Global cinema lost another one of its greats on Monday when Michaelangelo Antonioni, who revolutionized film with the 1966 film Blow Up, passed away at the age of 94. Antonioni directed such classics as L'Avventura and L'Eclipsse before being wooed by Hollywood to direct such films as The Passenger with Jack Nicholson. His final work was part of the 2004 anthology film Eros, which he shared the director's chair with Steven Soderbergh and Wong Kar Wai. Glenn Kenny remembers the filmmaker here and here, while the New York Times' obituary to the Italian filmmaker is here.
Reynolds makes The Proposal, Damon finally confesses to The Informant, Night at the Museum gets a sequel, and more
Reynolds ready to make Proposal to Bullock
Ryan Reynolds will play the fake husband of a soon-to-be-deported Canadian, played by Sandra Bullock, in the Touchstone romantic comedy The Proposal. No director has been attached, but the script was penned by film exec Peter Chiarelli. More at The Hollywood Reporter.
Cinema has lost one of its great directors this morning – Swedish director Ingmar Bergman has died at the age of 89. Known for his works about religion and relationships between the sexes, Bergman directed such classic films as The Seventh Seal, Fanny and Alexander and recently came out of retirement to make the widely acclaimed follow up to Scenes of a Marriage, Saraband. Glenn Kenny remembers the cinematic great here and read a review of Bergman's earliest works, recently made available by the Criterion Collection Eclipse series here. More at the New York Times.
Depp's dear Diary, Eastwood retired?, Simpsons storm the box office with $71.9M, and more
Depp finally pens Diary entry with King and Warner Independent
Johnny Depp has finally gotten his adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary off the ground, with The Departed producer Graham King’s GK Films and Warner Independent financing and distributing the film. How to Get Ahead in Advertising director Bruce Robinson wrote the screenplay and will direct the film about a journalist who starts work in Puerto Rico where he becomes embroiled in a love triangle. Depp will star in the film after he finishes another GK/WB production Shantaram with director Mira Nair. More at The Hollywood Reporter.
Sometimes fans can ask the best questions at Comic Con, other times, they really don't. Here's a mix of interesting tidbits picked up during the question and answer sessions of this year's panels.
10.Sam Raimi's favorite ice cream is Pistachio. During the panel for 30 Days of Night, which the Spider-Man director produced, a female fan couldn't come up with a question to ask since all she wanted to say was that she went to the same summer camp as Raimi did. So she asked what his favorite ice cream flavor was, to which Raimi replied, "my wife doesn't even ask me what I want for dinner." In case you were wondering, the film's star Josh Hartnett likes Rocky Road best.
9. Watchmen author Alan Moore hasn't completely had it with Hollywood. The notoriously reclusive comic book legend, who has demanded to have his name taken off of adaptation of his works such as V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, will lend his voice to an upcoming episode of The Simpsons where Springfield's Comic Book Guy gets some competition from a rival geek voiced by Jack Black. Art Spiegelman and Ghost World's Daniel Clowes will cameo alongside Moore in the episode.
For everyone not in San Diego this weekend, here's a sampling of what's been going on:
Drillbit Taylor - Owen Wilson's latest finds the former wedding crasher heading to the playground as the bodyguard to two hapless kids in this comedy co-written by Knocked Up's Seth Rogen.
Zack Snyder repeatedly used the term “bullshit” as what he wouldn’t do as the director handling one of the most revered graphic novels ever. That would be a tall order for anyone, but for someone who replaced The Bourne Ultimatum’s Paul Greengrass and The Fountain’s Darren Aronofsky, Snyder has one thing going for him that previous attempts at adapting Alan Moore’s 1985-set suprerhero allegory that neither one of the other two had – a fanboy’s respect of the material. As he did with 300 last year, the director knew all the right things to say – the film will be rated R, the style will be similar to the comic's, but Fight Club production designer Alex McDowell is creating a look more akin to Se7en, if Mars was a practical location, he would use it, etc. – and while he didn’t have any footage to show, he brought out Malin Akerman and Jackie Earle Haley to approving applause. (When one fan asked about the potential casting of Keanu Reeves, Snyder said he did talk to Keanu, a “very nice man” and stopped himself abruptly.) He also got Watchmen illustrator Dave Gibbons to create a special poster for Con attendees, which touched on various elements of the superhero squad.
Watchmen director Zack Snyder and Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre)
Question for the day: Is Comic Con still newsworthy? Plus: Depp is a Dark knight, Witherspoon and Vaughn meet the parents in Christmases, and more
If there was any news that came out of Thursday’s day of panels at Comic Con, it was that there was a stunning lack of news to be had. Yes, Leonard Nimoy will return as Spock to mentor the new Vulcan Zachary Quinto in J.J. Abrams reboot of Star Trek. (Quinto’s casting had been confirmed yesterday.) And Steven Spielberg once again proved that he was the ultimate showman when he used a live feed from the Hawaiian set of Indiana Jones to announce the return of Karen Allen’s Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
However, there’s something strange afoot at this year’s gathering of geeks for fans eager for that latest bit of movie news – there aren’t that many surprises. If you were waiting to hear the real title for the J.J. Abrams-produced “Cloverfield” project, you were out of luck. Want to see the opening five minutes of Saw IV, as Lionsgate premiered last year with Saw III? Well, Comic Con organizers deemed the content too violent. (Even though that didn’t stop the studio from showing a bloody duel between two men chained to each other, fighting to the death for the keys hanging from their necks. Fans of the franchise won't be disappointed.) And the return of Allen in Indiana Jones was predicted months ago.
Crudup, Goode, and Wilson are the Watchmen, Quinto goes where one man has gone before, Singleton picks Tulia, and more
Goode omens for Warner’s Watchmen adaptation
Matthew Goode, Billy Crudup, and Patrick Wilson have signed on to star in the eagerly anticipated adaptation of Watchmen, director Zack Snyder’s follow up to 300 for Warner Brothers. In the film about exiled superheroes, Goode will play Ozymandias, Crudup will play Dr. Manhattan, and Wilson will play Night Owl, while Grey’s Anatomy star Jeffrey Dean Morgan will play the Comedian, Malin Akerman will play Silk Spectre and Jackie Earle Haley is set to play fan favorite Rorschach. More at C.H.U.D.
Lohan's legal woes don't keep her out of Love, Watts a total Narcissa in Harry Potter 6, first peek at Beowulf, and more
Legal worries don’t keep producers out of Love with Lohan
Despite Lindsay Lohan’s arrest on charges of driving under the influence on Tuesday, the producers of her next film Dare to Love Me announced that they intend to keep her in the cast of the film. Bowline Entertainment spokesperson Michael Sands told the press, “ Lindsay is insured for the movie as of now.” Lohan was said to be taking tango lessons to prepare for the Alfonso Arau film about 1920s Argentinean tango singer Carlos Gardel which will begin shooting in Romania in September. Movie-wise, Lohan also has boosted the profile of her latest film, I Know Who Killed Me, which comes out Friday. Check out a gallery for Lohan’s stripper thriller here and more at E! News.
Fox, Lloyd called to Carol, Jackson and Swank suit up for Iron Man, DreamWorks suffers Heartbreak at Comic Con, and more
Zemeckis’ Christmas Carol goes Back to the Future with Fox and Lloyd
Robert Zemeckis’ motion capture take on A Christmas Carol continues to become more interesting as Jim Hill Media reports that the Back to the Future director wants to reunite with stars Michael J. Fox, who would play Tiny Tim, and Christopher Lloyd, who is being courted to play Marley’s Ghost. Zemeckis reportedly also wants Tom Hanks to join Jim Carrey in the holiday film set to come out in 2009. More at Jim Hill Media.
Cruise groung into Salt, Chuck and Larry happily married atop the box office, Chow stung by Green Hornet too?, and more
Cruise adds a little Salt to schedule
Tom Cruise could star in Edwin A. Salt, a drama about a CIA officer who is accused of being a traitor to the government and must prove he is not a Russian spy. Hotel Rwanda director Terry George will direct the Sony thriller from a script by Kurt Wimmer and the film would be Cruise’s first film outside of the production deal he signed with United Artists. More at Variety.
Rogen nets Hornet, Hood puts his paws on Wolverine, a one eyed Cruise gets Nazified, and more
Rogen needles The Green Hornet
Knocked Up star Seth Rogen will put the funny stuff aside to star in The Green Hornet, an adaptation of the 1940s radio show turned comic book and TV show. Rogen isn’t the first funny man to tackle the material – Kevin Smith was once attached to write and direct the story of Brit Reid, the millionaire by day/crimefighter by night. George Clooney and Jake Gyllenhaal had been in talks to take on Reid while Jet Li has long been rumored to play The Hornet’s sidekick Kato. Columbia will produce the film with The Fast and the Furious producer Neal H. Moritz. More at Cinematical.
Beckinsale, Dillon and Farmiga search for the Truth, Saw V and IV scare up a new director, and more
Beckinsale beckoned by Lurie’s Truth
Kate Beckinsale is in talks to star in Nothing but the Truth, a drama inspired by the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame set to be written and directed by Resurrecting the Champ director Rod Lurie. Beckinsale would star as the journalist who protects her source while Vera Farmiga would play the outed CIA agent and Matt Dillon as the prosecutor who puts Beckinsale’s character behind bars. Alan Alda and Edie Falco are in talks to round out the cast. Yari Film Group will finance the film. More at Variety.
Howard tends to The Emperor's Children, Leguizamo legs it to Happening, Zeta-Jones starts countdown to Nine, and more
Howard takes care of The Emperor’s Children
Ron Howard will direct The Emperor’s Children, a satiric take about New York high society from a script by The Squid and the Whale writer/director Noah Baumbach. Based on Claire Messud’s 2006 tome about the spoiled Gothamites before and after 9/11, The Emperor’s Children will be at least third on Howard’s directing dance card following his adaptation of the stage hit Frost/Nixon and Angels and Demons, the sequel to The Da Vinci Code. More at Variety.
Hathaway tries to rehab image by Dancing, LaBeouf commits to Indy 8?, Murphy finds comfort on The Other Side, and more
Hathaway’s Dancing in the dark
Anne Hathaway will star in Jonathan Demme’s darkly comic Dancing with Sheba, in which she will play a druggie who ditches rehab to make it to her sister’s nuptials. According to Hathaway, Debra Winger will make a rare screen appearance as her mother. More at Cinematical.
Harry Potter Orders up $140 million, Duchovny doesn't file away X-Files sequel, and more
Harry Potter leads a new world Order with $140M five day debut
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix cast a spell over this weekend’s box office, earning $77 million over the weekend for first place. The fifth installment of the venerable wizard franchise earned $140 million over its first five days in release, sending the DreamWorks’ robot story Transformers to second place with $36 million ($222 million overall). Pixar’s Ratatouille still rated in third with $18 million ($143 million overall) while Live Free or Die Hard passed the $100 million mark in fourth place, taking in $10.8 million ($102.9 million overall). License to Wed rounded out the top five with $7.4 million ($30.5 million overall). And despite all the (bad) publicity, the weekend’s other major new release Captivity earned $1.5 million over the weekend for twelfth place. More at Yahoo.
Carrey Mans up, Watts' an International traveler, Robbins moves to City of Ember, Potter earns a record $44.8M, and more
Carrey agrees to Yes Man
Even though Jim Carrey has signed on to star in the comedies I Love You Philip Morris, Sober Buddies and Me Time, not to mention Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol in recent weeks, the Bruce Almighty star couldn’t say no to Yes Man, the adaptation of Danny Wallace’s novel about a man who changes the direction of his life by saying yes more often than he says no. Harry Potter producer David Heyman, who hopes for a fall start date, spilled the beans. More at MTV Movies Blog.
Theron is Burning up, First Indy 4 video, Rockwell firms up Choke hold, Potter's Phoenix soars to $12M at midnight, and more
Theron starts the fire for Burning
Charlize Theron will headline The Burning Plain, the mutlilayered directorial debut of Babel scribe Guillermo Arriaga, which he says “take place in different places and times, with characters trying to find the healing powers of love, forgiveness and redemption.” Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner’s 2929 Productions are financing the film, which will start shooting in November. More at Variety.
Spacey’s a real Steel magnolia, Efron steps to Footloose remake, Proyas sinks teeth into Dracula, and more
Spacey stacks the decks as Lex
Kevin Spacey will once again star as Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor in Superman: Man of Steel, which is set to start filming in 2008 after director Bryan Singer finishes shooting the Tom Cruise drama Valkyrie and the Harvey Milk biopic The Mayor of Castro Street. Spacey also confirmed that he will be part of the British ensemble drama Telstar, based on the play by James Hicks about the colorful life of the tone deaf record producer Joe Meek. More at Variety.
We don't know what the actual name of this J.J. Abrams-produced monster flick will be and Abrams has led fans on a wild goose chase this morning after this tip to Ain't It Cool News. If you want to start figuring out the clues, start with the trailer:
Kidman jetsets to Monte Carlo, Rock and Gervais Buddy up, Berg gallops to Barbaro bio, and more
Kidman gets her passport stamped for Monte Carlo
Nicole Kidman will produce and star in the romantic comedy Monte Carlo, in which she will play a Midwestern school marm who fakes being a wealthy socialite with her two friends while vacationing in Monaco. The Family Stone director Tom Bezucha will helm the film for Fox from a script he wrote with Maria Maggenti, based on the Jules Bass book Headhunters. More at Variety.
Transformers turn over $152.5 million week, Hopper and Grammer Vote for Costner, Beyonce could become Disney's dreamgirl in Aida, and more
Transformers set new record with $152.5M week
Transformers capped off its record breaking week at the box office with an estimated $67.6 million over the weekend, bringing the Michael Bay film’s total to $152.5 million after opening on Monday night. The autobots and the Decepticons set a new record for a non-sequel opening, beating out Spider-Man, which held the record with $151.6 million in 2002. Meanwhile, Pixar’s Ratatouille followed in Transformers’ footsteps with $29 million for second place ($109.5 million overall) and Live Free or Die Hard placed third with $17.4 million ($84.2 million overall). The weekend’s other new release, the Robin Williams comedy License to Wed, finished fourth with $10.4 million ($17.8 million since opening on Tuesday). And Evan Almighty rounded out the top five with $8.1 million ($78.1 million overall). More at Yahoo.
Affleck and Damon pick up their pens, Abrams' "Cloverfield" cast revealed, WB has Dirty Dozen remake plans, and more
Affleck and Damon go Hunting for new script idea
In between surfing in Kauai, Hawaii, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are writing a script together for the first time since the best friends from Boston penned the Oscar winning Good Will Hunting in 1997. More at Us Weekly.
There’s something schizophrenic about a film festival where Transformers’ Bumblebee can tower over Broxton Avenue one night and the Chris Eska’s August Evening, the laconic family saga of migrant workers in South Texas, can win the $50,000 Target Filmmaker Award the next night. But the Los Angeles Film Festival, like the city its set in, is funny that way.
Both the festival and the city, however, had reasons to be prideful of its own, something that came through loud and clear with the documentaries Second Chance Season and Resolved, two of the L.A. Film Festival’s most rapturous receptions. As the autobots roared through Westwood Village, these inspirational films featured local heroes of a different kind - those with the passion to create rather than to destroy.
IMDB is confirming a Film Ick report that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry is in talks to replace Tim Burton as the director of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, the Paramount adventure film that will star Jim Carrey as Robert Ripley, the globetrotting purveyor of oddities who turned his fascination with the strange and obscure into a cartoon series and subsequently a business of Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium museums and an accompanying television series. Ed Wood scribes Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski wrote the first draft of the script, which has now been rewritten by frequent Carrey collaborator Steve Oedekirk. Although Paramount envisions the film as a tentpole for 2009, Carrey may have other plans, as Cinematical writes here since Bob Hoskins said that he will co-star with Carrey in a motion capture version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol with Robert Zemeckis.
After ringing in Independence Day with $29.7 million, Transformers had the highest grossing Wednesday for a non-sequel ever and the biggest Fourth of July for any film of all time. The Michael Bay-directed film now has taken in an estimated total of $65.3 million. Pixar also had reason to celebrate since Ratatouille, which had one of the lowest opening weekends of any Pixar film with a still-impressive $47 million, is breaking daily records for the animation studio by earning $25.5 million over the last three weekdays and in the process, destroying records for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday perviously held by Finding Nemo and Toy Story 2. Ratatouille has now earned $72.5 million in five days of release and should break $100 million before the week is over. More at Deadline Hollywood Daily.
New Line adds Sex to slate, Bay burns bridges, and more
Parker, Cattrall mend fences to move City ahead
New Line will produce and distribute the long-in-the-works big screen version of Sex and the City, which will be written and directed by the HBO series’ executive producer Michael Patrick King. Kim Cattrall, who had been holding up the project by demanding a salary similar to the show’s star Sarah Jessica Parker, has received the financial incentive and creative input that she was looking for, and Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon have also signed on to star in the film, which is expected to start filming this fall. More at Variety.
Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke is reporting that Transformers earned an estimated $27.4 million on Tuesday, bringing its one and a half day total to $36.2 million following early screenings of the film on Monday night. Transformers is now on pace to make over $125 million over the week. Disney's Ratatouille, which had all day to come up with similar cash, also impressed with a one day total said to be in the $7.5 to $7.7 million range. More at Deadline Hollywood Daily and make sure to check out our interview with Transformers director Michael Bay here.
Singer's not-so-steel clad to Superman sequel?, Clarkson meets Bardem in Allen's Midnight, Moore as the next Welles, and more
Singer’s Castro Street might be kryptonite to Superman: Man of Steel
Bryan Singer may indeed love Superman, but Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, the producers of the long gestating Harvey Milk biopic The Mayor of Castro Street, have said that Singer will hold off on directing the sequel Superman: The Man of Steel until after he directs the Milk biography. Singer is already currently shooting the Tom Cruise World War II thriller Valkyrie and has said in the past that he would make the second Superman after, though Gus Van Sant is also prepping a film about the San Francisco politician Milk. Yet Meron said, “The next Superman, that's a ways off.” More at Rotten Tomatoes.
Nothing much ever happens in Burbank, California. But that all changed Monday when the city became one of 11 cities in the U.S. to house a 7-11 convenience store turned Kwik-E-Mart in honor of the July 27 release of The Simpsons Movie. The 11 Kwik-E-Mart locations include New York City; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Henderson, Nevada; Orlando, Seattle; Bladensburg, Maryland; and three in California - Mountain View, Los Angeles, and of course, Burbank. These stores will be carrying Buzz Cola, Squishees, and Krusty-Os until the end of the July when the film opens on July 27th. Here's a look at the real life version of where Apu turns in his time card and there are more pictures after the jump:
Amazingly, Sally George was pounding the pavement in front of the Mann Festival theater on Sunday to give away tickets to the documentary she produced, Young@Heart, only to have the film win the audience award for best international feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival hours later and as Variety’s Anne Thompson reports, also snag a $1.5 million deal for distribution with Fox Searchlight, a studio not known for picking up documentaries. (And a narrative feature is on the way from Working Title, the production house behind Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’ Diary.)
Foxx and Wolfe follow trail of Blood, Ratatouille squeaks by with $47.2 million, Abrams' super secret Cloverfield gets a director, and more
Foxx and Wolfe hunt for Blood
George C. Wolfe, the veteran theater director who recently helmed HBO’s Lackawanna Blues, will direct Jamie Foxx in the racially charged legal drama Blood on the Leaves, an adaptation of the Jeffrey Stetson novel about an idealistic district attorney who is prosecuting a case concerning a black history professor accused of murdering white suspects involved in Civil Rights-era crimes. Paramount is producing the film. More at The Hollywood Reporter.
Global cinema lost another one of its greats on Monday when Michaelangelo Antonioni, who revolutionized film with the 1966 film Blow Up, passed away at the age of 94. Antonioni directed such classics as L'Avventura and L'Eclipsse before being wooed by Hollywood to direct such films as The Passenger with Jack Nicholson. His final work was part of the 2004 anthology film Eros, which he shared the director's chair with Steven Soderbergh and Wong Kar Wai. Glenn Kenny remembers the filmmaker here and here, while the New York Times' obituary to the Italian filmmaker is here.
