Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 22, 2009

Remakes
There can only be one—again. Director Justin Lin (right) will reunite with his The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast and Furious producer Neal H. Moritz for Summit Entertainment’s Highlander remake, according to Variety. Showing how much Highlander means to the fledging studio behind the The Twilight Saga, Summit’s hired Iron Man screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway to revive the franchise once anchored by Christopher Lambert’s immortal Connor MacLeod. A Highlander reboot couldn’t come at a better time: the last sequel, The Source, the first in a proposed trilogy featuring Adrian Paul’s Duncan MacLeod, bypassed theaters and debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel in September 2007.

Sequels
Boris Kodjoe can’t stop talking about Resident Evil: Afterlife. It’s not enough that he announced via Twitter that he’s costarring with Milla Jovovich in the Paul W.S. Anderson-directed sequel, due in 2010, but now he’s revealing more cast details. Kodjoe tells Black Film that Afterlife will see the return of Ali Larter, who played Claire Redfield in Extinction, and the addition of Prison Break’s Wentworth Miller as a fellow survivor of the zombie apocalypse.

Speculate all you want, but no one’s been cast in the next Batman sequel beyond the usual suspects. So forgot all those rumors about Megan Fox and—according to Michael Caine—Johnny Depp. The man who is Gotham City’s most invaluable butler tells MTV that “Johnny Depp is great in anything, but there is no Johnny Depp in this Batman. They tell me in no uncertain terms.” When will someone tell us who will be in the third Batman?

Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 21, 2009

Remakes
Sherlock Holmes will live to sleuth another day. Warner Bros. is so confident that audiences will adore Robert Downey Jr. as the world’s most famous detective that it is developing a sequel to the Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes (right), which opens Christmas Day, per The Hollywood Reporter. There’s also talk that Brad Pitt may take on the role of Holmes’ arch nemesis, Moriarty, but there’s no deal in place. So don’t get too excited—we all remember what happened with Nicholas Cage and The Green Hornet.

Sequels
Maybe we have not seen the last of Halle Berry as Storm. Producer Lauren Shuler Donner says she wants a fourth X-Men in addition to all the other spin-offs, such as a Wolverine sequel, Deadpool, and X-Men: First Class, according to I-Film. She’s also considering enrolling the New Mutants, featuring such teenage would-be superheroes as Cannonball and Wolfsbane, at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. That’s all well and good, but wouldn’t you rather see the long-mooted Magneto prequel?

Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 20, 2009

Sequels
Whatever you want to say about Rob Zombie’s Halloweens, you have to respect him for trying to impose his vision on the rebooted franchise. Lord knows what My Bloody Valentine’s Patrick Lussier will bring to the next Halloween other than the ability to direct a horror yarn in 3-D. Dread Central and Shock Till You Drop have confirmed that Lussier will direct Halloween 3D, which reportedly goes before the cameras in November for a summer 2010 release. Lussier will have his cake and eat it too: he won’t have to walked away from the Nicolas Cage 3-D action thriller Drive Angry, which won’t shoot until 2010 due to the actor’s busy schedule. Lussier is a known quantity to the Weinstein Co.: he directed Dracula 2000, Dracula II: Ascension, Dracula III: Legacy, and The Prophecy 3: The Ascent. He also edited Halloween: H20, as Dread Central reminds us, but that necessarily isn’t an advantage: the Michael Myers of the original franchise isn’t exactly the same serial killer that Zombie gave us. Sure, both are taciturn killing machines, but Zombie tried hard to make us understand why Myers slaughters at whim by strapping him to Dr. Loomis’ couch. But that may not matter if Halloween 3D puts the knife in the hands of Myers’ evidently disturbed sister, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). Still, there really isn’t much difference between Halloween and My Bloody Valentine. Both feature masked madmen with a thirst for blood. And, truth be told, My Bloody Valentine was vastly more entertaining than either Halloween. So I’m anticipating from Lussier more of an old-school Halloween—i.e. a greater emphasis on scares—than Zombie dared give us. Couple that with some gory 3-D effects and a third Halloween should perform better at the box office than Zombie’s recent sequel (above), which so far has made only $30.7 million (the original Halloween II made $25.3 million in 1981). But Halloween II only cost $15 million, so Halloween 3D was inevitable—with or without Zombie.

All’s quiet in regards to a My Bloody Valentine sequel, but Lionsgate is giving Saw VII the 3D treatment. OK, Saw VI isn’t in theaters until Oct. 23, but you figure it’s good to make at least $50 million. Director David Hackl—who cut his teeth with Saw V—confirmed on his Facebook page that pre-production has already begin on next year’s sequel, per Bloody Disgusting. Too bad Lionsgate is already considering Saw VIII—setting his deadly traps in 3D would have allowed Jigsaw to have gone out in bloody fashion.

What does the sudden departure of Walt Disney studio chief Dick Cook mean for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides? Well, Johnny Depp’s not too happy about Cook leaving the Mouse House. And, according to the L.A. Times, the loss of the “the sweetest man on the planet” has lessened his interest in portraying Capt. Jack Sparrow for a fourth time. Disney will no doubt work overtime to assure Depp that it’s business as usual, and not just to get him to sign on the dotted line for 2011’s On Stranger Tides. Depp’s also going to star as Tonto in Disney’s The Lone Ranger remake. Depp isn’t an actor who always looks to line his pockets, so if he feels that On Stranger Tides and The Lone Ranger aren’t worth his time and effort, he’s going to bolt no matter how much money Disney tries to throw at him. While you can make The Lone Ranger without Depp, On Stranger Tides would sink without him. So it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Disney does everything it can—including delaying On Stranger Tides by one summer if the script needs punching up—to appease Depp.

Remakes
B.A. Baracus, meet Nite Owl. Watchmen’s Patrick Wilson has joined The A-Team as a CIA operative, per Entertainment Weekly.

Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 17, 2009

Sequels
Does it make any sense that DC Entertainment isn’t currently deciding the fate of Superman? Diane Nelson, the head of Warner Bros.’ new company, tells MTV that, “We’ve obviously done a lot of great things behind the property in our history, and it’s a key part of the family, but we don’t have current plans behind Superman.” Why not? If I were running DC Entertainment, I would make a new Superman—be it a sequel to Bryan Singer’s 2006 Man of Steel adventure or a reboot—my No. 1 priority. After the underwhelming response to Superman Returns, the right approach needs to be taken if the franchise is to have any chance of survival at a time when we want our superheroes to brood as much as they fight for truth, justice and the American way. I would convene all necessary parties to start plotting our next move when it comes to Supes. If starting over à la The Incredible Hulk is the way to go, that’s fine—Brandon Routh’s (above) contract has expired, so Warner Bros. and DC can go out and find a new Superman that audience can connect with the way they did with Christopher Reeve. There really isn’t any time to lose: the heirs of Superman creator Jerry Siegel won a decisive court victory in July when a judge ruled that Warner Bros. and DC must start production on the next film by 2011 or the heirs can sue for damages. Given the circumstances, a new Superman is inevitable. And while DC Entertainment is obviously busy working on other films—including Jonah Hex, The Losers, Green Lantern, Lobo, and the next Batman saga—it’s foolish to sit on the property until the last minute and rush a Superman into theaters that no one wants to see.

The Xavier School for Gifted Children may one day open its doors, but not just yet. Aussie actor Tim Pocock, who stared as the fresh-faced Cyclops, is denying he Tweeted that X-Men: First Class could shoot as earlier as next year, per Superhero Hype! Based on the Marvel comic-book series, this in-the-works X-Men prequel will focus on how Professor Charles Xavier took the likes of Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Beast under his wings when they were young mutants learning how to harness their powers. Pocock first donned Cyclops’s protective glasses in X-Men: Origins: Wolverine, and makes it clear he would want to return for First Class. No kidding.

Disney continues to position Tron Legacy as the blockbuster to beat on Dec. 17, 2010 by announcing plans to screen the belated sequel at IMAX 3D theaters, per Heat Vision. Tron Legacy will open against The Green Hornet and Yogi Bear.

Remakes
So maybe Nicolas Cage isn’t all about the money. He reveals that he left The Green Hornet because there wasn’t enough time to humanize his cold-blooded villain. “The Green Hornet was something that I wanted to do, I think [director] Michel Gondry is very talented and I had hoped it would work but I think [star] Seth Rogen and Michel had a different take on the character,” Cage said while promoting Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans at the Toronto International Film Festival, according to the Canadian Press. Cage’s loss is Christop Waltz’s gain. After seeing Inglourious Basterds, it’s hard to imagine Waltz giving us a bad guy we have seen countless times before.

Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 16, 2009

Sequels
How sure is writer Mark Millar that Kick-Ass (right) will kick ass a second time? “The series ends on a teaser for the next one, and the movie ends on that teaser, too,” Millar tells MTV of director Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of his Kick-Ass comic book. The ongoing series features a high school kid—played in the film by British unknown Aaron Johnson—whose passion for comic books inspires to become the superhero Kick-Ass, albeit one without any powers. Nicolas Cage costars in Kick-Ass as a vigilante working to bring down a drug baron. Kick-Ass doesn’t open until April 16, but Millar’s happy to tell MTV that it could be “even bigger” than the Angelina Jolie shoot ‘em up inspired by his Wanted series. Bold words, so Kick-Ass had better live up to its name.

We’re going to be running up that Silent Hill again. Roger Avary will write the sequel to the 2006 horror film based on the video game, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Avary, who won an Oscar for co-writing Pulp Fiction, recently pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving for a January 2008 car crash that killed one of his passengers.

How much would you pay to stand in the presence of Scarlett Johansson at next year’s Iron Man 2 premiere? ScarJo, who slips into Black Widow’s catsuit for the superhero sequel, is auctioning off two tickets to the premiere to benefit Oxfam America, per People. Not only do you get to see watch Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man wrestle Mickey Rourke’s Crimson Dynamo, but Johansson will make time to say hello to you as part of her duties as an Oxfam Ambassador. The auction runs 10 p.m. Thursday through Sept. 24 on eBay.com. Let the bidding begin.

Will Optimus Prime return to protect Earth before Bad Boys Will Smith and Martin Lawrence can head back down to Miami for more fun in the sun? Perhaps we’ll know very soon which threequel Michael Bay will prioritize following this week’s chat with Steven Spielberg and writer Ehren Kruger about all things Transformers 3, per the director’s Web site. Not sure what Bay has to gain from doing Bad Boys 3, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he turns his attention to the steroids-fueled crime caper Pain & Gain if he’s sick of dealing with big robots and giant-sized egos.

In case you were worried, work is progressing very nicely on Mission Impossible: IV, according to J.J. Abrams. “Yeah, we have a really cool story. It’s being written right now by Andre Nemec and Josh Applebaum,” Abrams tells Sci Fi Wire. Forget cool—just let it be better than the Abrams-directed M:I:III.

No surprise, but Spider-Man IV will also debut in IMAX theaters when the Sam Raimi-directed sequel swings into action May 5, 2011, Coming Soon reports. That’s all well and good, but how about letting us know which villain will try to squash the Web-slinger. My money’s on the Lizard.

Remakes
So what if it was just three years ago that we had to endure a 3-D remake of Night of the Living Dead? Director Zebediah de Soto, though, at least has the good sense to try something new with his proposed 3-D Night of the Living Dead: Origins remake of George A. Romero’s (left) seminal zombie yarn. He will employ a new 3-D CG technique to explain how the dead come to life, according to Heat Vision. Romero, whose sixth zombie saga Survival of the Dead screens next week at Fantastic Fest 2009 in Austin, TX., won’t be involved. It would be nice to think that this will be the last Night of the Living Dead remake we’ll see, but as the rights to Romero’s film are in the public domain, we’ll most likely have to suffer many more such nights.

I was feeling good about the casting of The A-Team, but now there are reports that Jessica Biel’s ready to join Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Sharlto Copley. I would be fine if she were merely playing an old flame of Bradley Cooper’s Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck. But it just so happens that she’s also the army general on the trail of the mercenaries wanted for a crime they didn’t commit, per Variety. If director Joe Carnahan had seen Stealth and Home of the Brave, he would know a uniformed Biel will never be all she can be.

Tom Hanks immediately comes to mind when you think of a Harvey for the 21st century. Hanks is the Jimmy Stewart of our times. But perhaps casting Hanks as the man who hangs out with an invisible bunny struck Steven Spielberg as too obvious. Like every other director trying to cast a big-budget studio production, Spielberg’s got his eye on Robert Downey Jr., per Variety. But, as we all know, what Spielberg wants, Spielberg gets.

Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 14, 2009

Sequels
It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights, it’s time to meet the Muppets in The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made. Kermit the Frog et al. will head to theaters for the first time since 1999’s Muppets from Space got zapped at the box office. Jason Segel, who showed his affection for puppetry in last year’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall, will write this new Muppet misadventure, Disney announced during last week’s D23 event (above), according to Coming Soon. No doubt Miss Piggy is already getting ready for her close-up.

Taking a fourth voyage with Capt. Jack Sparrow made me quite queasy when Disney originally announced the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, though, I’m onboard. Why? The two Pirates sequels were too complicated to enjoy. So I’m hoping the newly titled Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides—due in the summer of 2011, Disney announced at D23, per Variety—with be as much fun as Johnny Depp’s first adventure on the Black Pearl. It helps that Rob Marshall—the Chicago and Nine director who will replace Gore Verbinski—is a newcomer to the franchise and likely will want to steer as far away from possible from the franchise’s mythology without alienating fans. With the addition of On Stranger Tides, the sequel-heavy summer of 2011 is now starting to feel like a combination of each and every popcorn season we have experienced since 2002. Sequels that summer will also include Cars 2, The Hangover 2, the final Harry Potter, Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom, Spider-Man 4, and Transformers 3.

I do not speak or read French, so I’m assuming People correctly translated the quote Le Figaro attributes to Harrison Ford on the fifth Indiana Jones. “The story for the new Indiana Jones is in the process of taking form,” Ford tells Le Figaro. “Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and myself are agreed on what the fifth adventure will concern, and George is actively at work. If the script is good, I’ll be very happy to put the costume on again.” Just as long as the fifth adventure doesn’t concern Indy passing his whip to Shia LaBouef’s Mutt Williams…

Care to guess the title of the in-the-works sequel to East is East? Yes, it’s West is West, per Variety. The sequel to the British dramedy will pick up five years later with the family of the oft-frustrated father George Kahn (Om Puri) packing their bags and moving from Manchester, England, to Pakistan.

Remakes
Finally, some good news to come from the set of The Green Hornet. Christoph Waltz will replace Nicolas Cage as the adversary of Seth Rogen’s masked crime-fighter, Deadline Hollywood reports. In Inglourious Basterds, The German actor showed he could chillingly play a villain without resorting to unnecessary theatrics. The same cannot be said too often about the hammy Cage.

I’m waiting until I see Disney’s A Christmas Carol before I pass judgment on the Mouse House hiring Robert Zemeckis to direct its 21st-century 3-D overhaul of The Yellow Submarine (see The Hollywood Reporter). Zemeckis knows his Beatles—his first film was the Fab Four tribute I Wanna Hold Your Hand. But as much as I thought Zemeckis made stunning technical strides with The Polar Express and Beowulf, I wasn’t able to connect with the slightly stiff characters he created using performance capture. Their eyes never served as a window to their souls. Hopefully Zemeckis has fixed this problem with his Scrooge redo. If not, well Zemeckis has a built-in excuse for why his performance-captured John, Paul, George, and Ringo have glassy eyes.

All you Commie bastards beware: the Comedian’s coming for you. Watchmen’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan will wage war against Russian invaders in next year’s Red Dawn. Per Variety, Morgan will star as the U.S. Special Forces commander who stumbles upon the Wolverines’ hideout.

How classy how it would be if MGM/UA dedicates Red Dawn to Patrick Swayze? Sadly, the 57-year-old Ghost heartthrob lost his battle today with pancreatic cancer. It also will be bittersweet to watch the proposed Dirty Dancing remake knowing he’s no longer around to make sure nobody puts Baby in a corner.

Zoinks! Scooby-Doo’s Got More Work to Do!

Are you ready for some … Scooby-Doo?

My 5-year-old son reminds that the Cartoon Network will offer families a break from today’s NFL action with the premiere of Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (7 p.m./6 p.m. Central). In order to continue what it started with a bang with 2001’s Scooby-Doo and ruined with 2003’s Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Warner Bros. has turned back the clock to offer a live-action prequel with a spankin’ new cast comprised of unknowns. Hey, what better way than to shed the salaries of Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, and Linda Cardellini? The prequel—which reveals how everyone’s favorite meddling kids went into the monster-busting business—stars True Jackson VP’s Robbie Amell as Fred, Kate Melton as Daphne, Nick Palatas as Shaggy, and Hayley Kiyoko as Daphne. The reliable Frank Welker, who’s voiced Fred in most of the Mystery Inc. misadventures over the past four decades, gives Scooby-Doo his growl.

Sadly, director Brian Levant’s in charge of rebooting the live-action Scooby-Doo franchise. He messed up The Flintstones and then tried in vain to start over with its prequel, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. So it’s doubtful The Mystery Begins will be much of an improvement over its two disappointing predecessors.

Warner Bros. probably wouldn’t have placed itself in the position of rebooting the franchise had it released Monsters Unleashed in the summer—rather than in the quieter March—like Scooby-Doo. As a result, Monsters Unleashed dug up just $84.1 million in 2004 vs. Scooby-Doo’s $153.2 million in 2002. I think Warner Bros. jumped the gun making a TV movie, which debuts Sept. 22 on DVD. Bringing back Scooby-Doo’s original live-action cast for a 3-D adventure surely would have earned Warner Bros. enough money to buy everyone in the world a Scooby Snack or two.

Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 10, 2009

Remakes
I love it when a cast comes together. District 9’s Sharito Copley (right) is in talks to join Joe Carnahan’s 21st-century revamp of The A-Team as the appropriately named “Howling Mad” Murdock, per Blackfilm.com. Copley, who’s already shown a flair for making us laugh while under fire, would be a natural to replace the TV show’s Dwight Schultz. Carnahan just cast former UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as the brawling B.A. Baracus. Liam Neeson leads the kindhearted mercenaries as “Hannibal” Smith while The Hangover’s Bradley Cooper is the smooth-as-butter “Faceman” Peck. The A-Team’s first theatrical mission begins June 11, 2010.

The Dude’s got True Grit. Nice to see the perennially underrated Jeff Bridges in talks to reunite with The Big Lebowski’s Coen Brothers for their remake of the 1969 western. Bridges will assume John Wayne’s Oscar-winning role of the over-the-hill U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn, Variety reports. There’s really no need to remake True Grit, but with Joel and Ethan Coen vowing to remain faithful to Charles Portis’ novel, we’re likely to see a True Grit we have not seen before.

The Green Hornet’s greatest enemy appears to be itself. First Stephen Chow walked away as both the masked crime-fighter sidekick Kato and the film’s director, now Nicolas Cage is out as the Green Hornet’s nemesis just days into the start of production. He and Sony Pictures couldn’t agree to a deal, according to Heat Vision. I can’t imagine anything other than money prompting Cage’s departure. He’s hardly picky when it comes to choosing roles (witness Next and Knowing); he loves comic books and graphic novels (he’s already made Ghost Rider and next year’s Kick-Ass); and he probably would have had a blast being directed by the unconventional Michel Gondry (both enjoyed career highs making films written by Charlie Kaufman). No word yet on who will replace Cage, but I suspect Sony Pictures now is ready to pay through the nose for a big-name actor to save a film that’s already come under great scrutiny for all its setbacks. Maybe Sony Pictures should have saved itself all this trouble by giving Cage what he wanted.

Judging by the so-so grosses of Paramount’s G.I. Joe, Warner Bros. probably made the right decision to back out of reviving Masters of the Universe. Variety reports the studio and Mattel, which puts out the He-Man and Skeletor line of toys, weren’t on the same page about what kind of film to make (hopefully they at least agreed it shouldn’t be anything like Cannon’s 1987 camp classic). Unlike Transformers, Masters of the Universe was cheesy in the 1980s and really has no place in the 21st century unless you’re going to do it 300 style.

Chuck may have survived one cancellation scare, but it likely won’t be back for a fourth season if it continues to lose viewers. So you can’t blame Zachary Levi for looking to the future. In additional to starring as Jason Lee’s cousin in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel, Levi will lend his voice to Disney’s Digital 3D-animated take on Rapunzel as a bandit goes on the run with the long-haired princess (Mandy Moore), per Heat Vision.

Sequels
Charlize Theron needs at least one huge paycheck job to underwrite all the little-seen indies she’s done in recent years. The leggy one will return for Hancock 2 as Will Smith’s super-powered missus. Director Peter Berg also tells MTV that he already has in the mind the big-name actor he wants to cast as Hancock 2’s newest superhero, but he’s not spilling the beans. Wouldn’t it be bromantic if that unnamed actor happened to be Tom Cruise?

No surprise New Line settled with the Tolkien estate and publisher HarperCollins over profits from the Lord of the Rings trilogy (see Variety). Going to court could have put the brakes on the upcoming Hobbit, films—to be produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Guillermo del Toro—and nobody wanted that to happen. So it was inevitable that New Line—which will finance the two movies, due in 2011 and 2012, with MGM—would settle rather than go to trial next month. Now the Tolkien estate can distribute its share of the profits to such charities as Save the Children Fund and the World Cancer Research Foundation.

Wall Street 2 wouldn’t be Wall Street 2 without Charlie Sheen. I know it, you know it, Oliver Stone knows it. That’s why Sheen will make a cameo as Bud Fox, the fresh-faced trader who brought down his mentor, Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko, per The New York Times.

Woody and Buzz, meet Bond, James Bond. Former 007 Timothy Dalton’s joined the voice cast of Toy Story 3 as Mr. Pricklepants. He’s a toy hedgehog who fancies himself as an actor. Pixar also revealed that Cars 2, due 2011, will find Lightning McQueen zooming from one country to another in the Race of Champions, according to Empire. Did anyone order a Speed Racer remake?

Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 7, 2009

Sequels
Goodbye Rob Zombie, hello Patrick Lussier. The Weinstein Co.’s Dimension is in negotiations with director Patrick Lussier to direct next summer’s Halloween 3D, according to Variety. He’s no stranger to Dimension—he edited the three Scream films and directed Dracula 2000, Dracula II: Ascension, Dracula III: Legacy, and The Prophecy 3: The Ascent for the genre label. He also knows a thing or two about 3D, having directed this year’s My Bloody Valentine remake (right). Lussier may not possess Zombie’s vision or affinity for all things white trash, but he did a better job with My Bloody Valentine than Zombie did with Halloween II. That said, if I’m Lusster and I have to choose between two 3D films—the third Halloween and Nicolas Cage’s Drive Angry—I’m going with steering Cage toward another Gone in 60 Seconds-sized hit than trying to revive Michael Myers.

No, Rambo V won’t pit the Vietnam veteran against Mexican drug lords and human traffickers. Sylvester Stallone tells Ain’t It Cool News that Rambo’s next mission will find him back in the Pacific Northwest—the locale for First Blood—trying to track down one-the-loose-and-gone-berserk U.S. military trained soldiers raised from infancy to kill. Stallone insists Rambo V: The Savage Hunt is not a remake of Universal Solider, but that probably won’t stop Dolph Lundgren from begging Sly for a role …

Remakes
Dimension wants Ehren Kruger to write its Children of the Corn remake, according to Variety (the Syfy Channel will air its own remake on Sept. 26). Kruger’s worked many times for the Weinstein brothers: he wrote their Scream 3, The Brothers Grimm, Imposter, and Reindeer Games. He also Americanized The Ring and is currently working on the proposed Videodrome remake. Despite spawning six sequels, 1984′s Children of the Corn remains the most reviled of all Stephen King adaptations. So whatever Kruger does, it’s bound to be an improvement upon the original.

Not sure whether this bodes badly for the upcoming Fame, but the soundtrack to the hip-hopified remake made an inauspicious No. 90 debut on the Billboard 200 top-selling albums chart. Of course, the soundtrack was released Aug. 25, a month before Fame’s Sept. 25 opening, so no one’s seen the remake or heard much of its music. But a No. 90 debut suggests early interest in Fame isn’t all that high or people are waiting to see the remake and familiarizing themselves with the songs before committing to buying or downloading the soundtrack.

Forget olive branches: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans director Werner Herzog has a better way of making peace with Abel Ferrara. “I have never seen the films (including Ferrara’s 1992 Bad Lieutenant), but I would like to meet the man,” Herzog said at the Venice Film Festival, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I have a feeling that if we met and talked, over a bottle of whisky, I should add, I think we could straighten everything out.” At this year’s Cannes, Ferrara infamously wished death upon those involved in this remake that’s been relocated from New York to a post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Judging by the trailers, the two Bad Lieutenants bear little resemblance beyond the premise of both the original’s Harvey Keitel and the playing drugged-out corrupt cops in desperate need of redemption. Check out trailers for both films (below): the remake will leave you wondering whether everyone involved in it happened to be smoking from a crazed Cage’s lucky crack pipe.

Bad Lieutenant

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 3, 2009

Sequels
Kato had better have the Green Hornet’s back. Disney plans to open Tron Legacy on Dec. 17, 2010, setting up a box office showdown against The Green Hornet, according to Box Office Mojo. I was hoping to see Tron Legacy sooner than later—especially after seeing the thrilling Grid VFX Concept Test (below)—but Disney’s jam-packed next summer with the likes of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Step Up 3-D, Toy Story 3, and the live-action version of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Considering I’ve waited since 1982 for a sequel to Disney’s groundbreaking venture into computer animation, I can wait until Christmas 2010. The Green Hornet and Tron Legacy will both be competing for the same young male audience, but Disney wouldn’t have set up this battle royale if it didn’t think it stood a chance against Seth Rogen’s long-in-the-works reworking of the vintage comic book and TV series. I take this as a sign that rival studios aren’t afraid of going up against The Green Hornet because of all the concern generated by Rogen’s casting, Stephen Chow’s departure as both Kato and the film’s director, the production delays, and the release date change. It also helps that Tron Legacy will arrive in 3-D. There’s bound to be some shuffling between now and Christmas 2010, and I suspect The Green Hornet will blink if anticipation continues to build for Tron Legacy. December 2010 is already crowded because of Smurfs, Yogi Bear, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. But so far nothing is scheduled to open on Dec. 25, 2010, and if Sony has no problem moving The Green Hornet from the summer to Christmas, then I can’t imagine it wouldn’t consider pushing it back by a week or so if it means the crime fighter will pack more of a punch at the box office.

Will Smith isn’t the only “Bad Boy” with sequels in the works to his greatest hits. Martin Lawrence is getting in the act with Big Momma’s House 3, per Variety. And Fox has wisely hired a writer who knows a thing or two about men pretending to be old, no-nonsense women: Randi Mayem Singer introduced movie audiences to Mrs. Doubtfire. It was only a matter of time before Lawrence unlocked the door to Big Momma’s House again. His first cross-dressing caper earned $117.5 million in 2000 and its sequel’s $70.1 million reversed Lawrence’s fortunes in 2006 after a series of high-profile disappointments. Let’s not forget that Tyler Perry’s mouthy matriarch Madea continues to prove with film after film that audiences love to see men doll themselves up and pass themselves off as women. Given that Smith doesn’t really need Bad Boys 3, I suspect we’ll see Big Momma’s House 3 before Lawrence and Smith cause more mayhem in Miami.