(Intro to be read in Carrie Bradshaw’s voice-over): There I was, on my way to meet one of my gal pals for a early screening of Sex in the City 2. I’d pulled out my best pair of shoes from Target and paired it with my favorite perfectly worn blue jeans and a top from Forever 21. It was going to be a great night. The Cosmos would pour freely, and my friend and I were certainly in for a little female bonding while watching a fabulous film.

But I couldn’t help wondering while I drove toward the beckoning lights of downtown-do we really need a sequel to Sex and the City? After all, the first movie seemed to be the perfect little send-off for the fans.

Society has been resisting the opulent due to all the financial funk, and I couldn’t decide if this movie depicting the NYC foursome enjoying a decadent Middle Eastern vacation is what people want to see right now.

In the case of a sequel, is less more?

I don’t know much about Michael Patrick King, but that man knows how to indulge. Lavish set pieces, lush scenery, and colorful (though their beauty is highly debatable) costumes abound, and as pure escapism, the movie works. Once you start analyzing the plot and genuinely start to critique the movie, it absolutely falls apart, but I don’t think the target demographic for this movie will care.

Fans of the show who have been eagerly anticipating this film will not be disappointed. They know exactly what they are getting into, and I don’t think anyone expects to have their mind blown over this film. Let’s face it, this is the female equivalent of Transformers. It’s an event movie. and it has a built-in audience.

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We all know that art mimics life, and most video games mimic film, but does it become redundant when film mimics games mimicking film? Earlier this year, the highly anticipated cinematic PlayStation 3 game Heavy Rain was released, which follows several people in a rainy metropolitan area whose lives are affected by a serial killer.

The game’s main attraction is its rich storyline and deep (and sometimes boring) cutscenes that move it along. It looks like a few studio heads have decided to swap the computer-generated characters with real actors, as former New Line execs Bob Shaye and Michael Lynn, now of Unique Pictures, have recently picked up the rights to adapt the game into a full-length feature. From Deadline Hollywood:

Using their own money, Shaye and Lynne posted top bid in an auction held by CAA on behalf of game developers Quantic Dream.

Heavy Rain has sold 1 million units since its release in February.  Players hunt the “Origami Killer,” a serial murderer who drowns his victims four days after they are abducted, leaving only a small origami figure and an orchid on the corpse. The game becomes a procedural in which four characters try to solve the crime after another potential victim is kidnapped.

Unique has a first look deal with Warner Bros, but Shaye liked it enough to use his own money and not wait for approval to buy it. A deal should be sealed shortly.

Those who have played the game realize that this isn’t all that necessary, seeing as how the game plays out like a complete movie on it’s own. But with its one-dimensional voice work and the possibility of a cool Saw-like franchise, it only makes sense that a studio would be willing to scoop it up.

When Platinum Dunes announced plans to remake the original Nightmare on Elm Street, I had mixed feelings. I was a fan of the original series, and watched all seven movies. I even watched that dreadful Friday night program Freddy’s Nightmares. I guess you could say I have a soft spot for the film series.

However, when Jackie Earle Haley was announced as the new Freddy Krueger, he was fresh off an electrifying performance as Rorschach in Watchmen, and I was officially on board with the remake. I couldn’t think of anyone better to step into the role previously played by Robert Englund.

So while watching the remake, I was surprised at how odd it was to see someone else play the role. I didn’t dislike Jackie Earle Haley’s performance (though I do wish he hadn’t sounded exactly like Rorshach), but I guess I didn’t realize that Robert Englund had become synonymous with Freddy Krueger in my mind.

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Since 2007, studios and fans alike have been contemplating, worrying, speculating, and spewing rumors about the upcoming prequel to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit. The news that we do know is that Jackson is teaming up with Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro, the story will be split into two films over two years, and now we have a release date for the two films. From Heat Vision:

Warner Bros. is scheduling Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro’s two-part adaptation of “The Hobbit” for December 2012 and December 2013.

One of the major issues many fans of the original Nightmare on Elm Street films have about the upcoming reboot is the look and style of the film’s villain, Freddy Krueger. The main appeal to the original 6 films (and full season of the Freddy’s Nightmares TV series) was that Robert Englund brought a witty cynicism to the character, making him the antagonist, but still entertaining.

Much like the Friday the 13th franchise, towards the later films, fans were going to watch Jason, and really didn’t care about the teens that were getting slaughtered. Now, with Jackie Earle Haley donning the glove and sweater, many fans have been worried whether he would continue the “hilariously evil” style that Englund and Craven brought to the character. He was like Groucho Marx with a burnt face and claw.

In a new clip from the film, we finally get some chatter from Freddy, which is exactly what we’ve been looking for. It’s slightly darker than the originals, which is the same case for the Friday the 13th reboot, but it’s still a nice nod to fans of the original.

Check out the clip after the jump, and be sure to stay awake for A Nightmare On Elm Street when it hits theaters this Friday.

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As usual, the Hollywood brain trust has decided that instead of looking forward and creating some original work, they will instead look to the past for inspiration and take yet another great film and add it to the remake/reboot pile. The film in question this time, John Carpenter’s Escape from New York.

Granted, Escape isn’t exactly a classic in the strictest sense of the word, but it is considered by many, myself included, to be one of the best action/sci-fi movies of the last thirty years. So, much like Predators and so many others of late, I’m not exactly thrilled it will be receiving the reboot treatment.

That said, there is one potential bright spot here now that we know Breck Eisner will be handling the directing duties on the film. His recent work on The Crazies showed he’s got a lot of skills and my hope is that he’ll be able to do something really interesting and innovative with the Escape story.

In case you’re not familiar with the original 1981 film (which if you’re not, get familiar) it was set in a futuristic 1997 where a walled-off Manhattan island had been turned into a maximum-security prison. Air Force One, with the President on board, crashes on the island and newly captured super criminal and ex-war hero Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is coerced into a rescue mission. The new film will reportedly try to mix in an origin story for Snake with the story of the original film.

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This year has been pretty quiet for horror films so far. The beginning kicked off with Shutter Island and Wolfman, but after that, things seemed to slow down. Now we’re getting ready for the big summer rush, and one film that could fall into the “blockbuster” and horror category is the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street, which hits theaters in 2 weeks.

Lots of die hard fans of the original were pretty upset when they heard that the beloved classic was getting the typical Hollywood reboot, until they saw the trailer. Music Video director Samuel Bayer managed to capture the essence that made the original Wes Craven films truly horrifying.

That emotion is amplified even more when we got a glimpse at Jackie Earl Haley (Watchmen) as Freddy Krueger. Check out a brand new clip, entitled “All you have to do is dream”, after the jump.

Be sure to catch A Nightmare On Elm Street in theaters everywhere on April 30th.

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Are you excited for the remake of the horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street? If so, this post is for you. Today, a new poster for the remake was relased into the wild at MySpace and features a better look at Jackie Earle Haley in the iconic role of your worst nightmare Freddy Krueger.

As you probably know, the original film was directed by horror legend Wes Craven and released in 1984. It spawned several sequels and imitators and propelled the character of Freddy Kruger into infamy. The remake, which is directed by Samuel Bayer and hits theaters on April 30, features Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, and Thomas Dekker as a group of suburban teens being haunted and killed in their sleep.

Even though I’m not always a big fan of remakes, this one looks pretty darn cool. More and more Haley seems like an inspired choice to take over as Freddy Kruger. If he brings to the role the killer intensity he showed as Rorchasch in Watchmen, he might just be able to pull it off. The more I see of the new film, the more I hope he can.

Click through for a look at the full poster. Seeing this, what do you guys think of Haley as Freddy Kruger and are you excited for the remake?

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Though February is considered Black History Month, this year it seems that Hollywood is turning it into “Reboot Month”. Less than two weeks into the month, and we’ve already gotten word on a reboot for Daredevil, The Thing, Gunsmoke, Hawaii Five-0, and word that the Spider-Man reboot will be in 3-D.

It seems that Tinseltown and New Line Studios is setting their sights on another classic franchise, in National Lampoon’s Vacation. The original, which started in 1983, beget 4 sequels, including the direct-to-DVD film Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure. From Variety:

The latest project, which will no longer carry the National Lampoon credit, is being described as more of an update than a sequel and will be closer in tone to “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” than the previous chapters. Story will focus on Rusty Griswold, now a grown man, who decides to take his own wife and kids on a road trip to Wally World before it closes forever. Chase is not attached at this time to reprise his role as Clark Griswold, now a grandfather.

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Many people speculated that MacGruber, an upcoming film based on a series of 60-second spoofs on Saturday Night Live, would be a terrible idea. Then we saw the first two trailers for the film and realized it may actually turn out to be pretty funny. Now that the rest of the world is in agreement, there seems to be trouble ahead for the filmmakers.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the creator of the original MacGyver, Lee Zlotoff, had a deal with New Line back in March of 2009 to produce a film based on his 1985 series. The idea sat on a shelf for other projects like Friday The 13th and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past could come to fruition. Months later, Relativity Media went forward with their MacGruber production, which was basically a script mocking Zlotoff’s original premise.

Zlotoff was not happy about this, and began drafting cease-and-desist letters to Relativity. From THR:

“We feel they’re infringing our rights,” Zlotoff lawyer Paul Mayersohn told us Tuesday. As the film’s April 23 release date approaches, Mayersohn says he’s meeting with litigators to determine a course of action, which might include filing a copyright and/or trademark lawsuit and attempting to get an injunction against the film’s release.

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The Hobbit has been on everyone’s radar since the success of the Lord of the Rings films, but has been a long time coming. After New Line was sued by both director Peter Jackson and Tolkien’s heirs, Jackson is now reporting yet another delay to Variety.

Stating that writing on The Hobbit, which will be a two-part film, is slowing down production, Jackson said that he hopes that he along with Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens and director Guillermo del Toro will finish writing by the beginning of next year. Production would then start by the middle of next summer, a few months later than expected.

With Jackson as writer/producer and Del Toro at the helm, The Hobbit is sure to be worth the wait. However, fans of both the literature and the “Rings” trilogy are sure to be antsy to return to Middle Earth as soon as possible, so this latest delay won’t make them very happy.

The Hobbit films have reported release dates of December 2011 and December 2012, with no word as to whether the recent delays will push back these dates.

With the Marvel/Disney deal looming, the race is on for studios to secure properties. Variety is reporting that Columbia Pictures is working on a sequel to Ghost Rider, with David Goyer reportedly in talks to create the story, as well as supervise additional writers for the film. Nicolas Cage is expected to reprise his starring role as Johnny Blaze.

The resurrection of Ghost Rider as a franchise comes in the middle of negotiations with other Marvel characters at Sony, Fox, Universal and Paramount. Studios must move on these properties now if they want to retain the rights to their Marvel superheroes.  If the properties languish, Marvel Entertainment can reclaim the rights to those characters. This is exactly what happened with the Dr. Strange, Black Panther and Iron Man properties. Iron Man languished in development hell at New Line before Marvel turned the property into a self-financed blockbuster last year. And we all know how well that went.

Although Goyer stated through a spokesman, that he has not officially signed on to a second Ghost Rider, plans are already under way to base the sequel on a script Goyer penned years ago. Goyer’s, superhero work includes successful screen transfers of DC’s Batman Begins and Marvel’s Blade franchise.

Columbia isn’t the only one getting in on the properties action. Fox plans to reboot Fantastic Four with Green Lantern scribe Michael Green; develop a Wolverine sequel and other X-Men spinoffs; a Silver Surfer film; and a revamped version of Daredevil.

Sony recently tapped James Vanderbilt to pen the fifth and sixth installments of the Spider-Man series, and Universal is continuing work on Sub-Mariner. Paramount will continue to be the distributor for Iron Man 2 and are also expected to distribute the upcoming Thor and Captain America flicks.