Lorenzo di Bonaventura Developing Nicholas Flamel

For every Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, we’re subjected to a handful of Eragons and Golden Compasses. As much as studios and producers try, it’s near impossible to replicate the success of the former. They’re lucky if their property makes a third of your average Potter installment no less gets a sequel produced. But that will never stop them from trying again and again. Here, ladies and gentlemen, is yet another attempt.

Variety reports that big-wig producer (and former Warner Brothers big-cheese) Lorenzo di Boneventura has purchased the film rights to The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. I’ve never heard of it either. Then again, I remember during my Screen-Rant days Kofi Outlaw was talking about how Twilight (or as I referred to it “some emo-teenage vampire thing”) was going to kick ass at the box-office. I thought he was nuts. Me = fail.

It’s apparently a six-book series about teenage twins who roam the world going on adventures with the title-character. They save the world a couple of times, I’m sure. Not trying to take a dump on the Flamel books (or Twilight for that matter), but it’s all Greek to me. It’s not my cup of coffee to begin with. So there’s no need of me “hating” it despite never reading a single word of either book series. Meh.

DiBoneventura himself has had great success with the Transformers films and G.I. Joe as of late. He also helped secure the rights to the Harry Potter series at the end of the 90s during his tenure at Warner Brothers. So the hope is he can sprinkle the same kind of magic for another fantasy book series at another studio. Good luck to them. But lightening rarely strikes twice, folks.

Eddie Murphy Finally Returning to R-Rated Comedy?

Eddie Murphy has spoken every so often of his desire to return to the stand-up circuit in addition to the R-rated comedies that made him a bona fide movie-star back in the early ‘80s. Well he says that. Cut to him staring in half a dozen or so family comedies that audiences avoid. It’s especially ironic he’s been in this rut because The Nutty Professor (a family-friendly comedy) was his career-comeback after a string of his R-rated comedies bombed.

Will the once great comedian turn the tide for a third time? I hope so. But going off his track-record, I won’t hold my breath. I mean we’re no closer to the much talked-up Beverly Hills Cop IV despite the commitment of Brett Ratner to direct, multiple screenwriters having worked on it and an officially announced May 2010 release.

 Risky Business reports the comedian is giving it another go nonetheless. He’s attached to produce (and maybe possibly potentially star in) The Misadventures of Fluffy. Before you roll your eyes, this is said to be an R-rated comedy. You know, like the kinds Murphy used to make. The basic story description entails a Manhattan road trip. With talking animals.

So if you were disappointed with the lack of celebrity-voiced animals saying “Mother fucker!” in Doctor Dolittle, you’re in the luck. The rest of us will just scratch our heads and try to convince the youth of today how Eddie Murphy used to be a comedy god.

Anne Hathaway Summoned For Spider-Man 4

While rumors of Rachel McAdams and Julia Stiles wearing skin tight spandex dance in fanboy's heads the producers of "Spider-Man 4" have been courting another actress for a major role in the upcoming film. The queen of breaking news, Nikki Finke, has the exclusive over at her Deadline Hollywood headquarters. Finke points out that the producers are eyeing Anne Hathaway for a starring role but she won't be stealing Kirsten Dunst's thunder, in fact, Finke found out Hathaway isn't even up for the role of the rumored villainess Black Cat.

All I know is that she's wanted for a starring role, and she won't replace Kirsten Dunst who's also cast in the Spidey fourquel. UPDATE: You readers think the role is The Black Cat.

Is Finke's source trying to reach out to the fans and tell us that Black Cat is a rumor and nothing more or could it be possible that there is another high profile female role that the studio is scratching to cast? I've always been a big Hathaway fan, I've been hoping for several years that WB would bring her in for Lois Lane if another Superman movie were to take flight. I think she has better acting chops than both Stiles and McAdams and is still pretty easy on the eyes. If it were up to me and I had to choose one of the three for whatever role is actually being cast, I'd go with the star of "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Rachel Getting Married". No brainer.

Track The Trailers

 Wolfman International Trailer @ Trailer Addict

Far Cray Trailer @ IGN Movies

Last Song Trailer @ Yahoo Movies

Percy Jackson & The Olympians International Trailer @ Bad Taste

New Avatar Poster & Footage

Coming Soon via CloneWeb & Filmsactu has posted a new French poster for James Cameron's Avatar. Check out the poster below, for bigger and better quality versions head over to one of the three websites.

Aint It Cool via Market Saw had a 4 minute clip from Avatar that seems to have been lifted from Xbox Live. The video has since been removed by Fox's request.

Someone Already Being Considered For Khan In Star Trek 2?

The last two weeks worth of rumors have been all about Spider-Man 4 casting. It’s time for another high-profile sequel to get some press. With Star Trek now out on home video, the “What about the sequel?” questions are only going to get worse for J.J. Abrams and his team. Honestly, the “We’re just in the early stages of writing” fallback answer is becoming harder to believe. This has got to be in an outline form, at least.

A rumor’s been whispered into the ear of Coming Soon stating that Abrams not only may have Khan (*Sigh*) as the villain for Trek 2. But he’s already said to have an actor in mind. Nestor Carbonell isn’t someone audiences know by name. But they’ve definitely seen him around in both film and television. His most recognized role is that of Richard Alpert on Lost (not coincidentally was co-created and produced by Abrams) and Mayor Garcia in The Dark Knight. He's said to be J.J.'s favorite for the part.

The site is quick to point out this is 100% a rumor and it has still yet to be determined if the genetically engineered arch-nemesis of Captain Kirk (the old pre-rebooted Kirk that is) will even appear. Assuming this is legit, they wouldn’t be talking about candidates for the role if he wasn’t going to show up in some capacity.

If we do get confirmation to expect a rebooted version of Khan for the Star Trek sequel, I’ll just die a little on the inside for the lack of originality – especially coming outta Abrams who made the first film work with his casting and direction despite its (at times) retarded plot.

"Wolfman" News & A New Poster

LatinoReview have the hook up on a new international poster for "The Wolfman," I think it's fantastic, much more subtle and creepy than the bog standard Wolfman's head poster, however it may be too subtle for the modern audience.

More concerning than the mentality of the modern audience is the news from /Film of editors being brought in to try and salvage the film.

The lastest turnover on the production is the hiring of two new editors, in the stead of the previously attached Dennis Virkler - though at least Virkler got to add the film to his stunning resume of crowd displeasers, alongside Xanadu, Freejack, the Schumacher Batman films and other such gems. The production really couldn’t have called on a pair of more impressive names to save the day, however, with action expert Mark Goldblatt and all-round Edit Bay Yoda Walter Murch getting the nod.

Amongst other credits, Goldblatt was the editor of Cameron’s Terminator films and the only Michael Bay films to be remotely comprehensible, and directed second unit on Robocop; while Murch was the sound editor on The Conversation and The Godfather Part 2, sound and picture editor of Apocalypse Now, editor of Ghost and The Talented Mr. Ripley, and director of Return to Oz.

Joe Johnson has always seemed a solid if unremarkable director, certainly one who will deliver if the material is decent, however it seems something went badly wrong on Wolfman and this must raise questions over his suitability to direct "Captain America."

"Crazy Heart" Poster and Trailer

I've not really enjoyed this years movie offerings, the blockbuster season was one of the worst in living memory and there has been very little in the way of quality since "Star Trek," granted I am gonna have to catch "Moon" and "500 Days of Summer" on DVD, but still, you get my point.

So we are now heading into the Christmas ether which will bring "Sherlock Holmes" and "Avatar," both of which I will probably see but am not particularly hyped for, so as I prepared to don my warm coat for a movie winter of discontent it was with great susprise and pleasure I was introduced to the movie this article is about "Crazy Heart." a friend of mine put me on to it yesterday when he sent me a link to the poster and then last night the trailer popped up, it was like the first real glimmer of the post Christmas awards season cracking through the dense winter gloom!

First the synopsis, poster and trailer, then some thoughts:

Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who's had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician.

Apparently it is already gaining Oscar buzz, espeically the performance of Bridges, in a role that is garnering comparisons to Mickey Rourke's comeback toure deforce in "The Wrestler."

The trailer for me was pitch perfect, an understated character drama, beautifully lensed, that runs the gamut of emotions (I am also looking forward to the soundtrack), it's such a refreshing change from the endless stream of huge CGI soaked trailers with MTV music blaring over the top.......Yeah, I'm getting old folks.

Julia Stiles Also A Spider-Man 4 Contender

I could make a “Ten Things I Hate About Spider-Man” opening line, but I won’t. That’s expected and frankly beneath you good readers - unless you’re one of those dumbshit ones.

Because we didn’t have enough casting rumors about Spider-Man 4 after the publicly denying Rachel McAdams to Romola Garai (who by publicly admitting that she had done a screen-test essentially said, “No, I didn’t get the role!”), comes yet another candidate for Black Cat. UGO Movie Blog has their own scoop towards the sequel none of us truly care about.

According to their contact(s), Julia Stiles recently met with a New York-based casting company about possibly coming aboard Spider-Man 4. She would presumably be in the running for Felicia Hardy. Hold on just a second, folks. I have to let this out: Ugh. There I feel better.

Assuming this actually moves beyond the “early talks/consideration” stage (which all it is right now and 9 times out of 10 results in a bag full of nothing), Stiles can’t really act. She stuck out like a sore thumb in the Bourne films. Although she did improve with the last film The Bourne Ultimatum. If the fanboys thought they had it bad with Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson (who contrary to popular belief was perfectly fine in the first two films), I don’t know what they’d think of Stiles as Black Cat.

But again, this is still early on. There will most likely be yet another actress (established or unknown) whose name will be brought up for Spider-Man 4. Wake me up when Sony and Sam Raimi actually cast the damn part.

Mad Mel Talks Mad Max 4

You have to wonder how people would have reacted had George Miller said, “Mel Gibson is absolutely coming back for Mad Max 4! You thought I was going to recast that part?” Of course, that didn’t happen and the iconic hero is planning to return in a fourth installment with British actor Tom Hardy taking the mantle.

While promoting the Blu-Ray release of his Oscar-winning epic Braveheart (good film, but I was never nuts about it), Gibson talked about Fury Road to the Herald Sun:

“I was just talking with George the other day, he dropped me a line, so you kind of keep in touch with them and see what they’re up to.”

Although Mad Mel was quick to dismiss his return to the leather-clad suit once again saying, “You need somebody who can get around a bit quicker.” My guess is Miller initially went to him when he finally secured financing but Gibson opted out. Thereby explaining the casting of one Mr. Hardy who I’m sure will be fine in the role.

As recently as 2003 Miller and Gibson were set to make Fury Road with filming to commence overseas - I think in Morocco, correct me if I’m wrong. But once the Iraq War Part Deux started, all studios got skittish towards an expensive production taking place on the other side of the world. Hence the plug was pulled.

So if you really wanted to see Gibson return, you can blame Saddam Hussein. But don’t worry, kids. Our pal Saddam is burning in Hell right now for his crimes against humanity and we’re still getting a new Mad Max movie. So it all worked out.