Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

J.J. Abrams on Star Trek XI: “It looks at the formation of the core characters from Star Trek, so it serves as a prequel, but it’s also more than that.”

Beast will be in the Magneto movie.

IESB has a set report for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Transformers 2: Teresa Palmer out, Isabel Lucas in. Jon Voight and Tyrese Gibson will reprise their roles. Michael Bay has confirmed that the sequel will be a 3-D.

J.J. Abrams on a Cloverfield 2: "We're talking about it. But the truth is there's another idea that I'd rather do with the same people than do a sequel. It's a whole new thing.”…” So my dream is to work with [Goddard and Reeves] again, but do something that's [new]. Having said that, Drew and Matt both, separately, have really good ideas for what [Cloverfield 2] could be. So I don't know. We'll see. I know the studio wants it."

DreamWorks and IMAX have signed a deal for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa’s worldwide IMAX theaters release on November 7, 2008.

Jan de Bont will direct the Point Break sequel, titled Point Break Indo, that’ll film in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Says IESB: “When Billy Dalton, military special ops and star surfer, is disqualified from the pro-surfing tour, he takes off for the coast of Bali looking for the perfect wave. While there he’s recruited by a private security force who are trying to find a gang known as The Bush Administration, surfing outlaws and modern day pirates who work like ‘The Ex-Presidents,’ a bank robbing crew from Malibu twenty years ago.” No word on casting yet.

Tyrese Gibson will be making a cameo in Fast and the Furious 4.

Richard Kelly says about S. Darko: "To set the record straight, here's a few facts I'd like to share with you all. I haven't read this script. I have absolutely no involvement with this production, nor will I ever be involved." Also, the cast is set as Daveigh Chase, Corey Richardson, and Randy Holt.

Laura Vandervoort, Chris Carmack, Audrina Patridge, Marsha Thomason, and David Anders will star in a Charles Winkler directed Into the Blue sequel. Diving couple Sebastion and Dani find out that the employers who hired them to look for treasure have a darker agenda.

BenderSpink, FilmEngine, and After Dark Films will be producing the third Butterfly Effect movie, which will be released as part of After Dark’s 8 Films to Die For series. The Holly Brix script is about a guy who, having inherited the ability to go back and change the past, tries to solve his girlfriend’s death accidentally unleashing a serial killer. Oops. Filming starts in Vacouver in September; no cast has been announced yet.

George Romero on Diary of the Dead 2: “Yeah, I’m definitely attached to it. If the producers want to make the sequel, I will make it. But who knows, I could be written out of it. As far as the project being greenlit, the answer is no. I haven’t gotten a check yet. (laughs)”

Producer Brad Fuller on Friday the 13th: “In this movie you will see a feral, brutal Jason who is hell-bent on killing in astonishing ways. And tonight our director, Marcus Nispel, constructed a shot of Jason as he is about to strike - that is when I got scared. The shot is iconic in its construction. It’s our Batman or Spiderman shot and when you see the movie you will know exactly what I am talking about. It is the single shot that tells you everything you need to know about Jason."

Kevin Tighe, Kerr Smith, and Megan Boone will be in My Bloody Valentine.

George Romero on Crazies: “Well they’re still talking about remaking The Crazies. I don’t know if it’s going to happen. But look, look at Creepshow 3….dreadful. Day of the Dead 2:Contagium…dreadful. They like remaking them, but they don’t exactly put as much thought into them. (laughs)”

Werner Herzog will direct Nicholas Cage in a remake of Bad Lieutenant. Billy Finkelstein will write the new version of the 1992 NC-17 movie that starred Harvey Keitel about a corrupt New York police officer wrapped up in gambling, sex, drugs, and theft.