Sam Fell, who directed the animated features THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX and FLUSHED AWAY, has been hired to direct the live-action adaptation of Royce Buckingham's book DEMONKEEPER, VARIETY reports. Fox 2000 is producing.
Laeta Kalogridis (BATTLE ANGEL) has written the screenplay. Producers are AEI's Ken Atchity and Chi-Li Wong.
Disney has set a date for uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer's live-action version of THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE, reports VARIETY. The family adventure will hit screens July 16, 2010.
Based on the classic Mickey Mouse segment from FANTASIA, the modern day live-action film will star Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel. Jon Turteltaub is the director of the film, which begins filming this month.
For 2010, Disney has two other big tentpole films -- PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME on May 28 and TOY STORY 3 on July 18.
Disney-Pixar's UP will be the Opening Ceremony film of the 62nd Festival de Cannes in Disney Digital 3-D on Wednesday May 13, 2009, the first time an animated 3-D film has opened at Cannes.
UP, a comedy adventure in which 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen fulfils his dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America, only to discover that he has brought with him his biggest nightmare, a 9-year-old Wilderness Explorer stowaway.
Ascent 142 completed full picture post and Rushes all 250 VFX shots on LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS, the debut feature from Phil Claydon, starring James Corden and Matthew Horne and the first U.K. movie to be shot entirely on RED camera. Both companies were involved in working closely with the director and production team early on in pre production to assist with the new post pipeline required camera data and with planning the vfx.
DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY reports that Bank of America is helping people see DreamWorks Animation's MONSTERS VS. ALIENS (in theaters March 27) in 3-D rather than 2-D at no additional cost.
Media analyst Rich Greenfield of Pali Research uncovered the promotion, which allows customers to receive up to four certificates per email address to upgrade to 3-D via an online registration form. IMAX and AMC Theaters are excluded.
Universal Pictures has hired Dan Harris to write the screenplay for EA videogame adaptation DANTE'S INFERNO, per VARIETY. Harris co-wrote X-MEN 2 and SUPERMAN RETURNS.
EA VP Patrick O'Brien and game creator Jonathan Knight are involved in developing the film, about a journey through the depths of hell. Strike Ent.'s Marc Abraham and Eric Newman are producing with EA Entertainment. Universal bought the rights last fall, before the game's title had even been officially announced, in a four-studio bidding war.
Lionsgate has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film version of Suzanne Collins' best selling futuristic young adult novel THE HUNGER GAMES. Collins will adapt the screenplay from her novel, the first in a trilogy.
Nina Jacobson is producing through her Color Force shingle.
THE HUNGER GAMES was published by Scholastic last year. The trilogy's second installment, CATCHING FIRE, is due out September 1, 2009.
Awarded and prized at festivals from Berlin to Avignon, acclaimed by the Gotham and Spirit Awards, SITA SINGS THE BLUES is finally available for showing in 35mm and digital formats in the U.S. from Shadow Distribution and GKIDS.
Fox Atomic, indie videogame developer Zombie Studios and production house Union Ent. will develop a film based on Zombie's BLACKLIGHT, according to multiple news outlets.
VARIETY reports that the film and videogame will be written by Jason Dean Hall and is about a covert military action set 25 years in the future. The property will also be worked as a comicbook series.
(Via SlashFilm.com) Sony Pictures Animation has released the movie trailer for CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS. Inspired by the beloved children’s book, the film tells the story of a scientist named Flint Lockwood, who while trying to solve world hunger who encounters a problem of global proportions, as food begins to fall from the sky like rain.
David Hayter (WATCHMEN co-writer) will team with producer Benedict Carver to form Dark Hero Studios, per VARIETY, to create film, TV, Internet and videogame projects in the sci-fi, action and horror realm.
Hayter will make his directorial debut this summer on his werewolf thriller script SLAUGHTER'S ROAD. Carver is producing with Steven Paul via Crystal Sky Productions. Thomas Dekker of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CHRONICLES is set to star with ROME actor Ray Stevenson in talks to co-star.
Disney has attached Andy Fickman (RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN) to another family adventure film, MONSTER ATTACK NETWORK, per VARIETY.
Scott Elder and Josh Harmon will write the film, an adaptation of a graphic novel from AIT/Planet Lar that the studio bought last year. The story is about a team of first-responders who guard the citizens of Lapuatu, a Pacific island whose idyllic conditions are marred by frequent sea monster attacks.
Marc Bernadin and Adam Freeman wrote the graphic novel with illustrations by Nima Sorat.
VARIETY reported that Paramount and DreamWorks have slated a third TRANSFORMERS film for July 4, 2011, but AIN'T IT COOL NEWS updated the information later on Monday.
Michael Bay posted a message on his forums: "I said I was taking off a year from Transformers. Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3 -- they asked me on the phone -- I said yes to July 4 -- but for 2012 -- whoops! Not 2011!!! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots."
Paramount and Marvel have moved THOR again, this time from June 16, 2011 to May 20, 2011, according to multiple news sources.
ROPEOFSILICON.com reports that the date is now two weeks after SPIDER-MAN 4's release from Columbia.
Casting rumors include Josh Hartnett as either the winged-helmeted hero or his nemesis Loki, as well as Charlie Hunnam, Tom Hiddleston, Alexander Skarsgard, Liam Hemsworth and Joel Kinnaman, according to DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY. Nikki Finke also reports that she's told Natalie Portman is top choice to play the female lead.
New Line will adapt ABC adventure series MACGYVER into a film, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Raffaella De Laurentiis is producing through her Raffaella Productions with Martha De Laurentiis and series creator Lee Zlotoff.
Richard Dean Anderson (later on STARGATE: ATLANTIS and SG-1) starred as the uber-resourceful secret agent for the Phoenix Foundation, who would often escape dangerous situation with ingenuity and quick engineering tricks.
Disney's remake RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN easily won the weekend box office with $24.4 million in its debut. The Dwayne Johnson-led family actioner had vfx by Furious FX, Proof and RotoFactory.
Last week's winner, WATCHMEN, fell a sharp 67.7 percent for a number two finish with $17.8M and a two-week gross of $85.8M. The Warner Bros. film had vfx by CIS Hollywood, Drac Studios, Gentle Giant Studios, Intelligent Creatures, Lidar Services, Moving Picture Company, Proof, Quantum Creation FX, Rising Sun Pictures, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Svengali Visual Effects.
Warner Bros. will re-adapt Stephen King's novel IT into a feature film, with Dave Kajganich to write the script, according to VARIETY.
Dan Lin and Vertigo's Roy Lee and Doug Davison will produce. A 1990 ABC miniseries also followed the story of seven children in a small Maine town who confront a murderer who strikes in 1958 and again in 1985.
Kajganich is also working on ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK for Neal Moritz and New Line, as well as TRUE STORY (Plan B at Paramount Vantage) with director Kevin McDonald attached.
SHREK, SHREK 2 and the upcoming AREA 51 writer Joe Stillman has been hired by Warner Bros. to script ALIEN ZOO, a live action-CGI hybrid, according to VARIETY.
WB and Unique Features partners Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne are producing with Dylan Sellers. The family comedy concept, from Sellers, is said to be JURASSIC PARK with aliens.
AREA 51, with Dwayne Johnson as a lead voice, will be released by Sony this fall. Stillman also wrote GULLIVER'S TRAVELS with Jack Black and PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF to be directed by Chris Columbus.
Aasif Mandvi, Shaun Toub and Cliff Curtis have joined the cast of M. Night Shyamalan's THE LAST AIRBENDER for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Shyamalan, Sam Mercer and Frank Marshall are producing with principal photography to begin mid-March 2009.
The casting of THE LAST AIRBENDER has come under significant scrutiny, as Caucasian actors were hired in initially for the main characters, who in the animated series are of Asian descent and culture.
Walden Media, New Line and ContraFilm have signed on for a sequel to last year's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, reports VARIETY.
The sequel to last year's summer hit will be based on Richard Outten's script MYSTERIOUS TRAVELS: THE LOST MAP OF TREASURE ISLAND in which Professor Trevor Anderson and his nephew travel on a journey to a mysterious island that was the subject of three classic novels: MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (Jules Verne), TREASURE ISLAND (Robert Louis Stevenson) and GULLIVER'S TRAVELS (Jonathan Swift).
COMINGSOON.net (Via BlackFilm.com) reports that Columbus Short has joined the cast of THE LOSERS at Warner Bros. Pictures with director Sylvain White.
The film is a comicbook adaptation of the DC/Vertigo title about a band of black ops commandos who are set up to be killed by their own government, but escape and plot revenge.
Short will play the role of Pooch. WATCHMEN's Jeffrey Dean Morgan will play Clay, the team's leader.
The first feature-length film from 3D Entertainment's filmmakers Jean-Jacques and Francois Mantello (the Mantello Brothers), OCEANS 3D - INTO THE DEEP (working title), has been acquired by Wild Bunch, a Paris-and London-based sales, distribution and production outfit.
The film is set to become the first ever documentary to be both filmed and released in Digital 3D. The deal marks the first collaboration between the two companies. Under the terms of the agreement, 3D Entertainment retains the rights (all-media) for the U.S. and Canada.
Marvel Studios confirmed Thursday that Sony Pictures Entertainment will release SPIDER-MAN 4 on May 6, 2011. Additionally, Marvel Studios has revised the release dates for THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA as part of its release strategy for an uninterrupted road to THE AVENGERS, now debuting May 4, 2012.
A Marvel character-based film will now launch the summer box office season for three years in a row, from 2010 through 2012.
Cinesite has been selected by Warner Bros. to provide major creature animation on CLASH OF THE TITANS. The work involves a major battle sequence, and will include 2D and 3D shots as well as a lead CG creature.
CLASH OF THE TITANS, directed by Louis Leterrier (THE INCREDIBLE HULK) with Nick Davis as visual effects supervisor, is a remake of the 1981 film. It is the myth of Perseus and his quest to battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster in order to save the Princess Andromeda.
Mike Jones' screenplay THE MINOTAUR TAKES A CIGARETTE BREAK from Steven Sherrill's novel was optioned by The Gotham Group, reports VARIETY.
THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES producer Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Lindsay Williams will produce. Sherrill's 2000 book is about the mythical half-man, half-bull minotaur who, instead of succumbing to Theseus 3,000 years ago, now lives in a Wichita trailer park and works as a short-order cook at a run-down diner.
Producers are looking for a director for the live-action project.
