Movie News

Spike Jonze on that Where the Wild Things Are clip, “That was a very early test with the sole purpose of just getting some footage to Ben our vfx (visual effects) supervisor to see if our vfx plan for the faces would work. The clip doesn’t look or feel anything like the movie, the Wild Thing suit is a very early cringy prototype, and the boy is a friend of ours Griffin who we had used in a Yeah Yeah Yeahs video we shot a few weeks before. We love him, but he is not in the actually film...Oh and that is not a wolf suit, its a lamb suit we bought on the internet. Talk to you later...“

David Fincher has signed on to direct, and Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary to adapt, the movie version of Charles Burns' graphic novel Black Hole. Set in the '70s, the story follows a group of teens who spread an STD that causes strange mutations and erodes humanity.

Columbia Pictures has the rights to Garth Ennith and Darick Robertson's indie comic The Boys. It's about a CIA squad whose job is to watch and, when necessary keep in line, superheroes.

Producer Scott Steindorff and Stone Village Pictures will be working on an adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. Some might remember Roman Polanski almost did a version in the '80s, but it fell through.

So here's the rundown on how Twilight, based off Stephanie Meyer's vampire novel, is coming: Catherine Hardwicke is directing, Melissa Rosenberg is writing, and Nikki Reed, Rachelle Lefevre, Cam Cigandet, and Michael Welch have been cast.

Leonardo DiCaprio, along with Andrew Lazar and Jennifer Davisson, will be producing two live action Akira movies, with plans for releasing the first in 2009. Based off Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga, each movie will cover three volumes. If you’ve never read the manga or seen the 1988 anime movie, the story is set in the future after Tokyo has been destroyed and rebuilt as Neo-Tokyo (It’ll be New Manhattan for the movies), and is about a biker gang that gets tangled up in the government’s genetic/psychic program. It’ll be Ruairi Robinson’s feature directorial debut, and Gary Whitta is writing

Having entered into a strategic partnership, Universal and Hasbro will produce at least four movies in six years based on some of Hasbro's games and toy brands. For Hasbro, excepting Transformers and G.I. Joe with DreamWorks and Paramount respectively, this is an exclusive partnership. Monopoly, Candy Land, Clue (Hey, wait a minute!), Ouija, Battleship, Magic the Gathering, and Stretch Armstrong are some of the properties being considered.

Directed and written by Jordan Galland, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead is about an out of work director who gets a job on an off-Broadway bizarre adaptation of Hamlet written by a Romanian who turns out to be a master vampire. And the Holy Grail figures in. Jake Hoffman, Devin Aoki, Jeremy Sisto, and Ralph Macchio. Perhaps more importantly: Ralph Macchio is still alive and working!

Ellen Sandweiss, Bruce Campbell, and Ted Raimi will be teaming up again in Horribleness. According to Sandweiss (to refresh, she got attacked by the tree in Evil Dead) it’s "a hysterical horror-comedy script in the nature of The Munsters or The Addams Family."

A.J. Bowen is producing an indie vampire film called Maidenhead. Shot in black and white, Bowen says it’s influenced by David Lynch, David Cronenberg, and Alfred Hitchcock. "It's about a lonely, creepy guy [Bowen] who's taking care of his bedridden father [Parks], but his bedridden father just happens to be a vampire, too. The guy ends up finding his soul through the process. ... We were lucky to get Michael Parks to play our vampire. That was pretty cool." Look for it later this year.

Doris Roberts has been cast in They Came from Upstairs. "I play a sweet grandmother and I get zapped by aliens and become a zombie. It's a great role..."

GallowWalker, a zombie/western starring Wesley Snipes, is about a gunslinger who's cursed with everyone who dies by his gone coming back from the dead.

Lindsay Lohan has joined Jack Black comedy Ye Old Times, along with Ann-Margret, David Arquette, Cary Elwes, and Orlando Jones. The movie is about two rival Renaissance Faire troupes on the competitive circuits.

Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston will begin shooting on David Frankel directed Marley & Me. Based on John Grogan’s book, the story follows the trials of a couple who get a dog to test their ability to handle responsibility before trying parenthood.

Shikaku Film announced that director Rintaro's anime Yona Yona Penguin has been pushed back from 2008 to 2009. No reason was given. Also, Yona Yona Penguin has been picked up by Metropolitan for the UK, JBK for France, and Central Partnership for Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union.

Umi ga Kikoeru (Ocean Waves) has been picked up by Optimum Releasing for the UK, Telepool for Germany, Ocean Films for France, Aurum for Spain, and NonStop Entertainment for Sweden, Norway, and Finland.