Category Archives: Movie Adaptations

New Kick Ass 2 Details Released

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Several new details have been released for Jeff Wadlow’s upcoming project Kick-Ass 2. It has been confirmed that all of the core cast members will return, including Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Negotiations are currently underway for Garrett M. Brown’s return to the role of Roswell (Dave’s dad), according to Moviehole, and it has been announced that he will have a more active role in the sequel.

Auditions for the role of Uncle Ralph, the guardian of Chris/Red Mist, will also begin soon. Fans can expect this role to be filled by someone of a Mark Strong-esque stature.

As for the film’s story, part of the plot will revolve around someone discovering the hero’s identity, with both Dave and Mindy possibly being found out.

Much of the storyline will also focus on Hit Girl and what happens to her after the events of the first movie. After her identity is released, she begins to be teased and bullied and given a less than classy nickname of “Captain Muffin-Muncher.” But don’t expect Hit Girl to cower in the face of the teasing. She is always ready to take charge in confrontation and self defense.

More details on the film are slowly being released, but with all the main cast returning it seems it will definitely fall in line with previous installment.

The Human Fly Buzzes Towards The Big Screen

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Marvel Comics continues to dominate at the box office lately, with The Avengers breaking records and the highly anticipated The Amazing Spider-Man about to hit theaters. To continue their streak, Marvel may be venturing into theaters yet again with a film based on comic series “The Human Fly.”

“The Human Fly” comic, based on real-life stuntman Joe Ramacieri, was licensed and published by Marvel from 1977-1979. It ran for 19 issues, and the character also appeared in various other Marvel comics. During his run of adventures, the character encountered various other superheroes and Marvel characters such as Spider-Man and Daredevil.

The Human Fly’s origin story is similar to that of the Six Million Dollar Man and the life of Wolverine in which he was severely injured in an accident and in an attempt to rebuild him, scientists infused him with a steel skeleton. The man, whose real name is never mentioned, begins to wear a consume and fight crime with his super biologic awesomeness.

Alan Brewer and Steven Goldmann picked up the reverted rights on the property recently, according to Deadline. Eisenberg-Fisher Productions will executive produce the proposed independent film. Deadline reported that financing for the project will likely come from private equity sources.

Goldmann will direct, and Brewer will produce along with James Reach. Tony Babinski, Cirque Du Soleil’s in-house historian, wrote the screenplay.

There is no word just yet on who will play the titular superhero, or when they film is expected to be completed.

The Lego Movie Will See Both Batman and Superman

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It was confirmed yesterday that comic book heroes Batman and Superman will both appear in the upcoming Warner Bros film LEGO: The Piece of Resistance, according to Variety.

This news comes just days after the highly anticipated release of Lego Batman 2, which features Superman and several other DC Comics heroes. Channing Tatum and Will Arnett are rumored to be up for the roles of Superman and Batman respectively.

Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) will voice the lead character in the movie, Emmet, an ordinary, law-abiding, Lego mini-figure, who is mistaken for the most extraordinary MasterBuilder, is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together. However, there is no confirmation on Batman and Superman’s roles in the movie.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the team behind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will work with Robot Chicken’s Chris McKay as co-directors, with Lord and Miller also taking on screenwriting duties.

The movie will be an action/adventure movie, but also a comedy, explaining how Gob Bluth actor could end up portraying The Dark Knight.

In March 2012, Lord and Miller revealed the film’s storyline, saying: “It involves many worlds. Basically, the least qualified Lego characters in the universe having to keep the world from being frozen together.”

The project has been in development for three years and is set to hit theaters February 28, 2014.

Paddington Bear Movie Poster Revealed

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Be prepared to see a lovable childhood character come to live in a brand new way. The first promotional poster for David Heyman’s big-screen adaptation of Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear has been released. The poster features Paddington standing on the platform at the Paddington train station in London, from which he takes his name.

Check out the poster here, and be sure to share your thoughts below.

Heyman, who produced the massively successful Harry Potter films, as well as  I Am Legend and Yes Man, has partnered with France’s StudioCanal to produce a live-action/CGI hybrid version of the British children’s series.

Paddington began in 1958 with the series’ first entry, “A Bear Called Paddington,” about a clever bear from Peru who is found at London’s Paddington train station and adopted by humans.

Paul King (The Mighty Boosh, Bunny and the Bull) will direct the film, so viewers may be in store for a particularly quirky experience. In a report from Empire Online, King assured Paddington enthusiasts that the new film will differ from Bond’s work only in style.

“There will be a mishap in the bath,” King said. “There will be hard stares, and he will be dressed correctly in a Peruvian bush hat and blue duffle coat.”

King also said there would be an origin story involved. I twas also reported that the film will not be an adaptation of an existing story, but “will draw inspiration from the whole series” and will feature a computer generated Paddington Bear interacting with a live-action environment.

The film, from Heyday Films and Warner Bros. Pictures,  is set to be released sometime in 2014. There is no word yet on who will star in the adaptation.

Buzz Bissinger’s “Father’s Day” Heads to the Big Screen

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Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) recently announced that he will direct a big-screen adaptation of Buzz Bissinger’s “Father’s Day.” Currently, no studio is attached to the project, but according to ComingSoon, Universal Pictures has expressed interest. The company has a first-look deal with Berg who most recently worked with Universal on the big-screen sci-fi/action film Battleship.

“Father’s Day” is a memoir by the bestselling author of “Friday Night Lights” and “Three Nights in August.”

The summary from Bissinger’s website follows.

Buzz Bissinger’s twin sons were born three and a half months premature in 1983. Gerry weighed one pound and fourteen ounces, Zachary one pound and eleven ounces. They were the youngest male twins ever to survive at that time at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, the nation’s oldest. They were a medical miracle, but there are no medical miracles without eternal scars.

They entered life three minutes–and a world–apart. Gerry, the older one, is a graduate student at Penn, preparing to become a teacher. His brother Zach has spent his life attending special schools and self-contained classrooms. He is able to work menial jobs such as stocking supplies. But he’ll never drive a car, or kiss a girl, or live by himself. He is a savant, challenged by serious intellectual deficits but also blessed with rare talents: an astonishing memory, a dazzling knack for navigation, and a reflexive honesty which can make him both socially awkward and surprisingly wise.

One summer night, Buzz and Zach hit the road to revisit all the places they have lived together during Zach’s 24 years. Zach revels in his memories, and Buzz hopes this journey into their shared past will bring them closer and reveal to him the mysterious workings of his son’s mind and heart. He also hopes it will help him to better come to grips with the radical differences in his beloved twin boys, inverted mirrors of one another when defined by the usual barometers of what we think it means to be successful.

As father and son follow a pinball’s path from Philadelphia to LA, they see the best and worst of America and each other. Ultimately, their trip bestows a new and uplifting wisdom on Buzz, as he comes to realize that Zach’s worldview, as exotic as it is, has a sturdy logic of its own, a logic that deserves the greatest respect. And with the help of Zach’s twin, Gerry, Buzz learns an even more vital lesson about Zach: character transcends intellect. We come to see Zach as he truly is—patient, fearless, perceptive, kind, a sixth sense for sincerity. It takes 3,500 miles, but Buzz learns the most valuable lesson he has ever learned.

His son Zach is not a man-child as he so often thought, but the man he admires most in his life.

Jim Parsons and Rihanna Head To “Happy Smekday!”

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Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jim Parsons (“Harvey on Broadway,” “The Big Bang Theory”) and pop singer Rihanna (Battleship) will star in the animated feature film Happy Smekday!.

The film is based on the critically acclaimed book The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex.

In the novel, aliens invade Earth hoping to hide from their mortal enemies. When one alien accidentally shares their whereabouts with the enemies, he is forced to go on the run with a teenage girl. The two become friends and set out to fix the mistake. Along the way, the alien protagonist learns what it really means to be human.

DreamWorks Animation plans to release the film during the fourth quarter of 2014. It will be directed by Tim Johnson (Over the Hedge, Antz). Chris Jenkins (Rio, Surf’s Up) and Suzanne Buirgy (Kung Fu Panda 2) will produce and DreamWorks Animation’s Head of Development Gregg Taylor is overseeing the project.

Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember (Get Smart) are writing the screenplay.

Bill Damaschke, DreamWorks Animation’s Chief Creative Officer, said the book is hilarious, and will provide the perfect recipe for a compelling animated feature. He also said the film will “show the world just how fun an alien invasion can be.”

Johnson said he can’t wait to introduce audiences to the unique world and characters of the story.

“When I read Adam Rex’s remarkable book, I knew it would make an amazing film,” Johnson said.

Read the official plot summary of The True Meaning of Smekday below:

“It all starts with a school essay. When twelve-year-old Gratuity (“Tip”) Tucci is assigned to write five pages on The True Meaning of Smekday for the National Time Capsule contest, she’s not sure where to begin. When her mom started telling everyone about the messages aliens were sending through a mole on the back of her neck? Maybe on Christmas Eve, when huge, bizarre spaceships descended on the Earth and the aliens – called Boov – abducted her mother? Or when the Boov declared Earth a colony, renamed it “Smekland” (in honor of glorious Captain Smek), and forced all Americans to relocate to Florida via rocketpod? In any case, Gratuity’s story is much, much bigger than the assignment. It involves her unlikely friendship with a renegade Boov mechanic named J.Lo.; a futile journey south to find Gratuity’s mother at the Happy Mouse Kingdom; a cross-country road trip in a hovercar called Slushious; and an outrageous plan to save the Earth from yet another alien invasion.”

While the entire cast has not yet been determined, the roles of Rihanna and Jim Parsons have been revealed. Rihanna will be portraying Gratuity Tucci and Parsons will play J.Lo.

Lionsgate May Consider Rebooting Twilight Franchise; New Trailer Revealed

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With the last installment of the mega-popular film franchise just around the corner, Lionsgate may be looking for ways to keep the series going. Lionsgate has been looking into rebooting the Twilight Saga franchise, which has already grossed $2 billion with the fifth and final installment set for release Nov. 16.

Lionsgate owns the studio Summit Entertainment, which made the popular films. ComingSoon has reported that Lionsgate is considering restarting the franchise “down the road,” so it may not happen anytime soon, if it happens at all. But according to Bloody-Disgusting, “they’re already discussing it internally. It will happen. It is still undecided exactly what the future of the franchise will be, though. It could be a direct remake… but then again it could also be a spinoff or maybe even a one-off sequel.”

Lionsgate Co-Chairman Rob Friedman had different news for Deadline, telling them.

“We are not remaking Twilight. We will happily support Stephenie Meyer if she decides to proceed in any way. But this will be the last one unless that should change.”

A brand new trailer has also been released for the upcoming fifth film, entitled Twilight: Breaking Dawn Pt 2, which you can see below:

Noah Oppenheim Signs On To 1984 Adaptation

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Noah Oppenheim has been tapped to adapt George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Oppenheim will join producers Bryan Grazer of Imagine, and Julie and Rick Yorn in bringing Orwell’s vision of political unrest and totalitarian terror to the big screen.

The book, published in 1949, has become a staple of American literature, inspiring countless classroom discussions, pop culture references and direct adaptations.

This isn’t the first time Orwell’s novel has been adapted for film. In 1984, Michael Radford took his crack at capturing Winston Smith’s mental battle with Big Brother, and before that Michael Anderson took a stab at it in 1956.

View the official summary of Orwell’s classic text below:

“Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, Orwell’s narrative is timelier than ever. 1984 presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions—a legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time.”

For those wishing to delve fully into the Nineteen Eighty-Four atmosphere before seeing the upcoming film, here is the trailer for the 1984 film version.

And, courtesy of YouTube, here is the 1956 film in its entirety:

First Photo of Angelina Jolie As Maleficent Revealed

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Walt Disney Studios announced the beginning of production on the upcoming film Maleficient by releasing the first photo showing actress Angelina Jolie in the titular role.

The film is being directed by the two-time Oscar winning production designer Robert Stromberg most known for his work on hit films such as Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. This will be his directorial debut. Linda Woolverton wrote the screenplay with the project being executive produced by Angelina Jolie, Don Hahn, Matt Smith and Palak Patel.

Sharlto Copley, known for his role in District 9, Elle Fanning, from Super 8, and Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Miranda Richardson, Juno Temple, and Lesley Manville will be co-starring in the production.

Maleficent focuses on the side of the story according the villain from the classic Sleeping Beauty. It will reveal what caused the evil queen to be so hardened and what drive her to curse baby Aurora. In the original movie, she is the self-proclaimed “Mistress of All Evil” who, after not being invited to the baby’s christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to “prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die” before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. The character is Disney’s half-dragon adaptation of the evil fairy godmother from the original fairy tale.

The character is also one of the most “loved” and well known of the evil villains from Disney films.

Maleficent is scheduled for a March 14, 2014 release in 3D.

Joe Cornish Attempting To Bring “Snow Crash” To Film

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Joe Cornish, writer and director of the alien invasion film Attack the Block, will write and direct an adaptation of the Neal Stephenson novel Snow Crash. Paramount Pictures purchased the film rights, and the project will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Kennedy/Marshall.

This is the second time Paramount has attempted to make this film, first trying when the book was published in 1992.

The cyber-punk bestseller is set in the near-future, according to Deadline.com, when the U.S. exists as a “patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and private enterprise and the mafia control everything.”

During the story, a computer virus manifests as a drug called Snow Crash, and is transmitted visually from computer screens to users, damaging their brains. Hiro Protagonist, the computer hacking, sword wielding, pizza delivering main character, attempts to stop the attack.

Read the official plot summary below:

“One of Time magazine’s 100 all-time best English-language novels. Only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparison—a writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world. Neal Stephenson is such a writer and Snow Crash is such a novel, weaving virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility to bring us the gigathriller of the information age. In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous…you’ll recognize it immediately.”

The novel has been widely recognized as one of the best science fiction novels ever written that would later inspire much of the genre as well as the technologically filled world we live in today.

Stephenson has explained that the title of the novel comes from his term for a particular software failure mode on the early Apple Macintosh computer. He described it as “When the computer crashed and wrote gibberish into the bitmap, the result was something that looked vaguely like static on a broken television set — a ‘snow crash.'”

The novel has always influenced culture as well as its influence on the Internet as we know today. The novel is responsible for the term “Avatar” being the accepted term for your online virtual presence in computer games. Several of the worlds leading virtual globe programs utilized by Nasa and the Google Earth function were at least partly inspired by the “Earth” software developed by the central corporation in “Snow Crash.”