Movie News
Asteroids Movie Coming From Universal
According to THR, Universal Pictures is bringing the Atari game Asteroids to the big screen.
Universal won the bidding war, and assigned Matthew Lopez, who worked on Disney’s Race To Witch Mountain and Bedtime Stories, to write the script while Lorenzo di Boneventura (Constantine, Doom, Shooter, Stardust, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) produces.
Asteroids, originally released in 1979, involved a triangular space ship fighting off rocks and flying saucers in an asteroid field. The object was to shoot and destroy the hulking masses of rock and the occasional flying saucer while avoiding smashing into both.
As opposed to today’s video games, there is no story line, so the studio would be creating a plot from scratch.
Universal is also developing movies based on Hasbro board game properties such as “Battleship,” “Candyland,” “Ouija,” “Monopoly” and “Clue.”
Nimrod Antal Confirmed for Predators
Nimrod Antal will direct the forthcoming “Predators” movie for producer Robert Rodriguez through his Troublemaker Studios.
Nimrod Antal & Predator
Rodriguez had pencilled in a fairly strong shortlist of directors that included Neil Marshall (The Descent), but Nimrod Antal (Vacancy, Armored) ultimately won out.
Rodriguez told Ain’t It Cool:
On a personal level I found him to be an outstanding presence, a great communicator full of ideas, and upon meeting him you can immediately understand how he is able to wrangle cast and crew and get the best out of everyone.” We really want to go with a character driven action movie, because that’s what we all remember about the original ‘Predator,’ and we want to take it even further with this.
Regarding why Rodriguez chose not to helm the film himself, he said:
I was already booked up as a director when this came back to me, but I still wanted to have a hand in making it. So I lobbied to have the movie done through my studios so I could oversee it in a stronger position than a producer usually takes on.
Rodriguez also said that production will take place in Austin-Texas at Troublemaker Studios, taking advantage of the state’s incentive program.
Kick-Ass Pic and Details On Comic-Con Debut
Today we have a new pic from “Kick-Ass,” which features 11-year-old super-assassin named Mindy Macready/Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz).
Also, /Film is reporting that the new Matthew Vaughn film will be premiering brand new footage from the film at the 2009 Comic Con (San Diego). The “Kick-Ass” panel will take place on Thursday, July 23rd towards the end of the day. The full schedule for Comic-Con will be out next week.
“Kick-Ass” is a Mark Millar comic about a dorky high school student, named Dave Lizewski, who decides to become a superhero. The only problem is he has no defining ability or even coordination. A few problems arise when Dave encounters bad guys who can fight and have weapons.
Green Hornet Pushed Back Two Weeks
According to eRc Box Office, Columbia Pictures has moved comic book adaptation “The Green Hornet” back two weeks from June 25, 2010 to July 9, 2010.
Apparently, the decision came from another all-star cast movie called “Grown Ups” which is a comedy starring Adam Sandler, Maya Rudolph, Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, Maria Bello…
The Green Hornet will now open opposite Robert Rodriguez’s “Predators” remake and Steve Carell’s animated film “Despicable Me.” “TwilightSaga: Eclipse” opening just five days later.
Michel Gondry’s action comedy “Hornet” follows the adventures of Britt Reid, a bored playboy who inherits his father’s crusading newspaper, the Daily Sentinel. By night he is a masked hero, fighting crime with his sidekick Kato, who has incredible martial arts skills.
Starring Seth Rogen and Stephen Chow.
Twilight Eclipse Starts Shooting in August
Production Weekly has revealed that “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” is scheduled to start filming on August 17.
The movie will film in Vancouver (Vancouver Film Studios) from August 17 through October 31, David Slade (30 Days of Night) will direct from a script by Melissa Rosenberg.
In the third installment of the franchise, coming to theaters on June 30, 2010, Bella (Kristen Stewart) once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward (Robert Pattinson) and her friendship with Jacob (Taylor Lautner) - knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.
The second installment in the film series, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon“, is currently set for release on November 20, 2009. The third film will be released on Wednesday, June 30, 2010.
“I Am Number Four” Plot Details
DreamWorks has acquired the screen rights to “I Am Number Four,” the first of a six-book science fiction series. Director Michael Bay (Transformers) is set to produce and possibly direct the novel adaptation.
The franchise is about a group of nine earthbound alien teens who escaped their planet just before it was destroyed by a hostile species. While the high school-aged kids assimilate, the title character discovers that he is being hunted by the enemy that blew up his planet.
FilmDrunk now has a bit more information about the movie:
The protagonist is 15. The rival race of aliens are from the planet Mogadore. They destroyed Lorien in order to strip the planet of its natural resources because Mogadore was dying, and still is, and they followed the Loric to Earth to finish the job. The Loric develop their “Legacies” (special powers) around their fifteenth year. This first book is a kind of love story. At its core it’s a type of father/son alone in the world, always moving to stay alive story, a lá The Road.
James Fey (A Million Little Pieces) is attached as a writer. Steven Spielberg is also expected to be involved in a capacity similar to his behind-the-scenes work on Transformers.
Eisner, Adler and McCarthy Making “Havana Nocturne”
According to THR, producers Eric Eisner (Hamlet 2), Gil Adler (Superman Returns, Valkyrie), and Shane McCarthy are teaming up to adapt the book “Havana Nocturne.”
Based on a New York Times bestseller by T.J. English, “Nocturne” centers on a group of mainly American gangsters in Batista’s Cuba, particularly Meyer Lansky, who run the freewheeling country’s casinos, nightclubs and other debaucherous businesses, and the rivalries that emerge as they lead the high life.
The producers hope to capture Cuba during this boom time. It will juxtapose the mob working in the nightclubs against the revolutionaries in the jungle.
Eisner said:
“We really want to show Havana and Cuba as a character at a time that it’s booming.” This is about mobsters who don’t only control a few business but try to control an entire country, and the tension that results when their plans go awry.”
Matt Cirulnick has signed on to write the script.
