Posted Jan 6th 2009 8:03PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Music & Musicals, RumorMonger, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels
I think its time that
John Waters gets a phone tree going, lassos in his worldwide band of freaks and friends, and introduce
Adam Shankman to a different sort of life. He needs to get wild. Besides tackling
Bye Bye Birdie, there's more
Hairspray sequel news, courtesy of
MTV, that has its quirky perks and boring pitfalls.
The sequel will be titled
Hairspray 2: White Lipstick -- which just so happened to be Waters' original title for the 1988 film (without, of course, the "Hairspray 2" part). And it does have some Waters zaniness, according to Shankman: "[The treatment] is amazing, but it's crazy. There are things in there that I was like 'Can we do that?' It's real John Waters-y stuff, and it was more like a sequel to his movie than to our movie. Which I love, because then that becomes re-interpreted."
But don't expect too much quirk -- this is Shankman, so his crazy scale definitely isn't equivalent to your run of the mill Waters fan. Sadly, one of the things to go is Zac Efron taking acid and having "trippy conversations with acne on his forehead." (Wussy!) Things from the treatment he'll probably keep: Edna's addiction to diet pills, a new villain -- which means that Michelle Pfeiffer and Brittany Snow are most likely out, and lastly, someone (other than Link) will get drafted for Vietnam.
Any guesses? Any hopes for this
White sequel?
Posted Jan 2nd 2009 1:32PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Family Films, Newsstand
Zack Snyder isn't a director that lets a little legal drama bring him down, and currently he's busy at work on
Guardians of Ga'Hoole, the
Lord of the Rings of owl stories. (Two young friends of mine have since assured me it's a really good series; I should drop hints until they lend it to me.)
Sydney's
Daily Telegraph is reporting that Aussie up-and-comer
Ryan Kwanten has joined the voice cast of
Ga'Hoole, along with fellow Aussies
Hugh Jackman and
Hugo Weaving.
While their involvement hasn't been confirmed anywhere else, this certainly could be the "schedule conflict" alluded to in Jackman
dropping out of Cleo -- but would Snyder really reuse two memorable parts of the
Happy Feet voice cast? Then again, why wouldn't he? Weaving is The Voice of All Voices, and Jackman did a pretty memorable job in
Happy Feet and
Flushed Away. Plus, they're Australian, which is where most of the
Ga'Hoole work will be done. You might as well save on the production costs by using the local talent, right?
Going by Wiki's character list (don't read it, it's chock full of spoilers), I can hazard a guess as to which Aussie will be playing what owl -- Kwanten is probably going to be the young hero, Soren. Jackman sounds rather perfect for Twilight, "a confident and boastful owl who is always singing songs about himself." There's far too many wise and kingly owls to assign one to Weaving, so we'll have to wait and see on that one. I'm really very curious about this film -- an epic about owls sounds a lot more promising than half the stuff that gets optioned, anyway. At least there will be no question as to who owns the rights to
this Snyder film.
Posted Jan 2nd 2009 10:32AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Music & Musicals, Romance, Casting, RumorMonger, Newsstand
Here's the first good news of 2009!
Variety reports that
Hugh Jackman is now off the official wishlist for
Cleo, the
Steven Soderbergh musical that will reportedly star
Catherine Zeta-Jones as the legendary Egyptian queen, and feature the music penned by Guided by Voices.
Jackman has apparently left talks not because of the concept, but due to a scheduling conflict. (Maybe it's
Drive, since everything else has vanished from his IMDB page.)
Ray Winstone remains in discussion to play Julius Caesar, and Zeta-Jones is still rumored to be Cleopatra herself.
I may be one of the few celebrating the news. I know Soderbergh is a master of taking preposterous concepts and turning them into cinematic brilliance, but a Cleopatra rock musical just sounds like a spectacularly bad idea. Jackman is a wonderful stage performer, and I've been dying to see him in a movie musical for years. (If you've never seen his pre-Wolverine turn in
Oklahoma!, do yourself a favor and rent it now.) But not this one -- Soderbergh or not, it just sounds too campy to be believed.
Since
Variety is stumped as to what caused the schedule conflict, I'll make a New Year's wish and hope his production shingle has decided to really get moving on that remake of
Carousel. Jackman has had the rights to it for awhile, and to see him singing and dancing in that is ten times better than seeing him as a rocking Mark Antony.
Posted Jan 2nd 2009 9:02AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Horror, RumorMonger, Remakes and Sequels
It's been cooking for over a year, and while you might have wished for
the project to slip into development hell and never escape,
Scream 4 is still on the way. According to
HorrorMovies.ca, a community member has shared the latest about the sequel, which is said to reboot the horror movie-loving franchise.
If the source is right,
4 will jump into production early this year, "re-starting" the franchise, but adding in some old characters. It seems that
Jamie Kennedy told iFMagazine that he might reprise his role, and that "the rest of the cast would be a mixture of new characters with 'old faces that you wouldn't believe,' and that the film will only go ahead with the involvement of director Wes Craven." As of December 13, writer Michael T. Kennedy was still waiting to hear from the Weinsteins about whether his script was a Go.
I'm not quite sure how you reboot the franchise, include the original characters, yet focus on new ones. Was there another killer out there while Billy and Stu sliced and diced their friends? Is Sidney not the only girl in Woodsboro to attract vengeful murderers? What faces will return? I've always wished for a
Scream franchise where Randy and Tatum were the ones who got to live, but I think that ship has sailed.
*Note: The attached photo is a fake.Posted Dec 30th 2008 10:02AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, RumorMonger, Remakes and Sequels
If you thought the delayed release of
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was too much to bear, what about never ever getting to see how things wrap up on the big screen? In the wake of news that
Disney had dumped Narnia,
The Independent reports that Harry Potter could be next.
Now it's not a completely out of left-field thought created for the article. It seems that screenwriter Steve Kloves "said recently that Warner Bros was worried about the prospects for the last three films in the series, since JK Rowling is no longer driving anticipation for the titles by producing new books." I guess Warner Brothers didn't hear the world-wide sighs and cries of pain after delaying
Half-Blood.
While it's natural for a studio to entertain movie-cutting ideas when money is tight, it would be utterly ridiculous to end the Potter franchise with one left to go. Yes,
The Subtle Knife won't follow
The Golden Compass, and there's a good chance we won't get more Narnia, but there's a difference between almost flops and the most successful franchise ever. And if this rationale is true, that's just silly. The mere act of adapting books for the big screen means that the books have to wrap up
before the movies do.
Continue reading Could the Harry Potter Series End Early?
Posted Dec 29th 2008 2:15PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Drama, RumorMonger, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking
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It's no secret that
Martin Scorsese likes his gangster flicks -- and judging from box office numbers, best-of lists and Academy Awards shoveled out, something tells me moviegoers like them just as much. Ever since
The Departed won Oscars, folks questioned whether Scorsese and his crew would ever attempt either a prequel or a sequel (especially since the film it's based on,
Infernal Affairs, was part of a trilogy). While that's looking less and less likely, word out of Boston is Marty might want to return to the city to once again adapt the true-life story of a dangerous mobster for the big screen.
According to the
Boston Herald, Scorsese secretly met with Winter Hill Gang hitman John Martorano while in town shooting
Shutter Island, then had
Departed producer
Graham King acquire the hitman's life rights. That last part we already knew about, as it was reported in
Variety earlier in the month, but we did not know that this all came about from a secret meeting with Scorsese. The
Boston Herald says that most likely
Departed screenwriter
William Monahan will write the script, which will tell Martorano's story -- one that includes murdering 20 people before flipping for the feds after learning other members of his gang -- like James Bulger, who some say Jack Nicholson's character in
The Departed was based on -- were government informants.
This, of course, wouldn't be the first time Scorsese took on the life story of a famous mob snitch -- not only was
The Departed all about sniffing out "the rat," but the film
Goodfellas told the real-life story of gangster Henry Hill, who eventually flipped on his guys and entered the witness protection program. No official word on whether Marty is involved with Martorano's story -- or if this would replace any
Departed follow-up -- but I don't think any of us would be surprised.
Posted Dec 29th 2008 9:03AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Casting, RumorMonger
It never sounded like it could really happen... Rabid television fans always try to push for spin-offs and big-screen movies, but it's usually futile, especially when the show has been canceled. But then news started to pour in that
Arrested Development was actually going to
charm audiences once again. We were going to get more of the Bluth family!
But it seems development has hit a snag.
Fancast reports that ONE person is holding out. That's right -- eight have signed on to reprise their roles, but one hasn't jumped on-board yet. During a recent interview, creator Mitchell Hurwitz was asked about the rumors that Will Arnett and
Michael Cera hadn't signed on yet. He said: "I don't want to talk about who is holding out right now because we might still work that out and I don't want to pressure anyone through the press. Although I will say that Will Arnett is gung-ho, so there's a big clue!"
The only way this statement makes sense is if Cera isn't the one who hasn't signed on yet, or if he really does want to pressure the young star into rejoining the cast. If Cera
is the guy and won't sign on, and it's not for scheduling reasons, methinks it would be a big mistake. Now, when
Arrested fans are finally getting more, is not the time to start worrying about typecasting. But what say you? Can the Bluths survive without George Michael?
Posted Dec 27th 2008 1:02PM by William Goss
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Awards, Universal, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Oscar Watch
Last Monday, yours truly was invited to help a friend of a friend out by offering to review
Frost/Nixon on their podcast. As it turns out, it was the
/Filmcast we were talking about, and it happened to be the same night that head honcho here Erik Davis was due to join in. Small world, eh?
So we tag-teamed our film chatter with the cool guys over at /Film -- David Chen, Adam Quigley, and Devindra Hardawar, to be specific -- and you can listen to that episode
right about here. When Erik isn't twirling his hair around his finger and gushing about MTV's episodes of
True Life, he and the gang manage to get around to discussing all the latest film news from
Terminator: Salvation to the potential
Suck Rogers with Frank Miller at the wheel.
I also took part in the /Film After Dark podcast and a recent year-end horror wrap-up extravaganza with just about everyone over at
Bloody Disgusting, so with any luck and nearly no shame, we hope to share those as well. For those of you wishing to listen to David, Devindra and Adam
record their next /Filmcast live, they'll be looking back on 2008 in film this coming Monday at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST.
Posted Dec 24th 2008 11:02AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Thrillers, Casting, Mystery & Suspense, Sony, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
I have the sneaking suspicion that
Seth Rogen's The Green Hornet remake may go the way of its failed predecessors. Over the weekend, Monika reported that
Stephen Chow was
no longer directing the film -- now comes the news that Chow may not remain as Kato, either.
Chow told
the AP that he had abandoned directing the film in order to make a superhero comedy starring Jack Black. "If I direct
The Green Hornet, the superhero comedy will have to be delayed for two years," Chow said. "The timing might not be right for a superhero comedy in two years. And I want to make a movie based on an original idea."
Presumably, directing Black might also interfere with his Kato-playing duties -- something Chow confirms by saying that continuing in the role depends on his schedule. If you're a conspiracy theorist, you can speculate away about whether Chow's really passionate about Black and original superhero comedy, or whether it's those vague "creative differences" reported earlier.
Judging from the comments, Rogen's
Hornet isn't too popular anyway. I was unsure about the comedic angle the project was taking, but Chow's casting was something to hang your hopes on, particularly if they reined in his slapstick style. But maybe that's precisely what the "differences" are. Maybe they just need to quit forcing this one, and let the
Hornet sit for the unforeseeable future?
Posted Dec 21st 2008 5:32PM by William Goss
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Horror, Independent, Romance, Thrillers, Noir, Mystery & Suspense, Paramount, Sony, Sony Classics, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Fandom, Distribution, Exhibition, The Weinstein Co., Comic/Superhero/Geek
Coming up on the new year, it's interesting to see which films we had thought would've been released by this point. In the summer of 2007, I recall myself and several colleagues showing up for a press screening of Jonathan Levine's lauded slasher,
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, only to discover it was canceled just that morning and the film had been sold from the Weinstein Company to Senator that afternoon. (The film has since landed at Sony, whose indie arm, Sony Classics, already saw Levine's follow-up,
The Wackness, to a proper theatrical reception.)
At least the Weinsteins gave something up for a change. The oft-shuffled
Killshot and
Fanboys are tentative January and February releases at the moment, respectively, and I just want to see for myself if
The Poughkeepsie Tapes has been worthy of its modest reputation following a BNAT '07 screening -- the same BNAT that featured the reportedly sweet
Trick 'r Treat that WB continues to hoard.
A perhaps more morbid curiosity has me keeping an eye on Paramount's
Case 39, just to see if it's really that bad, and who knows what similar straits
Assassination of a High School President,
The Accidental Husband (originally last March), and
Possession (originally last February) are in following Yari Film Group's bankruptcy -- not that I have much invested in the last two, but
Assassination is a perfectly release-worthy noir take-off that deserves a home.
So what do you guys and girls think? Which of these are you most dying to see? What was the longest you ever waited to catch something, and were you ultimately disappointed or satisfied by the time it came your way?
Posted Dec 21st 2008 9:59AM by Cinematical staff
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, Fandom, Remakes and Sequels
UPDATE: Both
IESB and
Latino Review are reporting that James Cameron is potentially interested in tackling this
Forbidden Planet sequel/remake, which both sites report is kinda like a prequel
and a sequel. They claim the current script follows "the never-before revealed tale of the first ship, the Bellerophon" and that if the first film rocks out, they have the ingredients for a trilogy. In said trilogy, they'd eventually make their way back to the events of the original
Forbidden Planet, which told the story of a second ship that went searching for the Bellerophon after it went missing. Check out both sites for more info, and our latest post on
Forbidden Planet (with comments from writer J. Michael Straczynski)
is below.
What do you think: Is James Cameron the man for this job?
Posted December 8, 2008By: Elisabeth RappeThe last time
we heard from
J. Michael Straczynski about his remake-but-not-really of
The Forbidden Planet, it ended up being a lot of misquotes that the screenwriter quickly refuted.
MTV caught up with him this week, and he explained his take on the classic sci-fi film: "I've always wanted to do something involving
Forbidden Planet. It's my favorite science-fiction film of all time. I've watched the rights go from one company to the next. I heard that the rights at Dreamworks were about to expire and I went to Joel Silver and said I think if you move quickly you can grab it and I can write it. And he did. It's the dream of a lifetime to play in that universe."
Continue reading Update: James Cameron Eying 'Forbidden Planet' Sequel/Prequel?
Posted Dec 20th 2008 11:02AM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, RumorMonger, 20th Century Fox, Comic/Superhero/Geek
The last time news about Fox's live-action version of the classic Anime
Cowboy Bebop popped up, it seemed like most fans
weren't exactly thrilled with the whole idea. So, I'm awfully curious to hear what they think of Keanu Reeves' latest comments over at the MTV Movie Blog. Reeves recently
spoke with MTV about the project and he told them, "We've got the rights, we've got a writer" -- which could lend a bit of truth to the rumors that Fox was fast-tracking the project for a 2010 release.
Bebop premiered in Japan in 1998, and followed the adventures of a group of bounty hunters in the year 2071. The series was renowned for its complex stories and characters, and it's inventive use of classic rock and pop songs in the narrative. Reeves tells MTV that the outline for the film is "currently focusing on the origins of the fictional "Bebop" drug developed by the military, which provides its users with a brief surge of superhuman reflexes and awareness. "We're taking the Red Eye [story], the beginning part of the series, and then we'll deal with the end of the series. We're trying to figure out [the time frame]. We're looking at the story right now" (which, if you know anything about the fractured and complex stories of
Bebop, is going to be no easy task).
Continue reading Keanu Reeves Talks 'Cowboy Bebop'
Posted Dec 18th 2008 10:32AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
First, dear readers, let me get a little rant off my chest -- why can't the mainstream media run the quotes from tireless movie sites like
Collider instead of preposterous casting rumors? Sure, it's fun and harmless, but they embed themselves into the public consciousness to the point that you'll be hearing "Eddie Murphy is going to be the Riddler!" at your watercooler for months. But this is
real Batman news!
Now, let's read that news, directly from Warner Bros' president Alan Horn, who emphasized
again that Batman is taking a break. "We've been talking to Chris Nolan and what we have to do is get him in the right place and have him tell us what he thinks the notion might be for a great story, but Chris did a great job and we'd love to have him come back and do another one ... The story is everything and we are very respectful of Chris. We have a wonderful relationship with him and we are going to be respectful of his timing and we want to get it right. Also, I think the fans expect that – they want us to make a terrific movie – we have to give them another great movie."
Continue reading Warner Bros' Alan Horn Talks Green Lantern, Dark Knight, & Superman
Posted Dec 18th 2008 9:45AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Casting, RumorMonger, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Methinks the rumor-mongers are getting lazy -- this has to be one of the most ridiculous bunches of gossip that I've heard in a while, but (as usual) it's too amusing to not share.
The Sun actually claims to have the scoop on the next installment of Christopher Nolan's
Batman franchise. Once again, the Riddler's name is coming up, but instead of an
intriguing choice like Johnny Depp, they say -- in all their infinite wisdom -- that it's
Eddie Murphy. But just to make it even more unbelievable (and obnoxious) -- the report also states that
Shia LaBeouf has signed on to play Robin.
I'd be utterly shocked if Nolan chose Murphy to be the Riddler; however, I'd be certain that Nolan had lost his mind if he decided to reinvent
Batman Forever. That's just not his style, and why folks like Spielberg might love Shia, I think we can all agree that he would be an awkward choice for Robin -- if Nolan even considered the possibility.
The Dark Knight made phenomenal progress with the world of superheroes when Heath Ledger provided the feature with such a layered performance, so we need someone with solid, intriguing, and dynamic talents. Any suggestions to give
The Sun better material to run with? Oh, and in case you need us to spell it out for ya: This one ain't true.
Note: In cooler Batman news, though, Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill
will voice The Joker in the new video game
Batman: Arkham Asylum, while Kevin Conroy will voice Batman. Both have voiced the characters before; Hamill in animated Batman and Justice League programs and Conroy, well, for anything that wasn't a live-action movie.
Posted Dec 18th 2008 9:00AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Casting, RumorMonger, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Who could breed such a perfect specimen of man like Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark? He has to be a bit dashing, and just a smidge brilliant. He must be a good businessman, and a bit of an alcoholic. Plus, it would probably help to have some similar features to Downey Jr. No one would believe that Iron Man came from some nobody. So, who would you pick?
According to
Latino Review, Howard Stark will be played by
Tim Robbins in the sequel, because "Jon [Favreau] wanted to get a good actor because he didn't think the guy who played Howard in the last film could carry such an important scene." Heck, if Terrence Howard wasn't good enough to stay on, it's no surprise that Favs would look for a bigger player to pull off important Stark family scenes. I'm not drooling over the decision, but it definitely sounds like a solid choice.
And, just to sweeten the deal even more: Rumor has it that Hawkeye and Black Widow are definitely in
Iron Man 2, and not just little cameos. A tough Russian woman with flowing red hair, clad in head-to-toe black leather? That sounds like a good idea to me. Any thoughts on who should play her, and Hawkeye for that matter?
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