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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Martin Scorsese to receive DeMille award

Martin Scorsese

By Gregg Kilday – HollywoodReporter.com

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. will bestow its highest honor, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, on Martin Scorsese at the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 17.

The award recognizes “outstanding contribution to the entertainment field”; the most recent recipients have been Steven Spielberg, Warren Beatty, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Williams and Michael Douglas.

Scorsese presented the award to Spielberg at the Golden Globes broadcast in January.

An Oscar winner for directing “The Departed,” Scorsese also has picked up two Golden Globes — for directing “Departed” and “Gangs of New York” — and has five additional Globe noms.

His next film, “Shutter Island,” will be released Feb. 19 by Paramount.

NBC will be broadcast the Globes from the Beverly Hilton; Ricky Gervais is the host.

Nominations will be announced Dec. 15.

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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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Writer tapped for “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.”

By Jay A. Fernandez and Borys Kit – HollywoodReporter.com

Writer Dante Harper has been hired to sprinkle a few more bread crumbs on the script for “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.”

“Dead Snow” co-writer/director Tommy Wirkola is helming the project for Gary Sanchez Prods. and Paramount. The Norwegian pitched and plotted out the story line, which picks up the fairy-tale siblings 15 years after their traumatic gingerbread house incident, which provoked them to become witch bounty hunters.

Sanchez execs Kevin Messick, Adam McKay, Will Ferrell and Chris Henchy are producing the horror-action comedy, which is pitched as having a gory-but-funny “Shaun of the Dead” vibe.

Harper also worked on the screenplay for “Black Hole,” which director David Fincher has been developing at Paramount.

McKay, Henchy, Messick and Ferrell are shooting the Gary Sanchez comedy “The Other Guys,” which Sony has scheduled for an August release.

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Ray Bradbury shopping six-hour miniseries

Ray Bradbury

By James Hibberd – HollywoodReporter.com

Sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury is set to shop a six-hour miniseries to networks as part of a new production agreement with newly formed company White Oak Films.

The mini will feature six of Bradbury’s classic short stories directed by six different directors. The helmers will get to select their favorite titles.

Bradbury, 89, is the author of “Fahrenheit 451” and “Something Wicked This Way Comes.”

White Oak partner John Dayton has a long association with Bradbury and will executive produce the project with the author.

“My partners and I see this series as an homage to a man who has inspired us all,” Dayton said.

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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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Viggo Mortensen Wants to Return for The Hobbit

Viggo Mortensen

by  Jami Philbrick – MovieWeb.com

It was recently announced that filmmaker Peter Jackson would be returning to middle-earth by producing The Hobbit based on the J. R. R. Tolkien book of the same name. This time around he will be producing only and is giving up his director’s chair to Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro. He is however staying on as a writer as Jackson plans to co-write the film with del Toro and the first trilogy’s writers, his wife Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

The novel takes place sixty-years before events depicted in the first film and tells the story of how Bilbo Baggins became in possession of the ring from the creature Gollum. It was originally announced that the filmmakers intended to make two films, the first being an adaptation of the novel and the second a film that would bridge the gap between the previous movie and the trilogy. However del Toro himself later posted on a Lord of the Rings fan-site that while he still intends to make two films they will instead have only one narrative, based on the book, that will stretch over the two movies. But the director gave a conflicting statement when he was later quoted saying that he felt the second film would need to end by leading directly into The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.

Regardless, it’s still fun for fans to speculate on which characters from the first three films could possibly end up in the sequels somehow. Originally when the filmmakers were discussing a “bridge” film Jackson stated that one of the things he would like to include was seeing the moment where Aragorn/Strider begins setting a watch on the Shire. We had the opportunity to speak with Viggo Mortensen, the actor who portrayed Aragorn/Strider in the film, this weekend while he was promoting his new movie The Road.

We asked Mortensen if he would be interested in returning to his role in The Hobbit, if the filmmakers were able to find away to include his character. The actor stated that he had a lot of fun making the first three films and would love to return for more. He went on to say that his understanding was that the filmmakers are trying to find a way to incorporate many of the actors from the first trilogy, even some who’s characters do not appear in the actual novel, into the new films. He also stated how much he loved working with the original cast and crew, how much he loved shooting in New Zealand and how much he would really enjoy returning one more time.

Whether Mortensen ends up in the film or not, there is no doubt that fans are dying to see these films come to the big screen. The Hobbit is due for release in December of 2011 with the conclusion The Hobbit Sequel hitting theaters a year later in December of 2012. Look for our exclusive interview with Viggo Mortensen about his film The Road coming soon.

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Len Wiseman To Direct Nocturne, Thriller Set After The End of The World

Len Wiseman

by Peter Sciretta – SlashFilm.com

Len Wiseman has signed on to direct Nocturne for 20th Century Fox. We don’t know much about this project other than the few little tidbits included in The Hollywood Reporter’s announcement piece, so lets look at what we know:

Post Apocalyptic: The story is set after the end of the world, and follows a group of survivors.

The Twist: The film is about “the mystery surrounding how they got to that position” And before you think this is just another post apocalyptic disaster film, ala 2012, the piece mentions that the film is a “thriller.”

Original: The pitch is based on a completely original idea (ie not a remake, adaptation or sequel), and no writers have been hired to pen the project, but the studio is currently on the hunt.

Who’s Involved: Len Wiseman wrote and directed Underworld and Underworld: Evolution, and last directed Live Free or Die Hard. Wiseman is also attached to the underwater military action film Atlantis Rising and the futuristic war movie Shrapnel but doesn’t have a greenlight on any of the projects.

Sounds like an interesting concept. If Wiseman has one strength it is his pre-directing background in prop and production design, which couldn’t hurt a movie set after the end of the world. I’d assume that the end of the world will be visually intensive. No more details have been revealed, so we don’t know if the story is set in space after Earth is destroyed, or set on Earth after most of the inhabitants have been killed. I’m sure we’ll learn more once a screenwriter is hired.

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For Morena Baccarin, Visitor role is most welcome

Morena Baccarin

By Amy Amatangelo – BostonHerald.com

Morena Baccarin remembers the original “V” miniseries.

“It definitely made an impression on me as a child,” she said. “I remember my brother and I watching it and getting completely freaked out. It was enough to instill fear in me.”

Now Baccarin has a chance to scare another generation of viewers.

The Brazil native stars as Anna, the leader of the Visitors, in the ABC remake of  “V”

“Anna is a very complicated character,” Baccarin said in a recent telephone interview from Vancouver, Canada.

“I think she’s a lot like a politician in many ways. She’s ruthless and ambitious. I have to believe that what I’m doing is for the betterment of my people. When I say, ‘We mean no harm,’ I have to believe it. Just like a politician.”

She has found some common ground with her character.

“I relate to her in the little things. I pay attention to the details and am very focused on doing things properly,” she said. “I have to find some redeeming characteristics in her. She cares about her people. I don’t want to play her as completely evil.”

Now filming the series’ fourth episode, the 30-year-old still doesn’t know what the producers have planned for Anna.

“I get the answer, ‘Well, we’ll see’ a lot,” she said.

Baccarin first became known to TV viewers when she played Inara in the TV series “Firefly” and its big-screen sequel “Serenity.” But she doesn’t consider herself a science-fiction actress.

“Luckily, I’ve been able to work in every medium,” she said. “Science fiction used to get a really bad rap and I think that’s really changing. ‘V’ is not necessarily a science-fiction show. It’s more about relationships, drama and everyday stuff, and I think that makes science fiction more accessible to everyone.”

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Eminem to star in 3-D horror film

Eminem

From PTINews.com

Rapper Eminem is about to give his rap career a new turn as he is set to act in a 3-D hip-hop horror movie named ‘Shady Talez’.

The 37-year-old performer will star in the film which is a horror anthology described as a cross between ‘Creep Show’ and vintage TV programme ‘The Twilight Zone’, reported BBC.

Announced last year, ‘Shady Talez’ will feature three stories offering a hip-hop spin to classic horror films.

The film is being produced by DJ Classicz, a division of Davis Entertainment, the US company behind the ‘Garfield’ and ‘Aliens vs Predator’ movies.

Since Eminem, also known as alter-ego Slim Shady, loves comic books and horror flicks, the project will also incorporate a four-issue ‘Shady Talez’ comic book series, due out in 2010.

The rapper, real name Marshall Bruce Mathers III, topped charts on both sides of the Atlantic earlier this year with his latest album ‘Relapse’.

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