Jack Black And Mike Judge Might Be Working Together On New Film

Mike Judge might be known as the creative mind behind Beavis And Butt-Hand along with King of The Hill. Yet, Judge is an accomplished comedy directors with excellent credits like Office Space and the sci-fi idiot comedy Idiocracy.

Judge while on Howard 101 for Celebrity Super-Fan Round Table let it slip he had just come from a meeting with Jack Black. He went on to confirm it was for an untitled movie project. Considering Mike hasn't done an animated movie since Beavis And Butt-Head Do America, it's likely it will be live-action.

It's been an odd comedy road for Jack Black in the last couple of years. It would be interesting to see Black return to strong raunchy/dark comedy which Judge's material seems to inhabit. The project's plot is currently unknown but I assume the supporting cast could be equally interesting. My hope is that Judge would return to genre comedy perhaps staying in the science fiction arena.

Marvel Officially Hires Director Alan Taylor For Thor Sequel!

Marvel Studios has finally chosen a new director for Thor 2. Deadline reports Marvel has indeed picked television director Alan Taylor to replace Patty Jenkins (Monster). While I was shocked Jenkins exited the project I think hiring Taylor is a solid move by the studio. Alan has been directing episodes on some of the best shows ever airing on television. Those credits include Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Sopranos, Oz, Mad Men, Rome, West Wing and Deadwood. He's proven to be able to handle large casts which will be needed with the cast of Asgardians more than doubling in the next film. The Thor sequel will be released on November 15th 2013 with production expected to start in fall 2012.

Marvel has left the door open for Patty to perhaps direct another one of their budding franchises in the future. I'm hoping that Marvel ends up using Jenkins for projects like Doctor Strange, Black Panther or even Iron Fist. Since she seems more like the type of director to start a superhero franchise with her own vision, not just to continue another one.

Screenwriter For New Blade Runner Film To Be Announced Soon

ThePlaylist while talking to producer Andrew Kosove about many his projects in development. The conversation moved towards the new Blade Runner movie which currently has Ridley Scott attached to direct. Ridley has given the impression in recent interviews that Runner could be one of this next films if everything comes together. Kosove mentions that they haven't decided whether it will be a prequel or sequel. Also, an announcement on the film's screenwriter will happen early in the new year.

Sometime in the first two months of the new year we'll announce who the screenwriter will be and whether or not it's a prequel or sequel. And then we'll be off to the races.

Here's the thing about Ridley. Ridley is a special guy. He's a force of nature. He's got a lot of stuff that he's working on. I believe it's an extremely high priority for Ridley, that's what he's said to me. This project is moving forward aggressively in development. 

 

Currently the director is finishing up post-production on Prometheus which recently had it's teaser trailer released this week (jaw-dropping awesome!). Apparently he's been bitten by the science fiction bug and wants to make more films in the genre. He has gone as far to say that if successful there could be sequels to Prometheus exploring that universe. Not to mention development on a film based on the novel Forever War.

Ridley could very well could expand the Blade Runner world similar to what he's doing with the Alien universe in Prometheus. A lot of avenues haven't been explored since we basically only saw a film noir set in a futuristic Los Angeles, off-world colonies and replicant rebellions sound too good not to focus on. That being said, Ridley has fingers in a lot of projects and could easily jump into something else.

Mission Impossible 5 Moving Forward?

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is already a financial and critical hit. Making the fourth installment one of the most rewarding films in the franchise according to many reviews and word of mouth. Putting together a solid cast including Jeremy Renner has paid off, not to mention bringing Simon Pegg into the spotlight.

MovieHole reports the studio is aiming to move forward with Mission Impossible 5, which isn't surprising. It had been rumored that Jeremy Renner was going to take over the franchise when Paramount first announced Ghost Protocol. Paramount mentioned then that there could be more Mission Impossible films in the future without Tom playing Ethan Hunt. Cruise seems to have won audiences over and the studio could want him to go on more missions. The question will be will the studio be able to bring back director Brad Bird or Renner/Pegg for the sequel? If Bird returned he would be the first director in the series to do so.

Screen Grabs From Prometheus Trailer Reveal Derelict Ship And Space Jockey

Prometheus Teaser Trailer

RUMOR: Could Marvel Be Using Vampires In Doctor Strange?

A new rumor points out that the Avengers post-credits scene could involve a vampire or vampires has surfaced via ComicBookMovie. This doesn't seem to fit with Iron Man 3, Thor 2 or even Captain America 2. So if true this could mean that we'll be seeing a new film that vampires would inhabit. That narrows things down to Blade or Doctor Strange.

Blade comes to mind but they don't have a script, director or even a new Blade. I assume when Marvel Studios regained the Blade rights from New Line they got all the vampire characters back including Deacon Frost, Hannibal King, Dracula, Lilith (Dracula's daughter), Morbius and The Blood Pack.

Morbius was going to be the main baddie in Blade 2 before Guillmero del Toro came in for the sequel. The living vampire had a cameo at the end of the first Blade movie but was ultimately cut out. One of the great things about Morbius is that he's also been a hero so he could be an interesting conflicted character.

The rights would also include Jack Russell from Werewolf By Night who had a cameo in a Blade 3 cute scene. There had been talk of Werewolf By Night film in development but nothing came of it. I figure all these characters are now fair game at Marvel and could be used in many different films.

Doctor Strange just happens to be the best bet to what this post-credit scene could be teasing. The film has a script and has been the one project most voiced by Marvel as apart of their next lineup. It's unknown what angle they'll be going with Strange but he runs the gauntlet of cosmic, magic, occult and horror elements. Strange has run into a few vampires in his time which includes Morbius, Dracula, Lilith, Baron Blood (his brother Victor) and many others. I would love to see Strange end up becoming more of a horror style Marvel franchise. A vampire could also just be one of the many monsters that Strange will have to face in the movie.

Horror comics were once a major part of Marvel, titles included The Living Vampire, Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf By Night, Brother Voodoo, Son of Satan, Legion of Monsters, Santana and others. It would be interesting to see Marvel Studios bring this sort of comic book universe to the screen. It had been sort of teased with the Blade films but the occult, magic, other creatures and demons were never the focus.

Abigail Breslin Cast In Ender's Game, Others Confirmed

ShowBlitz reports that Abigail Breslin (Zombieland) has joined the cast of Ender's Game. They also confirm that both Harrison Ford and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) are locked in for roles oppoiste Asa Butterfield (Hugo). It's interesting to see that they've got two young actresses who've been Oscar nominated. They also report that Aramis Knight, Moises Arias, Jimmy “Jax” Pinchak, Suraj Parthasarathy, Conor Carroll and Khylin Rhambo have joined the film.

First Hobbit Poster

Teaser Trailer For The Hobbit

RUMOR: Gillian Jacobs Joining The Evil Dead Remake?

DestroyTheBrain claims an exclusive casting rumor that could see two actresses possibly joining the Evil Dead remake. One of the actresses is former child star Jurnee Smollett (Full House, Friday Night Lights) and the other is Gillian Jacobs (Choke) best known from Community. This seems to be the first word of casting so if true we should be hearing more names attached soon.

A Couple More Screen Shots From Prometheus Sneak Peek

21 Jump Street Poster

New Images From Prometheus Trailer Preview

Teaser For The New Prometheus Trailer

First Impressive Trailer For Wrath of The Titans

Feature Trailer For Dark Knight Rises

Wrath of The Titans Poster

Will Gluck And Drew Pearce Team-Up For Secretaries Day

Deadline reports that director Will Gluck's (Easy A, Crazy Stupid Love) next film will be Secretaries Day. The action comedy comes from screenwriter Drew Pearce who is currently best known for co-writing Iron Man 3 with Shane Black (Lethal Weapon).

Pearce is also currently working on Sherlock Holmes 3 and wrote the Runaways script for Marvel Studios. Neither casting information or even a synopsis was included in the article. The title suggests a female driven film and could be a female version of Lethal Weapon or Pineapple Express. Since it's setup at Sony and I'm sure they'll be looking to their starlet Emma Stone to take the lead. Gluck previously worked with Stone on his last two films and promised another film together.

New Hunger Games Poster

Clive Owen And Mia Wasikowska In Talks For Oldboy

Director Spike Lee doesn't seem to be getting the cast he originally wanted for his American remake of Oldboy which is based on the manga and Korean film. Lee had Colin Firth in mind for the villain and Rooney Mara for the female lead, both passing. Twitch reports that Clive Owen (Children of Men) is in talks for the villain and Mia Wasikowska (Alice In Wonderland, Jane Eyre) could also join.

New Hobbit Image From Empire

First Jack The Giant Killer Poster

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Posters

Official Expendables 2 Poster

Eva Green Could Join The 300 Prequel

HeatVision reports that French actress Eva Green (Casino Royale, Kingdom of Heaven, Dark Shadows) is in talks for the role of Artemisia in the 300 prequel. The film currently titled 300: Battle of Artemisia is expected to take place before and during the events of the first movie. Joel Edgerton (The Thing, Warrior) had been in talks to take the male lead of Themistocles but ultimately passed on the project.

RUMOR: Jason Statham Is Joining Transformers 4 Afterall?

The Transfomers franchise might be void of any real storytelling or characters but it's been a monster at the box office raking in around $2.6 billion worldwide. Over the summer it was rumored that British action star Jason Statham was going to replace Shia LaBeouf in Transformers 4. While Michael Bay's involvement has yet to be official yet the studio seems to be pushing for the fourth and fifth film. There seems to be vague confirmation via Twitter from stars Tyrese Gibson and Ken Jeong that "J.S" is going the cast.

I've had hate and love for the Transformers franchise enjoying the action scenes but loath Sam and his useless/unfunny comedic sub-plots. Also, the character designs of some of the robots have been beyond odd and even racist at times. I'm not sure how robots age, grow hair or even have lips (gold teeth?). However, the last installment's set pieces were stunning and I even liked how humans looked when they were vaporized into skeletons. The idea that Jason Statham could be the new face of the franchise gives me hope it could be moving in a better direction.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was recently brought in to boost appeal for both Fast Five and G.I. Joe Retaliation, giving both films much needed action star credibility. The former ended up being the biggest film of the Fast And Furious franchise leading Johnson to possibly return for the sixth film (also rumored to include Statham). With Retaliation, he's pretty much taken over the franchise from Channing Tatum (Duke) and looks like he's going to be very entertaining. This could be a similar move with hiring Statham for the next Transformers sequel.

Teaser Trailer For Expendables 2

First Official Prometheus Poster

RUMOR: Alan Taylor Front-Runner To Direct Thor 2?

Questionable sources are saying that television director Alan Taylor is now in talks with Marvel Studios to helm Thor 2. Patty Jenkins (Monster) and Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones, Luther) were both involved in different stages before the studio went on another director search. Taylor's name recently came up and seemed like a solid choice considering he's been involved with a bunch of successful series.

His extensive TV directing credits include Oz, The West Wing, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Lost, Rome, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Nurse Jackie, Bored To Death, Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones. Alan has ran the gamete of almost every genre possible and seems perfect for the multiple layered Marvel cinematic universe. If he doesn't get the Thor 2 gig, Marvel would be smart to nab him for a future project. Pre-production will need to begin soon to meet the projected September production start date.

Crank 3 On The Way, Idris Elba Wanted For Role

FilmStage has word via Empire/JoBlo that the writing/directing duo Mark Neveldine and Bryan Taylor confirm Crank 3 is happening. Along with bringing back Chev Chelios played by Jason Statham they want to bring Idris Elba into the mix. Elba recently worked with the directors on Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengence. The only issue would be that Idris is very busy these days with Pacific Rim, Kill Bill Laden (maybe), Thor 2, The Real RockNRolla and not to mention a new series/feature film of Luther also in the works.

“I would LOVE that! Actually, we joking-but-not-quite-jokingly joked about that with Idris [Elba] while we were over in Romania and Turkey [shooting Spirit of Vengeance]. Just trying to figure out a way of getting him into Crank 3. There are so many different ways that Crank 3 could go. We’ve been talking about the top 50 ideas we what to do for Crank 3, so we’re just trying to pair them down. By the way, Crank 3 is going to happen, the studios are really excited about it – it’s just all about timing.”

“…The important thing is what powers Chev [Chelios]. It was adrenaline that kept him alive in the first one, it was electricity in the second one, you know, it’s all about what will keep him alive in the third one. It’s just fun slinging those ideas around.”

He-Man Movie Back On Track At Sony

It hasn't been a great journey for the He-Man: Masters of The Universe reboot. Originally setup at Warner Bros. with producer Joel Silver and director John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda) going to make the remake. The project eventually seemed too expensive or creatively off for the studio and it got the axe. There hasn't been any news on the film until now. BleedingCool reports Sony is resurrecting the project at Escape Artists. No screenwriter or director has been mentioned but with the success of Thor this now might be a priority for Sony. A mix between Thor and Flash Gordon the film has some potential to become a fun fantasy blockbuster. This movie could really work if the scale is there along with a strong cast.

I feel like the Hemsworth brothers would be perfect for the role of He-Man. Chris Hemsworth has pretty much edged himself as the go to guy for fantasy leads with roles as Thor and The Huntsman. I think if anyone could breathe a third dimension into to He-Man it would be Chris. His brother Liam is also gathering some action credit of his own with Hunger Games and Expendables 2 on the horizon.

Chris Prat Could Kill Bin Laden For Kathryn Bigelow

Twitch reports that Chris Prat could join Kathryn Bigelow's Bin Laden movie which focus on Seal-Team Six. If Prat lands the role it very well could be the same career changing part that helped Jeremy Renner blow up and earn two Oscar nominations.

Jeremy Renner before Hurt Locker was known for supporting roles in action films and hadn't been in the spotlight. Chris is currently best known for supporting roles in Parks And Recreation, Wanted, Take Me Home Tonight, Jennifer's Body, Moneyball and the upcoming Five-Year Engagement. If Prat joins the project it's very likely that he'll end up landing leading man roles in all types of films, giving his career a massive boost.

Jason Clarke is currently the only actor locked in for a role. Other names that have been mentioned for the film include Joel Edgerton (likely out), Idris Elba, Tom Hardy and Guy Pearce.