There’s a growing trend in Hollywood where studios buy the screen rights for books before they are even released (see the recent acquisition of Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse for just one example). I suppose it makes sense that if you have a big name writer (ie. Dan Brown) or a property that will probably be a big hit, you should get on board before anyone else finds out about it (and before the price goes up). But in some cases, it strikes me as a little odd that a studio might option a book before it has even been fully written yet.

This is definitely the case with Mandalay Pictures, who have just picked up the rights to Max Barry’s sci-fi thriller Machine Man, a serianlized novel that is being written and posted online daily, page by page. It’s a pretty interesting experiment in writing, and the premise is kind of cool (a tech engineer is replacing body parts with “titanium upgrades of his own design”). You can read the first 43 pages online here, but you have to pay to read further. Barry previously wrote Jennifer Government, an awesome action-packed satire of corporations in the future, which Steven Soderbergh currently owns the rights to. As a fan of his writing, I’m definitely intrigued, although I am curious as to why they felt this was worth buying before it was even finished. Then again, I guess if they don’t like how it ends, they can always change it afterward! The book will officially be published by Vantage Books in 2011.

Everyone’s favourite contrarian critic Armond White has once again made his presence felt this week, after delivering a scathing review of the Lee Daniels film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. The movie, which hits select theatres this weekend, is riding a massive wave of Oscar buzz after picking up awards at Sundance, TIFF and the San Sebastian Film Festival earlier this year. (Last year’s People’s Choice Award winner in Toronto was Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire.) Precious is currently sitting at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, so of course White doesn’t like it. However, the fact that he gives it a negative review isn’t all that surprising — it’s what he says about it that will blow your mind.

“The hype for Precious indicates a culture-wide willingness to accept particular ethnic stereotypes as a way of maintaining status quo film values. Excellent recent films with black themes—Next Day Air, Cadillac Records, Meet Dave, Norbit, Little Man, Akeelah and the Bee, First Sunday, The Ladykillers, Marci X, Palindromes, Mr. 3000, even back to the great Beloved (also produced by Oprah)—have been ignored by the mainstream media and serious film culture while this carnival of black degradation gets celebrated. It’s a strange combination of liberal guilt and condescension.”

Did you catch that? He actually calls Meet Dave, Norbit and Little Man “excellent recent film with black themes”. It also goes without saying that he thinks they are better films than Precious. Well, I have yet to see Precious, but I am now entirely convinced that this man is insane. Read his full review over at the New York Press, and check out a trailer for Precious after the jump.

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Looks like the rumour mill is starting up again for another under the radar J.J. Abrams movie that is slowly being developed in secrecy — just like Cloverfield was a couple of years ago. The folks over at Pajiba recently got word from an inside source that Abrams and his Bad Robot production company are working on a new project called 500 Rads, and while they don’t know exactly what it’s about, they do have a few intriguing ideas.

The term “rads” refers to an “absorbed radiation dose”, and since the movie is being described as having similarities to both Cloverfield and 28 Days Later, they are speculating that it could be a zombie, viral plague or nuclear post-apocalyptic scenario of some sort. Lost, Alias and Fringe writer Jeff Pinkner has reportedly been the man working on the script thus far. The movie is budgeted at $25 million and will shoot somewhere in Europe (possibly to keep it under wraps). Although it’s not much to go on at the moment, it’s certainly enough to get me excited. The secrecy is frustrating, but at the same time, I respect that Abrams is trying to tightly control the information that gets out. That being said, did Pajiba cross the line by breaking this story? Should it all be stricken from the record? Let’s just say that I’m glad to know that Abrams has got something else up his sleeve. Now forget that you ever read this.

It can be a painful thing to watch an edgy and fresh comedic talent get sucked into the black hole of Hollywood, but I can’t be truly disappointed with any choices that Zach Galifianakis makes. I’m still just overjoyed to see the guy’s career take off, and it’s kind of fun to see him in some of these big family blockbusters like G-Force. I just hope he never stops taking risks and making the quirky little films on the side. That being said, you can’t help but wince when you hear that he is currently in talks to voice the character Humpty Dumpty in the upcoming Shrek spin-off, Puss in Boots.

The Shrek franchise has turned into a behemoth over the years, and Puss in Boots would actually be the fifth major film in the series. There is also a Shrek 4 on the way (now titled Shrek Forever After) that will hit theatres next summer; Puss in Boots isn’t scheduled for release until November 4th, 2011. The movie is a prequel that leads up to the events in Shrek 2. Antonio Banderas will voice the main character, while Salma Hayek will play his love interest Kitty. It will be directed by Chris Miller (Shrek the Third, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs). What do you think, is this a good career move for Galifianakis? And are you sick of Shrek yet?

Last week we asked you what the best anime film of all time was, and the results were pretty interesting. It’s not so much that the winners were unexpected per se, but the top 3 choices were more closely matched in votes than probably any other poll we’ve had previously. Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke ended up on top with 21% of the votes, while another Miyazaki film, Spirited Away, was #2 at just shy of 20%. (Clearly we’re going to have to do a showdown between all of Miyazaki’s films at some point in the future.) Akira followed immediately after that, with Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll rounding out the top 5. I was a bit surprised to see Rintaro’s Metropolis relegated to last place, but I suppose given the competition it’s understandable. Do you concur with these results?

1. Princess Mononoke — 21.4%
2. Spirited Away — 19.9%
3. Akira — 19.6%
4. Ghost in the Shell — 9.2%
5. Ninja Scroll — 8.9%
6. Grave of the Fireflies — 7.7%
7. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie — 5.2%
8. Perfect Blue — 4.4%
9. Paprika — 2.2%
10. Metropolis — 1.5%

The third (and final?) trailer for Guy Ritchie’s upcoming retelling of the classic stories about the famous British detective Sherlock Holmes, has hit the web. Without having seen it (I prefer to know as little about a movie as possible before I see it, if it’s one I’m interested in) I can tell as much as it does show a good amount of new footage from the film, while also showing a more polished look in general, than the previous two trailers. So with all the SFX having gone through the various post-production touch ups, it now seems like the movie is about ready.

Sherlock Holmes hits the streets on December 25th. Watch the trailer after the jump.

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Yep, you read it right… the game of global domination is coming to the big screen. Apparently Universal isn’t the only studio getting into the business of making movies based on board games. Sony Pictures announced today via their Twitter account that they had “acquired motion picture rights to classic board game RISK”. No other details were made available at this time, but it is a Hasbro property, which means that Sony probably stole it away from Universal, who signed a 6-year strategic partnership deal with Hasbro earlier this year. (They are currently developing movies based on Monopoly, Candy Land, and Battleship, among others.) Perhaps the rights were still owned by the estate of French film director Albert Lamorisse, who invented the game back in 1957?

At any rate, I’m wondering if Sony actually ended up scoring the game with the most cinematic potential of the bunch here. I mean, sure there aren’t any characters associated with the game, but the possibilities are endless for a generic war movie — especially one that delves into the strategic elements of planning a campaign. It will still require a writer and director with a bit of talent to make it worthwhile, but somehow it seems like less of a stretch than most of these other board game movies. I know one thing… Risk has a pretty hardcore following among the geek crowd, so at least they’ve got that going for them. Feel free to debate the potential brilliance and/or insanity of a Risk movie in the comments below.

Earlier this week, a Russian trailer for the upcoming Angelina Jolie action-thriller Salt found its way online, but was quickly pulled down by Sony… and really, who wants to see a low-quality, dubbed version of a trailer anyway? (A lot of people… I know.) Today they have debuted the first domestic trailer for the film over at Yahoo!, and although it looks fairly action-packed, I can’t say there is anything all that noteworthy about it either. Is Angelina Jolie really the biggest current female action star? It seems weird to say that, but I guess her filmography proves it. Either way, I’m sure they’re hoping to attract fans of Wanted with this one.

The production history on Salt has kind of a weird twist in that Tom Cruise was originally supposed to star in the lead role (and not in drag). Somewhere along the way they rewrote the story so that the main character was a woman instead. Weird. The script comes courtesy of Kurt Wimmer (Law Abiding Citizen, The Recruit, Equilibrium) and Brian Helgeland (Man on Fire, Mystic River, Payback). Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, The Saint, Patriot Games) is in the director’s chair. These guys all have some good stuff on their resumes, so it could end up being a pretty solid spy flick. I guess I’m just a little disappointed that a movie about a Russian sleeper agent is not set during the Cold War. Boo. Salt hits theatres on July 23rd; check out the trailer after jump.

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Oh Steve Guttenberg… how I want to believe you. It seems that every time the man gets in front of a reporter, blogger or media type person, he can’t help but regale them with stories about how his career is about to undergo a massive resurgence. In the past he’s talked about another Police Academy sequel (that’s part 8, for those keeping count), and he’s also hinted at another possible sequel to Three Men and a Baby, with Ted Danson, Tom Selleck, and himself reteaming for another blockbuster comedy. But is there any chance this is true, or is it merely a figment of his imagination?

According to WENN, Guttenberg is now convinced that Three Men and a Bride is actually happening. Little baby Mary is all grown up now, and Danson, Selleck and Guttenberg will be the ones to give her away at the ceremony. No, seriously.

“Disney’s developing Three Men and a Bride. That’s going to be a smash. A smash hit. They’re bringing everybody back for that… Nobody knows about it. I’m the first to talk about it.”

Hmm, the fact that nobody else knows about it seems a bit suspicious to me! I wonder if Disney even knows they are developing it. Besides, wasn’t there a wedding in Three Men and a Little Lady already? Something tells me Ted Danson’s got better things to do, although I’m not sure about Tom Selleck. What do you think, is there a possibility that this movie will ever get made? Would you actually want to see these guys re-unite for a third movie?

Things aren’t looking so good for Jared Hess’ latest comedy Gentlemen Broncos. The movie hit theatres last week on just 2 screens, and despite plans to expand further in the coming weeks, it appears that the movie’s release is now being scaled back as a result of bad reviews. A number of critics have received a notice this week from Fox Searchlight stating that the movie will no longer be opening in their market. It is unclear if they will still follow through with the previously scheduled roll out for the next two weeks, but it certainly won’t be progressing beyond that. DVD will likely be the venue for most of us to see it.

Truth be told, there were signs of trouble when the movie premiered at Fantastic Fest in Austin back in September; it received a wave of negative reviews and was quickly forgotten. Now it seems that Fox Searchlight is hoping that it will stay forgotten. (As pointed out by Get The Big Picture, 2009 hasn’t been kind to Fox Searchlight, which hurts even more because this is the same studio who put out Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler last year.) Still, I can’t help but want to witness Gentlemen Broncos with my own eyes. Hess has always been a bit of an acquired taste, and most people will tell you that Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre only get better with repeat viewings. Plus I refuse to believe that anything starring Jemaine Clement can be all bad. Has anyone out there seen Gentlemen Broncos yet? Are you surprised by this news?