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Genre darling Ridley Scott is going to bring to life the famous monocle man in a film adaptation of the famous Hasbro board game Monopoly. Yes, you heard me right – they are making a movie about the board game Monopoly.

Ridley Scott, who has been attached as a producer on “Monopoly” and has been mentioned as a possible director, is now officially attached to helm the project, with an eye toward giving it a futuristic sheen along the lines of his iconic “Blade Runner.”

Simon Pegg’s new movie Paul, in which he and Hot Fuzz co-star Nick Frost take a space alien to San Diego Comic-Con, is going to have a Cloverfield-esque pedigree.

Pegg told Empire magazine; the movie starts shooting next April with Superbad‘s Greg Mottola directing:

I’m very, very excited about it. I think it’s a bigger film than probably Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz put together… We’re figuring [the logistics of the alien] out at the moment and having real fun, working closely with Double Negative who did Shaun and Hot Fuzz and Cloverfield and Hellboy II. We’re looking to really work to find the best way to do it and to create something which is utterly believable and sympathetic and has gravity and presence and is somebody that you totally buy. He’s the eponymous hero, so he has to be amazing.

As great as this movie will undoubtedly be, it’s not the much-talked about third movie in the Shaun/Fuzz trilogy with co-writer and director Edgar Wright. That movie, currently titled World’s End, is still in pre-production, while Wright works on his adaptation of cult comic Scott Pilgrim.

Cloverfield director Matt Reeves is still talking about a sequel, and the studio definitely wants one. There are a couple of sequel ideas floating around, but nothing definite yet. One idea is to do a film set in Japan, which after all is the source of the movie’s giant-monster inspiration. [And maybe we could learn more about the mysterious Tagruato corporation, and why its name isn’t actually Japanese] One thing’s for sure: the sequel won’t pick up where the first film left off, and may not feature the survivors from the first movie. Instead, it may be tangentially related, but “intersect” with that night’s events somehow. No matter what, the sequel – which Reeves may not direct – won’t happen unless it’s something awesomeriffic that he and J.J. Abrams would want to watch.

Guillermo del Toro is developing Pinocchio as a stop-motion feature with the Jim Henson Co. as a darker version of the original fairy tale.

The project will be produced by JHC co-toppers Brian Henson and Lisa Henson along with senior VP Jason Lust. Del Toro will executive produce.

Del Toro’s working on the screenplay with Gris Grimley, who illustrated a 2002 version of “Pinocchio.” Grimley and Adam Parrish King will co-direct the film.

Columbia Pictures has refashioned its new version of the 1984 hit The Karate Kid as a star vehicle for Jaden Smith, reports Variety.

The film will be produced by Jerry Weintraub [who launched the original franchise] and Overbrook Entertainment’s James Lassiter, Jaden’s father Will Smith and Ken Stovitz.

The script is being written by Chris Murphy, and the film will shoot next year in Beijing and other cities. While the new film will be set in that exotic locale, it will borrow elements of the original plot, wherein a bullied youth learns to stand up for himself with the help of an eccentric mentor.

The younger Smith, who next stars in The Day the Earth Stood Still, is a martial arts practitioner.

 Academy disqualifies THE DARK KNIGHT score!?! 

The unsettling and highly memorable score that Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard composed together for THE DARK KNIGHT, a score that was a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination, has in fact been disqualified for consideration by the Academy.

 Variety say the score is not elgible for consideration because the names of five individuals are on the cue-sheet for the music, though Warner Bros. claim the other three, music editor Alex Gibson, ambient music designer Mel Wesson and composer Lorne Balfe were only named so that they would get a cut of the royalties and as a dedication to their hard work, though their contribution to the actual score was minimal.

It’s the same political reason why their score for BATMAN BEGINS three years ago was similarly rejected.

I guess winning awards wasn’t as important as getting the movie made.

The sequel to the Spanish zombie hit [REC] 2 began shooting last Monday, November 10th in Barcelona.

It brings back directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza and the story starts off just a few hours after the last film left off. Shooting will last 6 weeks and unfortunately that’s all I’ve got.

Recorded Picture Company [Franklyn, High Rise] has officially Optioned Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and have attached a 2011 release date to it’s new listing on imdbpro. There were rumors that Johnny Depp and Gilliam were confident they could resurrect the ill-fated production (the tribulations of which were chronicled in the amazing documentary Lost in La Mancha but I honestly never believed it. I mean, how often are failures given a second chance in the movie industry. But then again, when it comes to Terry Gilliam, it seems anything is possible.

Right now director Terry Gilliam and producer Jeremy Thomas are the only parties attached to the production but here’s hoping they get Depp and the rest of the crew back on board.

Joe Johnston, who has just wrapped the high profile remake of THE WOLF MAN for Universal has landed another huge project, probably the biggest film he has ever been hired to make.

He has been chosen by Marvel Studio’s to direct FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA, his first comic book adaptation since he directed THE ROCKETEER back in the early 90’s.

Johnston’s other works include JURASSIC PARK III, HIDALGO, OCTOBER SKY, JUMANJI and HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS.

Marvel’s President Kevin Feige said:

“This is a guy who designed the vehicles for ‘Star Wars,’ who storyboarded the convoy action sequence for ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ ” Feige said. “From ‘Rocketeer’ to ‘October Sky’ to ‘The Wolfman,’ you can look at pieces of his movies and see how they lead to this one.”

Johnston famously came up with the final concept designs for Yoda and Boba Fett in the STAR WARS franchise and won an Oscar for his special effects work on RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

The Hollywood Reporter suggest the project isn’t as far along as we previously thought. They currently have no script and they are on the lookout for writers, actively seeking pitches from anyone with a good idea… much like what WB have advertised with their SUPERMAN reboot.

Though the basic plot is already structured out. The movie will be set in World War II ending with Captain America being frozen to be revived in the future by Tony Stark and THE AVENGERS in the modern day.

Kool? …My eyes are sore.

Posted in 🍿 F I L M : M O T I O N, 📰 N E W S
Tags: Adam Parrish King, CAPTAIN AMERICA Movie, Cloverfield 2 sequel, Director Ridley Scott, Edgar Wright, Greg Mottola, Gris Grimley, Guillermo del Toro, J.J. Abrams, Jaden Smith, Joe Johnston, Matt Reeves, Monopoly, Movie News, Nick Frost, Paul, Pinocchio, Simon Pegg, Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, The Dark Knight Score Disqualified, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Karate Kid, [REC] 2