Watch enough movies, and you'll find that you occasionally walk out of the theater sometimes with the vaguely disappointing feeling that you've just shelled out $14 to see a movie you're already seen before. Sometimes, it's no surprise that a film looks derivative -- did anyone really expect Underworld: Awakening to wow us with its…
Read More
Project X, released last Friday, got some people angry, but Warner Bros. isn't among those irritated by the teen party movie. The low-budget film is considered a success with $21m earned so far, and the studio and producers Todd Phillips and Joel Silver are already putting together plans for a sequel. Michael Bacall (story and…
Read More
With all the fuss about this spring's The Hunger Games, I'd almost forgotten all about Josh Hutcherson's other blockbuster franchise, which began in 2008 with Journey to the Center of the Earth. But Hutcherson hasn't, of course, and he'll be reprising his role next month in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Hutcherson plays lead Sean…
Read More
I'm not indiscriminately against sequels, but for every X-Men: First Class, Kung Fu Panda 2, or Fast Five, there's a The Hangover Part II, a Transformers: Dark of the Moon, or a Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. And while it's admittedly unfair to jump to conclusions about movies before they've even entered production,…
Read More
The first trailer for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island was all about fun family adventure. The film is the sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, the film that was ahead of the recent wave of 3D releases, and as such got away with some pretty shoddy effects. This sequel is loosely…
Read More
One of the movies that kicked off the current wave of 3D films was Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, which arrived more than a year before Avatar cemented 3D as the next big wave in theatrical technology. Now the sequel to that movie is finished, with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson stepping in…
Read More
Warner Bros. is going for some Oscar gold this year, and not only with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, which the studio is hoping might turn into a Return of the King-style contender. The studio also has a couple of possible prestige pictures in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar and Stephen Daldry's…
Read More
After years of talk, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are finally making a film version of the '60s supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows, and Warner Bros. has just given the film a plum date: it will open on May 11 2012. So one year from now, you'll be able to join the argument over whether…
Read MoreNO PHOTOS We may not want to admit it, but the 2008 3D film Journey to the Center of the Earth was a $100 million hit. So, of course, production just started on the sequel. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island brings back star Josh Hutcherson as he sets out on another adventure. This time, however,…
Read More
I wonder if Kristin Davis is realizing that it's a good time to do something that is very explicitly not like Sex and the City. She's got a couple of projects brewing. One is a single-camera TV series based on the Gretchen Rubin memoir The Happiness Project, which she'll star in and co-exec produce with…
Read More
Todd Solondz, the provocative, some might say confrontational filmmaker behind such bold, brilliant films as Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness, has found his cast for Dark Horse. The indie drama began principal photography earlier this week, with frequent bit player, first-time lead Jordan Gelber taking the center role, Justin Bartha (The Hangover) playing his…
Read More
The cast is coming together for Journey 2: The Sequel You Might Not Be Keen to See. (OK, the actual subtitle to the Journey to the Center of the Earth sequel is The Mysterious Island.) Josh Hutcherson, returning from the first film, will be joined by Dwayne Johnson, and now Michael Caine will play the…
Read More
We've known for a long time that a sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth is in the offing. Josh Hutcherson, who co-starred with Brendan Fraser in the first film, is definitely back for more. But Fraser will be a no-show for take two. Now Dwayne Johnson is in negotiations to take his…
Read More