To begin, Los Angeles Times reporter Geoff Boucher says he has an interview with Inception director Christopher Nolan this weekend and plans on asking him about Batman 3 which he says “starts shooting in March” for a July 20, 2012 release. This makes sense considering The Dark Knight began shooting around April 2007 for its July 18, 2008 release. Nolan also recently confirmed The Joker will not be recast or in the new movie, which I would hope most of you already figured out for yourself.
The sequel train continues as Steven Zeitchik reports, also from the Los Angeles Times, that Warner Bros. and producer Legendary Pictures have been meeting with directors, with an eye to shoot Clash of the Titans 2 as early as January. Jonathan Liebesman (Darkness Falls) is reportedly the name that has bubbled to the top of the pile to direct. Zeitchik says original director, Louis Leterrier, opted not to direct the follow-up, which was made for a reported $125 million and went on to make $161 million domestically and an additional $325 million overseas. I can only assume the sequel won’t be working with nearly the same sized budget.
For those interested in production starts, David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake is planning a seven month shoot beginning this August with locations in Los Angeles and Europe according to Production Weekly.
Moving along, Summit sent out a press release last night officially announcing the fourth film in the Twilight franchise will in fact be the fourth and fifth film as the first part of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn will be released on November 18, 2011 under the direction of Bill Condon who is confirmed to be directing both films starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner along with Billy Burke as Charlie Swan as well as returning members of the Cullen Family including Peter Facinelli as Carlisle, Elizabeth Reaser as Esme, Jackson Rathbone as Jasper, Nikki Reed as Rosalie, Ashley Greene as Alice and Kellan Lutz as Emmett. Breaking Dawn will begin production in the Fall. I would assume part two would eye a Summer 2012 release.
Over at USA Today they have posted a report from the set of Michael Bay’s Transformers 3 with the first plot details surfacing as Anthony Breznican says the story “delves into the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the USA, suggesting there was a hidden Transformers role in it all that remains one of the planet’s most dangerous secrets.” Bay announced Shockwave (pictured right) as the film’s villain, calling the second film’s villain, The Fallen, “kind of a (expletive) character.”
Bay also says Transformers 3 is the certain end of the trilogy, “As a trilogy, it really ends. It could be rebooted again, but I think it has a really killer ending.” Bay also says he’s getting rid of the “dorky comedy” which means the bumbling twins are “basically gone” (which reads like they must have some involvement, though probably minor) while John Turturro remains for the film’s comedy relief. Transformers 3 is currently set for a July 1, 2011 release date.
Next, the release date shuffle continues as the Los Angeles Times reports MGM’s woes mean Red Dawn won’t make its November 24 release date and adds “no one knows when the movie will ever be released.” That doesn’t sound too good. Red Dawn stars Chris Hemsworth who will be playing the lead in Marvel’s Thor, along with Josh Peck, Adrianne Palicki, Josh Hutcherson, Isabel Lucas, Edwin Hodge, Connor Cruise and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Another release move is a slight one as Universal has moved Peter Berg’s Battleship from May 25, 2012 to May 18 in an attempt to add a little breathing room between it and Columbia’s Men in Black III.
Dimension has also done a little shuffling with Piranha 3D again though this time it’s moved to an earlier date rather than later. The killer fish flick will now be released on August 20 instead of August 27 of this year.
