After the jump, I’ve got the trailer for A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas, a 3D romp starring those two guys who’ll be forever known as Harold and Kumar. It looks reasonable funny and not super ambitious, as we’ve come to expect of Harold and Kumar movies. I still can’t believe I’m referring to that in the plural. I’d love to go back in time to 2004, when the first Harold and Kumar movie came out and just stand in line blowing people’s minds. “Yeah, so this goofy little stoner movie is going to go on to spawn two sequels. …No, seriously. And that’s not all. We’re gonna elect a black guy president, he’s going to appoint the Indian stoner dude to some UN Commission… and you remember Doogie Howser? Yeah, he’s in this movie! He plays some crazy poonhound dude, and he has this huge career resurgence. Oh, and I forgot to mention: he’s gay! That’s right: seven years from now, there are going to be three Harold and Kumar movies, Kumar works for the president, and thanks in part to a cameo in a stoner movie, Doogie Howser is openly gay, super respected, and a household name.” Read the rest of this entry »

The long-rumored Bad Santa sequel took another step towards becoming reality today with The Wrap reporting that Billy Bob Thornton is in talks to return to the franchise, being produced by The Weinstein Company in partnership with Miramax.  “Officially in talks” is of course one step closer than the last time we heard about it, when it was Billy Bob reporting that “there’s been talk” of it.  If everything goes well, and Billy Bob starts wearing Harvey Weinstein’s ring, they’ll be considered to be “going around,” and I don’t think I have to tell you how serious that is.  As long as no one accidentally insults The Boxmasters, or makes him sit in antique furniture, or brings up Komodo dragons, everything should be fine.

Meanwhile, Tom Arnold is talking up a True Lies sequel now that Arnold Schwarzenegger is through playing governor. It would be a great role for Tom Arnold, because pretty much anything would be.

“We [Arnold and Schwarzenegger] have both read the script. There is a script that James Cameron and a guy named Jeff Eastin, who created the TV show ‘White Collar,’ wrote. It is really great. Jim can’t direct it. But he can produce it. We hope it gets done. We have a few fun things we want to do. I am supposed to remain cool about this. For me, it would be a lot of fun to work with the guys again.” [Movieweb via Moviefone]

True Lies is one of my favorite James Cameron movies, so I’d love to see a sequel.  But keep in mind, “in talks” and “there’s been talk” are still four to five steps of development ahead of “Tom Arnold really wants to do it.”

According to a report by BoxOfficeMojo, 2011 will feature the release of 27 sequels, an all-time high (the previous high was 24, in 2003).  That number doesn’t include remakes, movies based on toys (Stretch Armstrong), or movies based on board games (Battleship), but on the plus side, it *does* include Johnny English Reborn.  Yay, Mr. Bean!  I like the part where he makes silly faces!

Of the 27 sequels, nine are second movies (Cars 2, Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules, The Hangover Part II, Happy Feet 2, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, Johnny English Reborn, Kung Fu Panda 2, Piranha 3DD [!], Sherlock Holmes 2), up from eight in 2010. Five are third movies (Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked [!!], Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, Madea’s Big Happy Family, Paranormal Activity 3, Transformers: Dark of the Moon), down from seven in 2010.

Deeper cut sequels will be well represented all the way up to No. 8. There’ll be the highest number of fourth movies ever, tallying five (Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Scream 4, Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Part One)). Fifth movies will also have their largest showing yet, numbering five (Fast Five, Final Destination 5, Puss in Boots, X-Men: First Class, Winnie the Pooh) [I initially read this as "X-Men: First Class: Winnie the Pooh," which I like better]. There will also technically be two seventh movies (The Muppets, Rise of the Apes) and one mighty eighth entry (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two). (None of this is counting New Year’s Eve, which may or may not be a sequel to Valentine’s Day, or The Thing, which may be a prequel.)

Ugh.  27 sequels.  The only way that could be worse is if it was a Katherine Heigl movie.  I think I speak for everyone here when I say “Ah, catfarts!”

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Today in trade news, it sounds like Bat Mitsvah DJ Paul Rudd is finally catching a break.  Good for him, such a nice boy.

Universal Pictures has signed Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann to star in the Untitled Judd Apatow Project.
featuring an original story with characters created by Rudd and Mann in Knocked Up.
Apatow is writing, directing and producing the June 1, 2012 release, produced by Barry Mendel and Clayton Townsend. [ComingSoon]

So basically, a Knocked Up sequel/spinoff focusing on the Paul Rudd/Leslie Mann relationship.  I’m a Judd Apatow nuthugger from way back, so you throw in Paul Rudd to boot, and I’ll be the first one in line for a ticket, all dressed up like a cholo on Easter.  Hopefully there’s even a part in it for Katherine Heigl, as Leslie Mann’s totally-not-shrewish younger sister who drives well and loves math.

[gif source]

Step Up this week cemented its reputation as the only thing that will survive the nuclear holocaust besides cockroaches and the Saw franchise. Despite having to hire a C-Tates impersonator for the last film and director Jon Chu going off to direct the Justin Bieber biopic, according to ComingSoon, Summit Entertainment took out an ad in Variety yesterday to announce plans to make “Step Up 4Ever”, which I’m sure I don’t have to tell you is the sequel to Step Up 2 the Streets and Step Up 3D.

In the ad, they announce that the studio “looks forward to doing it again in 2012 with ‘Step Up 4Ever’ in 3D.” [ComingSoon]

Aw, hell yeah, girl. And by 3D, we mean Dancing, Dancing, and DEEEEEEEEZ NUTS!  Meanwhile, I got in touch with a source over at Summit and was able to obtain this EXCLUSIVE VIDEO CLIP from the film:

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