Random News of the Week (May 26 - June 1, 2008)

Paramount is bringing back Eddie Murphy one more time for a 4th installment of the Beverly Hils Cop series. Guess who they found to direct? It’s actually perfect… Brett Ratner. Eddie Murphy says he “wants to be more actively involved in the 4th adventure.” Bruckheimer will NOT be actively involved in this sequel. A script writer is being hired as soon as possible to put this on the fast track. Shooting begins next year with a 2010 release date.

A sequel to BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL was confirmed this week.

Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro have all been confirmed to reprise their roles in TRANSFORMERS 2. Rainn Wilson (THE OFFICE) is going to play a bit part in the film also as a professor.

Marvel executive Peter Cuneo talked about what Sony is going to do about a 4th Spider-man movie. “It's really up to Sony, it's up to them, most likely scenario is 2010 or 2011 but we can't speak for them and I think, that we don't know. They have given us their re-up payment for that film so you know they're going to make it within a reasonable timeframe. Sony may be looking at some issues with the cast and so on, I think they have to make some decisions." He also mentioned that the tone of the upcoming WOLVERINE movie will be a “1970’s gritty type of action film.”

For some reason, Harrison Ford decided to be relevant again lately. First Indiana Jones 4 comes out and survives almost entirely on what’s left of Ford’s charisma. Now word is out that he is wanting to do another Jack Ryan movie. For says that the character is “worth re-exploring again. That's a character that I think you could revisit acknowledging the passage of time and his increasing age. It wasn't age dependent that character and his experiences were chockablock full of recipes for good engaging movies so that's a character I wouldn't mind revisiting.” So he’s got his hat in the ring again for that one and I’m sure they are looking to recast the disaster that was Ben Affleck.

Del Toro and Peter Jackson had a chat this week and lot’s of info came out about THE HOBBIT. Scripting and early conceptual designs will be worked on for the rest of this year. Pre-production will take place throughout 2009 and shooting will happen back-to-back throughout 2010 with a short break between films. The first film will hit cinemas in December 2011. The second film doesn't have a title yet and won't until after scripting is complete. Rather than focusing on the years between the two tales, it will cover a specific incident that took place between them. Casting will not begin until next year, however all the original 'Rings' cast members that can be brought back will be. The films will be shot in 2.35:1 aspect ratio with a PG-13 rating. There are no plans for a 3D release yet. A lot of the original production team will be brought back, as will composer Howard Shore. Ian Holm will participate somehow, even though Bilbo will be recast to reflect the character's younger age. del Toro's frequent collaborator Ron Perlman will have a role. Location shooting throughout New Zealand will take place with Hobbiton to be rebuilt bigger than before. It's unlikely any locations outside NZ will be used. A Blu-ray release of the 'Rings' trilogy is in the works, but NOT this year.

In other HOBBIT news, James McAvoy (ATONEMENT, LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) is supposedly the front-runner to play Bilbo Baggins.

STREET FIGHTER 4 is officially heading to consoles and PC, debuting on XBOX 360, PS3, and PC.

Tarantino is working on INGLORIOUS BASTARDS with a planned premiere at next year's Cannes Festival. Supposedly, the writing is already done and he’s moving forward. This could be a REALLY good thing.

Sadly, Sydney Pollack died this week at the age of 73. He most recently seen acting with George Clooney in MICHAEL CLAYTON. He was diagnosed with cancer about 9 months ago and deteriorated fast. He is probably best known for his directing (in particular, the film TOOTSIE) although he was a great actor also. He won an acadamy award for best director for OUT OF AFRICA in 1986. He will be missed.

Beyonce Knowles is the latest name being mentioned to record the theme song for the upcoming Bond film QUANTUM OF SOLACE. It just keeps getting worse.

Either James Cameron is crazy or this will be his masterpiece. He calls his AVATAR project "the single most complex piece of filmmaking ever made" and will feature "hundreds of photo-realistic CG characters".

The upcoming STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS film release has been rated PG by the MPAA which cites "sci-fi action violence throughout, brief language and momentary smoking".

In WATCHMEN news, the animated side story "Tales of the Black Freighter" will not be released concurrently with the "Watchmen" DVD, but rather as its own DVD release just five days after the movie hits theaters on March 6th 2009. The disc also includes a documentary-style film called "Under the Hood" that will delve into the characters' backstories. Also the studio plans a dozen 22-26 minute Webisodes in the build-up to "Watchmen". Snyder says in the article that "Watchmen", which he's currently editing, is nearing three hours in length and intends to fight to keep as much as possible in the film. This all sounds like really good news.