My Best Films

Looks like 20th Century Fox really didn’t want anyone but Ridley Scott in charge of the Alien prequel - he’s officially attached to direct.

Jon Spaihts is writing the script after submitting a killer pitch to Scott Free Productions

There’s no word on exactly what the plot will be, but it’ll likely set up the dead, Xenomorph egg-infested ship seen in the original Alien.

While we’re still not sure we need to see another use of the Alien franchise, having Scott back at the helm certainly helps us warm to the idea.

And if it means we don’t have to suffer another Aliens Vs Predator film - at least for a while - it’s all the better for it.

[Source: Variety]

Is a new Alien film from Ridley Scott a good call? Tell us your thoughts…

Looks like 20th Century Fox really didn’t want anyone but Ridley Scott in charge of the Alien prequel - he’s officially attached to direct.

Jon Spaihts is writing the script after submitting a killer pitch to Scott Free Productions

There’s no word on exactly what the plot will be, but it’ll likely set up the dead, Xenomorph egg-infested ship seen in the original Alien.

While we’re still not sure we need to see another use of the Alien franchise, having Scott back at the helm certainly helps us warm to the idea.

And if it means we don’t have to suffer another Aliens Vs Predator film - at least for a while - it’s all the better for it.

[Source: Variety]

Is a new Alien film from Ridley Scott a good call? Tell us your thoughts…

Jerry Bruckheimer has bought the rights to IDW’s graphic novel World War Robot.

In what sounds like a  similar take to World War Z, the story is in the form of a war diary scrawled by combatants on both sides (robots keep diaries?) during a conflict between men and machines on Earth, the moon and Mars.

Ashley Wood created, drew and penned the original title, which is apparently laced with political intrigue and dark humour.

We’d guess Bruckheimer’s aiming to turn it into a new franchise, though it’s not yet known which studio he’ll take it to. Bet Disney gets first dibs…

[Source: Variety]

Sound intriguing? Or do we have too many robo-pics?

Jerry Bruckheimer has bought the rights to IDW’s graphic novel World War Robot.

In what sounds like a  similar take to World War Z, the story is in the form of a war diary scrawled by combatants on both sides (robots keep diaries?) during a conflict between men and machines on Earth, the moon and Mars.

Ashley Wood created, drew and penned the original title, which is apparently laced with political intrigue and dark humour.

We’d guess Bruckheimer’s aiming to turn it into a new franchise, though it’s not yet known which studio he’ll take it to. Bet Disney gets first dibs…

[Source: Variety]

Sound intriguing? Or do we have too many robo-pics?

Looks like Tron Legacy director Joseph Kosinski will have another job lined up after he finishes the long job of post-production work on the film: Oblivion.

It’s the tale of a battle-scarred soldier who ends up court-martialled and ordered to patrol a desolate planet, slowly wiping out the local, primitive alien race.

But then a strange traveller arrives and both characters are forced to question their lives and reality itself.

He’s apparently been developing the idea since the former ads helmer moved to Los Angeles four years ago, kicking around the concept of a simple sci-fi film with which to launch his directing career.

Tron Legacy, of course, has gotten in the way, but he seems ready to go back to it.

"I was looking to make a science fiction film that I could do on a budget," Kosinski tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It’s grown since then, but it’s intended to be a very spare science fiction film, with a small cast but big ideas and big landscapes."

He’s since pitch and sold it to Radical Pictures, which intends to both produce it as a movie and use its graphic novel arm to have the story out on stands.

It’ll have to wait, though - there are light cycles to fashion first…

[Source: THR]

Excited to see what Kosinski will do next? Tell us!
 

We’ve known for a while that Warners has been working on a new version of 1935 pirate tale Captain Blood.

But now the studio, working from an intriguing new idea from directing brothers Peter and Michael Spierig (both below), who made Undead and the upcoming Daybreakers, have decided to greenlight a reboot set… in space.

The original, which starred Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone in the tale of a doctor who signs on with a pirate crew, only to clash with his skipper over the love of a woman - is very firmly set on Earth.

Well, the ocean. But you get the point.

Now the Speirigs have pitched an idea to producer Bill Gerber that would take the story and rocket it beyond the atmosphere.

"At first, I felt like I was in that scene in The Player, where Buck Henry pitches the sequel to The Graduate," Gerber tells Variety.

"But when I took a look at their animatic depiction of a pirate battle in space, it had such a distinctive visual look to it that I said, ‘Great, I get it.’"

Yes, that’s what you want - an idea that feels like a spoof of a terrible concept…

Still, the studio is pushing ahead with it  and writer John Brownlow - who has already written one draft, which kept the original feel of the film - is staying on board to work up the interstellar take.

But the storyline will apparently be maintained, just with a few extra robots and space battles.

Could work…

[Source: Variety]

Excited by the idea? Or wish it was thrown out of an airlock? Tell us…

The first trailer for Wes Anderson’s stop-motion ‘toon based on Roald Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr Fox is now online and you can see it below.

Featuring voices from the likes of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Bill Murray, it looks to infuse Anderson’s quirky style with more than a slight nod to Clooney’s Ocean’s films.

The animation might not be quite up to the same level as, say, Aardman, but it definitely looks like Anderson’s on to a winner.

And we love Murray’s pitch-perfect deliver of Badger’s line about his explosives expertise.

Take a look at the footage and let us know what you think…

Steven Spielberg is seriously pondering whether to make Matt Helm his next film.

Based on Donald Hamilton’s novel series, the MAtt Helm adventures chronicle the work of a US government agent who eliminates enemy agents.

While the books are set in the Cold War era, the scripts - including a new version by Paul Attanasio, that has caught Spielberg’s attention - are set in the present day.

And while previous adaptations (starring Dean Martin, below) have been spoofy romps, the new version is, surprise, surprise, hewing more towards The Bourne Identity than Austin Powers.

Of course, this being The Beard, you’d think that all he has to do is wave his hand in the direction of a film and the studio starts scrambling to get it into production.

Trouble is, it’s not that straightforward this time around.

See, Spielberg had been developing the film for several years at DreamWorks, but it was one of the projects he left behind like a sad puppy at Paramount when the two companies split.

Now Paramount has control of the rights and doesn’t necessarily have to go with Spielberg at the helm. They may even decide to hand the script to a new, cheaper director.

Yet with a likely franchise in the offing, they’d be missing out on the World’s Most Famous Director(TM) kick-starting it all off.

According to Variety, we’ll soon find out how this tug-of-war ends. But nobody should bet against The Beard.

[Source: Variety]

Who do you think will win? Speak your mind!

Universal is clearly looking to kick the production of movies based on Robert "Bourne" Ludlum’s books into high gear, and has attached Ron Howard to The Parsifal Mosaic.

It’s another twisty thriller from Ludlum, which finds a CIA operative watching his lover get gunned down shortly after she’s exposed as a KGB double agent.

But, as with all things Ludlum, it’s not quite that simple.

David Self, who wrote Road To Perdition and most recently helped out on the script for the troubled new take on The Wolfman, has been hired to adapt the book.

Next week, Universal is set to begin negotiations for The Purchase Conundrum, a thrilling, all-action run down of what Ludlum once bought at a supermarket.

[Source: Variety]

Is Howard a good fit for a Ludlum novel? Speak!