Tag Archives: Warner Bros

Warner Bros. Acquires Beautiful Disaster

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Warner Bros. has won a bidding war for “Beautiful Disaster,” Jamie McGuire’s Fifty Shades of Grey-like series aimed at the young adult demographic. Donald De Line, producer of Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain, is attached to the project.

The book began as a self-published online novel, became a hit and was picked up by a publishing house, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

It tells the story of squeaky-clean college student Abby Abernathy, who doesn’t drink or swear. She meets Travis Maddox, who is “lean, cut and covered in tattoos,” according to the book’s description. Maddox makes a bet with Abernathy, and if she wins, he must abstain from sex for one month. If she loses, she must live with him for one month.

Beautiful Disaster, according to THR, is being seen by studio executives as a safer and less risky adaptation than E.L. James’ increasingly popular Fifty Shades of Grey, which is full of sexual content that could cause issues at the box office.

McGuire’s book has sold more than 200,000 copies, first as an ebook, and later as a trade paperback through Amazon’s Createspace. It topped Amazon’s self-published sales chart, and appeared on The New York Times bestseller list.

Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, signed McGuire and will release an official paperback version on Aug. 14.

Read Beautiful Disaster’s official description below:

“The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand. Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the charming college co-ed. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his charms, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’ apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.”

What do you think of the new risquee trend in literature? Tell us in the comments!

Warner Bros. Considering Creating A Prequel For The Shining

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In a controversial move, Warner Bros. is considering the possibility of releasing a prequel to The Shining, Stanley Kubrick’s highly regarded 1980 horror classic based on the novel written by horror specialist Stephen King.

There is no word yet on whether King will be involved, though he has stated he is penning a sequel.

The original novel, “The Shining”, was released in 1977. The title was inspired by the John Lennon song “Instant Karma!”, which contained the line “We all shine on…”. It was King’s third published novel, and first hardback bestseller, and the success of the book firmly established King as a preeminent author in the horror genre.

The cult classic film version was originally released in 1980. The book was also later adapted into a television mini-series in 1997.

King also stated that the novel was heavily influenced by Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death and The Fall of the House of Usher, and Robert Marasco’s Burnt Offerings. The story has been often compared to Guy de Maupassant’s story “The Inn”.

Hollywood writer-producer Laeta Kalogridis and her partners Bradley Fischer and James Vanderbilt are on-board to produce, according to a report by Los Angeles Times.

Kalogridis, according to Los Angeles Times, already has experience with the horror genre, as she wrote Shutter Island for Martin Scorsese two years ago. She also wrote and executive produced James Cameron’s Avatar.

The film would take place before Jack Torrance brought his family to the eerie Overlook Hotel, and would focus on the events that made the hotel “haunted,” (because with Kubrick, you never really know).

A representative for WB said the project is in very early stages, and is not even formally in development. Still, many fans are already voicing strong opinions on the matter, many against tampering with Kubrick’s work.

The news certainly raises some questions. Do you think it will it be possible for filmmakers to step out of Kubrick’s shadow? Or are you dreading the possible prequel altogether?

The Dark Knight Rises Unsurprisingly Leads Box Office

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Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises reached the top of the box office charts over the weekend despite the deadly shootings in Aurora, Colo. at the Friday midnight screening.

Warner Bros., followed by all major studios, decided to withhold box office estimates throughout the weekend out of sensitivity to the families of the Aurora victims, but released the report Monday.

The third and final installment in Nolan’s Batman trilogy earned $160.9 million from 4,404 theaters. This is the best opening ever for a 2D title, beating The Dark Knight’s $158.4 million opening, and the third largest overall domestically, behind Marvel’s The Avengers at $207.4 million and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2 at $169.2 million.

The film earned $75.5 million on Friday, $44.9 million on Saturday and $40.2 million on Sunday. It earned $88 million from 17 international markets for a worldwide total of $249 million after one weekend.

IMAX screens contributed $4.8 million overseas, according to ComingSoon.

Trailing the Caped Crusader in the box office report is Ice Age: Continental Drift (last week’s #1), which dropped 56.2 percent in ticket sales and earned $20.4 million. The sequel has earned $88.8 million after two weeks.

The film’s worldwide total is now at $529.3 million. Rounding out the top three is another superhero flick, Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Spidey dropped 68.6 percent in its third weekend, earning $10.9 million.

To see ComingSoon’s entire report, click here.

Peter Weller To Voice Batman in Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” Animated Series

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Warner Bros. has chosen the voice cast for its animated adaptation of Frank Miller’s 1986 Batman story The Dark Knight Returns, from Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video.

Peter Weller (Robocop) will star as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Ariel Winter (Modern Family) will voice Robin.

Bruce Timm, executive producer for DC’s animated movies, said Weller has “the proper weight to his voice. He definitely brings all of the world-weariness of the character and inner core of optimist covered in a cynical shell.”

The show’s creators are splitting the adaptation of the four-part graphic novel into two animated features called Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 and Part 2.  The first of the two films will be released in the fall, and Part 2 will be released in early 2013. Wade Williams (Prison Break) will voice Harvey Dent/Two-Face, and Michael McKean will voice Dr. Wolper, the psychiatrist who releases the Joker from Arkham Asylum.

David Selby, who starred in the original Dark Shadows soap opera, has also joined the cast.

Jay Olivia, who storyboarded Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman movie Man of Steel, will lead the project. Bob Goodman, a writer for Syfy’s Warehouse 13, penned the script. The graphic novel miniseries was praised for its mature and psychological take on superheroes, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

It set a violent and realistic tone in superhero comics and served as a big influence on Christopher Nolan’s Batman movie trilogy, the last of which opens July 20,” THR reported.

Read the official summary below:

“If any comic has a claim to have truly reinvigorated the genre, then The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller–known also for his excellent Sin City series and his superb rendering of the blind superhero Daredevil–is probably the top contender. Batman represented all that was wrong in comics and Miller set himself a tough task taking on the camp crusader and turning this laughable, innocuous children’s cartoon character into a hero for our times. The great Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, the arguably peerless Watchmen) argued that only someone of Miller’s stature could have done this. Batman is a character known well beyond the confines of the comic world (as are his retinue) and so reinventing him, while keeping his limiting core essentials intact, was a huge task.Miller went far beyond the call of duty. The Dark Knight is a success on every level. Firstly it does keep the core elements of the Batman myth intact, with Robin, Alfred the butler, Commissioner Gordon, and the old roster of villains, present yet brilliantly subverted. Secondly the artwork is fantastic–detailed, sometimes claustrophobic, psychotic. Lastly it’s a great story: Gotham City is a hell on earth, street gangs roam but there are no heroes. Decay is ubiquitous. Where is a hero to save Gotham? It is 10 years since the last recorded sighting of the Batman. And things have got worse than ever. Bruce Wayne is close to being a broken man but something is keeping him sane: the need to see change and the belief that he can orchestrate some of that change. Batman is back. The Dark Knight has returned. Awesome. –Mark Thwaite”

New Batman Animated Series To Hit Cartoon Network

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Cartoon Network will premiere a new Batman animated series this year, and it will be unlike any of its predecessors. “Beware the Batman,” produced by Warner Bros. Animation, will be the first in the Dark Knight franchise to use CGI animation.

The series will also set itself apart in another way, according to ComingSoon. It will incorporate villains not previously featured in animated form.

The official description of the new series follows”

Crime-fighting vigilante Batman teams up with swordtress Katana and his gun-toting ex-secret agent butler Alfred Pennyworth to face the criminal underworld led by the twisted Anarky, Professor Pyg, Mister Toad, King Kraken, and Magpie.

The new show will be executive produced by WBA’s Sam Register and produced by Batman Beyond’s Glen murakami and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated’s Mitch Watson.

IMDB has also reported that Kurtwood Smith from “That 70’s Show” has signed on to voice Commissioner Jim Gordon.

Despite the new format, this is not the first time the Caped Crusader has fought crime in animated form. There have been five other shows, beginning with the “New Adventures of Batman” (1977-1981), followed by “Batman: the Animated Series (1992-1995), the “New Batman Adventures” (1997-1999), “Batman Beyond” (1999-2001) and then “Batman” (2004-2008).

The beloved character of Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in 1939, has an even longer history in comic form, according to Comic Vine.

The character currently stars in six different comic titles, including Batman, Detective Comics, Batman and Robin, Batman: the Dark Knight, Justice League and Justice League International.

Batman has also been the subject of numerous films, most recently director Christopher Nolan’s trilogy.

Nolan’s highly anticipated final installment, the Dark Knight Rises, is due out July 20.

“Beware the Batman” will begin airing in early 2013.

You can watch the new teaser promo for the series below:

Be Prepared To Meet The Ghostman As It Comes To Theaters

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Warner Bros. has acquired the film rights to the debt novel from 23-year old author Roger Hobbs. The novel, entitled The Ghostman was drafted and written while Hobbs was still in college. Variety has reported that the studio would begin adapting the book with a projected release day of early next year.

The novel has yet to be released, but is set to arrive stateside later this year.

The official description of the novel is as follows:

Jack Delton is a hard man to get hold of. There are maybe thirty people who know he exists. Not all of them believe he is still alive. And only one of them knows his real name. So when he gets the email he knows whatever it is, it’s going to be bad. Marcus Fairlan and Jack used to work together. Until they had a falling out, after which Jack assumed the only reason Marcus would want to find him would be to kill him. It turns out it’s worse than that. Marcus bankrolled a casino heist that has just gone spectacularly wrong, leaving a parking lot full of bodies and an armed and dangerous crackhead named Jerome Ribbons gone AWOL with a million dollars in cash. Marcus had the money earmarked for a major drug deal, and if he doesn’t deliver, not only is the deal going down the tubes, but the man known as The Wolf is going to come looking for him. To make things right with Marcus, Jack needs to locate Ribbons, get the money and make the delivery. All in just 24 hours. Even for a man with Jack’s resources, it’s a tall order. Especially when he has a funny feeling the whole thing is a set-up…

So far there is no one attached the star in the adaptation. Kevin McCormick will produce the film through his production company Langley Park.

 

Warner Bros. to Adapt John Twelve Hawks’ The Traveler

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Warner Bros. is currently in the works for developing a potential trilogy based on the Fourth Realm book series.  Written by John Twelve Hawks, the first book called The Traveler will be adapted for the big screen, Deadline reports.

The story is officially described as follows:

In London, Maya, a young woman trained to fight by her powerful father, uses the latest technology to elude detection when walking past the thousands of surveillance cameras that watch the city. In New York, a secret shadow organization uses a victim’s own GPS to hunt him down and kill him. In Los Angeles, Gabriel, a motorcycle messenger with a haunted past, takes pains to live “off the grid” — free of credit cards and government IDs. Welcome to the world of The Traveler — a world frighteningly like our own. In this compelling novel, Maya fights to save Gabriel, the only man who can stand against the forces that attempt to monitor and control society. From the back streets of Prague to the skyscrapers of Manhattan, The Traveler portrays an epic struggle between tyranny and freedom. Not since 1984 have readers witnessed a Big Brother so terrifying in its implications and in a story that so closely reflects our lives.”

This dystopian future merged with science-fiction/fantasy has certainly caught the attention of everyone with the recent release of The Hunger Games in theatres.  The story however does sound oddly reminiscent of the author’s own obfuscated identity.

In times past, some authors were all about wanting to remain anonymous.  Now days, books are written keeping in mind how the pages might translate better to film.  Authors themselves take on a celebrity status and get a lot of media attention; so to possibly sell the story more.  For some authors, remaining anonymous is their way of being judged for their writing.  This isn’t so for John Twelve Hawks; known as JXIIH and J12H to his fans.  For Hawks, this is his way of staying off the grid, just like his character Gabriel.

In fact, Hawks’ American publisher states that he has never met his editor.  All communications are done either via the internet or an purportedly untraceable satellite phone.  Probably to make things more irritable, a voice scrambler is tossed into the mixed.  Man, that’s got to annoy the editor on those calls.

To top it off, according to Joe Regal, Hawks’ agent, “He lives in New York, Los Angeles and London.”  The same locations where The Traveler is set.

So the story is taken largely from the writers life.  Sure it might be a bit eccentric and there’s room to wonder if this is all a gimmick, but hey, write what you know!

Depending on how The Traveler does in the box office, all three books of the series might be adapted to film as well.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Outshines in the Box Office

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Shareholders must be impressed, as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows has surpassed its predecessor in the global box office earnings.  The first movie which hauled in a worldwide gross of $524.4 million has been outdone, as the Game of Shadows earned $186.7 million domestically and $342.3 million internationally.  This brought in total a grand sum of $529 million dollars to the Sherlock Holmes title, according to Warner Bros. Pictures.

This was anounced by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, alongside Kwan-Rubinek, President of International Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures.

Now these current earnings are just beating the benchmark mind you.  The second movie is still earning and will continue to outdistance itself from its first movies earnings.  Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows has drawn large crowds on opening night and repeat business since its debut late December.  It’s continued success and great reviews must have given it momentum as the film rolled out internationally.  In the states, the movie opened at #1, spending six weeks in the U.S. top ten.  Meanwhile, the film was #1 internationally for three straight weeks, holding the position from the weeks of January 8 to January 23.

Fellman had this to say about the movie’s success:

Our successful box office continues to prove the appeal of Sherlock Holmes, especially in the hands of guy Ritchie and his amazing cast, led by Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.  The film had outstanding results throughout the holidays and continued to gain traction well into 2012.

Kwan-Rubinek added,

Rolling out this film internationally has been tremendously exciting, as the film has clearly resonated with audiences around the globe.  The first ‘Sherlock Holmes’ was such a tremendous success overseas, and to surpass that number in these same markets is truly a remarkable achievement. We congratulate the filmmakers and cast, as well as our international teams, on these excellent results.”

Sue Kroll, the Studio’s President, Worldwide Marketing went on to say,

‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ gave moviegoers another opportunity to experience Guy Ritchie’s fun and inventive take on the legendary detective.  The movie is a great adventure – complete with action, humor and great characters. Congratulations to the filmmakers and cast, who were truly our partners in bringing Sherlock Holmes back to an enthusiastic worldwide audience.”

Robert Downey Jr. switches his role from the arrogant Iron Man, to reprises his role as the world’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, based on the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.   Think of it, in this interpretation of Holmes, he continuously follows his weird experiments while being socially, uhm, unique.  He continues to act out and drag others into his wild world, without ever consulting them about their needs.  Then there’s the not so clean living.  It’s basically Sheldon Cooper merged with a Frat boy version of Batman.  Jude Law returns as Dr. Watson, college and openly ‘just friends’ with Holmes.

The first movie really struck me as a new type of buddy cop genre film, which I hereby dub, Bromantic-Action-Comedy.  At first I was going to call it Bromantic-Action, but it sounded off.  I honestly was surprised that in either movie, Holmes did not bring out a copy of the bro-code; from the television “How I Met Your Mother”; and start quoting it at Watson.

Official synopsis of the movie:

Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room…until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may give him an advantage over the renowned detective. Holmes’ investigation into Moriarty’s plot becomes more dangerous as it leads him and Watson out of London to France, Germany and finally Switzerland. But the cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead, and moving perilously close to completing his sinister plan. If he succeeds, it will not only bring him immense wealth and power but alter the course of history.

The chase scenes in this movie reminded me a lot of classic Jackie Chan movies, where everyone is running around and fighting in a colorful setting.  Swinging from rafters and doing parkour tricks, the sequel continues to overuse the bullet time sequences popularized in the 2009 film.  It’s even skirted in the movie that Holmes’ abilities are more preternatural in nature, maybe even based on innate fortune telling, rather than to his reasoning skills.  Whatever this skill is, I’m sure studios are trying to conjure up their own to decide if a sequel to this movie will be made.

Will this series run out of steam, or will the success of the first two movies propel studios into making more?

Warner Bros. Summons Mandrake the Magician to the Screen

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Bereft of low hanging apples to pick from, Warner Bros.; like most studios; are always on the look out for the next easy title to option. This time they turning to the old media, newspaper comic strips. Mandrake the Magician, a comic strip created by Lee Falk; who also created the Ghost Who Walks, the Phantom; in 1934 centers around an illusionist with the power set of speed hypnosis; with but a gesture, he can create illusions real to his foes. Warner Bros. Has picked up the movie rights to this old time comic with Atlas Entertainment to produce, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

As the strip was created and published in 1934, Mandrake is arguably the world’s first comic superhero. If anything, the hypnotist with the fast hands did it’s part in inspiring the golden age of comic books that started in the late 1930’s; like when Alan Scott was the sentinel of the magical Green Lantern.

Mandrake is assisted by his strongman companion, Lothar who together fight various villains. This must have been when creating a comic book character was easy and considered original to do. As the forerunner, Falk could create disposable villains like gangsters, mad scientists, dimension hoppers or aliens. Falk even got ahead of the curve, conjuring up an Evil Twin brother for Mandrake; was his name Mandark? Current day comic book villains are easily borrowed and interchanged amongst superhero rogue galleries.

Hollywood has long tried to capture the elusive Mandrake for the movie screens. Back in 1939 when superheroes were the glittering blood sucking genre, Columbia Pictures made a twelve part serial, and a made-for-television movie in the 1970s. That’s the closest the Mandrake has come to hitting the big screens since.

Disney; the owner of Marvel Comics; had the rights to Mandrake for a while, but the most recent holder of the property was Baldwin Entertainment and Hyde Park who tried their hands at developing an adaptation Chuck Russell and Mimi Leder were to direct, staying Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Hayden Christensen. Atlas Entertainment became involved with the project in 2009, going as far as to develop a script with David and Janet Peoples; they made that weird time travelling movie about 12 Monkeys.

This won’t be the first time that a movie has been successfully turned into a movie. Touchstone Pictures did well with Dick Tracey back in 1990. The concept of miniaturized video conferencing technology was stuff of pulp science fiction back then. Now we have it built into our cellphones. I wonder what Mandrake will show us about the potential future to come.

Warner Bros. Is looking for a 21st century makeover, hopefully going towards another bromance actionfest like Sherlock Holmes. As long as it doesn’t turn into an update like they did with Jules Verne’s books like the Journey series of movies. If it does, they might as well cast that Mindfreak magician to play the part of the updated Mandrake.

I’m sure  plum  excited about this movie and can’t wait to see it.

Who do you think should play Mandrake in the movie?

Stephen King’s The Dark Tower May Yet Light Up Theaters

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Between movies based on the re-imaginings of fairy tales, literary remixes and one shot book deals, production companies are looking for the next big franchise. For popular comic book titles like Batman and Spider-man, some properties can even be remade until the heat death of the universe. So what will be the next big thing? Who will take over for the Harry Potter series or the Twilight Saga for multi-film dominance? (editors note: The Hunger Games!)

According to Deadline, Warner Bros. Is very close to completing a deal which will bring the Stephen King name once again to the movie screen. Not a contrived horror story about an evil lamp or stapler; Thank you Simpsons; but instead the films will be adaptations of King’s Dark Tower series.

This screen adaptation has currently been written by Akiva Goldsman, who will also produce the movie alongside Brian Grazer and Stephen King. Ron Howard has been brought on to direct the first feature film in what might be many more to come. To compound the ability to make money in this multi-film deal, there is even talks of a television series that might supplement the action between films; lots of Spartacus like prequels. Wow. I just realized that’s what they might end up doing for Ender’s Game if they go into sequels. Not only are there little short stories that serve as prequels, but they’re making new comics based on the life of Mazer Rackham.

King’s Dark Tower is a post-apocalyptic story that is equal parts spaghetti western and Tolkian fantasy. Portions I recall from the bits and pieces of comics I’ve read involve a wandering gun slinger who paid with things from his grow-bag; a magical pouch that would spit out coins and the occasional gem. The movie was initially pitched to Universal Studios back in 2010 as a three film deal with two limited-run television series. Probably thinking it was too much of a gamble to fully commit, the studio only gave the green light for one film. It’s the safe choice to make considering that the Dark Tower series is seven books long. As popular as the series has become, The Dark Tower is not as family friendly as Harry Potter was; a lot more violent and more horrific.

Nothing is written in stone yet, so don’t get your hopes up too soon. Warner Bros. Hasn’t fully committed, but with the momentum that the Howard and his team has built up, The Dark Tower looks like it’s prime for Hollywood plucking. So who will play Roland Deschain, the last living member of the knightly order of gunslingers? When the film adaptation was in Universal Studios’ hands, Javier Bardem; No Country for Old Men; was attached to the lead role. Who else would be more perfect to play an emotionless, compassionless killing machine? If schedules all work out in time for the potential filming of The Dark Tower, Bardem will likely keep the role.