After raking in $US 450 million with their first two live-action Scooby-Doo films, Warner Bros. and producers Charles Roven and Richard Suckle are planning on another feature based on them meddling kids. However, Variety reports that the new flick will be an entirely animated affair – a decision that makes more sense than carrying on from 2004’s Monsters Unleashed. Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Smurfs should take note.
42 star to play James Brown
Producer Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon) has finally found a lead in his currently unnamed James Brown biopic. Collider reports that 42 star Chadwick Boseman will be donning (and shrugging off) the towel as The Godfather of Soul in a film directed by Tate Taylor (The Help) and co-produced by Mick Jagger.
If you’re unsure of this Boseman fellow, we suggest giving 42 a watch – it’s out now on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD. Baseball New Zealand has also set up a special one-off screening at Sky City Theatre on Saturday September 7, a fundraising event to send their talented U18 Diamondblacks over to Arizona for a massive North American baseball showcase (click here for ticket info).
Elysium Holds NZ B.O. #1 Spot
Sir Peter Jackson’s boy Neill Blomkamp proves to be a favourite in New Zealand (Dom included; Aaron not-so-much), with his futuristic sci-fi Elysium retaining the top spot in the New Zealand Box Office over its second weekend. Collecting almost $NZ 297,000 over the weekend (putting its total gross above $1 mil.), it managed to beat out the #2 film The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, with a mere $3,000 keeping the two apart. Kick-Ass 2 failed to punt the buttocks of movie-goers this weekend, making its debut at #5 with a gross of $132,000, as did Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, gaining only $17,000 across 25 screens nationwide.
You can check out the full Box Office report over at the Top 10.
Things that might happen
Pixar might be looking for a new director for The Good Dinosaur, with reports saying Bob Peterson has been removed from the project. (via Blue Sky Disney)
The Spawn remake/boot/thing might be shooting next year. (via TheGate)
Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass might return to the Bourne franchise. Universal says there is “no truth” to the rumour, though that could just mean that nothing has been confirmed… yet. (via Twitch and Variety)
Things that will happen
Ong-Bak Martial Arts star Tony Jaa will be in Fast and Furious 7 – the franchise is currently lacking in knees to the face. (via The Hollywood Reporter)
Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston will be playing Superman’s arch nemesis Lex Luthor in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel. He has also signed on to appear in a butt-load of other films as Lex. (via Cosmic Book News)
Ben Affleck will play Batman in multiple films as well. (via Collider) He has been quoted saying “F**k the haters.” Well, not really, but he’s probably thinking it.
Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland will star George Clooney and Hugh Laurie. It also has a synopsis that perks the eyebrow:
Bound by a shared destiny, a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor jaded by disillusionment embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space that exists in their collective memory as “Tomorrowland.”
Han Solo Fridge
We posted this picture of an amazingly amazing Han Solo fridge on our Facebook page. Some solid researching skills from Dara Harding later relieved that it was photoshopped, leaving us to weep in the ashes of our former refrigerating dreams…
