Frickin' Eh Movie News 06.10.09: New Beginnings Edition
Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 06.10.2009
Find out if The Hangover beat Up, what's going on with the new Alien and Scream movies, the latest addition to the A-Team, and more!
So I had a pretty terrible weekend, so I apologize if this installment of the Frickin' Eh Movie News carries a more somber tone than usual. I will try my best to combat my pervasive mood, however. The good part of the weekend was garage sale-ing back home, where I picked up a couple really great deals, namely an old cabinet record player for $20 and a retro table with vinyl chairs. My parents also found an electric organ for $25. Good deals all around. But anyway, let's jump right into the news:
The Mid-Week Box Office Time Machine
Alright, let's take a look at this weekend's box office. Apparently there was some number discrepancies before but now this should be the official one. First place went to The Hangover, which narrowly beat out its nearest competitor with roughly $45 million. Up came in second with $44.1 million. Land of the Lost opened at three with $18.8 million. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian dropped from second to fourth and made another $14.6 million. Star Trek stayed at fifth with $8.3 million, while Terminator Salvation dropped from third to sixth with $8.2 million. Drag Me To Hell dropped to seventh from fourth, Angels and Demons dropped two spots to number eight, while My Life in Ruins opened at ninth with $3.2 million. Dance Flick rounded out the top ten with its drop from seventh.
This weekend if you want something fresh, Eddie Murphy's new movie, Imagine That is opening. It looks like a typical family comedy and typical Murphy. Your other new movie of the weekend is The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. Starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta, this is a remake and looks like it might be pretty good. Can either of them upset Up and The Hangover, though? We'll just have to see.
Fox Wants Scott Back For Alien Prequel?
Entertainment Weekly is reporting (via The Playlist) that 20th Century Fox hasn't signed off on the idea of commercial director Carl Erik Rinsch helming the Alien prequel. Instead, the studio wants Ridley Scott to direct the film:
The Scotts may have given final approval of Rinsch, but 20th Century Fox has some conflicting ideas and they don't want to greenlit a seventh, err fifth film ('AVP' apparently lives in fairy land only), without Ridley at the helm.
Further complicating matters are Tony Scott's comments about Rinsch being "part of the family," well not only is he part of RSA, he's evidently also romantically involved with Ridley's daughter Jordan, EW alleges (they note that Scott and Rinsch did not respond to comments for the article).
The studio and the Scotts are looking at returning to the original concept of just one alien creature and casting a new Ripley, played in the films by Sigourney Weaver.
Well of course they would want Ridley Scott back to bring his magic to a reboot and make them a hit all over again. Whether they get it or not is a big shot in the dark. Scott has a couple projects on the go, if memory serves, and he won't just drop those for this, I don't think. Add the silly little soap opera they've got going on too, and you've got an interesting little mess. We'll just have to see whether it pans out or not.
Neeson Playing Hannibal of the A-Team
Earlier this evening, it was confirmed that Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) is in talks to play Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck in the Joe Carnahan-directed The A-Team, and now, Variety has broken the news that Liam Neeson (Taken) is in negotiations to play John "Hannibal" Smith!
20th Century Fox is planning a late August production start for the June 11, 2010 release based on the 1980s TV series.
Ridley Scott is producing with Jules Daly and series creator Stephen J. Cannell, with Tony Scott executive producing through Scott Free. Carnahan and Brian Bloom polished a script by Skip Woods.
The role of Hannibal was originated by George Peppard, while Faceman was played by Dirk Benedict.
Cooper has established himself as a commodity after his starring role in Todd Phillips-directed hit "The Hangover." He just completed playing the title role opposite Sandra Bullock in "All About Steve."
Still to be cast are the roles of Capt. "Howling Mad" Murdock, played by Dwight Schultz in the original, and Sgt. "B.A." Baracus, the role that made Mr. T an '80s icon.
Okay, as ridiculous as this movie sounded originally, and with all the skepticism of who they could possibly get to fill these iconic roles, they have done a fantastic job quelling all the pessimism and shoving it in everybody's face. Two fantastic role choices are making this seem like less of a bad idea. However, the hardest role to cast is still coming up. Who is going to replace Mr. T? It's going to be the toughest one, and they are going to have to get the right person to fill that role. We'll just have to wait and see.
Wes Craven Talks New Scream
Last week, it was reported that Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette were in talks to star in a new "Scream" trilogy, which screenwriter Kevin Williamson is working on. Now, Digital Spy got a chance to ask Wes Craven, director of the first three movies, about the new project.
Craven tells the site that he is willing to read the script, expected to be done in August, and make a decision then as to whether he will direct the films. He also mentioned an interesting bit, saying that the Arquettes are confirmed to star and are the only ones returning from the original trilogy.
It's nice to know that Craven is willing to do it if he thinks it's good enough. Some directors would write it off before even looking at it. Interesting that the Arquettes are returning. That will give a bit more credibility to the movies, even if it's just a slight link to the original trilogy.
Neil Patrick Harris Going Beastly
Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother") will play a supporting role in CBS Films' Beastly, says The Hollywood Reporter.
In the film, a modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast," Harris is playing a blind tutor who helps and bonds with a teen (Alex Pettyfer) who is shellshocked from being turned into a hideous young man. Vanessa Hudgens and Mary-Kate Olsen also star in the adaptation of the Alex Finn novel, being directed by Daniel Barnz.
The movie is in pre-production in Montreal.
Gag me with a spoon. When you're throwing Pettyfer, Hudgens, and Olsen into a modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast you know it's not going to be an overly deep project. As much as I like Neil Patrick Harris this doesn't sound like a particularly good role for him. I'd much rather see him in a comedy (I assume this is going to be a drama?) and in a bigger role. Oh well, though.
Rourke Talks Iron Man
The Guardian spoke to Mickey Rourke about playing a villain in Iron Man 2. Here's an excerpt from the interview:
And Iron Man 2, in which he plays Tony Stark's tattooed Russian nemesis, Ivan, is possibly the biggest movie yet in Rourke's new career. For Rourke this means going to Russia, drinking vodka and visiting jails to study prison tattoos and find his character's tics. "I decided to do half my role in Russian," he beams, "and that's hard because the Russian language doesn't roll off the English-speaking tongue very easily. I spent three hours a day with a teacher, and after two weeks I know four sentences! Let me see, it's sort of like... 'Yezzamee menya... Yezzamee manya obott... Er, nemaboootty menya...'"
This goes on for quite some time. "It means," he says, finally, "If someone kills me, don't wake me up, because I'd rather be dead than live in your world."
Iron Man 2 hits theaters on May 7, 2010.
It sounds like Rourke is taking this role pretty seriously and should be a pretty awesome nemesis to Iron Man in this one. It's going to be pretty challenging to pull off the Russian, though. Russian is not an easy language to speak. I learned Ukrainian, I studied it for a year in university, and I still probably couldn't compose much of a sentence for you. But if he can perfect the lines he has to say, then it might be pretty cool. If he can't, hopefully he realizes that beforehand and just does the accent. This is looking good already.
Kwapis Directing Whales
Warner Bros. is in final negotiations with Ken Kwapis to direct Everybody Loves Whales, reportsVariety.
The script, written by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, is based on the story of three California gray whales found trapped in the Arctic ice in October 1988, when their plight created a media circus in the tiny Alaskan town.
Besides directing He's Just Not That Into You for New Line, Kwapis has also helmed two other projects for Warner Bros. - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and License to Wed.
Seriously? Whales? How the hell is this movie going to keep people enticed for an hour and a half? The whales get stuck . . . the town flips out . . . they save the whales. There's not a whole lot of anything going on in between. Kwapis does have his share of fairly fluffy movies, though, so maybe he'll be able to make this into something halfway watchable. Who knows?
Pine Joins Unstoppable
The Hollywood Reporter says that Star Trek star Chris Pine is in talks to join Denzel Washington in director Tony Scott's action-thriller Unstoppable at 20th Century Fox.
The story centers on an experienced train engineer (Washington) about to be laid off as part of company cutbacks and the newbie (Pine) conductor hired to replace him. They find themselves in a race against time to stop an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train carrying enough combustible liquids and poisonous gas to wipe out a nearby city.
Mark Bomback wrote the script.
Wow, Washington really likes those trains. First Pelham and now this? Pine is definitely getting some love after Star Trek, but I can't see this being that good. I mean, who's the villain? The train? I don't know about this one . . . I'll have to see some more about it before I decide if it's going to be any good or not.
Rapid-Fire: Smokey and the Bandit (1977, starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed)
I have seen this movie many times over the years, since I was a little kid, and I've loved it ever since. I only recently discovered that this movie was actually hugely popular when it originally came out, and was only beaten by Star Wars in the year it was released. This week I present a true classic:
Even though this movie is twenty-some years old, not much is lost over the years. The jargon is at times hard to understand on the CB, but most of it is explained and the stuff that isn't, isn't too hard (or too essential). Maybe it's just because I've grown up somewhat close to this lifestyle (the truck driving, not the highway chase stuff) but even the clothing and talking doesn't throw me.
The story is straightforward and linear. The Bandit has to get the beer, picks up a girl on the way, and is pursued by a vengeful cop. All along you know the Bandit is going to get away, but that doesn't make the movie any less fun. Throw in a fast car, a big rig, and two bumbling cops, and you've got yourself a damn entertaining movie. In fact, the only part of the movie I don't like is the fight that the Snowman gets in near the end, because you like him so much, but even that is short and doesn't weigh much on the movie.
Reynolds is the perfect Bandit and this will always be the role I know him in. Field is great as the unwitting passenger, and she adds quite a bit to the movie, actually. While Reed doesn't get a whole lot of screen time, he's great as the Snowman, and has the perfect companion in Fred. But the funniest role still has to be Jackie Gleason as Sherriff Buford T. Justice. Absolutely priceless.
The movie lacks in quality at some points, noticeably the part where they clearly dubbed over the character's voice. But putting those slight blips aside, this is one of the best adventure-ish movies out there, and a true classic.
Closing Time . . .
Alright, that's it for this week. This week I'll be struggling to fill my days with just about anything I can. The benefit of this is that I've started writing again, ever so slightly, but it's something. I've also started working out a bit. I have decided to take a bad thing and turn it into a new beginning of sorts. But anyway, I will see you back here next week!
