Random News of the Week (December 22 - December 28, 2008)

JJ Abrams says that he has already locked down and finished all work on the STAR TREK reboot, almost 5 months early. Since the studio decided to not release it during Christmas and instead wait until March 2009, they are going to throw the film in a vault and wait. I don’t think I’ve heard of anything like that before.

Great news on TR2N! Bruce Boxleitner (who played Tron in the first film) is set and confirmed for TRON 2. He is currently filming his scenes. The film has also been confirmed to be all in 3D.

Stallone wants his old DEMOLITION MAN co-star, Sandra Bullock to be in his next film, THE EXPENDABLES. He is currently finishing final pre-production and set scouting for locations.

First, word came last week that Stephen Chow was no longer going to direct THE GREEN HORNET for “creative differences.” Now, word comes this week that he may not be playing Kato either anymore. It turns out his schedule is really tight and he may not be able to fit the film in with all his other projects.

Clive Owen has signed on for his next film called CARTAGENA. The story centers on an undercover agent who gets caught in a complex plot and must elude drug dealers and international agents if he hopes to survive. Sounds perfect for Owen.

Disney is officially “out” of making more CHRONICLES OF NARNIA films. They dropped work on the 3rd VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER. The status of the next films remains very dire. Currently, they are trying to shop it around with Fox looking to be one studio that might be interested in picking things back up. The 2nd film did not do well in release or DVD and was extremely costly. Disney felt the risk was too high in the current economic climate.

Some good news, Platinum Dunes has dropped plans to remake ROSEMARY’S BABY. They are still continuing with their remakes of FRIDAY THE 13th and NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET though.

The day before Christmas, word came that a deal has been inked to bring Gilligan’s Island to the big screen. The original creator, Sherwood Schwartz is still involved and is hoping to get Michael Cera (SUPERBAD, JUNO) to play Gilligan. They would also like Beyonce Knowles to play Ginger.

And finally, bad, bad, bad news for the status of THE WATCHMEN. Fox just won the initial judge ruling on the rights dispute for WATCHMEN on who is allowed to actually distribute the film. I can’t believe how unethical Fox has been about all of this. Letting Warner Bros go all the way into production and shoot most of the film before even bringing this up. Right now, the release date for WATCHMEN does not look like a “go”.