Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
The full theatrical trailer for the animated 3D film Planet 51 has appeared at Yahoo. The film is about a human astronaut (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) who lands on an alien planet, only to discover that it looks exactly like Earth. Sure, the denizens are green aliens, but otherwise they’re just like us…and not too happy to have an alien invader in their midst. Gary Oldman, Jessica Biel, Justin Long and John Cleese are also in the voice cast. Joe Stillman (Shrek and Shrek 2, the upcoming Gulliver’s Travels) is credited with the script and Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad and Marcos Martinezare co-directed. See the trailer after the jump. Read More »
Green Hornet Moves To July, Jennifer’s Body Gets Rated Bloody R
Posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Columbia Pictures has moved Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet back two weeks from June 25th 2010 to July 9th 2010. According to ERC, the move was made to make room for the studio’s Dennis Dugan-directed comedy Grown Ups, which was moved from March 12th to June 25th. But with The Twilight Saga’s Eclipse scheduled to hit theaters on June 30th, I’m surprised that Columbia would want either of their films near the tween vampire romance sequel.
And since it was revealed that Megan Fox wouldn’t appear naked in the filmed topless scene in the Diablo Cody-scripted horror film Jennifer’s Body, fans have been speculating that 20th Century Fox was aiming for a PG-13 rating. I read the initial draft of the screenplay, and I’m not sure that story could be told in PG-13. But fear not, the MPAA has finally spoken. The film is officially rated R for “sexuality, bloody violence, language and brief drug use.” Nope, you’re still not going to see Megan Fox topless, but at least we’ll be getting a bloody r-rated horror film. [Bloody-disgusting]
George Clooney Packs Up His Warner Bros. Office, Moves To Sony
Posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Nikki Finke is reporting an interesting bit of news: George Clooney and Grant Heslov are ending their production partnership with Warner Bros. and heading across town to set up shop with Sony. Coming just a week after Sony famously shitcanned Steven Soderbergh’s Moneyball, this is a surprising move. At Warner Bros. Clooney was able to make the less commercial movies he’s favored over the last few years, while Sony isn’t exactly known for being a hotbed of artistic aspiration. Read More »
Facebook Movie is An Adaptation of The Accidental Billionaires
Posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Yesterday it was revealed that David Fincher is in “advanced talks” with Columbia Pictures to direct The Social Network, the story of the creation of Facebook, as written by Aaron Sorkin. But apparently almost everyone (even the hollywood trade newspapers) failed to realize that the film is actually an adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s upcoming book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal.
Some might recognize Mezrich as the author of the bestselling book Bringing Down the House, which was adapted for the screen under the title 21. And those of you who read the story from yesterday might recall that Kevin Spacey is producing this new Facebook movie with Scott Rudin. Connecting the dots: Spacey produced and starred in 21. Yes, it all makes sense now. A lot more information is available after the jump.
WTF: David Fincher to Direct The Facebook Movie?
Posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
We were baffled last Summer when Golden Globe nominated screenwriter/producer Aaron Sorkin had joined Facebook and announced that he was writing a Facebook movie for mega-producer Scott Rudin. Today Variety offers an unbelievable follow-up, filmmaker David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en, Benjamin Button) is in “advanced talks” with Columbia Pictures to direct the film, which has been titled The Social Network.
Earlier this month when Academy Award-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson was cast in Columbia Pictures’ reimagining of The Karate Kid, we asked you if she brought any credibility to the project. Tonight it has been revealed that a new screenwriter has been hired for the Will Smith-produced reboot.
Who is the new scribe? Steven Conrad, whose credits include Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, The Weather Man, The Pursuit of Happyness and the underrated comedy The Promotion. An obvious choice considering Conrad’s connection to Smith. But will a new screenwriter be able to save this project from expected doom? Don’t count on it, especially considering the bits and pieces of information that leaked out of Chris Murphy’s previous draft. Lets just hope that the final film is retitled The Kung Fu Kid, or something else entirely.
source: RiskyBiz
Ghostbusters 3 Round-Up - Including First Line of Dialogue?
Posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
Interest in Ghostbusting is at fever pitch, and the imminent launch of the original Ghostbusters film on Blu-Ray and the tie-in videogames must have something to do with it. All the same, genuine interest in the franchise is as high as any time in the last 20 years, at least, and stories revolving around the upcoming third installment are piling up thick and fast. After the break, a few bullet points that should bring you up to speed and, most excitingly, a look at what appears to be the first dialogue exchange from the next movie to become public knowledge. I’ll also toss in a fantastic rumour I’ve been hearing, but haven’t been able (yet) to substantiate. What fun would leaving it out be, though?
Equilibrium Screenwriter To Pen Total Recall Remake
Posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Columbia Pictures has hired Equilibrium and Ultraviolet scribe Kurt Wimmer to pen a remake of Total Recall (which was first announced in February). Wimmer recently worked with the studio on the Angelina Jolie spy thriller Salt, and co-wrote the F. Gary Gray-directed Law Abiding Citizen.
Neal Moritz is producing the movie under his Original Films banner (yes, a company called Original Films is in the remake business). Not much is known about the new film, other than that the story will be a more “contemporized” adaptation of Philip K Dick’s story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, the book that spawned the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film.
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Last year it was announced that Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black, Get Shorty, Pushing Daisies) had signed on to direct The How-To Guide for Saving the World, a much buzzed about sci-fi action comedy screenplay which appeared on the 2008 Black List. I’m not sure the status of the project, but Sonnenfeld has again teamed up with Saving the World scribe BenDavid Grabinski to develop Swift, a big screen reimagining of the Tom Swift adventure novels.
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Possible Ghostbusters 3 Director, Casting, and Shooting Dates
Posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
The Hero Complex caught up with Dan Aykroyd, who provided a couple updates on Ghostbusters 3. Aykroyd says that Ivan Reitman is “too busy as a mega-producer” to helm the film, and that his second choice would be Ghostbusters co-star and Groundhog Day/Analyize This director Harold Ramis.
We have a brief update on the big screen adaptation of the beloved Vertigo comic book series Preacher. Last year Columbia Pictures picked up the rights and hired American Beauty/Road to Perdition director Sam Mendes attached to helm the project. In January it was announced that John August (Go, Big Fish) would be developing the script, but we haven’t heard much since. Mendes tells MTV that the screeplay is “about halfway” written.
“There’s a long way to go yet, but I’m very, very hopeful. I think it could be amazing.”
Fans are hoping that the film might spawn a franchise as the 75 issue series offers enough story for at least three films. But Mendes is focused on making one really good self-contained movie, but admits that “there’s certainly more than enough for one good movie and plenty left over.” Even if this film does go into production, it won’t happen anytime soon. The director tells Collider that he will be doing two more plays in Brooklyn first, and that he won’t be doing his next movie until next year, at earliest.
Moviehole has learned some new details about the Will Smith-produced reimagining of The Karate Kid. The film’s plot is broadly the same as the original 1984 film, but with many little differences. The Daniel Larusso character, played by Jaden Smith, has been renamed Dre (I kid you not) and is a skateboarding video game buff. With the fear of layoffs looming over her U.S. job, Dre’s single mother accepts an offer to transfer to the China office. Of course, unable to speak Chinese, Dre finds it hard to settle in, and gets beat up by the local bully.
