The script by Bill Marsilli is an original story revolving around Captain Nemo as he creates his warship, the Nautilus.

The original was Disney’s first live-action film and was the second highest grossing film the year it was released. It also won three Oscars. Obviously, Disney is hoping to have a repeat performance.

Source: Variety

However, Warner Bros. is asking that the hearing be moved up as early as Monday siting “time is critical” as their reasons. Specifically, the comic book adaptation is scheduled for a March 6 bow, and the studio must soon commit tens of millions of dollars in marketing for a film that aren’t sure they’ll be able to release.

Feess made a preliminary ruling on Christmas Eve that Fox has a right to distribute the film. Feess found that producer Lawrence Gordon failed to acquitre Fox’s entire interest in the Alan Moore penned graphic novel, thereby leaving Fox without rights under the 1994 turnaround agreement.

In an off screen drama that would make Terry Gilliam cringe, the two studios are now battling over the key issue of whether that decision allows Fox to stop the film’s release or whether the parties should proceed to a trail over money damages.

Warner Bros. claims that Fox “abandoned” the Watchmen property and that Warners has spent more than $150 million to make and market the film in a “carefully choreographed” plan to peak moviegoers interest on March 6.

A status conference is scheduled for Friday morning on Feess’ Los Angeles courtroom to determine when the hearing will take place. The hearing is expected to last two to three days and could feature testimony from top studio executives like Warner Bros. domestic distribution head Dan Fellman.

If the injunction is granted, Warner Bros. would be barred from releasing the film, though it would likely appeal immediately. Feess has encouraged both parties to settle the dispute.

source: hollywoodreporter.com

Hayward will make his live-action debut with Jonah Hex, which is based on the DC Comics character.

The character of Hex (who is still set to be played by Josh Brolin), known for having the right side of his face disfigured and wearing a Confederate army uniform, was a rough-and-tumble gunslinger and part-time bounty hunter whose adventures always ended in blood. One incarnation of his comic book series saw the Western genre combined with supernatural elements, and it’s this aspect that was featured in Neveldine and Taylor’s script. The studio will likely keep the script, though it’s expected that Hayward will put his stamp on it.

Andrew Lazar’s Mad Chance and Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road are producing.

Hayward, repped by UTA and manager Jason Grode, began his career as an animator on the Canadian TV series ReBoot before becoming a member of the Pixar family, where he worked on such films as Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. He also was involved in Fox and Blue Sky’s animated film Robots.

With such an impressively animated resume, the real question now, is will these talents translate to a live-action gritty comic book based western flick?

Hayward made his directorial debut with 2008’s “Horton,” which grossed $154.5 million at the domestic box office.

Credit: Hollywood Reporter

This would not be Rourke’s first foray into comic book films, as he played Marv, the tough guy with a heart of gold, in Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City.

Sam Rockwell (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Frost/Nixon) is slated to play a British villain named Justin Hammer, a multibillionaire businessman and a rival of industrialist of Tony Stark.

Wow, first it was Downey, Jr. as the actor that is as in-demand as ever. Now Rourke with his Oscar buzz is part of two big casting announcements in less than the day - the other being in The Expendables.

Sources: Variety and The Hollywood Reporter

The 3-D performance-capture films, based on Georges Remi’s comic books, which are being co-financed by Song Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Pictures, will center on Tintin’s globe trotting adventures as a fearless reporter. In the books, the Thompson Twins are a pair of incompetent, clumsy detectives who can only be told apart by the shape of their mustaches. Thompson, with a “p,” has a flat mustache, while Thomson, without the distinguishing letter, has a flared out version.

The casting was confirmed by Dawn Sedwick, Pegg’s agent in London, who was unable to confirm if the Twins would appear in both pics.

As previously reported, Andy Serkis will play Tintin’s sidekick Captain Haddock. The titular hero has yet to be cast. Thomas Sangster had been set for the role, but left the project when ti was delayed due to funding difficulties caused by the DreamWorks/Paramount split.

But whoever plays the reporter, with the names they’ve already lined up on this project, in front of and behind the camera these are sure to be two fantastic films.

Source: Variety

Last week I attended the press day for David Goyer’s upcoming thriller “The Unborn”. In the coming weeks I’ll have interviews with the entire cast, but I wanted to post what producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form said about their upcoming projects right now.

In case you don’t know Brad and Andrew’s names, they’re the guys who run Platinum Dunes (along with Michael Bay) and they’re involved with a lot of remakes. Since the roundtables interviews went pretty long, I was able to find out the status of their upcoming Friday the 13th movie and what’s up with the remakes of “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Birds”. We also discussed 3-D and IMAX in their future horror movies.

Here’s what they had to say:

Question: The Friday the 13th footage got a great reaction at Comic-Con. Have you gotten any more feedback since then?

Andrew Form: Are you kidding me? I mean that movie, honestly is…not talking about “The Unborn” for a moment, if you want to talk about that I’m happy to discuss it. I would say that it is without a doubt the most…we’ve gotten the most feedback on that film out of everything we’ve worked on potentially everything all put together. It is insane. I think we all undervalued how big Jason Voorhees is and how much people love talking about him.

So what are they saying?

Brad Fuller: It’s been a really remarkably positive response.

I want to ask you about “Friday” and the test screening process on that. Have you guys tested the film?

Brad: Yes.

Where did you test it?

Andrew: In Long Beach.

Brad: Right.

Was it like a blind screening or…?

Andrew: No. It wasn’t.

And what was the reaction with the audience?

Andrew: It was an amazing thing to watch. Honestly.

Brad: I would say that for us, the two of us, our greatest test screening…our first test screening for “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was kind of a magical thing. We kind of had no idea what we had and then we’ve been jaded by all the other ones we had and then this “Friday the 13th” test screening came and it took us right back to where we were with “Texas Chainsaw”. It was crazy.

So I have to ask you guys, you’re remaking an iconic character and there’s plans for you to remake another iconic character?

Andrew: Yes.

What’s the status of that project and how has this Jason…how has “Friday” influenced possibly what you might do with Freddy?

Brad: Well, we want to put Freddy in a hockey mask and we don’t know how people feel about that but we’re excited about it. I think that every iconic horror character you have to take on their own and kind of figure out what is appealing about that character and for Jason Voorhees, it’s one thing because for the most part in all the movies….

Andrew: He’s a silent killer.

Brad: Right. So Freddy Krueger is a much more challenging character and that is not something that we just kind of stumble into and say “Hey, let’s just make him!” and go do it.

Andrew: “Put the glove on—let’s go!”

Brad: It’s something that we are treading very lightly on and I can tell you for sure that we don’t’ have the answer yet. That is something that we’re going to work very hard to figure out just how much of the Freddy that you might know from the later movies as opposed to the Freddy from the earlier movies. I mean it’s a balance and we don’t have that answer yet.

What about those rumors that Billy Bob was cast?

Andrew: We have no idea where that came from.

But since that got out there have you had any word from him like maybe a…?

Andrew: No. No. I think that was just a crazy rumor.

Will Robert do a cameo if he’s not doing Freddy? Robert Englund?

Brad: We definitely want him in the film, without a doubt. I mean, I think it would be a travesty if we couldn’t have him in the film.

How far along in the planning process for “Nightmare” are you?

Brad: We’re in the earliest possible…

Andrew: We’re in the beginning.

Okay.

Is there a horror film that just cannot be done again and why do it again? I see that you’re doing “Rosemary’s Baby” and that seems like one.

Andrew: We are not doing “Rosemary’s Baby”.

Brad: No, no. I mean… “Rosemary’s Baby” was announced and it’s like a little bit like we’re taking about with Freddy. We went down that road and we even talked to the best writers in town and it feels like it might not be do-able. We couldn’t’ come up with something where it felt like it was relevant and we could add something to it other than what it was so we’re now not going to be doing that film.

Where is Martin Campbell’s “The Birds”?

Brad: Martin has been working on the script and we’re expecting a script in the next 2-3 weeks, but that’s another one where its not like Drew, Michael and I think that we’re just going to crap all over Alfred Hitchcock’s movie. I mean, Alfred Hitchcock in a company wide opinion is probably the greatest director of what we do and other things too. And as someone, that at least Michael and I studied in college and there’s a reverence for him. So that’s not a movie that we’re just going to step up and just go have birds attacking people and trying to throw that into the box office. If we can’t make that movie unique or add something to it, I don’t think we’re going to make it.

Well, Martin’s good at reinventing things.

Brad: He’s great. I mean, once you get a film-maker like Martin Campbell and you start taking to an actress like Naomi Watts a project can pick up momentum, but they’re not interested in making the same movie that Hitchcock made. And they’re interested in something that moves it along and shows different parts of the story so that’s what’s we’re hopeful that the script will be.

I wanted to know with 3-D and you guys because clearly I think “Final Destination” is going 3-D?

Andrew: Yes.

Brad: Yup.

And clearly 3-D is gaining a lot of momentum. As producers are you already thinking about the format/also IMAX for horror or thrillers?

Andrew: We have. We talked about it for a couple of projects. We don’t have any projects set up that we’re taking about definitely doing 3-D, but Brad and I have gone down and we’ve looked at the cameras. We’ve looked at the tests. We watched the You Too movie which is unbelievable and…

Brad: It presents a challenge for us in that our movies that the budgets of our 2nd movie and our 8th movie are virtually the same. Some production companies keep on wanting…I mean our budgets are the same. 3-D adds some money to your budget that could take us from a place of being very comfortable where we’re making our movie to the place where we might not be as comfortable and…

Andrew: You know “Bloody Valentine” went 3-D.

Brad: It’s a more expensive thing and if we have a story that lends…certainly “The Birds” in 3-D sounds like a very nice way to tell that story. Right. And so by the way, Drew and I went with Martin Campbell and we went and looked at the You Too film with him and we’re all doing our due diligence, we just haven’t been willing to commit yet.

You have a partner who’s at the forefront of technology. The guy’s a mad-man. With all respect I love his work. How is he as a partner maybe pushing the boundary, like trying to help push the technology into the movies?

Brad: You know what’s interesting is that we’ve never talked to him about 3-D in a real way. Have we?

Andrew: No.

Brad: Michael pushes….

Andrew: Some IMAX on Transformers 2.

Brad: Yeah, yeah. There’s definitely that. For Bay to get excited about it, it has to transcend being a gimmick and be a way to enhance the story. And I don’t know that we can convince him of that as of yet with what’s come out in 3-D yet. I don’t know. We didn’t see “Journey to the Center of the Earth” . We saw the You Too movie but beyond that, for Michael it’s about what makes the best movie that the most people can enjoy and I don’t know if he feels that 3-D fits into that. I don’t know.

Do you have any trouble with the censors regarding violence in either this or “Friday the 13th”?

Brad: Yes, they love us. But you know what? I think, as a company, we try and push things for this level. Actually strangely enough on “Friday the 13th” we did not have a problem, right? I mean we were…

Is that R-rated though?

Andrew: Oh it’s very R-rated.

Brad: No, no I have problems with most of our movies with R’s we…

Andrew: We’ve had to cut back a few times.

Brad: The Unborn PG-13 was a challenge to get. We went back a number of times to get it and David was very cooperative and ultimately the ratings board was.

Credit: Collider

What?! Did Santa put a lump of coal in my stocking already?

The film, already shot by Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, is set for release on March 6, 2009.

“Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture,” the ruling said.

Fox acquired rights to the “Watchmen” graphic novel in the late 1980s for the producer Lawrence Gordon, but eventually dropped its own plan to make a movie from its story.

Ever since Warner Bros. went into production, Fox has been seeking to stop its eventual release. The superhero adventure, based on the “Watchmen” graphic novel, is being directed by Zack Snyder (who also directed “300”) and has shaped up as one of most eagerly anticipated releases for next year.

What will occur next is anyone’s guess. It could be as simple adding the Fox logo to the title cards and the studio getting a split of the profits, or the studio may delay the release entirely.

Source: New York Times

The scribe is now working on three post-Valkyrie projects designed as potential star vehicles for the actor.

New Regency has set McQuarrie and Mason Alley to write Flying Tigers, based on the volunteer fighter squadron formed to help the Chinese fight the Japanese before the U.S. entered World War II.

Cruise isn’t formally attached. The Top Gun star has long wanted to return to the skies, and several years ago was attached to The Few, a Paramount project about the first American pilots to battle Germans in WWII, with director Michael Mann and scribe John Logan.

McQuarrie also is writing and producing with Guillermo del Toro the previously announced United Artists project The Champions, penning the script with an eye toward hammering it into a Cruise vehicle. The British TV series transfer concerns a team of government agents rescued from a plane crash in the Himalayas by an advanced civilization and given superhuman abilities.

MGM brass has long felt that the project was UA’s strongest chance for a big-ticket franchise vehicle that could star UA co-owner Cruise.

But the Cruise-McQuarrie collaboration with the most urgency is Spyglass espionage drama The Tourist. McQuarrie is rewriting for Cruise to star with Charlize Theron in the Bharat Nalluri-directed remake of the 2005 French thriller Anthony Zimmer. Julian Fellowes originally scripted the redo.

Credit: Variety

The “Australia” helmer has purchased the rights to The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tome of the Roaring Twenties. While a script does not yet exist, Luhrmann intends to focus on it after “Australia’s” awards run. No studio is attached yet.

Fitzgerald’s novel of American excess has spawned a Broadway play and multiple films, including Jack Clayton’s 1974 pic starring Robert Redford and scripted by Francis Ford Coppola.

Credit: Variety

Rebellion and 2000 AD are proud to announce that Judge Dredd is coming to a cinema near you soon!

Together with DNA Films, the movie production company behind such great sci-fi movies such as Sunshine and 28 Weeks Later, Judge Dredd will go into production in 2009.

Jason Kingsley, CEO and Creative Director said, ‘We can’t give away too many details at this point, but we’re looking forward to working with DNA Films to bring Judge Dredd back to the big screen.’

Credit: 2000AD