NEWS: Things I Missed...

There is a lot of news out there in film land, and when you are one person going to school, writing for a paper, and trying to keep up with it all, you set priorities. However, the weekend is time for me to give you some one or two sentence overviews of stories that have hit the web. Here are the things I've missed...

- ShoWest kicked off this week, and during the festivities, it was announced that wheels are turing for a new Men In Black film. Men In Black 3 was officially announced this week, as was Ghostbusters 3.

- Speaking of ShoWest, Zack Snyder CONFIRMED that Warner Brothers will be rereleasing Watchmen in theatres in July. However, it will be the much anticipated Director's Cut that will see rerelease this summer. SCORE!

- Jackie Earl Haley has been cast as Freddy Kruger in the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street reboot...

- Rumor has it that Christian Bale is interested in getting a role in the yet to be announced film, Prisoners. The script has been breaking out like gangbusters, and is the first screenplay written by newcomer Aaron Guzikowski. Mark Whalberg has also shown interest in this screenplay, although it doesn't even have a studio attatched to it yet. Bryan Singer is circling the project to helm.

- Be careful when picking up Slumdog Millionaire, as not only is it an overrated film (there's my daily shot), but some versions of the DVD have also been released sans special features. Yet another notch in Fox's the-world-hates-us-as-we-hate-them belt.

- In the obvious news that really isn't news category, it looks like Michael Cain decided to open up again about an inevitable Batman sequel. Because, you know, no one will let us take a week off of Batman...Thanks /Film for the heads up...

“All I know is that Christopher Nolan, who writes and directs Batman is doing a picture called Inception, and I’m not in it. So I think another Batman film is a long long way off. Long Way. I would say three years, must be.”

Awesome, exactly what we knew before I wrote this. I just waisted 30 seconds.

But in all seriousness, the window in which Nolan can do the third Nolan-verse Batman, if he so chooses to anywho, won't open for a while. For Warner Brothers to get the previously targeted opening date of Summer 2011, Chris would have to start principal photography before Inception were to finish post-production. Look at Summer 2012, at the earliest, and for the best. We don't need a rushed film from Team Nolan.

- Because Donnie Darko was such a brilliant frakking flick (can you taste the sarcasm dripping from that statement, because I know I can), Richard Kelly is allowed to continue making films. So, as is mandatory with all of his films, he new one, The Box, has seen a lot of problems. However, in a recent blog post, he has graced us all with an update.

WB is releasing the film on October 30, 2009. The release date has been shuffling around a bit, but this is common with studios, and everyone feels like this is the best date for the film

The film is completely finished. Principal photography was completed in March 2008, and it was officially delivered to WB right before Christmas 2008. A March 2009 release was briefly considered, but a Fall 2009 release was always a better fit.

We shot in Massachusetts and Virginia. The film takes place predominantly in Virginia, 1976.

The running time is 1 hour 55 minutes long including end credits.

The film was digitally photographed using the Panavision Genesis camera. In my audio commentary on Tony Scott’s Domino, I mentioned that I would never shoot a 1970s period piece using a digital camera. My position on this changed when I saw David Fincher’s extraordinary Zodiac. It can be done.

There is more than 300 visual effects shots, which required eight months of post-production. The digital work-flow of the Genesis was essential to completing these visual effects properly.

Win Butler, Regine Chassagne (of Arcade Fire) and Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy, frequent collaborator with Arcade Fire) recorded more than 80 minutes of score for the film.

Here is a list of artists whose songs appear in the film: GRATEFUL DEAD, DEREK & THE DOMINOS, WILSON PICKETT, THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND, SCOTT WALKER

The official website for the film is www.thebox-movie.com - it will unveil sometime this summer.

This is my most personal film to date, and I’m very proud of how it turned out.

Two things. First, he has the core of Arcade Fire and a Final Fantasy musician scoring the film, so kudos Kelly. Second, HOW DARE HE mention Zodiac. May he fail for this statement. Only good directors may talk about how great Zodiac was (because is freaking was).

Now, off my high horse, all of this does kind of sound interesting, but when your resume includes Donnie Darko and Southland Tales, you have a lot of ground to make up in my book.

That's it! Come back later for more news and notes...

Go see something good!