Tagged: THR

TARZAN SWINGS ONTO THE BIG SCREEN IN 2013!

Uncategorized
October 13, 2012

Tarzan returns to the big screen in 2013 in a new motion capture movie starring Kellen Lutz from “Twilight” performing the motion capture of Tarzan. Spencer Locke from the “Resident Evil” movies plays Jane. A teaser trailer has been released showing the lord of the jungle in action.

PRESS RELEASE:

Tarzan Official Trailer #1 (2013) – Motion Capture Movie HD

Reinhard Klooss will direct. Robert Kulzer will produce with a script written by Klooss, Yoni Brenner and Jessica Postigo. According to THR, the story is being updated: “Tarzan’s parents, billionaire adventurers, are now killed in airplane crash rather than being marooned with their child. And the movie’s villain is the CEO of Greystoke Energies, a man who took over the company from Tarzan’s deceased parents. In the script, Jane is the daughter of an African guide and is committed to the conservation and preservation of the African jungle. She eventually works with Tarzan to defeat the mercenary army of Greystoke Energies.”

All Pulp will bring you more news as it becomes available.

Marvel Movie Round-Up UPDATED

News
August 8, 2011

As this summer season winds down, Sony is looking three years ahead. According to Deadline, they have already staked out May 2, 2014 for the sequel to 2012’s Amazing Spider-Man. James Vanderbilt, who penned the first script, has already been tapped for the sequel although it’s way too soon to know anything about the content. The first film continues production although footage shown at Comic-Con International wowed skeptical audiences. Additionally, fans were stunned when star Andrew Garfield took the mike, dressed in a store-bought Spidey suit and read from notes about what the character means to him, apparently truly heartfelt words.

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter says that Marvel has staked out two weekends in 2014 for two unnamed films. Two weeks after the Spider-Man sequel, May will see Marvel To Come #1. The second Marvel movie will open June 27, and since that’s around July 4 we’re willing to bet this will be eventually be called Captain America 2 .

Meanwhile, Naturi Naughton, about to be seen weekly in NBC’s The Playboy Club, has been signed to portray Cecilia Reyes in 20^th Century-Fox’s The Wolverine. The sequel, starring Hugh Jackman, is in production for a 2012 release. Directed by James Mangold, the story is largely based on the classic Wolverine miniseries written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by Frank Miller and is set in Japan. Reyes was not a character in that story, introduced decades later.

In the Marvel Film Universe proper, 2013’s Thor 2 may see Brian Kirk in the director’s chair. Kirk, who gained acclaim for his work on HBO’s Game of Thrones, would replace Kenneth Branagh, who bowed out recently.

In a decision seeming out of left field, Twitchfilm reports that Marvel Studios has placed the futuristic Guardians of the Galaxy into active development. First introduced in Marvel Super-Heroes #18, released in 1969, the quartet of freedom fighters from the 27^th Century. The team has grown and evolved through the years with more than a few ties to the modern day Marvel Universe. Whether those connections would remain on screen is unknown. It joins Black Panther, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, and Iron Fist in the second tier of characters being readied.

While an early announcement, Amazing Spider-Man 2 is not the first major property to stake out 2014 dates. Already on the schedule are DreamWorks’ Mr. Peabody & Sherman, due out March 21 and their How to Train Your Dragon 2 is expected June 20. In the same THR report, Pixar has claimed Memorial Day weekend for an untilted film as well.

As for Marvel’s rival, DC Entertainment has announced no super-heroics beyond 2013’s Supeman: Man of Steel although The Flash, Green Lantern 2, and Justice League of America were all recently mentioned by Wanrer Bros. President Jeff Robinov as being developed

Are ‘Green Hornet’ and ‘Jonah Hex’ in Trouble?

News
April 16, 2010

IESB is among the several sites reporting that after years in development, the now shooting Green Hornet film has been underwhelming the suits at Sony. The phrase “displeased with the results” was used. Another was quoted as saying the “tone is too campy, they’re not happy with the work from director Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen does not look the part. At all. In fact, the feeling at Sony is the movie is a disaster.”

Sony of course declared the reports “complete garbage” and went on to say the executives have screened one third of the movie and find the results “outstanding… remarkable”. We’ll get a clearer idea based on what the studio cares to show fans at Comic-Con International in July.

Speaking of films in trouble, the lack of presentations at WonderCon and this weekend’s C2E2 does not bode well for Jonah Hex, the June 18 release based on the DC western anti-hero. After a splashy presentation in San Diego last summer complete with teaser footage and poster, there has been nary a bit of promotion for the Josh Brolin-led production.

Warner Bros. website offers up a synopsis and a link to a Yahoo site showing off the teaser poster from last July. In January it was confirmed that 10 days of reshoots would occur involving Brolin and costars John Malkovich, Megan Fox and Michael Fassbender. Additionally, The Hollywood Reporter noted “Although no test screenings have taken place, the studio has decided to work on story and action during the shoots, working in 12 pages of additional script mixed in with some reshoots.”

Joining director Jimmy Hayward for the reshoots was Constantine director Francis Lawrence, listed as a consultant.

THR’s Heat Vision blog said, “Some insiders said the new infusion of scenes and money was designed to fix certain problems with the movie; others have said it’s being done to beef up the moderately budgeted pic so that it can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the big-budget tentpole crowd.”

Since then, there remains no obvious marketing campaign to make audiences aware of the movie which was moved from the relatively safe August 6 into the more competitive June 18 slot. That normally shows a sign of confidence in the finished product but temper that with the lack of appealing to the fan masses as convention season continues.

While Hex does not have direct comic book-based competition, it does follow remakes of The A-Team and The Karate Kid by a week and will open the same day as Toy Story 3 and is followed less than two weeks later by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

Rumors continue to point to disappointment with Hex which may have cooled the studio’s ardor for adapting Lobo. Guy Ritchie had been on board to direct the film but he dropped out to shoot a sequel to Sherlock Holmes. Producer Akiva Goldmsman has yet to land a replacement and Warners doesn’t appear to be in a rush.

(more…)

HBO Orders ‘Game of Thrones’ Pilot

News
November 12, 2008

The trades are reporting that HBO has finally given a pilot order to A Game of Thrones, the first in George R.R. Martin’s bestselling A Song of Fire & Ice series. The television version will be executive produced by David Benioff (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and D.B. Weiss (Halo).

HBO picked up the rights on January 17, 2007 with Variety describing the series as "an epic struggle for power set in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom." Which is putting things mildly. Martin, called by Time as an American Tolkien, has created a sprawling saga with dozens of characters currently projected to be seven volumes long and is a modern day epic fantasy which would be challenging for even premium cable to adapt.

“Fantasy is the most successful genre in terms of feature films given the incredible popularity of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies,” Benioff told The Hollywood Reporter. “High fantasy has never been done on TV before and if anybody can do it, it’s HBO. They’ve taken tired genres and reinvented them — mobsters in The Sopranos and Westerns with Deadwood.

“It’s not a story with a million Orcs charging across the plains,” Weiss said. “The most expensive effects are creature effects and there’s not much of that.”

Ever since the option was announced, the producers have insisted that each season would adapt just one of the thick novels. Martin was also committed to writing at least one episode per season. He began working on the pilot in 2007, completing a first draft in August. A second draft was announced as being completed in June 2008. HBO exercised their option on the series in September before yesterday’s announcement.

A Game of Thrones was released in 1996 and won critical acclaim, earning the Locus Award for Best Novel (Fantasy) while earning nominations at the World Fantasy and Nebula Awards.

The other books in the series are A Clash of Kings (1998), A Storm of Swords (2000), and A Feast for Crows (2005). Announced but not yet delivered, written or scheduled are A Dance with Dragons, The Winds of Winter, and A Dream of Spring. The saga has also led to three novella and act as prequels to the first novel.

Martin actually was at work on Dragons when he realized things were not working and he tossed out much of the work and announced at the Millennium Philcon in 2001 that he was writing a different book to continue the story before resuming Dragons. That became Crows which tightened its focus on a handful of characters while the next book would shift the spotlight to others. An anticipated 2008 publication date came and went and Bantam is hopeful it will receive the manuscript in time for a spring 2009 release.

The one obstacle left is being better than the ten other projects in development at the cable network. Although six are expected to get the series go-ahead, HBO can be choosy under its new regime which jettisoned several other projects already, including Preacher.

Martin plans seven books in the series. The producers intend for each season to span one novel.

THR notes, “Combined with True Blood, this also suggests an interesting, AintItCoolNews-targeted direction for the network. Less edgy-PBS, more R-rated Comic Con.”

Lindsay-Abaire to Pen ‘Spider-Man 4’

News
October 31, 2008

Relative newcomer David Lindsay-Abaire is stealing James Vanderbilt’s webshooters and hitting the New York skyline with Spider-Man 4.

The Hollywood Reporter states that Lindsay-Abaire, traditionally a novelist and playwright, is writing the fourth installment of the Spider-Man franchise for Columbia Pictures. Spider-Man 4 will once again feature Sam Raimi as director and Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. Kirsten Dunst is expected to return, though no officiall announcements have been made, apart from her impromptu "I’m in!" during an MTV News interview.

THR notes that Lindsay-Abire has little screenwriting experience. He wrote the scripts for Robots and Inkheart, and is working on an adaptation of his novel Rabbit Hole. The writer’s work tends to focus on "outsiders in search of clarity," which makes him like-minded with Peter Parker. It’s a sign that the studio wants to take Spider-Man in a more character-centric outing, "something that critics said got lost in the third installment" according to THR‘s report.

Previously, all signs had pointed to scribe James Vanderbilt putting the pen to Spidey’s script. The writer had allegedly scripted a two-part Spider-Man epic that would’ve led to the fourth and fifth installments being shot back-to-back. In THR‘s report, it’s noted that Vanderbilt "previously wrote a draft of Spider-Man 4," so whether or not his draft is being used as a template for Lindsay-Abaire or is being scrapped entirely remains a mystery.

Even when Vanderbilt was on board, plot details remained quite sketchy. Most fans assumed that actor Dylan Baker would finally get his chance to play The Lizard in the newest installment, but director Raimi isn’t quite as sure.

"[Dylan Baker’s] a great actor, and I think one day The Lizard’s story will be told," Raimi told MTV News. "I don’t know if it will be this one or not. I just don’t know. I’m definitely hoping to work with Dylan in the picture. I just don’t know who the villain is yet."

Whether or not he was playing coy remains to be seen. What’s certain, however, is that whatever little we knew before about this movie, we probably know even less now. Isn’t Hollywood fun?

JMS Heads to ‘Forbidden Planet’

News
October 31, 2008

This year’s Halloween might be dominated by Heath Ledger Jokers, but a few years from now, expect Robby the Robot to be the costume to beat.

That’s right, sports fans, Fordbidden Planet is coming back to theaters with a fresh relaunch. The Hollywood Reporter says that fan-friendly scribe J. Michael Straczynski is writing the script for Warner Bros., with Joel Silver producing through Silver Pictures.

Released in 1956, Forbidden Planet features a space expedition to a far-off colony populated by scientists. When they arrive, they find only the troubled Dr. Morbius and his daughter. Morbius, now smarter due to alien technology, warns that there’s an invisible monster terrorizing the planet. Dubbed a "monster from the id," the scientist, his daughter and the expedition’s captain band together to fight the creature and survive the encounter. Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen starred in the picture. The longest lasting effect of the film on popular culture is Robby the Robot, a silly little android that has warmed hearts for many years. (Journalistic integrity, as you can see, has been checked at the door. I just love Robby the Robot!)

Plans for a Forbidden Planet remake have been in the works for a while. THR sums it up quite well:

"Warners picked up the project on the down-low earlier this year. As late as last year, it was set up at DreamWorks with David Twohy attached to direct. Prior to that, New Line had it. James Cameron, Nelson Gidding and Stirling Silliphant have been associated with the remake over the years."

J. Michael Straczynski is famous to fandom for his comics work on The Amazing Spider-Man and his current run on Thor. He’s also the mastermind behind beloved sci-fi television series Babylon 5. In the film world, JMS worked on Ninja Assassin for the Wachowski Brothers, and has long been attached to a Silver Surfer adaptation for Fox. Soon, he’ll take over The Brave and the Bold for DC Comics, integrating classic 1940s era "Red Circle heroes" into the DC Universe.

If anyone can pull off a Forbidden Planet remake, it’s JMS. Despite being outdated by modern technology, any sci-fi lover that watches Planet can see just how easily the film would translate in a contemporary audience. It’s premise, that we ourselves are our greatest weakness, is a timeless motif that can resonate with audiences of any generation. As far as inevitable Hollywood remakes go, this is one that might actually be quite good.

Laugier Directing ‘Hellraiser’ Relaunch

News
October 30, 2008

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Pascal Laugier is in final negotiations do direct Dimension’s reboot of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser. The director is most known for his controversial French horror film Martyrs. Dimension has attempted to relaunch the Hellraiser franchise for several years now, with Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo originally attached to write and direct the picture. Most recently, Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton wrote a new draft, but it’s unclear if their vision will be used for Laugier’s picture.

"This is a dream project for me," Laugier said of Hellraiser. "I know Clive Barker’s work very well, and I would never betray what he has done. Fans are expecting a definitive Hellraiser, and I don’t want to take that away from them."

Anyone worried about how hard R the film might be can stop worrying now. Laugier’s Martyrs has been described as a torture porn and yielded an 18+ rating in France, which is the equivalent of NC-17 in the United States. According to THR, several people reportedly fainted during a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. Sounds like Pinhead’s going to have his hands full.

In Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, Frank Cotton is sent to Hell when he foolishly plays with a mysterious box called The Lament Configuration. His former lover Julia, an adulturus woman in an unhappy marriage, assists Frank in finding three victims so that he may escape Hell and live again. In the end, it’s assumed that both Frank and Julia fail at their task and are sent back to Hell. Hellraiser spawned multiple spin-offs, though none directed by Clive Barker, and most largely panned by critics.

Hellraiser joins a growing list of classic horror icons remade for the 21st century. Rob Zombie reinterpreted Halloween back in 2007 to mixed reviews. Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes also saw mildly received remakes recently. There are active plans for a Robert Englund-less Nightmare on Elm Street reboot, as well as a new Kane Hodder-less Friday the 13th debuting in 2009. Of all these horror remakes, perhaps the best shot at success goes to the planned Child’s Play update, as the iconic Brad Dourif is set to voice the homicidal Good Guy doll, Chucky, once again.

War Machine turns ‘Traitor’

News
October 14, 2008

We know it’s hard out here for a pimp, but it might be even harder for War Machine.

The Hollywood Reporter is breaking the news that Terrence Howard will be replaced by Don Cheadle for Marvel Studios’ upcoming Iron Man 2. Though there is no official comment on the replacement, it’s speculated that negotiations fell through between Howard and Marvel over financial differences, among other reasons.

In Iron Man, there is a scene towards the end where Howard’s Jim Rhodes catches a glimpse of Tony’s Mark II armor and proclaims to himself, "Next time." At that moment, War Machine junkies across the globe experienced blissful cardiac arrest.

"I would prefer to wait for the third [Iron Man film to become War Machine]," Howard told ComingSoon.net back in April. "I’d prefer to let it grow a little bit and then after the third one, they could go into its own franchise of War Machine later on. I don’t want to introduce War Machine too early for my own monetary benefits."

And while War Machine is still set for the sequel, as THR indicates, it won’t be Howard behind the mask. Cheadle is certainly a fine actor, and you can hardly ask for a better quality replacement for an actor of Howard’s pedigree. Nonetheless, it’s disappointing for fans enjoying Marvel’s continuity that a casting change has taken place so soon.

Interestingly enough, THR continues to say that Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow are expected to return as Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. Well, pretty much everyone expected Howard to return as well. Given Downey Jr.’s knee-jerk emotional reactions, it’ll be interesting to see how this one shakes out in light of Howard’s departure.

Over at Marvel Comics, War Machine #1 is coming in December and an exclusive prelude story will be going live at Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited starting this week. Subscribers to the digital site will have access to the War Machine story from Greg Pak and Leonardo Manco for free.

"Every day, somewhere on the planet, tyrants commit the most horrific atrocities imaginable, secure in the knowledge that the outside world won’t raise a finger to stop them…But now War Machine’s on the job. And forget the finger—he’s raising a couple of ginormous shoulder mounted rocket cannons!" Pak said in a release.

Snow White Inspires Legal Drama

News
September 18, 2008

While this sounds like a hoax, the Hollywood Reporter insists that Fox is serious in adapting the premise of Snow White to a legal drama. Georgia and the Seven Associates will feature a lawyer exiled from the big firm headed by her mother so she opens up a storefront operation with seven oddball counselors. The series was created by producers Chris Brancato and Bert Salke (When in Rome), feature writers David Weissman and David Diamond and director Ken Kwapis.

"It is L.A. Law vs. the little engine that could," Brancato told the trade.

THR notes the lawyers will somewhat resemble their inspiration, “For instance, Doc is an ambulance chaser who carries neck braces in his trunk, and Sleepy is a bike messenger who parties at night and naps in the office.”

The producers say they were inspired by seeing the seven dwarves holding up the Disney building across the studio lot.

"We thought while we’re sitting here, we may as well use some of Walt’s creative ideas," Brancato added, confirming Disney is comfortable with the notion.

The Boys Gain Screenwriters

News
August 27, 2008

Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay will adapt The Boys for the big screen according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Columbia Pictures’ project is based on the Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson series which first launched at WildStorm and quickly moved to Dynamite Entertainment.

According to THR, “The book follows the adventures of a CIA squad, known informally as ‘the boys,’ whose job is to keep watch on the proliferation of superheroes and, if necessary, intimidate or eliminate them.”

The movie is one of many comic book properties currently being developed by producer Neal H. Moritz who also has The Green Hornet, Flash Gordon, and Luke Cage on his To Do list. Also attached as producers are Kickstart’s Jason Netter and attorney Ken F. Levin.

The screenwriting team has had success in Hollywood with a mix of projects ranging from the ambitious Crazy/Beautiful to the action adventure misfires Aeon Flux and The Tuxedo.

Tagged: THR

TARZAN SWINGS ONTO THE BIG SCREEN IN 2013!

Marvel Movie Round-Up UPDATED

Are ‘Green Hornet’ and ‘Jonah Hex’ in Trouble?

HBO Orders ‘Game of Thrones’ Pilot

Lindsay-Abaire to Pen ‘Spider-Man 4’

JMS Heads to ‘Forbidden Planet’

Laugier Directing ‘Hellraiser’ Relaunch

War Machine turns ‘Traitor’

Snow White Inspires Legal Drama

The Boys Gain Screenwriters

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks