- Must Watch: Second Full Trailer for Zack Snyder's Watchmen!
- Must Watch: J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Trailer - What Do You Think?
- Must Watch: Teaser Trailer for Roland Emmerich's 2012!
- Must Watch: Star Wars Geeks Rule in Fanboys Trailer!
- Worth Watching - Nov 2: Bruce Campbell's My Name Is Bruce Trailer!
- Fox Moving Forward With Gossip Girl Young X-Men Spin-Off (Nov 18, 2008)
- Watchmen Legal Battle is About the Sequel Rights, Too?! (Nov 18, 2008)
- John Carpenter Has a Brutal Gangster Film in the Works? (Nov 18, 2008)
- Seth Gordon Directing Con Man Flick Suicide Squad (Nov 18, 2008)
- Spike Jonze Unveils New Where the Wild Things Are Photos! (Nov 18, 2008)
| Quantum of Solace | 9/10 |
| The Class | 9/10 |
| Zack and Miri Make a Porno | 7/10 |
| Changeling | 6/10 |
| Trick 'r Treat | 10/10 |
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Fox Moving Forward With Gossip Girl Young X-Men Spin-Off
Oh no, it begins! Fox is officially moving forward with an X-Men spin-off titled X-Men: First Class. Here's where it gets bad - "Gossip Girl" creator Josh Schwartz is writing the screenplay. He was also offered the chance to direct, but (thankfully) declined. Not only did Schwartz create "Gossip Girl", but he also created "The O.C." and "Chuck". Fox won't reveal any more details about the spin-off, but we can be sure it'll focus on some youngsters at the Xavier Institute. This isn't actually the first time we've heard about this - Schwartz mentioned it in an interview way back in May. However, it looks like Fox has decided to greenlight ideas like this in order to be more successful in the future since they had such a bad summer.
Watchmen Legal Battle is About the Sequel Rights, Too?!
This is all just speculation, nothing official, so don't get too heated up over it. Blame Hollywood for the lack of interesting news, because I wasn't going to mention this today until I ran out of things to write about. Over the weekend, the LA Times ran an extensive article on the ensuing legal battle between Fox and Warner Brothers over the rights to Watchmen. There isn't a soul left who doesn't know about it and it isn't over yet - but everyone (including me) is tired of writing about the mundane legal aspects especially when we just want the two to figure it out. However, an interesting quote was found in their article that makes me a little nervous. "They are not just fighting over Watchmen, they are also fighting over sequel rights."
John Carpenter Has a Brutal Gangster Film in the Works?
The legendary horror master John Carpenter (seen above) hasn't done any work for the big screen since 2001, when he last wrote and directed Ghosts of Mars, a movie which most have come to hate. However, there's apparently a gangster project floating around with Carpenter's name attached - titled The Prince. Carpenter is actually in pre-production on a film with Nic Cage titled Riot that has been in the news quite a bit recently. Thanks to the guys at CHUD, we have some early details on The Prince, and if there's any project I hope Carpenter does next after Riot, I hope it's this. Once you hear what it's about, you'll agree.
Seth Gordon Directing Con Man Flick Suicide Squad
We just finished up an interview with Seth Gordon the other day and ran an update yesterday on The King of Kong remake he's directing. As we said in that article, Gordon is definitely on the rise. In addition to that Kong remake, he's already got another couple projects lined up. One of them announced today is Suicide Squad, about a desperate con man, out on the latest of many paroles, who recruits a crew of amateur criminals to rip off the Kentucky Derby. The script was written by brothers Matt Eddy and Billy Eddy, who are new to the writing scene. I always love a good con movie and Suicide Squad sounds great.
Spike Jonze Unveils New Where the Wild Things Are Photos!
Finally some new photos! As part of Moriarty's ludicrously long interview with Spike Jonze that was published today, two new photos from the long-awaited Where the Wild Things Are adaptation have been unveiled. As I'm sure most know, the project got stuck in some sort of development hell (almost literally) after a very bad test screening more than a year ago (read more about that here). It was so bad that Warner Brothers sent Jonze out again with a new lead actor to play Max in order to reshoot most of the movie. If you've got the time to spare or are a big Spike Jonze fan, I highly suggest you read the full interview. If not, then take a quick look at these two new beautiful photos from the film below.
Seth Gordon Updates King of Kong Remake Status
Those of you who are either gamers at heart or just love documentaries are probably familiar with a film called The King of Kong. The documentary became a cult hit almost overnight and introduced the world to two truly interesting rivals - Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell. When it was announced that New Line was picking up King of Kong for distribution, they also announced that they had already secured the remake rights and were planning a narrative version of the film. Yesterday we talked with Seth Gordon, who directed The King of Kong as well as the upcoming Four Christmases and is set to direct the narrative remake, and got a few updates from him about changes they'll make and the status of the project.
Kevin Munroe Helming War Monkeys for Dark Horse Indie - Updated!
War Monkeys? "It's kind of like if Quentin Tarantino did Gremlins." Kevin Munroe has quickly become a director to keep an eye on ever since he directed the TMNT animated movie last year. He's about to start shooting a live-action version of the comic Dylan Dog titled Dead of Night and has just setup his next project - War Monkeys. Munroe reveals some early details to ShockTillYouDrop, describing the project as "an older, meaner brother of [an] Amblin [production]. It's real horror with real scary elements. You've got real monsters here with the monkeys. But the characters are a modern day Abbott and Costello. In the same vein of Shaun of the Dead but scarier." So what the heck is War Monkeys all about?
Aaron Eckhart Prepares For Battle: Los Angeles
Aaron Eckhart has officially joined Battle: Los Angeles as the lead. The project is being directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) and was written by Chris Bertolini (The General's Daughter). The story in Battle: Los Angeles follows a Marine platoon's encounter in the battle on the streets of Los Angeles against an alien invasion. This marks the first big lead role in an action movie for Eckhart, who as we all know did a phenomenal job as Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight earlier this summer. The project sounds interesting but apparently has an awful script. Will Eckhart be able to save it?
Bad Screenwriters Hired For xXx: The Return of Xander Cage
Columbia Pictures is moving forward with xXx: The Return of Xander Cage and has hired writers Michael Ferris and John Brancato after hearing a pitch last Friday. Ferris and Brancato's past films include The Net, The Game, Terminator 3, Catwoman, Primeval, and the upcoming Terminator Salvation. They're definitely not new to this industry, nor are they most talented writers (Catwoman?!), so this doesn't exactly make this reboot look any better. We've neglected writing much about this franchise before, but I thought this update was worth mentioning - just to emphasize how bad this will probably be.
Christopher McQuarrie Adapting Monster of Florence and The Champions
Oscar winning screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie has picked up two more projects to work on next. He will adapt both Douglas Preston's bestseller "The Monster of Florence" with producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen (American Beauty, Milk) as well as "The Champions", a British TV series from the late 1960s with Guillermo del Toro producing and writing as well. "The Monster of Florence" tells of a writer's experience investigating a heinous crime that had occurred years earlier on his property. "The Champions" followed the adventures of a team of secret government agents who are rescued from a Himalayan plane crash by an advanced civilization and given superhuman abilities. Both sound like very interesting ideas and I'm glad to see McQuarrie writing again after winning that Oscar for The Usual Suspects in 1996.
EW's Top 25 Entertainers of the Year - Robert Downey Jr. Makes #1
We're getting to that time of the year when everyone starts ranking the best of everything. Entertainment Weekly kicks off this year's considerations with a big list of their own - The 25 Entertainers of the Year. Unfortunately it spans more than just movies and actors, but that's no problem, we'll manage. Their top pick this year is Robert Downey Jr. We all already know why he's great and are even quite supportive of his Tropic Thunder Oscar campaign. In addition to Downey Jr., there are 6 more actors, and a few more cinematic nuggets, on their list that are worth checking out and arguing about, if you so choose. Take a look!
Matt Reeves Talks About His Let the Right One In Remake
If you live in Los Angeles, you should've seen Let the Right One In by now (if not - buy a ticket now), the fantastic Swedish horror film that we've been talking about quite a bit. We previously announced that an American remake was in the works by Cloverfield director Matt Reeves, which is both exciting and worrisome because it's such a great film on its own. MTV caught up with Reeves recently and got him to spill his guts on why he is interested in remaking it and his thoughts on what to do so far, including when and where he'll set it. Obviously it's a ways out from actually going into production, but hearing his thoughts on this actually makes me a bit more confident in him and the idea of the remake.
Luc Besson Will Be Making a Sci-Fi Movie Next Year!
Luc Besson is back! And I don't mean with more Arthur and the Invisibles sequels! Collider has confirmed with Besson himself that he is currently working on an idea for a potential sci-fi trilogy that will start up production next year sometime. Why is this exciting news? So the story goes that over two years ago, Besson announced the he would finish his directing career with a total of 10 movies, the last of which was Arthur and the Invisibles. For big fans of The Fifth Element (like me) that was heartbreaking to hear - because I want him to keep making so that he might make another classic sci-fi film. That all changed when he said he'd make the sequels to Arthur, but I never thought he'd actually ever get back to sci-fi!
New Regency Will Venture to The End of Eternity
Yet another brilliant Isaac Asimov story is headed to the big screen. New Regency has acquired the rights to Asimov's "The End of Eternity", a sci-fi time travel novel first published in 1955. The studio is looking to find a director who is interested in the project first, before looking for a writer. The fascinating story tells of a future where humanity is controlled by a ruling class called Eternity. Those who are in that class can manipulate time in order to alter history and prevent disasters or "wipe out undesirables." One of the Eternity members breaks the cardinal rule and falls in love with a woman from another time period. I'm a big fan of any Asimov's books and I'm already quite excited to see this time travel tale come to life.
Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg Team Up for Hereafter
Steven Spielberg's newly independent DreamWorks is in talks with Clint Eastwood to direct a supernatural thriller titled Hereafter. Unfortunately no actual details about the story have been revealed yet, except that it has been described as "in the vein of The Sixth Sense." As we all know, Eastwood directed two complete films this year alone - Changeling and Gran Torino - but he's not retiring from directing just yet. DreamWorks adamantly held onto this project during their split with Paramount and has been trying to get Eastwood to sign on for months. Sounds like something potentially very interesting?
Marc Forster Will Direct Max Brooks' World War Z!
To top off an already very exciting day, with the debut of the new Watchmen trailer as well as Kick-Ass photos, Variety has announced that Marc Forster will direct Paramount's adaptation of World War Z! This calls for celebration! Anyone who has ever read Max Brooks' novel knows that it's an amazing story that will make a great post-apocalyptic movie. Forster, who just directed Quantum of Solace, is an fantastic choice for director, especially if you've seen Quantum and know how capable he is at directing action. The adaptation was written by comic book author J. Michael Straczynski and will be produced by Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment. This really is some of the best news to come out of Hollywood in a long time!
Arrested Development Movie Finally Gets the Go Ahead?
Ever since going off the air in 2006, there has been no shortage of rumor, excitement and confusion surrounding an "Arrested Development" feature film. At one time or another, various members of the fictitious Bluth family have hinted at the possibility, but never was there anything well-formed, such as even a script. While we still don't have anything concrete to hold in our hand, we do have an unequivocal "we're doing it… it's a go" from Jeffrey Tambor (who plays George Bluth Sr.) thanks to an interview Collider recently had with the actor at a Hellboy II DVD release party. Now if you've finished jumping out of your chair and cheering, read below for some more of what Tambor had to say.
The Dark Knight's Score Disqualified From Oscar Consideration
Like it or not, The Dark Knight is going to keep popping up in headlines all the way through to the Oscars in February, so just be prepared. This latest news is rather disappointing for those who were a fan of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard's score - that even I'd been strongly supporting since June. The executive committee of the Academy music branch has disqualified their score from Oscar consideration this year. This actually happened to their Batman Begins score in 2005 as well, so this isn't the first time. The Academy's reason behind the disqualification states that five names were listed as composers, and Zimmer and Howard were only credited for "more than 60%, but less than 70%" of the score.
Guillermo del Toro's Two Full Puppet Projects - Pinocchio Included!
With Guillermo del Toro working on writing and pre-production for The Hobbit, one would've thought it would be impossible for him to be thinking about anything else. Well, Bloody Disgusting brings us some news to the contrary today and shares some details on two new projects that weren't even on his Roadmap to 2017. The interesting thing is that both of them are puppet based projects - which is quite timely considering Hellboy II just hit DVD and the entire opening sequence to that film was done with puppets. First up, Guillermo confirms that he's trying to get a full stop-motion version of Gris Grimly's Pinocchio into production, and second, that he's got a full-scale puppet movie of his own in the works.
Francis Lawrence to Helm Prison Riot and Siege Movie
With at least the I Am Legend prequel and an adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor in the works, director Francis Lawrence already has an exciting slate of projects lined up. Add to that list a currently untitled prison riot project, an action thriller written by first timer Ari Rubin to eventually be directed by Lawrence. The concept is based on the real life story of the riots and siege of the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in 1987. Cuban and American prisoners seized control of the maximum security facility and took more than 100 federal prison staff members hostage. The situation was so extreme that the FBI's hostage rescue team couldn't handle the riots and the Delta Force was called in to retake the prison.