Sequels
Already panting at the prospect of Megan Fox (right) cracking a whip as Catwoman in the next Batman sequel? Sorry to pour cold water on you, but Ain’t It Cool News confirmed with Fox’s reps that she’s not discussed the role of the Dark Knight’s feline frenemy with director Christopher Nolan, which contradicts this story from The Sun.
Angelina Jolie (right), who would make a damn fine Catwoman, may return for Wanted 2. So what if her assassin bite the bullet in Wanted? Director Timur Tekmanbetov tells MTV he’s “found the reason for her [character] to come back.” With six mouths to feed, Jolie has even more reason to return for a sequel.
Brace yourself for xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. Invincible director Ericson Core replaces xXx’s Rob Cohen, who abandoned this threequel in June for Medieval, says The Hollywood Reporter. Vin Diesel crawls back to the franchise after sitting out State of the Union, and no doubt hopes for another Fast and Furious-type smash to put him back on top.
Susan Sarandon’s joined Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps as the mother of Shia LaBeouf’s trader. And, according to Variety, she gets the hots for Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko. Having just spent 20 years in prison, Gekko probably could use a little action. Still, I would have preferred a second Douglas-Glenn Close coupling.
Must Hancock soar again? Yes, and TV writers Adam Fierro (The Shield) and Glen Mazzara (Life) will write the sequel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Twilight’s vampires like to travel by cab. Death cab, that is. The first single from the New Moon will be Death Cab For Cutie’s “Meet Me On the Equinox.” The song will premiere Sept. 13 on MTV’s Web site during the VMAs, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Remakes
We’re going to have to wait a little longer for Seth Rogen’s The Green Hornet. Originally scheduled to hit theaters July 7, 2010, this long-gestating film version of the classic TV show won’t start kicking butt until Dec. 17, 2010. The new release date “affords us more time” to finish the film, Rogen tells HitFix. Even after Sony Pictures added Nicolas Cage and Cameron Diaz to the cast, and finally settled on Jay Chou to replace Stephen Chow as Kato, I’m still surprised the studio didn’t kill off The Green Hornet after Rogen flopped big with both Observe and Report and Funny People. But now we’re going to have to wait until Christmas 2010 to find out whether Rogen’s casting as the masked crusader is a Michael Keaton-Batman smart decision.
The Brits turn out the best mob operas these days. Which makes the remake of the classic 1947 British gangster thriller Brighton Rock all the more intriguing. Plus, director Rowan Joffé—the son of The Killing Fields’s Rowan Joffé—intends to set his adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel in the Swinging Sixties. Control’s Sam Riley takes on the electrifying role of the small-time mobster that solidified Richard Attenborough’s stardom. Helen Mirren and Pete Postlethwaite will costar, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In Blob we trust? Not content with turning the Halloween franchise into a white trash waking nightmare, director Rob Zombie now plans to give The Blob a 21st-century makeover. The 1958 original helped launch Steve McQueen’s acting career; the surprisingly fun but sadly ignored 1988 remake all but ended Kevin Dillon’s ruined film career. “My intention is not to have a big red blobby thing—that’s the first thing I want to change,” Zombie tells Variety. “That gigantic Jello-looking thing might have been scary to audiences in the 1950s, but people would laugh now.” As opposed to yawning through Halloween II …
