Posted on Monday, April 15th, 2013 by Angie Han
It’s been 66 years since the original The Secret Life of Walter Mitty came out, and a remake of it has been in development for about a quarter of that time. But after bouncing between various studios, directors, and leads, the project finally got a big push a couple of years back when Ben Stiller signed on to both star and direct for 20th Century Fox.
Stiller plays a Life Magazine photo editor who frequently slips into daydream, to the ridicule of his peers. The first set photos revealed last year showed Stiller aged into an old man via the magic of special effects, but in the first official still he’s much closer to his own age — if not, perhaps, in his own world. Check it out after the jump.
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Here’s an example of great optimism: while the first film based on Cassandra Clare‘s The Mortal Instruments novels hasn’t even opened yet, Constantin Films is already putting together a prequel. Clare has written a related series of books called Infernal Devices, and Stephanie Sanditz has been hired to script a film based on the first one.
While the prime Mortal Instuments story follows a teen girl who learns of her half-human, half-angel heritage, and of the war between light and shadow into which she has been born, the prequel will be set in England during the Victorian Era, with a different teen female heroine, Tessa, an orphan who is in search of her missing brother. Read More »
Years after both the first and second wave of interest in the knotty little Danish troll dolls that feature placid grins and giant colored hair, DreamWorks Animation is thinking of making a movie. Created in 1959 and popularized in the ’60s, then in the ’80s, the trolls have already starred in games and a TV show aired in the ’90s.
Now the rights have been sold to DreamWorks Animation, which is turning to American Girl senior VP of marketing Shawn Dennis to spearhead the development efforts. Why this property? Two words: brand recognition. OK, two more: potential franchise.
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Posted on Tuesday, April 9th, 2013 by Angie Han
Hayao Miyazaki‘s status as a master of animation is undisputed, but would his stories work so well with flesh-and-blood actors? If a new rumor making the rounds is to be believed, Takashi Shimizu may be trying to find out. According to this report, the The Grudge director has signed on to direct a big-budget live-action remake of Kiki’s Delivery Service, Miyazaki’s anime fantasy classic from 1989. Hit the jump to keep reading.
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Dracula Year Zero is a project that has languished in “on again, off again” status at Universal for some time. Once set to go with Alex Proyas directing and Sam Worthington starring, the film was off for a while. Early in 2012, Universal set the film to more active status again, with commercial director Gary Shore set to make his feature debut at the helm.
Now the film has reportedly been green lit, and Luke Evans has been set to star. [Update: Universal has clarified that, at this point, the film is simply called Dracula.] Read More »
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. That’s a concept that relates directly to Jack the Giant Slayer, in more ways than one. Bryan Singer‘s film, delayed from 2012 to 2013 for effects tinkering and (hopefully) a better release opportunity, opened to shrugs from audiences. Now the film is looking like it’ll be a big write-down for Warner Bros., New Line, and Legendary Pictures, to the tune of over $100m. All told, Jack might cost the companies up to $140m. Read More »
Briefly: The battle for the Iron Throne will continue in 2014. HBO has officially renewed Game of Thrones for a fourth season after its successful third season premiere earlier this week.
Based on the series of novels A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, the first two seasons of the show have used the first two books as blueprints. The rumor is the show will begin to slow down with season three, splitting each book into two seasons. Hopefully, this will allow Martin to finish the rest of the series in print. (A Song of Fire and Ice is planned as seven books, only five have been published thus far.)
Our /Film Game of Thrones podcast, A Cast of Kings, will surely talk much more about this on Monday. [Deadline] Read More »
Nothing can stop the wave of YA adaptations coming to movie theaters in the next year or two — not even the relative disinterest in the movies. Beautiful Creatures and The Host didn’t really hit so far this year, but there are more to come. Earlier today we saw the trailer for the new Percy Jackson film, and now here’s the first full trailer for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.
The film features Lily Collins as a young woman who learns that there is a shadow conflict just out of sight, with half-angel warriors battling demons right before the unseeing eyes of humanity. With her own eyes open to the conflict, Collins’ character is quickly drawn in. This trailer shows far more of the newly-done effects than did the teaser, and it also makes the film look rather like a revamped Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Have a look below.
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