Frickin' Eh Movie News 09.09.09: Fighting Edition
Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 09.09.2009
The new Halloween director, two fighters land movie roles, and more!
So working until two in the morning and being up for class at 9:30 or 10:00 isn't the best thing in the world, but I am hopeful this week will go better than last week, and so far it is, possibly because of the long weekend recharge, or maybe I'm just settling in. I almost slept through class on Friday thanks to a malfunctioning alarm, but I made it to campus on time in fifteen minutes, which I was impressed with. But anyway, let's get right into the news:
The Mid-Week Box Office Time Machine
This past weekend was a bit of an upset, in my opinion, as it saw The Final Destination retain the top spot with another $15.4 million. Inglourious Basterds stuck around, too, in second spot with $15 million. The third spot went to All About Steve, which opened with $14 million. All those beat out Gamer, opening at fourth with an almost pathetic $11.2 million. In fifth was District 9, dropping a spot and making another $9 million. Halloween II fell from third to sixth with $7.1 million. Julie & Julia fell a spot to seventh with $7 million. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra fell from fifth to eighth with another $6.7 million. Extract opened at ninth with $5.5 million, while The Time Traveler's Wife rounded out the top ten, dropping three spots and making another $5.4 million.
In store this weekend is what looks like will be the best animated movie of the year and definitely a great movie all in all, 9. The trailers make this look absolutely amazing and I find myself trying to figure out when exactly I could squeeze in seeing it into my incredibly busy schedule. Also opening is yet another off the Tyler Perry pile, this one being Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Yes, more of the same drivel. Whiteout brings disaster to Antarctica with Kate Beckinsale, and looks like it won't be too bad, if not necessarily original. And finally, Sorority Row, the horror movie of the week which will have a tough time taking down the other horror movies on the board. So take your pick. Personally, I'll be seeing 9.
My Bloody Valentine Director May Take Over Halloween
As part of a story on the future of the Weinstein Company, and Bob Weinstein's genre division Dimension Films,Variety reports that My Bloody Valentine 3D director Patrick Lussier is in talks to write and direct the recently-announced Halloween 3D with plans to have it ready for a summer 2010 release. Dimension have also tapped Ehren Kruger (The Ring) to adapt Stephen King's short story Children of the Corn into a new movie. The story of a boy preacher who persuades the kids of a Nebraska town to kill all the adults was previously turned into a movie in 1984, and that went on to spawn six sequels.
Not actually a terrible idea, which is surprising, especially in this situation. Lussier has experience in the horror genre, and has worked with 3D before, so he should be able to flex his muscles on both in this one and crank out something good, and hopefully something a little different. As for Children of the Corn . . . meh. Nothing special yet, and yet another remake isn't what everyone is looking forward to right now.
Soderbergh Aiming for a Knockout, Gina Carano to Star
With the release of his new corporate comedy The Informant! just a few weeks away, director Steven Soderbergh is already lining up his next movie, and Variety reports that the prolific filmmaker has chosen to direct a spy thriller called Knockout, which will be the acting debut of Mixed Martial Arts fighter Gina Carano.
Soderbergh discovered Carano on the women's mixed martial arts circuit, although she has previously appeared in the doc Ring Girls and on the television shows "Fight Girls" and "American Gladiators" (playing "Crush"). The Muay Thai trained fighter will play a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is given a second chance to use her skills for constructive purposes, and it's said to be more of an action movie in the vein of the James Bond franchise or Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita.
Scripted by Len Dobbs, who wrote Kafka and The Limey for Soderbergh, produced by Gregory Jacobs and Ryan Kavanaugh, and financed by Relativity Media, the film should start shooting sometime in February 2010.
This sounds like one of Soderbergh's money-making projects rather than his artistic projects, and picking one of the pretty faces of the incredibly popular MMA scene isn't an incredibly stupid move. Of course, Carano's acting is limited to American Gladiators thus far, so we don't really know how she'll handle a whole movie, but this has definitely got some promise.
Tron: Legacy in Theatres December 17, 2010
Walt Disney Pictures has set a December 17, 2010 release date for Tron Legacy. The move puts the highly-anticipated film up against Sony's The Green Hornet and The Smurfs, as well as Warner Bros.' Yogi Bear (We assume at least "Smurfs" will move, since that's two Sony releases on the same date.)
Tron Legacy is directed by Joseph Kosinski and stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Michael Sheen.
In the 3D adventure, Sam Flynn (Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Bridges), looks into his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidant (Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.
This is going to be a tough fight for Disney. It's throwing what is essentially a cult movie into a very mainstream, big budget spot, and it will be a big gamble that isn't likely to pay off really well. We'll just have to see if this was a good move or not.
Ritchie Directing DC's Lobo
Warner Bros. has locked Guy Ritchie to direct "Lobo," the live action adaptation of the DC Comics drama about an alien interstellar bounty hunter.
Don Payne wrote the most recent script draft, and Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona will produce. Pic is a co-production between Silver Pictures and Weed Road.
Ritchie will make the film his follow-up to "Sherlock Holmes," the Silver-produced film that stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Rachel McAdams, which Warner Bros. opens Christmas Day.
Production on "Lobo" begins early next year. The character originated in 1983 in "Omega Men," written by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen. Lobo has had several comic incarnations. In the film, he is a seven-foot tall, blue-skinned, indestructible and heavily muscled anti-hero who drives a pimped out motorcycle, and lands on Earth in search of four fugitives who are bent on wreaking havoc. Lobo teams with a small town teenaged girl to stop the creatures.
WB is aiming for a PG-13 rating. Pic will be strong on visual effects, and Ritchie will bring the irreverent, gruff tone of past films like "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."
Steve Richards and Kerry Foster will be executive producers.
With all the attention on Disney's Marvel deal, the Ritchie deals gives WB yet another production start through its DC Comics banner. Silver and Goldsman are producers on "The Losers," while Goldsman is a producer on "Jonah Hex." WB recently set Ryan Reynolds to play the title character in the Martin Campbell-directed "Green Lantern." DC Comics is a WB-owned entity, and Gregory Noveck steers the film adaptations for DC.
Ritchie is really broadening his horizons lately. First Sherlock Holmes, now this. He's definitely breaking free of his old mold. Which is good and bad. Hopefully he gives a different edge to the superhero genre and makes this worthwhile. On the other hand, though, it's definitely out of his usual comfort zone, and who knows how he'll handle it. That and the fact that this means he won't be making more crime movies like Snatch for a while, and I'm hesitant, but hopeful.
Sheen Will Cameo in Next Wall Street
The New York Times interviewed Oliver Stone recently about Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, which 20th Century Fox has scheduled for an April 23, 2010 release. The article gives more details on the plot. Here are some excerpts:
"When Gekko comes out of prison in the beginning of this movie, he essentially has to redefine himself, redefine his character," Mr. Stone said. "He's looking for that second chance."
The rest of the cast includes Shia LaBeouf as Jake Moore, a young trader who is the fiancé of Gekko's daughter, played by Carey Mulligan; Josh Brolin as the head of an investment bank; Frank Langella as Jake's mentor; and Susan Sarandon as Jake's mother. Charlie Sheen, who played the central role of Bud Fox, a young trader, in the original, will make a cameo in the sequel. Shooting for the film, which will be released by 20th Century Fox next April, begins this week in New York.
"We sort of started over with the story of a young man who is at the center of it, and how he needs Gordon Gekko's help to navigate those waters," said Alex Young, co-president of production at 20th Century Fox.
It's good to see cameos like this, it adds a bit of credibility to a far-flung sequel or remake, and with Sheen's increased fame over the years, this will be a nice touch. For fans of the first, this should be good news. Hopefully this one lives up to expectations.
Rampage May Be Taking Over From Mr. T
First it was Bradley Cooper who denied being cast in The A-Team as Face and later being officially confirmed for the role, and now it looks like former UFC world light heavyweight champion Quinton (Rampage) Jackson will indeed play Sgt. "B.A." Baracus after his agent said it wasn't true.
The Vancouver Sun reports that Jackson is in Vancouver to take on the role made famous by Mr. T in the 1980s TV series.
The Sun has learned Rampage was in Vancouver on August 19 to discuss the role with producers and arrived in town Friday to prepare for filming... Jackson will be in Vancouver shooting the film for the next six weeks.
If officially confirmed, he'll be joining Cooper and Liam Neeson, who's playing Hannibal, in the Joe Carnahan-directed film which 20th Century Fox plans to release on June 11, 2010.
Still to be cast is the role of Capt. "Howling Mad" Murdock.
You know, this isn't that bad of a choice. Of all the possible rumours and talk around the role, this one is definitely one of the more encouraging ones, and should be the better of all the choices. As always, of course, this is far from official; the reports of one paper doesn't mean it's one hundred percent true, but we can all hope.
Cage Joining Hungry Rabbit Jumps
The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision is reporting that Nicolas Cage will star in the thriller Hungry Rabbit Jumps. Roger Donaldson will direct for Tobey Maguire's Maguire Entertainment and Endgame.
The script, written by Robert Tannen, centers on a man whose wife is the victim of a brutal crime. He subsequently becomes entangled with an underground vigilante organization.
Filming will start in January in New Orleans.
Cage, whose Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans was also filmed in the city, will segue from "Rabbit" to 3D pic Drive Angry, which starts shooting in April.
Stupid names aside (and this one definitely ranks up there on the stupid name list) this sounds like a good choice for Cage and a good movie all in all. Cage is landing quite a few serious, angry roles; it's a nice change, as a lot of his past roles end up being pretty fluffy and meaningless.
November 24 is the Day for Angels & Demons
Video Business reports that Angels & Demons, which earned $484.4 million worldwide this summer, will be released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on November 24th.
Director Ron Howard's follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, again starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, will be available as a Two-Disc Blu-ray, a Two-Disc Extended Cut DVD, and a Single-Disc Theatrical DVD.
The Blu-ray version will exclusively offer Sony's new Web-enabled database feature "movieIQ." Also limited to the Blu-ray edition is the inclusion of both theatrical and extended film versions, an interactive map of Rome and digital copy.
Aw, that's way too long to wait for this one. If you haven't seen it you should definitely give this one a try when it comes around, it's an excellent movie. As for the features, as usual Blu-ray offers me no reason whatsoever to upgrade, as I presume the extended version will be on the extended cut DVD. If you are into the whole Blu-ray beautiful pictures kind of mentality, this is an absolutely breathtaking movie with its views of Rome, so it should be a nice one on the big screen. Definitely one to check out regardless.
Previously on Rapid-Fire, I've taken a look at the first two installments of this vampire-killing franchise. Now it's time to take a look at the finale. So here it goes:
The final movie of the trilogy (there are currently talks to restart it, but focusing on Deacon Frost from the first movie instead of Blade) amazingly saves itself from the fate of the other two. This one returns to basics, taking a step back from the over-the-top ridiculousness that the second one found itself in. This one cuts back on everything, which is nice, because the last one was just overwhelming in every way. This returns to one singular enemy, essentially, that being Dracula – or in this incarnation, Drake. Blade teams up with a secret cell of vampire hunters to take out Drake before it's too late.
As I've said, this one scales back on just about everything, and it makes for a much better movie. While the fights are still there, and there are plenty of them, they are better done, and more realistic. Even the final fight is fairly straight forward. Whereas the other two went from a middle point and then became absolutely ridiculous halfway through the final battle, this one scales back on that. While the final battle does get a little silly at one point, it's nothing compared to the previous movies.
The acting is where this one sets itself apart. Snipes portrays Blade with a little more humour and lightness, which is a welcome change. Kristofferson returns for a small role as Whistler, and it's too bad that he has such a small role, because he had finally settled into the part. Purcell as Drake is a formidable enemy for Blade, believable and menacing, and he's a welcome change from the usual stock of enemies. Biel as Abigail Whistler is a nice addition as well, and while I've never been a huge Biel fan, she takes this role and works it perfectly. But the best part of this movie is Ryan Reynolds, who brings a ray of sunshine in his portrayal of the smartass Hannibal King. It takes him a while to get going, but by the end he's the highlight of the entire movie. Parker Posey as Danica Talos is the only really obnoxious character who I really wish they would have done something differently with. Even Triple H does a good job as one of the more resilient vampires.
David Goyer saves this movie from the direction the series had been heading in, brings it back down to level, and creates an enjoyable final installment to the trilogy. Blade can rest easily with this as his final film.
Closing Time . . .
As I discussed before, 9 comes out this weekend, and it should be fantastic. I am definitely considering making time in my busy schedule to see it, somehow. But anyway, until next week . . .
