Vampires, ghosts and monsters, oh my! With recent releases like Paranormal Activity, Jennifer’s Body and Saw VI, theaters have been absolutely crammed with horror fans. And though it may come as a surprise to the more faint-hearted filmgoers among us, a significant portion of the people shelling out to see these freaky flicks are women.
Recent studies have shown that as many as two-thirds of tickets to horror films are bought by females (or their male dates). It seems to go against the conventional wisdom that boys love blood and guts while girls love happy-ending rom-coms. But with movies like Paranormal Activity reaching the top of box office charts, it’s pretty clear men can’t be the only ones driving those numbers.
“I think actually women were probably always going to horror movies, we just weren’t measuring it as religiously as we do now,” Jennifer’s Body director, Karyn Kusama, recently told the sci-fi Web site, i09.com. “I think it’s a human condition to identify with being scared. There is something about the narrative of flight and survival that I think is very compelling for women.”
Or hey, maybe we just like an excuse to scoot closer to the guy sitting next to us. What better way to get closer to your date than grab onto him for dear life?
“I’m not sure what the attraction is, psychologically, for females,” Debbie Liebling, the former president for production at the now-defunct Fox Atomic film company, told The New York Times. “I would love to know why girls are going to see Saw, because I have no idea.”
Saw VI, the sixth film in the Saw movie franchise comes to theaters this weekend, so soon we’ll find out via word-of-mouth just what is drawing our female friends to see these wildly successful psychological thrillers.
As for the non-horror fans, they’ll probably be taking flight with Hilary Swank in Amelia, or frolicking with the cuddly beasts of Where the Wild Things Are. Hey, sometimes you get enough of a scare from your credit card bill. Monday’s box office numbers will tell us which coping method wins out.
Jessy Schram and Kevin Dunn are on board for Fox’s action drama “Unstoppable,” joining Denzel Washington, Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson.
Tony Scott is directing the Mark Bomback-scripted film about the desperate efforts of a veteran engineer and novice conductor to stop a train laden with toxic cargo speeding out of control toward a nearby city.
Schram will play the estranged wife of Pine’s character. Dawson will take on the role of a train dispatcher helping the men via radio, and Dunn will play her boss.
Julie Yorn is producing with Scott and Mimi Rogers; Chris Ciaffa is an executive producer.
The project is scheduled to begin production in the fall in Pittsburgh.
Schram, repped by UTA and Kritzer Levine Wilkins Griffin Entertainment, had recurring roles on NBC’s “Life” and the CW’s “Veronica Mars.
The fourth installment in George Miller’s “Mad Max” franchise, “Fury Road,” is set to go into production in Sydney and outback New South Wales next year, according to local reports Saturday.
Miller, who also will produce the film through his production shingle Kennedy Miller, is quoted as saying that ‘Fury Road’ will put NSW back on the map as a filmmaking destination.
“Hollywood has cut its production in half. Big movies like ‘Fury Road’ and ‘Happy Feet’ are rare and competitively sought after in all the filmmaking regions of the world,” Miller told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
“The production agreements have been a long time in the making and (NSW) Premier Rees and his team have worked like Trojans to ensure this substantial investment comes into this country. Not only does it help fuel the local economy but it means many talented people get a chance to practice their craft and lift their skills.”
News that “Fury Road” has been given the green light comes just 10 days after Warner Bros. announced was pulling production of “Green Lantern” out of Australia.
No studio backing for “Fury Road” was announced for the film which reportedly has a $100 million budget.
“The ‘Mad Max’ films are iconic,” Rees said. “In the hands of director George Miller, we will see one of the largest and most ambitious live-action films ever made in Australia. This is a clear vote of confidence in Australian expertise. This proves that Sydney is an international contender for major film production.”
Kennedy Miller is also in production on “Happy Feet 2” in its digital production joint venture with Omnilab Media, Dr D.
“It’s been 30 years since the post-apocalyptic thriller “Mad Max” was released, propelling Mel Gibson to stardom.
The very first image from Joe Carnahan’s brand spanking new movie The A-Team has been released online. The pic shows off Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Rampage Jackson and Sarlto Copley as the new members, looking actually quite bad-ass. Neeson play Hannibal Smith, Cooper is the new Face (Templeton Peck), Rampage Jackson is BA Baracus and Copley joins the team as Howling Mad Murdock.
The filmis now shooting for a summer 2010 release.
Filming has begun in Vancouver, Canada on the 30 Days of Night sequel Dark Days. The vampire films are based on the cult-hit graphic novel series by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, and will be produced by Stage 6 Films and Ghost House Pictures.
Dark Days will mark Ben Ketai’s directorial debut. The film is based on a screenplay written by Niles and Ketai.
Lost’s Kiele Sanchez stars along with Diora Baird (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), Rhys Coiro (Entourage), Mia Kirshner (The L Word), and Harold Perrineau (Lost).
First look into the forthcoming supernatural film “Season of the Witch” has come out in the form of a teaser trailer. Brought forth by IGN, the sneak peek is less than a minute long and mostly centers its attention at some of the film’s cast ensemble, Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman and Claire Foy.
Cage stars as a 14th century crusader who returns home with his comrade and finds their land is left devastated by the Black Plague. As church blames sorcery as the cause of the plague, the two knights are sent on a mission to transport an accused witch to a remote abbey, where monks will perform a ritual in hopes of ending the pestilence.
On the journey troubled by mythically hostile wilderness and fierce contention over the fate of the girl, they are joined by a priest, a grieving knight, an itinerant swindler, and a headstrong youth who can only dream of becoming a knight. But, a horrific discovery at the abbey jeopardizes their pledge to ensure the girl fair treatment and pits them against an inexplicably powerful and destructive force.
“Season of the Witch” has Dominic Sena, the helmer of “Gone in Sixty Seconds” and “Whiteout”, serving behind the lens. Stephen Campbell Moore, Ulrich Thomsen, Stephen Graham and Robert Sheehan are in supporting roles. Lionsgate eyes to distribute this supernatural thriller into theaters across the U.S. on March 19, 2010.
David Tennant has traveled through time to top a list of the U.K’s most popular Doctor Who stars in the sci-fi show’s 46 year history.
The Scottish actor has played the Time Lord in the cult BBC series since 2005, taking over from acclaimed star Christopher Ecclestone.
And his five-year run, which ends in 2010 when newcomer Matt Smith takes over, is the viewers’ favorite – he won almost 26 per cent of votes from readers of Doctor Who magazine.
Tennant says, “I am so proud of this.”
Other actors to have played the famous character include Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee. There have been 11 incarnations of the Doctor, including Smith, since the show first aired in 1963.
The draft written by director Stephen Norrington reportedly is ‘very well received’ by the Relativity Media that the attention is now turned to the casting.
“The Crow”, a relaunch of the franchise spawned by James O’Barr’s graphic novel, is inching closer to materialization. Comics2Film (C2F) at Mania reported that “a source close to the production” has claimed the latest draft for the film’s screenplay by director Stephen Norrington has been “very well received” by production company Relativity Media.
Beside breaking the story on the status of the screenplay, C2F also provided updates on what the filmmakers are planning to do next for the re-invention of the action thriller. Citing its source once again, the site noted “the project is moving forward” with the current attention being turned to the film’s casting.
This new “The Crow” allegedly won’t be the remake to Alex Proyas’ 1994 film. Instead, Norrington has been reported to plan on creating new character and storyline for this reboot. “Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style,” the director described his vision.
“The Crow” is originally a comic book series created by James O’Barr. It revolves around a young man named Eric Draven who after being left for dead on the side of the road by a gang of street thugs, is resurrected by a Crow and seeks vengeance. The first film adapted from the comics stars the late Brandon Lee.
Chow yun-Fat has joined mainland Chinese actor Ge You in the cast of Jiang Wen’s action comedy Let The Bullets Fly.
The $18m film is currently in production and slated for release in autumn 2010. Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures (EMP) is co-producing with Jiang’s company, Beijing Buyilehu Film, and other partners.
Chow will play a visionary triad leader in the film, set in China during the 1920s, when the country was torn apart by feuding warlords. Jiang also stars in the film as a bandit who proclaims himself mayor of a remote provincial town.
“To us there is no one else more suitable for the role than Chow Yun-fat,” said the film’s producer Ma Ke. “He expressed his interest very early on and had reserved the second half of 2009 for the filming. It was a matter of working out the script to everyone’s satisfaction. We’re very happy that he’s finally on board.”
The script had undergone nine rewrites with 10 different endings before it was finalized on Monday.
EMP, which will start selling the film at the upcoming American Film Market (AFM), previously worked with Jiang on his 2007 Venice competition entry The Sun Also Rises
Not long after the announcement that Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins were cast in the lead roles in the upcoming adaptation of John Carter of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ series of novels, we found out the talented Willem Dafoe would be playing an important character in the film(s) as well.
At the time, we knew that Dafoe would be playing the role of Tars Tarkas, a big green Martian who eventually befriends the Kitsch’s John Carter, after an unfriendly beginning to their relationship. Tarkas is a warrior and leader of his people and a very unique one at that because he, against the laws and norms of his society, shows compassion and sympathy, and even had a child secretly with the woman he loved (child bearing is a major criminal offense of his people) – he actually believes war isn’t the answer for his kind.
Taylor Kitsch
Dafoe also confirmed that the movie will be a combination of live-action and heavy CGI, something that was already hinted at during the casting announcements.
The films are said to mesh live-action and computer-based animation together in a way similar to what James Cameron has done with his eagerly anticipated Avatar. With Disney and Pixar behind the project and the promise of a series of movies on the same scale of Pirates of the Caribbean, I have high hopes for John Carter of Mars and what it will eventually look like on screen.
By Courtney Reimer – Ivillage.com
GoreMaster News 