Volcano, Dante’s Peak; Deep Impact, Armageddon; No Strings Attached, Friends with Benefits; The Prestige, The Illusionist – that ideas come in twos in Hollywood is nothing new, but seriously, this rapture thing has gotten out of hand. We’ve already seen Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and this year brings the release of both This is the End, with Seth Rogen and James Franco, and Rapture-palooza, with Craig Robinson.

And now, today comes word of The Leftovers, a Damon Lindelof-produced HBO series about, you guessed it, life after the rapture. I’ll say this for it, it has a much better title than “Rapture-palooza.”

Justin Theroux has been cast in Damon Lindelof’s HBO pilot “The Leftovers.”

Drama, based on a novel of the same name written by Tom Perrotta, centers on life after the Rapture happens — and the people who didn’t make the cut, and are left behind in a suburban community.

Theroux will play Kevin Garvey, a chief of police and father of two who is trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy in this new world. The thesp recently appeared in feature film “Wanderlust,” and held a recurring role on NBC’s “Parks and Rec.”

Lindelof is exec producing and co-writing “The Leftovers” with Perrotta. Peter Berg, also an executive producer, is slated to helm the pilot. [Variety]

Okay, so this one’s a drama. Does that make it different enough? Does the idea of Peter “Join the Army, Motherf*cker” Berg directing intrigue you enough not to mind? I can’t decide, myself. All I know is that it seems like everyone had a similar idea right around the time Left Behind came out. It’s gonna suck when Kirk Cameron’s up in heaven eating Subway sandwiches, and all us sinners are down here with empty bellies like Belinda.

Read the rest of this entry »

A few months ago, we found out that Brett Ratner would be wheezing Cheeto crumbs and leaving nacho cheese fingerprints all over the script for Hercules, with the lead role to be played by The Rock, in a “graphic-novel-based” film produced by Peter “JOIN THE ARMY, MOTHERF*CKER” Berg. Now, Renny Harlin, who directed Deep Blue Sea, Cutthroat Island, Die Hard 2, and a John Cena movie, and who was basically Michael Bay before Michael Bay was Michael Bay, has signed on for a competing project called “Hercules 3D,” which is totally gonna be supes different from that other Hercules movie, you guys. I mean, for one thing, I hear the 3D goes up to 11.

“It’s not a comic book, cartoony fantasy thing,” Harlin tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s closer to Gladiator than flying horses.”
On the subject of the competing Hercules project, Harlin says, “I think these are very different kinds of movies in their approach to this legendary character. Obviously, Hercules has been portrayed in many different films, such as the Disney animated movie. I wish them luck. Ancient Greek mythology is an endless source of good stories … Let’s see both movies be successful.”
Millennium has begun pre-production on the $70-million-budgeted film and expects to cast its eight leading roles in the next few weeks. The company is eyeing a May production start on its lot in Sofia, Bulgaria, and hopes to have the movie ready for a March 2014 release.
The aggressive schedule is squarely aimed to beat Paramount and MGM’s rival Hercules project, which is being directed by Brett Ratner and is to star Dwayne Johnson. That movie is set for an Aug. 8, 2014, release.

Renny Harlin’s movies are awesomely sh*tty, and Hercules is every dumb studio exec’s brilliant plan to capitalize on The 300 (at one point there were three separate Hercules movies in development, I’m not sure how many there are now). This seems like a match made in dumb movie heaven. There aren’t many people besides Renny Harlin who could ever dream of out-dumbing a Brett Ratner movie starring a pro wrestler. Paul WS Anderson, maybe. Anyway, this is great news for Jason Momoa. Stay near the phone, dude.

Dwayne the Rock Johnson is one of the most likable and charismatic media personalities around and Brett Ratner is Hollywood’s most successful ass-kissing social climber, so it was probably inevitable that they’d one day cross paths (artist’s conception above). Turns out Ratner will be stalking craft services’ shrimp cocktail platter on Hercules, a graphic-novel-based The Rock vehicle being produced by Peter “JOIN THE ARMY, MOTHERF*CKER!” Berg.

The Brett Ratner-directed Hercules action film will be co-produced by Paramount and MGM, the companies announced today. Johnson and Ratner’s names have been attached to the project since early spring. The screenplay was adapted by Ryan Condal from Radical Studios’ graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars. [Deadline]

Expected to start shooting in 2013, the project is based on a comic called Hercules: The Thracian Wars, which is described thusly:

Nearly 3,200 years ago, a tormented soul walked the Earth as neither man nor god: Hercules, powerful son of the god-king Zeus, and for this he received nothing but suffering. After 12 arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods, finding solace only in bloody battle. Over the years, he warmed to the company of six similar souls, bonded by their love of fighting and the presence of death never questioning where they go or who they fight, just how much they will be paid. Now the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to turn his men into the greatest army of all time, which means training them to be as bloodthirsty and ruthless as their own reputation. It is time for this band of lost souls to finally have their eyes opened to how far they have fallen and the narrow, perilous path to their own redemption. [Screenrant]

So, Conan meets Clash of the Titans, basically? Also, the mercenaries redeem themselves by training other mercenaries to become bloodthirsty and ruthless? That’s… interesting. That synopsis read like six Tapout commercials simultaneously trying to rear naked choke each other. Look, here’s what to expect: A greased-up, shirtless Rock bonks dudes on the head while Ratner throws shrimp at him, and it makes $80 million.

I can’t tell if this clip of Peter Berg on an Israeli talk show (hat tip: Pajiba) makes me like him less or more, but I’m leaning towards more. Either way, I can tell you this: he’s definitely not boring. Ostensibly there to discuss the movie he directed, Battleship, the $300 million board-game-based turd Universal is currently drowning the rest of the world in ads for, Berg, to the astonishment of the host, instead jumped into a subject more dear to his heart: a nuclear Iran.

What the f*ck is gonna happen in Israel? You got Bibi [Israeli PM Netanyahu], and what’s the Secretary of Defense’s name? You have TWO MEN who are now dictating the policy towards Iran. It’s a real mess, because you’ve gotta decide whether it’s better, to allow Iran to be armed, and whether a nuclear Iran is less of a threat, than an attacked Iran. If you attack Iran now, they’re gonna fight you back, right? There’s gonna be blood. Israelis will die, right? No question. Would you rather take that now, or let them get a nuclear bomb. It’s the most serious issue facing our planet today.

And then comes probably the most epic fluff-piece pivot in the history of shitty entertainment show interviews…

More so than the movie Battleship, which, you know, I’m very excited to have directed, I love Rihanna, she’s a great actress, did a wonderful job in the film… My Dad was a Navy historian…

“If Iran gets a nuclear bomb, millions of Israelis are gonna die. Rihanna is great by the way. What were we talking about again? Oh right, those towelheads are probably gonna nuke you.”

Incredibly, the interview gets even better when he pivots back.

Read the rest of this entry »

Battleship opened in many territories overseas a month before it’s set to open here, and given that it’s a $200 million-plus movie ($209 million* according to the studio, $250-plus according to everyone else) based on a board game, its performance could have severe consequences for how many more of these pieces of shit get greenlit. Asia and the Euro Zone has been bombarded with relentless advertising for it (OMG! RIHANNA IN A SAILOR HAT!**), and sadly, it sounds like it seems to be working.

Universal’s Battleship continues to screen strongly overseas with estimates from Day 2 and Day 3 bringing the 72-hour total to $58 million with all 26 international territories now open. Director Peter Berg’s military vs alien actioner opened to #1 in 24 of those new territories.

– The UK opened #1 on Friday with an estimated $1.3M (£770). That’s ahead of Thor but behind Wrath Of The Titans and John Carter. The total with previews is $3.7M (£2.3M).

– Spain opened #1 with an estimated $900k (€681k), better than Iron Man.

– Germany opened #1 on Thursday with $900K, which is the biggest opening for an English language film in Germany this year. It continued #1 on Friday with $1.2M, equal to Iron Man but not as big as Transformers.

– Japan opened #1 with an estimated $900k (LC 72M), higher than Thor‘s opening day.

– Thailand opened #1 with $470K, which is the biggest opening day of 2012 and Universal’s 2nd biggest opening day ever (behind only Fast Five).

– Malaysia opened #1 with $390K, which is Universal’s biggest opening day of all time.

– Korea had another strong day and Battleship remains #1 with a three-day total of $4.2M (LC 4.7M) — better than Iron Man and Thor. [Deadline]

A movie about ships from space attacking an international force of obsolete naval vessels based on a boardgame is outgrossing Iron Man in almost every place. What can you even say about that? But while it seems disappointing, I see opportunity here. There’s still a chance that it could completely bomb domestically. LET’S GO, AMERICA! WE CAN SHOW THESE CHEESE-EATING ARMPIT FACTORIES WE’RE NOT AS DUMB AS EVERYONE SAYS! TWO-TIME WORLD WAR CHAMPS! USA! USA!

Read the rest of this entry »