WB vs Sony – Two Movies About Real-Life Colombian Hostage Rescue
Warner Bros will make an untitled action thriller about last summer’s real-life hostage rescue in the Colombian jungle.
In July, 15 prisoners were freed by undercover forces who tricked the captors, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), into thinking they were moving the hostages to another location.
The film will focus on Operacion Jaque, a five-year plan to locate and rescue three Americans who had been captured in 2003 by Colombian guerilla group FARC. The covert effort involved numerous governments, diplomats and intelligence services and a vast network of spies, military advisers and soldiers plus high-tech surveillance measures.
New York Times Magazine’s foreign correspondent Peter Landesman will script the drama.
“We’re fed so many post-9/11 movies filled with political ambiguity, but this story is unequivocally about good vs. evil, with a happy ending,” Landesman said.
Warner Bros becomes the second major studio to put a rescue film in development. The rival is Sony’s “Operation Checkmate,” which also explores the same event, scripted by Jessica Postigo, with Simon Brand to direct.
McG To Direct “Dead Spy Running”
Warner Bros. has acquired rights to “Dead Spy Running” for McG to direct.
The spy novel which tells the origin story of newly trained spy, written by British author Jon Stock will be published next summer as the first of a trilogy, aims to reinvent the spy genre.
McG will direct at least the first installment.
McG is in post-production on “Terminator: Salvation,” the fourth installment in the “Terminator” franchise, which is set for release May 22, 2009.
Will Smith’s “I Am Legend” Prequel In Works
“I Am Legend” was very successful so Warner Bros will make Will Smith’s movie prequel which is the only way to extend a franchise that grossed $584 million worldwide.
His character was killed in the first film, after extracting a potential cure for the virus for the scattered but this news is great for fans – more adventures of younger Robert Neville.
Will Smith will reprise his role as scientist Robert Neville and Francis Lawrence will return to direct.
The prequel will chronicle the final days of humanity in New York before a man-made virus caused a plague that left Smith’s character the lone survivor among a mutated mob in the city.
The studio has set DB Weiss to write a script that is based on a detailed outline that was hatched over the past few months by Smith, Akiva Goldsman, James Lassiter and Lawrence.
Hoffman, Depp and Caine and “The Dark Knight” Role Rumors
We recently wrote about Johnny Depp’s reactions on rumors about his potential The Riddler role in also potential upcoming “The Dark Knight” sequel.
“It seems like it’d be a fun gig for a while, yeah,” he said.
Fake The Riddler Poster
The same thing is with Philip Seymour Hoffman and role of The Penguin. Hoffman spoke about the rumor for the first time at the Toronto International Film Festival. He said that no one from Warner Brothers has given him a call:
“Some friend of mine told me he read that. First I heard of it” and added:
“I grew up a comic book fan, so I love that stuff. I love going to that stuff. I think what they’re doing with that whole Batman story is really true to what that whole Batman thing has always been. It’s one of the darkest origins of a superhero, to get all nerdy and geeky on you. That character sees his parents gunned down as a young child: I remember when I was a kid reading that story, so seeing it now come to life as the dark tale that it really is as an intense, really dark, very visceral, adult tale that they’re doing now, all the great work people are doing on it, of course I wouldn’t say, ‘Well, no, no no.’ But I don’t know the reality of it, so I wouldn’t say ‘yes’ to you.”
But, Michael Cain, who plays Bruce Wayne’s butler in “The Dark Knight” confirmed to MTV News that both Depp and Hoffman are currently in talks with Warner Brother for the exact roles that fans suggested (!?)
“They’ve already got them in mind,” said Caine. “It’s Johnny Depp as The Riddler. And The Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper.”
“When Christopher Nolan said we were going to do “The Dark Knight” next, I didn’t know what that meant in Batman terms. I said, ‘What’s the story?’ and he said The Joker. I said, ‘Oh, sh*t! How are you going to top Jack Nicholson?’ He said, ‘Well, I’ve cast Heath Ledger. And I went ‘Ha! I couldn’t top Jack, but if anyone could, maybe Heath could.’ And he did.”
Caine continued:
“I was with a Warner Bros executive and I said, ‘Are we going to make another one?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.’
I said, ‘Sh*t, they’ve done it again!’”
And would you like to see Johnny Depp as Joker … maybe?
Stephen Sommers To Direct Tarzan
The Jungle Book director Stephen Sommers is in negotiations to direct a big screen version of Tarzan for Warner Bros, reports Variety. Two years ago, the studio was negotiating with Guillermo del Toro to direct but his commitment to The Hobbit has put him out of the running.
Jerry Weintraub (Ocean’s Eleven) is producing through his Jerry Weintraub Prods.
Variety says that Sommers will also co-write the “Tarzan” script with Stuart Beattie. With the first two “Mummy” movies, “The Scorpion King” and “Van Helsing,” Sommers, who is repped by WMA, has become a connoisseur of the big-budget, effects-driven spectacle. He recently finished shooting the summer 2009 Paramount tentpole, “G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra,” which Beattie came in to write for him. Continue Reading…
Mark Millar Wants Three Superman Films
Mark Millar, comic book writer extraordinare, had an interesting interview with G4 that offered up some insight into his plans for writing a Superman movie. At this point, Millar has pitched the idea to Warner Bros and is currently waiting for the studio’s reply.
“I’ve had this plan for like 10 years for a big three-picture Superman thing, like a big Lord of the Rings epic, starting over from scratch again with a seven-hour Superman story. And hopefully one year after the other,” Millar told G4.
You can watch the full interview below, where Millar also talks about his other upcoming film project – Kick-Ass. Continue Reading…
Warner Bros’ “Watchmen” in Serious Legal Trouble
Watchmen - movie photo
A judge has denied a Warner Bros motion to dismiss 20th Century Fox’s lawsuit over Warners’ right to make a film based on the graphic novel “Watchmen.”
The ruling is a huge victory for Fox, which may end up as being a profit participant in the film. Fox retained the rights to the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, which the studio originally purchased in 1991. When producer David Gordon picked up the option on the project out of turnaround in 1994, the judge ruled, he never excersised that option for Fox’s remaining interest in the film, therefore, Fox’s rights to the film should still be intact.
Project, which has been in development for two decades, finally began lensing in September with Zack Snyder at the helm. Warners was set to release the film, which stars Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earle Haley, on March 6th in the same slot in which “300” opened. Continue Reading…
“Twilight” Takes Harry Potter’s Release Date
"Twilight" picture
The release calendar is shifting once again, Summit Entertainment’s highly anticipated adaptation of the Stephenie Meyer teen vampire romance novel “Twilight” has moved from its Dec. 12 perch to Nov. 21, the date just vacated by Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
Explaining about the changes of release date schedule, co-chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment Rob Friedman stated that the bumping up offers them the chance to present the movie on more screens. He also noted:
“When Warner Bros. decided to move ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ to the summer of 2009, we saw a unique opportunity to slot in our film which has been gaining tremendous awareness and momentum over the past several months.”
Friedman added that they were not trying to replace the Potter franchise for this year.
“We by no means are trying to fill the shoes of the incredible Potter franchise for 2008, rather we are just looking to bring the fans of Stephenie Meyer’s incredible book series the film as soon possible from a programming perspective.”
“Harry Potter 6″ Pushed to July 2009!
Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that it has moved back the release of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” from Thanksgiving this year until July 17th next summer!
The announcement was made by Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros.
In making the announcement, Mr. Horn stated,
“Our reasons for shifting ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films-changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.”
“RocknRolla” Is Very English!
“RocknRolla,” Guy Ritchie’s new movie is searching for a new distributor.
RocknRolla
The producer of Guy Ritchie’s upcoming gangster film “RocknRolla” Joel Silver has been screening the movie for rival studios Lionsgate and Sony in the hope that they will take it away from Warner Bros., according to the Los Angeles Times.
Alan Horn, chief operating officer of Warner Bros, said that he would honour a small-scale release agreement for “RocknRolla,” even though he doubted its commercial appeal.
“I think it’s a well-made picture, but while it’s funny in spots, it’s very English. [!] I don’t think it’s broadly commercial. It feels like a film that deserves a spirited release, but not a wide one. Joel has an 800-screen deal, which we’ll honour, but we might not be willing to spend the marketing money he wants us to,” Horn said.
He added that he would be open to selling the film to a rival if the right offer came along:
“If Joel is thinking there is someone out there willing to spend twice as much money as we’re willing to, I’m sure he will pursue that.”
RocknRolla’s scheduled UK release date is September 5, 2008. US release is expected in October.
