The Hobbit Will Stay In New Zealand!

Well cut yourself a slice of lolly cake and hand over the lamingtons because it's time for a party Down Under. It looks like a deal has been reached between Warner Bros and the New Zealand government in order to settle the industrial dispute that threatened The Hobbit's attachment to the country.

Said New Zealand Prime Minister John Key in a statement, "I am delighted we have achieved this result. Making the two Hobbit movies here will not only safeguard work for thousands of New Zealanders, but it will also follow the success of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy in once again promoting NZ on the world stage."

At stake was the question of a distinction between employees and independent contractors, which was apparently unclear in New Zealand law. The plan is now to introduce legislation clarifying the distinction as it applies to the film industry, and as a bonus allow an additional tax rebate of up to $7.5m US per picture, so that Warners and New Zealand can get back to working on the film / romping through scenic hills and vineyards hand-in-hand.

That wailing and gnashing of teeth that you hear is coming from the tourist board offices of Ireland, Scotland and Canada, all of whom were hoping for a look-in this time. Ah well, there's always The Silmarilion, eh?

Avatar 2 And 3 Set For 2014 And 2015

It may be a no-brainer but it's officially official now: Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are happening, and are set for release in 2014 and 2015 after shooting back-to-back, with production set to start next year. James Cameron officially, 100% announced today that they will be his next films, but has not yet confirmed titles or any other details.

 

The news means that we have some exciting Christmases lined up for the next few years. This year we've got the new Narnia and Tron; next year it's Puss In Boots and Sherlock Holmes 2, then there's two years of The Hobbit planned for 2012 and 2013, and after that two Decembers rich in Avatar. It's like Santa's pulling the strings at Hollywood's big studios.

Rest assured that we'll be keeping an eye on this one as it goes forward. Y'know, probably. If we have a minute.

Hangover 2: One Night in Bangkok

Todd Phillips has revealed where The Hangover 2 is set.

In a chat with Empire, the director said, "It takes place in Bangkok and LA. ... There's gonna be some (expletive)-up surprises."

He added that returning cast members include Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow.

Phillips realizes he has an uphill battle against sequelitis on his hands. "I'm not delusional," the director told Empire. "I know what I'm up against. I saw Meet The Fockers. But we're aiming high. It's called The Hangover Part Two, you know."

Die Hard Again Next Year?

 

 

Bruce Willis says you can expect to see the big screen return of John McClane sooner than later.

In a recent chat with MTV, the action icon says Die Hard 5 could go before cameras as early as next year.

"It's probably going to happen in 2011," the Red star told MTV. "We have a script. They're making a couple changes right now."

Willis wouldn't cough up any plot details on the film, so sound off in the Comments below about what you'd like to see John McClane have to contend with next time around.

Is Zack Snyder's Superman a Good Thing?

Some of us would have slapped our own mama to see Darren Aronofsky's Superman movie.
Now, we'll just scream "This. Is. Sparta!!!" as we kick her down a death pit instead.

300 and Watchmen director Zack Snyder will make us believe a man can fly faster than a speeding bullet in shiny slow-mo, as he takes the center seat on Chris Nolan's Man of Steel reboot. We're still processing this fully, but What Say You?

Is Snyder's Superman the movie we need but don't deserve right now? Or vice versa? Will Doc Manhattan's junk have a cameo? Anyone else want Kal-El and some Legends of Ga'Hoole Owl fight action?

This is happening, guys. No Forget Everything Kiss at the end of Superman II can change it. So do you kneel before Zod in total worship of Snyder's Superman, or would you rather take Nuclear Man's Lee Press-On claw to the neck? Sound off like ya got a pair!

Read more: http://au.movies.ign.com/articles/112/1125479p1.html#ixzz11WEdLv6Z

Jason Bourne's New Director

 

 

Universal has found a new director for The Bourne Legacy, but will they also have to find themselves a new star as well?

Deadline reports that Tony Gilroy, who has scripted all of the films in the Bourne franchise including the pending fourth installment, is set to direct The Bourne Legacy, replacing Paul Greengrass, who helmed the last two entries in the series. (Doug Liman did the first film, The Bourne Identity.)

Gilroy won an Oscar nomination for writing and directing Michael Clayton, and most recently helmed the Julia Roberts-Clive Owen caper Duplicity.

Series star Matt Damon has previously said he would not reprise his role as Jason Bourne if Greengrass wasn't directing, but now Deadline claims Universal is willing to recast the role if need be. In other words, Bourne 4 will happen with or without Damon. No start or release date has been set yet for the film, which Deadline calls "a giant priority for Universal."

What do you think of a new actor playing Jason Bourne?

The Batman You Never Knew

An industrial heir becoming a superhero is nothing new. A real-life industrial heir playing one on the silver screen is. Alas, it was never meant to be for actor Armie Hammer, great-grandson of Arm & Hammer tycoon Armand Hammer, who was cast as Batman in the scrapped Justice League of America movie.

But the relatively unknown Armie Hammer ultimately found success in Hollywood after JLA imploded, currently appearing in this weekend's No. 1 movie The Social Network as the Winklevoss twins who sued the founder of Facebook claiming he stole their idea. In a recent chat with Ain't It Cool News, Hammer fondly recalled his brief stint as the screen's unsung Dark Knight. "I wore the full functioning Bat Suit. The batarangs were all titanium spring-loaded, they all worked," Hammer said of the costume that Weta made for him. 

 

Hammer continued, "I saw it all. Like I saw the prevised fight sequences. I saw the entire storyboarded film that he had in a room ten times the size of this room with storyboards floor to ceiling, so you walked around the entire room and read the movie like a comic book. What [director George Miller] did… He created something that was so magnificent and put so much work into it, the fact that it never got a chance to be seen by daylight or appreciated by those who really would appreciate this more than anything else… I mean he was bringing in the psychology of these characters more than anyone else ever had."

 

"We had psychiatrists with us in our rehearsal process to be like 'Why this?' He was like 'Well you see, with a delusional character like this, like the Batman, who thinks in this such a way, like a paranoid schizophrenic like this, this would be the motivating factor.' You bring so much more to these characters, because it's not just 'Well in this frame you are going to jump on top of this car and you are going to throw your Batarang.' It's like 'Why is everyone doing what they are doing, but in George Miller's true style.' He was going so in-depth in this."

Hammer added that his co-stars received very different training than he did, and that he later found out Miller was purposefully excluding him from group activities so as to drill home Batman's isolation from and paranoia about his JLA teammates.

Read more: http://au.movies.ign.com/articles/112/1125247p1.html#ixzz11QZ57gcF