Movie News

Universal has bought the pitch for action comedy Most Wanted. It’ll star Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock, be directed by Anne Fletcher, and written by Pete Chiarelli. Described as similar to Midnight Run, the “story sees Bullock as a criminal suspect with Reynolds as an FBI agent who is supposed to be escorting her to court when the two are ambushed and forced to go on the run.”

Summer Glau has joined Peter Dinklage, Danny Pudi, Steve Zahn, and Ryan Kwanten in the cast for Joe Lynch’s The Knights of Badassdom. The horror comedy ”follows a group of LARPers (live-action role players) who somehow manage to mix it up with what are described as ‘heavy metal demons.’” Spectral Motion will handle the monster effects.

Leonardo DiCaprio will play J Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood’s as yet untitled “epic FBI drama.”

R-Squared Films has North American distribution rights for Brian Corder’s Carnies. “‘Carnies’ follows a traveling sideshow in 1936, when the workers set up their oddities and illusions in another town hit by the dustbowl. However, this town is different, as a sinister force begins to kill off the carnies one-by-one. Detective Ellison (Reggie Bannister of ‘Phantasm’) is put on the case, looks at several of the carnies, including the mysterious carnival owner, Helen (Denise Gosset); the strong man, Virgil (Chris Staviski of ‘Zombie Hunter’); and Ratty, the snake handler (Doug Jones of ‘Hellboy’ and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’).”

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

Summit Entertainment has confirmed that Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn will be split into two movies, the first of which will be released November 18, 2011.

Disney’s official plot details for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides:
“’Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ captures the fun, adventure and humor that ignited the hit franchise — this time in Disney Digital 3D(TM). In this action-packed tale of truth, betrayal, youth and demise, Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) crosses paths with a woman from his past (Cruz), and he’s not sure if it’s love — or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth.
“When she forces him aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the ship of the formidable pirate Blackbeard (McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn’t know who to fear more: Blackbeard or the woman from his past.”

Paramount has hired Mark and Brian Gunn to write the remake of The Monster Squad. Rob Cohen will produce and direct.

John Lasseter will be co-director on Cars 2.

Dan Mazeau and David Leslie Johnson will join Greg Berlanti in writing a treatment for a sequel to Clash of the Titans.

Kenny Wormald and Dennis Quaid have been cast in Paramount’s Footloose remake.

Adaptations

Producer Andrew Lazar says that a new writer, Albert Torres, and that director Albert Hughes is “off conceptualizing the movie with a bunch of visual artists” for Warner Brothers’ Akira movie. Currently at the pre-production development stage, the movie will cover the first three volumes of Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga, with a possibility of doing the other three in a sequel. Hughes has said the Warner Brothers handed down a “mandate” that the movie must be PG-13, “That I kinda found to be a challenge — how can I make this feel like a rated-R movie. I look towards what [director Christopher] Nolan did with Batman. Tonally, those don’t feel like PG-13 movies.”

Warner Brothers has bought film rights for Ernie Cline’s manuscript Ready Player One. The YA scifi novel goes as follows: “In the near future, outcast teenager Wade Watts escapes from his bleak surroundings by logging in to the Oasis, a globally networked virtual utopia where users can lead idyllic alternate lives. When the eccentric billionaire who created the Oasis dies, he offers up his vast fortune as the prize in an elaborate treasure hunt. Along with gamers from around the world Wade joins the adventure, and quickly finds himself pitted against powerful corporate foes who will do anything, in the oasis or the real world, to reach the treasure first. Think Willy Wonka, The Matrix, and Avatar all rolled into one.” The deal comes one day after Random House bought the book rights.

Jeremy Irvine has the lead in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse. Based on Michael Morpurgo’s novel and Nick Stafford’s stage adaptation, it “traces the friendship between Joey, a farm horse sold into the British army and sent off to serve on the battlefields of France during World War 1, and Albert (Irvine), his young owner.” Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, David Thewlis, and Benedict Cumberbatch have also been cast.

Mattel and Mandeville Films are developing a Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em movie, with Wolfgang Peterson to direct. “It’s being described as Gladiator meets Iron Man, and it’s the ‘human story of one robot that becomes part human, part robot.’”

Releases

The Bourne Trilogy [Blu-ray] – June 22
Death Race 2000 (Roger Corman’s Cult Classics) – June 22
The New Adventures Of Robin Hood – June 22
Shaolin Prince – June 29
Rambo (Extended Cut) [Blu-ray] – July 27
Blood Simple [Blu-ray] – August 3
The Duel (Duel of the Iron Fist) – August 3
Piranha (Roger Corman Cult Classics) – August 3
National Lampoon’s Vacation [Blu-ray] – August 10
The Secret of Kells – October 5
Carnies – October 12
Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy – October 26