Thursday, August 28, 2008

MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: NO PREACHER ON HBO

Mark Steven Johnson, who brought Daredevil and Ghost Rider to the big screen, told The Continuum that his attempts to bring Garth Ennis' Preacher to HBO as a series were close but ultimately unsuccessful.

"We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going," Johnson told The Continuum. "But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point!

"It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word. They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I've learned my lesson on that front and I won't do it again. So I'm afraid it's dead at HBO.

"I've heard someone is in the process of getting the rights to turn it into a feature film. I hope that happens. But I hope it happens as a series of movies as one movie couldn't do it justice. I really love that story and I dedicated a lot of my time to honor Garth's work. But it wasn't meant to be."

Johnson is currently in post-production on When in Rome -- a comedy starrring Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Danny DeVito, Dax Shephard, Jon Heder and Angelica Huston -- and said he is enjoying returning to his comedy roots.

"It's a lot like Grumpy Old Men in feel and I'm having a blast," he said.

Chuck Picked Up for Full Season

NBC has picked up the back nine episodes of the second season of "Chuck," reports Variety.

Also Wednesday, the network renewed summer reality hit "America's Got Talent" for a fourth season.

"Chuck's" full-season order comes more than a month before the show's Sept. 29 premiere date. NBC said they were pleased with the first six episodes in "Chuck's" second season and wanted to keep the momentum going.

In the series, Zachary Levi stars as Chuck Bartowski, an electronics store clerk who accidentally downloads government secrets into his brain -- and must now deal with assassins and terrorists. Adam Baldwin, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster and Ryan McPartlin co-star.

"America's Got Talent" comes from FremantleMedia North America and Simon Cowell's Syco shingle. The pickup comes as the show continues to gain viewers -- 13 million this summer, up 16% from last year.

Jerry Springer hosts the talent competition, which continues until Oct. 1; David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan are judges.

Michael Phelps to Host Saturday Night Live

"Saturday Night Live" makes its 34th season premiere on Saturday, September 13 featuring Michael Phelps and hip-hop superstar Lil Wayne.

US Olympic swimming phenomenon Michael Phelps will make his acting debut hosting the season premiere hot off his record-shattering performance in Beijing.

The "SNL" season premiere kicks off four live shows in a row, a rare practice that generated momentum for the show this past spring when the show returned after the WGA Strike-imposed hiatus. All told, seven all-new SNL's will air on Saturdays prior to the election.

Phelps went a perfect 8-for-8 in Beijing, breaking Mark Spitz's single-Games record for most gold medals won. In addition, Phelps broke another Olympics record, becoming the most decorated Olympian in history, winning a stunning 14 career gold medals. Phelps currently holds seven world records in swimming.

In addition to the revved-up Saturday schedule, "SNL" is ready for primetime with "Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday." Three LIVE primetime half-hours beginning October 9 at 9:30pm ET. These primetime special editions will be anchored by the show's signature "Weekend Update." This marks a return to the NBC Thursday night lineup for "SNL," which produced similar live "Update"-centered broadcasts in 2001.

"Saturday Night Live" is from SNL Studios in association with Broadway Video. The creator and executive producer is Lorne Michaels. Steve Higgins produces. Marci Klein and Mike Shoemaker are producers. Seth Meyers is head writer. Don Roy King directs.

Hudson Entertainment's Beloved Bomberman Returns for Digital Download on the Wii

The award-winning series will deliver 8-person online multiplayer combat and Mii support for hardcore fans and casual gamers.

Hudson Entertainment, the North American publishing arm for Hudson Soft, today announced that they are releasing Bomberman Blast, an all-new Bomberman for digital download for WiiWare on the Wii. Retaining the classic features Bomberman fans have come to love such as online multiplayer battles and numerous arenas, Bomberman Blast also incorporates new gameplay elements, including the use of Mii support and 8-person online multiplayer - the first time for Bomberman on Wii!

"The Bomberman franchise is one of Hudson Entertainment's most popular," said Sabine Duvall, Vice President of Product Development at Hudson Entertainment. "We're driven by the support of the fans and strive to provide unique new gameplay features with each new Bomberman title to please the longtime fans, as well as make the game accessible to newcomers."

Fans of the popular series will be able to compete either solo or as part of a team against the best Bomberman players worldwide, as Bomberman Blast delivers 8-player multiplayer battles online. By using their Miis, gamers will have the opportunity to definitively prove who has the best Mii by sending them into a Bomberman Blast arena, then blowing away the competition! Now who has the best Mii?

Bomberman Blast is the perfect party game, allowing players from around the world to join in on the fun. Up to four players on the same Wii can hop online. Even more, an online leaderboard shows just how good you are! Bomberman Blast is exactly what players would expect from a Bomberman game, with more ammunition, more online battles, and now, the support of Miis!

With the release of Bomberman Blast on WiiWare, Hudson Entertainment will offer several online tournaments, including one that coincides with the game's launch. For more information on the upcoming tournaments and to register, players can visit www.Hudsonentertainment.com.

Bomberman Blast is rated E for Everyone by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

About Bomberman

Originally launched in the US in 1987, the game captured gamers' hearts with its simple yet challenging gameplay. With over 60 iterations on nearly all major consoles since then, and over 10 million units sold, winning accolades as the best multiplayer game of all time, this classic game has stood the test of time. Along the way, it also pioneered the "party game" genre, encouraging groups of 4 or more friends to duke it out in one room, and was the first series to contribute to Hudson's reputation as the number one party game company.

About Hudson Entertainment, Inc.

Hudson Entertainment is the North American publishing arm of Hudson Soft, an international provider of games and entertainment content founded in 1973. Hudson Entertainment focuses on four key businesses: console games, digital download content, mobile games, and music. Hudson introduced best-selling videogame franchises including Bomberman, Bonk, and Super Adventure Island. Hudson's mobile division is a leading supplier of games and personalized content. Through numerous partnerships with record labels, Hudson has become a leading provider of hip-hop ring tones and mobile content. For more information on Hudson Entertainment, please visit www.hudsonent.com.

Hudson Entertainment, Hudson Soft, and their respective logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Hudson Soft. Bomberman is a registered trademark of Hudson Soft. Trademarks of Nintendo used under license. WiiWare is available only through the Wii console.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Exclusive: 'Lost' Resurrects Michelle Rodriguez!

Well, this should be interesting.

Michelle Rodriguez, arguably one of the more polarizing personalities to have ever gotten Lost, is returning to the show this season, multiple sources confirm to me exclusively.

Details of her comeback are, not surprisingly, shrouded in secrecy, but here's what I can tell you:

  • Rodriguez is back for one episode, most likely this season's second. As a result, the risk to Hawaii's roadways is said to be minimal.
  • Given that Ana Lucia's bullet-riddled body is probably entering the final stage of decomposition, conventional Lost wisdom (if there is such a thing) points to her appearing in someone's flashback or via hallucination. The fact that Cheech Marin is also on the guest list for eppy 2 suggests that it's most likely a Hurley-centric outing. And after his encounter with Charlie's ghost last season, it's certainly feasible that Hurley would have an imaginary run-in with Ana Lucia. There's also this theory, put forth by EW's own Doc Jensen: "Maybe Ana Lucia busted L.A.-based Ghost Hustler Miles during her pre-crash LAPD days, and now the freighter folkster is seeing visions of the late Tailie on the Island!"
  • Rodriguez's return follows last season's "resurrection" of fellow doomed Tailie Cynthia Watros (Libby), who appeared in a vision to Michael. Could Mr. Eko be next, thus completing, as Jensen jests, the "Busted Tailie Story Line Redemption Tour"?
But let's not get ahead of ourselves -- first we've got to process this M.R. news, and that means posing the following question to Lost fans: Are you looking forward to seeing Ana Lucia again, even if for just a brief stint? Or would you have preferred that she remain dead and buried alongside Paolo and Nikki? Sound off below!

Vin Diesel Promises Two More Riddick Sequels

Four years after his character Richard B. Riddick last graced the silver screen, and some years after telling reporters that there would be another Riddick film in his future, Vin Diesel told MTV News that he no longer thinks there will one day be a Riddick sequel.

He now thinks there will be two.

“David Twowy right now is writing the scripts. The only question is whether we take a page from the ‘Lord of the Rings’ guys and try to shoot the two chapters at the same time. There are two more in mind,” he said of Riddick, the Furyan warrior first introduced in the 2000 film “Pitch Black.” “‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ was presented as a three part trilogy that would answer ‘Pitch Black’ in the same way that ‘Lord of the Rings’ answered ‘The Hobbit.’”

Those are lofty goals indeed for a movie that was very poorly received when it opened in 2004, and had a mediocre performance at the domestic box-office (where it made just $57 million). Diesel, though, is undaunted, insisting that the long space between sequels has nothing to do with convincing others to get on board, and everything to do with wanting to get it right. (To be fair, “Riddick” performed well overseas, and also spawned a best-selling video game which many considered to be better than the movie.)

“Everyone knows I love the Riddick character and I’m always working on it,” Diesel asserted. “It just takes five years to make another one because David Twohy and I are so precious about it.”

So where will Riddick go next? After taking the throne of the Necromonger King at the end of the last chapter, is there any doubt?

“Sooner or later we all end up in the Underverse,” he said of where we can expect the next chapter to take place, adding in a Riddick-like voice, “Sooner or later.”

Astin, Weston and Foster Get Demoted

Sean Astin ("The Lord of the Rings"), Celia Weston and Sara Foster will star alongside Michael Vartan and David Cross in the indie comedy Demoted.

The film centers on two tire salesmen (Astin, Vartan) who delight in playing cruel pranks on their co-worker (Cross). When the victim unexpectedly becomes their boss, he places the humiliated duo in secretarial jobs.

Foster will play the wife of Astin's character, who's tricked into believing he was promoted. Weston will play the head secretary who inspires the best friends to plot their revenge.

J.B. Rogers will direct from a screenplay by Dan Callahan. Production begins next month in Michigan.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Sex Drive (2008) Trailer

Eighteen-year-old Ian Lafferty sets out on a cross country drive with his best friends Lance and Felicia in order to lose his virginity to a red-hot babe he met on the Internet. But the journey, filled with hilarious misadventures and raunchy escapades, teaches all three more than they expected about life and love. Randy, raucous and unexpectedly romantic, "Sex Drive" follows three friends on the road trip of a lifetime!

Starring: Josh Zuckerman, Amanda Crew, Clark Duke, Seth Green, James Marsden

Release Date: October 17, 2008



The trailer reminds me of a combination of Euro Trip, Harold and Kumar, The Girl Next Door, and all other movies like that, so it might be good. What do you think?

Michael Keaton Cast in Toy Story 3

Michael Keaton will voice the role of Ken (as in Barbie’s boyfriend Ken) in Toy Story 3. Jodi Benson (who voiced Barbie in the Toy Story series) revealed the news to IESB. This will be Keaton’s second appearance in a Pixar film, after voicing Chick Hicks in Cars.

What We Already Know about Toy Story 3:
  • Toy Story 3 will be released in digital Disney 3D on June 18th 2010.
  • Directed by Lee Unkrich, who edited the previous films, and co-directed Toy Story 2
  • Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Wallace Shawn, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger, and Jodi Benson are confirmed to return.
  • The story follows the toys as they are dumped in a day-care center after Andy leaves for College.
  • Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E) wrote the Treatment
  • Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) wrote the screenplay
  • Randy Newman will provide the scrore

House Bunny Beaten by Ben's Boys at Box Office

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Be sure to check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

There were a number of close calls this weekend but the success of Anna Faris' new comedy The House Bunny (Sony) on Friday, winning the top spot with $5.8 million, wasn't enough to keep it from losing the weekend to Ben Stiller's war comedy Tropic Thunder (DreamWorks), co-starring Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. The ensemble comedy remained at #1 for its 2nd weekend in a row, grossing $16.1 million and bringing its total to $65.7 million. The House Bunny ended up with an estimated $15.1 million in 2,714 theaters, averaging $5,500 per site, the best per-theater average for any movie playing this weekend.

Jason Statham and Tyrese Gibson starred in Universal's fourth action movie of the summer, Paul W. S. Anderson's remake of Roger Corman's Death Race, projected to win the weekend but having to settle for third place with an estimated $12.3 million in 2,532 theaters.

Christopher Nolan's mega-blockbuster The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) continues to thrive with $10.3 million in its sixth weekend, the first time since since opening where it's not in the Top 5 for its respective weekend compared to other movies. (See the corresponding comparisons here.) Even so, its running total domestically is up to $489 million, which means it could hit that elusive $500 million mark by Labor Day. That amount has only been seen once before domestically, by James Cameron's Titanic, which made more than twice Dark Knight's weekend gross in its own sixth weekend.

The other two new movies in wide release, Ice Cube's family football drama The Longshots (MGM/Dimension) and Rainn Wilson's rock comedy The Rocker (20th Century Fox) both bombed. The former opened in eighth place with $4.3 million (less than $1,000 more than the hit musical Mamma Mia!) while the latter opened outside the Top 10 at #12 with $2.7 million, averaging less than a million per site in the widest release of the new movies.

Instead, the top 5 was rounded out by George Lucas' animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Warner Bros.) with $5.6 million, nearly a 60% drop from its disappointing opening weekend, having amassed just $25 million. It came out just ahead of Sony's stoner comedy Pineapple Express, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, which has grossed $73.9 million to date, a considerable success compared to its cost. The 20th Century Fox horror movie Mirrors with Keifer Sutherland, followed at #7 with $4.9 million, a sizable drop from its opening weekend with a total gross of $20 million.

The Universal Pictures movies reversed order as the musical Mamma Mia! came out ahead of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, both grossing just over $4 million on the weekend. The Meryl Streep musical brings its box office total to $124 million while the Brendan Fraser action flick has grossed just $93.8 million after four weeks, compared to its reported production budget of $145 million.

Opening in limited release in 103 theaters, the weekend's third comedy Hamlet 2 (Focus Features) starring Steve Coogan (also in Tropic Thunder), opened with a disappointing $435 thousand, averaging just $4,223 per site. Focus still plans on expanding the movie nationwide on Wednesday in hopes of bringing in some word-of-mouth business over the extended Labor Day weekend next week.

The Top 10 grossed an estimated $82.6 million, down just 2% from the same period last year.