Critics may have given thumbs down to “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” but that sure isn’t stopping fans from watching the action flick on the silver screen.
After just 14 days in theatres, the sequel to the highly successful “Transformers” raked in an impressive $300 million in U.S. ticket sales, making it second to last summers blockbuster hit “The Dark Knight” in terms of box office figures.
The first film — starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox — grossed $319.2 million domestically during its entire time in theatres and $700 million worldwide.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs has been cast in the spin-off to the 2008 comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the producer/rapper will play a record label executive in “Get Him to the Greek,” which sees the return of “Sarah Marshall” director/co-writer Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow.
Also back is Russell Brand, who will reprise his role as out-of-control rocker Aldous Snow. Rose Bryne (”Knowing,” TV’s “Damages”) will play Snow’s latest love interest, an equally wild pop star named Jackie Q.
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“Dark Knight” actress Maggie Gyllenhaal is set to star opposite Emma Thompson in the “Nanny McPhee” sequel, according to Production Weekly.
The movie, tentatively titled “Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang,” will see Thompson reprise her role as the magical nanny, although there is no word yet as to what role Gyllenhaal will play.
According to Thompson, the sequel will be markedly different from the 2005 original, which took in $122 million at the worldwide box office. “It’s not a sequel, actually, it’s a new story,” she told MTV in November. “(The second film) is set one hundred years later; the only thing that is the same is Nanny McPhee.”
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Mark your calendars, “Sex and the City” fans – the sequel to last summer’s hit TV show adaptation will arrive in theatres on May 28, 2010.
Variety reports that all four stars – Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon – will return, along with writer-director Michael Patrick King.
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Sixteen years after “Dazed and Confused” put Matthew McConaughey on the map as the stoner-sage David Wooderson and became the gold standard of high school nostalgia comedies, writer-director Richard Linklater has written a “spritual sequel,” reports ew.com.
The story follows a group of lost boys and girls during their first weekend of college in 1980. The untitled project isn’t literally spiritual or a sequel, strictly speaking — sadly, none of the characters from the first movie will be featured in this one. But, like “Dazed,” it attempts to capture an iconic and infinitely confusing moment in a person’s life by following an ensemble of different characters through a short period of time. Much of the action takes place among the members of a college baseball team.
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E! Online reported Warner Bros. has confirmed plans for a third “Tomb Raider” movie, which would feature changes for its leading character, Lara Croft according to the Hollywood Reporter. These changes will include the main character’s origin story as well as new missions, villains and love interests.
But the most notable change is a new Lara Croft. Producers have said they have not yet selected the new leading lady because they are waiting for a writer and a director to sign onto the project.
Although “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life,” its sequel, were both produced by Paramount Pictures, Eidos has obtained the rights to its video game.
The first “Tomb Raider” film scored big at the box office in 2001, earning $275 million worldwide. The sequel however did not gross as high, but managed to pull in an impressive $157 million. Meanwhile the video game series has made more than $1 billion since its release in 1996.
“Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke, who recently broke the record for the largest opening by a female filmmaker, says that the first step for a ‘Twilight’ sequel is making sure everyone is on the same page.
“Well, right now we’re trying to figure out if the studio people, and me, and everyone’s on the same page,” Hardwicke told MTV News, “I want to do ['New Moon'] better than we did ‘Twilight,’ and do it really cool. I definitely don’t want to do it as something just tossed off, like a ‘Saw II’ or something like that.”
Hardwicke said “New Moon” could be finished by the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010. “Cameras could be rolling in about five moths,” Hardwicke explained to MTV News. “We spent about a year and three months getting ['Twilight'] ready, between writing the script and casting. We could probably do things a little bit faster this time, but who knows? It depends.”
The director also revealed to MTV News a draft has already been made by “Twilight” screenplay writer Melissa Rosenberg, “There’s a draft, but then of course, you do more than one version of the script. You work on it. You try to bring it to life”.
The “Sex And The City” movie broke box-office records by becoming the biggest romantic-comedy opening of all time, but is there another one in store for Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte? The answer is maybe.
When asked by MTV News if a “Sex And The City” sequel is a possibility, Sarah Jessica Parker said, “We are talking about it. We’ve had very general conversations about the idea. That’s the big hurdle: the idea. The studio is very enthusiastic, which is lovely and seductive. We’re at the place where [writer/director] Michael [Patrick King] has a wealth of stories so now it’s, ‘We think we have this story and how do we put this together and are we completely sure that it’s the right thing to do?’ ”
As for a shooting date for the sequel, Parker told MTV News next summer could be a possibility, “I think it’s a realistic timetable. That’s when we’d start shooting to be out in 2010. But that means we need to figure this out in the next couple of months.”
Forget Sarah Marshall – it’s all about Russell Brand.
A sequel to Jason Segal’s hit comedy is in the works, which would centre around Brand’s obnoxious rock star character, Aldous Snow.
UK website Chortle reports that Segal and Sarah Marshall herself, Kristen Bell, have been approached but nothing has been confirmed. Jonah Hill, however, would be back, “a wet-behind-the-ears insurance adjuster instructed to ensure Brand’s wildman gets to a gig.”
The people behind “Iron Man” certainly are efficient. A sequel to this weekend’s box office smash already has a release date: April 30, 2010.
Not all of the details are ironed out yet, however. It’s unclear as to what members of the cast will be back and what the plot will be.
“Iron Man” isn’t the only franchise Marvel is excited about. Its film adaptation of “The Avengers” is set for a July 2011 release.
Until they, they have such heavy hitters as “The Incredible Hulk,” Punisher: War Zone,” and”X-Men Origins: Wolverine” to keep the money rolling in.
“Iron Man” has already made more than $200 million worldwide.
