|
Movie & TV News | Serendipity Cinema | The DVD Review | Archives | Links | About C Wayne Owens
|
|
|
Movie & TV News | Serendipity Cinema | The DVD Review | Archives | Links | About C Wayne Owens
|
|
|
MOVIE & TV NEWS
Sequels On Tap ***"New Tom Clancy" "The Hunt for Red October", "Patriot Games", "Clear & Present Danger", "The Sum of All Fears" - the Jack Ryan franchise is still one of Paramount's strongest film series both critically and financially, it's no surprise that they've decided to expand upon the premise with a spin-off or two. Variety reports that the studio has hired writers Stuart Beattie ("Collateral", "Pirates of the Caribbean") and John Enbom ("Six Shooters") in separate deals to adapt the Tom Clancy novels "Without Remorse" and "Rainbow Six," respectively. Both novels are based around the CIA agent John Clark character, the darker more shadowy character Clancy invented as something of an antithesis to his high and noble hero Jack Ryan. **'Remorse" centers on an ex-Navy SEAL who infiltrates the gang responsible for killing a woman he loved. He then takes on a new name and life as John Clark. **"Rainbow" has Clark andseveral colleagues leaving the CIA and to create an England-based multinational organization designed to battle terrorism. The Clark character has been portrayed twice on-screen before, once by Willem Dafoe in "Clear and Present Danger" and again by Liev Schreiber in "The Sum of All Fears". Paramount also has rights to Clancy's "Red Rabbit" to be developed as a fifth Jack Ryan movie and signed "Saving Private Ryan" scripter Robert Rodat to adapt. **"xXx 2" Filmjerk reports that the follow-up should begin shooting in mid-July, with locations in Los Angeles, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.. Michael Roof will return, again as National Security Agency techie Toby Lee Shavers. “The sequel will find a new XXX program agent, Darius Stone(Ice Cube's character name)," According to one source, "Embroiled in thwarting a Washington power struggle.” Willem Dafoe's name is being bandied about for the role of the Secretary of Defense in the film. **"Beverly Hills Cop 4" JB Films tells that Producer Jerry Bruckheimer won't be involved in the fourth BHC film - "Though I was not involved in the third film, we were exploring the possibility of a fourth installment of the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, but have decided not to pursue it at this time". Bruckheimer will be busy working on "The Secret Dreamworld of a Shophaolic" and an adaptation of the game "Prince of Persia". **"Freddy vs. Jason 2" Creature Corner spoke with Director Ronny Yu about the sequel and aside from confirming the potential Evil Dead 'Ash' involvement and how it happened - "That's something that the studio came up with, they asked me and all the fans wanted me to do it as well, so I said yes, show me the script! I would definitely do it. They're still working on the script, I haven't seen anything. I hope they won't work on it for 10 years". His next project is "Snakes on a Plane", described as "About a plane on the way from Honolulu to Los Angeles, and when they're halfway [into their flight], 500 poisonous snakes get released, and the first one to get killed is the pilot". ------------ "Assault on Precinct 13" Gets More In The Cells Focus Features' remake of John Carpenter's 1976 film, with Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne, to be directed by Jean-Francois Richet and produced by Stephane Sperry's Liaisons Films and Outlaw Pictures' Jeffrey Silver, has added rapper Ja Rule to the cast. The remake, written by James DeMonaco, is set in the present day. It's New Year's Eve, and a notorious mobster (Fishburne) is temporarily incarcerated at Precinct 13, a soon-to-closed police station. As a gang attacks and tries to free him, a cop (Hawke) must command a skeleton crew of policemen and prisoners to defend the station. Ja Rule will play Smiley, a small-time crook whose latest crime lands him in transport with the mobster, and he becomes trapped in the precinct when the assault begins.  Branson in U.S. Reality Show No, not the Missouri Country Music Capital, but Richard Branson. The British entrepreneur is following in the footsteps of his American counterpart Donald Trump by getting his own U.S. reality TV series, Daily Variety reported Thursday. Branson, whose closely held Virgin Group owns an airline, a music retailer and a mobile phone company, will join with Rupert Murdoch's Fox network to star in a show where young would-be billionaires compete for his approval. The working title is "Branson's Big Adventure," the show will follow the tycoon and the contestants on a six-week global tour. One contesstant will be eliminated each week, leaving them on an airport tarmac as the remaining players jet away for their next mission. ABC is developing a reality show called "The Benefactor" with Mark Cuban, whose billions came during the dot-com boom. ----------- Ed O'Neill Married With ABC's Hewitt Pilot Ed O'Neill ("Married... With Children") will co-star in ABC's untitled Jennifer Love Hewitt comedy pilot. Hewitt plays an on-air reporter in a sports TV show who is also a single mom. O'Neill will play the Sports show's executive producer. ------------ The Blob Being Remade! Again! We hope this wasn't another joke for April Fools. In the middle of a Variety story about screenwriter Joe Ballarini selling an urban comedy script called "F+" to MGM is a mention that he also just wrote a remake of The Blob for Warner Bros. Like the new Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, it is yet another remake of a film that was already made and then remade pretty well in recent memory; while the remake of The Blob was fairly boiler plate, we shudder to think what the new one might be like. ----------- 
Striking for More D'oh
The voice actors on the long-running TV show "The Simpsons" have stopped work to force a settlement of lengthy contract renewal talks, Variety reported Thursday. The trade paper said that six actors have not shown up for two script readings in the past few weeks, holding up production on the show's upcoming 16th season. Insiders are quoted as saying each cast member is asking for about $360,000 an episode, or $8 million for a 22-episode season. Each member currently earns $125,000 an episode. The three-year contracts for Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu, Comic Book Guy), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns and others), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Julie Kavner (Marge, Patty & Selma) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart) all expired months ago, and their representatives have been negotiating for new ones, but to no avail. The last "Simpsons" work dispute was in 1998, when the actors were making $30,000 per episode. The show's producer, Twentieth Century Fox TV, hired casting directors in five cities to replace most of them before both sides worked out a new deal and resumed production. ------------  Gretchen
Mol with play the title role in this biopic of the sexy 50's bombshell
Bettie
Page, whose legendary bondage photographs made her the target of a
Senate investigation into pornography.
Question #811: In the original (1960) version of "The Little Shop of Horrors" who played Wilbur Force? Answer
#810: Who created Captain Klutz?
You
can join in the fun, Subscribe
Here
to get the question
Serendipity Cinema: (This is a Once A Week Feature) A Recommended Film You May Never Have Heard Of, But Really Ought To See. #2. The Enchanted Cottage. Some will call it a "Chick Flick," others just a "Romantic Love Story" and some might even call it "Fantasy," but this film is about the power of hope, the magic of love. With magnificent performances and simple honesty, it paints a picture that would never be attempted today. It is glorious, and will leave no one who sees it unchanged. If you have a romantic bone in your body seek it out, and you will thank me for pointing you in its direction.  --posted by Wayne
Thursday, April 01, 2004
--posted by Wayne Thursday, April 01, 2004
If you're interested in what's happening in the entertainment world, then signup for this newsletter. Wayne scours all the top websites for the latest entertainment news and sends them out every day for your pleasure. There's a particular emphasis here on Science Fiction and Fantasy. Big news items like Star Wars, Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and just about anything by Steven Spielberg. |
|
|
· Brobdingnagian Bards Free Music Downloads
· Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers
|
