Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Holiday Mixer

Random industry bits from the past few weeks:

The Los Angeles Times says the 300 prequel has a title...Xerxes (2011) deals with the Battle of Marathon which was the first attempt by Persia to subjugate Greece.

Shaun of the Dead dudes director Edgar Wright and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost took part in a fun reunion photo shoot at Total Film.

Warner Bros. Home Video will release "The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy-Theatrical Cuts hits Blu-ray on April 6. The nine-disc set contains only the original theatrical versions of the three films along with more than seven hours of special features. The extended editions will make their Blu-ray debut sometime later...

Paramount Pictures chief Brad Grey told the NY Times he wants J.J. Abrams to direct another 'tentpole' film for the studio

Quentin Tarantino Best Films of '09 are....

Acclaimed Japanese animation house Ghibli announced its next feature will be a film adaptation of Mary Norton's fantasy classic "The Borrowers" says Ghibli World.

The Book of Eli screenwriter Gary Whitta talked to Coming Soon about his involvement in the "Akira" project

Twilight star Robert Pattinson (pictured) says "My little cousin tells me I look like Magneto so I guess that's who I should probably play"







Daniel Cudmore says he and Roland Kickinger (both pictured) are the two front runners for the upcoming Conan remake.

The success of the $15,000 budgeted "Paranormal Activity" out on DVD 12/29 has Paramount Pictures planning to annually develop and produce between 10-20 micro budget films with no individual budget exceeding $100,000 says Variety

David Permut, David Gross and Jesse Shapira will produce the romantic teen comedy "Pictures of You" reports Variety. Joshua Friedlander's script, centers on a teenage boy who finds a lost camera on the beach. After developing the film, he ends up on a quest to find the girl of his dreams, whose picture was discovered inside the camera.

Duane Adler, who co-wrote Step Up and Save The Last Dance will direct and rework the screenplay for another teen dance drama "Jump Around" says The Hollywood Reporter. The script follows a group of teenagers who form a Double Dutch Jump Rope team at their high school and compete for a spot in an international competition.

Michael Besman's great sounding action comedy pitch "Wife vs. Ninja" has been bought says Variety. The story centers on a Long Island housewife who discovers that the beautiful young intern who recently stole her scientist husband is actually a bloodthirsty ninja assassin intent on stealing his work.Besman will produce the project and co-write the script with Michael Zam and Jaffe Cohen.

Elizabeth Eulberg's teen novel "The Lonely Hearts Club" is being made into a film reports Variety. A heartbroken teen comes to the conclusion that most high school boys are total jerks and declares herself founding member of said club, refusing to date again until graduation.Other girls quickly join, taking the same oath and forming a movement that throws the high school into an uproar. Eulberg worked closely with Twilight author Stephenie Meyer and helped out with the publicity campaign for the teen vampire series.

Joe Penhall will adapt author John R Williams' 1960 Western novel "Butcher's Crossing says The Hollywood Reporter. In the 1870s, the adventure story centers on a man who drops out of Harvard University and heads west to the small Kansas town. There, he joins the search for a great buffalo herd. Sam Mendes may helm and will co produce the pic

R.H. Greene is writing and will direct the indie road movie drama "Slide" says The Hollywood Reporter. Set in the late 1960s, the story revolves around two gangsters, desperately trying to get away from a mob boss they double-crossed, who inadvertently kidnap Jimi Hendrix who was then at the height of his career and drug addiction. Along the way, Hendrix ends up teaching one of the gangsters about honesty, and Hendrix learns to clean up his act. The project will not use any of Hendrix's music

Steve McQueen will direct the biopic Fela reports Variety. Based on Michael E. Veal's book, the story follows the life of the late African musician and activist Fela Kuti whose music fused American jazz, funk and West African drums.

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