It appears that Paramount has saved the award-winning comic book series Torso from development hell, as the studio has renewed its option on the rights with the movie. They have also made it a priority project and budgeting is already underway. Work on the film also appears to be going well as the final script was handed over to the studio from Ehren Kruger.
The comic book series, created by Brian Bendis and Marc Andreyko, is based on the true story of Cleveland’s “Torso Murderer” and the investigation by “Untouchables” leader Eliot Ness.
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Anna Faris is taking on two projects as an actress while still basking in the success of House Bunny.
Paramount has committed to an untitled pitch while Columbia has committed to a romantic comedy called 20 Times a Lady.
Lady is written by Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan wrote the script based on the book by Karyn Bosnak. The story follows a woman journeys back to the past to calculate her sexual past in an effort to find the right man for her.
The untitled Paramount pitch concerns a female buddy comedy centering on two estranged sisters. They work together to find a husband.
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Paramount re-released the J.J. Abrams Star Trek Trailer with an ending from Spock, which you need to enjoy. The HD trailer is available at Paramount’s site. Take a look and get beamed to a nostalgic look at a great actor (and director). Star Trek
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The screen rights to Dave Roman’s graphic novel Agnes Quill has been picked up by Paramount Pictures. The series followed 16-year old Agnes who inherits her grandfather’s estate and the ability to see and communicate with the dead.
The script is being penned by Evan Spiliotopoulos, with Thor Freudenthal (Hotel for Dogs) directing. Steven Gilder and Jason Clark are on board as producers.
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High School Musical 3 delivered a $42 million opening weekend and Paramount Pictures decided to fasttrack Footloose, as a Zack Efron and Kenny Ortega production next spring. Efron is set to star while Orteg
a directs and possibly choreography.
According to the Variety article, the studio has brought on Peter Sollect the director of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist to rewrite the Jon Hartmere script.
Once Efron makes this deal he will be paid a mid-seven-figure salary and give him script approval. He is moving up in the business folks!
Ortega has been working on the development of Footloose for two years. It looks like his hard work is coming to fruition with the fasttrack of new songs that will complement some of the memorable original tunes of the Herb Ross-directed film.
The original Footloose wasn’t a musical. It’s screenwriter Dean Pitchford wrote lyrics for songs that included the Kenny Loggins title song as well as “Let’s Hear It for the Boy,” “Almost Paradise” and “Holding Out for a Hero.”
Variety reports that at least some of those tunes are expected to be in the new movie.
Footloose created one of the biggest-selling soundtracks of its time and made a star of Kevin Bacon.
With Efron already a star, the movie could set the stage for even more musicals on the big screen.
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Posted on Oct 14, 2008 under TV |
Seeing as how Indiana Jones 4 messed with everyone’s favorite childhood hero, it is no surprise that South Park took a clever jab at the series creators in its latest episode. It showed Steven Spielberg and George Lucas rape Indiana Jones in three scenes recreating them from Clockwork Orange, The Accused and Deliverance.
Interestingly, no Hollywood bigwig is bothering to lodge a complaint with Viacom over the South Park episode.
"We don’t want to engage. We just want it to go away," said an anonymous insider to Deadline Hollywood.
The episode, which marks the show’s fall premiere, was seen by an average 3.7 million viewers, up 21% from last fall’s debut and topping all of cable during that time period.
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I Heard You Paint Houses, a book about the mob assassin who many believe was involved in the death of Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa, is set with Martin Scorsese to direct and Robert De Niro to play Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran, who is reputed to have carried out more than 25 mob murders.
According to Variety, the movie title refers to mob slang for contract killings, and the resulting blood splatter on walls and floors. Book was written by Charles Brandt, who befriended Sheeran shortly before the latter’s death in 2003. Among the crimes Sheeran confessed to Brandt, according to the 2004 book, was the killing and dismemberment of Hoffa, carried out on orders from mob boss Russell Bufalino.
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Extending their partnership, Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios have announced an agreement under which the former will distribute Marvel’s next five self-produced films on a worldwide basis.
This deal includes theatrical distributions in foreign territories and will see Paramount handling Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers movies. Apparently, a second sequel to Iron Man is also included.
Marvel has hit gold with its recent films which have been doing very brisk business both locally and abroad. This year saw the release of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, both of which were well received.
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Posted on Sep 08, 2008 under Comedy |
Shakespeare is in for a spanking on the big-screen, as Paramount Pictures is gearing up to adapt the young-adult novel Spanking Shakespeare.
Based on the debut work of Jake Wizner, the feature will tell the story of Shakespeare Shapiro, who chronicles his quest to get into college and find a girlfriend in his memoir, a writing project that every high school senior must complete.
The movie is being produced by Mark Canton and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein for Nickelodeon Movies.
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According to fansite TrekMovie, a first cut of the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek was screened for Paramount the other week. Reaction was “far beyond expectations” and the film was supposedly “very impressive” if their sources are correct.
The site notes that a lot of post-production is yet to be done on the film, especially the special effects by ILM – over 1300 effects shots await completion. A theatrical trailer is already edited, but the effects are not finalized. However, you can expect it this Fall, with the earliest option being Eagle Eye on September 26.
The Star Trek movie is due out May 2009.
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