Film Junk » Action

American Gladiators Movie Gets a Writer

Sean — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:32:47 +0000

Peter Iliff (Point Break, Varsity Blues) to re-envision the Gladiators as superheroes.

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Brad Pitt Producing Dark Void Video Game Adaptation

Sean — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:12:29 +0000

The game's not even out yet and it's already been optioned. Probably because it has jet packs!

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J.J. Abrams Producing Samurai Jack: The Movie

Sean — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:28:56 +0000

We've got a little bit of an update this week on the Samurai Jack feature film that was first announced back in 2007. As you may know, Genndy Tartakovsky is on board to write and direct a big screen continuation of his popular animated series for Frederator Films. As far as we know it's the only project on his plate at the moment since The Power of the Dark Crystal was postponed indefinitely, but apparently the deal for Samurai Jack took quite a while to close. Here's the good news: things are now moving ahead, and they've even got a pretty big name helping them out as a co-producer. According to a post on the Frederator Films blog from back in September, J.J. Abrams revealed himself to be a huge fan of Samurai Jack and is now co-producing the movie through his company, Bad Robot Productions. Samurai Jack is also being distributed through Paramount Pictures, which helps guarantee that it will actually end up in theatres rather than getting dumped direct to DVD. Just to be clear, the movie is a "2D/stereoscopic 3D production", which should maintain the look and feel of the original show. The modest budget will be somewhere in the $20 million range. Frederator also now has a deal in place with Sony, so they've potentially got a lot of other stuff on the horizon as well. Pretty exciting, right? Sound off in the comments below.

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Kevin McKidd Confirms Involvement in Call of Duty Movie

Sean — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:01:28 +0000

When the latest game sells 4.7 million units in 24 hours, I think a movie is a no brainer... but would it be modern or WWII?

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Now Anne Hathaway Being Considered for Spider-Man 4?

Sean — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:40:14 +0000

Has Sam Raimi found his Black Cat?

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Warriors Three Join the Cast of Thor

Sean — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:51:21 +0000

Thor will be the next Marvel comic book movie to head into production, with shooting expected to commence sometime in mid-January. The Kenneth Branagh-directed action fantasy flick is shaping up to be a little different from your average superhero adaptation, and already boasts an impressive cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Tom Hiddleston, Jaimie Alexander, Colm Feore, and of course, Samuel L. Jackson briefly reprising his role as Nick Fury. Now this week three more actors have been added to the roster. According to Variety, Stuart Townsend (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Queen of the Damned), Ray Stevenson (Rome, Punisher: War Zone) and Tadanobu Asano (Mongol) have signed on to play Thor's Warriors Three, a group of "Asgardian adventurers who fight alongside the Norse god". Their names: Fandral, Volstagg the Valiant, and Hogun the Grim, respectively. Just based on the names alone I'm excited! I have to admit, this movie is shaping up to be a lot of fun. What do you think about how the cast is coming together? Thor is currently slated for release on May 20th, 2011.

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Carl Rinsch to Direct Samurai Flick 47 Ronin Starring Keanu Reeves

Sean — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:31:16 +0000

If the name Carl Erik Rinsch sounds familiar to you, that's because this up and coming filmmaker was once being touted as the director of the Alien prequel, before Ridley Scott decided to take over the reins himself. Now, however, Rinsch is in talks to make his feature film debut with another fairly high profile studio flick. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he has been hired to helm a movie called 47 Ronin for Universal. It's a period action drama starring Keanu Reeves as the leader of a group of 18th century samurai hellbent on avenging the death of their master. The script was written by Chris Morgan (Wanted, Fast & Furious), and apparently has no relation to Frank Miller's Ronin, which is also in development. Rinsch has an impressive body of work in TV commercials, and it will be interesting to see how he puts these skills to use in 47 Ronin. I'm guessing the thing that may turn some people off is the fact that Keanu is starring, but I'm not one to write the guy off... yet. Thoughts?

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McG Drops Out of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Sean — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:57:28 +0000

Disney's Captain Nemo is on hold indefinitely.

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Len Wiseman in Talks to Direct Untitled Post-Apocalyptic Thriller

Sean — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:44:05 +0000

We've been hearing Len Wiseman's name thrown around a lot over the past year or two, but despite being courted for some high profile projects, he still doesn't have a gig lined up to follow 2007's Live Free or Die Hard. It's possible that he's just being choosy (which makes sense considering that Die Hard was reportedly a pretty grueling shoot), but it also seems like he's had a bit of bad luck with a few projects falling through or being put on hold. At one point he was supposed to direct the Escape From New York remake, but that seems to be dead, and he is also still attached to the Gears of War movie and the comic book adaptations Atlantis Rising and Shrapnel. However, at this point his next project is shaping up to be something entirely different. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wiseman has signed on to direct an untitled thriller for 20th Century Fox. Based on a script by Jeremy Passmore (Special, Red Dawn) and Andre Fabrizio, the movie is "about a group of people who survive the end of the world and the mystery surrounding how they got to that position". Yep, another post-apocalyptic thriller... just what we need! The working title for the movie is said to be Nocturne, but that doesn't really put us any closer to knowing what the movie is about. Are you looking forward to seeing what Len Wiseman does next? And does this movie have any hope of standing out among all the other "end of the world" movies coming out lately?

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Is Avatar One of the Top 100 Movies of the Decade?

Sean — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:23:32 +0000

The end of the decade is almost upon us, which means that over the next month or so you can expect to see all kinds of lists counting down the "Best Of" the previous 10 years in just about everything. One of the first publications out of the gate with their Best Movies of the Decade list is London's Telegraph, who count down their top 100 movies from 2000 to 2009. There are some interesting choices and some predictable ones, along with a few movies I've never even heard of. One thing that has a few people raising an eyebrow, however, is the fact that they've included James Cameron's Avatar on their list, based solely on the 15-minute IMAX preview! Isn't that a little presumptuous? To be fair, they did tack it on at the end of the list at #100, but it still feels like they're going mainly based on hype rather than anything concrete. Do you think that Avatar will end up being one of the decade's best films? Do you agree with the rest of their choices? I have a feeling they're going to get some flack for that #1. Check out their top 20 after the jump, and read the rest over at Telegraph.co.uk. 20. Lost in Translation 19. Capote 18. Mamma Mia! 17. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days 16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 15. Before Sunset 14. Saw 13. West of the Tracks 12. Amelie 11. The Lives of Others 10. Slumdog Millionaire 9. The Passion of the Christ 8. Amores Perros 7. Borat 6. Memento 5. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring 4. There Will Be Blood 3. The Incredibles 2. Brokeback Mountain 1. Fahrenheit 9/11

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Kick-Ass Teaser Trailer

Sean — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:07:30 +0000

We've been anxiously awaiting the release of the first official trailer for Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass, and although the trailer still isn't supposed to go online at MySpace for another couple of days, it has apparently leaked elsewhere... and Lionsgate seems okay with that. So here it is. The movie is based on the comic book by Mark Millar (Wanted) and focuses on a high school kid who decides to become a superhero... with no super powers whatsoever. The trailer certainly makes it seem like the movie is heavy on comedy (particularly with the presence of Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Clark Duke), but only hints at some of the brutal violence that is also reportedly contained within. If I didn't know any better, I would think it was just another superhero spoof. Still, as someone who enjoyed the big screen adaptation of Wanted, but enjoyed the comic even more, I think I have a pretty good idea of what we're in for. The movie stars Aaron Johnson (who also plays young John Lennon in Nowhere Boy), along with Chloe Moretz, Mark Strong and Nicolas Cage. Kick-Ass hits theatres on April 16th 2010; check out the teaser trailer after the jump.

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Clash of the Titans Remake Trailer

Sean — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:19:09 +0000

Well if there's one thing they want us to know about Louis Leterrier's upcoming remake of the 1981 epic Clash of the Titans, it's that it's hip and cool and edgy! Since this is just a teaser trailer, they can get away with showing quick clips of action scenes and melding it together into a music video of sorts. It works fairly well, and I'm sure this is going to excite fans of 300, which is clearly their target audience. Still, I have to wonder, is this music indicative of what the actual soundtrack will be? Because if so, that's pretty lame. The movie stars Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Gemma Arterton, Ralph Fiennes, and of course, Pete Postlethwaite (among others). It looks like this will be sufficiently epic and the special effects certainly give a much-needed update to the original, but is it just me or do some of the creature designs seem like a rip off of Pan's Labyrinth? Clash of the Titans hits theatres on March 26th; check out the teaser trailer after the jump.

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