New 'Paranormal Activity 3' Trailer

Feast your eyes on this new Paranormal Activity 3 trailer...

'Scream 5' Is Happening, Says Craven

Wes Craven

So it seems that a Scream 5 will happen in the unforeseeable future. It has become common knowledge by now that original creator Kevin Williamson wanted to relaunch the series with a new trilogy in parts 4, 5, and 6. Scream 4 came and went. Box office numbers weren't mind blowing, but the numbers were definitely there to warrant a sequel...or two.

We just got off the phone with Wes Craven, who is out promoting the Scream 4 Blu-ray and DVD, in stores October 4th. When Scream 4 was coming to theaters last spring, it was rumored to be the beginning of a whole new trilogy. The sequel didn't fare quite as well at the box office as some hoped. This had many speculating that the popular franchise was over, and that the so-called new trilogy would not play out on screens as intended.
Well, Wes Craven tends to think the contrary. He is a firm believer in Scream 5, and says that 'yes', the movie will more than likely get made sometime in the near future.

"Yes. The odds are that there will be (a Scream 5). It is something that Bob Weinstein wants to do. He tends to do what he wants to do. So I am inclined to think that there will be (another sequel). Whether I will be a part of it or not? I don't know. My contract gives me the first look. If they show me something that is really wonderful? Of course I will be a part of it."

We followed this up by asking the iconic horror director where the trilogy was heading, as the end of Scream 4 leaves things open and ambiguous, and doesn't really point us in a clear direction for a Scream 5.

"I'd have to kill you if I told you. Its better to have an ending where you can't tell where it's going to go next. Than to have an ending where you go, "Oh, that is the hook for the sequel. That is the hook for the next one." We felt it was better to let the audience speculate than to have all of these clues placed in their lap. It's not a matter of not being smart enough (to figure out how 4 ties into 5). We're clever at this. Let's just put it that way."

Wes Craven then went onto explain how these movies are made, and how he is the last to know that a new sequel is ready.

"Most people think that I sit around and think up ideas. Then I send them to the studio. With Scream, that is not the case. Kevin Williamson has been the writer since day one. He has been the writer on all of these projects, at least at the beginning of them. That relationship with him and Bob Weinstein is very old, and close. Typically what will happen is that Bob Weinstein or Kevin Williamson will come up with a new idea, and they will pitch it to one or the other. If they both like it, they will toss it around and see if they can develop it into an overarching concept. Then I get the telephone call. They say, "We have something to show you." It will either be a scene, or if it is Kevin Williamson, he will run through the idea with me from beginning to end. That is what happened on this one. There were a few pages. Not many. At some point there was a first draft. But it mainly started with me and Kevin Williamson sitting down in a restaurant in Los Angeles. He showed me how it would go, and I really thought he had something there. So I signed on. Before that point, I am at a position where I don't want to be involved with something until the script is there. That makes me not a part of the original process, of banging out the idea. I think that Kevin Williamson is the best at that. And Bob Weinstein is all over that too. I don't want to play another guy in that. Going into (Scream 4), the first meeting I had with Kevin Williamson, he did sketch out a Scream 5 and 6. The idea was that we were doing the first in a new trilogy. We had to wait to see if we made enough money on each film to make the next one viable. If that happens, those two will come up with the concepts and an idea that is worth fulfilling."

Thanks to Movieweb for the scoop!

Justn Lin Exits 'Terminator 5'

Justin Lin has been forced to exit his dream project, Terminator 5, for something else, Fast and Furious 6.  Hmm, wrong choice, my friend...

EXCLUSIVE: Things are starting to move on The Terminator franchise, but a plan by rights owner Megan Ellison and Arnold Schwarzenegger to put the first of two pictures in production for the fourth quarter of 2012 has forced director Justin Lin to drop out. But borrowing the film’s signature phrase “I’ll be back,” Lin has left the door open to a return if Ellison and Schwarzenegger will wait until he completes the sixth installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise.

The Terminator franchise has been under the radar since Ellison’s Annapurna Films spent over $20 million to buy film rights during the Cannes Film Festival, with Lin and Schwarzenegger attached. Lin wants to make the film but simply won’t be available, the same situation that prompted him to withdraw from Summit’s Highlander. Lin has been working closely with Schwarzenegger and Ellison to figure a way to end the James Cameron-hatched battle between humans and the cyborgs of Skynet. It would require some effort for Ellison to get the film underway by late next year. She hasn’t got a script and I don’t think she’s even hired a screenwriter yet. She also hasn’t set a studio partner, even though several are interested.

There is some reason to move quickly. One of the caveats involved in the rights deal with Pacificor (which spent $29.5 million to win the rights in bankruptcy court) is that certain rights revert back to Cameron due to a stipulation in copyright law that if you assign your rights, you get them back in 35 years. Cameron assigned his rights to Hemdale, and the North American rights will revert back to him in 2018. Even that part of the story has gotten intriguing: While Cameron washed his hands of the Terminator franchise years ago, his close friend Schwarzenegger has dragged him into a brainstorming meeting or two, even though he is not officially involved. It’s also hard to imagine that Ellison can’t make two films and satisfactorily end the series by the time that rights situation develops.

Thanks to Deadline for the scoop.

Red Band Trailer For 'The Thing' Prequel

Thanks to IGN, the new red band trailer for The Thing prequel below...

It's Official: J.J. Abrams Directing 'Star Trek 2'

So now it's official, J.J. Abrams is directing the sequel to his Star Trek reboot...

Attention impatient sequelphiles: Vulture can confirm that J.J. Abrams has finally committed to shooting Star Trek 2. Insiders familiar with the director's plans tell Vulture that pre-production is underway, that the script will be done by month's end and that Abrams will start shooting this winter.
While many assumed he would make the follow-up to his 2009 hit, he would never give a date for the project, or actually say for sure that he would be the one directing. In July, reports elsewhere surfaced that Abrams was “moving towards a commitment” to direct the sequel (which, of course, is Internet for “hasn’t committed yet”) but his delay had pushed a nervous Paramount Pictures to give Trek 2's late June 2012 release date to a G.I. Joe sequel.
Part of the hold-up has been that Alex Kurtzman, who wrote Abrams' first Trek with Roberto “Bob” Orci, has been busy editing and posting Welcome to People, his directing debut at DreamWorks Pictures. We’re told that now that Kurtzman is finished with those duties, he is back in his office and the team is ready to work. Plug in the Starbucks I.V., lads! These new life-forms and new civilizations aren’t going to seek out themselves!

 Thanks to Vulture for the scoop.

'Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1' Trailer Is Here

The trailer is officially out for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, check it out below...

Todd Farmer Talks 'Hellraiser', 'Halloween 3D'

Screenwriter Todd Farmer (Jason X, My Bloody Valentine 3D) recently chatted with Bloody-Disgusting about the current statuses of the Hellraiser remake and Halloween 3D that he and director Patrick Lussier were in line to do...

Bloody Disgusting: So what is the status with 'Hellraiser'? Are you guys still involved?

Todd Farmer: I don’t think so. We developed several versions for Dimension, but in the end we never saw eye to eye creatively. We wish them the best and look forward to seeing what they come up with.

BD: How did you get involved in the first place?

TF: We expected when we came back from 'Drive Angry' that we would jump on 'Halloween 3D'. But they wanted to do 'Hellraiser' first, and we were sort of intrigued by the idea. We’ve done probably three different outlines at this point; we haven’t gone to script yet.

BD: Would it be a sequel, or a reboot?

TF: It’s not a sequel, Clive’s already told his story. Basically we wanted to reboot, take his world and tell a new story inside his world. The current story is extremely different from the story we pitched. It’s changed dramatically since we started, and it will probably change a lot more before it’s all over.

BD: Was it something that you and Patrick developed together?

TF: Yeah, before 'Drive Angry' we pitched 'Halloween', 'Hellraiser', and 'Scanners' to Bob Weinstein. We did our draft of 'Halloween' right before we went off to do 'Drive Angry', then, right AFTER 'Drive Angry' they asked us to do 'Hellraiser'. Originally what they wanted was epic and dark, rated R. It was in our contract. So... if WE do 'Hellraiser', it’s rated R; if they want to do PG-13 then they have to get rid of us.

BD: So is 'Halloween' in the same boat? Do they want to go PG-13 with that as well?

TF: I know PG-13’s always discussed. To me it seems impossible to do 'Hellraiser' as a PG-13, and it seems DIFFICULT to do 'Halloween' as PG-13. What we wrote was definitely not PG-13. Probably the biggest change is that since so much time has gone by, is that I don’t think a sequel to Rob’s 'Halloween II' would still play, so I’m not sure that our original script would work. We literally started ours five minutes before Rob’s movie ended. So much time has gone by... there have been other things discussed, other ways to tell that story.

BD: And unlike Hellraiser you actually DID write a complete script for 'Halloween 3D', right?

TF: Yeah, I think it was September of 2009, we had eight days to write the script if we were going to prep it, shoot it, and wrap it before we had to go prep for 'Drive Angry', it was all supposed to be done very fast. At the end of the day there was just no time or money to pull it off.

BD: Now that 3D is seemingly not a big draw anymore, you think it might be 2D if/when it happens? Was the 3D element really important in the script?

TF: We had some “Comin at ya!” stuff written into it, but it could be done 2D. I think 'My Bloody Valentine' and 'Drive Angry' both play great in 2D perfectly well. I don’t know what THEY’RE thinking, but if I was the boss, I wouldn’t do it in 3D at this point. I think 'Final Destination' is a perfect movie to do in 3D, I don’t know if 'Halloween' is. It’s still huge overseas though, but I think people are just tired of it here in the States. James Cameron style epics will keep 3D alive, not this other stuff.

BD: But they still want SOMETHING with the 'Halloween' name, right?

TF: Absolutely. The date has been set. October of 2012. And even that can be pushed forward if the movie’s ready, like the last couple. They’re listening to ideas and pitches... I don’t know what the future holds, but I know there will be another one.

BD: Another horror director hinted last week he went in for a meeting on a slasher franchise and they want it to be found footage... tell me that’s not what they’re doing for 'Halloween'.

TF: There’s another slasher franchise that’s discussing found footage, I think that’s the one he was talking about, not 'Halloween'. But again, if they’re no longer following Rob’s movie, then what DO you do? So I know found footage was brought up as an idea, but there were a bunch of things that were mentioned. I know I’m not a fan of doing Michael Myers with found footage, but that’s just me. I like found footage when I can go in and believe that it’s possibly real, like 'Paranormal Activity' or even 'Blair Witch'. With Freddy or Michael or Jason, it seems harder to me – I know those guys aren’t real. Doesn’t mean it can’t be scary movie or even done well, if the right guy comes in with the right idea it could work.

BD: Give us a tease, what was your original 'Halloween 3D' story?

TF: Basically we opened at the end of Rob’s movie; the whole first act is the end of Rob’s movie, at the end of which Michael is killed. But instead of Scout stabbing Michael... Rob had these visions and things, so we had it so that she thinks she’s killing Michael, but it’s a vision and she’s actually been stabbing Loomis. And then Michael puts the mask on her and she stumbles outside (as we see in the theatrical version of 'Halloween II'), and then when she takes the mask off that’s when we’d switch to 3D. It would be flat until then. Anyway, Laurie survives and is taken to a mental institution, and then Michael returns, but it’s not Rob’s Michael that returns, it’s the Shape – he stalks, he gets the original white mask back, and the coveralls. So it’s still in Rob’s world, but with the Carpenter version of Michael. And of course we had a great role for Tom Atkins; he’d be playing the doctor of the hospital. And the whole time the TV in the rec room would be playing the Silver Shamrock theme, and at one point Atkins would walk by and yell (Farmer switches to a damn good Atkins impression) “Turn that shit off!” And I’d keep my pants on this time. Also, there was never anyone cast. Our intention was to bring his cast back, but it never got that far. Scout may have seen an outline, but no one was ever in negotiations, I’m certain no one was officially attached.

BD: But it was going from the theatrical ending of 'Halloween II', not the director’s cut version?

TF: Yeah, when we were hired the theatrical was all that was available. We never saw Rob’s original ending.

BD: So what is next for you, for sure?

TF: Well Patrick and I are pitching a TV show. And we’re also pitching a horror movie based on an idea Patrick and I had, I don’t want to say the name. Someone had a script, and it’s not the best script I’ve ever read, but it’s not the worst either... it was similar, so we figured out a way that we could take our idea and slide it into this script. Kind of excited for that, see how that goes. And then one other big juicy franchise that we are discussing a reboot on. We’ll probably piss off some people with that one, but I think we do remakes OK (laughs).

Thanks to Bloody-Disgusting for the interview.

'Beetlejuice 2' Finally Happening

Beetlejuice

 Finally, Beetlejuice 2 is happening...

There’s been talk of a “Beetlejuice” sequel for years – Michael Keaton has said the time is ripe to reprise the Ghost with the Most; co-star Geena Davis told our own Clint Morris that she’d definitely consider being a part of any follow-up, and original director Tim Burton was supposedly, at one stage, even writing the return to an afterlife that looks a hell of a lot like a Warner Bros stage.
Now it’s official, there’s a new “Beetlejuice” movie coming. Question is : will Keaton, Davis or even Burton be involved?
That we don’t know yet. What we do know is that the film will have a Burton connection, though.
According to Deadline, author and screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith (Burton’s “Dark Shadows”) and producing partner David Katzenberg will spearhead the sequel – and yes, it’s a sequel, not a remake (1 point to Warner).
“We first got to know Seth through his fantastic work on [Tim Burton's] Dark Shadows, and it immediately became a priority to expand our relationship with him,” said Warner Bros production president Greg Silverman. “Seth introduced us to David, who greatly impresses us with the vision for KatzSmith from the very first meeting. We firmly believe in their talents and are extremely excited to welcome them to the Warners family.”
Grahame-Smith is responsible for the books ”Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” and ”Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”, both of which are being turned into films as we speak. They’re great reads so he’ll no doubt write a good “Beetlejuice” movie – - one a lot more appealing than that ‘Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian’ thing that was kicked about in the early ’90s.
But.. will it be the “Beetlejuice” we know and love? I.do.not.know.
Personally, I can’t see Geena Davis, let alone Alec Baldwin or Winona Ryder (who co-starred in the original film), reprising their roles for the sequel. There’s a better chance of Michael Keaton returning to reprise the role of Beetlejuice, I guess, since it’s one of his trademark roles – - but then, this is the studio that tossed Robert Englund out of the ‘Freddy Krueger’ role (a role Englund had been playing and perfected since ’84) in favour of a ‘bigger name’ so don’t put it past the shingle to dump Keaton and bring in say, Johnny Depp (Oh god, that’s who they’re going to get aren’t they!? Especially if Burton’s onboard as a producer, which I assume he will be?) or some other… no, it’ll be Depp, won’t it? Sigh. If we all post Michael Keaton’s name three times in the comments section of this article maybe he’ll get the gig!?
More news on “Beetlejuice 2″ shortly I imagine.

Thanks to Moviehole for the story.

'Se7en' Sequel 'Solace' Gets Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins is officially attached to the quasi-sequel to Se7en, now titled Solace.

Anthony Hopkins, famous for skinning the innocent in “Silence of the Lambs”, is in talks to front the serial killer flick “Solace”. If the title sounds familiar that’s because it was originally designed as a sequel to the 1995 beautie “Se7en”.
The project has been rewritten, and Morgan Freeman’s cop character replaced with Anthony Hopkins’ psychic doctor. Which is funny, because that’s how the project started – with a future-seeing doc.
David Fincher, director of the Brad Pitt/Freeman/Head-in-a-box classic, refused to get involved in a sequel to “Se7en”, but New Line carried on without him – - for a while. In 2002 they snapped up “Solace”, a spec script by “Ocean’s 11″ scribe Ted Griffin, which tells of a former doctor with psychic abilities who works for the FBI and is drawn into a unique serial killer case that pits him against a ”formidable foe”. The film was rewritten as a “Se7en 2″ with the doctor becoming Morgan Freeman’s Somerset character from the earlier film.
For one reason or another, the film didn’t happen – - well, not the incarnation of it anyway.
So now it’s “Solace” – and there’s no Morgan Freeman, just Tony Hopkins as the new character John Clancy.
Peter Morgan (“Frost/Nixon”) wrote the most recent draft of the script; Contrafilm partners Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson are producing the elevated genre pic, while Matthias Emcke and Thomas Augsberger (“Mr. Brooks”) will exec produce. No director attached as yet.
Guessing a “Se7en” sequel without Fincher would’ve sucked anyway, right? This is probably better..

Thanks to Moviehole for the scoop.

Slideshow/Teaser For 'American Reunion'

Check out a new slideshow/teaser for American Reunion below.  Honestly, as simple and unspoilery as this is, it has gotten me totally excited for this new film...