Pacific Rim 2 gets 2017 release date

Pacific Rim 2 is officially happening, with Legendary confirming a 2017 release date for Guillermo del Toro's sci-fi sequel.



Del Toro himself has always said he is open to directing a second film, and sure enough, the Mexican auteur has officially signed on to re-occupy the director's chair.



While the first film performed underwhelmingly in the US, barely limping past the $100 million mark, its international take was far more impressive, with a worldwide total of around $411 million.



It's that latter figure that will have convinced Legendary to give the sequel the green light, with del Toro, Travis Beacham and Zak Penn currently working on a script.



Pacific Rim 2 will arrive in the US on 7 April 2017, with a new animated series also in the pipeline to tide fans over until then. Long live the Kaiju!

In the meantime, check out what Guillermo del Toro and the cast had to tell us about what they wanted to see in a Pacific Rim sequel:

And here's GdT's video message announcing a sequel:

via Total Film

Mark Ruffalo confirms that the Avengers are heading to Comic-Con

Mark Ruffalo has confirmed that the cast of The Avengers: Age Of Ultron will be heading to Comic-Con in just under a month's time, which should herald a look at some first footage of the forthcoming sequel.



"Yeah, we’re gonna go out there," confirms Ruffalo. "We’re all flying, we’re flying from London. We’re working. We’re shooting. We’re gonna stop and get on a plane and go to Comic-Con together. It’s gonna be amazing."



Meanwhile, Ruffalo has also been weighing up the possibility of a Hulk solo film, and the challenges such a production would potentially pose.



"He’s the one person who doesn’t want to do the very thing that all of us are dying to see him do, and he’s the one person who doesn’t want to be there, and so it can get very maudlin," explains Ruffalo.



"It could get very boring to watch the guy who’s moping around who doesn’t want to do the very thing that we’re all dying to see him do. But I do feel like we’ve gained some ground on this new version of him."



"I think the relationship between Banner and The Hulk as a conscious conflict… it could be really interesting. The one thing that I think The Hulk is terrified of is Banner, and that’s never really been mined."



That's certainly a dynamic we'd be keen to see explored further… in the meantime, Avengers: Age Of Ultron opens in the UK on 24 April 2015.

via Total Film

Doug Liman planning Escape To Victory remake

With the USA battling through to the last sixteen, our friends across the pond are fully in the grip of World Cup fever, which might go some way towards explaining this morning's revealtion that Warner is planning to remake Escape To Victory.



According to THR the studio is moving forward with a new version of the classic (and frankly ludicrous) saga of a team of Allied POW's using a football match against the Germans to plan their escape.



Starring the likes of Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone and Pelé, the original is a cult classic, and one that Warner clearly thinks is ripe for an update.



According to the report, Doug Liman is currently in discussions with the studio to direct the film, with Gavin O'Connor already hard at work on a script.



The original film was studded with bona fide professional footballers, with Ipswich Town players making up many of the numbers. A cameo for Pelé second time around? Let's hope so...

via Total Film

Doug Liman May Escape To Victory

He's in talks to remake the football flick

For his next movie to follow Edge Of Tomorrow, Doug Liman is already in active development on the Tom Clancy videogame adaptation Splinter Cell, which has Tom Hardy attached to star. That's only one of several projects that Liman has on the boil, however, and he may just have added another to the list. With the World Cup in full swing, it seems appropriate that he's in talks to direct Victory, a remake of the WWII football favourite Escape To Victory .

The original film, made in 1981, involves a group of POWs using a propaganda footie match with their German captors as an escape opportunity, with some help from the French Resistance tunnelling in from the sewers outside the Paris ground. John Huston directed, and the film is much loved and remembered for its unusual onscreen mix of actors and professional footballers: Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone co-star with Bobby Moore and Pele. That's not something you see every day.

Gavin O'Connor (Warrior, Pride And Glory) is writing the new version, which is coming together at Warner Bros. "Soccer", as THR point out, has not historically been a sport that Hollywood was much interested in, but with a record 18m American viewers tuning in for USA v Portugal last Sunday, the interest is clearly rising. Never let it be said Hollywood was slowly to capitalise.

Bernie Goldmann and Gianni Nunnari (300) are producing, but we're still some way from hearing the starting whistle.

from Empire News

Netflix' Daredevil Show Finds Its Foggy Nelson

Elden Henson will be the superhero's pal

With some of its key cast players already sorted, the Marvel / Netflix TV take on Daredevil is filling in the gaps. Now Elden Henson has won the role of Franklin “Foggy” Nelson in the show.

Nelson, of course, is the legal partner and best pal to Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a man whose big heart and soul helps the community, and provides much-needed support to Murdock, even if he doesn’t realise his friend is living a double life. You might recall Jon Favreau in the role from the 2003 film.

“Elden plays one of the most important characters in the world of Marvel’s Daredevil, and we’re thrilled to see Foggy Nelson brought to life by such an incredibly talented actor,” said Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s head of television in a statement picked up by The Hollywood Reporter. “He perfectly captures the heart and soul of this series, bringing an added resonance to Matt Murdock’s fight against the injustice in their great city."

Henson joins Vincent D’Onofrio, who is playing big bad The Kingpin and Rosario Dawson, who jumped aboard more recently in an unspecified role.

Stephen S. DeKnight is in charge of the series, which will arrive on Netflix next year and forms part of meta-series The Defenders with Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, who will also all start out in their own individual adventures before that team-up.

from Empire News

Steve Pink Ready To Go Overnight

Directing the toy store adventure for Disney

He’s better known for raunchier comedies such as Hot Tub Time Machine and this year’s remake of About Last Night, but Steve Pink is taking a stab at family adventure. He’s on board to make Overnight for Disney.

The film, which has bounced from Sony to the Mouse House in its development life, is described as “Home Alone in a toy store” with that quick pitch opening up to reveal the tale of a divorced father and his son winning a competition to spend the night in a brand new, chock-full toy store. Unfortunately for them, their visit coincides with the very night that thieves decide to break in. And even as he's trying to thwart the criminals, the dad has to salvage his fracturing relationship with his sprog. So… Yeah. Home Alone 2: Lost In New York in another toy store, then? With added family drama?

This one boasts the scripting services of 22 Jump Street co-writer Oren Uziel, and was briefly offered to Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer before he passed on the idea.

Pink, who has just finished the Hot Tub Time Machine sequel no one thought they’d get to make, has several other projects bubbling away including Vacation Friends with husband-and-wife starring team Chris Pratt and Anna Faris and The Yank, which has Will Ferrell interested.

from Empire News

Daredevil Finds A Foggy

Elden Henson will be the superhero's pal

With some of its key cast players already sorted, the Marvel / Netflix TV take on Daredevil is filling in the gaps. Elden Henson has won the role of Franklin “Foggy” Nelson in the show.

Nelson, of course, is the legal partner and best pal to Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a man whose big heart and soul helps the community, and provides much-needed support to Murdock, even if he doesn’t realise his friend is living a double life. You might recall Jon Favreau in the role from the 2003 film.

“Elden plays one of the most important characters in the world of Marvel’s Daredevil, and we’re thrilled to see Foggy Nelson brought to life by such an incredibly talented actor,” said Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s head of television in a statement picked up by The Hollywood Reporter. “He perfectly captures the heart and soul of this series, bringing an added resonance to Matt Murdock’s fight against the injustice in their great city." He joins Vincent D’Onofrio, who is playing big bad The Kingpin and Rosario Dawson, who jumped aboard more recently in an unspecified role.

Stephen S. DeKnight is in charge of the series, which will arrive on Netflix next year and forms part of The Defenders with Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage.

from Empire News