
New York Times pointed out, Paramount, Legendary Pictures, and even Universal could get hauled into it, alongside Lawrence Gordon, who's really the man in question in all this.
And remember, this is if it actually makes it to court. This could easily be settled before Christmas, with Warners handing over a nice chunk of
The Dark Knight change just to be done with it. (How appropriate that Bruce Wayne help out other costumed vigilantes.) It depends how fierce the studio is feeling, and how certain they are of their case -- but all signs point to you keeping your March 6th moviegoing plans.
You really have to feel bad for the cast and crew on this one, though. All that happy buzz of ComicCon panels and promo posters squashed under a heap of legalese. Oh well, at least Fox can't take away what we've already been given. Check out our
Watchmen gallery below.
Posted Sep 3rd 2008 8:45AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Classics, Deals, Warner Brothers, Scripts, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
There's an interesting trend going on in film right now -- everyone is grabbing up classic characters of pulp and adventure literature right and left. We've got Conan, Sherlock Holmes, John Carter, and now Tarzan. There's a sociological study in here for an aspiring student.
Tarzan has seen many a reboot, and there's always whispers of someone wanting to make a new version. This current project has been floating around since 2003 (the same year Warner Bros tried to bring
Tarzan to television and the modern city), and once boasted Guillermo del Toro's name. Now, according to
Variety, it has landed in the hands of
Stephen Sommers, who is cowriting a script with
Stuart Beattie. Beattie boasts some impressive credits, like
Pirates of the Caribbean and
Collateral, so the Lord of the Apes might be in quite capable hands.
But Sommers' movies tend to fall a bit short of expectation, to put it kindly. And I mean it kindly, from someone who does actually own
Van Helsing -- I could write a long defense as to why, but it really just comes down to liking Hugh Jackman and David Wenham a lot. But, in my defense, I reportedly audibly booed the ending when I saw it at the theater, though I can't remember if it was because they so visibly CGI'd pants on a naked post-werewolf Jackman, or the floating head of Kate Beckinsale. I think it was the floating head, but knowing me, it may have been the pants.
So, while I want to think about how cool a new
Tarzan movie could be, what hot dude they'll put in a loincloth, how feisty Jane will be, I can't. Because I'm picturing the whole thing saddled with the same CGI Sommers has used since
The Mummy, a jungle peppered with apes that can stretch their jaws for miles. Am I wrong, readers?
Posted Sep 2nd 2008 9:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, RumorMonger, Fandom, Newsstand, Steven Spielberg, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Games and Game Movies
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While you suffer through those back to school blues ...
Guitar Hero: The Movie -- I have to start with this one. Have to! Because not only are we talking about a possible big-screen movie based on the popular video game, but we're also about to tell you who wants to direct the thing. Can you guess? Here's a hint: It's not Uwe Boll. And if it's not Boll, it has to be ... Ratner! YES! (I really do think I love this maniac in a totally platonic, yet sadistic way -- sorta how you love a great movie villain.) Anyway,
Brett Ratner tells
MTV that he'd love to make a
Guitar Hero movie, possibly about "a kid from a small town who dreams of being a rock star and he wins the 'Guitar Hero' competition. One of these dreams-[come-true] kind of concepts." Ratner adds, "I would love to do a 'Guitar Hero' movie, if Activision would ever let me. I'm trying to convince them, but why would you have a movie screw up such a huge franchise? Not that I would make a bad movie. So that would be cool, to do a 'Guitar Hero' movie. " I'm leaving this one to you, folks -- have at it!
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: In case you're interested in seeing what a standard Persian-esque set looks like,
Korben.info has put up a few select shots (see one above) of the
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time set. Based on the popular video game (hurray for themes in posts!),
Prince of Persia stars Jake "I didn't know he was Persian" Gyllenhaal as a young prince who teams up with a hottie princess (Gemma Arterton) to stop an evil ruler from doing evil things.
A director has been chosen to remake Poltergeist and Cinematical says we likey him ... after the jump ...Continue reading Fanboy Bites: 'Persia' Pics, 'Poltergeist' Remake and 'Guitar Hero: The Movie'??
Posted Sep 2nd 2008 4:15PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
It's definitely no secret that writer
Mark Millar is a wanted man these days (or at least he
wants you to believe he's a wanted man), what with his comic series
Wanted doing very well in theaters and another series of his,
Kick-Ass, about to start production -- not to mention all this talk of the guy possibly
taking over the Superman franchise from a writing and creative standpoint. We'll get to the latter in just a second, but first up there's
Wanted ... and
Wanted 2 ... and, wait,
Wanted 3, too?
In an interview with
Newsarama, Millar spoke about how much he's participating in the Wanted follow-up ... and it would seem like he only gave the studio a "very small amount for a story, and that will be used as a basic story that they can build from." He adds, "It will be some of the stuff that we didn't utilize from the first book for the movie – like chapters three and four – there will be some stuff from that, so in the loosest sense it will be based on the book, but only very little." Millar also noted that both part two and part three are greenlit, and that James McAvoy is indeed signed on to reprise his role in both sequels.
Hear what Millar has to say about his proposed seven-hour,
Lord of the Rings-like Superman trilogy after the jump ...
Continue reading Millar Talks 'Wanted' Sequel(s) and Superman Trilogy
Posted Aug 29th 2008 12:33PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Drama, Romance, Distribution, 20th Century Fox, Newsstand, War, Nicole Kidman
All the movie studios are just hellbent on messing with my fall season.
Australia is the latest movie to get the old switch-a-roo, as
Variety reports that Fox is moving its release date from November 14 down to November 26. I know, it's only a matter of weeks, but it's just the principle of the thing. And it's now pitted against
The Road, forcing me to chose which one to see opening day. I don't need that kind of stress, particularly on Thanksgiving which isn't exactly the most relaxing of holidays.
The delay is apparently the result of director
Baz Luhrmann needing some extra time to polish the film. He brought everyone back for some pick-up shots, which explains the paparazzi shots I've seen of
Hugh Jackman riding around Oz in full drover gear. I thought he just did that sort of thing all the time.
The fact that
Australia's delay means it now neatly dodges the release of
Quantum of Solace is, I'm sure, mere coincidence. I suspect we'll see more November rearranging --
Variety is reporting that
The Time Traveler's Wife is also coming out on the 26th, though IMDB is still showing a Christmas release. If
Variety is right (and why wouldn't it be?), I wouldn't be surprised if it ran to the 14th to steer clear of competing with another romance. Plus, I just don't think America could handle
Viggo Mortensen,
Hugh Jackman, and
Eric Bana all having a movie out on the same day -- not when us girls are supposed to be home making pumpkin pies and turkey.
Posted Aug 28th 2008 6:03PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, 20th Century Fox, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
You have to feel bad for the Silver Surfer. Everyone else is getting their own spin-off and franchise, and he can't even get the green-light. J. Michael Straczynski already said that
his script was dead, but rumors continued to swirl that
Alex Proyas was attached to direct.
But as reported by
Slashfilm, Proyas shot that down at ComicCon. He didn't even know where the rumor originated. And while he's very fond of the character, he told
MTV this week that he will never even
consider directing a Silver Surfer movie. Why? "Because it's a Fox picture. And I'm determined never to work with them ever again because of my experience on
I,Robot." Nor is he happy with the way the character was handled in
Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer. "It's like the origin of Silver Surfer was in that movie, and I'm going, 'This is such a f–king great story, why throw it away? I think they messed it up ... Silver Surfer would have been something I would have loved to have done. He's one of the last cool ones left, really."
Who knows -- maybe Fox will relinquish the rights to the
Fantastic Four characters (it's not like they're using them), and Proyas will not only get to direct a comic book movie, but fans will get a
Silver Surfer movie from someone who really gets the character. But with all the studios jealously guarding their franchises, we'll probably see a
Fantastic Four reboot before we see the Silver Surfer in the hands of someone that cares.
Posted Aug 28th 2008 10:03AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Warner Brothers, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
It seems the entire comic book and film world "misread"
Warner Bros' announcement that they were angling to make Superman's reboot a gloomier one. No one seems to have read the original article slowly enough -- not even MTV,
Kevin Smith,
Christopher Golden,
Jeph Loeb,
Steven T. Seagle, or
Mark Waid.
The wonderful geeks over on
MTV's Splash Page chased down all the above, and asked them what they thought about the studio's latest plans for the Man of Steel. The funniest and most extreme reaction isn't Smith's, it's Golden's! "How stupid is that? That announcement made my head spin . . . Making a dark and gritty Superman movie because
Dark Knight made a ton of money is incredibly stupid." Oddly, Smith is actually more tempered in his comments,
and that he was all for a reboot. "You always have to always keep Superman very distinct from Batman ... Superman is about the hope in people, the good in people, whereas Batman is about the more driven, hungry for justice angry side of us. [So] I don't know if doing a dark Superman is the approach."
The lone dissenting voice is Seagle, not surprising from the man who penned
It's a Bird ... and feels that Superman has always been a dark character. "Heroic struggles are basically all dark in tone. The idea of 'villains' implies something bad happening to good people most of the time, and that's dark. Heroes look brighter emerging from dire consequence successfully." Ultimately, I think Waid's the man who speaks for the majority of us in arguing that you can make Superman's world darker, but not the character, who's "a creature of hope." If Warner Bros goes in that direction, I can get behind it. A bright and shining Superman against a depraved and unjust world might be just what the reboot ordered.
Posted Aug 27th 2008 11:03AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Classics, Family Films, Newsstand, Dreamworks, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Comic/Superhero/Geek
With all the publicity surrounding
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I thought we would certainly have some definitive Tintin news. Confirmation that Thomas Sangster
was taking the lead? Cast members that would join
Andy Serkis? Any indication, at all, that the film was going to start
shooting next month? Nope.
But a tiny update comes courtesy of
The Hollywood Reporter, although it's more like a baby controversy. Herge Studios, holders of Tintin's rights, claimed today that Peter Jackson was moving into the director's chair for the first film, replacing Steven Spielberg. Both Spielberg and Jackson have denied that this is the case, and that Spielberg is still attached to direct the first
Tintin installment, Jackson the second. Not even Abraham Lincoln will get in the way, it
is the next film on his agenda. No start date has been announced, though.
THR is also reporting that
Thomas Sangster is starring as the motion captured Tintin, so at least that's official now.
Perhaps the most interesting news in all of this official spokesperson stuff is the blurb about which books are being adapted for the big screen. The first film (scripted by
Doctor Who's Steven Moffat) will be based on
The Secret of the Unicorn and
Red Rackham's Treasure. Now that's worthy of discussion! What do you
Tintin fans think about that -- and which books ought to be adapted for film two and three?
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