Rumors are bubbling in the heavens that another Poltergeist film may be under way. The gossip comes to us via an email exchange between Poltergeistiii.com and MGM, and was brought to our attention by movieweb:

Here’s David from Poltergeistiii.com :

Here’s my original email to her on March 15th:

Hi Mary, Congratulations on your new position with MGM! I run a fan web site dedicated to MGM’s “Poltergeist” franchise. I’d heard that there were plans for either a new sequel or a remake…do you know if this is still the plan? As a huge fan, I was hoping to see a new sequel. Thanks for any information you may be able to provide. Regards, David Furtney

And here’s what she wrote back yesterday (emphasis mine):
Hey David- Thanks for the email. Not quite two weeks into the new post so I don’t have a specific update but hopefully going forward there will be more to talk about. In the meantime, thanks for your enthusiasm.

Now this is a “we heard from a guy, that heard from another guy” source, so we cannot read too much into this. The reply email doesn’t seem to confirm and/or deny a Poltergeist film; It looks to be a polite email response revealing nothing. I can see how those excited about a project may view the lack of the word “no” as a yes. I simply don’t like to read into things and will err on the side of caution here.

I for one have no desire to see an “updated” Poltergeist film, but may be game for Poltergeist 4. A good ghost film is always a creepy delight. Recently The Orphanage scarred the hell out of me, and it is the current “ghost story to beat” in my books.

International friends do you think this email correspondence hints at a Poltergeist remake - or does it reveal nothing?

The viral website campaign for Batman: The Dark Knight has been impressive to say the least. But as I hear that tomorrow ClownTravelAgency.com will reveal its secret, I tripped over a list of all the viral sites launched to support this movie.

Rope of Silicon gives us this list:

1. IBelieveinHarveyDent.com
2. Concerned Citizens for a Better Gotham
3. ClownTravelAgency.com
4. TheHaHaHaTimes.com
5. The Gotham Times
6. MaidenAvenueReport.com
7. GothamCableNews.com
8. DanaWorthington.com
9. CitizensforBatman.org
10. SaintsWithunsChurch.org
11. GVAFoundation.org
12. GPDIAD.com
13. GothamCab.com
14. IBelieveinHarveyDentToo.com
15. JosephCandoloro.com.
16. GothamCityClerk.com
17. GothamElectionBoard.com
18. WhySoSerious.com
19. RorysDeathKiss.com

I had no clue that this many sites were created.

If you want to link to them all, you can go to Rope of Silicon to check them all out.

As porly receieved as the Knight Rider TV Movie were, it appears that NBC is moving ahead with a new TV series using the movie as its pilot episode.

Rope of Silicon says:

NBC is going to move forward with a complete series reports Variety saying the show was just added to NBC’s 2008-09 roster. Despite being horrible, the series did bring in solid ratings in a February that was filled with alternative programming such as reality television galore. On top of that, who wouldn’t want to see a new “Knight Rider”?

The thing I like about Pilots is that it gives the creators the chance to fix things to make the show better.

Many people are cursing this remake as the pilot was only luke warm as it was. But keep in mind that feedback has been heard and they likely will address those they feel have merit. I personally thought the show was ok. Not great but considering the original show was super cheesey even by 80s standards, are we really surprised?

My advice would be to get a more charismatic female lead. Or none at all. Mike Traceur should be a lone wolf. New babes every week.

That and give Kitt a stronger voice. As soft and proper as the original Kitt was, Val Kilmer’s voice was not a good fit. He needs a voice of authority and something that convey’s the superiority that Kitt represents.

I for one am looking forward to see what they do with it. I will wait to see what changes they make (if any) before making up my mind on it.

The book Maynard & Jennica has been tapped for film adaptation, we get wind of the news thanks to the hallowed halls of The Hollywood Reporter:

Scott Rudin has optioned Rudolph Delson’s novel “Maynard & Jennica” and attached scribe Liz Meriwether to pen the screenplay.

“Maynard” tells a whimsical story about the relationship between a filmmaker-musician and his more introspective girlfriend that is set before, during and after Sept. 11. It’s told from the points of view of several dozen narrators, including the people — and in some cases objects and animals (including a macaw and a subway-train brake) — familiar with the couple’s relationship.

I like the idea of many voices coming together to tell the tale of the couple. When describing a person, you not only include what the person thinks of themselves , but also what others think of them. We may miss or ignore unfavorable characteristics, about ourselves or loved ones; but a choir of critics helps to point the compass true.

I like the wacky list of narrators, from a Macaw to a Train Brake, there will be no shortage of unique opinions. I haven’t had a chance to read this book, but would love to hear opinions from those of you that have. Please share your thoughts about the book, and feelings on a film adaptation.

The hotly debated remakes of 80s classic horror films like Friday the 13th are currently in production. The question on everyone’s mind is who will play the iconic lead of Jason?

Comingsoon.net heard it was Derek Mears

Derek Mears, who recently starred in The Hills Have Eyes 2 and has done stunts for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films and the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, will reportedly play Jason Voorhees in New Line Cinema and Platinum Dunes’ new Friday the 13th movie.

From that picture, Derek certainly has the lumbering goliath look to pull of Jason Voorhees. His near six and a half foot stature will fit the physical bit, though it is expected he will wear the hockey mask and burlap sack, so the face doesn’t matter much.

This role is not something that needs a master thespian, but rather a phsyical presence. That New Line and Platinum Dunes are going with an actor who’s body of work consists of stunt work and extras such as thugs and goons.

This is good news for those worried that the remake would dig too deeply into the backstory of the tortured mind of the protagonist. Many would prefer to leave the “why” as a mystery and focus more on the terror at hand. Getting an actor who likely isnt going to be in deep insightful scenes of emotion. But more likely scenes of deep physical impact and bloody killing.

The word on a possible X-Men 4 went back and forth even before X-Men 3 (which I thought was the weakest of the 3 films, but still kinda fun… and had the best battle scene of all 3) even hit the theaters. The word was that after X-Men 3 Fox was going to be finished with the X-Men. Then, after it made over $100 million on it’s opening weekend, we started to heard Fox execs talking about how there WOULD be an X-Men 4.

So is there or is there not going to be an X-Men 4 in the near future? Well… the answer is yes and no.

No, there probably won’t be an actual movie with the title “X-Men 4″ anytime soon. As a matter of fact, actor Shawn Ashmore (Iceman) just talked with ShockTillYouDrop and basically said he’s heard nothing about a possible fourth installment:

I would love to do another film, but I think they’re doing these spin-offs and origin stories, so I can’t see in the near future there being an “X-Men 4″ but I have no idea to tell you the truth, it’s really hard to say. I’m holding my breath, waiting for it to happen, but I’m not sure if it will or not.

But here’s the thing… it really all is just a matter of semantics. When the whispers of an X-Men 4 started coming up, it was pretty much understood that it would focus much more on Wolverine (an obvious decision since he is the most popular character in the X-Men universe). And now we have that movie already filming. Oh it’s not called “X-Men 4″, but it does have the same guy as Wolverine back again, with other characters from the X-Men universe in the film with him. We also have a Magneto movie coming… all in the same universe in the same timeline as the X-Men movies.

So yes, there is an X-Men 4… they just called it “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” instead.

So will there be an actual X-Men 4 film anytime soon? I wouldn’t hold my breath, but anything is possible. To me Wolverine is X-Men 4, so either way is doesn’t really matter to me.

We have news today of a direct to DVD follow up to Joy Ride thanks to our friends at cinematical:

Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead is a video-store follow-up to the surprisingly solid 2001 thriller Joy Ride. The semi-sequel comes from first-time scribe James Robert Johnston and one of the guys who penned Dumb & Dumber. The director is Louis Morneau, well-known to schlock-fans as the man who helmed The Hitcher 2, Bats, and Carnosaur 2.

I remember watching the origional film on TV a few years back, and was entertained. A creepy trucker that chases down his enemies, slaughters them and communicates via CB radio is a formula for success as far as I am concerned. Joy Ride was not an amazing film, but it certainly wasn’t a waste of time. I am not sure it deserves a sequel, but a direct to DVD follow up seems to be appropriate. What tickles my fancy is that the guy who directed Bats is on board to helm this. Bats was an over the top B - Movie that I had the honor of seeing in the theatre. It is so bad - its awesome and you need to add Bats to your list of films to watch before you die.

This film may be worth a gander upon release in October. I will hunt the local bargain bins for the film and gladly review it, if I can track it down.

Until then - enjoy the trailer for Joy Ride 2!

It doesn’t matter if you loved or hated Grindhouse (personally, I LOVED Planet Terror and just hated Deathproof) I think most of us agree that the fake trailer for “Machete” was one of the absolute highlights of the while Grindhouse experience. It was actually a little bit of a let down since I thought the Machete footage was the best stuff in all the Grindhouse trailers… only to then find out it was just from the fake trailer. Oh well.

Some time ago we all got excited when we heard that they were going to go ahead and produce an actual “Machete” movie. Well, actor Danny Trejo just came out and said that not only are they still doing a Machete movie… but that they’re looking at making it a full Machete trilogy! On top of that, Trejo claims that Robert Rodriguez is personally going to direct the flims (or at least the first one).

Now, take all this with a grain of salt since this is coming from the non-A-List actor who would personally stand the most to gain if this happens, and it is possible this may just be wishful thinking on his part. But lets assume for a moment that he’s correct. How wicked would that be?!?!?! I’ve been dying to see that Machete movie ever since I first saw it in the Grindhouse trailers… and a full trilogy of slash em up fun would be killer!

Personally I give this project a 50/50 chance of ever filming… but man it will be sweet if it does. (Source: BloodyDisgusting)

I’ve mentioned before that I’m one of the few people who actually really enjoyed “Superman Returns“. I thought it was a great character study, and even though I wanted more action and “cool stuff”, I still ended up having a great time with it. That being said, I’ve been quite anxious about the next Superman film. But that is looking more and more in question.

My friend Peter over at Slashfilm wrote an article outlining a legal issue that has arisen with the Superman character. The main idea is this:

a federal judge decided last week that Time Warner is no longer the sole proprietor of Superman. The court has ruled that the heirs of Jerome Siegel (of Siegel and Shuster) are entitled to a share of the US copyright to the character. The quick backstory goes like this: Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to Superman 70 years ago to Detective Comics for only $130. DC Comics has since given the creators each a $20,000-per-year annuity (later increased to $30,000). But then in 1997, Mrs. Siegel and her daughter served copyright termination notices which permits heirs to be able to recover rights to creations in certain situations (part of the 1976 Mickey Mouse copyright act). Compensation would be limited to any work created using the Superman character after their 1999 termination date.

But the bigger news is that this might put both the Bryan Singer-helmed Superman sequel The Man of Steel and the already troubled Justice League of America in jeopardy. With the relatives of Siegel now officially part-owners of the character, who knows what the future may look like. It’s also possible that in 2013 the entire Superman copyright will be yanked out of Warner Bros’ hands completely, as Joe Shuster’s estate takes the other half.

Studios with huge amounts of money have a way of making even serious potential problems like this go away and I won’t be surprised in the least if Warner Bros. does indeed make this issue disappear. Having said that, this is a serious potential problem in the near future for any Superman related projects.

The questions:

1) What does, if anything, this do to the next Bryan Singer Superman film? Will the new rights holders interfere? Will they demand too much money to the point that it makes the project unfeasible?

2) Will this kill or at least alter the new train wreck Justice League movie?

3) Will this have zero effect on anything at all?

It looks like Kevin Kline will be speaking in other tongues with his new project Joueuse. We get the scoop this morning from the Hollywood Reporter:

In his first French-speaking role, Kevin Kline will star with Sandrine Bonnaire and Jennifer Beals in Caroline Bottaro’s drama “Joueuse (Queen to Play).”

Bonnaire plays a hotel maid captivated by a romantic couple (Beals and Francis Renaud) playing chess while staying at the Mediterranean island hotel where she works. The doctor (Kline) whose house she cleans reluctantly becomes her mentor in the game, leading her to a chess tournament and initiating major transformations in her life. First-time feature director Bottaro adapted the screenplay from Bertina Henrichs’ novel “The Chess Player.”

Kevin Kline is certainly spicing up his portfolio by starring in a film that’s not in his native tongue. Canada is bilingual, but I never fancied French class and didn’t pick up much of the language; I may be able to order a sandwich, thats about it. I think I may speak more Klingon than French which means I will fare better on a Bird of Prey than I will in Quebec.

This is cool news, but no word if this film will see a release in North America. We may have to wait for the DVD release to get our hands on it, time will tell.

A new Indiana Jones 4 TV spot is out and floating around. Really, it’s pretty much the same as the trailer we’ve all already seen with a few seconds of new stuff at the beginning. Check it out:

Mos Def has landed the honor of playing Chuck Berry in the upcoming musical biopic Cadillac Records. We get the scoop from the murky caves of yahoo:

Rapper-actor Mos Def will play legendary rock ‘n’ roller Chuck Berry in “Cadillac Records.”

The Sony BMG film is set in 1950s Chicago and follows the turbulent lives of Chess Records co-founder Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), and the label’s artists, including Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Little Walter (Columbus Short), Howlin’ Wolf (Eamonn Walker), Etta James (Beyonce Knowles) and Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer).

We mentioned this film a while back and discussed the glory of the man known as Howlin’ Wolf.

I think Little Richard is the innovator, the emancipator, the architect and the originator of Rock and Roll. But Chuck was one of the first artist’s at his side and really made the case for the electric guitar in Rock and Roll. Chuck Berry wrote outstanding riffs, and forever changed the face of rock with the way he played his guitar. He is a living legend, and all who love rock music owe him thanks and gratitude

I didn’t mind Mos Def in Be Kind Rewind, and think he’s a good casting choice for a young Chuck Berry. You want to make sure you find someone that is going to be believable, because Chuck will give you shit if you mess with his story.

I enjoy biopics about musicians and look forward to this film. No release date has been made available, but filming has begun in New Jersey, and we will keep you up to speed.

So I stumbled across this little trailer for a project called “Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust”. I don’t even know if it’s real or not… all I can say is that if this is indeed real… it looks so awful that I’m going crazy inside to see it. No really, I want to see this stupid thing… I can’t explain it, but I do.

I was first introduced to this short film by my friend Jay of thedocumentaryblog. It is now available on You Tube and I share it with all of you:

Steve Martin and Diane Keaton will be together again in the family comedy One Big Happy. We get wind of this news from the professionals at Variety:

In a preemptive buy in the high six-figures, Paramount Pictures has acquired “One Big Happy,” a comic pitch from “Party of Five” creators Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman to which Steve Martin and Diane Keaton are attached to star.

Concept is being kept under wraps, but sources describe “One Big Happy” as a family comedy about a couple and a family reconnecting amid various obstacles. The material is a strong match for Martin and Keaton, who played a married couple in the Charles Shyer-directed “Father of the Bride” and its sequel.

I am a fan of Steve Martin. I think he is extremely talented and some of his films are amongst my all time favorites. I am not opposed to another feel good, family comedy …..but I long for another film akin to The Jerk or The Lonely Guy. If you have yet to see either of these two films, do so now!

Martin and Keaton did work well together in Father of the Bride, and I am not opposed to them teaming up again in this project; I just hope the characters are a bit different. Keaton could take Tom’s schtick from Valkyrie and wear an eye-patch, that would make her the coolest movie mom ever in my books. Daryl Hannah pulled off the look in Kill Bill, let’s see if Keaton can do likewise.

No word on when this picture is set to be released, but I will be on the lookout for further info, and will be sure to keep you posted.

It looks like Carmen Electra and Kevin Sorbo will be joining forces again in Art House Movie: There Will Be Farts. We get the sad, sad news from ropeofsilicon:

Last week we revealed the first two pages of the script for Art House Movie: There Will Be Farts. The silly scribblings had plenty of ways for the filmmakers to spoof such films as No Country for Old Men, Juno, There Will Be Blood and Once. Well, today we can exclusively tell you that two spoof regulars may be joining the production.

Kevin Sorbo and Carmen Electra are in final negotiations to play Antwone Sugar and Dia-blow Cody in the film. A storyline hasn’t been revealed yet other than to say it will create a cohesive story made up of several art house pictures from recent years and films such as Cloverfield and United 93 may even be included.

I am saddened that after Sorbo and Electra participated in Meet The Spartans, they have decided to sign up for a film entitled Art House Movie: There Will Be Farts. Either times are tough for the two of them; or they are content to make poor life decisions. Meet the Spartans sucked as bad as a film could suck and I would hazard a guess that this film may be of like quality (we will wait and see).

I have no love for most spoof films and am saddened that they have become standard box office fare. We can now expect a number of these films throughout the calendar year and perfectly good viewing screens are subjected to showcasing shit for the duration of the run. I hope the appeal for these films dies off sooner rather than later.

It looks like Madonna wishes to prove herself as an actress by doing another remake, and this time out she wants to tackle Casablanca? We get the peculiar story this morning from our friends at aceshowbiz:

Madonna, the star of the Academy Award-winning film “Evita”, has reportedly planning to return to the big screen once again. According to reports, the 49-year-old Golden Globes-winning actress for her portrayal of Eva Peron has been considering to resurrect her acting career with a remake project of the 1942 classic movie “Casablanca”.

Daily Mail reported that a source at a major Hollywood studio said, “She wants to update the story and maybe set it in a modern war zone such as Iraq. There is no script yet. Madonna and her people are testing the waters to see if this is the right vehicle for her and if a major studio will get behind the project.” The Mail on Sunday claimed that Hollywood executives who consider the original film as the greatest film of all time didn’t accept her idea well. A studio source said, “The reception has been lukewarm to say the least. No one can understand why she wants to redo what many people consider the greatest film of all time.”

I hate remakes, especially when the films are considered classics. I don’t know what the hell Madonnna is high on, but not only does she want to remake Casablanca - she wants to modernize it? This strategy just makes a bad idea worse, and no one other than her will want to see this film.

If Madonna wants to continue acting, she can be my guest. I think a better strategy would be for her to star in films that she writes/produces herself, rather than imposing her will on beloved classics and pissing everyone off. Grow as an actress by funding your own projects, and try to make your own legendary film.

It is music to my ears that the Hollywood overlords are confused at her pitch; so are we. Chances are slim that this film will ever happen, but we will be sure to follow the story and keep you abreast of the situation. Madonna must be stopped!

Hello International friends. I have returned from vacation with gifts! Empire has obtained some exclusive pictures from the Tom Cruise WW2 project Valkyrie. The photos have been made available to us thanks to firstshowing.net:

I cannot say this film is on my must watch list, but Tom Cruise in an eye-patch is certainly reason enough to give it a chance. It will be interesting to see him in a film after that insane Scientology video that circled the web. I am starting to wonder if his peculiar behavior will effect his ability to put asses in theatre seats. International friends - what do you think?

Valkyrie is slotted for release October 3rd and we will be sure to keep you up to speed on the progress.

It is a chorus sung since the day Super Mario Bros. hit the big screen. It’s a chant, a proverb and perhaps even now a cliche… but after 15 years it’s still the truth:

“ALL VIDEO GAME MOVIES SUCK”

What is equally predictable, is that no matter how many times that proverb is proved correct, every time a new video game adaptation is announced, the lovers of that particular game pronouce “THIS TIME IT WILL BE DIFFERENT!”, but it never ever ever ever is. The old chorus of “All video game movies suck” continues to be true.

The simple law of percentages dictates that at some point, a good video game movie will be made to be an exception to the rule… but it hasn’t happened yet, and I’m willing to put money down that it won’t happen with Gears of War, which seems to be aiming at a summer 2010 release date. The good folks over at ComingSoon give us this:

(We) got a chance to talk to Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey about the status of the proposed Gears of War video game adaptation. “We’ve got our script on and a director we’re about to attach. We’ll hopefully make that early next year for the summer of 2010,” said Godfrey. It was announced in March of 2007 that New Line Cinema (now a unit of Warner Bros.) had acquired the feature film rights to Epic Games’ award-winning video game. Stuart Beattie was attached to adapt the project and Temple Hill Entertainment set to produce.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Gears of War isn’t a great game… only that it’s created to be just that… a game. It was created and crafted with game play in mind, not narrative story telling. This flick will in all likelihood end up just the same as all game movies. Scores of fans will insist it will be great, only to have their optimism burned in the fires of the eternal chorus: “All video game movies suck”.

Generally speaking, the two major actors unions, The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), have negotiated with the Producers association together and collectively. However, as we talked about a month ago, AFTRA has not been happy with SAG’s apparent refusal to start official negotiations with the Producers until at least the end of April.

AFTRA went so far as to threaten to split from SAG and negotiate with the Producers on their own. Well, after a weekend meeting between SAG and AFTRA, it looks like AFTRA is following through on their threat and have decided to negotiate with the Producers on their own.

SAG represents about 120,000 actors in movies and TV while AFTRA represent about 70,000 actors, journalists, announcers and singers in television

AFTRA hasn’t liked the way SAG has been delaying the process and even accuses SAG of purpusfully trying to sabotage the entire industry. Yahoo News reports:

“For the past year SAG leadership in Hollywood has engaged in a relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement,” AFTRA president Roberta Reardon said in a written statement.

I don’t really know or fully understand the history between the two unions, but I do know this… I certainly side with the AFTRA union on this issue. Los Angeles and the Hollywood industry as a whole suffered HUGE loses and damages due to the writer’s strike, and no one wants to see that happen again so soon. SAG’s delay in even going to officially sit at the table with the producers is nothing short of myopic.

I understand that the role of the Union is to look out for the interests of their members… but what the AFTRA union seems to understand that the SAG union dose not, is that the health of the industry has a direct effect on the interests of the Union members.

I have no opinion at this point about the negotiations between the Unions since I don’t really know what each side wants and what each side is refusing to give. But I do know that nothing is accomplished when people aren’t talking.

I am really looking forward to Will Smith’s Hancock despite some grumblings around the net that people are not liking it. Well some images came up today and our friends at Rope of Silicon posted a peek:

Well, some new pics from the flick have popped up online. The one above looks like a really early special effects shot that hasn’t been completely fixed up, but the rest are some nice looks at the flick especially our first really good looks at Charlize Theron in the film.

Charlize is always looking so appealing, and I love Bateman. He is just fun in everything he does.

I really like the idea of a supers movie with more of an antihero as the star. Superhero flicks always paint up these heroes like they are nearly perfect paragons of existence with a few minor distracting bits to remind you they are human. I look forward to seeing a Hero that we have too look at VERY carefully to find any redeeming qualities.

But the whole movie will be worth it just to see that clip of Hancock “rescuing” that whale.

You can go over here to look at the pretty pictures in full enbiggendness, but its not in English. It’s ok. We know you just wanna see the pictures anyways.

Dolph Lungren is set to launch himself back into the spotlight with a new movie called Command Performance.

MovieHole talks about Dolph:

Apparently there’s a bit of heat surrounding him following “Missionary Man”, an upcoming Sony title, that he directed, as well as acted in. Now Millennium/Nu Image, who have a reasonably good track record when it comes to action movies (they did this year’s “Rambo”, for instance) have greenlit a new actioner that Lundgren will again star in and direct, “Command Performance”, based on a script he collaborated with Steve Latshaw on.

Lundgren describes “Command” as ” ‘Die Hard’ at a rock concert,” with the story focusing on a drummer for the warm-up band of a big American performer giving a concert for the Russian premier. Naturally, the bad guys break up the show. And just as naturally, the drummer is an ex-Marine.

“I got the idea from Madonna,” Lundgren said. “She did a concert for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin a few years ago.”

I just don’t know. I think the time is coming for some forgotten 80s action star to make a HUGE comeback. It can happen. It might even be Stallone (he has a head start so far), but it could be Lungren too.

But then I read that synopsis of the movie. Not the worst idea ever.
Then I read the part that followed it. “I got the idea from Madonna” Ok, he clarifies that by saying it was her performance for the Russian Pres that inspired the setting for this action storyline. Not that Madonna called him up and said “You should do a movie like this…”

I fear this one might be headed straight to DVD.

The third chapter of the Mummy Franchise is already knee deep in production and Rob Cohen has offered up some production webisodes to document it all. In this most recent feature, we get to see some of the effects and the people behind them.

Rope of Silicon says:

Rob Cohen offered an update on the official blog for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to let fans know that his wife recently gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, but that he also had up a new webisode, this time offering up a look at the visual effects to give fans the feel of what they are up to over at Rhythm and Hues and Digital Domain.

So far in this video we get to see them explain why you don’t have a job at these studios, and that there will be Yeti throwing people off perilously tall ice covered cliffs and armies of marching men - presumably mummy warriors.

I am impressed that this movie is taking TWO major effects companies to combine their efforts for the shots. This in itself offers a lot of promise.

Click here to see the Webisode.

The new Cohen film Bruno is already rumoured to be under way. A sighting earlier this month was reported by FirstShowing:

Over the last year, reported sightings of Cohen and his suspicious film crew have cropped up many times. Earlier this month, “a film crew claiming to be making a film about culture in America” infiltrated a church and airport in Wichita, Kansas. Sounds like Bruno.

I first have to admit that I found Borat to be so intelligent and utterly hilarious. I say this so that you don’t think I am a Sacha Baron Cohen hater. But for every reason I loved Borat, I fear I will hate Bruno.

The actual title for Bruno is reportedly going to be Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt.

Furthermore, the concept of the film is that this culturally displaced character will be a Television Reporter filming a documentary about US Culture?

This sounds like it is the same movie… Wait. It IS the same movie. Is his career already over if he has to resort to just churning out a remake of his own movie? Despite his diverse character roster, I just can’t see this working the second time.

Its the same movie. You did this already.

War Inc in one of my most anticipated movies for this year. The cast is just incredible and the trailer, I thought, was fantastic. Not to mention I think John Cusack is brilliant in just about anything he’s in. Man… it sure would be nice to see Ben Kingsley in something GOOD again. Anyway, our friends over at MoviesOnline got their hands on the new War Inc poster and I love it. Man I can’t wait to see this movie!

My good friend Nick over at Empire Magazine gave me the heads up that they’ve got an Indiana Jones Issue coming out in May. This cover shot got sent to me (Thanks James). I just keep getting more and more excited about this movie.

It was one of the first novels they had us read when I was in grade school and still stands as a classic. Frank Darabont (Director of one of the best films of all time “The Shawshank Redemption”) has been feverishly working on getting a Fahrenheit 451 movie to the screen, and a little while back he announced that he had multi-oscar winner Tom Hanks on board to play the lead role.

Well, Hollywood is very much about timing, and apparently things with Fahrenheit 451 have moved to slow to the point that Hanks’ schedule have forced him to drop out of the project. The folks over at the MTV movies Blog (a site I really like despite hating the channel) give us this:

Despite Hanks’ withdrawal, the director sounded like he’s as excited about the film as ever. “I see this movie so clearly in my head. It’s flowing in my veins,” he said. And just because you think of books first when you think “Fahrenheit 451,” don’t expect something akin to Jane Austen, Darabont promised. He explained, “One character in the script says, ‘It’s not really even about books. It’s about control.’ It’s about the control of government and authority. It’s one of the greatest books ever written. It’s got all that great political stuff underneath the skin of it but really what it is is a great galloping tale.”

I’m really glad Frank still sounds like he’s passionate about the project. This is a film that deserves to be made right now, and Frank Darabont is the man to make a film like this. Losing an actor like Tom Hanks from teh project is a serious blow… but he’s just one actor, and the story of 451 is much bigger than him alone anyway.

How fricking sweet would it be to see Sean Connery back in a James Bond film as a villain??? I had ths same thoughts back when I suggested that Michael Keaton should come back to the Batman franchise as The Joker. Not only can the man seriously act… but the novelty of it would be totally priceless.

Well, there are reports right now that Sean Connery is indeed in talks to come on board Quantum of Solace (stupidest movie title ever) as the Bond villain opposite Daniel Craig. The folks at Cinematical give us this:

according to Ace Showbiz, a new press release says that the actor has considered returning to the franchise as the big baddie. Connery is quoted as saying: “I wouldn’t mind coming back as a Bond villain. But I don’t think they would pay me enough. They don’t pay the money for other parts, only for the Bond character, although that wasn’t the case when I was doing it.” Ouch! I would think they might want to add Connery in to at least save some face. Sure, things change, but what production wants to be considered penny pinchers that only care about Craig? Ace goes on to say: “Allegedly, the 77-year-old Academy Award-winning actor has been involved in negotiations to land a villain role with the film’s producers since Daniel Craig has been tapped to bring Ian Fleming’s agent back to the big screen with Casino Royale.”

Hot damn sign me up! Casino Royale was my favorite Bond flick to date and I love the direction the franchise seems to be heading. Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever (that’s saying something) and to have the immortal Sean Connery come back to the Bond fold as a villain would be a dream merger. I seriously hope this actually happens!

To me, MTV has pretty much become the embodiment of everything that is stupid and witless in our culture. Music Television that doesn’t play music, making shows that highlight the worst and most ignorant in us all… to the point that they GLORIFY stupidity as a virtue (to be fair, they’re not the only ones who do this).
Well, it should come as no surprise that there are rumblings of “The Hills” being turned into a feature film. Our friends over at Cinematical give us this:

MTV reports that according to star Lauren Conrad, it just might happen. Conrad says: “We have kind of talked about it,” with a smile that MTV describes as “we have ABSOLUTELY talked about it.” But really, what could a reality/spoof/whatever the hell it is, do on the big screen? “I think if they were going to do a film of The Hills, they would basically film it like we do the show and they would just edit it into a movie. It would be like a really long episode.” (You can check out the video of this at the link above, but due to the damned Canada ban, I’ve got to stick with the type.)

Has it really gotten that bad? The saddest and most pathetic part about this story is that IF they actually make this Satan Spawn of a movie… that there are people out there who will actually go and see it. Remember, we’re the same culture that made “Meet The Spartans” #1 at the boxoffice.

It’s stuff like this that actually makes me think a mandatory basic intelligence test should be administered to everyone at the age of 18… those that fail are put to sleep. The deal breaker questions would be:

Question #423) Do you watch more than 2 hours of reality tv per week?

Question #93) Did you laugh at any point of Meet The Spartans?

Question #732) Are you excited about the idea of a “The Hills” movie? (An affirmative answer requires immediate lethal injection)

The porn industry is hard to ignore in the movie world and so is its underlying influence on the mainstream business. I came across this story today and just found it so funny I had to share it here.

You’re heard of filmmaking camps. You know… where some C level filmmakers have a 3 or 4 days “camp” where they show you the ins and outs of making movies. Well, now you aspiring adult filmmakers have the same thing. PORN CAMP! Yes, that’s right… for just $4000 you can learn all the ins and outs (no pun intended) about filmmaking for the adult world! Fox News of all places give us this:

Adult film-star wannabes will have their chance to learn the business this weekend at “Porn Camp” in Tampa, Fla. Led by actress Courtney Cummz, the seminar will cover everything from lighting and sound to legal advice. But the highlight of the three-day event is hands on — participants will shoot their own adult-film scene. “They will tell you, show you and then help while you make your own film … that you will own the rights to,” the seminar’s Web site said.

So who wants to go to Florida?

You know, with all the remakes and adaptations that have been flying around the last couple of years, I’ve legitimately been shocked that we haven’t seen a Lone Ranger movie. Yes, we’ve heard the rumblings for the last 2 years or so about them trying to get something going, but with little to no progress on the project.

Well, it seems that things are slowly moving forward. The word is that Pirates of the Caribbean writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are on deck to put The Lone Ranger script together for proverbial Hollywood super producer Jerry Bruckheimer (say what you want… the man knows how to make hits).

The folks at ComingSoon give us this:

The hero’s origin story begins with a group of Texas Rangers chasing down a gang of outlaws led by Butch Cavendish. The gang ambushes the Rangers, seemingly killing them all. One survivor is found, however, by an American Indian named Tonto, who nurses him back to health. The Ranger, donning a mask and riding a white stallion named Silver, teams up with Tonto to bring the unscrupulous gang and others of that ilk to justice.

You know what… sign me up. It’s been a LONG time since we had a good old fashioned popcorn western. A character like The Lone Ranger is perfect for theaters right now and I think this could be a lot of damn fun.

With X-Files 2 getting closer and closer, you can expect more and more stuff from the film to get “leaked” and released in the coming days. For now, the good folks over at ComingSoon got their hands on this X-Files 2 teaser poster. My opinion… meh… it is what it is… a teaser poster. The purpose of these is more or less just to announce that something is coming and not much more than that. On THAT level it does its job.

Damn you gotta just love the guys from Asylum! It’s not Kingdom of the Crystal Skull… it’s TEMPLE of the Skulls! Yay!!! (thanks to James for the heads up)

The final domestic trailer for Pathology is here. We’ve talked a ton about this flick around here since it basically became a little “pet movie” of mine ever since I visited the set last year and was blown away by the footage I saw. This little film is terrific! Last week a bunch of the other movie website guys and I got to watch the final cut at a screening and party here in LA and we weren’t disappointed (you can see pics from that party here).

An intrepid motorist caught some pretty decent camera phone shots of a vehicle in Culver City carrying one of the stars and stunt double of Transformers 2. Is this to say that filming is underway?

Check out FilmSchoolRejects for a couple more shots of the Saleen Mustang/Barricade.

A set of photos sent over by a friend this afternoon might lead you to believe that the filming of Transformers 2 is getting close to being underway. The pictures were snapped from a camera phone in Culver City, and they are clearly Saleen Mustangs with the Decepticon logo on the side.

I have always liked the idea of Barricade being a cop car. What better way for the badguy to hide than in a law enforcement vehicle.

My concern is this, and I hope it gets explained a bit better. The Transformers all seem to have this adaptive power to “scan” a vehicle and take on its look as to better blend in with the vehicles of Earth right? So what Vehicle did Barricade scan that looks like that? Obviously a Mustang pursuit cruiser, but one that has the Decepticons logo on it and “to Punish and Enslave” on it? Do they have the ability to add their own flavour to their hideaway form?

If they have control to change what they look like at will, then why do they scan an earth vehicle at all? My concern isn’t to nitpick, but rather to clarify. Then mostly so that I can say this:

Prime? Seriously… Flames? Come on…

Its been a while since news hit that comic book author J. Michael Straczynski’s would adapt World War Z to film. We now get a first reaction to the script.

First Showing offers:

It is in essence just oral recollections from survivors of World War Z. This is not your typical zombie book and this won’t be your typical zombie movie. Moriarty goes as far as to call the movie potentially “a genre-defining piece of work” that could even get people “arguing about whether or not a zombie movie qualifies as Best Picture material.” Wow, that’s quite a powerful statement, but then again, we don’t even know what to expect yet.

This is pretty rave reviews for a Zombie flick. If it is in anyway accurate, it could really send the genre on its decomposing ass. (Decomposing in a good way, not a dying failing way)

I would really be interested in seeing the Zombie genre get a treatment like this. We have seen the emergence of the ZomCom with Sean of the Dead and Fido so why not make a true drama out of it? Zombies eat people, and those people are real and have loved ones and stories to tell. This impacts deeper than just a sensationalist scene of gore and undead eating habits.

So would you be interested in a ZomDram? Can I get credit if that turns into a word?

So what do you do with a troubled, reckless and apparently sick individual like Lindsay Lohan? Well, the answer seems obvious… you put in her a Charles Manson movie! The folks at Yahoo give us this:

E! News has learned exclusively that Lindsay Lohan has signed on to star as Nancy Pitman, once a loyal member of Charles Manson’s not-so-merry band, in the movie Manson Girls.

Pitman grew up in wealthy household in Malibu, and at 16 she was introduced to Manson by a friend, according to published reports. She fell under his spell, moving in with him and becoming one of his most ardent followers. She was home with Manson on the night he dispatched members of his “Family” to the former home of ex-business associate Terry Mechler, where they ended up brutally killing actress Sharon Tate and four others.

Personally I couldn’t care less if we never saw Lohan on the screen again. I’ve always found her to be a talentless flavor of the month gossip rag girl who is essentially a dime a dozen and has no place in leading roles. Am I being clear enough?

Having said that, this could be an interesting roll for Lohan. Clearly it’ll be an edgy roll… the type of roll that can make a career if handled right. Let’s say for arguments sake that the movie is a good one and Lohan actually pulls it off well. The up side to doing this movie is HUGE for her and it gives her the opportunity for people to take her seriously again.

I don’t think that’ll happen mind you… but it’s possible (however unlikely).