We finally have word on what is next for Ang Lee after his superlative production LIFE OF PI, which won him the
Best Director Oscar last year. It's a
3D boxing movie from back when it mattered - the 60's and 70's.
The Universal Studios project is untitled thus far, but here is what we know about it:
An epic look at the boxing world of the 1960s and 1970s, as seen through the prism of its biggest rivalries and greatest fights. That will include the showdown between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali that was called the Thrilla In Manila.
Not only is the subject exciting, but what really caught my eye is
Lee's continuing passion for 3D. Those of you who saw
LIFE OF PI in 3D theaters knows just how well the he nailed it. The 3D, the visuals, the story - all amazingly well done. When I spoke with Lee back in February, he was so tuned into the format that I couldn't stop smiling.
From Deadline: "The idea is to take the exploration of 3D technology and cutting-edge visual effects further, as James Cameron is doing on his Avatar sequels."
That statement has me intrigued! Further, Lee will be working again with James Schamus (also CEO of Focus Features) to produce this project. It's looks like Lee will be a defacto gang member of leading filmmakers championing and excelling in native 3D. Love it!
I believe this one, if true, has surprised even my source! Zach Snyder apparently is
developing his own stand alone STAR WARS movie that is not expected to be included in the numbered set of franchise movies. I suppose this could led to a whole new franchise for the iconic brand. But that's not all...
Here's where it get more interesting: Vulture claims that Snyder will be
basing his stand alone movie on the classic SEVEN SAMURAI and substituting the ronin and sword with knight and lightsaber. Very interesting indeed!
Here's the plot from the SEVEN SAMURAI (SPOILERS!) from Wikipedia:
A gang of marauding bandits approaches a mountain farming village, but their chief recognizes they have ransacked this village before, and decides it is best to spare it until the harvest in several months. A villager overhears this. The farmers go to their elder, who declares that they should hire samurai to help defend the village. Since they have nothing to offer but food, the elder tells them to "find hungry samurai."
Several men go to the city, but are turned away by every samurai they ask. They watch as an experienced samurai, Kambei, deftly rescues a young boy taken hostage by a thief. Impressed, a young samurai named Katsushirō asks to become his disciple. Kambei insists that he walk with him as a friend. The farmers are overjoyed when Kambei agrees to help them. With Katsushirō's assistance, he recruits four more masterless samurai: Gorobei Katayama, clever and good natured; Heihachi, a good-humored samurai with mediocre swordsmanship; Shichirōji, an old friend of Kambei's; and Kyūzō, a taciturn master swordsman. Although Kambei had judged that seven samurai would be necessary, time is running short. The villagers beg him to take Katsushirō and, after some prodding, he agrees. The clownish Kikuchiyo, whom Kambei had rejected, follows them, ignoring their attempts to drive him away.
When the samurai arrive, the villagers cower in their homes. The samurai feel insulted by their cold reception. Suddenly, the alarm is raised; the villagers, fearing that the bandits have returned, beg the new arrivals to protect them. Kikuchiyo, who raised the false alarm, rebukes the villagers for their poor behavior. The samurai accept him, bringing their number to seven. The villagers offer white rice to the samurai, the best they have, while they eat millet.
As they prepare, the two groups slowly come to trust each other. However, when the samurai discover that the villagers have murdered and robbed fleeing samurai in the past, they become angry. Kikuchiyo castigates his comrades for ignoring the hardships that the farmers have to overcome to survive, including harassment from the warrior class. This reveals his origins as a farmer's son to Kambei. The anger the samurai felt turns to shame.
They construct fortifications and train the farmers for battle. Katsushirō, the youngest samurai, begins a relationship with Shino, who had been forced to masquerade as a boy by her father to protect her from the supposedly lustful samurai.
As the time for the raid approaches, two bandit scouts are killed, while another is captured and forced to reveal the location of their camp. Three of the samurai, guided by Rikichi, strike preemptively. Many bandits are killed, but Heihachi is slain by gunfire. When a woman emerges from the bandits' burning house, she sees Rikichi and runs back inside to perish in the flames. Rikichi reveals that this was his wife, who had been kidnapped and defiled.
When the bandits attack, they are confounded by the new fortifications. Several are killed attempting to scale the barricades or cross the moats. However, they possess three dangerous muskets. Kyūzō sets out on his own and returns with a musket. A jealous Kikuchiyo later abandons his post to get another musket, leaving his contingent of farmers leaderless. Although he succeeds, the bandits attack his post, overwhelming and killing some of the farmers. Kambei is forced to send reinforcements, leaving the main post undermanned when the bandit chief leads a charge against this position. Although they are repelled, Gorobei is shot and killed. Yohei is also slain.
Kambei's stratagem is to allow one bandit to enter through a gap in the fortifications, block the rest with a "wall" of spears, and kill the lone enemy. This succeeds several times.
On the second night, Kambei instructs them to prepare for a final, decisive battle. However, in the midst of planning Shino's father catches her with Katsushirō and beats Shino. Katsushirō hangs his head in shame while the rest of the Samurai and villagers look on. As it begins to rain, everyone goes back to their posts. When morning breaks, Kambei orders his forces to allow the remaining bandits in. Most of the attackers are killed, but their leader takes refuge in a hut unseen. In what is portrayed as a dishonorable act, he shoots Kyūzō from the hut, killing him. A despondent Katsushirō seeks to avenge his hero, but an enraged Kikuchiyo charges ahead of him, only to be shot himself. Kikuchiyo kills the bandit chief before dying. Kambei and Shichirōji sadly observe "we've survived once again".
Afterward, the three surviving samurai watch the villagers happily planting the next crop. They reflect on the relationship between the warrior and farming classes: though they have won the battle, they have lost their friends with little to show for it. "Again we are defeated," Kambei muses. "The winners are those farmers. Not us."
Vultures sources also say that: "Snyder’s would
start production after Disney starts on its planned 2015 release of Star Wars: Episode VII, and while no director has yet been set for Episode VII, clearly things are taking shape at Lucasfilm."
WOW! I still digesting this news and the implications. Certainly if this is true Disney is not sitting on its laurels but diving in head first here. Rather sneaky for Snyder to express his non-interest in directing the seventh STAR WARS film and yet be so heavily and silently connected! Needless to say if this all holds water, we're going to be breathless for more details - the whole premise sounds amazing.
I have to say this project absolutely fascinates me. Guillermo del Toro came close with his
James Cameron produced effort to obtain financing from Universal for AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS
but in the end the studio backed out. And with that rejection del Toro decided that the project resembled Ridley Scott's PROMETHEUS too much and
completely shelved it.
Or did he? Tom Cruise is STILL attached. I'm uncertain if Cameron is still around to produce (his life is about to get some Pandora pandemonium), but this thing is still alive.
Sounds more like halfway between the back and front burners to me!
Now check what Guillermo had to say about the project:
"I'm going to try it one more time. Once more into the dark abyss. We're gonna do a big presentation of the project again at the start of the year and see if any [studio's] interested...Yeah, Tom [Cruise] is still attached. I think it would be so fantastic to make it with him. He's been such a great ally of the project."
And after seeing PROMETHEUS in theaters, del Toro seemed to be comfortable with the whole thing and laughed it off:
"I saw it finally and.. yes, there are things in common, but, you know, screw it. Lovecraft was there first."
...And a huge smile spreads across my face. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS is an all or nothing effort and judging by the way PACIFIC RIM looks, I think he will get his financing finally. Will Legendary Pictures step up to the plate? Here's hoping! Imagine that Lovecraft classic amplified by del Toro's magic on the silver screen in 3D...
Source: Indiewire
Yes!
Ridley Scott is apparently still pushing forward with his adaptation of Joe Haldeman's THE FOREVER WAR and has inked
Dante (D.W.) Harper (ALL YOU NEED IS KILL, HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS)
to adapt it for him.
No word on whether Harper was the original person that Scott hired to adapt the book or not. We
knew someone was working on just that way back
in 2009 (obviously before his 3D PROMETHEUS) when he said:
"I'm filming a book by Joe Haldeman called Forever War. I've got a good writer doing it. I've seen some of James Cameron's work, and I've got to go 3D. It's going to be phenomenal."
Here's the book's description from Amazon
:
The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand--despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries...
I'm just glad that this project hasn't gotten back-burnered with all of Scott's other projects on the go, like THE COUNSELOR, PROMETHEUS 2 and BLADE RUNNER 2. I have to underscore that
the potential of this project is immense and easily could fall in line with Scott's other sci-fi classics.
I'm not kidding. This could be his finest hour in science fiction; the story is that good. More when we get it! Thanks for the heads up Adam...
Source: Deadline
Interesting. James Cameron and Jon Landau have put their money
on a novel from last year entitled THE INFORMATIONIST are are teeing it up for #3 on the production runway.
The fourth AVATAR along with BATTLE ANGEL may have just been back-burnered with this announcement. My first inclination on this news is posturing. I think Lightstorm may be posturing their next project after the AVATARs and are even dangling the end of AVATAR at 3 to Fox.
This type of thing happens ALL the time so it wouldn't surprise me if my first thought was right.
That said, the official PR says quite clearly that "The Informationist will be a project for Cameron after he completes work on the second and third AVATAR films..." so do with that as you will.
I'll jingle some bells and talk to some of my "people close to the situation".
Here's the official press release:
LOS ANGELES, (October 23, 2012) – Lightstorm Entertainment has acquired motion picture rights to the acclaimed 2011 novel The Informationist by Taylor Stevens, as vehicle for James Cameron to direct for 20th Century Fox Film. The Informationist will be a project for Cameron after he completes work on the second and third “Avatar” films, which are currently in pre-production.
Published in October 2011, Stevens’ tale centers on Vanessa “Michael” Munroe, an information specialist, whose work is in-demand by corporations, heads of state, private clients, and anyone else who can pay for her unique brand of expertise. When a Texas oil billionaire hires her to find his daughter who vanished in Africa four years ago. Munroe finds herself back in the lands of her childhood. Betrayed, cut off from civilization, and left for dead, she must come face-to-face with the past that she’s tried for so long to forget.
Cameron will produce with Lightstorm partner, Jon Landau. The producers expect to hire a writer to adapt the novel shortly.
Jim Cameron stated: “Taylor Stevens’ Vanessa Michael Munroe is an intriguing and compelling heroine with an agile mind and a thirst for adventure. Equally fascinating for me is her emotional life and her unexpected love story. I’m looking forwarding to bringing Vanessa and her world to the big screen.”
Added Landau: “This was an opportunity to continue our relationship with Fox and Jim Gianopulos beyond the ‘Avatar’ films. We were drawn to this book because of the terrific, compelling narrative and the character, who typifies the strong female protagonists that have inhabited Jim’s work – in this case Vanessa Munroe is essentially a mix of Lisbeth Salander and Jason Bourne.”
A second “Vanessa Michael Munroe” novel, The Innocent, was published earlier this year.
Author Taylor Stevens has a background every bit as intriguing as her heroine’s. Born in New York State, and into the Children of God, an apocalyptic religious cult spun from the Jesus Movement of the ’60s, Stevens was raised in communes across the globe. Separated from her family at age twelve and denied an education beyond sixth grade, she lived on three continents and in a dozen countries before reaching fourteen. In place of schooling, the majority of her adolescence was spent begging on city streets at the behest of cult leaders, or as a worker bee child, caring for the many younger commune children, washing laundry and cooking meals for hundreds at a time. In her twenties, Stevens broke free in order to follow hope and a vague idea of what possibilities lay beyond. She now lives in Texas, and juggles full-time writing with full-time motherhood.
Sounds extremely inviting to me. I'll have to read the book as I hadn't heard of it until just now. It certainly sounds like something in Cameron's wheelhouse and I love that it has franchise potential written all over it. AND, of course, that it's going to be shot in native 3D on Cameron | Pace equipment!!
And if you didn't read the last paragraph of the press release - please do so. The author's own life sounds like a movie in the making!
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| Carlton Cuse |
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Writer Carlton Cuse (LOST, BATES MOTEL) has been signed on to write SAN ANDREAS: 3D for New Line.
Also attached to the earthquake thriller are director Brad Peyton (JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND)
and producer Beau Flynn (HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS) who is also teeing up a third JOURNEY installment.
From Variety:
"Story takes place when a massive quake strikes California and centers on one man who must make the treacherous journey across the state to rescue his estranged daughter."
What I want to see is a realistic earthquake movie that truly shows what would happen during "the big one". Not the outrageous outcome of Emmerich's 2012, but something that I can suspend my disbelief and get drawn into, especially in 3D. It can be done. If you'll remember 1974's EARTHQUAKE, the scariest thing for me as a child was when those people were swept down in the dark sewer system and not all the buildings collapsing. If you humanize it, people will get it.
More info when it happens!
Yeah, ok. We knew this was going to happen,
not only by the contracts all the principals have signed for multi-pictures but by simple arithmetic. A $700 million worldwide take with weeks remaining to scoop up more will do that.
Bob Iger, CEO of Disney officially announced their intentions during a conference call today. Full steam ahead.
I'll have more on the performance of THE AVENGERS soon! What an exciting time for 3D. Simply marvel-ous!!
**SAME DAY UPDATE: I just got in touch directly with Patrick and he says he is writing and not directing this one, so he cannot comment on whether or not this project will be 3D. This writing gig is totally hush hush for the time being so don't expect too much more to trickle out for some time. But, I'm on it. These two writers are at the top of their game so I can't wait for more official news! Nice work landing these guys Skydance...
I've got to let you guys in on a secret (not so secret now) Sci-Fi Adventure project being written right now by a friend of mine, director Patrick Lussier (DRIVE ANGRY, MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D) and writer Laeta Kalogridis (SHUTTER ISLAND, AVATAR). Skydance Production has tapped them to write something ORIGINAL on an idea that has gesticulated for some time at the company.
Obviously the pair make a deliciously insidious duo as Lussier brings a horror / thriller and native 3D writing / directing background while Kalogridis has been involved in James Cameron projects like AVATAR and BATTLE ANGEL.
No word on whether or not Lussier will direct this project, but I am hopeful as that guarantees a nice hard edge and at least a serious look at a native 3D production.
This project could be anything really, but it's the writers and the production house that have me excited. Skydance also has projects like WORLD WAR Z, GI JOE: RETALIATION and STAR TREK 2 (a 3D conversion) in the hopper to name just a few.
More on this exciting development when I get it!
Source: Deadline
Seems as though this project may soon be a go. Katy Perry fans rejoice as she is set to star in a 3D concert film shot in documentary style. Obviously the movie would play to teenaged girls so don't expect an overly serious documentary, but it seems it will have doc DNA.
The interest in another concert movie for Paramount is easy - JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER was a rousing success and holds the domestic box office record for the format at $73 million.
Negotiations continue but it looks like everyone wants it done. The movie looks like a good way to improve her brand, without well... Russell Brand. I'll have more details when available.
Source: THR
According to Variety, Sony Pictures Animation's CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 is starting to develop.
Apparently the studio has tapped two of their artists to direct the sequel, Cody Cameron (OPEN SEASON 3) and Kris Pearn. They were also on the original film as story artist and head of story respectively. Phil Lord and Chris Miller (the directors for the first iteration) will executive produce.
Not much is known about where they are taking the movie except that it "will continue the adventures of inventor Flint Lockwood."
It is generally an automatic announcement for animations (alliteration!) that if the original does well (CWACOM made ~$230m), there will be a sequel(s). I happened to really enjoy the first one and its brilliant use of color, cool story and sight gags. Looking forward to it.
Wow - for all you JURASSIC PARK fans there is some very real movement toward some rather large developments!
Firstly, Universal has definitely approached Steven Spielberg to re-release JURASSIC PARK as a converted 3D movie. Our friend Frosty over at Collider interviewed mega producer Kathleen Kennedy who spilled the beans. The main issue with this taking place is the tightly packed schedule of Spielberg who HAS to be a part of the conversion along with the movie's Director of Photography (DP).
If JP3D is done right, wow! It's another chance to regain some of that lost feeling of awe that we all lost after watching the same movie dozens of times. 3D would allow us to go back to that theater and revive some of that! Definitely enthusiastic about it.
Secondly, Spielberg is moving forward with JURASSIC PARK 4 - not writing a script yet, but discussing it. Kennedy makes sure we all know that the story comes first and foremost.
Kennedy is right in that you can no longer fool the audience with badly converted or shot 3D. It has to be done right or you won't get the draw. Nothing new there as far as we're concerned - we've been preaching that sermon at MarketSaw for years now haven't we? Hopefully we'll see these developments... errr develop, in the coming months!
Oh and Kennedy also thinks we'll see TINTIN 2 at Christmas 2014 or summer of 2015. The script is being written now and should be ready in the February/March timeframe :-)
Remember those cool end of the world shots of LA and Las Vegas in Emmerich's 2012? Prepare for more!
New Line is developing the project entitled SAN ANDREAS: 3D along with producer Beau Flynn (JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, RED DAWN). Allan Loeb (WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS) penned the script.
Currently there is no director attached and the search is underway. More info when I get it!
Source: LATimes
MTV got a chance to talk to Morgan Freeman during the recent RED junket and he confirmed rather clearly that Arthur C. Clarke's RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA is still in the works.
Freeman: "That's a gotta be done movie. We just have to figure out how to do it. We've been trying for 15 years now to get a script, and you would think that it is easier than it is? It's not. It's really hard. (David) Fincher is still part of that conversation."
Check out the whole interview (rather short) below:
Here is the storyline from the novel (POTENTIAL SERIOUS SPOILERS):
The "Rama" of the title is an alien star ship, initially mistaken for an asteroid and named after the king Rama who is considered to be the seventh avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu (Clarke mentions that by the 22nd century, scientists have used the names of all the Greek and Roman mythological figures to name astronomical bodies, and have thus moved on to Hindu mythology). Asteroid 31/439 is detected by astronomers in the year 2130 while still outside the orbit of Jupiter. The object's speed (100 000 km/h) and the angle of its trajectory clearly indicate that this is not an object on a long orbit around our sun; it comes from interstellar space. Astronomers' interest is piqued when they realize that this asteroid not only has an extremely rapid 4 minute rotation period but it is quite large in size for an asteroid. An unmanned space probe dubbed Sita is launched from the Mars moon Phobos, and photographs taken during its rapid flyby reveal that Rama is a mathematically perfect cylinder, 20 kilometres in diameter and 54 kilometres long, made of a completely featureless material. In other words, this is humankind's first encounter with an alien space ship.
The manned solar survey vessel Endeavour is sent to study Rama, as it is the only ship close enough to do so in the brief period of time Rama will spend in our solar system. Endeavour manages to rendezvous with Rama one month after the space ship first comes to Earth's attention, when the giant alien spacecraft already is within Venus' orbit. The 20+ crew, led by Commander Norton, enters Rama and explores the vast 16-km wide by 50-long cylindrical world of its interior, but the nature and purpose of the starship and its creators remains enigmatic throughout the book.
The only lifeforms are the cybernetic "biots" who completely ignore the humans, and who are busy all about the spacecraft, appearing to be prepping Rama for a major upcoming maneuver. After several adventures and misadventures, including a 1 gigaton nuclear missile fired from Mercury with the intent of destroying Rama, Endeavour is finally forced to leave a few weeks later as Rama moves too close to the Sun for Endeavour's cooling systems to compensate. Rama is then flung out of the solar system toward an unknown location in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud, harnessing the Sun's gravitational field with its mysterious "space drive" for use in a slingshot maneuver.
I REALLY hope this thing gets made. Freeman has earned the right to champion a movie like this to fruition and quite frankly it deserves to be made. This classic novel belongs on the big screen and in stereoscopic 3D!
More when I get it... Thanks for the heads up Adam!
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