Helen Mirren joins "Red" cast

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

Helen Mirren ("Gosford Park," "The Queen") has come on board Summit Entertainment's espionage thriller "Red," to co-star alongside Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis.

Director Robert Schwentke ("Flightplan," "The Time Traveler's Wife") will direct the movie.

Brothers Erich Hoeber and Jon Hoeber wrote the adaptation of the three-book series DC Comics story about a former black-ops CIA agent brought back into the spy life when an assassin shows up to kill him.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian will produce the movie, while DC exec Gregory Noveck will exec produce.

Shooting is scheduled to begin January next year in Toronto and Louisiana, with release date set for November 19, 2010.

Read more...

Warner Japan to produce "The Last Chushingura"

By Siewaun
Reference: Tokyograph

Warner Japan has announced that the studio will produce a period drama based on a famous true tale of samurai revenge, "The Last Chushingura" (Saigo no Chushingura).

Director Shigemichi Sugita "From the North Country" (Kita no kuni kara) has been hired to direct the movie based on a novel by Shoichiro Ikemiya. Koji Yakusho "Shall We Dance?" will star alongside Koichi Sato "Sukiyaki Western Django", Narumi Yasuda and Koji Yamamoto, reports Tokyograph.

The movie focuses on warrior Seo Magozaemon (Koji Yakusho), who flees on the night before the raid, and Terasaka Kichiemon (Koichi Sato), a loyal retainer who goes into hiding after the attack. They meet again 16 years after the event.

Shooting will start on Nov. 11 in Kyoto, and scheduled for release in 2011.

The Chushingura story is about Forty-seven Ronin with mission to avenge their master's unjustly execution. It was popularized in numerous plays including bunraku and kabuki. The play has been made into a movie many times starting from 1910. The most recent one was the 1994 movie starring Ken Takakura, titled "The 47 Ronin." It was also made into TV series many times starting with 1999 49-episode TV series of the Chūshingura entitled "Genroku Ryoran".

Read more...

DreamWorks and Doubleday naps "Robopocalypse"

By Siewaun
Reference: MovieWeb

Co-Presidents of Production of DreamWorks Mark Sourian and Holly Bario, and Jason Kaufman, Executive Editor and Vice President of Doubleday announced today that both studios have pre-emptively acquired the movie rights to Daniel Wilson's unpublished manuscript "Robopocalypse".

"Robopocalypse" explores the fate of the human race following a robot uprising.

DreamWorks is fast-tracking the project, and set a release date sometime in 2011, the same year publisher scheduled to publish the novel.

Mark Sourian said, "Daniel H. Wilson's cautionary tale of man versus machine grabbed us from the very beginning. His background in robotics and artificial intelligence grounds his story with a frightening level of realism and he has created an exhilarating story that we think audiences will really respond to."


Jason Kaufman also commented, "As a book editor, you're always looking for something unique and riveting to come across the transom. Robopocalypse is one of the most exciting and original novels I've read in a very long time. Daniel H. Wilson is not only a brilliant robotics engineer but also an extraordinary writing talent."

Wilson previously wrote "How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion," and Pulitzer winning "How to Build a Robot Army: Tips on Defending Planet Earth Against Aliens, Ninjas and Zombies." His next book, "Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibling Smackdown," will be released next year.

Read more...

Takako Matsu to star in "Kokuhaku (Confession)"

By Siewaun
Reference: nipponcinema

Takako Matsu ("HERO", "K-20: Legend of the Mask", "Villon's Wife") has been cast to star in the mystery movie "Kokuhaku (Confession)," based on Kanae Minato’s award winning debut mystery novel of the same title. Masaki Okada "Boku no Hatsukoi wo kimi ni Sasagu" and Yoshino Kimura "Blindness" will co-stars.

Director Tetsuya Nakashima, who won the Best Director award at the 2005 Yokohama Film Festival for his movie "Kamikaze Girls," will be directing the movie.

According to nipponcinema, the story is about a teacher named Moriguchi who seeks revenge against the students who murdered her daughter. The details of the incident are gradually revealed through confessions of those involved, eventually leading up to a plot twist brought on by a switch of perspective.

Shooting has already started on October 24th, and the movie scheduled for a nation-wide release in June 2010.

Read more...

George Clooney finds "The Descendants"

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

George Clooney is in negotiation to star in leading role in family comedy-drama "The Descendants" for Fox Searchlight, says Variety.

Writer/director Alexander Payne, who won the Oscar in 2005 for Best Screenplay for comedy-drama "Sideways," will be directing "The Descendants."

Nat Faxon and Jim Rash "The Way Back" wrote the screenplay based on Kaui Hart Hemmings' debut novel of the same title, which is about a wealthy landowner who takes his two daughters on a search for his wife's lover in the hopes of keeping his family together.

Payne, Jim Burke and Jim Taylor are producing through their Ad Hominem banner. Shooting is scheduled to begin in February in Hawaii.

Read more...

Paramount taps Derick Martini for "I Am My Family's Secret"

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

Paramount has has preemptively acquired Writer-director Derick Martini's original screenplay "I Am My Family's Secret," and set him to direct the movie.

According to Variety, the movie is a comedy about two very different brothers who discover their parents have been hiding a life-changing secret for more than two decades.

Ivan Reitman and Tom Pollock of Montecito Picture Co. will produce the movie, while Paramount will handle distribution.

There is still no words about the cast, but I believe it will be out in no time.

Martini's directorial debut "Lymelife," starring Alec Baldwin, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Kieran Culkin and Cynthia Nixon was released by Screen Media Films on April 17, 2009. The movie won the Fipresci prize at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival.

Read more...

Box office Oct. 30-Nov. 1 Results

1 Michael Jackson's This Is It - $21,300,000
2 Paranormal Activity - $16,540,000
3 Law Abiding Citizen - $7,303,000
4 Couples Retreat - $6,097,390
5 Saw VI - $5,556,000
6 Where the Wild Things Are - $5,081,000
7 The Stepfather - $3,400,000
8 Astro Boy - $3,035,000
9 Amelia - $3,000,000
10 Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant - $2,809,000

Source: Boxoffice.com
Read more...

Box Office Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Results (Japan)

1 MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT - SPE
2 The Unbroken (JPN.) - Toho
3 I Give My First Love To You (JPN.) - Toho
4 Fresh Pretty Cure! (JPN.Animation) - Toei
5 Kaiji (JPN.) - Toho
6 Feel The Wind (JPN.) - Shochiku
7 The Rebirth Of Buddha (JPN.Animation) - Toei
8 FAST & FURIOUS - Toho Towa
9 MY SISTER'S KEEPER - GAGA
10 Sideways (JPN.) - FOX

Source: Cinemanavi.co.jp
Read more...

Katie Holmes replaces Liv Tyler in "The Romantics"

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

Katie Holmes has signed on to star in and also executive produce an independently financed comedy "The Romantics," replacing Liv Tyler who was previously attached. The movie will also co-starring Anna Paquin, Josh Duhamel, Malin Akerman, Elijah Wood, Adam Brody and Jeremy Strong.

Producer and novelist Galt Niederhoffer will be directing the movie from screenplay she adapted from her own novel of the same title, which was published in 2008.

The story is about eight college friends who get together again six years after graduation for the wedding of Lila Hayes (Paquin) and Tom McDevon (Duhamel). The maid of honor to Lila is her best friend Laura (Holmes), who had an affair with Tom behind Lila’s back.

Jennifer and Suzanne Todd of Team Todd will produce alongside Daniela Taplin Lundberg of Plum Pictures and Michael Benaroya and Taylor Kephart of Benaroya. Celine Rattray, Pam Hirsch and Riva Marker will executive produce.

Read more...

Donnie Yen is set for "The Legend of Chen Zhen"

By Siewaun
Reference: Wu-Jing.org

Hong Kong action star and martial arts choreographer Donnie Yen is set to star as Chen Zhen, a Chinese martial artist famously played by Jet Li in "Fist of Legend." Taiwan actress Shu Qi and veteran Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong will be co-starring in the movie.

In the sequel movie by director Andrew Lau ("Storm Riders" and Infernal Affairs" trilogy) titled "Fist of Fury: The Legend of Chen Zhen," Yen will be playing Chen Zhen who reappears in Shanghai, seven years after his reported death.

The story, according to Wu-Jing.org, continues with Chen Zhen disguising as a mysterious, wealthy entrepreneur who returned from abroad and makes a grand entrance on the Shanghai social scene by befriending a notorious mafia boss. Under the guise as a caped crusader at night, he sets out to dismantle with his martial arts skill the evil collusion that is plaguing the country. One of his foremost missions is to ferret out the assassination list prepared by the Japanese.

Gordon Chan who directed Jet Li's "Fist of Legend" back in 1994, is producing with Lau and co-wrote the script. Yen is also serving as the film’s action choreographer.

Shooting should begin very soon, and is scheduled for a 2010 release by Media Asia Films.

Read more...