Bradley Cooper In Talks to Play Lance Armstrong

All that achievement, all that admiration, all that respect; all wiped clean when it turns out you're a lying, cheating douchebag. That's how Lance Armstrong will be remembered.

Not one to resist kicking a man while he's down as long as it makes a buck (deserved or not), J.J. Abrams is producing the forthcoming tell-all, "Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong" for Paramount under his Bad Robot Productions banner.

He confirmed to Entertainment Tonight talks are underway for Bradley Cooper (Soon to lose an Oscar to Daniel Day-Lewis) to play the disgraced cyclist. His pre-Hangover filmography is full of douche roles, before breaking out in the Todd Phillips comedy he was best known as Rachel McAdams' asshole boyfriend in Wedding Crashers. This isn't uncharted territory.

Not hard to visualize him being grilled by Debra Wilson as Oprah.

Weekend Box Office: January 25-27

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters - $19 million

2.  Mama - $12.8 million

3.  Silver Linings Playbook - $10 million

4.  Zero Dark Thirty - $9.8 million

5.  Parker - $7 million

6.  Django Unchained - $5 million

7.  Movie 43 - $5 million

8.  Gangster Squad - $4.2 million

9.  Broken City - $4 million

10.  Les Miserables - $3.9 million

Remember when that Hansel and Gretel movie looked like a good idea?  Nope, me neither.  Nevertheless, that long-delayed film won the box office this weekend with an estimated $19 million...which means enough people showed up to keep it from being a complete disaster, but not too many rushed out to see it either. 

At least that debut was more respectable than this weekend's other new releases, as Jason Statham's Parker did so-so business with just $7 million, and Movie 43, the R-rated comedy starring the biggest cast of A-list stars who wouldn't be caught dead actually promoting the film bombing outright with a meager $5 million.  That's not good.

It was decent second weekend for the horror thriller Mama.  Although it dropped more than half its audience since opening in first last weekend, it managed to hold on well enough through a weak box office weekend to finish in second. 

The Oscar hopefuls were still popular, with Silver Linings Playbook still enjoying finally being in wide release, earning another $10 million, and Zero Dark Thirty right behind it with $9.8 million.  Django Unchained earned $5 million, and Les Miserables was good for one more week in the top 10 with $3.9 million (it also just passed the $300 million mark worldwide).

Coming up is Superbowl Weekend, so it will be quiet again next week.  For those not interested in football, opening in theaters is the zombie comedy Warm Bodies, as well as Stallone's latest, Bullet to the Head, and Stand Up Guys, starring Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin. 

First Clip from 'A Good Day to Die Hard' is...Horrible

I really, really hope the absolute dreadful quality of this clip - from the editing, to the dialogue, to the shitty look overall - is because it was merely chopped up to fit within a 1 minute window.

Honestly, there is no way the film can be as bad as this clip, right?  I mean, yeah Bruce Willis seems to be acting more like John McClane but there is such thing as being 'over-the-top' in trying to please fans outcry over the JMINO (John McClane in Name Only) BS with the previous film.  We shall see.

A Good Day to Die Hard hits theaters February 14th.

By the way, I love how everyone's favorite badass suddenly has perfectly white, capped teeth.  Are you fucking kidding me Willis?  It looks ridiculous.  It's John McClane!

New "Oz The Great And Powerful" Poster Featuring Rachel Weisz

Opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on March 8, the Sam Raimi film imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot--fame and fortune are his for the taking--that is until he meets three witches, Evanora, Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity--and even a bit of wizardry--Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

J.J. Abrams Directing Star Wars Episode VII

The Internet broke when news of Disney acquiring Lucasfilm hit the press. It's gonna break all over again.

The Wrap reports J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII for Disney. Thus vacating his position from the Star Trek franchise at Paramount and proving once again that people in showbiz lie. Remember when he told Empire he wasn't interested?

Ben Affleck was also reportedly in contention. Disney and Kathleen Kennedy wanted a name to wow us right out the gate. They weren't fooling. Some will deem this a "safe" choice. They aren't wrong. But here's the thing. Abrams was able to bring the idea of advanced, futuristic technology as junk, something from the original trilogy, to his '09 Trek restart.

It's a reassuring sign that guy is gonna bring that back to Star Wars, a charm missing from the much-maligned prequels. He can also direct the Hell outta ensembles. And of course, cut to the lens flares jokes.

He's not Brad Bird, whom the Internet unanimously supported, or Jon Favreau, who was long pegged as the favorite. But I'm hard-pressed to not like this choice.

This all goes back to that announcement last October. Disney wants us to be excited about Star Wars again like when we were kids. Mission accomplished and I can't wait to hear, and see, more.

First jOBS Clip

The testament to jOBS, the biopic on Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, is how will it stack against Pirates of Silicon Valley. This first clip made me think of how much I enjoyed the 1999 made-for-TV production on the same subject.

Ashton Kutcher may look more like the title character than Noah Wylie. But Wylie gave a career-best performance as the egomaniac Jobs. No preconceived notions against Kutcher as an actor (He's pigeon-holed himself into the Kelso roles) , but I don't buy him here, confronting Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak, who also is hard to take seriously with that fake beard and wig:

Justice League Has Its Lineup

Our scoopster brethren at Latino Review, led by the disciple El Mayimbe, have the roster for Justice League, Warner Brothers' scrambled attempt at having themselves an Avengers-level hit. Going up the same summer as The Avengers 2 if they get their crap together (and sweet baby Jesus is that questionable) since there is still no director, greenlight or even an idea if this plays into The Man of Steel or does their own thing; new cast, continuity and all.

Ironic they blew the opportunity to be first out the gate with George Miller's Justice League: Mortal five years. Nobody was for it, save the people making it obviously, costs were through the roof, the Australian government was giving them grief over tax rates and Christopher Nolan was, shall we say, not too keen on stepping over his toes whilst his Dark Knight trilogy was active. Even took a dinner meeting with Bryan Singer while he was still steering Superman; a meeting of the minds, if you will, about how to avoid the incoming damage it would have inflicted. Needless to say it didn't happen and everyone, with good taste, was happy.

Cut to so many years later and here we are with the studio pushing ahead once again. Whether or not we, or their own people (*Cough*Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan*Cough*), approve. Anyway, here's the lineup:

1. Superman
2. Batman
3. Wonder Woman
4. Green Lantern
5. The Flash

There's room for maybe cameos from walking-joke Aquaman and Martian Manhunter. If this happens for 2015 (Not holding my breath; nor should you), they'll save a couple of bucks and reuse stuff cooked up for Justice League: Mortal like costumes, production design and even more set-pieces. Same as how they carried over work from Superman: Flyby for Man of Steel.

Schwarzenegger Confirms T5; Says Original Writers Went in 'Wrong Direction'

After the major disappointment of The Last Stand at this weekend's box office, it should come as no surprise that Arnold is up for another Terminator (a sure-fire moneymaker).

Speaking with The Sun in promoting his new film, the big guy himself confirmed not only is he involved with Terminator 5 - as there had only been whispers of this - but that originally, different writers were brought onto the project (last week Patrick Lussier and Laeta Kalogridis were announced to be scripting the film) which he apparently was not a fan of:

“They’re writing right now Terminator 5.  There have been some writers on it for the last year-and-a-half and they could not pull it off."

“We have told them over and over that they are going in the wrong direction, now they’ve finally got rid of those writers and they’ve got new really quality writers.

“Now they’re going in the right direction. I think this year the script will be finished and we will be able to go into pre-production.”

While it's great to hear that Schwarzenegger is having some input in the development of the new film, I'm still wary of his definition of 'quality' writers.  This is a guy who raved about Terminator 3's script, saying how great it was, and we all know how that turned out.  Even if they somehow get a great director, you still need a good story to pull the film off.  Let's just hope James Cameron is secretly involved in the development of this thing too (his co-writer on Avatar was Laeta Kalogridis).

Source: The Terminator Fans

Toy Set Offers Clue to Additional Man of Steel Villain

History has shown toy displays can be quite the unintended spoilers. Remember advanced toy packaging for The Amazing Spider-Man blabbing the Lizard turning SWAT officers into fellow reptiles?

The London Toy-Far is going down and on display are items from Man of Steel. While no pictures were taken (Studios slowly catching on to how this blows plot points), Blogomatic 3000 was there to take note:

"The set numbers and titles for these sets are as rumoured: 76002 Superman Metropolis Showdown, 76003 Superman Battle of Smallville and 76009 Superman Black Zero Escape. Minifigures featured in the sets include Superman, Zod, Faora, Tor-An and a General Zod figure variant in some kind of armour. The standout piece in the range is in set 76009 – a large spaceship with an almost 'bug'-like appearance..."

Everything reads fine, but who exactly is Tor-An? Haven't heard of him prior and up until this point, we only knew of Zod and Faora being the only Kryptonian baddies duking it out with Henry Cavill's Superman.

A quick search shows Tor-An is a fellow Kryptonian and devoted follower of the General. His plans went as far as disguise himself as a human not unlike our red-and-blue suit wearing hero. A look at his physically appearance shows a resemblance to Tahmoh Penikett, who is listed by the notoriously iffy IMDB as Henry Ackerdson (aka Metallo). But the actor himself tweeted he couldn't talk go into specifics about his role - namely who he is playing.

Perhaps this is the mysterious role he was alluding to?

David Fincher In Talks to Direct Gone Girl

Variety reports David Fincher is in talks to direct Gone Girl for 20^th Century Fox. Quite the bidding war went down last year for the Gillian Flynn novel.

The simple plot synopsis is a woman disappears on the day of her fifth wedding anniversary and the husband is the prime suspect. That's all she wrote. But knowing the genre, and the fact Fincher is attracted to it, there's presumably more underneath the surface.

It's not a stretch truthfully for Fincher. He's covered this ground before. As much as we're only interested in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea due to his involvement (Admit it), that presented a challenge. Could Finch use his filmmaking methodology we've come to know for masterworks like Fight Club, Seven or The Social Network for the popcorn crowds?

I'm not complaining. I love that his heart remains with grown-up geared projects and, yeah, because it's Fincher.