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While we already have had our first look at Angelina Jolie's next role in Disney's upcoming Maleficent, the actress has been slowly gathering several possible projects to follow. It looks like the actress will be shooting an untitled thriller with director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita, The Professional).
The thriller was originally supposed to shoot in April, but Jolie's attachment to Maleficent superseded the untitled movie. Described as a "dramatic thriller with action," few details about the movie have been revealed, though Universal Pictures liked it enough to has pick up the distribution rights. According to Variety, the thriller is set to start shooting in early 2013, which, unless Jolie fits something else into her schedule, would make the movie her next project.
more on Jolie and Besson's other projects >> Posted 06.30.12 by Ryan -
It's tougher than ever to sell R-rated sci-fi movies to American moviegoers — just ask Vin Diesel about his battle with Universal to secure an R-rating for Riddick 3 or Ridley Scott about his ongoing fight with Fox to release Prometheus with an R-rating — let alone R-rated sci-fi movies from Europe made on a miniscule (by Hollywood standards) budget. Which is likely the reason why Europa Corp. has decided to market its new Luc Besson-produced sci-fi movie, Lockout, by releasing more than 1/10th of the film for free on the internet, first with the release of a 5-minute chunk of action from Snow's (Guy Pearce) Star Wars-esque shenanigans in space and now with the nearly five-minute opening sequence of the movie, which takes place primarily on Earth and has a decidedly Bourne Identity feel to it.
watch the opening scene >> Posted 04.07.12 by BrentJS -
Lost in the scrum of blockbusters and sequels that are starting to pour into theaters on a weekly basis is the upcoming sci-fi action movie Lockout. Co-written and produced by Luc Besson (who co-wrote and produced the hit thriller Taken and co-wrote and directed The Fifth Element), Lockout follows Guy Pearce as Snow, a government agent falsely convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. Snow is offered his freedom in exchange for saving the President's daughter from a space prison that has been overrun by convicts.
Much has been made of the derivative nature of Lockout's plot, but the five-minute WonderCon clip showed that Pearce's portrayal of the anti-hero Snow and the movie's action (directed by newcomers James Mather and Stephen St. Leger), just might be worth the price of admission. Now, two more preview clips have been revealed to help pique interest. The first has more of Pearce's "loose cannon" style as he tries to disguise the President's daughter Emilie (Maggie Grace) and has to get a little physical to get the job done.
watch the clips >> Posted 04.04.12 by Ryan -
Move over vampires and zombies, the age of the live-action fairytale has taken over as Hollywood's latest obsession. Two live action Snow White movies are set to to arrive this year — Universal Studios' Snow White and the Huntsman and Relativity Media's Mirror, Mirror. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is set to spoof the Brothers Grimm tale early next year after being delayed from March until January 2013. Now Disney, which started the trend with 2010's blockbuster Alice in Wonderland, is developing a life-action version of Sleeping Beauty titled Maleficent and yet another riff on Snow White.
Maleficient will focus on the Disney villainess as the lead character and has had Angelina Jolie attached to play the role since 2009. While Jolie was reportedly set to start work on an untitled thriller with director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita, The Professional) in April, it looks like that will have to wait for Maleficient. "I haven't acted in two years [since 2010's The Tourist], and I haven't done anything else since this [directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey]. The next thing I am looking at is a Disney movie," Jolie told THR.
ronan to play a kung fu-fighting Snow white >> Posted 02.14.12 by Ryan -
A new character featurette has been released online that focuses on Snow, the cynical, ascerbic, wrongly-convicted anti-hero played by Guy Pearce at the center of Lockout — or MS One: Maximum Security, as it's called in France — the new sci-fi movie co-written (with first-time feature co-directors James Mather and Stephen St. Leger) and produced by Luc Besson (The Transporter, Columbiana) that takes place in a prison orbiting the earth.
When the president's daughter (Maggie Grace) gets trapped aboard the prison following a riot, Snow is offered his freedom in exchange for her safe return. Of course, the chances of Snow safely infiltrating the orbiting prison, fending off the deadliest-of-deadly inmates who now have the run of the prison, and finding the president's daughter are slim-to-none, but those are just the kind of odds that a "badass" like Snow can get behind. In fact, compared to his incarceration, he considers the job a "dream vacaction." Peter Stormare (Dylan Dog: Dead of Night), Anne-Solenne Hatte (Callback), and Joseph Gilgun (U.K. TV's Misfits) also star.
watch the featurette >> Posted 01.16.12 by BrentJS -
Last week, we got our first look at Lockout, a new sci-fi movie produced by Luc Besson (The Transporter, Columbiana), in the form of an international teaser trailer that contained virtually no plot and only a smidgen of special effects, but a whole lot of British actor Guy Pearce looking tough, delivering quippy dialogue, and getting his face bashed in.
Now, a French theatrical trailer (in English) for the movie has been released that offers a brief explanation of the plot — the president's daughter (Maggie Grace) is trapped aboard an orbiting prison when a riot breaks out and only a wrongly convicted spy (Pearce) is desperate enough and crazy enough to attempt a rescue mission — more sci-fi goodness (cryogenic prison cells, spaceships, etc.); and much more of what was great about the teaser trailer: Pearce acting tough and delivering cheeky dialogue like, "Here's an apple and a gun. Don't talk to strangers; shoot them."
watch the new trailer >> Posted 12.16.11 by BrentJS -
Angelina Jolie may have found herself in legal trouble for her upcoming directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey, but there are still no shortage of roles for the Academy Award–winning actress. Recently attached to star in title role of the biopic Gertrude Bell — which could be directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator) — Jolie is also set to appear in a sequel to last year's Salt. But all of those projects will have to take a back seat to Jolie's next project: an untitled thriller that will see Jolie work with director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita, The Professional).
Described as a "dramatic thriller with action," THR reports that Universal Pictures has picked up the distribution rights to the movie, and has set production to begin in Paris next April. Besson will produce and also wrote the untitled movie, which the studio is reportedly claiming will be the director's "return to the genre in which he made his name."
Jolie's In the Land of Blood and Honey is set to open on December 23rd, while Besson's latest directorial effort, The Lady, the biopic of Burmese political leader Aung San Suu Kyi, will open on December 12th.
Posted 12.12.11 by Ryan -
After delivering incredible performances in movies like L.A. Confidential (1997) and Memento (2000), British actor Guy Pearce appeared to be on track to become one of Hollywood's next great leading men. But, one misstep like the colossally bad 2002 Time Machine remake and Pearce has spent the better part of a decade playing supporting roles — albeit several choice supporting roles in acclaimed movies like The Hurt Locker and The King's Speech — and chewing scenery as a bad guy in a Nicolas Cage movie that not only can't settle on a title, but may not even get a theatrical release.
But, it appears as if Pearce is ready to reclaim center stage as he moves into the second act of his career. He landed a major role in Ridley Scott's highly-anticipated Alien prequel-reboot, Prometheus, and he's headlining Lockout, a new sci-fi movie co-written (with co-directors James Mather and Stephen St. Leger) and produced by Luc Besson (The Transporter, Columbiana) that appears to be "Escape from New York in space," with Pearce filling the Snake Plissken role and Maggie Grace subbing for the President.
The first trailer for Lockout was recently released online and it contains some impressive footage of spaceships and outer space combat, but what we really love about the trailer is the 50-second scene in which Pearce is cold-cocked over and over again because he keeps cracking wise about Peter Stormare's wife during an interrogation.
watch the trailer for Lockout >> Posted 12.06.11 by BrentJS -
Though early festival screenings of French director Luc Besson's new biopic, The Lady, have been met with mostly lukewarm reactions, Michelle Yeoh's performance as Burmese political leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been generating considerable Oscar buzz in advance of the movie's theatrical debut.
Written by Rebecca Frayn, The Lady is based on the true story of Aung San Suu Kyi's relentless non-violent campaign for democracy in Burma and her undying love for her British husband, Michael Aris (David Thewlis), who she was only able to see five times during the last ten years of his life because of his inability to return to Burma and her fear that she would not be allowed to return if she left the country to visit him in England. To see what the buzz is all about, check out two dramatic new preview clips from the movie.
watch the preview clips >> Posted 11.12.11 by BrentJS -
After the phenomenal success of the 2009 thriller Taken, which grossed $224 million worldwide, a sequel was only a matter of time. Liam Neeson announced the sequel was officially happening in March, and mentioned that it might be his character that gets abducted in the sequel. Maggie Grace, who played Neeson's daughter in the original, was announced as returning a month later.
Just a few days ago, 20th Century Fox announced the release date for Taken 2, which will arrive on October 5, 2012.
Now we known what the sequel will be about with the release of the official synopsis.
read the synopsis and see who's playing the villain >> Posted 10.15.11 by Ryan