by Matt Raub, Nov 3 2010 // 10:00 AM
Jason Statham either has a very specific goal in mind when picking films, or he really just doesn’t care. A lesser action star would feel the need to branch out into kid-friendly flicks to up his revenue stream and become more of a household name (*cough* Vin Diesel *cough*) but Statham takes a different approach.
Between the Crank films, the Transporter films, and anything done with Jet Li or Guy Ritchie, Statham has managed to keep his “badass quota” to a maximum level. The same holds with the trailer for his newest film, Blitz.
With a screenplay from Moon’s Nathan Parker, Blitz tells the story of a cop put on the case of a serial killer who makes it a point to kill police officers. You’ll definitely get the British crime side of Statham over the high-action martial arts in this film.
The very first trailer for the flick has surfaced, which you can check out after the jump. Be sure to catch Blitz in select theaters worldwide starting in February of 2011.
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Posted in: Drama · Foreign Films · Movies · News · Trailers · Video
Tagged: Blitz, Crank, Duncan Jones, Guy Ritchie, Jason Statham, Moon, Nathan Parker, Transporter
by Matt Raub, Apr 28 2010 // 2:00 PM
No, this isn’t a plug for the world premiere of one of the Transporter films to hit basic cable. Creator Luc Besson’s production company, EuropaCorp, has gotten the greenlight to go ahead with a full season of a Transporter TV series to be produced in Europe.
Though Jason Statham may be too big an actor to reprise his role as the car-speeding, bad guy-kicking lead Frank Martin, the show’s budget may just be enough for him to reconsider. From Variety:
Luc Besson’s powerhouse EuropaCorp has greenlit a 12 episode one-hour series, produced with Takis Candilis’ Atlantique Prods.
Move marks the first series, and a big one at that, for EuropaCorp as it diversifies into TV, producing spin-offs from its hit movies.
Series will be shot in English, and will start lensing in early 2011 in Canada and France. The producers are in talks with major international television channels.
At $4 million per episode, it’s a pricey project for Europe, but by U.S. broadcast network standards, it’s still being made on a low budget.
This could mean a lot for foreign-produced series to make their way to the US, giving one more avenue for networks to use when buying up new projects. EuropaCorp is not worried about the money being a loss, as the Transporter films each cost roughly $30 million to make, and brought in a total of $238 million worldwide.
No word on a cast yet, but expect to hear new soon, with the large budget behind the series, and production to begin in less than a year.
Posted in: Action · Announcements · Box Office · Filmmaking · Foreign Films · Movies · News · TV
Tagged: EuropaCorp, Frank Martin, Jason Statham, Luc Besson, Transporter, Transporter 2, Transporter 3
by Matt Raub, Dec 3 2009 // 8:00 AM
While the idea of the “buddy cop” film has lost it’s luster here in the States since Riggs and Murtaugh hung up their guns, the sub-genre has taken on a whole new life over in France. Back in 2004, writer Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Taken, The Transporter Trilogy) brought the worlds of buddy cop films, action, and parkour together. The film was a hit across the globe, and the team is now reuniting to do it again.
The trailer for District B13: Ultimatum gives us a glimpse of the awesomeness that we can look forward to, including leaps from skyscrapers, driving through the second floor of a building, and outrunning a car on foot. Of course, we don’t recommend watching this film in it’s dubbed form over it’s original French dialogue, but you may not have a choice when the movie gets an American theatrical release.
Check out the first new trailer for the film after the jump, with no dialogue, cocky narration, and yes: lots of jumping and explosions. Expect to see District B13: Ultimatum in your local multiplex on February 5, 2010.
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Posted in: Action · Fandom · Foreign Films · Movies · News · Trailers
Tagged: District B13, French, Luc Besson, Taken, Trailers, Transporter
by Matt Raub, Aug 10 2009 // 1:30 PM
Director Louis Leterrier has done quite a lot for action films, including a series of fun Transporter movies. He also helped us forget about what Ang Lee did to The Hulk. Though both fanboys and studios are split down the middle on how Leterrier’s Incredible Hulk actually turned out, he is still talking about doing more work with Marvel Studios and even the “jade giant” himself.
In an interview with the LA Times, the director talked about his real dream for the next few Marvel movies.
I’ll tell you my real dream: To work with Joe Johnston, [“Thor” director] Kenneth Branagh and Jon Favreau and make like a triptych. We do four movies. We release them one a month for the summer. Or even every two weeks or three weeks. And the whole summer would be Avengers summer. So we do it the way they make television shows. One story arc but told in installments by different directors.
So all of the directors that touch part of the Avengers world would do a part; we could make the movies shorter, maybe less than an hour and a half, and we use the same sets and save Marvel money. I would love to sit around a table with all of them a kick around the story. That’s my dream.
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Posted in: Action · Comics · Deals and Dealmaking · Fantasy · Filmmaking · Iron Man 2 · Marvel · Marvel Studios · Movies · News · Paramount · Universal Pictures
Tagged: Avengers, Captain America, Clash of the Titans, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Joe Johnston, Jon Favreau, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Feige, Louis Leterrier, Marvel Studios, Thor, Transporter