Men in Black 3 Taking Rewrite Break In Middle of Production

Bitched plenty of times here, and elsewhere, about how audiences will likely shun the forthcoming Spider-Man reboot and additional X-Men prequels on the basis of being burned too severely by the previous installments. That is to say they'll under-perform (by no means will they tank).

But that won't be the case for Men in Black 3, solely because it stars the galaxy’s only movie-star Will Smith. It’s gonna make bank. Whether it will suck, nobody knows for the time being.

But this report from 24 Frames implies chances are iffy.

While production starts today and will go into Christmas week, the filmmakers have opted for a highly unorthodox move. Things won't recommence until the middle of February 2011, and in the two month period between screenwriter Jeff Nathanson will focus his attention of on the threequel's heavy time-travel elements. Will Smith's Agent Jay goes back to 1969 and teams with Josh Brolin's youthful Agent Kay.

That doesn't exactly speak wonders for the script especially when we're talking a big expensive tentpole and the fact that the crews will reporedly continue being parid during the two-month break. Even after those set of rewrites are finished, they'll be additional rewrites on set too. Most likely, there will be – which, to be fair, is standard operating procedure.

NBC Goes Mid-Season With Changes

NBC today made several mid-season schedule announcements, including the premiere dates for four new series - the dramas "The Cape" and "Harry's Law," the comedy "Perfect Couples" and the alternative series "America's Next Great Restaurant." The lineup also includes series time period changes for "Law & Order: Los Angeles," "Chase," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Parenthood."

Additionally, returning series "Parks and Recreation," "The Biggest Loser: Couples," "Who Do You Think You Are?," "Minute to Win It," "The Marriage Ref" and "The Celebrity Apprentice" resume on the schedule while other moves maximize the amount of original, non-repeat programming on the network.

Following are night-by-night details:

Mondays
The new action-filled drama "The Cape" will premiere with a two-hour episode on Sunday, January 9 (9-11 p.m. ET). An encore broadcast of the two-hour episode airs Monday, January 10 (9-11 p.m. ET) with new episodes starting in its regular time period on January 17 (9-10 p.m. ET). The highly buzzed-about drama "The Event" returns with a two-hour edition on Monday, February 28 (9-11 p.m. ET) and begins airing in its regular 9-10 p.m. (ET) time slot on March 7. The new drama "Harry's Law" debuts at 10-11 p.m. (ET) starting on January 17. "Parenthood" will return on January 4 with new episodes in its current time period (Tuesdays, 10-11 p.m. ET) and will move to Mondays on March 7 at 10-11 p.m. (ET) with original episodes to complete its second season. "Chuck" continues at 8-9 p.m. (ET) on January 17.

Tuesdays
The new season of "The Biggest Loser: Couples" premieres on Tuesday, January 4 at 8-10 p.m. (ET). "Law & Order: Los Angeles" will move to Tuesdays at 10-11 p.m. (ET) on February 8.

Wednesdays
Beginning January 5, "Minute to Win It" returns at 8-9 p.m. (ET). The freshman drama "Chase" relocates to a new night and time at 9-10 p.m. (ET) beginning January 12. "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" moves to a new time beginning with a two-hour episode from 9-11 p.m. (ET) on January 5 before resuming in its regular time of 10-11 p.m. (ET) the next week. The new alternative series "America's Next Great Restaurant" premieres from 9-10 p.m. (ET) on March 16.

Thursdays
The new Thursday-night lineup features wall-to-wall comedy beginning January 20 with "Community" at 8-8:30 p.m. (ET) followed at the new comedy "Perfect Couples" at 8:30-9 p.m. (ET). "The Office" continues at 9-9:30 p.m. (ET) and "Parks and Recreation" returns from 9:30-10 p.m. (ET). NBC opens a new hour of humor with "30 Rock" moving to 10-10:30 p.m. (ET) and the freshman series "Outsourced" concludes the night at 10:30-11 p.m. (ET).

Fridays
The alternative genealogy series "Who Do You Think You Are?" returns on January 21 (8-9 p.m. ET). "Dateline NBC" will return on January 7 (9-11 p.m. ET).

Sundays
"The Marriage Ref" returns for its second season on March 6 (8-9 p.m. ET) followed by the return of "The Celebrity Apprentice" (9-11 p.m. ET), also on March 6.

The premieres of the new January-March program schedule follow in a grid (all times ET); new series are capitalized.

MONDAYS
8-9 p.m. - "Chuck"
9-10 p.m. - "THE CAPE" will premiere with a two-hour episode on Sunday, January 9 (9-11 p.m.). New episodes start in its regular time period on January 17 (9-10 p.m.)
10-11 p.m. - "HARRY'S LAW' (beginning January 17)
9-10 p.m. - "The Event" (returns on February 28, 9-11 p.m.; resumes in its regular time slot March 7)
10-11 p.m. -- "Parenthood" (debuts in this slot March 7 with all originals)

TUESDAYS
8-10 p.m. -- "The Biggest Loser: Couples" (beginning January 4)
10-11 p.m. - "Parenthood" (beginning January 4 for four episodes)
10-11 p.m. -- "Law & Order: Los Angeles" (beginning February 8)

WEDNESDAYS
8-9 p.m. -- "Minute to Win It" (beginning January 5)
9-10 p.m. -"Chase" (beginning January 12)
10-11 p.m. - "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (originals beginning January 5 with two-hour episode, 9-11 p.m. ET)
9-10 p.m. - "AMERICA'S NEXT GREAT RESTAURANT" (beginning March 16)

THURSDAYS (all beginning January 20)
8-8:30 p.m. - "Community"
8:30-9 p.m. - "PERFECT COUPLES"
9-9:30 p.m. - "The Office"
9:30-10 p.m. - "Parks and Recreation"
10-10:30 p.m. - "30 Rock"
10:30-11 p.m. - "Outsourced"

FRIDAYS
8-9 p.m. -- "Who Do You Think You Are?" (beginning January 21)
9-11 p.m. - "Dateline NBC" (beginning January 7)

SUNDAYS
7-8 p.m. - "Dateline NBC"
8-9 p.m. - "The Marriage Ref" (beginning March 6)
9-11 p.m. - "The Celebrity Apprentice" (beginning March 6)


Weekend Box Office Actuals: November 12-14

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Megamind - $29.1 million

2.  Unstoppable - $22.6 million

3.  Due Date - $15.4 million

4.  Skyline - $11.6 million

5.  Morning Glory - $9.2 million

6.  For Colored Girls - $6.5 million

7.  Red - $4.9 million

8.  Paranormal Activity 2 - $2.9 million

9.  Saw 3D - $2.8 million

10.  Jackass 3D - $2.2 million

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 Teaser Poster Looking JUST Like The Others

Whaaaaaat?! A teaser poster for a big franchise movie that looks just like its predecessors?

Oh, it's for a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. That figures.

IP Awards has it for the next May's On Stranger Tides, and once again, I'm imagining another two-and-half hour romp full of overblown visual effects, eighteen or so thinly-written plots being sloppily pasted together and the Jack Sparrow character being stretched out even further than done with the last two sequels.

The Hangover 2 Getting Presidential With Its Cameos

Here's how you write the perfect Hangover 2 cameo.

Have one of your leads (preferably Zach Galifianakis or Ed Helms) wake up after a night's worth of boos, drugs and sex saying, "God...damn...got the taste of shit in my mouth, man!" The camera pans over to said actor's face to reveal a bare ass right next to them. Once they get up, you reveal the surprise cameo. Which honestly would be fitting considering who is the latest spoiled cameo for the 2011 sequel.

People reports joining the ranks of Mike Tyson and Mel Gibson...whoops...Liam Neeson is Bill Clinton. I'd imagine his bit walk-on role won't be anywhere near as memorable as what I suggested earlier or Tyson's "What the fuck?!" appearance from the original.

All this blabbing of cameos is taking quite a bit away from the element of surprise here. Something the first film had - yes, even despite a fair chunk of jokes being given away in the trailers.

Cowboys & Aliens Teaser Poster

The marketing department behind Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens kept their eye on Daniel Craig's perfectly formed arse for the teaser poster – courtesy of Yahoo! Movies.

The teaser trailer hits tomorrow afternoon, so I'll reserve all remarks until then.

Aronofsky Takes on "The Wolverine"

While speaking with director Darren Aronofsky about his much-anticipated film Black Swan, the good folks over at HitFix were also able to get an update on the upcoming Wolverine sequel.

For starters, the sequel has a new title.  No more "X-Men Origins," in fact, no more "X-Men" anything.  The film will simply be titled The Wolverine.  I'm liking that.

Aronofsky also said he's considering this a "one-off" film and not necessarily a sequel to last year's much-maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  That's good news.

Also confirmed for the sequel/one-off/new Wolverine movie is Matthew Libatique as the cinematographer.  Libatique has worked on all of Aronofsky's films with the exception of The Wrestler, as well as both Iron Man movies and the upcoming Cowboys vs. Aliens.  So that's good news too.

Filming is expected to begin in New York and Japan in late February/early March, which is also why Hugh Jackman recently turned down next year's Oscar-hosting gig (dammit!).  So it sounds like he's getting ready to put the claws on again as well.  Let's keep our fingers crossed for this one.

Colin Farrell To Gain Total Recall

According to the Trades former hard drinking ladies man and damn good actor Colin Farrell has been offered the lead role in the Len Wiseman adaption of Phillip K. Dick's "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" which is better known under the name "Total Recall" which was the name of the original movie adaption of the story starring Arnie and directed by Paul Verhoeven.

Here's a synopsis of the short story: (Wiki)

Douglas Quail, a simple and ordinary man, wishes to visit Mars. Unable to afford it, he visits a company, Rekal, Incorporated, that offers implanted memories ("extra-factual memory"). The attempt to implant some racy Mars memories of Quail as a secret agent reveals that Quail actually is an undercover government assassin with a mind full of dangerous secrets. The Rekal staff quickly get Quail out of their office; he heads home and finds certain physical evidence to support his new old memories. The government initially seeks his death but instead Quail manages to make a deal. He returns to Rekal to have his Mars memories once more suppressed, and is offered by way of compensation a set of heroic wish-fulfillment false memories. The Rekal staff begin the memory-implanting procedure — and uncover a different and older set of suppressed memories revealing that the unbelievable memories they are about to insert are already there and are true.

Personally I am all for a fresh adaption, I enjoyed the Verhoeven version in all it's garish and ultra violent action packed darkly satirical glory, but it's dated, a last vestige of the 80's if you will (It was released in 1990).

Wiseman is a director who's style I like and I thought he did a great job with Live Free or Die Hard; A more high tech espionage version of Dick's classic sci fi story is a chance for him to up his reputation further and nabbing Farrell as his lead is an excellent start.

Farrell was hot stuff in Hollywood in the early part of the decade but after a couple of flops and the birth of his son he settled down and ditched the wild lifestyle and Hollywood circuit to concentrate of being a father. He continued his acting in smaller movies and garnered critical praise for his work, not least in swearathon black comedy "In Bruges," Total Recall is potentially the kind of smart action blockbuster to get him back at the top table of A list actors.

New Scream 4 Pics

Scream-trilogy.net Has debuted three new stills from the forthcoming Scream 4. the belated sequel apparently is not merely a sequel but the prospective launchpad of a new Scream trilogy.

Scream 4 opens on April 15th 2011 and you can check out the new images below.

New Red Band Trailer "Love & Other Drugs"

A new red band trailer for director and Oscar winning producer Edward Zwick’s Love and Other Drugs has come online courtesy of 20th Century Fox. The film is based on Jamie Reidy’s nonfiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagara Salesman. The film revolves around a successful Viagra salesmen/womanizer (Jake Gyllenhaal) who happens to fall in love with a woman who has Parkinson’s disease (Anne Hathaway).

From the looks of the new uncut footage the film appears to veer a little further off then your average romantic comedy formula, and with Gyllenhaal and Hathaway in the lead roles it might actually be watchable.

Love and Other Drugs opens everywhere November 24, 2010.