This Movie News Cheat Sheet may be lacking in the horror department, but we’ve still got some dinosaurs, superheroes and spies to spice up your Halloween workweek.
There’s lots going on in the X-Men realm, Matthew Vaughn declining the opportunity to direct the “X-Men: First Class” sequel and James Mangold revealing key plot details of “The Wolverine.” Over in James Bond territory, it’s been confirmed that John Logan will return to pen the 24th and 25th films while Ryan Gosling is opting out of the business of Sandmen and Runners, backing out of the remake of “Logan’s Run.”
Read on for the details of all of those stories and many more in your weekly Movie News Cheat Sheet.
1. Adam Sandler Ditches Sony for Paramount: I can’t say much for Adam Sandler’s recent work in the way of quality, but the guy is a fairly consistent box office draw. According to THR, Sony will no longer be riding the Adam Sandler wave because Sandler and Happy Madison have opted to take their latest project elsewhere due to the studio’s “fiscal constraints.” Sandler is expected to kick off production on “Ridiculous 6” under the Paramount umbrella in spring of 2013 and head towards a spring break 2014 release.
2. Matthew Vaughn Opts Out of “X-Men: First Class 2:” With an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and a solid $353.6 million worldwide box office haul, Matthew Vaughn certainly hit it big with “X-Men: First Class,” but, according to Deadline, Vaughn plans to exit on a high note because he’s opting out of directing the sequel, “X-Men: Days Of Future Past.” 20th Century Fox is currently on the hunt for a replacement and is honing in on Bryan Singer, the director of the first two films of the original trilogy and the producer of “First Class.” The “X-Men: Days Of Future Past” script is good to go as are stars Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence, but Fox better lock a director soon should it have the film on track for its July 18, 2014 release.
3. “The Wolverine” is Not a Prequel: In other X-Men news, we’ve always been under the impression that, just like “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “The Wolverine” would also be a prequel to the original trilogy, but, as revealed by Empire, that’s not the case. Director James Mangold explained, “Where this film sits in the universe of the films is after them all,” and, “Jean Grey is gone, most of the X-Men are disbanded or gone, so there’s a tremendous sense of isolation for him.” Empire also points out that on-set pictures did reveal World War II material, which would take place before the trilogy, but Mangold insists that most of the action will involve Logan in Tokyo where he falls for Mariko and winds up in the middle of a gang war, “outside of all previous X-film continuity.” Mangold added, “The ideas of immortality reign very heavily in this story and the burden of immortality weighs heavily on Logan.”
4. Ryan Gosling Out of “Logan’s Run:” Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Winding Refn forever? Maybe not. Via Variety’s Justin Kroll, Gosling is no longer attached to “Logan’s Run.” No word on whether or not Refn is sticking with the project, but considering “Only God Forgives” (which also stars Gosling) is in post and nothing on his upcoming slate seems immanent, he could push forward. Then again, this is the film industry we’re talking about here. Refn’s got quite a few projects in the development stage and one could spark at any moment, possibly overshadowing “Logan’s Run,” which might have been the case with Gosling who’s gearing up for his directorial debut, “To Catch A Monster.”
5. Emma Stone and Bradley Cooper Board Cameron Crowe’s Latest: Cameron Crowe is gearing up for his next project and, after an extensive search, he’s zeroed in on Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone to star. No word on story details yet, but Deadline says that the film’s tone will be similar to that of “Almost Famous” and “Jerry Maguire.” The outlet also notes that while Stone has been locked since July, Cooper has yet to sign on the dotted line, but he is expected to.
6. “Paranormal Activity 4” “Madagascar 3” Mix-Up: Call me heartless, but I just can’t help to find this the slightest bit amusing. As reported by Yahoo! Movies, a theater full of kids ready for a screening of “Madagascar 3” were accidently treated to the opening of “Paranormal Activity 4,” which conveniently begins by recapping the more brutal portions of the first few films. One moviegoer recalled, “Everybody just scrambled for the exits, all you could hear were children crying and screaming. Everyone was very upset.” A theater representative explained, “We have investigated the incident and can confirm that this was a technical error with the projector and apologize sincerely to the families.” The theater gave everyone effected refunds, complimentary tickets and offered them access to a later screening of “Madagascar 3.”
7. The Making of the “Jurassic Park” Velociraptor: Before Hollywood took up the policy of making anything and everything with CGI, movies like “Jurassic Park” created dinosaurs using animatronics. However, they weren’t all cable-controlled puppets. Some dinosaurs were actually half-puppets with a human being inside. Almost 20 years after the “Jurassic Park” hit theaters, Stan Winston Studio is offering a behind-the-scenes look, revealing how they turned supervisor John Rosengrant into a Velociraptor. The Stand Winston School of Character Arts website has a post packed with pictures, a detailed breakdown of the entire process and a comprehensive video that’s certainly worth checking out.
8. Bond 24 Moves Forward: “Skyfall” has yet to hit theaters, but with tons of buzz and positive reviews rolling in, franchise producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are gearing up for the next installments. As reported by Deadline, the duo struck a deal with “Skyfall” scribe John Logan to pen both Bond 24 and 25. Apparently Logan will be running with a two-movie story arc, which would make it the first of the series to play out over multiple films. The Daily Mail is reporting that Bond 24 could go into production at Pinewood Studios in a year and be ready for a fall 2014 release.
9. Trailers: “Evil Dead,” “Safe Haven,” “Iron Man 3:” How about a little blood and guts for your Halloween weekend? The “Evil Dead” trailer unveiled at New York Comic Con has finally hit the web, and for anyone in need of a good dose of gore, this definitely will do the trick. Horror not your thing? Get your Valentine’s Day on early with the trailer for the latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation, “Safe Haven.” As someone with zero interest in these repetitive schmaltzy love stories, I’ve got little to no interest, but apparently there are many others who feel differently because this will mark Sparks’ seventh book-to-film adaptation. We wrap up this section with the big one, the trailer for “Iron Man 3.” After all the hype and anticipation, Tony Stark doesn’t disappoint, offering up a piece packed with the characters and action we’ve grown to love, but with a dark twist that suggest the franchise’s third iteration could me the most emotional yet.
10. Box Office: Ouch. Talk about a disappointing weekend at the box office. With all of the new releases posting dismal numbers, “Argo” and “Hotel Transylvania” had no trouble securing the top two spots. “Argo” dropped a mere 24.9%, taking another $12.4 million to the bank, while “Hotel Transylvania” held on incredibly strong yet again, only losing 26.9% for a $9.5 million fifth weekend out. “Cloud Atlas” comes in at #3, but a $9.4 million opening on a supposed $100 million budget is nothing to be proud of. “Paranormal Activity 4” plummeted 70.1% for a mere $8.7 million, but the sadder story is “Silent Hill: Revelation 3D,” which only managed to accumulate $8 million even with over 2,900 theaters. (via Box Office Mojo)
