It looks like the world is getting ready for Penguin Madness 2.0. It all started, of course, in 2005/2006 with the release of March of the Penguins, Madagascar andHappy Feet, but now the flightless birds are making a serious comeback. In addition to Mr. Popper's Penguins dropping a few months back and making a substantial chunk of change at the international box office, Happy Feet 2 is set to drop in November and now a Madagascar spin-off focusing on their penguin characters has found its director.
THR reports that Simon J. Smith, director of the short Shrek 4-D and co-director of the Jerry Seinfeld-starring Bee Movie, has been hired by Dreamworks Animation to direct the untitled project. The film is not the first time the penguins have been thrust into the spotlight, as the scene-stealers have their own show on Nickelodeon called The Penguins of Madagascar, and multiple direct-to-DVD releases. Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons, the writers of last year'sMegamind, have been hired to write the script, which was fast-tracked back in March. Unlike the show, which has a whole bunch of penguins, the new film will focus only on Skipper, Kowalski, Private and Rico (though it's unknown who will be providing the voices).
Given the ridiculous popularity of the Madagascar penguins, I'm amazed this hasn't happened sooner. Madagascar 3 is in development for next summer, but I'm amazed that they didn't just skip it and move forward with this project instead. Unless something unbelievably terrible happens, Dreamworks Animation stands to make a lot of money from this movie.
Believe it or not, I actually remember a time in my life when I actually looked forward to Mike Myers movies. Growing up on Saturday Night Live during the mid-90s and watching movies like Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,Wayne's World and So I Married an Axe Murderer, I legitimately thought that Myers was one of the best comedic actors out there. Then the last decade happened. The many has spent the last year making nothing but sequels and awful original movies like The Love Guru, View From The Top and The Cat In The Hat. The only good thing he has done recently was Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, and that was really just an exposition-laced cameo. Sadly, it doesn't seem like Myers has any desire to get his career back on the right path.
HitFix has learned that the Canadian comedian has closed a deal that will see him star in Austin Powers 4. There is no director attached to the project as of yet, but one has to imagine that the studio would be interested in bringing back Jay Roach, who directed all three previous films. The character hasn't appeared in a film since 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember, which received middling reviews from critics and the role will be Myers' first live action part since The Love Guru, which was panned across the board.
This is just sad. Much like Eddie Murphy, I think Myers actually still has the capacity to be funny, but has gotten to a point where he realizes that he doesn't actually have to try in order to rake in the cash. To be honest, I'm surprised that it's taken this long for him to officially sign on and for the project to be put in motion asGoldmember made more money domestically than any other film in the franchise. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go stock up on earplugs so that I can drown out the sound of people trying to bring back, "Yeah, baby! Yeah!"
It's been a long time since Roman Polanski directed a comedy. In 1986 the French filmmaker helmed the adventure comedy Pirates, but every movie since, fromFrantic to The Pianist to The Ghost Writer has been a straight drama. This year that streak is finally broken with the release of Carnage and looking at the cast, which includes John C. Reilly, Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz, it should be fantastic. The movie isn't scheduled to be released until November 18, but today we get a look at it in the form of a Andy Warhol-style French one-sheet.
Posted by IMP Awards, the artwork wonderfully shows off it's four principal cast members in varying states of emotion and color. Based on the play "God Of Carnage" by Yasmina Reza and adapted by Polanski, the film is about two sets of parents who are brought together after their respective sons get in a fight at school. While their meeting stars out cordial, it soon devolves into chaos as the adults begin to act more and more child-like.
Check out the poster below or full size over on IMP Awards.
The Lone Ranger has all of the makings of a hit. While having Johnny Depp's name on the top of the poster is good enough to sell anything, the movie also has a solid director in Gore Verbinski, who is coming off of one of the best films of his career (Rango), Jerry Bruckheimer producing, and a cast that also includes Armie Hammer, Tom Wilkinson, Helena Bonham Carter, Dwight Yoakam, Barry Pepper and James Badge Dale. All of that makes this new development from Deadlinequite stunning.
According to the report, Disney has decided to shut down production on The Lone Ranger. Though the film wasn't scheduled to begin production until October, the studio became extremely nervous about the film's budget, which stood at $250 million, though filmmakers were trying to bring it down to $200 million. The reason for the nerves can possibly be attributed to the budgets of both John Carter of Mars- which has seen its price tag go up due to reshoots - and Sam Raimi's Oz The Great and Powerful, which is also hovering around the $200 million mark. WithLone Ranger still in pre-production, it proved to be the easiest one to stop. It is unknown if Disney plans to try and sell the project or if they will try and break it down and start over with a lower cost. The website reached out to the studio though calls were not returned.
This is pretty incredible. Before now there wasn't any indication that the project was on shaky terms which only makes this more of a surprise. What's really rough is that Johnny Depp has been trying to get this project going for years now and this is the closest they've ever come. As we learn more you can be sure that we will report on it.
UPDATE! Variety has now chimed in to claim that some of what's being reported may be overreaction. They say the project is far from dead, rather Disney plans to move forward with The Lone Ranger, they're just doing it with a reduced budget. That sounds fine by me, this is just a western after all, it's not like they need to make a bunch of CGI, talking monkeys.
Today is a pretty damn good day for Sullivan Stapleton. Tonight Cinemax is premiering the first episode of Strike Back, an original series in which he's the central character, and now it's being reported by THR that he's in talks for one of the most star-studded movies currently in pre-production.
The trade says that Stapleton is currently negotiating for a part in Gangster Squad, the period crime film directed by Ruben Fleischer. Should he land the role, Stapleton will play a childhood friend of Ryan Gosling's character who grew up to become a mob enforcer, but redeems himself by becoming a police informant. Based on script by Will Beall, the film is set in the 1940s and 1950s when a squad of cops from the Los Angeles Police Department worked to get the East Coast mob influence out of southern California. In addition to Gosling, the film stars Sean Penn, as renowned gangster Mickey Cohen, Josh Brolin, Michael Pena, Emma Stone, Robert Patrick, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo, Enos Marries, and more.
The more I hear about this cast the more curious I become about the plot. There has to be a reason why so many incredibly talented actors would want a piece of this, yes? More importantly, when I first learned about the script I was under the impression that it would be a tight drama with Gosling and Brolin facing off against Penn, but it seems that the film has blossomed into an ensemble piece. Either that or some seriously big names are taking smaller parts just to be involved.
Contact fans (we know you’re out there) and those interested in the search for intelligent life on other planets should groove on this science-fiction story.
It seems the SETI Institute’s Alien Telescope Array is back in business after having to be put into “hibernation” back in April due to budgetary concerns. The 42-antenna, situated in Northern California, has been active for decades and even stepped in to continue scientists’ quest for alien radio signals long after NASA cut off funding for such audio explorations back in 1993. But recent cuts in funding from the University of California at Berkeley put the SETI Institute’s project in jeopardy, MSNBC reports.
Well, Jodie Foster was having none of that, and so the Oscar-winning actress joined a group of financial contributors who pledged more than $200,000 to keep the antenna array in operation. Foster, of course, played a SETI researcher in Robert Zemeckis’ 1997 drama Contact which may or may not have seen Foster’s character make contact with extraterrestrials. Truthfully, we love Contact for Matthew McConaughey’s soft-spoken Christian philosopher, the closest the laid-back actor has come to achieving Zen-like tranquility on screen.
Foster wasn’t alone. Her contributions joined those of sci-fi novelist Larry Niven and Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, who wrote a note with his contribution stating, “It is absolutely irresponsible of the human race not to be searching for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.”
I understand Niven and Anders’ interests in the project. But what’s Foster’s hook? Is she hoping the SETI Institute somehow records alien audio, leading to a Contactsequel? Or does she quietly support organizations that are tied to her past films? Maybe there’s a panic room association out there in need of contributions? Or an animal research center that removes voice boxes from lambs? No matter the cause, we like to believe Foster is donating funds to keep their work humming along.
It looks like the world is getting ready for Penguin Madness 2.0. It all started, of course, in 2005/2006 with the release of March of the Penguins, Madagascar andHappy Feet, but now the flightless birds are making a serious comeback. In addition to Mr. Popper's Penguins dropping a few months back and making a substantial chunk of change at the international box office, Happy Feet 2 is set to drop in November and now a Madagascar spin-off focusing on their penguin characters has found its director.
