|
Thursday, January 23, 2003
Quick news update today and almost all of it is bad news! Very bad news!
Less than a day after reports that Warner Brother’s SUPERMAN movie was being scrapped and director Brett Ratner decided to move on to some other project that won’t cost nearly $300 million, word comes that SUPERMAN may be back on again and this time the details sound even worse. Josh Hartnett as the Man of Steel? Well, this isn’t the first time his name has been suggested by the studio honchos to play Superman. He was wrong for the part then and he’s still wrong for it. Superman should not have the look of a sleepy-eyed chain smoker. Even worse are his conditions for playing the part. According to Coming Attractions, Hartnett will only take the role and agree to the sequels only if hackmeister general Michael Bay directs them. You may recall the last movie these two worked together on. It was called PEARL HARBOR and we all know how splendidly that one turned out. I can only equate this to being the same as letting Emmerich and Devlin make another GODZILLA. If this isn’t kooky enough, Smallville’s Kelly Brook is reportedly being considered for the role of Lois Lane. I’m beginning to wonder if maybe we all were maybe too hard on the proposed Nic Cage/Tim Burton SUPERMAN film. I think the CHUD site put it best when they officially described the whole SUPERMAN movie project as “FUBAR.”
It gets even weirder. Two different sources, U.K. newspaper The Mirror and Hello Magazine, claim that Britney Spears is in talks to play Bruce Willis’ daughter in the next DIE HARD film.
The HALLOWEEN franchise refuses to die! Producer Moustapha Akkad was interviewed recently and spoke of plans to make a 9th film that would tie up loose ends regarding Thorn and that cult and other stuff that nobody in their right mind gives a damn about. If that wasn’t enough, Mr. Akkad also talked up a possible prequel to HALLOWEEN 4. You heard that right. He wants to make a prequel to a sequel! The prequel would fill in the gaps of what happened with Michael Myers between HALLOWEEN 2 and HALLOWEEN 4. I thought they explained that in part 4 by saying he’d been in a coma for nearly a decade? This prequel will supposedly be the “true” HALLOWEEN 3 instead of name-only sequel HALLOWEEN 3: SEASON OF THE WITCH. Somebody has got to get this Akkad guy another cash cow or put this guy out of his misery because this is just getting ridiculous!
The WB Network will debut their new Lone Ranger TV series on February 26th. Fortunately, they didn’t go with the original idea of changing Tonto into a hot Native American girl to be the masked hero’s love interest. However, Tonto now has a really hot sister who will be the masked hero’s love interest. For more details click here.
According to Moviehole, a petition is circling the web to get Casper Van Dien cast in the upcoming direct-to-video STARSHIP TROOPERS 2. Apparently there is a big demand to get Van Dien in the sequel to reprise the role from the original film that failed to make him the huge box office star shows like Entertainment Tonight predicted it would. I’m sure Van Dien would be happy to get the work too.
And if you tune into the Superbowl on Sunday to watch the commericals, expect to see trailers for THE HULK, THE MATRIX: RELOADED, TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES, CHARLIE’S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE, THE RECRUIT, BAD BOYS 2, either X-MEN 2 or DAREDEVIL, and at least one other that hasn’t been determined yet by its studio. Oh, there’s also going to be some football game between the Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Bucs. Some people actually tune in just to watch that too.
That’s it for this week. For those of you heading to B-Fest, enjoy. I wish I could join you.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 8:46 AM | Comments
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Cult DVD Zone has been updated with new cult DVD release info for the next two weeks. Enjoy!
posted by Christopher 1:01 PM | Comments
Tuesday, January 21, 2003
KANGAROO JACK is the #1 movie in America! These are truly the end times! But since the world hasn’t ended just yet I thought I’d do the news.
After months of speculation, hysteria, and fanboy hostility, it looks as if Brett Ratner’s SUPERMAN remake is heading back to development purgatory. Dark Horizons reports a rumor from a tipster inside the production that claims that the project has shut down indefinitely due mainly because of the budget spiraling somewhere in the vicinity of $280 million. That would mean it cost about $80 million more than TITANIC. Oh, another reason is because even Warner Brothers finally realized the script sucked. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this in the very near future. From what we’ve heard of the behind-the-scenes happenings on this project, I think a movie about the making of this movie that may never be made could actually be more entertaining than the actual film itself, assuming it ever gets made. Did that sentence even make any sense?
BEETLEJUICE 2? It just might happen. Ain’t It Cool News reports that a sequel to the 1988 film is being developed as we speak. The plot will reportedly center on the title character meeting his hip-hop counterpart and haunting an inner city environment. What is it with supernatural characters relocating to the ghetto? First LEPRECHAUN and now BEETLEJUICE.
Is the world ready for the return of Cheech & Chong? A proposed sequel entitled CHEECH & CHONG GET BLUNT is seeking a distributor without luck so far. The premise of the movie reunion of the original Beavis and Butthead would have the stoners serving community service as anti-drug preachers in a boys' home. If that’s not enough cannabis humor for you, HALF BAKED 2 is also reportedly in the works. How high do you think some of the people in Hollywood are when they greenlight certain projects?
Speaking of sequels the world has been waiting impatiently for, Entertainment Weekly quotes director Garry Marshall about his plans for to make THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2. "They're going to try to marry her off, but she doesn't want to do that. And we have a moment where all the princesses from all the countries come together to see if they can do something about the state of the world." I know I’ll be camping out in front of the movie theater months in advance to see that one!
Halle Berry as CATWOMAN in the much ballyhooed spin-off film that, from the description over at Ain’t It Cool News, sounds even less true to the comics than that awful Birds of Prey TV show that just got cancelled? Chances are this one is just a wild rumor and nothing more.
Veteran character actor Richard Crenna passed away last week. Crenna is probably best known to audiences today for playing Colonel Trautmen in the Rambo movies. Sadly, this means he won’t be able to take part in the proposed RAMBO 4 to help Sly Stallone hunt down Bin Laden. They could always replace his character with a new one played by Samuel L. Jackson. Sam doesn’t seem too picky about his movie projects as of late.
Variety reports that Universal is prepping a sci-fi action film called THE NEXT SOLDIER about a battle among four young test pilots in high-tech exoskeleton battle armor and a renegade military machine that has run amuck. They describe it as THE MATRIX meets INDEPENDENCE DAY. So it will have MATRIX-style kung fu and be incredibly stupid? Did I neglect to mention that the producers of this film include people who have brought us such top notch Hollywood fare as BATTLEFIELD EARTH, ANTITRUST, WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN, ORIGINAL SIN, and the NIGHT EYES franchise? Sounds like a real winner to me.
It is that time once again! Time to tell you about another TV show that is being made into a feature film! Are you ready to go to your local multiplex and pay top dollar to see THE DUKES OF HAZZARD starring some of your favorite actors in the key roles? The UK’s Radio1 claims that Tommy Lee Jones and Brad Pitt are under consideration for the flick. Under consideration, eh? Would that be code language for “this is who we would like to star in the film but even we know there is no chance in hell of that happening?”
For those of you who have been mourning the demise of Chaos! Comics, your favorite well-endowed demoness is about to return to the shelves of your local comic shop. Unfortunately, the posh mistress of the post-mortem’s fans may not like what they see. According to Comics Continuum, Chaos! Honcho Brian Pulido is teaming up with CrossGen to resurrect Lady Death in an all-new series that reinvents the character. By reinvents they mean she will be less sexual, less bloodthirsty, less top-heavy, and more kid-friendly. The series will also be set in medievel times and be more Xena-esque. Sounds like it goes against the very concept of everything Chaos! Comics tried to be before going bankrupt. For those who still give a damn, the all-new adventures of Lady Death: Warrior Princess will arrive in comic shops on February 12th.
Gamespot reports that a Playstation 2 video game is in the works based on the line of “Todd McFarlane’s Monsters” line of action figures. The game will have you taking on the role of a monster hunter who battles the monsters from the toy line along with several new monsters that are being created specifically for the game. The game itself and the figures of the new monsters are all set for release sometime this fall.
If you’re heading to the video store today, you get to choose from two different “nature run amok” movies. The first is something called either RATS or KILLER RATS. Seems the distributors can’t seem to make up their mind as to what the title is. Not to be confused with the killer rat movie THE RATS from last year, this one is about a mental institution where a mad scientist played by Ron Perlman has performed experiments on rats to make them super intelligent. A different kind of vermin also arrives in video stores today in the form of PYTHON 2. If you missed this when it premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel late last year then you may want to keep on missing it because this is yet another stinker from the folks at UFO Films.
Speaking of UFO Films, my latest article is up at the NOWFF site and this month I focus all my hatred at the latest UFO production to debut on the Sci-Fi Channel, DRAGON FIGHTER. I don’t think there’s a strong enough connotation of the word “hate” to accurately describe my true feelings for that wretched film but I try anyway in a Jabootu-style synopsis. Also, I do my annual top 10 list of the movies that I refused to pay to see in 2002. With that said,I’m off to play more WAR OF THE MONSTERS. Great game! More news, views, and skews to come.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 9:29 AM | Comments
Visit our news archive.
|
