Terrible news from Middle Earth...

Bureaucracy and the ongoing legal & financial knot that is the already sunk ship of MGM have claimed their saddest victim yet -- Guillermo Del Toro has announced he has decided to leave The Hobbit. He will not be directing these films.

While Peter Jackson remains in place as producer and another director will be sought, this is unbelievably depressing news as there could never be such a perfect and visionary choice to bring these tales to life. Having already invested years of immeasurable creative energy and enthusiasm to the design and writing of these new Tolkien films, the project has continued to be beset with delays due to the beleaguered corpse of co-rights-holder MGM, having only recently announced they were scrapping any and all plans for a new James Bond film. It's now official: MGM is the enemy of genre fans everywhere.

“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming The Hobbit, I am faced with the hardest decision of my life,” Del Toro said. “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wish the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director.”

Jackson says he'll meet with New Line and Warner Brothers honchos this week to start looking for a new director, adding: “We feel very sad to see Guillermo leave The Hobbit, but he has kept us fully in the loop and we understand how the protracted development time on these two films, due to reasons beyond anyone’s control – has compromised his commitment to other long term projects. The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn’t feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years. Guillermo is one of the most remarkable creative spirits I’ve ever encountered and it has been a complete joy working with him. Guillermo’s strong vision is ingrained into the scripts and designs of these two films, which are extremely fortunate to be blessed with his creative DNA.”

I don't know about you, but I'm heading down to The Green Dragon to drown my sorrows...

What, no Bilbo, James?

Kick-Ass and Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn is preparing a new origin story reboot to some characters in the Marvel Universe with X-Men: First Class. While this new trend of tweenifying all too recent franchises is worrisome -- a new Spider-man, back in high school again?!? -- ya gotta love Vaughn's initial casting: James McAvoy will play Professor X, Charles Xavier!

Fantasy legend Frank Frazetta...RIP

Legendary fantasy illustrator Frank Frazetta has passed away, falling to a stroke at age 82. Brooklyn, NY born Frazetta created some of the most iconic fantasy images, single-handedly embodying Conan and Tarzan, frequently contributing to Eerie and Creepy magazines and the occasional one-sheet for Hollywood. In the Sixties, he turned down an offer to play for the New York Giants.

The world of sword and sorcery art is a lot grayer tonight...there will never be another Frank Frazetta...

Super ...D'OH!!!

Okay, got caught up in the buzz, mea culpa!

Turns out Super 8 was not the Cloverfield sequel (though it does appear one is in the works), but rather a Steven Spielberg produced (and heavily influenced) yarn about some kind of alien presence escaping from Area 51, a J.J. Abrams love letter to Spielberg's seventies-era films.

Anyone checking out Iron Man 2 this weekend can see for themselves. Reaction to the trailer has been off-the-charts sensational!

What is Super 8?!

Buzz-meister J.J. Abrams has done it again, as word spreads about his latest secret movie trailer, due to unspool in front of Iron Man 2 beginning Thursday at midnight.
What is this trailer, dubbed “Super 8?” Word has it this may be the Cloverfield sequel, debuting as that movie’s mystery trailer did in front of Transformers.

What we know for certain is that prints of Iron Man 2 arrived with a locked can containing the trailer. The cans can only be opened with an electronic code, which Paramount will email to theater managers Thursday afternoon. How wild is that?!

Is this Cloverfield 2, or something else? One thing’s for sure, Abrams sure knows how to build viral excitement and buzz – and he sure knows how to keep a secret! Stay tuned for more!

Anonymous still rumored to be from Cloverfield 2

Back from hiatus -- The Dark Tower has a new servant...

Sorry for the ridiculously long hiatus -- it's nice to be back!


Exciting news over at Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment, as they've announced plans to adapt Stephen King's seven book opus The Dark Tower. Some of King's cultiest writing, it took 22 years to bring this Sergio Leone-meets-Tolkien saga to its conclusion.

Lost's J.J. Abrams had previously talked about adapting The Dark Tower, but has moved on to other interests. Howard and Imagine are talking about an initial film (or films) then an ongoing TV series, with Akiva Goldsman on board as screenwriter. As frustrating as some of his work has ended up in adaptations such as Lost in Space, Batman and Robin (cough) and I Am Legend, lately Goldsman has been doing some truly fine work over on Fringe and is rumored to be very passionate about The Dark Tower saga.

It's exciting to contemplate Ron Howard leaving the Dan Brown hoo-ha behind and moving into this surreal and mythical canvas. Of future films in development beyond The Hobbit, this project is high up on the list, excitement-wise.

Coming Soon: to a horizon near you...!

It's Spring, when a young man's thoughts turn to...what are the coolest sounding movies coming out for the rest of the year?!? Not really, but with summer movie season about to crest the horizon, it seemed like a fun time to look ahead at what's still coming for 2010 and try and suss out what I'm looking forward to the most. Omissions abound, these are just some of the stories that have got me the most excited... I love Ridley Scott, but there's no Robin Hood here...yet. What's the criteria? Is it a wild enough story to justify my wife and I finding a babysitter for the rarefied 3-4 times a year we see a movie in the theater? Here are the current contenders...

Kick-Ass

Opening very soon – the buzz is huge and likely to draw all kinds of controversy for Hit Girl’s ultra-violence and prodigious use of the C-word. Audiences evidently go nuts for it and should draw the Sin City and Wanted audience. The comic sure was a heck of a lot of fun. Great news for Nicolas Cage!

Harry Brown

Michael Caine in a dose of old school Brit vengeance. A crime picture for adults with a brain and supposedly some of Caine's best work ever.

Solomon Kane

See earlier blog entry. Still no sign of a release date!

Iron Man 2

Say no more. Looks great and should deliver the goods to get summer box office up and running.

Splice

Wild looking sci-fi about genetic experimentation run amok. Great cast (Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody) in a timely and disturbing thriller.

Toy Story 3

How will Pixar count all this money? Children of all ages, rejoice!

Predators

Looks off-the-charts awesome! Best trailer out there right now, awesome cast -- Laurence Fishburne, Adrien Brody (again!) Danny Trejo and Walton Goggins promises to deliver summer’s most satisfying sci-fi mayhem. Looks fantastic. A group of Earth's most extreme killers are dropped onto the Predator homeworld's alien "game preserve." I am so there.

Inception

Christopher Nolan & DiCaprio’s sci-fi mind-bender. Majorly anticipated. Massive buzz. A cerebral, mind-bending action thriller and Nolan's first picture since The Dark Knight. It ought to be amazing.

The Expendables

An eighties T-Rex of a movie with amazing stunt casting. Hope this old dino has some teeth – it could be awesome. Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Eric Roberts, Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo (Danny Trejo always = awesome), the great David Zayas from Dexter and the sadly departed Brittany Murphy. This is the craziest bowl of Texas chili this summer. How can you not be curious to see this?!?

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I’ll see anything Edgar Wright directs, he’s amazing. Hope this movie is, too.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

The beginning of the end. The recent word on Clash of the Titans has me leery of anything in production that suddenly "goes 3-D," but I have enormous faith in this filmmaking team and this cast. Tom Felton was amazing in Half-Blood Prince. Absolutely required viewing as soon as possible. Bill Nighy joins the cast.

Tron Legacy

While it's easy to be skeptical about this (1982 was a long time ago, Commodore 64 users), it has a great design vibe and it's worth noting that 8 months before it releases, Disney is already prepping the sequel, with a script from two former Lost writers. Reminiscent of both Star Trek and Sherlock Holmes, two other films that the studios were so high on they green-lit sequels before the films were even released, both going on to connect with audiences in a major way. Does Tron have that same mojo?

The Green Hornet

I'm very leery about this one. This is a real favorite of my youth and I ran holes in the carpet playing with my diecast Black Beauty as a lad. But Seth Rogen...that choice still baffles me. I could see Clive Owen as Britt Reid...but Seth Rogen?!? But then we have Christoph "Hans Landa" Waltz as the heavy, Edward James Olmos and Tom Wilkinson plus the director who made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind...but who also made Be Kind Rewind...so anything could happen. But their Black Beauty looks awesome...

...so who the heck knows?! I just hope it unleashes a flood of cool Hornet merchandise!

UPDATED: Bumped to MLK weekend (January 14th) 2011 to allow time to convert the film into 3-D. Lately, word on this one has been pretty sketchy...

True Grit

The Coen brothers redux John Wayne, with Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn?!? Sounding like a whacked-out hybrid of The Big Lebowski and Deadwood -- and if that doesn't get you excited, check your pulse. Matt Damon's in the Glen Campbell role with Josh Brolin also in the mix. A real Western for Christmas? Thank you, Santa!