With the dog days of summer upon us, studios prep for the transition from summer blockbusters to end-of-the-year awards bait. In other words, it’s a slow week in the movie world. Here’s a look at what went down this week…
News
Dan Aykroyd says he’s making Ghostbusters 3 whether Bill Murray wants to or not. He also hints at using the movie to pass the franchise on to a new crop of actors (giving some cred to the rumor from earlier this year of Ashton Kutcher possibly replacing Bill Murray). While we let out a collective groan, Chevy Chase said the story for a new Vacation movie is being plotted.
Sony has hired the writer of Source Code to pen a “contemporary re-imagining” of the 1990’s Kiefer Sutherland/Kevin Bacon flick Flatliners.
Miramax and Facebook have teamed up to stream movies via an app. The library currently holds 20 movies for American users.
Sean Penn says he didn’t like Tree of Life, even though it was “one of the most magnificent scripts” he’s ever read.
Pregnant Hilary Duff was dumped from the cast of the Bonnie and Clyde movie.
Dwayne Johnson confirmed via his Twitter account that Bruce Willis has joined the cast of G.I. Joe: Retribution.
Justin Lin inked a deal with Universal for his newly formed production company. Lin also lined up eight upcoming projects including Fast & Furious 6, Terminator 5 and a World War II movie about Japanese-American soldiers.
For Twi-hards, big news: The World Premiere of Breaking Dawn: Part 1 will take place November 14 at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. Start camping out now.The New York Film Festival will present a 10th Anniversary screening of The Royal Tenenbaums. Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky will also get respective special anniversary screenings.
Rejected Toy Story titles were revealed. Toyz in the Hood? Bring Me The Arm of Buzz Lightyear? Which are your favorites?
Clark Gable’s grandson was charged for pointing a laser at a police helicopter. I guess, wait for it…. he didn’t give a damn. *rimshot*
R.I.P.D. has added Marisa Miller to its cast. The comic book adaptation stars Ryan Reynolds as a recently slain cop who joins a team of undead police officers working for the Rest in Peace Department. The movie stars Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges.
Shooting for The Wolverine has been delayed until spring of next year as Hugh Jackman shoots Les Miserables.
Liam Neeson will showcase his very particular set of skills once again in Taken 2. Shooting of both the movie and bad guys begins in October.
Universal dropped the movie adaptation of the Ouija board game as the Michael Bay produced movie’s budget rocketed toward $150 million. Could Candyland and Stretch Armstrong be on the chopping block?
The Weinstein boys are looking to bring us yet another Scary Movie. The bros are aiming to have a fifth Scary Movie in theaters before next summer. Interested?
Mark and Donnie Walhberg are opening up Wahlburgers Restaurants. Yes, plural. Told you it was a slow week.
Rumors
Donnie Yen was reportedly offered a part in Expendables 2. No word from Yen’s camp. Adding to the Expendables fire are more rumors today that a quartet of actors are up for gigs in the sequel. See if any of these names sound even remotely interesting in an Expendables sequel – Taylor Lautner, Christian Slater, Nicolas Cage and Christopher Lambert.
Christian Bale is rumored to be considering taking on the villain role in Spike Lee’s adaptation of the Korean movie Oldboy but won’t make any definite decisions until The Dark Knight Rises wraps in November.
Pics
Batman’s origins according to the Chinese:
The Future According to Movies: (Click the pic for full/readable version)
There's Star Wars fans and then there's Star Wars FANS as evidenced with this Darth Vader Hot Air Balloon:
Take a peek into the mind of a cinematic legend. Francis Ford Coppola’s intense notes on one page of The Godfather: Click the image for larger version.
Alternate Iron Man:
He is Gandalf. He is Magneto. Get over it.
Check out this collection of cinemagraphs from Stanley Kubrick movies. Cinemagraphs are images that are essentially stationary with one element that moves. In the cinemagraph version of the pic below, Nicholson's eyes move after he knocks on the door.
Videos
Joseph Gordon-Levitt covered Nirvana’s “Lithium” at the Neptune Theater in Seattle. Shot in gorgeous black and white, check it out here. (Note: Language)
Entertainment Weekly featured an exclusive clip from Jason Statham’s upcoming direct-to-DVD cop flick Blitz.
A viral video that hit the web Wednesday night features Doc (Christopher Lloyd) from Back to the Future arriving in Argentina. The clip spurred talk of Back to the Future 4, though this ended up being for a commercial. Still, fingers crossed.
Jim Carrey. Emma Stone. Bring on the awkward.
Ryan Gosling (aka "OMG, it's the guy from Notebook") broke up an art skirmish in New York City. A couple days later, when the 5.9 quake struck Virginia and was felt throughout the Northeast, Twitter exploded with the hashtag #gosquake, alluding to the fact that the shaker would have been more severe, but Mr. Gosling came in to calm things down.
Duck brand tape re-created the lightcycle race from TRON using only "Duck" tape of various colors.
New Lion King blooper and outtakes have arrived in advance of the 3D release of the Disney classic.
Jon Favreau talks video games and transitioning them to movies.
OK Go brought us their rendition of the The Muppets Show theme song as we inch closer to the premiere of the latest Muppets movie on November 23rd. Take a look at the behind the scenes footage, as well.
Trailers
Johnny Depp stars as Paul Kemp in The Rum Diary, the film adaptation based on a Hunter S. Thompson novel. Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart and Richard Jenkins co-star.
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Sam Shepherd is Butch Cassidy in Blackthorn, an epic Western which tells of the adventures of Butch in the days before he met Sundance. Think of it as a prequel to the 1969 classic.
Frieda Pinto stars in Michael Winterbottom’s Trishna, which makes its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival next month.
