Earlier this week controversial horror director Eli Roth officially announced plans to move forward on a full-length version of his fantastic faux Grindhouse trailer, Thanksgiving. “There is hope for Thanksgiving, because that one I retain the rights to, and that, I love it,” Roth told Sci-Fi Wire. “Now I’m kind of thinking maybe I should make like 20 Thanksgivings in a row, just shoot them all and just release them out of order.
“Like, do Thanksgiving 7, then Thanksgiving 4, then 5 and 6 in the theatre. People’d be like, ‘Why did 7 come out already?’ It’s like, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a bunch of people getting chopped up anyways. Who cares?’”
So we know Roth wants to pull a Robert Rodriguez/Machete, but when can fans expect to see any holiday madness?
“My co-writer Jeff [Rendell] just landed yesterday in Los Angeles; he flew out for the [Inglourious Basterds] premiere and so we can finish the script,” Roth told Bloody Disgusting. Even though Roth has visions of stuffed human beings dancing through his demented head, production won’t begin immediately. “I don’t want to do it as my next film but I want to get the script finished,” he said. “The sci-fi film, Endangered Species, is what I’m doing next.”
Audiences can see Roth smacking Nazis with a Louisville Slugger in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
Producer Joel Silver has reportedly admitted that he wants to remake Swamp Thing.
The original 1982 movie, which was directed by Wes Craven and starred Louis Jordan, focused on a scientist who’s transformed into a monster after one of his experiments goes wrong. It was followed by 1989 sequel The Return Of The Swamp Thing, which featured Heather Locklear.
Silver has expressed an interest in reviving the franchise, while utilising 3-D technology.
He told Collider: “I’m developing a picture now that I’d like to do… I’ll hopefully do Swamp Thing, which is a movie we’ve had for a long time.”
He added: “We think that would be great to do in 3-D. There are a couple of projects I’m thinking about [for the format] but not everything.”
It was reported recently that Silver will produce a new He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe movie, tentatively titled Grayskull.
Blockbuster stuntman Peter Pedrero is to make his directorial debut an all-star affair after landing his two-time Harry Potter pal Robert Pattinson and Dannii Minogue among the familiar faces in Vauxhall Crossed.
Pedrero, who has performed stunts in all the Potter films as well as James Bond movies Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough and Braveheart and The Mummy, will direct the British spy movie at Pinewood Studios in England, where the 007 movies are shot.
The film, about American and MI6 agents who team up to take down a psychotic dictator, also features The Full Monty star Hugo Speer.
Supernatural creator Eric Kripke is sticking by his word that his CW thriller will bow out next May after five seasons. Sort of.
“I did set out [to] tell a five-season storyline,” the exec maintains. “Quite frankly, I never expected [the show] to make it to five years. But now that we’re in our fifth year, I have every intention of ending the story with a bang and not drawing it out or watering it down.”
Relax, Supe Nazis. Here’s that catch I promised you…“That having been said,” Kripke continues, “I’m looking at this season as the last chapter in this particular story. That doesn’t mean there can’t be a new story. Buffy did it. The X-Files did it. You close a chapter on a big mythology storyline and then you begin a new one.
“One of the things I like about this show is we don’t draw out mysteries endlessly,” he adds. “We’ll answer a bunch of questions this season and then pose some new ones next season.”
Dexter; The Complete Third Seasonon DVD
Of course, that’s assuming there is a next season. The CW has yet to renew Supernatural for a sixth go-’round. And even if the show does come back, would Kripke still be involved? “I don’t know,” hedges Supe’s fearless leader, who doesn’t have a deal in place beyond season 5. “I’m going to cross that bridge when I get to it.”
The actor has signed to star in “Drive Angry,” a revenge action movie that Patrick Lussier will direct for Nu Image/Millenium Films. Michael De Luca is producing.
Written by Lussier and Todd Farmer, the story centers on a man (Cage) driven by rage who is chasing the people who killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby. The vendetta/rescue spins out of control as the chase gets bloodier by the mile, leaving bodies strewn along the highway.
Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Avi Lerner and Boaz Davidson are executive producing for Nu Image/Millennium, which is planning to begin production in April in Louisiana; the company has a new $10 million studio in Shreveport, La.
“Angry” will be the first foray into 3D for Nu Image/Millenium and marks a return to the format for Lussier. The director, who got his feature start editing horror movies for Wes Craven, last directed “My Bloody Valentine 3D,” which grossed $51 million domestically this year.
For the CAA-repped Cage, “Angry” is the third collaboration with Nu Image/Millenium. The latest, “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” hits the festival circuit beginning with Telluride before going on to Venice and Toronto.
Lost in all the news of the major networks’ summer decline and the struggles of the pay channels and the ongoing soap operas of the endless reality shows is the news that Burn Notice is very quietly becoming a major ratings player on cable.
What originally looked like a silly, self-referential genre show tucked in after wrestling on the USA Network, Burn Notice is one of the biggest hits on cable. It doesn’t get the critical love of Mad Men, but it has a lot of fans.
According to a USA press release, the show’s August airings are burning down nine million viewers at a pop — making it the period’s most watch scripted episodic on cable.
It’s now USA’s most-watched original series ever with 9.1 million viewers during August episodes — the first time a USA original series has broken the nine million viewers benchmark.
World Wrestling Entertainment’s Monday Night RAW is still the network’s most-watched show, but that’s a two-hour live event — a very different animals. Burn Notice is a scripted hour drama, and it’s bringing in numbers that would rival the major networks hits and humble all of their flops.
It’ll be interesting to see what USA does with its franchise here. It should work well in syndication. But could it make a modest jump to the big screen? A long shot maybe, but so was bringing in nine million viewers.
Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glenanne
Burn Notice Crew
Series Make Up Department
Susie Mendez Pfister … makeup artist (20 episodes, 2007-2009)
Gianna Sparacino … hair stylist (15 episodes, 2008-2009)
Malinda Bennett … key makeup artist / assistant makeup artist (11 episodes, 2007)
Cuqui Collaza … hair stylist (6 episodes, 2007)
Series Special Effects Department
Craig Barnett … special effects foreman / special effects technician (23 episodes, 2007-2009)
Kevin Harris … special effects coordinator (14 episodes, 2007-2009)
Series Visual Effects Department
Jason Wilson … visual effects artist (4 episodes, 2008-2009)
Michael S. Pryor … visual effects producer: Laser Pacific (2 episodes, 2009)
Walt Disney Co. agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment Inc., the creator of Spider-Man and thousands of other characters, for about $4 billion.
The deal marks one of the largest acquisitions in Disney’s history and the first big media deal since companies began hoarding cash last fall during the global financial crisis.
The move fits with Disney’s stated strategy of driving revenue from popular content over time across multiple platforms. It also gives the company a boost with young male audiences, where Marvel’s characters like Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor are particularly popular. Disney has shown more strength with females from its properties like Hannah Montana.
Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce said Disney is paying a steep valuation for Marvel but he views the deal as a “good long-term strategic move” for the company. “This is another sign that confidence is returning to the marketplace,” he said.
Marvel has long-term production and distribution deals in place with Disney competitors, including Sony Corp.’s Sony Entertainment, News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox Films and Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, which complicate the company’s strategic position. News Corp. is the parent of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
In many cases, it will take years before Disney can garner anything more than licensing fees from some key Marvel characters, but Disney Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs said those revenue are attractive and the company will have the option to produce and distribute Marvel’s content on its own when those deals expire.
“Marvel is worth more inside Disney than outside Disney,” Mr. Staggs said.
Marvel Chief Executive Ike Perlmutter, who will continue to oversee the Marvel properties, called Disney “the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses.”
The comic book maker has been boosting awareness of its characters by continuing to branch out into animated television series and live-action films. However, the company in the spring pushed back its film schedule through 2012 as it looked to build anticipation for its coming slate of films.
FX’s “Rescue Me” will end its run in 2011, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The show’s co- creator, Peter Tolan, told TVGuide.com that the series is gearing up to shoot its last 19 episodes, which will be stretched into two seasons over the next two years.
Andrea Roth in Rescue Me
“Recuse Me” follows a group of New York City firefighters in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. This season, two major story lines – involving one fireman’s 9/11 conspiracy theory and another’s battle with cancer (believed to have been caused by toxic air at the World Trade Center site) – brought the focus back to that grim day.
A spokesman for FX confirmed to the Daily News that 19 more “Rescue Me” episodes have been ordered and that a 2011 end date was possible, but insisted that nothing is final.
John Rambo’s officially readying for a fifth mission.
Nu Image/Millennium Films has greenlit the franchise’s fifth installment, with Sylvester Stallone starring and directing, repeating his duties from 2008’s “Rambo.”
The upcoming project’s storyline revolves around Rambo fighting his way through human traffickers and drug lords to rescue a young girl abducted near the U.S.-Mexico border. Production will start in the spring.
The film will be produced by Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton and John Thompson. Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short and Boaz Davidson will exec produce.
Stallone had indicated in interviews that a fifth Rambo was in the works. He teamed with Nu Image/Millennium on the 2008 project, which grossed $42 million domestically and $113 million overseas.
Nu Image/Millennium is in post-production on “Expendables,” starring Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li and Mickey Rourke. The actioner’s set for release on April 23 through Lionsgate.
Rambo first appeared in the 1982 pic “First Blood,” followed in 1985 by “First Blood II” and in 1988 by “Rambo III.”
Columbia Pictures is developing a third installment of the high-octane “Bad Boys” franchise, hiring a writer for the screenplay.
The hope is that Peter Craig’s script would reunite director Michael Bay, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. At this point, with the project in the early stages, none has a deal to return.
The “Boys” movies feature Smith and Lawrence as Miami detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, caught up in cases involving car chases and explosions. The first “Boys,” released in 1995, helped launch Bay as a director and Smith as an action star even though it was not a fire-stamped blockbuster — it grossed $66 million domestically and $141 million worldwide. The sequel, released in 2003 when Bay and Smith’s stars had risen, grossed $138 million domestically and $273 million worldwide.
All parties have expressed a willingness to return if a story can be hammered out. One potential hurdle, however, would be the costly deals with the players. Craig co-wrote “The Town,” which Ben Affleck is directing for Warner Bros. and which shoots in Boston next month. He is adapting anime “Cowboy Bebop” for 20th Century Fox and Keanu Reeves.
from NYDailyNews.com
