Today's Posters: 2 more for Iron Man 2, Micmacs, and The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Thoughts?

Woody Allen actually decides to tell us what his next film is about...

...well in advance of it actually beginning to shoot. Here's the story from The Hollywood Reporter:

Woody Allen has taken the uncharacteristic step of actually telling people what his next movie is about.

Titled "Midnight in Paris," the film stars Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard and Rachel McAdams in a romantic comedy about a family travelling to the French capital for business. The party includes a young engaged couple forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better.

Allen has added Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen, Nina Arianda, Tom Hiddleston, Corey Stoll, Mimi Kennedy and Kurt Fuller to the cast and finally confirmed the participation of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who has been rumored to be a cast member for months.

Letty Aronson, Steve Tenenbaum and Jaume Roures are producing the film, which will shoot in Paris this summer.

"Paris" is part of a three-picture financing deal between Allen's Gravier Productions and Mediapro, the Spain-based company that also funded Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Mediapro also financed Allen's next release, "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger," which will have its world premiere at Cannes next month. Sony Pictures Classics will release "Stranger" domestically.

Imagina International Sales is handling international sales for "Paris" in most territories.

-Sounds interesting to me, but I'm a big fan of Woody's...thoughts?

Happy Earth Day from all of us at The Awards Circuit!

Do some recycling or take a walk to go see a movie today...the planet will thank you!

Jack Nicholson to star in the Senior Citizen version of 'The Hangover'!

And yes, I used that exclamation point ironically. Here's the story from Cinematical:

The gentlemen are getting their hangovers on, the women are following, so it's only natural that the retirees want in on the drunken, debauched fun. According to Vulture, Jack Nicholson is circling CBS Films' LASt VEGAS (not a typo -- the title is a elderly gimmick), a film said to be the AARP version of The Hangover.

Penned by the very popular Dan Fogelman, the script centers on four men who were friends in the 1950s, but have become estranged in all the long decades since. They reunite in Las Vegas for the marriage of Billy, the last bachelor holdout of the bunch. That's the role Nicholson is eying. But the course of aged love never did run smoothly, and Billy falls for a lounge singer. Unfortunately, his friend Paddy also has his eye on her. Vulture has the first few lines of the script up if you'd like a pre-production spoiler.

The roles of the other three have yet to be cast, but Vulture is dreaming of Richard Jenkins, Morgan Freeman, and the retired Gene Hackman. If your memory is good, you might be thinking "But aren't Freeman and Nicholson already attached to something like this?" Well, you're half right! Freeman is attached to the very similar Dirty Old Men, a film that Warner Bros was hoping would be a Bucket List reunion. Is it possible to combine the two? We don't need that many dirty old men running around cracking wise about Viagra, and making trouble in Vegas.

-I linked to a story about that other film a long time ago, but this one sounds just as misguided, but hey, if it works, it'll be fun...thoughts?

Could 'Friday the 13th: Part 2' be dead?

Well, according to this in Collider (and go here for the full story), it seems to be:

Platinum Dunes Producer Brad Fuller revealed on his Twitter feed [via Bloody-Disgusting] that Friday the 13th: Part 2 is dead. That comes as a shock for several reasons. First, almost every moderately successful movie gets a sequel these days. Secondly, the first Friday the 13th grossed $90 million worldwide off a $20 million budget. Yes, sequels have to be bigger than the original, but no one expects or is asking for an expensive Friday the 13th movie.

Fuller tried to explain on his Twitter that, “its not my call- i would drop everything and make it today if they wanted it,” and the reason is it’s off is “is a long story-.” It’s a long story that I’m sure Fuller will be asked about when he does press for Platinum Dunes’ remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, which opens on April 30th.

-Thoughts?

Take a gander at these images from a little film called 'Inception'...

That last one is a behind the scenes photo that hints at the scope of the flick, but hey, they're all pretty cool...thoughts?

Apparently 'Men in Black 3' is happening...

...in 3D, no less (though with the original leads intact). Here's the story from Cinematical:

Looks like I'll have to wait for those sequels to Enemy of the State, Hancock and Independence Day a little longer, as Will Smith has officially signed on for a third outing of the Men in Black series along with Tommy Lee Jones, according to Barry Sonnenfeld. The director, who helmed the first two installments, told Roger Friedman of Showbiz 411 that he's ready to roll on Men in Black 3D -- and don't act surprised about that D at the end -- just as soon as the script is good to go.

Is the "awaited" script still the work of Tropic Thunder scribe Etan Cohen, who was reportedly halfway done with a first draft last October? Friedman didn't find out. Nor is there any update on the casting of Josh Brolin, who'd been linked to the part of a younger version of Jones' character, Agent K, for a plot involving time travel. But if Jones is indeed in, unexpectedly, perhaps the story has changed. That, or Jones has agreed to just appear in minimal, present-day capacity.

Friedman presumes Sony will push for MIB3D to hit theaters in a year due to the loss of Spider-Man 4 as a summer 2011 tentpole. Tradition would mean a July 1 release date, but that would put this up against Transformers 3. It also means the production does need to roll right away, though I'm the last person to think they'd care to take their time and deliver a quality sequel with a lot of substance. And that's sort of okay, since the MIB movies are at least enjoyable pieces of insignificant fluff. Thanks to the magic spectacle of 3D, the third movie will simply need some wild, screen-popping aliens and weaponry to get people in seats.

-Hopefully this installment is more like MIB 1 than MIB 2...thoughts?

SAG lets you in on their plans for their 2011 awards!

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

SAG already is gearing up for awards season with the announcement that it has chosen the actors, randomly selected, to sit on its two 2,100-member nominating committees -- one for film and one for television.

SAG Awards Committee chair JoBeth Williams also released key dates leading to the 17th annual SAG Awards on Jan. 30.

Submissions open July 12 and close Oct. 28; nominations ballots will be mailed Nov. 24 and are due Dec. 13; nominations will be announced Dec. 16; and final ballots will be mailed to all SAG members Dec. 30 and are due Jan. 28.

-Mark it down...

Are Sam Mendes and Robert Downey Jr. teaming up for a trip to 'Oz'?

Well, perhaps yes, and considering that Mendes just had his Bond movie put on hold, it makes a bit of sense. Here's the story from Collider:

Director Sam Mendes may direct Oz The Great and Powerful with Robert Downey Jr. in talks to play the Wizard. Production Weekly tweets that the two are circling the project written by Mitchell Kapner (The Whole Nine Yards). According to a 24 Frames article last month [via Pajiba's Twitter], the project (originally titled Brick), is, “based on pieces from several other L. Frank Baum “Oz” books as well as his original ideas. In this version, the wizard is a charlatan who’s part of a traveling circus but goes on a similar odyssey as Dorothy when he mysteriously lands in Oz. This Wizard of Oz project is set up at Disney and is competing against two projects at Warner Bros. (Oz, and a second project about Dorthy’s granddaughter who returns to Oz to fight evil) and Universal’s adaptation of the musical Wicked.

Mendes now has free time after Bond 23 was put on ice, although he may go back to do an adaptation of the comic book Preacher. As for Downey, he’s set for Sherlock Holmes 2 and may star in Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi film Gravity.

-Seems like a pretty interesting concept...thoughts?

The next Bond movie gets delayed indefinitely...

...according to this in The Hollywood Reporter:

It looks like it's going to be a quantum of silence for Bond fans.

Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions Ltd., producer of the long-running James Bond franchise, said Monday that development work on the next 007 film had been suspended. EON blamed financial difficulties at the film's distributor, MGM.

"Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on 'Bond 23' indefinitely," the duo said. "We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release."

The announcement will surprise no one who has followed the tortured recent efforts to bolster finances at MGM.

Solicitations of offers to buy the studio resulted in a couple rounds of underwhelming bidding by studio companies such as Lionsgate and corporate parents of Warner Bros. and Fox. More recently, Fox parent News Corp. and others have been drawn into discussions of possible limited investments in the studio, which has been strapped for cash and burdened by a big debt load.

Nobody doubts there will be a next Bond film, but current circumstances hardly allowed for a tidy development of the project. Some have suggested MGM might sell off rights to co-produce Bond pics to raise needed capital.

Peter Morgan ("The Queen") was working on a screenplay for the 23rd Bond film with regular 007 scripters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. No director has been hired, though Sam Mendes was in negotiations at one point this year.

After sharing "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace" with Sony, MGM recently regained full control of the Bond franchise. Those last two installments together rung up $1.18 billion worldwide b.o.

Wilson and Broccoli took over producing reins in 1995 of a franchise launched in 1962.

-Well, this to me just means we're now more likely to see a 3D Bond movie the next time around, sadly...thoughts?

Forbes lists Hollywood's "Hardest working actors"...

...and the supposed hardest working actor might surprise you (though I actually guessed him. Go figure...). Moviefone's full article on this can be found here, but this is Forbes' list:

1. Seth Rogen: 12 films / $892 million in total
2. Morgan Freeman: 9 films / $1,168 billion in total (including The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Invictus)
3. Matt Damon: 8 films / $696 million in total (including The Bourne Ultimatum, Ocean's Thirteen, The Departed)
4. Will Ferrell: 8 films / $607 million in total (including Talladega Nights, Man vs. Wild, Stranger Than Fiction)
5. Robert Downey Jr.: 7 films / $788 million in total (including Tropic Thunder, Iron Man, The Soloist)
6. Samuel L. Jackson: 7 films / $700 million in total (including Snakes on a Plane, Star Wars: Episodes II and III)
7. Sandra Bullock: 5 films / $655 million in total (including The Blind Side, The Proposal)
8. Meryl Streep: 7 films / $547 million in total (including Mamma Mia!, The Devil Wears Prada)
9. Shia LaBeouf: 6 films / $1.3 billion in total (including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Transformers)
10. Christian Bale: 6 films / $1 billion in total (including The Dark Knight, Terminator Salvation)

Thoughts?

Is Greg Mottola's next project going to star Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman?

Well, yes, though at the moment he's only writing this particular film (though reports have him directing it as well, but that's not confirmed yet). Here's the story from The Hollywood Reporter:

“Adventureland” writer-director Greg Mottola has been hired by Paramount to write the screenplay for its adaptation of “Important Artifacts.”

A little over a year ago, the studio won an auction for the rights to Leanne Shapton’s book — full title: “Important Artifacts and Personal Property From the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry” — which Farrar Straus & Giroux had just published.

Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman quickly became attached to star in what Mottola will spin into a romantic comedy. The stars are also producing through their respective banners, Plan B and Handsomecharlie Films.

An art director at the New York Times, Shapton crafted a fictional estate auction catalog full of personal items and photographs from the four-year romance between a male photographer and a younger food columnist.

The UTA-repped Mottola has directed the films “Superbad” and “The Daytrippers,” which he also scripted. He is in postproduction on the comedy “Paul,” written by and starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg (“Shaun of the Dead”).

-I'm a fan of Mottola's and this sounds interesting, so my interest has been piqued...thoughts?

The highest grossing film of all time comes to DVD this week...

...but is it my top pick this week? Well, no. I had considered it, but considering it's (as the title of the post indicates) the highest grossing film of all time (without adjusting for inflation, of course), it really doesn't need my help, so I looked elsewhere. What I came to for my PICK OF THE WEEK was a smaller film, but perhaps a better one. It's:
Crazy Heart
A few of the best performances of the year, in a movie with some of the best music of the year, this is a small gem that holds the distinction of being the film to finally get Jeff Bridges an Oscar. While it's not on the level of something like The Wrestler, this flick is of a similar ilk and should appeal to anyone who likes country music and/or good character studies. It's well worth a look if you haven't seen it yet.
-Also out this week is, of course, the behemoth known as Avatar. Though not as impressive on subsequent viewings, this is still a pretty entertaining piece of popcorn cinema, and should join many a DVD collection in the coming days (not to mention Blu-Ray collections). You don't need me to tell you anything about this film, so if you want it, go out and get it.
-The rest of the releases are a mixed bag. None of them really do it for me, but the best of the flawed bunch is the suspense drama Uncertainty. It's yet another interesting project by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and while it could have turned out a lot better, it also could have been a lot worse. Next down on the list is the costume drama The Young Victoria, which has a wonderful turn by Emily Blunt, but not much else. After that is this year's 44 Inch Chest, which I didn't dislike, but found lacking (you can read my review here). Last (and in my eyes, least), we come to The Lovely Bones, one of the more decisive movies of 2009. It got a critical dicing, but audience reaction was split down the middle, with equal numbers loving and hating it. Personally, it did absolutely nothing for me, but if you're a fan, pick it up and enjoy.
-My Vintage pick is, in honor of the release Friday of Paper Man, a grouping of some of the best performances of Jeff Daniels' career. In alphabetical order, they are Imaginary Heroes, The Lookout, Radio Days, and The Squid and the Whale. All are excellent movies on their own, and he's excellent in them, to boot.
-What will you be watching on DVD this week?

Today's Posters: Robin Hood, Solitary Man, The Good Heart, Phish 3D, and Looking for Eric

Thoughts?

Summit gets the rights to 'Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus'...

...meaning another mediocre ensemble romantic comedy is on the horizon. Here's the story from The Hollywood Reporter:

Summit Entertainment is wading into the battle of the sexes by acquiring film and TV rights to John Gray's "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" franchise and has set Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun to produce a feature film via their BermanBraun banner.

The producers weren't ready to tip their hand about what direction the film might take, saying it was still in early development, but the moniker suggests the possibility of a high-concept ensemble comedy along the lines of the hit 2009 release "He's Just Not That Into You."

Summit president of production Erik Feig and vp production Meredith Milton will oversee the project with Andrew Mittman, head of feature film development at BermanBraun, who brought in the project.

Gray's original book about gender differences, whose title became a pop-culture catchphrase, was published in 1992 by HarperCollins. Its success triggered a dozen-plus "Mars/Venus" titles, selling more than 50 million books in 45 territories worldwide. The first book was on the New York Times best-seller list for nearly seven years.

The "Mars/Venus" property already has seen several media incarnations: It inspired a short-lived talk show, produced by Merv Griffin Entertainment and distributed by Sony, in 2000, and a musical comedy that bowed on Broadway in 1997. In addition, Gray's video/DVD lecture series has earned more than $100 million.

Berman and Braun called the franchise "the Rosetta Stone for understanding the opposite sex."

"While men and women may never truly speak the same language, we're thrilled to explore their perpetually hilarious, painful and romantic conflicts on the big screen," they added.

Said Feig, "We know it will become an amazing film and TV franchise.

-Thoughts?

Behold the trailer for 'Get Low'...

...potentially one of the Oscar players this year:

-Thoughts?

R.I.P. Dede Allen

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Oscar nominated film editor Dede Allen died Saturday, April 17, at her home in Los Angeles, after suffering a stroke earlier in the week. She was 86.

In 1967, Allen became the first film editor to receive sole credit on a film -- in addition to garnering an Academy Award nomination -- for her work on the classic "Bonnie and Clyde." Long regarded as one of Hollywood's most creative film editors, the Ohio native also earned Oscar noms for her work on 1975's "Dog Day Afternoon," 1981's "Reds" and most recently, 2000's "Wonder Boys," which marked her return to editing following a nearly eight-year stint as head of post-production at Warner Bros.

Allen, whose last project was 2008's "Fireflies in the Garden," began her career at Columbia Pictures and was later mentored by director-producer-editor Robert Wise, who edited "Citizen Kane." She was renown for bringing groundbreaking stylistic elements to her work, including pioneering the use of audio overlays and using sound to help seamlessly segue scenes.

She is survived by husband Stephen E. Fleischman son Tom Fleischman; daughter Ramey Ward.

-Rest in peace...