Happy Sunday Shockya readers and happy Mother’s Day to all of the loving mothers out there.
We’re back with a brand new installment of your weekly Movie News Cheat Sheet and we’ve got some big items to report. Not only is Paul W.S. Anderson putting together a historic disaster film, but the cast of Piranha 3DD is getting bigger and bigger and prettier and prettier.
We’ve also got a handful of brand new trailers to show you, one of which proves Zoe Salanda still kicks butt even off Pandora and another that suggests Conan might just be more of the same. Meanwhile Thor is tearing up the box office and MTV is gearing up for its annual Movie Awards, releasing the full list of nominees.
Check it all out in this week’s Movie News Cheat Sheet!
1. Django Unchained Casting: Remember that handwritten screenplay cover page for Quentin Tarantino’s spaghetti western dubbing the film Django Unchained? Well, it turns out it was official and now the information is pouring in. Christoph Waltz will star as the German bounty hunter who takes Django, a freed slave, under his wing. First, Django helps Waltz’s character make some quick cash by taking out some bad guys and then Waltz’s character helps Django rescue his wife from a plantation owner. Supposedly Will Smith is the frontrunner for the role of Django. (via Indie Wire)
2. Paul W.S. Anderson Bringing Pompeii to the Big Screen: Who doesn’t love a multi-million dollar disaster movie. Even better, this one isn’t directed by Roland Emmerich, rather Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson. Pompeii will feature the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the infamous destruction of the Roman city of Pompeii. It’s set in late summer 79 A.D. and focuses on the slave of a shipping tycoon desperate to not only attain freedom, but to marry his master’s daughter. Too bad for him, she’s promised to a crooked Roman senator and he’s sold to another owner. Oh, yeah; then Mt. Vesuvius erupts. The plan is to shoot in the spring of 2012 with Constantin Film financing the production and Summit Entertainment on board to distribute the film in the US. (via THR)
3. Piranha 3DD Gets a Pretty Lady: In true revamped Piranha fashion, the sequel will come packed with silly camp and sexy women. Just recently Gary Busey joined the cast upping the film’s crazy factor and now 30 Rock star Katrina Bowden is on board to, well, look pretty. Is she a step up from Jessica Szohr? Considering I’ve only seen her in 30 Rock and Sex Drive, what do I know? But then again, this is Piranha 3DD we’re talking about; do her acting chops really matter? Getting to see Esquire Magazine’s 2011 Sexiest Woman Alive get ripped apart by man-eating piranha will likely be more than enough for folks eager to check this one out. Busey and Bowden join Piranha vets Paul Scheer, Christopher Llyod, Ving Rhames as well as newcomers Danielle Panabaker, Matt Bush, Chris Zylka, David Koechner, Meagan Tandy, Paul James Jordan, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Hector Jimenez, Adrian Martinez, and Clu Gulager. (via Fear Net and Cinema Blend)
4. Saoirse Ronan in The Host: Now that Stephenie Meyer is book-to-film gold, her non-Twilight novel, The Host is getting the big screen treatment, too. The piece takes place in the wake of an invasion by an alien race called “Souls.” A “Soul” enters a human host and suppresses the person’s mind. Trouble is, Wanderer’s human mind, that of Melanie “Mel” Stryder, does not want to be suppressed and Wanderer is inundated by Mel’s memories and emotions. What makes The Host a million times better than Twilight before the film even goes into production? It’ll star Saoirse Ronan who has the talent to make a cinematic book-to-film travesty like The Lovely Bones the slightest bit entertaining. Another plus? This adaptation comes from the pen of Andrew Niccol who also might to direct. (via Deadline)
5. Twilight Rakes in the MTV Movie Award Nominations: This should come as no surprise; The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is the most nominated film at the MTV Movie Awards with a whopping eight honors including Best Movie, Best Female Performance and two in the Best Male Performance category. Eclipse does have some stiff competition in that Best Movie section as it’s up against Black Swan, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Inception and The Social Network. Personally, I’m hoping the honor goes to a film that really deserves it, basically anything but Twilight. As for the other categories, I’ve got my fingers crossed for Natalie Portman for Best Female Performance, Jesse Eisenberg for Best Male Performance, Chloe Moretz for Best Breakout Star and Emma Stone for Best Comedic Performance. Be sure to check out the full list of nominees over at MTV.com.
6. Catfish Directors Going From Facebook Stalkers To Paranormal Entities: After the success of Paranormal Activity 2, a third film is in the works and Catfish directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman will be the duo behind the lens. Jason Blum and Oren Peli are still on board to produce, but directing duties fall to the team who hit it big telling the tail of a Facebook meet-and-greet gone somewhat wrong. While Joost and Schulman’s experience in the found footage/shaky cam style is a plus, the question still remains, does anyone really want another Paranormal Activity? As much as I love the first two films, I’m incredibly skeptical they can pull it off again, especially if they plan to continue the same storyline. (via Bloody Disgusting)
7. Wes Bentley is The Hunger Games’ Seneca Crane: While the mad dash to cast all of the tributes of the 74th Hunger Games continue, we get the man responsible for designing the traps that’ll ultimately send nearly all of them to their deaths, the Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane. Wes Bentley is the latest to sign on to star in the book-to-film adaptation that he says, “echoes a lot of 1984. It echoes Ayn Rand. It’s got all the elements of great literature. It’s a modern tale of the government putting fear in people.” Supposedly Woody Harrelson was offered this role, but apparently that either was a false rumor or an arrangement that just didn’t pan out. While Bentley is far younger and better looking than I imagined Crane to be while reading the book, I’m all for this talented actor stepping back into the spotlight full force. (via Vulture)
8. X-Men: First Class Character Trailers: While we do know the older version of most of the mutants in X-Men: First Class from previous films and the comics, Fox opted to take the months leading up to First Class’ release to introduce us to the younger versions we’ll focus on this time around. Not only is this an exciting form of marketing for long time fans thrilled to see these characters on the big screen in a new light, but it’s also quite effective for franchise newcomers. We’ve got one for Caleb Landry Jones’ Banshee, one for Nicholas Hoult’s Beast, one for Lucas Till’s Havok and yet another for Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique all of which boast a ton of fresh footage that looks pretty damn exciting. Catch the first three over at MTV.com and the one for Mystique right here.
9. Trailers: Project Nim, Colombiana and Conan The Barbarian: Right in the midst of the summer movie mayhem, we’ll get a documentary called Project Nim. Yes, by July 8th your brain might be entirely rewired for traditional blockbuster fare, but this is a film not to miss, as is its trailer. Arriving on September 6th is Colombiana in which Zoe Saldana ditches James Cameron’s high tech motion capture animation for some heavy-duty firearms and explosions. Last up we’ve got the new trailer for what will hopefully send the summer of 2011 out with one heck of a bang, Conan The Barbarian. However, based on this trailer, it looks like more Clash of the Titansto me. Then again, when you fail, try, try again, right?
10. Box Office: All hail Thor! As expected, the latest from Marvel dominated the box office, taking in a whopping $66 million with an impressive $16,688 per theater average. Sure enough, Fast Five took a hard fall in week two, losing 62.3% of its profits, but still adding a hefty $32.5 million to its domestic total. The third position went to Jumping the Broom which overtook the weekend’s other new comedy, Something Borrowed, by a mere $545,000, the former taking $13.7 million and the latter about $13.2 million. Wrapping up the top five is four weeker Rio, which took a 44.5% hit, but still managed to pull in another $8.2 million, boosting its domestic total to $114.9 million. (via Box Office Mojo)
By Perri Nemiroff
