Russell Crowe: Man In Tights

A new poster has been released for Ridley Scott's adaptation of Robin Hood. This promises to have epic battle sequences and a heavy dose of drama. It may even top Mel Brooks' "Robin Hood: Men In Tights" to claim the title of best film based upon the character.

All kidding aside, the trailers for this do look quite good and unless my mind changes a considerable amount from now until that proposed release date, then I'm sure I will be checking it out opening night. Gladiator was such a quality movie and there's no way this can't be as bad as the Kevin Costner version...

... or can it?

Strange Tides For Sam Claflin

Press Release:

Sam Claflin has been selected by producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Rob Marshall to star in the key role of Philip, a youthful missionary, in Walt Disney Pictures'/Jerry Bruckheimer Films' epic adventure "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," the fourth in the blockbuster series of films. Claflin joins Johnny Depp, returning in his iconic role of Captain Jack Sparrow, as well as Astrid Berges-Frisbey and an international cast. The film is slated to open on May 20, 2011.

Hailing from the United Kingdom, Claflin attended The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He then won roles in the historical mini-series "The Pillars of the Earth," alongside actors Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Matthew MacFadyen and Donald Sutherland, followed by the telefilm "The Lost Future."

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" is directed by Rob Marshall, whose first feature film was the Academy Award®-winning "Chicago," followed by "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Nine." Producer Jerry Bruckheimer's films include (producing with Don Simpson) "Top Gun," "Beverly Hills Cop," "Flashdance," and (producing solo) "Con Air," "Armageddon," the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy and the "National Treasure" franchise, as well as this summer's "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." JBTV's current series are "C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation" and its spin-offs "C.S.I.: Miami," "C.S.I.: NY" and "Cold Case," "The Amazing Race" and "Miami Medical."

The first three films in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series amassed a total international box office of $2.7 billion.

Beginning in June, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" will film entirely on location in Hawaii, Great Britain and Los Angeles.

It seems that Claflin will be taking duties in a role similar to Orlando Bloom's now that he's out. We get to see another film where the young adventuring boy goes after the love of a girl all the while Jack tries to sweep her off her feet by his own admission.

The odd thing about this news to me, is the choice of director. I am not doubting Marshall's skill as a director in the least. I very much enjoyed Chicago; possibly the best musical I've seen but I'm unsure how he will handle all the action and big moments of a film of this type.

Is this actually going to be Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Musical?

Sam Jackson not in 'Thor'

IESB reports that Samuel L Jackson will NOT be appearing in the upcoming Marvel film 'Thor' as Shield agent Nick Fury. He was in both Iron Man films and is said to appear in the upcoming Captain America as well.

In addition to this he also confirmed that filming for 'The Avengers' to be directed by Joss Whedon will start  in February.

For the full story go HERE.

Box Office Actuals April 16-18

The top five movies at the box office were all well off from studio estimates as well as my own predictions this weekend. Everyone thought that Kick-Ass the R rated comic book adaption had in fact got its ass kicked by How to Train Your dragon.

However this was not the case, Dragon came in slightly below Kick-Ass but still in 2nd after four weeks. Date night in its second week beat out Death at a Funeral which also opened this weekend landing in only 4th place. While Clash Of The Titans has been steadily decreasing every week, landing in 5th place this week.

1. Kick-Ass (Lionsgate) - $19.8 million

2. How to Train Your Dragon (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount) - $19.6 million

3. Date Night (20th Century Fox) - $16.7 million

4. Death at a Funeral (Sony/Screen Gems) - $16.2 million

5. Clash of the Titans (Warner Bros.) - $15.3 million

6. The Last Song (Walt Disney Pictures) - $5.9 million

7. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? (Lionsgate) - $4 million

8. Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney Pictures) - $3.6 million

9. Hot Tub Time Machine (MGM) - $3.4 million

10. The Bounty Hunter (Sony) - $3 million

Check back on Thursday for my predictions for this coming weekend April 23-25



New Iron Man 2 Tv Spot

A ninth TV spot for Iron Man 2 began airing last night and can now be watched using the player below! The Jon Favreau-directed sequel stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Garry Shandling, John Slattery, Kate Mara, Clark Gregg and Olivia Munn.

I think this movie is going to be huge! It likely has a chance at beating The dark Knight at the box office and making more then 1 billion word wide. That is until Batman 3 comes out in presumably 2012...

James Bond Put On Hold Indefinitely

 

007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions, today announced they have suspended development on the next James Bond film previously scheduled for release 2011/2012.

"Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on BOND 23 indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of BOND 23," stated Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli jointly.

EON Productions have produced twenty two James Bond films since 1962. In 1995, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli took over the 007 franchise from Albert R 'Cubby' Broccoli and are responsible for producing some of the most successful James Bond films ever, including CASINO ROYALE and more recently QUANTUM OF SOLACE. The James Bond franchise is the longest running in film history. EON Productions and Danjaq LLC are affiliate companies and control all worldwide merchandising for James Bond.

As a life long fan of the 00 agent I was dreading this news, but on some level I think we all knew it was coming. I just hope they're able to figure things out sooner then later, I'd hate for them to re-cast Bond after a long length of time passing between Quantum and its sequel and having Craig not suit the part anymore, or worse yet getting another re-boot to the franchise. I like the current formula of having one story arc develop over the course of a presumed trilogy, rather then every film being "stand alone" like the previous bond films were.

New Poster for 50 Cent movie 'GUN'

It was announced back in November by MTV that Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson would be filming a movie with Val Kilmer titled 'The Gun'. I'm not sure anyone cared anymore then, then they might now, but here is the first official poster. 

I'm sure your looking at this thinking, is this a poster for a real movie, why is Val kilmer's name on it, and who the F*** is Jessy Terrero.

Unfortunately it is real, with rapper Curtis "50 cent" Jackson's new production company (Cheetah Vision) now up and running, he's been attaching himself to all kinds of crap. Ever since Jim Sheridan put him in the semi bio pic semi garbage movie Get Rich Or Die Tryin', he's had it in his head that he's a "great actor". As for Val Kilmer the second shittiest Batman who at one point was starring in such classics as 'Heat', he's been doing a lot of independent low budget work as of lately, this should come as no surprise to see his name. Jessy Terrero is known most for being a music video director, not to be confused with such talents as Samuel Bayer who shared the same profession until crossing over to direct the Nightmare On Elm Street remake. 

As far as I know no official release date has been announced yet, but we can assume for now that this will likely be released direct to video or in limited release only. From the looks of the poster and what little has been said about the movie, its very hard to gain any kind of interest.

Summit Acquires Men Are From Mars Women Are From Venus

It wasn't that long ago that Summit was that independent studio making that little vampire movie from the book of the same name 'twilight'. Now after the success of that franchise they've been buying up other properties to turn into franchises.

Most recently Summit Entertainment has acquired worldwide film and television rights to the entire "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" franchise based on the book series written by John Gray, Ph.D. The initial book, which was the launch of more than a dozen Mars-Venus titles, was originally published by Harper Collins in 1992. Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun will produce the film project via their BermanBraun banner.

Erik Feig, Summit's President of Production, stated, "'Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus' is not just the title of a book, or what we know will become an amazing film and TV franchise – it is a pop cultural mainstay and comically, sadly, romantically, all too often still true these many years after first being published. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work on a franchise whose name everyone knows and whose reality everyone lives!"

Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun, partners in BermanBraun, stated, "'Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus' is the most enduring relationship franchise in the world and the Rosetta Stone for understanding the opposite sex. While men and women may never truly speak the same language, we're thrilled to explore their perpetually hilarious, painful and romantic conflicts on the big screen."

The book series "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" assesses marital and relationship problems in terms of distinct and pervasive gender differences. The Mars-Venus series has sold over 50 million books in 45 territories worldwide. "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" is the #1 bestselling book of the last decade and the #1 relationship book of all time. It was on The New York Times Bestseller List for nearly seven years and is #6 on USA Today's list of the 25 Most Influential Books. In addition to his publishing success, Dr. Gray's video/DVD lecture series has earned over $100 million.

Feig and Meredith Milton, Summit's Vice President of Production, will oversee the project for the studio. Andrew Mittman, head of feature film development at BermanBraun, brought the project into the company. He will spearhead the production for BermanBraun.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura on Transformers 3

I know Michael Bay gets a lot of shit for the Transformers Movies, and well anything with his name attached to it really, but are you honestly not excited for Transformers 3? I go into his movies not expecting a "story" to get in the way of the action, who cares about Shia and his girlfriend when we have giant alien robots/cars kicking each others asses?

Comingsoonrecently talked to Lorenzo di Bonaventura about Transformers 3, when asked about explaining what he's doing to the director or the studio he said the following:

"Not with Bay, you know? With Bay, no not too much there either. Bay is such a general that it moves at his pace. The first movie we had to explain a lot of why we wanted to spend this, what was going on… dah dah dah, but most movies in my experience and in most studios they're all running in a difficult time right now and they're concerned about their careers and concerned about the results. I grew up in the Warner Brothers system and our philosophy was once we made our bet, which meant it's up to the filmmakers to deliver it. So it wasn't a particularly intrusive system after once it made its bet. You had to pass a lot of hurdles to get to the go, but once you got there it was like, alright we're here. We've placed our bet and our philosophy at Warner's was you can't direct the movie if you're an executive and you can't write the movie and you can't act the movie, so you know, unless they're going sideways what can you do? It's up to them to elevate it."

And when asked about John Malkovich's character in T3 he said:

"You know we don't talk a lot about that script, but he's going to have a lot of interaction with Shia in that movie. And he's got a really fun character. And he's going to bring a really interesting spin to that franchise so it's going to be great" 

Star Wars on blu ray and 3D

Lucasfilm Director of Fan Relations Steve Sansweet revealed at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) this weekend that the "Star Wars" films are coming to Blu-ray.

"We have been at work for a couple of years working on - I won't call it the Ultimate Set because we keep finding stuff - but, a very full set of all six movies on Blu-ray with lots of extra material," Sansweet told IGN. "We're finding all kinds of scenes from dailies that have never been seen before. Beyond all of those things that you know about… there are some real treasures."

In regards to Star Wars in 3D he has the following to say:

 "George has publicly expressed an interest in doing Star Wars 3D. Right now there are a number of different technologies, there's some criticism out there about some of the movies that have quickly changed to 3D, so you have to pick the right technology, you have to get it to a cost that makes sense, and you have to have the time of the director and producer -- George -- to actually go in there, because you can't push a button and stuff goes in one end and comes out 3D…

"Saying all that, George remains very interested in doing the Star Wars movies, all six, in 3D, and I hope it will happen someday in the not too distant future."

I don't know that I care to see Star Wars in 3D, but I will definitely pick up the blu ray set.