One would think that the overwhelming success of Summit Entertainment’s Twilight series would spark a resurgence of the classic Universal monsters, but in the end it took Universal itself to get things back into the public eye, with this weekend’s release of The Wolfman.

First, news comes that a new Frankenstein project is in the works. Now Summit has decided to drop their their hat into the vampire ring again with a new Dracula project.

The studio has been planning this remake of the Dracula story for some time, but they’ve now made things serious by hiring The Machinist writer Scott Kosar to clean up the script. The original screenplay comes from Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam, who had never written a feature script until now.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story takes an “action-oriented look at Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler, as a young prince.” With music video director Anthony Mandler signed on to direct, Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B producing, and Summit taking the helm, expect to see this film make plenty of waves when the time comes.

Hollywood has been remaking old television shows into big screen adventures for years now. It’s been a trend with limited success, and every time you think it’ll die off with something like The Mod Squad,  we get news of another Charlie’s Angels or a big screen McCloud.

Lately, there’s been a weird interest in reviving tv westerns.  Last August, CBS Films announced they were developing a feature film based on Gunsmoke, the legendary series that ran for an exhausting 20 seasons.   Prior to television, it ran for nearly ten years as a radio serial.  No one could get enough of Marshall Matt Dillon back in the day, and apparently he’s due for a modern makeover.

Despite having its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, Gunsmoke was quite edgy for its time. Long before John Ford or Sergio Leone,  Norman MacDonald and John Meston sought to dismantle the cutesy, archtypical Old West that had been seen up until then. They wanted a harder, cruder hero and a more realistic and brutal West. Their Marshall Matt Dillon was no hero in a white hat, and the Dodge City he patrolled was full of shady and violent characters.

It was aimed at adults, and was one of the first radio shows to depict scalping, prostitution, opium addiction, and massacres. Dillon killed a heck of a lot of people, and his creators proudly said that he was as scarred and dangerous as the villains of Dodge City.

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In news that seemed “too good to be true”, Guy Ritchie, who directed such action-comedies as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, would be directing an adaptation of the DC character Lobo for Warner Bros. Since then, Ritchie’s stock has gone up in a huge way with his Sherlock Holmes bringing in over $350 worldwide since it’s Christmas Day release.

With that in mind, both Warner and super-producer Joel Silver have decided to fast-track a Holmes sequel, which would put Lobo on ice, possibly permanently. When the LA Times sat down with Silver, he didn’t seem too convinced either way.

“I don’t think he’s going to do it now,” Silver said of Ritchie directing “Lobo.” “The studio wants us and Guy to focus on making another ‘Sherlock Holmes.’ So I think we’re going to be doing that. But we’re seeing what happens with this.

Everybody is analyzing everything. It’s all kind of happening right now as we talk. ‘Sherlock’ is sitting at just about $400 million in worldwide gross and showing itself to be pretty effective and pretty strong. So we’re trying to see if we can do something quickly with another ‘Sherlock Holmes’ movie. We have some ideas and some good story points.”

It was also rumored that Brad Pitt, a Guy Ritchie favorite, would be stepping in on the Holmes sequel to play the evil Professor Moriarty, but Silver didn’t seem to think that the plan would move on past the “wouldn’t it be cool?” stage.

Downey Jr. also just recently picked up his second Golden Globe for his performance in Sherlock Holmes, which you can still catch in some theaters.

Hot Toys, a company that makes life-like renditions of famous movie and pop culture figures, has released images of their newest creation. Brad Pitt’s Lieutenant Aldo Raine, from Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds can (hopefully) soon by yours.

The 1/6th scale recreation covers the smallest detail from the Nazi scalping knife to the unexplained noose scars around his neck. The resemblance to the actual Brad Pitt (of which, this is his first officially licensed figure), is uncanny.

Check out some neat images and the specifications for the figure, courtesy of our pals at SlashFilm, after the jump.

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Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows such as J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, Gone with the Wind, Thirst, Rome: The Complete Series and the Blu-ray debut of David Fincher’s awesome Fight Club (shown above with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton). We are Jack’s excitement at this release finally coming out.

Check them out:

Movies

Bruno ~ Sacha Baron Cohen, Paula Abdul (DVD and Blu-ray)

Clerks ~ Brian O’Halloran, Kevin Smith (Blu-ray)

Downhill Racer (The Criterion Collection) ~ Robert Redford, Gene Hackman (DVD)

Fight Club ~ Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter (Blu-ray)

Galaxy Quest ~ Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman (Blu-ray)

Gone with the Wind (Ultimate Collector’s Edition) ~ Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh (Blu-ray)

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With the first Sherlock Holmes movie featuring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law not even out in theaters until this Christmas, it looks as if Warner Bros. is already hard at work developing a sequel. This second installment is reportedly bringing writers Kieran and Michele Mulroney, currently working on the studio’s Justice League: Mortal, on board to pen a draft of the new script. In addition to that news, it seems the studio has its eye on a very well known actor to portray Holmes’ arch nemesis Moriarty in the film: Brad Pitt.

In case you’re not familiar with this updated take on Holmes, its more of an action-heavy rendition of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle creation and features Downey, Jr. as the title character, Jude Law as Watson and Rachel McAdams as love interest Irene Adler. The film is directed by Guy Ritchie who may return for the sequel as well as most, if not all, of the original cast.

Developing sequels to films not yet released seems to be more of a trend these days in order to shorten the time between installments of a new franchises. Plus, developing sequels early is also relatively low cost for the studio because only writers need to begin work at this stage while other deals for talent and director are being worked out. It makes sense, especially for a film like Holmes, which based on the trailers released so far and what we saw of it at the recent Comic-Con in San Diego, looks to be a monster hit.

The first Sherlock Holmes hits theaters on December 25th. The next chapter? Maybe sooner than we think.

This weekend was a pretty big one for the box office, though only making just over $100 million with the top ten. This marked the biggest opening weekend for one of Hollywood’s most celebrated writer/directors in Quentin Tarantino, as his latest film Inglourious Basterds brought in an estimated $37 million in the domestic box office, while bringing in $27 million overseas.

This certainly goes down as the biggest opening weekend for Tarantino, with the runner ups being Kill BIll Volume 2 back in 2004 bringing in $25 million and 2003’s Kill BIll Volume 1 grossing $22 million in the opening weekend. While the former hit theaters over five years go, Tarantino’s 2007 film Grindhouse only brought in $11 million in the first weekend, and a total box office gross of $25 million.

Basterds not only marks Tarantino’s biggest opening weekend in the box office, but also the biggest production budget that he has worked with at $70 million. Grindhouse being his second biggest with $67 million, the film only grossed $25, which barely made a dent. Basterds, however, has already made an estimated $64 million, which means this film will be turning a profit in a matter of days.

Elsewhere in the box office, last week’s hit District 9 only had a 49% drop from $37 million to an estimated $19. G.I. Joe is still hanging on to the top three spot with $12.5 million, with The Time Traveler’s Wife and Julie and Julia following closely behind. Tarantino’s often-partner Robert Rodriguez’s film Shorts, did not–however–follow in his friend’s trend. The film opened with only $6.6 million.

Though Myspace has become mostly superfluous in the days of Facebook and Twitter, they still have some cool video projects such as Zach Galfiniaikis’ Between Two Ferns and their series Artist on Artist in which an artist in a particular field gets to jam with another. For the most part, the two artists are linked by their most recent project, like Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller, or Adam Sandler and Nick Swardson. With Inglourious Basterds, hitting theaters tomorrow, Director Quentin Tarantino got to sit down with his unofficial protègè Eli Roth.

They inevitably go back to their favorite subject of themselves after a few minutes and a few glasses of wine, but it’s still interesting to see the two gossip about the production of the film, Pitt’s super-stardom, and more. For all the fun, check out the video after the jump.

Also, be sure to check out our review of Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds right here, and then hit the theaters for Tarantino’s masterpiece tomorrow.

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Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is the WW II movie we’ve needed to see since the war ended. Some might consider it overlong or self-indulgent, but it showcases Tarantino’s filmmmaking skills at their finest and serves as an example of one filmmaker’s singular vision and immense storytelling craft. It is immensely entertaining, and at times brilliant, for its entire running time.

Those going into the film hoping to see lots of bloody action like some of the director’s other films are going to be somewhat disappointed. There is some violence and gore to be sure, but this is a war movie that barely features any of the war. Instead, Tarantino focuses on the people and a very personal story of revenge. This is what Inglourious Basterds is at its core: a revenge film.

From the first scene where we’re introduced to “Jew Hunter” Colonel Landa (brilliantly played by Christoph Waltz) and he lets young Shosanna Dreyfus go instead of killing her as he did with her family, the stage is set for Shoshana’s revenge on the man, and the Nazis, who took everything from her and so many others. This is not just Shoshanna’s personal tale of revenge, however, its the cathartic revenge for all Jews — and by extension all people — who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

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DreamWorks Animation’s Oobermind has enlisted three new superheroes, with Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill  lending their voices to the animated comedy. Variety reports that Ferrell is replacing Robert Downey Jr. in the title role of a supervillain whose dastardly dreams come true after defeating good-guy rival Metro Man (Pitt). Finding life boring without an adversary, Oobermind creates Titan (Hill), a superhero who also wants to be a villain, forcing Oobermind to switch sides.

The three actors join the already signed Tina Fey, who voices the reporter tasked with keeping track of the city’s confusing superhero situation. Oobermind will be directed by Tom McGrath, co-helmer of the popular Madagascar franchise. The project would have marked the first major animation role for Downey, Jr., who exited due to scheduling conflicts.

Oobermind will be released in Fall 2010 and will be distributed in stereoscopic 3-D.