DAVID DUNN

UPDATED: The blue blur is finally zipping his way to the big screen in 2018.

Details recently emerged about Sony Pictures working together with Marza Animation Planet to bring Sonic The Hedgehog to the big screen, a spastic little speedster known for his fast-paced platform outings through video game developer SEGA. Hannah Minghella, Columbia Picture’s president of production, said that the project will be made via live-action/CGI animation filming, and that she will oversee the project for Sony alongside studio executive Andrea Gianetti, both of whom worked on projects including A Knight’s Tale, Angels and Demons, and the upcoming adaptation of Goosebumps.

“Sonic has had dozens of adventures on the console and the small screen, and we’re thrilled that he’s now coming to the big screen,” Masanoa Maeda, Marza Animation Planet CEO said. “Sony Pictures has had great success with hybrid animated and live-action features, and we’re confident that this collaboration will bring a fresh take to Sonic, while still capturing everything that the fans love about him.”

Let me start by saying I’m a huge fan of Sonic The Hedgehog. Since my first experiences of watching him in the 1993 cartoon series “The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog” to him racing through his nostalgic years in the Xbox 360 video game Sonic Generations, I’ve always loved and cherished the video game icon that I’ve found to be one of the most entertaining characters of our time. I’ve been with Sonic through the good and through the bad (and believe me, there is a lot of bad), but I’ve always waited for the news of hearing his live-action outing taking place, and I couldn’t be happier.

Then I look at the people attached to this project, and I instantly become nervous. Neal Horitz, whose most successful work out of his filmography is 21 Jump Street, is set to produce the film. His worst films includes The Green Hornet, The Bounty Hunter and R.I.P.D. It’s also important to point out that he’s helped produce the Fast and Furious series since it’s first entry in 2001.

There isn’t a director attached yet, but they have two writers working on the script, a pair known as Evan Susser and Van Robichaux, who are most recognized as writing for the little-known talk show “What’s Going On? With Mike Mitchell.”

No word on who will be voicing Sonic or who will portray his longtime nemesis, Dr. Eggman. However, at this point I’m convinced that the project will only be successful if they bring on a director experienced with balancing action with comedy, such as Phil Lord and Chris Miller, or even Shawn Levy. I don’t want lightweights like Rob Cohen or Peter Berg to take this project, and I definitely want Stephen Sommers as far away from this as possible.

What do you guys think? Are you excited that Sonic is finally making his big-screen appearance, or would you prefer them be more prepared in pre-production before moving forward?

Either way, comment below, let me know.

-David Dunn

SOURCE: Cinemablend, The Wrap

On September 16, 2007, a private military outfit called Blackwater were approached by a Iraqi civilian driving inside a car. When the civilian refused to make way for their security detail, the troupe opened fire, killing 14 Iraqi citizens and injuring 20 more.

Now, this tragic event that served a key role in the Iraq war is coming to the big screen.

Early reports have indicated that Kieran Darcy-Smith, actor-director who starred in Animal Kingdom and who wrote and directed Wish You Were Here is being helmed to direct this political-drama-thriller, with “Newsroom” writer Gideon Yago currently set to write the screenplay. Little else is known about this small project other than that it would mostly likely focus on former Navy SEAL Erik Prince, who founded the private outfit in 1997 and remained as the head until he sold it in 2010, where its name was changed to Academi.

Like I said, details on the project are strictly limited and not a lot is known about it. I will, however, say a few things on this project though.

First of all, its important to note how controversial this event was, and how much it strained U.S.-Iraq relations. The military outfit open fire on many Iraq citizens, claiming that they were ambushed and fired in defense. The Iraqi government responded by saying that the attacks were unprovoked, and the FBI concluded that in the attacks, at least 14 were shot without cause. Blackwater left a horrible scar on Iraq since that day, a mark that has stayed with them throughout the Iraq war all the way up until now.

My biggest concern with this is not that this movie is getting made. My concern is it being done right with it not seeming like bias or propaganda. If they show the early formation of the Blackwater organization and it’s creation, great, but if and when they come to that point of time in the film where this event happened, they’re going to need to portray it and they’re going to need it portrayed well. I don’t want this to be skipped over, and I don’t want it to be a slight-of-hand sort of maneuver. I want this to be covered and I want the filmmakers to do the situations and emotions justice to what happened in real life.

That’s just my two cents, but there’s no telling what direction they’re going to go in with this project. Like I said, the project is being kept tightly under wraps, so everything at this point can only be speculation.

What do you guys think? Are you excited that this project is getting picked up, or would you rather it be kept in the classified files?

Comment below, let me know.

-David Dunn

SOURCE: Deadline, Cinemablend

And it just seemed like a long, long time ago since the project was first announced.

Details emerged earlier today regarding the cast for the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII, to be written and directed by filmmaker J.J. Abrams (Super 8, Star Trek Into Darkness). Announced through the Star Wars main webpage, the official announcement of the cast members for the film is below:

“Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max Von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.” 

“We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII,” Abrams said. “It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.”

“Surreal” is definitely the word.  I am beyond excited that the original cast is returning, although I don’t know how Carrie Fisher will fare considering how drastically she’s changed through her years. Equally excited, however, am I that C-3PO, R2-D2 and Chewbacca are coming back as well, and all roles reprised by the characters who originally portrayed them.

I am just excited, however, to hear about the new talent coming on board. Look at all these guys and what projects they were associated with: Boyega was the lead in Joe Cornish’s Attack The Block, Driver and Issac were both in Inside Llewlyn Davis, and do I really even need to go over Andy Serkis? (I’ll give you a hint: he’s in The Lord of The Rings franchise, King Kong, The Adventures of Tintin, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Prestige. Figured it out yet, my preciousssssss?)

Star Wars: Episode VII is one of the most highly-anticipated science-fiction sequels to come out in recent years, and the casting announcements from today shows that the filmmakers aren’t playing around. They’re pushing to bring in the best of the best for this project, and if these names don’t show that these guys know what they’re doing, I don’t know what will.

What do you guys think? Did Abrams bring on the right people for a project of this magnitude? Or is there someone else you might want to see in this sci-fi sequel?

Comment below, let me know.

-David Dunn

SOURCE: StarWars.com, CNN

Well, I know a lot of families who are not going to be happy about this nanny returning.

Details emerged yesterday regarding a superficial sequel to which no one thought would be happening. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Fox 2000 is producing a sequel to the highly-revered family-comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, a story about an irresponsible parent who disguises himself as a female nanny to spend more with the time with his children while at the same time avoiding suspicions by his ex-wife. Director Chris Columbus is set to return along with Robin Williams, and Elf scribe David Berenbaum is set to penn the screenplay. 

Where the heck did this come from? Years ago, there were talks of a sequel, but nothing was ever fully set into motion. According to a quote director Chris Columbus said earlier regarding the project:

“‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ is an interesting idea for a sequel because its the one time in film history where you can revisit the character and they’ll be the same 15 years later. Because of the make-up, people can see Mrs. Doubtfire again and nothing has changed about her, which I think is kind of interesting.” 

Yeah, but is it really necessary? The original was released in 1993, the year I was born. I’m 21. This movie probably isn’t coming out for a few more years due to production and post-production issues. So by the time this movie comes out, it will most likely be two decades old. Is that really the sequel we really want? One that’s coming out 24 years after the original? Do we really need that?

Who am I kidding, no sequel is inherently necessary. They’re just made so some money-mongering Hollywood pioneer can get a second jab at his annual paycheck. I’m not necessarily peeved that the sequel is coming out (lord knows Robin Williams was hilarious pretending to be an old lady), but why is this coming out so late? Are they really going to try and milk this cow, even though it expired years ago?

Ehh. I’ll keep following up for updates, including release dates and other cast members on the project (we don’t know if Sally Fields is returning or not), but for the moment, all you need to know is that this movie is happening, and an unnecessary one at that.

What do you guys think? Are you excited for Robin Williams’ return as lady Doubtfire? Or do you want him to leave her makeup and costume in the closet?

Comment below, let me know.

-David Dunn

Source: Screenrant, The Hollywood Reporter

Do dreams really come true? Or is it more of a nightmare?

Casting details emerged earlier today on who the new Peter Pan is going to be. For those of you who don’t know, Warner Bros. is producing a reboot of the classic fairy tale Peter Pan to be released sometime in 2015, and is going to be directed by filmmaker Joe Wright (Atonement, Hanna). And who did Warner Bros. find to bring Peter Pan back to the big screen?

Well, Levi Miller of course.

Who? You never would have heard of him. Miller is a little-known child actor who starred in independent films including Akiva, a short about a secluded holocaust survivor who believes in humanity again after meeting a young boy, and Great Adventures, a story about an older man reliving his favorite memories as a child. He also starred in one episode of the short-lived 2011 sci-fi series “Terra Nova”, playing as the younger incarnation of one of the supporting characters.

Why did Wright decide to go with this kid? Doesn’t matter. The supporting cast he’s paired up with is exemplary to say the least, and will no doubt be very helpful with him in adapting to his character of Peter Pan. The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’s Rooney Mara is tagged to play Tiger Lily, the Wolverine himself Hugh Jackman is set to play Blackbeard; even Tron: Legacy’s Garret Hedlund is going to portray the villainous Captain Hook, so there’s no shortage of wide-versed actors who won’t be willing to help him with his part.

What do you guys think? Do you think Miller will do the role justice? Or do you think someone else should have been considered for the role?

Comment below, let me know.

-David Dunn

Source: Cinemablend, Variety

Okay, my inner nerd is kind of exploding with joy right now.

Earlier today, Marvel comics released vie their website new concept images of characters from upcoming Marvel picture, from Guardians Of The Galaxy to Ant-Man to Avengers: The Age of Ultron.

Concept art of Star Lord, a.k.a. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) fully suited up next to Rocket (Bradley Cooper). 

For those who didn’t see the teaser clip of Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man at Comic Con 2011, below is a rendition of select frames from the sequence.

Concept art of Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) shrinking into his tiny form.

Concept art of Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) dishing out his own brand of justice to regular-size crooks.
Size doesn’t matter, after all.

And lastly, concept art was released not only of scenes from The Avengers: Age Of Ultron; first glimpses of new characters Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) were released as well.

Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) looks around as New York crumbles 
all around them. 

Pietro Maximoff, a.k.a. Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) speeds through his robotic enemies.

Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) dressed in her rags and jacket,
looking very frightening. 

Oh, and this little gem right here, courtesy of the ABC Channel.

Concept art of Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) fighting Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in his bulky 
Hulkbuster armor.

You can check out the full gallery concept art here at http://www.marvel.com. In the meantime, stay excited true believers.

Excelsior!!!!!

-David Dunn

Source: Marvel.com, Cinemablend, ABC, Entertainment Weekly

Big, big headline here today folks, and if you haven’t heard about it yet, you’re either here in the newsroom working with me on production night, or you hate movies. Either way, you’re about to hear about it now.

During a shareholders conference call Tuesday morning in Portland, Oregon, Disney CEO Bob Iger publicly revealed that the exciting animated superhero flick The Incredibles is finally getting a sequel, ten years after the original one was released. With writing and directing the Oscar-winning film in 2004, animator Brad Bird is currently in the process of writing the sequel, having previously being hesitant to continue the story of Mr. Incredible and his super-family.

“Pixar does not look at sequels as a financial plan,” Bird said at the 2007 Wondercon Convention, according to Slashfilm.com. “We feel we have a relationship with the audience and that they believe in each movie we put out. If I can come up with a story that is as good or better than that first film, then I’d love to return to that world, but it would have to be story first.”

Iger also confirmed that there will be a sequel to the slapstick and sporadic Cars 2, despite widespread negative reviews. Considering that Pixar is still currently working on other projects including Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, and another sequel in Finding Dory, we most likely will not see these projects until after 2016, so we still have a long wait until we see these pictures.

Despite that, I couldn’t have been happier. The Incredibles is one of the most original and unique action-packed romps that Pixar has come up with, and is one of the staples that precedes animated cliches and shows that those movies could be a lot more than what they lead on. With Bird currently working on the story for the project, and noting that he also worked on the 2011 live-action sequel Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, I believe its an understatement to say that this movie is in solid hands.

What do you guys think? Are you looking forward to the sequel, or do you want Pixar to just leave the classics alone? Comment below, let me know.

But do me a favor, willya? Post the comment while listening to that jazzy Michael Giacinno soundtrack. Man, that stuff is snazzy.

Bu da da, dadummmmmmmmmm……..

-David Dunn

Source: TIME, Variety

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Is this a joke? Is this some sick, twisted early april fools day prank?

Apparently not. Details emerged yesterday regarding two pivotal roles in the upcoming sequel to Man Of Steel. Those roles are Jeremy Irons as Alfred and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.

Yes, this is the guy from The Social Network. Director Zack Snyder went on record yesterday and explained why he made the casting decision on Luthor:

“He’s a complicated and sophisticated character whose intellect, wealth and prominence position him as one of the few mortals able to challenge the incredible might of Superman. Having Jesse in the role allows us to explore that interesting dynamic, and also take the character in some new and unexpected directions.”

“Unexpected”?  YOU THINK?!?!?!

Yeah, no one was expecting this, and I doubt anyone is excited about this either. I’m furious. Here we had names swirling around like Joaquin Phoenix and Bryan Cranston and all we get is the kid who tripped over his sandals and snow in a movie about Facebook. Not that I hate Eisenberg or anything; I actually hold him as a very credible actor, having recently pulled off a more antagonistic role in Now You See Me with some very nice oomph.

But why in Gods name is he in this movie? More than that, WHY IS HE LEX LUTHOR?!?!  You might as well cast Michael Cera now as Braniac and Jonah Hill as Metallo.

Seriously. This is worse than the announcement of Batfleck.

What do you guys think? Are you happy? Mad?  SURPRISED?!?! I think we all are, but leave your comments below regardless.

Eisenberg… You’ve gotta be kidding me…

-David Dunn

SOURCE: BeyondHollywood, Empire

Well, this is crummy. A few months ago, Quentin Tarantino announced that his next project was going to be a “spaghetti western”, somewhat in the veins of his highly popular Django Unchained. Some time later he announced the title of his project as being The Hateful Eight, with potential actors including Tim Roth, Bruce Dern and Michael Madsen.

Now, Taratino announced that he has canned the project altogether.

The reasoning? He handed exclusive copies of the script to six people of whom he deeply trusted, but somehow the script got handed to one of their agents and has now leaked online. Tarantino talks to Deadline regarding the betrayal:

“The one I know didn’t do this is Tim Roth. One of the others let their agent read it, and that agent has now passed it on to everyone in Hollywood. I don’t know how these [expletive] agents work, but I’m not making this next.” 

Poor guy. I know we’ve all experienced the sting of betrayal at least once in our lives, but somehow having it being the reason that your entire project has been canned just makes it feel all the more worse. So what does Taratino plan to do with his script?

“I’m going to publish it, and that’s it for now. I give it out to six people, and if I can’t trust them to that degree, then I have no desire to make it. I’ll publish it. I’m done. I’ll move on to the next thing. I’ve got 10 more where that came from.” 

Well, I’ll give him this: he definitely can make a comeback. Many artists would feel discouraged or even defeated with this shocking revelation, but Taratino is choosing to step up and move on. I like it.

Keep it up, good sir. I’ll be reading The Hateful Eight as soon as it hits shelves. And don’t worry: I won’t use a torrent either.

-David Dunn

Sources: Deadline, Film Variety