Rob Marshall and Johnny Depp

by Allan Ford – Filmofilia.com

Rob Marshall (Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago) confirmed that he’ll be working for Disney / Bruckheimer to bring us Pirates of the Caribbean 4 which is entitled “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides“

After a recent screening of Marshall’s upcoming musical “Nine“, remake of Federico Fellini’s classic 8 1/2, host Nora Ephron asked him about his next project, to which Marshall replied that he will helm “Pirates of the Caribbean 4.”

“You know, it’s something that I was offered and never in the world thought I would do but then I was like ‘why not?’,” he said. “I’m doing Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Marshall also directed “Chicago” in 2002, which won six Oscars and was nominated for seven more.

Pirates 4 is to be loosely based on the book On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, which was optioned by Disney many years ago. The plot of the novel follows a puppeteer named John Chandagnac who, in an effort to recover money stolen from his uncle, sails for Jamaica. When pirates attack the ship, he is forced to join their crew and become the pirate Jack Shandy. Shandy struggles to accept his new life as he is transported to spectral lands by Blackbeard and Voodoo magicians in search of the Fountain of Youth.

Pirates of the Carribean is set to appear in theaters during the Summer of 2011.

Chris Hemsworth

Isabel Lucas

By Alan Miller – LansingStateJournal.com

Local filming of scenes for the action-thriller film “Red Dawn” began in Grand Ledge on Monday, Nov. 16 and continued for four days.

Other scenes are being filmed in Detroit, Harper Woods, Royal Oak, Milford and Highland Township.

Producer Tripp Vinson said the scenery is what brought him to Grand Ledge.

“This location works really well for the movie. There are a lot of story points where we need a real wooded scenic location, and we found it here,” he said.

“I think the thing that has worked out the best for us is the ability to capture a really big movie,” Vinson said.

“What I mean by that is the locations that we found are very cinematic, so it adds a lot of scope to the movie. I think people are going to be surprised at how big this movie looks.”

Vinson said the choice of a Michigan location was not primarily driven by the state’s tax credit for movie makers, but that it helped.

“The primary reason we come to any location is that it is best for the movie creatively,” he said.

Adrianne Palicki

“The fact that there is such an aggressive incentive here is an added bonus, but I absolutely would not categorize it as the primary reason why we are here.”

The film tells the story of a group of teenagers who form an insurgency to defend their town when it is attacked by Chinese and Russian soldiers.

It is described as a “re-boot” of a 1984 film by the same name starring Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen.

This version will star Chris Hemsworth, previously seen in “Star Trek,” Josh Peck, previously seen in “The Wackness” and Adrianne Palicki, of “Friday Night Lights.”

The new film is scheduled for release in November, 2010.

Dan Bradley is directing the movie for Contrafilm Productions, and it is expected to be distributed by MGM.

Cast
  Chris Hemsworth … Jed Eckert
  Jeffrey Dean Morgan … Col. Andy Tanner
  Isabel Lucas … Erica
  Adrianne Palicki … Toni
  Josh Hutcherson … Robert
  Josh Peck … Matt Eckert
  Brett Cullen … Tom Eckert
  Will Yun Lee … Captain Lo

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By Katey Rich: CinemaBlend.com

Ever since Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick admitted that the movie began as a TV series, there’s been discussion of a sequel for the massively profitable zombie comedy. Everyone seemed on board to do it so long as Sony was willing to pay for it, and talking to Moviehole, director Ruben Fleischer says the studio seems to finally be on board. Sony is “very interested” in a sequel, and not only that, they might be shelling out to put it in 3-D.

“The genre really lends itself to 3-D,” Fleischer said, which is something of an understatement given how many zombies, teeth, people and weapons went flying at the screen in the first film. Flesicher says they haven’t decided where the movie will be set or even on a story, but given that Reese and Wernick had planned a 12-episode season, I’m sure there’s no lack of ideas. And while 3-D’s usefulness in films that are trying to be serious has yet to be proven, movies like My Bloody Valentine and The Final Destination have used the technology to take schlock to a whole new level. Something tells me we’ll love watching Tallahassee and Columbus just as much in the third dimension.

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Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider are betting big on robots for their first project since securing $825 million in financing for the reconstituted DreamWorks.

Hugh Jackman

The DreamWorks principals have greenlit the “Rocky”-esque robot tale “Real Steel,” to star Hugh Jackman, as their first pic since raising $650 million from both J.P. Morgan Securities and Reliance Big Pictures and an additional $175 million from Disney, which will distribute DreamWorks titles.

Plot Summary
A future-set story where robot boxing is a popular sport and centered on a struggling promoter (Jackman) who thinks he’s found a champion in a discarded robot. During his hopeful rise to the top, he also discovers he has an 11-year-old son who wants to know his father.

Directed by Shawn Levy

Writers
  Leslie Bohem Screenplay
  John Gatins Screenplay
  Dan Gilroy Writer
  Jeremy Leven Writer
  Richard Matheson Short story

Producers
  Rick Benattar … co-producer
  Shawn Levy … producer
  Josh McLaglen … executive producer
  Mary McLaglen … executive producer
  Susan Montford … producer
  Don Murphy … producer
  Jack Rapke … executive producer
  Steven Spielberg … executive producer
  Steve Starkey … executive producer
  Robert Zemeckis … producer

Source(s) Variety, IMDB, TheWrap.com

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By Phil Guie – CinemaSpy.com

Red Cliff is the new war epic by Chinese action-meister John Woo. But this wasn’t the same version that graced Asian theaters prior to its international release: In its home country, Red Cliff was released as two films, the first in mid-2008; the second in early 2009.
Rather than unleash a nearly six-hour magnum opus on audiences worldwide, Woo pared both films down into a single two-and-a-half hour cut. In interviews, he said the deleted scenes mostly placed the film’s events in historical context, which might not have appealed to Westerners unfamiliar with Chinese history. Woo’s movie depicts the famous Battle of Red Cliffs, which was fought around early 200 A.D. between warlords from the northern and southern regions of China.

It’s too early to tell how successful Red Cliff will be with North American viewers (In mainland China, it broke the previous box office record held by Titanic). But when the shorter cut was released in Europe earlier this year, critics mostly seemed impressed, which has not always been the case with movies re-cut for international eyes. Too often, unwieldy running times or a need to make the movie seem more Westernized precipitates breaking out the shears, but frequently, this has led to poorly-received films.

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by Deljhp – 24FramesperSecond.com

Premiered at this year Cannes, Gabe Ibáñez’s supernatural horror thriller Hierro has been gathering some good (albeit more for its stunning visual style, than its narrative and storytelling) reviews on the festival circuits.

Synopsis: While travelling by ferry to the island of El Hierro, Maria’s the young Diego goes missing. Has he fallen overboard? Has he been abducted? Nobody knows. Nobody knows. Diego simply vanished. Six months later, as Maria is fighting to overcome the pain of her loss, to pick up the pieces of her life and start over again, she receives an unexpected telephone call. A child’s body has been discovered and she has to return to El Hierro. On the island, a strange and threatening landscape, populated by sinister, malevolent looking characters, Maria is forced to confront her worst nightmares. As she travels along the terrible path that will lead to her son, Maria will ultimately make that most unbearable discovery of all: that some mysteries are better left unanswered.

Elena Anaya

Directed by Gabe Ibáñez

Writers
  Jesus de la Vega Story
  Javier Gullón Story
  Javier Gullón Written by

Producers
  Belén Atienza … executive producer
  Álvaro Augustín … producer
  Jesus de la Vega … producer
  M.A. Faura … co-producer
  Jaime Ortiz de Artiñano … delegate producer

Cast  
  Elena Anaya … María
  Hugo Arbues … Mateo
  Jon Ariño … Forense
  Miriam Correa … Julia
  Tomás del Estal
  Andrés Herrera … Antonio
  Javier Mejía … Matias
  Kaiet Rodriguez … Diego
  Raquel Salvador … Elena
  Bea Segura … Laura
  Mar Sodupe … Tania

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by Monika Bartyzel – Cinematical.com

It’s time for the second feature written, directed, and starring the Muscles from Brussels Jean-Claude Van Damme. First we had The Quest, a story he whipped up with the help of Frank Dux (the man Bloodsport was based on). Now there’s The Eagle Path. Once called Full Love, this sucker is all-out classic Van Damme with faux serious acting, violence, and of course, the potential love of a sexy woman.

Claudia Bassols

Van Damme plays “Frenchy,” a military vet and former mercenary who hides from his past by working as a taxi driver in East Asia. When he picks up a sexy woman one day, he becomes obsessed with the idea of improving her life and decides to do so without her approval. With help from his special ops friends, he sets out to “save” her, and as the official synopsis says: “War is hell, but nothing they’ve done could have prepared them for this.”

Directed by
  Jean-Claude Van Damme

 Writers
  Jean-Claude Van Damme

 Producers
  Kathy Brayton … executive producer
  Pairoj Rojlertjanya … line producer
  Jean-Claude Van Damme … producer
  Eugene Van Varenberg … producer

 Cast
  Jean-Claude Van Damme … Frenchy
  Claudia Bassols … Sophia
  John Colton … Luther Banks
                                                                                         Josef Cannon … Bobby Jackson
  Chuck DiMaria … Vinnie Scantino
  Adam Karst … Soli

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Jeremy Renner

by Russ Fischer – SlashFilm.com

Jeremy Renner, who was so great in The Hurt Locker and was batted around as a possibility to become the new Mad Max, is saying he may appear as the superhero archer Hawkeye in a couple of Marvel movies. How do you stock a couple of films with multiple minor superheroes and not have them all look silly? By casting people like Renner, who can do a lot with very little material.

The Playlist transcribed some quotes from the UK edition of Empire, in which Renner says he’s been having discussions with Marvel about playing Hawkeye in at least two upcoming Marvel films, then appearing in The Avengers in a full-blown role, rather than a cameo. If the deal did go through, sounds like he’d at least cameo in Thor before  The Avengers hits. At the end of Captain America, perhaps? Seems very late to be shoehorned into Iron Man 2, but anything is possible.

Renner says “Hawkeye could be interesting. They’re going to send me some stuff on it, see what it is. But I think they’re pretty awesome, trying to make superhero movies almost plausible and not just some fantasy thing”.

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Amber Dawn Landrum

From Shocktilyoudrop.com

There were rumblings a few months back that shooting had begun on a remake of Meir Zarchi’s I Spit On Your Grave with Steven R. Monroe (It Waits) behind the camera to direct for CinTel Films. Now, IMDB (via Arrow In The Head) uncovered a list of the full cast for the feature which Anchor Bay Entertainment is co-producing.

Sarah Butler, Chad Lindberg, Daniel Franzese, Rodney Eastman, Jeff Branson, Saxon Sharbino, Amber Dawn Landrum and Andrew Howard all star in the update of I Spit On Your Grave.

The most recognizable name amongst the bunch is Eastman who played Joey in A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 and 4. Sarah Butler (pictured left) tackles the role of Jennifer orignated by Camille Keaton.

Based on the 1978 film, I Spit On Your Grave is the story of a woman who is brutally attacked, raped, and left for dead in the wilderness. She survives to hunt down her assailants and methodically, graphically takes her vengeance. Source:Imdb,AITH

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Jessica Alba

by Kieron – ReelLoop.com

Jessica Alba is to re-unite with Robert Rodriguez in a film based on a series of Belgian graphic novels. Whilst the pair first teamed on the cinematic adaptation of Frank Miller’s Sin City, they are now to respectively star in and produce a big screen version of The Insiders. The director’s chair will, somewhat excitingly, go to Mabrouk el Mechri whose last film, the post modern action flick JCVD, somehow made Jean Claude Van Damme not only relevant again but, unexpectedly, an art-house darling.

   The Insiders focuses on the character Najah Cruz, a “Colombian who is as deadly as she is beautiful.” Armed with the weapons skills of James Bond Cruz must, according to icv2, “infiltrate a worldwide mafia-like organization composed of businessmen and politicians” to become the bodyguard of the organization’s leader.

   The Insiders marks one of many projects Alba has lined up at the moment. Alongside her role in the Meet The Fockers sequel, the erstwhile Dark Angel is set to appear in An Invisible Sign of My Own, Machete and Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me.

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