weekly movie news

FH · 12-08-2003, 02:47 AM

When Will Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Start Shooting? Source: USA Today Monday, December 8, 2003

Scooper 'ajfoxy' discovered an interesting bit about Pirates of the Caribbean 2 in a USA Today report from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Hollywood premiere.

According to the Friday edition of the USA Today, production is set to begin on Pirates of the Caribbean 2 in January of 2005. It was in the article about the premiere of LOTR: Return of the King when talking about Orlando Bloom getting Legolas' bow and arrows from the trilogy, saying he was signed for that film as well.

Returning for at least one sequel are producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski, writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, and talent Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. It was previously reported that the studio was thinking about shooting the two sequels back-to-back, but that hasn't been confirmed yet.

FH · 12-08-2003, 02:49 AM

Adam Sandler Will Click Around His Life Source: The Hollywood Reporter Monday, December 8, 2003

Adam Sandler will next star in Click, a comedy that centers on a workaholic architect who finds a universal remote that allows him to fast-forward and rewind to different parts of his life. Complications arise when the remote starts to overrule his choices.

Production on the Columbia Pictures/Revolution Studios project is set to begin in April. The script was written by Bruce Almighty screenwriters Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe. No director is currently attached.

Sandler is currently shooting the James L. Brooks-directed cross-cultural comedy/drama Spanglish.

FH · 12-08-2003, 02:50 AM

Clive Barker Returns to Direct Tortured Souls Source: Variety Monday, December 8, 2003

Clive Barker is returning to the director's chair after an eight-year absence, signing to helm Universal's horror film Tortured Souls. Barker last directed 1995 feature Lord of Illusions, a Scott Bakula starrer released by MGM.

Tortured Souls is Barker's own line of action figures, which debuted at the International Toy Fair in Gotham in February 2001. Released in limited numbers last July by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane's McFarlane Toys, the monster figures promptly sold out.

Each of the six grisly Tortured Souls - Talisac, Lucidique, Scythe-Meister, Agonistes, Mongroid and Venal Anatomica - was sold with a chapter of an original Barker-penned storyline. The combined chapters form a novella outlining the Souls' origin.

For the big screen adaptation, the storyline centers on a man who decides he wants to be rid of his wife in favor of a more interesting life. The man "exchanges" his wife for a demon goddess from another world, throwing her into a shadowy world of monsters - one from which she must escape and return to his everyday world to rescue their child and vanquish the demon.

McFarlane will consult on the script and produce as well.

FH · 12-08-2003, 02:51 AM

House of 2000 Corpses on a Stand Still? Source: Bloody-Disgusting Sunday, December 7, 2003

Horror fansite Bloody-Disgusting send us this update about House of 2000 Corpses, the sequel to the Rob Zombie film.

So much for an October start and an April release... again ::sigh:: Only one thing is confirmed right now, and that's the script for House of 1000 Corpses 2 is complete. I received word from both Sid Haig and Bill Moseley whom both told me the same disappointing news - that they haven't heard much from Zombie as of late - only that the script is in fact completed. Hopefully this won't drag out again, but I can pretty much guarantee that an April release is out of the question, unless of course some sort of miracle happens.

FH · 12-08-2003, 02:53 AM

Clooney or De Niro Eyed for King Kong? Source: Sunday Star-Times Saturday, December 6, 2003

The Sunday Star-Times has posted more interesting bits on the possible King Kong cast. As previously reported, Naomi Watts is in talks to play Ann Darrow, the female lead played by Fay Wray in the 1933 original. Director Peter Jackson may also reteam on the film with his "Lord of the Rings" stars Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis, who might do the big ape's movements, much like he did for Gollum.

According to the trade, Jackson is also eyeing George Clooney or Robert De Niro for the male lead Carl Denham, the adventurer who captures the giant ape and brings him back to New York.

FH · 12-08-2003, 10:37 AM

Which Characters Would Return for The Hobbit? Source: Reuters Monday, December 8, 2003

Director Peter Jackson was in Berlin Monday for the European premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. While the rights to the project still belong to the Tolkien estate, he told the press he would like to make The Hobbit as well and work with some of the same actors again.

"I'd be interested in doing it because I think it would give continuity to the overall chapter," he said.

Many of the lead "Rings" characters do not appear in The Hobbit, but the wizard Gandalf, played by Ian McKellen, and Gollum, the cave dweller corrupted by the powerful ring, do and should make a comeback. Arwen, the elf princess played by Liv Tyler, could also feature again, Jackson said.

Jackson will take a few weeks off over Christmas and then start writing the script for his next project, a remake of the classic King Kong which, like the "Rings," he will also film in New Zealand, using the same team of special effects experts.

Richard Taylor, whose special effects workshop made 48,000 props for the trilogy and whose work earned two Oscars, says King Kong will be even better than "The Lord of the Rings".

"I have every aspiration to make King Kong much cooler," he said. "It's going to be a very beautiful film."

FH · 12-08-2003, 10:40 AM

Break out the champagne!

Ben Affleck Not Too Interested in Daredevil 2 Source: Sci Fi Wire Monday, December 8, 2003

Ben Affleck told Sci Fi Wire that he's not really that interested in reprising his Daredevil role.

"I don't know about Daredevil II," Affleck said in an interview while promoting his upcoming SF movie Paycheck. "That may be too much work for me. I don't have any idea."

Affleck added that he'd consider it if friend, filmmaker and sometime Daredevil comic-book writer Kevin Smith took part. "I suppose that if Kevin Smith wrote it and was going to be involved, I would do it," he said.

"But I'm not banging down the door trying to get Daredevil II made. You'll know when my career is really on the slide when I start resurrecting the franchise."

mab8485 · 12-08-2003, 07:08 PM

well, that adam sandler movie sounds like complete shit

FH · 12-09-2003, 02:52 AM

Zombie & Niles Plot Three Comic Book Flicks Source: Variety Tuesday, December 9, 2003

Rocker Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses) and author-cartoonist Steve Niles have created Creep Entertainment International, a horror-themed production company.
The company will begin with three comic book projects that, down the road, are expected to be adapted for films: The Nail with Dark Horse Comics; Bigfoot with IDW Comics; and Lords of Salem, a combo music-comics project.

All tales were co-written by Zombie and Niles. The books will be illustrated by some established comic talents.

"Comics have become the storyboards for movies," Zombie told Variety. "All our comicbooks are stand-alones and are done in a movie way. We're actually working backwards - these look like comic adaptations of films."

Niles has already started to write The Nail, which is peopled with 1970s-style satanic bikers and wrestlers. Lords of Salem is based on a satanic band.

FH · 12-09-2003, 07:21 AM

Seinfeld Developing CGI-Animated Bee Movie Source: Variety Tuesday, December 9, 2003

Marking his first major project since he retired his top-rated NBC sitcom in 1998, Jerry Seinfeld will write, produce and star in Bee Movie, a CGI-animated feature for DreamWorks. Seinfeld has begun writing and he will voice the male lead bee.

DreamWorks' Steven Spielberg sparked to Seinfeld's idea to set a comedy in an anthropomorphized world of bees, a structured metropolis that resembles Manhattan.

Seinfeld is ready for the three or so years it takes to mount a 3-D animated feature.

FH · 12-10-2003, 02:42 AM

Warner Bros. is zeroing in on Katie Holmes (Dawson's Creek) for the female lead of its next Batman film.

Holmes has been offered the role, subject to a screen test with Christian Bale that will be conducted by director Christopher Nolan. While Nolan considered many young actresses to play Batman's love interest Rachel, Holmes is the only actress who will do a screen test. It is considered likely that a deal will follow shortly after.

Holmes would be the third cast. Nolan, who came aboard the film with his producing partner Emma Thomas, first set Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader, and recently began negotiating with Michael Caine to play his butler, Alfred.

The film, scripted by David Goyer, is gearing up for a 2004 start date and 2005 release.

FH · 12-10-2003, 02:43 AM

Tobey Maguire Eyeing Electroboy Memoir Source: Variety Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Tobey Maguire's production company, Maguire Entertainment, has joined Endgame Entertainment and Raw Entertainment to bring Andy Behrman's memoir Electroboy to the big screen. Maguire will produce the film and is eyeing the title role.

Behrman's book is a turbulent spin through the life of a 28-year-old manic-depressive art forger and con man, chronicling his sexual escapades, drug binges and treatment with electroshock therapy.

Matthew Chapman (Runaway Jury) is writing the script. The project, which could have a budget of more than $25 million, is expected to start production over the summer.

FH · 12-10-2003, 02:45 AM

DC Comics Now Has Its Man in Hollywood Source: Variety Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Variety reports that New York-based Time Warner company DC Comics has hired Gregory Noveck to the newly created post of senior VP, creative affairs... aka its "Man in Hollywood". Here's clips from the article...

In his new position, Noveck will be responsible for exploring DC Comics' vast, and so far largely underused, character universe. Many of those characters -- including Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Flash -- had been gathering dust, and Noveck's charge is to identify characters and properties that lend themselves to Warner Bros. and New Line feature films and television skeins, and to establish relationships within the creative community.

While Warner Bros. Pictures has successfully exploitedtwo DC icons in Batman and Superman (and has pics based on Catwoman, Wonder Woman and Constantine in various stages of production), "creatively, we have barely scratched the surface of DC," said Jeff Robinov, president of production at Warner Bros. Pictures.

His mandate will be to push DC Comics characters beyond initial successes like TV's "Smallville" and Cartoon Network's "Justice League" and delve into the myriad characters -- some cult, some mainstream -- to make a variety of pics at different pricepoints, just as arch-rival Marvel Comics has done with low-budget "The Punisher" at Artisan and pricey "Hulk" at Universal.

"DC Comics is an unexplored jewel in the Warner Bros. crown," said Kevin Tsujihara, exec VP of corporate business development and strategy at Warner Bros. Entertainment. "We have charged Gregory with fully exploring and appropriately exploiting the thousands of DC Comics characters in the company's vast library."

FH · 12-10-2003, 11:37 AM

Viggo Mortensen Up for Batman Villain? Source: Sci Fi Wire Wednesday, December 10, 2003

And the Batman news continues today with word from Sci Fi Wire, who also spoke to Michael Caine, that Viggo Mortensen may play the villain...

Michael Caine, who will play Alfred the butler in the upcoming new Batman film, told SCI FI Wire that director Christopher Nolan is eyeing Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen to play the villain in the film, which is slated to begin production in April 2004. In an interview, Caine wouldn't specify which villain role Mortensen (Rings' Aragorn) is up for.

Caine said Nolan's Batman script creates a deeper role for Alfred than previous films. "We start when Batman is a baby, so I'm more like a father," Caine said in an interview. "I'm a father who knows how to lay a table with the knives and forks in the right places."

FH · 12-11-2003, 02:45 AM

Cillian Murphy (Girl with a Pearl Earring) has landed the role of one of the Caped Crusader's villains in Warner Bros.' new Batman film. Which villain he would play was not yet announced. The young Irish actor would become the fourth to be cast in the Christopher Nolan-helmed project that stars Christian Bale. He first came to the attention of Nolan after he tested for the role of Batman.

Michael Caine has also joined the cast to play Alfred and the producers are now zeroing in on Katie Holmes to play the female lead subject to a screen test with Nolan.

The film's plot, scripted by David Goyer, is being kept tightly under wraps, but the studio and Nolan are gearing up for a 2004 start date and 2005 release.