Fox Throws Hissy Fit Over ‘Watchmen’

20th Century Fox is asserting its right to create, shoot and distribute a movie based on Alan Moore’s popular comic book.  What’s that you say, Warner Bros. is already doing that?  Send in the lawyers…

A  judge has agreed refused to throw out the case, which is good news for Fox.  The short short version of the suit is that when Fox put the movie into turnaround in 1994, producer Larry Gordon never exercised the option on the project, thereby reverting the project to a previous agreement, which gave Fox rights to the project.

It’s all very confusing.  Deadline Hollywood Daily has a copy of all the paperwork if you want to check it out.  Be forewarned, I’ve read scripts shorter than this.  -Sam

Sam Raimi Clashes Over Ryan Franchise Restart

It is being reported that director Sam Raimi is looking to cast James Franco (Spiderman, Pineapple Express) in the lead role of the Jack Ryan relaunch for Paramount.

Jack Ryan as you know is essentially Tom Clancy’s James Bond, a CIA Analyst that finds himself battling everything from terrorists to drug lords. Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck has starred as Jack Ryan.

CHUD writes that their source claims that that studio doesn’t believe Franco is right for the part, and that Raimi may walk away from the film over this disagreement.

The film apparently will not be based on an existing book by Tom Clancy, but, will feature a young Jack Ryan much like ‘The Sum of All Fears.’ Personally, I hope Paramount goes with Raimi on this one, James Franco is a great actor whose proven himself, unless of course, Paramount has Harrison Ford waiting in the wings.

Coens Cast ‘Serious Man’

The Coen Brothers have tapped two under the radar actors for their new film, ‘A Serious Man.’

Richard Kind (Spin City), and Michael Stuhlbarg will star as brothers in a black comedy that takes place in 1967. The film is about Larry Gopnik, a professor whose life stars to fall apart when his wife leaves him and his socially inept brother.

Shooting will begin next month in Minneapolis.

The Coens next film ‘Burn After Reading,’ is set to open next month, and stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, and Francis McDormand.

Review: Pineapple Express

Pineapple Express was one of the handful of movies I was legitimately hyped for. I was a huge fan of ‘Superbad,’ written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. So, on paper, there was good reason to be excited about this one. Same writing partners, Judd Apatow producing once again. So what happened, why didn’t it meet my expectations? Read more

‘Voltron’ in Turn Around

New Regency has thrown “that other robot movie” into turnaround. ‘Voltron,’ based on the Japanese animated TV series from 80s, was being produced by Relativity Media, and is now looking to replan the project with a more moderate budget.

The script was written by Justin Marks, writer of films ‘He-Man,’ and ‘Green Arrow,’ both films also in development. Marks’ script takes place in New York City and Mexico, where five survivors of an alien attack come together to battle in five lion-shaped robots that form the sword-wielding Voltron.

Voltron had been in the works prior to the launch of Transformers.

‘Dark Knight’ Passes ‘Star Wars’

It’s official- ‘The Dark Knight,’ is the second highest grossing movie of all time in North America. This weekend, the Christian Bale movie passed George Lucas’ original ‘Star Wars,’ with a gross of $473 million.  ‘Titanic’ is still number one with $600 million. Read more

More ‘Edge of Darkness’ Casting

Martin Campbell’s (Goldeneye, Casino Royale) new Mel Gibons film “Edge of Darkness,” has gained a few new cast members. Danny Huston, Shawn Roberts, and Bojana Novakovic have signed on.

The film is about a veteran cop, whose only grown0up child is murdered on the step of his home. In his investigations he unearths his daugheter’s secret life, and discovers a world of cover-ups.

Huston will play a shady businessman, and Roberts will play the distraught boyfriend.

The script was adapted from a BBC mini-series by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell. The film begins shooting on location in LR’s hometown of Massachusetts.

Mike Myers Now a ‘Bastard’

The cast list keeps growing and growing, this time, comedian Mike Myers has joined the ranks of Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, B.J. Novak, Simon Pegg, Nastassja Kinski, David Krumholtz by signing on to “Inglorious Bastards.”

The WWII film has the whole town talking. Mike Myers will play British General Ed Fenech, who takes part in the plan to wipe out Nazi leaders.

DVD Review: Teeth

Horror movies with goofy, wild and crazy premises aren’t unknown the the world. There’s been plenty, from killer clowns, to killer toys. Some take themselves seriously, some, realize their nature and take the black comedy route, ‘Teeth’ can be lumped in this category. Read more

New ‘Apocalypse How’ Promo

We’ve been following Rob Kutner’s ‘Apocalypse How’ promos for a few weeks now, the latest is a video featuring John Oliver from the Daily Show!

The book has a list price of 12.95 and is available at Amazon.com

Enjoy!

Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince of Persia: First Pics

They say pictures speak a thousand words, and we at lonelyreviewer.com love leaked set photos. So to go along with our ongoing conversation of video game movies, here is a shot of Jake Gyllenhaal in his full Prince of Persia wardrobe. Read more

Columbus to Direct Film on RFK Campaign

Chris Columbus will be directing a feature about Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign. His company, 1492 Productions has acquired the screen rights to “The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America,” by Thurston Clark.

Kennedy’s campaign focused on poverty, racism, and ending Vietnam, a theme that inspired Columbus, produced Michael Barnathan told Variety.

The last film that I can remember about Robert Kennedy was the Emilio Estevez film “Bobby,” which was about his last night, and focused more on how he inspired the people around him, rather then the man himself. I’d love to see what Columbus has to bring to the table with this one, I think the campaign would be a great focus for a film, and especially in the times that we live in today, it’d be a great reminder to an inspirational presidential candidate.

There is no casting details, as the film is still in the planning stages, however Columbus will pen the script with a yet to be named co-writer

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