Movie News

‘Point Break’ Gets an Extreme Sports Reboot

Kathryn Bigelow might be known for her Best Director Oscar for the critically acclaimed indie The Hurt Locker, but she was making waves as early as 1991 with her action classic Point Break. Of course, given Hollywood’s formula of rehashing previous successes, news of a remake should surprise no one.

Warner
Bros. is set to release a revamp of the 1991 feature, which was led by
Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves. Though this film will involve an
undercover agent from the FBI investigating a criminal ring like the
original, the remake will take place “in the world of international
extreme sports.” The original film was centered in the world of surfing.

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo to Direct ‘Highlander’ Reboot

While premiering his new film The Intruders at this weekend’s Toronto International Film Festival, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) has been tapped to helm Summit Entertainment’s upcoming reboot of the “Highlander” series.

‘Contagion’ Infects the Box Office, No ‘Help’ Needed

Movie theaters were relatively abuzz this weekend as Contagion contended with recent doldrums and weak new releases alike. Most notably, Steven Soderbergh’s latest was able to dethrone the reigning box-office champ The Help with only a slight protest.

Bonham Carter and Crowe Negotiating for ‘Les Miserables’

Russell Crowe and Helena Bonham Carter are negotiating for significant roles in Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables, which will star Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman.

‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel Could be First Baby of KatzSmith Deal with Warner Bros.

Partners David Katzenberg (son of DreamWorks chief Jeffrey Katzenberg) and Seth Grahame-Smith (author of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) have signed a first-look deal with Warner Bros. that could well lead to a Beetlejuice sequel.

Ridley Scott ‘Monopoly’ Film Gets Writers

Hasbro has had some luck with movies based on its properties — except with board games. Despite Universal dropping Ouija and Clue films, a movie based on Monopoly might still have legs.

Eddie Murphy is Your Oscar Host

When Brett Ratner was recently announced as a producer for the upcoming Oscar ceremony, it left an awful taste in the mouths of many cinephiles the world over. After last year’s fiasco, it seemed like everything was making a turn for the worse, but there’s a reason to be hopeful.

DVD/Blu-ray DISCussion (New for 9.5.11)

We have a really strong week of releases this week and we at Player Affinity have picked X-Men: First Class as our Recommendation of the Week. X-Men: First Class
set out to give the series the reboot it badly needed, and audiences
want to show Fox that we want this model or the Bryan Singer one, not
the Tom Rothman dumbed down version. The
action movie Hanna is a movie of particular note, getting high scores
from all of us at Player Affinity Movies. As for re-releases we have the
crime classic Scarface, Paul Greengrass’ United 93 and the Scream
Trilogy in a Blu-ray boxset.

‘The Help’ On Top Three Weeks in a Row

The Help beat all new contenders for the third week in a row. The female led drama earned another $14.2 million dropping a mere 2% from last weekend. In the meantime all three newcomers earned less than double digits over the slow holiday weekend. 

Jason Statham-Led ‘Safe’ Bumped to Next Year

Just this week, we previewed the fall movie slate, with Nicolas Winding Refn’s action flick Drive topping the list. Another action movie, Safe, appeared as one of my “Critics’ Picks,” but if you were looking forward to seeing that one in October, you’ll have to wait a little while.