Back in October it was reported that DreamWorks had signed on Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Alexander) to adapt the Japanese manga property Ghost in the Shell. The plan at the time was to make a futuristic police thriller as a 3D live-action film.
Now, during her promotion of Shutter Island, several outlets have asked for an update. “I’m writing ‘Ghost in the Shell’ for DreamWorks for Steven Spielberg,” she said. “This is an adaptation of the original manga, the original comic book that sort of began everything.” Kalogridis added: “[The movie will have] a lot of action. Lots of action. There’s still going to be a lot of atmosphere – it is about vast possibilities – all of this technology, the Internet – it’s about the limitless possibilities of this technology.“
Created by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell was first published in 1989. It went on to generate two more manga editions, three anime film adaptations and an anime TV series and several video games. The second anime film, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence was released in the US by DreamWorks in 2004.
As The First Avenger: Captain America movie is getting ready to start filming in June, director Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park 3, The Wolfman) has given a pre-production update and talked about the plan for the big screen adaptation. Here is what he had to say:
“We’re in prep,Rick Heinrichs is production-designing and we’re set up down in Manhattan Beach [California]. It’s the part of the process that I love the most. We have eight or ten really talented artists, and we all just sit around all day and draw pictures and say, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we could do this?’ It’s that phase of the production where money doesn’t matter: ‘Let’s put all the greatest stuff up on the wall and [then later] see what we can afford.’“
Johnston went on to say: “The film will begin in 1942, 1943 during World War II. The stuff in the ’60s and ’70s [comic books] we’re sort of avoiding. We’re going back to the ’40s, and then forward to what they’re doing with Captain America now.“
We just always assumed that Pierre Morel (Taken) would just pick up where Peter Berg (Hancock) had left off on the Dune remake to make his strange version of the Battleship movie, but apparently Morel has very different ideas on the Dune reboot as he revealed in a recent interview.
Here is what he had to say: “We’re starting from scratch, Peter had an approach which was not mine at all, and we’re starting over again. I don’t think we’re going to keep any elements of the Peter Berg script. It was good, actually. It was interesting. It was just not our vision. I can’t tell you right now [who’s writing it with me], it’s going to be official next week. The deals are not done!“
Morel went on to confirm that he and his writer are planning to start writing the screenplay this month with a goal to not only make a great movie, but also make it visually interesting. And what does visually interesting meanyou ask? It means non other than 3D.
“I’d love it to be 3D, of course,” he said. “It’s the kind of movie that has the scope to be 3D. Will they do it in 3D? I’d push for that, but I don’t know. As a viewer, I’ve just been watching Avatar with my kids twice in the theater already and had a blast. It’s an amazing experience.“
Yesterday we showed you some concept art from the upcoming Green Lantern movie that gave us the first look at what members of the Green Lantern Corps will look like.
Today we have a shot of Sinestro, the villain who will be played by Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, RocknRolla) in the movie. You can check out all the concept art below.
Director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) has previously stated that since the film focuses on the origins of Green Lantern, Sinestro will only be a mentor. And it might not be until the sequel that we see him go over to the dark side or should we say the yellow side.
Click image to enlarge
Well we all know that Lindsay Lohan has been cast in Robert Rodriguez’s Machete movie, but to no surprise we have yet to find out any big details about her role. The one thing we do know is that the 22-year-old actress will appear nude, I really hope that is no shock to any of y’all since she will show it all at the drop of a hat.
Hollywood Life reports that Lohan has about ten minutes of screen time, in which she will be shown topless while swimming in a waterfall with Alicia Rachel Marek (Grindhouse), who plays her mother.
This scene sounds exactly like what we have already seen in the Machete trailer from Grindhouse, where two actresses make-out with Danny Trejo (1:38 mark). You can check out the trailer below to see everything for yourself.
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Zac Efron back in April revealed that he is a huge fan of the Back to the Future franchise and believe it our not even owns his very own DeLoreon that was given to him by his grandfather.
He also went on to say that he would love to step into the shoes of Michael J. Fox to play Marty McFly if a reboot of Back to the Future was ever made. Now, it seems he may get his chance or very close to it.
Efron who has been meeting with several studios to set up projects for himself, which he has already signed on to star and produce Fire which is a thriller. In the process of that he has made a separate deal at Warner Bros to star in a Back to the Future like film that melds two projects into one.
The first is a pitch from writers Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski, and the other is a WB project called Algorithm that the studio was developing with director Nick Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall). Stay tuned for updates.
Everyone knows that George Miller (Mad Max, Happy Feet) will be directing Mad Max 4: Fury Road, which will begin filming in Australia this summer, and that Mel Gibson has recently revealed that while he will produce the new film but will not appear in it.
Here is the cast line up so far, Tom Hardy (Bronson, RocknRolla) and Charlize Theron are the leads in the fourth Mad Max movie, and now we have Zoe Kravitz (The Brave One) will play a character named Five Wives and she will join Teresa Palmer (Bedtime Stories) and Adelaide Clemens in a convoy being chased by the bad guys. Also in addition, Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, Clash of the Titans) is also on board to play a character named Nux.
Now for the big update: Miller was always looking for a young actor to star in the film, so it was just assumed that Mad Max 4 would be a prequel. But now THR is claiming that the movie is set a short while after the story detailed in 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (the third installment), which keeps Mad Max relatively young.
FYI: In Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Gibson was 29-years-old. Hardy is now 32-year-old, which makes him the right age to play Max after the events in the third film.
Kotobukiya which is a toy company that makes mini-statues and busts based on DC Comics, Marvel and Star Wars characters. The company has an exclusive deal with Marvel and gets all character designs before films appear in theaters.
Well if you look back at the designs for Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Punisher: War Zone, all the toys look exactly as they do in the movies. And yes they were all released before the movies ever hit theaters.
So keeping that in mind, Kotobukiya has just released a glimpse at their statues for Captain America and Thor, which means that this is probably our first look at what the characters will look like in their own respected films. You can check out the photos below.
Click Images to enlarge
The good thing is that Campbell has said that the movie will follow the origin story of Green Lantern pretty closely, and that Sinestro may have a part in the film, but only as a mentor. It might not be until the sequel that we actulay get to see him go over to the dark side.
So in the mean time while we wait to see what Hammond, Green Lantern (Ryan Reynolds) and Sinestro (Mark Strong) will look like, here is a sneak peek at some concept art of Kilowog, Tomar-Re and Abin Sur. These are members of the famous Green Lantern Corps.
We still have no clue as to who will play Abin Sur, but judging by the picture, it may just end up being Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean, Underworld). You can check out the concept art below.
During a press junket for Edge of Darkness, the actor confirmed that he will not reprise his role as Mad Max. He won’t even appear in a cameo. “No, not at all,” he said.
Even though there have been reports that British actor Tom Hardy has been cast in the lead, there has been no confirmation from director George Miller. Many were hoping that Gibson would return to the franchise after his production company signed on to produce Mad Max 4.
