Disney D23: Tron Light Cycle Photos

While at the D23 Exposition event, I’ve gotten to see a lot of promo material for Disney’s upcoming 2010 film roster. One of the movies that a lot of people are waiting for is Tron Legacy. The sequel has been over 25 years in the making, and will feature the return of Jeff Bridges, and the only thing bigger than his character Flynn, is the Light Cycle he rides in on.

I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the latest version of the high tech bike on the convention floor, and it is amazing. Here are a couple of photos so you can experience the 3-D glow for yourself.

As you can see the new bike has a sleeker design than the original, but still has a similar look. The only bad thing about this Light Cycle is the fact that you’ll have to wait over a year to see it in action. We’ve previously posted the film’s teaser trailer, but it doesn’t do it justice.

Tron Legacy is scheduled to debut in theaters on December 17, 2010. Where is the justice in that?

By Mali Elfman

Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides

At the Disney D23 Expo, some new info has been revealed regarding the upcoming fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The studio recently announced the new film’s subtitle as, On Stranger Tides. Pirates is scheduled for release during the summer of 2011, and will feature the return of Captain Jack as played by Johnny Depp. The new title isn’t as catchy as At World’s End, but it will do.

Production on Pirates 4: On Stranger Tides is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2010 around April or May. At the moment they haven’t confirmed a director for the feature even though earlier reports hadChicago helmer Rob Marshall up for the job. Since Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom won’t be reprising their roles for the fourth film, Disney is considering On Stranger Tides the first installment of a new trilogy.

As a die hard Johnny Depp fan this is great news, but can Jack Sparrow cover another trilogy? Is there enough material for him? He is an entertaining and interesting character, but this sounds a bit like over kill. Here’s to hoping everything works out.

By Krystal Clark

Jerry Bruckheimer Purchases Shake Story

Super producer Jerry Bruckheimer has just bought the rights to the short story entitled, Shake. In a real life Cinderella tale, Bruckheimer acquired the story from a very unlikely source. He spotted Shake, on the website Popcornfiction, an outlet for television and film writers to showcase their pulpy short stories. One thing led to another and the story’s author Derek Haas was hired and paid a hefty salary to adapt a screenplay based on his original piece.

According to Yahoo, Bruckheimer paid seven figures to acquire the story and the writing talent of Derek Haas to expand Shake into a screenplay. The film centers on an FBI agent chasing a killer while he begins to lose control of his own body. The producer loved the concept and thought it would make a great film for Disney. Haas is no stranger to feature film writing, he and partner Michael Brandt co-wrote the screenplays for Wanted and 3:10 to Yuma.

It’s hard to believe that Haas had a hand in both Wanted and 3:10 to Yuma. They’re so different on so many levels, with one being pretty good and the other one not so much. Either way, he must be excited to get paid a nice amount of money to write a script based on his own work. That way he still maintains some control over the story that he originally created.

By Krystal Clark

Spider-Man 4 IMAX Release Date Set

The release date for Sam Raimi’s fourth Spider-Man film has been set. According to Superherohype, Columbia Pictures sent out an official press release announcing the news. Spider-Man 4 will hit theaters on May 5, 2011 in both conventional and IMAX venues. The film will closely follow the previous installment that debuted on May 4, 2007. This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who has followed the franchise closely. Spider-Man and IMAX are practically joint at the hip.

The last two Spider-Man films were given full fledged IMAX releases and this new feature will be no different. The studio and the theater think that Spider-Man 4 will be bigger than ever, because a lot more IMAX locations have been opened since the last time the webbed one was showcased on their screens.

According to Rory Bruer, President, Worldwide Distribution for Sony Pictures Releasing.”The addition of so many new IMAX locations will give even more fans of Spider-Man an opportunity to experience the action and adventure in a unique way.”

There you have it. In 2011 we will literally have more Spidey than we can handle. I’m not particularly excited about this film, because the third one burned me pretty bad. It wasn’t just the story, but the overall lack of trying that really got under my skin. Spider-Man 4 has a lot of cleaning up to do, and I’m just not sure if it can do the job.

By Krystal Clark

Michael Jackson’s This is It Poster

A poster has already been printed for the upcoming concert documentary, Michael Jackson’s This is it.The film is a compilation of footage covering the singer’s last days, while rehearsing for his 2009 comeback tour. The film will hit theaters on October 28th, and will give fans the ultimate behind the scenes experience from one of the greatest performers of all time.

The following poster isn’t as over the top as I thought it would be, but it gets the message across…

I love how his silhouette is filled with images of him performing. That’s a beautiful way to remember Jackson as an artist. Now that September is here, the studio has some serious promoting to do beforeThis is it comes out. But then again, as much coverage as the Jackson family has received in the past few months I’m sure the word is out there.

One side of me thinks this is a great way to see Michael in action one last time, while the other part wishes they weren’t capitalizing so quickly off of his death. I’m at a crossroads.

By Krystal Clark

Will Smith and Charlize Theron Confirmed for Hancock 2

Shortly after two writers were hired to pen the script for Hancock 2, director Peter Berg has confirmed the film’s main cast. Over at MTV, they recently spoke to Berg about the sequel and whether or not all the original stars would make a return. Will Smith’s appearance is a given, and at this point so is Charlize Theron’s, so Jason Bateman can’t be too far behind can he?

When Peter Berg spoke to MTV while at the Toronto International Film Festival, he was asked about Smith and Theron’s return for the next film, and he responded with “Everybody’s going to come back for a sequel.” This news lines up with a few earlier statements Theron made about her possible return to the movie from last September. She said that she would be happy to reprise her role in another film if everyone else was also on board.

When we interviewed Jason Bateman a couple of weeks ago, he weighed in on his possible return to the franchise as well.

I think anytime Will does a movie, there’s not only going to be a sequel, but it’s a franchise. Listen, if I’m invited I’ll be there, but I know it’s something that they’ve talked about since day one.

So a confirmation from Bateman might not be far behind.

SPOILER ALERT…

If you’ve seen the first Hancock, you know that Smith and Theron’s characters are both powerful gods. The biggest plot point that’s been revealed for the upcoming sequel is the appearance of a third god, who will interact with the two. According to Berg they already have an actor in mind to play that character, but he won’t reveal who it is.

Hancock was an OK movie in my book, but I’ve seen everyone involved with the film do better. It’s obviously being used as a massive franchise piece for the studio, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a third or even fourth film popped up in the near future.

By Krystal Clark

Iron Man 2 Converted to 3-D?

Is it possible? Could Jon Favreau convert his upcoming Iron Man 2 into a 3-D format? Must 3-D technology touch everything I hold near and dear? According to AICN, Marvel and Paramount may be looking into a conversion of not only the Iron Man sequel, but the original film as well! What’s going on here?

Apparently, a demo is being sent around throughout Marvel’s inner circle that features a one minute clip of Iron Man 2 rendered in digital 3-D. Everything is very hush, hush at the moment, but sources say the footage looks amazing. At the moment they are shopping for bids to see how much it would cost to transfer the entire film over into the 3-D format.

Is this a legit possibility? Jon Favreau has mentioned in the past that he was interested in working with 3-D on Iron Man 2, but harsh production realities became a setback.

“I was hoping to get a shot at doing it this time around, but it didn’t work out that way. … There are a few drawbacks to it at this point — there’s more cost involved, and it also forces you to shoot digitally. My cinematographer [Matthew Libatique] really likes film, and ‘Iron Man’ had a certain look because it was film.”

If they do go through with a complete re-rendering of the footage, I wonder what this would mean for the rest of the Avengers franchise? It would be dumb to have one or two films in 3-D, and the others in 2-D. This is a costly jump that Marvel and Paramount may want to think about before taking the plunge.

I’m not totally against it, but I think the production would be a timely process. I don’t want to have to wait for my Avengers any longer than I already am, so I hope they consider the films’ release dates before they jump the gun.

By Krystal Clark

Rambo 5 Has Been Greenlit

Are you really surprised that Rambo 5 is heading our way? According to Variety, Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo has been given the official green light. We will see the character in action on his fifth mission, thanks to the people over at Nu Image/Millennium Films. This next installment will be a follow up to 2008’s aptly titled, Rambo that had the actor returning to the role after a 20 year hiatus.

According to the trade, the story for Rambo’s latest outing will center on the mercenary “fighting his way through human traffickers and drug lords to rescue a young girl abducted near the U.S.-Mexico border.” We’d heard earlier talk of Stallone returning to do another installment of this franchise, and now it’s actually happening. The last Rambo made over 113 million dollars worldwide, making a decent profit for the studio whose production budget was set at 50 million.

I think Sylvester Stallone has gotten to a point where he knows what works for him. People may knock him for these “rehashes,” but he’s enjoys making them. After seeing Rocky Balboa, which I loved I let the Sly-hate go. This man is over 60 years old and still kicking ass and taking names later. I’ve decided to accept his work for what it is, and I’ve realized that he’s found his niche. So go and throw some more bodies in the fire Stallone, I’m behind you!

Bad Boys 3 in Development

Even though I didn’t despise Bad Boys 2 as much as the rest of the world, I’m surprised by this latest development. According to THR, a third Bad Boys film is in the works. The last time we saw Will Smithand Martin Lawrence team up for the buddy cop film was back in 2003. Columbia Pictures plans to reignite the franchise, and have hired a writer to help them do it.

Screenwriter Peter Craig has been tapped to pen the script for the upcoming Bad Boys film. Columbia hopes that after a draft of the script is finished, they can use it as a means to reunite not only Smith and Lawrence, but director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The last film received mixed reviews from critics but grossed $138 million domestically and $273 million worldwide. Apparently, “all parties have expressed a willingness to return if a story can be hammered out.”

If the four power players are interested in returning the studio will have a hefty price tag to pay. None of them come cheap, and it will be a risk paying out so much money on a film that might not deliver. Even though Bad Boys 2 made a killing at the box office it was critically panned. I didn’t personally hate it, but there are some people who thought it was horrible. Then again how many franchise films are in development right now that made a lot of money, but had a horrible script? Pirates 4, and Spiderman 4seem to come to mind.

Disney to Buy Marvel for 4 Billion Dollars!

By Krystal Clark

Don’t do it Marvel! According to THR, Disney Studios have announced plans to acquire Marvel Entertainment for a hefty 4 billion dollars. The family friendly power house is going after the comic based company that has a catalogue of over 5,000 characters to choose from. Could you imagine Mickey Mouse and Wolverine duking it out? Once this is said and done Disney will have access to some of the most recognizable characters in pop culture history.

Disney President and Chief Executive Robert A. Iger believes that the acquisition of Marvel is not that different from when the studio bought Pixar a few years ago. He believes the combined assets of both companies will be worth more together than apart.

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation.”

What does Marvel have to say about this pending merger? According to CEO Ike Perlmutter, they’re thrilled!  “Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses.” With this new deal “Marvel shareholders would receive $30 per share in cash plus about 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share. Overall, the deal is valued at $50 per Marvel share as of Friday’s closing price.”

Both companies have agreed to the above business plan, and look forward to working under the same umbrella. I’m a little on the fence about this, because in my mind I have Disney and Marvel on opposite sides of the spectrum. Both companies bring something unique to the table, but it will take a while for me to get used to seeing the Disney logo in front of a Marvel film. That will be weird.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen DVD Release

If you’re like me, the utter idea of watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen again makes your stomach turn. The sequel to the 2007 Hasbro hit was a critical dud, but a commercial success at this summer’s box office. Mostly, stemming from the built in audience of it’s predecessor. According to MTV, Paramount has announced the release date for the film on Blu-ray and traditional DVD. Find out more on the story below.

The autobots will “roll out” this fall on October 20th. In a not so surprising move the discs will be filled with plenty of extras to entice you to buy them.

The release will feature more than three hours of extras, highlighted by a multi-part documentary that chronicles the making of the film from start to finish, and includes cast and crew interviews. It will also include a featurette following [Michael]Bay for an entire day during a visit to Tokyo for the film’s premiere, a look at the past 25 years of “Transformers” as a toy brand and cartoon, conceptual artwork, extended scenes, visual effects vignettes and a music video for Linkin Park’s “New Divide,” which graced the “RotF” soundtrack.

Here’s the full description of what you can expect to pop up on the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD & Blu-ray discs.

Disc 1:
• Commentary by Michael Bay, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman

Disc 2:
• The Human Factor: Exacting Revenge of the Fallen—This multi-chapter documentary chronicles the entire creation of the film and includes interviews with the cast and crew:
o Seeds of Vengeance – Development and Design – After the overwhelming success of 2007’s Transformers, how do the filmmakers top themselves for the sequel?
o Domestic Destruction – Production: United States – Michael Bay believes in going big: Big action and big explosions. Cast and crew are pushed to the limit as they traverse the U.S. from New Mexico to Pennsylvania.
o Joint Operations – Production: Military – No other filmmaker in the world enjoys the kind of military access and cooperation Michael Bay has. Here we see just how efficient our armed forces are and the awe and respect shown by the cast.
o Wonders of the World – Production: Middle East – You can’t really reproduce Egypt anywhere but Egypt so off we go to Giza and Luxor.
o Start Making Sense – Editing – In order to turn over the massive amount of film as quickly as possible to VFX, four editors work tirelessly in a unique tag-team approach to shape the film.
o Under the Gun – Visual Effects – Revenge of the Fallen features the most complicated VFX in film history. So complicated in fact that the filmmakers were unsure they would make the deadline. The DEVASTATOR VFX alone required 83% of ILM’s total render farm capacity.
o Running the Gauntlet – Post-Production and Release – Working seven days a week, Michael Bay and company usher the film through sound design, Digital Intermediate color-timing and a globe-trotting whirlwind of premieres.

BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE:
• The ALLSPARK Experiment—Viewers get their chance to unleash the power of the recently recovered ALLSPARK shard on Earth vehicles. Begin by selecting and customizing a vehicle with a selection of parts and accessories. Then apply the ALLSPARK to this creation and watch what happens. Applying the ALLSPARK to certain custom combinations enables four new robot characters with special powers. If viewers discover all four, they unlock a fifth vehicle, which reveals a top secret message about the future of the TRANSFORMERS movie franchise.
• NEST: Transformer Data-Hub—A database of some of the TRANSFORMERS characters that appear in the new film, offering users access to each robot’s confidential file including:
o Innovative 3D spin galleries of each robot
o A timeline for each TRANSFORMERS character charting its origins, back story and design evolution from toys to animated series to comics and finally feature films
• Giant Effing Movie – A very personal look at the making of the movie.
• The Matrix of Marketing—An archive of the film’s promotional media including trailers, posters and television spots.

They really want you to buy this DVD! I have the special edition of the first film and it doesn’t have half as many special features as this.

Megan Fox to Play Catwoman?

Rumors are going strong this morning with word that Megan Fox is in the running to play Catwoman. The comic book character best known for being Batman’s nemesis and sometimes girlfriend, was last played by Oscar winner Halle Berry. Catwoman was a horrible film, I won’t deny it, but sources are claiming that the Transformers star may be up for a revamp of the role. More below.

In a hilarious report from MTV UK, they’re claiming that Fox has landed the role of Selina Kyle aka Catwoman in the third Batman film. The upcoming movie will be a follow up to director Christopher Nolan’s critical and commercial hit, The Dark Knight. The last actress to play the character in a live action Batman movie was Michelle Pfeiffer in 1992’s Batman Returns. According to the source, Fox’s take on the villainess will be a lot more “sinister” and have “a darker edge.”

The film is rumored to be released in 2011 with shooting scheduled for sometime next year. If this rumor is true, which I highly doubt, I would personally attack Nolan and Warner Bros with Catwoman’s claws. I’m sorry but Ms. Fox is not the greatest actress, and Nolan is known for putting together ensembles filled with talented people. I’m not sure she could hold her own against the likes of Christian Bale or Michael Caine. My respect for this franchise would go in the toilet if they cast her. I’m not trying to be negative, I’m just being honest.

X-Men Origins: Magneto Still Going Strong

It appears that Fox and director David Goyer are under the impression that they can make a legitimateMagneto spin-off. It’s no secret that Magneto was intended to be the first film in the X-Men Origins series, but somehow the fan outcry and the financial potential of Wolverine won out instead. According toFirstShowing, Goyer is reassuring us that we can still look forward to a prequel based on the Marvel villain. More on the story below.

Right now, Fox’s plate is filled with X-Men spin-offs including X-Men: First Class, Wolverine 2,Deadpool, and now they’re throwing Magneto back into the mix. According to Goyer, “They’re still thinking about doing it. They’re definitely looking into doing other X-Men spin-offs.” The director has been keeping in contact with the big boys at the studio and he’s adamant that the film “will move forward in thenext year or so.”

Here’s my take on this situation. After X-Men 3 came out and critically bombed but commercially flourished Fox put Magneto and Wolverine into development almost immediately. Somehow along the line they decided they wanted to capitalize off of Hugh Jackman and fast tracked his movie into production. As the finished product we got that heaping pile of fudge called X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

I think Magneto will take a lot more work to produce, since a younger actor will have to be hired. Finding the right person for a film like this is crucial. It will take a lot of effort, which I don’t think Fox wants to put out. I doubt that we’ll see this film start production in less than three years.

The studio will want to milk their already developing projects for all their worth, especially Deadpool. Now that Ryan Reynolds has also been cast as the Green Lantern, his schedule just got a whole lot busier. There’s a lot of competition on the X-Men front, and I think Goyer’s just being optimistic.

Hancock 2 Sign Two Writers

As we all knew, a movie as successful as Hancock ($624 million worldwide, $225 at the US box office alone), with an actor like Will Smith, wouldn’t go long without a sequel. As of tonight, Columbia has hired two new writers to get hash out a sequel, about the boozy, irresponsible superhero. Adam Fierro and Glen Mazzara are the two lucky men who will responsible for bringing the film back to life.

The two writers don’t have too much experience on the big screen, but have been quite successful in TV. Fierro wrote and produced “The Shield,” “24″ and Showtime’s “Dexter.” Mazzara wrote for “Life” and worked with Fierro on “Shield.”

Neither of the two writers from the first film, Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan, will be joining the crew. Perhaps they want a quicker turn around (the first film took them 10 years to write) or maybe they were just uninterested. It does seem like they’re gearing up for a more action packed, face paced action film.

A short while ago the the director of the film, Peter Berg did reveal a few sequel spoilers:

“They like to fast-track it, but Will’s busy, I’m pretty busy,” Berg continued. “We’re excited to do one, but we want the script to be right and the movie to be right. We don’t feel a burning imperative to go right back into it.”

Of course they’re not releasing any details about the plot just yet but THR did report that, “the scribes will work with Smith and director Peter Berg to build on the world hinted at in the first movie.”

We’ll let you know more details when we find them!

By Mali Elfman

Jet Li Returns to Chinese Film

Chinese martial artist and actor Jet Li is returning to his roots. According to Yahoo, Li will star in his first Chinese film after what seems like forever. The actor has been busy with American productions including the highly anticipated Sylvester Stallone film, The Expendables. Don’t expect Li to be kicking ass in this Chinese flick, he’s signed on for a different kind of a role. More on the movie below.

Li is due to start shooting the Chinese film tentatively called Ocean Paradise. Unlike the marjority of his action projects, Paradise is not a “Kung Fu” movie. Local newspapers have been speculating that Li won’t fight in the film, but Edko Film publicist Zhang Hongyan’s only response to the theory is, “It’s a movie that’s very different from his previous movies.”  In the U.S. Li recently worked on The Forbidden Kingdom and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Will we get to see a dialogue driven Jet Li film? Obviously, the publicist refused to confirm or deny the idea, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it. I’ve seen a few of his Chinese language films and he’s great in them. It’s his first language, so I don’t think there should be any drama over him playing a character that uses his words and instead of his fists. Let’s give him a chance.

By Krystal Clark