NEWS: He Man, Captain America, and the Worst. Idea. Ever.

Hey guys! Here are your major headlines for this Wednesday, the 19th of November, 2008...

- It looks as though the director of Kung Fu Panda, John Stevenson, will be helming the much talked about adaptation of He Man...

- Early reviews for Valkyrie have been released, and lets just say they aren't to hot, particularly one scene in which Tom Cruise must give the "heil Hitler" salute...

It’s an unsettling scene but you almost start to laugh…His character is resisting it but you never forget it’s Tom Cruise saying “Heil Hitler.” It’s funny and shocking at the same time.

READ THE FULL MSNBC ARTICLE HERE

Also, a new article over at the New York Times discusses just how much risk this film is and can be for MGM...

Valkyrie has turned into a test not only of Mr. Cruise’s career durability, but of MGM’s determination — with new ownership, and under the chairmanship of Harry E. Sloan since 2005 — to be taken seriously as a producer and distributor of the kind of risky event films that define a major studio.

If Valkyrie succeeds, even moderately, MGM wins a modicum of credibility in image-is-everything Hollywood. A failure brings fresh sniping that the studio does not know what it is doing, making the job of attracting top-notch talent even harder. Financially speaking, the stakes are considerable. With a stated production budget of $75 million — competitors insist it is closer to $90 million — Valkyrie is the most expensive film made for distribution by MGM under Sloan’s watch. The studio will now spend about $60 million to market the movie — if nothing else, to make the point that it can play in the big leagues.

Thanks to /film for the update!

- Disney will be rereleasing Beauty and The Beast in 3D come 2010...AWESOME

- Gore Verbinski is set to produce, with much talked about commercial director, Frank Bond in the directors chair, a remake of the critically beloved, including much love from yours truly, Korean monster film, The Host...

- Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, scribes of the recent Chronicles of Narnia films, are in final negotiations to pen the script for the upcoming Captain America film. Also, in an interesting thought, a few people, mainly the guys over at cinematical, have begun discussing who could fill the boots of Cap himself, and they have talked about Channing Tatum, most famous for his roles in Step Up, and the upcoming G.I. Joe film. What are YOUR thoughts on that? I think it could really work. He's a fine actor, especially in A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, and he wouldn't be a big hit on the Avengers budget, like a previously talked about actor, Matthew McConaughey, would be. Thoughts?

- Finally, in the worst idea in the history of man category, it looks like the man behind the brilliant cinematic achievement that was Poseidon, Mark Protosevich, has landed the job of penning the script for the upcoming Oldboy remake...this makes me disappointed, angry, and mainly sad. I challenge all of you to PLEASE rent, no, buy the original, and see what a brilliant film it is, and how it will not work with the current people at the helm.

I have one question for you all to answer, and it relates to this ridiculous idea. What makes subtitled films SO unpopular, so much that American remakes are almost needed to get people to see a film? Why do you like or dislike subtitled films? I LOVE them, and I really think, especially foreign horror films, are so much better than there American counterparts, that it's almost laughable to see people try to remake them. Thoughts?

Expect a review of Australia tomorrow, and come back later for more movie news and notes...

Go see something good!