Will John Hillcoat's next film star Christian Bale?

Quite possibly, according to Cinematical:

Director John Hillcoat hasn't had a lot of luck, lately. The Road was given one of The Weinstein Company's half-dead releases. His follow-up, an adaptation of the novel The Wettest Land, has fallen through due to financing. But a man of Hillcoat's reputation doesn't lack for work, even if he can't always get financing, and Bloody Disgusting is reporting he's attached to direct The Revenant. Christian Bale is in talks to star, and Mark L. Smith penned the script.

The Revenant is based on Michael Punke's novel, which is itself based on the true story of Hugh Glass. A man of many adventures, Glass goes West in 1822 in the employ of Captain Andrew Henry to do some profitable fur trapping. Glass is attacked by a bear, and badly injured. Miraculously, he survives, but the terrain makes it impossible to carry him back. Henry tries, but eventually hires two mercenaries to simply stand watch and bury him. They abandon Glass, alone and defenseless, but unfortunately for them, he recovers. He resolves to hunt down the men who abandoned him. The story has actually been done before as Man in the Wilderness, with Richard Harris as the mauled man out for revenge, but I wouldn't go so far as to call this a remake. It's history!

CHUD notes that The Revenant was once set up to be directed by Chan Wook Park, and set to star Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson continued to be attached after Park's departure, but apparently the revival of the project has left him behind. (Probably due to that massive Marvel contract.) That would have been a fascinating pair to tackle this story. If there's one downside to the Hillcoat and Bale version, it's that we know what kind of grim, bloody adventure we're going to get.

-Seems like it has potential...thoughts?

Prepare for the next 'Batman' movie to hit theaters on July 20, 2012!

Big news dropping today, via Box Office Mojo:

In one of the most anticipated announcements in recent memory, Warner Bros. officially set a date this morning for the follow-up to The Dark Knight. Tentatively known as Batman 3, the movie will debut July 20, 2012 in conventional and IMAX theaters, almost exactly four years after The Dark Knight opened to record-breaking numbers.

At this time, there are no details available regarding the plot or the cast, though it is assumed that Christian Bale at least will be reprising his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Warner Bros. was also unable to confirm whether or not Batman Begins and Dark Knight writer-director Christopher Nolan would be taking on those responsibilities again for part three.

Thanks to a wealth of factors including the perceived quality of Batman Begins, the promise of The Joker as the villain, the publicity surrounding star Heath Ledger's performance and untimely death and the movie's overwhelmingly positive reviews, The Dark Knight debuted to an astounding $158.4 million, setting an opening weekend record that has yet to be topped. By the end of its run, The Dark Knight banked $533.4 million, making it only the second movie ever to cross the $500 million mark at the time (since then, Avatar has also reached this milestone). Worldwide, The Dark Knight accumulated just over $1 billion, putting it in the top five all-time.

The Spider-Man reboot, set to debut on July 3, 2012, is the only other release currently scheduled for July 2012. Other high-profile movies scheduled for Summer 2012 are The Avengers (May 4), Madagascar 3 (May 18), Battleship (May 25), Disney/Pixar's Brave (June 15) and the Untitled Star Trek Sequel (June 29).

-The summer of 2012 could be shaping up to be a big one...thoughts?

Updates on the Main Page!

Yes, we have some updates over at the Main Page for you to surf on over to and click around on. We've debuted with some Chart Predictions for this year's Oscars. We have new reviews for you to look at as well, including my take on The Hurt Locker to go with the previous raves by Clay and Keith (mine is a rave too, found at the bottom of the article...the film is brilliant, trust me), Keith's review of Public Enemies (with mine to come soon), Myles and myself tackling Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Myles is nicer to it than I am), and my reviews of Year One and Whatever Works.

-Check them out and let us know what you think!

Melissa Leo joins The Fighter

Via Variety:
Melissa Leo is in negotiations to star opposite Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg in Relativity Media's "The Fighter."
Paramount Pictures is distributing the David. O. Russell-helmed drama domestically.
Leo will play the mother of Bale and Wahlberg.
Film, which is scheduled to lense in the summer, tells the story of Boston fighter "Irish" Mickey Ward (Wahlberg) and how he was helped to the world lightweight championship by half-brother Dicky Eklund (Bale).
Leo, whose series "Treme" has been picked up by HBO, will be seen opposite James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart in the upcoming indie "Meet the Rileys."
-This is coming together nicely, if I do say so myself...thoughts?

A trio of character Posters for Public Enemies

Opinions?

Christian Bale and Marky Mark to be trained in boxing by David O. Russell

The shift in casting for this film, which once had Brad Pitt in a role and Darren Aronofsky directing, comes via this in Variety:

Christian Bale and director David O. Russell are poised to get into the ring with Mark Wahlberg on "The Fighter."
Relativity Media has stepped up to fully finance the film. Paramount Pictures, which initiated the project, will now be limited to distributing domestically.
The picture is expected to begin production in July, though Relativity stressed that the principals’ deals are still being negotiated.
Pic tells the story of Boston fighter "Irish" Mickey Ward and how he was helped to the world lightweight championship by half-brother Dicky Eklund. Eklund once decked Sugar Ray Leonard and went the distance against the boxing legend before forfeiting his career to drugs and crime. He redeemed himself by training Ward through his Rocky-like run to the title.
Project reteams Bale with Relativity and its fledgling one-off picture division, which produced the Bale starrer "3:10 to Yuma." Over the past few years, "The Fighter" has drawn some of Hollywood’s biggest talents but was KO’d on two previous occasions. The project first came together with Boston natives Wahlberg and Matt Damon toplining for director Darren Aronofsky. Damon dropped out and Brad Pitt was poised to replace him, but the picture still stalled. Then Aronofsky moved on.
Meanwhile, Wahlberg has continued to train for the pic and is in fighting shape.
David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman are producing through their Mandeville banner. Most recent script drafts were by Scott Silver and Lewis Colick (who rewrote the upcoming Zac Efron starrer "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud").
Wahlberg will play Ward, a fighter who was losing bouts and was ready to hang up the gloves when his brother came back into his life. Bale will play Eklund, whose drugs and robbery spree drew him a 10- to 15-year sentence in state prison. There, he kicked drugs, became a model prisoner and emerged as a changed man who helped his brother reach the glory that eluded him. Russell previously worked with Wahlberg on "Three Kings" and "I Heart Huckabees." The director gets in the ring for the first time with Bale, who’ll next star in the McG-directed "Terminator Salvation" and the Michael Mann-helmed "Public Enemies." The director, who is repped by CAAhas signed on for three projects in recent weeks including "The Fighter": "Aaron and Sarah" at Fox 2000 and "The Silver Linings Playbook" for the Weinstein Co.
-Aronofsky must have not wanted to get boxed in (no pun intended) with sports movies, and also has Robocop on the horizon, so that change was inevitable. I like where this film is going, but it's still early...what do you think?

Public Enemies gets a new trailer

-Does this one work any better for you? I personally like this one a bit better, but that's just me...

Yet another poster for Terminator Salvation

Another new poster for the lastest Terminator flick

"Public Enemies" Trailer

Now available for your viewing pleasure is the trailer for Michael Mann's summer crime thriller, "Public Enemies":

-I like what I see here. Depp, Bale, Cotillard, and notably Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover look to be in top form. 

Can't help but wonder about the transposition of Mann's patented digital filmmaking in a more period setting. 

We shall see. Thoughts?

Is it just me or does the poster for Public Enemies remind you of another Christian Bale starring film?

Maybe I'm crazy, but they both sort of scream "duel" or at the very least "standoff" to me...opinions?

"Public Enemies" Gets a Neat Little Poster

Of interesting note is that Christian Bale seems to have been demoted as far as billing goes. Having his name after the title in the credits may imply that any Oscar push given to the film would put him in the supporting race. But perhaps I'm looking too far ahead.

-What do you lot think?

Family Guy spoofs Christian Bale

I couldn't resist...


-Now that everyone has had their shot with it, now we can move on for good...