Posted on Friday, October 26th, 2012 by Angie Han
Three and a half decades after Brian De Palma first brought Stephen King to the big screen with Carrie, the horror author seems to be hotter than ever. It feels like hardly a week goes by without news of yet another King adaptation project, and this week is no exception.
The newest King-inspired picture in the works is Universal Pictures’ Mercy, a fantasy horror based on his short story “Gramma.” Paranormal powerhouse Jason Blum will produce through Blumhouse Pictures, along with McG and Mary Viola. Several of the key pieces are already in place: Peter Cornwell is set to direct from a script by Matt Greenberg, with Frances O’Connor (A.I.) attached to star. More details after the jump.
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Posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2012 by Angie Han
After making a career out of haunted house movies — most notably the Paranormal Activity series — producer Jason Blum is moving on to actual haunted houses. Blum has announced plans for The Blumhouse of Horrors, a Halloween attraction in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Blum’s production company is currently at work turning the historic Variety Arts Theater into the rundown vaudeville venue with some deep, dark secrets. More after the jump.
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Major actors going to TV and major characters returning to TV are just two of the following TV Bits. After the jump read about the following:
- MTV’s new found footage show, The Experiment, is inspired by Paranormal Activity.
- Mark Strong will star in an AMC pilot called Low Winter Sun.
- Channing Tatum’s wife Jenna Dewan (above) will romance Adam Levine on American Horror Story season 2.
- Matthew Weiner talks seasons 6 and 7 of Mad Men including Elisabeth Moss‘ role.
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Posted on Monday, July 16th, 2012 by Angie Han
Last year, Universal Pictures decided to ditch its adaptation of the Hasbro game Ouija, and for a time it looked like Paramount would be the one to make the movie. But Paramount couldn’t get it off the ground either, and it was Universal itself who eventually picked it back up this past spring, albeit in a rather different, lower-budget form. An impressive 95% lower, to be more precise: according to reports that came out around that time, the studio had chopped the production budget down from $100 million to just $5 million, or about the cost of Paranormal Activity 3.
And with that new number in mind, the studio has now found just the pair to bring the property to the big screen. Juliet Snowden and Stiles White, the writers behind Knowing and the upcoming The Possession, will write rewrite the script and make their directorial debuts on Ouija. More details after the jump.
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Last August, Universal decided not to move ahead with the film version of Hasbro’s board game Ouija. The film was reportedly a $100 million plus adventure in the mold of Pirates of the Caribbean, produced by Michael Bay‘s Platinum Dunes and directed by McG from a script by Tron: Legacy writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Universal deemed that project too expensive and let it go. Last we heard, a new screenwriter was reworking the property and other studios were being courted.
Monday, Universal revealed they’re back on board with the board game, though it’s now sporting a totally revamped look. Once costing over $100 million, the new version will cost closer to $5 million. I’m not missing a zero. Five million dollars. To help with that, they’ve brought along producer Jason Blum who made hits out of other micro budget films like Paranormal Activity and Insidious. A 2013 release is planned. Read more after the jump. Read More »
Posted on Monday, December 5th, 2011 by Angie Han
2011 was the biggest year ever for sequels, with a record-breaking 27 scheduled to hit theaters. And while it’s too early to say exactly how many we can expect in 2012 and beyond, judging by posts like this one it seems safe to say that the trend won’t be dying down anytime soon. After the jump:
- Entertainment Weekly unveils the first look at Sam Worthington in Wrath of the Titans
- Sony registers domain names for the as-yet-unannounced Insidious 2
- Steven Spielberg’s longtime producer Kathleen Kennedy says Jurassic Park 4 is still looking for “a great script”
- Kennedy also says the sequel to The Adventures of Tintin could hit as early as Christmas 2014
- Bradley Cooper reveals that The Hangover Part III could start shooting in L.A. in September
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Even before the massive success of Paranormal Activity, we knew that producer Jason Blum and director Oren Peli were going to make a movie called Area 51. The project was officially announced in October 2009, and now, a year and a half later, there is still no movie to be seen.
In April of this year, we heard that Chris Denham was doing rewrites on the film, which we knew had completed principal photography some time ago. Or that’s what we thought we knew. In a new interview, Jason Blum talks about Area 51, and in the process details some of the working methods that make the creation of his low-budget thrillers different from the production of most films. Read More »
Director James Wan has been on a downward slope since Saw. His ultra low-budget horror debut may not have been a huge hit with critics, but as you have surely deduced from the six sequels it’s spawned, the film performed like gangbusters with audiences. His two follow-up efforts, meanwhile, did not. Death Sentence performed miserably at the box office, and Dead Silence didn’t fare much better. Critics hated both.
James Wan has two strikes against him now, and is in desperate need of a hit if he has any intention of reclaiming his past glory.
Good thing Wan has Insidious, a film he’s been quoted as saying he wants to be “the Poltergeist for this generation”. This time around, he’s teamed up with Paranormal Activity creators Oren Peli, Jason Blum and Steven Schneider — a fact the trailer eagerly promotes, though obviously without acknowledging that they’re only serving in a producer capacity — and reunited with Saw screenwriter Leigh Whannell. Its story revolves around a family looking to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne star, with Barbara Hershey in a supporting role. The film premiered at TIFF 2010 as one of its Midnight Madness selections, and generated great buzz. Check out the trailer after the break. Read More »
