Oh boy, things aren’t looking good for Disney’s epic John Carter, which opens tomorrow. The $250 million CGI extravaganza is struggling to find an audience, especially abroad, according to recent analyst estimates. Some media analysts at Morgan Stanley predict that the movie needs to gross over $700 million worldwide just to break even. The same analysts expect the movie to open with a $25 million weekend in the US. In other words: don’t count on a John Carter sequel. And if you own Disney stock, consider selling.

By now we know what Disney’s $250 million “epic” John Carter will be like. At least judging by the trailer, which is so mediocre it appears to have been cut together by taking bits and pieces from Star Wars and Avatar trailers. Anyways, John Carter opens on March 9. We’ll have a review of the movie shortly.

Special arrival in today, folks, as the crew out at Fox sent over a screener copy of In Time for us to cover for you, and if you thought this one was a mindbender in theaters, then you may rest assured it will be every inch the same kind of mindbender when you get it home.

READ ON »

Steven Spielberg was set to direct Jurassic Park 4 in 2013, but according to the man himself, in an interview with Collider, he won’t be directing the fourth movie. He was very specific when he said:

“I don’t want to talk about Jurassic Park 4 yet – it’s too early – but I can tell you that I’m not directing it. I’m producing it though.”

Spielberg didn’t want to go into details about Jurassic Park 4, once again saying that it was “too early” to talk about story and all that. Jurassic Park 4 producer Kathleen Kennedy said last year that they intend to shoot the film in 3D, which is a no-brainer, considering Hollywood’s preference to 3D these days.

Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh is sharing the first five minutes of Haywire exclusively on Hulu.  The clip clearly shows how much power MMA superstar Gina Carano can kick.  Watch the first five minutes of the adrenaline inducing clip of Carano kicking Channing Tatum’s butt.

The film also stars Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas and Michael Angarano.

Okay, folks, the Christmas season is over, and the disappointment of a cold dark winter is neck deep upon us, at least as long as we’re in the northern hemisphere. But I’ve got a little something here that ought to put some spark in those long cold nights. The folks out at Dreamworks sent over a copy of Real Steel for us to review, and if you ever thought that Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots was just for pansies, well, brace yourself for a whole lot of robot fighting joy.

READ ON »

Making one of the most popular Anime films of all time, Akira, which pretty much introduced anmie to the western world, into a live-action movie was always going to be a massive undertaking. The producers knew this, and the Akira live-action adaptation originally had a budget of $200 million and was going to span 2 movies. Then studio Warner Bros. cut to budget to $90 million. Late last year, Warner Bros. wanted to cut the budget even more, by another $20 to $30 million and turn it into a one movie affair.

Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the producers were unable to find the necessary cuts, and as a result, Warner has now shut down the production. It was probably for the best.

The final poster for Haywire has just been released by Relativity Media for the upcoming action-thriller, directed by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh.
The cast of Haywire is very impressive. Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas, Michael Angarano and mixed martial arts superstar Gina Carano star in the film.

From looking at the new trailer, the movie is a dynamic action-thriller with Carano performing her own high-adrenaline stunts. The trailer doesn’t really tell us much about the movie. But what is clear is that Carano kicks some serious butts. Those butts belong to men. Go Girl!

Carano plays Mallory Kane, a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Now she is the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive.

Using her black-ops military training, she devises an ingenious—and dangerous—trap. But when things go haywire, Mallory realizes she’ll be killed in the blink of an eye unless she finds a way to turn the tables on her ruthless adversary.

The movie opens January 20, 2011.

British actor Benedict Cumberbatch, a fairly unknown face here in the States, but a well-known and highly regarded character actor in the UK, has been cast as the villain of the upcoming Star Trek sequel, scheduled for release in 2013. Cumberbatch has appeared in such films as Atonement, War Horse, and will appear in the upcoming The Hobbit as well.

Star Trek was one of the most successful films of 2009, and a big part of its success came from its cast: a batch of young, talented actors, aided by seasoned veterans like Eric Bana and Simon Pegg. Much of the original cast will be returning for the sequel: including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Seldana, to name a few.

The Star Trek sequel, helmed by J.J. Abrams, is in production now and is scheduled for a Summer 2013 release.

According to a report in the LA Times, the upcoming zombie apocalypse movie World War Z, starring Brad Pitt, may be the first one in a trilogy. Apparently, Paramount Pictures and director Marc Forster see World War Z as a trilogy, rather than a standalone flick. World War Z, with a reported budget of $150 million, is slated for release in December 2012.