Critics be darned it seems. The Hangover Part II triumphed despite bad scores from movie reviewers and broke records in the process. As far as R-rated comedies go, the Wolfpack set the bar with a $10 million early morning launch. It added $86.5 million to the money chest through the traditional weekend earning it the number one spot at $118.1 million in four days. It’s good to be a foul-mouthed drunk with a monkey in Thailand these days.
Looks like Nathan Drake is hanging by a thread. David O. Russell (The Fighter) has walked away from Sony’s upcoming adaptation of the smash video game Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.
It’s been said that he submitted a 200-page script (huge, by screenplay standards) to Sony that largely broke away from the format, story and characters of the game series; leading to a splitting of ways between the (volatile) director and Sony. Now it sounds like the studio is more keen on the original draft by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (Conan the Barbarian), scrapping most of what Russell had planned for the adaptation.
Universal’s upcoming R.I.P.D. has been building buzz around Hollywood since director Robert Schwentke made some decent waves with his film RED and got Ryan Reynolds to come onboard as his leading man. Now, TheWrap is reporting that Oscar winner Jeff Bridges has signed on to join the project.
A supernatural-style film based on the comic by Peter Lenkov, R.I.P.D. tells the story of police officer Nick Cruz (Reynolds) who is shot and killed in the line of duty. Upon crossing over, he learns of a law enforcement agency, the Rest In Peace Department (R.I.P.D.), tasked with their own laws to enforce on Earth from the afterlife.
The live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira hasn’t gone too smoothly as Warner Bros. has been piecing it together for roughly a year; now it’s hit an extremely rough patch in losing what might be its most key component. Deadline Hollywood relays that Albert Hughes has left the director’s seat. According to insiders, the split is an amicable one.
The press release also reveals that Relativity has changed the release date of the feature to March 16, 2012, with principal photography set to begin next month. This isn’t all too surprising; Universal’s rivaling Snow White and the Huntsman bumped its release forward to June 1 of next year – six months earlier than its original date for theatrical release – to beat out Singh’s adaptation, then scheduled to hit theaters on June 29.
Casting for Len Wiseman’s upcoming remake of Total Recall keeps picking up steam. First Colin Farrell takes the role originated by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then Bryan Cranston gets tapped to play the lead villain while Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel will play the female leads. Now, the Heat Vision blog of The Hollywood Reporter says that Bill Nighy–who has worked with Wiseman on two “Underworld” films — has been cast as Quatto.
The upcoming Disney project Oz: The Great and Powerful is just one of many developing projects deriving from the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. With so many recent casting developments, it’s about time that a date was set, isn’t it? Well, the Mouse House has just announced that the film is set for release on March 8, 2013 with production beginning in July.
Vin Diesel is primarily known for his role in the Fast and the Furious franchise, but he also picked up a decent following for his role as Riddick in alien horror film Pitch Black and its more epic sci-fi sequel The Chronicles of Riddick. Despite the disappointing box office numbers for the 2004 feature, Diesel and “Riddick” director David Twohy have long expressed interest in another feature in the series.
Aronofsky left The Wolverine not too long ago, citing distance from family as his reason for departure. That makes sense because of the film’s shooting in Japan, but it still left Fox in a bit of a pickle. The search for a replacement has narrowed, according to Variety, as the studio has a list of eight directors they want to take over — and it’s quite an interesting array of talent.
The Cannes Film Festival concluded its 64th edition on Sunday by awarding its prestigious Palme D’or award to Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. The choice wasn’t shocking, though the film’s somewhat mixed response at screenings called into question its chances for the top prize. Malick’s film opens this Friday in limited release, and though Fox Searchlight will undoubtedly milk this accolade for all its worth, word is The Tree of Life is far too obtuse to appeal to mainstream audiences. If seemingly plotless philosophy doesn’t sound like your thing, you’d be best advised to skip this one.
