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Category: Films

Headline News

Nic Cage To Kick Ass

Nicolas Cage will KICK-ASS in director Matthew Vaughn's big screen adaptation of the comic from Mark Millar, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Lyndsy Fonseca are also part of the cast. KICK-ASS, written by Millar and illustrated by John Romita, Jr. from Marvel Comics, is about a dorky high school student (Johnson) who is determined to become a superhero despite no ability. Fonseca will play the girl the hero has a crush on, who thinks he's gay.

November Headline News

Quantum Of Solace Shifts Post-Potter

More dust is settling after the HARRY POTTER push-back last week: Sony's QUANTUM OF SOLACE has been moved to a November 14 opening, per VARIETY.

The new James Bond flick had been slated to open November 7 with DreamWorks Animation's MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA, which for now has the weekend to itself. Bond titles have traditionally opened the weekend before Thanksgiving, but HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE was set to open November 21 -- it's now set for July 2009.

Headline News

A Gnomeo By Any Other Name Is James McAvoy

James McAvoy and Emily Blunt are in negotiations to play the title roles in Miramax's GNOMEO AND JULIET, a CG animated Shakespeare adaptation from Elton John's Rocket Pictures, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Kate Winslet was attached to voice Juliet two years ago and had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts. The film will feature several of John's classic songs, as well as music from former collaborator Tim Rice. The duo, who teamed on THE LION KING, was originally supposed to write original songs for the film.

Headline News

Hobbit Adds Lord Of The Rings Fellowship

The minds behind the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, have officially joined THE HOBBIT and its sequel from director Guillermo del Toro, per VARIETY.

Exec producer Jackson, Walsh and New Line president Toby Emmerich made the announcement Tuesday, four months after del Toro was confirmed as the director for both films.

Jackson, Walsh and Boyens wrote the screenplays adaptations from J.R.R. Tolkein's LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. Third film THE RETURN OF THE KING won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

Film Headline News

Breaking Claymation Ground With Mary And Max

Australian film and television company Melodrama Pictures has captured the attention of international animation companies with its latest creation MARY AND MAX. In partnership with Stop Motion Pro and XDT, Melodrama Pictures has developed animation technology to create its first claymation feature. MARY AND MAX is the first feature film from the Academy Award winning team Melanie Coombs and Adam Elliot (Best Animated Short for HARVIE KRUMPET).

Headline News

Ghosts Return: Poltergeist Remake Has Writers

MGM has hired the writing duo Stiles White and Juliet Snowden to write a remake of POLTERGEIST, per VARIETY.

The duo wrote BOOGEYMAN and are considered specialists in the horror genre. MGM is looking for a director for the project.

Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais and Mark Victor wrote the 1982 original, with direction from Tobe Hooper and starring JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson. It also has two sequels, released in 1986 and 1988.

Effects Headline News

Bumbling Actors Finally Knock Off Dark Knight At Box Office

TROPIC THUNDER, despite some lingering controversy, powered its way to the top of the box office heap for the weekend ending August 17, earning $25.81 million (actuals) for Paramount/DreamWorks (vfx by CIS Vancouver, CIS Hollywood and CIS London, Hammerhead Productions, Custom Film Effects and Proof).

Warner Bros.' THE DARK KNIGHT finally dropped to number two with $16.38M and $471.08M in five weeks, making it the second-highest grossing film ever, surpassing STAR WARS: EPISODE IV -- A NEW HOPE and just below TITANIC (which grossed more than $600M).

Movie Headline News

Tropic Thunder's Visual Effects Play Up The Laughs

Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. lead an ensemble cast in DreamWorks Pictures' TROPIC THUNDER, an action comedy about a group of self-absorbed actors who set out to make the biggest war film ever. After ballooning costs (and the out of control egos of the pampered cast) threaten to shut down the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast deep into the jungles of Southeast Asia for "increased realism," where they inadvertently encounter real bad guys.

Film Headline News

IMAX Comments On Change To 2008 Film Slate

Reflecting Thursday's announcement that the release date of HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE has moved to July 2009, IMAX Corporation, confirmed it is already exploring alternative titles for this year's holiday season and is "confident" it will secure a solid film for the IMAX theatre network.

The company will announce a replacement film as soon as possible.

Disney announced it has moved their next animated feature, BOLT, up a week, to November 21 to fill the vacancy.

Film Headline News

Twilight Moves In On Potter Vacancy

TWILIGHT, the first film in Summit Ent.'s thriller romance franchise, has moved up its North American release date to Friday, November 21, 2008. The film, which was previously planned to be released on December 12, 2008, is taking advantage of HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE moving to next summer.

The new release date for TWILIGHT allows the studio to both bring the film to the written-series' enormous fan base sooner, and to present the film in more theaters prior to the holiday movie-going season where traditionally screen time for any popular film is limited.

Headline News

Half-Blood Prince Pushed Back To Summer 2009

Warner Bros. Pictures has moved back the release date of HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE to summer 2009. The sixth installment of the HARRY POTTER franchise will now open day-and-date domestically and in the major international markets on July 17, 2009.

Headline News

More Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda Coming

DreamWorks Animation will likely produce at least one more additional MADAGASCAR sequel as well as a sequel to this summer's hit KUNG FU PANDA, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg discussed the possibilities at a preview Wednesday of the upcoming MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA.

Time Headline News

Blogs: RFP Review: Tropic Thunder (**1/2)

From Rick's Flicks Picks

This funny mess feels like a bunch of actor-centric comedy sketches strung together. Some of those sketches work much better than others. The weaker sketches often feel like stale leftovers from a 2001 episode of SNL. And like it happens on SNL from time to time, the guest hosts steal all the scenes from the regulars.

Read the rest of the review at Animation Blogspot.

Headline News

MGM Announces Christmas Release Date for Valkyrie

MGM Pictures will be releasing the suspense film, VALKYRIE (vfx by Lidar Services, Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Third Floor), from director Bryan Singer, on Friday, December 26, 2008.

"We saw and tested the movie," said Clark Woods, President of MGM Distribution. "And we believe a strong movie deserves a strong playdate."

Studios Headline News

Stoners, Sisterhood Can't Stop The Dark Knight

Winning the weekend for a fourth time, THE DARK KNIGHT continues to dominate against anything thrown against it, beating openers PINEAPPLE EXPRESS and THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2 with $26.12 million (weekend ending August 10; actuals). The Warner Bros. film (vfx by Double Negative, BUF, Gentle Giant Studios and New Deal Studios) has a cume of $441.63M.

VARIETY reports that $31M of that total comes from IMAX screens alone.

Sony's PINEAPPLE EXPRESS came in second with $23.24M over the weekend and $41.32M in the entire Wednesday-Sunday opening.

Headline News

Furious FX Takes Ride On Midnight Meat Train

Furious FX slashed their way through 60 visual effects for director Ryuhei Kitamura's stateside debut MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN. Based on Clive Barker's BOOKS OF BLOOD short story, the film follows an up-and-coming photographer searching for edgy urban subjects, who unexpectedly captures images far more dark and disturbing while the city sleeps.

Headline News

Alpha And Omega And 3-D

Lionsgate's CG film ALPHA AND OMEGA will be released in stereoscopic 3-D in spring 2010, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Lionsgate and Crest Animation are co-financing and co-producing the film, scheduled for release on April 16, 2010. In it, two young wolves are thrown together by circumstance. Voices include Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Christina Ricci, Danny Glover, Larry Miller and Dennis Hopper.

Lionsgate's first 3-D project will be the upcoming MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3-D, in post-production now, and scheduled to open January 16.

Universal Headline News

Gorden Flashes Ahead With Writers In Tow

Sony has hired writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless to write the screenplay for FLASH GORDON, just months after winning the rights to the title, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

The outer space tale follows Flash Gordon, a young polo player who is kidnapped and taken to the distant planet of Mongo, where he and companions Dale Arden and Hans Zarkov get into adventures while fighting ruler Ming the Merciless.

Headline News

Columbia Buys A Maximum Ride

Columbia Pictures has purchased the screen rights to MAXIMUM RIDE, and has hired Don Payne to write the script, per VARIETY.

RIDE is a young adult novel series from James Patterson, featuring six children who have been genetically altered to be 98 percent human, 2 percent bird. The kids, bred to fly, escape their lab-rat existence and are pursued by their scientist creators, who send a pack of part-human, part-wolf creatures called Erasers to track them down.

The fifth installment of the book series will be published in 2009.

Penn Headline News

NewTek LightWave 3D Shines In The Dark Knight Hong Kong Sequence

NewTek's LightWave 3D was used by artist Stuart Penn at Framestore for key scenes of one of 2008's biggest box office successes, THE DARK KNIGHT. A highlight of the LightWave-generated work appears during the movie's notable Hong Kong sequence.

Headline News

Max Thieriot Is A Sci Fi Prodigy

Actor Max Thieriot has been cast in the title role in the sci-fi actioner PRODIGY, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Chuck Russell will direct the Intrepid Pictures and Kincine film.

Thieriot will play rebellious William Cooley, a student at an elite boarding school that produces world leaders with the help of drugs. Three days before graduation, several alumni are murdered, and William is implicated. The school's valedictorian investigates William, but the two become reluctant allies when both are targeted in the conspiracy.

Headline News

The Rumors Are True: Brad Pitt Is A Bastard

Brad Pitt is confirmed to star in Quentin Tarantino's WWII drama remake INGLORIOUS BASTARDS for Weinstein Co. and Universal, per VARIETY.

Production starts October 13 in Germany. Tarantino also wrote the script, and intends for the film to be ready for next year's Cannes Film Festival. Producers are Lawrence Bender and Erica Steinberg; exec producers are Harvey and Bob Weinstein.

The deal puts Pitt back into Universal's stables, patching things up apparently from his last-minute exit from STATE OF PLAY last year.

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