**6 Character Posters for THE HANGOVER PART 2 **Jeremy Irvine and Helena Bonham Carter May Star in Mike Newell’s GREAT EXPECTATIONS **DreamWorks Begins Development on REAL STEEL 2 **Patton Oswalt Joins ODD THOMAS

Jeremy Irvine and Helena Bonham Carter May Star in Mike Newell’s GREAT EXPECTATIONS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 14th, 2011

In February, we reported that director Mike Newell (Prince of Persia) had signed on to direct a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.  Today, Showblitz reports that Jeremy Irvine and Helena Bonham Carter are in talks to play Pip and Miss Havisham, respectively.  The role of Pip could be another huge opportunity for Irvine who is making his feature debut in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming drama War Horse.

For those unfamiliar with the novel, Great Expectations is about a poor orphan who is tormented by the manipulations of Miss Havisham’s niece Estella before being elevated to the upper class by an anonymous benefactor.  Filming on Great Expectations is slated to begin in fall for a 2012 release, which will mark Dickens’ bicentennial.Hit the jump for a full synopsis of Great Expectations.

........... http://collider.com/great-expectations-jeremy-irvine-helena-bonham-carter/86009/

6 Character Posters for THE HANGOVER PART 2

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 14th, 2011

Warner Bros. has released six character posters for director Todd Phillip’s The Hangover Part II.  If you remember the character posters from the first Hangover movie, these are going to look very familiar.  Saying that, if you ran a marketing campaign and your movie was the highest grossing R Rated film in history, I’d probably run the same campaign as well.  After all, I wouldn’t want to be the one to fuck it up.

While all the posters are good, the monkey poster that says “we love to party” is definitely the best.  It reminds me of the chicken and tiger posters from the first movie.  This is a good thing.  Hit the jump for the posters, click here for the trailer, and here’s all our Hangover coverage.  The Hangover Part II gets released May 26.

................ more poster here; http://collider.com/the-hangover-part-2-posters/86034/

DreamWorks Begins Development on REAL STEEL 2

by Matt Goldberg   Posted: April 14th, 2011

Shawn Levy’s Real Steel doesn’t even hit theaters until October 7th, but DreamWorks is happy enough with what they’ve seen to begin development on a sequel.  For those unfamiliar with the movie, Real Steel is being billed as Rocky-meets-Transformers (although I prefer calling it Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots the Movie) and takes place in a future where robot boxing has replaced human boxing.  Hugh Jackman plays a former boxer who becomes a promoter and bonds with his estranged teenage son as they attempt to have their robot win the title.  While I’m wary of Levy (his past credits include the Night at the Museum movies and The Pink Panther remake), Steve was impressed by what he saw when he visited the editing bay.

Deadline reports that original screenwriter John Gatins has been hired to write the sequel and that DreamWorks plans to make new deals with Jackman and Levy.  Hit the jump to check out the teaser trailer for Real Steel.  The film also stars Evangeline Lilly, Hope Davis, Kevin Durand, Dakota Goyo, and Anthony Mackie.

........... http://collider.com/real-steel-2-development/86059/

Patton Oswalt Joins ODD THOMAS

by Matt Goldberg  Posted: April 14th, 2011

Stephen Sommers’ Odd Thomas continues to round up an impressive cast despite being based on a Dean Koontz novel.  The film stars Anton Yelchin the eponymous character who is able to see and partially communicate with the dead.  In addition to rising stars Addison Timlin (Californication) and Nico Tortorella (Scream 4), Willem Dafoe is in talks to join and now Variety reports that Patton Oswalt “will play Oswald “Ozzie” P. Boone, an eccentric artist who designs sculptures, including a steel pendant that the titular clairvoyant hero wears around his neck.”  Production on Odd Thomas is slated to begin next month in New Mexico.

Oswalt will be seen in theaters later this year in Jason Reitman’s Young Adult and the comedy A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas.  He’s also recording a new CD/DVD/Showtime special on May 14th in Seattle.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of Odd Thomas.

............... http://collider.com/patton-oswalt-joins-odd-thomas/86061/

***Official Synopsis for Steven Spielberg’s WAR HORSE

Official Synopsis for Steven Spielberg’s WAR HORSE

by Jeff Ames    Posted: December 14th, 2010

Things are heating up for Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated drama War Horse, starring Emily Watson, David Thewlis and Jeremy Irvine. After a few brief set photos a while back, and that release date fiasco – which bumped War Horse from its initial August 10, 2011 opening to a more awards-savy December 28, 2011 – we are now pleased to unveil the film’s official synopsis, courtesy of DreamWorks.

Okay, so maybe the news isn’t that ground breaking, but at least it’s something. We have long been privy to the film’s synopsis (it is based on a play that was, in turn, adapted from a children’s book after all), but even so, the Beard has seen fit to grant us an “official” rundown of his flick, which adds a few minute (even spoiler-ish) details. Hit the jump for the synopsis and more.

Here’s the official synopsis:

From director Steven Spielberg comes “War Horse,” an epic adventure for audiences of all ages. Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, “War Horse” begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land.

The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure. “War Horse” is one of the great stories of friendship and war—a successful book, it was turned into a hugely successful international theatrical hit that is arriving on Broadway next year. It now comes to screen in an epic adaptation by one of the great directors in film history.

Here’s the synopsis for the book via Amazon:

In 1914, Joey, a beautiful bay-red foal with a distinctive cross on his nose, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges toward the enemy, witnessing the horror of the battles in France. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey’s courage touches the soldiers around him and he is able to find warmth and hope. But his heart aches for Albert, the farmer’s son he left behind. Will he ever see his true master again?

I must say I’m a huge fan of all things Spielberg. Unfortunately, the most recent projects we can link him to are Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Hereafter and The Lovely Bones. (Okay, he produced the terrific HBO mini-series The Pacific as well, but cinematically speaking the man’s track record of late has been quite average.) And yet, here we are on the brink of a possible (maybe even monumental) comeback, what with True Grit (which he produced) lingering around the corner; not to mention upcoming a slew of promising new films Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, J.J. Abram’s Super 8, Real Steel and Cowboys and Aliens on the horizon. Add in next Christmas’ The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, War Horse plus his planned adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalyspe and you have yourself an impending return-to-form for The Beard, whose last great film came way back in 2002’s Catch Me If You Can (if you ask me). War Horse in particular looks likely to place him back in the Oscar race, what with its WWI backdrop, and little-horse-that-could storyline. Call it Saving Private Seabiscuit, if you will.

This is shaping up to be a nice drink of water after a long drought indeed.

http://www.collider.com/2010/12/14/war-horse-movie-synopsis/