Movie Moan - The Bourne Placenta

On this week's Movie Moan, Phil and Jamie go into detail about Marvel Studios' new epic plan with their films leading up to 2012's The Avengers while our favorite English gentleman gloats about Thor moving to Summer 2011 - i.e. he's been saying that was going to happen for awhile now!

Our heroes discuss the ever decreasing (and increasingly more depressing) news of Watchmen falling like a rock at the box-office. Jamie nerdgasms over the trailer for Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. Meanwhile Phil moans about the fact that he won't be seeing Pixar's Up (his most anticipated film of 2009) until October!?!

Also on docket is TMT's exclusive info on Suicide Squad and the news of Wonder Woman picking up steam again over at Warner Brother as well as the status on the next Bond film and Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

All of that and Phil's spec script for Bourne 4 - The Bourne Placenta!

Movie Moan: The Bourne Placenta

Marvel Studios Repositions Film Slate

AKA - Yet another example of how Marvel Studios is out-doing Warner Brothers/DC Comics.

The studio has opted to re-position their entire lineup of film projects. The original plan was to have Iron Man 2 and Kenneth Branagh's Thor for Summer 2010 with Captain America and The Avengers for the following Summer of 2011.

Well now Marvel has announced that the Iron Man sequel will (obviously) remain in its May 7, 2010 release. Meanwhile, Thor moves to Summer 2011 with Captain America (which has been pushed back from May to now July '11) "building up" to The Avengers for May 2012.

It's safe to assume that most of us thought The Avengers would be pushed back - especially with the news of Warner Brothers moving Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows - Part II for a July 2011 release. That and said "team-up" will be heavily dependant in how Thor and Captain America turn out.

Also on docket is the announcement that Spider-Man 4 will officially open the Summer of 2011 with a May 6 release. I''m curious to see how that one's coming along!

Now compare all of this to WB/DC who don't have anywhere near as concrete a plan.

To be fair, we know they have Batman III coming down the pipeline (although not surprisingly it appears that might be headed to 2012 thanks to Nolan's Inception), Jonah Hex for a late Summer 2010 release followed by Green Lantern that Christmas and the Superman Returns follow-up (most likely a "requel") coming...eventually - my guess is Christmas 2011. Although I still wouldn't count out Kal-El to return (again) for that Summer instead.

Lethal Weapon Franchise DOA

Or they're officially too old for that shit.

Clint Morris (the big cheese over at the great Movie Hole) got confirmation from two separate sources that any and all development on Lethal Weapon 5 has stopped.

The first of said sources is screenwriter Shane Black while the other is an anonymous studio contact saying, "That one is as good as dead. It won’t happen. Which is a pity."

Despite the quality of Black's script, it all boiled down to getting Mel Gibson to return and the culprit behind his refusal to come back vary depending on who you ask - whether it be money, the fact that series-director Richard Donner was reportedly not asked back, etc.

I am surprised this didn't go through considering the current wave of 80s nostalgia reviving franchises from the decade of New Coke, "I Want My MTV!" and Max Headroom.

Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Live Free or Die Hard and Rambo showed old tough guys can still kick ass and take names. Hell, we might even get a Ghostbusters 3 by the way things are looking!?!

George Miller Still Talking Justice League. Sigh.

One would assume George Miller had more to do right now than continuing to talk up a Justice League film considering the version he was set to direct was (thankfully) shit-canned by Warner Brothers last year - and twice, no less!

Just last week, Miller was telling the MTV Movies Blog about the possibility of revisiting Mad Max (minus Mel Gibson - now in his Colonel Sanders look and state-of-mind) as a 3D anime film. That sounds cool enough.

And now he "confirms" that any Justice League film will be years down the line. No offense, but it's safe to say everyone already knew that. Warner Brothers is enjoying the Batman gravy-train with a third installment coming down the pike (eventually) as well as Jonah Hex, next Christmas' Green Lantern and the Superman sequel, requel, whatever.

Miller also adds that despite this he is still attached for the directing gig. Again, that doesn't mean anything frankly. He's also attached to The Odyssey with Brad Pitt, this Mad Max 3-D anime project (if that's to be believed!) and of course the inevitable Happy Feet sequel.

Nonetheless, I'll give the man an A for effort in keeping the conversation(s) going.

Pirates 4 "A Possibility" As Per Russell Brand

The rumor's been out for there since the middle of last year of Forgetting Sarah Marshall co-star Russell Brand appearing in a fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise - possibly as Captain Jack Sparrow's brother.

Well, the British comedian confirmed to Access Hollywood that he's had talks regarding his participation and said it was "a possibility!" At the moment, however Brand has higher priorities such as Get Him to the Greek where he'll reprise his Sarah Marshall role as British rocker Aldous Snow.

Not to mention, the last official word we got on Pirates 4 was that writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott were cooking up an outline while they're also writing The Lone Ranger (as per producer Jerry Bruckheimer) and the target date was moved from Summer 2011 to 2012.

Truthfully, I hated both Pirates sequels and wish that franchise would go back to the Hell it was spawned from - i.e. Disney World. But alas said sequels earned around $2 billion worldwide - not including home video sales, merchandising, etc.

So no doubt we're getting another installment. Joy.

News, Rumors & 100% Grade-A Internet Bullshit - March 9, 2009

-If Rob Sanchez and his crew over at IESB are to be believed (and I definitely believe em!), 20th Century Fox plans on setting the "reboot" button on the Fantastic Four franchise. It can't be any worse than the previous films or Roger Corman's 1994 version. Right? *Long silence*

-Yeah, this one definitely fits in the "100% Grade-A Internet Bullshit" category. The Australian publication Herald Sun are claiming that Sam Worthington will replace his Terminator: Salvation co-star Christian Bale as the Cape Crusader in Batman III. Yeah. Sure he is. *Rolls eyes*

-I just can't buy into the hype surrounding James Cameron's Avatar until something gets put in front of me to justify it - i.e. actual photos from the film or footage. Now rumors have surfaced that eight(!?!) trailers for the sci-fi epic (cut by the studio presumably) have failed to impress its director. Thus he's hard at work doing one himself.

-The first photos from Harry Potter & the Deathy Hallows have surfaced online. Damn, I can't believe it will have been ten years since the release of the first film when the final installment hits cinemas coming July 2011.

New Star Trek Trailer Debuts

Maybe it's just the nerdgasming, but the closer we get to it's May 8 release, the more I think J.J. Abrams' Star Trek will surprise the Hell out of average film-goers in the same way that Iron Man did early last summer.

On the other hand, it might be one of those "franchise revivals" that does solid but unspectacular business - not unlike Batman Begins and Superman Returns.

The new trailer that appeared in front of Watchmen earlier this morning has also hit the interwebs and it's here for your enjoyment.

News, Rumors & 100% Grade-A Internet Bullshit - March 5, 2009

-Warner Brothers (via New Line Cinema) and Platinum Dunes have a release date set for their Nightmare on Elm Street remake: April 10, 2010. Meanwhile, artist Andrew Clement (who was responsible for makeup work for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek and Spider-Man 3) has been brought in to design the new Freddy Krueger and over-see the makeup effects.

-If George Miller is to be believed, his iconic action-hero Mad Max will finally return to the silver screen...in the form of a 3-D anime film minus one Mel Gibson in the lead.

-Sure, its ratings are ass and the average viewer has pretty much abandoned it. But Heroes gets a fourth season when something as charming as Chuck remains "on the bubble." Enjoy staying in last place, NBC! Morons.

Update on Thu, March 5, 2009 by Peter Georgiou

I honestly can't believe that NBC is even considering giving Heroes a 4th season, the show is a nightmare. Also, Chuck on the bubble? In my opinion it is the most entertaining show on the network.

New Terminator Salvation Trailer Hits

Yahoo! Movies has the exclusive first-look at the new trailer for Terminator: Salvation. You can either click on this link here or check it out below.

I was talking to my best friend (whose about to finish up film school) not too long ago and he was telling me how this was the one summer tentpole everyone he knew was actually excited about.

To his credit, McG has put the fears from most fans at rest ever since he first presented footage at last year's San Diego Comic Con. And this latest trailer certainly won't hurt. Looks great and it's nice to finally see footage of Sam Worthington in action after hearing about him for so long now - from this and James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar opening this Christmas.

So yeah, this will easily be one of the top-grossing films of this summer.

From Jay & Silent Bob to a Couple of Dicks?

If anyone's been listening to Smodcast, then you'll know that Kevin Smith has been talking about a number of films offered for him to direct after last Fall's Zack & Miri Make a Porno.

And the most recent installment of his weekly podcast, Smith and his producing partner-in-crime Scott Mosier discussed how Mos wasn't going to produce his next film to instead focus on making his directorial debut.

Well according to ERC Box Office, Smith will direct his Live Free or Die Hard co-star Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan (from the brilliantly funny but criminally under-viewed TV series 30 Rock) in Couple of Dicks for Warner Brothers.

Although the details are sketchy on plot, the film already has a release date: January 29, 2010(!)

Beside the absence of Mosier, the film will also mark the first time Smith doesn't have a direct hand in the writing - the script is credited to Robb and Marc Cullen. Although I'm sure Smith will go in and do some touch-ups here and there.

Look, I liked Zack & Miri. But it's box-office under-performance obviously had an impact on Smith - just listen to the two-part Smodcast where he and Mosier go into detail about "what went wrong."

That said, it's good that Smith is putting himself out there and hopefully it will work out in the long run - I think it will.