Dancing Around The Issue

Ugh! Another sequel goes 3-D...

Variety reports today that a third installment of the hit dance franchise Step Up" tentatively titled "Step Up 3-D" is in the pipeline...

Step Up 2 The Streets (Stars Robert Hoffman & Briana Evigan pictured) director Jon Chu is in line to helm the 3-quel.

I'm sure the story will follow the basic plot of two young dance students from opposite means falling in love while finding their groove.

While I have no overall problem with yet another flick in the series being made...As I have said before The use of 3-D techniques just smacks of gimmicky desperation...

While not a sign of the apocalypse--Step Up 3-D proves though "we are indeed inching are way closer" to the event.

Out For Justice

Variety says the once delayed Justice League of America flick is back on track.



The studio announced today that the film’s writers, Kieran and Michele Mulroney, are back at work on the script, with a final draft due to be handed to director:George Miller, who’s currently prepping in Australia.

The halt in production meant that the movie’s options on its cast had expired, but it would seem that there have been no problems getting Adam Brody (The Flash), Armie Hammer (Batman), Common (Green Lantern) and Megan Gale (Wonder Woman) , and D.J. Cotrona (rumored to play Superman) back to the table.

The actors been told to continue their training workouts for their roles...

Hmm...The restart happened pretty quickly.. Just yesterday. talking to The Sydney Morning Herald Miller described the movie's status as "precarious"...

Here We Go Again?

Now that the writer's strike is over, and The 80th Annual Academy Awards in the rear view mirror, Variety talks Prepping for a SAG strike

As the pressure increases on SAG to start pact talks, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company has taken the unusual step of introducing strike insurance...

I'm sure the insurance co. is just hedging their bets-given Hollywood's recent history...But I would also say it's that recent history that ought to motivate The Screen Actors Guild get off their collective butts and start talking...And avoid a re-hash the last 3 months come Summer '08.

There's only one way to end this post-Stay Tuned...

Helter Shelter

Variety:

Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Julianne Moore (pictured) are set to star in a horror flick called Shelter...

The plot of which, is being kept under wraps, for now...

Swedish directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein and who directed the 2005 thriller, Storm,

Michael Cooney, who wrote the twisted film, Identity is behind this screenplay. No wonder Shelter's plot is hushed

Production starts next month in Pittsburgh PA...

Rhys-Meyers has made quite a name for himself especially on the cable series The Tudors...

While Moore's last thriller the The Forgotten was forgettable..

Maybe the 2 stars can balance out the movie and Shelter will be a great ride...

Terms And Conditions

Variety offers up the release date for the highly anticipated Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins...

May 22 2009

This release date means the sequel will be locked in a head to head battle with Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian.

The last Museum flick took in more than $100 million more than Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines did worldwide. But Terminator's head start as a franchise, overall buzz, a popular star Christian Bale headlines, mean that, the CGI animals will have a tougher time. I'm betting on some heavy metal...

Production on T4 is due to start on May 5 in New Mexico.

Meanwhile, Sony picks up 'Terminator Salvation' for overseas distribution...

Tarnished Reputation

The headline in Variety says it best...

Oscar ratings fall to all-time low....

In what could hardly be dubbed a surprise, Sunday's Academy Awards telecast...took a tumble in the ratings, logging the show's smallest audience on record.

I was partly right with my ratings prediction...The strike had nothing to with the big drop..The show was just plain boring...and the more I think about how Jon Stewart (pictured) did--he was not the issue...I think the general public likes their flicks but could care less about what the showbiz crowd crowns the best.

NewBourne

Even though Matt Damon (pictured) has said in the past that he's done playing Jason Bourne...

Variety says a Bourne 4 is “on tap” and in the pipeline.

The question is whether any of the principals will have anything to do with the sequel?

Damon has said in the more recent past he’d only be interested in returning to the character “maybe years down the road”, and even then only if the last two movies’ director Paul Greengrass is the man in charge.

Despite heavy demand for Greengrass, it seems the studio has indeed locked both of them up for a fourth Bourne movie, according to trade.

If true, I'm sure the fact that the last film was such a success and its double Oscar win in the tech categories will have had something to do with change of heart.

Meh. I know I'm very much in the minority here--when I say that the film series has never really revved me up all that much--Despite liking the skills of both Damon and Greengrass otherwise.

Can't explain why I feel that way I just do...I know weird, Right?

Hey JJ,,,,

While attending the US-Ireland Alliance pre-Oscar bash that honored formmer "Star Trek: The Next Generation"/"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" costar Colm Meaney....

ReelzChannel talked with J.J. Abrams and got him to talk about the new Star Trek movie...

Abrams said they were using current rainy weather to their advantage and also spoke about the release date change and possibly using Meaney in a sequel..

He also talked about the Cloverfield sequel and bringing Stephen King's popular novels of The Dark Tower series to the screen...

Click Here for video...

I found his comments on the release change from Christmas 2008 to May 2009 most interesting

It was not something I did, it was something I was told was going to happen. Actually I am thrilled the studio feels the way they do after seeing the dailies. I loved our original date of Christmas, but I think this date gives the film an even bigger opportunity for an audience.

And Abrams is already talking Trek 2...

Never read Dark Tower series but from what little I do know of it-the project screams Abrams involvement...

The Day After...

It's all about Oscar at 80...

European actors dominate Oscars

Acting prizes went to Daniel Day-Lewis (pictured accepting his award), Marion Cotillard, Tilda Swinton (both of those wins were totally a surprise to me) and Javier Bardem at 80th Annual Academy Awards.

'Country' wins best picture at Oscars

Box office boost for 'Country'

A long, violent journey for Coens

Diablo Cody's devilish first impression- Juno's scripter Diablo Cody makes good (The film also showed Spirit last Saturday too)

Celebrities brave rain on Oscar night

Hollywood stays chipper despite recent past

WGA strike chatter limited at Oscars

Inside the Oscars: Reviews, Pics

N.Y. parties keep fans connected

Inside Gotham's Oscar bashes

This year's race gave me no one to really root for-ala Martin Scorsese's The Departed-which did nothing to keep my attention last night...

--It was great to see Owen Wilson back in the thick of it as a presenter...

-Congrats to No Country For Old Men for its big win--

-The show itself needs a boost--I say, next year, do whatever it takes to bring back Billy Crystal as the host...

OSCAR '08 Quick Hits

The 80th Annual Academy Awards are history...What follows are just a few random thoughts on Hollywood's big night--But first...



And the Oscar goes to...

Reactions from Oscar winners

Overall the show was another snoozer...But there were a few things that perked it up a bit...

-Host Jon Stewart got off some funny lines tonight but his best moment came when he invited Best Song co-winner Markéta Irglová back on stage to give her acceptance speech after the orchestra drowned her out.

-I loved the Oscar at 80 montage.

-Best Presenters our fighting men and women over in Iraq-Despite how the Hollywood crowd really feels about them. It was better than not seeing them at all--who helped Tom Hanks hand out the Best Documentary Short Subject Award to Freeheld: The Laurel Hester Story...

-Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen presenting the award for Besr Sound Editing to The Bourne Ultimatum-Funny Stuff!



-Production Designer Robert F. Boyle receiving his honorary Oscar-a frequent collaborator of Alfred Hitchcock's...Boyle Finally Gets His Due!!

I thought Ruby Dee and Hal Holbrook should have won...

I will have more to say on Oscar '08 larer today...

Making Its Point

Vantage Point wins rhe weekend with a bulleye...

Variety:

“Vantage Point” easily staked out the best view at the weekend box office, as Sony’s “Rashomon”-style political thriller grossed an estimated $24 million from 3,149 theaters in its domestic debut.


Matthew Fox as Kent Taylor, Dennis Quaid as Thomas Barnes, Richard T. Jones and William Hurt as President Ashton

Joshua Rich of EW Online:

Ensemble political thriller performed strongly, topping rivals ''Jumper'' and ''The Spiderwick Chronicles''

Read More Here...

Pre-Show Prep

Less than 90 minutes to go before the 80th Annual Academy Awards...

Oscar gets final polish before big show -Hollywood Abuzz With Oscar Preparations--History beckoning Coen brothers as Oscars loom -Oscars 80th Birthday

Meanwhile, the Razzies were handed out last night - Honoring the worst of '07...Lindsay Lohan and Eddie Murphy are tops at the bottom...

The Oscars air live tonight on ABC 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST...I'll be back after the show with a few quick thoughts...And then more tomorrow...

Studying 4 Finals

Variety details the basic plot and main cast for Final Destination 4...And guess what kids? It's gonna be shot in 3-D!!




This time the story involves a teenager's premonition of a deadly race car crash spares his life and those of a few lucky others. But death continues to stalk those who escaped it.

Among those targeted by the grim reaper this time include: Shantel VanSanten (pictured right), Bobby Campo, Haley Webb, Nick Zano, Krista Allen and Andrew Fiscella.


Zano

Campo

David R. Ellis (Final Destination 2, Cellular) returns to direct the sequel.

Eric Bress (FD 2,The Butterfly Effect) wrote the script.

Production begins this month in New Orleans.

The entire Final Destination series has been one big guilty pleasure for me from the start. The first Final Destination is still the best so far but the other films accomplish what they need to do to succeed in their own right. I expect #4 will do the same.

Does the flick really need the 3-D gimmick? That seems like a rather desperate ploy on the part of the filmmakers...Sheesh!

Across The Spectrum

Sequel ready to fly?; Playing games; The End; Moving; Playing with monsters; And it's all business...

***IESB offers up a status report on Superman: Man of Steel

"We've also been hearing sources at WB Burbank who believe that The Man of Steel is picking up speed and since the strike ended various "A" list writers have gone in with promising pitches. Bryan Singer is still attached and the studio big wigs are stillcounting on him directing the sequel"

***Michael Clarke Duncan, Chris Klein Smallville's Kristin Kreuk and Rick Yune have been cast in "Street Fighter," based on the popular Japanese video game series reports Variety.

Jean-Claude Van Damme starred in the 1994 film which totally flopped at the box office.

Shooting on the latest incarnation,Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li takes place in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Vancouver and is set to start in March.

***Variety also says that director Roland Emmerich (pictured) and frequent collaborator Harald Kloser want to bring about the end of the world...

The pair just sold a script called 2012. Refering to the year that some ancient calendars predicted the end of mankind. Kloser is a composer who scored the music for
The Day After Tomorrow and other films, but has also tried writting scripts like next month's
10,000 B.C...

***The release date has been pushed back for thriller "Eagle Eye"-starring Shia LaBeouf- from August 8th to September 26th.

***Now that the "Cloverfield" monster is not a secret anymore it's being released in toy form by Hasbro.

***A detailed posting by actor Robert Englund in which he talks about playing Freddy again in the A Nightmare on Elm Street" remake is online.

***"Saw IV writers Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan will pen the updated "Hellraiser" scheduled for January 9th 2009.

***Justin Timberlake is Playing the Field

***Amazon nursing 'Stolen Child'-Amazon.com's is moving forward with plans to produce its first movie, The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue, a fantasy novel

***The Directors Guild officially ratified its three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers

***An old story returns!

Pellicano trial postponed one week

***WB, Paramount dominate Saturns

***The Last Reel Congratulates You Tuber ItsJustSomeRandomGuy the creator of those Superhero videos, on getting hired by the folks at the annual New York Comic Con!! How Great Is That!

Here's the first NYCC AD:

"Public" Display

Actors David Wenham (pictured) and Stephen Graham have landed key supporting roles in Michael Mann's period crime drama"Public Enemies", according to The Hollywood Reporter.

An adaptation of Bryan Burrough's book-Wenham is playing Harry "Pete Pierpont, a member of Dillinger's (Johnny Depp) crew who had a reputation for violence.

Graham (pictured bottom) will play Baby Face Nelson

Shooting starts in March in Chicago



Mann has assembled a great cast for this film--I can't wait...

I can't believe the uncanny resemblance between Nelson (pictured) and Graham...!

Animal Control

The Wolf Man remake finds its nemesis

Hugo Weaving (pictured) will on the hunt for Benicio Del Toro in the updated version of the classic horror tale as reported in Variety.

The Aussie actor will play Detective Aberline who's leading the investigation into the monster attacks.

Cameras are set to roll next month in London.

Weaving's strong portrayals in V for Vendetta and in the The Matrix Trilogy puts him in a great position to play a character obsessed to catch the creature.

Electricity In The Air

It's been a big week for X-Men Origins: Wolverine...Today the cast has grown by two more...

Variety has details:

Former Lost co-star Dominic Monaghan (pictured) and Daniel Henney have landed parts in the superhero prequel.

Monaghan plays Barnell, a mysterious former military ally of Wolverine's civilian persona named Logan with the power to harness energy and electricity.

Henney is playing Agent Zero, a member of the Weapon X. He's an expert mutant tracker with great marksman skills.

Production is already underway in New Zealand...With plans to move to Australia and New Orleans.

Aside from the TV gig Monaghan already had a large fanboy following with his stint as a Hobbit in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy...His role here sends his geek cred into the stratosphere for all time.

Henney appears in his first American flick...What a way to get one's acting feet wet.

The Finer Point

This weekend's new releases--The star studded thriller Vantage Point (reviews) has Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, and Forest Whitaker trying to catch a presidential assassin; Star Trek's "new" Chekov Anton Yelchin is Charlie Bartlett (reviews)-the 21st century's answer to Ferris Bueller; Writer/director Michel Gondry and star Jack Black tell audiences to Be Kind Rewind (reviews); And Larry The Cable Guy returns in the comedy Witless Protection (reviews)




Pamela McClintock and Dave McNary of 'Variety:

Sony's ensemble political thriller "Vantage Point" is expected to provide most of the mojo at the weekend box office among the four new major releases. Directed by Pete Travis, it bows in 3,149 theaters.

Other newbies don't seem to be generating much heat.

New Line's Jack Black offbeat comedy "Be Kind Rewind," directed by Michel Gondry, opens in 808 runs; MGM's R-rated teen dramedy "Charlie Bartlett," from Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, bows in 1,112; and Lionsgate's Larry the Cable Guy laffer "Witless Protection" opens in 1,333...

Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly:

The political thriller will lead a weekend of misfit movies and leftovers

Read More Here...

Next Week: Will Ferrell goes Semi-Pro; Meet Penelope and The Other Boleyn Girl...

Taking Off

As planned-I visited the Screen Archives Entertainment website @ 3:00 PM today to order a copy of the 8-CD Limited Edition Box Set of Superman-The Music (1978-1988)...



The process was anything but enjoyable (or quick). Demand for something like this is always tricky thing to predict. Apparently, not even the folks at SAE were sure what would happen. There was so much additional traffic trying to log on the site this afternoon their internal server was clogged and by 3:02 PM it was down. After many failed attempts it took me about 2 hrs. and 15 minutes to complete the transaction.Very frustrating to say the least... Everything went fine. Because shortly afterwards, I checked, and the funds were already transferred.

The UK site Superman Cinema has devoted an entire section to the release...Among the information found within those web pages are detailed track listings and running times for each disc:

Superman The Movie [2 disc]

Superman II [1 disc]

Superman III [1 disc]

Superman IV [2 disc]

Ruby Spears Animated Series [1 disc]

Extra! Alternates, Bonus Cues [1 disc]



Among the F.A.Q.'s about the product I found this most interesting:

Q. Is it limited to 3000 units?

A. The Superman set is limited to an initial run of 3000 units. Because all of the music was recorded in Europe (and the Ron Jones material was a non-union session), FSM is not limited in how many they are allowed to make within the terms of their license. However, the sets are very expensive to produce so the decision to do a second run will be based on how well the first one does. But even if it happens it might not be right away.

Q. If there is another pressing, will they include the 160 page book?

A. It's too early to say what [Film Score Monthly] plans to do. They may elect to re-release the CDs with standard liner notes, but this is speculative on my part. I guess it depends on how quickly they sell the inventory.

Q. I have the Rhino discs; I don't want to buy Superman yet again! Can they release the soundtracks separately?

A. The terms of their license with Warner Bros.. only allows them to release the music in a box-set. Superman The Movie sounds superior to the Rhino release because the producers had access to the 6 track, which was used for the 2001 DVD release. The other scores are exceptional too, not just musically but sonically as well. It's your money, your choice.

Based on what happened this afternoon, I expect there to be an additional pressing at some point down the road...But the 2nd run will most likely be in "limited" numbers as well.

I can't wait to read that 160 page book of liner notes...!

I have the Rhino release...But considering the promised improved sound (and the other discs in the set) it's worth the re-buy.

I'll keep ya informed as to when the set arrives and then I will have more to say... I'm sure

Higher Learning

The Hollywood Reporter says that a number of stars are headed "Back To School":

Orlando Bloom (pictured) Alfred Molina, Peter Sarsgaard, Emma Thompson, Olivia Williams, Sally Hawkins, Rosamund Pike, and Carey Mulligan have signed up for 's "An Education"--the latest film from Lone Scherfig.

Based on a portion of a memoir by British journalist Lynn Barber and set in early 1960s London. It tells the story of a 17-year-old girl (Mulligan) whose quiet life is turned upside down by the arrival of a 30ish-something playboy (Sarsgaard).

Noted author Nick Hornby (About a Boy") penned the script . Production will start in either March or April across the pond in London.

The flick seems packed with lots of talented folk. Given Bloom's status as a "hunk" lots of young female fans I would have expected him to have been cast as the playboy type...