In a time when not even adaptations of board games are off the table for most of the bigger Hollywood studios, a story like this isn’t as far fetched as it should be. McG, director of the Charlie’s Angels films and Terminator Salvation, is taking the lead on directing Ouija for Universal. From THR.

The studio’s planned film adaptation of the classic Hasbro board game about conjuring up spirits of the dead has had a tough go at finding a director but before the town shut down for the holidays, Heat Vision reported that McG presented Universal execs his vision for the project, which has a script by Tron: Legacy writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and is being produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes.

He was vying for the gig against The Crazies director Breck Eisner, who pitched his take on the material the week before.

So not only is a multi-millionaire director taking on this project, but he was actually battling another one for this acclaimed position. Unfortunately, this one has been done. A few times, actually, since 1986′s Witchboard.

That hasn’t stopped McG from taking home the prize….of directing a film based on a supernatural board that allows people to speak with the dead. Well worth it.

Since Netflix broke the barrier between disc rental and instant streaming on the console, every other digital media provider has been vying for the attention of gamers everywhere, and that even includes the gaming powerhouse Sony and their PlayStation Network market.

As of late, a ton of mega studios have signed up to exclusively release their new films on the PSN market, including Sony Entertainment Disney. According to Variety, two more have now hopped on board.

Two more studios have signed on for Sony Computer Ent.’s movie service for gamers, according to a report in the Nikkei newspaper.

Starting in January, Fox and Universal will join Sony and Disney in supplying pics online to users of Sony PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable machines for either unlimited-time purchase or limited-time rental.

At this rate, Sony’s PlayStation Network may just take the lead in digital content, and could end up surpassing Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace, which is what the Xbox 360 is supplied by. No word yet on exactly what titles this new deal entails, but we expect to hear more as we enter the new year.

America’s smartest little town, Eureka, is known for its brilliant minds. Although Salli Richardson-Whitfield is not the head of some secret military facility or medical staff in real life, she does run the show from time to time…literally. Who knew she could direct the cast as well as she directs Global Dynamics?

We had the opportunity to sit down with the woman who plays a mother, leader, and love interest. So in essence, a real woman. During the interview you could tell she had a lot in common with Allison Blake: she’s graceful under pressure, smart as a whip, and one classy dame.

The Flickcast: We heard you’ll get the opportunity to direct an episode of Eureka this season. What’s it like to direct?

Salli Richardson-Whitfield: It’s something I’ve been wanting to do. Last season I wanted to do it and then I was pregnant and it’s not the best time to be directing for my first time. I would have been hormonally a little difficult.

But they’ve been very generous in giving me this opportunity and I’ve been taking it very seriously … The thing on the show is, once you decide you want to direct, once you start paying attention, you realize everything you haven’t been paying attention to. So, every director that comes on finds me sitting there. As they turn around, they bump into me because I’m sitting there and I’m like, “Well why did you do that?”

Continue Reading →

Congrats to all those who have made it past Comic-Con’s endless Hall H lines, sat through countless hours of the studio’s pleading with you to buy movie tickets, and made it back home in one, tired piece. What awaits you is a month filled with the studio’s last line of blockbuster attack ads until the holiday season.

Fear not, as the lines will be vastly shorter than the wait for Eclipse. Instead of emos and soccer moms in “Team Edward” T-shirts, you’ll find yourself beside teenage boys who watch Rocky V on their Evos while waiting for The Expendables.

Curiously, the generals of Universal and Lionsgate both decided to fire missiles into the 13-30 years old guys camp. With the troops dispersing, you should be able to deftly maneuver yourself to the safety of a comfy recliner at the multiplex.

My advice, do like Julia Roberts and Eat some buttery popcorn, Pray for a film worth the ticket price, and Love the below reviews. Let’s check out what’s in store for us in August.

Continue Reading →

There are plenty of genre films flooding Hollywood today. What was once a niche market has now become quite a popular section of the box office on a week-to-week basis. With remakes, reboots, and sequels taking over, it’s nice to see a truly original film sneak by and surprise us all.

Catfish first popped up during the Sundance Film Festival, surprising nearly everyone in attendance, and confusing the rest. At that time, the film was declared “ready to blow away the public” but now we’re finally getting our first trailer for the film.

We don’t want to give too much away, but the title doesn’t have a whole lot to do with the film itself, so we’ll let the synopsis do the heavy lifting.

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel’s brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

Interest piqued? Well, check out the trailer after the jump, and make sure to sit through the first half so that you get to the good stuff. Catfish hits theaters on September 17th.

Continue Reading →

Inception performed remarkably well for its third week in release, and won the weekend with over $27.5 Million. For those keeping track at home, that makes it three weeks in a row at the top spot.

That box office take is a big number for any movie, but it’s especially rewarding for everyone who feared intelligent adult fare wouldn’t stand a chance in summertime, which is usually more typical of “popcorn” action movies.  Now standing at about $193 Million, the film is sure to surpass the coveted $200 Million mark this week.

This bodes well for everyone who enjoys adult drama.  Studios should be somewhat energized from the box office results of Inception.  Hopefully they will be  inclined to   green-light more original (non-franchise, non sequel) projects.  Note: the key word here is should.  Who knows if that will really happen, but one can always hope.

New release Dinner For Schmucks took the number two spot with $23.3 Million.  This is slightly better than two of Paul Rudd’s recent movies.  Both Role Models and I Love You Man made just under $20 Million on their opening weekend.  This is probably in line with studio expectations, but I thought it would make a little closer to $30M over the weekend.

Angelina Jolie’s spy-driven action flick Salt came in at number three with $19.7 Million, but it dropped off 46% from last weekend, not a good sign of things to come for the movie. Still,  it has made about $70 Million in its first ten days in release.

Despicable Me came in fourth.  It is now boasting a cumulative total of $190 Million, and will become the first bona fide hit for Universal in 2010. The studio has had a string of box office stinkers thus far, including The Wolfman, Repo Men, Robin Hood, MacGruber, and more.

Continue Reading →

Much like J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon’s epic team-up during Comic-Con to show they are probably way geekier than you are, two other powerful film titans that you love (or love to hate) have decided to team up for a project as well. That’s right, Guillermo del Toro and James Cameron are working together on a big screen adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness with del Toro directing and Cameron producing.

Of course, the film will be shot in 3D for studio Universal Pictures. According to reports, the studio was a bit nervous about he high budget project but Cameron’s stamp of approval and support for del Toro apparently won them over. Cameron had said in the past that he wouldn’t put his name on many future movies outside of the 3D reboot of Fantastic Voyage at Fox, but he’s apparently making an exception for del Toro and this project.

In case you’re not familiar with Lovecraft’s work, this particular story centers around a gruesome discovery made during a scientific expedition to the South Pole in the 1930s. This discovery hints at the true origin of mankind and our having come from elder gods from another planet. Of course, bad things start to happen when those life forms are awakened. If you’ve ever read any Lovecraft, you know if they stay faithful to the source material this movie will be one wild time.

At the Mountains of Madness is expected to being filming next Summer for a 2012 release.

A few months ago, we brought you news of an innovative and visually stunning short that was making its way across the web titled The Raven from writer/director Ricardo de Montreuil. It seems that the film has turned enough heads, as both Universal and Mark Wahlberg have taken an interest in bringing the concept to the silver screen.

The short film, which follows Chris Black, a man who possesses a super power that can take down a current militant faction that has a stranglehold on a metropolitan city. Being only made for $5,000 on a RED camera, the visual effects are truly what make this one of the better web shorts in years.

According to our friends at Latino Review, Universal is currently interested in taking The Raven to a larger scale, with a bigger budget, and even Mark Wahlberg to produce and star. Genre favorite Justin Marks, who is also penning the script for Voltron and SuperMAX will be taking on the treatment of the film, with Montreuil still directing.

There was a bit of a bidding war between Universal and Warner Bros., but once Entourage co-creator Wahlberg got involved, Universal inevitably got the rights to the film. Be sure to check out the site for the film, and keep it here for more news as it develops on this deal.

Animated films are having a pretty stellar summer. This weekend, Toy Story 3 just became the highest grossing Pixar film of all time (surpassing Finding Nemo.)   Illumination Entertainment just released their first film, Despicable Me, and cleaned up at the box office.  Despicable made over $60 Million during its opening weekend, earning the distinction of being the highest opening weekend for an animated film not made by Pixar or Dreamworks.  Just like that, we have some serious competition for the animation studios.   Not too bad for a movie with no built in audience.

Illumination spent about $69 Million for the animation in Despicable Me, which is well beneath the average for a Dreamworks or Pixar film.  The film enjoyed a healthy “A” cinemascore rating by exiting audience members, which typically indicates long legs and good word of mouth.  Despite the fact that the movie played in 3D, it was limited in its amount of theaters, because Toy Story and The Last Airbender are both still playing in quite a few 3D venues.  There is no doubt that Despicable take would have been higher had it been able to capitalize on more 3D screens.

Twilight: Eclipse was bumped down to the number two spot this week.  It had about a 48% drop from opening weekend, typical of the franchise that is historically heavily front-loaded.   It still managed to make about $33 Million, hardly a number to scoff at.  This brings the 12 day total to $237 Million, which is pretty astounding, and topped the total for New Moon in the same time period ($235 Million.)

Predators scared up a decent $25 Million over the weekend.  With a modest budget of $40 Million, this bodes well for the film. Toy Story 3 nabbed the fourth spot with $22 Million.  Its four week total is $340 Million.

Continue Reading →

As you undoubtedly know by now, the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean installment has sailed without Gore Verbinski. The director has kept himself busy with Rango, but hasn’t seen any of his live action projects come to fruition.

But now Variety reports that Verbinski is in talks to direct a remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  The classic 1947 film has been making the remake rounds for decades, with Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Chuck Russell taking the helm at various times.  Now it may fall to Verbinski, as 20th Century Fox is determined to get it cast and shooting by next spring.

Walter Mitty is based on James Thurber’s short story. Mitty is a book editor who spends more time in heroic daydreams than in making his own life a success.  The film took great liberties with the source material (much to the dismay of Thurber) and became a story where a daydreamer becomes a real life hero. There’s no talk of the Mitty remake returning to the source material, so I imagine the update will be filled with similar elements of zaniness, especially since Jim Carrey was once attached to star.

Verbinski is also still involved with the bigscreen adaptation of Bioshock. Though budgetary concerns caused him to lose the director’s chair to Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, he remains attached as producer.  Rumors have swirled that Bioshock is dead in the water, but Verbinski told IGN that he’s still hoping to inject it with a plasmid or two.

Continue Reading →

Diane here and fresh off  the red carpet premiere of Universal Studios’ Hollywood latest attraction, King Kong 360 3D.  If you have a chance to swing on by this summer, it is worth the wait.

Yesterday while walking among a 360lb Bengal Tiger, a 13 foot Python, a feisty monkey, and tribal dancers who kept on telling me to touch their dinosaur bones I became entranced with the world of Skull Island and a gorilla who’s eaten one too many Big Macs.

I was not alone, The Office’s Craig Robinson, Oscar Nunez, and Kate Flannery, along with Kevin Smith, Yvette Nicole Brown of Community, Wayne Brady,Wanted and King Kong’s Thomas Kretschmann, and a very shy Christopher Lloyd were all there sampling the gourmet apps and reveling in a filmed introduction to the experience by none other than a slimmed down Peter Jackson in 3D.

Continue Reading →

Normally $71 Million sounds like a pretty good haul, but despite making that over the weekend, Shrek Forever After was widely considered a box office disappointment, compared to its predecessors.  In 2007, Shrek 3 made over $121 Million on its opening weekend, a cool $50 Million over this total.

Consider that the 3D ticket prices were much higher for Shrek 4, and it seems that not near as many people were clamoring to see the final chapter of the fairy tale franchise.  It also opened on a staggering 4,300 screens, which is a full thousand more than most tent-pole movies get, so lack of accessibility certainly wasn’t the issue.

However, word of mouth by exiting audience members is good (cinemascore of A, according to Entertainment Weekly), and the kiddos will be out of school in the next few weeks.  The family demographic will likely provide Shrek 4 with a long run at the box office, similar to How to Train Your Dragon. The movie will need to have that very thing happen to earn back its reported $165 Million budget.

Coming in at a very strong second place was Iron Man 2, earning a robust $26.6 Million in its third week in release. Not too shabby.  Robin Hood earned another $18.7 Million, bringing its two-week total to $66 Million. The film still is performing better overseas, so it should earn back its whopping $200 million budget.

Continue Reading →