Saturday, October 19, 2013

‘Terminator 5′: Alan Taylor Says Nolan’s Batman Reboot Would Be His Inspiration

Veteran television director, Alan Taylor, will be making his feature film debut next month with Thor: The Dark World. After Thor 2, Taylor might be directing another incredibly popular franchise. It was announced last month that he may be directing the reboot to the Terminator franchise (a.k.a. Terminator 5). Recently, Taylor explained that it was the successful reboot of the caped crusader that inspired Terminator 5.

Although Taylor has been rumored to direct the next Terminator film, there hasn’t been an official press release yet. That hasn’t stopped people from asking Taylor about the project and what inspired him to jump on board.

In a recent interview with SlashFilm, Taylor talked about his respect for the first two films and what happened to the sequels that followed.

The Chucky 3-Film Marathon Live Blog

The time is upon us. Do you have Child's Play 2, Bride of Chucky and Curse of Chucky? Then get those films ready because Shock Till You Drop's Ryan Turek is about to begin a live-blogging experience as he watches those three film and weighs in with his thoughts. It's like watching along with our pals during a movie marathon on a Friday night.

Don Mancini, the creator of Chucky, is dropping in to say 'hi' and talk about the movies.

The entire series has been collected in a box set from Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Curse of Chucky made its debut this month, so it's a perfect time to celebrate the pint-sized punk.

Robin Williams To Return As Teddy Roosevelt In Night At The Museum 3

Perhaps because I wasn’t that impressed with the franchise’s second film, or perhaps due to bad eyesight, but I’ve been completely clueless when it came to the upcoming Night at the Museum 3 from director Shawn Levy, with Ben Stiller reprising his increasingly more unbelievable role of security guard Larry Daley. Whatever. You make two movies that gross almost a billion dollars and I don’t expect anything different. The first of the film’s many historical character to come back will be Robin Williams, who is currently in negotiations to reprise his role of Teddy Roosevelt, according to THR.

He portrayed Roosevelt in both of the previous Night at the Museum films, serving as Larry’s informational guidance counselor. The only thing that’s known, I suppose, is that the setting will be moved to one of the many museums in London. Which means that there must be some kind of a touring exhibit or a similar event, if Roosevelt is going to have a part to play here, and what kind of a lame exhibit brings along a Roosevelt piece that looks nothing like Roosevelt?

'Pulp Fiction' Castmembers Reunite for Quentin Tarantino's Prix Lumiere Award

Uma Thurman, Harvey Weinstein, Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth are on hand for an emotional ceremony in Lyon, France.

LYON, France – Quentin Tarantino brought out the big guns – including Harvey Weinstein, Uma Thurman and Harvey Keitel – when he received the Prix Lumiere at the film festival here Friday night.

The Prix Lumiere, which has been awarded to Clint Eastwood, Milos Forman, Gerard Depardieu, and Ken Loach in the five years since its inception, was envisioned by Cannes and Lumiere film festivals head Thierry Fremaux to become the Nobel prize of filmmakers to honor their bodies of work.

At an exceptionally emotional tribute and award ceremony, which preceded a brief backstage government ceremony in which he was awarded the Commander of Arts and Letters by French culture minister Aurelie Filippetti, the director was honored by his longtime friends and creative collaborators.

Lucasfilm Reveals Plans for Darth Vader TV Specials

Ever since Disney purchased Lucasfilm, the future has looked very bright for the possibilities of "Star Wars," but today's announcement, straight out of the European Brand Licensing Show, is a little out of left field.

Jedi News has discovered a brochure from the official show that shares some details that Disney is planning for the franchise, most notably some "Darth Vader themed" television specials. The brochure doesn't specify if the specials will be animated or live action, but we have our guesses that it could be a tie-in to the upcoming Star Wars Rebels.

Other information included in the brochure includes Star Wars LEGO games coming for mobile platforms in the spring/summer of 2014, a "digital library" in the fall/winter of 2014, and the tentative plans for a spring/summer 2015 release date for the highly anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII.
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Sam Worthington Reveals ‘Avatar’ Sequels Filming Start Date

James Cameron never fails to go for the gusto with his movie projects, so although it came as a surprise earlier this year when the news broke that Cameron intends to make three Avatar sequels back-to-back-to-back – rather than two followups, as was reportedly the original plan – it didn’t exactly rock the industry or shock movie lovers around the world. (At least, not anymore than when Peter Jackson decided to turn The Hobbit into a trilogy after principal photography had wrapped – to cite an appropriate example for comparison.)

The second installment in the planned Avatar quadrilogy is expected to reach theaters by 2016, which is a year later than the film was originally slated to arrive. Leading man-turned-Na’vi Sam Worthington has lent further credibility to the new theatrical date, by revealing the expected start date for production on Avatar 2, followed thereafter by Avatar 3 and Avatar 4 (official subtitles – or lack thereof – TBD).

Red 2 Will Hit Blu-ray And DVD In November

Summer theatrical releases have been trickling onto Blu-ray, DVD and Digital over the last several months. Soon, buyers will be able to add Red 2 to the pre-holiday list. Lionsgate Home Entertainment announced the flick will be hitting homes in just a few weeks with plenty of room to spare prior to Christmas present wrapping season. The action-filled sequel to Red will be available via Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, Video On Demand and Pay-Per-View on November 26.

Red 2 doesn’t have quite as much pizzazz as its predecessor, but it does offer familiar jokes and a top-of-the-line cast, including Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Mary Louise-Parker, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The second film in the franchise follows a plot to take down Marvin (Malkovich) and Frank (Willis) after some details involving a Cold War age mission emerge. Foes and friends from the past pop up, creating a highly detailed film that’s full of hijinks and quite frankly, more than enough fun. Obviously, it’s not the type of thing most viewers will be heaping lofty praise on at the second the runtime finishes, but it’s also not the type of thing anyone would ever turn off mid-movie. In short, it’s a crowd pleaser, and if you need further proof of that, check out the pretty enjoyable trailer below.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Ben Foster Confirmed for Lance Armstrong Biopic; Filming Starts This Month

When the mighty fall, they fall hard, and these days the public will first vilify them… and then wonder when we’ll see the movie version. Such is the case with Lance Armstrong, whose very public fall from grace has inspired three different biopics based on different aspects of his story (not to mention a full-length documentary, The Armstrong Lie by Freakonomics director Alex Gibney).

A still unnamed project, based on journalist David Walsh’s book Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit Of Lance Armstrong, was announced a few months ago and eventually attracted director Stephen Frears (The Queen) and a star in the form of Ben Foster (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) who would portray Armstrong. While this project was still shopping for financial backers, it appeared to be the furthest along in pre-production.

Vampire Academy Photos Tease Training, A Prank And Some Serious Tension

Earlier this month Vampire Academy fans got a peek at Lissa and Christian, two of the royal Moroi vampire characters featured in the feature adaptation of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series. While the broody Christian and sweet Lissa make eyes at one another throughout the story, another potential couple begins to spark, though you might not be able to see that in the above photo, as Rose and Dimitri are a bit busy with martial arts training to acknowledge their chemistry.

Courtesy of EW, the photo up top shows us Zoey Deutch and Danila Kozlovsky as Rose Hathaway and her dreamy Russian trainer Dimitri Belikov. Both are Dhampirs, which means they're half-human, half-vampire and exceptionally strong. In Mead's story, Dhampirs attend St. Vladimir's Academy alongside the peaceful Moroi vampires (living vampires who drink blood but also eat human food and age). While the vampires practice their supernatural abilities, most of which pertain to the elements (fire, water, etc), Dhampirs train to improve their strength and defensive skills in an effort to protect the Moroi against the evil Strigoi vampires (the more traditional non-aging, sun-allergic murdering-type vampires).
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Guillermo del Toro Says He’s Still Writing the PACIFIC RIM Sequel with Travis Beacham

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro made a splash this summer with his massive “monsters vs. robots” epic Pacific Rim.  Though the Warner Bros. film carried a hefty budget, the pic did solid business at the box office, bringing in over $400 million worldwide.  Del Toro always envisioned sequels to the pic in order to further flesh out the Pacific Rim world, and last we heard a follow-up was looking likely from a studio standpoint given the pic’s success at the global marketplace.  Though the sequel still has yet to receive an official greenlight, del Toro recently revealed that he and screenwriter Travis Beacham are still working on the script for Pacific Rim 2.  Hit the jump for more.

Anthony Daniels Teases C-3PO’s Return in ‘Star Wars: Episode 7′

Screen Rant Underground Podcast listeners – who tuned in for the SRU podcast crew’s New York Comic-Con 2013 recap installment - know that our staff has grown just as tired of reporting Star Wars: Episode VII rumors as the general fanbase is of having few official details to fuel speculation (in the correct direction, that is).

As it stands, all we know for certain is that Star Trek Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams is drawing from a screenplay written by Toy Story 3‘s Oscar-winning screenwriter, Michael Arndt (based on material cooked up by George Lucas), with an unspecified 2015 release date in mind… maybe.

The Big Problems Behind the Delay in a New 'Bridget Jones' Movie

As Helen Fielding's third book piques interest, a rival project and Renee Zellweger's fading star could prevent a trilogy.
This story first appeared in the Oct. 25 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

Bridget Jones isn't getting any younger. But there seems to be no sense of urgency to marry her off to a Hollywood suitor.

Film rights remain available to Helen Fielding's latest adventure, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the third literary outing for the self-deprecating heroine who counts calories and units of booze consumed with the fervor of a Nobel-winning chemist.

Brad Pitt Says '12 Years A Slave' Cuts "To The Base Of Our Humanity," Plus New Photos & Soundtrack Info

No matter how acclaimed or laden with stars, getting audiences to shell out cash and sit down for a two-hour plus movie depicting slavery in agonizingly brutal detail isn't an easy task. Enter: Brad Pitt.

The handsome, charmer worked his magic on the "Today" show this morning with host Ann Curry, for "12 Years A Slave." Not only is he an actor amongst the ensemble, but he's also a producer on the picture, and he says he approached the whole endeavor as a film fan first. "I'm a moviegoer," he said. "That was a place that was a big escape for me, to open my eyes up to the world when I was a little, little kid. I loved going to see films. So I think of it from that side of it, and I know the impact of this film."

Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Noah’ Attracts Controversy During Test Screenings

When you adapt a Bible story for the big screen, you’re just asking for trouble, and Darren Aronofsky has already courted his fair share with his graphic novel-turned movie project, Noah. The Black Swan director’s vision of the Noah’s Ark story features Russell Crowe as the eponymous prophet, who believes that his visions of an impending apocalyptic flood are a message from God – and thus, begins to construct an enormous ship, in order to protect his family and as many living creatures as possible.

Paramount has started test screening Noah, by showing different cuts of the film to audiences so as to determine which one is best received (read: most commercially viable). The religious tentpole is reported to have climbed past its original $125 million budget, so Aronofsky is having to deal with more studio feedback than he’s accustomed to, seeing how his previous features have all been pretty low on the professional film budget scale (with the exception of The Fountain, which still cost “just” $35 million to make).
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