FROM MTV NEWS: When you're planning parties this big, it helps to get started early. That's why MTV is already sending out a save-the-date on its two biggest nights for 2012: the Video Music Awards and the MTV Movie Awards.
Yes, there's still plenty of time, but we might as well tell you now that the Movie Awards will air live on Sunday, June 3, 2012, from Los Angeles and the Video Music Awards will air live four months later on Sunday, September 9.
Posted 9/14/11 3:27 pm EST by Gil Kaufman in News
FROM MTV MOVIES: Sometimes, if you wait long enough (and blog hard enough), the universe will hear your cries of anguish and soothe them with a big glass of thirst-quenching Romulan Ale. Or, better yet, provide confirmation that J.J. Abrams has finally committed to directing the "Star Trek" sequel.
Either way, you're pretty psyched.
After indicating that he was still up in the air about directing the anticipated sequel to his wildly successful reboot of the space franchise, New York Magazine's Vulture blog is reporting that Abrams is onboard and that pre-production is under way. Citing unnamed insiders familiar with the "Super 8" director's plans, Vulture reported that the script is expected to be done by month's end and that shooting could begin this winter. Entertainment Weekly confirmed the news on Wednesday (September 14).
Abrams recently finished shooting the fourth "Mission: Impossible" movie, "Ghost Protocol" — which again stars Tom Cruise, along with Ving Rhames, Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway and Paula Patton — has hedged in the past about whether he would take up another tour on the Enterprise before a killer script was in place. In August, he told Collider, "Once you say, 'We're ready to go, but we don't have a finished script yet,' or, 'I'm directing the thing and here's the release date, but we don't have a finished script,' what starts to happen is that you're suddenly in production on a movie where you're thinking, 'Oh my God, we weren't really ready!' "
Posted 5/31/11 1:33 pm EST by Gil Kaufman in News
FROM MTV MOVIES: There is finally some daylight at the end of the long, twisty journey to the screen of the two-film telling of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit." Over the holiday weekend, director Peter Jackson announced the names of the two movies he's filming based on Tolkien's preview novel to "The Lord of the Rings" and the release dates for the eagerly anticipated flicks.
The first part, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," is slated to open on December 14, 2012, while the second, titled "The Hobbit: There and Back Again," will open almost a year later, on December 13, 2013. After years of setbacks and false starts, Jackson finally began shooting the 3-D "Hobbit" movies in March in New Zealand with a cast headed by Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, as well as such returning "Lord of the Ring" stars as Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Sir Ian McKellen and Hugo Weaving.
It was announced on Friday that Bloom would be donning his golden wig again to play the role of the elf Legolas. "The Hobbit" is set 60 years before "The Lord of the Rings" and follows the journey of plucky hobbit Bilbo, who is drawn into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the vicious dragon Smaug.
Posted 5/19/11 11:00 am EST by Gil Kaufman in News
FROM MTV MOVIES: Just a day after making controversial remarks in which he claimed to be a Nazi and appeared to sympathize with reviled Third Reich leader Adolf Hitler, Danish director Lars von Trier has been condemned by the Cannes Film Festival and banned from the annual European awards fest.
After getting mostly positive reviews for his new Kirsten Dunst-starring film, "Melancholia," the provocative director earned strong condemnation for a rambling, offensive press conference on Wednesday in which he made odd remarks about his thoughts on Hitler, Israel and being a Nazi.
"The Festival de Cannes provides artists from around the world with an exceptional forum to present their works and defend freedom of expression and creation. The festival's Board of Directors, which held an extraordinary meeting this Thursday, 19 May 2011, profoundly regrets that this forum has been used by Lars von Trier to express comments that are unacceptable, intolerable and contrary to the ideals of humanity and generosity that preside over the very existence of the festival," read a statement from the festival released on Thursday (May 19).
"The Board of Directors firmly condemns these comments and declares Lars von Trier a persona non grata at the Festival de Cannes, with effect immediately."
Posted 5/6/11 2:05 pm EST by Gil Kaufman in News
FROM MTV MOVIES: During his short life, rapper Tupac Shakur was a notorious double threat, producing platinum albums and singles and earning notices for his acting in films such as "Juice" and "Poetic Justice."
But the thug life MC, who studied acting, poetry, jazz and ballet while performing in Shakespearean plays at the Baltimore School for the Arts as a teenager, not only acted in plays and movies, he also apparently wrote them.
And now the rights to the only full screenplay Shakur wrote while he was in jail, "Live 2 Tell," have been acquired by a production company that plans to start filming the movie next year, according to Variety.
Posted 4/22/11 11:30 am EST by Gil Kaufman in News
FROM MTV MOVIES: For much of the past year, the only times we've heard Mel Gibson's voice in public were when new snippets of his now-infamous rant tapes were released by Radar Online. You might recall the racist, sexist explosion of rage at Gibson's ex and mother of his infant daughter, Oksana Grigorieva, on the recordings, which were leaked by an unknown source to the site and revealed a dark, disturbing side to the actor whose biggest movies have often been laced with a sadistic streak.
Gibson finally broke his silence on the matter this week, sitting down with a reporter from Deadline Hollywood and explaining that the tapes were made in "one terribly awful moment in time, said to one person in the span of one day, and doesn't represent what I truly believe or how I've treated people my entire life."
After the tape scandal, as well as Gibson's anti-Semitic rant during a drunken driving arrest in 2006, the actor said he realized people might not want to see him in movies again. But with the long-delayed film "The Beaver" slated to hit screens next month and another film in the works, Gibson is resigned to his box-office fate. "I could easily not act again. It's not a problem," he said.
Posted 4/5/11 2:00 pm EST by Gil Kaufman in Casting Call, News
FROM MTV MOVIES: It's "Business Time" for Bret McKenzie. After showing up briefly as an extra in the first and third "Lord of the Rings" movies, the "Flight of the Conchords" co-star has joined the sprawling cast of Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" prequels.
And the New Zealand native won't have to travel far, since once again Jackson has set up shop in his home country for the films, which began filming two weeks ago. Variety reported that McKenzie will play the role of Lindir, an elf of Rivendell, in the 3-D films, which will be shot over the next 14 months at a studio in Wellington and other locations around New Zealand.
McKenzie joins a cast that already features Martin Freeman in the lead role of Bilbo Baggins, as well as returning "Rings" vets Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett and Andy Serkis. "The Hobbit" is set 60 years before "LOTR" and follows the adventures of humble hobbit Bilbo, who rises to heroic stature as he leads a group of fellow dwarves on an epic journey to reclaim a treasure from the dragon Smaug.
Posted 3/21/11 10:20 am EST by Gil Kaufman in News
FROM MTV MOVIES: Michael Jackson may have dubbed himself the King of Pop, but the late icon didn't hold the box-office crown for long. Less than a year after the posthumous MJ documentary "This Is It" became the most successful concert-themed film in U.S. history, Justin Bieber is poised to snatch the mantle.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" has earned $72.2 million in domestic box office so far, passing Jackson's $72.1 million haul. And while Bieber has racked up those impressive numbers in just six weeks, he's got a long way to go before he laps the global receipts for the MJ doc.
"This Is It" has grossed $189.1 million overseas for a global total of $261.2 million. Music films don't typically play well overseas, and THR noted that "Never Say Never" has grossed a more modest $10.8 million overseas so far, with Paramount executives predicting that it could top out around $20 million internationally.
Posted 10/8/10 5:19 pm EST by Gil Kaufman in Hot Stuff, Humor, Photos
How cool is Johnny Depp? When he (or his publicist) got a letter from an adorable British third grader requesting pirate Captain Jack Sparrow's help in rising up in mutiny against teachers at Meridian Primary School in Greenwich, south-east London -- where J.D. just happens to be filming "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" -- 'ol John boy knew just what to do: keep the Sparrow dreads on after work and swish on down to the school for some real-life pirating. After regaling the kids with some swashbuckling songs and dances, Depp wisely counseled the tot to hold off on the mutiny, since, you know, the authorities were keeping an eye on him.
That just got us thinking about how awesome it would be if Johnny dressed up as some of his other legendary characters and paid in-character visits to other totally inappropriate audiences.
Click here or on the image above for our gallery of Edward Scissorhands visiting a petting zoo (ouch), Willy Wonka shilling candy to the "Biggest Loser" cast and more fun stuff. Read More...
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Can 'The Hobbit' Catch A Break? Or Is It Hollywood's Latest Doomed Project?
Posted 1/27/11 5:00 pm EST by Gil Kaufman in Commentary
There’s a long tradition of major pictures falling prey to an endless succession of bad luck, bizarre accidents and a seeming black cloud hanging over them. Peter Jackson’s two-part prequel to his billion-dollar “Lord of the Rings” franchise appears to be the latest entry in the club you never want to join. Production on the first film in the prequel pair was delayed this week when Jackson required emergency surgery for a perforated ulcer.
Thankfully, he’s resting now and is expected to make a full, fast recovery. But following the departure last year of director Guillermo del Toro and the myriad other issues that have hit the project, we wondered where “The Hobbit” fits in the pantheon of spooked flicks?
“Green Hornet”
The path to the multiplex for Seth Rogen’s superhero movie was twistier than the plot of “Inception.” In addition to a parade of stars and directors who came and went beginning in the late 1990s, Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg finally got it revved up again in 2007, but then faced immediate backlash from fans who were worried about Rogen’s casting. Then there were multiple push backs on the release date, Nicholas Cage dropping out as the main villain over his insistence on using a Jamaican accent, and a last minute conversion to 3-D that forced the release date back again. Read More...
Tags apocalypse now, brazil, green hornet, the crow, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, the-hobbit, Twilight Zone, waterworld