Damon Houx
It's nearly the summer season (at least for movies), so it's surprising how quiet 'The Great Gatsby' has been in selling itself. Sure, it's going to be opening the Cannes film festival, but it's not being sold as a tentpole summer event picture. Regardless, the film has released seven new clips to get us excited.
Ever the busy producer, J.J. Abrams not only has 'Star Trek,' 'Star Wars' and 'Revolution' on his plate, his company Bad Robot is looking to get the rights to Stephen King's '11/22/63' and bring it to the small screen.
It's easy for an actor to get trapped in certain kinds of roles, and after two movies playing the traitorous Loki (and with a third film on the way), it's nice to see that Tom Hiddleston has been offered the lead in 'The Crow.'
The developmental process in Hollywood can be slow and arduous, something Martin Scorsese is well aware of. 'Gangs of New York' was a film he wanted to make in 1979, but it took twenty-three years to finally get it to the big screen. It seems that he's going through a similar struggle to adapt 'Silence,' based on the novel by Shusaku Endo, as he has been attached to it since 1991. But now there's light at the end of this tunnel.
It's been almost a decade since Keanu Reeves wrapped up 'The Matrix' trilogy, and over five years since his 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' remake, and in the interim Reeves has kept quiet. Sure, he's done some indie films, and produced a documentary, but he's been off the big screen for a while. But now he's signed on to star in 'Passengers,' which will return him to science fiction.
Though DreamWorks Animation has had some hits ('Shrek 2,' believe it or not, is one of the top ten highest grossing films of all time), their last film at Paramount ,'Rise of the Guardians,' was such a flop that it caused the studio to reduce ranks. Fortunately that may have just been some bad luck as their most recent film 'The Croods' is so successful that the studio has just announced a sequel.
The internet has shown that filmmakers can act directly with fans, and circumvent the official marketing machine. 'Kick-Ass 2' director Jeff Wadlow has shown how far you can go by uploading a clip from his upcoming movie. It offers Aaron Johnson and Chloe Grace Moretz starting a fight with Christopher Mintz-Plasse and his gang.
When 20th Century Fox was founded in 1935 (the combination of Fox Films Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures) it's possible that the founders of the company may have joked that their name could become obsolete in sixty five years, but it seems unlikely they were thinking that far ahead. Now -- seventy-eight years later -- the company's name has been changed to reflect the times and updated to 21st Century Fox for everything but the movie side of their business.
'The Hunger Games' proved adept at keeping audiences excited by offering brief glimpses at the movie, and letting everyone know about every casting decision, so it's no surprise that the follow-up 'Catching Fire' is using a similar strategy. We're still more than seven months out from 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,' but it's just released two new images.
1991's 'Point Break' is the latest film to be dusted off for remaking, as former cinematographer Ericson Core has been hired to direct it, and there's already a finished script. Which means this might actually happen. Great.