Movie Production Update: January 30, 2009

Other than all the movie titles you will read about below there are a few fanboy related items some of you may be interested in checking out:

  • MTV talked to Darren Aronosfky about Robocop.
  • Sylvester Stallone told Extra, “Yeah, we are doing another Rambo, but the conflict is whether to do it in America or a foreign country.”
  • BD says Ghost Rider 2 is in the early stages of development.
  • Arrow in the Head says Resident Evil 4 has a script written by Paul Anderson but he won’t direct and they trying to lockdown Milla Jovovich.
  • IESB is reporting Batman 3 is in the scripting stage, Dan Mazeau is writing The Flash and Get Smart 2 is coming in Spring 2010.

With that out of the way let’s get to the rest of it because there is a lot!

Title: Furry Vengeance

Studio: Summit Entertainment

Director: Roger Kumble (College Road Trip)

Screenwriter: Not Available

Cast: Brendan Fraser

Storyline: Fraser will play a real estate developer whose new housing subdivision pushes far into a pristine part of the Oregon wilderness, pitting the developer against a band of angry critters.

Title: Samson

Studio: Warner Bros.

Director: Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Constantine)

Screenwriter: Scott Silver

Cast: Not Available

Storyline: A futuristic retelling of the Samson and Delilah story, focusing on the biblical strongman who was invincible until he was betrayed by Delilah, to whom he entrusted the secret that his strength came from his long hair.

Title: Death at a Funeral

Studio: Screen Gems

Director: Neil LaBute (The Wicker Man)

Screenwriters: Chris Rock and Aeysha Carr

Cast: Chris Rock

Storyline: A remake of 2007 British comedy Death at a Funeral, which revolves around a dysfunctional family that gathers for the patriarch’s funeral. Tensions rise and old conflicts are uncovered.

Title: Here Comes the Sun

Studio: Screen Gems

Director: Neil LaBute (Lakeview Terrace)

Screenwriter: Nina Coleman

Cast: Not Available

Storyline: Plot details are being kept under wraps.

Title: Enchanted, Inc.

Studio: Not Available

Director: Not Available

Screenwriter: Steven Rogers

Cast: Not Available

Storyline: Based on Shanna Swendson’s book “Enchanted, Inc.” the story centers on a small-town woman who comes to New York only to find out magic is commonplace in Gotham and has existed there for centuries. But because she is one of the rare creatures without the slightest bit of magic inside her, she can see through any spell.

Title: Fully Automatic

Studio: Warner Bros.

Director: Wayne Kramer (Running Scared, The Cooler)

Screenwriter: Marc Wolff

Cast: Not Available

Storyline: A buddy action film in the vein of Lethal Weapon which follows two rookie cops out to make their mark and who team with a female former Delta Force operative to stop a mercenary who has stolen a cache of weapons.

Title: The Book of Eli

Studio: Warner Bros.

Director: Albert and Allen Hughes (From Hell)

Screenwriters: Gary Whitta, Anthony Peckham

Cast: Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals

Storyline: Centers on a lone hero named Eli (Washington) who must fight his way across the wasteland of a near-future America to protect a sacred book that might hold the key to saving humanity. Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis are also in the cast. Beals is playing Oldman’s sexual prize and Kunis’ mother, a blind woman doing anything she can to protect her child.

Title: Betty Anne Waters

Studio: Omega Entertainment

Director: Tony Goldwyn (“Dexter”)

Screenwriter: Richard LaGravenese, Pamela Gray

Cast: Hilary Swank, Minnie Driver

Storyline: The film is based on the true story of Waters (Swank), an unemployed single mother who saw her brother convicted for a murder-robbery in 1983 and sentenced to life in prison. Convinced of his innocence, she spent the next decade earning a law degree and working on her brother’s case, challenging the conviction with DNA evidence.

Driver plays Abra, Swank’s law school friend with a wild-party past who helps her with the brother’s case.

Title: The Sigma Protocol

Studio: Universal Pictures

Director: Jose Padilha (Elite Squad)

Screenwriters: Matt Holloway, Art Marcum

Cast: Not Available

Storyline: Adaptation of the Robert Ludlum’s final completed novel, published after the prolific author’s death in 2001. Like the Jason Bourne franchise, the story involves a man on the run in Europe from assassins and agents. The two plots differ sharply, though, with the latter using a World War II conspiracy and Nazis as a plot hook. The movie will update the novel, use the current economic climate and make the protagonist a Wall Street type who specializes in the economy of catastrophic events, known as “black swan events.”

Title: The Story of Bonnie and Clyde

Studio: Not Available

Director: Tonya S. Holly

Screenwriter: Tonya S. Holly

Cast: Hilary Duff, Kevin Zegers

Storyline: The makers are stressing that the new film is not a remake of the 1967 classic starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway and are promising to showcase times in the couple’s lives not seen onscreen before. Holly first became interested in the story of the fugitive lovers after finding old newspaper articles about their exploits in an abandoned house on her family’s property.

Title: Rango

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Director: Gore Verbinski (The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean)

Screenwriter: John Logan

Cast: Johnny Depp, Abigail Breslin, Isla Fisher, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton, Alfred Molina, Ray Winstone

Storyline: Depp will voice the title character, a household pet that goes on an adventure to discover its true self.

Title: The A-Team

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Director: Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smokin’ Aces)

Screenwriter: Skip Woods

Cast: Not Available

Storyline: Based on the 1980s television series the film will bring to the bigscreen the exploits of Hannibal Smith and his team of former special forces soldiers, who have been set up for a crime they didn’t commit.

Title: Tougher Than Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC

Studio: Not Available

Director: Not Available

Screenwriter: Cheo Hodari Coker (Notorious)

Cast: Not Available

Storyline: Adaptation of Bill Adler’s “Tougher Than Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC — The Authorized Biography” which will explore the history of hip-hop’s first superstars: Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell, who was shot to death in his Queens studio in 2002.

Title: Leap Year

Studio: Spyglass

Director: Anand Tucker (Shopgirl)

Screenwriter: Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), Harry Elfont, Deb Kaplan

Cast: Amy Adams

Storyline: Adams is playing an uptight woman who travels to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on leap day, Feb. 29, following an Irish tradition in which women propose to men on that day and the man must say yes. When weather derails her trip, she enlists the help of a surly Irish innkeeper to make an unexpected cross-country trek to pull off the perfect proposal in time.

Title: Fleming

Studio: Not Available

Director: Not Available

Screenwriter: John Orloff (A Mighty Heart)

Cast: Not Available

Storyline: A biopic about Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. The film will look at critical moments in the life of the colorful author and journalist. The son of a Parliament member, Fleming served as an intelligence officer in the British Navy and later created the Bond character.

Title: The Resident

Studio: Not Available

Director: Antti J. Jokinen

Screenwriters: Robert Orr, Antti J. Jokinen, Erin Cressida Wilson

Cast: Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Storyline: Swank plays a single doctor who moves into a loft in Brooklyn and soon suspects that she’s not alone…. Don’t worry, Morgan isn’t a ghost. He’s the deceptively charming landlord that’s obsessed with her.

Title: The Brotherhood of the Rose

Studio: Warner Bros.

Director: Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints)

Screenwriters: Dito Montiel, Adam Cozad

Cast: Channing Tatum

Storyline: An adaptation of the David Morrell novel about two orphans are raised by a CIA operative to become assassins, only to become targets themselves.

Title: Gulliver’s Travels

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Director: Rob Letterman (Shark Tale)

Screenwriters: Nicholas Stoller, Joe Stillman

Cast: Jack Black, Emily Blunt, Jason Segel

Storyline: Black plays Lemuel Gulliver, a travel writer who takes an assignment to the Bermuda Triangle and washes up on the island of Lilliput, where he’s a giant among the tiny population. Blunt will play a Lilliputian princess and Black’s love interest. Segel will play Horatio, Gulliver’s best friend from Lilliput who helps rescue Gulliver when he’s captured.

Title: Masters of the Universe

Studio: Warner Bros.

Director: John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda)

Screenwriter: Justin Marks

Cast: Not Available

Storyline: Based on the Mattel toy line, the film will revolve around He-Man, a prince who transforms into a warrior and becomes the last hope for a magical land being ravaged by the evil Skeletor.

Title: Puss in Boots

Studio: DreamWorks Animation

Director: Not Available

Screenwriter: Tom Wheeler, Chris Miller

Cast: Antonio Banderas

Storyline: The Shrek spinoff will center on the Antonio Banderas voiced character Puss in Boots as a stand-alone feature foray for the feline assassin/swordsman.

Thanks to Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and EW for contributing to this report.

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