Despite the chilly reception audiences gave Green Lantern, Warner Bros. intends to go through with its plans for a sequel. Executives feel the series has legs despite a significant drop (66 percent) in revenue from its opening weekend to this past weekend.
Pixar made it very clear that the “Toy Story” franchise was done after last year’s heralded Toy Story 3. The film completed a trilogy and provided closure for fans young and old. No one had a problem with that — none whatsoever. The short film beforeCars 2 also gave fans a peak into what the now-retired toys are up to these days. But if we’re to trust Tom Hanks — and how can we not trust Tom Hanks? — Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang aren’t going into storage just yet.
With Transformers: Dark of the Moon beginning to make the rounds, there comes the question faced by most going to a summer blockbuster these days: 3-D or 2-D show? Given the recent trend seen in the sales for the fourth “Pirates,” the second “Kung Fu Panda” and the debut of Green Lantern, the public has begun to turn their nose up at 3D.
This past weekend, we reported that Christopher Meloni was negotiating to star in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel alongside Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, and Henry Cavill as the titular superhero. At the Public Theater Gala last week, Meloni stated that his role in the film was that of a general, not Lex Luthor as some had previously speculated. Unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed to disclose any more information, jokingly stating that he’d “have to kill” if he revealed anything else.
The sequel to Pixar’s least-lauded franchise underperformed this weekend both critically and commercially. Cars 2 marked the first Pixar film in its brief history to score rotten on the Tomatometer. At 34% positive reviews, the animated children’s film was even less hailed than the R-rated comedy Bad Teacher, which received 46% positive reviews. Yet the “Cars” franchise is not a complete and utter failure. It placed in the number one spot at the box office with $68 million, standard compared to previous Pixar summer entries.
With Fast Five nearing $600 million in global sales, Universal is turning their attention to the next installment in the series, tentatively called The Fast and the Furious 6. Deadline now reports that a release date has been set for the next movie: Memorial Day 2013. Series star Vin Diesel is set to return both in front of and behind the camera (as a producer) and Justin Lin — director of the last three films in the series — is said to be returning for more.
Darren Aronofsky looks to make his first fully mainstream project with Noah, based on the ark-building Biblical figure of the same name. However, the film, described as “a sprawling fantasy epic,” is currently set to cost more than $100 million, meaning that multiple studios would have to pitch in for funding. New Regency has been on board since day one, but now it seems that Paramount will partner with New Regency.
