Trailer For The Flowers Of War Starring Christian Bale

Wachowskis' New Sci-Fi Film Jupiter Ascending Shooting In 2012?

It looks like the Wachowskis are heading back to the world of science fiction with Warner Bros. The directing silbings created the franchise which turned out one the biggest box office successes for an R-rated series. They're currently shooting segments for Cloud Atlas but haven't announced their next full length film. There had been talk of a futuristic version of Robin Hood with Will Smith and a mystery project involving an unappealing story which wasn't getting interest from studios. Deadline reports their next project is titled Jupiter Ascending which is a return to science fiction for the duo. Details are unknown at this point but hopefully like Matrix they'll be thinking outside of the box giving us another classic.

Forest Whitaker Joins The Last Stand

HollywoodReporter says that Kim Jee-Woon's (I Saw The Devil) The Last Stand starring Arnold Schwarzenegger has gained more actors. They report that Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, Johnny Knoxville (Jackass 1-3), Luiz Guzman (Carlito's Way, Out of Sight, Boogie Nights) and Harry Dean Stanton (Alien, Escape From New York) have rounded out the cast. The film's supporting cast already includes Eduardo Noriega, Jaimie Alexander, Zach Gilford, Rodrigo Santoro and Peter Stormare.

Matthew Vaughn Buys Film Rights To Mark Millar's Secret Service

CBM has a press release for a charity auction for Mark Millar's upcoming comic The Secret Service. Similar to Kick Ass and Superior, Millar is giving people who bid the chance to have the characters in the new comic named after them. It's for a great cause so please check it out. Details on the comic are currently unknown but I'm sure they will be announced eventually.

Also, within the press release is the fact that Matthew Vaughn's Marv films have bought the comic's film rights. Vaughn is attached to direct Superior sometime down the line. The legendary comic artist Dave Gibbons will be handling the artwork on Secret Service. Gibbons is best known for his work on Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Miller's Martha Washington.

Akira Gets The Greenlight, Garrett Hedlund Front-Runner

Variety reports Warner Bros. have decided to move forward with the adaptation of Akira with a new budget of $90 million. It's a big change from the projected $200 million when Albert Hughes was involved. Jaume Collet-Serra the Spanish director best known for Unknown will be helming the project with Garrett Hedlund (Tron Legacy, Troy) as the front-runner.

Jaume Collet-Serra doesn't instill excitement but Garrett could be interesting. Otherwise my expectations for Akira have dropped tenfold. The only good thing seems like the digital effects will be very limited with a budget like this which could mean they'll go more practical. Let's just hope they end up pursing solid actors to fill out other roles.

Battlestar Galactica Next For Bryan Singer?

SFX (via ThePlaylist) spoke to Bryan Singer who is currently in post-production with Jack The Giant Killer for Warner Bros. which I'm dying to see a trailer for. Singer confirmed again that his Excalibur remake setup at Warner Bros. has indeed been axed. This might be a good thing for fans of cylons as Singer is now focusing on his Battlestar Galactica film for Universal. This gives further fuel that Singer won't be directing X4 or New Mutants anytime soon for Fox.

“Yeah, unfortunately [‘Exalibur’] is no longer going to happen,” Singer said. “I was really enthused to do it. I’m a fan of John Boorman’s movie and it was my intention to get it going after ‘Jack The Giant Killer’ was completed. The project was with Warner Bros and what happened is that another King Arthur project was brought to them during that time. Basically, it was just more ready to go into production than ours was. That is why our version of ‘Excalibur’ ended up being negated. But, when that happened, it allowed me to go straight into developing ‘Battlestar Galactica’ – which I think will be really exciting.”

Jason Statham To Headline Transformers 4 & 5?

Variety reports that Michael Bay and producer Steven Spielberg are in talks to make more installments to the Transformers franchise. They also state that Transformers 4 and Transformers 5 could very well shoot at the same time. Considering how much money these movies make the studio it would make sense they would want to release two films soon. While the quality of the films are suspect in my opinion having the worst voice/acting and overall dialog in a blockbuster series. There is a glimmer of hope that a new direction could be in the cards. British action star Jason Statham has been rumored to be taking over the franchise from Shia.

It seems like a similar move made by studios to bring in Dwayne Johnson to boost the action-creditability of G.I. Joe 2 and Fast Five. Shia is a man in a boy's body at this point and hasn't really ever been believable as the film's leading man, none of the male actors have. The studio would be wise to go more full on action. So that Sam's side stories don't effect the pacing and the less comic relief the better. It would be nice if they hired a professional to run and jump around while being able to fire off guns.

I can't say that I'll ever be looking forward to more Transformers films but that might light a fire under the studio, since I'm not the only hater of the franchise. There are also people who enjoyed the first film but got burned by the terrible sequels. If Bay is able to make a "serious" Transformers film pumping in new blood with actual action stars it might turn my opinion around. However, with the last installment it didn't seem that Bay actually listened to what fans and critics alike hated about the first sequel. So they very well could continue what's been dragging down the quality.

Full Trailer For The Divide

Doctor Strange Part Of Marvel's Phase 2?

Recently during the New York Comic-Con Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige confirmed that Iron Man 3 would be the first step in moving forward with Marvel's phase two leading to Avengers 2. Feige gave a brief statement to IGN which might give fans hope that Doctor Strange could be involved in the new phase as well. There have been rumors of Benedict Cumberbatch (War Horse, Sherlock Holmes) and Javier Bardem (Bond 23, No Country For Old Men) being linked for the film.

" I love Doc Strange, I think I can finally say sooner than later....I would love to see him part of phase two."

Hemsworth, Hiddleston, Dallas & Branagh Comment On Patty Jenkins

Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Joshua Dallas (Fandral), even producer and former director Kenneth Branagh weigh in on new director Patty Jenkins.  It seems like an overwhelming wave of positivity coming from the cast and it sounds Marvel is excited by her take on the material. Thor 2 which is slated for a November 15th 2013 release.


Tom Hiddleston: "[She is] an absolutely amazing director" and that 'Monster' is "one of my favorite films. I'm so excited that Marvel has given the reigns to a director who has such of an incredible grasp of story, performance and complexity. I think her handling of the characters and the arc of the story in 'Monster' and what the story is about on the whole is really, really fascinating. I'm sure it's going to take us on another adventure somewhere that's entertaining and funny in some capacity, and the fact that Patty is at the helm is really, really exciting."

Chris Hemsworth:  “She has a great take on the story and a solid grasp on that kind of universe,” Hemsworth said in his meeting with Jenkins she seemed like a filmmaker worthy of picking up the franchise’s cinematic hammer “Branagh read every comic book he could get his hands on,” Hemsworth said. “She also looked like she had done her homework.”

 Kenneth Branagh: "Monster was, I think, an absolutely sensational film. I think that she’s a great talent. As a possibility in the mix, I think that’s a tremendous idea."

Joshua Dallas: "We are! We are planning a return to Asgard, next year. Thor 2 is happening. A great director called Patty Jenkins is directing the sequel. Ken [Branagh] is not directing, which is obviously a huge shame, because he came in and created that world and created the language and the look of the whole thing. But he's kind of set it all up for us and I think he's staying on as a producer. But yeah, there's going to be some more adventures in the Nine Realms."

"I haven't yet, no. But apparently Marvel are in love with her and I'm sure she is going to be a really exciting and interesting choice. She's done some great work before. Marvel always have a really good idea for those directors that are going to come in and they may seem out of left field, but they always have a plan and they're always really smart. And that's what's so great about working for Marvel, because not only are they movie producers and they make these great movies, but they're comic book guys and they love it and they love the characters and they love the stories."

Edgar Wright's Ant-Man A Team Spy Film?

We've been getting a few hints on what we can expect from Marvel Studios' Ant-Man which is being written by Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim, Hot Fuzz) and Joe Cornish (Attack The Block, Tintin). From what is known we could be seeing a group of Ant-Men in a high-tech spy heist film. This makes a lot of sense considering neither Pym or Wasp won't be showing up in Avengers.

It will include at least two of the Ant-Men including Dr. Hank Pym and burglar turned-hero Scott Lang (2nd Ant-Man) which was confirmed by MTV. Also the film's leading lady Janet van Dyne wears a similar suit and is known as the Wasp. It would be nice to see another heroine in the film perhaps Lang's daughter Cassie. She becomes a Young Avenger known as Stature who shares the same powers as her father.
 
ThePlaylist was able to speak with Joe Cornish which he became coy when the question of Ant-Men was raised again. However, they mention several "Ant-Men" are rumored which could mean SHIELD Agent Eric O'Grady (3rd Ant-Man) could be in the film as well.

"We had heard that at one point Cornish and Wright were going to put several of the Ant-Men (meaning people that had put on superhero scientist Hank Pym’s suit) into the script, meaning that they could have thrown in our personal favorite Ant-Man – Eric O’Grady, low-level S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent turned shadily “Irredeemable” Ant Man. "

Cornish smiled at our implication and said, slyly, “No comment.” He then started to say something, “Well, you know…” before shutting himself off with another “No comment.”


Edgar Wright talked to VanityFair about his vision for the film which will be a "high-tech spy heist film". The espionage angle gives further fuel that a team could be put together. Wright had been in contention to direct Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol which has a similar theme minus superpowers. I wouldn't be shocked to see Ant-Man closer to Bond or Mission Impossible than any of the other Marvel films.

"I think it's a really interesting high-concept idea. [...] I know there's a big stigma attached to it, mostly because every movie about shrinking has been about people in peril. I think it'd be great to do a shrinking film about a bad-ass secret agent. [...] Even something like The Incredible Shrinking Man, which is a fantastic film, is about a guy in trouble. But this is going to be nothing like that. It's essentially a high-tech spy heist film with somebody with a very particular power."

Christopher McQuarrie To Direct Rubicon Based On Seven Samurai

Deadline reports that screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie is setting up a deal for his third directorial effort Rubicon. The project is based on his graphic novel which is largely inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Instead of samurais and bandits the heroes are Navy SEALS while the villains are the Taliban.

McQuarrie is no stranger to this type of genre he won an Oscar for his work on The Usual Suspects and did a decent writing job on Valkyrie. He's currently shooting his second film One Shot with Tom Cruise in the lead. Also writing scripts for Jack The Giant Killer, The Wolverine and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. While I'm on board for his writing abilites and this project's concept. I'll have to see One Shot before getting my hopes up since his first film had major pacing issues.

Matt Reeves In Talks To Direct Twilight Zone For Warner Bros.

Deadline reports that Matt Reeves (Let Me In, Cloverfield) is Warner Bros' pick to direct their new Twilight Zone film. Previously names like Christopher Nolan, Michael Bay, Alfonso Cuaron (Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men, Gravity) and Rupert Wyatt (Rise of The Planet of The Apes) had been in the mix. 

Reeves had been a contender to helm both Man of Steel and The Wolverine. He's currently also attached to direct a film based on 8 O'Clock In The Morning which inspired John Carpenter's They Live. The new Zone film will tell one single story unlike the previous movie which had segments made by different directors. They also mention it will be science fiction in nature with the feel of being from the world of the Twilight Zone. So I'm expecting a lot of bizarre twists in the story and a large reveal in the end.

Warner Bros. To Decide On The Fate Of Akira Soon

ShowBlitz reports that the studio is going to be making to decision to greenlight their Akira adaptation or not. The project has had a long history of problems loosing two of it's directors and testing many actors but nothing came from it. Names like Michael Fassbender (First Class, Prometheus, 300), James McAvoy (First Class, Wanted), Andrew Garfield (Amazing Spider-Man, Social Network), Keanu Reeves (Matrix Trilogy, Point Break, Speed), Garrett Hedlund (Tron Legacy), Chris Pine (Star Trek 1-2, This Means War), Justin Timberlake (Social Network) and Joaquin Phoenix have been linked for testing.

Fans had been angry over the whitewash casting along with moving the location from Tokyo to Manhattan. It's budget was also too large likely since the whole movie is a gamble at this point. The studio wouldn't want to spend too much money if the fanbase isn't there. Last summer they gambled with high-concept Green Lantern which turned out to be a critical and financial blunder.

Marvel's Kevin Feige Gives Brief Update At New York Comic-Con

During The Avengers pannel at New York Comic-Con Marvel Studios' president Kevin Feige gave a brief update on future films. CinemaBlend who was there live-blogging and Feige stated that Iron Man 3 would be the first step toward Avengers 2. Hopefully this will be done a little more quieter than in the second film which got it's story ruined by too many hints for upcoming films.

"We're in pre-production on a movie called Iron Man 3 right now. We've got a great director called Shane Black who's taking the reins. Iron Man 3 will be the first in what we're calling phase 2 that will hopefully results in an Avengers 2."