Posts Tagged ‘Lionsgate’
Posted by dominie in Films, News on December 3rd, 2008
The final one-sheet for My Bloody Valentine 3D from Lionsgate debuted today on Shock Till You Drop. The film is a redo of George Mihalka’s 1981 slasher horror and this is the final of three movie posters.
Directed by Patrick Lussier, MBV finds Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) playing Tom Hanniger, a man who returns to his hometown of Harmony haunted by a tragic coal mining accident and the subsequent massacre that occurred courtesy of vengeful survivor Harry Warden. Ten years later, on Valentine’s Day, the killings begin again with a masked killer wielding a pickaxe on the loose. Has Warden returned?
Joining Ackles in this blood-soaked mystery is Jaime King, Kerr Smith, Edi Gathegi and Kevin Tighe. My Bloody Valentine 3D opens in theaters on January 16th.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on November 26th, 2008
We all remember the controversy behind Lionsgate’s limited release for The Midnight Meat Train when The Strangers was allegedly given preferential treatment for theater release. We can’t change what happened, but we can still support the film. Ryuhei Kitamura’s adaptation of Clive Barker’s story, The Midnight Meat Train, arrives on DVD and Blu-Ray everywhere on February 17, 2009 from Lionsgate.
Special features include:
• Anatomy of a Murder: the Making of The Midnight Meat Train featurette
• World of Clive Barker featurette
• Mahogany’s Bag featurette
Bradley Cooper plays struggling photographer Leon Kaufman. his obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer, Mahogany (Vinnie Jones), the subway murderer who stalks late-night commuters - ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways imaginable. With his concerned girlfriend Maya (Leslie Bibb) fearing for his life, Leon’s relentless fascination with Mahogany lures him further and further into the bowels of the subways and ultimately into an abyss of pure evil – inadvertently pulling Maya right along with him.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on November 8th, 2008
According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand, Rush Hour 3) has entered into final negotiations with Nu Image/Millennium and Lionsgate Films to direct Conan, the 21st century remake of Robert E. Howard’s original Conan the Barbarian.
The news is not a shocker. We reported that Ratner was circling the project back in October. The only question concerned a timeline for the project. Ratner had also been in talks to helm Paramount’s fourth installment of their Beverly Hills Cop franchise and his dilemma for weeks has been which project should be helmed first.
Since by the end of Friday, the script for Beverly Hills Cop was not ready yet, Ratner’s decision was made simple and BHC IV will have to wait.
Millennium and Lionsgate have their eyes on the project as a potential franchise. Learning from the PG-13 rated Conan the Destroyer jokier 1984 film that ruined the original franchise, writers Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly (Sahara, A Sound of Thunder, Airborn) are taking the projected in a very R-rated direction in the $85 million budget range. Filming will take place at Nu Image’s Nu Boyana Studio in Bulgaria.
“The story opens on the battlefield where Conan is born and tells the origin story that sets the stage for what will be the first of multiple films,” Avi Lerner of Millennium Films tells THR. “This is a coup for Millennium Films and proves that our choice of projects and material is attracting much higher-profile directors and actors.”
Posted by dominie in Films, News on November 1st, 2008
Shock Till You Drop announces that a new Special Edition of George Mihalka’s original 1981 My Bloody Valentine DVD will be available in stores on January 13, 2009 from Lionsgate, just a few days prior to the theatrical release of My Bloody Valentine 3D (January 16), a remake by Patrick Lussier.
Special features will include never-before-seen lost footage, a featurette examining the back history of the making of the film and the Ultimate Slasher interactive guide that allows the user to delve into the evolution of the slasher film/horror genre.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on October 23rd, 2008
Lionsgate issued a new promotional one sheet today for Patrick Lussier’s remake of My Bloody Valentine in 3D, which hits theaters January 16, 2009. As the date nears, expect to see more in the press!
Jamie King at the 2008 Scream Awards had this to say. “[It's] dope! I was just doing ADR and it was awesome. I’ve seen pieces of it - I’m going to see it on Wednesday. It’s unlke anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s crazy, I’m watcing the original tomorrow night - I ddidn’t want to watch an original before a remake so I don’t copy anything.”
Starring Jaime King, Jensen Ackles, Kerr Smith, Edi Gathegi, Kevin Tighe and Megan Boone, My Bloody Valentine 3-D tells the story of “Tom’s ( Jensen Ackles) return to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine’s night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people. Instead of a homecoming, however, Tom finds himself suspected of committing the murders.”
Posted by dominie in Comics, Films, News on October 16th, 2008
A new poster for Frank Miller’s (300, Sin City) The Spirit has just surfaced on First Showing; the best one yet in my opinion. The film, written and directed by Miller based on Will Eisner’s comic strip of the same name, is set to open from Lionsgate on December 25, Christmas Day. Miller’s adaptation will tell the story of a man, Denny Colt (played by Gabriel Macht) who fakes his own death to fight crime from the shadows of Central City.
A synopsis from IMDB:
Down these mean streets a man must come. A hero born, murdered, and born again. When a Rookie cop named Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face who has other plans. He’s going to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold hearted killer from the city’s rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill the masked crusader.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on October 8th, 2008
As Halloween nears, we can’t help but to start thinking Christmas is just around the corner. And the movie that comes to mind as being the least Christmasy-like celebration is Punisher: War Zone, which we previously mentioned will be hitting theaters December 5, to start off the Christmas month.
Punisher: War Zone, directed by Lexi Alexander and starring Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle, has been quite the controversy as of late.
Interject: 20 second summation. Director John Dahl rejects project on premise of “bad script,” script revisions underway, Lexi Alexander to helm a promised gorefest, original writer Kurt Sutter removed from credits, theater release delayed for three months, Alexander reportedly removed as film’s director, Lionsgate to edit film for PG-13 rating.
Luckily, and not to my surprise, the red-band trailer for Punisher: War Zone barely just hit the internet before the MPAA branded it as “R” rated for “pervasive strong brutal violence, language and some drug use.” If Lionsgate is worried about sales rates, maybe they can take comfort in the fact that kids are smart and an R rating won’t stop the under 17 age set from seeing the film. Claims that Alexander was removed from the director’s chair have also been put to rest. Though her official blog remains clear of antihero news, the Punisher: War Zone official website still reads “directed by Lexi Alexander.”
Wikipedia provides the following synopsis.
Waging his one-man war on the world of organized crime, ruthless vigilante anti-hero Frank Castle sets his sights on overeager mob boss Billy Russoti. After Russoti is left horribly disfigured by Castle, he sets out for vengeance under his new alias: Jigsaw. With the “Punisher Task Force” hot on his trail and the FBI unable to take Jigsaw in, Frank must stand up to the formidable army that Jigsaw has recruited before more of his evil deeds go unpunished.
The producers claim Punisher: War Zone is not a sequel, but a reboot of 2004’s The Punisher in hopes to revive the franchise. The film has credited Nick Santora and Art Marcum as writers of the new script and Dominic West stars as the villain, Jigsaw.
-Written by Kimberly Kim
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 29th, 2008
Lionsgate released the US version of the one-sheet for My Bloody Valentine 3-D today. The new version has been toned down from the UK release, possibly due to MPAA ratings, but the concept remains the same.
Starring Jaime King, Jensen Ackles, Kerr Smith, Edi Gathegi, Kevin Tighe and Megan Boone, My Bloody Valentine 3-D tells the story of “Tom (Ackle’s) return to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine’s night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people. Instead of a homecoming, however, Tom finds himself suspected of committing the murders, and it seems like his old flame (King) is the only one who believes he’s innocent.”
Directed by Patrick Lussier (White Noise 2: The Light) from a screenplay by Todd Farmer and Zane Smith, My Bloody-Valentine 3-D hits theaters January 16, 2009.
And without wasting anytime, Lussier told Bloody Disgusting earlier this month, “I think I’d be lying if I said Todd and I haven’t had several conversations about [a My Bloody Valentine sequel],” says Lussier. “You know one of the things that we’ve really enjoyed in this process was the fact that we had such a great cast…or the fact that the characters that survive and how they survive at the end of the story, are incredibly intriguing. There is such an amazingly iconic villain [also]. All those things entice both Todd and I tremendously. And if we were to be so lucky, knock on wood, by all means we would love to be considered for that.”
Posted by dominie in Films, General, News on September 24th, 2008
According to the Los Angeles Times, its not very often we see distributors who premiere four movies in wide release over four back-to-back weekends. Actually, not ever. Just five years ago, Lionsgate was a little indie distributor whose slates sold but handfuls of tickets. Flash forward to 2008, from labor day weekend alone, Lionsgate has released Disaster Movie, the Nicholas Cage starring Bangkok Dangerous, Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys, and the Kate Hudson romantic comedy My Best Friend’s Girl. Before the year is over, Lionsgate will unveil Bill Maher’s Religulous satirical documentary, Oliver Stone’s biography W, Saw V, and Will Eisner’s The Spirit. With the current count, Lionsgate will set a precedent, having distributed more films this fall and winter than some major studios even touch in a calendar year.
Fast track to the future, Lionsgate goes for the blitz—literally. Variety reports that Lionsgate UK has tapped Elliot Lester (Love is the Drug) to direct Blitz, based on a screenplay by Nathan Parker (Moon) adapted from Ken Bruen’s serial killer thriller. The film “centers on a serial killer who’s aiming for tabloid immortality by executing cops in southeast London.” Donald Kushner and Brad Wyman will produce the film along with Lionsgate who is also co-financing the project. Lensing is expected to begin early next year. Blitz will stand high on my to-do list when it debuts. I just screened Lester’s first directorial feature, Love is the Drug, last night. His study of a teenage boy’s obsession doesn’t seem to fall too short of a possible certain reality when it comes to longing for love in a love triangle built around sex and drugs.
In other news, Bloody-Disgusting reports that Lionsgate has acquired Gideon Raff’s Train, a remake of the 1980 Terror Train that starred Jamie Lee Curtis about “a group of American college athletes [who] unknowingly board a train that will become one deadly ride.” Raff, who had a hand in penning the screenplay, will be returning to the editing room to recut a new release for an R-rating (MPAA rated the current cut an NC-17). We are still waiting to hear on a theatrical release or direct-to-DVD/Blue-ray debut. For those that cannot wait, the current cut will preem at next months LA Screamfest Thursday, October 16.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 19th, 2008
Remakes are popping out much like the baby boomers did post-World War II. I’ve already lost count of the number announced in this week alone. But I suppose at the very least, we should offer our thanks for this tiny (said below) breather in the recent slew of American remakes.
A second Spanish horror announced to be remade this week is Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopena’s Fermat’s Room, which has been making its way through festivals, the last one being the Tribeca ’08 in April. According to Bloody Disgusting, Fermat’s Room plays similar to our Saw series (minus the excessive violence), dealing four math experts with checkered pasts various number-crunching time-tests in a contracting chamber by an unknown killer. They must solve the riddle and uncover how they are connected or die. IFC Entertainment has picked up the original film for release via their VOD service.
And then we move on the the Danish. THR reports that Mandate Pictures is doing a remake of Danish helmer Ole Bomedal’s The Substitute, which follows the case of a sixth grade class whose substitute teacher turns out to be an alien with an agenda. Columbia Pictures will develop the project under Sami Raimi’s Ghost House label, the genre arm of Mandate Pictures. Ghost House Underground and Lionsgate will release the original film on DVD October 14.
The final one-sheet for My Bloody Valentine 3D from Lionsgate debuted today on Shock Till You Drop. The film is a redo of George Mihalka’s 1981 slasher horror and this is the final of three movie posters.
