Movie Make-out

2000AD and Rebellion films have announced that a new Judge Dredd film has been green lit, with DNA Films (Sunshine, 28 Weeks Later) in charge of production. They’re hoping for a 2009 shoot.

Rebellion’s Jason Kingley said, “We can’t give away too many details at this point, but we’re looking forward to working with DNA Films to bring Judge Dredd back to the big screen.”

Although I hated the ending of Sunshine, the film looked far, far better than its $40 million budget might have you expect, and hopefully the effects on the new Dredd will be handled as well. And, being a UK production house, hopefully they won’t bend over backwards trying to appeal to American audiences — which is one of the (many, many) things that tripped up the 1995 film version starring Sylvester Stallone.

Dredd fans should probably keep their hopes down until a writer and director are announced, at least… to say nothing of casting. Might I suggest Gerard Butler or Jason Statham? (Thanks to AICN for the heads up on this, by the way.)

The following video is apparently NSFW — if you understand German.

Reversing a trend that started this year in May, once again the idea of Frank Miller directing a feature film-version of the Buck Rogers comics and/or TV series has raised its ugly head.

All of this speculation comes courtesy of Hollywood Reporter, who really should know better than to print something like this:

Odd Lot, the shingle run by Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Prete, is in negotiations to option the rights to “Rogers” from Nu Image/Millennium, which obtained those rights this year from the Dille Trust [emphasis mine].

When you work in the kind of industry I do during the day, you tend to know that just because someone’s “in negotiations” or has “accepted an offer” doesn’t mean that a contract is going to be signed. I mean, for crying out loud… the AMPTP and SAG were “in negotiations” right around the same time as the last furor over Buck Rogers started and now the actors are duking it out over whether or not they should go on strike!

The rest of the article contains a bit of an idea about what a Miller-esque Buck Rogers would feel like:

[Miller] has only begun to sketch ideas, it’s expected to be a darker take, with many of Miller’s signature visual elements and themes, such as corruption and redemption.

Of course, comics artist-turned-indie director Matt Haley couldn’t resist creating a promotional poster for such a movie as well, based on an idea by Thomas Gerhardt:

With that kind of tagline, aren’t you sold?

While Hollywood Reporter and Variety may disagree on what the film’s actual name is at this stage, the sequel to Disney’s 1982 Tron film has two of its roles officially cast.

Olivia Wilde (who is best known for her work on leading role on “House” as a doctor who doesn’t even have a first or last name) will play the female lead, a worker in the digital world who helps out in the fight against the Master Control Program, a role that sounds similar to the role that was played by Cindy Morgan in the original.

The other announced cast member is Beau Garrett, a model-turned-actress whose first film role was in Turistas—which coincidentally starred Wilde as well. There are very few details about her character as well, whom HR is only calling “a siren in the digital world.” Considering that it’s computers we’re talking about, this could mean that she’s either been signed to be a femme fatale-kind of character or she could actually play the role of an holographic announcement program.

The last bit of news about Tron 2 (or TRON 2.0 or Tr2n) comes from the gang at AICN, via their source that they’ve code-named “Ford Fairlane”:

If there has ever been a world that 3-D would totally embrace, I think it would be the world of Tron. Specifically, we are going to get a first person view from inside of a light cycle in the film [emphasis mine].

If that isn’t enough news to keep the slavering fanboy base at bay for a while, I don’t know what is.

According to Variety, Kung Fu Hustle director Stephen Chow has stepped down from his directing duties on the upcoming Seth Rogen adaptation of The Green Hornet due to (say it with me now) “creative differences.” He will still be in the film, however, starring as Kato.

Producer Neil Moritz and Columbia Pictures hope to sign a replacement director soon, in order to keep the film on track for its planned spring start.

Without more details, it’s hard to say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but since Chow is still on board as the baddest ass chauffeur ever, it’s not a total bummer.

Related Post: Stephen Chow signs onto The Green Hornet

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry — Nurse Chapel from the original Star Trek series, the voice of the computer in almost every incarnation of Star Trek, as well as Gene Roddenberry’s widow — passed away this morning at 76. AICN gives her a better farewell than I’m able to, so I’ll just send you there.

Her last announced role was as the voice of the computer for the upcoming JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot, although it is unclear if she had finished recording her part.

UPDATE: The Associated Press article on Barrett-Roddenberry’s passing included the news that she had indeed finished her voice work for the new Star Trek film.