This week:

Lionsgate goes in for the Knockout; Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes and Damon Wayans Jr are The Other Guys; Michael Sheen talks Tron and Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Emma Roberts and Amy Madigan find out What’s Wrong With Virginia.

1. When Steven Soderbergh’s Brad Pitt starring Moneyball fell apart earlier this year it left a hole in the director’s schedule.

The Oscar winning director obviously likes to keep busy so he signed on to helm the female spy thriller Knockout.

The independent production didn’t have a distributor attached, but now Lionsgate have picked up the film.

Knockout, which will star martial artist Gina Carano in her acting debut, starts shooting in Januray.

Soderbergh’s next release is the Matt Damon starrer The Informant` which opens this weekend.

Source: Variety

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2. Michael Keaton, Damon Wayans Jr and Eva Mendes have signed on to Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg’s The Other GuysThe B Team (formally ).

While it’s good to see Keaton working, it’s a shame that he’s not top-billing his own films.

On the other hand, it’s just good to SEE Mendes!

The Other Guys opens on August 6, 2010 .

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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3. The ever-busy Michael Sheen has given some details about his upcoming role in Tron Legacy.

While it was believed that the British actor would be playing the villain in the film (see post header), Sheen has indicated that he won’t be twirling an evil mustache in the Jeff Bridges-starring sequel.

Sheen said:

“That was amazing, because there’s a lot of green screen in that. But my stuff was mainly in this amazing set that they built because I’m a nightclub host, so they built the nightclub and there were hundreds of extras and it was one of those great scenes where there’s just loads going on.”

Now it could be a villain role…but then again, maybe not.

Like much of the film I’m guessing that it is going to be kept secret until the Tron Legacy is released.

Source: Geek Tyrant

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4. Ed Harris, Emma Roberts and Amy Madigan have signed on to Dustin Lance Black’s What’s Wrong With Virginia.

The trio join the cast that also stars Jennifer Connelly as the titular Virginia.

Harris replaces Liam Neeson in the independent drama.

The plot follows “a sheriff whose state senate bid is jeopardized when his daughter begins to date the son of a psychologically disturbed woman with whom the sheriff has engaged in a two-decade affair.”

Source: Variety

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

• Steven Soderbergh Prepares To ‘Knockout’ Audiences
• Michael Sheen Confirmed for Tron Legacy
• Tron Legacy Producers Talk Disc Tourneys & Light Cycles
• Does Sam Mendes’ New Film Deal Mean ‘Preacher’ Delay?
• Michael Sheen To Be Tron 2 Villain?
• First Trailer Of Matt Damon As ‘The Informant!’

[Update: An HD version of the new Tron Legacy VFX test has been made available - Check it out Here!]

The third and final segment of Disney’s opening presentation, which also happened to Comic-Con’s first ever 3-D panel, involved the sequel to the cult classic, Tron.

Tron made a big surprise splash at last year’s Con by showing an exclusive test clip of Tron 2 which featured Jeff Bridges returning to his role of Kevin Flynn from the first film. Having that under their belt, we in the crowd expected a big show from them this year.

On the panel for this part of the Disney presentation, introduced again by Patton Oswalt – the MC for Disney’s 3-D presentation, were director Joe Kosinski along with Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde and Steven Lisberger.

Lisberger, writer and director of the first Tron, is an important piece of the puzzle according to Kosinski, it was absolutely “critical” to have him aboard for the sequel.

Jeff Bridges received a strong welcoming applause when he came on stage and right off the bat, he was asked about Disney’s new official title for the film which was showing up on all the screens as Tron Legacy. Bridges explained that it has to do with the story about a son in search for his father, and that the sequel would be “superized,” a new term he coined on the spot which resulted in Oswalt teasing Bridges.

The film has been through so many name changes, I really don’t think another name change matters at this point.

Moving on, director Joe Kosinski explained that they didn’t have too much to show as they just finished principal photography last week but he did have some concept art to show.

The images featured some of the vehicles we’ll be seeing in the sequel, the city of Try and the cool looking arena where the 16-player disc tournament takes place. In the Disc game, each game takes place simultaneously and as each player gets eliminated, the board shifts to place the remaining players together and this continues till the final two have one large board to themselves.

I took some photos myself but Peter and his crew over at /Film did a fantastic job of nabbing better-angled shots so here a few thanks to them (continue through the pages for more! [Update: Trailer on Page 4]):

The modular Disc Wars Arena

Click to continue reading ‘Tron 2 Name Change, Concept Art & Comic-Con Panel’

• Tron 2 Plot Details Revealed!
• Tron Legacy Coming to IMAX 3D December 2010
• Michael Sheen Confirmed for Tron Legacy
• Tr2n / Tron 2.0 / Tron 2 Is Now Just ‘Tron’
• Tron Legacy Producers Talk Disc Tourneys & Light Cycles
• More Tron 2 Details Revealed

Wow, Comic-Con 2009 is already less than three weeks away. Seems like only a couple of months ago since we were there. Last year was a ton of work but also a blast (click here for our wrap up of the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con), and this year we’ll be providing even more extensive coverage for you with additional staff to cover the event.

Unfortunately if you want to attend this year and don’t already have tickets you’re probably out of luck as it’s been sold out for a while. But fear not, we’ll try to give you all the goods here on the site over the course of the event. It starts with preview night on Wednesday, July 22nd and runs through Sunday July 26th.

Included among the movies and TV shows that will be covered this year are:

• James Cameron’s Avatar (with 3D (rumored) footage from the film)
• The upcoming Sci-Fi alien invasion flick with a twist: District 9 (including an appearance by Peter Jackson).
• Mike Judge will be on hand to promote his new comedy Extract.
• The premiere of Mystery Team.
• Where the Wild Things Are.
• Tron
• Sherlock Holmes
• Jonah Hex
• 2012
• Thirst
• Ninja Assassin
• Lost
• The pilot for the TV series remake V.
• Doctor Who (with an appearance by David Tennant)
• FlashForward
• Caprica & Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

Oh, and of course Iron Man 2, for which I’m sure director Jon Favreau has something very special planned.

Also, this year Screen Rant has been invited to participate in the “Masters of the Web” panel (shocking, I know – I certainly didn’t expect it!). The panel will be moderated by director Kevin Munroe and will include an appearance by Brandon Routh and Sam Huntington, along with a preview of their upcoming film Dead of Night.

Here is the list of panelists:

• Robert Sanchez (IESB.net)
• Ryan Rotten (ShockTilYouDrop.com)
• Mike Sampson (JoBlo.com)
• Jeremy Smith (AintItCool.com)
• Brad Miska (Bloody-Disgusting.com)
• Drew McWeeny (HitFix.com)
• Devin Faraci (CHUD.com)
• Paul Christensen (MovieWeb.com)
• Wilson Morales (BlackFilm.com/AOL Black Voices)
• George Roush (LatinoReview.com)
• and me, Vic Holtreman (ScreenRant.com)

It will be held Thursday, July 23rd at 3pm – 4pm in Room 32AB.

Robert Sanchez of IESB.net organizes the panel and puts together what is arguably the most awesome party every year at Comic-Con: The Wrath of Con party (one of my highlights of Comic-Con).

Last year at the Masters of the Web panel tickets to the party were given away to some lucky winners. Here’s my favorite pic from last year’s party.

Doug Nagy, Alex Billington and me with the beauties from the movie 'Bitch Slap': Erin Cummings, America Olivo and Julia Voth.

As Comic-Con approaches, keep up to date with our San Diego Comic-Con updates (check the logo on the right) here on Screen Rant and on Twitter.com by searching for #sdcc or #cc09. I’ll be there along with SR writers Kofi Outlaw, Bruce Simmons, Rob Keyes (and maybe) Paul Young. We’ll be doing live-blogging, panel summaries and hopefully we’ll get you an exclusive or two.

We may try to schedule an impromptu dinner, probably on Sunday night, where we’ll get together to decompress after the whole thing. If you’re around downtown San Diego maybe you can join us. We’ll firm this up as we get closer to the actual date.

Anyway, we’re all looking forward to it and we hope you are, too.

• Masters Of The Web Panel – Comic-Con 2009
• Comic-Con is On
• 4-Day + Preview Passes for Comic-Con 2010 Sold Out
• WB Comic-Con Lineup, Featuring Green Lantern: First Flight
• 3D Avatar Footage to Premiere at Comic-Con
• Doctor Who & Torchwood Panels At 2009 Comic-Con

When Disney initially dropped the footage for the up and coming Tron flick at Comic-Con last summer it was titled TR2N. Since then there have been rumors running around the internet saying the film had been retitled Tron 2.0, and then just plain old Tron 2. However, during the Disney presentation at ShoWest it was revealed that the actual title of the film will just be… TRON.

There is a new logo for TRON, which Slashfilm.com site-runner Peter Sciretta attempted to recreate from what was shown:

For a non-graphic designer it isn’t half bad and gives a decent representation of what Disney has in store for Tron. As for giving the sequel the same name as the original movie, I don’t exactly know how I feel about that. It’s sort of strange because it might be confusing for the general population. Maybe they will alter the title some time before the movie goes to theaters by adding some sort of tagline to the film to help distinguish it from the original.

However, I can’t say that making more of a buzz around the movie by confusing the sequel from the original is too stupid, either. Whatever gets people talking, right?

What do you think about Disney’s move to keep the Tron sequel titled the same as the original?

Source: Slashfilm

• Tron 2 Trailer, Name Change, Concept Art At Comic-Con
• Green Hornet & Tron Legacy Fight For Release Date
• Tron Legacy Coming to IMAX 3D December 2010
• Serinda Swan Is One Of Four Temptresses In Tron 2.0
• Michael Sheen To Be Tron 2 Villain?
• Tron 2 Plot Details Revealed!

As it stands, Hollywood studios are deadlocked in their contract negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild. That news stirs up foul memories of a year ago, when the Writers Guild of America was at a similar juncture with the studios… Soon after that there were no TV shows for about half a year.

And we all know what that did last year’s TV season.

In anticipation of the worst (which has ironically become the norm in these days and times), studios are turning to the pre-strike protocols they devised after the 2007 WGA strike, pushing as many films as they can into production so that the 2010-2011 movie roster doesn’t end up barren.

Check out the studio by studio list of the films that are either currently in production, or are headed into production in light of the looming strike.

The list of movies being fast-tracked are as follows:

COLUMBIA

• Ruben Fleischer-directed “Zombieland”
• Phillip Noyce-helmed “Edwin A. Salt” with Angelina Jolie
• Stephen Chow-directed “The Green Hornet” with Seth Rogen

DISNEY

• Tim Burton-directed “Alice in Wonderland”;
• “Tron” sequel;
• Robert Zemeckis-produced motion-capture film “Mars Needs Moms”;
• Jon Turteltaub-directed “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with Nicolas Cage;
• Walt Becker- helmed “Wild Hogs 2″

FOX

• James Cameron-directed “Avatar”
• Shawn Levy-helmed “Date Night,” with Steve Carell and Tina Fey
• “A-Team”
• “Ramona”
• Chris Columbus-directed “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief”
• “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”
• John Carney-directed “Town House”
• “Alvin and the Chipmunks 2″
• Tom Bezucha-directed “Orbit”
• Rick Famuyiwa-helmed “Family Wedding”

MGM

• Drew Goddard-directed “The Cabin in the Woods”
• Kevin Tancharoen-helmed “Fame”
• “The Matarese Circle,” which David Cronenberg is negotiating to direct Washington
• Darren Aronofsky-helmed “RoboCop”

MARVEL
(Paramount distributing)

• Jon Favreau-directed “Iron Man 2″ with Robert Downey Jr.
• Kenneth Branagh-helmed “Thor”

MIRAMAX

• John Madden-directed “The Debt” with Helen Mirren
• “Man on a Train”
• “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”

NEW LINE

• “Torrente”
• “Sex and the City 2″
• Wesley Strick-directed “A Nightmare on Elm Street”
• Len Wiseman-helmed “Gears of War”

PARAMOUNT

• Kenny Ortega-directed “Footloose” with Zac Efron;
• M. Night Shyamalan-helmed “The Last Airbender”
• “Morning Glory”
• “Beverly Hills Cop”
• “Us and Them”

UNIVERSAL

• Edgar Wright-directed “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” starring Michael Cera
• Untitled Nancy Meyers-helmed comedy with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin
• Peter Billingsley-directed “Couples Retreat” with Vince Vaughn;
• Gore Verbinski-helmed “BioShock”
• Nicholas Stoller-directed “Get Him to the Greek”
• Ridley Scott-helmed “Nottingham” with Russell Crowe

WARNER BROS.

• Clint Eastwood-directed “Human Factor” with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon
• Mark Neveldine/Brian Taylor- helmed “Jonah Hex”
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the David Yates-directed final, two-part installment in the franchise, which begins production in February;
• Alcon-financed “Book of Eli,” the Hughes brothers-directed Denzel Washington starrer
• Louis Leterrier-helmed “Clash of the Titans”
• Zack Snyder-directed “Suckerpunch.”

Not to worry, Summer movie enthusiasts: just about all of your big budget sequels (Transformers 2, Night at the Museum 2, Angels & Demons) are safely in production. Doomsday epic 2012 is also going to make the cut. Any other new films that studios hope to get off the ground, however, are going to face major problems without actors to act in them. But we’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. For now, negotiations continue.

Personally I’m glad Iron Man 2, Thor, Green Hornet and Avatar made the cut; I’m hoping that Bioshock and Gears of War will be worthy of their excellent video game sources–and I’m praying that Jonah Hex is going to turn out well. Hex was badass on that Batman: The Animated Series episode.

How about you? Any movies you’re glad are in the pipeline? Any films you wish they’d kept on the shelf?

(Thank Variety for putting the list together.)

• Bioshock Movie May Have A New Director
• Gore Verbinski Trades Pirates For ‘Bioshock’
• BioShock Movie On Hold – What’s Verbinski To Do?
• Green Hornet & Tron Legacy Fight For Release Date
• Nic Cage Passes On Green Hornet Villain Role
• Matthew Vaughn Wants to Direct The Avengers