Vaughn and Favreau Go on Couples Retreat

Universal Pictures has cast Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman and Faizon Love in Couples Retreat, a Favreau-scripted, Peter Billingsley-directed comedy. 

The story follows four couples who go to a tropical island resort. While one couple is there to work on their marriage, the others are there to play but soon discover that participation in the resort’s couples therapy is not optional. 

Vaughn will produce with Scott Stuber in a co-production between his Wild West Picture Show Productions and Stuber Productions. Victoria Vaughn and Guy Riedel executive produce. 

The film is being prepared to start production in late October in Bora Bora and Los Angeles.

Wilson and Ribisi are Middle Men

Luke Wilson and Giovanni Ribisi will star in indie drama Middle Men, a chronicle of the birth of the Internet porn industry, says Variety. 

The project will start shooting Oct. 20 in Phoenix, with George Gallo directing from the script he wrote with Andy Weiss. 

The film centers on a straight-and-narrow businessman who builds the first online billing company dealing exclusively with adult entertainment and finds himself in the middle of a whirlwind filled with starlets, conmen, Russian mobsters, federal agents and international terrorists -- all while trying to hold on to his marriage and family.

The Voice Cast for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Bill Hader and Anna Faris have signed on to voice the lead characters of Sony Pictures Animation's Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, reports Variety. 

James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T and Tracy Morgan round out the voice cast for the 3-D project, which is set for release January 15, 2010. 

The timeless tale will be adapted from Ron and Judi Barrett's book, which illustrates a world where giant pancakes and pasta fall from the sky as a scientist tries to solve world hunger. However, things go terribly wrong when excess amounts of food overload cities and towns. 

Hader will voice Flint Lockwood, a young inventor who dreams of creating something that will improve everyone's life. Faris takes on the role of Sam Sparks, a weathergirl covering the phenomenon who hides her intelligence behind a perky exterior. 

The film is written and directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord.

Flash Forward New Companion for Lost

While flash forwards are becoming the norm on "Lost," ABC has also landed a show named "Flash Forward," reports Variety. The network has given a pilot order to the spec script by filmmaker David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) and "Star Trek" veteran Brannon Braga. 

Based on Robert J. Sawyer's sci-fi novel, "Flash Forward" is considered very compatible with "Lost." It chronicles the chaos that ensues after everyone in the world blacks out for 2 minutes, 17 seconds and has a mysterious vision of the future that changes lives forever. 

Goyer will direct the pilot. He also will executive produce with Braga and Jessika Borsiczky Goyer (NBC's "Revelations") along with Vince Gerardis and Ralph M. Vicinanza (Jumper), who own the rights to the book. 

Goyer and Braga met on the CBS sci-fi series "Threshold," which both executive produced.

SCI FI Channel Picks Up Warehouse 13

SCI FI Channel has given a series pickup to "Warehouse 13," says The Hollywood Reporter. 

The hourlong dramedy, from Universal Cable Studios, is described as part "X-Files," part Raiders of the Lost Ark and part "Moonlighting." 

It revolves around two FBI agents -- rule-bender Peter (Eddie McClintock) and by-the-book Myka (Joanne Kelly) -- who, after saving the life of the U.S. president, are relocated to Warehouse 13, a location that houses supernatural objects the government has collected over the centuries. 

The cable channel originally ordered a two-hour pilot of the project, written by "Farscape" creator Rockne O'Bannon, "Battlestar Galactica" co-executive producer Jane Espenson and D. Brent Mote.

Exclusive: Shia to Shoot Dark Fields This Winter

ComingSoon.net just finished speaking with director Neil Burger (The Illusionist) about his American road movie The Lucky Ones, and he confirmed to us that he would start shooting Dark Fields with actor Shia LaBeouf (Transformers) in New York City sometime this winter. 

Based on the 2002 novel "The Dark Fields" by Alan Glynn, the Universal Studios thriller is about a pill that makes you smarter and it's Burger's first film directed based on someone else's script, in this case an adaptation by Leslie Dixon, who's also writing the remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. 

Burger said the subject matter isn't handled in a science fiction way but as he told us, "It's more like if there's viagra or steroids, why isn't there something that increases your synaptic connections and makes you think smarter and faster, but it's not without side effects and consequences." 

Look for our full interview with Burger next week before The Lucky Ones opens in select cities on Friday, September 26 (against Shia LaBeouf's new thriller Eagle Eye, no less!)

Zach Galifianakis to Star in Todd Phillips’s The Hangover, HBO’s Bored to Death

We’re still waiting to get a look at Zach Galifianakis’s middle-finger-future comedy, Visioneers, but in the meantime, the talented and gruff comedian continues his trek into the mainstream wilderness with a lead role in The Hangover from director Todd Phillips (Old School, School For Scoundrels). Galifianakis will star alongside Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper (Wedding Crashers) as one of “three groomsmen who lose their about-to-be-wed buddy during their drunken misadventures, then must retrace their steps in order to find him.” Will there be snuggling? Filming starts this weekend. 

ZG has also joined the cast on HBO’s upcoming series Bored to Death, starring Jason Schwartzman as an alkie Brooklyn writer-turned-accidental Philip Marlowe-ish sleuth. He’ll play the best friend to Schwartman’s PI, a comic book artist with his own set of problems. Ted Danson stars as a mentor of sorts. From writer-director, Alan Taylor (The Sopranos, Mad Men, Palookaville), this show sounds better and better with each announcement. So, yeah, we think is awesome news all around. Maybe the guy can finally quit his fledgling talk-show Between Two Ferns.

Dwayne Johnson Takes Trip to Tomorrowland

Variety says that Disney is developing a space movie based on its Tomorrowland theme park that will star Dwayne Johnson, much like how it turned the "Pirates of the Caribean" ride into a blockbuster film trilogy. 

The studio has set screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore to draft an epic-sized action adventure set in space. The film is being designed as a vehicle for Johnson, who starred for the studio in family hit The Game Plan and most recently completed Race to Witch Mountain. 

The trade adds that Disney denies the film has been titled Tomorrowland or is dedicated to the park's section, a futuristic area of the Magic Kingdom. The studio called the nascent project an original script. 

The film would be produced by Mayhem Pictures partners Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray, who produced The Game Plan.

Kenan, Zemeckis Reteam for Airman

Gil Kenan (upcoming City of Ember) and Robert Zemeckis, who teamed for Monster House, are partnering again for a big-screen version of Airman, a children's adventure book by "Artemis Fowl" author Eoin Colfer. 

The Hollywood Reporter says Kenan will direct the adaptation, which will be done using performance capture technology. Zemeckis will produce with his ImageMovers partners Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey. 

The swashbuckling scientific story centers on Conor Broekhart, a young man born in a hot air balloon to a family close to the king who has a penchant for looking to the skies for inspiration. After his tutor and king are murdered, Broekhart spends two years in prison, escapes and must decide whether to should turn his back on those who abandoned him or fight those who plot to overthrow the government.

HBO Wants More True Blood

HBO has renewed the new drama series "True Blood" for a second season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, Programming Group and West Coast Operations. Created by Alan Ball, the series will begin production of new episodes early next year in Los Angeles, with debut set for summer 2009. 

"We are absolutely thrilled that the critics and our viewers have embraced 'True Blood,'" noted Lombardo. "Alan Ball has done it again made an addictive series that is unlike any other." 

"I am thrilled to be able to continue to work with such a talented group of writers, cast and crew to explore the characters and world created by Charlaine Harris in her novels," Ball said. "It really is a joy to go to work every day and I couldn't be happier to be back home at HBO." 

The Sept. 7 debut episode is proving to be a hit with HBO audiences, attracting more than four million viewers to date, while the debut of the second episode on Sept. 14 posted an unprecedented 24% gain in viewers over the first week's debut. 

Mixing romance, suspense, mystery and humor, "True Blood" takes place in the not-too-distant future, when vampires have come out of the coffin, thanks to the invention of mass-produced synthetic blood that means they no longer need humans for their fix. Set in a backwoods Louisiana town, the show follows the romance between waitress Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), who can read minds, and 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton (played by Stephen Moyer). Alan Ball (creator of the Emmy-winning HBO series "Six Feet Under") created and executive produced the show, as well as wrote and directed episodes of the series, which is based on the popular Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. 

The cast also includes Ryan Kwanten as Sookie's brother Jason, Rutina Wesley as her best friend Tara Thornton, Sam Trammell as Sookie's good-hearted boss Sam Merlotte and Nelsan Ellis as Lafayette Reynolds, a cook at Merlotte's.

Foo Fighters to take 'long break'

Dave Grohl's mob set to take hiatus 

Foo Fighters are set to take a "long break" from music and have warned fans not to expect a new album any time soon. 

Frontman Dave Grohl told BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles that the band were set to go on hiatus then return with a new sense of purpose further down the line. 

"We've never really taken a long break, I think it's time," he said. 

The former Nirvana drummer continued: "After doing Wembley [the band played Wembley Stadium on June 6 and 7] we shouldn't come back there for 10 years because we've played to everybody. 

"We're over in the UK every year, every summer, so I think it's time to take a break and come back over when people really miss us."

New Found Glory Signs With Epitaph

New Found Glory has called time on its major-label career and inked a new deal with Epitaph Records. Its label debut, produced by Blink-182's Mark Hoppus, is due next spring. 

The Florida-reared group signed to Drive-Thru in 2000, but found its biggest success after being up-streamed to parent label MCA on 2002's "Sticks & Stones," which has sold more than 863,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. 

But its sales had fallen greatly by 2006's "Coming Home," which has shifted 145,000. A hits collection issued by Geffen in March has sold 18,000. 

"Epitaph is the place to be!," enthuses guitarist Chad Gilbert. "They were all longtime, true fans of New Found Glory and they understand us. We aren't just some record to put out before the new Pussycat Dolls CD! We were over the big business of the majors." 

New Found Glory is on tour in North America through early October, and will also play South American and U.K. dates before year's end.

Beverly Hills Ninja 2 in the Works

Beverly Hills Ninja 2, a sequel to the 1997 action comedy starring Chris Farley, will film in South Korea starting next month, making it the first mainstream Hollywood movie to do so. 

According to Variety, local company ATM Motionwide said production will begin Oct. 6 on Jeju island before shifting to two lots at the Busan Film Studio. 

Sony Pictures Entertainment holds North American distribution rights. 

Mitch Klebanoff, a writer and co-producer of the original film, has scripted and will direct the sequel. The story involves an orphaned boy who wants to be a ninja but becomes involved in a crime in Hollywood while looking for his real parents. 

David Hasselhoff, Lucas Grabeel ("High School Musical") and Taiwanese model-turned-actress Lin Chiling (Red Cliff) are set to star in the sequel. 

70% of the film will shoot in South Korea, with 30% in the U.S. The project is scheduled to wrap its Korean shoot on Nov. 20 and continue Stateside until the end of December. Sony is eyeing a May release date in U.S. and June in South Korea.

Fred Wolf Helming Divorced Guys

The House Bunny helmer Fred Wolf will write and direct Divorced Guys for Wind Dancer Films, reports Variety. David Spade will star. 

Wolf, Spade and Kevin Farley wrote the story about a group of divorced guys who go on a road trip to figure out why their marriages failed and stumble into a series of comic mishaps. 

Wind Dancer's Matt Williams and Judd Payne will produce. Bill Papariella will executive produce, and Apryl Prose and Farley will be co-producers.

Jason Statham Diggin' The Grabbers

Empire Online talked to Jason Statham, who can next be seen in Transporter 3 and Crank: High Voltage, about a possible new project for the actor. 

"We've got a movie we're trying to do, written by David and Janet Peoples, in the vein of an old film, 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,' Statham said. John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra (1948) starred Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston as gold diggers who become contaminated by greed. 

"It's not a remake or anything," clarified Statham, "But it's a little bit like that – about relationships and how greed contaminates the relationships these three people have. The working title is 'The Grabbers.'"

The Trailer for The Soloist!

The trailer for DreamWorks' The Soloist, starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr., is now online. Opening November 21st, the film is based on the true story of musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers (Foxx), who developed schizophrenia in his second year at Juilliard and ended up homeless on the streets of downtown L.A. where he performs the violin and cello. The drama is based on the relationship the musician developed with Steve Lopez (Downey Jr.), a Los Angeles Times reporter whose column and book informed the script. 

Release Date: November 21, 2008

Edward Norton Uncertain About Marvel’s Plans For ‘Hulk’ Franchise

“Incredible Hulk” star Edward Norton says Marvel Studios isn’t giving him any indication they want him to reprise his role as the publisher’s green goliath, whether in a solo sequel or team-up project. 

“The minds of Marvel are sometimes opaque,” Norton told MTV News. “I won’t say [they're] obtuse, but I don’t have any idea what they want to do.” 

Norton said he’s also been kept in the dark regarding any plans for him, in his role as Hulk’s alter-ego Bruce Banner, to appear in Marvel’s big team-up project, “The Avengers.” The film, which is expected to feature The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and several other Marvel characters, is currently scheduled for a 2011 release. 

“They’ve got this notion of collecting the Marvel characters,” said Norton, who appeared a bit skeptical of Marvel’s ambitious plans for the project. “Who knows where they’ll go?”

Clark Duke to Kick Ass in Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass!

With buzz climbing for his performance in the October comedy, Sex Drive, actor Clark Duke has landed a role in Matthew Vaughn’s violent comic book flick Kick-Ass. Ever since we laughed our asses off at Duke being repeatedly mistaken for a girl on the web series, Clark and Michael, we’ve hoped to see him stake a claim in cool features, so this is great news. And yeah, based on the trailers, Sex Drive looks friggin’ meh, but supposedly it delivers. Duke will play Marty, a good friend to the film’s titular character, a teenage would-be superhero, and Marty’s described on the movie’s official character list via Moviehole as… 

About 17, a chubby Caucasian high school student who loves comic books. He is Dave’s funny best friend. Together with Dave and Todd, he loves to go to comic book stores, and checks out the latest issues, while talking about school, girls, the futility of teenaged life, and the exciting adventures of Myspace insta-celebrity Kickass. He never suspects that Kickass is in fact Dave Lizewski — and neither would you if you knew Dave. 

Perfect. For our recent casting report on Vaughn’s $70 million indie film. Duke had a bit part in Superbad, so this will be his second film co-starring Christopher Mintz-Plasse aka McLovin, who plays the teen antagonist Red Mist. The comics’ creator, Mark Millar, has gone on the record as saying something like “I bet you all my balls that Kick-Ass will be the best movie of 2009.” And even though Millar talks more shit than Reggie Miller and even though Nic Cage bums us out, this movie should definitely live up to its title. And yeah, expect more headlines like the one above. Clark Duke, invest.

Simon, Fontana Planning Manhunt on HBO

"Homicide" collaborators David Simon and Tom Fontana are looking to reunite for an HBO miniseries about the 12-day search for John Wilkes Booth, reports Variety. 

The project is an adaptation of James L. Swanson's book "Manhunt," which follows the search for Abraham Lincoln's assassin. The project is in early development, with HBO optioning the novel and Simon and Fontana set to write the screenplay. 

Simon and Fontana would serve as executive producers, along with Lawrence Bender, Kevin Brown and Walden Media. 

The story will focus on the perspectives of lesser-known historical figures that were connected to the assassination of Lincoln and the subsequent media frenzy and manhunt.

Foxworthy Animates the World of NASCAR

Fox has given the green light to an animated pilot presentation from comedian Jeff Foxworthy about a dysfunctional family set in the world of NASCAR. Twentieth Century Fox TV is onboard to produce, says Variety. 

Foxworthy already hosts hit game show "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" for Fox. 

The untitled animated comedy comes from Foxworthy and "10 Items or Less" executive producers Nancy Hower and John Lehr. Foxworthy, Hower and Lehr will write and executive produce, while Parallel Entertainment's J.P. Williams will also executive produce. 

Foxworthy will also lend his voice to the presentation, with other voice actors to be determined later.

Update on DJ Caruso’s Y: The Last Man with Shia LaBeouf

We’ve known for a while that D.J. Caruso’s first film in a planned Y: The Last Man trilogy was aiming for 2010, and he’s given a new update to UGO. The director of Disturbia and Eagle Eye confirms that the script by Carl Ellsworth (Disturbia, Red Eye) was turned in last week to Warner Bros., a studio that’s said to be heavily enthusiastic and committed to the big budget endeavor. Moreover, he added that while Shia LaBeouf remains attached to the main character—a young Brooklynite named Yorick Brown who becomes the last man on an Earth populated with combative, horny women—the previously rumored Alicia Keys is not a lock to play Yorick’s government-hired protector codenamed 355… 

“She’s definitely someone to consider.  I thought she did a really cool job in [Smokin’ Aces]… So really, the one thing, I think I’ve mentioned this to you, I’m going for, and it’s not quite there yet on the page.  I’d love to have sort of a (Robert) DeNiro/(Charles) Grodin relationship between 355 and (Yorick).  Kind of a Midnight Run relationship…I think Alicia’s a great girl and everything but I have to make sure that she can handle the acting part of it.” 

Midnight Run, eh? We’re big fans of the comic series at Slashfilm, so here’s hoping Caruso goes with another actress, possibly an unknown, and not the musician/aspiring Bond Girl. One name I’ve heard tossed around a bit with fans is Vivica Fox, based, I’m guessing, on her surprisingly good, albeit brief, performance and action skills in Kill Bill. She’s a little old for the part though, even if she did deliver laughs and sex appeal on Curb Your Enthusiasm. All requisites for 355. Any casting suggestions in the comments? And Caruso informs that fans have already mentioned Kill Bill’s Lucy Liu for the part of Dr. Mann—a brilliant hands-on Chinese/Japanese geneticist who happens to be a lesbian—but he hasn’t given any actresses much consideration. Mann would play a larger part in a proposed second film. 

Caruso let it be known that Yorick’s monkey Ampersand—a seminal character in the comics—will in fact be a real monkey in the film(s). Great news. It worked in Matthew Broderick’s Project X, and it can work here (no monkey pilots). 

Brian K. Vaughn’s Y: The Last Man is going to be really tough to develop. There’s the sheer size—Caruso has implied that all or part of the subplot with Yorick’s girlfriend in Australia may be kiboshed—but also enough philosophical implications and discussions therein, not to mention pop-culture references, to stretch out a semester in college. And while the comic books are “R-rated” (violence, sexuality), this will most likely be a PG-13 summer popcorn film(s). Caruso seems to have a good communication going with Vaughn, so we’re optimistic, but he’ll need to channel some early Spielbergian wonder and some of that director’s dark period tone and visuals to see it through. We’ll avoid referencing a certain scene in Indy IV.

Diesel and Cohen Returning for XXX Sequel

Columbia Pictures is in discussions with producer Joe Roth for XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, which would bring back Vin Diesel as star and Rob Cohen as director, reports Variety. 

The duo teamed on the 2002 original, which starred Diesel as Xander Cage, an extreme sports enthusiast who gets drafted by the government for a dangerous mission. 

Roth controls the property because the original film was made by his Revolution Studios, which was also behind XXX: State of the Union, a sequel that starred Ice Cube and was directed by Lee Tamahori. 

While there is no script, both Diesel and Cohen have agreed to return.

Saturday Night Live Premiere Delivers Ratings Gold

Michael Phelps' winning streak continues. Though the Olympic gold-medalist host more or less treaded water while Tina Fey's return and a cameo by William Shatner generated the biggest and best buzz, Saturday Night Live this weekend delivered its best premiere ratings in seven years, netting a 7.4 household rating/18 share in the 55 metered markets. It also marked SNL's most-watched installment since Dec. 17, 2002 (when former vice president Al Gore hosted). 

The sketch show's 34th season opener — whose ratings do not include New Orleans or the Hurricane Ike-targeted Houston, Texas — was up 64 percent compared to last year's Lebron James-fronted premiere.

Brand New Music Video: Jet Lag Gemini - Run This City

New music video by Jet Lag Gemini from the album Fire the Cannons, available January 2008 from Doghouse Records.

The Coens' Burn Perry, De Niro & Pacino

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office. 

After the worst weekend at the box office in years, five new movies opened in wide release, four of them taking the top four spots at the box office with three of them grossing more than $15 million over the weekend. 

Joel and Ethan Coen had their biggest opening movie ever and their first weekend #1 with Burn After Reading (Focus Features), a dark ensemble comedy featuring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, which grossed an estimated $19.4 million in 2,641 theatres, averaging over $7 thousand per site. Opening wider than any previous Focus Features release, the duo's comedy follow-up to the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men was helped by solid reviews giving the studio its biggest opening, its highest grossing weekend for a movie, as well as their first #1 movie for a weekend. The Coens' latest shouldn't have a problem making back its production budget of $37 million in its theatrical release. 

Coming in second place, Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (Lionsgate), the latest drama from the Atlanta media mogul, had the best per-site average of the weekend, grossing $18 million in 2,070 theaters, an average of $8700 per venue. It opened lower than Perry's last two movies, Meet the Browns and Why Did I Get Married?, but higher than Daddy's Little Girls, Perry's previous movie not based on one of his hit stageplays. 

Screen legends Robert De Niro and Al Pacino teamed for the crime thriller Righteous Kill (Overture) which took third place with an estimated $16.5 million in 3,152 theaters, the weekend's widest release. It grossed almost as much its first weekend as 88 Minutes, Pacino's last teaming with director Jon Avnet, grossed in total, as Pacino's fifth-biggest opening movie and De Niro's sixth-biggest live action opening. It's also Overture Films' biggest opening film to date, having paid $10 million to distribute it in the United States, but it still has a long way to go if it wants to make back its reported $60 million budget. 

Diane English's modern update of George Cuckor's The Women (Picturehouse), starring Meg Ryan, Annete Bening and an all-female all-star cast, opened with just over $10 million in nearly 3,000 theaters, continuing the weekend trend by being the biggest opening movie for Picturehouse as well. (It's also the final official release from the distributor created three years ago in a union between New Line and HBO.) 

The Anna Faris comedy vehicle The House Bunny (Sony) held up well despite the release of four new movies, dropping just 22% in its third weekend to take fifth place with $4.3 million with a total gross of $42.1 million. 

It surpassed Ben Stiller's war comedy Tropic Thunder (DreamWorks) and the record-setting Warner Bros. superhero flick The Dark Knight, which took sixth and seventh place with just over $4 million each. Tropic Thunder becomes the 17th movie to cross the $100 million mark this year, while The Dark Knight is sitting pretty with an astounding $518 million after 9 weekends in the Top 10. 

The Nicolas Cage action-thriller Bangkok Dangerous (Lionsgate) experienced one of the biggest position drops in some time, dropping from its #1 spot last weekend to #8 this weekend with a weekend gross of $2.4 million and a total of $12.5 million 

The top 10 was rounded out by the political thriller Traitor (Overture) starring Don Cheadle, and Universal's remake of Death Race both with just over $2 million. The Top 10 grossed $83 million up nearly 39% from the same weekend last year. 

The last wide release, the documentary Proud American (Slowhand Releasing), grossed $135 thousand in 750 theaters, setting a new record for the worst per-theater average for a wide release ever by averaging just $180 per site. 

In limited release, Alan Ball's coming of age film Towelhead (Warner Bros.) grossed $53 thousand in just four theaters in New York and L.A.