Movie News

General News:

After some cuts were made, comedy Year One has been rated PG-13.

Director Kevin MacDonald is prepping The Eagle of the Ninth. Says MacDonald: “It takes place in Roman Britain in the second century. All the Romans will be American, all the Celts will be Scots and it’s about the friendship between a Roman legionary and his Celtic slave. They go on a journey upriver, kind of like Apocalypse Now, crossing Hadrian’s Wall, looking for the Lost Legion in the wilds of second century Scotland.”

Fox Searchlight has bought writer-directors Jay and Mark Duplass’ ensemble dramedy pitch Table 19. It’s “describes the experience of those wedding guests quarantined at the dreaded ‘singles table.’ Told from the points of view of the strangers randomly thrown together, the story explores what marriage means to those on the sidelines.” 21 Laps will produce.

Brittany Murphy and David Zayas have joined Stallone’s The Expendables.

Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, and Jeff Goldblum will star in Roger Michell’s Morning Glory. It’s “the story of an aspiring news producer (McAdams) who tries to save a failing morning show by getting control of its feuding anchors.”

Sequels; Prequels & Remakes:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has been moved from Friday, July 17, to Wednesday, July 15.

While Warner Brothers hasn’t officially announced the rating for Terminator: Salvation, Pizza Hut’s tie-in site has it as being PG-13.

Star Trek’s soundtrack details.

Michael Bay says Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will run 147 minutes long.

The Weinstein Company has lost the rights to Sin City 2. Robert Rodriguez’ Trouble Maker studios will still produce the film, with financing most likely coming through a private equity group. No word on who will distribute.

Writing team Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese have been hired by Sony to write a script for a Venom movie as a spin-off of the Spider-Man movies.

Michael Sheen has joined The Twilight Saga: New Moon as the leader of the Volturi.

Figure skater Taylor Firth will star in Donald Wrye’s remake of his 1978 movie Ice Castles. Rob Mayes, Henry Czerny, and figure skater Molly Oberstar have also been cast, and Michelle Kwan will have a cameo. It’s a love story about a competitive figure skater who continues to fight for her dreams after an accident leaves her blind. Filming has already started in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Stage 6 Films, Jaffe/Braunstein Entertainment, and Magic Rock Prods are producing.

Kyle Gallner will play one of the main teens, Quentin, in New Line and Platinum Dunes’ Nightmare on Elm Street remake.

Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson will play Hades and Zeus in Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans remake.

Elisabeth Shue will star in Alex Aja’s Piranha remake as Sheriff Julie Forester.

Emily Joyce and John Laskowski have joined Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren for Sony’s Universal Soldiers : The Next Generation.

Adaptations:

Universal has hired Mark Bomback to write the script for The Umbrella Academy. Based on Gerard Way and Dark Horse’s superhero comic: “The Umbrella Academy is a group of disbanded superheroes who reunite after the death of their adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, an alien disguised as a wealthy entrepreneur. Hargreeves collected the members of the group shortly after their birth and trained them to save the world, and, after his death, they carry on his plan.”

Plan B and Paramount Pictures has hired Alex Tse to adapt Battling Boy. Paul Pope’s graphic novel “follows the son of a god who comes down from the top of a mountain at his father’s urging to rid the giant, continent-sized city of Monstropolis of a plague of beasts.”

Fumi Yoshinaga’s historical science fiction manga Ōoku: The Inner Chamber will be made into a live action film. “The story takes place in an alternate history version of medieval Japan, in which a bizarre disease has dwindled the male population. This has led to a matriarchal society where women outnumber men by 4 to 1. The shogun and de facto ruler of Japan keeps her own harem of men, or Ōoku.” Fuminori Kaneko will direct, and Natsuko Takahashi wrote the script for, the adaptation.

Mandalay Pictures has the film rights to Shoji Gatoh’s Full Metal Panic! light novels. “The story centers around a brusque young sergeant named Sousuke Sagara who must protect an assertive high school girl named Chidori Kaname by masquerading (somewhat unsuccessfully) as a high school student himself.” The high school action comedy has already been adapted into three anime series. [E: And Zac Efron is supposedly interested in playing Sousuke Sagara. Ugh.]

Sony will adapt the game Shadow of the Colossus for an action movie. Justin Marks will write and Kevin Misher is in negotiations to produce. It’s about “a man named Wander who must travel across a cursed wasteland and defeat 16 creatures, known as the colossi, in order to restore the life of a girl,” it’ll build on the game’s fantasy setting.

Instead of the proposed fourth Pirates of the Carribean movie, Gore Verbinski will direct Universal’s Bioshock movie. “”I had a fantastic time bringing ‘Pirates’ to life, and I am eternally grateful to Jerry, Johnny and the rest of the creative and production team. I’m looking forward to all of us crossing paths again in the future.”

Mike Neweall will direct an adaptation of John Mansfield’s The Box of Delights. Frank Cottrell Boyce is adapting the children’s fantasy novel “about a boy entrusted with a magic box that allows him to travel through time.” Brilliant Films is producing.

Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer have the rights to Doug Stanton’s Horse Soldiers. The upcoming book is about “a band of elite special forces and CIA operatives who secretly invaded Afghanistan post-9/11 on horseback and helped Afghan fighters capture the city of Mazar-i-
Sharif and topple the Taliban.”

Kiefer Sutherland, Emma Roberts, Chace Crawford, Rory Culkin, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, and Ellen Brakin will star in Joel Schumacher’s Twelve movie. Nick McDonnell’s novel is about “a high school dropout-turned-drug dealer. His lucrative life sours when the dealer’s cousin is brutally murdered on an East Harlem playground and his best friend is arrested for the crime.”

William Hurt will play William Marshall, the Earl of Pembroke in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood movie.