Film Culture

Way back in November of 2009 we got word that Stephen King was working on a sequel novel to The Shining, the book on which the classic Stanley Kubrick horror film of the same name is based. Well, King has been hard at work on the book titled Doctor Sleep, and the reason we're so interested in it is because of the potential for a film sequel. Apparently the book is slated to hit shelves on January 15th next year, and there's a good chance a studio could pick up the film rights to the book before then. In the meantime, how about we give you the official synopsis that just made its way online from the most official source. Read on! ›››

Continue reading: Plot Details Revealed for Stephen King's 'The Shining' Sequel Novel

Even though I don't watch MMA or any sort of martial arts, Gavin O'Connor's Warrior was one of my favorite movies of 2011. It's a great sports drama which featured fantastic performances from Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, and Nick Nolte. Deadline reports that O'Connor has found a new project, a contemporary Japanese crime thriller called Yakuza which is about - you guessed it - the Japanese equivalent to the mafia. The plot follows an American intelligence guru who gets in over his head dealing with the head of the crime syndicate, slipping even deeper into the seedy underworld of the Japanese criminal organization. ›››

Continue reading: 'Warrior' Director Gavin O'Connor to Helm a 'Yakuza' Crime Thriller

If you thought Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg were finished with their godawful brand of spoof movies, I've got bad news for you. According to Variety, the guys behind Epic Movie, Date Movie, Meet The Spartans, and Vampires Suck have signed on to write and direct The Starving Games, a parody of one of this year's biggest box-office successes, Gary Ross' The Hunger Games. Weird how everyone seems to have forgotten about that movie in the wake of The Avengers, but Seltzer and Friedberg are ready to mix in more idiotic pop culture references and remind people about The Hunger Games in the worst possible way. ›››

Continue reading: Seltzer & Friedberg Take Aim at 'The Hunger Games' for New Parody

Between producing the massively successful entries in the Harry Potter franchise, David Heyman brought movies like I Am Legend and Yes Man to the big screen. Now that Potter-Mania is over, Heyman is moving on to another popular series of British stories that could end up becoming the next big kid's franchise. Deadline reports that Heyman has partnered with France's StudioCanal to produce a live action/CGI hybrid version of Paddington Bear, a book series that started with A Bear Called Paddington in 1958, about a precocious bear from Peru who is found at the Paddington train station in London and adopted by humans. ›››

Continue reading: 'Harry Potter' Producer David Heyman to Adapt 'Paddington Bear'

Over a year ago we got our first look at Guillermo del Toro's new spin on the classic story of Pinocchio. The brilliant director revealed their collaboration on a stop-motion animated version of the story with The Jim Henson Company & Pathe back in 2008 and the concept art looked positively astounding. At the time Gris Grimly, who illustrated the 2002 take on the story, was directing with Mark Gustafson, but now Variety has word that del Toro himself has decided to co-direct, his first animated film, with Gustafson with an eye towards shooting once he's completely done with Pacific Rim sometime next summer. More below! ›››

Continue reading: Guillermo del Toro to Co-Direct His Own 3D Stop-Motion 'Pinocchio'

By the end of 2012, it will have been quite an impressive couple of years for Benedict Cumberbatch. Not only has the actor already starred in Oscar nominated films like War Horse and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, but his BBC series "Sherlock" just premiered its second season, he was voted The Sun's Sexiest Man, he just finished shooting Star Trek 2 and will be seen in The Hobbit in December. Now audiences will see one of his more exclusive performances as director Danny Boyle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire) will have his stage production of Frankenstein with Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller head to theaters. Read on! ›››

Continue reading: Boyle's 'Frankenstein' with Benedict Cumberbatch Heads to Theaters

The team behind the 2010 thriller The Ghost Writer is back together, including director Roman Polanski, for the singular letter titled D, a film that will chronicle the Dreyfus Affair, the historical political scandal and injustice that involved Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer who was sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island for allegedly having communicated French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris. However, the twist comes when two years later, in 1896, evidence came to light identifying a French Army major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy as the man behind the espionage. ›››

Continue reading: Roman Polanski Will Next Tackle Dreyfus Affair Political Thriller 'D'

Up for some MMA fights next? Deadline is reporting that Universal has acquired Breaking The Bank, a true-story drama about former UFC fighter Lee "Lightning" Murray, a mixed martial arts "street brawler" who organized one of the largest cash heists in England in 2006. They're also hot on the project, because it's one of the first following the breakout smash hit The Raid that has the British director behind that, Gareth Evans, attached. Evans is producing this new project with XYZ Films, who also made The Raid. Darren Aronofsky had apparently been developing/circling this as well, but has since moved over to Noah instead. ›››

Continue reading: Universal Picks Up Heist 'Breaking The Bank' with 'The Raid' Director

Currently the filmmaker is wrapping up his historical remix in the form of an adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's action horror novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (watch the most recent trailer and featurette), but it looks a future project will keep Timur Bekmambetov grounded in real history. Variety has word the director has just picked up The Current War, a script from Michael Mitnick that made the Black List last year which takes a look at the real-life and publicly displayed race between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to lead the power industry by creating the first sustainable electrical current. ›››

Continue reading: Timur Bekmambetov Takes Thomas Edison's Historical 'Current War'