Third Daniel Craig James Bond Film Cancelled - Is His Reign Over?

Walking out of Casino Royale four years ago, my initial reaction (beyond how great the film itself was) was how long Daniel Craig would occupy the role. "Craig’ll end up doing four or five movies!" I remember telling my friends. The franchise found itself creatively rejuvenated in a way I can't recall in awhile. Not since the original Connery reign, could I think of an actor who fans wanted to be themselves.

So when the news hit a few months back of the next installment being placed on "indefinite hiatus," many of us fans worried. Was this turning into a repeat of the early 90s for 007? We remember the on-going legal troubles all but killed the Timothy Dalton reign. Sadly it appears MGM’s financial woes may very well have claimed Craig's tenure.

AICN says all work on the third film (written by Peter Morgan and to be directed by Sam Mendes) has been cancelled. But before anyone can blow this off as Internet bullshit, Eon Productions released this statement to the UKs Daily Mirror:

"We do not know when development will resume and cannot comment further at this stage."

Alas, the longer this turmoil drags out, the less likely it appears Craig will return to the role. Who knows how long his contract says he has to wait till it expires.

Kevin Smith Project Updates

While promoting the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Cop Out, Kevin Smith talked to ComingSoon about two of his upcoming projects in development.

Red State is a horror film about a group of misfits encounter fundamentalism gone to the extreme in Middle America.

The plan is to begin shooting in August and has locked its two leads. Smith said that he's not yet ready to announce them but that he specifically cast actors who aren't the biggest stars as part of the film's aesthetic.

Hit Somebody is the story of a hockey player with a talent for fighting. Based on the song of the same name by Warren Zevon, which was written by Mitch Albom.

It's still in the scripting stage but early plans are for it to shoot in Detroit sometime next year.

Christian Bale Headlining The Last Photograph

The Last Photograph was announced last year with Sergey Bodrov (Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan) attached to direct. Cut to today and it appears the Russian helmer is off. But that's not to suggest the project itself is DOA.

Our pals at Pajiba (as per their mole The Hollywood Cog) say Christian Bale is set to headline the film, originating from Zach Snyder and being written by his 300 screenwriter Kurt Johnstad.

We've had some much-needed cooling off time from Bale since his duo of high-profile under-performers Terminator: Salvation and Public Enemies last year. I think it's been long enough now for us to see the Welsh actor again.

Although it's listed in the "Rumor" bin, they're also hearing Niels Arden Oplev (director of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) could wind up directing.

When Photograph gets going is another question. Bale has a third trip to Gotham City and second collaboration with Terrence Malick on this "To do" list.

Sir Ian McKellen's Hobbit Participation In Doubt

It seems as though even Sir Ian McKellen too is growing tired of the issues over The Hobbit. When that man (having been the lone cheerleader for awhile now) sees the writing on the wall, you know this project is in deep do-do.

While speaking to the New Zealand talk-show Good Morning (via Blending Cool with video below), the actor made it crystal clear he won’t be waiting around forever till cameras roll:

"Well, I’m not under contract and my time is running out, and I’m enjoying working in the theatre. And frankly, I would like to race after doing Waiting For Godot, get on with doing another play, but we’ll have to see. I don’t give the producers the impression that I’m sitting waiting."

He also revealed of an "imminent" announcement. Whether it’s ya or nay remains to be seen. Until MGM sells its share of the property (as earlier speculated) or gets bought out by a bigger company (not looking likely given their vast amount of debt), there's nothing to suggest it’ll a positive.

And we’ll all be here to twiddle our thumbs waiting for that inevitable Hobbit movie.

Holiday Weekend Box Office: July 2-5

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - $82.5 million

2.  The Last Airbender - $53.1 million

3.  Toy Story 3 - $42.2 million

4.  Grownups - $26.5 million

5.  Knight & Day - $14 million

6.  The Karate Kid - $11.5 million

7.  The A-Team - $4.2 million

8.  Get Him to the Greek - $1.6 million

9.  Shrek Forever After - $1.2 million

10.  Cyrus - $1 million

As expected, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ruled the box office this holiday weekend, but with a record-breaking $69 million debut on Wednesday, it did lose a little steam going into the actual weekend (it's Friday-Sunday total was even with what it made just on Wednesday alone).  But that really doesn't matter...as of today the film has already made a staggering $275 million worldwide.

The Last Airbender survived some dreadful reviews to open with an impressive $53.1 million for the holiday weekend, and has grossed $70.5 million since opening on Wednesday.  It's still got a long way to go reach its reported $150 million budget, and we'll have to wait and see if it's built-in fanbase shows up in the weekends to come.

Pixar's Toy Story 3 continues to do well (even though Eclipse bumped it from most IMAX screens this weekend), crossing the $300 million domestic mark this weekend with $42.2 million.  It's now well on its way to top Finding Nemo's $340 million domestic total and become Pixar's highest grossing film.  Toy Story 3's worldwide total now stands at $451 million.

Audiences still love their Adam Sandler, with Grownups still going strong this weekend with $26.5 million.  Its domestic total now stands at $77 million.  The jury is still out on Tom Cruise, whose Knight and Day finished the holiday weekend with a so-so $14 million. 

The other newcomer to the top 10 this weekend (yes, there were other movies besides Eclipse and The Last Airbender) was the comedy Cyrus, which expanded to 77 theaters nationwide and finished in 10th place with just over $1 million.  Not bad for a film that was in 20th place last weekend.

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend.  Check back later this week when Mitch updates with the weekend actuals.

"Sucker Punch" Won't Be Converted to 3D?

Director Zack Snyder hasn't been blown away by any of the recent attempts at post conversion 3D. Speaking to MTV, Snyder said that he’s been talking with Warner Bros. about converting his upcoming film Sucker Punch into 3D. He doesn't seem too keen on the idea of doing a post-conversion:

“We’ve looked at a bunch of conversions, so whether or not we have the time to do it right — I’m not going to do it if we don’t have the time to really be meticulous with it.  It’s such an awesome piece of work and everyone’s worked so hard to make it awesome, so I don’t want to screw it up with bad 3D.”

Also not overly impressed with the growing trend in Hollywood is Zack's wife and producer Debbie Snyder. Here's what she had to say about 3D, and if Sucker Punch really needs it:

“There are very few vendors out there that are doing [conversions].  There are all these movies that want to be converted and we just haven’t felt like we’ve seen that proof yet. Visually, Zack’s done an amazing job. It’s such a spectacle in and of itself and it’s so fantastical that it doesn’t really need the 3-D.”

Snyder has described the film as "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns", including dragons, B-52 bombers and brothels.

Set in the 1950s, it tells the story of Baby Doll, who is trying to hide from the pain caused by her evil stepfather and lobotomy. She ends up in mental institution and while there she starts to imagine alternative reality. She plans to escape from that imaginary world but to do that she needs to steal five objects before she is caught by a vile man. She has 5 days to escape before being lobotomized. In order to cope with the situation, she enters the hyper-real world of her imagination, and the lines between reality and dream begin to blur. She is joined with friends who are inmates from the institution. Lessons learned in the said fantasy world could help the girls escape their real-world fate

It's nice to see not everyone in Hollywood has jumped on the 3D bandwagon all at once. After the mess that was the Clash of the Titans remake, you'd think Warner Bros especially would cool off of the 3D post conversions. The only thing that seems to really work in 3D is animation. Snyder’s upcoming animated film Legends of the Guardians is in 3D, but that was always the intent.

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."

Will MGM Bite the Bullet & Sell Its Half of The Hobbit to WB?

Reports coming out of THR state MGM might end up selling their half of The Hobbit rights to co-owner Warner Brothers in an effort to get some cash flowing their way. Such a decision (far from confirmed and speculation at the moment) would bring an end to this mess and get J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings precursor into your multiplex within the next couple of years.

Granted Christmas 2012 is out of the window, at this juncture and this doesn't resolve who will direct. Despite those reports of Peter Jackson agreeing to direct, that has yet to be confirmed with Harry Knowles and David Poland separately saying no deal is in place for him to return to the director's chair – yet.

There's also the chance MGM executives opt to continue holding out. Hey, they let this whole thing drag out this far, right? It’s basically the reason why we won’t see "Directed by Guillermo del Toro" in the credits.

I haven't been optimistic about The Hobbit for the longest time. This latest update isn't suddenly changing my tune. When we see leaked photos from the set on Day 1 of principal photography, then yes.

Deathly Hallows Teaser Poster

It's been an exciting few weeks for Harry Potter fans.  We got a new trailer, a new theme park, a new Lego video game, and now we have the official first teaser poster for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which includes a rather sinister image of an under-siege Hogwarts:

Wow.  Looks great.  I've been incredibly impressed with everything we've seen from Deathly Hallows so far.  It's amazing how it seems like we were just seeing the teasers for the first film, and now we've arrived at the end of the series already. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 will be released on November 19th.  The stuff on the teaser poster is from Part 2, which will be released on July 15, 2011.