Frickin' Eh Movie News 7.29.09: Into the Rabbit Hole

Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 07.29.2009

New teasers for Alice in Wonderland and Dorian Gray, the returns of King Kong and Resident Evil, news on who is directing the Dead Space movie, the next appearance of Captain Jack Sparrow, some Toy Story 3 news, and more!

I thought of something interesting to write in the opening spiel this week but it has completely escaped me as I write it. Honestly, I don't have a clue, so I think we'll jump straight into things instead this week, so . . .


The Mid-Week Box Office Time Machine

Alright, last weekend saw a bit of a surprise, at least for me, as the star power and young audience focus of G-Force vaulted it to number one with $31.7 million. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince fell a spot to second and made another $29.5 million. The Ugly Truth debuted at third with $27.6 million, and Orphan opened at fourth with $12.9 million. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs couldn't keep up with the new movies and fell from second to fifth with $8.4 million. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen fell from third to sixth, The Hangover from sixth to seventh, The Proposal slid from fifth to eighth, and Public Enemies fell from seven to nine. Rounding out the top ten was Bruno which faced a huge fall from fourth to tenth with a paltry $2.8 million.

Opening this weekend are two new movies. The first is a kids movie and is likely gunning to take down G-Force, and that movie is Aliens in the Attic, although I'm not sure it actually poses all that much of a threat. The other opener is Funny People, starring Jonah Hill and Adam Sandler. This looks like it will be a delicate balance and while everyone I know is hoping it will be as good as it looks, we'll have to see if they can hit it just right.


Mila Kunis To Join Black Swan

Mila Kunis is in talks to star opposite Natalie Portman in Darren Aronofsky's supernatural drama Black Swan, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film centers on a veteran ballerina (Portman) who finds herself locked in a competitive situation with a rival dancer (Kunis), with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance. But it's unclear whether the rival is a supernatural apparition or if the protagonist is simply having delusions.

Black Swan is set to begin shooting in the fall in New York.

Kunis stars in the upcoming pics Extract, The Book of Eli and Date Night.

I honestly haven't seen much of Kunis since That 70's Show, so it should be interesting to see her in something new, especially a serious and strange role like this one. She should be a good foil to Portman, and this is shaping up to be a pretty interesting film.


King Kong Returns?

Variety reports that Spirit Pictures is looking to breathe new life into King Kong and a project initially developed by effects legend Ray Harryhausen.

Producers at the company have picked up the rights to the book "Kong: King of Skull Island," a prequel to the well-known tale of the big ape.

Written by Joe DeVito and Brad Strickland, the book focuses on the backstory of Skull Island and how the giant gorilla became king there. It introduces other giant gorillas and dinosaurs only hinted at in the previous films.

The plan is to produce the film using motion-capture technology such as Robert Zemeckis used to make The Polar Express, Beowulf and the upcoming Disney's A Christmas Carol.

Spirit also is developing War Eagles a project original King Kong co-director Merian C. Cooper and Harryhausen had developed together and were nearly set to produce before the outbreak of WWII. The period actioner is set in 1939 and revolves around an ace fighter-pilot who tests a new jet and winds up crash-landing in the arctic, where he encounters a lost civilization that's been thriving there for centuries.

Andy Briggs is working on the scripts for both films.

Taking another stab at King Kong is an interesting move. Obviously it's a big franchise and big story with a lot of history, and there is some story left that you could tell, but (at least the current incarnation) is a very expensive franchise. Also, how do you tell this story if it's just between gorillas and dinosaurs? It's going to be completely devoid of speech, won't it? We'll just have to see, I guess.


Dead Space Under Caruso's Eagle Eye

The Electronic Arts hit video game "Dead Space" is on course to become a sci-fi/horror film, with Eagle Eye helmer D.J. Caruso attached to direct, reports Variety.

EA will produce the film with Temple Hill partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey.

The producers, EA and Caruso have been listening to takes from prospective screenwriters, and once they set a writer and EA signs off on a creative direction, they will auction the property to studios. That will likely happen in early September.

Dead Space is set in the 26th century in deep space, where an engineer who responds to a distress signal from a mining ship finds the vessel infested with monstrous creatures called Necromorphs. The creatures are human corpses, reanimated by an alien virus.

EA launched the game in 2008 and is working on the second and third installments.

From what I've seen of the game, it looks like it would make a good horror movie, as the game was half movie already as many games are nowadays. Caruso is a good choice, he's got a good directorial eye, and should do fine with the movie.


Dorian Gray Teaser Hits

ShockTillYouDrop.com has a first look at the international teaser trailer for director Oliver Parker's Dorian Gray, to be released by Momentum Pictures.

Based on "The Picture of Dorian Gray," the story centers on Gray (Ben Barnes), a young man who becomes the subject of a painting. As the man descends into a hedonistic lifestyle, the portrait begins to age and morph, but he doesn't. Firth plays Lord Henry Wotton, the aristocrat who corrupts Gray with his worldview.

This looks pretty interesting. The story of Dorian Gray has always been a fascinating one, and this looks like a relatively faithful rendering of the story. Barnes looks good in the role of Gray, although I still think I prefer the portrayal in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, at least until I've seen this movie in its entirety. Take a peek at the trailer and see what you think.


Pirates 4 Shooting in 2010, Releasing in 2011

Comic-Con is in full swing at this point, and ComingSoon.net got a surprise interview with Disney's Head of Production Oren Aviv where we talked about the genesis of some of the projects they were showing at the con, though we did have a lot of questions about future Disney plans as well. One of the movies that's still on the forefront of everyone's mind is the fourth installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean." Producer Jerry Bruckheimer told us a few weeks back that they were working on a script, but Aviv and Disney are definitely on board as we learned when we discovered that they have plans to be rolling film on the movie as early as next year.

"We're going to shoot 'Pirates 4' in April or May of next year," Aviv told us during our interview. "We are going to release it hopefully in 2011 is the plan." He said that this time they would only be doing one movie this time that would "hopefully be the first of another trilogy."

"It's important to get the story right and it's important to me to scale it down, because we can't get bigger," Aviv admitted. "The movies have subsequently gotten bigger and bigger and very complicated and they were satisfying on so many levels obviously, but I want to kind of reboot the whole thing and bring it down to its core, its essence, just characters." He agreed that there is a lot of Captain Jack Sparrow's back story that we haven't seen yet without confirming or denying that we might see some of that in the fourth movie. Still no word on whether Gore Verbinski might come back for the fourth movie.

It's good to see them recognize and admit what was one of the major things that people had a problem with in regards to the last two films, which was the huge and complex storyline. Shrinking it back down is definitely the right path, not only story-wise, but in every way. The first movie is still the best and it's the most minimalist, and if they want to create another fantastic trilogy, they're going to have to bring it back down to that level. I'm excited already.


Resident Evil: Afterlife is 3D

ShockTillYouDrop.com talked exclusively to Paul W.S. Anderson, who revealed that Resident Evil: Afterlife will be released in 3D and will kick-off a new trilogy!

Anderson, who will write and direct, said that the fourth film in the franchise will have the largest budget of all the films so far.

Milla Jovovich will return as Alice in "Afterlife," opening September 17, 2010. You can also expect some returning characters from the previous films and new characters from the video games.

The 3D thing isn't much of anything, just another hook to try and pull people in, but I guess it's the current trend, as more and more movies are coming in as 3D. Personally I'm glad it's kicking off a new trilogy, I think there's life left in Resident Evil. Hopefully this doesn't disappoint.


Alice in Wonderland Teaser Appears

Walt Disney Pictures has now officially brought online the teaser trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Sheen, Matt Lucas, Crispin Glover, Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman. The film hits conventional and IMAX 3D theaters on March 5.

Okay, this just looks plain awesome. Burton's twisted imagination is perfect for the story, and he's done wonders with it. The movie looks beautiful and weird, and I can't wait to see it in its entirety. Check out the teaser and mark March 5 on your calendars!


Robert Downey Jr. Joins Due Date

Iron Man 2 and Sherlock Holmes star Robert Downey Jr. is joining Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) in Due Date, the comedy that Todd Phillips will direct for Warner Bros. this fall.

Downey will play an expectant father who finds himself on a road trip with a mismatched partner, as he races to get there before the birth of his first child.

Galifianakis plays his road trip mate in a comedy that Phillips calls "a buddy comedy without the buddies."

The script was written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, and revised by Adam Sztykiel. Shooting will begin in September, in Atlanta, Arizona and Los Angeles.

Well, this is a bit of a surprise to me. I didn't see Robert Downey Jr. jumping into a comedy like this, but I guess Phillips has shot to stardom with The Hangover and he's playing with the heavyweights now. It should be a good mix of characters, I think.


Hackl Returns for Saw VII

Lionsgate has greenlit Saw VII with a January start of production, reports Variety. David Hackl -- production designer of the second, third and fourth films and helmer of Saw V -- has been hired to direct.

Mark Burg and Oren Koules, who have produced all six of the "Saw" pics, are back as producers. And screenwriters Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, who wrote the fourth, fifth and sixth films, are writing the seventh.

Saw VI, for which Lionsgate just released a teaser and R-rated clip, opens in theaters on October 23.

I don't even know what to say about these movies anymore. It's just getting repetitious, considering the same thing has been happening for six goddamn movies.


Keaton Voicing Ken in Toy Story 3

Director Lee Unkrich confirmed the rumors that Michael Keaton will voice Ken in Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar's Toy Story 3 at the San Diego Comic-Con today.

John Lasseter said that "For 'Toy Story 3' we have the entire voice cast return. Barbie is back and in a much larger roll alongside Ken."

He added that "it's a totally different emotional core that this movie has. We're really excited for it."

The third installment hits theaters in Disney Digital 3-D on June 18, 2010.

It's nice that the whole voice cast is coming back and this movie will presumably follow in the footsteps and try to replicate the success of the first two, plus Michael Keaton should be pretty awesome as Ken. I'm still unsure about it, though. As a kid I remember loving the original but not being fond of the second one, and I know a lot of people with the same feelings, so it will depend on which movie it takes after more, I think. Of course, the Pixar faithful will think this is golden regardless. We'll have to see.


Rapid-Fire: Pitch Black (2000, starring Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser)

Yet another movie that I've seen the second installment long before the original. I've been meaning to watch this for a long time but I just have never gotten around to it until now, so I present:

The plot of this movie is nothing like Riddick, which focused on the actual criminal part of Riddick's life. Instead, his criminal life is merely a backdrop. A spaceship crashes on the surface of a sun-scorched planet, and the crew has to try and survive. The title doesn't make sense until about halfway through, when they discover that the planet will soon be lost in complete darkness, and monsters appear in the darkness. Diesel as Riddick saves the day, of course.

I expected this to be a lower budget movie just from the impression I'd gotten previously, but I was pleasantly surprised. The special effects are actually quite good – not fantastic, especially by today's standards, but good enough. The rest of the movie is actual physical sets, and those scenes are all done very well.

As far as the acting goes, Vin Diesel as Riddick is obviously the star and he does a good job in the role, although it's a slightly different character than the one that he portrays in Chronicles of Riddick. Radha Mitchell as Carolyn Fry is a nice balance to the movie and does a very good job in her role. Cole Hauser as William Johns is a good counter-balance to Riddick and a good pseudo-enemy. The rest of the characters are not overly prominent, but no one drops the ball, either.

All in all, I was very impressed with this movie. Perhaps I had low expectations, but this was fresh and different, and it was a good movie. Check this out if you want something different and fairly original.


Closing Time . . .

Alright, that wraps up this week. I still have yet to watch any of the second season of Pushing Daisies on DVD, despite buying it the day after it was released. I also found the complete series of Sanford and Son. It's going to be a busy week – I've got a lot of things I really want to do, and very little time to do anything. But I'll see you here next week, so until then . . .


[All news, images, and other stuff from www.comingsoon.net, www.imdb.com, www.rottentomatoes.com and www.youtube.com.]