NEW Red Dawn remake to come out next year from FilmDistrict

PG-13, 1 hr. 54 min.

Directed by: Dan Bradley

Red Dawn (2011) now (2012)

A group of high-school teenagers are put on the front lines when their country is invaded by hostile forces in this remake of John Milius' 1984 war adventure. Second unit director Dan Bradley (The Bourne Ultimatum, Spider-Man 3) makes his directorial debut with this MGM film, scripted by Red Eye's Carl Ellsworth.
 
CASTING:

Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Adrianne Palicki, Josh Hutcherson, Isabel Lucas , Jeffrey Dean Morgan , Connor Cruise , Edwin Hodge

 

A remake of the invasion movie "Red Dawn" — with its villains now digitally modified from Chinese to North Korean — will finally hit American shores next year (2012).

The new version of the Reagan-era classic will be released in the U.S. by independent studio FilmDistrict, according to people familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly. FilmDistrict is finalizing a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the studio that produced the movie in 2009.

In the original "Red Dawn," a group of teenagers in a Colorado town battle invading Soviet forces; in the remake, the invaders were changed to Chinese. But that decision turned the film into a hot potato.

After MGM emerged from bankruptcy in late 2009 and decided it wouldn’t release the movie, no other studio wanted to touch “Red Dawn” for fear of offending the government of China, a hugely important market in the increasingly global film business.

As a result, the movie’s producers last winter used digital technology and creative editing to change most of the invaders to North Koreans. (Staunchly communist North Korea is economically isolated and not a market for any American products.) Still, it took most of the year to find a distributor willing to take the movie on.

FilmDistrict Chief Executive Peter Schlessel declined to discuss “Red Dawn.” Given that final details are still being worked out, however, it likely won’t hit theaters until 2012.

The new “Red Dawn” cost about $60 million to produce. It stars Chris Hemsworth, who played the title character in “Thor,” and was directed by Dan Bradley, second unit director on the last two “Bourne” movies and the upcoming “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.”

FilmDistrict, which is backed by finance and production company GK Films, launched in April with the horror hit “Insidious." Its most recent release is the Ryan Gosling L.A. noir film, “Drive.”

Red Dawn

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A group of high-school teenagers are put on the front lines when their country is invaded by hostile forces in this remake of John Milius' 1984 war (more...)

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PG-13, 1 hr. 54 min.

Director: Dan Bradley

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"Dark Knight Rises": Anne Hathaway will be Catwoman, Tom Hardy to be Bane...

Last month, Warner Bros. Pictures officially announced that Tom Hardy (Inception, Warrior) had been set to play Bane in director Christopher Nolan‘s forthcoming, final entry in his Bat-Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. Hardy will star alongside Christian Bale, who returns in the title role of Bruce Wayne/Batman and Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle.

 

Tom Hardy, already announced as a cast member, will play Bane, the chemically created brute who first appeared in the comics in 1993 — making him a far “younger” villain for Nolan’s Batman mega-franchise, which has most prominently featured the Joker (who first appeared in 1940) , Two-Face (1942), Ras Al-Ghul (1971) and the Scarecrow(1941).

Catwoman — then just called “The Cat” –  first appeared in 1940 as the creation of Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and she has brought leather-clad sexual tension to the Batman adventures both on the page and beyond; she was portrayed by Julie Newmar and  Eartha Kitt  on the 1960s television series starring Adam West as the caped crusader (and by Lee Meriwether  in 1966 film starring West) while Michelle Pfeiffer memorably cracked the whip in the role opposite of the masked Michael Keaton  in Tim Burton’s 1992 film “Batman Returns.” In 2004, Halle Berry starred in the character’s own solo film, “Catwoman,” but the film became an infamous flop and was jeered by comic-book fans after director Pitof jettisoned years of comic-book lore and character touchstones.

Anne Hathaway as Catwomen

Tom Hardy will play Bane

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Hollywood's attempt to cash-in on Japan's recent Tsunami disaster flops

Pulled from Japanese theaters: Hereafter, with Jessica Griffiths, left, and Cecile De France, opened with a tsunami scene that wipes out a coastal town and claims the lives of approximately 10,000 people.

Hollywood's attempt to cash-in on Japan's recent Tsunami disaster flops as studios shy away from Clint Eastwood's new Warner Bro's production titled "Hereafter".

"Generally, you need time to buffer" between movie and tragedy, says Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo. "You need stories of heroism and survival. Scenes of devastation and bodies, especially if it's a real event, won't cut it."

But Kevin Tsujihara, head of Warner Bros.' home-video division, says filmmaking isn't a priority. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Japan," he said in the news release. "We are committed to supporting relief and rebuilding efforts during this difficult time."

Bock says he doesn't expect tsunami films for years, given studios' abysmal showing with war-themed movies. Godzilla pictures, for instance, which sprang from World War II atomic bomb attacks, took a decade to reach theaters.

"People aren't going to be eager to see a feature movie about this anytime soon," Bock says. "Look how long it took us to accept Michael Bay doing a movie about Pearl Harbor. And it still wasn't as popular as Armageddon."

Madonna in Venice promoting new movie release of "W.E."

Singer Madonna waves to her fans as she arrives for the premiere of her movie "W.E." at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 1, 2011

(SEPTEMBER, 2011) "W.E.," Madonna's cinematic take on the love story of American divorcee Wallis Simpson and Britain's King Edward VIII, who abdicated to marry her, has been roundly panned after its premiere Thursday night at the Venice Film Festival.

The script - co-written by Madonna and "Truth or Dare" director Alex Keshishian - and Madonna's direction took the brunt of the criticism. More than one critic drew comparisons between this film, due out Dec. 9, and last year's Oscar winner "The King's Speech," which covers the same events.

This is the pop star's second directorial effort; her first was "Filth and Wisdom" in 2008.

The Material Girl may have inadvertently insulted her two ex-husbands with comments on the red carpet before the premiere. She thanked Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie, both directors themselves, for encouraging her to take up a career in the movies and said she had learned a lot from them. At the premiere, she wore a Vionnet gown with train and vintage red-framed sunglasses.

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