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Hancock (2008) More at IMDbPro »
2009 | 2008 | 2007
1-20 of 285 articles from 2009 « Prev | Next »
Director Peter Berg Opens the Floodgates on Battleship; Also Talks Hancock 2 and a Possible Sequel to The Rundown
14 hours ago | Collider.com | See recent Collider.com news »
As if adapting a movie based on a board game isn’t difficult enough, Peter Berg’s adaptation of Battleship ran into serious rough waters* when it was revealed that the antagonist of the movie would be aliens. Aliens vs. Battleships. Wisely, Berg and Universal realized that the only way to combat such a negative reaction so far in advance of the film’s release was to open the floor to online journalists and withhold as little as possible. And after reading the coverage, especially from Chud.com and Latino Review, Berg has washed away some serious doubts. He describes his plans for the aliens, how he plans to tell the story, the characters, as well as throwing in some bonus, non-Battleship-related news relating to Hancock 2 and a possible sequel to The Rundown. Hit the jump to become a believer in Battleship.
Chud has a great rundown »
- Matt Goldberg
Peter Berg: 'Hancock 2 is delayed'
16 hours ago | digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news »
Director Peter Berg has said that a sequel to 2008's Hancock is not moving forward anytime soon. While speaking about his forthcoming Battleship movie, Berg told members of the press that the Hancock update will eventually happen, but he probably won't be available to shoot it until after 2010. The Friday Night Lights creator has a busy schedule ahead of him with work on Battleship and drama Lone Survivor. Scheduling conflicts with various people involved in the proposed sequel, including Will Smith, also need to be worked out, he said. "There are so many cooks in that particular kitchen that are so busy and Will's kind of taken time off (more) »
- By Mike Moody
Peter Berg Says No Hancock 2, For Now
17 hours ago | cinemablend.com | See recent Cinema Blend news »
After tons of buzz, it looks like Hancock 2 isn.t happening after all. Just two months ago director Peter Berg expressed his excitement to reunite with the cast of Hancock to make a sequel. Well, that was before we got word that Berg was hired to direct Battleship. HitFix had a chat with director Berg who seems to have lost interest in making a second film, for the time being. Apparently Will Smith is keeping out of the spotlight, hanging out with his family and watching his kids. film careers grow. On top of that, producers James Lassiter, Akiva Goldsmith and Michael Mann are busy with projects of their own. .To get us all in the same room where we can talk and then agree on anything? You'll never meet a group of people who will have a harder time agreeing on anything. It's like the Israeli peace process »
'The Road' Explores the Knife-Edge of Human Entropy
28 November 2009 12:00 AM, PST | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »
The post-apocalyptic drama The Road begins with shots of barking dogs, blooming flowers, and nuzzling horses, but it is soon revealed that these everyday pleasures are fading memories for its protagonists. With a palette of grays and browns, it quickly shifts to the leafless trees and broken ground of a wasteland that has only barely survived an unnamed catastrophe. The world smolders when it doesn't all-out burn, and the vestiges of humanity struggle to survive and retain the things that made them human.
Amid bands of roving cannibals, an unnamed father (Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee, Romulus, My Father) have left their home behind and are traveling toward the coast with hopes that the warmer weather and proximity to the ocean will provide a haven. The Man remembers the world before, but The Boy was born to The Man's wife (Charlize Theron, Hancock) after the apocalypse. »
'The Blind Side' a Winning Sports Drama
25 November 2009 9:20 PM, PST | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »
Though The Blind Side may be about an underdog, it's more a family drama than a sports film. Football may course through the veins of the movie from The Rookie director John Lee Hancock, but at its heart, The Blind Side is a story about overcoming adversity and denying defeat outside the boundaries of the football field. It doesn't add anything new to the sports drama playbook, but this film from director John Lee Hancock is surprisingly effective and affecting.
Based on a true story — and Michael Lewis's nonfiction book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game" — the film stars Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Touhy, an upper-class Memphis mother who takes in struggling young teen Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron). Leigh Anne is steel in high heels; she's a Southern woman who steamrolls people around her, but she does it all with politeness and genuine concern for their well-being. When »
Fringe star Joshua Jackson to pilot big-screen UFO remake
23 November 2009 12:57 PM, PST | The Geek Files | See recent The Geek Files news »
Joshua Jackson is to star in the feature film adaptation of British TV series UFO, according to Variety.
The star of sci-fi show Fringe will play Paul Foster, a test pilot who joins Shado (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation), a covert organisation built under a film studio.
Shado defends Earth against a race of aliens who have been abducting humans for their body parts.
Visual effects guru Matthew Gratzner, whose work includes The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Hancock, Iron Man and Alien: Resurrection, will direct the new big-screen version in what will be his feature film debut.
He said: "Character development is the most critical part of UFO and Joshua's terrific talent and range is exactly what I need to convey the inner conflict of the character of Paul Foster."
The series, created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, aired in 1970 and 1971. Rights for the series were optioned from ITV Global, »
- David Bentley
The Blind Side Review
18 November 2009 7:30 PM, PST | newsinfilm.com | See recent newsinfilm news »
From the trailers and TV spots, it is easy to assume John Lee Hancock’s latest is yet another tale of well-off white rescuing broken black. Given Hollywood’s track record of thinly-veiled political pieces, it’s obvious where the cynicism comes from. Luckily, The Blind Side is color blind and based on a true story.
Hancock deftly sidesteps the drive to tell a typical “white guilt” story where Caucasian saves African-American and other condescending racial stereotypes. It also avoids a telegraphed playbook of allegorical material and deeper sociological meaning for a lighter, feel-good tone with mainstream, family-friendly appeal for the holidays.
Aside from any assumptions, the film is heartwarming as advertised, a dramatization of how the upper-class Tuohy family took in “Big Mike” Oher off the streets, gave him a home and an education, and introduced him to his career as a left tackle. Fair warning, this is not a pure sports movie, »
- Jeff Leins
20,000 Leagues Sunk
17 November 2009 9:42 AM, PST | HeyUGuys.co.uk | See recent HeyUGuys news »
Variety are reporting today that Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a project that had Terminator: Salvation helmer McG attached as director, has been shelved indefinitely by Disney (full story here). It seems they are concentrating instead on other projects such as Pirates of the Caribbean 4, a director for which was announced earlier today (read our story here).
Probably the most interesting aspect of this story, for me at least, was that Will Smith was rumoured to be attached to play the lead. In itself not all that strange, but just last week the proposed Old Boy remake, again starring Smith, with Steven Speilberg attached, was also reported to be collapsing. IMDb lists 25 projects in development for Smith, including sequels for Hancock and I Am Legend, but as yet nothing is in production. Considering Smith hasn’t appeared on the big screen since last year’s Seven Pounds, why is »
- Barry Steele
The week in geek: will Kick-Ass be a 21st-century superhero?
12 November 2009 10:06 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
So what do you think of the Kick-Ass trailer? And is it good or bad that Steven Spielberg's Oldboy remake is apparently not going to happen?
You would be forgiven for thinking that now the superhero-loving public has got Watchmen – the holy grail of superhero movies – out of its system, the appetite for everyday Joes who dress up as masked vigilantes might have been sated. Not so, or at least that's what Matthew Vaughn and his team will no doubt be hoping in advance of their release of Kick-Ass next year.
The film is based on a Mark Millar comic book about a New York teenager who decides to don a costume and head out on to the streets to fight crime. Just as in Watchmen, the absence of real superpowers proves a major drawback in his efforts to take out the bad guys, but the comic also features »
- Ben Child
Will Smith To Star In “Flowers For Algernon” Remake?
11 November 2009 1:35 PM, PST | Filmofilia | See recent Filmofilia news »
Will Smith will probably star in and produce a remake of “Flowers For Algernon” an adaptation of Daniel Keyes 1959 novel of the same name which focuses on Charlie, a man with mental disabilities and a limited Iq who takes part in an experiment that turns him into a genius.
Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old man with an Iq of 68 who works as a cleaner…and all he wants in life is to be a genius.
Wanting to improve himself, Charlie attends reading and writing classes taught by Alice Kinnian.
Professor Nemur and Doctor Strauss are looking for a human subject to test out an experimental procedure for increasing intelligence. The procedure has already been successfully carried out on Algernon, a laboratory mouse.
Alice recommends Charlie for the procedure and his motivation to learn make him the prime candidate.
The story has been turned into a feature film several times before, »
- Fiona
Flowers For The Fresh Prince
10 November 2009 10:42 PM, PST | EmpireOnline | See recent EmpireOnline news »
What should Will Smith aim for, if he wanted to combine the sci-fi smarts of an I, Robot or an I Am Legend with the tearjerkery of a Seven Pounds of a Pursuit of Happyness? Well, he could do a lot worse than Daniel Keyes' novel Flowers For Algernon.Clearly he's already realised this, as the project is being set up at Sony by Smith's own production company Overbrook Entertainment. Tracy Nyberg, behind the scenes on I Am Legend and Hancock, is on hand to produce.The story, which began life as a short piece in 1959 and was expanded to full-length in 1966 (winning the Hugo and Nebula awards respectively), is narrated in epistolary form by Charlie, a man with a below average Iq who undergoes experiments that make him into a genius. The cost is alienation from everything and everyone he knows, before it's revealed that the process was »
Will Smith to Bring ‘Flowers for Algernon’
10 November 2009 5:07 PM, PST | Atomic Popcorn | See recent Atomic Popcorn news »
There’s no doubt that Will Smith is one of Hollywood’s biggest power players: he’s one of Tinseltown’s highest paid actors, and if his name is put on a project, chances are pretty good that film is going to do well at the box office.
However, Smith is not one to rest on his laurels and go for easy roles just to bring in the cash. Instead, he’s ever pushing himself forward as an actor, working to expand his repertoire and make his name receive equal accolades for both his comedic and serious work.
His next role will certainly require him to take his acting to the next level.
Smith has signed on with Sony Pictures to produce and star in a modern-day adaptation of Daniel Keyes’s novel Flowers for Algernon. Now, I’m going to have to step aside from the movie part of »
- Carly
'Meatballs' on TV: Only $25!
10 November 2009 9:45 AM, PST | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »
The war for your wallet may be shifting from DVD stores to your living room. Just yesterday, our own Jessica Barnes described the price war between Walmart, Target and Amazon as the three retailers have temporarily slashed their profits and passed the savings on to you. Now comes word that Sony will pre-empt retailers by making their animated hit Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs available exclusively to owners of selected Sony television sets and networked Blu-ray players more than a month before it's released on DVD. Sony, however, expects you to slash your savings and pass the profits on to them, charging $24.95 for a rental.
That's a big chunk of change for a pay-per-view movie, dramatically higher than cable and satellite systems charge for pay-per-view flicks in their window of availability before DVD and Blu-ray release. Details from a business standpoint are provided in The New York Times -- »
- Peter Martin
Will Smith Taking on 'Flowers for Algernon'?
9 November 2009 10:50 PM, PST | GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news »
Another non-confirmed bit o' casting goodness, which comes to us from Pajiba. How's this strike you: Will Smith to produce and star in an update of Flowers for Algernon? There are a plenty of details here and taken at face value, it's not too hard a story to believe.
According to Pajiba's source, Smiths's Overbrook Entertainment will partner up with Polsky Films and Tracy Nyberg, an associate producer on Hancock and Smith's assistant during the production of I Am Legend to steer this update of the 1959 novel, which won Cliff Robertson the Best Actor trophy in 1969 (that version was called Charly).
It's time to bring Kirk Lazarus into the discussion: Smith shouldn't go "full retard," although the temptation has to be pretty powerful. Big Willie Style would play a mentally retarded man who undergoes experimental surgery to increase his intelligence. It works, by the way: Charlie attains a genius-level Iq, »
- Colin Boyd
Aliens To Sink Peter Berg’s Battleship?
9 November 2009 10:47 AM, PST | ScreenRant.com | See recent Screen Rant news »
We learned early this summer that Universal is planning a Battleship board game movie, then a couple of months ago Peter Berg (Hancock) was tapped to direct, and a release date was set for July 1st, 2011 (apparently it’s been changed to August 5th, 2011). Berg has described the Battleship movie as, “an epic naval action adventure,” that is, “a contemporary story of an international five-ship fleet engaged in a very dynamic, violent and intense battle.”
That was enough to go on at the time, but what Berg Didn’T mention was who the enemy was going to be…that is, until now. On Friday, Latino Review got a scoop that confirmed (their words, not ours) from a source that the foes the “hero” battleships were presumably going to be battling against are… wait for it… aliens! That’s right, extraterrestrials presumably attacking earth for our wonderful resources (what’s left of them, »
- Ross Miller
Peter Berg to Direct Army of Two Video Game Adaptation
9 November 2009 10:46 AM, PST | FilmJunk | See recent FilmJunk news »
Over the past few months, we've seen director Peter Berg drop out of a couple of upcoming projects including the robot boxing film Real Steel [1], and the remake of Frank Herbert's Dune [2]. Clearly he's in demand after directing Hancock, but what exactly has he been freeing up his schedule for? Well, we already know that he's going to be directing Universal's Battleship [3] movie, but now in addition to a board game movie, it looks like he has added a video game adaptation to his list of potential projects as well. Yay? A recent article in Variety [4] examines some of the properties that EA is licensing out to TV, movies and comics. Among them is the previously announced big screen version of Army of Two, about two mercenaries working for the U.S. military who get caught up in a political conspiracy in the Middle East. We knew that Scott Z. Burns »
- Sean
Will Smith Buying Flowers for Algernon?
9 November 2009 9:42 AM, PST | FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news »
It wouldn't be Monday without a rumor or two. We kick off today's spinning of the rumor-mill with a story from the folks at Pajiba, who seem to be more than on top of Hollywood lately. According to their "inside source," multi-hyphenate Will Smith is developing an adaptation of the classic Daniel Keyes story Flowers for Algernon, in which he will star as well as produce. For those who missed the fifth grade, Algernon follows the story of Charlie, a mentally handicapped man who is the first human test subject in an experimental surgery that artificially increases intelligence. After seeing his Iq go from 68 to 185 following the surgery, Charlie loses the ability to socialize normally and becomes alienated from those around him. As Charlie begins to learn the truth behind the effects of the surgery -- as seen through the reaction of a mouse test subject named Algernon -- he is struck with the weight of how »
- Neil Miller
Aliens, Another Reason to Get Excited for Battleship
8 November 2009 10:10 PM, PST | Slash Film | See recent Slash Film news »
I was trying to remain positive about this upcoming Battleship movie because I think director Peter Berg has the potential to be great, but he's making it really hard for me right now. Latino Review got the scoop a few days ago that the big bad in Battleship won't be Nazis, reverse vampires, or ominous looking pegs. Instead, it's aliens. With this news I'm getting the sinking feeling that we're not getting the promising Peter Berg who gave us The Rundown, The Kingdom, and helped bring the fantastic Friday Night Lights to television---instead, I'm envisioning the guy who gave us Hancock. That the film is coming from the brother writing team Jon and Erich Hoeber, they who gave us Whiteout, is no more heartening. Then again, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. What we're getting is a film adaptation of a Hasbro board game, and just like this year's G. »
- Devindra Hardawar
Battleship spoilers?
7 November 2009 1:20 AM, PST | JoBlo.com | See recent JoBlo news »
Warning: As the headline implies, there are potential and substantial spoilers below. When we first heard that Universal was making a movie based on the classic game Battleship, it led to some head-scratching. How did they figure out a way to transform random guesses and the insertion of plastic pegs into a compelling and family-friendly movie about naval combat? What was it that lured filmmaker Peter Berg (The Kingdom, The Rundown, Hancock), and made the studio confident enough to slot it... »
- Dave Davis
Sony Gets Into “Risk”-y Business
4 November 2009 4:34 PM, PST | Atomic Popcorn | See recent Atomic Popcorn news »
We’ve got Ridley Scott’s Monopoly on the horizon. We’ve got Peter Berg’s Battleship. We have Ouija. Risk? Hey, why not?
Sony Pictures has picked up the board game that is hell-bent on world domination. So what does that mean? Well, according to one of Columbia’s representatives, it means a world of possibilities:
“The strategic thinking and the tactical gambles that players must take in the game are what make Risk a classic, thoroughly engaging game,” said Columbia prexy Doug Belgrad. Those elements translated into an action-packed, thrilling story are what will make this a uniquely exciting movie.”
So what, like every war movie that has ever been released ever? How creative.
You can bet your bottom dollar that this film will come to fruition though — Hasbro has inked a deal with Sony to produce at least four movies based on their properties. If G.I. »
- John Cooper
2009 | 2008 | 2007
1-20 of 285 articles from 2009 « Prev | Next »
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