Posts Tagged ‘Universal Pictures’
Posted by dominie in Films, News on January 2nd, 2009
Happy New Year from all of us at Famous Monsters of Filmland. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to a great 2009 with you! In continuation of our 2009 movie previews, below we have the lineup from Universal Pictures including Rogue Pictures and Focus Features.
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The Unborn (January 9, 2009)
Studio: Rogue Pictures
Director: David Goyer
Screenwriter: David Goyer
Starring: Odette Yustman Gary Oldman Cam Gigandet Meagan Good Carla Gugino Jane Alexander Idris Elba Rhys Coiro James Remar
Synopsis: The psychological thriller follows an 18-year-old who is haunted by a Dybbuk - the soul of a dead person barred from heaven - in the form of a young boy who perished in Auschwitz. Visit theunbornmovie.net 
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Coraline (February 6, 2009)
Studio: Focus Features
Director: Henry Selick
Screenwriter: Henry Selick, Neil Gaiman
Starring: Dakota Fanning Ian McShane Teri Hatcher Keith David Jennifer Saunders
Synopsis: A high-definition stop-motion animated feature – the first to be originally filmed in 3-D – with spectacular CG effects, based on Neil Gaiman’s international best-selling book. A young girl walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life – only much better. But when this wondrously off-kilter, fantastical adventure turns dangerous, and her counterfeit parents (including Other Mother) try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home – and save her family. Visit Coraline.com 
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Drag Me to Hell (May 29, 2009)
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Sam Raimi
Screenwriter: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Jeff Lynch
Starring: Alison Lohman Justin Long Jessica Lucas Dileep Rao Lorna Raver David Paymer Adriana Barraza,Fernanda Romero Reggie Lee Alex Veadov Bojana Novakovic Bill E. Roger
Synopsis: Director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man trilogy, Evil Dead series) returns to the horror genre with Drag Me To Hell, an original tale of a young woman’s desperate quest to break an evil curse. 
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Land of the Lost (June 5, 2009)
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Brad Silberling
Screenwriter: Chris Henchy, Dennis McNicholas
Starring: Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Anna Friel, Jorma Taccone
Synopsis: Space-time vortexes suck.
Will Ferrell stars as has-been scientist Dr. Rick Marshall, sucked into one and spat back through time. Way back. Now, Marshall has no weapons, few skills and questionable smarts to survive in an alternate universe full of marauding dinosaurs and fantastic creatures from beyond our world-a place of spectacular sights and super-scaled comedy known as the Land of the Lost.
Sucked alongside him for the adventure are crack-smart research assistant Holly (Anna Friel) and a redneck survivalist (Danny McBride) named Will. Chased by T. rex and stalked by painfully slow reptiles known as Sleestaks, Marshall, Will and Holly must rely on their only ally-a primate called Chaka (Jorma Taccone)-to navigate out of the hybrid dimension. Escape from this routine expedition gone awry and they’re heroes. Get stuck, and they’ll be permanent refugees in the Land of the Lost.
Based on the classic television series created by Sid & Marty Krofft, Land of the Lost is directed by Brad Silberling and produced by Jimmy Miller and Sid & Marty Krofft. 
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The Wolfman (November 9, 2009)
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Joe Johnston
Screenwriter: Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self
Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, Art Malik
Synopsis: Like the 1941 original that starred Lon Chaney Jr., new pic will be set in Victorian England. Del Toro will play a man who returns from America to his ancestral homeland, gets bitten by a werewolf and begins a hairy moonlight existence. Visit thewolfmanmovie.com 
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The Last House on the Left (TBA)
Studio: Rogue Pictures
Director: Dennis Iliadis
Screenwriter: Mark Haslett, Carl Ellsworth, Adam Alleca
Starring: Garret Dillahunt Rhys Coiro Martha MacIsaac Riki Lindhome Sara Paxton Tony Goldwyn Monica Potter
Synopsis: John and Emma Collingwood are on vacation at their lakeshore house when, by a bizarre twist of fate, they give shelter to the sociopaths who have just assaulted and nearly killed their daughter. Upon discovering the truth, they exact a chilling revenge on her attackers… 
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Thirst (TBA)
Studio: Focus Features (Universal)
Director: Chan Wook-Park
Screenwriter: Chan Wook-Park
Starring: Song Gang-ho Kim Ok-bin
Synopsis: The story about a well respected priest Sang-hyun, who falls in love with his childhood friend’s wife and who, after a failed medical experiment is turned into a vampire. The priest’s faith can only hold for so long as his humanity withers away in this unique thriller and horror impassioned by an illicit love story. 
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25/8 (Tentative title, Date TBA)
Studio: Rogue Pictures (Universal)
Director: Wes Craven
Screenwriter: Wes Craven
Starring: Max Theirot Denzel Whitaker Shareeka Epps Emily Meade
Synopsis: As legend has it, a notorious serial slayer will return to the sleepy community of Riverdale to finish off the seven children born on the night he purportedly died. But is the slayer really dead, or is he still at large? Or has the mysterious evil personality that once impelled his bloody spree entered the body of an unwary teen, who will now be compelled to do his evil bidding?
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Cirque Du Freak
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Paul Weitz
Screenwriter: Brian Helgeland, Paul Weitz
Starring: John C. Reilly, Ken Watanabe, Chris Massoglia, Josh Hutcherson, Patrick Fugit, Ray Stevenson, Michael Cerveris, Frankie Faison, Jane Krakowski, Orlando Jones, Kristen Schaal and Salma Hayek
Synopsis: Cirque Du Freak tells the frightening tale of a boy who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and grotesque creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares.
14-year-old Darren (Chris Massoglia) was like most kids in his suburban neighborhood. He hung out with his best friend, got decent grades and usually stayed out of trouble. But when he and his buddy stumble upon a traveling freak show, things begin to change inside Darren. That’s the exact moment when a vampire named Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) turns him into something, well, bloodthirsty.
Newly undead, he joins the Cirque Du Freak, a touring sideshow filled with monstrous creatures from a snakeboy and a wolfman to a bearded lady (Salma Hayek) and a gigantic barker (Ken Watanabe). As Darren flexes his newfound powers in this dark world, he becomes a treasured pawn between the vampires and their deadlier counterparts. And while trying to survive, one boy will struggle to keep their brewing war from devouring what’s left of his humanity.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on December 23rd, 2008
Universal Pictures released a teaser poster for Land of the Lost starring Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Anna Friel and Jorma Taccone, exclusive on Cinematical.
Based on the classic television series, Land of the Lost was directed by Brad Silberling and follows a has-been scientist (Ferrell), a crack-smart research assistant (Friel) and a redneck survivalist (McBride) who get sucked through time and spit out into an alternate universe — one that finds them running from dinosaurs and weird reptiles called Sleestaks, while trying to figure a way out of this hybrid dimension.
I love the story, but considering the potential extremities of worlds you can create in movies, I don’t know if this one will even come close to believable based on this poster. Preparing for “all sorts of ridiculousness” seems like an understatement here, but I’m still here.
Land of the Lost arrives in theaters on June 5, 2009.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on December 20th, 2008
We’ll have to wait patiently for Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman remake. As announced previously, Universal Pictures’ has delayed The Wolfman for theaters until November now, ahh! But fret not, we’ve got plenty of info to keep you busy… for now, we have an interview with The Wolfman himself, Benicio Del Toro, with MTV news. Inside you’ll hear from the actor The Wolfman is definitely old school and as for other monster cameos, not this time! Dang, but “maybe down the line?” says Del Toro.
From MTV News:
Earlier this year, Emily Blunt insisted that the Joe Johnston-helmed, “The Wolf Man,” would not be your average campy monster movie. “It’s a period gothic Werewolf story,” she told MTV. “It’s really good, it’s really smart.”
Now we’ve heard from the monster himself, star Benicio Del Toro, and he echoes this authenticity sentiment. The actor who will play Lawrence Talbot (the man who eventually turns into a wolf) and says the production is kicking it old school, vintage style.
“[When I did my research], I definitely looked at what Lon Chaney Jr. did in the original ‘Wolf Man’ and the movie,” Del Toro told MTV News. “I also looked at the ‘Werewolf of London,’ the Henry Hull movie, which was made maybe 6 years before in 1935, and looked ‘Curse of the Werewolf’ with Oliver Reed.”
While they are staying faithful to the aforementioned 1941 Chaney Jr. version (generally accepted as the “classic” Wolf man movie), he notes that there will be some minor deviations from the story that center around actor Sir Anthony Hopkins who plays his father in the film. He spills some background details on the characters and notes that he and the legendary thespian won’t be playing very nice together either.
“Anthony Hopkins’ role was [originally] played by Claude Rains and the relationship between Rains and Lon Chaney Jr was a good father and son [relationship]. In [our version], its definitely fractured, I’m like the prodigal son, I’ve been gone, he sent me away when I was a child and I haven’t seen him in twenty six years and I can home again to visit my brother who’s missing, but I [also play an] actor too which is also different.”
Don’t expect other monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein or the Mummy to walk into the frame either.
“ You mean, the guy named Dracula waiting in the taxi outside?,” Del Toro cracked? “No, there’s no other monsters coming into play, that’s maybe down the line.”
Posted by dominie in Films, News on December 9th, 2008
Shock Till You Drop via Fangoria reports that Universal Picture has officially pushed back the release date for The Wolfman, starring Benicio Del Toro, from April 3, 2009 to now November 9, 2009.
No explanation has been referenced at this time, but the sources at Fangoria say the delay may be due to the film’s turbulent post-production process because director Joe Johnston is still uneasy over the Wolfman’s transformation.
I’m not quite understanding. Back during the summer at the San Diego Comic Con 2008, make-up extraordinaire Rick Baker explained he specifically stressed going back to the basics—going very “old school” and not so much CGI everything in this film (which to me was its main appeal). See here for full coverage.
Doesn’t that mean then, according to Baker, that there was a specific transformation in mind already? Whatever the case is, I don’t mind the delay so long as the final product will reflect the extra allotted time.
For more on the details behind the scenes, click here to read STYD’s interview with Baker.
Inspired by the classic Universal film that launched a legacy of horror, The Wolfman brings the myth of a cursed man back to its iconic origins. Del Toro stars as Lawrence Talbot, a haunted nobleman lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. Reunited with his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins), Talbot sets out to find his brother…and discovers a horrifying destiny for himself.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on December 4th, 2008
The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) has been sitting in development hell since the early 1980s. I would utter no complaint if it remained there too. Sure the film was a little campy, but even to this day I would say it is one of the greatest and most impactful horror films of all time. So instead of a new project, here we go again. Long after the notion faded into obscurity, in 2001, following the success of The Mummy series, producer-screenwriter Gary Ross was hired to write and produced the remake with his father Arthur Ross (who has just passed, may he rest in peace). End the short history lesson. Cut to seven years later, I was surprised to come across this news on the internet today. Gary Ross shared with Collider the latest update in the development of the Creature remake, and I’ll say I’m willingly more open.
According to Collider, the project is still not greenlit yet, but Ross hopes to have it going next year. He reveals they still haven’t decided if the creature will be live action or CGI yet. The movie is still also looking for its director, meaning Breck Eisner is not helming the project as previously announced. Here’s what Ross had to say.
“I’m producing it. We’re actually moving forward,” Ross tells Collider. “It’s not going to be campy. It’s not a reference to what the original was. It’s not reverential that way. We take it seriously. We found some scientific underpinnings for it which my dad actually found in the original. He based it on a lungfish he found around that time, a lot of that was his. We’re not approaching it in a campy, retro sort of way.”
He continues, “Well it’s certainly going to be based on the original; my dad’s favorite was The Creature Walks Among Us and that was the last one which my dad also wrote. My dad actually died two weeks ago. We’re going to be faithful to it.”
As for the director, “That hasn’t been decided yet,” he tells the site. And for the creature, “those are decisions that will always be made during prep. The movie is not greenlit – let me say that. But we hope to be making it sometime next year…”
That’s the update for now. Stayed tuned for more.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on December 4th, 2008
John Carpenter’s classic 1988 alien conspiracy movie, They Live, is officially undergoing the remake treatment reports THR. Universal and Strike Entertainment are currently in negotiations with Les Moughs to acquire the film rights.
The original film, part sci-fi thriller and part social satire, told the story of a down-on-his-luck construction worker (Roddy Piper) who discovers glasses that let him see aliens walking among us and controlling humanity. The man races against the clock to find a way to stop them.
The movie is known for a fight scene that lasts 5 1/2 minutes and for the line, “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass … and I’m all out of bubblegum.”
No writers or directors have been attached to the project yet. Moughs and John Carpenter will executive produce the film.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on November 12th, 2008
Something new to me, but Bloody Disgusting has been on top of—the Wayans brothers have been developing a The Munsters flick, originally planned for release through Universal Pictures. It was first announced almost four years ago and it looks like it never left their minds.
The story would be based on the 1960s television show about a friendly family of monsters, only brought back to life in modern times. Still the same news from four years ago, Keenen Ivory Wayans will direct the project from a screenplay by Keenen Ivory, Marlon, and Shawn Wayans, and the brothers still don’t plan to star in the film.
“If we do anything, maybe we’ll do a cameo, but we’re not gonna make The Munsters black all of a sudden,” Wayans laughed. “They’re gonna be green, white people just like they were in the TV show. Their characters are still who they were in the ‘50s. It’s just in modern day.”
Currently the brothers are finishing up Dance Flick, a musical spoof, but Shawn Wayans told MTV News, “I’m almost ready. It’s almost ready to be shot. We had to finish this movie and now were going through our third polish on The Munsters.”
“We were big fans of The Munsters,” insists Wayans as the reason behind the project. “We grew up watching them. We loved the characters. We thought that they would be a very, very funny movie. You know, they did The Addams Family, which I thought wasn’t that funny or well-thought out of a show, but they did it ‘cuz they had a catchy theme song and turned it into a movie. I thought The Munsters had the real meat and potatoes rich characters.”
Posted by dominie in Films, News on October 18th, 2008
Variety reports that Universal Pictures is moving forward with a fourth installment to The Bourne Identity series. If you’re expecting another movie along the lines of Robert Ludlum’s novels however, don’t hold your breath. Universal has decided take the series in a new direction, an original story to be scripted by George Nolfi (The Sentinel, Ocean’s Twelve), a co-writer of the third installment. The studio has also secured director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon to return for the fourth movie, which became a top priority slate when the third film grossed $227 million domestically and $215 million overseas.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on October 14th, 2008
Oldboy director Park Chan-Wook’s vampire film, Thirst, which Universal Pictures jumped on board to co-produce last month is readying to transition into post-production. This morning, Star, a Japanese paper, publicized the first image of Korean star Kang-ho Song as the doomed priest who’s life spirals into a horror impassioned by an illicit love affair with his childhood friend’s wife.
Focus Features will distribute Thirst and it looks like we’re still on board for release in 2009.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 12th, 2008
Oldboy director Chan-Wook Park returns!! If you haven’t seen Oldboy you will regret not running to your nearest video store now to rent the psycho mystery thriller. Oldboy comes alive in Park’s wholly original story about a man who is locked up in a cell for 15 years and then suddenly released only to find himself still trapped in a web of conspiracies.
This morning Variety received news that Universal Pictures and Focus Features sealed a deal Thursday to jump on board as co-producers to director Chan-Wook Park’s new vampire film Thirst. The film is currently in production under Korean major CJ Entertainment who’s been the film’s sole financier up until now. This collaboration marks the first time a Korean film has ever received US studio coin and a US distribution deal (through Focus) before its local release. Local sales in South Korea along with international sales rights will remain the responsibility of CJ Entertainment.
Thirst will star Song Kang-ho (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Host, The Good the Bad and the Weird) and Shin Ha-kyun (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), with Kim Ok-bi (Dasepo Naughty Girls) as leading lady in a story about a well respected priest Sang-hyun, who falls in love with his childhood friend’s wife and who, after a failed medical experiment is turned into a vampire. The priest’s faith can only hold for so long as his humanity withers away in this unique thriller and horror impassioned by an illicit love story.
With Focus Features to distribute, Thirst will likely be guaranteed a theatrical release! Sources say we can expect Thirst sometime in mid 2009!
