In this Weeks Weekend Movie News Wrap Up::

Clint Eastwood drives to the top of the box office with Gran Torino; Ewan McGregor is Pierce Brosnan’s Ghost; Sienna Miller will not be visiting Nottingham; Morricone is not a Basterd; Moore, Neeson and Seyfried know Chloe; the Joker may have the last laugh in Batman 3 and Farrell, Weir and Harris are on their Way Back.

Box Office

Clint Eastwood showed his star power by capturing the number one position at the box office with a fantastic $30 million gross for Gran Torino. Clint’s Oscar touted movie was making good bank on limited release but it looks like the American masses love the ageing action icon. The film should have good legs and a final gross of  $100 million is not out of the question.

Bride Wars should claim the runner-up position with about $20 million showing that women will watch Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson in just about anything. David Goyer’s The Unborn had a good start and should gross about $18 million. Okay David – you have Monday to celebrate and then it’s down to getting Chris Nolan to start writing the next Batman movie.

Not Easily Broken surprised many and should bank $6 million by Monday, which isn’t bad for a movie that’s only showing in 724 screens. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Bedtime Stories inch closer to the magic $100 million mark and Tom Cruise shows that he’s a bigger star than Will Smith as Valkyrie has out grossed Seven Pounds.

Movie News

1. We thought that The Ghost was going to be a Pierce Brosnan and Nicolas Cage team-up, but it looks like Cage has dropped out and Ewan McGregor has stepped in as the ghostwriter for the former British Prime Minister in the Roman Polanski helmed thriller.

Source: Pierce Brosnan

2. There’s more trouble in Nottingham as it appears that Sienna Miller has dropped out of the next Russell Crowe, Ridley Scott team-up. Miller was due to star as Maid Marrian in the re-imagining of the popular legend.  The film has had numerous delays because of weather, script troubles and reported fights between Crowe and Scott.

There’s no official reason as to why Miller made (maid?) the descision but if you believe the unreliable Page Six then it’s because of Crowe’s vanity:

“Originally the movie was about a love triangle between Maid Marian, Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. It is now all about Russell’s Robin Hood. Literally, 40 pages of script were redone and now are just devoted to him and his massive ego. It’s amazing.”

Sounds to me like it’s all a lot of Crowe bashing, but I’m sure we will find out more in the near future.

Source:IMDB

3. It was previously reported that master soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone would be scoring the music for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, however he will now be composing Giuseppe Tornatore’s Baaria instead.

It could be worse, he could have gone on to score Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables.

Source: Playlist

4. Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried will star in director Atom Egoyan’s Chloe.

Accpording to Variety:

“Moore will play a successful doctor who suspects her husband (Neeson) of cheating. She tests his fidelity by hiring an escort (Seyfried) to seduce him. The move creates complications that put her family in danger.”

It sounds very 1990’s and that’s not a bad thing!

Neeson will next be seen in Taken while Seyfried was in the smash hit Mama Mia – yikes!

Source: Variety

5. The Dark Knight producer Charles Roven spoke with MTV about the follow-up to the mega grossing  film. The producer (although coy) did indicate that The Clown Prince of Crime may appear in future instalments of the Bat-franchise. Roven said:

“We have to separate the actors from the role. On a personal level, Heath (Ledger) was a friend of mine. We had worked together before The Dark Knight, but I still think that The Dark Knight is its own thing, and we have to separate them.”

If they decide to recast I think Joaquin Phoenix woul be a good choice – it’s a shame that he has “retired.”

Source: MTV

6. Colin Farrell and Ed Harris will star in Peter Weir’s The Way Back alongside Jim Sturgess and Saoirse Ronan. According to Variety:

“The thesps are in final negotiations to star for Weir in the fact-based story of a group of soldiers who engineered a grueling escape from a Siberian gulag in 1942. Weir wrote the script, based on the memoir by Slavomir Rawicz. Farrell plays a tough, tattooed Russian; Harris an American; and Sturgess portrays a young Polish inmate. Ronan will play a Russian on the run who meets up with the fugitives.”

• Robin Finds His Hoods
• New Set Photos From Robin Hood
• Robin Hood’s Sheriff Of Nottingham Finally Revealed!
• First Look At Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood
• Master and Commander 2? Please Let It Be So
• Mid-Week Movie News Wrap Up – Feb. 26, 2009

Short Version: While Valkyrie offers a few thrills, the rest is just OK.

Screen Rant reviews Valkyrie

Valkyrie is director Bryan Singer’s WWII true-life ensemble film about a cabal of Nazi officers who conspired  to kill Adolf Hitler during the later days of the war. Overshadowing all of that is, of course, Tom Cruise, who stars as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the German officer who hatches the plan to overthrow Hitler, codenamed Valkyrie.

So let’s identify some of the obvious issues this movie faces:

A) Anyone who’s had third grade history knows that the plot against Hitler ultimately fails. Drawing tension out of  a story whose end is already known is a tricky feat.

B) The language issue. It’s a coin toss for which would’ve been more painful: hearing Tom Cruise and Co. trying to speak German, or hearing Tom and Co. speaking English inflected with German accents.

C) TOM CRUISE. These days you’re either able to watch him act, or you’re not.

Now let’s address each issue, one at a time:

Issue A) To its credit, Valkyrie manages to keep things taut and tense most of the time. In the back of your mind you know that operation Valkyrie is going to fail, and that Tom Cruise won’t be flying off “into the danger zone” when it’s all over. However, the film has an extensive ensemble of accomplished actors (Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Terrence Stamp and Eddie Izzard, to name a few), who play their roles as Nazi officers with enough shifty anxiety and slight menace that you’re never really certain who is going screw who over, when, why, or how. It’s just enough uncertainty and anxiety to snag your attention and keep it. Only problem is, the moment you know for sure how operation Valkyrie goes wrong, the film has no thrills left to offer, with still a half hour left to kill.

Still, the assassination day sequence when the conspirators try to take Hitler out is pretty awesome and had me on the edge of my seat. Bryan Singer at his best.

Issue B) The language thing is bad, I’m not going to lie to you. As I said, having the actors speaking German would’ve been just as terrible as hearing them speak English with fake German accents. I’m sure Bryan Singer realized that very early on, as indicated by the opening minutes of the film, in which Tom Cruise delivers a voice-over in German, which then “morphs” into English.

My  gripe is that Bryan Singer chose to disregard the language issue instead of finding a creative solution for it. Understand: when you are dealing with an ensemble of this size, made up of actors who are British and American and everything in between, you end up with a variety of accents being spoken, none of which sounds even remotely German! To say it’s distracting would be an understatement. A vocal coach might’ve worked with the actors to help them understand German phrasing patterns, speech cadences, or SOMETHING that would’ve helped them all sound like they were from at least the same country! But no such luck. You’ll either be able to put it out of your mind as you watch, or you won’t. I got over it.

Issue C) TOM CRUISE. He holds his own in the film and never gets swallowed up by the other heavyweight actors in the ensemble. His character is a stone-faced Nazi hiding a cauldron of anger and contempt behind his steely eyes, which I’ll admit is not that far of a departure from Cruise’s real-life role as a stone-faced celebrity, hiding a cauldron of anger and contempt behind his steely eyes. In the end it’s really a question of whehter or not you can look at Tom Cruise on screen without seeing the man instead of the character. Many people would likely agree that Tom should resign himself to the type of freaky antics he displayed in Tropic Thunder. Better for his career, better for the moviegoing public, I suspect.

All in all, don’t cry if you don’t catch Valkyrie in theaters. There’s always DVD.

• Eli Roth Is A Basterd In Tarantino’s ‘Masterpiece’
• Why You Shouldn’t Avoid Subtitled Movies
• Bryan Singer Interested In Returning To X-Men
• Will Bryan Singer Direct X-Men 4?
• Disney’s Russian Fantasy Film ‘Kniga Masterov’ Looks Impressive
• Bryan Singer Directing ‘Jack The Giant Killer’ (Not Caruso?)

It’s that time of the week again. Sunday is here and therefore we must be due a Weekend Movie News Wrap Up. This week we look at the box office as well as:

No Cleo for Hugh Jackman; Mars attacks G.I. Joe; Thor lands in present day and Zombie unleashes a look at Michael Myers in Halloween 2.

Box Office

Marley And Me was top dog at the box office again. The Owen Wilson/Jennifer Aniston pic should bark up another $25 million over the weekend taking its total over $100 million. Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories should bank another $23 million bringing the film’s gross to around $88 million. It looks like Sandler has another $100 million grosser on his hands. Ainiston’s ex, a Brad Pitt is next with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The David Fincher film should manage another $18 million. For a film that wasn’t expected to be a huge hit it’s doing pretty darn well. Yes Man and Valkyrie should both bank another $15 million each, proving that Jim Carrey and Tom Cruise are still viable movie stars. Meanwhile Will Smith’s Seven Pounds should manage another $10 million.  Overall it’s a pretty A-List – centric time at the box office. In fact it could be 1999 and nobody would bat and eyelid.

Movie News

1. Hugh Jackman has pulled out of Steven Soderbergh’s forthcoming musical Cleo. Jackman was in negotiations to star as Marc Antony, however he has dropped out due to “scheduling conflicts”. I can only imagine that the rehearsing for the film somehow conflicts with Jackman’s hosting of the Oscars or another unknown film or stage role. As the film is looking for financing at the moment expect a replacement to be announced soon. Catherine Zeta-Jones will play the titular character.

Source: Variety

2. G.I Joe is an unknown quantity of a film. It’s got a great concept and an interesting cast (come on, it has Dennis Quaid) but Stephen Sommers did not earn a lot of fans with Van Hesling. In fact word on the street is that Sommers’ own mother disowned him following a private screening of the film. That was a joke

Anyway, here are a couple of images of the Mars Troopers from the film.

I still have no idea if this is going to be great or terrible, but the fact that it opens this August and we haven’t seen ANY footage from the film sounds like a bad sign.

Source: HissTank.com

3. News is slowly starting to leak out on Kenneth Branagh’s forthcoming Thor movie. The character of Donald Blake (Thor’s alter ego) has now been written into the current draft of the script. This is pretty big news as the film was previously going to be 100% set in the land of the Norse Gods.

Branagh will also act in the film – it’s not certain what role, but I’d bet money on it not being Thor.

Thor is due to open July 16, 2010.

Source: iesb.net

4. Rob Zombie has released an early picture of Michael Myers’ mask for Halloween 2. Well, considering the loathing of The Love Guru I’m guessing that Myers needs a disguise. Geddit? Mike Myers – The Love Guru…oh never mind.

I’m guessing at some point they’ll paint the mask and add hair. Or maybe in the new film Myers has discovered a loving of fake tan. Check it out below:

Source: Rob Zombie

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

• First Official Image Of Michael Myers In Halloween 2
• Michael Myers To Be Mask-less For Most Of Halloween 2
• Halloween 2: Mask Or No Mask? (Bonus: New Poster)
• New Poster & Trailer For Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2
• ‘My Bloody Valentine’ Director In Talks For Halloween 3D?
• Hugh Jackman Visits Ghostopolis

All has been quiet on the Tom Cruise future project front lately, however have no fear! We finally have an update!

Charlize Theron is “in negotiations” to join Tom in The Tourist, an espionage thriller that we told you about way back in August. According to Variety:

“Theron will play a female Interpol agent who uses an American tourist in an attempt to flush out an elusive criminal with whom she once had an affair.”

There’s no word on who little Tom will play yet, but I’d place my money on the American Tourist. However, that’s just me playing it safe – he could be the “elusive criminal”, but because this is a Tom Cruise vehicle I’d say my money is safe. Maybe.

The script was originally penned by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), but Christopher McQuarrie who helped script Cruise’s latest Valkyrie is doing a polish.

The Bharat Nalluri directed remake of the 2005 French film Anthony Zimmer is due to start shooting in March.

Meanwhile Cruise can next be seen the the WWII thriller Valkyrie which opens on December 26, while Theron will be seen in the adaptation of Cormac Mc Carthy’s The Road which has been delayed until some date in 2009.

Source: Variety

• Sam Worthington Is A “Tourist” With Charlize Theron
• Angelina Jolie To Replace Charlize Theron In ‘The Tourist?’
• New Director Being Eyed For ‘The Tourist’
• Johnny Depp Replacing Sam Worthington In ‘The Tourist?’
• Tom Cruise Career Update: Getting His Scripts ‘Tom-Ready’
• Tom Cruise Jumps Onto Wichita

Finally! This film is done moving around and about to come out (I hope).

Yesterday, Coming Soon was given some exclusive images from United Artists for the upcoming WWII movie Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise. In addition to that, the final trailer for the film was released today and it looks great!

This project has been rife with controversy and an ever-changing release schedule so I’ll provide a brief background: The first trailer was released an entire year ago for a planned theatrical opening this summer. Then the film was shuffled around the summer followed by being pushed back twice; first into October, then again to next February.

This raised suspicions and doubts about the quality of the film.

Following those date changes, there was a glimmer of hope after hearing that some trusty insiders had seen a very early cut of the film and basically said it was terrific. Shortly after that, there was yet another date change – this time, back into 2008 for a December release date. Apparently, this move by MGM was to make an Oscar run with the film. This raised confidence in the film with talk of the early screenings going very well.

So, all was well from then on. About a month ago, we were presented with a new poster and new trailer which both were pretty cool. Now we have the newest and final trailer for the film as well as some new images.

Take a look and see what you think:

Tom Cruise in Valkyrie

A scene from Valkyrie

Kenneth Branagh in Valkyrie

Eddie Izzard in Valkyrie

For high-res images check out Coming Soon.

And, the trailer:

[See post to watch Flash video]

If you’ve read my previous article for the last trailer or seen my comments on the prior posts, then you probably know that I liked what I was seeing but was heavily skeptical with Tom Cruise playing his normal self and not pulling off any sort of accent. This problem was compounded by the rest of the cast surrounding him speaking with a variety of other accents and it was really taking me out of the film (or trailers I guess).

I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten past that. After seeing this new trailer – which is pretty epic – and after re-watching the older ones again and again, it’s not so much a problem for me anymore. I think I’ve gotten used to it and I can focus on the story and scenes more. I have a pretty good feeling about this film now. It also put me at ease seeing some interviews with Cruise where he addressed the accent issue, saying that the crew decided to stop trying to poorly imitate a German accent and instead focus on doing the story justice and portray the emotion and drama properly.

I totally understand that. Thinking back, a similar situation occurred with Enemy at the Gates where we had Jude Law and Ed Harris playing a Russian and German with English and American accents respectively. I enjoyed that movie and the accents didn’t bother me there. Then again, I was pretty young when I saw that…

What do you think of the trailer? Will you see Valkyrie this holiday season?

Valkyrie hits theaters December 26th.

Source: Coming Soon

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• New Wolverine TV Spot Lists Every Mutant (Except Two)
• ‘Pandorum’ German Trailer Released
• First Trailer For ‘The Final Destination’
• The Expendables Promo Trailer
• Green Lantern Begins Filming This Fall

Today we have a look at the first poster for Valkyrie as well as a brand new trailer. The first trailer was released last November (I cannot believe it’s been that long already). I didn’t really see much hope for the film from that trailer and I certainly do not buy Tom Cruise’s character… especially since he sounds and seems to act like he does in all of his other films with that American accent.

The poster is pretty stylistic and fits the film adequately. The one thing I find is that it looks a little too “techie” with the grey box-lines everywhere. But really, there’s nothing really good or bad to say about it.

Take a gander at the poster:

Official Valkyrie poster starring Tom Cruise

Valkyrie stars Mr. Couch-jumper, Tom Cruise and was subject to some negative press due to many problems during its production (Germany vs. Scientology and such). Early on, this film appeared to be a disaster in the making and its release date was constantly shuffled around. Some of these scheduling decisions gave rise to some pretty negative expectations.

Later, we found some hope for the film and juggled the possibility of it actually being good due to some insiders seeing an early version and praising director Bryan Singer’s work on it.

To complete the 180-degree reversal on the expectation front, we saw yet another scheduling change of the film. This time, it was brought back into 2008, for a Christmas release. Why you may ask? Well, apparently the test screenings went so well, MGM studies wanted the film presented for the holiday season and to take a little run at the Oscars.

And here’s the new trailer – take a look and see what you think:

[See post to watch Flash video]

I think the new trailer is a big improvement and it certainly makes me more excited to see the film. We get a much better feel for the tone and style of the movie, and even a glimpse into how Cruise’s character acquired the need for an eye-patch.

With that being said, I still am not buying into Tom being a German in the 1940s and every time he speaks, it takes me right out of the film (or trailer I guess). This is especially noticeable in combination with other actors having entirely different accents. I also don’t think its just his accent (or lack thereof), I think its just the manner in which he’s speaking. It’s a little too modern and as good as Cruise is in most of his films, it just doesn’t fit well here. To me, he’s basically the same guy from Lions for Lambs.

What do you think about the poster and trailers? Will this film be any good and will it do any good at the box office?

Valkyrie is due out this December 26th.

Source: Firstshowing

• New Trailer For Gerard Butler’s ‘Gamer’
• J.J. Abrams Will Bring Us Mission: Impossible 4
• Rumor Patrol: Katie Holmes In Mission: Impossible IV?
• Tom Cruise Career Update: Getting His Scripts ‘Tom-Ready’
• Tom Cruise Planning ‘Mission Impossible 4′
• J.J. Abrams Not Directing Mission: Impossible 4

Another Sunday brings another Weekend Movie News Wrap Up.

This week:

We look at the weekend box office and why Robert De Niro doesn’t like the Edge of Darkness, Spike Lee and Denzel Washington make a sequel, we get to see Where the Wild Things Are, Russell Crowe goes Holmes and Tom Cruise might go to Florence.

Weekend Box Office

It looks like Nic Cage will capture the weekend with a pretty low $8 million dollars for Bangkok Dangerous. The film wasn’t screened for critics and it looks like the public didn’t like the look of Cage’s hair. Tropic Thunder managed another $2.1 million on Friday, so the film should shoot up close to $7 million over the weekend. The Dark Knight should manage another $5 million this weekend bringing its total to a mighty $511 million.  Don Cheadle’s Traitor dropped 40% on the second weekend and the film should have bagged a total of  $17 million come Monday morning. Meanwhile Vin Diesel must be pretty unhappy with Babylon A.D’s 62% drop. The film might muster another $4 million by the end of Sunday. Ouch.

Movie News

1. Robert De Niro has pulled out of Martin Campbell’s Edge of Darkness. The Mel Gibson starrer started shooting on August 18, and De Niro did less than a week’s work on the film.

De Niro’s spokesman said:

“Sometimes things don’t work out; it’s called creative differences.”

The role will be recast, and the film will shoot around De Niro’s departure. It’ll be tough to replace an actor like De Niro, so it will be interesting to see who will fill his shoes.

Source: Latino Review

2. Spike Lee is going to direct a follow-up to his hit film The Inside Man. The original film starred Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster.

It looks like Owen and Washington will return in the Terry George penned sequel, but the film will take a different slant on the characters and a new setting. It has a working title of…Inside Man 2. Original.

Who would have thought that Denzel and Lee would ever make a sequel?

Source: CHUD

3. Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are finally has a new release date. The pic should finally be released on October 16, 2009. The film has seen a huge amount of trouble in its production, from disastrous special effects through to horrendous test screenings and reshoots. The adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s children’s book stars Catherine Keener, Benicio Del Toro and Forest Whitaker. That is – if any of their characters survive the reshoots and re-editing.

Source: Comingsoon.net

4. With Nottingham delayed Russell Crowe has some time on his hands. According to Latino Review it looks like the Gladiator star may sign up to Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. Nope, it’s not as Dr Watson as previously speculated, but Holmes’ nemesis Professor James Moriarty. Very interesting.

Latino Review also state that 300 star Gerard Butler was offered the role of Watson, but he declined. Robert Downey Jr will play the titular detective.

As a Sherlock Holmes fan I’m quite interested in how this is shaping up.

Source: Latino Review

5. It wouldn’t be Sunday without a bit of Tom Cruise news! The indecisive couch-jumper has yet another script sitting on his “to do” pile. Cruise and United Artists have bought the rights to The Monster of Florence a book about eight murders which took place in Florence from 1968 to 1985.

The events inspired Thomas Harris’ Hannibal, which is a rather unfortunate thing as the film is terrible.  It sounds like the makings of a pretty great thriller, and if it’s half as good as Zodiac then it should be something special.

The film will be penned by Cruise’s Valkyrie writer Chris McQuarrie, and the top gun will decide if he will take a lead role when he reads a draft of the script.

Come on Tom – choose a film already!

Source: Variety

That’s it for another week!

See you at the movies.

• Sherlock Holmes TV Trailer
• New Character Posters For Sherlock Holmes
• First Official ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Poster
• Sherlock Holmes Sequel: Brad Pitt To Play Moriarty?
• New Sherlock Holmes Photos, Villain Revealed
• New International Sherlock Holmes Trailer

Another Wednesday and therefore another Mid-Week Movie Wrap up to furnish you with the latest movie news around.

This week we look at:

Why Tim Roth isn’t in Inglorious Bastards, who will be directing a new Tarzan film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles go live action, Jerry Bruckheimer decides that Killing Rommel is a good idea and we search for The 39 Clues.

1. The reason that Tim Roth has not signed on to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards is because he is going to star in the film version of Skellig.

The film will be based on the children’s novel by David Almond. The book follows a young boy named Michael who discovers what may or may not be an angel in his garage. The film will costar John Simms and Kelly MacDonald and it will be directed by Annabel Jankel of Super Mario Brothers fame. Ouch.

The book isn’t a bad little read, but sometimes the blatant imagery feels like Almond is hitting you in head with a sledgehammer.

Source: Variety

2. Stephen Sommers will direct a new film version of Tarzan.  The director of the first two Mummy films and the forthcoming G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra will helm the Stuart Beattie penned film.

Sounds like the type of film that Sommers loves to make, but I doubt that he will add anything new to the character -except maybe CGI. This new version of Edgar Rice Burroughs character was originally going to be helmed by Guillermo del Toro, but he’s making something called The Hobbit. I can’t imagine that being a hit! Sarcasm.

Source: Variety

3. Those “heroes in a half shell” are coming back…again. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman has been talking up a reboot of the fun loving Turtles franchise. Eastwood posted this on HeavyMetal.com:

“Yes, it is true. Although the CGI film did well enough to warrant a sequel, there has been much talk between Imagi and Warners to do a better “re-invention” (newest Hollywood buzzword) of the TMNT’s, in a live action film–like what was done with Batman. Back to basics, back to the origin and the intro of the Shredder, etc…there have been talks, trips to Northampton to talk to Mr Laird, and discussions with the original “first” TMNT film director Steve Barron to come back and do it right–but no official word yet…will keep you posted. Best, Kevin”

Funny thing is – I think that the message has now been deleted.  Odd.

Does anyone really care? Those Turtles must be hitting middle age by now.

Sources: Comingsoon and Heavy Metal

4. Hollywood loves a sequel, so therefore they really love WW2. Hot on the heels of Valkyrie and Inglorious Bastards comes Killing Rommel. According to Variety:

“Killing Rommel focuses on the British Long Range Desert Group and its attempt to stop Rommel, the legendary Desert Fox who routed the British in the North African desert in 1942 and threatened to overrun the Middle East thanks to his battlefield strategies and Panzer tanks”.

Jerry Bruckheimer will produce the film for Disney. The film is to be adapted from a book by Steven Pressfield who wrote Gates of Fire (based on the same historical events as 300) which was due to star Bruce Willis and George Clooney at one point.

Killing Rommel will be adapted by Randall Wallace the man behind Braveheart, We Were Soldiers and Pearl Harbor.

Expect Christian Bale or Daniel Craig to be offered the script first.

Source: Variety

5. Jeff Nathanson has signed on to pen the screenplay for The 39 Clues. Based on a forthcoming “interactive multi-platform adventure”  the film “may” be directed by Steven Spielberg. I wouldn’t hold my breath for that. The director has more films on his plate than Tom Cruise.

Nathanson has written such diverse films as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Rush Hour 2,  Rush Hour 3, The Terminal and Catch Me If You Can.

To be honest the whole idea sounds rather naff.

Source: Comingsoon

That’s it this time around. See you at the movies!

• New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Live-Action Movie!
• ‘Ninja Turtles’ Reboot To Be An Origin Story
• Details on the New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie
• Writer Confirmed For Live-Action ‘Ninja Turtles’ Movie
• Writer Revealed for New Live Action TMNT Film?
• Comic-Con: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Movie Will Be Dark

Tom Cruise – actor, legend, husband, father, religious icon and couch jumper.

Love him or loathe him, Cruise has had an incredible career and you have to admit that his place in film history is secure. However in the last few years the star has had a bit of a rough time, not only from the press, but also by the head honchos in Hollywood.

This week has seen a flurry of Tom Cruise related news, and as Screen Rant’s main Cruise supporter and apologist it has come down to me to report it.

We have seen Valkyrie’s release date change (again), Cruise drop out of Edwin A. Salt, the star realize that he has a love of comedy – as well as thriller and his friend/ mentor Paula Wagner was booted from the United Artists lot.

Following several test screenings of Cruise’s Nazi thriller Valkyrie, MGM has decided to move the release date forward to December 26th. The film has been moved all over the release schedules, with the last date being set for Valentine’s day 2009 – but it would appear that the studio wants to show the film some Oscar love. Another reason for the move is that the tests went so well that the studio feels that they could have a major hit on their hands and they want to maximise box office potential over the holiday season.

For the past few months Cruise has also shown a major interest in spy-thriller Edwin A. Salt, a film that is to be directed by Phillip Noyce. However, it would appear that Cruise didn’t like the film enough to commit and now the film is being retooled as a starring vehicle for Angelina Jolie!

It seems like Tropic Thunder has unleashed Cruise’s love of comedy as the actor is now in talks to star in chef-comedy Food Fight. The Steven Brill directed film would see Cruise star as a high class chef who is forced to cook in a school cafeteria. High-jinks will obviously ensue and I presume that a lesson will be learned.

Cruise has also shown an interest in The Tourist, a remake of a French thriller from 2005. Bharat Nalluri will direct the film which has been written by Gosford Park’s Julian Fellows.

Meanwhile, Paula Wagner – Cruise’s producing partner and Chief of United Artists has quit her post. Depending on who you believe Wagner was either fired or quit in order to return to her first love of producing.

According to Deadline Hollywood’s Nikki Finke – Wagner’s indecision on pulling the trigger on film production was major factor in her departure. Her lack of green lighting put the $500 million funding package in jeopardy, leaving the studio no other option but to fire Wagner, move the release date of Valkyrie and greenlight several films.

Wagner had this to say:

“I’ve truly relished working with my longtime partner Tom Cruise to revitalize United Artists, and I am proud of all that we’ve accomplished in the past two years, reinvigorating the brand and developing such a strong slate of films,” she said. “But I always tell my sons, ‘Follow your passion’ — and I’ve got to follow that advice myself. As much as I’ve enjoyed my time as an executive, I have longed to return to my true love, which is making movies, so that’s what I’ve decided to do. I still believe in our vision for UA, and I am confident that Harry Sloan and our colleagues at MGM will see that vision through to reality.”

What a week for Tom Cruise.

We will have more on these films when (and if) they move forward in development.

Sources: Variety, Hollywood Reporter and Deadline Hollywood

• Tom Cruise Career Update: Getting His Scripts ‘Tom-Ready’
• Tom Cruise Jumps Onto Wichita
• Sam Worthington Is A “Tourist” With Charlize Theron
• Angelina Jolie To Replace Charlize Theron In ‘The Tourist?’
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The months of January to April are pretty much when studios dump their garbage on the movie-going public.

So when news broke a few months back that Bryan Singer’s WWII thriller Valkyrie was being pushed back to a February 13, 2009 release, I assumed that the film was in fact going to be a piece of cinematic garbage.

Well maybe I simply jumped to conclusions too quickly…

Speaking on his blog, Variety big-cheese Peter Bart (aka the “other Peter” on AMC’s Sunday Morning Shootout) had this to say on the matter:

“Although the film has yet to be completed, several people I trust have seen ‘Valkyrie’ and testify that it’s a superb thriller. ‘Bryan Singer is back in form,’ says one source, referring to the ‘Valkyrie’ director whose last film was ‘Superman Returns.’”

Bart also confirms that three additional sequences will be filmed within the next three weeks including the origin of Cruise’s Von Stauffenberg’s injuries (i.e. the eye-patch).

The funny thing is that I was just told last week by a buddy/contact that the pick-ups would be shot in a few weeks. Weird.

Maybe there’s hope for this film after all…

Source: Variety

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A WWII thriller directed by an acclaimed filmmaker (who is responsible for two major superhero franchises, no less), starring an international cast (including a box-office super-star turned public punchline) and featuring an awesome trailer.

Is this really a film you want to dump in the “film wasteland” of February?

Apparently, that’s the mindset over at MGM/United Artists.

For the second time now, Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie has been pushed back; this time to February 13, 2009 where it will face off against Disney’s Confessions of a Shopaholic and Sony’s Pink Panther 2.

The film was originally slated for an August 8th release, then it was bumped to June 27th before it settled on October 3. But at least that move made sense.

Summer is just too damn competitive for a WWII-themed project to have any real chance of making an impact commercially. On the other hand, October opens up its Oscar-chances as well as box-office potential.

So why the sudden change to next February?

Oh, it’s to “take advantage of an opening in the schedule for the President’s Day weekend.”

Uh yeah, sure it is.

The film must be terrible. There’s simply no other explanation or way the studio can effectively spin this.

Source: Variety

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I haven’t done any coverage of the Tom Cruise starring film Valkyrie, but I thought you might like to see the trailer.

There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding the shooting of this movie over in Germany due to Cruise’s Scientology beliefs, which they (correctly) labeled as a cult. Anyway, the movie is based on the true story of a number of German officers who conspired to assassinate Hitler during World War II. It was directed by Brian Singer, who you probably know is the guy behind the very well done X-Men, X-Men 2, The Usual Suspects and the not so great Superman Returns.

This looks to be quite good and probably a film that my wife will actually come with me to watch at the movie theater.

The trailer follows after the jump.

For higher res versions of the trailer head on over to Yahoo! Movies.

Valkyrie opens on June 27, 2008.

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