News

John Woo and producer bud Terence Chang will be producing an American remake of Woo’s classic 1989 film “The Killer”, about a Hong Kong hitman who blinds a club singer during a contract killing, and spends the remainder of the movie trying to make enough money to restore her sight, even as he’s pursued by a persistent cop and a psychopathic ex-client who wants him dead. Korean-American director John H. Lee, best known for 2004’s Korean sappy melodrama “A Moment to Remember”, will direct the remake, make the lead a Korean man, and set the film around Los Angeles.

More from The Hollywood Reporter:

Director Lee told The Hollywood Reporter that he’s excited about working on the remake of one of his “favorite films of all time.”

“I ask myself why they chose me and whether I can top it,” Lee said from Seoul on Monday. “But then I realize it’s not about making it better. It’s about making my own version. My strength is dealing with human emotions, austerity and elegance.”

Source

Justice League of America movie is finished, and has been warmly received at Warner Bros. Slashfilm.com have an interesting question about this film: Why waste two superheros in one movie when you could make double the money with two films?

When the news broke that JLA (Justice League of America) was moving forward with a script written by Kiernan and Michele Mulroney, speculations began that the follow-up to Superman Returns, The Man of Steel, would be delayed or even completely scrapped. B studio sources quickly said that was just mere speculation and The Man of Steel was still planned for a first quarter 2008 start date. Even recently, Brandon Routh told us the same thing during a quick red carpet interview at the premiere for Transformers. [iesb]

According to this survey (in Japanese) conducted by Oricon Research, the Japanese horror film or film series that is regarded as the scariest of all time by the Japanese people themselves is the Ringu series. This is followed by the One Missed Call series and the Ju-on series.

The Top 10 scariest Japanese movies based on the survey are:

1. Ringu Series (Rasen/Ringu/Ringu 2/Ringu 0)

2. One Missed Call Series (One Missed Call / One Missed Call 2)

3. Ju-on (The Grudge) Series (Ju-On 1 / Ju-On 2)

4. Dark Water

5. Scary True Stories: Ten Haunting Tales from the Japanese Underground Series

6. Gakko no Kaidan ????? (Haunted School) series (Gakko no Kaidan 1 / 2 / 3 / 4)

7. Kansen (Infection)

8. Shikoku

9. Junji Inagawa (????) series

10. Kuroi Ie (The Black House)

The images appear to have originated from a Flickr account. Click here for full 18 images.

John Campea at The Movie Blog has put up his personal Top 100 Films of all time list since the AFI and the OFC’s lists have come out.

Now, keep in mind that film is subjective… that mean NO ONE will agree with my list because we all see things differently. And just so you know, I ranked these between an equal balance of my ENJOYMENT of the film, and the MERRIT of the film 50/50, so that will give you some insight into how I came up with the list.

And here The Movie Blog’s Top 100 Films of all time:

1. Lord of the Rings, The: The Return of the King (Jackson, 2003)
2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Lucas, 1977)
3. Shawshank Redemption, The (Darabont, 1994)
4. Life is Beautiful (Benigni, 1997)
5. Highlander (Mulcahy, 1986)
6. Godfather, The (Coppola, 1972)
7. Usual Suspects, The (Singer, 1995)
8. Spartacus (Kubrick, 1960)
9. Ben-Hur (Wyler, 1959)
10. Braveheart (Gibson, 1995)
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Roger Avary to Direct Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Variety reports that producer Samuel Hadida has secured rights to the videogame with intentions of turning it into a movie franchise, and he’s tapped Roger Avary to write and direct the World War II supernatural-themed First Person Shooter. Apparently Hadida liked Avary’s swerve after he worked on the producer’s “Silent Hill” videogame-to-movie adaptation.

Sam Raimi to Direct Clash of the Titans Remake?

From IESB:

I received an email that stated that Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. are actively pursuing a certain director with a ton of geek credentials.

When I first heard the name I had to second guess my trusted source and double check with a couple of other insiders, guess what? It checked out.

The name of said director? None other than Sam “The Man” Raimi.

How solid is the news? There is no doubt that Warner Bros. has been offering Sam as my source says, “everything under the sun,” including some of its bigger franchise pictures and several DC properties.

The remake is scheduled for a 2010 bow.

Stephen Lang and Michelle Rodriguez Cast in James Cameron’s Avatar

Stephen Lang (Gods and Generals, Gettysburg) and Michelle Rodriguez (Girlfight, Fast and the Furious, Lost) have joined the cast of James Cameron’s $190+ million super-epic 3D performance-capture/live action/animation hybrid sci-fi film Avatar. Written by Cameron eleven years ago as an 80-page treatment, Avatar follows a wounded ex-marine who is unwillingly sent to settle and exploit the faraway planet Pandora. When he gets caught up in battle for survival by the planet’s inhabitants (called Na’vis) he unexceptionally falls in love with one of them.

Heroes/Universal Media/NBC announced tons of Heroes licencing products, it goes from trading cards, video games, games for mobile phones, clothing!!!, posters, figurines and -very nice- a 2008 Heroes calendar.
Companies tied to these various products includes:
WizKids Inc. (HeroClix figurines)
Scorpio Posters (posters)
Topps (trading cards)
Mezco Toyz (action figures and deluxe figures)
…and many others.

On top of all that Titan Publishing announced they’ll publish the official Heroes Magazine, that’ll ship bi-monthly and will provide an inside look on the production of the series, actors’ interviews, games, letters…a fan’s dream come true.

If it ever was in doubt, George Takei will play Kaito Nakamura even on Season 2.

Link 

1. Title: The Dark Knight

Release date: July 18th, 2008
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall,Nestor Carbonell, Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble, Michael Jai White

The follow-up to the action hit “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale,who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne. In the new film, Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of LieutenantJim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the
remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaosunleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker

2. Title: 1-18-08

Release date: January 18th, 2008
Director: Matt Reeves
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie  Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall, Nestor Carbonell, Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble, Michael Jai White

 A giant monster movie (referred internally as Godzilla) which is shot using home video cameras from the point of view of real people who are experiencing the attack on New York City

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