Frickin' Eh Movie News 8.19.09: Slightly Longer Edition
Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 08.19.2009
Spider-Man's future, big stars set for Oobermind, more White Chicks, Iron Man turns into a vampire, The Fourth Kind trailer, and more!
I finally watched one of the old Westerns I've been meaning to watch for a long time. You can find out which one it is this week as the Rapid-Fire. It has been suggested by a friend that I should also watch Rio Bravo, although I still want to watch some of the old Hitchcock movies, so I don't know if I'll have time. But anyway, let's get right into the news . . .
The Mid-Week Box Office Time Machine
Alrighty folks, this past weekend saw District 9 live up to its hype and top the box office with $37.4 million. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra bowed down to second with $22.2 million. The Time Traveler's Wife opened at third with $18.6 million. Julie & Julia dropped two spots to fourth in its second week, making another $12.1 million. G-Force dropped two spots to fifth and made $6.9 million. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard opened at sixth with $5.6 million. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince fell from fourth to seventh while The Ugly Truth went from sixth to eighth. Ponyo opened at ninth with $3.6 million, while Funny People tripped from fifth to tenth with a small $3 million in its third week.
For movie goers this weekend, Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds opens with Brad Pitt in the lead. The commercials hit it right on: you haven't seen war until you've seen it through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino. The fluffy title of the week is Post Grad, starring Alexis Biedel and Zach Gilford. The kids' movie of the weekend is Shorts, which I finally saw a commercial for and have absolutely no desire to see this ridiculous movie. And finally the outrageous movie of the weekend is X Games 3D: The Movie. Predictably, it's the X Games, shot in 3D, made into a movie. So take your pick; I'm betting Tarantino knocks down the competition fairly easily.
Sony Chooses Spider-Man 5 & 6 Writer
Variety reports that Sony Pictures has engaged screenwriter James Vanderbilt to write Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6.
Production on Spider-Man 4 will begin early next year for a May 6, 2011 release. Vanderbilt wrote the first draft of the script for the fourth installment. David Lindsay-Abaire was brought on board to do a rewrite, and Gary Ross is now rewriting that script.
The trade adds that director Sam Raimi didn't embrace all of Vanderbilt's ideas, but executives at Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios have. Vanderbilt has been hired to pen the fifth and sixth movies, which have an interconnected storyline.
It's unclear whether Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst will be back for #5 & 6, but if they aren't, Vanderbilt's script would be the blueprint for a franchise reboot.
Oh yeah, that's good, hire the writer who doesn't completely get along with Raimi and whose ideas have most likely been largely rewritten. Yeah, sounds like a fantastic idea. I could see that as being the breaking point between Raimi and the Spider-Man franchise. It's interesting that they're still planning for a reboot; I thought they would be confident that everyone would stick it out past four. It's a very interesting way they run this series . . .
Ferrell Replaces Downey Jr. in Oobermind, Pitt and Hill Join As Well
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. announced today that Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill will star alongside Tina Fey in its upcoming theatrical release, Oobermind, which is scheduled to hit theaters on November 5, 2010. Will Ferrell assumes the leading role of Oobermind, replacing Robert Downey, Jr., who has left the production due to scheduling conflicts.
When super villain Oobermind (Ferrell) defeats his archrival Metro Man (Pitt), the world should be his oyster. But instead, Oobermind falls into total despair. It turns out that life without a rival is life without a point for him. So, he creates a new superhero rival, Titan (Hill). Unfortunately, the new hero wants to be a super villain, too. Caught in the middle, star reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Fey) asks the tough questions: Who can we turn to? Who has what it takes to stand up to this menace? Who will defend the innocent? Oobermind! That's who.
"We are thrilled to welcome Will, Brad and Jonah to 'Oobermind,'" said Bill Damaschke, Co-President of Production & President of Live Theatrical for DreamWorks Animation. "Together, our all-star cast will set the comedic tone for this exciting new twist on the superhero genre."
Oobermind is being directed by Tom McGrath (Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa) and produced by Lara Breay and Denise Nolan Cascino.
Wow, this movie went from being a cool idea that I was really looking forward to seeing in action to something terrifying that I will probably steer far clear of. Ferrell replacing Robert Downey Jr. is a huge step down. I just think that Ferrell will make this far too jokey and annoying. That might just be my dislike of him coming out, but I seriously don't see him carrying this movie that well. Pitt and Hill are solid additions, but I think this just took a rather nasty turn.
Sequel to White Chicks in the Works
The Hollywood Reporter says that the Wayans Brothers and Sony are developing a sequel to the 2004 comedy White Chicks, which will see Marlon and Shawn Wayans reprise their roles as sibling FBI agents posing as a pair of white ladies.
Keenen Ivory Wayans is on board to direct the sequel, which all three Wayans are writing. The logline for the new entry is being kept under wraps.
The original grossed almost $70 million domestically from a budget of around $37 million.
Seriously, somebody thought that this merited a sequel? Now granted, it's not out of range for the Wayans, but come on. This wasn't even all that successful, money wise. It almost doubled its budget, but it was nothing spectacular. I have no doubt this will be anything but terrible.
Warner Loses a Bit of Superman
Variety reports that a judge on Wednesday ruled that the family of superman's co-creator, Jerry Siegel, has "successfully recaptured" rights to additional works, including the first two weeks of the daily Superman newspaper comic-strips, as well as portions of early Action Comics and Superman comic-books. The trade explains:
The ruling is based on the court's finding that these were not "works-made-for-hire" under the Copyright Act.
This means the Siegels -- repped by Marc Toberoff of Toberoff & Associates -- now control depictions of Superman's origins from the planet Krypton, his parents Jor-El and Lara, Superman as the infant Kal-El, the launching of the infant Superman into space by his parents as Krypton explodes and his landing on Earth in a fiery crash.
The article again mentioned that the studio and DC will have to start production by 2011 if they want to make a new "Superman" or "Justice League" movie.
I wasn't aware you could actually copyright part of a story, particularly a well-known origin to a popular superhero. Sometimes the law gets a little silly. Presumably Warner Bros. could pay off Siegel to include such things but they won't. I haven't heard this 2011 deadline before, though. Warner is really struggling with Superman lately, and needs to figure out something. If they're not going to give it another stab they need to let it die officially, and if they are, they need to get things off the ground, and do it the right way. Hopefully somebody knows what they're doing.
Robert Downey Jr. Becoming a Vampire
Bloody-Disgusting reports that Universal Pictures is going to reboot Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles" and is in talks with Robert Downey Jr. to play the vampire Lestat Du Lioncort!
Lestat was previously played by Tom Cruise in the 1994 adaptation of Rice's Interview with the Vampire, which co-starred Brad Pitt, Christian Slater and Kirsten Dunst. Stuart Townsend later played Lestat in the 2002 film Queen of the Damned, which co-starred Aaliyah and took elements from the author's "The Vampire Lestat" and "The Queen of the Damned."
The series of novels also includes "The Tale of the Body Thief," "Memnoch the Devil," "The Vampire Armand," "Pandora," "Merrick," "Blood and Gold," "Blackwood Farm" and "Blood Canticle."
Downey Jr. recently wrapped Iron Man 2 and has Sherlock Holmes arriving on Christmas Day.
Downey Jr. as a vampire? Yeah, maybe. I've been sufficiently impressed with him lately that I'm sure he could fill any role he set his mind to – which he's apparently doing, judging by the variety of movies he's been in lately. I was reading an article about the ‘dumbing down' of the vampire genre with Twilight and whatnot the other day in the local paper, and it's always good to see lots of real vampire movies get off their feet. I'm sure the popularity of Twilight is playing no small part in this decision, of course. I also assume they'll pick up a completely new story and not try to redo one of the old ones. This should be a good one.
Alex Holmes Driving DeLorean
Alex Holmes has been hired to direct a biopic of car designer John DeLorean that Time Inc. Studios and XYZ Films will produce.
Holmes, who most recently wrote and directed the HBO and BBC miniseries "House of Saddam," developed the DeLorean script with co-writer Rob Warr. They had previously collaborated on the BBC TV series "Dunkirk."
The DeLorean film will tell the story of how the auto industry maverick's glamorous life came crashing down when he was caught in an FBI drug trafficking sting, only to be acquitted on grounds of entrapment.
Holmes envisions the pic as a crime thriller with a tragic hero at its heart.
Alright, maybe. I do like the DeLorean car, and if memory serves, it's somehow Canadian. Can't quite remember how, maybe the plants were in Calgary or something, but Canadian nonetheless. Holmes should be well suited to such a project with his previous works. This could be pretty good. Although I think they're missing the part about how the DeLorean wasn't actually that good of an idea to start with and wasn't overly popular. But you know, whatever . . .
Trailer for The Fourth Kind
Universal Pictures has debuted the trailer for The Fourth Kind, starring Milla Jovovich. The thriller opens on November 6th and this is how the studio describes the pic:
In 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. When a UFO is sighted, it is called an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected, it is known as an encounter of the second kind. When contact is made with extraterrestrials, it is the third kind. The next level, abduction, is the fourth kind. This encounter has been the most difficult to document...until now.
Structured unlike any film before it, "The Fourth Kind" is a provocative thriller set in modern-day Nome, Alaska, where—mysteriously since the 1960s—a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered.
Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented.
Using never-before-seen archival footage that is integrated into the film, "The Fourth Kind" exposes the terrified revelations of multiple witnesses. Their accounts of being visited by alien figures all share disturbingly identical details, the validity of which is investigated throughout the film.
You know, this actually looks like a fascinating project. At first it sounded interesting but they've gone in a completely different direction than I would have imagined, and it's a fascinating, unique take on the whole thing. This is going to be a really different movie, especially if you're into alien conspiracy theories. Check out the trailer and see for yourself.
Unstoppable Picks Up Another Passenger
Production Weekly reports that Rosario Dawson has joined the cast of director Tony Scott's Unstoppable.
She is joining Denzel Washington and Chris Pine in the action-thriller, which 20th Century Fox is targeting for a November 12, 2010 release.
Unstoppable is about a runaway train carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals. The film pits an engineer and his conductor in a race against time.
So this is back on track after all. That's good, I suppose. Dawson should flesh out the cast, although they don't mention what role she'll be filling. Hopefully this can pull out all the stops and surprise everyone by being really good.
McAvoy Making Fun of Cancer
James McAvoy (Wanted) will star in Mandate's untitled cancer comedy that Nicole Holofcener will direct, says The Hollywood Reporter.
Formerly titled I'm With Cancer, the project is being produced by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Ben Karlin and will begin principal photography in January.
McAvoy stars as a 25-year-old who learns he has cancer. It's a character based on the real experiences of screenwriter Will Reiser, who was diagnosed with the disease in his mid-20s and successfully battled it over several years.
Rogen also has a role in the film.
Well kudos for going into uncharted territory with a cancer comedy, but does such a deadly and touchy disease really need a comedy? Now granted, it was written by a cancer survivor and will (hopefully) be tasteful and respectful, but something about this just seems wrong. We'll have to see if they can hit the right sensitivity, or if this just comes off as distasteful.
Rapid-Fire: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962, starring John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles)
Another flashback to Film Studies for me, although I always did enjoy learning about Westerns in that class, so this wasn't so bad. This was always pegged as one of the movies that was self-reflective on the genre, and it's true, but it's also a damn good movie. So this week I present:
The movie opens with the death of a man named Tom Doniphon, played by John Wayne (although you don't know it yet). A senator, Ransom Stoddard (Stewart), is visiting the death of this lowly cowboy, whose death didn't even merit the attention of the newspaper. The newspaper wants a story and Stoddard gives them one: the story of how Stoddard started out in the West, became a senator, and about the man who shot Liberty Valance.
The movie is simultaneously a typical Western and not. It's set in the usual setting, with the usual cast of characters. But at the same time it's a very different story. Stoddard represents the real law and tries to bring it to the West. The movie opens on an ominous note, not only death, but with the changes to the town over the years, a decrepit stagecoach, and stuff like that.
As far as the acting goes, the movie's lead character is John Wayne, but the focus is actually on Stewart as Stoddard. Stoddard is a righteous, by-the-book man who becomes warped by life in the West, and the movie is the story of his finding out where he stands in regard to the law and how he should live his life. John Wayne as Doniphon is his usual character with a bit of a different edge; he's slightly angrier and more possessive, but at the same time, he's still the good guy with the rough exterior like always. "Pilgrim" got a little tiring, but that is his thing. Vera Miles as Hallie does her job as the damsel well, and the object of Doniphon's attention. Lee Marvin plays Liberty Valance well, the angry hired gun, and a good representation of corruption in the West. Everyone else does well, from the humorous side characters to the more integral characters.
Overall, this is a really good Western that is both a Western and a critique of Westerns, and it works really well. The story is deep and meaningful in a handful of different ways, and it's a great narrative. This is definitely one to watch if you've never seen it, even if you're not a big Western fan.
Closing Time . . .
I have had this idea for a long time but it's just now finally materializing: to build the ultimate music machine, which can play every format. So a record player, cassette player, 8 track player, CD player, and iPod dock (or auxiliary input) all in one machine. Now that I know someone who is good at wiring, and someone who can paint really well, plus the fact that I work at Princess Auto and can acquire almost any tool I would require, I think I might actually build it this time. Might be a good project – because I won't be busy enough between school, work, and this column right away. Oh well. But until next week . . .
Dude, the Delorean plant was in Northern Ireland, just outside Belfast!!
Posted By: Reido (Guest) on August 19, 2009 at 03:19 AM
How is the result of that Superman suit silly? Please explain in detail why it's ludicrous that the early issues/comic strips might belong to someone, while the latter issues belong to another entity.
Posted By: Iron Knee (Guest) on August 19, 2009 at 07:27 PM
Hey Matthew,
Good column, but I have to address your comments about the law being silly in the Superman case. The law isn't silly, the facts of the case are just complicated.
The families of Superman's creators can own the origin story and aspects of the early Superman concept and not the later stuff because of how much Superman has changed and what we consider to be "classic" Superman that was in fact not part of Superman's origins.
Example? The original Superman couldn't fly. That's where "leaps tall buildings" comes from. He would leap from place to place like The Hulk does now. There was also no such character as Perry White.
A huge chunk of what we consider the classic comic book Superman was created by and for the Superman radio serials and then adopted later by DC comics. These changes were done without input from Superman's creators.
Perry, Jimmy Olsen, Bill Henderson, kryptonite, some of his vision powers and other aspects of the Superman we now know were the creations of the radio writers and were not of Seigel and Shuster.
Even Superman's strength is greatly exaggerated from what he was in the beginning. He was strong, but he was never meant by his creators to be what he is now. He was a supernaturally strong crusader who usually fought slum lords and gang members, not some being who could hurl a planet at an invading army of aliens.
All of this plus what was created by DC artists and writers in later years without any input from Seigel and Shuster played into the ruling as to how the intellectual properties had to be divided. The families got whatever Seigel and Shuster actually had a hand in creating. The company that then took over the reigns retained whatever it created and added to the myth. Annoying? Yes. Silly? Not so much when you're discussing who really owns what and staking that claim on saying, "but these guys created it."
It does put Time Warner in an interesting position though. How do you do a Superman franchise without referencing anything from his origin? You can't. You can't do it without mention of his home town, his parents or his planet of origin.
The ruling actually shouldn't mess anything up too badly though unless too much greed factors in. Time Warner owns DC. DC owns the majority of Superman's rights. They should be able to work out a deal with the families for using the properties they now own without shelling out an unreasonable amount of money.
Yeah, they could be greedy about it, but that's a no win for the families. Think about it. Who would pay them huge wads of cash for the rights to do a big budget Superman where, past the origin story, nothing involved was anything like Superman?
This will easily iron itself out. There's too much money to be made by both parties involved for it not to.
Posted By: JJChandler (Registered) on August 19, 2009 at 11:39 PM
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