Movie News

General News:

Arclight has bought rights for Chinese time travel action movie Future X-Cops. Stars Andy Lau and is directed by Wong Jing.

Consolidated Pictures Group has acquired I Love You Phillip Morris for domestic distribution.

Twentieth Century Fox Animation has green lit Carlos Saldanha and Blue Sky Studios’ 3-D digital animated Rio. The story about “a nerdy macaw who leaves the comforts of his cage in small-town Minnesota and heads to Rio de Janeiro” will be released April 8, 2011.

Submarine has closed deals worldwide for Glenn McQuaid horror I Sell the Dead. Starring Larry Fessenden, Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman, and Angus Scrimm, “18th-century justice finally catches up with two of the craftiest grave robbers in town, who tell a priest about their outlandish adventures.”

Andrew Traucki’s The Reef has received financing and will start filming in August. “Based on a true story about a boat that went down on Australia’s Great Barrier, The Reef tells the terrifying story of four friends being stalked by a Great White when their boat sinks and they try to swim for land.”

Michael Madsen, Rachel Hunter, and Jennifer Tisdale will star in Doug Elford-Argent’s horror thriller Nictophobia. “The story follows a murderer (Madsen) who terrorizes a trio of people who, in real-estate parlance, flip properties.”

Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, and Robert Pattinson will star in period drama Unbound Captives. Madeleine Stowe will make her directorial debut from her own script about “a woman (now to be played by Weisz) whose husband is killed and her two children kidnapped by a Comanche war party in 1859. She is rescued by a frontiersman, to be played by Jackman. Pattinson will play the son.” They’re looking at beginning production near the end of this year.

Kevin Spacey will play Jack Abramoff in George Hickenlooper’s Casino Jack (formerly Bagman). It’s about how “the once high-powered lobbyist whose bribery schemes and fraudulent dealings with Indian casinos ultimately landed him in prison.”

Jean Claude Van Damme and Vinnie Jones will star in Russell Mulcahy’s Weapon. They’ll play “Derek Chase and Jack Conway, the world’s most talented assassins. The story follows the two as they join forces to take down the head of a DEA-backed drug cartel.”

Lindsay Lohan will star in indie fantasy comedy The Other Side. “The story centers on a grad student who must spend the summer working at a scientific institute on a remote island where she discovers an eccentric community of characters who are hiding a secret about a tragedy that took place many years before.” Also stars Woody Harrelson, Giovanni Ribisi, Dave Matthews, and Alanis Morissette.

Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, and Shirley MacLaine will star in Garry Marshall’s ensemble romantic comedy Valentine’s Day. “The film tells of a group of interconnected characters celebrating (or not) Valentine’s Day.” Katherine Fugate wrote the first draft, with the latest version by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein.

Sequels; Prequels & Remakes:

Paramount has set June 5 as Star Trek’s new Mexican release date.

Paramount has set a June 18, 2010, release for their Footloose remake.

[E: This one goes out to Justin] After being dropped by Sony Screen Gems, the Fright Night remake has been picked up by DreamWorks. “The original ‘Fright Night,’ written and directed by Tom Holland in 1985, was a horror comedy about a teenager who discovers that his neighbors are vampires. No writer has been hired, but the updated version will keep the comedy-horror tone while modernizing the effects.”

Dark Castle is developing a remake of William Castle’s 1965 I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are! [E: There was a 1988 TV movie also, both are unintentionally hilarious, with most of the creepiness being unintentional as well. So unknown, so unloved] Patrick Lussier will direct and co-write with Todd Farmer. Based on Ursula Curtis’ novel Out of the Dark, it’s about “two girls who innocently pass the time making prank phone calls to unsuspecting people until they call the wrong guy.” Warners will distribute.

Warner Brothers and Silver Pictures have hired Evan Daugherty to write the latest draft of Master’s of the Universe movie Grayskull. John Stevenson is attached to direct.

StudioCanal has announced intentions to remake 1993 Sylvestor Stallone vehicle Cliffhanger. Producer Neil Moritz, “Just as they rebooted ‘Star Trek,’ we’re going to do the same with ‘Cliffhanger.’ ” Looking to shoot in 2010, it “will center on a group of young climbers.”

Simon Baker has joined Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba, and Kate Hudson in Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me. “The story centers on a West Texas sheriff (Affleck) and his downward spiral from a boring small-town cop into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer.” This is the second adaptation of Jim Thompson’s novel, the first was in 1976 starring Stacy Keach.

Christopher Lloyd will play a piranha expert in Alexander Aja’s Piranha 3-D.

Chris Hemsworth has been cast as Jed Eckert, Patrick Swayze’s role, in Dan Bradley’s remake of Red Dawn.

Adaptations:

Chris Hemsworth has been cast as Thor, and Tom Hiddleston as Loki, in Marvel Studio’s Thor. The movie is set for a May 20, 2011, release.

Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Comics have made a deal for Mike Richardson and Jason Shawn Alexander’s graphic novel The Secret. Scott Milam will adapt the story of “a group of high school students involved in a prank that goes horribly wrong, but puts a spin on the teen horror thriller.”

Takashi Miike will direct a live action adaptation of Buichi Terasawa’s adventure manga Takeru. Yoshiya Nagasawa will write based on “the manga follows Takeru Ichimonji, a ninja in a fictional land that borrows elements from both ancient and future Japan.” It has a tentative October production date.

Fox International and IMJ are negotiating to turn Ai Yazawa’s fashion/romance manga Paradise Kiss into a live action film. “The story centers around a high school student named Yukari who is discovered by ‘Paradise Kiss,’ a group of up-and-coming fashion school students. The students transform Yukari into a fashion model, and she discovers a new passion for a future career and potential romance in her personal life.”

Halcyon Co.’s first movie, in a first look deal with Philip K. Dick’s estate, is Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. “Set in a futuristic, dystopian world, Tears is the tale of a celebrity who wakes up after an assassination attempt to find no one has ever heard of him.” Electric Shepherd Productions will develop along with Halcyon.

Shauna Cross will write Summit Entertainment’s adaptation of Gayle Forman’s novel If I Stay. Catherine Hardwicke is attached to direct the fantasy drama.

Abel Ferrara is developing another re-imagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Titled Jekyll and Hyde [E: Unfortunately, no relation to the musical… as far as I know], with Forest Whitaker and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson to play the two halves. Glasshouse Pictures and Cheetah Vision Films are producing.

La Petite Reine is fast-tracking Fantomas, based on Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre’s French fantasy detective novels. Christophe Gans and David Martinez are writing the script from an original story by Thomas Langmann, with Gans also directing. Fantomas, “an ingenious but amoral master of disguise and sadistic killer,” will face “off with a villain of equal or even more dastardly dimensions,” and will be influenced by The Dark Knight. Will film in French and English.

The Gotham Group has hired John Stevenson to direct its adaptation of Steven Sherrill’s novel The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break. It’s about “the mythological creature who survived Theseus’ attack in the labyrinth and walks among us today.”

American Gladiators creator Johnny Ferraro is developing a bigscreen, live action, adaptation of the TV show. “The goal is to create an action story that takes place inside the world Ferraro has created.” Producer Scott Mednick: “I look forward to creating a compelling story that launches a whole new set of characters.” [E: I’m speechless.]

Arclight Films, Wizzfilms, Infotainment China Media Company, and Latec International have agreed to produced a proposed live action Bubblegum Crisis movie. It’s based on ARTMIC’s ‘80s cyberpunk anime about “four women who protect a cybernetic future Tokyo with powered armor.” A spokesman said it “will feature two male leads and a quartet of female action babes — two Caucasian and two Asian.” Negotiations have started for a director and cast, it’ll film in Australia with an early 2012 worldwide release.

Monica Bellucci has joined Jerry Bruckheimer’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice as “Veronica, a sorceress and the long-lost love of Nicolas Cage’s character, Balthazar Blake.”