There are some who say Oscar winning, style-shifting director Steven Soderbergh should slow down and take it easy but the man-himself clearly isn't one of them, but news that he's swapped Liberace - a film about the falmboyant entertainer that was planned as his next project - for Contagion, an action thriller about a deadly virus.

Yeah, we know, it sounds like a hundred films we've all already seen and not liked very much, but the rumours coming from The Playlist suggest that Scott Z. Burns script is a multi-stranded hit just waiting to be injected with some long-missed Soderburgh magic... today's news that Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard and Jude Law have signed up merely adds to our growing suspicion that this could be one of the big movies of next year.

Having said that, Soderbergh has shown-off a stubborn will to make either a) boring films (cf. his 47 hour Che diptych which artfully avoided all the exciting events in the warrior's life); b) exciting looking films about corporate malfeasance that turn out to be grey and dull despite the exclamation mark in their title (cf. The Informant!); or c) wibbly-wobbly, jittery films about a sex-workers played by real porn-stars who don't once get their kit off (cf. The Girlfriend Experience) - so who knows what he'll dream up to ruin this one.

Still, the guy is immensely talented (cf. Traffic) and we're hoping he comes through with an Out of Sight or Ocean's Eleven rather than a Solaris or The Good German - what about you?

SL

>> Real the whole article | on Screenrush - Tuesday 9 February 2010

It's been a while since we've heard anything from director Neil Jordan (his last flick was 2007's The Brave One) but now The Crying Game and Interview With The Vampire is back on the big screen with a rather sweet-looking fairy tale called Ondine.

The Ireland-set story concerns a lonely fisherman (Colin Farrell) who inadvertantly catches a beautiful young woman (Alicja Bachleda-Curus) in his net while out in the open sea and is shocked to discover that she's a mermaid (or a selkie in you're into your Gaelic)... Cue all manner of comedic situations, mild peril and inter-species love.

The film, which also stars the likes of Stephen Rea and Dervla Kirwan is due for release later this year. Take a look at the new trailer below and don't forget to let us know what you think in the comments section...



Glen Ferris

>> Real the whole article | on Screenrush - Tuesday 9 February 2010

Sam Worthington has been confirmed as the lead in new film The Fields, a project that was previously in the hands of Danny Boyle under the title The Texas Killing Fields but has since past to Michael Mann's daughter Ami Mann.

The script was penned by Don Ferrarone and, according to Michael Mann, tells the story of a "tough-minded misanthropic Texan (Worthington), who with his partner Brian wind up waging something of a war against these unknown assailants, a ferocious battle to save each other and the life of this young street kid."

The film is based on the true life story of two police detectives who investigated unsolved murders in the bayou oil refineries in southeast Texas and, over the course of three decades, a number of corpses have been found in the fields.

At one point last year Bradley Cooper was also said to be attached to the project along with Worthington, but his involvement has not been confirmed.

Shooting is scheduled to begin in April in Louisiana.


Georgine Waller

>> Real the whole article | on Screenrush - Tuesday 9 February 2010

It may be a long time since Peter Bogdanovich made critically acclaimed masterpieces such as The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon but the director is still at it and has just acquired the rights to adapt Turn of the Century - a bestselling novel by Kurt Anderson.

Bogdanovich will pen the screenplay (with co-writer Parish Rahbar) about a high-flying Manhattan couple's fast-paced life packed with crazy comic turns.

Turn of the Century will be Bogdanovich's first outing directing a feature since The Cat's Meow way back in 2001.

SL

>> Real the whole article | on Screenrush - Tuesday 9 February 2010

A mooted film version of 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland, would proceed only after the hit TV series finishes filming

The hit TV show 24 looks set for a big-screen transfer, according to US reports. Studio Twentieth Century Fox has picked up a pitch from screenwriter Billy Ray, who wrote the recent Russell Crowe thriller State of Play, and the project has received the backing of star Kiefer Sutherland, who plays agent Jack Bauer in the long-running spy show.

Ray's storyline would reportedly see Bauer travelling to Europe, though few other details have been made public. If the film is made, executives will seek to hold on to the creative team that worked on the series in order to maintain the tonal qualities which made the show such a smash.

Ironically, the only thing that looks to be standing in the way of 24: The Movie is the further success of 24 the TV show. Producers would be unlikely to green light a big-screen outing while new episodes are still being shot, due to the logistical issues of shooting a film concurrently, according to the Variety report. In effect, for the movie to live, 24 would first have to die in its current form.

Right now that does not appear to be too far-fetched an outcome, with Fox watching viewer figures closely before deciding to commission a ninth series. The number of people watching 24 in the US has dropped by 10% year-on-year to 11.9 million for the current series, but Imagine Entertainment, which produces the show, could still shop it to other networks in the event of a cancellation.

However, a separate report in Entertainment Weekly hints that the movie might yet be filmed at the same time as the show. Only last month, Sutherland told the site: "In a media world that is changing unbelievably fast, a television series can either act as a great trailer for a film, or a film can act as a great trailer for a television series. And I think the first person who actually does that is going to change the way television interacts with feature films."

Previous big-screen transfers for popular US shows have had mixed results. The Simpsons Movie was a relative critical and commercial hit in 2007, and the first X-Files film performed strongly at the box office in 1998, when the show was still airing in the US. However, a followup, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, was less successful on its release in 2008, six years after the show finished. David Lynch's Twin Peaks prequel, Fire Walk With Me, is possibly the nadir of such ventures: it was a box-office turkey on its release in 1992, and garnered little but critical brickbats. New York Times film critic Vincent Canby wrote at the time: "It's not the worst movie ever made; it just seems to be."

• Television

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that the Halcyon Holding Corp. has sold the Terminator rights to Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor. The rights were sold for $29.5 million, and what's particularly interesting is that Halcyon has previously accused Pacificor of extortion, bribery, and fraud and demanded $30 million in damages. Coincidence?

In May 2007 rights to the Terminator series were sold by producers Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar to the privately funded Halcyon for a reported $30 million. At that time Pacificor lent Halcyon the money to complete the deal. With this next stage of the rights process, Halcyon will receive $5 million for every Terminator movie made from now on, as well as retaining the revenue streams from the third and fourth Terminator movies.
According to the deal, the sale has now wiped out the debt Halcyon owed to Pacificor and all the other creditors.


Georgine Waller

>> Real the whole article | on Screenrush - Tuesday 9 February 2010

Avatar overtakes Mamma Mia! as the UK's biggest-ever grossing film, while The Princess and the Frog shows traditional animation has survived the onslaught of 3D

The record breaker

It was already the biggest ever hit at the US and global box-offices (beating Titanic in both cases), so Avatar ascending to the top of the all-time UK chart arrives as a slight anti-climax. But it's worth recording the fact: at the weekend, its eighth on release, Avatar overtook Mamma Mia! (£69.17m) to become the biggest-ever grosser at UK cinemas.

Mamma Mia! had taken 79% of its eventual total gross after eight weekends on release. If Avatar follows the same pattern, the sci-fi blockbuster is on course to take £91m in the UK. Back in the spring of 1998, Titanic had grossed just 70.6% of its eventual gross after eight weekends. If Avatar follows the Titanic revenue curve, it will go on to exceed £100m, which is now a tantalising prospect for backers Twentieth Century Fox.

Titanic's run in cinemas was sustained by 11 Oscar wins, which helped it reach the large (often older) audience that almost never goes to the cinema, as well as repeat viewings among (typically younger female) devotees who became obsessed with the tragic romance. This column doesn't have any research to back up its hunch, but our guess is that Avatar is already benefiting significantly from repeat viewings, and is also reaching infrequent cinemagoers, but in the latter case probably not quite to the same extent that Titanic did.

The rule breaker

John Lasseter has always maintained that it's the content (funny original storylines with heart) rather than the form (computer animation) that was important to the success of Pixar films. And now that he is additionally boss of Disney Animation, he has taken the chance to prove his point with the traditional, hand-drawn 2D The Princess and the Frog. Considering big-screen animation has now becoming an almost universally digital 3D domain, this step back in time is a gutsy move.

The film's expansion at the weekend from a single cinema to nationwide saw a gross of £2.22m, which isn't sufficiently big or small to settle the argument conclusively. On the one hand, a £2m opening is not to be sniffed at, and is well ahead of rival animation Astro Boy. On the other, Disney computer animation Bolt opened a year ago with £2.85m plus £2.61m in previews. Bolt eventually maxed out around £18m. If The Princess and the Frog comes close to that number, then Lasseter will have proved his point, at least as far as the UK market is concerned.

The champ

Since The Princess and the Frog is technically an expansion rather than a new release, and Astro Boy's gross (see chart) was boosted by £369,000 in previews earned the previous weekend, the top new film is in fact Clint Eastwood's Invictus. The sports drama missed out on a Best Picture Oscar nomination, settling for nods for stars Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, and earned mixed reviews. An opening weekend just north of £1m is a decent result, but it will need lots of positive word of mouth to match Eastwood's previous directorial effort: Gran Torino earned £8.3m last spring.

Youth In Revolt, starring Michael Cera, landed not too far behind Invictus, with an opening of £744,000. With a production budget estimated at $18m (as against a reported $60m for Invictus), the film's UK release may achieve decent profitability. The opening figure is also a relief after Cera's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist grossed around £730,000 in total a year ago.

The arthouse battle

Falling out of the top ten, despite a 42% rise in box-office receipts, is Best Picture Oscar nominee Precious. The film added 54 screens to its opening tally of 47, in the process diluting its screen average from a scorching £5,552 to a still-decent £3,656. Top foreign language film is Jacques Audiard's A Prophet, which declined another 38% and has taken £960,000 to date. The film lost 12 of its 79 screens, presumably in locations that had under-performed the previous weekend. Despite all the plaudits and accolades for this exceptional film, A Prophet is discovering the limits of its commercial appeal.

The future

This period of the year tends to produce more box-office strength in depth, and weekend takings for the 10th-placed film (Up In The Air: £482,000) are the highest for a title with that chart ranking since the weekend of January 16-18 2009. This factor is adding buoyancy to the market, but it's primarily the continuing success of Avatar (down just 11% from the previous weekend) that powered overall weekend box-office to a 47% increase on the equivalent 2009 frame, when The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and He's Just Not That Into You opened at numbers 1 and 2. The statistic is slightly warped by the fact that on this weekend a year ago, Bolt earned decent money in previews, but those takings were not reported until a week later. This Friday, three big new releases lead the charge: creature feature The Wolfman; starry ensemble romcom Valentine's Day; and teen fantasy adventure Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief. The titles have been carefully programmed to co-exist and should all find their respective audiences.

UK top 10

1. Avatar, £4,338,774 from 417 sites. Total: £71,936,392
2. The Princess and the Frog, £2,219,769 from 460 sites. Total: £2,239,759
3. Astro Boy, £1,091,872 from 407 sites (New)
4. Invictus, £1,068,388 from 275 sites (New)
5. Sherlock Holmes, £783,681 from 397 sites. Total: £24,474,393
6. Edge Of Darkness, £768,013 from 412 sites. Total: £2,651,278
7. Youth In Revolt, £743,932 from 280 sites (New)
8. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, £729,683 from 470 sites. Total: £20,837,031
9. It's Complicated, £560,573 from 412 sites. Total: £8,288,948
10. Up in the Air, £481,810 from 337 sites. Total: £5,580,729

How the other openers did

Asal, 10 screens, £36,707 + £6,145 previews
Holy Water, 14 screens, £4,499
The Island, 1 screen, £2,232
Tony, 6 screens, £1,055

• John Lasseter
• Pixar
• Walt Disney Company
• Jacques Audiard
• Clint Eastwood
• Matt Damon
• Morgan Freeman

Once upon a time, you wouldn't have been able to get a "serious" actor near a comic-book adaptation for love nor money. Nowadays, however, you can't turn a corner without tripping over a cape-wearing thesp - and today's addition to the graphic novel canon is no different.

Those fine folks over at Heat Vision are telling us that Tim Robbins will be joining the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Peter Sarsgaard for director Martin Campbell's Green Lantern.

Word is that Robbins will play Senator Hammond, a former astronaut and the disapproving father of the movie's villain, Dr. Hector Hammond (played by Sarsgaard). Robbins' character was not featured in the comic series and is not considered to be a large role in the movie, but his casting adds some serious weight to the proceedings.

Green Lantern is set to begin shooting in New Orleans this March with a mooted release date of June 17, 2011.

Interested? Leave your comments below..

Glen Ferris

>> Real the whole article | on Screenrush - Tuesday 9 February 2010

Nicholas Hoult and Matthew Goode, stars of Tom Ford's A Single Man, tell Paul MacInnes what it's like acting alongside Oscar nominee Colin Firth, and whether they've ever felt more beautiful on film