Following in the unseemly footsteps of Battleship and Ouija, Lionsgate and Hasbro are teaming for a big-screen adaptation of the board game Monopoly, originally created over a century ago by a Georgist hoping to emphasize the benefits of wealth creation over concentrating land in privately held monopolies. Needless to say, that rich history won't be making an appearance. This is Hollywood, after all.
As someone who didn't find there to be anything particularly special about Olympus Has Fallen, I was blown away by how well the action-thriller performed at the box office, but I guess that's just the power of a solid marketing campaign. The first teaser for follow-up London Has Fallen doesn't pretend to be anything more than more of the same, but given the warm welcome for Olympus, Lionsgate clearly believes it doesn't have to do much more than put the film out there, sit back and rake in the big bucks.
Legendary Pictures unleashed a mighty roar at Comic-Con last year when it announced big-budget King Kong prequel Kong: Skull Island, a period piece that will reintroduce moviegoers to the heralded Eighth Wonder of the World. Soon after, though, the pic fell somewhat under the radar. And now, as crowds prepare to again flood San Diego, it's been revealed that Skull Island has suffered a serious blow, with both Michael Keaton and JK Simmons vacating their roles.
After progressing from the critically reviled Paranoia to acclaimed war biopic American Sniper, for which he earned a Best Adapted Screenplay nod, scribe Jason Hall is moving further up into the big leagues. After penning a draft for PTSD-centric drama Thank You For Your Service, Hall has also become attached to helm the pic in what will be his directorial debut.
Marvel fans the world over are holding their breath in anticipation of the first reviews for next month's Ant-Man hitting the web, and luckily for the fans and filmmakers alike, advance buzz is overwhelmingly positive. Now, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is adding his two cents. Readers may remember how Gunn elegantly responded to Edgar Wright's controversial departure from the director's chair at a time when accusations were flying back and forth like an angry Asgardian. Now, he's had a chance to finally see what replacement helmer Peyton Reed and company have come up with - and it sounds like he's a big fan.
Love & Mercy star Paul Dano, Harry Potter alum Daniel Radcliffe and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead have joined the cast of Swiss Army Man, one of the most quirky-sounding dramas we've seen get the green light in recent times.
Marvel has taken a lot of crap over the years about its incredibly shrinking superhero ("so he just gets really small?"), but the studio is setting the record straight on just how cool the comic-book character's miniaturizing technology can be. In the first clip from Ant-Man, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) tests out his new suit for seemingly the first time, only to get the surprise of his life when merely standing in a bathtub turns into a hair-raising fight to stay alive.
Oliver Stone is notorious for his button-pushing depictions of U.S. history, and this Christmas will see the W. director add another incendiary chapter to his filmography in Snowden, a biopic about the "most wanted man in the world."
Part of me wishes that this wasn't even news, but there just aren't enough female directors yet snagging big-budget tentpoles as to make the following seem mundane: MGM is rumored to be searching for a woman to reboot its Tomb Raider franchise, revitalizing the series that made a star out of Angelina Jolie and more recently birthed a stellar video game redo from Square Enix.
