Continuing its extended streak of decline, the box office was down almost 30 percent this weekend from the same weekend last year. It’s too early to tell, but for my money, this story is a perfect example of the kind of visionary thinking that’s going to turn this whole thing around! Len Wiseman, director of Live Free or Die Hard and the Total Recall remake, is in talks to direct a reboot of The Mummy for Universal. You remember The Mummy, right? The infamous horror villain whose only power is a limp and was only useful as a last-minute Halloween costume for poor kids? Well I think I speak for all of us when I say “PLEASE MAKE SIX MORE MOVIES ABOUT THIS, HOLLYWOOD OH GOD I CAN’T GET ENOUGH.”

For the record, the last Mummy movie was The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (aka The Mummy 3), which came out in 2008. Though there were also the spinoff Scorpion King movies, and there were three of those, the last one starring Ron Perlman and Billy Zane.

Universal Pictures is setting Len Wiseman to direct The Mummy, the reboot of a franchise whose most recent incarnation grossed $1.25 billion over three films. Jon Spaihts is writing the script and the studio is eyeing a potential summer 2014 release, so things are moving quickly, with Universal eager to ramp back up one of its most venerable franchises.
The film is being produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci through their Universal-based K/O Paper Products. Latter two produced the version launched by Steve Sommers which starred Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. That trilogy was based on the Karl Fruend-directed Boris Karloff starrer that the studio made in 1932.
“When I first heard Universal was relaunching this, that is the image that popped into my head, the period tale, the old monster, but when Bob and Alex pitched it, there was a great new take and approach, and a very different mummy as well,” Wiseman told me. “It’s a darker twist on the material, a scarier version.”

HOLY SH*T, YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE IT DARKER AND MORE GRITTY?! THIS IS AN APPROACH I’VE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE! Of course, it’s true that I just fell off the turnip truck.

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According to Vulture, Disney is planning a reboot remake† of The Rocketeer, their 1991 film directed by Captain America‘s Joe Johnston in his second feature. I was sitting here trying to come up with something, anything interesting about The Rocketeer, and the best I could come up with was that Jennifer Connelly played the love interest in it, which means that she’s been hot for 20-plus years. Impressive.

Now that Disney’s troubled movie studio is under new management, our spies tells us that, curiously, one of the first properties to be developed for a feature film is a reboot of 1991’s thirties-set adventure film, The Rocketeer.
In it, a racing pilot named Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell) discovers a rocket-pack prototype in his stunt plane, hidden there by the gangsters who stole it from Howard Hughes.
The Rocketeer was first published in 1982 by tiny (and now, sadly, defunct) Pacific Comics, and was conceived by artist Dave Stevens as an homage to the serial action heroes of the thirties. By the time Disney released The Rocketeer in 1991, Pacific had already been liquidated for half a decade. Stevens lost a battle with leukemia in March 2008
We’re told the studio will soon be meeting with various writers to come up with a take. But its reappearance at Disney now, of course, begs the question: Why? [Vulture]

Why? Because it’s quasi-superhero-esque, duh. The Avengers made a billion dollars, and The Dark Knight Rises will surely get there, so if you have something in your back catalog that looks kind of like Iron Man, what do you think you’re going to do? I’m sure it will be a bland Disney film, but the original did involve jetpacks and Nazi Zeppelins, so who knows? More importantly, all of this led me to this gif:

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"I'm puttin' this whole town in my reahview."

Big news on the men-in-tights front today, as Variety reports that Joe Carnahan is in talks to direct a reboot of Daredevil, a blind lawyer last played by Ben Affleck in his all-time worst non-Gigli role. Carnahan last drew raves for directing The Grey, and hey, why not instead of Daredevil, make another movie about Liam Neeson punching wolves but I digress. Fox currently has the rights Daredevil, but only if they put it into production by October 10th. The big story today is that Marvel is reportedly offering Fox an extension on its license in exchange for some characters from the Fantastic Four universe (which Fox still owns), specifically Galactus and Silver Surfer.

Now, I never read comic books as a kid and I’m usually the first person to point out how dumb they are and dole out swirlies, but even I have to admit that a massive space giant who eats planets is pretty f*cking badass. Plus, it could be a great comeback role for Kilmer.

Fox is in discussions with Joe Carnahan to direct what’s been described as a “Frank Miller-esque, hardcore 70s thriller” take on blind Hell’s Kitchen superhero Matt Murdock — a vision that would deviate from Disney/Marvel’s family-friendly tone. Carnahan has yet to receive an official offer, though multiple sources tell Variety that he’s the choice. But Fox also has something Marvel wants: Sources say Marvel would give Fox more time to make DAREDEVIL in return for the rights to use characters from the FANTASTIC FOUR universe, including the giant, world-devouring supervillain Galactus, rumored to play a key role in future Marvel pics. Marvel is also eyeing future use of Silver Surfer, who in the comicbooks brokered a deal to serve as Galactus’ herald in order to save his home planet. (Fox owns rights to the Silver Surfer as part of its deal for FANTASTIC FOUR, which the studio is also rebooting with CHRONICLE helmer Josh Trank.) At this point, the ball is said to be in Fox’s court, with talks expected to resume later this week. [Variety]

A Daredevil movie Marvel wasn’t planning to do anything with anyway in exchange for a planet swallower and Silver Surfer seems like a much better deal for Marvel, but it’s also going to be hard for Fox to turn down. But then, Galactus and Silver Surfer were the only intriguing things about Fantastic Four, so who knows if they’ll want to give that up. “Oh, you mean we get to keep the stretchy dude? Gee, thanks.”

It’s all speculation at this point, but this much is for certain: I’m only interested in a “Frank Miller-esque” story if Frank Miller stays far, far away from it.

Earlier this week, DreamWorks Animation spent a ton of money to make two tons of money, as the company purchased Classic Media and all of the popular animated titles that come with it. For $155 million, DreamWorks is now in the driver’s seat for rebooting some of the most popular cartoons of past generations. Ain’t none of this Spongebob Liberalpants baloney that your kids are being brainwashed with today. No sir.

According to Moviefone, this deal is basically a cash cow that will probably net DreamWorks billions as the company re-introduces franchise after franchise. But there’s just one pain-in-the-ass obstacle standing in the way.

The plan for the re-christened DreamWorks Classic is to develop new adventures for this library of characters on the big screen.

However, it’s not going to be without some complications: Classic Media doesn’t own all of its characters outright so it’s going to take a couple of years to get rights issues sorted out (in this regard, it’s very similar to Disney’s acquisition of Marvel Comics). Either way, DreamWorks has already gotten started on a “Mr. Peabody and Sherman” movie, set for November 2013.

The most notable Classic Media titles that DreamWorks won’t benefit from for quite some time are The Lone Ranger (currently a Jerry Bruckheimer Films project) and Where’s Waldo? (being produced by MGM), as those are currently being produced by other studios.

Classic Media’s catalog doesn’t feature too many titles that haven’t received the feature film treatment – notably Archie and Magnus: Robot Fighter – as plenty of other titles have already come and gone, including Casper, Dick Tracy, Dudley Do-Right, Fat Albert, Felix the Cat, George of the Jungle, Gumby, He-Man, Lassie, Mr. Magoo, Richie Rich, Rocky & Bullwinkle, and Underdog.

If anything, this is absolutely fantastic news for Brendan Fraser.

We’ve known since 2008 that the Highlander franchise was being rebooted, and we learned last year that the newest tale of the MacLeod clan was being rushed into production. But the big question was – who the hell’s gonna be chopping them heads off? Worry your little hearts no more, lads and lasses, because Ryan Reynolds is immortally yours.

Reynolds will play Conner MacLeod, a Highlander who discovers he is one of a dwindling group of immortals who wander the earth and kill each other in combat for the final “Prize” – immortality.

The remake is set to be helmed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who is also in negotiations to rewrite the script. Neal Moritz and Peter Davis will produce the film. (Via The Tracking Board)

The star of the poorly-received Green Lantern, Reynolds will reportedly not be returning for that sequel, but he’s still riding the potential comic book film franchises pretty hard with R.I.P.D due out next year and Deadpool still in development. So consider a run with the Highlander franchise as some strong job security.

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