Sure, it’s fun getting early peeks at upcoming productions, but it’s a different story if those first looks are coming from anywhere else, but the studio in charge.
Hearing that John Travolta, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme may be in The Expendables 2 from the Nu Boyana Studios CEO? Good. Seeing official images of Anne Hathaway, Henry Cavill and Rihanna in full costume for The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel and Battleship respectively? Awesome. A parody video by Miles Fisher starring the entire cast of Final Destination 5? Bloody fantastic! Amateur photos and video of folks hanging around the set of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises? Now that’s where our problem lies.
This happens all the time. A passerby or hired photog happens to get the perfect opportunity to snap a photo of an A-lister working on the set of a highly anticipated project. The set of The Dark Knight Rises, however, is being ambushed.
No reason to start the week off on a sour note though; this Movie News Cheat Sheet is packed with some of the best of the best this past week has to offer. We’ve got a new Friday Night Lights movie in the works, great trailers for The Sitter and The Darkest Hour as well as a box office report featuring some high numbers for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Now those are stories to get excited about!
1. More from the Set of The Dark Knight Rises: Let’s get the bad seed out of the way first. At this rate, nothing will be a surprise when The Dark Knight Rises finally hits theaters next summer. Just last week we got a look at Tom Hardy in his full Bane getup and now come new photos revealing Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate and the Batpod, too. And that’s not even the least of it. There’s video of the cast and crew in the midst of shooting a big mid-blizzard fight scene. After all the leaked material that’s surfaced since production began, let alone in the past week, it’s a wonder why someone isn’t putting their foot down to demand better set security. Of course, the production team isn’t solely to blame. This type of issue is really inevitable when shooting in public locations. Considering that standpoint, shame on the folks that are continuously spoiling the film for the rest of us. You won’t find any links to the aforementioned material here, but sadly, there’s no denying that you can track down the videos and images with ease.
2. John Travolta, Chuck Norris & Jean-Claude Van Damme Could Be New Expendables: In a recent interview with Nu Boyana Studios’ David Varod, the CEO spilled details on an upcoming production expected to shoot in Bulgaria, The Expendables 2. Not only did Varod reveal “the shooting is going to take place the second week of September,” but the folks he expects to fly in for the filming – “Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, John Travolta, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke … who else? Of course, Bruce Willis. The director is Simon West, who is also a name. He is already here and has started working on the film.” As Varod mentions, he thinks the second film will be better than the first and based on this news, and West’s involvement, I’m inclined to agree. The Expendables isn’t a film that needs to improve in terms of story and character development, rather with more famous faces with muscles and bigger explosions, an appropriate formula for a director like West. (via Novinite.com)
3. New Friday Night Lights Movie in the Works: No, we’re not talking a sequel to the 2004 Peter Berg film, rather one connected to the beloved TV show. However, as Berg is executive producer of the series, he’s involved here and, according to Deadline, as he’s just wrapped five seasons, he’s got a film version in active development. The project will call Universal Pictures home with Berg hoping to kick off production next year. The TV show cast will star, but the only two names mentioned in the article are Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton. That makes Aimee Teegarden a necessity, right? Plus, with Taylor Kitsch, Jesse Plemons and Zach Gilford on for most of the show’s run, they’re likely to reprise their roles on the big screen as well. Plus, both Kitsch and Plemons are in Berg’s Battleship. Think they like working together?
4. Clip from Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant: You don’t hear about big studios going the short film route very often, save for maybe Pixar’s pre-feature animated ones, but Marvel’s got something special in the works, their “One-Shot” series. At Comic Con, One-Shot co-producer Brand Winderbaum explained, “It’s a fun way to experiment with new characters and ideas, but more importantly it’s a way for us to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe and tell stories that live outside the plot of our features.” Sure enough, a piece of the short “The Consultant” hit the web and it sheds light on what happened after Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk, but before The Avengers. Check out the clip for yourself right here and catch the entire thing as well as “Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer …” on the Thor Blu-ray in September. (via Marvel.com)
5. First Looks – Henry Cavill as Superman, Anne Hathaway as Catwoman & Rihanna in Battleship: In the midst of drowning in The Dark Knight Rises fan-shot spoilers, we get something real, something official – our first look at Anne Hathaway as Catwoman aboard a wicked motorcycle. Rather than go with the traditional Halloween-like cat suit, Nolan is aiming to make his Catwoman “more tactical” and “more like a robber” and it shows. In other legit first look news, we were also introduced to the Henry Cavill version of Superman in Man of Steel. It’s tough to get a good look at the guy as the image is a bit foggy courtesy of a smoky atmosphere, but he’s donning the suit and poufy hairdo, so, so far, so good, right? Last up is an armed and dangerous Rihanna in Battleship. At this point it’s a little tough to get past the film’s odd amalgamation of a trailer and keep the excitement high, but an image is an image and Rihanna clearly has no problem rocking a Navy uniform and some massive artillery. (via Warner Bros Movies.com and The Playlist)
6. Steven Soderbergh Joins The Hunger Games: Like most busy big budget productions, The Hunger Games has a second unit, which means, it needs a second unit director. Usually, we hear little to nothing about the man or woman filling this position, but in the case of The Hunger Games it’s quite different because the second unit director is none other than Steven Soderbergh. For a guy who’s directed over 20 features, many of which he shot himself, and produced even more, it’s quite odd that he’s taking, for lack of better terms, a subordinate position on a project. Then again, Soderbergh does have a history with Gary Ross, Soderbergh having produced Pleasantville and given his two cents on a number of scripts. There’s also Soderbergh’s connection with The Hunger Games’ production designer, Phil Messina, who’s worked on a number of Soderbergh’s films. Soderbergh’s got quite a unique eye that can stray beyond my personal taste at times, but, keep in mind, this is still Ross’ film and Soderbergh is there to do Ross’ bidding. It’s just an added bonus that he happens to be so talented and so in-tune with both Ross and Messina. (via The Playlist)
7. Final Destination 5 Cast Bloodies Up Saved By The Bell: Prior to snagging a role in Final Destination 5, Miles Fisher was primarily known as the guy in “Pinkberry: The Movie” as well as some other popular comedy shorts. Even though he’s finally made his way to the big screen, Fisher continues to put his humor and singing skills to use and, this time, he take his Final Destination 5 co-cast along for the ride. In “New Romance” Fisher takes the beloved show Saved By The Bell, sets it to the tune of his song “New Romance” and rubs some Final Destination on it. The video is packed with gory hilarity, but listen to the song sans goofy facial expressions and carnage and it’s actually kind of catchy. Check out the video here and click here to catch the song and a few other Fisher originals on his website.
8. Brett Ratner to Produce the 84th Oscars Telecast: Brett Ratner might never have been nominated for an Oscar, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be in charge of the telecast. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak announced that Ratner will join forces with Don Mischer to produce the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Mischer’s got experience having produced the 83rd ceremony as well as the 61st and 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, the XL and XLI Super Bowl Halftime Shows amongst many other productions of the live show format, but Ratner is stepping in with, well, more standard Hollywood fare under his belt. The combination of a man with knowhow like Mischer teaming with someone with ability to entertain the masses could make for a much more stimulating ceremony. (via Oscars.org)
9. Trailers: Twixt, The Sitter, The Darkest Hour: Francis Ford Coppola made quite the statement at San Diego Comic Con, introducing the audience to the rather unusual editing technique he’s got planned for his upcoming production Twixt, and now, an equally strange trailer has hit the web. The basics of the tale are laid out quite neatly at the onset, but the three-minute plus piece uses the extra time to throw in some incredibly confusing and disturbing elements that muddle it all up. If you’re looking to have a little more fun, the new red band trailer for The Sitter can definitely help you out. The concept of having Jonah Hill as a babysitter is inherently funny and, sure enough, he puts the advantage to good use, showing off how natural he can be in such an absurd situation. On top of that, the trailer comes with an introduction from Hill in which he not only offers a few extra laughs with the help of some little co-stars, but shows off his new physique. Lastly, we’ve got a new alien invasion movie on the way, Chris Gorak’s The Darkest Hour. If you were disappointed by Battle: Los Angeles’ lack of genre ingenuity, The Darkest Hour trailer alone can make up for it. Aliens don’t need slimy green skin and lasers to be scary; shredding is the new ultimate weapon.
10. Box Office: So, my prediction for Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a bit off, but I’m glad, as it’s deserving of much more than $40 million. Fox is likely thrilled with the film’s $54 million intake, backed by a solid $14,803 per theater average. As expected, The Smurfs held on stronger than Cowboys & Aliens, however, the spread between the two is much larger than suspected. The Smurfs fell 41% to take $21 million in week two, but Cowboys & Aliens fell 56.8% and only earned another $15.7 million. As The Smurfs still maintains a higher per theater average, the spread between the two will likely grow in the weeks to come. Snagging the fourth position is Universal newcomer, The Change-Up. This one proved to be a big disappointment, as it posted one of the lowest openings for a comedy this summer with just $13.5 million. Rounding out the top five is Captain America: The First Avenger, which barely beat out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, topping Harry’s $12.2 million week four haul with $13 million. (via Box Office Mojo)
Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises
