Conan In Action!

conanmovieblog has a new action shot of Jason Momoa as Conan which was published in a Spanish magazine and scanned by a member of the Conan.com boards.

I'm still not sold on the idea of a non-arnold Conan, the same as I don't agree with Brody taking over for the governator in  the new predators remake either. Damn you hollywood!

Directed by Marcus Nispel, the Lionsgate fantasy action adventure also stars Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Bob Sapp, Leo Howard, Ron Perlman, Said Taghmaoui and Rose McGowan.

Shyamalan Secret Script Update

HeatVision recently reported director M. Night Shyamalan was shopping a top secret script around Hollywood with three stars already attached to star. Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow and Bruce Willis are loosely attached. This would mark the third time Willis has collaborated with the director.

As per usual the secrecy around the script has been very intense. Only top studio execs have read the script, and they were required to allow a Shyamalan assistant to supervise the process. When the execs finished reading, the assistant took the script back and left.

Well now Shyamalan told Philly.com that Bradley Cooper probably won't be able to do this film:

"'Hangover 2,' " lamented Shyamalan. "I don't think Bradley can do it because of that."

Cooper is from Abington, Willis from South Jersey and Paltrow has extended family ties to the area. Is the Chesco-based Shyamalan up to something?

"It does sound like regional theater. But that's all coincidence. Bradley is a Philly boy, we see each other a lot, and we've become friends, and obviously I've worked with Bruce a lot. But Gwyneth, she's just a great actress, that's why I'd be interested."

Two Mad Max Films Being shot back-to-back!

Twitch has revealed that Georgre Miller has plans to not only shoot the Mad Max remake Mad Max Fury Road,  but that he has plans to shoot a sequel back-to-back with that production. The sequel is said to be called Mad Max Furiosa. The films are apparently being shot this way to allow for rapid release.

Not that I was ever really all that excited about the Mad Max remake as it was, now comes news that there's already two in development. Has Hollywood gone completely bat shit crazy or is it just me. I would've assumed before wasting more money they'd wait to see how Fury Road performed before green lighting a sequel. I think what the studio is trying to do though, is have a sequel out before the excitement from the remake dies down.

I mean it's one thing for the current tween phenomenon franchises Twilight or even the Harry Potter films to do this, but why gamble with a property no one's seen or heard from in 25 years! Not to mention the original films weren't really that big a success even for there time. So I have to wonder what genius gave the go ahead on this project to begin with.

Mad Max Fury Road stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz and Adelaide Clemens.

Updates on "It" and "Pet Sematary" remakes

Two of in my opinion the scariest movies I've ever seen are getting the remake treatment. Both Stephen King Novels It  and Pet Sematary are being given remakes. Screen writer David Kajganich gave updates on both projects in an interview with Stephen King fan site Lijas Library.

As far as Pet Cemetery and his previous involvement he had the following to say:

I should say up front that Pet Sematary is my favorite King novel and adapting it was one of the best screenwriting experiences I’ve had, creatively speaking. In its modern way, I think it is easily the equal of anything in the literary canon by Hawthorne or Poe, so I approached the book as a piece of literature as opposed to a horror concept to be pillaged. It was a pure pleasure.

After I turned in my first draft, Paramount went through a top-down regime change and I was given a new executive who had creative ideas I just couldn’t stand behind. They wanted to appeal to younger audiences, so there was talk of making a teenaged Ellie the main character, and etc. It was really heartbreaking, but that’s how the process works sometimes. The studio was gracious enough to let me out of my contract and the project was dormant at the studio until very recently.

The current news is that Paramount has restarted the process with a new producer and writer (Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Matt Greenberg). I wish I could tell you something about their approach, or how it’s going, but I’m entirely out of the loop now.

It seems like a real shame that he was let out of his contract, it sounds like he was taking things in the right direction. I honestly don't think Pet Sematary needed a remake, but if it's getting one anyway why the hell is the producer of the transformers films and GI Joe attached to it?

Another classic in it's own right was "It". However I don't mind the idea of a remake here, as an R Rated theatrical release could serve as better representation of the original novel. Kajganich reveals slightly more on where the "it" remake is at as well, and it sounds like for now it's in good hands.

When I heard Warner Bros. was going to give the novel a go theatrically, I went after the job hard. I knew the studio was committed to adapting IT as a single film, so I went back and reread the novel to see if I thought this was even possible, and to try to find a structure that would accommodate such a large number of characters in two different time periods, around 120 pages, which was another of the studio’s stipulations.

Had I not worked with the producers before, I might have been more tentative about trying to pull off such a massive undertaking, but I’d worked with Dan Lin, Roy Lee, and Doug Davison on our original version of The Invasion, and I knew they would fight for good storytelling, and would also give me the time I needed to work out a solid first draft, which they did. They really went to bat for that. We’ve done some tinkering with it and I am just about to turn that draft in to the studio, so we’ll soon know a lot more.

I think the biggest difference is that we’re working with about two-thirds the on screen time they had for the miniseries. That sounds dire, I know, but it doesn’t necessarily mean two-thirds the amount of story. I’m finding as many ways as I can to make certain scenes redundant by deepening and doubling others. To me, this is an interesting process because it has the effect of thematically intensifying the whole, but it can lead to dramatic surprises. Certain scenes I thought would be crucial to the coherence of the whole ended up cut, while other scenes, which were somewhat cursory in the book, ended up being pivotal in the script.

Joe Manganiello Should Be Superman!

As Originally Reported At Our Sister Site Supermanlives.net

With The Man of Steel still two and half years away that leaves plenty of room for speculation in casting, and in this case time for actors to campaign for the lead role.

The latest name to be tossed out there amongst the likes of Scott Porter and Chace Crawford is the very menacing and imposing figure Joe Manganiello. I'd say it's about damn time someone actually fitting the comic book representation of the iconic character is considered for the role.

Joe who's best known for his character Alcide on HBO's true blood and Flash Thompson in the Spider-Man films,  has recently gone on record saying he'd like to get back into film, especially as a superhero. He reiterated this in several interviews. He wants the role of Superman.

“I’m from Pittsburgh so the Man of Steel — it’s the City of Steel, so that would go a long way back home,” Joe said of his dream of wearing Superman’s red cape.

Talk about perfect casting. Joe's got the right build, height, weight, etc. The list could go on and on. He's our guy hands-down to don the red and blue symbol for truth justice and the American way. To make this even more surreal, he fits the exact criteria Warner Bros is looking for.They'll want someone relatively unknown who has a lot less resemblance Christopher Reeve and more to the actual character himself. I've yet to hear of another candidate to date that embodies the characteristics of Superman as well as Joe.

As it turns out Joe isn't the only one campaigning to land the lead role. Hard core fans have also started a facebook page to lobby for him landing the part.

International trailer "Let Me In"

Overture films has released an international trailer for the vampire remake Let Me In with Chloe Moretz playing the nice little Vampire girl from across the street. This certainly looks a lot better then the original Swedish version, but I have to admit my opinion is biased. I hate to read subtitles, I'm just too lazy.

Based on the John Ajvide Lindqvist novel "Let the Right One In" and the Swedish film adaptation of the same name, Let Me In tells a terrifying tale about an alienated 12-year old boy named Owen (Smit-McPhee) who is viciously bullied by his classmates and neglected by his divorcing parents. Achingly lonely, Owen spends his days plotting revenge on his middle school tormentors and his evenings spying on the other inhabitants of his apartment complex. His only friend is his new neighbor Abby (Moretz), an eerily self-possessed young girl who lives next door with her silent father (Jenkins). A frail, troubled child about Owen's age, Abby emerges from her heavily curtained apartment only at night and always barefoot, seemingly immune to the bitter winter elements. Recognizing a fellow outcast, Owen opens up to her and before long, the two have formed a unique bond.



New Trailer 'Charlie St Cloud'

That charming bastard Zac Efron is back with another trailer for his new movie Charlie St. Cloud. Which I have to admit looks surprisingly really good. I haven't been a huge fan of his in the past, but if this turns out as good as it looks he may just win me over.

"Charlie St. Cloud" is based off the novel by Ben Sherwood, written for the screen by Craig Pearce and Lewis Colick. The feature includes the talents of Kim Basinger, Donal Logue and Ray Liotta. If you're looking forward to this, you can see the film on the big screen this July 30th. 

Also if you're a die hard Efron fan you can follow the film on Facebook or it's official website.

New Tv Spot "Expendables"

Lionsgate has released a new 60-second TV spot for Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables.

Opening on August 13th, the action thriller extravaganza stars Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, David Zayas, Giselle Itie, Charisma Carpenter, Gary Daniels, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke. It features cameos by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.

If the list of cast member doesn't have you excited already you're broken!

A little bit of new footage mixed in with some guns and roses which felt completely out of place for this trailer. Regardless, this still look all kinds of awesome! I don't need a little thing like story or plot getting in the way of my 80's style action, and no one knows this better than the man himself Stallone!

The Anderson Chronicles: Batman 3's Villains

In this week’s edition of The Anderson Chronicles I delve into the behind the scenes happenings on Batman 3, and presumably what will be the villains in Nolan's final instalment. I have to say right off the bat I don’t know anything for sure, as I’m sure no one really does at this point. So you should take this almost entirely as speculation.

Two years ago before The Dark Knight was released and before Heath ledger passed on, there was huge buzz in Hollywood about Ledgers performance. It was rumoured he would most definitely be reprising his role as the iconic villain The Joker. Then there was Ledgers death, the hugely successful release of The Dark Knight, and a posthumous Oscar win. After all the smoke had cleared no one, not even Warner Bros themselves was sure that Christopher Nolan would even return to the director’s chair, let alone proceed to re-cast The Joker for Batman 3 presumably as he was intended to appear. Message boards, blogs, and fans everywhere were torn in two different directions. As much everyone loved Ledgers performance there were a few people that felt The Joker was too iconic of a character to be held back regardless of ledgers passing, as sad as it may have been. While everyone else had already decided it would be tasteless to re-cast the character regardless of the fact this soon after. Thankfully Nolan put all the speculation to rest in a recent Interview he did with Empire Magazine. He made it very clear that The Joker will not be re-cast in Batman 3, but that’s not to say they plan to write the character off all together. They could have him mentioned in name only, which I think is a safe bet to say we it's something we “might” see.

Now that we have the whole Joker controversy/speculation recast fiasco out of the way we can look at the most presumably likely villains to appear in Nolan’s final Batman film.

I know the fan favourite right now is Catwoman/Selina Kyle, but that means nothing when it comes to Nolan. He’s said time and time again that he pays no attention to the online community when making decisions (no one tell this to Jett from Batman-On-Film). He does what he feels will work best for the continuity of his story. Would Catwoman work? Sure, but so would a plethora of other villains you could choose from. The thing that makes her the most likely though to be at least one half of the films antagonists is with the death of Rachel in TDK we were left with a void for a love interest. Selina Kyle could serve as a love interest to both Batman and Bruce Wayne, as well as serve an important purpose in the overall plot. The one problem with a character like Catwoman , is she can’t carry an entire film on her own like a different villain such as The Joker could.

Assuming that Catwoman is the most likely to appear, what other villain would work along with her in one film? The almost too obvious choice for everyone seems to be The Riddler. The problem with this is, everyone assumes The Riddler for the wrong reasons. They immediately assume him for his likeness to Joker, and having seen him most recently it seems most logical, while other theorists will tell you can’t include him for this very reason. From the start of this new franchise starting with Batman Begins Nolan has sworn up and down that he wants his “Batman Universe” grounded in reality. That being said it makes it hard to include certain characters from the rouges gallery. The Riddler though, could be handled similarly to Kevin Spacey’s character in Se7en and a lot less like what Jim Carrey did in Batman Forever. You’d be able to maintain the suspension of disbelief in Nolan’s grounded in reality take on Batman, and not interfere with or imitate what ledger did with The Joker.

Even still the problem with this is, Nolan doesn’t do anything in a predictive manner. Aside from the obvious clue at the end of Batman Begins, Nolan’s future plans are rarely ever discussed. The only thing we really know for sure, is he won’t do Mr. Freeze or The Penguin. With Catwoman as the one almost certainty to appear, I’m expecting to see something completely left field and/or a character we haven’t seen adapted for the big screen before. Who would’ve thought we would ever see a realistic approach on Scarecrow or Ras al Ghul before Batman Begins.

The nice thing is we’ll know at the very least who will appear if not be cast for said role before the end of the year. I’m personally expecting to be surprised by what we hear, but you never know maybe Eddie Murphy or Johnny Depp really is the Riddler, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is the Penguin.

Box Office Predictions July 2 - 5

New openings this weekend are the Tween monster Twilight, and Last Airbender from M. Night Shyamalan.

With out a doubt the Tweens will help hugely to push Eclipse further than New Moon which made 709 million world wide. Over the four day weekend expect Eclipse to pull in close 100 million. Paramount was bat shit crazy to put The Last Airbender opening next to twilight, so that will surely hurt the potential boxoffice it "could" have pulled in.

In it's third week the very overrated Toy Story 3 will rake in close to another 38 million beating out Grown Ups which opened just last weekend and should earn another 26 million.

1. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Summit) - $97 million

2. The Last Airbender (Paramount) - $45 million

3. Toy Story 3 (Disney/Pixar) - $38 million

4. Grown Ups (Sony) - $26 million

5. Knight and Day (20th Century Fox) - $13.5 million

6. The Karate Kid (Sony) - $10.5 million

7. The A-Team (20th Century Fox) - $3.7 million

8. Get Him to the Greek (Universal) - $2.8 million

9. Shrek Forever After (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount) - $1.9 million

10. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Disney) - $1.6 million

Be sure to check back on Sunday for the Box Office estimates from Jen, and again next Wednesday for the predictions.

Next week the Robert Rodriguez produced Predator remake hits the big screen, and Steve Carell plays a super-villain in the animated comedy Despicable Me.