Sunday 31 May 2015

Paul Feig turned down Ghostbusters 3 in favour of reboot


Paul Feig is now fully immersed in rebooting the Ghostbusters franchise for Sony, but has revealed to AlloCine that he turned down the studio’s overtures







via Total Film

Sony and Marvel screen-testing six actors for Spider-Man


Last month it was widely reported that Asa Butterfield was a shoo-in to play Spider-Man in Sony and Marvel’s forthcoming franchise reboot, but according







via Total Film

Colin Trevorrow won’t direct Jurassic World sequel


Jurassic World may still be a week or so away from stomping into cinemas, but Colin Trevorrow has already been discussing a potential sequel. However, it







via Total Film

Colin Trevorrow Says He Won't Direct More Jurassic Park Films

Colin Trevorrow Says He Won't Direct More Jurassic Park Films

'Different directors can give a different taste to each movie'

Colin-Trevorrow-wont-direct-more-Jurassic-world

With Colin Trevorrow and his cast now busy out stumping for Jurassic World around the globe, the director is somewhat naturally being asked about plans for more dino drama. But though the film is on track for a healthy opening and the studio no doubt wants to keep the franchise alive, Trevorrow, it would appear, is currently happy to have just one trip to the park on his CV

Jurassic Park is like Star Wars. Different directors can give a different taste to each movie,” Trevorrow told Italian pop culture site Badtaste.it, which was translated by Coming Soon. “I would be involved in some way, but not as director.” So chances are he’ll have an executive producer role, offering input should another film head into production. 

There’s always a chance the studio could change his mind if the film does really well, but as in the case of filmmakers such as Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes’ Rupert Wyatt, circumstances often mean that they don’t want to dive back into the huge film machine after making the first, particularly if the next one comes with a ticking clock release date and a script that still needs work. 

Jurassic World, which stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Jake Johnson, Vincent D’Onofrio and Irrfan Khan, will be out here on June 12. 




from Empire News

San Andreas Rocks The US Box Office

San Andreas Rocks The US Box Office

Cameron Crowe's Aloha stumbles into sixth

San-Andreas-US-Box-Office

The reviews were mixed, but the lure of destructive spectacle and the sheer mountain of charisma that is Dwayne Johnson swayed American moviegoers this weekend as earthquake thriller San Andreas rumbled straight to the top of the charts with $53.2 million, according to studio estimates.

That represents a personal box office best for Johnson, who, while he was part of the bigger Fast & Furious 7 this year, is the star of this one alongside Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario and the crumbling skyscrapers of Los Angeles and San Francisco. With San Andreas taking in more than $113 million globally upon its launch, the disaster film would seem to be a proven genre again, one that Roland Emmerich has parlayed to success several times, though they don’t tend to lead to sequels, so this might be another one off. Still, it’s proof that original films can work if they have a clear hook (or a Rock).

Pitch Perfect 2 stayed strong in second, no doubt enjoying the continued counterprogramming effect against the giant FX blockbuster. The A capella sequel earned $14.3 million in its third weekend, dropping just 53%. Tomorrowland, which led the slow Memorial Day weekend last time, fell quickly, hurt by word of mouth and the spectacular new competition, earning $13.8 million. 

Mad Max: Fury Road was fourth, down one place with $13.6 million, ahead of Avengers: Age Of Ultron, which still managed to take in $10.9 million despite five weeks’ residence in the charts. The superhero sequel has made $427 million in the US and $1.3 billion globally.

There was bad news for Cameron Crowe’s latest, Aloha. Already suffering under the weight of toxic buzz and a wealth of bad reviews, the romantic drama only managed $10 million for a sixth-place start. It’s another hard luck story for the director, who was probably hoping for something more along the lines of the decent returns from We Bought A Zoo and not another Elizabethtown. Seventh was horror remake Poltergeist, which earned $7.8 million, with Far From The Madding Crowd in eighth with $1.4 million. Hot Pursuit fell to ninth with $1.3 million, while DreamWorks Animation’s Home clung to 10th place for $1.1 million.

To see Dwayne Johnson punch an earthquake in the full chart listings, head to Box Office Mojo.










from Empire News

Jonathan Pryce Joins The White King

Jonathan Pryce Joins The White King

Fiona Shaw also aboard the dystopian drama

Jonathan-Pryce-The-White-King

He’s currently making a huge impression on Game Of Thrones, but Jonathan Pryce is headed back to the big screen for a genre the Brazil star knows all too well – dystopian drama. He’s joined a new film called The White King alongside Fiona Shaw

The pair is now part of a cast that already includes Agyness Deyn, Ross Partridge and Lorenzo Allchurch. Alex Helfrecht and Jörg Tittel are making their joint directorial debut with the film, adapting György Dragomán’s novel. The White King follows what happens when a precocious 12-year-old discovers that his father has been abducted and imprisoned by the totalitarian state they live in.

Deyn will be the boy’s mother, forced to investigate a world of propaganda suffering a gangs to reunite her family. The cameras should be rolling this summer in Budapest. 

Pryce, when he’s not causing problems for the residents of King’s Landing, has worked on comedy drama Dough and is attached to several films including drama The Wife and family comedy The Healer. Shaw also has fantasy TV movie Lumen set to shoot this year. 




from Empire News

Channing Tatum Has Two Kisses For Mandy

Channing Tatum Has Two Kisses For Mandy

He'l produce and potentially star in the romantic drama

Channing-Tatum-Two-Kisses-For-Mandy

Though he’s been more known for his comedy and action chops in the last couple of years, Channing Tatum isn’t forgetting that romantic drama helped build his career. He’s signed a deal to adapt a tragic, but hopeful story of single fatherhood called Two Kisses For Maddy, which he may also star in

Tatum’s production company, Free Association, has partnered with Temple Hill and Sony’s TriStar team to nab the rights to Matthew Logelin’s book, which is subtitled A Memoir Of Loss And Love. It details his marriage and the tragic events of his daughter’s birth, as his wife died 27 hours after the baby’s arrival, leaving him to raise the girl as a single father. And the title, in case you didn’t guess, refers to the kisses he gave her every night in memory of his wife.

First published in 2011, the book rose up the New York Times bestseller list and was originally bought as a potential film for the Lifetime channel, before vanishing into limbo. Now Tatum’s team has Safe Haven writer Dana Stevens at work on a script that the actor/producer may star in. 

Next up for Tatum is the return of the stripper gang in Magic Mike XXL, which struts into cinemas on July 3. He’ll also be seen in the Coens’ Hail, Caesar!, due February 26 next year. And there’s the Gambit movie still in development, which is set to shoot later this year but is still locking in a director. 










from Empire News

The Wicked + The Divine TV Series Planned

The Wicked + The Divine TV Series Planned

Jamie McKelvie, Kieron Gillen and Matt Wilson's comic to be adapted

wicked+divine-comic-tv-series

Comic books are continuing their attempt to take over television. And this time, it’s something truly fresh: Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie and Matt Wilson’s Eisner Award-nominated series The Wicked + The Divine has been picked up as a potential TV series by Universal Television in the US.

First published last June, the book’s story follows a disparate group of individuals who are given supernatural powers after merging with deities and forming a group known as The Pantheon. It’s part of a cycle of the gods being reincarnated every 90 years and performing miracles while attaining celebrity fame. But as the story starts, a 13th god may have been reincarnated and that’s tipping the balance.

“The idea of playing superheroes as celebrity isn't exactly new,” said Gillen at the time of the launch. “However, it's always played cynical. The celebrity characters are always the debased bad guys, or at least the cautionary tale and wandering from the road of truth. It's always implicitly arguing that these people are worse than the heroes who came before them because they're on the cover of a magazine and they do a bit of coke. We're not interested in that. We're anti-that. We've all had pop-stars save our life.”

Helping shepherd the books to TV screens are Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick, comic creators themselves who have spun success into a production company called Milkfed Criminal Masterminds, designed to bring their own titles to Universal and assist with finding and supporting others. With luck, the main Wicked team will be involved in translating the subtlety and wit of their work to our screens.




from Empire News

Roland Emmerich Adds William Fichtner To Independence Day 2

Roland Emmerich Adds William Fichtner To Independence Day 2

He'll play a top general

It’s always good news when we learn that William Fichtner has been added to a film, and one of the charter members of Empire’s 27 Per Cent-ers’ Club (actors who make a film 27 per cent better just by showing up and doing their thing) has joined the cast of Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day 2

While Emmerich’s announcement carries no character details, Deadline has dug up that Fichtner will be a high-ranking general in the film, with the additional wrinkle that he’s also signed for two more movies in the Independence Day universe, which would expand his role. Though there had been chatter about two sequel films shot back to back when ID 2 was first mooted, that has since been scaled down to the one current sequel now in production. But there was obviously more story to tell, so if this first follow-up is a big success, expect plenty more.

Fichtner joins a cast that blends veterans from the original including Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner and Judd Hirsch, with newcomers to the franchise Maika Monroe, Sela Ward, Liam Hemsworth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jessie Usher, Travis Tope and Joey King.

Before he helps battle aliens, Fichtner will be back as Eric Sacks in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, which is out here on June 3 next year. Independence Day 2 is currently set to follow on June 24. 










from Empire News