Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trailer

It is here! the full trailer for Michael Bay's robot porn odyssey 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'. Oh is this an epic trailer, we get a little bit of the humour with Sam's Mom and Dad as he enters college and some more wacky John Torturo stuff before it's off to the screen scorching pyramid action with the bots, and some really cool footage of the Decepticons underwater looking for the missing leader Megatron.

The story looks bigger and more involved and the effects and action are off the charts, this movie will make enough at the box office to solve the recession on it's own!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' hits regular cinemas and IMAX on June 24th, check the trailer out below!

Predators arrive July 7th 2010

Yesterday it was announced that Robert Rodriguez was writing, producing and seemingly directing a sequel to the 1988 Arnie classic 'Predator'. Today /film reports via ercboxoffice.com that it has a release date of July 7th 2010, and that Rodriguez will not be writing or directing said movie, he will in fact just be "developing" it.

Now this movie is going to be called 'Predators' and the brief logline is that it will feature a squad of Commandos who must face off against a number of Predators, so in some ways it's aiming to be what Cameron's 'Aliens' was to Ridley Scott's 'Alien'....except 'Predator' already had the badass special forces team.

This is at Fox so my hopes are low, add in that Rodriguez is not directing and I have even less faith. I have always wanted to see another Predator movie made away from the AvP nonsense, but I am uncertain of this. I am sure a big reason this has gone through so fast is due to the huge buzz for 'Terminator Salvation', I just hope they remember that the original 'Predator' had a strong lead and didn't try to sell itself solely on the monster, this will need to do the same.

Denzel Washington is 'Unstoppable'

"Together again" sing with me!...what ?...I am sure that is a song, anyway Denzel Washington is in talks to reunite with his buddy Tony Scott for more train based hijinks in the drama/thriller 'Unstoppable' accroding to Variety.

Washington would play an experienced engineer who jumps in a locomotive with a young conductor to chase down a runaway train carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals. Mark Bomback wrote the script, which is loosely inspired by a true event.

This would be the 5th collaboration between the two after 'Crimson Tide', 'Man on Fire', 'Deja Vu' and the upcoming 'Taking of Pelham 123' which is set for release on June 12, 2009.

Ive enjoyed their last two collabs and I think Pelham looks pretty good as well so hopefully they can turn what is a potentially a dull type of thriller into something exciting, even though it is at Fox which is always cause for concern.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt signs on for Nolan's 'Inception'

In another casting coup Joseph Gordon Levitt (JGL to his buddies and those too lazy to type his full name) has signed on to star in the role initially set for James Franco according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Nolan really is setting his stall out with the cream of the young acting crop as JGL joins Leonardo CiCaprio, Ellen Page, Marion Collitard and Cillian Murphy in his self penned sci fi action thriller that takes place in "The architecture of the mind"......whatever that means.

JGL is playing an associate of DiCaprio's character, a CEO-type. Cotillard will be playing DiCaprio's wife and the awesome Ellen Page is playing a grad student who is DiCaprio's sidekick.

'Inception' is set to shoot this summer for a summer 2010 release.

Kevin Macdonald to direct adaption of Asimov's 'The End of Eternity'

Variety reports that director  Kevin Macdonald (Last King of Scotland & State of Play) has signed a deal with New Regency to direct an adaption of Isaac Asimov's sci fi classic 'The End of Eternity'.

Based on the Isaac Asimov time travel novel first published in 1955, the film is a futuristic tale in which humanity is controlled by a ruling class called Eternity, members of which can manipulate time to alter history and prevent disasters or wipe out undesirables. One of the time cops flirts with disaster when he breaks the cardinal Eternity rule and falls in love with a woman from another time period.

The premise sounds like a cross between 'Minority Report' and 'Deja Vu', plus Macdonald is a very talented helmer, so this is a project I am really anticipating.

Asimov adaptions have been a mixed bag in the past, but New Regency are off to a positive start with their choice of helmer.Macdonald's latest 'State of Play' is in cinema's now and he starts work on 'Eagle of the Ninth' this summer, so we will be looking at 2011 at the earliest for this one.

Cameron Diaz is Bobbie Sue

Hollywood superstar Cameron Diaz is in talks to play the lead in Warner Brothers legal comedy 'Bobbie Sue' according to Variety.

The film centers on a hard-charging female ambulance chaser whose mindset makes her the ideal candidate to be the face of a prestigious law firm when a powerful client is sued in a sexual discrimination case.

I like Diaz, I think she has a charm and fun energy about her and this actually could be an entertaining prospect given the premise, even if I do get a 'Legally Blond' vibe.

Mel Gibson is back!

After a six year break from in front of the camera mega star Mel Gibson is making his comeback in Martin Campbell's 'Edge Of Darkness'. Like the recently released 'State of Play' the film is an Americanized movie version of a successful British TV serial.

The film sees Gibson play a homicide cop who witnesses the death of his daughter (Bojana Novakovic) and set out to catch the killers, uncovering a larger conspiracy in the process. "He's a seasoned old detective," Gibson told us, "a bit hangdog. And he's in a state of shock for most of the film, because he's had tremendous trauma right at the beginning of it."

'Edge of Darkness' is released later this year, you can check the first still, courtesy of Empire, out below.

Statham to star in remake of 'The Mechanic'

According to Production Weekly Jason Statham has signed on to star in a remake of 70's hitman thriller 'The Mechanic'. Simon West (Con Air, Tomb Raider) is in talks to direct.

In the 1972 Bronson played Arthur Bishop, a mob hit man who operates in a world of his own an uncompromising world where conventional rules of morality don't apply and where one wrong move could cost him his life. He's always worked alone but, as age catches up with him, Bishop takes on a competent and ruthless apprentice (Jan-Michael Vincent) and teaches him everything he knows. Together they becomean unmatchable team of globetrotting killers until the pupil's ruthlessness puts him on a collision course with his teacher.

The ortiginal is a really cool stripped down action movie typical of the 70's, with West at the helm I expect it to be amped up a bit but he is good with action, so if the script is solid I don't see a problem with this remake, however I don't think Statham has the ice cool presence of Bronson.

First image of Russell Crowe as Robin Hood!

USA Today has the first still from Ridley Scott's forthcoming Robin Hood movie. Personally I am pleasantly surprised, Crowe looks to be in Gladiator shape and the attire looks rugged and functional. Usually Robin Hood has longer hair but in Crowe's case the choice to eschew that is probably a wise one.

'Robin Hood' is due out May 14, 2010 and you can currently see Russell Crowe in the highly rated thriller 'State of Play'.

New 'Wizard of Oz' movie on the way

This ain't your grandma's Wicked Witch of the West!

Making an Independent film is never easy and doubly hard if you are entering the fantasy genre, however young film makers Sean Gates and  Clayton Spinney are doing just that with their adaption of the classic Frank Baum novel 'The Wizard of Oz'. Sean is the writer/producer and Clayton is the director/producer. I sat down with both to get the lowdown on the project.

- Is there anything you'd like to mention regarding the ideas for getting it distributed or about how you have been able to adapt the book rights wise ?

SG: As far as we can tell, the story is in the public domain - as evidenced by the copious number of adaptations, from the SciFi Channel's "Tin Man" to the current John Boorman animated project. We can find no hint that there's anything stopping us from doing this, rights-wise. We're looking at entering the finished film at Sundance, and seeing what kind of attention we can get.

- What made you want to make a Wizard of Oz movie given the classic version is so popular ?

SG: The reason, for me anyway, is that I grew up with the book, my Mom used to read me an abridged copy that had been hers when she was a kid. One day when I was in first or second grade, she was too busy fixing supper to read it to me so I read it to myself. First book I did that with. I still have that book, by the way. It's held together by tape and prayer.

CS: I'm with him on that. I've got several various copies of the book, from the original to abridged copies, and most of them still exist today thanks to the Scotch tape. I just fell in love with the book as a kid, and I think it's deserving of a more faithful adaptation. It's been a dream of mine to make that happen since childhood.

- What are the main challenges facing a small production on a project of this type ?

SG: Money. There are lots of things you can find to buy if you look hard enough, lots of materials are available, and there's a lot of talented people who can help you make a movie or help you get projects done, but what if you can't pay them? We're lucky to have found a young actress who is really committed to a career in acting, so this project is as important for her as it is for us. Now if we can find a few more people like her, we'll be set. Well, except for the costumes, the sets... yeah, we still need a pile of money.

CS: The money, for sure. I feel we can pull the film off with the resources available to us, but it would be so much less stressful with a larger budget. Of course, there's also the legacy of the 1939 film to contend with. There have been adaptations of the book before the MGM movie, and adaptations after it, and they've all faded into obscurity. The musical is such an important film, an American classic, and while the film we're making is an entirely different animal, it's still going to draw those comparisons.

- How did you find balancing the challenges of keeping the adaption faithful while also making sure it works as a movie ?

SG: It really wasn't that hard, though to be fair I wrote the script without worrying about budget or whatever else. The only big structural issue was that the last act of the book takes place after the Wizard has been outed as a charlatan and the Wicked Witch of the West has been dealt with. There's no remaining threat at that point and as such the book loses steam. The only thing left is to get Dorothy home. I had to cut some exciting things (including a giant spider fight) to make the story flow the way it ought to.

We're talking about maybe doing all that stuff anyway, for special content on the DVD. But I shouldn't talk about that too much in case for some reason we can't make it happen.

CS: There was some minor stuff, such as pushing ahead some of the witch's scenes to make her more of a constant threat, and then the bigger stuff, like Sean said, such as the elimination of a large portion of the last third of the book. I'm sad about losing the China country and the Quadlings, but really, given the fact that Dorothy still has the ability to command the winged monkeys, it doesn't make a lot of sense that they'd tackle that journey on foot.

- Of the main characters which was the most difficult to bring to life ?

SG: I think Clayton will have more to say on this one than I do, but offhand I'd say the Cowardly Lion.

CS: The Cowardly Lion, for sure. We essentially have three options with him; animatronics, CGI, or filming a real lion. Each of these is a pretty frightening prospect, whether from a fiscal perspective or an, "I enjoy having my arms," perspective.

- Which of the character designs is your personal favourite ?

SG: Well, I'm biased, but I'm awfully proud of that Scarecrow puppet I built. Clayton's Tin Woodman is pretty amazing, though. I think we've done a good job of capturing the look of Denslow's illustrations, which was important to us.

CS: I'd also have to say the Scarecrow. It's a wonderful little puppet, he's absolutely adorable, and his appearance is extremely faithful to the Denslow illustrations. I couldn't be happier with him.

- In a nutshell tell our readers what they can expect from your OZ ?

SG: Well, as Clayton said the other night, we'd like to capture the feel of an 80's fantasy movie, like "The Labyrinth" or "Return to Oz." Not that we have Brian Henson in our corner or anything, but we like those movies and they have the kind of vibe we'd like to emulate, with our own stamp of course.

CS: We're trying to balance an ethereal, otherworldly quality with a sense of realism, and it makes for an interesting mixture. What we're hoping is to bring Baum's Oz to life with as much accuracy as possible.

I think this is a fantastically ambitous project with two really creative and dedicated artists behind it, a different version of a classic book that is closer to the original source novel in spirit and tone than the old movie. Fantasy is a popular genre and we may just be seeing the start of two new names stamping their mark on it.

For more on the project please check the awesome official website below, it includes features, news and concept stills from the film like the one at the head of the article.

OFFICIAL SITE