1.) Paramount has announced a December 20, 2013 release date for Anchorman: The Legend Continues. That’s exactly one year from today. Funny how that works. The entire news team is back from the first film, with Kristen Wiig among those reportedly joining the cast.
They’ll be in direct competition with the comedy Last Vegas, George Clooney’s historical drama The Monuments Men and Saving Mr. Banks, Disney’s making-of-Mary Poppins movie. I can’t imagine Last Vegas wanting anything to do with Anchorman, especially with Clooney’s film (and the Poppins film, to a lesser degree) targeting that coveted “older audience,” so smart money has at least one of those movies moving off that spot.
2.) I scoffed a bit last month when it was announced Ben Affleck would star with Kristen Stewart in the grifter romance Focus. Well, that pairing won’t come to be as Affleck has left the picture due to his busy schedule. Affleck’s replacement hasn’t been named, but I’m sure we’ll hear of one shortly with Warner Bros. targeting an April start date.
Live by Night is Affleck’s next vehicle as writer, director, producer and star, as he takes on another novel by Dennis Lehane (Gone Baby Gone). This one is about a Prohibition-era police captain, whose son who gets into organized crime. He is also developing an adaptation of Stephen King‘s The Stand and will soon begin all the requisite awards promotion for Argo. So yeah, I’d say his plate is pretty full right now. [Variety]
3.) Universal is looking to make a sequel to the surprise (to me at least) hit Pitch Perfect. The musical comedy earned $76 million at the box office on a budget of just $17 million. Skylar Astin tells MovieWeb he’s meeting with Universal about the film next week, while Rebel Wilson has already met with the studio regarding the sequel.
4.) Zac Efron and Marcia Gay Harden are the latest to join Parkland‘s massive ensemble. Journalist and novelist Peter Landesman makes his debut as director and screenwriter on the drama, which centers on the chaotic events that occurred at the titular Dallas hospital on the day President John F. Kennedy was shot. Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton and Jacki Weaver previously committed to the project, which is targeting a November 2013 release to correlate with the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination. [THR]
5.) How much does NASA’s new Z-1 spacesuit look like the one Buzz Lightyear has worn since 1995? Maybe Pixar is even more ahead of their time than we’ve given them credit for? The suit, designed to take astronauts into long missions into deep space, was recently named one of Time magazine’s inventions of the year. The suit is still subject to further revisions as it won’t be put into use until 2017. But hey, that’s one way to get kids interested in science. [THR]
