We Thought It Was Over

Sadly, ComingSoon.net has confirmed the trailer is imminent for Superhero Movie, another zinger from the people who brought us the Scary Movie franchise. Leslie Neilsen and a bunch of other people will star, and it hits theaters March 28th. Apparently the trailer is supposed to come out either this weekend or next. Someone kill me now.

UPDATE AGAIN: I HAD the trailer up here, but I guess it was a leaked version that wasn't supposed to get out. I'm too lazy to find another one, so track it down yourself if you REALLY want to be disappointed.

Hartnett's Newest Flick

MTV scored an interview with Josh Hartnett at Sundance and asked him about any new projects he has coming up, and he told them he's working on a new movie called Bunraku. They have a decent write-up about it here, which gives much more detail than I'm willing to type here. It sounds really interesting, so if you're a fan of his you should check it out.

Sequel Talks Already?

Paramount is reportedly in early talks with Matt Reeves to direct a sequel to Cloverfield. J.J. Abrams and Drew Goddard will return to produce and write (respectively), and Variety says the timeline will depend on how soon they can all formulate a vision for another monster film. Apparently there is a "good chance" the sequel will be Reeves' next film, but he has The Invisible Woman lined up for GreeneStreet Films in case things don't move as quickly as planned. The Invisible Woman is about a former beauty queen who resorts to crime in order to save her family.

Scorsese's "Shutter Island" Changes Title

Martin Scorsese's newest film Shutter Island, based on the novel by "Mystic River" and "Gone Baby Gone" novelist Dennis Lehane, has now been renamed Ashecliffe.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Scorsese's go-to actor over the past decade, will play U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels who travels to a mental institution called Ashecliffe on Shutter Island to search for a missing serial killer. Mark Ruffalo (huh??) will play his partner, and Ben Kingsley also co-stars. The release date? An always-vague "2009."

Platinum Dunes' Upcoming Slate

Platinum Dunes, a relatively new production company, has been responsible for some of the horror remakes we've seen over the past few years (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror, etc). They've had Hitchcock in their sights for a while now, hoping to do a remake of The Birds for 2009. Recently, they've decided to relaunch Friday the 13th AND Nightmare on Elm Street much in the same fashion as they did with Texas Chainsaw.

What I wasn't aware of is the fact that Platinum Dunes is run by Andrew Form (don't care), Brad Fuller (never heard of him), and (dun dun DUN) the one and only Michael Bay. Fun fact.

And while we're on the topic of Platinum Dunes, they aren't only in the game for remakes: they've got a couple other projects on the way as well. Odette Yustman (Beth from Cloverfield) will star in David S. Goyer's new untitled project for the fledgling company. The release date is currently unknown. Dennis Quaid will star in Horsemen, about a detective who uncovers strange connections between himself and the serial killer he's tracking (Se7en, anyone?). But by far the coolest thing they're working on is a film called Fiasco Heights. From AICN:

"The story, which occurs in a stylized 'hyper-real' noir environment akin to that of Sin City, centers on a notorious hitman who teams with a failed private eye in search of a missing woman and an invaluable briefcase."

Count me in.

Y: The Last Man to be a Trilogy?

In a fantastic interview with Disturbia director D.J. Caruso, USA Today uncovered some hints about the future of the comic-to-film adaptation. The director says that he wants to split the films up into a possible trilogy, citing the epic length of the series as the main reason.

"We kind of gave it a different arc. Where this series [the comic book, the last issue comes out next week] ends, hopefully, would be, like, the third movie. It's so dense...there's so much great s--t in there...and what I think sort of hurt it before was they were trying to throw everything in, including the kitchen sink."

If they are going to make a movie out of this, they better do it right. I like the concept of the series as a trilogy, especially since there are 60 issues worth of material to contend with. This isn't a small project. For those of you still not familiar, Y: The Last Man follows Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand, the last males on Earth after a plague kills everything else on the planet with a Y chromosome. Read the first issue for free here. Highly recommended.

Although the casting of Shia LaBeouf in the lead role of Yorick has not been confirmed yet, Caruso immediately thought of his young star when he read the series for the first time and they've gone through preliminary casting talks. Caruso says he wants Y: The Last Man to be the next project he works on after wrapping up post-production on Eagle Eye (also starring LaBeouf), which is set to come out in August.

G.I. Joe Raises Average Age of Cast With New Additions

According to Variety and ISEB.net, Dennis Quaid and Arnold Vosloo have joined the cast of Stephen Sommers' film adaptation of G.I. Joe.

Quaid (known most recently for his bout with "manorexia") will play General Hawk, the leader of the G.I. Joe squad. Vosloo (the mummy from The Mummy) is set to play the villainous Zartan, a mercenary who works with COBRA. I don't know who either of these characters are because I never got into G.I. Joe as a kid, but apparently the film is becoming pretty highly anticipated.

The more surprising thing I learned today is that Stuart Beattie wrote the most recent draft of the script. Beattie is responsible for writing Michael Mann's Collateral, one of my favorite films, so I guess this can't hurt the production of G.I. Joe. Hopefully it won't be too ridiculous.

Diesel and Walker Are 4 Fast 4 Furious

Vin Diesel told MTV today that he would get back in the driver's seat for another sequel to the film that brought street racing to the mainstream.

"I think doing the cameo in 'Tokyo Drift' confirmed a lot of things for me...when you create a role that the world kind of identifies with...sometimes you have that responsibility to return to that role. I think the time has come to revisit Dom Toretto."

Diesel also confirmed that Paul Walker has signed on to reprise his role in the upcoming installment that will probably race into theaters in 2009. What else can they do in this franchise? Have them street race in space? Honestly though, I'll probably end up seeing this when it comes out. I've already seen the other three, so I'm in too far not to.

Depp and Bale to be Public Enemies

Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) is directing a film about John Dillinger, a man who leads a gang of bank robbers across the country during the Depression and the feds that try to track him down. Johnny Depp will play Dillinger, and Christian Bale will play Agent Melvin Purvis, the "Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive" character who makes it his mission to catch the gang of criminals.

Joining the two powerhouse actors are Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose), Channing Tatum, Giovanni Ribisi, and Stephen Dorff. Variety says filming is set to begin in Chicago on March 1oth for Universal Pictures.

Michael Mann is one of my favorite directors. With a cast like this, I'm expecting nothing short of brilliance.

G.I. Joe's Duke Casting Rumor

The people at Ain't It Cool News are calling this a done deal, but as of right now it is only a rumor. They claim that Channing Tatum has been cast in the lead role of Duke in Paramount's G.I. Joe movie that's lined up for an August 7, 2009 release. Joining a rather eclectic cast of Rachel Nichols, Ray Park (everyone's favorite tattoo-faced Sith lord), Sienna Miller, Marlon Wayans, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tatum and Co. are supposed to begin work on the film sometime next month in L.A.


I'm not sure what to think about this. I don't really find it necessary to start turning 80's toys into films, but then again - remakes are starting to get really tedious, so maybe filmmakers are having to tap into another source of potential. Here's hoping we don't see a "Stretch Armstrong" movie in 2012.

Harvey Weinstein Wants Rambo V

Harvey Weinstein told Deadline Hollywood that he wouldn't mind seeing another Rambo sequel hit theaters, saying "I like the idea of an older guy kicking ass. Maybe it's because I'm older, too."

Stallone has previously stated that he wants to take Rambo in another direction if he ever brings him back to the big screen again. A fan asked him what he meant by that, and here's his response:

"I truly can’t tell you yet because I think it would be bad luck, but I think a challenge would be to take the character which has been perceived mostly in a realistic vein and add another element of the surreal that would actually take the audience into a slightly different genre. It’s not like I’m going to turn it into a full on Broadway musical starring the Muppets, but it is ambitious."

I'm not quite sure what he's hinting at here, but if Rambo makes enough money internationally, then perhaps we'll be lucky enough to find out.

Ridiculously enough, the sword-and-sandal spoof Meet the Spartans actually out-performed Rambo at the box office this weekend. The "comedy" made $18.7 million compared to Rambo's $18.1 mil, and God only knows how something like this could happen. High school kids, I tell ya. They must be the only people keeping movies like Epic Movie and Date Movie alive.

Del Toro to Direct The Hobbit?

Guillermo del Toro is in official talks to direct the two-part film adaptation of Tolkien's "The Hobbit." The director, whose works include the critically-acclaimed Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy films (among others), may co-write and direct while Peter Jackson looks on as an executive producer. The Hollywood Reporter says each movie is predicted to have a $150 million budget, and the two are to be shot back-to-back beginning in 2009. This puts the release date of the first film at 2010 and the second at 2011.

Personally, I think this is a great choice for a director. Anyone who has seen Pan's Labyrinth knows that del Toro can handle this kind of fantasy with the best of them. We have to remember that Peter Jackson was known for his horror films before he went on to direct one of the greatest (and most profitable) trilogies of all time, and he didn't have nearly the experience that del Toro does. We'll see how this actually ends up, but for now - it's fun to speculate.