Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johannson Sign On To Iron Man 2 [UPDATE] March 11, 2009 9:21 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Casting, Movies, News.Tags: Iron Man 2, Jon Favreau, Justin Theroux, Mickey Rourke
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Update: Variety has confirmed the casting with a few more details about the role. Rourke “He’ll play Whiplash, a character that includes elements from that comicbook villain and Crimson Dynamo, another Russian baddie.” Interestingly enough, Variety adds that Rourke has already met with director Jon Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux and has been involved in the development of his character.
Original article follows below.
After at first being low-balled by Marvel Studios, the studio has signed Mickey Rourke for the role of a Russian villain in Iron Man 2. According to Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily, Rourke’s agent David Unger negotiated that original low-ball offer to a “significant” level.
Finke reports that Marvel isn’t expected to confirm the casting “until all the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed on the contracts.”
In a separate post, Finke also reports that Scarlett Johannson has officially replaced Emily Blunt to play the Black Widow. But Finke reports that the deal, unlike the one just signed by Rourke, is not a good one:
“[It’s] just the opposite, a terrible deal made by CAA,” one of my insiders says. “It’s as bad as any deal that I’ve heard. It’s lowball money. And it ties her to countless movies, including that ensemble The Avengers, which is what makes this brutal for a lot of actors.”
New X-Men Origins: Wolverine Photos March 11, 2009 8:26 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 20th Century Fox, Images/Photos, Movies.Tags: Daniel Henney, Danny Huston, Taylor Kitsch, X-Men Origins: Wolverine
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Marvel.com has three new photos from X-Men Origins: Wolverine featuring supporting cast members Wiliam Stryker (Danny Huston), Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) and Agent Zero (Daniel Henney). Click the photo above to see the photos in higher resolution.
Bruno Footage Screening at SXSW March 11, 2009 8:22 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News.Tags: Bruno, Sascha Baron Cohen
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Universal Pictures has announced that they will be showing a sneak preview screening of some Bruno footage this weekend at South by Southwest (SXSW) 2009 in Austin. The footage will be screened on Sunday, March 15th at 11:00pm.
Bruno, starring Sascha Baron Cohen, hits theaters on July 10, 2009.
Source: MovieWeb
Year One Poster March 11, 2009 8:14 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movie Posters, Movies.Tags: Jack Black, Michael Cera, Year One
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Sony Pictures has released a new poster for the Jack Black, Michael Cera-starring comedy Year One.
Year One hits theaters on June 5, 2009.
Cold Case and Without a Trace In Danger of Cancellation? March 11, 2009 8:03 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in CBS, News, Television.Tags: Cold Case, Without a Trace
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This may surprise some folks. Multiple sources confirm to Michael Ausiello of EW that CBS has informed the producers of both Cold Case and Without a Trace are facing possible cancellation come May.:
“They no longer have the type of ratings that justify the massive overhead,” points out an Eye source, who adds that the Trace and Case bean counters at Warner Bros. are looking for ways to trim costs and avoid getting the axe. That includes convincing the casts of both shows to take salary cuts — or at the very least forfeit their annual raises.
Even if they can negotiate some of those changes, Ausiello’s insider stresses that “it’s not a given that either show will be back.” Reps for CBS and Warner Bros. declined to comment for this story.
The issue with both shows ratings, and many of CBS’s other shows as well, is that while they often average solid total viewer averages, they rate lower among the key A18-49 demographic.
Universal Sets May 2010 Release Date for Robin Hood March 11, 2009 7:55 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News, Release Dates.Tags: Ridley Scott, Robin Hood, Russell Crowe
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Universal Studios has set a May 14, 2010 release date for Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood project. There’s no other film currently in that date, but Iron Man hits the week before (5/7/2010) and the rest of the month is already filled (Shrek Goes Fourth on May 21st and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time on May 28th).
Synopsis
Russell Crowe plays Robin of Loxley in an origin story of Robin Hood that hews close to historical facts of the period. Abandoned as a child, he finds community with the common people of Nottingham. Robin’s abandonment and trust issues hamper his ability to fall in love. He meets his match in Marian (Blanchett), a strong, independent woman.
Open Letter To The Fans from Watchmen Screenwriter David Hayter March 11, 2009 7:36 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News, Warner Brothers.Tags: David Hayter, Watchmen
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Watchmen screenwriter David Hayter has written an open letter to the fans, asking them to go see the film again. Hayter insists his plea isn’t to get beef up the fim’s box office, but instead to ensure that in the future, more films like Watchmen get made. Read a few excerpts from the letter after the jump. (more…)
Drag Me to Hell Trailer March 11, 2009 6:51 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movie Trailers, Movies, Universal Pictures.Tags: Drag Me to Hell, Sam Raimi
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Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for Sam Raimi’s upcoming horror film Drag Me to Hell. Nice to see Raimi getting back to his roots. As to the trailer itself, my first reaction is a positive one and I’m definitely looking forward to checking it out. Raimi will be on hand at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas this weekend to premiere a work-in-progress print of the film. The film will screened on midnight, Sunday, March 15th at the Paramount Theatre. Watch the trailer embedded after the jump.
Drag Me to Hell hits theaters on May 29, 2009. (more…)
CBS Orders Four Additional Scripts for ‘Mother’; Renewal Likely March 11, 2009 6:29 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in CBS, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.Tags: Broadcast TV Ratings, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Two and a Half Men
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CBS has ordered four additional scripts for its comedy series How I Met Your Mother, a very positive first sign towards the likeilhood of the show receiving a renewal for next season.
The scripts are for the 2009-10 season and will give the show’s producers an opportunity to get a head start on the fifth season. So yeah, it’s extremely likely that the show is coming back for another season.
In recent years a renewal has been much more in doubt, but the show, coupled with lead-in The Big Bang Theory, has helped put the network in a dominant position on Monday nights
The network is rumored to be in discussions with Warner Bros. (who produces the shows) over multiseason renewals for fellow Monday night comedies The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men as well as another comedy on the network, The New Adventures of Old Christine, which is just a few episodes away from tallying up enough episodes for syndication.
If you’re interested, full season ratings data for the three key Monday night comedies (The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men) follows after the jump. (more…)
Six New Clips from Race to Witch Mountain March 11, 2009 6:15 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, Video Clips, Walt Disney Pictures.Tags: Race to Witch Mountain
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ComingSoon.net has six brand new clips from Walt Disney Pictures’ upcoming film Race to Witch Mountain. The film, which stars Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Carla Gugino, Ciaran Hinds, Alexander Ludwig, Tom Everett Scott, Christopher Marquette and Cheech Marin and Garry Marshall, hits theaters this Friday, March 13th.
Watch the clips at this link.
The Dark Knight and Lost Lead Saturn Nominations March 11, 2009 6:06 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Awards, News, Television.Tags: Battlestar Galactica, Evangeline Lilly, Heroes, Lost, Matthew Fox, Saturn Awards, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
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ABC’s Lost led the way at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films’ 35th annual Saturn Awards nominations. The ABC series received 11 total nominations including best network TV series, TV actor (Matthew Fox) and TV actress (Evangeline Lilly).
NBC’s Heroes followed with the second most nominations, grabbing six (including best network TV series) and SCI FI’s Battlestar Galactica and Fox’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles each with four nominations.
In the film category, it was WB’s The Dark Knight leading the field, also with 11 nominations, including for bBest Adventure/Thriller Film, actor (Christian Bale), actress (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and supporting actor (Aaaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger).
A complete list of nominees can be found here. The awards will be presented June 25.
You can view a complete list of nominees at SaturnAwards.org.
Broadcast TV Ratings for Tuesday, March 10, 2009 March 11, 2009 4:54 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.Tags: Broadcast TV Ratings, Tuesday
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American Idol dominated the competition last night, not only doubling up on second place A18-49 finisher NBC, but out-rating all English-speaking broadcast nets combined by nearly 1 full ratings point.
CBS finished in second among households and viewers with strong performances by NCIS, The Mentalist and Without a Trace (all repeats).
NBC was third in households and viewers but did quite well among adults 18-49, with both a two-hour edition of The Biggest Loser and an original episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit drawing an average 3.7 A18-49 rating, with the network peaking in the 9:00pm hour with a 4.2 rating.
Following in fourth place was ABC, which failed to garner much of an audience with original episodes of Homeland Security USA and Primetime: What Would You Do? (and back-to-back repeats of Scrubs sandwiched in between).
That leaves us with The CW which finished in a, expected, fifth place. Reaper was basically flat from the week prior.
Full ratings and breakdown’s, including week-to-week comparisons, etc., follow after the jump.
Arnold Talks Terminator and Expendables March 11, 2009 2:48 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News.Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, McG, Sylvester Stallone, Terminator Salvation, The Expendables
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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was at his annual Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio over the weekend and was asked by TheArnoldFans.com about his cameos in McG’s Terminator Salvation and Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables.
While confirming his cameo for Terminator Salvation, Schwarzenegger really downplayed the appearance. He’s concerned that the studio would overreach to promote his appearance in the film (which he says he’s seen only a working print of–without the sfx, etc.), something he’s not interested in being involved in. Click through the jump to read what Arnold had to say. (more…)
Comedy Central Cancels Chocolate News March 11, 2009 2:26 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cancellations, News, Television.Tags: Chocolate News, David Alan Grier
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Fans of David Alan Grier will have to hope the comedian does well in his gig on Dancing With the Stars, because they won’t be seeing him on Chocolate News. The NY Times has been informed by a Comedy Central rep that the network has decided not to renew Grier’s news/sketch-comedy series, confirming a report that appeared on the website of The Baltimore Sun newspaper.
The series debuted on October 15th and ran for just 10 episodes.
Disney Moves Up The Release of Princess and the Frog March 11, 2009 2:16 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News, Release Dates, Walt Disney Pictures.Tags: The Princess and the Frog
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Disney has decided to move up the release of The Princess and the Frog from its original Christmas Day, 2009 release date to December 11, 2009. The animated musical will open in limited release exclusively in New York and Los Angeles 16 days earlier on November 25th.
Disney made the decision, so they could take the film out of competition with 20th Century Fox’s family friendly Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel. In its new date, it’ll face off against Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones from DreamWorks and Paramount.
Vin Diesel on Third ‘Riddick’ Movie March 11, 2009 2:04 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News, Video Games.Tags: Pitch Black, Vin Diesel
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During an interview with GameSpot about the upcoming video game The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (follow-up to the hit 2004 game ‘Escape From Butcher Bay’), Vin Diesel revealed that plans are underway for a third installment in the ‘Riddick’ film franchise:
Maybe we’re too tight-lipped about the next Chronicles of Riddick film, and I think circa the release of [Dark Athena] that’s probably when you’ll start hearing more about the next Riddick film. It is underway and I almost think it’s a coincidence that we haven’t heard anything, that there hasn’t been a lot of public stuff on the Riddick movie.
Diesel later added that Pitch Black/The Chronicles of Riddick screenwriter David Twohy “is finishing up the next script.”
‘Assault on Dark Athena’ will be released on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 on April 7, 2009.
New Dragonball Evolution Clips March 11, 2009 2:01 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 20th Century Fox, Movies, Video Clips.Tags: Dragonball Evolution
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There are six new clips from 20th Century Fox’s Dragonball Evolution online plus a new TV spot from the UK. Watch the TV spot below, and click through the jump to watch the six clips.
Dragonball Evolution hits theaters on April 9, 2009. (more…)
“Sci-Fi Saturday” at TrekMovie.com March 11, 2009 12:30 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News, Site Info, Television.Tags: TrekMovie.com
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Every weekend I contribute a column titled “Sci-Fi Saturday” (sometimes “Sci-Fi Sunday”) to TrekMovie.com. If you’re not aware of the site, do give it a browse. The site’s owner/editor, Anthony Pascale, has done a wonderful job making it “the source for everything new in Trek”, as the site’s tag line rightfully claims.
And if you have any sort of interest in Sci-Fi entertainment, I think you’ll enjoy the weekly columns I contribute to the site. To that end, you can find the latest edition of “Sci-Fi Saturday” linked below.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Sci-Fi Saturday: Watchmen, Terminator, Transformers, Tron + Lost, Heroes, Smallville, Doctor Who + more
Note: You’ll always find a link to the most recent article on the newly created Sci-Fi Saturday Page. As I said, the article goes up every Saturday (although occasionally on Sunday).
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