Warner Bros. Passes On The Dark Tower Series Movies

 




As of a couple of weeks ago, it was looking like the fate of the feature adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series would be determined at some point this month. And sure enough, the verdict from Warner Bros. is in, and it's not good. Word is, the studio has decided to pass on the project.

We shared word earlier this month that a new draft of the screenplay for the first Dark Tower movie was being submitted by Akiva Goldsman, after which WB would made a decision as to whether or not to move forward with the ambitious project. The series was set to be adapted to a number of films, with TV series bridging the gap between movies. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer were set to produced through Imagine Entertainment, with Howard directing and Stephen King set up as a producer. Variety reported today that Warner Bros. has decided not to green-light the budget for the film.

This is likely to be disappointing news for fans of the books, who've been hoping to see the story of the gunslinging Roland Deschain brought to the big screen. As Variety notes, Imagine can take the project to other studios, but if Warner Bros. is passing, that can't be a good sign. The endeavor may be too costly and risky for other studios to tackle. I don't think I'm in the minority in saying it's better to have it done right or else, not done at all. So we'll have to wait and see whether there's another studio interested in Imagine's project.

Is This How We'll Meet Smaug In The Hobbit?

 




Benedict Cumberbatch is usually pretty good at being sneaky, to the point that we still don't really know the identity of the character he'll be playing in the upcoming Star Trek sequel. But now the actor who seems to be everywhere, and really is everywhere, has slipped a very intriguing detail about another one of his huge upcoming projects: The Hobbit. You won't actually see Cumberbatch in the trilogy of films, since he's playing Smaug the Dragon, but here's some info straight from the horse's mouth about when you'll get to see him:

I think my eye might open at the end of the first film and then you’ll get the rest of me in the second.

That comes from Bleeding Cool, where they picked up on a comment Cumberbatch made while doing press for an upcoming BBC series Parade's End. And from the way he's talking, it sounds like he was thinking of there only being two Hobbit movies, which was the case until a few weeks ago, when Peter Jackson confirmed they'll be making a third film. So who knows if Cumberbatch's story is still valid, or if we'll somehow see Smaug's appearance in the middle of the second movie now-- after all, he's the dragon guarding the gold at the end of the journey for Bilbo and his band of dwarves, so it wouldn't make sense for him to appear a third of the way through the story.

And yet, Cumberbatch's version of the story makes sense, even if you're just looking at how Gollum was introduced in Fellowship of the Ring, teased briefly before taking center stage in the next film. And the trick of showing just a character's eye before smash cutting to the end credits has occurred in two notable places lately, at the end of Avatar and in the last Twilight installment, Breaking Dawn Part 1. Maybe Jackson is ready to make it an official trend by doing it a third time?

Either way, this is at least one Hobbit mystery that will be answered sooner than later-- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set for release December 14. Click here to learn much more about it.

DreamWorks Animation Moves Over To 20th Century Fox

 

 Though DreamWorks Animation released the very successful Madagascar 3 this summer, through their distribution partnership at Paramount Pictures, the company has been preparing for over a year now to make one giant change. Now the animation outfit has finally confirmed that they'll be departing Paramount for 20th Century Fox, setting up a new distribution partnership through which the independent animation studio can get their films out to moviegoers but still operate largely on their own.

According to Deadline Sony was in the running to pick up DWA until very recently, and for a while some thought that they would self-distribute, especially after bringing in a former Disney executive last year. But while Fox has had strong family-friendly releases like the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies, their only big animated successes have been with the Ice Age films, now in their fourth installment and likely winding down.

Fox will retain Blue Sky Studios, which is currently set to release a sequel to Rio as well as Epic, which is due next spring and recently unveiled a trailer. Under the 5-year deal with DreamWorks Animation, Fox will also be responsible for the release of The Croods and Turbo, as well as any number of potential films announced in development including Kung Fu Panda 3 and a movie all about the penguins of Madagascar. Fans of DreamWorks Animation's movies, especially the younger ones, probably won't notice much of a difference, but now that the animation studio has moved on to a more comfortable home, we might be able to look forward to some interesting developments going forward.

Avengers Deleted Scene Asks Bruce Banner A Tough Question

 WIth The Avengers coming to Blu_ray on September 25, it's time to start getting a glimpse at all the extras the disc will hold, and now we've got our first look at one of the deleted scenes. When Hulk leaves the helicarrier and crash lands into a warehouse somewhere, only to chat briefly with Harry Dean Stanton, it turns out we didn't see all of it in the theatrical release.
 The clip debuted at Entertainment Weekly, where they've had a fantastic stranglehold on all kinds of awesome Avengers extras-- their video roundtable interview, surrounded by a bunch of action figures, is a must-watch. And somehow it seems entirely appropriate that the first deleted scene we see involves The Hulk, who had the most heavy lifting to do as the biggest "new" character to the film, and whose identity crisis in dealing with his "condition" is one of the film's best emotional through lines. Leave it to Harry Dean Stanton to make it all so crystal clear.

Hopefully there will be a lot more to learn about whether Hulk is "a big man who turns into a little man, or a little man who turns into a big man" when we see The Avengers Blu-Ray in late September.

Female Expendables Already In Development

 




Though The Expendables has obviously become a brand name, with two hit films now out there and rumors of a third all over the place, the concept of uniting a bunch of famous action stars isn't something you can copyright. So while we may never get an official female version of The Expendables-- which, inevitably, would be called something awful like The Expendablettes-- a different production company is apparently ready to give it a shot.

According to Variety< production outfit 1984 Private Defense Contractors-- who h are behind upcoming movies like Steven Soderbergh's The Bitter Pill and the Brad Pitt-starrer Killing Them Softly-- are in the works on a female version of The Expendables, with writer Dutch Southern hired to handle the script, and "several prominent actress affiliated with the action genre" reportedly in talks. Southern, despite the name that seems ready-made for a career in 70s Hollywood, is a relatively unknown property, with one film-- Hoof Harrington's Greatest Hits-- in development, according to IMDB.

Meanwhile, the idea of a female Expendables is kicking around all over the place-- Expendables 2 director SImon West even suggested the title "Expenda-Belles" to E!, while name-dropping the likes of Angelina Jolie Cameron Diaz, Milla Jovovich and Jamie Lee Curtis. His casting idea makes sense, and I'd be surprised if at least one of them isn't one of the "prominent actresses" in talks, but the title Expenda-Belles makes me want to take a nap, so I'll leave it at that. Let us know who you'd like to see in this still theoretical movie, and stay tuned for our own take on who ought to be in The Expendables 3 later today.
Author: Katey Rich

Anna Kendrick Leads Shortlist For Captain America 2 Female Lead

 



Though we're all excited to see the return of Captain America in his sequel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the movie will be missing a lot of what made the first one so fun. As we all know thanks to The Avengers, Captain America is now living in modern times, and though his 1940s values and sense of right and wrong intact, familiar figures like his love Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), his mentor Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and his best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) are all long gone… or are they?

As you might have heard, the title Winter Soldier suggest Bucky will be making a comeback as a bad guy, and now they're coming up with a way to keep Peggy Carter alive, at least in spirit. The New York Post reports that Anna Kendrick, Imogen Poots and Felicity Jones currently make up the shortlist for the lead in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Though they're not specifying the role, a quick look at the physical similarities between all three of them and Hayley Atwell-- plus the fact that Cap's love interest in the Winter Soldier arc of the comics is Sharon Carter, Peggy's niece-- makes things pretty clear.

In the comics, at least, Bucky/Winter Soldier kidnaps Sharon, which helps Cap identify the villain as his former friend. But who knows what directors Joe and Anthony Russo are planning for the story this time around, so don't count on anything just yet. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is set for release on April 4, 2014, which means the production is probably moving fast to get the cast in place. Poots and Jones ought to have an advantage from being British, as Carter is, but never rule out Kendrick, who snagged an Oscar nomination for her first major role in Up in the Air, and seems tenacious enough to tackle a natural British accent in no time. If the Post's shortlist turns out to be true, though, we should count on one of the three of them snagging the role very soon.

Jim Carrey Pursued For Kick-Ass 2 Role

File this one under very-unconfirmed at this point, but it's looking like there's a chance Jim Carrey could be headed back into superhero territory. The actor, who once played the Riddler in Batman Forever, is reportedly being "courted" to join the cast of the Kick-Ass sequel, Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall.

Kick-Ass 2 is set to be directed by Jeff Wadlow, and will see Chloe Moretz, Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Nicolas Cage returning for the super-hero sequel, along with John Leguizamo and Donald Faison. Between the new and returning stars, the cast is already shaping up to have even more star power than the first. And now it looks like there's a chance Carrey could be joining the mix.

Deadline posted the update today, stating that Universal is pursuing Carrey to play the role of The Colonel, a character described as a "showy supporting role," who "helps galvanize the team of misfit super heroes assembled to fight evil." That seems like the kind of character Carrey's well capable of taking on. But according to Deadline, it's uncertain whether Carrey will be on board to do it, though the site does note that he's a fan of Matthew Vaughn and the original film.

So, at the moment, nothing's confirmed, but it does sound like an interesting part, and if Carrey isn't the man to take the job, I'll be interested in hearing who is brought on board to fill the Colonel's shoes for the film.

Known mainly for his comedic work, Carrey's recent credits include Mr. Popper's Penguins and I Love You Phillip Morris. He's also taken on a few guest-starring roles on television (30 Rock, The Office) in recent years. Coming up for the actor is the Incredible Burt Wonderstone, and (possibly) the Dumb and Dumber sequel.