Nitpicks & Rumors - February

Nitpicks

Nothing at present time.

Rumors

Movies

Ben Affleck & Matt Damon Reunited
Disney's Touchstone Pictures has made a deal for a film based on a true story that will star Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as lawyers who spent 15 years overturning a murder conviction, reports Variety.
Aliens 5 - DEAD
Imagine this: A spectacular fifth "Alien" movie that would re-team director James Cameron with Sigourney Weaver. Then, imagine this: Twentieth Century Fox decide to shelve that one, and instead do an "Alien Vs.Predator" movie. James Cameron told Aint it Cool that he was working on an "Alien 5" at the time the studio commissioned the "AVP" movie. "I started working on a story, I was working with another writer and Fox came back to me and said, "We've got this really good script for Alien Vs.Predator and I got pretty upset. I said, "You do that you're going to kill the validity of the franchise in my mind." Because to me, that was Frankenstein Meets Werewolf. It was Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other", he says, adding "So, I stopped work".
Aliens vs Predator 2
The franchise killing continues with “Aliens Vs. Predator 2” coming to cinemas in August of next year.

Austin Powers 4
...they’ve been talking about another “Powers” instalment ever since “Goldmember” came out back in 2002, when the working title of “Shag Another Day” was being thrown around for a little bit, but it seemed to die off a bit until late last year, when Myers started talking up his Keith Moon pic, and started the ball rolling again. Last I heard, there may be a new “Austin” in the works for release late 2007.

Batman Sequel
Oscar Nominated star of "Brokeback Mountain" is rumoured to be suiting up as D.A Harvey Dent in the "Batman Begins" sequel. In the sequel, Batman teams with Harvey Dent to take down the clown prince of crime, The Joker. Chris Nolan returns as director, with Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine all reprising their roles from the 2005 hit. Should Gyllenhaal agree to the role, it's likely he'll be signed for a further film. Rumour has it that Dent will mould into his mutated alter-ego, Two-Face, in the third film. The "Batman" sequel isn't the first superhero film that Gyllenhaal has been linked to. He was in line to replace Tobey Maguire on "Spider-Man 2", had the young actor not returned to the role, and was Kevin Smith's choice to play "The Greeen Hornet" a couple of years back. At one stage Gyllenhaal had even met Warner about playing the Caped Crusader himself.
Baywatch
Barf. "Hostel" Director Eli Roth continues to work on the "Baywatch" movie. And, David Hasselhoff wants to bring the show back to tv setting the next series in Paris, New York or Miami. Didn't we already see that one? Wasn't it called "Baywatch Nights"?
Behind Enemy Lines 2
According to his official site, Nicholas Gonzalez, best remembered as Marisa's boy-toy D.J on "The OC", will fill the void of Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson in a sequel to the entertaining action rattler "Behind Enemy Lines" (2001). The sequel, which centers around a North Korean nuclear conflict, stars Gonzalez as U.S Navy SEALS Lieutenant, Robert James. Production commenced in Bulgaria in October.
Beverly Hills Cop 4 - DEAD
Paramount has once-and-for-all decided not to go ahead with a "Beverly Hills Cop 4". At one stage Bruckheimer productions were going to dust off Axel Foley – and numerous writers were involved in drafts, but Eddie Murphy's demands to 'tone it down' this time around...he's a dad now.
Blade 4
Though “Blade Trinity” wasn’t exactly a beacon for the studio, Marvel, speaking at the New York Comic Con, said a fourth film is still very much a possibility. "The third movie did very well for us, and there's room for more”, they said, neglecting to mention whether Wesley Snipes, who infamously butted heads with both the studio, the director and his co-stars on the most recent sequel, would return in the title role. Meantime, all attention is on Spike TV’s new “Blade” TV Show, which, as revealed at the Con, will guest-star Randy Quaid. Quaid (“Elvis”, “Vacation”) will guest on an episode as a professor dealing with 'Vampire Ash' addicts.

Blades of Glory
Jenna Fischer, who plays put-upon receptionist Pam in NBC's The Office, has joined Will Ferrell in Blades of Glory, an ice-skating comedy set to start production in March. The DreamWorks project stars Ferrell and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) as a pair of skaters who take on a rival duo, played by Saturday Night Live veterans Will Arnett and Amy Poehler. The Hollywood Reporter says Fischer is playing Arnett and Poehler's little sister and Heder's romantic interest.

The Bourne Ultimatum
Though it’ll really depend on Matt Damon’s willingness to be typecast, Frank Marshall, producer of all three “Bourne” films, says the series might possibly spawn a further two sequels – excluding the forthcoming “Bourne Ultimatum”. The new film, “The Bourne Ultimatum”, starts shooting in August, and is expected to be in theatres in Summer 2007.

Captain America
The Associated Press has published a new interview with Marvel Studios' Avi Arad in which he talks about the Captain America movie. The project is part of Marvel's deal with Paramount in which Marvel will make the film and Paramount will distribute. "Without giving too much away, obviously there'll be a little bit of the origin and then we come into our real world," Arad says. "What makes Captain America such a compelling character is that it allows you to judge history so you see where he came from and you see what he stood for." Although the script by an unnamed writer isn't finished and Arad doesn't anticipate Captain America arriving in theaters before 2009, he does have a director and leading man in mind.

Jackie Chan
'Rush Hour' three is fast becoming a 'we need this now people' ordeal along with 'Shanghai Dawn'.

Conan Sequel
Though rumours previously said otherwise, a source for top Schwarzenegger fansite The Arnold Fans says he might return to the throne of barbarian, Conan. Warner are relaunching the popular “Conan the Barbarian” films, with the next chapter widely known as “King Conan. The film might not even be called King Conan anymore, anymore and instead go back to Conan the Conqueror. The title King Conan sounds like a finale and that's not what Warner Bros. wants." If Schwarzenegger loses the election, they’re going to try and tie him down for a 2007 shoot.

Tom Cruise
Cruise is set to work on a romantic comedy from those who made 'Serendipity'.

Dark Crystal 2
According to Variety, "Star Wars Clone Wars" helmer Genndy Tartakovsky has been handed the keys to the puppet cupboard and will shoot the film, called "Power of the Dark Crystal", late Summer. This one is set hundreds of years following the events of the first film, with a mysterious girl made of fire stealing a shard of the crystal in hopes of reigniting the dying sun.

Dirty Sanchez (or Team Sanchez in the US) Movie
Pathe Pictures, the U.K.-based French-owned production banner has teamed with MTV Films Europe for the first time to produce a big-screen version of MTV show "Dirty Sanchez", says The Hollywood Reporter.

Double Nightmare
Robert Englund, best known as razor-nailed Freddy Krueger in the assiduous "A Nightmare On Elm Street" series, tells Bloody Disgusting that an idea he loved that teamed Krueger with "Halloween" scoundrel Michael Myers might be coming to fruition. The studio has commissioned a "Freddy vs.Michael", a team-up that Englund once mentioned would also bring back Jamie Lee Curtis's (the female protagonist of the "Halloween" series) Laurie Strode. Englund tells the site that the studio has also commissioned the "Nightmare on Elm Street" prequel, which will tell of Krueger's days before he was burned at the stake and donned Christmas jumpers. Last year, Englund shot a pilot for a reality show called "Nightmare on Elm Street : Real Nightmares", "in which contestants described their nightmares and then were challenged to confront their fears by being put in a situation that evoked their nightmares. For example: a woman scared of clowns was locked in a fun house and terrorized by clowns who appeared out of mirrors and down through the ceiling", but the network decided not to pick it up. Apparently the new CW network might be giving it a reprieve.

Four Christmases
New Line has set director Victoria Jenson to helm Four Christmases, a holiday comedy produced by Spyglass partners Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum and executive John Glickman, reports Variety. Jenson, who is in final talks, will be making her live-action debut after directing animated comedies Shrek and Shark Tale. The script, written by Matt Allen and Caleb Wilson, centers on a young couple, each of whose parents have divorced and married other people, leaving the newlyweds with four parental households to visit on Christmas Day. Geared for a 2007 release.

Goonies 2 - DEAD
Richard Donner says his long-planned sequel to "The Goonies" is dead. "We tried really hard. Steven [Spielberg] and I, we pitched a couple of things to them and, quite honestly, they weren't right. And we put it aside. If I could ever find a really good handle on a screenplay for it, I'd go pitch it again, because talking about [something] I'd want to see…"

Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks. Mr. Reliable has teamed up with friend, Nia Vardalos of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' fame to bring their own idea-come script to the screen. It's a comedy called 'Talk of The Town' and apparently the story has Hanks will play a guy who takes a sudden career change.

Hot Fuzz
UK actor writer Simon Pegg's eagerly awaited follow up to his Rom Zom Com hit 'Shaun of the Dead' is titled 'Hot Fuzz' and will begin shooting in a few week's time. The pic is a comedy that pretty much sends up the buddy buddy cop pics of the 80's and 90's, like he and his team did with the zombie movies. Pegg will once again be acting, but center stage will be former Bond Timothy Dalton and "Moulin Rouge" and "Gangs of New York" actor Jim Broadbent. Edgar Wright is up for directing duties.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
According to Variety, The "King of Queens" star, Kevin James, will join Adam Sandler for Universal Pictures' long-developed gay marriage comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry". David Dobkin, who directed "The Wedding Crashers," is aboard to helm from a script penned by Alexander Payne and James Taylor. The concept is two straight firefighters pose as a gay married couple in order to qualify for their department's domestic partner benefits. Producing is Shady Acres' Tom Shadyac ("Liar, Liar"), who was once considering helming the pic himself with Nicolas Cage and Will Smith.

Iron Man
Australian director Alex Proyas ("I Robot", "The Crow") might be helming the big-screen version of the popular Marvel comic. Nick Cassavettes ("The Notebook") was previously attached to the long-in-the-works film adaptation, which was set up at New Line until the rights reverted back to Marvel after two years in development hell. It's likely it'll now be made for Paramount. No word on who'll be playing the man-in-iron, Tony Stark, but Tom Cruise has long expressed interest.

Jazz Ambassadors
New Line Cinema has acquired The Jazz Ambassadors, a pitch for Antoine Fuqua to direct and Morgan Freeman to star in as jazz impresario Duke Ellington, says Variety. Fuqua is expected to next direct the Paramount drama By Any Means Necessary this spring. "Jazz" covers the Ellington orchestra's tour of Iraq during a 1963 CIA-led coup that would eventually pave the way for Saddam Hussein's rise to power. Part of the intrigue is the discovery, years later, that the CIA exploited the global zeal for Ellington's jazz by planting spies in the entourage as the orchestra toured hostile parts of the world. When and if Ellington knew of the program will be part of the drama.

Jurassic Park 4
Director-producer Frank Marshall (Bourne Identity) tells the London Free Press that they have a script for Jurassic Park 4. He says Jurassic Park IV "has a good script now, so we should have that one up and running next year for release in 2008." He previously mentioned that they would start on the fourth installment in the dino franchise after the fourth "Indiana Jones" is completed.

Lethal Weapon 5 & Mad Max 4 - DEAD
Mel Gibson has just turned down an offer to do a "Lethal Weapon 5". Richard Donner was pretty keen, and Danny Glover was, to some extent too, but Gibson was just plain "uninterested." As for Mad Max 4, George Miller's still keen, but Mel is not.

National Lampoon's TV the Movie
Take Mad TV members and mash them with Jackass members...It is coming sometime this year. A celebration of the ever increasing depravity of television in our society--it's a channel surfing adventure through the most utterly ridiculous spoofed television programming and commercials. (Jason Mewes, Steve-o, Chris Pontius, Preston Lacy, Manny Puig, and Wee Man Acuna)

Paramount Completes DreamWorks Buy
Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc., announced that it has closed on its acquisition of DreamWorks SKG for $1.6 billion in cash and assumption of debt. Under the agreement, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen of DreamWorks will remain in their respective roles as producer/director and Chairman. In addition, DreamWorks Animation SKG will begin operating under its new seven-year distribution deal with Paramount Pictures for the rights to distribute DreamWorks Animation films in theatrical, home entertainment and television markets on a worldwide basis beginning with the company's next release, Over the Hedge. Paramount will be responsible for the marketing and distribution of DreamWorks Animation films and will earn the same 8% distribution fee that had previously been paid to DreamWorks Studios. The new agreement with Paramount expires by the end of 2012, which is two years longer than the original distribution deal with DreamWorks Studios. As a result of the new deal, DreamWorks Animation received $75 million in cash which it has used towards the repayment of debt.

Planet One
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Albie Hecht's Worldwide Biggies and Madrid-based Ilion Animation Studios are teaming to produce the $50 million CG theatrical release "Planet One." "Shrek" and "Shrek 2" scribe Joe Stillman will pen the script. The trade reports that the film chronicles an alien race that is terrified of a human invasion. Hecht and Ilion's Ignacio Perez Dolset will produce the film, which is in preproduction and slated for release in first-quarter 2008.

Police Academy Sequel or Remake
Steve Guttenberg is on board for this one. Hugh Wilson, who directed the first film is reportedly back in the seat for this one, and it’s rumoured to start filming in Australia later this year.

Reno 911-Miami
Reno 911 is making a feature film! Writer-director Ben Garant tells Entertainment Weekly that the film sees “The Reno deputies get invited to Miami for a law enforcement convention. Junior [a deputy Garant plays on the show and in the movie] has never been out of Washaw County, and they've never been on planes, but they go to Miami. So when they go to this conference, Dangle [Thomas Lennon] screws up the reservations, so we don't have passes to the thing and we don't have reservations at the hotel where all the other cops are staying. We're staying in this really crappy spring-break hotel down the beach, and while we're there and while all the other cops are in the convention center, there's a bio attack on the convention center. They seal it off with every single law enforcement officer in Miami-Dade on the inside — and the only eight cops left outside to keep control of Miami are the eight of us. Homeland Security takes care of the big stuff, they're out looking for the bad guys who did the bio attack and trying to find a cure. We're put in charge of 911 calls in Miami. So we're looking at Mapquest and we don't know how to get an alligator out of the pool... Stuff like that.”

Resident Evil 3: Extinction
Starring Milla Jovovich, whispered to be eyeing an Australian shoot in the coming months.

Star Trek 11 - DEAD
Doug Mirabello, personal assistant to Rick Berman, says there isn’t likely to be any “Star Trek” in movie theatres or on Television for quite some time – regardless of what you may have heard. He also confirmed that Erik Jendresen’s script for “Star Trek The Beginning” has been rejected. Though recent rumours suggested Patrick Stewart might be back in talks to reprise his role as Captain Picard for a new movie, Mirabello thinks it unlikely. "It’s more likely that some executive had a casual conversation with him and brought up some hypotheticals which he ran with when some reporter asked him about Star Trek…. [But] there’s a chance that someone else at Paramount is planning something huge and keeping us out of the loop. From what I’ve heard, Patrick wouldn’t do another Trek movie unless they paid him Professor X money…the best way to achieve this is to take it away for a few years and then bring it back and do it right. The franchise needs a totally new creative team, some time off, and a cool new approach."

Stephen Seagal
Seagal seeking out a cinematic comeback for "Under Siege 3", to a possible "Die Hard 4.0" rival.

Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 has been picked back up in production right where they left off.

24
Bleh. Kiefer Sutherland has inked a 3 movie deal for a series of '24' movies at Fox. Yep, three. Chances are, you'll see the first one going before-the-cameras as early as '07. Apparently Bruce Willis has even mentioned to Kief that he'd be keen to cameo in one of the films.

Walking Tall Sequels - DEAD
Kevin Sorbo has dropped out of "Walking Tall 2" and "Walking Tall 3".

Wheelman
MTV Films and Paramount Pictures are developing Midway Games' The Wheelman as a feature film, reports Variety. The plan is to release the film and the game simultaneously; Vin Diesel is signed on to star in and produce both. "Wheelman" is an action-adventure title about an expert driver who comes out of retirement to protect a woman from his past. The video game's story will be a prequel to the film, with some crossover between the two. Paramount and MTV Films bought the rights from Midway, which is already well into development on the game for next generation consoles Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The budget is believed to be north of $15 million -- on the high end for videogames. The game and movie are being targeted for a late 2007 release. XXX screenwriter Rich Wilkes is writing the film's screenplay and is expected to turn in a draft in about two months. MTV Networks will also produce the game's soundtrack, help sell advertising within the game and market it through its many properties as part of a multigame partnership between the two companies. Midway and Paramount/MTV are both majority owned by Sumner Redstone, and they are already working together on several other projects. Paramount is developing Midway games The Suffering and Area 51 and also has Fear and Respect, which John Singleton started developing for Midway, though the game has been delayed and is not currently scheduled for release.

Wild Hogs
Martin Lawrence, Tim Allen, and John Travolta are together in a comedy. The film, supposedly set to start shooting in Mexico in April, revolves around a group of frustrated middle-aged suburban biker wannabes who hit the open road in search of adventure only to encounter a real Hells Angels group.

Wonder Woman
Joss Wheldon: "We find out who is going to be Wonder Woman when they cast it…I am finishing the script now, I am a few weeks away from a draft, they'll take a look at that and they'll either say this is absolutely perfect for Paul Sorvino or they'll say this sucks and hire somebody else, it's impossible to say but I think in a few weeks time they should get a sense of what I am doing in the movie and then we can start talking about casting."

XXX3 - DEAD
Though the studio was considering doing a second sequel to the Vin Diesel hit, possibly with a female lead this time, the poor performance of “XXX 2 : State of the Union” put an end to everything. “I think what happened is I made a big mistake,” Joe Roth tells About.com. “I felt like Vin Diesel’s representatives were more unruly than usual and I just didn’t want to pay the price. I guess I just believed more in the franchise than I did in the actor in the franchise and I broke my own cardinal rule which is if you’re going to do a sequel, keep all of the elements together. I don't know how many times I’ve told that to filmmakers.” Roth doesn’t even want to consider a third film now. “You know, when you get burned on a picture like that, it takes a while to kind of get back to it because you feel like 'I don’t want to have that happen again.' Even though XXX director Rob Cohen’s idea to have a female XXX agent would potentially revitalize the franchise, Roth feels that would only be another risky experiment.

Television

American Talent
NBC has created its first partnership with international TV hit-makers Simon Cowell (American Idol) and FremantleMedia to bring the hottest amateur performers from across the country to TV audiences in a new variety talent competition series that allows viewers to determine who will headline a showcase Las Vegas act. Cowell has another reality show premiering in March on ABC, American Inventor, and a second series on the way for Fox, Duets.
Commander in Chief
"Commander In Chief", which just snagged Geena Davis a Golden Globe award, has been pulled from the air by U.S. network ABC. In spite of the critical acclaim it has received since the very beginning (well deserved, by the way), "Commander" has struggled to find a large audience, and with the decision to halt the airing of the final four episodes until April 18th, it may not bode well for the future of the show.

Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum has agreed to star in NBC's drama pilot "Seeing Red," which will be directed by Oscar-nominated Frank Darabont from a script by Graham Yost. It centers on an eccentric, brilliant cop (Goldblum) with the ability to talk to dead victims, who help him solve his cases, says The Hollywood Reporter. Goldblum hasn’t done a lot of TV, but did have a recurring role on the hit sitcom “Will and Grace”.

Masters of Science Fiction
(TV Guide 2.25.06 Posting) ABC has picked up the drama series Masters of Science Fiction, which, akin to Showtime's Masters of Horror anthology, will feature works from some of the genre's best-known authors, including perhaps Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison and Robert Heinlein. Production on the series, currently pegged for four hourlong episodes, begins in May.

Ocean's 00
Barf! Not only has "Mr and Mrs Smith" getting a TV series treatment, "Ocean's Eleven", is also about to get the small-screen transfer. George Clooney "It's a basic idea that I think will make a great 13-episode TV show which will feature all kinds of guest stars. I don't plan to appear, but I will be the show's producer."

Nora Roberts
(Feb 21) Romance writer Nora Roberts has inked a deal to turn four of her novels into Lifetime Television movies. The pickings include Blue Smoke, Carolina Moon, The Villa, Montana Sky, Brazen Virtue and River's End.

Sponge Bob
(TV Guide 2.25.06 Posting) Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants absorbed its biggest audience ever — 8.6 million total viewers — with a special prime-time episode that aired Monday, says the Hollywood Reporter. What's more, the eppy drew 5.2 mil kids ages 2 to 11, making it the second-most-watched TV program of the year (behind the Super Bowl) among children.

Viva la Bam Special
In February in addition to filming for Jackass II, the VLB crew will be cruising through undisclosed US locations filming a new special. In March, Bam will start on a new animated series for MTV.

Music

Beck
The 1994 underground classic movie that inspired Beck's "Loser" is finally going to see the light of day on DVD. The film, Kill The Moonlight, will be released through Plexifilm on March 21. The DVD will be packaged with a CD of the movie's soundtrack that includes three rare Beck songs (Leave Me on the Moon, Last Night I Traded My Souls Innermost for Some Pickled Fish, and Underwater Music) and three previously unreleased tracks by the band Loser, featuring Beck and Director Steven Hanft (Born of Whiskey, Dad Came Home, and Fish Bait Instr.)

Deftones Nearly three years removed from their last studio album, the Deftones have finally finished recording the follow-up.

Diddy
Diddy is finishing up a long-in-the-works album for Bad Boy. A release date has not yet been set.

Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy has already written the follow-up to its 2005 Island debut, "From Under the Cork Tree," but for the next few months the band's focus will be on their tour. The current album will be reissued March 14 with five rare tracks."The new record is written but we're going to sit on it," singer/guitarist Patrick Stump tells Billboard.com. "We're going to do this tour and then we're going to record it over the summer."

Junkie XL
Junkie XL has wrapped his next studio album, "Today," which will be released April 18 via Ultra Records in North America. The Dutch artist, whose real name is Tom Holkenborg, says the album was inspired by the past three years he has spent living and working in Los Angeles. "I thought I should do something I'd never done before, which is start and then finish an album within two or three months," he tells Billboard.com. "That's why this album is the perfect snapshot of where I am at the moment musically. That's why it's called 'Today.' Where I am tomorrow, I don't know."

Lil Jon
Lil Jon's first solo album and fourth overall full-length, “Crunk Rock,” is scheduled for release later this year. It will be preceded by the single “Snap Yo Fingers” featuring E-40.

LL Cool J
March 21 has been set as the release date for LL Cool J's 12th Def Jam album, "Todd Smith," the follow-up to 2004's "The Definition." His first self-titled affair features guest appearances by Mary J. Blige, 112, Ginuwine, Freeway and Juelz Santana, with production by Timbaland, Pharrell, Scott Storch and Trackmasters, among others. Tracklist: It's LL and Santana (Santana), Control Myself (Jennifer Lopez), Favorite Flavor (Mary J. Blige), Freeze, Best Dress (Pharrell), Preserve the Sexy, What You Want, I've Changed, Ooh Wee (Ginuwine), Down the Aisle (112), We're Gonna Make It, So Sick (Ne-Yo Remix)