If you have any plans for 22 months from now -- cancel them! That's because Disney has announced that Oz: The Great and Powerful will hit theaters on March 8, 2013, opposite Neill Blomkamp's Elysium with Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. (Nothing like planning in advance.) James Franco and Mila Kunis will co-star for director Sam Raimi, while Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz are in talks for other roles. Production is set to begin this July. [Deadline]
In this age of director-as-personality -- witness Todd Phillips' hilariously brash interview tactics as the most recent example of this phenomenon -- it's rare that a blockbuster hits theaters with someone anonymous behind the camera. Which is what makes the release of Kung Fu Panda 2 so extraordinaire. Despite being the sequel to one of the bigger animations hits of the last five years, precious little has been written about its director, Jennifer Yuh Nelson. Though that might have more to do with her gender than anything else.
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For a while now, Sarah Palin has been the X-factor in the quest for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. The former Alaska governor has a few hurdles to clear before officially declaring her candidacy -- not the least of which is her abdication of her office in 2009 with more than a year left in her term, which raised concerns in the GOP about her ability to lead and/or follow through. But! That's nothing a pro-Palin documentary -- made with her cooperation and debuting next month -- shouldn't be able to fix.
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At least some of the gang is officially reunited! Deadline reports that Fox Searchlight will distribute the previously announced He Loves Me, the first film from co-directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris since Little Miss Sunshine earned multiple millions (and Oscar nominations) for the studio in 2006. Keeping with the reunion theme, Paul Dano co-stars, but -- as of now -- he's the only Sunshine actor in the cast. On the upside: Jeff Bridges is being discussed for another role. Sorry, Alan Arkin! [Deadline]
Earlier this month, Universal put the brakes on Ron Howard's ambitious adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower because of budget concerns. Not that Howard is concerned. "We're thinking of starting in early spring [of 2012] now," he told EW. "I can't really say who'll be in it yet, but Javier Bardem has shown a great deal of interest. We'll know by the end of the summer, when our flashing green light goes solid." [EW]
Also in this Wednesday edition of The Broadsheet: Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden movie finds a potential distributor... Keanu Reeves talks Ronin 47... the planned Harry Houdini biopic gets a screenwriter... and more ahead.
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The first teaser poster for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I has just been released, and, well, the imagination and/or star power is a little lacking: The producers have used a breaking dawn sky to sell a movie called Breaking Dawn. But that's OK! We can can make up for it by playing a little game.
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Ben Stiller is optimistic about Zoolander 2 getting made, even a decade after the original film premiered. In a press conference for his indie Submarine, Stiller said that he is still waiting for Paramount to approve the sequel's script -- which features Derek (Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) 10 years later living in Europe, where they are no longer relevant. "It's kind of coming along slowly. [...] We're raring to go, not quite sure where the studio's at. Hopefully it'll come together." [The Playlist]
With J.J. Abrams not quite yet confirmed (but expected) to return to helm Star Trek 2, which Paramount has already set for a June 29, 2012 release, Deadline does the math: That leaves 13 months to go from what Paramount currently has in hand -- a 70 page outline, according to Roberto Orci -- to fully delivered film. But is that truly enough time to finish scripting, prep, shoot, and edit a massive, effects-heavy summer action tent pole?
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One biopic I actually care about is J. Edgar. That's an intriguing, murky story. Just ask Tim Gunn, who definitely saw the FBI director dressed up as Vivian Vance one time. As for the film, you've got your Clint Eastwood direction, your Dustin Lance Black script, your Leo DiCaprio starring role, and now you have Armie Hammer, who is waxing poetic about sharing a kiss with DiCaprio in the movie. (He plays closeted homosexual Hoover's friend Clyde Tolson.) What was the kiss like? Guns, y'see!
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Matt Reeves, the director of Let Me In, has signed on to helm the second Frankenstein project we're mentioning today, a Summit film based on the upcoming Kenneth Oppel novel (the first in a series), This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein. Mary Shelley is just kicking herself for not living to be 215 years old. The royalties, children, the royalties! Details follow.
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While Twentieth Century Fox continues its X-Men: First Class marketing assault (insurance ads featuring Beast and scandalous stills of Emma Frost included!), director Matthew Vaughn is planning the hypothetical next installment to the X-Men franchise. And he's got the perfect beginning in mind.
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Relativity's Snow White movie -- the one starring Julia Roberts, Lily Collins and Armie Hammer -- just advanced its premiere date from June 29, 2012 to March 16, 2012. That trumps Universal's own Snow White project with Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, and Chris Hemsworth, which just moved up to June 1. Can these competing Snow White movies please settle down? I'm definitely seeing neither of them, if it's any consolation. [Deadline]
Another day, another Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II character poster. This time Emma Watson gets the honors, looking positively pensive and battle-scarred as Hogwarts crumbles in the background. Question: Are Dean and Seamus among the shellshocked Hogwarts kids in the background? Click ahead for a look.
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Newly svelte Jonah Hill is having quite a spring. Not only did his Fox animated comedy Allen Gregory get picked up by the network last week, but he's busy shooting 21 Jump Street in New Orleans. The film -- which he co-wrote -- has not only given Hill the chance to appear alongside Channing Tatum and Johnny Depp, but also to show off some previously unseen baby pictures. Click ahead for the adorable.
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