News Shotgun 3/23
- Legendary Pictures developing “Slayer”: Legendary Pictures is developing a script called “Slayer”, which is a modern day take on dragon slaying in the vein of such “classics” like Dragonslayer and Dragonheart. The script, written by the son of LA Confidential’s Brian Helgeland, Martin Helgeland, follows a young doctor who discovers that his father was a dragon slayer and he must become one.
- Josh Trank signs on for an adaptation of “The Red Star”: Josh Trank, director of Chronicle, has had his name tossed around for a ton of movies lately, like a reboot of Fantastic Four and Venom, but he is officially signed on to direct an adaptation of the graphic novel, “The Red Star” for Warner Bros. The Red Star is about a futuristic Soviet state full of technology but also magic. The movie would be about a solider in the space fleet who goes against an evil dictator.
- Stallone says The Expendables 2 is back to being R rated: Every good action fan was worried when it was announced that The Expendables 2 would be PG-13 based on objections by new co-star, Chuck Norris, to an R rated movie but Stallone confirmed earlier this week that the movie would, in fact, be R rated. A lot of the fun of the original Expendables was the over the top violence, so hopefully that will now be even more over the top for the sequel.
- John Carter will probably result in a $200 million loss for Disney: After it was basically confirmed on Monday that John Carter will be a major flop in the US, Disney put out a press release that said the movie will probably result in around a $200 million loss for the company. The movie has made just over $57 million domestically and around $200 million internationally.
- Michael Bay causes TMNT controversy: Michael Bay caused a nerd firestorm this week when he made a statement Monday that the new Ninja Turtles movie, being developed by his Platinum Dunes production company, would make the Turtles “aliens”. People started freaking out, causing Bay to tell everyone to shut up and “chill”. Turtles creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird made statements with Eastman making a sarcastic agreement with Bay and Laird making a more sincere positive statement but told fans to relax and that the Turtles wouldn’t be coming from a planet of turtle creatures or anything. Laird is collaborating on the movie. Director Jonathan Liebesman also rushed to reassure fans not to blow things out of proportion and that the movie is going to expand on the established mythology in exciting ways. The link above from Slashfilm has a great recap of “Alien Turtlegate”.
- Batman Live announces US Tour dates: Hot off it’s European tour, the stage show Batman Live has announced it’s US tour schedule. The show features Batman and Robin fighting most of their most famous rogues like The Joker, Penguin, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn with elaborate stunts and fights and all the special effects a stage show can muster. Hit the link to see the tour dates.