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With Green Lantern wrapped, actor Ryan Reynolds has two other comic book projects lined up: Deadpool, a spin off of his character from X-Men Origins: Wolverine; and R.I.P.D., an adaptation of the Dark Horse Comic about two cops who work in the Rest in Peace Department (the police department of the dead).
The LA Times reports that since director McG left the project to focus on the romantic comedy This Means War, Universal is looking to lock up a director for R.I.P.D. soon.
Who will direct? >> Posted 08.12.10 by Ryan -
Director Joseph "McG" McGinty Nichol may soon be trading one war for another. McG fast-forwarded the Terminator franchise into the "War of the Machines" in Terminator Salvation last year and now he may be ready to engage in a different type of conflict in This Means War. According to Variety, McG took a meeting on the 20th Century Fox lot last week to discuss directing the action-comedy that has been kicking around Fox for years.
In development at Will Smith's Overbrook production company, This Means War has gone through many revisions and permutations over the years. At different points in time, such disparate talents as actor-comedian Martin Lawrence (Wild Hogs) and director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) were attached to the movie.
Apparently, what finally put the project on the fast track to development after nearly a decade was the most recent version of the script, penned by Tim Dowling (Role Models). The story revolves around two covert operatives who are lifelong friends until they both fall for the same woman.Bradley Cooper has signed on for one of the spy roles, while Reese Witherspoon will play the woman in the middle. Variety also stated that it was Dowling's script that attracted Cooper and Witherspoon to the movie.
This Means War is considered a "priority project" at Fox and could go into production as early as late spring. No other cast announcements have been made at this time.
Posted 02.22.10 by BrentJS -
Despite the rights for the Terminator franchise being put up for auction, McG remains confident that he will direct more Terminator movies. During a B-D Live chat, the Terminator Salvation director told fans that he plans to direct both the fifth and sixth Terminator movies even though Salvation performed poorly at the domestic box office.
Producers Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek's Halcyon production company still currently own the rights, but they have sunk to selling off Salvation's props and costumes to cover their debts, so it's a surprise to hear McG sound so confident that he will continue helming the series. Clearly, he's banking on the statement Halcyon sent out last week:
When Halcyon announced the bidding process for the Terminator franchise last month, we indicated that in addition to an outright sale of the property, we would also consider other strategic options, including a recapitalization of the company. Over the past few weeks Halcyon and its professionals have engaged in in-depth discussions and negotiations with numerous serious potential buyers, including several major movie studios. In addition, a number of attractive refinancing alternatives have also been presented. In order to maximize the value of a transaction for all of the company's creditors and stakeholders, we are fully analyzing all these options. As a result, we will not be committing to a 'stalking horse' bid at this time. Nonetheless, given the significant positive interest in the Terminator franchise, we expect to be in a position to announce a successful sale or recapitalization no later than February 1, 2010.
Should Halcyon be able to "recapitalize" and hold onto the Terminator rights, it would still be surprising if they allowed McG to continue to direct more Terminator movies considering all they've been through. The only person it wouldn't surprise is McG.
Posted 12.07.09 by Ryan -
Captain Nemo and the Nautilus will remain in dry dock indefinitely, according to a recent report from Variety. Disney's original turn at adapting Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea resulted in the now-classic 1954 movie starring Kirk Douglas and James Mason, easily the most memorable of the many movie adaptations of Verne's book.
Director McG (Terminator: Salvation) announced in August that he was scouting locations for Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, with Sam Worthington in mind for the lead role. Disney was planning on beginning production in February, but now those plans have been halted and McG is apparently no longer at the helm. According to the report, Captain Nemo is still a priority for Disney, along with John Carter of Mars, Tron: Legacy, and Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Just who knows how long it will be before the project begins to take shape?
Posted 11.17.09 by BrentJS -
SamWorthington may be one of the busiest actors working right now, but that doesn't mean he isn't paying attention, especially to criticism hurled at Terminator Salvation. Worthington, unlike many actors, admits he reads what the critics say and took it to heart:
It's kind of humbling, the way that they describe your performance against Christian's [Bale], but we have no control over that. We just have to do the best character that we can do at that time.
We don't necessarily have the bounce of a theater, but we have the critics online, we have our critics in the newspaper, so I do take it all onboard in order to kind of go, "Well, you know, they're the ones paying 12 bucks. I've got to kind of just step up my game, or Sam Worthington has to change this." Or I will [say], "F**k it, I'll change that or back up the criticism that I get thrown out." "Why did you do this?" Well I can now back up everything. Because that, to me, that helps my profession and links what I believe is, you know, what my job is. To entertain people.
Worthington also claims the Terminator criticism will make him more cautious in the future:
I can nitpick with the best of them, man, and kind of go down the list of things I saw on IMDB where they found holes in it, and go, "You are f**king right." If there was a big 10-ton robot coming outside that gas station, surely we would f**king hear it. And I missed that. So I'm going to be a bit better when I'm looking through my f**king scripts. So it raises my game a bit, because now I feel like an idiot for not saying it to [Salvation director] McG, you know?
Worthington will appear next in Avatar, which opens December 19.
Posted 08.26.09 by Ryan -
The Terminator franchise may be done after Terminator Salvation, and it's not because of the movie's box-office performance. While Salvation may have done only mediocre business domestically, it performed extremely well overseas, enough for director McG to start planning a fifth, time-traveling-centric movie. However, Terminator producers Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, whose production company The Halcyon Company owns the Terminator movie rights, have put the future of the franchise in doubt by entering into a legal and financial snafu.
The LATimes has been following the story, which breaks down like this: First, Anderson and Kubicek filed a lawsuit against hedge fund Pacificor, the investor who loaned the duo the money to buy the Terminator rights. Then, two days later, Anderson and Kubicek filed for bankruptcy. If the two cannot return the money or win the lawsuit, then the Terminator rights will end up in the hands of Pacificor. The LATimes speculates that this closes the door on Terminator 5 and the rest of the franchise. That is, unless a hedge fund investor is interested in making a futuristic sci-fi movie!
Stay tuned to Reelz.com for more updates.
Posted 08.24.09 by Ryan -
McG recently announced that he will be making Terminator 5, but before he does, he'll finish his 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. McG's been working hard on the remake of Disney's first live-action movie — scouting locations all over the world has to be exhausting. Recently, he described the changes he has in store, which includes being more politically correct than the 1954 original.
It's a bit of a departure from the [Richard] Fleischer movie, and much more in keeping with the spirit of the novel, as far as what Aronnax is up to, and the becoming of Nemo, and how the man became at war with war itself. So there's alittle bit more meat on the bone in regard to the genesis of the Nemo character than you're given in the '50s movie that Disney made. And also, it's a little more contemporary, because in that movie, there were... You know, I love that movie, but there were two female characters, they were both prostitutes. And there were a couple of black people in the film, and they were all electrocuted. So nowadays, I think we need to progress a little bit beyond that.
One way of showing that "progress" is casting Will Smith as Nemo, something McG was trying to accomplish in January, though now he claims he's hoping to cast Sam Worthington in the role. Whoever does get cast as Nemo will have to prepare himself for a workout.
It will be a great deal of action, because I mean, let's face it, the guy is an adventurer. And I think that's the intention of [Leagues author Jules] Verne. The idea is getting up and then going around the world, living under sea, doingwhat no one does. And it's the spirit of the adventure that I want to capture.
There's no release date yet for Leagues but production is supposed to begin this year.
Posted 08.12.09 by Ryan -
At Thursday's Television Critics Assocation awards, controversial director McG confirmed that he would be returning to the Terminator franchise that he helped relaunch with this year's Terminator Salvation. Salvation under-performed at the box office, and McG admitted that his film was missing an essential ingredient that original Terminator director, James Cameron, added to the mix.
I think the film missed some of the fun that Jim brought to the early pictures. I'm a disciple of Jim ... and clearly I didn't do a good enough job on that picture and I didn't satisfy the fanbase to the degree that I would expect to satisfy them. And I take that very seriously and I just work that much more diligently to make sure I do that in the next one.
McG also said that he realized that the film's storyline suffered because of the lack of a central antagonist and the fact that the story was too divided between Christian Bale's character, John Connor, and Sam Worthington's character, Marcus Wright.
We want to put more meat on the bone because we have the great Christian Bale, but I take a lot of satisfaction in playing a role in breaking the great Sam Worthington, who I think is one of the best actors out there.
McG enjoyed working with Worthington so much that he teased that he might cast the Aussie actor in his upcoming film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: "I might cast him as Nemo if it's in the cards. We'll see."
Correction: We originally listed McG as having made this announcement at Sunday's Teen Choice Awards.
Posted 08.11.09 by BrentJS -
While promoting the Human Target TV series at the Teen Choice Awards, director McG dropped the news that a sequel to Terminator Salvation is already in the works. McG said that Warner Bros. and Sony were both very excited about the project, but that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was his immediate concern.
When asked about the plot for the sequel, McG said:
One of the problems is that in a post-apocalyptic world, everybody's a little bummed out because — and introduce it in this picture.
And I think that is a platform for great storytelling. Because I always love it when (Kyle) Reese is in our world, as you saw in the first picture, and everybody thinks he's out of his ... mind and he knows and he can't afford to be concerned. And he's got to convince someone he cares about to come with him! And that's one of the engines. And we'll have a much more clearly defined antagonist in the new picture. It will be more of a chase movie with a new Terminator that is on your ass.
Posted 08.10.09 by BrentJS -
For the second week in a row, Terminator Salvation has dominated the box office in almost every country but the United States. Even against the two-time, domestic box office winner The Hangover, Terminator Salvation finished first. This brings its international total to $165.5 million after two weeks, compared to $114 million in the U.S. after nearly four weeks.
So why has Terminator Salvation not performed better in the U.S.? Perhaps changing the original ending was a mistake. Director McG revealed Salvation's initial ending to Entertainment Weekly (WARNING: SPOILERS):
[John] Connor (Christian Bale) dies, okay? He's dead. And Marcus (Sam Worthington) offers his physical body, so Connor's exterior is put on top of his machine body. It looks like Connor, but it's really Marcus underneath. And all of the characters we care about (Kyle Reese, Connor's wife Kate, etc.) are brought into the room to see him and they think it's Connor. And Connor gets up and then there's a small flicker of red in his eyes and he shoots Kate, he shoots Kyle, he shoots everybody in the room. Fade to black. End of movie. Skynet wins. F--- you!
Bale loved the ending. The studio signed off on it. So why the change? "In the end, it just felt like too much of a bummer," McG explained, before pausing. "Maybe we blew it."
Well, not in most of the world.
Posted 06.16.09 by Ryan