An altogether different sort of comic than Hollywood usually adapts, Locke & Key, has found a new home for development. The comic series, written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, has been rallied around a number of studios before landing at the feet of Universal.
Michael Cera is making the move away from his loveable loser schtick thanks to director Sebastian Silva. The Chilean filmmaker cast Cera in two of his upcoming features which he shot back-to-back. The first Magic, Magic, sees Cera unleash his crazy as a member of a bunch of loons who taunt Juno Temple's traveler while on vacation. While that film was generating funding, Silva took the time to shoot another project while on location. Crystal Fairy makes the most of the beautiful locale, and now has its first trailer available online.
Fifty Shades Of Grey. The novel which got millions of people visiting their libraries and bookstores much to the chagrin of every other book written.....is hitting the big screen. But you knew that already. Shortlists have been circulating for months now, guessing who'll take the helm and direct the piece. Atonement's Joe Wright was once at the top of that list, Gus Van Sant shot a test reel and Darren Aronofsky turned it down. Now we know who's landed the gig as Deadline have announced that Sam Taylor-Johnson will be taking on the job.
The last year has witnessed the rise of famous filmmakers taking to crowdfunding. The campaign platforms which allow creative types the opportunity to finance their own projects have been the subject of many column inches. Be prepared to hear a lot more on the topic in the near future though as writer-director-actor-producer James Franco has now created his own campaign to finance his next project, Palo Alto.
The Lego Movie sounds like nothing new as it seems as if there's a constant stream of direct-to-video Lego flicks being released all the time. This time though there's a huge all-star cast lending their voices to the flick and from the looks of this first trailer, the studio are setting their sights higher.
Brian De Palma's next offering, Passion, has been on the boil for 18 months now. Its two leads were confirmed back in December 2011, and the first image from the film was released way back in May 2012. So why has it taken so long to reach our cinema screens? It debuted at the Venice Film Festival last September, then went on to play at a number of other big international festivals. Perhaps mixed reviews are the reason why it has languished for the better part of a year. Now it looks like things are hotting up as a new US poster has landed.
Considering that the majority of films released nowadays feature men in their leading roles, it's a pleasant change to see indie feature Compulsion switching it up. Not content with one actress, there's the delight of both Heather Graham and Carrie-Anne Moss co-starring in this upcoming thriller from director Egidio Coccimiglio.
For those who like their mumblecore flicks veering on this side of coherent, look no further than the work of Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton. Skilfully uniting another killer of a cast for her next release, Touchy Feely, the first trailer has dropped which you can scope out below.
Angelina Jolie's no-nonsense Lara Croft brought to life the video game goddess back in 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Despite a sequel appearing two years later, it's been quiet on the Croft front for some time. Now, some concrete news has landed! Variety have reported that Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Marti Noxon has signed on to pen the Tomb Raider reboot.
Not content with adapting one series of J.R. Tolkien's books, director Peter Jackson launched a brand new franchise last year with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. What was perhaps more unexpected was the news that the New Zealander was to stretch out the pamphlet-sized book into another trilogy. In time for a worldwide release at the end of the year, whet your whistles on this. Here is the first trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
