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FilmDistrict Picks Up Spike Lee’s ‘Oldboy;’ Official Synopsis Reveals A Few Details By Russ Fischer/Sept. 7, 2012 9:07 am EST Good news for Spike Lee’s new version of Oldboy: the film was picked up today by FilmDistrict, the company that released Drive. Along with that pickup comes some cast confirmation, so we know for certain that Josh Brolin will play a man kidnapped and imprisoned for years, Elizabeth Olsen will play the young woman he meets upon his release, and Sharlto Copley plays the villain....

First Teaser Poster For ‘Captain America’ By Russ Fischer/Feb. 4, 2011 10:05 am EST This is the first poster for Captain America: The First Avenger. The costume looks good, the pose is reverent and well-chosen, and all that flying Saving Private Ryan dirt reminds us that, yeah, in some respect this is a war movie. But ‘Avenge’ as the tagline? Not what I would have guessed. ‘Avenger’ would have been weird, too, but more appropriate, perhaps....

By Russ Fischer/March 2, 2011 10:30 am EST The books are bestsellers, but the film did only modest tentpole business in 2010: under $90 domestic. But it did $138m overseas. Not enough to push the profit margin definitively into the black when all expenses and cuts are factored in, but enough that projected long-tail revenue evidently makes a sequel look like a good move. In this second adventure in Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, Percy is anticipating the end of seventh grade and a summer at Camp Half-Blood with kids who are the offspring of Greek gods and mortals....

Full Red-Band ‘Maniac’ Trailer Shows More Of Murderous Elijah Wood By Russ Fischer/May 25, 2012 9:00 am EST Here’s the full trailer for the remake of Maniac, which stars Elijah Wood as a very damaged guy who is very violently trying to come to terms with his troubled relationship with his mom. We saw a not-quite-synced up trailer a week or so ago, and this is a full version of the same thing, with a full ending and, accordingly, a good dollop of extra horror....

Funny Or Die Director Jake Szymanski Will Helm ‘He’s F*ckin’ Perfect’, But Emma Stone Probably Won’t Star By Angie Han/Dec. 16, 2011 5:00 pm EST The news isn’t all happy, though. Emma Stone, who entered talks to star several weeks ago, is now said to be “unlikely” to board the project. More details after the jump. At any rate, Szymanski seems like a good pick to helm. Although he’s relatively inexperienced — He’s Fuckin’ Perfect would be his first feature — he already has a relationship with McKay, Ferrell, and Gary Sanchez, and a glance at his FOD videos indicate that he’s got an irreverent sense of humor that should complement the material nicely....

Geek Deals: Taxi: The Complete Series For $72 And Happy Days: Seasons 1-4 For $50 By Peter Sciretta/Sept. 7, 2010 9:30 am EST We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington & Matthew McConaughey Join Simon West-Directed Mocap Film ‘Thunder Run’ By Russ Fischer/Oct. 28, 2011 3:30 pm EST Producers at a new company called Freedom Films (yep) are working to change that with an adaptation of David Zucchino’s book Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad. As part of a gambit to get investors and distributors interested in the project, they’ve enlisted Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington and Matthew McConaughey to act in and voice the leads....

Jeremy Renner Offered Lead In ‘The Bourne Legacy’ By Russ Fischer/April 21, 2011 7:05 pm EST Jeremy Renner has, inexplicably, become your new action franchise star. Well, it isn’t quite inexplicable: he’s a great actor who has left a mark on audiences with performances and scored consecutive Oscar nominations for his roles in The Hurt Locker and The Town. It’s just that it seemed at one point like he might go towards a career path that wasn’t so blockbuster-oriented....

Jessica Alba Starring In ‘Spy Kids 4’ By Russ Fischer/Aug. 24, 2010 7:00 am EST Despite the fact that the two kids, Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara, who starred in the first three films aren’t even close to being kids at this point, Robert Rodriguez is preparing to shoot a fourth Spy Kids movie. He’s doing so with new kids, but for the time being we don’t know who those actors will be....

Joe Carnahan’s ‘The Grey,’ Starring Liam Neeson, Is A Go By Germain Lussier/Jan. 5, 2011 1:30 pm EST Movie blogs like this one run so many stories about gossip, rumor and early attachments, it’s nice to finally write one about that all important green light. A “green light” is the term for when financiers and filmmakers agree on a budget, script, cast and finally give the go-ahead to begin production. And in the realm of movies we report on, it doesn’t always happen....

Kristen Bell Lands Lead In Disney’s Snow Queen Adaptation ‘Frozen’ By Angie Han/March 5, 2012 5:30 pm EST After years of development, Disney’s The Snow Queen adaptation looked to be dead once more when it was shelved back in 2010. But late last year, the project came roaring back to life under a new title, Frozen, and now the studio’s wasting no time putting the pieces together. Kristen Bell has just been announced for the lead role of the film, a 3D computer-animated feature due out late next year from Tarzan and Surf’s Up helmer Chris Buck....

Laurence Fishburne Is Perry White In ‘Man Of Steel’ By Angie Han/Aug. 2, 2011 9:16 pm EST According to the LA Times’ Hero Complex, which broke the news, Fishburne will be the first African-American to fill the role in any of the television shows, cartoons, or films produced since the character’s creation. Fishburne (as I’m sure you probably know) is an accomplished stage and screen actor probably best known for his role of Morpheus in the Wachowski siblings’ Matrix trilogy....

Mickey Rourke Cast In ‘The Ice Man: Confessions Of A Mafia Contract Killer’ By Germain Lussier/Sept. 12, 2010 12:00 pm EST Mickey Rourke is no stranger to playing a bad ass killer. In fact, it’s kind of his bread and butter. So it makes sense that the Oscar nominee been cast as Richard “The Ice Man” Kuklinski in The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, an adaptation of a book by Philip Carlo....

Mike Nichols In Talks To Direct Meryl Streep And Jeff Bridges In ‘Great Hope Springs’ By Russ Fischer/June 25, 2010 5:26 am EST There’s a new matrimonial drama brewing at Mandate Pictures — Great Hope Springs is based on a script by Vanessa Taylor, and it’s the sort of film that, from a distance, might not seem too interesting. But with Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges finalizing deals to star and Mike Nichols looking to direct, this might become a movie that you can’t ignore....

More Marvel: ‘Iron Man 3’ Plot Rumor, And Joss Whedon Promises ‘The Avengers’ Release Cut Is His Director’s Cut By Russ Fischer/March 12, 2012 9:00 am EST We’ve already had a bit of Marvel news this morning thanks to the announcement of a six-film Marvel marathon that culminates with a midnight screening of The Avengers. But there’s more. After the break, rumors are starting to fly on the Iron Man 3 plot, and The Avengers director Joss Whedon says that the release version of his movie, which he eventually cut from three hours down to 135 miniutes, will be the only version of the movie....

National Geographic And James Cameron Team For Underwater 3D Doc ‘Deepsea Challenge’ By Russ Fischer/March 8, 2012 12:30 pm EST Earlier today you may have seen news that James Cameron plans to take a state of the art single-user submersible to Challenger Deep, known as the lowest point of the Mariana Trench north of Papua New Guinea. That spot was reached once by a manned craft, for about 20 minutes in 1960....

Neil Burger Set To Direct Sheldon Turner-Scripted ‘Bonnie And Clyde’ By Russ Fischer/July 25, 2011 8:48 pm EST In the wake of the success of Limitless, Neil Burger has already signed to make Sony’s video game adaptation Uncharted. But a new draft of that script is in the works, and even though he’s also writing, one expects there is no small amount of dealing with Sony to get that screenplay crafted, especially after the time spent with David O....

New Writer Recruited For Nicolas Winding Refn’s Remake Of ‘Logan’s Run’ By Russ Fischer/Oct. 31, 2011 7:01 am EST Producer Joel Silver has been developing a remake of the 1976 movie Logan’s Run for years. Carl Erik Rinsch was set to direct it last year, with Bryan Singer and James McTeigue attached before him. Then, in a surprise move, Bronson and Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn was hired to make Logan’s Run....

By Russ Fischer/Aug. 11, 2011 3:30 pm EST Briefly: The animated Madagascar spin-off movie intended to showcase the four scene-stealing pengiuns from that series now has a director. Simon Smith, who co-directed Bee Movie for Dreamworks, is now set to hold the reins on the film, which was fast-tracked back in March. That was when Megamind writers Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons were hired to script. The penguins have proven to be one of the most popular aspects of the Mardagascar films and have already been given their own short, and an animated show on Nickelodeon....

Rod Lurie To Direct ‘Borderline’ By Russ Fischer/May 9, 2011 5:00 pm EST Rod Lurie is putting the finishing talks on his remake of Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, and now he’s been set to direct an on the run thriller called Borderline. There’s nothing strange in that chain of events, but the trade break that announces this one references another Sam Peckinpah film, The Getaway. Coincidence, right? Probably. More details after the break....