Posts Tagged ‘Lionsgate Films’
Disney and Lionsgate have released a batch of new posters for Toy Story 3 and Kick-Ass. We have a short roundup, after the jump.
Lionsgate has released two new “Call to Action” character posters for Kick-Ass on MTV. Click on through to see the posters in high res.
And check out the International Toy Story 3 Poster which brings the focus back to the original Toy Story toys. [pixarblog]
A bunch of new release dates were announced overnight, including the Ryan Reynolds one-man thriller Buried, the computer animated/live-action hybrid 3D film Smurfs, Jonah Hill’s big screen adaptation of the television series 21 Jump Street, and Crash writer/director Paul Haggis‘ new film The Next Three Days. Details after the jump.
Buried
Lionsgate announced a release date for the Ryan Reynolds one-man thriller Buried, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical and audience acclaim, sparking a multi-studio bidding war. The film will be released in theaters on September 24th 2010, head to head with Zack Snyder’s computer animated fantasy film Legends of the Guardians, Oliver Stone’s sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and the Kristen Bell comedy You Again.
For those of you who haven’t been following the project, the film tells the story of a private contractor who is kidnapped in Iraq and buried alive. He has 90 minutes of air left until he dies, and has access to only a phone and a lighter. The entire movie takes place in the coffin, with Reynolds providing the only on screen performance. I attended the film’s premiere at Sundance and was blown away (you can read my review here). The film played so well to the midnight crowd that it sparked a bidding war overnight, which Lionsgate won.
Smurfs
Columbia Pictures’ has changed the release date of the big screen adaptation of The Smurfs. The film, which is a CGI/live action hybrid, helmed by Raja Gosnell (Scooby Doo and Beverly Hills Chihuahua) was originally set to hit theaters on July 29th 1011, but will not hit theaters a few days later on August 3rd 2011. The movie was to go head to head with Jon Favreau’s big screen adaptation of the comic book Cowboys & Aliens and a week following The First Avenger: Captain America. The new date is wide open.
The film stars Neil Patrick Harris as a live-action character, and a voice cast which includes Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf, George Lopez as Grouchy Smurf, Katy Perry as Smurfette and Alan Cumming as Gutsy Smurf. Smurfs: The Movie shoots in April.
21 Jump Street
Last month, Columbia Pictures gave the Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s Jonah Hill-ified 21 Jump Street movie a August 5th 2011 release date. Looks like the begining of production might have been pushed back as Sony has updated the release to a TBA slot more than a year later - Winter 2012. Hill, who wrote the screenplay and will star, has described the film as “a comedy with really cool action” … a “John Hughes movie with ‘Bad Boys’ style action” about “a group of people that go back to high school to deal with a drug problem.”
The Next Three Days
And lastly, Lionsgate has announced a release date for Crash helmer Paul Haggis‘ The Next Three Days: November 19th 2010. The action thriller will go head to head with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part I, and The Rock’s action film Faster. The movie is a remake of a French film, about a husband (Russell Crowe) looking to break his wrongly imprisoned wife (Elizabeth Banks) out of jail. At least, she says she’s wrongly imprisoned. The film also stars Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde, Jonathan Tucker, Brian Dennehy, and RZA.
via: BOM
As the release date for Kick-Ass gets closer, original comic creator Mark Millar is already looking towards the comic sequel to his original creation, and the film sequel that will hopefully ensue. As such, he’s talking about the direction the story will go, and dropping some big notes and spoilers along the way.
Did I say spoilers? Yep! If you haven’t read and/or seen Kick-Ass yet (hey, not the most unlikely thing, as I know Lionsgate has done a few screenings for comic shop employees, for example) then you might want to tread carefully here.
Comicbookmovie.com pulled quotes from Millar out of the film companion book Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie.
To begin, the second volume of Kick-Ass will see the hero unmasked. That’s a favorite idea amongst comic writers (when you’ve got a guy in a mask, the natural idea is to strip it away, unless the character is Judge Dredd) and Millar’s young hero won’t get off easy.
One of my favourite ideas in superhero comics is the exposure of the secret identity… I like the idea of doing that to somebody like Kick-Ass, who’s going to have real-world ramifications if his secret identity gets exposed. I wanted that in the first volume but there was just no room, so I shifted it all into the second volume.
The sequel movie talk comes out when discussing the character of Red Mist, played on film by Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Here’s where the real spoilers start.
Red Mist surviving, becoming the super-villain was always planned, but the idea was that he was going to be a more minor character in the first film. Then we saw what Christopher Mintz-Plasse was capable of! Also, I really like the idea of somebody who people were relaxed watching on screen doing horrible things… the second movie, it’s going to get very, very dark what goes on with him…So the idea of McLovin’ and the fun Red Mist doing something horrible is genuinely quite disturbing when you see it happen. We couldn’t have got away with that with another actor. The minute we saw his performance, we were looking at each other and realised how good he was and what we could do with him in the future…
This is an official promo book, so I expect to hear Millar highly endorsing all the actors’ performances (and Millar likes to talk…a lot… in the first place) and I really wonder if this is the movie where Mintz-Plasse can break the McLovin mold.
Here’s a little distraction for you, something to play with for a couple of idle minutes. In order to promote the DVD and BD release of Saw VI (out since January in the US, in UK stores this week), Lionsgate have whipped up a little Where’s Waldo-style picture with Jigsaw’s creepy tricycling puppet Billy hidden away amongst several Saw and Waldo characters and in jokes. You can see the full picture after the break.
The picture was created by Daniel David Freeman who has had some rather hip shows in London and done work for a series of similarly hip clients.
Lionsgate has released a bunch of new outdoor art/posters/banners for Matthew Vaughn’s big screen adaptation of Kick-Ass. Check out the digital images in high resolution after the jump.
New Official Synopsis:
“How come nobody’s ever tried to be a superhero?” When Dave Lizewski – ordinary New York teenager and rabid comic-book geek dons a green-and-yellow internet-bought wetsuit to become the no-nonsense vigilante, Kick-Ass, he soon finds an answer to his own question: because it hurts. But, overcoming all the odds, the eager yet inexperienced Dave quickly becomes a phenomenon, capturing the imagination of the public. However, he’s not the only superhero out there – the fearless and highly-trained father-daughter crime-fighting duo, Big Daddy and Hit-Girl have been slowly but surely taking down the criminal empire of local Mafioso, Frank D’Amico. And, as Kick-Ass gets drawn into their no-holds-barred world of bullets and bloodletting with Frank’s son, Chris, now reborn as Kick-Ass’s arch-nemesis, Red Mist - the stage is set for a final showdown between the forces of good and evil - in which the DIY hero will have to live up to his name. Or die trying… Directed by Matthew Vaughn, from a screenplay by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn, and based on the comic written by Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr. Lionsgate and MARV present a MARV Films / Plan B production.
Lionsgate has released a bunch of new outdoor art/posters/banners for Matthew Vaughn’s big screen adaptation of Kick-Ass. Check out the digital images in high resolution after the jump.
New Official Synopsis:
“How come nobody’s ever tried to be a superhero?” When Dave Lizewski – ordinary New York teenager and rabid comic-book geek dons a green-and-yellow internet-bought wetsuit to become the no-nonsense vigilante, Kick-Ass, he soon finds an answer to his own question: because it hurts. But, overcoming all the odds, the eager yet inexperienced Dave quickly becomes a phenomenon, capturing the imagination of the public. However, he’s not the only superhero out there – the fearless and highly-trained father-daughter crime-fighting duo, Big Daddy and Hit-Girl have been slowly but surely taking down the criminal empire of local Mafioso, Frank D’Amico. And, as Kick-Ass gets drawn into their no-holds-barred world of bullets and bloodletting with Frank’s son, Chris, now reborn as Kick-Ass’s arch-nemesis, Red Mist - the stage is set for a final showdown between the forces of good and evil - in which the DIY hero will have to live up to his name. Or die trying… Directed by Matthew Vaughn, from a screenplay by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn, and based on the comic written by Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr. Lionsgate and MARV present a MARV Films / Plan B production.
Earlier this week it was reported that pro wrestler Shad Gaspard (part of the WWE tag-team Cryme Tyme) had auditioned for the role of Ukafa, the main villain in Marcus Nispel’s upcoming remake of Conan the Barbarian. Well it looks like he didn’t get the part. LatinoReview is reporting that the part will go to another professional fighter, MMA star Bob “The Beast” Sapp.
Here is the official casting breakdown for the character:
UKAFA: He’s in his 30s-40, very dark-skinned African or African American, massively framed at six-foot-five, gold-toothed, hardened by a lifetime of war, a leader of Kushite Tribemen from the savannahs of Kush. Ukafa is Khalar Singh’s second in command, jealous that Singh’s son, Fariq, will one day be warlord. He obeys his leader but plots the overthrow of his son. He is a mighty warrior and unbeatable in battle until he comes face to face with Conan. LEAD….
Sapp is is 35-years-old, 6′4 feet tall and weighs 340 lbs, so he definitely is big enough for the role… but is he a good actor? Sapp has appeared in a bunch of films, including Elektra, The Longest Yard, Big Stan, and Blood and Bone.
Heat Vision is reporting that Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Iron Man 2) is in talks to play Corin, Conan’s father in Marcus Nispel’s Conan remake for Lionsgate. Meanwhile, SHH has confirmed that Sean Hood has been hired to give the script a last minute rewrite.
Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer penned the original draft. The story follows the mythical conqueror Conan (Jason Momoa) as he embarks on a “quest to avenge the slaughter of his people including his father.” Hood was hired because of a similar screenplay he wrote for the same producers, Joe Gatta and Boaz Davidson, called Hercules.
Rourke has been rumored for the role earlier this year, but apparently the dealmaking fell apart. Both sides came back to the table and were able to make it work. Production on Conan is set to begin on March 15th in Bulgaria.
After a week-long bidding war for The Twilight Saga: New Moon star Taylor Lautner’s next project — a Bourne-styled action film called Abduction, Lionsgate has come out the winner. Rumor has it that Dreamworks had come close to nabbing the project, but that was not the case. I’m not sure how much the deal was for, but screenwriter Shawn Christensen’s last spec screenplay Karma Coalition sold for close to a million dollars, and that was without any star attachments packaged with the deal. Rumor has it that the project sold for close to $1 million.
I know that the involvement of Lautner might scare non-Twilight fans from reading further — but let me tell you, the more I hear about this script, the cooler it sounds. More details, after the jump.
It’s a very high concept idea, which I think most of the /Film audience might dig. Abduction follows a teenager named Nathan “who has long felt disconnected from his parents, and figures out why. That unleashes a chain of violent events.”After discovering his own baby picture on a missing persons website, he realizes a deep dark secret — his parents kidnapped him as a child and raised him as their own. This realization unlocks a huge conspiracy, and Nathan and his girlfriend must go on the run. I’ve heard it’s Bourne meets Hitchcock for the Twilight Disturbia crowd.
via: Variety
Lionsgate has released a new red band movie trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of the Mark Millar comic book series Kick-Ass. As you know, I’ve been very critical of the marketing for this film thus far. I’ve not only seen the preview footage at comic-con, read part of the comic, but I’ve seen the entire film — it is awesome.
The three reasons why people will love this movie is because of the politically incorrect humor, the vulgarity, and the intense bloody super-stylized action. The posters for Big Daddy, Red Mist, Hit-Girl and now the entire cast, display none of these characteristics. They attempt to appeal to the masses with a colorful bublegum look (see above).
But this new restricted red band movie trailer is Kick-Ass — this is the movie, and this is the way to advertise it. Too bad most trailers and television networks won’t air this kind of trailer, because if you see this trailer, I’m pretty sure it’s as good as pre-ordering a ticket for opening weekend. Watch the trailer after the jump, and please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Official Plot Synopsis: The film tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero would, he chooses a new name — Kick-Ass — assembles a suit and mask to wear, and gets to work fighting crime. There’s only one problem standing in his way: Kick-Ass has absolutely no superpowers. His life is forever changed as he inspires a subculture of copy cats, is hunted by assorted violent and unpleasant characters, and meets up with a pair of crazed vigilantes, including an 11-year-old sword-wielding dynamo, Hit Girl (Chloë Moretz) and her father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage).
Watch the trailer in High Definition on MySpace. KICK-ASS is in theaters on April 16, 2010.
