Welcome to another edition of On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

Let’s get started!

• We finally get the first sounds of Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull in a new teaser for Captain America: The First Avenger. Funny…he sounds a lot like Megatron.

• It looks like the lawsuit against Warner Bros for use of Mike Tyson’s tattoo on Ed Helms in The Hangover Part II may force them to CG the tattoo out of the DVD’s. This seems like a completely reasonable use of that $400 million the film made in the box office.

• Dark animated film 9 director Shane Acker is planning on a big-screen adaptation of Thomas The Tank Engine. Our hope is that Tim Burton also produces this film and Thomas is now a train…from hell!

• Ever want to know what Raiders of the Lost Ark would be like with Tom Selleck and Sean Young? Here you go, but we warn you: the mustache did not help him in the audition.

• Before we ever get the inevitable leaked pilot, we’ve got a whopping 7 second teaser from the failed NBC Wonder Woman series. Who knew you could sum up the entire reason why it failed in 7 seconds?

• In hoping to leave the kids table and join the big boys, Nintendo has teamed with Ubisoft to work on a new raunchy game for the WiiU, titled Killer Freaks from Outer Space. We’re totally sold.

Continue Reading →

It’s that time of year again. The time when actors and actresses are honored for all the hard work they piled together in the 12 months leading up to one moment of pay off and a tiny little statue. We’re speaking, of course, about the Razzie Awards. These are the awards given out on the eve of Oscar night to those actors, actresses, and fimlmmakers who have produced some of the worst film projects to hit theaters in the past year.

Many remember last year’s big Worst Actress winner being Sandra Bullock, who went on the very next night to win an Oscar for a role in a completely different film. This year’s potentials could have the same luck, but we doubt it. Here’s the shortlist of actors from LA Times.

Among movies and actors shortlisted for the Razzies are Jessica Alba, who is eligible for worst supporting actress for four films (“The Killer Inside Me,” “Little Fockers,” “Machete” and “Valentine’s Day”), and Emily Blunt, eligible in the same category for her work in “The Wolfman” and “Gulliver’s Travels.”

Continue Reading →

While Universal is ramping up their marketing for the upcoming Wolfman reboot, and Summit is rolling around in giant piles of cash thanks to angsty teen vampires, there are still a few classic monster franchises left to be tapped. That’s where Lakeshore Entertainment and Death Ray Films come in.

The studios have teamed up and optioned the comic book I, Frankenstein, originally written by Kevin Grevioux. The book mashes up the genres of classic movie monsters with crime noir in an epic miniseries. In the book, Frankenstein’s monster has learned to control his anger and now stands as the only hope for humanity against an army of supernatural forces. Meanwhile, Dracula is a kingpin of crime and the Invisible Man lives his life as a secret agent.

With Universal and other studios revving up their use of the latter two franchises, you can expect them to not make the final cut, and focus on Frank. The film has been on the shelf for nearly a year, until genre studio Lakeshore Entertainment, who presented other cult faves as Gamer and Underworld, recently purchased the rights to turn I, Frankenstein into a film.

Original creator Grevioux, who penned all of the Underworld films will be taking on the script, while Patrick Tatopoulos, who directed the same, will be stepping in to direct. Production is set to begin this July, but there hasn’t been any rumblings as to who could play the gigantic green detective. Our choice? Tony Danza Mickey Rourke.

In news for a film that could be considered dead in the water already, the site and online marketing campaign for Universal’s upcoming The Wolfman has gone live. The film has been bounced around more times than the Watchmen property back in the mid 90′s, and doesn’t look like it’s for the better.

Production began back in 2006 (which is now nearly 4 years ago) when Universal announced that Benicio Del Toro would be taking on the titular role. A year later, a list of names that included Mark Romenek, Brett Ratner, Frank Darabont, and Martin Campbell were at one point attached to the project, all falling off and leaving way for Joe Johnston (Jumanji, The Rocketeer) to take the helm in early 2008.

From there, the project was bumped from it’s original release date twice, due to reshoots and tweaks, with a final release date of February 12, 2010. The site includes some nice features, including Twitter integration, a full moon calendar, and an interesting history of Universal Monsters.

Check out the site, and be prepared for the film (and supposed Universal attraction to follow) hitting theaters on February 12.

If you were debating whether or not you wanted to see Benicio Del Toro in Wolfman because it was too folky and epic, how would you like it if the film was set to a generic rock tune?

Well, Universal Pictures answered your prayers with the newest trailer for Wolfman. It’s got more Benicio, more Wolf, and a Marilyn Manson soundtrack.

The film itself has had quite a tumultuous post-production. Originally, the film was set to have Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) as director, who later stepped down. Then, the studio met with names like Brett Ratner, Frank Darabont, James Mangold, and Martin Campbell, until finally deciding on Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer).

Once finished, the film bounced around with three separate release dates, two being in 2009, and then finally sticking to a release of February, 2010. It’s on record that January and February is where movies go to die.

Either way, check out the cool new trailer after the jump, and catch Benicio and the gang in theaters on February 12, 2010.

Continue Reading →