Where have we heard this before: MGM is moving forward with its planned remake of of the 1982 horror classic Poltergeist, this time with Sam Raimi co-producing and his Oz: The Great and Powerful screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire contributing the latest script. Some wailing and gnashing has ensued around the Web, but let's just calm down — we're only a year and a half behind the scheduled release date of the previous remake they threatened. Sounds like a high priority!
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Hoo boy: "Anchor Bay has picked up North American distribution rights to the project, which begins principal photography next month and will unspool this holiday season. [...] Story follows a local police department's search for the killer Santa Claus terrorizing a remote Midwestern town on Christmas Eve. McDowell will play Sheriff Cooper, a small-town hero ready for some big-time action." [Variety]
The Triplets development saga just gets better, thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I can see a poster... A billboard with us three. ‘They found another one!’ ‘Triplets!’ ‘Only their mother can tell them apart!’ I would do that in two seconds, because that’s real entertainment. You come out with that movie for Christmas, like December 5th or something like that, and you’re home free." [Coming Soon]
A Twins sequel? With ex-movie star Eddie Murphy? Haha, very funny. What, what: "Universal and Montecito Picture Co. are hoping to develop a doozy of a follow-up to the 1988 hit comedy that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito that would reunite the two stars. But wait, there’s a twist: In the new scenario, Eddie Murphy would act as a third brother. Titled Triplets, the story would see Schwarzenegger and DeVito as brothers Julius and Vincent, conceived experimentally, who discover they have third sibling." [THR]
A Twins sequel? With ex-movie star Eddie Murphy? Haha, very funny. What, what: "Universal and Montecito Picture Co. are hoping to develop a doozy of a follow-up to the 1988 hit comedy that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito that would reunite the two stars. But wait, there’s a twist: In the new scenario, Eddie Murphy would act as a third brother. Titled Triplets, the story would see Schwarzenegger and DeVito as brothers Julius and Vincent, conceived experimentally, who discover they have third sibling." [THR]
This just in at ML HQ: Esteemed Mad Men creator and occasional director Matthew Weiner will make his feature filmmaking debut with You Are Here, to co-star Owen Wilson and Zach Galifianakis in a "funny, charming, and deeply honest film about who we were, who we are, and discovering the power to embrace life, no matter how much you screw it up." There is also a road trip! And possibly Amy Poehler! Read on for full details from producer Gilbert Films.
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After begging and pleading with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan community to please, please not engage in preemptive flame warfare over the rumors and vagaries surrounding the reboot of their beloved franchise, I now recognize the futility of my attempts at diplomacy. This comes after the film's attached director Jonathan Liebesman — also of this week's Wrath of the Titans and last year's eminently regarded (ahem) Battle: Los Angeles — only complicated matters with his comments about the kerfuffle. And then there's the movie's reported name change.
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Exciting news today from the mockbuster mavens at The Asylum: The B-movie specialists have announced their next creature feature, Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark, a sequel to 2009's Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus and its 2010 follow-up Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus. This time around the hardy Mega Shark faces the ultimate enemy: Mecha Shark, "her mechanical doppelganger." Contain yourselves!
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There's no script, no budget and no confirmed Charles Grodin to complement the "buddy" part of the "buddy comedy" formula that worked so well 24 years ago, but that's not stopping the zeitgeist from panicking over the current state of Midnight Run 2. To wit, Brett Ratner is now linked up as the director. Like we've never heard that before. Everybody calm down!
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Word around Hollywood has Russell Crowe officially committed to star in Darren Aronofsky's Noah, with the long-gestating, big-budget biblical epic making its way in front of cameras this summer. Should be great — but can it ever really match up to Crowe's legendary seafaring exploits from South Park?
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Today in horrifying reboot news comes the stuff of past and future nightmares: "Michael Eisner’s The Tornante Company will finance and produce the development of a feature film based on Garbage Pail Kids, the trading card line published by Topps." Viral video/shorts helmer PES will direct based on the terrifying 1985 trading cards, which were previously adapted into one of the worst feature films of all time featuring the most disgusting child characters ever created who scared an entire generation of youngsters into not judging their freaky looking but well-meaning peers by their looks alone. Or something. So... yay? [Deadline]
"'Metallica has always been a huge part of my life, and it's an incredible opportunity when we get to work with our heroes,' said Antal. 'We are going to harness the powerful and almighty energy of Metallica's live shows, inject a narrative into it, and shoot it in 3-D to elevate the entire experience.'" Of course they are. Whatever, it can't be any worse than Lulu. [Press release]
Or, as it's known around the ML office, BS vs. Zzzz: "Etan Cohen, one of the town's hottest comedy scribes, is in negotiations to make his directorial debut on Paramount's horror-comedy Boy Scouts vs. Zombies. With an 'it's all in the title' moniker, Boy Scouts centers on a troop that must save a group of girl scouts from a pack of zombies with designs on spoiling a camping trip." [THR]
It may not feel like it sometimes, but believe me: This is a great time to be a moviegoer. Harvey Weinstein is at the height of his powers, Titanic is finally coming out in murky 3-D, head-exploding propaganda is No. 1 at the box-office, and we've got a superhero flick to look forward to virtually every week from May to August. What more could you want from the film industry? What's that? Strippers vs. werewolves, you say? Sure — that can be arranged.
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I'm willing to give on-the-brink screenwriter Michael Bacall the benefit of the doubt based on what I've seen and heard of him so far, from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (which he co-wrote) to the Todd Phillips-produced teen party comedy Project X and 21 Jump Street (both of which he has scripting and story credits on), the latter of which is earning surprisingly glowing reactions from the blogoscenti. But I might have to draw some sort of line at the Tropic Thunder spin-off starring a fat, hairy Tom Cruise as slimy Hollywood exec Les Grossman, which apparently is not only really, seriously a thing but is, as Bacall describes, "a pretty heartfelt story."
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