The Weinstein Company and Rainmaker Entertainment have announced the all-star cast that will be a part of the upcoming 3D CGI-animated film “Escape from Planet Earth.” The cast for the film includes Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Alba, Rob Corddry, James Gandolfini and Craig Robinson. “’Escape From Planet Earth’ has got it all… explosions, romance and a cast of hilarious aliens….what more could you ask for?” said director Cal Brunker (“Despicable Me,” “9″, “Horton Hears a Who!”). “We are having a great time making it which is coming across on the screen. It will ultimately provide a ton of fun for both kids and their parents.” “We’re excited to…

Bradley Cooper is back in talks to star in the upcoming film ‘The Silver Linings Playbook,’ Deadline is reporting. Cooper is a possible replacement for Mark Wahlberg, who had to leave due to scheduling conflicts. The Weinstein Company will release ‘The Silver Linings Playbook,’ which David O. Russell will begin directing in Fall 2011. If Cooper, who was first considered for the male lead role in 2010, is cast, he will appear alongside Jennifer Lawrence, who will play the female lead. Wahlberg left ‘The Silver Linings Playbook,’ which is based on the Matthew Quick novel of the same name, after Lawrence was cast. The actress is currently shooting ‘The Hunger…

The U.S. distribution rights for Madonna’s directorial film debut, ‘W.E.,’ have been picked up by The Weinstein Company (TWC), and the movie is scheduled to be released in late 2011, Collider is reporting. The romantic drama was written by Madonna and Alek Keshishia, and the singer will also produce the film. ‘W.E.,’ which has a similar concept to the hit 2009 comedy-drama ‘Julie and Julia,’ follows lonely New Yorker Wally Winthrop, played by Abbie Cornish, who’s obsessed with what she thinks is the ultimate love story: King Edward VIII, portrayed by James D’Arcy and Wallis Simpson, played by Andrea Riseborough. While Wally is living in 1998, Wally researches the King…

The Weinstein Company has announced today that they have acquired from WE Distribution the world rights to the Asian martial-arts film noir epic “Dragon (Wu Xia)”. International superstars Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tang Wei co-star in what is described as an “action-packed tale of crime, family and redemption.” TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein said this of “Dragon” director Peter So-Hun Chan: “Peter Chan is a true artist and with WU XIA he has created a dream project, combining two of my favorite genres: film noir and martial arts. Peter has been a friend for more than 10 years I could not be happier to be working with him on this…

The box office results for the weekend of May 6th- 8th has the mighty blockbusters taking over. “Thor” was able to hammer all the competition in its theatrical debut. In its second week, “Fast Five” held off the rest of the ensemble products that entered the arena. Here are the studio estimates: 1. Thor ($66 million) 2. Fast Five ($32.5 million) 3. Jumping the Broom ($13.7 million) 4. Something Borrowed ($13.1 million) 5. Rio ($8.2 million) 6. Water for Elephants ($5.6 million) 7. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family ($3.9 million) 8. Prom ($2.4 million) 9. Soul Surfer ($2.1 million) 10. Hoodwinked Too! Hood VS. Evil ($1.8 million) Analysis “Thor”…

It seems like big Hollywood stars are looking to work with Quentin Tarantino. In 2009, it was Brad Pitt in “Inglourious Basterds” and now it seems to be Will Smith will be cast in “Django Unchained”. It is reported that Will Smith is close to becoming attached to the Spaghetti Western inspired film. Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz are said to also be attached to the project. Like Brad Pitt, Will Smith is a genuine big Hollywood star. His films are a huge box office draw, despite his last film, “Seven Pounds” which was a commercial failure. His price tag ranges from $20 to $30 million a picture and…

Excitement for Quentin Tarantino’s long awaited follow-up to his Oscar Nominated film, “Inglourious Basterds”, were rampant when the title page of his new screenplay emerged on Twitter. The title “Django Unchained” conjures images of Italian Westerns of the 1960s and 1970s and unshaved cowboys dragging a coffin into nameless, muddy desert towns. Franco Nero who played the original Django and breakout star of “Inglourious Basterds”, Christoph Waltz are attached to this project, which is on the fast track to production by The Weinstein Company. Although, at this time, it is unclear who will play the title of Django. But after reading the description, one could imagine. Indiewire reports details of…

‘Scream’ trilogy director Wes Craven, who returned to the series to helm the upcoming fourth installment, recently discussed with Total Film his frustrations over the lack of power he had over the new script, www.reelzchannel.com is reporting. The interview comes after he tweeted that he had “not been given control of the script” by the movie’s studio, The Weinstein Company, or Dimension Films, which will distribute it. The tweet and interview were both prompted by ‘Scream’ and ‘Scream 2′ screenwriter Kevin Willliamson’s replacement by ‘Scream 3′ screenwriter Ehren Kruger last July. Williamson is still credited as writing the third sequel, but Craven said it was bumpy when Kruger was brought…

Dimension Films/The Weinstein Company are catapulting us back to the moon in the eerie found footage sci-fi flick entitled “Apollo 18.” Directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, the story tickles our fancy over the thought of whether or not we did make another trip to the moon and found some things we never dreamed of finding, or ever wanted to. López-Gallego’s most recent directorial work includes “El rey de la montaña.” “Apollo 18″ is the director’s first English-language film. Officially, Apollo 17, launched December 17th, 1972, was the last manned mission to the moon. But a year later, in December of 1973, two American astronauts were sent on a secret mission to…

Controversial documentary film-maker Michael Moore is claiming movie producer brothers Harvey and Robert Weinstein cheated him out of millions of dollars in profits after the release of ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ TMZ is reporting. Moore is also claiming the two are secretly diverting profits from the movie, which is the most successful documentary of all time after raking in $222 million since its 2004 release, to use for their own personal use. Moore’s company, Westiside Productions, filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court on February 7. The lawsuit claims Moore had a deal with The Fellowship Adventure Group, the Weinstein’s company, to split the profits from ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ evenly. The filmmaker’s…