Behold, fifteen notable movie production updates from the past week. Enjoy.
Title: Foundation
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Director: Roland Emmerich
Screenwriter: Not Available
Cast: Not Available
Storyline: Originally published as a series of eight short stories in Astounding Magazine beginning in 1942, “Foundation,” Isaac Asimov’s ground-breaking sci-fi trilogy, is a complex saga about humans who are scattered on planets throughout the galaxy, living under the rule of the Galactic Empire. A psycho-historian who can scientifically read the future sees an imminent empire collapse and prepares to save the knowledge of mankind.
Title: The Drop-Out
Studio: Not Available
Director: Ricky Blitt
Screenwriter: Ricky Blitt
Cast: Cher, Johnny Knoxville
Storyline: The slacker laugher tracks the fortunes of a 35-year-old career college student (Knoxville) who is finally kicked out of his parents house. Desperate, he decides to get in good with the 62-year-old woman next door (Cher), so he can keep his food, couch and TV regimen intact. In the mix is the woman’s ne’er-do-well son, who is looking for a father figure, even if it’s a guy his own age.
Title: The Extra Man
Studio: Not Available
Directors: Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
Screenwriter: Not Available
Cast: Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes, John C. Reilly
Storyline: The film is based on a novel by Jonathan Ames; Pulcini and Springer Berman wrote the script with the author. The duo last directed “The Nanny Diaries.”
Kline plays a failed playwright who works as an escort for rich widows on the Upper East Side. He develops a mentor-student relationship with a troubled aspiring playwright (Dano).
Title: The Dance
Studio: Not Available
Director: Not Available
Screenwriter: Not Available
Cast: Nicolas Cage, 50 Cent
Storyline: 50 Cent will play a boxer that goes to prison while Cage plays the founder of a boxing program.
Title: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Edgar Wright
Screenwriter: Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall
Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aubrey Plaza, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Brie Larson, Mae Whitman, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons
Storyline: Based on the Oni Press graphic novel, written by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Mary Elizabeth Winstead will play the dream woman of a young slacker (Michael Cera). But the only way he can win her heart is by battling and defeating her seven evil ex-boyfriends.
Title: The Cabin in the Woods
Studio: MGM Studios
Director: Drew Goddard
Screenwriter: Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard
Cast: Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford
Storyline: A young-people-stranded-in-the-woods horror.
Title: Untitled Nancy Meyers Project
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Nancy Meyers
Screenwriter: Nancy Meyers
Cast: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, Hunter Parrish, Zoe Kazan, Lake Bell
Storyline: Follows a woman dealing with empty-nest syndrome who is torn between her ex-husband (Baldwin) and a male friend (Martin). Parrish plays Streep’s youngest child, who is graduating from college and is about to head to the big city. Kazan is the middle child, who is about to move to Los Angeles and has a hard time dealing with the possibility of her parents reuniting. Bell plays Baldwin’s young wife, who is determined to have a child with him.
Title: Rango
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Not Available
Screenwriter: Not Available
Cast: Not Available
Storyline: Centers on a household pet (Depp) who goes on an adventure to discover his true self.
Title: Zombieland
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Screenwriter: Not Available
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
Storyline: Centers on a band of survivors who team to fight the living dead in the post-apocalyptic Southwest after a zombie plague ravages America.
Title: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Not Available
Screenwriter: Not Available
Cast: Not Available
Storyline: Adaptation of the David Wroblewski novel “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle,” which revolves around a mute teenager who lives on a farm in Wisconsin with a family that’s raised a coveted breed of dog for generations. Sawtelle’s father dies mysteriously after his uncle comes to stay with the family, which sends the youth fleeing into the woods with three of his dogs.
Title: Preacher
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Director: Sam Mendes
Screenwriter: John August
Cast: Not Available
Storyline: Adaptation of the supernatural graphic novel “Preacher”, which centers on the preacher of a Texas town who is struggling to get by and is driven only by his strong moral sense. When the city is decimated by an otherworldly force, he embarks on a journey across the country to take on the evil.
Title: The Ghost
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Director: Roman Polanski
Screenwriter: Robert Harris and Roman Polanski
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, Olivia Williams, James Belushi, Robert Pugh
Storyline: The movie tells the story of a former British Prime Minister, Adam Lang, (played by Pierce Brosnan) who is holed up on an island off the Eastern seaboard of the USA in midwinter, writing his memoirs. When his long-standing aide drowns, a professional ghostwriter (played by Ewan McGregor) is sent out to help him finish the book. The anonymous ghostwriter is quickly drawn into a political and sexual intrigue involving Lang’s wife, Ruth (played by Olivia Williams) and his aide (played by Kim Cattrall). Hanging over Lang is the threat of a war crimes trial and a mysterious secret from his past that threatens to jeopardize international relations. Jim Belushi, Robert Pugh and recent Golden Globe® Tom Wilkinson have also joined the cast.
Title: Sympathy for Delicious
Studio: Not Available
Director: Mark Ruffalo
Screenwriter: Christopher Thornton
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Orlando Bloom, Laura Linney
Storyline: Follows a paralyzed DJ, struggling to survive on the streets of L.A., who turns to faith healing and mysteriously develops the ability to cure the sick — although not himself. The DJ then decides to cash in on his gift in exchange for his rock ‘n’ roll dreams. Bloom will play the frontman of a tough-as-nails rock band. Linney plays as the band’s manager working hard to stay relevant in a 21st century musical world. Thornton, a theater actor who is paralyzed from the waist down, is playing the DJ, and Ruffalo plays a priest.
Title: London Boulevard
Studio: Not Available
Director: William Monahan
Screenwriter: William Monahan
Cast: Keira Knightley, Colin Farrell
Storyline: Farrell will play a South London criminal who, after release from prison, tries to give up the gangster life by becoming a handyman for a reclusive young actress.
Title: How to Talk to Girls
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: Shawn Levy
Screenwriter: Not Available
Cast: Not Available
Storyline: Adaptation of 9-year-old Alec Greven’s book “How to Talk to Girls” with the goal of making a warmhearted comedy, with a tone reminiscent of Big.
Thanks to Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and EW for contributing to this report.
