Category: Films

The Lucasfilm Ltd. production of RED TAILS -- a fictional story inspired by the historic and heroic exploits of America's first all-black aerial combat unit -- has completed casting and will soon begin principal photography in Europe.

Illumination Ent. has put live-action comedy I HOP on the fast-track, ensuring their first non-animated feature will debut in 2010, per VARIETY.

Universal is releasing the film with Illumination head Chris Melendandri to produce with John Cohen.

Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio wrote the script for the project, a THE SANTA CLAUSE-like film about a slacker who accidentally runs over the Easter Bunny and who must take over the job to save Easter.

DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION star Justin Chatwin told MTV NEWS on Friday that a sequel to the forthcoming live action adaptation is already in the works.

"I know they've written a second one and it's pretty far out there," Chatwin said. "The second one really goes to some different places that I've never seen in any comic book adaptation,"

Chatwin plays hero Goku, who seeks the powerful Dragonballs to protect the world from evil Lord Piccolo, played by James Marsters (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER).

VARIETY is reporting that Quentin Tarantino's WWII film INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS will compete at this year's Cannes Film Festival, May 13-24.

The Brad Pitt-starrer began its production only in October, but Tarantino always intended the film to debut on the French Riviera, and has reportedly accepted the festival's invitation. The film's backers, the Weinstein Co. and Universal Pictures, as well as the festival organizers, did not comment on the news. The full lineup is set to be announced on April 23.

Twentieth Century Fox has purchased the film rights to environmental novel THE WORLD WITHOUT US, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Alan Weisman's nonfiction book about what Earth would look like if humans were to suddenly disappear has been a critical and financial success.

Fox is looking to take the material, based in science, and create a fiction tale around it. The book explores, through interviews and research, how buildings and houses would disappear, how long man-made objects would last and how waste and pollutants would dissipate.

Will Arnett and Michael Shannon have joined the cast of Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures' JONAH HEX, based on the DC Comics character, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

HEX will be directed by Jimmy Hayward, with production set to begin this month in Louisiana. The cast also includes Josh Brolin, John Malkovich and Megan Fox.

Arnett will play a Union soldier who enlists Hex and is then blindsided by the dirty fighting style of his enemies. Shannon will be Doc Cross Williams, an eccentric ringleader of a brutal gladiator circus.

Paramount Pictures, gearing up for the May 8 release of the STAR TREK reboot, has hired writers for a sequel, likely coming in summer 2011, according to VARIETY.

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who wrote the upcoming release, will be joined by LOST co-creator Damon Lindelof. J.J. Abrams, who both directed and produced the new chapter, is set to produce the sequel with Bad Robot partner Bryan Burk, but has not yet committed to direct.

The Walt Disney Studios will debut the Disney Digital 3D versions of Disney-Pixar's animated features -- TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2 -- during a special limited engagement starting on October 2, 2009.

Dutch brand management and media company Telescreen has acquired the exclusive worldwide rights of PINKELTJE. The deal excludes the original books, as owned by copyright holder Unieboek Publishers in The Netherlands. The deal was made between Telescreen and the shareholders of the former rights holder Deja Vu BV during MIPTV in Cannes. Telescreen acquired 100 percent. of the shares.

The largest 3-D film ever released, the animated MONSTERS VS. ALIENS (Paramount/DreamWorks Animation) is a success at the box office, bringing in $59.3 million in its debut. The film grossed approximately $32.6 million on the 2,080 3-D screens (including IMAX), which represents only 28 percent of the film's runs and accounts for 56 percent of the total weekend gross.

It was the biggest weekend debut of 2009, the best opening for a 3-D film and the biggest spring opening for a non-sequel animated film.

DreamWorks Animation has hired SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE writer Simon Beaufoy (who won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for his trouble) to pen TRUCKERS, a feature in the early development stages, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Beaufoy had been rumored to be working on a second WOLVERINE project, but nothing has come of it yet. He is following in the animation footsteps of Michael Artndt, who won an Oscar in 2006 for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and headed for Pixar to work on TOY STORY 3.