‘Dark Knight’ plans rerelease
Batman wants an Oscar.
More literally, Warner Bros. wants a statuette — or 10 — for “The Dark Knight.” So the studio plans to rerelease its blockbuster Batman sequel in January, the height of Academy Awards voting season.
“It’s just a matter of bringing it back as a reminder for people,” a studio insider said.
Warners domestic distribution president Dan Fellman acknowledged ongoing talks with Imax executives about the prospect of restoring the Christian Bale starrer to some number of giant-screen venues in January. It’s uncertain if “Dark Knight” also will reappear in conventional venues at that point.
Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film’s huge commercial and critical success has spurred talk of possible Oscar nominations for its director, producers and cast — most specifically Bale’s co-star, Health Ledger, for the late actor’s edgy performance as the Joker.
- from THR
First Look: Nic Cage in Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass
It looks like Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass has started filming in London where a mustachioed Nicolas Cage was seen reading a paper on the park bench. Cage has previously said of his character in the Millar comic-book adaptation, directed by Stardust and Layer Cake’s Matthew Vaughn: “I play a guy named Damon, the father of Mindy who is “Hit Girl” and I’m “Big Daddy,” and I’m training my daughter to be a superhero.”
- from Here
Joss Whedon’s ‘Dollhouse’ Shuts Down Production
Just days after learning that production on the new season of 24 has been shut down for two weeks, another FOX series is giving its cast and crew some unexpected vacation time. The highly-anticipated Dollhouse, from acclaimed TV guru Joss Whedon, has shut down production for two weeks as well.
Whedon_2 I’m told that because Joss directed two of the three episodes already shot, he has not had sufficient time to be in the writers room and tailor the upcoming scripts to his liking. A rep from 20th Century Fox — the studio behind Dollhouse — said Joss came to them asking for a couple weeks to regroup and they were happy to give it to him, adding that the situation is very similar to 24’s: With several episodes in the can and both series not scheduled to debut until mid season, they have the luxury of being able to shut down and reexamine their direction without delaying their premiere date.
Said the rep, “We have every confidence that [the extra time] will allow Joss to make the show the best it can possibly be. It’s very rare that you have a head writer who is also directing two episodes in a row. But we are happy that Joss is directing, because this is his vision.”
- from Zap2it
More Marvel Films From Fox Studios?
First is a Young X-Men project of a type that will be familiar to fans of the 2000-2003 animated series X-Men: Evolution, wherein all the main characters were teenagers. Is this a good idea? Well, possibly not: either they stick with the continuity of the other films and don’t include the likes of Wolverine (in which case what’s the point?) or they confuse everyone and have younger versions of all the same characters, or they go with a spin-off team like the New Mutants, who never really fired the public’s imagination. Unless it’s like an X-Men Muppet Babies, in which case bring it on!
Secondly there’s the possibility of a spin-off of a spin-off, with Deadpool being mooted. For those of you not au fait with your Marvel masked assassins, Deadpool’s a wise-cracking mercenary with similar powers to Wolverine but better one-liners. Ryan Reynolds (a good fit for the role) is set to play him in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, so would hopefully take the role again in any spin-off. From the spin-off. They could call it X-Men Origins: X-Men Mates: Deadpool.
And third and most radically, there’s the possibility of a Daredevil reboot. As one of the few publications that didn’t hate the first one, that doesn’t seem immediately necessary (and a reboot didn’t work for The Incredible Hulk).
- from Empire
Is There a D.J. in Thor’s Future?
Eagle Eye director DJ Caruso eyes Marvel’s big screen adaptation of Thor.
Matthew Vaughn was first attached to direct Thor for Marvel Studios but just as was the case with X-Men 3, Vaughn has left the building. Which, in my humble opinion and considering the lack of money that both of his previous films - Layer Cake and Stardust - have been able to bring to Hollywood, it’s a good thing.
So who might be able to take the mighty Mjolnir and bring Thor from the comic book page to the big screen?
Today the IESB chatted with director D.J. Caruso in an exclusive interview and talked about his upcoming thriller EAGLE EYE starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan.
While wrapping up, D.J. revealed a few tidbits to the IESB about the Marvel’s favorite Norse God, Thor.
IESB: Would you tackle a D.C. or Marvel property and if you would, and I mean traditional man-in-tights superhero movie and if you did which movie would you like to do?
DJ Caruso: You know…I would definitely tackle it and I sort of wrestled with it before and I was always a fan of Thor growing up as a kid. I know that they [Marvel] have a script, but there’s something, there’s a fear I have about Thor and depending on what Thor story you want to tell, whether you want to bring Thor into the modern world or if you want to go back to Asgard and get the history of what’s happening between him and his brother and dad. That’s one I’ve always been interested in and it also would be, it would be a monumental task so, I could definitely see myself getting myself into that.
- from IESB
Disney Looks To Jump On The Comic Movie Bandwagon After Lackluster Summer
According to a post on the Disney-centric Jim Hill Media blog, word around the “House of the Mouse” is that, after a disappointing summer at the box office — led by “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” which earned just $141 million after costing $200 million to produce — the studio will follow Warner’s and Marvel’s lead and look to “get into the comic book movie game,” as Hill puts it. However, Hill make the obvious point that, the problem with getting into the game this late means any and all of the most recognizable characters and franchises have already been snapped up by other studios and production companies.
On the other hand, this could be one of the main reasons why Disney recently partnered with comic living legend Stan Lee to bring new superheroes and concepts to Disney (such as the “Time Jumper” franchise). Likewise, this could also mean that their recently announced graphic novel division, Kingdom Comics, could become all the more vital to Disney’s movie plans moving forward.
- from MTV
Exclusive Scene from New, Darker Superman
With the huge success of The Dark Knight, we know that Warner Bros. has decided to reboot the Superman franchise. Gone is the Donner family-friendly version, replaced with a darker, brooding Supes that goth kids and nerds can relate to. Warner Bros. President Jeff Robinov confirmed:
Superman [Returns] didn’t quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to. It didn’t position the character the way he needed to be positioned. Had Superman worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009. But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all. We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it.
So with that direction, here’s the first concept from the All-Darker, All-New Superman — “Superman Retires!”
J.J. Abrams tells us why there’s no Shatner cameo in new Star Trek movie
Q: How do you react to William Shatner’s ire at not having a role in the movie?
A: It was very tricky. We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn’t quite feel right. The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn’t want to do a cameo. We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves. The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling. It’s funny — a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that.
- from Scifi
The Greatest American Hero Movie Coming Soon!
Stephen J. Cannell, creator of the cult ’80s TV series The Greatest American Hero, confirmed to fans that a feature film is in the works.
“We’ve written a screenplay, and we’ve hired a director, and we’re in the midst of putting this together for the future,” Cannell told an audience in Hollywood on Sept. 7 at the Screen Actors Guild’s 25th-anniversary reunion.
The director is reportedly Stephen Herek, known for such ’80s kitsch as Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Critters–a fact Cannell did not confirm at the reunion panel.
The entire cast, producers, writers and famed stuntman Dennis “Danger” Madalone joined Cannell for a lengthy Q&A session moderated by John Tesh, a Hero historian and husband of star Connie Sellecca.
After Cannell’s movie announcement, Sellecca took the opportunity to lock in roles for herself and fellow original cast members William Katt and Robert Culp.
“I’m going to put Stephen on the spot,” Sellecca said with a grin. “Cameos for us?”
“Absolutely guaranteed,” Cannell responded. “More than cameos: acting jobs.”
“I took a sneak peak at the [feature] script, and it’s absolutely charming and wonderful,” Katt told the rapt audience. “I know people are going to love it.”
- from Sci-fi