The recent trend of Fairy Tale re-imaginings is going to be around for at least a few more years as Disney announced today that one if its most intriguing in-development projects is moving full steam ahead.

Maleficent is a live action re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty story, but from the perspective of Maleficent herself, played very appropriately by Angelina Jolie. Originally the movie was being developed by Brad Bird and there was even a time when Tim Burton was attached to direct, but recently the project had been rather dormant.

That was until today’s announcement of course. Disney has confirmed that Robert Stromberg will be making his feature debut with this film, which is now set for an March 14th, 2014 release date. Stromberg is a production designer that was a major contributor on Avatar and has worked with Tim Burton and Sam Raimi in the past. With a resume like that it is a safe bet that the film will look stunning, and with Angelina Jolie still perfectly cast in the title role this film has much going for it.

There was a time when this project looked dead in the water, but this new niche sub-genre has been gaining a ton of momentum as of late. Even the poorly marketed Mirror Mirror ended up gaining some admirers. Hopefully re-done fairy tales has some more creative heft to it now that the Twlight aesthetic has grown so stale.

Netflix has its eye on ABC’s freshman drama The River, which is facing cancellation. Netflix is already in talks with 20th Century Fox TV about possibly picking up Terra Nova, which was recently cancelled by Fox, for a second season.

It’s being reported that the push for original content by the streaming giant is making them more willing to take risks on what they see as quality programming.  Netflix is currently negotiating with The River producer ABC Studios about the possibility of continuing the thriller/horror series.

It is being stressed that the talks are merely exploratory at this point and that the show has not officially been cancelled by ABC. Even though The River has not been officially canceled by ABC, it is widly considered a foregone conclusion.The talks are also part of a larger conversation between ABC Studios and Netflix for other undisclosed properties.

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One of the best new MMOs out there is going to try to lure you in with a weekend of free play. Now all you worry warts and feet daggers have no excuse to not  jump into this new world and decide first hand if it is worth the price of admission.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is officially offering a weekend pass to new users, which allows players access to eight different classes and the ability to advance your character has high as level fifteen. This limited free-to-play time period begins today and ends on Monday the 19th of March.

The MMO world really needs to evolve with the times and understand that continuous worlds with monthly subscriptions might not be the best tactic anymore. There has been a steady movement towards the free-to-play model in the past few years, and while this specifically is only a weekend free pass, giving anyone and everyone a free chance to play is a step in the right direction.

At the very least many new people will get to experience the clashing of lightsabers in a pretty great game this weekend, and that is wonderful. Head over to the Star Wars: The Old Republic page now and get in on the action while it is offered for the dirt cheap price of nothing.

According to a joint press release, Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions have agreed to an extension of their exclusive, first-look agreement through December 2015. The deal looks to be incredibly lucrative for both sides.

“J.J. is a unique talent and a captivating storyteller,” said Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures. “J.J., Bryan Burk and the whole Bad Robot team are an integral part of Paramount and we’re proud to continue our collaboration. Their pictures have extraordinary resonance around the world and we’re so pleased Paramount will be their home for years to come.”

Bad Robot Productions’ original first look deal with Paramount began in 2006. Since then we have had releases of a variety of successful films and franchise continuations. Considering that grosses on Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol are now $670M globally, while those for the Star Trek reboot hit $385M worldwide, it is no surprise that Paramount is excited about the continuation of this deal. Under the previous Paramount deal, Abrams also had made Cloverfield and Super 8, both of which did well at the global box office.

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When you’ve spent so much time being a bad guy on TV and then, during a break from your series wearing a dress in a college comedy, what would you want to do next? The answer for actor Michael Rosenbaum who, of course, played the evil and misunderstood Lex Luthor for seven seasons on Smallville, is that he wants to direct.

That’s right, Lex Luthor is now a director and will be helming his first feature film, the drama Old Days. Rosenbaum also wrote and will star in the new project. The lovely and talented Morena Baccarin, who can currently be seen in Homeland on Showtime, has been cast as the female lead.

In the film Rosenbaum plays Jim Owens, a discouraged actor who returns home to Indiana for his 15th high school reunion. Once there he gets into trouble with his friends and rekindles a romance with his high school sweetheart (Baccarin).

The film is scheduled to start shooting on March 5 and will also co-star Sarah Colonna, Harland Williams, Jay Ferguson and Kris Palohu. No word yet on likely distribution for the project but with the names involved and the likelihood of a relatively modest budget, you can bet this one will probably get picked up rather easily.

Fifteen years after the end of their hit sitcom Roseanne, NBC will be the staging a reunion of sorts. John Goodman is currently in talks to reunite with TV wife Roseanne Barr for the NBC comedy pilot Downwardly Mobile.

The NBC comedy pilot will star Barr as an outspoken proprietor and den mother to an array of characters at a mobile home park. Goodman is allegedly close to finalizing a deal to co-star in Barr’s pilot, according to Variety.

Goodman, who played Roseanne’s loyal husband Dan Conner for nine seasons on the ABC comedy from 1988-1997, will play one of the guys who work at the park. Goodman recently stated that he wouldn’t mind being on a series again. “You get tired living out of a suitcase,” said Goodman.

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Originally intending to auction off the rights to Red State at its Sundance premiere last year, Mr. Smith turned-tail and decided to self distribute through Smodcast Pictures instead. The film was shown in the “road show” format in select cities before receiving an official release. Smith’s sudden change of heart naturally erupted into accusations of dishonesty from some attending distributors.

One year after the controversy, Smith has once again stepped forward and struck a partnership with Phase 4 Films in what seems to be an abandonment of his rebel ways. On Monday, Smith released an official statement regarding the exclusive distribution in cooperation with Smodcast, the production company founded by Smith himself.

Phase 4 gains U.S. and Canadian rights for the option to distribute up to a maximum of twelve films alongside the newly entitled Kevin Smith and Smodcast Pictures Presents label. Four features will release theatrically and include a film tour similar to that of Red State.

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Coming off of the heels of potentially tragic news in the world of comedy television in NBC putting Community on ice, there is some excellent news to brighten our spirits. Comedy Central has agreed to renew South Park through its full 20 seasons, bringing it through 2016.

Deadline was able to nail down the comedic duo of Matt Stone and Trey Parker to see what they had to say.

Parker and Stone will continue to write, direct and edit every episode of South Park, as they have since the series’ premiere in 1997. “The collective genius of Matt and Trey knows no bounds,” Comedy Central’s president Michele Ganeless said. “Week after week and season after season they continue to surprise and delight South Park fans, and that includes all of us here at Comedy Central. We’re thrilled that the adventures of Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman will continue through 2016.”

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The art of the horror comedy is in danger of becoming extinct these days, if not for the zombie genre’s resurrection (pun not intended) with hits like Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. Now, rising star in the horror genre Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen) is taking a whack at it with his new film Killer Pizza, which just got picked up by MGM.

From Deadline:

MGM is in talks to acquire Killer Pizza, an Adam Green-scripted adaptation of the Greg Taylor book about a 14-year old boy who lands a summer job at a pizza joint that is actually a front for a monster hunting enterprise.

Rafaella De Laurentiis is producing with 1492 Pictures and CJ Entertainment. 1492 Entertainment’s Chris Columbus brought it to MGM after meeting with the brass there and sensing the studio’s appetite for Gremlins and Goonies-type fare, and Killer Pizza fit that bill.

The film is said to have a very Joe Dante-esque feel taking tonal cues from Gremlins and Matinee. Can newcomer Adam Green join in the ranks of Dante and Landis in bringing these two genres to a happy medium? We’ll have to find out when MGM brings Pizza into production in the next year.

As if it were any surprise really, after two of the most successful first-run episodes in cable TV history, AMC has graciously decided to give their zombie drama based on a comic by Robert Kirkman a third season. The second season has already done gangbusters for the network, and even given the bad press surrounding Darabont’s departure from the series, fans keep coming for more zombie-killing action.

Here are the details on season two from a recent AMC press release.

Season two continues to deliver the strongest telecasts for any drama in basic cable history against Adults 18-49 shattering a basic cable record set nearly 10 years ago for a single drama telecast (“The Dead Zone”). “The Walking Dead” is based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. Glen Mazzara serves as series’ showrunner. Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert and Frank Darabont are executive producers. Greg Nicotero is a co-executive producer.

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The internet business is a pretty tricky thing to keep one’s thumb on. Especially when you are in charge of hundreds of thousands consumers ready for their on-demand entertainment. That’s why it was especially puzzling when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings decided to belly up to the DVD/VOD war and claim Qwikster would be his champion.

That’s when things got tricky, as Netflix subscribers were fleeing the scene, hoping this meant they wouldn’t have to spend double the amount they were spending to get the same DVD and streaming service. Now that Qwikster is dead and gone, it seems that the original company is still suffering from its mistake. From Variety:

While investors were disappointed with the reported decline of 810,000 streaming subscribers in the second quarter, some equally depressing projections for the final months of 2011 also contributed to a 27% drop in after-hours trading, sending the stock to $85. It had opened the day at $119.37.

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When I was growing up it was always ABC’s Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell, “Dandy” Don Meredith and Frank Gifford. Meredith would often sing ‘Turn out the Lights, the partys over” as one team or another dominated the proceedings and Cosell would often clash with Meredith or insult one or more players. It was fun and it seemed like anything could happen at any moment.

That was then, this is now. Monday Night Football has a home on ESPN and has been there since 2006. Now, it seems, ESPN is determined to hold on to the venerable franchise and has announced a new agreement to keep it until 2021. The cost? A reported $15 Billion.

The new agreement will cost ESPN 73% more than its previous NFL deal which likely means the Disney-owned sports channel will ask cable and satellite companies to pay more. Some other terms of the new deal kick off immediately.

Today ESPN’s NFL Live expands to an hour from a half hour. A discussion show based on fan-submitted questions, Audibles, also joins the Thursday night line up. This weekend Sunday NFL Countdown will run three hours, up from two.

On Tuesday ESPN2 will introduce a weekly, hour-long show NFL 32, followed on Friday by another weekly hour long show NFL Kickoff. Click through for all the details from the official ESPN press release.

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