A Shot Of Iron

Director Jon Favreau told the folks at The Playlist this week that Fox has exercised its option to have Emily Blunt co-star in "Gulliver's Travels".

Blunt is now officially unavailable to star in the Iron Man 2, as Russian super spy Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow.

Blunt says "It's a little disappointing is all I can say."

She is looking forward to Travels though. "Because I just have to do this Fox movie, and it's fine and I'm gonna have fun. The whole beginning of the year has been rather dramatic, so I'd just rather go in with fresh eyes and know that I've made the right decision. You just don't know until it's all finished..."

Read more at Aceshowbiz...

I for one am disappointed Blunt won't be playing BW...

As for Mickey Rourke playing the villain, all Favreau said is he "isn't officially cast but that he is a fan." Translation: It's a question of cash...

Meantime, Robert Downey Jr.. says they're still "slaving away on a hot script" for the sequel

Finally--What $ issues?

Variety reported Sam L Jackson has inked a long-term deal to play Nick Fury in multiple Marvel films.

Jackson's commitment to play Fury the leader of the espionage unit S.H.I.E.L.D., has an option in it to play the character in nine future superhero flicks.

These are expected to include "Iron Man 2 Captain America, Thor The Avengers and "The Shield" flick in the works as well as any potential sequels.

Jackson did not like Marvel's first offer to reprise his role which he played during a post-credits scene in Iron Man

Filming on IM 2 starts Jackson off this spring for release in Summer 2010.

Damned If You Do...

Hugh Jackman said the musical is back at the end of an elaborate production number at this week's Oscar ceremony....

New Line Cinema wants Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaal to start singing and dancing for a big screen adaptation of the classic musical "Damn Yankees" says Variety.

Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, the writers behind City Slickers are set to write the script.

The musical is being produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the duo behind hit movie musical Hairspray.

Premiering on Broadway in 1955 --The award winner, tells the tale of Joe Boyd, a happily married middle-aged man whose devotion to a hapless pro baseball team prompts him to make a Faustian bargain with the devil to help the team. He's transformed into slugger Joe Hardy, in exchange for Boyd's soul. Boyd can break the deal, but the deadline occurs during the World Series. For good measure, the devil engages Lola, a gorgeous lost soul, to seduce the slugger and seal his fate.

The original musical was directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Bob Fosse, with music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross



It was turned into a 1958 film directed by Abbott and Stanley Donen.

Carrey would play the devil, and Gyllenhaal would play Boyd.

The update plans to use the show's classic tunes like You've Gotta Have Heart" while putting a modern spin on a musical from the 1950s.

No doubt Jim and Jake are talented but I've never heard either of them sing....

Then again--I suppose the same could have been said of John Travolta before his musical turn in the movie version of Grease in 1978... and that turned out very well

Don't be shocked if we soon don't see a remake of that popular movie as well....

B Leary

Sony Pictures has scooped up the Adam McKay-directed action comedy "The B Team" says Variety.

The flick stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as cops.



Chris Henchy and McKay wrote the script.

Wahlberg plays it straight I'm sure while Ferrell plays the doof.

Not a big fan of Ferrell's comedy style--My gut is telling me to pass

Production will start as soon as possible. Sony has not set a release date yet.

Next Friday

New Line Cinema and Platinum Dunes are already moving ahead with a sequel to the recent remake of "Friday the 13th" as posted on the Risky Biz Blog.



Seen as a follow-up as opposed to a direct sequel (??!! what? Are they not the same thing?), Jason will be the villain with an all new cast of victims lined up.

Remake writers, Damian Shannon and Mark Swift started work on the script.

The last film used elements from the first four films in the original franchise, whereas this won't be doing any such homages to the other four sequels in the original series.

Marcus Nispel could return to the director's chair, but since he's looking elsewhere for work most likely someone else will be hired to direct.

Surviving cast members Amanda Righetti and Jared Padalecki's involvement is also up in the air because of their respective TV gigs

Both studios are hard at work on their planned reboot of the "A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Playing His Mentor

Bill Condon is shopping his script for the biopic "Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?" to the studio suits says EW.



Pryor's pal and inspiree Eddie Murphy is attached to star.

Condon previously had the project set up at The Weinstein Company but managed to keep it close when it was put it into turnaround.

Murphy is a perfect choice to take this one on.

Fox Searchlight is apparently interested in the project.

Just Drew It

This is interesting...

Drew Barrymore is circling the big chair for Summit Entertainment's"Eclipse", the third film of the Twilight series says EW.

Chris Weitz is doing the first sequel "New Moon", but the studio opting for Barrymore is likely so that the production can stick to the rapid make then release schedule it's planned.

Barrymore just completed production on her feature film directorial debut "Whip It!".

While no one has seen Whip It! yet--the Charlie's Angels star has been around the industry all of her life...I actually think she would make a great fit for the saga. There's no real reason to back me up--My gut says she would do well calling the shots...

"New Moon" is scheduled to open November 20th 2009 while "Eclipse" will hit on June 30th 2010.

Narnia Nook

Michael Petroni will write "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" according to Variety.



Petroni takes over for Richard LaGravenese who penned the most recent draft of the script adapting C. S. Lewis work.

The project was thrown into doubt late last year when Disney pulled out of co-financing the project. Fox stepped in.

A Summer start date for a Holiday 2010 release

Name Stars Not Movies

It's been a busy week for casting Woody Allen's untiled next flick...

Antonio Banderas is the latest addition says The Hollywood Reporter .



Naomi Watts, Freida Pinto, Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins are already in the film scheduled to start shooting in London during the summer.

Plot deets are under wraps.

Allen's in theaters with Whatever Works

Brother's Keeper

Two new wide releases may be opening today--but it's really all about only one of them...Jonas Brothers - The 3D Concert Experience--The reviews are not all that great--then again this is not really a "critics" movie...

Meantime-Video game based action flick Street Fighter®: The Lengend of Chun-Li (reviews) is almost an afterthought thanks to the Jobros and Oscar.



Dave McNary and Pamela McClintock of Variety:

More people are going to the movies despite the bad economy -- or because of it.

Domestic theater admissions were up an unheard of 9.3% in January and February, usually one of the slowest times of the year.

In North America, revenues are up 13% for the first two months of 2009, clocking in at $1.62 billion through Tuesday, according to Rentrak.

Admissions also are on the rise overseas. However, the vagaries of currency exchange, including a stronger dollar, are hurting Hollywood.

The six major studios have seen a decline of more than 10% in revenues from foreign markets for the first two months of the year.

The value of the euro is off 20% compared with a year ago and the British pound has declined more than 35%. But, overall, international moviegoing remains decent in terms of local admissions and currency compared with a year ago.

Back home, admissions are often down even when revenues are up, thanks to increased ticket prices. This year's spike in actual foot traffic bucks that trend.

This weekend, observers will be watching to see if Disney's new entry "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" continues the box office boom.

That boom has seen several notable films beating expectations and racking up sizeable grosses. Last weekend, Lionsgate's "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail" opened to $41 million, the best bow of any Perry pic, as well as any Lionsgate release.

Three films -- Warners' "Gran Torino," Sony's "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and Fox Searchlight's Oscar winner "Slumdog Millionaire" -- have all crossed the $100 million mark this year.

"Torino's" cume through Tuesday was $135.5 million; "Mall Cop's," $122.2 million; and "Slumdog's," $101.9 million.

On Friday, Searchlight expands "Slumdog" to 2,943 theaters in the wake of the film's Oscar wins. It's the widest release in Searchlight's history.

It's been a good winter for the Fox family. The big studio's sleeper hit "Taken," with a gross of $96.5 million, should jump the $100 million mark by Sunday.

Nicole Sperling of EW asks:

If a 3-D concert film geared toward screaming tween fans doesn't have an expensive sold-out concert tour preceding it, does it make as loud a sound...at the box office?

3 weeks ago Disney and IMAX added dozens of screens to the Jonas opening. ahead of the "demand"

Next Week: One Film One Word...Watchmen!!!!!!! Finally!!!

Dead Cmes Alive

Producer Gilbert Adler will be working with his Superman Returns star Brandon Routh again on the $20 million indie horror film "Dead Of Night, " which starts filming today says The Hollywood Reporter.

Adapted from the top-selling 1986 Italian comic book series "Dylan Dog," created by Tiziano Sclavi "Dead" sees Routh as a private investigator who stumbles onto the world of the undead.

Kevin Munroe (TMNT) is directing from a screenplay by Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly.

Great and all- maybe before filming wraps on Dead someone can make a firm decision on Superman's film future?

More Than Just A Pretty Face

Actress Eliza Dushku is bringing "The Perfect Moment", a biopic about iconic photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, to the big screen says Variety.



Dushku has secured the exclusive rights and the full cooperation from Mapplethorpe's estate and has snagged two-time Sundance grand jury prize winner Ondi Timoner to direct the film.

The story will chronicle Mapplethorpe's career from his rise to fame in the 1970s for his portraits of socialites and rock stars until his death in 1989 at age 42 from complications arising from AIDS.

Been a Dushku fan ever since she played Faith on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" It's nice to know that even her newest TV gig Dollhouse gets going--she's thinking bigger

Art And Arthur

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan writer Peter Baynham will pen the remake of the classic 1981 Dudley Moore (pictured) comedy Arthur reports Variety.

Russell Brand ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall"). is the boozy playboy whose plan to marry into a wealthy family goes wrong when he falls in love with a working class gal.

Larry Brezner, the producer of the original will do the same here.

Steve Gordon who wrote and directed the original film created a very special film--I'm just not sold on a remake doing any better--with a Borat writer no less Sheesh!.

Civil Unrest

Ed Helms will star in pal Steve Carell's produced and as yet untitled American Civil War comedy pic says Variety.

Helms would play a civil war re-enacter, someone who is obsessed about historical precision. He and three other guys (two fellow re-enacters and an African-American professor of history who is protesting the event) are accidentally transported back in time and awaken in the actual civil war.

Once there, they have find there way home without altering history or permanently breaking America in half.

The premise sounds pretty dismal if you ask me...

Helms co-wrote the script with Jacob Fleisher.

Carell and Helms worked together on The Daily Show at one time and now co-star in The Office TV sit-com.

Suicide Note

Justin Marks will adapt the DC comics series "Suicide Squad " for the big screen says Variety.

Originally created a back-up feature in 1960s "The Brave and the Bold,"book the stories focused on a team of non-super-powered people fighting monstrous menaces.

The Squad was relaunched in the 1980s as a team of super villains given one last shot at redemption by the government by accomplishing missions that will most likely kill them.

This is the setup that that the studio will work from.

The villain has yet to be determined. (Deadshot?).

Dan Lin and Stephen Gilchrist will produce

Marks also wrote the Green Arrow prison movie "Super Max" which sees many famous comic book villains emerge-that's stalled out of late.

He's also writing Hack/Slash and has Street Fighter®: The Lengend of Chun-Li opening tomorrow.

Big Man On Campus

High School Musical stud Zac Efron has been named ShoWest Breakthrough Performer of the Year-2009 and he will be presented with the honor at the Final Night Banquet and Award Ceremony on Thursday, April 2, in Las Vegas.

The announcement was made by Mitch Neuhauser, co-managing director of the event, through the press release on Thursday, February 26.

"When Zac Efron made his debut, with the cast of 'Hairspray' at ShoWest 2007, many in attendance took notice of this young actor's incredible talent," Neuhauser says explaining the honor for the 21-year-old.

"His undeniable onscreen presence and charm have connected with fans around the world, and with the impending release of the comedy '17 Again', Zac Efron is poised to break out as a true Hollywood star."

Efron will be honored along with Star Trek star Chris Pine as Male Star Of Tomorrow.

One question--Does Zac really have "incredible talent"? I'm just asking... Talk about timing 17 opens 2 weeks after Efron is honored.

Get more from Variety on the story...

Merry Maid

Cate Blanchett is officially going to play Maid Marian opposite Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's it was called Nottingham, now it's just called "Robin Hood" reports Variety.

The $130 million drama, which is aiming for a PG-13 rating, The latest script was rewritten by Brian Helgeland from an initial screenplay by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris.

The story has turned into a "Gladiator"-like version of the legend that stays close to historical facts of the period.

Abandoned as a child, Robin of Loxley (Crowe) finds community with the common people of Nottingham. Robin's abandonment and trust issues hamper his ability to fall in love. He meets his match in Marian, a strong, independent woman.

Sienna Miller was previously attached to the role but exited late last year. Tabloid reports suggested it was due to the age and physical figure difference with Crowe.

Those reports are moot since Crowe has been working out hard for months and has slimmed down for the role...

Besides Blanchett is a better pick anyway.... Whoo-hoo!!!



Production begins in early April in the UK with Scott and Brian Grazer producing.

Total Redo

Do we really need a remake of Paul Verhoeven's great sci-fi flick Total Recall?

The Hollywood Reporter says producer Neal H. Moritz will develop and produce the new version of the story based on author Philip K. Dick 's tale We Can Remember It for You Wholesale

The story follows a man haunted by a recurring dream of journeying to Mars who buys a literal dream vacation from a company called Rekall Inc., which sells implanted memories. The man comes to believe he is a secret agent and ends up on a Martian colony, where he fights to overthrow a despotic ruler controlling the production of air.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone starred in the original...And the film will be a hard act to follow....

A TV series revival died a pretty quick death.

Excited To Deathly

Nick Moran will play a villain in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II " says Metro.co.uk.

The actor was overheard telling guests at the London Fashion Week Party hosted by Global Cool party in London all about his new role.

Potter replaces Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels as Moran's most noteworthy flick.

Shooting is currently underway on the two-part film which will hit the cineplex in 2010 and mid-2011

Yogi In 3-D

Eric Brevig is set to helm. the 3D CG-animated feature take on the classic Hanna-Barbera toon "Yogi Bear" says The Hollywood Reporter--taking over for the departed Ash Brannon of "Surf's Up" fame.



Combining live action and CG Yogi will updae the half-century-old title character and his sidekick Boo Boo, who reside in Jellystone Park.

Originally this flick was supposed to be a 2-D film.

Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia, who executive produced "That '70s Show," are penning the screenplay

As director on the new Journey to the Center of the Earth last year Brevig has street cred to make this work...

Double-Fisted

Tough guy Vinnie Jones has signed on for 2 projects says The Hollywood Reporter

Rob Hedden's romantic comedy "Wedlocked," about a pet photographer (Dave Annable) who gets involved with a mobster and his daughter (Katharine McPhee).

Jones will play the mobster, who attempts to kidnap McPhee's character.

The second project Jones recently joined is "Smokin' Aces: Blowback," a "Smokin' Aces" prequel-produced by original Aces helmer Joe Carnahan--in which he plays an assassin hunting down a mob who is hiding in Las Vegas.

P.J. Pesce is directing the film, which will go straight to DVD

In "Blowback," Jones plays an assassin gunning for a mob snitch who is hiding in Vegas. Tom Berenger, Clayne Crawford, Tommy Flanagan and Maury Sterling also star in the film.


Assuming that his court case doesn't get in the way of work...

Doggie Treats

Warner Bros. has picked up the animated feature pitch by Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons, who also wrote "Master Mind,"called "Dog Show".

Ellen DeGeneres will lend her voice says The Hollywood Reporter.



While plot details are being kept on a leash, the story centers on a stray dog and her misfit friends who shake up the famed and pure-bred world of a Westminster -like dog show.

DeGeneres will co-produce. David Manpearl developed the pitch.

DeGeneres got animated once before as Finding Nemo's Dory.

Gore Is "Board"

The Clue Board Game is headed back to the big screen...

Universal Pictures wants director Gore Verbinski to develop a more straightforward murder mystery take on the classic Hasbro board game that he would lso helm says Variety.

The film is a part of Universal's deal with the compazny which will see 3 of their board game properties become features .

Jonathan Krauss, senior VP of Verbinski's production company, says this flick will be "a global thriller and transmedia event that uses deductive reasoning as its storytelling engine."



Verbinski will next direct an adaptation of the acclaimed video fame Bioshock for the studio.

Jonathan Lynn wrote and directed the 1985 film incarnation of Clue which had a comedic bent-which is quite underrated in its own right.

Lake Effect

Fox Atomic is in talks to pick up the murder mystery spec "Shimmer Lake" says Production Weekly.

"Lake" centers on a sheriff investigating a series of murders as well as the disappearance of a bank robber, with clues and the movie's timeline leading back to a heist the robber committed.

Ori Uziel wrote the screnplay which was a finalist at the Austin Film Festival last year.

From River To Waters

Oscar nominee Melissa Leo has signed on to star with Hilary Swank in Tony Goldwyn’s upcoming drama “Betty Anne Waters." reports Variety.

The drama centers on an unemployed single mother (Swank) who saw her brother (Sam Rockwell) begin serving a life sentence in 1983 for murder and robbery.

Convinced that he was innocent, she earned a law degree and challenged the conviction with DNA evidence, resulting in her brother being freed in 2001.

Leo portrays the only woman officer at a local police station who’s trying to pin the murder on him. Minnie Driver also stars.

Pamela Gray wrote the original script, which Richard Lagravenese rewrote.

Leo's turn "Frozen River," makes her a fine pick here she can do this with eyes shut--and make it better

Shooting on the biopic starts this week in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

All Abuzz About Hornet

The Green Hornet movie is back on track with Michel Gondry in the big chair says Variety.

Seth Rogen is Hornet, and Stephen Chow--who bowed out as director- is still very much set to play his sidekick, Kato. Rogen wrote the script with Evan Goldberg,

Neal H. Moritz is producing this new incarnation of the crime fighter from 30's radio and 60's TV.

Moritz: “We’re huge fans of Michel Gondry. ’Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ and all his films are as daring as they are extraordinary, fueled by creative ideas that spring from his unique worldview. Our first rule, always, is to make the movie that we want to see, and that couldn’t be truer than with Michel bringing his stylish and original touch to the helm"

True, but his Be Kind Rewind is genius stuff...GH has great potential with Gondry in the big chair...

Gondry came up with a presentation that excited suits Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach

This will be the most overtly commercial film of Gondry's career, and is targeted for a June 25th 2010 release.

Media Matters

MRC :: Media Rights Capital is making double news today.

Matt Damon is re-teamimg with his The Bourne Ultimatum Ocean's Twelve scipter George Nolfi for "The Adjustment Bureau" a contemporary science fiction love story.




Nolfi wrote a script that is loosely based on a Philip K. Dick short story, and will make his directing debut on the film, which will begin production late this summer.

MRC is also shopping around the action comedy "B Team"--with Adam McKay calling action to Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as cops. Chris Henchy penned the script.

New Developments

After weeks s of holding out--Michael Cera has finally agreed to do the feature film version of the cancelled but highly touted sitcom "Arrested Development" says E! Online's Kristin.

Cera had been the lone holdout among the show's stars for several weeks. The rest of the show's cast including Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor and David Cross , are already up for it according to sources and the movie may go into production as early as the end of the year.

Cera has proven he doesn't need AD--His involvement means that they offered him the right amount of ca-ching

Exec producer and the show's narrator Ron Howard told Seacrest at the Oscars on Sunday:

"It's looking very much like we're going to make [the movie], but we've now been asked to stop offering any details. It's cloaked in a little mystery, but it's looking good."

Mitchell Hurwitz is writing and directing the flick.

A Sucker For Beauty And Talent

Zack Snyder tells the gang at IESB.net that Amanda Seyfried is in talks for one of the five lead female roles in his next live-action film "Sucker Punch" that I talked about just yesterday

"I don't know, I mean, she's got some other obligations and we're just trying to figure that out. I think we're looking at, like, what I would consider a lot of great, really great girls. Because it's all girls so it's like, yeah".

Like I said I'm there already...Seyfried is building quite the eclectic film resume

The R-rated flick is described as "an Alice in Wonderland with machine guns," begins pre-production this June in Canada

Allen Gets A Pinto

Naomi Watts and "Slumdog Millionaire" actress Freida Pinto (pictured) will star in Woody Allen's new film project reports the Boston Globe

Pinto plays the ingenue role in the helmer's still-untitled film which also stars Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins.

Filming starts this Summer in London and no plot details have been released.

The film will open next Summer.

Allen's next "Whatever Works" opens this June.

Adding A Pinch Of Salt

Chiwetel Ejiofor is in negotiations to join the cast of Phillip Noyce's attention grabbing spy thriller with Angelina Jolie and Liev Schreiber called "Salt," says Reuters.

The high-profile project centers on a CIA officer named Salt (Jolie) who is pinned as a Russian sleeper spy set out to assassinate the president. She sets out to prove that someone else is the traitor.

Ejiofor will play Peabody, a CIA counterintelligence officer. Schreiber is playing Salt's boss and friend on the CIA's Russian desk.

Ejiofor makes a cool addition--loved him in Serenity as the bad guy...

Filming on Salt kicks off next month in New York.

Plame Games

Double Oscar winner Sean Penn is in negotiations to join Doug Liman's real life drama Fair Game says Variety.

Based on Valerie Plame -Wilson's book, the real life drama follows she (Naomi Watts) and her husband Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson (Penn) who watched her CIA status at the center of controversy after he wrote op-ed columns that accused the Bush Administration of manipulating intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq.

Plame Wilson left the CIA in 2005 and she and her husband filed a civil suit against Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Cheney's ex-chief of staff, Lewis Libby who was eventually convicted of lying to a federal grand jury about his role in compromising her covert status.

Libby's 30-month sentence was commuted, but Bush stopped short of granting him a full pardon.

Jez and John Butterworth adapted the script.

Penn would relish a movie that looks unfavorable on Bush 43...

I wonder if the film will mention Richard Armitage at all? Probably not...

Liman had previously sought Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe for the two lead roles.

Oscar '09 Viewers

Apparently this year's new revamp of the Oscars ceremony (sorta) helped halt the telecast's steep ratings decline in recent years...



The viewership for the 81st Annual Academy Awards rose slightly over last year in the overnight metered-market ratings according to The Live Feed.

With a 23.3 HH rating/35 share, the ceremony was up 6% from last year's performance which was ranked as the lowest ever.

An ABC analyst adds that they expect the total viewership to be about 6-10% higher than last year in the nationals.

OK The ratings were up--but not by all that much considering they hit a record low only a year ago...I will bet the prospect of Bradgelina and Jennifer Aniston fireworks brought a few folks in to have a look as well as those rooting for Heath Ledger to win...

Ratings were up but the show was STILL a snozer overall!

Supes Sequel After All?

What Reboot?

Slashfilm found a password protected page on the official Legendary Pictures website that lists 'Superman Unleashed' as the working title of one of their upcoming films in development and calls it "a sequel to ‘Superman Returns" rather than a restart...

Why can't anyone make a decision about Supes' big screen future and stick to it?

I don't know about you--but I am sick of this back and forth--Decision time is NOW

This is really ridiculous!

Galactic Under-Taking

As Ronald D. Moore's highly touted version of "Battlestar Galactica" airs its final episodes in the next few weeks...Look for Galactica to leap to the big screen.



Universal Pictures suits have entered into "quiet negotiations" with original series creator Glen A. Larson to write and produce a film version according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The original '"Battlestar"' aired in 1978 and involved a human civilization living on a series of twelve planets that are decimated from an attack by intelligent robots known as Cylons. The survivors are led by a starship called Galactica in their attempt to find a mythic 13th planet named Earth.

Star Wars. inspired the space opera kitch,...

In 2003 the property was relaunched under guiding hand of Moore--and while I respect what he's done with it--I never really got into it--after several attempts to jump in.

This new film will surprisingly start over yet again--and have no connection to either series, but the story keeps staple characters like Adama, Starbuck and Baltar.

Given the popularity of the current incarnation and the nostalgia that the 70's version engenders from me and others...I'm not sure if yet another restart is the way to go here. Hmmm

Sucking Up

Zack Snyder's 60's era project "Sucker Punch,", will be kick off production by the Fall of 2009 in Vancouver.



From Collider:

"it’s about a girl that’s been committed to an insane asylum and she fantasizes that she can escape and she has these crazy adventures in her mind where she goes into the past and into the future."

He promises that it's a hardcore action film that's "definitely rated R".

Snyder and Steve Shibuya wrote the script off of a short story.

At this point--I would follow Snyder anywhere...

And of course Watchmen hits theaters in less then two weeks and he's been working for the past few months on his animated project "Guardians of Ga'Hoole"

Up In Lights

Summit Entertainment has laid out their plans for the Twilight franchise

MTV says that from now the films will be known as The Twilight Saga with a subtitle...
.
The upcoming sequel is now called"The Twilight Saga’s New Moon.".

With a November 20th release, the sequel follows Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) who is devastated by the abrupt departure of her vampire love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) but her spirit is rekindled by her growing friendship with the irresistible Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Bella soon finds herself drawn into the world of the werewolves, ancestral enemies of the vampires, with her loyalties being tested.



Production on NM begins soon with Chris Weitz, calling action.

Meantime Variety is reporting that the third film "Eclipse" is also moving forward at a break neck pace with a June 30th 2010 release eyed. No director has been chosen.

From EW Pattinson talks 'New Moon' at the Oscars

Fast paced indeed...

Trivia Challenge

Despite the fact that he himself shot down his involvement with the new Conan flick, director appearently Brett Ratner still wants to be involved in some way...



He talked to MTV recently about casting the mythic hero:

"It should be an unknown. Conan is kind of iconic. It’s kind of like when you do Superman. It’s difficult to fill those shoes but they came up with a new Batman, they came up with a new James Bond, you know"

But as Garth Franklin of Dark Horizons points out

Ratner doesn't seem aware both Christian Bale and Daniel Craig were decently known before taking on those roles.

Duh!

Conan is in development. Ratner meantime, gets moving on Beverly Hills Cop IV hoping to shoot it sometime this year.

B Means Billion

The Dark Knight crossed the $1 billion dollar mark in worldwide box office receipts--only the fourth film ever to do so reports Variety.

Warner Bros. confirmed that as of Friday afternoon, the combined domestic and international gross had totaled $1,001,082,160 to date - around $533 million domestically and $567 million overseas. Grosses from Ecuador and the IMAX re-release helped nudge the film over the mark which it was $4 million shy of in December.

TDK joins Titanic ($1.842 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.119 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.066 billion) in the billions club.

Oscar '09 @ Random

The 81st Annual Academy Awards are now history....And Slumdog Millionaire walked away the big winner... Getting a golden statue for Best Pic and director Danny Boyle...



Host Hugh Jackman tried really hard and despite all of the format changes (IE 5 past acting winners handling one nominee in the acting categories, more musical numbers Presenters handling multiple categories) the show still ran way too long (almost 3 and a half hours)

Here's a few quick observations:

Best Presenters It's a tie between Jack Black/Jennifer Aniston (even as the camera shows Brad and Angelina while she's on stage with Black) the pair had great timing and Natalie Portman/Ben Stiller (acting like a spaced out Joaquin Phoenix) the night's best live laughs.

Best Short Film Created For The Event Seth Rogen and James Franco do their Pineapple Express riff on the comedies of '08-with Oscar winning DOP Janusz Kaminski in the mix! Lots of fun...

Best Music Moment Queen Latifah sings I'll Be Seeing You during the "In Memoriam" montage-Wow!!

Best Acceptance Speech Heath Ledger's Family accepting on his behalf the Best Supporting Actor award for The Dark Knight Very emotional moment...

Contrast that with Sean Penn trying to sound humble while grandstanding as he won Best Actor His line "I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me." is very true though...Mickey Rourke or Frank Langella should have won...

I feel bad for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and director David Fincher....

Full Oscar Winners list...

I can't wait to see what the TV ratings were...