Another Ghost Rider Movie...Why?

For some unknown reason Columbia Pictures actually wants to go forward with another "Ghost Rider" film. I can't say enough bad things about the first one and I am not interested in seeing another one. That film left such a bad taste in my mouth that it took me at least five Nicholas Cage films to forgive the man. It is obvious I am not alone with my feelings about "Ghost Rider" or a possible rehash. According to Collider the studio is well aware of the multitude of issues that "Ghost Rider" suffered from and Collider's interview with producer Mike De Luca details some of the things they are going to do to fix said issues.

– Mark Steven Johnson is not directing the sequel
– Eva Mendes will not return as Roxanne Simpson
– Ghost Rider 2 (or Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance) will be a hard PG-13
– The film is going to take place in Europe
– De Luca is open to David Goyer directing the sequel but it all comes down to his very busy schedule
– Says the sequel will be like “pushing the reset button” on the franchise
– As you might expect from the success of Avatar, Ghost Rider 2 might be done in 3D
– Says Goyer has just delivered his updated outline to the studio
– And says Ghost Rider 2 could be in front of the cameras this year

It sounds like the studio recognizes the faults and is going to make an attempt to fix them, the question is, does anybody care? By anybody, I am referencing the general public. Will 3D attract enough attention to put asses in the seats? Some might think that "Avatar" has put the opinion that 3D is merely a gimmick to rest with it's otherworldly performance, but a "Ghost Rider" sequel is no "Avatar". I really like Goyer taking the pen to paper but why get rid of Eva Mendes, she is the only reason I kept watching the first one. How is it possible that the we never saw a sequel to "Daredevil" and won't be seeing a sequel to "Superman Returns" but will be blessed with a sequel to "Ghost Rider". Is it me?

Tobey Macquire Talks Spidey

By now we all are well aware that "Spider Man 4" is in trouble. It certainly has been delayed, despite the hopes and dreams of fanboys and the insistence that it was a holiday break by some websites. The holidays are over folks and from the sounds of things working on "Spider Man 4" has been no picnic. Can't decided on villians, multiple writers brought in, casting issues. The list goes on and on. Granted a lot of these issues are present on many of the movies we know and love but said trials and tribulations might never be publicized. Tobey Maguire spoke with LA Times' The Envelop via webcam on Thursday and tried to calm the brewing storm among fans.

"Like anything, it's a process.  We're just in the midst of the process. We have a lot of great stuff in terms of story and script. We're just trying to dial it in and get it ready as quickly as possible. Of course, these movies are a very big undertaking and take a lot more time than a drama or something more straightforward."

"Not only do I have specific ideas, but the ideas are evolving on the page. It's all happening right now. It's all sort of coming together. It's very exciting to me. I think the evolution of the character is really exciting, to be rooted in the history of what we've done already and to have a continuity, yet have a progression or evolution."

Very political, welcome to "Spin City". Although I'm sure Tobey is sincere with his words and does a good job in his attempts to appease a somewhat divided fanbase, these issues won't be fixed in a day. For the sake of everybody involved here is to hoping that the ship is steered in the right direction and we see a "Spider-Man 4" as soon as possible. It is good for the industry and good for us writers. I'm still of the mindset we don't see this version of "Spider-Man" on the big screen and a fresh take a little further down the line. What about a "Spider-Man" that takes place a decade after the events of the 3rd one? You don't cancel out the foundation Raimi laid out but you are introduced to a more mature Spider-Man in a more dangerous version of NY. Just a thought.

"The Wolfman" Has Nards

There's been a lot of rumors swirling around Universal's "The Wolfman". Reshoots and a release date change didn't help to put a stop to the whispers and negative buzz has been rearing its ugly head in some circles. Believe it or not, reshoots and release date changes don't always translate into a bad thing. You remember a little film called "Star Trek" that dropped May of 2009, yeah said film was originally dropping in Christmas 2008. Sure there are many times when reshoots and release dates can kill a film, but according to "The Wolfman" producer Scott Stuber via AICN, that isn't true in this case.

1) It was Joe Johnston's idea to bring in editor Walter Murch after the spring '09 reshoots to supply a "fresh perspective" and, most importantly, get the film in shape. "We were running a little long in that phase because we'd added new footage," said Stuber. "So it was about shaping that footage. There's never been that kind of contention; it's never been this editing suite vs. that editing suite." Stuber had nothing but praise for Dennis Virkler's work, and insisted this was all about getting a new pair of eyes. My opinion: if Walter Murch is willing to work on your film, you hire Walter Murch.

2) Murch did the bulk of the work. Mark Goldblatt was only on for three or four weeks to assist with a complicated London set piece.

3) Moving the release date from November to February was all about finishing the f/x, particularly in that London sequence. "You have all of these backgrounds you've got to get right," said Stuber. "All of these period buildings and the way they're lit. They weren't getting finished correctly, so they sort of took you out of [the film] a little bit. Getting the extra six weeks to work on that stuff was helpful."

4) Per Stuber: "The thing about Donna [Langley]... they weren't really involved in that stuff. They knew [what we were] doing, and they were supportive of it, but there's never been an editing room that was sanctioned by the studio against the filmmakers."

5) The dual test screenings in November were not dueling test screenings. "There were sequences or pieces that we wanted to try differently," said Stuber. "And we did them back-to-back so we could watch them. Like when [inspector Francis] Abbberline (Hugo Weaving) arrives at the house for the first time." Basically, it was all about rhythm and pacing. Nothing major. By the way, they've got their R-rating from the MPAA, so don't worry about that being rescinded.

6) The future of Universal's other "Classic Monsters" is not contingent on the success of THE WOLFMAN. Each of these projects is its own entity, and they all have little to do with one another.

This all sounds well and good. You could look at it a number of ways. Universal really wants to make this work and is taking their time and pulling out all the stops to get it right. Caring about the characters and hoping the audience will as well. Or you can look at it another way, the project has been deluged with indecision and misdirection and now the studio and all involved are trying to spin this mess into a positive. I guess it might depend on the kind of person you are, glass half full or glass half empty? The true indicator will be the reception the movie receives upon its release and in the studio's case, how much money they are able to clear and put in their pockets. 

Green Lantern Gets the Greenlight, Baby!

"In brightest day, In blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight!"

That phrase not only applied to the rogues gallery for Green Lantern, but also its at-time sluggish development hitting the silver screen. From time and again, it looked like it wasn’t happening with the multiple changes of directors, screenwriters and even filming locations. In fact, we still don’t know who will be in the damn movie – except for its lead Ryan Reynolds.

But fear not! Now confirmation on the production receiving the so-oh-vital greenlight from Karen Goulekas (the visual effects supervisor on the Martin Campbell-directed/Reynolds-starring comic book tentpole) via her Keg F/X blog:

Green Lantern got the official green light today! And not a second too soon - only 10 weeks out from shooting!

While it's great news we are a go - now we have to actually get our prep done in 10 weeks!

With that in mind, we should expect official news on casting soon enough.

G.I. Joe Sequel Inches Closer to Happening

UPDATE: The super sleuths over at IESB have confirmed through their sources that the writers taking on a possible sequel to GI Joe are Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.  You may remember the news earlier this week or when it was actually reported originally by Chud about a month ago, that the duo will also be taking on the writing duties for the upcoming "Deadpool".

Even though I greatly enjoyed G.I. Joe last summer (calling it "retardedly awesome!"), the prospects of a sequel were always iffy. After the film opened to a respectable $54 million, Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore told the LA Times that a sequel was on the way. Then all we heard was the tumble-weeds passing by.

Now Collider has received word that the studio has commissioned a screenwriter to pen the sequel. Just who this phantom typist is remains to be seen. Their source wouldn’t divulge details beyond that. No release date has been penciled in (I’d assume they would be aiming at summer 2012) and no word on whether or not director Stephen Sommers would return.

Although the cast is already locked down for multiple sequels, so you Channing Tatum fanboys have no reason to pout.

As much as I (and my Movie Moan hetero life mate Phil) enjoyed it, I’m not crazy about seeing another one to tell you the truth. I have a weird feeling the "This is so stupid it’s amazing!" response will die down if another one were to be made. Look at what happened with Transformers. The overwhelming feed-back on the original was how "kick-ass" it was. But its 2009 sequel had a 180 reception across the board despite the fact that it was essentially more of the same.

Just in case a G.I. Joe sequel goes to the way of Spider-Man 4, check out Phil’s Memo to the Executives regarding the subject.

First Official Photo for Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World

Ladies and gentlemen, my head just explodeded. Awesomeness has in fact been personified by this first official photo from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as shown below.

Edgar Wright's latest (an adaptation of the popular cult comic book series) has been the one film I'm the most intrigued by of this year's releases. That is mostly because I've been wondering just how the Hell this was going to look. Add to the mix an interesting cast with Michael Cera playing against type as our hero along with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Live Free or Die Hard), Jason Schwartzman (most recently of Funny People and Fantastic Mr. Fox), Chris Evans from the Fantastic Four films and Superman Brandon Routh among others.

I cannot wait to see a trailer!

'Thor' Puts The Hammer To 'Spider-Man 4'

It's been a whirlwind tour for fans of the Spider-Man franchise the past several months. First we heard that "Spider-Man 4" would feature The Black Cat on November 9th. Then we heard the likes of Rachel McAdams, Julia Stiles, and Anne Hathaway were the actresses circling the role. Almost exactly a month later IESB had the scoop that "Spider-Man 4" was actually shutting down production despite the protests from various sites that it was just a "holiday break". Yesterday we learned that Rob over at IESB was right on the money when Nikki Finke "confirmed" the story. Now that you're all caught up on the comings and goings of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man we'll move on to the latest news.

Paramount hasn't wasted even a minute of time after hearing that that Spider-Man's web has been packed away for the time being. They have gone ahead and moved up 'Thor' a couple weeks to 5/6/11 from its original release date of 5/20/11. I would imagine this will finally detach some fanboy's heads out of the sand long enough to realize that "Spider-Man 4" really is going to be delayed and there are indeed problems on the set. I'm all for living in denial in some situations, but let's face facts, "Spider-Man 4" is not coming out in 2011.

Don't want to believe me? Nikki Finke is now reporting that the crew for "Spider-Man 4" has been told to look for other work. Sound familiar? It should be, that is exactly what the crew for "Justice League: Mortal" was told and soon after that movie was sent to the Phantom Zone, never to be heard from again. This very well could be the end of "Spider-Man 4".  Don't be surprised if the next time you see Spider-Man on screen it is courtesy of the "reboot" scripts James Vanderbilt is penning for which are being called "Spider-Man 5" and "Spider-Man 6".

What Blockbusters Can We Expect to See Super Bowl TV Spots For?

Before anyone asks, the answer is "No." I haven’t suddenly turned into a Saints fan over night. From those more inclined to know about football, it would take a lot for them not to make this year’s Superbowl. But "the big game" has always been about one thing – the commercials.

So in between weird ads that will most likely whore erectile dysfunction products (What happened to Enzyte spokesman "Bob?" Was he too embarrassed doing commercials acknowledging his difficulty boning his wife?) and beer, comes the traditional TV spots for forthcoming theatrical releases.  

Advertising Age has got the info on some of 2010’s would-be blockbuster tentpoles we can expect to see featured. Disney and Universal have bought one slot each with no specific details on what would fill said spot. Here's hoping we see a kick-ass spot for The A-Team. That's going to really surprise people, I tells ya!

On the other hand, Paramount is going all out. You can expect to be Super Bowl ads for Iron Man 2, The Last Airbender and Shutter Island during the broadcast. Such a move makes sense the Shellhead sequel will in all probability kick everyone's ass this coming summer (with the possible exception of Toy Story 3. But we'll see about that).

Tom Cruise Keeping Busy

Some updates on everyone’s favorite mega star-turned public punching bag-turned comeback kid Tom Cruise. The actor has been mulling over a handful of projects to get his career back to its glory days. Sure, everyone loved his high-profile Tropic Thunder cameo and turned his WWII-themed Valkyrie into a surprise hit during Christmas 2008. But he’s still a ways to go before the public completely forgets about "Couch-gate."

First up comes info from Deadline Hollywood that Cruise will star in Northern Lights with potential movie star of tomorrow Taylor Lautner. Yes, the "shirt-less wolf boy from Twilight" as most of you kids (and cougars) know him as. Cruise will play the billionaire father to Lautner’s young pilot who butts heads with his old man and ultimately goes ga-ga over a female pilot. Hopefully, the conflict between father and son doesn’t involve a love triangle with the double X chromosome.

Meanwhile, one of the more “out there” sounding project he’s long been attached to was The Hardy Men. The comedic send-up of the Hardy Boys books (My best friend in grade school used to read those religiously!) also had Ben Stiller attached. Its would-be director Shawn Levy recently told Starpulse it’s not dead. They’re still working on it. For some reason, I was only the impression there wasn’t much to this beyond an outline that fancied Cruise and Stiller. Meh.

Let’s see if the public continues to slowly enjoy Cruise’s mad-man laugh when the equally "Meh!" looking Knight & Day opens this coming July 4^th holiday against The Last Airbender. My money’s on the latter winning that battle.

Ron Howard Directing Infidelity Comedy with Vince Vaughn

Like most comedic stars, audiences will eventually wan of their "shtick" for whatever new thing feels fresh. Although creatively dead (for my money), that has yet to take place for Vince Vaughn.

People are still eating his "jabbering but lovable wise guy" routine with recent sizeable hits like Four Christmases and Couples Retreat. I won’t take a shit on The Break-Up because I thought that actually worked – guess there’s no accounting for taste.

The trades report that Vaughn will once again headline a comedy. This latest one will be directed by Ron Howard. What the Hell? Isn’t he too busy with bad Oscar bait or bad tentpole like Angels & Demons?

The as yet untitled comedy will center around "the fallout surrounding infidelity between lovers and friends" and is based on an idea from Howard’s producing partner (and hetero life mate) Brian Grazer. Eh, that doesn’t sound too awesome. On the other hand, the actual writing duties have fallen upon Allan Loeb (whose most recent credit is Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps – a script that is apparently damn good according to Latino Review).

And the official countdown begins until Vaughn’s own hetero life mate Jon Favreau joins the production.