Woody Harrelson Joins PLANET OF THE APES

That headline is about all anyone knows. 

True Detective and White Men Can't Jump star Woody Harrelson will be warring with the Apes as the untitled Planet of the Apes threequel has brought the acclaimed actor on as a villain character known as "The Colonel".

All that is know so far is that, like Dawn, the cast from the previous entry will not be returning, as actor Jason Claarke confirmed earlier this month.
Matt Reeves, who helmed the GREATEST FILM OF ALL TIME 2008 thriller Cloverfield as well as 2014's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will return to close out the trilogy from 20th Century Fox.

Recently, Hispanic actor Gabriel Chavarria joined the secretive film as well. 

We last left Caesar after fighting between his people and the humans, with an all-out war between the humans and the apes finally starting to begin. 

Eddie Murphy; Oprah & More Join Mike Epps in Richard Pryor BioPic

 

In news that isn't super heroes or Star Wars box office, it appears that Mike Epps (yes, the Mike Epps from Resident Evil: Apocalypse) will be joined by Eddie Murphy, Oprah, and Kate Hudson on the long gestating Richard Pryor biography from Lee Daniels, which will start filming in March.

Murphy, who recieved critical acclaim with his dramatic works in films like Dreamgirls will be playing Pryor's father, with Oprah as Pryor's brothel owning mother. Hudson will play Pryor's widow, Jennifer. 

Deadline has reported:

 The script is by Bill Condon and Daniels’Empire collaborator Danny Strong, and Bruce Cohen and Jennifer Lee Pryor are deeply involved in the process as producers. There are compelling storylines that will create interest in this film beyond Pryor’s barrier-breaking accomplishments on the standup stage, on TV and in the movies with his politically charged, blue humor. 

Pryor was a star of the film and stage up until his passing in 2005. The picture begins filming in March, and I'm gonna go ahead and assume this might be a heavy awards-contendor when the time comes...

Leonardo DiCaprio Will Be Your 'Devil' In the White City.

 

Coming hot off of his new film The Revenant it appears DiCaprio will go from revenge to murderer as The Hollywood Reporter is stating the TITANIC and Great Gatsby actor will team with Martin Scorcese yet again for the long awaited adaptation of the non-fiction best seller, The Devil in the White City.

 The feature adaptation of Devil in the White City is back at Paramount, with Leonardo DiCapriohaving enlisted his frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese to help make his passion project into a reality.

Paramount, after having acquired and let go of the project twice before, has scooped up the project, with DiCaprio on board to star, Scorsese to direct and Billy Ray to write the script, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The Erik Larson novel takes place in 1893 at the World's Fair, and follows the architect of the White City itself, Daniel H. Burnham, and the bloodthirsty Dr. H.H. Holmes who lured victims with his charm to his murder castle, a macabre and twisted monument to depravity in a world on the edge of the millennium. 

Graham Moore is penning the script, fresh off his Oscar win for The Imitation Game. 

X Gon' Give It To Ya' in Red Band DEADPOOL Trailer

 

The 4th wall-breaking quip-machine was the talk of the town after Comic-Con when the trailer was circulating the web in low cell-phone quality (along with Suicide Squad) and now, weeks later, the trailer for the 20th Fox gamble of "fine here's the movie you all have been bitching about wanting for 5 years" has made it's way online officially. 

Deadpool follows Wade Wilson, a cancer patient who undergoes a life-saving experimentation from the Weapon X program, as he is turned into the grizzle faced mercenary known as Deadpool who goes on the lamb from the organization that created him and along the way finds Negasonic Teenage Warhead, a child from the house that Xavier built as they are hunted and haunted by their estranged pasts.

DEADPOOL stars Ryan Reynolds as he reprises his role from 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine and is joined by a bevy of talent such as Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, and the stunning Morena Baccarin, Gina Carano, and newcomer Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic. 

The film opens everywhere February 12, 2016. 

Weekend Box Office- July 31- Aug 2

 

With the Cruise you clearly never lose. Paramount is having a good weekend after a rough summer start with the critically derided but actually brilliant Terminator: Genisys which has so far tallied up $317 million; but that's besides the point, as the amazing Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation dominated with $56 million for the opening weekend. The thriller, a fifth entry in the long-running journeys of the Impossible Mission Force, continues to showcase Cruise as both an entertainer and a box office draw.

Up against Ethan Hunt and his globe-troting escapades was National Lampoon's "Vacation" reboot, aptly titled Vacation which opened Wednesday, and finished the weekend with $21 million. The reboot starred Ed Helms as Clark Griswold's son, taking his family to Wally World. The reboot came in second.

Rounding out the weekend was Marvel Studios ANT-MAN, Minions, and PIXELS in fifth. 

Courtesy of Deadline:

1). Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation (PAR), 3,956 theaters / $20.3M Fri.* / $19.7M Sat. (-3%) /$16M Sun. (-19%) /3-day cume: $56M / Wk 1
* includes previews of $4M
Industry estimate:$55.6M FSS

2). Vacation (WB), 3,411 theaters / $4.5M Fri. / $5.8M Sat. (+28%) /$4.6M Sun. (-21%) / 3-day cume: $14.85M / Total cume: $21.2M** /Wk 1
**includes Tuesday previews of $1.2M
Industry estimate:$14.7M FSS, $21.2M cume

3). Ant-Man (DIS), 3,322 theaters (-546) / $3.6M Fri. / $5.1M Sat. (+40%) /$3.9M Sun. (-23%) / 3-day cume: $12.6M  (-49%)/Total cume: $132.1M/Wk 3
Industry estimate: $12.6M FSS, $132.1M cume

4). Minions (UNI), 3,575 theaters (-491)/ $3.6M Fri. / $5M Sat. (+36%) /$3.6M Sun. (-28%) / 3-day cume: $12.2M (-47%)/Total Cume: $287.3M / Wk 4
Industry estimate: $12.2M FSS, $287.3M cume

5). Pixels (SONY), 3,723 theaters (0)/ $3.16M Fri. / $4.1M Sat. (+31%) /$3.1M Sun. (-24%) / 3-day cume: $10.4M (-57%)/Total cume: $45.6M/ Wk 2
Industry estimate:$10.3M FSS, $45.6M cume

Next weekend, August 7, will see a crowded brawl as the 20th Century Fox Fantastic Four opens alongside the Joel Edgerton thriller The Gift and the Meryl Streep indie mother/daughter drama Ricki and the Flash.

I'm clearly no expert; but I'd wager F4NTASTIC or Fantastic Four or F4 or whatever you wanna call it will take a win from Rogue Nation. Tracking puts the Marvel super-hero reboot to a $45-50 million weekend, with a lot riding on the fresh-faced but accomplished young cast overpowering the negative rumors that have been circulating about director Josh Trank. While likely untrue and baseless, the same kind of negativity surrounded Fox's Days of Future Past last year, with the rumors of Bryan Singer doing absolutely nothing to detract from the film's stellar opening. 

Time wlill tell. 

ASSASSIN'S CREED Director Explains The Appeal of the Franchise to Film

 

Not many movies like Assassin's Creed end up happening- from being in development for years and having more scheduled release dates than there are actual games in it's own series (like 26)- but Justin Kurzel is committed to bringing the "heart and history" of the acclaimed franchise to the big screen.

Speaking to IGN, Kurzel said:

 “Because I think there’s so much underneath it,” he explained. “I don’t think it’s your typical shoot-em-up game. I don’t think it’s your typical one-dimensional game. It has a heart and a history to it.

The franchise, developed by Ubisoft, first launched in 2008 and has since spawned 21 games in both the main series and subsequent spin-offs, and detail a high-concept science fiction world where the Knight's Templar engineer a device, The Animus, to allow them to delve into the DNA memories from the descendants of Assassins, warriors who are both master killers, and have been in a never ending war with the Templars to preserve the Pieces of Eden- objects left behind by "Those who came before" which grant their users otherworldly abilities that can be as mighty as they are devastating. 

“The whole idea of memories and the whole idea of we are made up of who comes before us and within us we carry the DNA of our ancestors and we have access to those ancestors and they somehow speak to who we are now – that is just an incredibly strong, human kind of curious thing, so I think that there is something there that’s really original and really fresh and it’s no wonder it has 90 million players. There’s got to be something more than just the fun of playing it. There’s definitely a culture to it that people really respond to.”

The film's principal photography is expected to begin within the next "six or seven weeks" per IGN, with Michael Fassbender (Shame, Steve Jobs), Marion Cotillard (Inception) and Michael K. Williams (HBO's The Wire) starring, with others expected to be announced soon.

The film will see Fassbender and Cotillard reteaming with Kurzel off their critically acclaimed MACBETH film which is set to open in October in the UK, with the next installment for the game franchise, Assassin's Creed: Victory coming out this fall.

Lionsgate Bringing NARUTO to the Big Screen...Believe It.

 

The studio that has made billions off watching teenagers fight to the death with The Hunger Games is jumping into the anime-fray with the wildly popular manga/anime series Naruto apparently coming to a theater near you, from director Michael Gracey. From Variety:

 Avi Arad and his son Ari Arad are producing through Arad Productions. Erik Feig, Geoff Shaveitz and Kelly O’Malley will oversee for the studio. [...]
 Gracey is a former visual effects specialist who has moved into directing. He’s been attached to several studio projects that are in development — Universal’s adaptation of the New York Times best-seller “Daughter of Smoke and Bone,” his Elton John biopic “Rocketman” with Tom Hardy attached and Fox’s P.T. Barnum biopic “The Greatest Showman on Earth.”

Naruto follows the titular Naruto Uzumaki as he champions to become "Hokage", the highest title a ninja warrior can achieve, in a world divided by different villiages and ninja clans, each with their own special set of powers. The manga features a wide cast of diverse characters.
If done right, the action-adventure fantasy could be a mega hit, and it certainly has the potential to be, the only major setback being the series is deeply rooted in Japanese myths and legends; but who knows.

The series recently just ended it's almost 20 year run.  

Robert Rodriguez Talks JOHNNY QUEST

Sim, Sim, Sala Bim! While Robert Rodriguez is currently busy working on his From Dusk Till Dawn series for his El Rey network, the Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Spy Kids director has shared some details to /Film about his upcoming Johnny Quest adaptation, promising it's different than anything he's ever done. 

 “I thought it’d be really cool to do a legitimate action/adventure film that just happens to have a kid in it,” Rodriguez said. “Not a kids film; the Spy Kids were more like kids films, this would be like a real action-adventure film because that’s what the original series was like. It was a hard hitting, kickass action-adventure series. That’s what enticed me to go do it. My own series had already played out. That was a cool property still that the studio had. I thought I would go see what they thought of it and they were really into it.

Rodriguez is no rookie to hard-hitting action, as evident in his "Mariachi" trilogy with Antonio Banderas, and went on to compare hsi forthcoming adaptation of the mid-60's Hanna Barbara cartoon as doing a "James Bond/Indiana Jones" film:

 It’d be different from anything that I’ve done. I’ve never done anything really that wasn’t either a really small little kid type movie or a more violent action film. This would be like doing a James Bond/Indiana Jones movie. Imagine you’re a kid and James Bond is your bodyguard and your dad is Indiana Jones. It’s one of those movies and you just happen to be in it.

Johnny Quest was last revived in the 1990s as a more modern, cyber-thriller, cartoon series that involved then-cutting edge CGI animation. It wasn't until the mid 2000's where Zac Efron and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson were in talks to star in a big budget film.

The series follows Johnny Quest, son of the famous scientist Dr. Benton Quest, his friend Hadji, their dog Bandit, and Dr. Quest's bodyguard Roger Bannon as they embark on adventrues accross the globe to face threats both paranormal, and incredibly real. The series is inspired by pulp adventure comics. 

The film, directed by Rodriguez, will be written by Terry Rossio (Pirates trilogy) for Warner Brothers, and produced by Adrian Askarieh, who has had his hand in the globe-trotting Hitman films as well. 

Michael Bay's Benghazi Drama, 13 HOURS, Has a Trailer

Since the summer of 2007, Michael Bay has been a little busy directing a multi-billion dollar franchise out of the Autbots and Decepticons, with his only in-between being the black-comedy/crime-drama Pain and Gain before he went back to Optimus for one more ride in 2014.

SInce then, the "love him or hate him" Bay has been hard at work on 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi to bring him back into his element: R-rated, adult themed action pieces. This one, like Pain and Gain being based off a true story- only this time it's a bit more timely. 

 13 Hours tells the story of the six members of the security team that fought to defend the Americans stationed at the embassy in Benghazi when it came under attack. John Krasinski leads a cast that includes James Badge Dale, Max Martini (Pacific Rim), Pablo Schreiber (Orange Is the New Black), and David Denman (The Office). The screenplay was penned by The Strainauthor/writer Chuck Hogan, adapted from the book by Mitchell Zuckoff.

The film opens January 15, 2016. 

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter Begins Production

 

It's been almost 3 long years since the latest Resident Evil entry, Resident Evil: Retribution hit theaters in September of 2012 and after a slight hiccup (pregnancy) it seems that franchise star, Milla Jovovich, and franchise helmer (and husband of Jovovich) Paul W.S. Anderson are heading to South Africa to bring the final installment of the long-running sci-fi/horror series. 

Jovovich posted the following photo on her Instagram:
 

Well, the moment so many of you have been waiting for is finally here where I can tell you that it's zombie killing season for the Jovovich-Anderson clan! Here I am getting my face cast made for "resident evil: the final chapter"!! I leave to South Africa tomorrow to start prepping for the movie! #residentevilmovie #ladiary

The franchise, based on the wildly popular Capcom series, first began in 2002, and has since became the most (and only) succesful video-game adaptation in box-office history.
Director Anderson has stated in the past that he aims to bring the series full circle with this dramatic entry.