Screen Rant » genesis: apes

Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: November 30, 2008

Niall Browne — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:33:55 +0000

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. This weekend the news wrap up features:

What hit the top of the box office; Oldboy gets a scriptwriter; Genesis: Apes is real; there will be a New Moon in March and Hugh Jackman discusses the end of Wolverine.

Box Office

The box office was dominated by Four Christmases over the Thanksgiving weekend. The Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon film should bank about $46 million over the five day weekend. Ho Ho Ho!

Last week’s number one film – Twilight dropped one place this week, but should manage another $40 million over the five days.

Animated Disney effort Bolt should bark up another $35 million over the weekend, while Quantum of Solace should manage another $30 million over the five days.

Baz Lurhmann’s 3 hour epic Australia underperformed with a five day weekend take of just $20 million. The Hugh Jackman – Nicole Kidman film cost $140 million to produce, and it’ll need amazing word of mouth if it’s going to be profitable.

Transporter 3 starring Jason Statham should manage about $18 million over the five days ensuring that he will keep making modestly budgeted and modestly successful action pics.

Movie News

1. Mark Protosevich will write Steven Spielberg’s adaptation/remake of Oldboy.

Protosevich wrote the original script for Will Smith starrer I Am Legend (which is supposed to be fantastic) and an unmade Batman 5 called Batman Triumphant (back in the Schumacher days) that featured the Scarecrow.

Will this version of Oldboy be any good?

Who knows, but I am intrigued to see how it turns out.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

2. We told you before that an odd prequel/origin story to the original Planet of The Apes was in development at Fox titled Genesis: Apes, but that it might never see the light of day. However it now looks like things are moving along at a relatively nice pace.

Tom Rothman recently spoke about the film on the Fox Move Channel. The executive said this:

“We are very close at Fox on a new Apes script- this one a kind of prequel story before the first story, with a return to the social thematics that mark the first one, but with an entirely contemporary setting – Earth 2009.”

Source: CHUD

3. New Moon – the sequel to smash hit film Twilight is set to go before cameras this coming March.

Kristen Stewart has revealed that the film will shoot (partly) in Italy:

“A lot of the book takes place in Italy, and I think we’re going to get to go to Italy, which is so cool. For a while there, they were like, Oh, we don’t know if we have the money, but now I think we may have the money!”

A pay rise and a Holiday – it’s nice work if you can get it.

Source: Shock Til You Drop

4. Aussie superstar Hugh Jackman has recently discussed de-clawing Wolverine if the character’s solo feature underperforms at the box office.

Speaking to Moviehole; Jackman said:

”If it’s clear to us on May second or third that that’s gone, then I’ll walk away happily. I’m not going to flog something – or flog a dead horse, or try and make movies that people don’t really want to go and see. I have no interest in that. Even no matter how much I love the character. So there are many prerequisites”.

He also said that a return to the character would depend on the right script:

“There’s a few story lines that are running my head which I think would be really cool, but unless the script is right, then I just don’t see the point in doing it. I’m probably at the point in my career where I don’t need it. And the last thing I want to do is just to push it on people, if it doesn’t warrant a full feature movie.”

I’m sure a $20 million pay day might help too.

Source: Moviehole

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.

Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: November 2, 2008

Niall Browne — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:42:23 +0000

Welcome to the first Weekend Movie News Wrap Up of November. Let’s see what movie news we can read to take our minds off buying Christmas presents.

This week:

Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman read The Book of Eli; Samuel L. Jackson is a Dragon; Ridley Scott is howling; Shyamalan is a Devil and just what is Genesis: Apes?

Box Office

Halloween hit the box office hard this week! It’s no surprise that Saw V mutilated the number one spot on Friday with a gross of just over $3 million. Look for the horror franchise pic to gross $9-10 million by Monday morning.

Clint Eastwood’s Changeling should also make some change in the $9-10 million range over the weekend. However, expect the Angelina Jolie film to have legs like…er… Angelina Jolie. High School Musical 3 dropped by a terrifying 90% on Halloween night grossing a mere $1.7 million. Don’t worry Effronettes that’s because most of you were out trick or treating. The film should have banked enough on Saturday and Sunday to ensure it grosses about $10 million over the weekend.

Kevin Smith must be tad disappointed. Zak and Miri Make a Porno was supposed to open with around $18-20 million over the weekend – ensuring that this movie would break his final ceiling gross of $30 million. Looks like it won’t happen. The R-rated comedy should end the weekend with about half the expected gross, meaning a $8-9 million weekend.

Meanwhile the Haunting of Molly Hartly died a grisly death on its opening. Expect a ghastly $5 million weekend for the fright-pic.

Meanwhile here in the UK Quantum of Solace (check out my review here) killed all the competition with a record breaking opening day. The James Bond adventure took a mighty £4.94 million on Friday – the biggest Friday gross ever here! By comparison Casino Royale grossed £2.9m on its first day.

Movie News

1. Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman will team for the post apocalyptic western The Book of Eli. The film will be directed by The Hughes Brothers (From Hell), and the plot follows Washington as he tries to protect the titular book that could save the human race.

It’s good to see Oldman back on bad guy duties!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

2. The always busy Samuel L. Jackson will star as Sho’nuff, the Shogun of Harlem in a remake of the 1985 film The Last Dragon. According to The Hollywood Reporter:

“The updated plot will be along the same lines of the original, centering on young martial arts student Leroy Green in his quest through the streets of New York to achieve the highest level of martial arts accomplishment, known as the Last Dragon. Those who achieve the high ranking possess the Glow, making them the greatest fighter alive.”

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

3. Ridley Scott has acquired the rights to a werewolf movie written by Ian Jeffers. No details are known about the project but I wouldn’t hold your breath on Scott directing, the 71 year old has about a billion projects attached to his name. Although, having said that he might need a hit after Body of Lies. Russell Crowe as a werewolf? Seems possible.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

4. In July we told you M. Night Shyamalan had signed a deal with Media Rights Capital to form The Night Chronicles, a financing and production partnership that aims to produce one thriller a year for the next three years. Well now we can tell you that the first film from the shingle will be the supernatural thriller Devil.

John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle will direct and executive produce the film that was written by Brian Nelson.

Could be good, could be bad. I think it depends on your view of Shyamalan.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

5. Word on the street is that 20^th Century Fox has been developing a reboot of The Planet of The Apes. Apparently this film will have nothing to do with Tim Burton’s 2001 effort, but it will be a prequel film showing how the apes took over the earth!

According to CHUD:

“Things are different in this script, written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, which is called Genesis: Apes. Fans will know that Caesar in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is the result of a massive temporal paradox – his parents escaped to 1973 from a far future Earth. Further, Conquest takes place in a dystopian ‘future’ – 1991 – while Genesis: Apes is set in the modern day.

In this version Caesar is the result of a genetic scientist fooling around with the nature of things. When the baby monkey exhibits intelligence and the ability to talk, he takes the cuddly thing home to his wife, who is unable to bear children. Things go surprisingly well for a number of years until Caesar grows up and sees mommy getting attacked. The dutiful son steps in and accidentally kills the attacker.

Here’s where it takes off. In a scene paralleling Charlton Heston in the cage in the original Planet of the Apes, Caesar ends up in custody at an Ape Conservatory where he and the other apes are abused mercilessly. Caesar finds himself a primate without a world – he’s as smart as humans but will never be one of them (and is in fact tortured by them) and he’s initially rejected by his monkey brethren.”

This all sounds rather crazy and very much unlike the current regime at Fox. CHUD is skeptical that the film will ever see the light of day (as am I) but it would be a good way to reboot the franchise. The only problem is that it takes away the impact of the ending to the original film – if that is the way that they wanted to go in future films.

It’s a nifty and ballsy idea – but I don’t think that it is Planet of the Apes. The original is an iconic masterpiece that can’t be touched – but it would be fun to see a modern interpretation done with heart! As big a Tim Burton fan as I am, I felt that he did apes for the paycheck and his heart and visual styling weren’t in it. However, no one out there could really match Heston in the role (especially Mark Wahlberg) so a total change in franchise direction may be the only way to avoid comparisons to the original film (and franchise).

If Genesis: Apes does indeed make it to theatres I’d be amazed and impressed by Fox’s thinking. However, I can’t see that happening.

Source: CHUD

That’s it for another weekend. See you at the movies.