Movie Make-out

I hope you have your calendars handy, for it’s movie release date updating time!

From Jeff Bock at ercBoxOffice.com comes a list of release dates for several Warner Bros. films, and which of the other mainstream movies they’ll be up against, courtesy of ComingSoon.net and IMDBPro.com:

December 25: Sherlock Holmes (moved from November 13)
Also scheduled for that date: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, The Princess and the Frog, an untitled Nancy Meyers romantic comedy

March 26, 2010: The Clash of the Titans
Also scheduled for that date: How to Train Your Dragon (an IMAX 3D film), Law Abiding Citizen

July 16, 2010: Inception
Also scheduled for that date: Thor

August 6, 2010: Jonah Hex

October 8, 2010: Suckerpunch

December 17, 2010: Green Lantern
Also scheduled for that date: The Smurfs

July 15, 2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II
Also scheduled for that date: The Avengers

Only last month, Sam Jackson had Iron Man fans worried about another recasting fiasco when he told the LA Times that negotations for him to return in Iron Man 2 “broke down,” adding, “Maybe I won’t be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won’t be in it.”

Naturally, us level-headed folks at Movie Make-out pointed out that Marvel commented that negotiations were still “active,” and, indeed, they were, because The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Samuel L. has signed a surprising nine-picture deal to star as Nick Fury in Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, The Avengers and its sequels — and, potentially, a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie (currently in development at Marvel, but — like the long-gestating Edgar Wright-helmed Ant Man — by no means a sure thing).

Despite Mickey Rourke still doesn’t have a deal for the part of a villain despite almost two months of negotiations, and — sadly — it sounds like Fox is preventing Emily Blunt from being in Iron Man 2 by cashing in on the two-picture deal she’d signed for The Devil Wears Prada, so that she’ll star opposite Jack Black in Gulliver’s Travels. Rumors that the role will be taken by Scarlett Johannson sound more like masturbatory fantasies than anything else.

Related Post: Rumor Police: Are Black Widow and Nick Fury in Iron Man 2?

I’ll just say this now: This project must be stopped. Why? Because we don’t need another Clue movie, as reported by Variety.

Even though the fact that it had three endings which were shuffled among theaters was a gimmick and it only made $2 million in its opening weekend ($3.8M, if you adjust for inflation), 1985’s Clue: The Movie as written and directed by Jonathan Lynn, and starring such fantastic character actors as Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Martin Mull, and Lesley Ann Warren is a great example of what one can do with a great concept that doesn’t really have a rich story or plot: You cheese it up.

And I am very fond of cheese.

Instead, production studio Blind Wink senior vice president Jonathan Krauss was quoted as saying that this new version of the classic 1948 board game Clue will be “a global thriller [emphasis mine] and transmedia event that uses deductive reasoning as its storytelling engine.”

I hope he can hear me rolling my eyes over there.

Anime fans rejoice! For the Astro Boy feature film is back on track, according to Variety, after Imagi Entertainment completed a round of financing, garnering $25 million and hiring back most of its staff members to complete the work after they called a halt last month.

With the cash influx, the film—which will be directed by David Bowers (TMNT) and feature the voices of actors including Kristen Bell, Nicolas Cage, Eugene Levy, Donald Sutherland—should be on schedule to make its October 23 release date.

Additionally, these additional funds will also help the company develop previously announced projects Gatchaman and Tusker for the big screen.

Is this the kind of economic stimulus President Obama meant last night?

Related Posts: Trailer Watch: Astro Boy teaser trailer

I have to say that while Gordon is over the moon, I’m not entirely sure what to think of the news that Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit laid on us Tuesday afternoon: Michel Gondry will be directing the new Green Hornet movie from Columbia Pictures.

On the one hand, it’s good that even after Stephen Chow stepped down from being its director—but is still in the cast as Kato to co-screenwriter Seth Rogan’s Britt Reid—executive producers Rogen and co-screenwriter/co-executive producer Evan Goldberg have enough clout and power to secure another director so quickly, and one of Gondry’s caliber to boot.

On the other hand, while I fell in love with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and even braved the bitter, bitter cold last March to watch the elephants walk through the middle of New York City on their way to Madison Square Garden just like Clementine and Joel did, I don’t know if Gondry’s directorial style will work well with Chow’s acting style or Rogen’s acting/writing style. It’s just too weird for me to even try to imagine.

So I guess the jury’s still out on this film for me.

Related Posts: Stephen Chow no longer directing Green Hornet, Stephen Chow signs onto The Green Hornet