There’s a lot of interesting stuff on the radar this week. An Avatar alumni could face off against Conan, Modern Warfare developers bring a fight to Activision, and director Guy Ritchie may be breathing new life into the heroes of Camelot.
Fox finds its shadow for $1 million and David Slade may be the man
Fans of the comic book series The Shadow rejoice as it seems the reboot continues to move forward. While it was thought Sony and director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Army of Darkness) would bring a new version of the character to the big screen things have changed somewhat.
After Raimi began shopping the property around Fox decided to purchase the rights. Sadly, it sounds like Raimi may no longer direct, possibly replaced by David Slade. Slade directed the vampire film Thirty Days of Night which, unfortunately, felt just that long in the theater. Here’s hoping he can put a little more adrenaline into The Shadow.
How I Met your…Smurf?
Neil Patrick Harris will be venturing to the land of blue, three apples tall creatures in Smurfs: The Movie. The How I Met Your Mother star won’t be playing a Smurf though. As this film will be a mix of live action and animation, Harris will be playing the lead live action character. Too bad, I would have liked to know just which Smurf he’d play. ”Awesome” Smurf maybe? Let us know your picks in the comments.
‘Wolverine 2′ starts shooting next January
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was pretty good, but it was missing one thing: ninjas! Hopefully that will be rectified in the sequel which is set to begin shooting next January. Delving into Wolvie’s Japanese mythos the script follows stories penned by two pretty big names:
“Based on a story cycle by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont, Wolverine’s adventures in martial arts will be a love story featuring a Japanese actress, I am told. ‘It’s a beautiful story,’ says a source, ‘and will be very different than the first film.’”
Okay, I’m not really sold on the “love story” angle but considering the number of women that went to see Wolverine (pretty much for mutant hunk, Hugh Jackman) at least this will be one you can take your girlfriends to.
Originally titled Guardians of the Ga’Hoole, Zack Snyder’s next directorial work, Legend of The Guardians has been picking up quite a lot of steam lately. This is the first thing that Snyder has worked on since he’s finally settled down after the epic task of adapting Alan Moore’s Watchmen last year.
Originally based on the young adult series by Kathryn Lasky, it’s basically an epic adventure of heroism and wonder, but with owls. The book series ended in November of 2008, topping it off at 15 books, and now Snyder and Warner Bros. are planning on taking that success to the world of film.
The film has a pretty huge cast list, as most big-budget CGI films do these days. Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, Emilie de Ravin, Ryan Kwanten, Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, and Helen Mirren round out a pretty well known list of players.
USA Today recently got their hands on the first images from the upcoming film, which is currently set for a September 24th release date. Check out the pics along with the very first trailer after the jump, and be sure to keep it here for any new info as we get closer to the release date of Legend of The Guardians.
300, one of the biggest hits of 2007, directed by Zack Snyder and based off the comic book mini-series by Frank Miller (The Spirit,Sin City the movie and comic series), is now supposedly getting a prequel. For the prequel, the story is set in time to see the battle of Marathon – which took place ten years before the events of 300.
During the battle, Xerxes’ father, Darius I, battled the Athenians. I believe this is passingly mentioned in a mocking tone in 300, when Leonidas denies acquiescing to Xerxes’ messengers, before kicking them down a giant hole in the middle of town.
Miller, who will again be writing and drawing the comic series before it’s taken to the big screen, has said to the LA Times, “It’s the Battle of Marathon through my lens” and that he’s just about ready to begin. Of course, the interesting thing about 300, and some might say the frightening thing about this new story; is the level of fact and stylization Miller had put into his original story.
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 Michael Mann’s awesome film Heat (shown above with Robert De Nero and Val Kilmer), Logan’s Run, Up, Monsters, Inc. and the Watchmen “Ultimate” Cut. Plus, there’s the second volume of Batman: The Brave and the Bold coming out this week as well.
Check them out:
Movies
The Accidental Husband ~ Uma Thurman, Colin Firth, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Sam Shepard (DVD and Blu-ray)
The General (1926) (Silent) ~ Buster Keaton (Blu-ray)
Heat ~ Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer (Blu-ray)
Logan’s Run ~ Michael York (Blu-ray)
Love Finds a Home ~ Patty Duke, Jordan Bridges, Haylie Duff (DVD and Blu-ray)
Monsters, Inc. (4-Disc Edition) ~ Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Bonnie Hunt (DVD and Blu-ray)
Near Dark ~ Lance Henriksen, Adrian Pasdar, Bill Paxton, Jenny Wright (Blu-ray)
As a big fan of Warren Ellis and his writing, I’m particularly happy to report that one of my favorite comics of his, Gravel, has now been optioned by Legendary Pictures for development as a feature film. This latest acquisition by Legendary makes a lot of sense considering they have several genre projects already going including Inception, Sucker Punch, Jonah Hex and Clash of the Titans.
In case you’re not as familiar with Gravel as you should be, it was created by Ellis in 1999 and is published by Avatar Press in its most current form. It centers on William Gravel, a soldier in the British S.A.S. who uses his skills in dark magic to moonlight and battle supernatural beings for clients in order to make extra cash. Along the way he encounters all manner of nastiness but still manages to not only survive, but to flourish.
According to the trade, Ellis will do the first draft of the screenplay and will also serve as an Executive Producer on the project, with Rick Alexander Producing. Given my fondness for Ellis’ work, I hope this continues the trend of his projects being adapted for the big screen.
No word on a director on any casting for Gravel, but for my money I would like to see Zack Snyder make this his next project after Sucker Punch. And, while we’re at it, how about Gerard Butler as Gravel? I think that combo, when combined with Ellis’ story, would make one hell of a movie.
For the past four years, Spike TV has been on the map of cable TV award shows with their annual Scream Awards, giving notice to genres and categories that all other award shows overlook. From comic books to horror films, the Scream Awards have made basic cable award shows fun for the rest of us.
The network just released their list of nominees for this year’s show, which have been chosen by their Advisory Board of Hollywood and Genre Leaders. On the board are known genre names such as Tim Burton, Wes Craven, Roland Emmerich, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Eli Roth, Zack Snyder, and more.
The voting begins today at Scream.Spike.com so check out the list after the jump. Be sure to tune into Spike TV on Tuesday, October 27 (10 PM-Midnight ET/PT) for the 2009 Scream Awards.
THE ULTIMATE SCREAM
-“Drag Me to Hell”
-“Let the Right One In”
-“Star Trek”
-“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
-“Twilight”
-“Up”
The dust has settled, the bar tabs and hotel bills have been paid and Comic-Con is a slowly fading memory of whirlwind good times, crowded floors, costumed fans, celebrities, new films and tv shows, comics, interviews, photos and a whole lot more. With all the sites covering the Con and providing a great deal of content, The Flickcast included, its sometimes hard for readers and fans to separate out, and in some cases find, all the stuff they want to take a look at.
We had a lot of great coverage from the Con this year and in order to do it, and its subjects, justice and bring it out into the light, I’ve put together a list of the highlights for you. With this, you can see what you may have missed or go back and experience some of it over again.
We will also be bringing you more interviews, reviews and more from the Con as the weeks and months progress and those projects get closer to being released.
But for now, click away, go back in time a bit, and enjoy some of what the Con, and The Flickcast, has to offer. Until next year.
One of my biggest unrequited crushes for years now is the talented and beautiful Carla Gugino. Her work in projects from Karen Sisco to Entourage, Sin City and Watchmen has, at least to me, elevated her status as not only a world-class beauty but a terrific actress as well. And even though she seems relegated, at least up to this point, to supporting roles in bigger films, at least she seems to pick pretty good ones.
Case in point, director Zack Snyder’s latest Sucker Punch. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Gugino has now joined the cast of that film, which already includes a host of other attractive and talented women such as Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, and Abbie Cornish. As you may already know, the film focuses on a girl (Browning) who is sent to a mental institution by her sinister stepfather who is planning to have her lobotomized in five days. Once imprisoned, she dreams of escape, which leads her to fall into an alternate reality where she, along with her inmate friends, does escape.
If that sounds a bit odd or familiar to you, never fear. The film is in the hands of Zack Snyder, who describes it as “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns.” Unfortunately, since we already have our “Alice” and a bunch of the other residents of the institution, what does that leave for Gugino to do? According to the trade, she’ll be playing the role of “Mrs. Schultz, an adult figure in the institution.” Which of course, could mean almost anything.
Whatever happens and however Gugino’s character evolves, we’ll find out soon enough as Snyder expects to start shooting Sucker Punch in the Fall for a release on March 25, 2011.
Now that all the dust has settled, and San Diego Comic-Con is slowly becoming a fading memory, we wanted to bring our readers a look at some of the things we saw, people we talked to, and stuff we did during what we like to call NerdiGras.
We put together this little video to show you what we all went through last week, so check it out, and be sure to stay tuned for all of the interviews, specials, and news we have to offer you from The Flickcast team!
Here’s a list of some of the new DVD and Blu-ray releases this week we’re particularly interested in. Plus, some old favorites (and not so favorites) coming out this week for the first time on Blu-Ray.
Movies:
• Watchmen (Director’s Cut) ~ Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Malin Ackerman, Jackie Earle Hailey (DVD and Blu-ray)
• Coraline ~ Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, and Jennifer Saunders (DVD and Blu-ray)
• 300: The Complete Experience ~ Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West (Blu-ray)
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ~ Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Angelina Jolie, and Giovanni Ribisi (DVD and Blu-ray)
There’s a lot of interesting stuff on the radar this week. An Avatar alumni could face off against Conan, Modern Warfare developers bring a fight to Activision, and director Guy Ritchie may be breathing new life into the heroes of Camelot.
Originally titled Guardians of the Ga’Hoole, Zack Snyder’s next directorial work, Legend of The Guardians has been picking up quite a lot of steam lately. This is the first thing that Snyder has worked on since he’s finally settled down after the epic task of adapting Alan Moore’s Watchmen last year.
300, one of the biggest hits of 2007, directed by Zack Snyder and based off the comic book mini-series by Frank Miller (The Spirit, Sin City the movie and comic series), is now supposedly getting a prequel. For the prequel, the story is set in time to see the battle of Marathon – which took place ten years before the events of 300. 
As a big fan of Warren Ellis and his writing, I’m particularly happy to report that one of my favorite comics of his, Gravel, 
The dust has settled, the bar tabs and hotel bills have been paid and Comic-Con is a slowly fading memory of whirlwind good times, crowded floors, costumed fans, celebrities, new films and tv shows, comics, interviews, photos and a whole lot more. With all the sites covering the Con and providing a great deal of content, The Flickcast included, its sometimes hard for readers and fans to separate out, and in some cases find, all the stuff they want to take a look at.
One of my biggest unrequited crushes for years now is the talented and beautiful Carla Gugino. Her work in projects from Karen Sisco to Entourage, Sin City and Watchmen has, at least to me, elevated her status as not only a world-class beauty but a terrific actress as well. And even though she seems relegated, at least up to this point, to supporting roles in bigger films, at least she seems to pick pretty good ones.
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