Universal has said no to the quest.
The studio and filmmaker Ron Howard announced last year an ambitious plan to make three movies and two seasons of television based on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower — an epic, seven-part (so far) series of novels that fuse westerns and sci-fi/fantasy in the tale of Roland the Gunslinger and his journey through surreal and treacherous territories to a mythical structure that binds the dimensions of existence.
Here’s what went wrong: READ FULL STORY »
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Snow White and the Huntsman may have more to overcome than just one clash with the Evil Queen.
Producer Joe Roth tells EW that he plans on making the folktale action-adventure movie into a trilogy. “It’s meant to be the first in a series of films,” he said. “This story will end, but there will be questions remaining for these three characters.”
It’s an ambitious move by the Alice in Wonderland producer, who is in a neck-and-neck competition with a rival Snow White film starring Julia Roberts. Shooting is already underway on that movie, while Roth’s film — which stars Kristen Stewart and Thor‘s Chris Hemsworth as the title characters and Charlize Theron as her wicked royal highness — begins principal photography in August.
The two movies will open roughly two-and-a-half months apart next year. Roth’s movie debuts second, on June 1, but he’s hoping audience’s will be drawn in by a Lord of the Rings-style take on the centuries-old tale. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Dale Robinette
It tends to be a healthy sign when a movie bumps up its release date, even by a couple of days, showing confidence in not just the film, but also the audience. That’s just what DreamWorks has done with its much-anticipated adaptation of the best-selling novel The Help, about the lives of black maids serving largely white families in pre-civil rights Mississippi.
Originally set for Friday, Aug. 12, the movie will now come out on Wednesday, Aug. 10, in the hope fans of the Kathryn Stockett book will turn out early and help build momentum through word-of-mouth leading into the weekend, according to a source at DreamWorks.
It stars Easy A‘s Emma Stone as a forward-thinking young journalist who decides to write a book about the lives of black maids, who are at once an integral part of the families employing them while also getting little respect as individuals in the racially divided South. Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis star as two of the maids, while Bryce Dallas Howard co-stars as a callous socialite scandalized by their revelations.
Read more:
See ‘The Help’ trailer: Good times hide bad in 1960s Mississippi
‘The Help’ author Kathryn Stockett sued
‘The Help’: On the set
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Brooklyn Decker has a body to envy, but in the new ensemble comedy What To Expect When You’re Expecting she has a pregnancy to envy too.
The Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and dreamgirl from Adam Sandler’s Just Go With It has signed on to co-star with Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz in the film, which takes its inspiration from the best-selling, non-fiction pregnancy guide. Decker will play Skyler, trophy wife of a much older husband, whose remarkably easy pregnancy — with twins no less — makes the other moms-to-be in her social circle loath her even more.
What To Expect will be directed by Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine, Everybody’s Fine) and begins shooting in July. Lionsgate has set a release date for May 11 of next year.
For more movie news, follow Anthony Breznican on Twitter: @Breznican
Read more:
‘What To Expect When You’re Expecting’ lands director Kirk Jones
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Part of what makes Giancarlo Esposito so chilling on Breaking Bad is his stillness.
As Gus, the fast-food entrepreneur and secret, psychopathic meth crime lord, he employs such economy in his movements, such softness in his speech, that it magnifies his ferocity by belying it. (Wait until the Season 4 premiere of the AMC series, July 17, to see just how much Esposito can do by doing almost nothing at all in one intense, savage — and utterly silent — 10 minutes of screen time.)
So when it was announced last night that he had signed on to the feature film I, Alex Cross as another crime lord, the news almost struck a note of ambivalence: It’s great news for an actor who should be utilized more often in Hollywood and has more than distinguished himself in movies such as Do the Right Thing and The Usual Suspects. But also, he has given life to one of TV’s truly unique villains.
On the other hand, would this I, Alex Cross kingpin just be another quiet, unsmiling menace? READ FULL STORY »
If there’s a way to navigate out of hell, maybe it’s through grace.
By that logic, Steven Spielberg’s tactic in adapting the play and novel War Horse would make perfect sense: we’re all aware (though maybe never enough) of the horrors and ugliness of war, but rarely is it contrasted through the lens of beauty and innocence that at once surrounds and is engulfed by it.
The first impression of Spielberg’s teaser trailer for the movie (out Dec. 28) is simply: God, that’s gorgeous — which is jarring since the opening shot is of a vast landscape reduced to a cinder as the title character, a farm horse named Joey, frantically gallops for its life, just inches ahead of the mortars.
See below for a look at the trailer: READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Anna Rich
Lionsgate announced that red-headed newcomer Amber Chaney will play the Avox Girl in the big screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. In the best-selling dystopian trilogy, Avoxes are Capitol slaves who’ve had their tongues cut out over some perceived act of rebellion. Chaney will play the Avox Girl who attends to Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen before she goes into the arena. In a moment of horror, Katniss recognizes the Avox as a girl whose brutal capture she witnessed back home.
Filming on The Hunger Games, which stars, among many others, Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Josh Hutcherson, Stanley Tucci and Elizabeth Banks, is currently underway in North Carolina. EW recently revealed an exclusive first look at Lawrence in costume as trilogy heroine Katniss.
Read more:
Lenny Kravitz will play Cinna in ‘Hunger Games’
‘Hunger Games’ Central
‘Hunger Games’: Meet the Cast!
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Lionsgate announced today that British character actor Toby Jones — if you haven’t seen his take on Truman Capote, rent Infamous immediately — has been tapped for The Hunger Games, the adaptation of the first installment in Suzanne Collins’ best-selling YA trilogy. He’ll play bombastic Hunger Games announcer Claudius Templesmith, known for ending all of his pronouncements with his booming trademark line “and may the odds be ever in your favor!” Jones’ casting follows today’s news that Lenny Kravitz will bring the most beloved Cinna character to life. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Allen Berezovsky/PR Photos
Lionsgate and director Gary Ross have brought Lenny Kravitz on board The Hunger Games. The actor-musician, who gave a brief but powerful performance in Precious, will play heroine Katniss Everdeen’s Capitol-appointed stylist, Cinna, the kind and graceful artist who conceives of Katniss’ breath-taking Girl on Fire dress. While most people in the Capitol dress in absurdly garish fashion, Cinna’s one nod to flare is gold eyeliner. Katniss quickly comes to believe that her stylist not only possesses great artistic skill, but a good heart as well.
Filming on The Hunger Games, which stars, among many others, Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Josh Hutcherson, and Elizabeth Banks, just commenced in North Carolina. EW recently revealed an exclusive first look at Lawrence in costume as trilogy heroine Katniss. READ FULL STORY »
Lionsgate announced that Latarsha Rose and Brooke Bundy have joined the Gary Ross adaptation of YA dystopian thriller The Hunger Games. Rose, whose resumé includes guest turns on All My Children and Bones, will play Peeta’s stylist Portia. Relative newcomer Bundy will play Octavia, a member of Katniss Everdeen’s beloved stylist Cinna’s prep team. As Capitol-dwellers, they’re expected to have garish, heavily stylized appearances — from their clothes to their skin dye. Meanwhile, Hunger Games fans pine for news of their Cinna.
Filming on The Hunger Games, which stars among many others Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Josh Hutcherson, and Elizabeth Banks, began last week in North Carolina. EW recently revealed an exclusive first look at Lawrence in costume as trilogy heroine Katniss.
For more on The Hunger Games, including photos of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss and a guide to the film’s other characters, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands now.
Read more:
First look at Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss in ‘The Hunger Games’
‘Hunger Games’ Central
‘Hunger Games’: Meet the Cast!
