Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

The remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still has added Kathy Bates and Jaden Smith to its cast.

The still untitled X-Files 2's director Chris Carter, "We want a stand-alone movie, not a mythology conspiracy one." So, none of the alien colonization plot.

Timothy Spall has said he'll be back as Peter Pettigrew in the next two Harry Potter films.

Olivier Megaton will be directing The Transporter 3, and Jason Statham will be returning. It's currently casting in Paris.

Bad Taste has "from a very reliable source" the complete character list for The Dark Knight. Notice the entry for 10.

The Wizard of Gore remake, starring Crispin Glover and Brad Dourif, should finally see theaters later this year. The horror movie is about a magician and his unfortunate assistants, this time with a murder mystery take.

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

After saying that Transformers 2 would film on schedule despite having no locked script, it appears that Michael Bay will have to delay due to the Writer’s strike.

Troll writer and director John Carl Buechler has announced that there will be a remake of his original film. The overall plot remains the same (few details are known at this time), and the leading character's name will still be Harry Potter Jr., whether JK Rowling likes it or not. According to a press release, the name can't be constituted as copyright infringement due to the fact that Movies Plus is in no way affiliated with her books or with Warner Bros and because Mr. Buechler's story came out years before hers did. Casting is currently in progress with only two roles filled so far; Phil Fondacaro as Malcom and Noah Hathaway returns, this time as Turok the troll. (Submitted by theSannie)

The Conan the Barbarian remake written by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer has found a home at Lionsgate and should be filming later this year. The plan is for this to be the first in a series of Conan movies.

On the Stallone front, it looks like he’s going to be writing, directing, and starring in a Death Wish remake.

Leonard Nemoy on Star Trek XI, "I am Spock, and there is another Spock and there is another Spock. There are a total of three Spocks in the movie and that is all I will say about it."

With the working title Bond 22, the latest Bond movie started filming January 8. Returning: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, and Giancarlo Giannini. New: Mathieu Amalric (as the villain), Olga Kurylenko, and Gemma Arterton (as MI6 Agent Fields). "Mathieu in the role of Dominic Greene, a leading member of the villainous organization introduced in CASINO ROYALE, will be a powerful counterpart to Daniel's portrayal of Bond. Olga Kurylenko will play the dangerously alluring Camille, who challenges Bond and helps him come to terms with the emotional consequences of Vesper's betrayal." - Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

Associate producer James Middleton says that Arnold Schwarzenegger will not be in Terminator 4, or any subsequent sequels, as long as he’s governor. “But we know now that he is governor, he's got priorities that are above doing movies.”

James Middleton, consulting producer for The Sarah Connor Chronicles, has said that an animated Terminator is planned for a release after the fourth movie comes out in 2009. With a short story format ala Animatrix, Termination will have contributions from European and Japanese animators.

Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon, and Ving Rhames will be doing a direct to DVD sequel to the remake of Dawn of the Dead, with a release date of April 7.

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

The first teaser for Star Trek XI will be before Cloverfield.

Warner Brothers has bought the rights for an I Am Legend sequel from Richard Matheson.

Guillermo Del Toro is working on preproduction for a new Frankenstein movie. Having notes from before the Writers’ strike, he’s now using drawings. According to him he has a “definitive take” on it.

Jeffrey Wright will return as CIA agent Felix Leiter, and Gemma Arterton will be the next “Bond girl”.

Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh are out of the next Superman sequel, which, when last heard from, was going to be titled The Man of Steel. It’s looking like whoever is cast in the Justice League movie will take over the role.

New Line has dropped another Freddy vs. Jason for just Freddy. They’ve, currently, put on hold Nightmare on Elm Street prequel, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and will be making a sequel (not remake, at least so far).

Word is Robert Downey Jr. will appear in a scene in The Incredible Hulk opposite William Hurt, who plays Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. Also Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury will be in Iron Man. Jon Favreau, who directed Iron Man, has said that he’d like to direct an Avengers movie. Just coincidence? Hmm….

Random Movie News

Peter Berg set to direct Dune remake.

…As well as Tom Cruise movie Edwin A. Salt.

The Host II (sequel to the South Korea’s bestselling movie ever) should start filming this summer with a 2009 release. It’s being produced by Choi Yong-bae (who also produced the first) and the screenplay is being worked on by comic artist Kang Full. The Host II will be set in 2003.

Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li will start filming in March with Kristin Kreuk as Chun Li. Speaking of Street Fighter...

Jean Claude Van Damme will star in a film he’s written and directing called Full Love that will start filming in Bangkok at the end of March/beginning of April. And it’s a romance(!). I will make no comment on the title.

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

An excerpt for the Terminator 4 synopsis from Chud.com:
“John Connor is not the main character of Terminator 4; that character is someone named Marcus. Marcus was put 'out of commission' before the nuclear holocaust on Judgment Day and he wakes up about 15 years before the future we see in the original Terminator films, which puts the movie at about 2015 or so. Marcus is a bad ass - think along the lines of Riddick - and what he finds is a blasted world filled with horror. Radiation poisoning, starvation, rampant jaywalking - all the things you expect post-apocalypse. There's also John Connor, who is trying to build a utopian society while running the human resistance.”

Jon Hamm will play Dr. Granier along side Keanu Reeves (as Klaatu) and Jennifer Connelly (Helen) in the “update” of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Dr. Granier is a NASA official who recruits Helen to investigate the alien Klaatu’s arrival. The aliens message is: Live in peace or be destroyed. Filming started in Vancouver in December.

While Guillermo del Toro will produce the American remake of The Orphanage, Juan Antonio Bayona has turned down an offer to direct. The original Spanish version will open in the US on Dec. 28.

The idea for Poltergeist: Kayeri seems to have been scrapped for a remake of the original Poltergeist.

Straight to DVD sequels for 2008:
Cellular 2
The Cell 2 (starring Frank Whaley and Tessie Santiago)
Lost Boys 2 : The Tribe
Poison Ivy 4
Undisputed 3
Batman: Gotham Knight
2nd animated Justice League
Wonder Woman (animated)
Joyride 2
Behind Enemy Lines 3

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

Producer Thomas Schuehly and Mario Kassar will be remaking the 1927 Fritz Lang classic, Metroppolis. Set in 2026, the original told the story of a dystopia where the privileged abuse the working class.

John Singleton has left Executive Order: Six to direct the A-Team movie.

Steve Norrington will direct the remake of 1981's Clash of the Titans. It's set to begin production 2008.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has wrapped up filming and is set for a world premier in Beijing, China, on July 24, 2008.

Night at the Museum 2: Escape the Smithsonian will star Ben Still, Ricky Gervais, and Reese Witherspoon. Basically the same as the first, only bigger.

Will Arnett will replace William Daniels as the voice of K.I.T.T. in the Knight Rider sequel.

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

George Takei will be playing the older Sulu in Star Trek XI.

Tim Roth will be playing the villain, Abomination, in The Incredible Hulk

Maggie Grace will be replacing Sarah Michelle Gellar in Alice, a movie sequel to the game American McGee's Alice. The story: "Years after her first experience in Wonderland, Alice, now a disturbed young woman mourning the death of her parents, returns to the land of talking animals and the wicked Queen of Hearts."

Screamers 2 should start filming in January. The story: A group from Earth follow a S.O.S. from another planet to find "screamers" who can now take human form.

Terminator 4 will be bringing back the character Kate Brewster along with John Connor.

Mathieu Amalric will be playing the villain in Bond 22 (November 2008).

Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, and Xzibit have joined X-Files 2.

Sylvain White will be directing two remakes in 2008, Last House on the Left and Near Dark.

While Ghost House will be pumping out a whole slew (a slew!) of sequels:
Boogeyman 3
The Grudge 3.
The Messengers 2 .
Rise 2 (so that should make Shalen happy)

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

...And reboots, do overs, whatever the kids are calling it these days.


David Ondaatje is set to direct the thriller The Lodger. This’ll be the third adaption of Marie Belloc Lowndes’ book since Hitchcock's 1927 film.

More on Star Trek XI: The Enterprise's first captain, Captain Pike, will be played by Bruce Greenwood. Spock's father will be played by Chariots of Fire's Ben Cross.

The sequel TV movie/maybe pilot to 80's show Knight Rider! Unfortunately David Hasselhoff is still only "in talks" about being cast, but we can always hope.

The Punisher: War Zone (its latest title) will have Dominic West as Jigsaw, and should wrap up filming mid-December.

The Wayans brothers are talking about a theatrical "contemporizing" of 60s comedy show The Munsters. Shawn Wayans says that they won't be starring in it, just writing and producing.

Taurua Entertainment is shopping around the idea of Knightriders 2… *sigh*