Thursday
Sep102009

'Ninja Assassin' TV Spot

Warner Bros has unleashed a new tv spot for their upcoming actioner "Ninja Assassin" and of course Coming Soon has it.

Ninja Assassin follows Raizo (Rain), one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them… and vanishes. Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge.

In Berlin, Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) has stumbled upon a money trail linking several political murders to an underground network of untraceable assassins from the Far East. Defying the orders of her superior, Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles), Mika digs into top secret agency files to learn the truth behind the murders. Her investigation makes her a target, and the Ozunu Clan sends a team of killers, led by the lethal Takeshi (Rick Yune), to silence her forever. Raizo saves Mika from her attackers, but he knows that the Clan will not rest until they are both eliminated. Now, entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse through the streets of Europe, Raizo and Mika must trust one another if they hope to survive…and finally bring down the elusive Ozunu Clan.

Thursday
Sep102009

Three 'Zombieland' TV Spots

Three TV spots have surfaced from the upcoming "undead" shooting gallery that is "Zombieland" featuing the shiny head of Woody Harrelson and the Michael Cera like vocal stylings of Jesse Eisenberg. Check out the first one below and head over to to Coming Soon to view the other two.

 

Thursday
Sep102009

'Takers' Poster

Coming Soon has your exclusive first look a the 'Takers' poster. "Takers", originally titled "Bone Deep", involves a gang of elusive bank robbers who might have finally met their match when a veteran detective takes on the case.

Thursday
Sep102009

From District 9 to the A-Team?

Oddly enough, I was thinking that he would be a perfect fit for Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four reboot. But maybe that's just me. Well it appears that studios across town are clamoring to work with District 9 star Sharlto Copley after making such a splash this past summer. Many (including yours truly) are hoping the Academy will get off their fucking high-horse and give the guy a much deserved "Best Actor" Oscar nomination next year. It'll never happen, I know.

Now Black Film is reporting that 20th Century Fox and the producers of the A-Team (which just recently found their B.A. Baracus in "Rampage" Jackson) have sent out an offer to the actor/producer to play "Howling Mad" Murdock. I figured this would have been the first cast among the group as it seemed to be the easiest. Shows what I know.

Quiet a few actors were linked to the role ranging from the "so high profile there's no way in Hell it'll happen" (i.e. Jim Carrey) to the "so easy it borders on type-casting" (i.e. Sam Rockwell). It's such an intriguing choice that it shows the filmmakers aren't aiming at making another Starsky & Hutch and Copley will most definitely get a nice pay-bump after District 9's killer box-office as well as getting his name further out there. So a win-win deal if I've ever seen one.

Wednesday
Sep092009

"Law Abiding Citizen" Poster

Cinematical have the exclusive look at the poster for the Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx two hander "Law Abiding Citizen," the trailer for this one caught me by surprise with it's unexpected twist on the revenge thriller, however the poster is a bland floating heads deal with Sin City style writing that has me wondering exactly what the tonal target of the movie is, as the trailer suggested high concept action thriller, but the poster says pulpy comic book.

"Law Abiding Citizen" open on October 16th and you can check the poster out below.

Wednesday
Sep092009

Rampage Will Pity the Fools

The prospects of an A-Team movie never appealed to me personally. Not a strike against it, mind you. I just never cared. We all knew there would eventually be a film-version – especially compared to far worse television shows being adapted to the silver screen.

It was just a matter of who would be cast. And I must say I do like who Joe Carnahan and his team have lined up so far (i.e. Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith and Bradley Cooper as Face) even though they weren’t exactly who I had in mind. For the record, I had Kurt Russell and Jason Bateman in those perspective roles.

Nonetheless the biggest question mark has been who will fill in the boots of B.A. Baracus made famous by Mr. T back in the early-to-mid 80s. According to the Vancouver Sun, the gang has found their “Bad Ass” in former UFC champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson who previously met with the producers and was said to have arrived this past holiday weekend.

Can’t say I’m a regular watcher of Ultimate Fighting Championship nor could I name you a single person involved. Now as little kid, I was obsessed with both WWF and WCW wrestling. That aside, Jackson certainly looks the part and I’m sure he’ll be fine.

Somewhere in the world right now, Michael Clarke Duncan is pissed.

Wednesday
Sep092009

'The Princess And The Frog' Trailer Makes Me Want To Believe

I'm not going to pretend to know how well Disney's return to traditional animation is going to do at the box office (the particular person whose words you're reading now thought 'Enchanted' would flop - that's how bad his instincts are) but there is certainly a lot riding on it.  'The Princess and the Frog' is the start of Disney's new dynasty of animated films, if all goes to plan.

If, in the worst case scenario, this film does bomb, I don't think it will mean that Disney does abandon 2D animation again but it could very well mean the end of telling this particular kind of story.  We know that the studio have an adaptation of 'Rapunzel' in production right now but they could very well pull the plug on it, such is the nature of animation.

If 'The Princess and the Frog' is as good as I hope it is, then Disney really needs to take an aggressive marketing approach with it, just like 'Star Trek'.  They need to start screening the film and getting the word out.  Right now, all we have to go on is the new trailer.  I can't really tell how good the film is going to be but one thing is for sure; it looks absolutely gorgeous and it doesn't need gimmicks like digital or 3D to make it so.  Just watch it below and see what I mean.

'The Princess and the Frog' opens in Los Angeles and New York on November 25th, opens wide across America on December 11th and, sigh, opens in the UK on February 12th.

Wednesday
Sep092009

"Up in the Air" Trailer

Jason Reitman came to the fore with acidic comedy "Thank you for Smoking" and followed it up with the little movie that could "Juno," now we have the trailer for his latest offering "Up in the Air."

Starring Hollywood A-list schmoozer George Clooney, this looks like an altogether more serios and drama based movie than the two prior offerings. The trailer is one long monologue laced with images of Clooney's character flying all over the world, I'm not sure what to make of this yet, I'm intrigued but not excited.

Check the trailer out below and the movie in cinema's December 4th.

 

Wednesday
Sep092009

Warner Brothers Restructuring DC Comics

Even though Marvel is clearly ahead in the race, DC is slowly (but surely) catching up. 2010 will bring forth The Losers and Jonah Hex for fans, the offensively-pricey Green Lantern starts production this coming Spring and we'll eventually get Batman III and that Superman re-whatever.

Now Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that Jeff Robinov (who himself was recently given a new juicy contract-renewal as he's being suited to take over the company) plans on restructuring DC Comics from the leg up with an official announcement coming as soon as this afternoon.

Long story short, a number of DC properties that have been lingering into nothing-ness (read: Wonder Woman) have been recalled back to the studio away from their long-time producers. If said properties return to their perspective parties, it will be at a reduced deal. The studio doesn't want to hand over too much damn money to the likes of Joel Silver and Chuck Roven. No offense, guys.

I know, I know. My first reaction was also, "Oh so this is their way of stealing Marvel's thunder!" But that's just not the case, says Finke's source(s). Said plan has long been in the works. It's just conveniently timed to be announced after that whole "Disney buying Marvel" thing. You might have heard about that.

If this means we get the next Superman film out sooner rather than later, I'm game.

UPDATE: And as earlier promised by Ms. Finke, Warner Brothers officially announces their new plans including new title (read: DC Entertainment) in additon to long-time big-cheese Paul Levitz stepping down. So it appears a fire has in fact been lit under WB's ass. Good. And who benefits from all of this? Fans eagerly awaiting DC-related films.

Wednesday
Sep092009

The Hobbit Legally Permitted to Move Forward

New Line Cinema has been doing quiet a bit of "willin and dealin" over the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As expected, this has come back to bite them in the ass as the former big-player studio (now subsidiary of Warner Brothers) has been hit with several lawsuits - chief among them from the estate of Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien.

Long story short, they're owed money over profits earned from the trilogy. If you'll remember, it made a couple of bucks in theaters over the course of three years (read: close to $3 billion box-office!)

This in itself threatened to prevent the two-part Guillermo del Toro-directed/Peter Jackson-produced Hobbit films from moving forward. According to THR, that problem has been nipped in the bud as New Line has settled the case out of court with the Tolkien estate.

Of course, this outcome isn't surprising. There's just too much money to be made by all parties for this to be further dragged out into the courts (said trial would have started next month had a settlement not been reached!) Now let's hope we'll get more definitve news-items on The Hobbit. Perhaps they'll soon reveal the idenity of the new Bilbo Baggins - the one that Sir Ian McKellan said had just been cast.