1. Singh's IMMORTALS Revealed:
Tarsem Singh's (THE CELL, THE FALL) Greek God Epic IMMORTALS, due out in November, released promotional posters featuring its main characters. I'm not terribly optimistic about this film's potential, but the posters are kind of neat. However, I think it's lame that they felt the need to include "from the producers of 300". That really means nothing in actuality and what are they trying to imply? "This movie will be just like that one"? I don't want to see something that's terribly similar to 300. If I wanted that, I'd just watch 300.
...and speaking of Singh
2. Snow White Madness:
He's one of the directors currently linked to one of the seemingly endless Snow White themed films in development. His project, THE BROTHERS GRIMM: SNOW WHITE might be the first out of the gate with a high-profile cast already assembled including Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer and Saoirse Ronan. SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN is close behind, expecting a release at the end of 2012. That film features Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron and judging by the former's work in, well, just about everything else, one can determine it will probably be very lame. The film has struggled to lock down a Huntsman though. Negotiations with Tom Hardy and, more recently, Viggo Mortensen have fallen by the wayside.
3. SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL Casting:
Speaking of Viggo - a lot of speculation is that he dropped out of HUNTSMAN to pursue a role in SUPERMAN, most likely that of rumored villain General Zod. This would be outstanding in my opinion, so here's hoping it all pans out. The production just confirmed Amy Adams in the role of Lois Lane, which is fine. Lane is a tough role to cast and Adams is a solid and likable actress. She follows Diane Lane, Kevin Costner and Henry Cavill into the officially announced cast.
4. More Miscellaneous DC News:
DC is currently planning another Justice League film for 2013. Fans will remember the George Miller helmed attempt at this a couple years back. Many met the idea with derision, which was fueled mainly by an uninspired cast. Seeing as how this announcement mentioned that this attempt will also stand alone from the Batman and Superman franchises, I can see this problem arising again. Selling a particular actor in any of these iconic roles can be a struggle. It often takes a lot of time and good PR to get audiences used to the idea of one actor or another taking on the mantle of one of their favorite comic book characters. Can this be accomplished with such a large ensemble as the JLA? Maybe, but not likely and not while other versions of Superman, Batman and Green Lantern are so fresh in people's memories. I also think it will be a struggle to devise a story big enough and inclusive enough of all the prominent JLA members to warrant being titled "The Justice League". My final concern is that they'll go the same route as the Miller JLA film and cast a bunch of teenie-bopper actors who make no sense as members of the seasoned Justice League.
Mentioned in conjunction with this announcement is the news that after Nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, Warner Brothers will seek to reboot the Batman with the director remaining on as producer. Nolan sticking around is a good sign, seeing as how his vision of the character has been quite successful. All signs point to taking Batman in another direction and giving him a new face. What that will constitute I haven't the foggiest. I would be psyched if they decided to start doing straight adaptations of some of the more popular Batman graphic novels, but I highly doubt it. Even with Nolan involved, the likelihood of the next Batman series turning out lame is very high. Having two good Batman franchises back-to-back seems like too much to ask.
Lastly, the GREEN LANTERN film is in the process of casting voices for their CG characters. Geoffrey Rush will taking on the role of Tomar-Re, the first member of the Green Lantern Corps to meet Hal Jordan after he takes up the Green Lantern mantle.
5. A Slew of Nerdy Trailers:
CAPTAIN AMERICA -
I'm surprisingly liking the look of this. Though I've been fooled by good trailers before.
THE THREE MUSKETEERS -
I thought this might look bad with Paul W.S. Anderson directing, but this looks even worse than I predicted. Lame lame lame.
THE HANGOVER 2 -
I really loved the first HANGOVER film, so I'm surprised to say that I don't think this looks very good. I'll probably still see it, but I just don't know how well this is going to work outside Vegas and did they really end up in the same situation with the same cast of supporting characters like the perpetually annoying Ken Jeong?
CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS -
This looks outstanding. Maybe it'll be the second film I see in 3D!
6. Miscellaneous Marvel News:
In what was a huge blow to a promising film, THE WOLVERINE lost Darren Aronofsky as a director last week. To whom the production will turn now is a mystery, but finding someone with the respectability level of Aronofsky will not be easy.
On the other hand - the DAREDEVIL reboot has a director in David Slade (HARD CANDY, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT). Rumors say that this won't be a straight reboot, but will function as a continuation of the story previously put on film. Casting reports say that Robert Pattinson is being heavily-considered for the title role.
7. More In-Development Projects of Interest -
Those who loved Pixar's MONSTERS INC (I'm not one of them) can rejoice because a prequel to the film is in development as MONSTER UNIVERSITY, with the primary actors poised to reprise their roles.
Neil Gaiman recently revealed that an Oscar-winning director is interested in adapting his excellent "American Gods" novel and has been for some time. Who said director is will have to wait to be revealed.
Guillermo del Toro was recently forced to abandon his highly-anticipated adaptation of Lovecraft's AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS due to budgetary concerns. He now turns his attention to Legendary Pictures PACIFIC RIM, which is reportedly a movie about a large-scale monster invasion that Del Toro is very enthusiastic about.
The ROBOCOP remake once-abandoned by Darren Aronofsky is gaining traction in the form of ELITE SQUAD director Jose Padilha. He claims to currently be working with a screenwriter, hashing out the script.
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