The week following Thanksgiving is, traditionally, one in which the film industry looks back and forward. The Gotham Awards, which took place in New York on Monday night, and the Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations, which were announced on Tuesday, pay homage to the film achievements of the past year, while the Sundance Film Festival, which announced the first of its lineups on Wednesday, begins the discussion for the coming year. Most titles in the festival's U.S. competition slots will find distribution — and as they reach moviegoing audiences, steer the ongoing cultural conversation that good film provokes. more »
Woody Allen, whose Midnight in Paris is competing at this Sunday's Academy Awards, will be bringing his Oscar-nominated 1994 comedy Bullets Over Broadway to the Great White Way in 2013, reports the New York Times. The adaptation has long been rumored to be in the works; Allen himself is writing the book, with songs culled from existing 1920s-era music. Cue obligatory Dianne Wiest quotes! [NYT]
What's that? Adam Sandler's Grown Ups was a comedy and not technically a horror concoction/exercise in torture dreamed up to keep children and adults up at night? Well, that doesn't make this report any less frightening: According to ComingSoon, a sequel to the Dennis Dugan-directed 2010 buddy pic, about four immature grown men acting like children while on retreat with their families, already has a release date of July 12, 2013. Duh duh duhhhhhn. Well, Grown Ups did make $271M worldwide. Eh, at least it's not Jack and Jill 2. Mark your calendars accordingly. [ComingSoon]
With J.J. Abrams finally all-the-way onboard for sure, the Star Trek sequel is moving firmly ahead, settling into a May 17, 2013 release slot. What's more? Abrams and LOST veteran Damon Lindelof are co-scripting with Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. What's even more-more? Star Trek 2 will reportedly be filmed in 3-D. Get ready for lens flares in yo' face! Beam me up, Scotty -- right into the freaking screen! Bring your own vintage, pre-annihilation Romulan ale and Federation perfume come May 2013 and make it a 5-D experience. Now that'd be going boldly where no filmmaker has gone before. [Deadline]
By the year 2013, IMAX theaters and Kodak will bring digital theatrical projection to the next level with a single, exciting, futuristic-sounding concept: LASERS! The companies announced their partnership today in a statement promising advances in quality projection in large-scale IMAX and dome theaters in the coming years to benefit moviegoers, theaters, and investors. Win-win-win?
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Big news, Mockingjays -- with their now-filming Hunger Games set for release next March, Lionsgate has gone ahead and staked their flag on November 22, 2013 for the second film in the series, Catching Fire. What does this mean for the as-yet directorless sequel?
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The summer of 2013 just got a little more exciting: Warner Bros. has announced that they'll release Guillermo del Toro's sci-fi action pic Pacific Rim on July 12, 2013. The alien invasion film is set to star Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, and Charlie Day, and begins filming this November. Del Toro has described the Travis Beacham-penned project as his biggest film to date, so expect a summer monsterpalooza, del Toro-style. Warner Bros. also moved up the release date of Steven Soderbergh's Contagion to Sept. 9. [Deadline]
Upstart distributor Open Road has set a date for Andrew Niccol's big screen adaptation of The Host, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer's best-selling sci-fi tale of a young woman (Saoirse Ronan) and the body-snatching alien "soul" who takes over her human form. The pic will open on March 29, 2013 -- Easter weekend -- and begins shooting next February. [Deadline]
Yabba-dabba-reboot! Seth McFarlane -- the mad genius behind Family Guy -- has been given the go ahead to bring Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones back to television in 2013. Deadline reports the deal as having future possible film components as well, so let's just clear the air right now and promise to never forget the abomination that was the 1994 live-action Flintstones movie. After the jump, a sneak peek at what it'll be like when McFarlane gets his hands on Fred and Barney, Family Guy-style.
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