Charlie Brown and his famous band of christian buddies have lived in pop culture continuously for over 60 years. The brain child of Charles Schulz, Peanuts is a phenomenon that has effected every generation since it’s inception. Well, save for perhaps the current generation who only know the characters as shills for MetLife and those droopy trees that people seem to love around Christmas.

According to Deadline, Fox is looking to change that, by acquiring the rights to an animated feature staring everyone’s favorite adolescents:

Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Ice Age makers Blue Sky Studios will turn Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock and the whole Peanuts gang into an animated feature film franchise. Fox has closed a deal for the rights to turn the strip by the late Charles Schulz into a film that has already been set for release on November 25, 2015. That date commemorates the 65th anniversary of the comic strip, and the 50th anniversary of the TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Rather ambitious to already have a release date three years out, but it makes sense.

There is also some brewing concern about the animation style of the movie. If you look at Ice Age and the Seuss films you don’t exactly see the Peanuts ascetic. We have faith though, Blue Sky managed to take the Seuss style and make it work in a 3D space rather well. There is no reason to believe that they can’t replicate that level of respectful modernization for Schulz’s iconic style as well.

Stay tuned to The Flickcast for any news regarding this far off project as it develops.

Though Green Lantern is prepping to be one of the larger superhero flicks of 2011 (in spite of the possible awesomeness of Thor and Captain America), Ryan Reynolds is still sticking to his word and planning on going back to his role as Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool. In a recent interview with Hero Complex, Reynolds delves into the emotional trauma of the Merc with the Mouth and how much of a mess it will be to get into that character.

Many fans became smitten with him in that role after his performance in the poorly received X-Men Origins: Wolverine last year. Now, Reynolds has wrapped GL, is promoting Buried, and can’t wait to start killing people for money on film.

Here’s what he had to say about Deaadpool:

“It goes in such a different direction than a superhero movie usually goes. It’s a nasty piece of work. It’s just based in so much emotional filth, completely. It’s like ‘Barfly‘ if it were a superhero movie. It sort of treads into the world of an emotionally damaged person.  I always say that Deadpool is a guy in a highly militarized shame spiral…. It’s so different than the superhero movies to date, it departs so far from that.”

Coming on the heels of success from his last (and only) two film adaptations, comic writer Mark Millar is eager to bring his latest book, Nemesis, to the big screen. It seems like that plan is already in motion, as Twentieth Century and Tony Scott have acquired the rights and are looking to get Millar’s property into theaters in the near future.

The book tells a classic story with a twist: young Matt Anderson’s parents are killed and he vows to avenge their deaths by training himself and going after the man who did it. The twist? His parents were worldwide villains, and he is too. Anderson makes his way back to the states after killing the greatest cops across the world to focus on Chief Blake Morrow, the man who took down Anderson’s criminal parents.

Tony Scott has expressed interest in this being his next project, at least through his company Scott Free Productions. While the idea of Tony Scott directing a comic book adaptation gives the fanboy community the collective goosebumps, Scott may only remain attached as a producer.

Many know Millar as the mind behind other comic adaptations Wanted starring James McAvoy (now X-Men: First Class’s Professor Xavier) and Lionsgate’s recent Kick-Ass, which is already planning a sequel. Comics fans know Millars work from Superman: Red Son and plenty of issues of Marvel’s Civil War.

I just saw Knight and Day and in a summer notably lacking in quality, this one stands out as being the worst film in terms of the script and editing. The 2 and a half minute trailer was better than the entire film. In the film a rogue FBI agent, Roy Millerand the FBi, steals a never-ending battery that looks like the generic D Energizer kind. June, a hapless bystander, gets caught up in the action. Together they must keep the battery safe while on the run from arms dealers and the FBI.

In editing class you’re taught that if a movie is well edited then you won’t question the loopholes until hours later when you’re at home, hence the term refrigerator moment. Quite apropos when you consider Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. In Knight and Day, however, I started questioning the flick while it was still playing.

For starters, whenever characters would mention anything of importance, it was never once brought up again or answered in any kind of way. None of the characters had any semblance of a back story. There was no time limit set for the mission, no sense of urgency, and no one saved anything, much less the world. In essence the film lacked discernible goals. This film brings new meaning to the term, “We’ll fix it in post”.

What follows is a list of questions. I would say there are spoilers, but since there are absolutely zero twists, turns, or creativity in the script, there are no spoilers. Anyone who can answer these questions solely based on the film will receive a highly valued, Flickcast Certified No. Prize. Go ahead smarty pants, make my day.

It didn’t come as much of a surprise to many people when Fox announced Matthew Vaughn as director of the upcoming prequel X-Men: First Class. He is a hot commodity right now due to the mild success of Kick-Ass, and they had always had their eye on Vaughn, even back as far as The Last Stand.

With that in mind, it should come as even less of a surprise that Vaughn is bringing on screenwriter Jane Goldman to tweak the First Class script a little bit. Vaughn and Goldman worked together on Stardust and most recently wrote the ending to Kick-Ass (as the ending was unfinished when Mark Millar brought the script to Vaughn).

In a recent tweet from Goldman’s husband and BBC Media Mogul Jonathan Ross, he confirmed the rewrite:

“Also, for those who need to know, my wife IS currently writing X men First Class.”

What could this mean for the X-Men: First Class film is unknown just yet. Last we heard, Chuck and O.C. creator Josh Schwartz, who wrote the original comic, was stepping in to write the script. This could be the same script that’s getting “retooled”, or Goldman and Vaughn could be taking it back to square one.

With a release date of Summer 2011, you can expect more answers to come through soon.  Let’s just hope there isn’t an epic “flying through the city on a jet pack” scene at the end of this comic book adaptation.

With the internet community and a few studio execs hinting that this current season of 24 may be the last, big news is now coming out of Twentieth Century Fox’s camp, as they have just announced a film adaptation of the series.

The studio was allegedly blown away by a pitch from screenwriter Billy Ray (State of Play, Flightplan), in which Jack Bauer goes to Europe, and they have already hired him to finish the script for production. From Variety:

Script is said to have come through “24” star Kiefer Sutherland, who’s also an exec producer on the series — and is said to be eager to turn the long-running TV skein into a feature franchise.

Feature would be produced by the TV show’s key exec producers, including Sutherland. Series was created by Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow, while exec producer Howard Gordon runs the show through his Real Time Prods. banner.

The very first trailer for Knight and Day, the Cameron Diaz, Tom Cruise action movie that we showed you the poster for the other day is now online. With James Mangold (Walk the Line) directing the film, it looks to be a great action-comedy with both Cruise and Diaz looking like they’re having a good time.

Seeing these two actors together for the first time since Vanilla Sky, I’m reminded of the chemistry they had on-screen; and it’s fully evident again here. The trailer’s funny moments seem to be a continuation of Cruise not taking himself so seriously, much like in Tropic Thunder – which really helped to lighten the atmosphere around him, after all the Scientology and “Katie-gate” snafus.

Of course, the comedy meeting the action scenes make this seem like a perfect match for everyone involved. Diaz is showing her comedic side, such as she did in her hits, There’s Something About Mary and My Best Friend’s Wedding – where she plays much better as the ‘straight-man’, rather than trying to actually be a comedian. Mangold also comes through, giving us the action that he’s proven to do so well in films like 3:10 to Yuma and Copland. Put it all together and it’s a bundle of fun.