Cameron To Produce True Lies TV Series

If there was ever a big action blockbuster that always felt like it was missing a sequel it was James Cameron's True Lies. The film featured Arnold Schwarzenegger as secret agent Harry Tasker who pretended to be a boring computer salesman in order to hide his real job from his wife played by Jamie Lee Curtis. In her bid to find some excitement she inadvertently becomes caught up in a case Harry is on and HUGE action set pieces and hilarity ensue!

For years it was rumoured to be on the verge of happening, mostly via Tom Arnold but nothing came of it, however things are about to change.

Toldya reports that James Cameron and Fox are already in development of a TV series follow up to the smash hit 1994 film. Already on board is Rene Echevarria (The brilliant "Castle" on ABC) as the writer/showrunner. The show is ready to be taken out to studios and no doubt there will be no shortage of takers.

I'm not sure quite how this will work as no doubt Arnie and the rest of the cast will not be involved, although Tom Arnold will be sitting by his phone. I suppose they could use Harry Tasker's daughter as the lead character as she was played by Eliza Dushku, but at this point it's anyone's guess, one way or another I am sure it will be big.

Buried TV Spot

This looks almost unbearably tense and it's just the TV spot! the film itself may well be the most nerve shredding 90 minutes of cinema this year. Be warned, if you are claustrophobic even this TV spot may be too much for you.

Sherlock Holmes Sequel Scores the Original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Word surfaced a few weeks back Noomi Rapace (who made a splash starring in the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) was up for a number of high-profile studio projects including Mission: Impossible 4, Sherlock Holmes 2 and McG's This Means War.

Heat Vision reports the Swedish actress has made her decision, and she's chosen to spend next Christmas with Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson. She'll join the Guy Richtie-directed sequel as the new female lead. Earlier word suggested Rachel McAdams will have a greatly reduced role this time around – a victim of Professor Moriarty, perhaps?

Although the filmmakers are keeping mum on the plot (beyond the afore-mentioned Moriarty being the heavy this time around and an appearance by Holmes' brother Mycroft) Rapace "may be a French Gypsy."

Of course, the irony of all this is the Sherlock Holmes sequel will be facing off against the American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (with newbie Rooney Mara in the lead role) next December.

WB Want Sandra Bullock For Gravity

Alfonso Cuaron’s ambitious 3D Sci Fi epic "Gravity" has been treading water in the casting pool for a while now, ever since Angelina Jolie turned it down, for a while it was said to be between Scarlett Johansson and Blake Lively for the lead, then everything went silent for a bit before it emerged that WB had went back to Jolie who had again turned it down leaving the project in some doubt as WB twitched nervously at the idea of making "Castaway in Space" without a big name lead.

Just last week Rachel Weisz became the hot favourite before suddenly Natalie Portman was officially offered the the role!....Only for Cinemablend to now report that WB want Oscar winner and "Americas Sweetheart" Sandra Bullock.

Last week we heard that Alfonso Cuaron had finally settled on a lead for his ambitious sci-fi movie Gravity, and that an offer was out to Natalie Portman. For her part, Portman still hasn’t decided she wants to take it, and from what we’re hearing, it may be just fine with Warner Bros. if she doesn’t. They aren’t entirely sure they want her.

Portman is Cuaron’s pick but the studio is nervous and has been pushing to have a bigger name to carry the movie all along. That’s why they spent months making so many offers to Angelina Jolie. She was the only actress the suits wanted in the part, she’s the only name out there who’s enough of a box office draw to carry a movie this expensive and this risky. And it’s really risky.

The way our sources describe it, the film sounds a lot like an outer space Cast Away, a solitary movie with tons and tons of effects, where a lone woman spends a lot of time just sitting by herself surrounded by CGI. In other words, there’s not much action, but it’ll cost an insane amount of money to make, and the studio is worried about the risk.

So they backed a Brinks truck up to Angelina Jolie and she turned them down, repeatedly. Cuaron now has them talked into giving Portman a try, buoyed now in part by the great reviews she’s getting for Black Swan, but Warner Bros. would really much rather have a big star in the movie’s pivotal lead role. A big star like Sandra Bullock.

Our insider source says Bullock is waiting in the wings if Natalie Portman decides to pass. She’s who Warner Bros. really wants as the lead in Gravity, mostly just because she’s really famous and she’s been the lead in a few $100 million dollar movies. Cuaron on the other hand would rather try and find ways to cut his budget to make his movie without a big, Hollywood star than go this route, but the studio sees Bullock as outer space leading woman material. It’s kind of a strange notion when you consider that Sandra has, in her career, never really done anything even remotely like it and that she’d be paid millions more to do it than Portman. Yet Natalie Portman is considered the riskier choice and Sandra Bullock, though far more expensive and far more inexperienced at doing this sort of movie, the safer one.

The bigger risk here, though, is that the movie may simply end up back in turn-around. It’s been there before. If Natalie Portman doesn’t take the part and Warner Bros. goes back to butting heads with Cuaron over who to cast, they’ll be forced to delay the start of shooting and they’ll run into a scheduling problem with Robert Downey Jr., currently signed to play the movie’s male supporting character. Downey’s a busy man and the original plan was for him to shoot Gravity before Sherlock 2 but as the project has slipped they're now squeezing in shooting on Gravity during a break in shooting Sherlock Holmes 2 this summer. If they aren’t ready for him then, his window of availability could close, he may be off shooting The Avengers somewhere, and they’ll be stuck recasting his role as well. Word is the production is already secretly talking to other actors, just in case this happens. Heavy.

This is the opposite of the Del Toro/Universal situation where the director wants the proven Tom Cruise and the studio want James McAvoy who has only had one hit and even then most would say that was down to Angelina Jolie.

I can see the studios concerns, an $80M movie that features one character on their own on a space ship for most of the movie is a very hard sell even with a big name star, without one it may be just too risky, but given the talent in the directors chair hopefully something can be agreed upon.

Weekend Box Office: September 10-12

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1. Resident Evil: Afterlife - $27.7 million

2. Takers - $6.1 million

3. The American - $5.8 million

4. Machete - $4.2 million

5. Going the Distance - $3.8 million

6. The Other Guys - $3.6 million

7. The Last Exorcism - $3.4 million

8. The Expendables - $3.2 million

9. Inception - $3 million

10. Eat Pray Love - $2.9 million

The fourth film of the Resident Evil franchise was the only film showing any signs of life this weekend, opening with $27.7 million.  That's the highest opening weekend for any of the Resident Evil films, however, that was most likely due to inflated ticket prices since this was the first film in the series to open in 3D, as well as 141 IMAX theaters.

Takers held on decently, taking second place with $6.1 million.  The American didn't hold up as well thanks to some not-so-good word of mouth in its second weekend, dropping 55% with $5.8 million.  However, Machete took the biggest plunge of the weekend, dropping 63% with just $4.2 million. 

The good news for the Drew Barrymore/Justin Long romantic comedy Going the Distance is that it had the smallest drop out of all of last weekend's new releases.  The bad news is that the movie tanked last weekend, so despite the smaller drop, its total gross stands as just a paltry $14 million.

The rest of the top ten is basically a broken record of everything from last week.  The Other Guys moved up from 7th to 6th place with $3.6 million, and The Expendables inched that much closer to $100 million with another $3.2 million this weekend.  Just behind that was Inception, which brought its domestic total to $282 million.  Eat Pray Love is doing okay business for a Julia Roberts film, rounding out the top ten with $2.9 million for a total of $74 million.

Next weekend sees the releases of the animated Alpha and Omega, the comedy Easy A, and Ben Affleck's The Town, which is shaping up to be the only movie likely to breathe any sort of life into the box office.  Stay turned.

New Tron Legacy Footage

Comingsoon.Net has gotten hold of some new footage from the hotly anticipated Tron Legacy that was shown on the Disney Channel Sneak Peak.

I'm intrigued to see how this does, the new footage is the best to date I feel and adds a human journey hook that was kind of in the background in the other trailers. My gut feeling is the movie will either hit big and grab people's attention and imagination, or it will bomd hard, no middle ground.

Tron Legacy opens  in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D on December 17 and you can check out the new footage below.

'Expendables 2' happening sooner than we think?

Out promoting Ben Affleck's, The Town, producer Basil Iwanyk (The Expendables) had a chance to talk about the buzz of a sequel to this summer's action hit.  The suit had this to say:

"I saw Avi Lerner this morning, who deserves all the credit for it.  He really went on the line for the movie. He told me, 'We're doing a sequel, we're doing it right away.' I haven't talked to Sly at all about what's going to happen in the sequel. It's going to rock and you can just imagine in your head who will be in that cast in addition to the people who are there now. But I'm not sure. There's a lot of excitement and I know that Avi and Sly want to go at it as soon as possible."

I figure due to the success of Stallone's action fest, this baby will start filming by late next year and come out Summer 2012, already packed with plenty of tentpole releases.  Hopefully Sly makes the sequel bigger and better than the first one (although I know he will).

Tim Allen to return to TV?

It's been well over a decade since Tim "The Toolman" Taylor hung up his tool belt and waved goodbye to TV.  But could it be that Mr. Allen is having thoughts about returning to the small screen?  EW reports the comedian is considering coming back to primetime in the Fall of 2011 IF it's the "right project."

“It will be huge,” predicts one manager of Allen’s comeback — if and when it happens. Another source indicated that the actor is taking “a few select meetings” with writer-producers, one of whom may include Greg Daniels (Parks & Recreation, The Office). Is there a chance that Allen could even join the staff of Dunder-Mifflin?

Never been that big a fan of Allen, but I think he would be a great replacement for Carell on The Office.  They need a big name to fill Michael Scott's shoes.  Maybe Tim "The Toolman" is the right fit.  We shall see.

Clint Eastwood's 'Hereafter' Trailer

The story of three people who are touched by death in different ways, Hereafter stars Matt Damon as George, a blue-collar American who has a special connection to the afterlife. On the other side of the world, Marie (Cecile De France), a French journalist, has a near-death experience that shakes her reality. And when Marcus, a London schoolboy, loses the person closest to him, he desperately needs answers. Each on a path in search of the truth, their lives will intersect, forever changed by what they believe might--or must--exist in the hereafter.

I have to say, this film looks exceptional.  Clint Eastwood almost seems to never make a bad film, plus, anything with Matt Damon is worth seeing.  Looking forward to this one as it hits theaters October 22nd.

Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark Song on GMA

The long-delayed musical Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark is finally opening on Broadway this fall, and the creative team kicked things off on Good Morning America today with interviews with director Julie Taymor, U2's Bono and The Edge, as well as the first interview with Reeve Carney, who will be playing Spiderman/Peter Parker.

First up were the interviews with Taymor, Bono and The Edge where they discussed their ideas for the show and gave us a first look at some of the wild sets and costumes.  The show will also feature a new villian called Swiss Miss, who is made up entirely of Swiss Army knives.  No, I'm not making that up.  That costume photo is featured below, as well as another photo of the Green Goblin looking like an escapee from the Broadway production of The Lion King. 

 

Next up was a meet-and-greet with Reeve Carney, who seems as flabbergasted as the rest us of that Spiderman is now a Broadway musical.  We also got a look at one of the more bizzare t-shirts worn by fans in the audience. 

 

Finally they got around to the damn song, which was called "Boy Falls From The Sky."  I can't picture it yet as a song related to Spiderman (or Peter Parker, for that matter), but it's definitely a U2 song, that's for sure.

Again, I'm still not sure I'm sold on this whole thing.  I'm a big U2 fan, Julie Taymor's staging of The Lion King was amazing, and I do love Broadway musicals.  But I've never warmed up to the idea of Spiderman as Broadway musical material, and this whole project seems like it's going to be far too massive to work.  I'm going to hold out until previews are underway and we get some real reviews of the show before I decide whether or not I'm going to shell out for some ridiculously overpriced Broadway show tickets to see the show.

Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark starts previews at the Foxwoods Theatre on November 14, and will officially open on December 21.  Tickets go on sale to the public on Monday.