The Library of Congress announced it is adding 25 films to the National Film Registry, including the sci-fi classic THE TERMINATOR from 1984 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the time traveling robot, according to multiple news sources.
The registry compendium of motion pictures that have been judged to be culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Los Angeles federal judge Gary Allen Feess ruled on Christmas Eve that 20th Century Fox owns the distribution rights to WATCHMEN, a film they developed but was ultimately made by Warner Bros. and is due for a March 6 release (per VARIETY).
In a surprise five-page ruling a week after setting a Jan. 20 trial date for Fox's suit, Feess said, "Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the WATCHMEN motion picture."
Fox's MARLEY & ME won the weekend box office (Dec. 26-28) with $36.4 million, earning a total of $50.7M since its Christmas Day release. The comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson and 22 dogs had vfx by At The Post, LOOK! Effects and Lola Visual Effects.
The film's $14.75M first day was the largest Christmas Day opening in motion picture history.
Twentieth Century Fox is continuing in their fight to delay the release of WATCHMEN after the studio won a round in the court battle against Warner Bros., per the ASSOCIATED PRESS.
A previously-announced trial will commence as scheduled on January 20. U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess held a status conference with attorneys for both sides on Monday, per VARIETY, and no settlement emerged.
Disney will not co-finance the third CHRONICLES OF NARNIA film with Walden Media, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Without elaborating, the two entities confirmed Tuesday that for "budgetary and logistical reasons," Disney will not co-produce and co-finance THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER. The third book in the series by C.S. Lewis follows the younger two Pevensie siblings, Lucy and Edmund and their tiresome cousin, Eustace Scrubb, as they voyage to the end of the world with now-King Caspian.
ComingSoon reports that Bruce Boxleitner is returning for Disney's upcoming TR2N, joining fellow cast member Jeff Bridges and newcomers Olivia Wilde and Beau Garrett. In the original 1982 film, hacker Kevin Flynn (Bridges) gets trapped into the graphical world of his computer, joining forces with Tron (Boxleitner) to outsmart the software pirate that holds them captive.
Producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov and director Shane Acker's upcoming animated feature 9 has a newly-released trailer. Based on the 2005 Oscar-nominated animated short, the feature has the voice talents of Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly and Elijah Wood and is due September 9, 2009 (9/9/09) from Focus Features.
In it, a rag doll must face a monster that is hunting his brethren and stealing their souls. Acker wrote the story, with a screenplay by Pamela Pettler.
See it at Apple.com.
Stephen Chow told THE ASSOCIATED PRESS that, in addition to dropping out as director of THE GREEN HORNET, he will only play Kato if his schedule allows.
Last week, Chow's departure from the director's chair was announced, but at the time, it appeared as if he would continue on as the superhero's sidekick. Columbia Pictures did not respond to the AP's email request for comment.
Warner Bros. will not release THE DARK KNIGHT in China, according to VARIETY.
According to a statement Tuesday, "Based on a number of pre-release conditions that are being attached to THE DARK KNIGHT as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film, we have opted to forego a theatrical release of the film in China," the studio said.
Winning its opening weekend, Jim Carrey's comedy YES MAN (Warner Bros., vfx by LOOK! Effects) earned $18.26M, lower than expected because of bad, snowy weather covering much of the U.S.
Will Smith's mysterious drama SEVEN POUNDS (Sony, vfx by CafeFX) opened in second place with $14.85M. Animated feature THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX (Universal, animation from Framestore Feature Animation) placed third in its opening weekend with $10.1M.
LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD actress Maggie Q has joined the cast of Japanese videogame adaptation KING OF FIGHTERS, per VARIETY.
The film is currently lensing in Vancouver. Q's credits also include MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3.
Five films based on Arcana Studios' comics will be produced by Canadian production company Legacy Filmworks, production-finance group Bron Management and Arcana, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
First up is sci-fi thriller PARADOX, to star Kevin Sorbo and to be directed by Brenton Spencer (STARGATE: ATLANTIS). Sorbo will portray a homicide cop on a parallel-universe Earth ruled by magic. He investigates a series of murders committed by a previously-unseen force: the power of science.
DARKHORIZONS is reporting that DNA Films, Rebellion and 2000 AD will bring a new version of JUDGE DREDD to movie audiences.
No other details were available, but 2000AD CEO Jason Kingsley confirmed they were working with DNA Films on the project.
Sylvester Stallone starred as the Judge in a poorly-reviewed and received version in 1995. The new film will go into production next year.
Although Disney has yet to confirm, AIN'T IT COOL NEWS reports that TR2N will be shot entirely in 3-D. The sequel to the groundbreaking 1982 film is due out in 2011.
Busy director Sam Raimi will be unable to helm a new Jack Ryan film, but Paramount Pictures has hired screenwriter Hossein Amini to pen the script, which will be an original origins story, not from a Tom Clancy novel, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Raimi was in negotiations this past spring to develop and direct a series of four films centered around the CIA analyst character, who hasn't been seen onscreen since 2002. Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck have all portrayed the Ryan character, and the new films will center around the youngest Ryan seen yet.
THE SPIRIT team of Frank Miller and Odd Lot Ent. are close to reuniting to make a film adaptation of sci-fi property BUCK ROGERS, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Odd Lot's Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Prete are in negotiations to option the rights from Nu Image/Millennium, who obtained them earlier this year from Dille Trust. Millennium will get a credit on the finished film, but will not be involved in production.
Stephen Chow has dropped out as director of THE GREEN HORNET over "creative differences," per VARIETY. He will still play Kato, however. Columbia Pictures and producer Neal Mortiz are in the process of finding a new director, hopefully before the end of the year, to keep the film on track to begin production in the spring.
AUSTRALIA director Baz Luhrmann has bought the rights to F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel THE GREAT GATSBY, the trades are reporting.
Both THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER and Nikki Finke's DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY say that Luhrmann will get this project out more quickly, with less of a delay than between his last few films.
The director has taken between four to seven years between projects STRICTLY BALLROOM (1992), ROMEO + JULIET (1996), MOULIN ROUGE! (2001) and this year's release of AUSTRALIA.
Neither a script or an attached studio has come about yet.
Director Adam Shankman, signing onto two projects this week, is in final negotiations to direct Sony's SINBAD and will helm Disney's BOB THE MUSICAL, reports VARIETY.
SINBAD, which is a long-in-the-works project at the studio, has Neal Moritz producing under his Sony-based Original Film banner, with Original's Toby Jaffe exec producing with Shankman and Jennifer Gigbot, Shankman's sister.
The story centers on Sinbad and his crew, who are marooned off the coast of China and start out on a quest to find Aladdin's lamp.
WALTZ WITH BASHIR director Ari Folman has acquired the rights to THE FUTUROLOGICAL CONGRESS, a short story from sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Folman will pen the screenplay and will shoot the film as a hybrid of live action and animation. The story is set in a futuristic world where everything appears perfect, with an abundance of money and warm feelings, but it turns out the world has a dark, drug-infused underbelly.
Universal's animated feature THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX comes out Friday, so AWN is giving all our U.S. readers the chance to win a prize pack, courtesy of the studio.
Be the first to email editor@awn.com with the correct answer, and you will receive via mail an adult shirt and hat, picture frame magnet, Croc shoe magnet, youth shirt and hat, bookmark and full-sized poster.
Without further ado, What led to the rats being banished from the Kingdom of Dor?
Music mogul Lou Adler has licensed the animated movie rights to the library of Cheech and Chong comedy recordings to Big Vision Ent., an independent licensee, producer and DVD label for special interest programming and Chambers Bros. Ent., a television and animation production company.
Former ILM staffer and Orphanage co-founder Scott Charles Stewart will direct PRIEST, an adaptation of horror Western comicbook from TokyoPop, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Stewart made his directorial debut on Screen Gems' 2010 biblical thriller LEGION, which he also wrote. He, along with Stu Maschwitz and Jonathan Rothbart, co-founded vfx house the Orphanage.
Gore Verbinski (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN) and Universal have bought the rights to a WALL STREET JOURNAL article depicting the detrimental effect that online fantasy role-playing games have on people's real lives, per VARIETY.
The 2007 article, by Alexandra Alter, focuses on a married man who spends upwards of 20 hours a day at his computer, role playing as a muscled entrepreneur, when he is in fact a diabetic, chain-smoking 53-year-old.
What is it about Italians? Give any of them a microphone and invite them to speak and they immediately turn into the best public speakers known to man. Joking, calling out to the audience, laughing, and then delivering interesting insight and banter. This is I Castelli Animati.
