Roundup 1/22

While many of you are expecting another edition of Ben's Video Roundup, I simply don't have the time to get one together right now (especially since I wrote most of this at work). That being said, I hope to get a BVR going next time a Roundup comes around. On with the show...

• John August, the screenwriter behind one of my favorite movies (Big Fish) and frequent Tim Burton collaborator, has signed on to write the film adaptation of Preacher. Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) is still attached to direct. This news bodes well for the project - hopefully August can craft the script into something filmable. I'll keep you posted.

• 500 Days of Summer is the runaway hit of the Sundance Film Festival this year. Everyone has been giving it positive reviews, and I'm glad it turned into such a good project. Fox Searchlight has picked it up with intentions of releasing it to the rest of us sometime this year. If you'll recall, I've been hyping this one for quite a while now.

• Tom and Jerry will become a live-action movie in the vein of Scooby-Doo and Alvin and the Chipmunks. But get this - they're doing a freaking origin story. You think you might be taking it a little too far, filmmakers? That's like doing an origin story of the Three Stooges. Who gives a crap how they met? This movie will be so bad it'll induce instant vomiting, but inexplicably manage to be the number one movie in America during its release weekend.
  

• Dakota Fanning is in talks to join the Twilight sequel New Moon as some character named Jane. Children scream with delight. Apparently she didn't even audition - they just offered it to her straight up. No word yet on the final outcome, but it will assuredly make Hot Topic a little bit richer.
  

• Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (the writer of Cloverfield and some LOST episodes) have teamed up for a movie. They both co-wrote the script, and Goddard is directing. It's called Cabin in the Woods, and hopes to re-invent the sub-genre of horror that gives the film its title. There is no telling how this will turn out - both guys have considerable geek cred, but time will tell if they'll be able to handle a serious horror film.
  

• The Shadow is coming back - but not in Alec Baldwin form. According to a producer of the new project, the film will go back to concentrate more on its pulp and radio roots. He says The Shadow may be multiple people instead of just one guy; I'm guessing something like The League of Shadows from Batman Begins.
  

• William Monahan, screenwriter of The Departed, will make his directorial debut with a film that he wrote called London Boulevard. Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley will star, with Farrell as an ex-criminal who becomes "a handyman for a reclusive young actress." Unless he goes all Liam-Neeson-in-Taken on somebody, this could be questionable at best.
  

• A bunch of film sites are just now getting around to reporting on the Ong-Bak 2 trailer that I posted to the site seven months ago, thanks to the guys at Twitch. Way to drop the ball, you other jackholes.

• Oh yeah - and the trailer to Outlander hit the net a couple weeks ago, but I guarantee none of you (save Branz) has seen it yet. A brief excerpt:
  

"Who are you, Outlander? And why were you there?"
"I was hunting."
"Hunting what?"
"Dragons."