It’s certainly a solemn week for the movie industry, as something that should have allowed fans to indulge in a franchise one last time and the studio to relish in the film’s box office glory is entirely overshadowed by the horrendous crime of one man. It isn’t right and it isn’t fair, but in an attempt at looking towards a brighter future, the Movie News Cheat Sheet still brings you some exciting stories about future films.
“RoboCop,” “Mortal Instruments” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” all got top-notch new cast members this week while Andrew Stanton agreed to direct “Finding Nemo 2.” Unfortunately Sam Raimi said he’s dropped out of the “World of Warcraft” film, but supposedly did so because he’s busy and the film has to start moving forward. We’ve also got the first two teaser trailers for “Man of Steel,” the details on the casting of Viper for “Wolverine 2,” and more. Keep on scrolling for all the goods in your weekly Movie News Cheat Sheet.
1. “The Dark Knight Rises” Colorado Shootings: What should have been a monumental night of fans coming together to celebrate the release of the final film of Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise turned into a nightmare when James Holmes stormed into a Colorado midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises,” killed at least 12 people and wounded 58 others. According to NBC, Holmes was taken into custody at the Century 16 Movie Theater complex in Aurora, Colorado donning a helmet, a gas mask, a tactical bulletproof vest, throat and groin protectors and tactical gloves. In light of the tragedy, Warner Bros. canceled the Paris Premiere of the film and has decided not to report box office numbers out of respect for the victims and their families. Additionally, the studio has also decided to remove the “Gangster Squad” trailer, which was set to play before “The Dark Knight Rises,” and possibly make changes to the movie itself, as it features a scene that involves mobsters firing at a theater audience. AMC has responded by banning face-covering masks and fake weapons. While Shockya.com is here to bring you all the latest on the incident, more so than being news, this is an absolutely heartbreaking senseless occurrence and we send out deepest sympathies to the victims and their families.
2. Jackie Earle Haley and Possibly Jay Baruchel for “RoboCob:” José Padilha’s “RoboCop” remake already has Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbie Cornish and Hugh Laurie on board, but there are still slots to fill before the film can go into production on September 1, 2012. As reported by Deadline, Jackie Earle Haley is joining the cast as Maddox, “the guy who dispenses the military training to RoboCop.” The piece also states, “… actors including Jay Baruchel are circling the final leads,” suggesting there still could be a handful of key parts left to cast.
3. “Mortal Instruments” Gets Lena Headey and Jared Harris: It’s easy to forget, but there are other hot YA properties getting the big screen treatment other than “The Hunger Games” and “Twilight,” and one of those is certainly Cassandra Clare’s series “The Moral Instruments.” The film is getting “Game of Thrones” star Lena Headey, Jared Harris of “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” and newcomer Godfrey Gao. The first book of the series, “City of Bones,” has yet to hit the top of my reading list, but, according to the press release, the story takes place in contemporary New York City where Clary Fray finds out she’s connected to the Shadowhunters, a group of half-angel warriors trying to protect the world from demons. Headey is set to play Jocelyn Fray, Clary’s mother, Harris is on board as Hodge Starkweather, Jace’s tutor, and Gao is Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn. They join Lily Collins as Clary, Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace, Robert Sheehan as Simon Lewis, Jemima West as Isabelle Lightwood, Kevin Durand as Emil Pangborn and Robert Maillet as Samuel Blackwell.
4. Amanda Plummer for “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire:” How’s this for a transition? This week was a big one for “The Hunger Games” sequel, “Catching Fire.” Lionsgate locked Amanda Plummer for the role of the District 3 victor, Wiress, and apparently the studio is nearing the end in their search for actors to fill the shoes of District 3 victor, Beetee, and one of the most coveted new roles in the series, District 4 heartthrob Finnick Odair. Rumor has it that Tony Shalhoub is the frontrunner for Beetee and that Sam Claflin is the top choice for Finnick. Additionally, Melissa Leo was supposedly an option to take the role of Mags, another District 4 victor, but her reps reported that she’s now out of the running. As usual, I can go on and on about this casting update so rather than make this a 2,000+ word Cheat Sheet, I’ll redirect you to my discussion on Movies.com.
5. Svetlana Khodchenkova for Viper, Not Jessica Biel: Just a short while ago we were all thrilled to find out that “Wolverine 2” snatched up Jessica Biel to star as Viper. Well, turns out that that’s another one for the rumor mill because the casting wasn’t a done deal, negotiations broke down and now we’ve got “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” star Svetlana Khodchenkova in line for the part. As reported by Twitch, Fox is in talks with the Russian actress so again, this news isn’t set in stone, but considering she likely isn’t receiving a slew of big budget offers, odds are, she’ll take the part. That still begs the question, is she right from the role? Honestly, I’ve seen “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” and while I can recognize it as an incredible production, it also turned my brain to mush, so I can’t recall much of Khodchenkova’s performance.
6. 21 Jump Street 2 to Shoot This Year: Before the film even hit theaters, Jonah Hill said that a “21 Jump Street” sequel had already been written and that they had the green light from Columbia Pictures. Back in March, the film actually opened and wound up killing it at the box office. Then, just a few weeks ago Channing Tatum confirmed that a “21 Jump Street 2” is happening and now, via THR, we’ve learned that the film begins shooting in the fall. While chatting with the president of Columbia Pictures, Doug Belgrad, Belgrad said the plan for “21 Jump Street 2” is, “… to start shooting next fall.” In an industry where sequels, reboots, etc. are inevitable, the continuation of a buddy cop movie that’s actually funny could be a nice treat. Plus, clearly, the core concept is ripe for serializing so there’s no reason to think we wouldn’t get a fresh feeling scenario the second time around.
7. No More “Warcraft” for Sam Raimi: We’ve got a slew of solid book to film adaptations, stage to film adaptations and more, but videogame adaptations just haven’t had as much luck. The idea of Sam Raimi directing a “World of Warcraft” movie has been floating around for quite a while, but now it’s time to put an end to it. While chatting with CraveOnline at San Diego Comic Con, Raimi explained, “Actually, they don’t have me directing ‘World of Warcraft’ anymore because when I took the ‘Oz’ job, they had to move on to another director.” Raimi added, “They had to start making it.” So Raimi may be out, but apparently the project isn’t dead. Crave noted that they haven’t found any reports of Blizzard Entertainment looking for another director or even a confirmation that Raimi is indeed out, but considering this statement came from the man himself, it seems to be a done deal.
8. “Finding Nemo 2” Gets Andrew Stanton: Sure he’s got two Academy Awards, but after “John Carter” you’d think Andrew Stanton would have no choice, but to lay low for a bit. However, according to Deadline, it looks as though Stanton is on board to direct a “Finding Nemo” sequel in exchange for another go-around behind the lens of a live-action film. Clearly this is big for Disney and Pixar, as the film amassed $867.9 million at the worldwide box office and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but this also could be a very smart play for Stanton, too. Hopefully he’ll get himself back on top with another award winning animated film and secure the opportunity to try live-action again, too. As pointed out by Deadline, a lot of great directors made less than ideal first feature films. There’s no denying that Stanton is a man of talent and “John Carter” really isn’t all that bad, so perhaps this next project – well, after “Finding Nemo 2” – will let Stanton make his mark in the realm of live-action, too.
9. Trailers: “Man of Steel,” “Bachelorette,” “The Master:” Not only did we get our very first look at footage from “Man of Steel” this past week, but we got two! Yahoo! Movies and MSN posted teaser trailers for the film and while both feature the same set of stellar visuals from director Zack Snyder, each has its own voiceover. Per usual with Snyder, the film is looking good, but only time will tell if the story will live up to the imagery. With a cast that includes Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Rebel Wilson and more, I’m catching “Bachelorette” no matter what, but, honestly, this first trailer was a bit of a let down, as it’s just not the rapid fire dose of hilarity I was hoping for. Last up is the highly anticipated Paul Thomas Anderson film, “The Master,” which finally offered up a full trailer divulging more plot details. I’m still not foaming at the mouth like most, but having more insight into the story does at least raise intrigue.
10. Box Office: Out of respect for the victims, their families and anyone affected by the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, this week’s Movie News Cheat Sheet will not feature the box office report.
