Fishburne joins Predators cast

By Josh Winning – TotalFilm.com

Former Matrix star Laurence Fishburne has joined the soon-shooting re-jig of alien epic Predators.

Playing a character called Noland, we can only imagine that he was hired for his previous experience with kung-fu and action. Not to mention he’s freakin’ cool and badass as hell.

Official plot details are light, with the only info released amounting to one sentence: “A group of elite warriors are hunted by members of a merciless alien race known as Predators.”

We know from various whispers, though, that the action will be set entirely on the Predator homeworld, where warriors including Danny Trejo, Adrien Brody and Topher Grace have to fight for their lives.

Vacancy director Nimród Antal is at the helm under producer Robert Rodriguez’s guiding hand

Cameron’s next sci-fi will be Fantastic Voyage

Adam Rosenberg – MTV News

In the early AM hours on December 9, an attention-grabbing tweet popped up in the Twitter feed for Production Weekly: “James Cameron is developing a Shane Salerno-scripted sci-fi action script for Fox, described as an “event” film set in the future.” Speculation immediately ran wild that said project was “Doomsday Protocol,” a pitch Salerno sold to Fox last year that was described as being a sort of space-based take on Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai.”

It turns out that this is not the case. MTV News’ Josh Horowitz spoke with Cameron and producer Jon Landau on the red carpet at the London premiere of “Avatar,” and the project in question has nothing to do with space-age samurai. The actual plan is to remake sci-fi classic “Fantastic Voyage,” in 3-D, with Cameron taking on the role of producer.

In the original, a small team attempts to save the life of a nearly-assassinated diplomat through a uniquely invasive surgical procedure. The magic of science allows the doctors to be shrunken down to microscopic size and injected into the ailing diplomat’s body. Piloting a specialized submersible craft — also tiny — the team attempts to repair with the diplomat’s condition — a blood clot in his brain — on a cellular level.

The original hit theaters in 1966, long before digital effects were a factor in Hollywood filmmaking. One can only imagine how cool (and gooey) the diplomat’s computer generated innards could be made to look with today’s techniques. Add 3-D to that mix and… well… count me as excited. Stay tuned to MTV.com for additional updates… more to come when the Movies team returns from their trip across the Atlantic.

Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in Electric New Iron Man 2 Poster

by Ethan Anderton – FirstShowing.net

Over the summer we were given our very first glimpse at Mickey Rourke as the villain Whiplash in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2, but now Paramount has followed the other recent poster premieres with yet another teaser poster for the highly anticipated sequel featuring the electric whipping antagonist. Combine Rourke’s disheveled, unstable prisoner look with a background collage of magazine and newspaper clippings featuring Tony Stark as the heroic Iron Man, and you know Whiplash is going to give Stark a run for his money. Now I guess we’ll all be waiting for a poster featuring the sultry redheaded Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow.

Iron Man 2 takes place only “six months after Stark revealed his identity as Iron Man” at the end of the first movie. Jon Favreau is directing again from a screenplay written by actor-turned-writer Justin Theroux. Iron Man 2 stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, and Don Cheadle as Rhodey. Favreau revealed that the first official trailer would be attached to Sherlock Holmes this Christmas, so be on the lookout for that next month. Paramount is bringing Iron Man 2 to theaters on May 7th next summer.

Zombieland Sequel Likely, And May Be In 3D

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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Death on Wheels: Aussie horror ROAD TRAIN

Director: Dean Francis

Writer:  Clive Hopkins

Cast:

Sophie Lowe, Xavier Samuel, Bob Morley, Georgina Haig

Story: Four young friends on a camping adventure in outback Australia are run off the road by an erratically driven road train – a massive three-trailer truck. With their own vehicle wrecked, and the road train stopped, the friends march off to remonstrate with the drivers. But mysteriously, there is no one to be found. Suddenly, the silence is broken by the sound of gunshots. A distant figure in the bush screams and runs towards them.

Have they become witnesses to a murder? There’s no time to discuss it. The friends commandeer the road train. The next town is only three hours away. But the next town is somewhere they will never reach. And what they discover inside the vehicle’s trailers proves more terrifying than anything out there on that lonely road.

From left: Xavier Samuel, Bob Morley, Sophie Lowe, Georgina Haig and Dean Francis

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William Peter Blatty and William Friedkin Team for Another The Exorcist?

From MovieWeb.com

 It seems that William Peter Blatty, the author of the original novel The Exorcist, could be reteaming with William Friedkin, director of the 1973 film based on Blatty’s classic literary work of genius, for another version of the story. Though, according to Blatty, this new project won’t be going to theater screens. Instead, it will be a four-hour miniseries made for television.

Cementary Dance magazine (courtesy of Bloody Disgusting) recently interviewed the author, and when asked if he would change anything about the original film, Blatty stated:

Yes and no. I would love to have been able to include the subplot involving Karl and his daughter Elvira which I did in my first draft, but that script ran to 172 pages, much, much too long. But I might have it my way in the near future, inasmuch as I’ve written an Exorcist miniseries script that not only faithfully includes all the main elements of the novel, but also some rather spooky new material and scenes, as well as a totally new (and perhaps much more satisfying) ending. I’ve also updated it. Billy Friedkin has agreed to direct.

There is no word on when or if this proposed miniseries will begin production. We will keep you updated as more info comes forth.

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‘Silent Hill 2′ to Start Filming in 2010

from AceShowBiz.com

A second installment of the movie “Silent Hill” is likely to start its production soon. In a recent interview with Shock Till You Drop, special makeup effects designer Paul Jones hinted that the shooting for “Silent Hill 2” will be kicked off in 2010. “Roger (Avary) has some awesome ideas and hopefully we’re going to bring that to fruition sometime next year,” he revealed.

“I was working on storyboards for that around the same time last year.” Jones additionally claimed, “It’s going to be pretty crazy. There’s a lot of cool stuff in there.” However, he remained mum when asked whether or not the script has been completed.

“Silent Hill 2” will serve as the follow-up to 2006 horror thriller movie “Silent Hill”, which is a movie adaptation of a video game with the same title.

The first film centers on a young mother desperate to find a cure for her only child’s illness. Ignoring the protests of her husband, she travels to an abandoned town in search of answers and finds supernatural occurrences taking place there.

Roger Avary has confirmed he will make a return to his writing position for the second film, while Samuel Hadida has been set to produce it. Though Davis Films has not picked up any name as the helmer and the cast ensemble for the movie, the studio has planned to release the sequel in 2011.

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Independence Day 2 AND 3 Will Invade Theatres

By: Craig Sharp – FilmShaft.com

During the recent promotion for his latest “I’m going to destroy the world in a crazy VFX kinda way” movie – 2012, director Roland Emmerich was again asked about the film that seems to have been cropping up a fair bit recently – the sequel to 1996’s Independence Day.

Talking to MTV, Roland Emmerich dropped a bomb the likes of which nearly tore the world in two (in a crazy kind of VFX way), not one sequel, but TWO.

Given the fact that thirteen long years have passed since the original, I’m quite thankful that noone has gone down the remake route yet, but two Idependence Day sequels? A fanboy’s wet dream. Emmerich told MTV:

“What we want to do in the next – it’s actually two movies – we want to do a bigger arc,” he explained. “‘Independence Day’ was always like the king who leads his troops into battle against an evil force, and that stays like that.”

And if you’re wondering what this all-encompassing story-arc may be called, well Emmerich’s already thought of that too:

So the plan is not just one sequel but two. And Emmerich has got a nifty title in mind: “‘ID4-ever,’ Part I and II maybe?” he suggested.

But before you all start breaking out your ID4 figurines and heading to Area 51, the MTV folks do make a point of saying that there is no script at present, Emmerich himself says “There’s an idea,” he says, before confirming to the guys that if it goes ahead, Will Smith will almost certainly be involved:

“The idea is just to continue the story and actually I don’t know how many years ago this was—twelve, thirteen, fourteen years ago—and just continue where it ended.”

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Rachel McAdams to play Villian in next Spiderman

Rachel McAdams

From ContactMusic.com

Rachel McAdams has been tipped to take on the role of a comic book villainess in the upcoming Spiderman sequel.
 

The Notebook star is rumoured to be in talks with movie bosses to join the cast of the fourth film as Black Cat , the costumed alter-ego of Felicia Hardy – and Peter Parker’s latest love interest.

A source tells film website Heyuguys.co.uk, “She falls in love with Peter Parker, and uncovers his true identity. Her father then dies, and Hardy becomes a threat to Peter Parker.”

Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst will both reprise their roles in the next installment of the web-slinging superhero franchise, to be directed by Sam Raimi.
The film is due for release in 2011.

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Alien Vs Ninja to UK and Thailand

By Jason Gray – ScreenDaily.com

Japanese studio Nikkatsu has sold Alien Vs Ninja to Revolver Entertainment for the UK and M Pictures for Thailand.

Written and directed by Seiji Chiba, the special effects-laden film is set many centuries ago and follows a band of ninjas doing battle with aliens who crash land in Japan. It stars Masanori Mimoto, Shuji Kashiwabara, Donpei Tsuchihira and Mika Hijii.

The action direction is handled by Yuji Shimomura and Kensuke Sonomura, prolific stuntmen and action choreographers who are now branching out into Asian and US productions.

The sale marks Nikkatsu’s first deal with London and L.A.-based Revolver. M Pictures previously picked up rights for The Machine Girl.

As reported on ScreenDaily, Alien Vs Ninja is the first title for Nikkatsu’s newly-established extreme gore-action film label Sushi Typhoon. Nikkatsu showed buyers a one-minute promo reel for Alien Vs Ninja and is currently negotiating deals with other territories.

Headed by Yoshinori Chiba, Sushi Typhoon will produce titles by cult directors, including Sion Sono, Noboru Iguchi and Takashi Miike, for overseas audiences.

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