None of those actors are officially “Unchained” just yet, but Deadline Hollywood reports that Leonardo DiCaprio is negotiating to play the villainous Candyland proprietor Calvin Candie, from whom Django must save his wife. Candie keeps his various activities, which include the sexual exploitation of female slaves and “mandingo” fights between male salves, based in Mississippi.
“Bond 23” is a project that has slowly but surely been coming together. We don’t know much about the project other than that Sam Mendes (American Beauty) has taken on directing duties while Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench will reprise their roles as 007 and M, respectively. However, we now know who might be playing one of the Bond girls thanks to a British tabloid of all things.
There
are many big new releases and re-releases for your enjoyment and the
big theme of the week is Westerns, which includes both the Coen
Brothers’ version of True Grit and the Clint Eastwood classic The Outlaw Josey Wales. Other releases this week include the British film Another Year and the epic Blu-ray box-set, The Superman Anthology.
Audiences across the globe ventured to local cinemas in droves to catch Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth film in Disney’s popular swashbuckling franchise. Even though the critics hated it, it made money, so the Mouse House is naturally aiming to get a fifth film rolling as soon as possible.
X-Men: First Class took a licking but kept on ticking this weekend. The prequel of sorts made an estimated $56 million domestically on a $160 million budget. The ensemble cast of young stars and respected European actors salvaged the franchise reputation earlier damaged by the “Wolverine” spinoff film. This entry scored 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, but like the reception to Thor, this was not enough to bolster the box-office sales.
If
you’ve been on any movie website within the past several weeks, then
you’ve definitely seen some of the (seemingly endless) casting updates
for The Hunger Games, based on the first of Suzanne Collins’ three novels in the popular series.
Even though it’s a trilogy, Lionsgate plans to make the three books into four films according to Deadline Hollywood. It’s unknown which book will become two films, but given the upcoming finales to Harry Potter and Twilight, it’s very likely that the final book, Mockingjay, will be getting that treatment.
It’s obvious that Warner Bros. wants more of the Wolfpack. TheWrap relays that “Part II” scribe Craig Mazin is already back on board for screenwriting duties for “Part III.” Series director Todd Phillips told Vulture last week that his “idea [for the third installment] is serious. Deadly serious. It will not revolve around a wedding, and it will not revolve around a forgotten night.”
It’s natural that a film about Marvel’s Luke Cage might come to fruition in the near future; the studio’s hinted at the possibility. Cage is a detective with bulging muscles and hard skin thanks to an experiment gone wrong. The Daily Blam! relays that actor Isaiah Mustafa, most famous for his role in the popular Old Spice commercials, has actively campaigned for the role of Cage. He even mentions having met with the studio:
Stanley Kubrick fans rejoice: The Stanley Kubrick Collection is coming out onto Blu-ray this week. If you only want some of Mr. Kubrick’s films three of them are being released as separate Blu-rays, including a 2-Disc re-release of A Clockwork Orange. Other classics coming to Blu-ray are the Western classic Once Upon A Time in the West and the George Lucas film American Graffiti. If you want something new, there is either the depressing Spanish film Biutiful or Drive Angry with Nicolas Cage.
Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit has spent a hefty amount of time in the pre-production stages to say the least. Between the many delays and changes made throughout the course of putting it all together, one may have wondered if it would even happen. Thankfully, it looks like
