Vacation Returns!

Thank God. To think I was worried that studios would dust off a property nobody cared about. But this news reassures my concerns (Read: Kill me).

THR confirms that Warner Brothers (via New Line Cinema) is moving forward on yet another installment of the “How Could This Possibly Still Have a Pulse?” Vacation franchise. This “sequel” will entail Rusty Griswold (played in four films by Anthony Michael Hall, Jason Lively, Johnny Galecki and Ethan Embry) and his own attempts to taking his family on a vacation. And wackiness ensues thereafter?

The studio and producer (and possible director) David Dobkin are currently hearing out screenwriters with their pitches on how Rusty will presumably lose his shit over the course of two hours. Who would have thought Fred Claus looks good on his filmography now?

Although no deals are in place, Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo will most likely makes appearances for “a sense of continuity.” I guess going through eight different actors as the Griswold kids over the course of twenty years wasn’t considered confusing for audiences.

Does that mean Cousin Eddie will show up too?

No Simpsons Sequel? D'oh!

Apparently taxes and death aren’t the only things assured in life. The third would be watching The Simpsons which (along with Law & Order) is one television series still on the air spanning two decades and remaining strong. That is quiet the accomplishment. Fox has already netted a new deal with the producers for two more seasons which will add the episode count to 485 shows. Jesus.

So what about a sequel to the 2007 released Simpsons Movie? The one that a friend of mine labeled, “The most highly anticipated film of 1993!” when it was first announced and wound up making near $600 million worldwide.

Creator Matt Groening and current Showrunner (and former writer for the series) Al Jean explains to Variety not to start lining up at your multiplex anytime soon:

"It took 18 years to get around to doing the movie. We got very frustrated. We thought it would take two years but it ended up taking four. Some day maybe we'll do another one -- but don't hold your breath."

When asked when the Hell the series will end, Groening explained, “We cannot predict the end because we can't believe we are still here today."

The truth of the matter is the series will never end on its own accord. It will take Fox cancelling it to do so. That time will eventually come. It’s merely a question of when. Your guess is as good as mine on that one, folks.

Status Report on The Flash

One of the more interesting aspects of Warner Brothers forming DC Entertainment was the decision to take properties away from their perspective producers and back to the Burbank studios fulltime. That basically meant that Joel Silver (who had long been developing Wonder Woman) was shown the door.

Another example comes from producer Chuck Roven who had been working on The Flash to no success as he explains the situation to IGN:

“Warner Bros. came to me and said, 'The work that you've been doing hasn't yet resulted in something that any of us, including the filmmaking team, feel could be greenlit as a movie. We're trying to accomplish something that takes into account the entire, rich DC character world, and we'd like to pull it back. That doesn't mean that you aren't going to be a part of it. We just want to take a different kind of approach.”

I wasn’t expecting Roven to be given this treatment considering he also produced “those Batman movies” with Christopher Nolan. You might remember the last installment. It’s the one that made $1 billion. Yeah, that one.

This recent move continues the ever going roller-coaster of decision making over at Warner Brothers. A previous incarnation of The Flash was to be directed by David Goyer based on an original screenplay of his. Roven alludes to that version in the article. You know why they pulled the plug? It (along with Joss Whedon’s ill-fated time on Wonder Woman) was deemed “too dark” after both Batman Begins and Superman Returns proved to be box-office under-performers for the studio. So their mentality changed to “Let’s make everything light!”

And then came the Summer 2008 film lineup where Speed Racer (which was bubble-gum light) bombed and The Dark Knight was a commercial phenomenon. The wording changed yet again - this time to “Let’s make everything dark!”  Of course, that won’t last either – especially after the darker-themed Watchmen and Terminator: Salvation tanked domestically.

007 Heads to Latest Exotic Local - Fox

Right about now fans across the globe are taking their vodka martinis shaken and stirred. We Are Movie Geeks has received word that the James Bond franchise has a new home set in their sights - 20th Century Fox. Of course, they're already distributing the entire Bond catalog (including the "unofficial" Thunderball remake Never Say Never Again) on home video. Nonetheless, I can imagine my fellow 007-centric pal (and Movie Moan partner-in-crime) Phil is reacting about as lightly as this guy.

This comes after the past week or so of news-items regarding the future of MGM - longtime distributors of the franchise since their acquiring United Artists at the start of the 1980s. Through thick and thin, the studio always had Bond to fall back as a reliable source at the box-office. But times are tough and it appears the once mighty lion could ultimately be put down to sleep. Despite those concerts, it appears the studio will still be able to get The Hobbit going for its planned Spring 2010 shoot along with Warner Brothers. But at quiet a price.

They'll have to fork over what remaining lucrative franchises they have in their pocket and that would be everyone's favorite ice-blooded British secret agent. The Fox purchase also comes as a surprise as Sony (who themselves bought MGM a few years back) distributed Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, and were said to have played a helpful hand in revitalizing the character and series. Most folks (including yours truly) assumed they would step up and take the reigns full time because of just that.

Of course, the concerns from fans is understandable. This is the same 20th Century Fox that turned the X-Men franchise into pretty much a joke. Something that was unheard of following the release of Bryan Singer's X2: X-Men United. But to fair, Eon Productions will still be involved (as they retain the rights to the character) and they've already tapped regular screenwriters Robert Wade & Neal Purvis and Peter Morgan to pen Bond 3 yet again starring Daniel Craig.

Friday the 13th Sequel Coming August 13th. Clever.

They don’t do this anymore. But I remember back when the USA Network would play Friday the 13^th movie marathons all night long. It was fun - albeit heavily edited cuts and they were never able to get the franchises’ finest installment Jason Lives for broadcast.

But with the Platinum Dunes produced reboot from this past February delivering bucket loads of cash, a sequel was a foregone conclusion. They’d already gone ahead and announced plans for a follow-up soon afterwards with no further details made available at that time.

Bloody-Disgusting now has the word that Warner Brothers has now set an August 13^th 2010 release for Friday the 13^th Part II (or whatever the Hell they opt to call it instead). Oh how clever. We can already imagine how the one-sheets and trailers will focus on the gimmicky release. Can’t say I blame them though.

I can only assume it will open with us seeing the heads of Jared Padalecki and Amanda Righetti hanging around Jason’s lair or something.

Arrested Development Movie In Actual Development?

Hard to imagine, I know.

As quiet the fan of the television series, I’m 50/50 towards the prospects of a feature-length film version of Arrested Development. On one hand, there is such a thing of leaving a good thing alone and the show did a good job wrapping things up with the February 2006 finale. Then again, I’d love to see what creator Mitchell Hurwitz has cooking up-stairs. God knows what the Bluths would be up to nowadays.

I honestly haven’t been covering the latest updates and what not because it tends to be Jason Bateman saying, “Yeah, Mitch is writing the script and we’re waiting on it…” Not a strike against Bateman, mind you. He can’t help people asking him about an Arrested film at any given notice. Even when it’s always the same basic answer.

Now THR confirms that Hurwitz is typing away at the script (which we already knew) with him set to direct (again we’ve known that for awhile). The nugget of new info comes that he’s working on said screenplay with the assistance of Jim Vallely who co-executive produced the series along with Hurwitz’s ill-fated animated Sit Down, Shut Up.

Getting the original cast to agree to return doesn't appear to be a problem like it once was. Supposedly Michael Cera was said to be the lone holdout for the longest and has since given in. Now all we have to do is hope that this will move past the scripting phase. It's never the most enticing sell to a studio (in this case, Fox Searchlight I believe) to bankroll a film based on a canceled cult series.

Your Dad Got A Role in Thor Instead of You? Ouch.

We all know Alexander Skarsgard was passed up for Thor in favor of Chris Hemsworth. But just to make matters worse (if not just…odd), director Kenneth Branagh has added Stellan Skarsgard (aka Alexander’s dad) to the cast instead according to Ystads Allehanda (via Coming Soon):

Everything is still secret about the project and Skarsgård can not reveal what role he will play.

"They wanted me to sign without reading the script. That I refused to do. Then they sent one to me that was so coded that I could only print one copy," said Stellan Skarsgård to TT spectra.

Great actor? Of course. But he'll always be the schmuck who got his arm bitten off in Deep Blue Sea for me. That and his performance in King Arthur (yes, I liked that film - warts and all) where he looked shit-faced hidden beneath his beard the whole time.

Movie Moan - Shattered Discussions

Now that it's October, maybe news will start to liven up again. Until then you'll always have the guys at Movie Moan for comfort...or displeasure. Either one.

On this week's edition, our heroes (i.e. Phil, Ed and Jamie) touch upon Shane Black, Transformers 3, Jamie's "birthday present" from Phil and Quentin Tarantino's latest "diarrhea of the mouth." AKA he swears he's going to make a film, spends months talking it up and eventually loses interest and moves onto something else. The latest example comes in the form of Kill Bill Volume III. Quentin, we love ya. But we'll believe it when we see it.

The latest batch of trailers are looked at including the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot, the remake to George Romero's The Crazies and Tooth Fairy. Jesus (or more importantly Dwayne Johnson's fans) wept. Phil discusses seeing Toy Story in 3-D this past weekend and the latest "Moanin 'Bout a Movie" comes from Ed as the guys discuss the 2003 film Shattered Glass. Yes, prequel haters. Hayden Christensen can act.

Movie Moan - Shattered Discussions

News, Rumors & 100% Grade-A Internet Bullshit - October 1, 2009

- Looking forward to next summer’s A-Team movie? Me too! Now Coming Soon has a first look at our heroes. In case you didn’t know (or don’t remember), that’s “Rampage” Jackson as B.A. Baracus, Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith, Sharlto Copley as “Howling Mad” Murdock and Bradley Cooper as Face. Jesus. Is it me or is it weird seeing Neeson with his hair that way?

- I love Quentin Tarantino and he just delivered his honest to Christ masterpiece with Inglorious Basterds. But how many times has he announced doing a film, spent months talking up a storm and then ultimately losing interest and abandoning it? Plenty. That’s why I can’t take him seriously when he says (via Italian website Bad Taste) that Kill Bill Volume III is coming.

- In more "First Look" news, Splash News has a nice juicy look at Seth Rogen as Green Hornet. So now we have an idea of what his ever-so-shrinking waistline was supposed to look like in costume. Looks good. They also have some video of an explosion being filmed for the production to wet your appetite until its release next Christmas...err...whatever date Sony decides to move it away from Tron Legacy.

Bay Confirms Transformers 3 for July 2011

Despite previously saying that it would be coming 2012, Michael Bay has now confirmed (via his official website) that Transformers 3 will hit cinemas on July 1, 2011. That was the date originally set by Paramount months before the second installment Revenge of the Fallen was released.

In fact, Bay’s already started work on it as he explains:

Today is Day One. This morning started with an ILM meeting for five hours in San Francisco. Currently I'm flying with writer Ehren Kruger to Rhode Island to talk to Hasbro about new characters.

I’m sure we’ll get more stereotypes like the flaming homosexual and neurotic Jewish transformers to go along with Skids and Mudflap. Can’t wait!

Should I bring up that Bay directly addressed working with Megan Fox again? No? Thought so. She made one of the more retard career-moves by biting the hand that fed her (i.e. Bay) and now she’s returning with her tail between her legs after Jennifer’s Body was a complete box-office bust. That and people are officially sick of her. Good for them.