The Odds Could Ever Be in Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Favor

The talk on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire lately is all Finnick Odair (Robert Pattinson! Taylor Kitsch! Armie Hammer! The Humanoid Formerly Known as Garret Hedlund!) That isn't the only new addition introduced in next November's hotly-anticipated sequel.

Variety's Jeff Sneider tweets producers are reaching for the big leagues for Plutarch Heavensbee, the new Gamemaker brought in after they made Wes Bentley eat poisoned berries (They too were disappointed in his post-American Beauty roles, I take it): Oscar-winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

You can't accuse Lionsgate of going for cheap. Hoffman, while he doesn't bring commercial pedigree more than makes up for that with his acting. Many fell the day will come with he has another Academy Award to keep company for his Capote win. Fortune favors the bold, the old saying goes. It just doesn't work every time out.

"The Dark Knight Rises" Soundtrack Listing

01. A Storm Is Coming (0:37)
02. On Thin Ice (2:55)
03. Gotham's Reckoning (4:08)
04. Mind If I Cut In? (3:27)
05. Underground Army (3:12)
06. Born In Darkness (1:57)
07. The Fire Rises (5:33)
08. Nothing Out There (2:51)
09. Despair (3:14)
10. Fear Will Find You (3:08)
11. Why Do We Fall? (2:03)
12. Death By Exile (0:23)
13. Imagine The Fire (7:25)
14. Necessary Evil (3:16)
15. Rise (7:11)

"Man Of Steel" Marketing Prepares For Take Off

It hasn't really been a secret that the Man Of Steel teaser would be debuting in front of The Dark Knight Rises on July 20th, although never really confirmed. The forums and websites have been speculating on this pretty much since the release date for Man Of Steel was officially revealed. Now we might have some news that comes close to a confirmation courtesy of a magazine I've never heard via their Facebook page... FB Weekly's Facebook Page

I'll be honest, I have no idea what FB Weekly is or how accurate this information is, but it's interesting nonetheless. The statement is below, the above photo was also on the page in anticipation of the teaser. I must confess I did some surgery on the photo though, it originally had Justin Bieber on the cover of FB Magazine to the left and read Kneel Before Bieber. I have no idea what Superman has to do with Bieber unless he is secretly Jimmy Olsen, but you can see the original if you click the link provided above.

The most important part of the below is that we should expect stills in movie magazines and via the interwebs in the next couple days. IF, this is true. IF.

Warner Bros. will begin promoting its Zack Snyder-directed Superman reboot ‘Man of Steel,’ in a few days (a whole year before it’s June 14, 2013 release date). The studio had a similar strategy with ‘The Dark Knight Rises’. The teaser trailer for that film debuted July 18, 2011, almost a year to the day of its July 20, 2012 scheduled release date. The ‘Man of Steel’ teaser trailer is set to debut on or before July 20 (When The Dark Knight Rises arrives) with official movie stills to appear in movie magazines and online in the next few days!

Weekend Box Office: June 8-10

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted - $60.3 million

2.  Prometheus - $50 million

3.  Snow White and the Huntsman - $23 million

4.  Men in Black 3 - $13.5 million

5.  The Avengers - $10.8 million

6.  The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - $3.2 million

7.  What to Expect When You're Expecting - $2.7 million

8.  Battleship - $2.2 million

9.  The Dictator - $2.1 million

10.  Moonrise Kingdom - $1.5 million

Kids ruled the box office this weekend as Madagascar 3 won the box office with an estimated $60.3 million.  That a bit below the first weekend of Madagascar 2's $63.1 million in 2008, but it still did fine, especially since there really hasn't been a big animated family movie out since The Lorax opened earlier this year. 

That leaves Prometheus, Ridley Scott's sorta-Alien prequel in second place with an estimated $50 million for the weekend.  Predictions for this weekend's final tally have been all over the place since starting out of the gate strong on Friday, with $3.6 million for the midnight openings and actually besting Madagascar for the day with a better-tan-expected $21.4 million.  But grosses tapered off as the weekend progressed - not to mention that a family friend kid film will generally beat an R-rated horror/sci-fi movie every time - so it appeared to be very frontloaded.  General reaction to the film seems to be mixed (I liked it - scary as hell and the best 3D I've seen in a long time), so it will be interesting to see how this holds up as the summer moves on.

Speaking of lousy word-of-mouth, Snow White and the Huntsman dropped nearly 60% since opening in first place last weekend.  The film earned $23 million to bring its domestic total to $98, so it while it will pass the $100 million make, I wouldn't start making plans to see that sequel Universal apparently wants to start on just yet.

As far as this weekend's milestones, The Hunger Games officially passed the $400 millon mark this weekend, and The Avengers got that much closer to $600 million domestically, currently standing at $571 million.

Still in limited release, Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom expanded to 96 theaters and cracked the top 10 for the first time with $1.5 million.

Next weekend, get prepared to rock out 80s-style as the musical Rock of Ages opens in theaters, which sounds a far better option than Adam Sandler showing up to bother us all again with the terribly unfunny looking That's My Boy, which also opens next weekend.

Abbie Cornish In Talks to Join 'RoboCop'

Abbie Cornish (Limitless, Sucker Punch) is in talks to join the Jose Padilha directed remake of Paul Veroheven's 1987 sci-fi classic, RoboCop.

Cornish would play the thought-to-be widowed wife of cop-turned-RoboCop, Alex Murphy (to be played by Joel Kinnaman of AMC's The Killing).

MGM has been putting this project on fast-track over the past few months as Gary Oldman recently joined the cast to play the scientist behind the development of RoboCop as well as Samuel L. Jackson who is reportedly playing a media mogul.

Production is set to begin on the project this September in Toronto with a scheduled release date of August 9th, 2013.

Expect more castings news on this project in the months ahead.

Source: Deadline

World War Z Needs Rewrites - This Looks Like a Job For...Damon Lindelof!?

World War Z was supposed to be out this Christmas. Then Paramount moved it to June 2013. Afterwards they ordered seven weeks (You read right) of reshoots.

Adding salt to that wound, for fans of Max Brooks' novel, is a new writer got hired by Paramount to work on the new round of filming on the Marc Forster-directed, Brad Pitt-starring zombie epic, focusing entirely on the third act in the form of Damon Lindelof. Cut to obligatory "Lindelof can't write an ending to save his life!" remark. True, Cowboys & Aliens shit the bed and, depending on your taste, so did the Lost finale and Prometheus. Like that will stop him from shit-talking on Twitter.

But this train was already off the rails anyway. If the end results are as big a turd as Paramount's action suggests it ain't on him.

Source: Heat Vision

Stephen King's It Set to Scare New Generation on the Big Screen

Stephen King's It scared the crap out of us as little kids when Tommy Lee Wallace adapted it as a two-part made-for-TV mini-series back in 1990. Of course, what frightens you as a child doesn't always hold up when you grow up (Used to have a fear of frogs after watching Frogs, from AIP starring Sam Elliott - if nothing else for that old VHS cover-art of a dead hand hanging from that green toad's mouth!)

Haven't watched It in years but the common remarks from those who have are, "That wasn't as scary as I remember!" A big-screen update's been cooking at a slow-burn in the kitchen for years now. Per Heat Vision, Warner Brothers has tapped Cary Fukunaga (of the most recent Jane Eyre) to direct and co-author with Chase Palmer.

Thankfully, don't expect them to castrate the story to fit within the parameters of a two-hour narrative. The plan, echoing their approach on the ill-fated Akira, is to split into two films. So fans of the book, and mini-series, can sigh a breath of relief.

Now on to more pressing matters, most important who do you cast as Pennywise after Tim Curry scared many of us for life?

First Look at Idris Elba in Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim, we here at TMT sense, will "Make or Break!" on the first look. When we see what Guillermo del Toro has conjured up for the futuristic sci-fi actioner. Depending on which rumor you believe, it might make its presence known at Comic-Con next month or possibly a teaser-trailer loaded in front of The Dark Knight Rises. But that's rumors for ya!

Thankfully while we wait for physical action in motion doused in CGI and orchestral music for ninety-seconds, Movie Hole was cool enough (Because Clint Morris, the big-cheese down under and a good buddy, is a cool guy) to scan the first look at Idris Elba in character, taken from the latest issue of Total Film, the red-headed, freckle-faced, step-sister to Empire Magazine but we love them anyway:

Snow White & the Huntsman Sequel Sounds REALLY Good to Universal Right About Now

The insistence on Universal to cast Kristen Stewart couldn't be clearer. They may have tested cheap, off-the-assembly-line unknowns, in classic cover-your-ass fashion, for Snow White & the Huntsman. But none of those actresses (Don't think a short-list ever leaked) were associated with anything.

Stewart, however, has instant recognizability. When you think of her, what pops into your head? Yep. Twilight. If you saw the film, you know why. They want a set-up for another love-triangle with two, attractive-looking guys fighting over Stewart.

Universal, big on bad decisions if they haven’t noticed their filmography the last few years, went ahead and commissioned David Koepp to pen a sequel back in April. After this weekend, the studio was taken aback by the stronger-than-projected opening stateside (The ever-reliable tracking was soft leading up to its opening). Suddenly, they're confident. They're eager. They want that sequel.

Get ready for "Team Huntsman" and "Team William" quips as they move closer to a Snow White follow-up. Talks are underway for helmer Rupert Sanders to return and the cast are pre-committed thanks to the standard-operating options procedure.

Best pump the brakes on that greenlight though. Let's see how it holds, or doesn't hold based on the mixed word-of-mouth, this weekend. If we’re looking at a sub 50% drop, then take it to the bank there will be a sequel. If not...all talk no action.

Nolan To Bring Justice To DC Superheroes

Legal deadlines looming, indecision in the air and desperation setting in, Warner Brothers turned to Christopher Nolan to get them out of their Superman cinematic rut, having done so spectacularly for Batman (Tickets on The Dark Knight Rises officially go up this Monday at midnight – go ahead and start the coffee and get ready to pound F5 all morning if you want those midnight IMAX tickets!) You remember all that "Godfather" talk, nothing more than a sexy, headline making way of saying he was producing. In agreeing to taking the preverbal training wheels off the bike and letting the Last Son of Krypton rides all bys himself to the silver screen, the British director got unrelinquished final say on all things truth, justice and the American way resulting in hiring of Zack Snyder and casting Henry Cavill for The Man of Steel.

Variety reports the experience of playing cinematic god to DC's top dog superheroes isn't the end for Nolan. WB's handing more power to Nolan to work in the same capacity to other properties. This comes two days after the studio announced Will Beall, behind the "Eh" looking Gangster Squad, will pen Justice League (Who wants to guess this will be a glorified spinning the wheels of what George Miller was going to do for Justice League: Mortal?)

My pal Sean Gerber of Modern Myth Media and I were bullshitting recently about whether general audiences are fully aware of Nolan as they are with filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas or James Cameron. Is he a house-hold name and/or a brand of director people recognize like they would for Coca-Cola or Hershey's (an argument my best friend has made to support the general public's trust in Pixar)? He's adamant they do. He's getting here, I think. Just not "there" yet. But he will.

He did wonders for the World's Greatest Detective and we hear everyone around the Burbank water-coolers is chipper on how Superman is turning out. The thought of him bogging down his time on damn-near WB/DC wants out, on the other hand. It starts to lose any meaning to say, "Hey, it must be good if Chris Nolan is involved!"

Most importantly, that takes away from valuable time Nolan can spend on making his own original films. You know...like Inception.