First Official Photo for Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World

Ladies and gentlemen, my head just explodeded. Awesomeness has in fact been personified by this first official photo from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as shown below.

Edgar Wright's latest (an adaptation of the popular cult comic book series) has been the one film I'm the most intrigued by of this year's releases. That is mostly because I've been wondering just how the Hell this was going to look. Add to the mix an interesting cast with Michael Cera playing against type as our hero along with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Live Free or Die Hard), Jason Schwartzman (most recently of Funny People and Fantastic Mr. Fox), Chris Evans from the Fantastic Four films and Superman Brandon Routh among others.

I cannot wait to see a trailer!

What Blockbusters Can We Expect to See Super Bowl TV Spots For?

Before anyone asks, the answer is "No." I haven’t suddenly turned into a Saints fan over night. From those more inclined to know about football, it would take a lot for them not to make this year’s Superbowl. But "the big game" has always been about one thing – the commercials.

So in between weird ads that will most likely whore erectile dysfunction products (What happened to Enzyte spokesman "Bob?" Was he too embarrassed doing commercials acknowledging his difficulty boning his wife?) and beer, comes the traditional TV spots for forthcoming theatrical releases.  

Advertising Age has got the info on some of 2010’s would-be blockbuster tentpoles we can expect to see featured. Disney and Universal have bought one slot each with no specific details on what would fill said spot. Here's hoping we see a kick-ass spot for The A-Team. That's going to really surprise people, I tells ya!

On the other hand, Paramount is going all out. You can expect to be Super Bowl ads for Iron Man 2, The Last Airbender and Shutter Island during the broadcast. Such a move makes sense the Shellhead sequel will in all probability kick everyone's ass this coming summer (with the possible exception of Toy Story 3. But we'll see about that).

Tom Cruise Keeping Busy

Some updates on everyone’s favorite mega star-turned public punching bag-turned comeback kid Tom Cruise. The actor has been mulling over a handful of projects to get his career back to its glory days. Sure, everyone loved his high-profile Tropic Thunder cameo and turned his WWII-themed Valkyrie into a surprise hit during Christmas 2008. But he’s still a ways to go before the public completely forgets about "Couch-gate."

First up comes info from Deadline Hollywood that Cruise will star in Northern Lights with potential movie star of tomorrow Taylor Lautner. Yes, the "shirt-less wolf boy from Twilight" as most of you kids (and cougars) know him as. Cruise will play the billionaire father to Lautner’s young pilot who butts heads with his old man and ultimately goes ga-ga over a female pilot. Hopefully, the conflict between father and son doesn’t involve a love triangle with the double X chromosome.

Meanwhile, one of the more “out there” sounding project he’s long been attached to was The Hardy Men. The comedic send-up of the Hardy Boys books (My best friend in grade school used to read those religiously!) also had Ben Stiller attached. Its would-be director Shawn Levy recently told Starpulse it’s not dead. They’re still working on it. For some reason, I was only the impression there wasn’t much to this beyond an outline that fancied Cruise and Stiller. Meh.

Let’s see if the public continues to slowly enjoy Cruise’s mad-man laugh when the equally "Meh!" looking Knight & Day opens this coming July 4^th holiday against The Last Airbender. My money’s on the latter winning that battle.

Ron Howard Directing Infidelity Comedy with Vince Vaughn

Like most comedic stars, audiences will eventually wan of their "shtick" for whatever new thing feels fresh. Although creatively dead (for my money), that has yet to take place for Vince Vaughn.

People are still eating his "jabbering but lovable wise guy" routine with recent sizeable hits like Four Christmases and Couples Retreat. I won’t take a shit on The Break-Up because I thought that actually worked – guess there’s no accounting for taste.

The trades report that Vaughn will once again headline a comedy. This latest one will be directed by Ron Howard. What the Hell? Isn’t he too busy with bad Oscar bait or bad tentpole like Angels & Demons?

The as yet untitled comedy will center around "the fallout surrounding infidelity between lovers and friends" and is based on an idea from Howard’s producing partner (and hetero life mate) Brian Grazer. Eh, that doesn’t sound too awesome. On the other hand, the actual writing duties have fallen upon Allan Loeb (whose most recent credit is Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps – a script that is apparently damn good according to Latino Review).

And the official countdown begins until Vaughn’s own hetero life mate Jon Favreau joins the production.

The Hobbit Set to Start Production in June

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for The Hobbit? It appears so.

Production Weekly has the info that production on the Lord of the Rings precursor (that will split into two separate films) is set to start this coming June in New Zealand. Producer Peter Jackson stated this news in the closing months of last year. He also shrugged off earlier rumblings that the first installment had been pushed back to Christmas 2012 from 2011. Such troubles first came about due to the current sticking situation with MGM.

To be honest, it came off as someone playing the denial game (not unlike what Sony recently did with the Spider-Man 4 delay). But with the production planning a 14 month shoot (not unlike the trilogy before it), it appears old Pete was right the whole time.

Speaking of Spider-Man 4 with it suspended in purgatory at the moment, could this perhaps open up Tobey Maguire’s chance of playing Bilbo Baggins? That, if you’ll remember, was originally broken by Latino Review and as always immediately denied by everyone involved. Just saying...

Zombieland Writers Confirmed for Deadpool

The information about Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (screenwriters responsible for Zombieland) being hired to pen Deadpool has been out in the open for a month now. It originated from CHUD for those who care. So props to them (particularly author Devin Faraci) for that.

Cut to now and the trades have "broken" the exact same story. Boy, isn’t that a weird coincidence? Would one call that stealing? It doesn’t help matters that they’re actually charging you money for basically cutting and pasting info broken by movie-news sites. All the while, they won’t even give them the professional (and just plain ethical) courtesy of giving them credit for breaking such stories. Yeah, that is a total dick move.

And that, boys and girls, is why I won’t give them credit when they actually break stories all their selves. Is that a dick move on my part? You decide.

Getting back to the topic on hand, so 20^th Century Fox is serious about letting Ryan Reynolds headlining this potential comic-book franchise while Warner Brothers has him committed to do the same for Green Lantern (that starts filming in the coming months)? I still find that hard to believe.

Sure, Robert Downey Junior is headlining both the Iron Man and now Sherlock Holmes series. But those aren’t mutually exclusive to comics like Green Lantern and Deadpool are. I’ll believe it when I see it , to be honest.

Mendes, Sam Mendes

Sounds like Eon Productions aren’t too terribly bothered by MGM being sold after all.

Hot off the heels of that story from earlier this morning comes news to the contrary. Via Heat Vision comes word that British filmmaker Sam Mendes is in negotiations to direct the forthcoming next James Bond cinematic outing.  

The Broccolis have hit the Fast-Track button on Bond 3. If everything goes according to plan, production could commence as soon as this June. So it looks like that November 2011 release date is still a go. Sure, there is the possibility of it hitting in the summer instead. I’ve long been of the opinion that 007 will return to the summer and during the Daniel Craig reign. But that particular summer is already over-stuffed as it is. Just can’t see that happening.

But what to make of Mr. Mendes’ directorial involvement? He’s nowhere near the filmmaker I had pegged the Broccolis to hire. That’s not to say I’m against him (I’m not). With the exception of Revolutionary Road (which I haven’t seen and looks like bad Oscar bait), I’ve enjoyed everything on his filmography. My almost high anticipation for the new Bond installment has increased.

Spidey Sense Tingling! Spider-Man 4 Won't Hit 2011?

If you were hoping to see Spider-Man swinging again onto the silver screen, you better sit down.

Deadline Hollywood reports, as of now, there is no start date on Spider-Man 4 and the film will not make its May 5, 2011 release date. Director Sam Raimi and Sony are having it out over issues regarding the script, who to have as the villain, etc. Things are looking pretty bad for old Webhead.

Does any of this sound familiar? It should. That’s because IESB broke the exact same information right before the Christmas holidays last month. Due to the highly sensitive nature of such a property, plenty came out and tried to debunk the story - citing spokespersons from the studio. Uh, it’s their job to lie.

But here’s the thing though, kids. The original article from Team Sanchez made too much sense for it to be wrong. You’re telling me that the filmmakers and studio were going to solve all their issues over the screenplay, villain, casting, etc. in the span of a month or so and still start filming by March? I don’t think so. Not to mention, the absolute silence from both the Spider-Man camp and Sony was damning before the story even hit. If everything was going hunky-dory, they would have been making plenty of noise to hype up the start of production.

Finke’s piece does add some interesting new info to the fold. Raimi and the studio have hired yet another screenwriter - Alvin Sargent (who had a hand in penning the last two films). So now a fourth writer is on-board to fix everyone’s issues? Yet another bad sign, folks. She also confirms the Movieline piece about John Malkovich being Raimi’s choice for Vulture and the prospects of Anne Hathaway joining appear to be DOA (aka too much money).

So what does it mean for the fourth installment in the long run? Personally, I think it's only a matter of time before Raimi walks - assuming he hasn't already. Too much bullshit trying to make Spider-Man 4 and it could be all for naught. After the last film (that nerds and general public alike hated), I don't know anyone who honestly cares about this franchise anymore. It feels like a lost cause to be honest.

Sean Penn is a Stooge Again!

Sounds like I’m making this up, but it’s honest to God the truth. AMC was playing a Three Stooges marathon this past New Year’s Eve. So I showed them to my five year old niece. She didn’t like them – just sat there and did some fake laughs. Damn kid.

Anyway, the last thing we heard about a film-version (to be directed by the Farrelly Brothers) was Sean Penn stepping down from his role as Larry to get his marriage and family life back on track. Yes, the man’s a fucking retard with the shit he’s said and done in the past. But you have to give him props for having his priorities straight. Family first, fuck everything else.

According to co-director Bobby Farrelly (speaking to Boston Herald), Penn has now returned to the production. Benicio Del Toro still appears to play Moe ("He he Moe is their leader!") while Jim Carrey has fallen out as Curly. I suppose the notion of doing a comedy people would pay money to see was too much for Carrey.

While the search for a new Curley presses on (No love for Shemp? Come on!), Bobby and Peter will direct an Owen Wilson comedy Hall Pass first.

Pre-Production on Next Bond Installment Delayed

James Bond’s license to kill has been put on suspension for the time being.

Coming off the revelation from screenwriter Peter Morgan last month, now comes official confirmation from the Broccolis on the next Bond film.  Speaking to Total Film (via MI6), producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli confess that all work on the 23^rd installment (and third under the reboot series headlined by Daniel Craig) has been delayed.

We all have the MGM ownership mess to thank. Once of all of this is absolved (which is expected to be done with in the coming weeks if not days), everyone will get right back to work on Bond 3. Earlier reports from both Craig and Judi Dench stated that production was planned to start by the end of this year for a late 2011 release.

Even with the current delay, I don’t see it being pushed back to 2012. The series has had quite the reputation for being churned out fast. There’s no reason to suggest why this one will be an exception to that rule.