Movie News

DreamWorks has signed a five year distribution deal with Universal Pictures. The agreement, which takes effect in 2009, is for six films per year.

Vince Colosimo on Spierig Bros’ vampire movie Daybreakers, “It was meant to be released at the end of October… November… but I think it’s been delayed and probably won’t be released till next year now.” It stars Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill.

Kevin Smith is developing a futuristic space comedy about a father and son and will reference scifi movies. View Askew will produce, and the Weinstein Co. is interested after having read part of the first draft of the script. Smith wants a $45 million-50$ million budget. There will be no movement on it until after he’s finished Red State.

F. Gary Gray will replace Frank Darabont as director on Law Abiding Citizen, starring Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx. Since production starts in December, he’s still set to direct Armored, which films in April.

Production I.G. and Fuji TV are producing a computer animated family film tentatively titled Hottarake no Shima: Haruka to Maho no Kagami (The Abandoned Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror). Director Shinsuke Sato is overseeing the movie about a girl who gets lost in a mysterious fantasy world. It’ll release summer 2009.

Mamoru Oshii is developing and writing Miyamoto Musashi: Sōken ni Haseru Yume (Musashi Miyamoto: The Dream of Riding with Two Swords) for Production I.G., though the actual director will be Mizuho Nishikubo. Kazuto Nakazawa will design the characters, Kazuchika Kise will be animation director and supervisor, Shuichi Hirata will direct the art design, and Makoto Endo will handle the computer animation. Pony Canyon will distribute the film that’s scheduled for early summer of 2009 in Japan.

Alice Braga, Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Carice van Houten, The RZA, and Liev Schreiber will star in Miguel Sapochnik’s directorial debut, science fiction thriller Repossession Mambo. It “takes place in the not-too-distant future, when people can buy artificial organs using credit. Pity those who fall behind on their payments, as someone may come calling to get the organs back. Law plays Remy, a repo man whose body is filled with artificial organs ... and who must go on the run when he can no longer pay the bills.”

Adrien Brody and Michael Chiklis have signed on for John Stalberg Jr.’s indie comedy High School. Co-written with Stephen Susco, it’s about a valedictorian who decides to get the whole school stoned so he can beat a drug test. Production starts November.

Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, and Malin Akerman will play, respectively, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, and Vince Vaughn’s wives in Couples Retreat.

Kim Cattrall and Brian Dennehy will be in Keith Bearden’s comedy Miss January. In it a young man goes cross country to meet an ‘80s screen siren to find find she’s a 50 year old mother in the middle of a child custody battle.