We reported back in January that James Cameron is in fact bringing the Avatar story back to the silver screen with two planned sequels. There is some speculation that the majority of the film will take place in the ocean, but that's still unconfirmed. What we do know though is that Cameron intends to release the films back-to-back, in 2014 and 2015. According to First Showing, he will shoot the two films simultaneously (think Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).
Zombieland helmer Ruben Fleischer gives his upcoming action-comedy 30 Minutes or Less the red band trailer treatment today. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, and Danny McBride playing the same roles they always play: anxious, snappy, incompetent, and cocky (respectively). I love the personalities at play here and am eagerly anticipating the August 12th release date.
Hit Flix tells us that director/actor Ben Affleck is set to direct Harlan Coben's revered french novel Tell No One, presumably after he finishes work on Argo. Chris Terrio, who also penned the script for Argo, will adapt the story for the silver screen. The film was originally conceived in 2002 by Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci for Sony, but never took off due to countless logistical issues with the production. After Sony relinquished the rights to the film, Universal and Warner Brothers soon optioned the book and are now readily preparing the story for multiplexes across the world.
Entertainment Tonight recently released footage of the highly-anticipated film Moneyball, written by The Social Network's Aaron Sorkin and directed by Capote's Bennet Miller. Based on Michael Lewis' bestselling novel Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, the film stars Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright, Steven Bishop, Kathryn Morris, Chris Pratt, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Deadline just announced that Paul Greengrass, the critically acclaimed director of United 93, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum, has officially been offered the reigns to the highly topical Richard Phillips story. In 2009, Phillips was captured by Somali Pirates and was held for three days in a small lifeboat before NAVY seals could conduct a successful, yet violent rescue that fortunately left Phillips unharmed. As Captain of the pirated vessel Maersk Alabama, he surrendered himself to spare his the lives of his crew. The script was adapted by scribe Billy Ray from Phillips' book entitled "A Captain’s Story: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea" and Tom Hanks is set to play Phillips.
Recently at E3, Warner Brothers released new gameplay footage of Asylum's highly anticipated sequel, Batman: Arkham City. The footage (which can be found below) depicts Catwoman as a playable character and shows off some gameplay.
I was absolutely thrilled to hear this news. Fear Factor is going to return on NBC! There is nothing more enlightening than watching half-naked people immerse themselves in a pool of cockroaches and scorpions, am I right? Bob Greenblatt, NBC's new network head, has enlisted David Hurwitz and Matt Kunitz to executive produce Fear Factor with Endemol USA reprising its role as producer.
I almost wanted to walk out of Todd Phillip's latest, The Hangover Part II. The director was clearly making a nod to Francis Ford Coppola's indelible The Godfather Part II with its use of roman numerals, but it is there that any similarities between the two films end. The film was downright awful, pitifully unfunny, and nothing but a mere shadow of its past self. It so unabashedly borrowed the original's formula that the film lost all its spunk and ingenuity from its opening minutes. This didn't didn't faze American audiences, however, who collectively contributed to a national cume of $135 million. That, my friends, is a remarkable sum of money.
Hugo Weaving, the talented British-Australian actor who portrayed Agent Smith in the Wachowski Brothers' revolutionary film The Matrix, will once again reunite with the famed directors on their ambitious film entitled Cloud Atlas. The film will be adapted by the Wachowski Brothers and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) from David Mitchell's novel of the same name. More importantly though, Weaving will play six different characters in the film.
