New "From Paris With Love" posters

Craveonline have exclusive new character posters from upcominng action movie "From Paris With Love." Directed by Pierre Morel (Taken) and starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the film is in the vein of the classic mismatched buddy cop films of the 80's, whether this will prove a second big hit for Morel after the sleeper smash "Taken," remains to be seen, but these posters do little to entice youtowant to see it, however the trailer was solid.

"From Paris With Love" hits cinemas Febuary 5th 2010, and you can check the posters out below.

 

 

Francis Lawrence Attached To 'Sgt. Rock'

We continue to hear news trickling out of the WB's Burbank location involving their never-ending line of DC's comic book properties. The problem is we are getting news on characters we don't really care about such as Lobo. Sure, Lobo is a solid character that could make an impact as a secondary villain in a Superman or Justice League movie but can such a character headline his own film? Warner Bros believes he can and his teaming him up with a teenage girl as he stomps around with his hand on the trigger.

Now we are getting word from "The Brothers Warner" that a comic book character much more obscure than Lobo is getting yet another creative team to bring his penciled and ink self to the celluloid mix. WB has given the keys to Francis Lawrence to direct "Sgt. Rock". The film will be based off a comic book that ran from 1977 through 1988 and was previously available in the 50's under the title of "Our Army At War". The comic depicts Sergeant Frank Rock and his exploits as he leads an infantry unit during World War II. After many starts and stalls int he World War II era this new version will be set in the future.

What does this all mean? It means that Warner Bros is attempting to exploit their lesser known characters as they fumble around with what to do with their more important characters, ie Batman and Superman. Marvel continues to stomp all over WB/DC as they wait for Christopher Nolan to finish "Inception" and in the meantime the studios is hoping the fans will accept C and D level characters. "Green Lantern" and pray for rain?

Christmas In November

Weekend Actuals (Nov. 6th - Nov. 8th)

1 A Christmas Carol $30,051,075   
2 Michael Jackson's This Is It $13,157,944
3 The Men Who Stare at Goats $12,706,654
4 The Fourth Kind $12,231,160
5 Paranormal Activity $8,278,605
6 The Box $7,571,417
7 Couples Retreat $6,129,045   
8 Law Abiding Citizen $6,003,737
9 Where the Wild Things Are $4,177,249   
10 Astro Boy $2,626,103    

The Black Cat Shows Up In Spider-Man 4?

That's what the folks over at Mania have to say on the matter.

As per their source(s), director Sam Raimi and his team are up to their ass in casting and looking for an actress to put on the skin-tight, black-leather outfit as Black Cat/Alicia Hardy for Spider-Man 4. Dare I say, I'd offer my services to critique the wardrobe fittings for that role. Just putting that out there, Mr. Raimi.

With filming expected to start up in the early months of next year, it appears that things are finally moving forward on the next installment. Don't know how many more times we can hear Raimi talking about how "the script is coming along great" and what not. According to the site, one possible candidate for Hardy is Rachel McAdams whose supposed already met with Raimi and the producers for the role.

So what about those rumors of Curt Conners finally transforming into the Lizard from last month? The site points to a search for a "male villain" to go along with Black Cat. And considering that Dylan Baker will return for Spider-Man 4, that would suggest that we're looking at someone else to kick Webhead's ass for two hours.

An Ugly Wanda Movie In Development?!?

What the Hell, Jamie Foxx? Has the Oscar curse claimed another victim? Quick! Someone hide Jennifer Hudson!

Foxx is a solid actor, won an Oscar for doing an awesome Ray Charles impersonation and appeared in a fair number of good movies (i.e. Jarhead, The Kingdom, Collateral, Dreamgirls, etc.) So why he’s resorting himself to this crap is a big question-mark. Did a couple of checks bounce or something?

From the mouths of Latino Review to our ears comes the poisonous news that Foxx, along with Martin Lawrence, will write and direct Sheneneh and Wanda. Yes, true believer, as in the characters both actors played on television in the 90s and on Fox, no less.

Foxx played Ugly Wanda during his time on In Living Color (which I watched back when FX played it in heavy rotation in the late 90s) and Lawrence originated Sheneneh on his self-titled sitcom Martin (didn't watch that one, so it didn't hold any sentimental value for me). Of course, Lawrence has been in Movie Hell for years now. So that's not a surprise. But seeing that Foxx is reduced to this?

How the mighty hath fallen.

Jake Gyllenhaal Headlines Groundhog Day 2...err...Source Code

It finally happened. Somebody decided to remake Groundhog Day. Bastards!

Jokes aside, Variety reports that Jake Gyllenhaal will headline the sci-fi oriented Source Code. The film revolves around a soldier reliving the same day over and over (…and over…) again until he discovers just who or what was responsible for a train bombing. Adding brownie points to the project is its director Duncan Jones, who’s Moon was quite the movie earlier this year. So I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

We were just commenting on Movie Moan yesterday how Gyllenhaal is one of those actors who is continuously shoved down our throats by studios as “the next big thing.” That’s not a strike against him. He seems like a nice guy and, truth be told, he’s a damn good actor. Check out Jarhead, Zodiac and Brokeback Mountain for proof. Gyllenhaal’s even good in garbage like Rendition.

He’s also been infamously in the running for various franchises over the years. He was about a hair away from replacing Tobey Maguire on Spider-Man 2 (due to a combination of Maguire’s physical health after the first film and Seabiscuit and, more importantly, money disputes), supposedly the Runner-Up for Batman Begins and, if memory serves me correct, read for Superman during McG’s ill-fated tenure. Of course, he’s now saddled with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for next May and we all agree. It looks ass-tastic.

Nicole Holofcener Is Without Cancer

Untitled Cancer Comedy (previously with the much better I'm With Cancer title) is now without a director.

According to Risky Business, Nicole Holofcener has jumped ship from the production two months ahead of its intended January start. The reason cited is towards a disagreement over filming location. The Friends with Money director wanted to keep the production in Los Angeles while the producers (and presumably the studio) felt otherwise. Knowing how things work in this industry, there was most likely more to it than just that.

The drama/comedy already has its stars in James McAvoy and Seth Rogen (also a producer). The film (an adaptation of comedy writer Will Reiser's autobiographical depiction of his successful fight against cancer) is now in search of a new helmer. As noted by plenty before me, this will be the second time Rogen delves in the "cancer dramedy" genre after Judd Apatow's Funny People.

Considering that film tanked at the box-office, perhaps the studio is getting cold feet.

Avatar Will Blow Your Mind - As In Its Price-Tag

If you’ve been following us at TMT and/or listening to the Movie Moan podcast, you know I’ve refused to jump on this “Avatar is going to change the way movies are made!” bandwagon. For anyone wanting to simply point to over-zealous fanboys as the source of these remarks, Cameron himself is guilty of making such claims.

A new report from The New York Times doesn’t paint the most positive of light towards Avatar’s box-office prospects. If these claims are to be believed, 20^th Century Fox will have spent close to $500 million total on the film. Yes, that’s said to include production costs as well as the film’s marketing. You’ll also know that studios don’t lump in the cost of selling a movie with the money they spent to make the damn thing.

Said report also points to a $230 million production budget. That’s studio spin, at best. If a major tentpole like Spider-Man 3 or Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End cost $300 million (and minimum, no less), there’s no way in Hell Avatar cost under that price-tag. The most telling remark comes at the very end of the article where Fox purposely placed Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel as their “secret weapon” opening merely a week after Avatar opens. If Cameron’s return to cinema is going to kick so much ass financially, then why place a high-profile family-friendly sequel the week after it? That says it all, folks.

I honestly think we’re going to see a repeat of King Kong next month. That is to say Jackson’s remake did solid business in theaters ($220 million domestic gross - $550 million worldwide). But it didn’t meet the kind of numbers everyone expected. That mixed with its pricey budget in addition to having its thunder stolen by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe the week prior resulted in it being labeled as a box-office underperformer.

Truth be told, I’m having trouble seeing Avatar breaking $200 million in the states at this point. All I care about is if Cameron delivers another great movie. At this point, that's all everyone should hope for.

Quasi-Se7en Reunion Coming In Peter Proud

I like it when a director decides to stretch himself by working on stuff one normally wouldn't associate them with. One example of this is director David Fincher. Most know him for darker fare like Fight Club and Se7en. But he stepped outside his boundaries with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last Christmas to much success. He's currently filming The Social Network, based on the formation of Facebook, for next year.

Heat Vision reports that Fincher is now attached to direct The Reincarnation of Peter Proud for Sony. This adaptation of the 1975 novel (which was previously made into a feature-length film with a pre-Superman Magot Kidder) is closer to what nerds like us think of Fincher for. A college professor discovers his nightmares are linked to a past life with incest playing a factor in the plot? Yeah, that sounds like the Fincher we know.

The project will also serve as a Se7en reunion of sorts. In addition to Fincher sitting in the director's chair, Andrew Kevin Walker (who penned the 1995 serial killer flick that put old Finch on the map) is the screenwriter for Proud and Mike De Luca (who was the head of production at New Line Cinema when Se7en was made) will serve as a producer.

Movie Moan - Dan Aykroyd & Vodka Together At Last

Certainly one of the stranger mix of film-news this week on Movie Moan. Phil, Ed and Jamie start off this podcast chatting up the Yogi Bear movie - as written and directed by Jamie Williams. Alec Baldwin and Rip Torn are in a race against time to stop a serial-killing, picnic-basket stealing bear before it's too late. Don't judge them! You know what you want to see that movie - admit it.

Against the legal council of Ed and Jamie, Phil went to see A Christmas Carol this weekend and proclaims it "Worst Zemeckis Movie Ever!" What can they say? Phil was warned before hand. They also discuss Steve Martin and the afore-mentioned Alec Baldwin hosting the Academy Awards next year, the Peter Berg-directed Battleship film featuring aliens (!?!) at the villains and kick-ass posters for Clash of the Titans being leaked (and quickly yanked!)

All of that plus the "Avatar vs. Sherlock Holmes" battle rages on, reactions to Holmes and Prince of Persia trailers and Jamie gets into a rant about The Dark Knight's pre-release hype. And of course, what would be a better way to close out Movie Moan than talking about Dan Aykroyd whoring Vodka.

Movie Moan - Dan Aykroyd and Vodka Together At Last