Despite The Proposal earning $315 million on a $40 million budget, Disney nixed plans for a sequel earlier this year.  But not to fear: Universal is bringing back the feature talent and entire creative team for another project.  Pete Hammond is already calling it “the best idea since fire.”

Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are reuniting on a new action comedy, tentatively titled Most Wanted. The project, a pitch from The Proposal screenwriter Peter Chiarelli, was purchased by Universal Pictures on Friday [for $1 million following a bidding war].  They are currently negotiating with The Proposal director Anne Fletcher to helm the film. The storyline for the movie revolves around a criminal (Bullock) being escorted to court by a U.S. Marshall (Reynolds). Both are ambushed on the way and are forced to go on the run.  [EW]

I can imagine how this pitch went down:

PROPOSAL WRITER: So… do you remember The Bounty Hunter?

UNIVERSAL CEO: (*IMDB’s The Bounty Hunter on Blackberry*)
Of course I do.  Go on.

PROPOSAL WRITER:  It’s that, but with likable actors.

UNIVERSAL CEO: (*hands Proposal Writer a million dollars*)  BUTLER! FETCH MY COCAINE!

Semi-related: The most patronizing Sandra Bullock gif in the history of the world:

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(That damned eagle is back!  Now he’s stealing Ryan Reynolds’ shirt!)

Rich Ross took over as president of Disney studios late last year, and though I don’t know much about him, he seems pretty gangster, and I like that.  First he killed Wild Hogs 2, then a horrible-sounding Robin Williams comedy called Wedding Banned, and now plans for The Proposal 2.  As a corporate suit his heart may not be in the right place, but as they say in church, the road to heaven is paved with bad intentions.  I dunno, something like that, it was hard to hear with the priest’s hands over my ears while I was blowing him.

The studio behind the original hit has told the producers that it’s not interested in making a follow-up to one of its biggest 2009 hits. It’s all part of Disney’s new edict to make, essentially, only two kinds of films: The $150 million-plus blockbuster with lots of CGI and merchandising (i.e., anything that was once a ride at Disneyland or already a Disney title; anything old or new from Pixar; or a major character at Marvel Studios, for which it paid $4 billion last year) or the $30 million project with young, cheap, on-the-cusp movie stars.

The franchise-intensive mantra came after Disney CEO Robert Iger admitted publicly and unflinchingly that 2009 had been “awful”: Having started the year with Confessions of a Shopaholic (domestic gross: $44 million) in the worst recession of all time, it then summered with the costly $150 million rodent flop G-Force (domestic gross: $119 million), and spent the end of the year eating turkey upon turkey: The Bruce Willis action flick Surrogates (domestic gross: $38 million) was laughable; the comedy Old Dogs (domestic gross: $48 million) was not. [Vulture]

So yeah, a guy who wants CGI franchises may not always be quality’s best friend, but no one complained when the Commies killed Hitler either.  Meanwhile, sources say that the news has left Pete Hammond suicidal.  Luckily, an eagle stole the knife that he cuts with.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS BELOW.

The People’s Choice Awards happened last night, and an eagle really stole the Blackberry when Sandra Bullock took home Favorite Movie Actress and The Proposal was declared best comedy.  Inglourious Basterds won “Favorite Independent Movie” because watching it made the voters feel all artsy.  Miley Cyrus took home “Breakout Movie Actress” which makes having a Kids Choice Awards seem kind of redundant, now doesn’t it.   In other news, tough luck, Rascal Flatts.  ;-(

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(I was trying to get a screencap of Sandra Bullock looking really retarded, but I couldn’t do any better than the actual poster)

According to a recent poll of theater owners, 2009 was the year when Sandra Bullock swooped down and stole America’s heart like an eagle stealing a BlackBerry.

In the eyes of U.S. movie theater owners, Sandra Bullock shined as 2009′s top Hollywood star at the boxoffice.  Quigley Publishing Co.’s annual list released on Thursday of top money making stars, based on a poll of hundreds of theater executives, had Bullock beating out such stars as George Clooney and Denzel Washington, on the strength of her roles in “The Proposal” and “The Blind Side.”
List does not rank stars only on how much cash their films made, but on what theater owners say about who attracts audiences on their star power alone.
For instance, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” was the top movie at U.S. and Canada boxoffices in 2009 with more than $400 million, but many in Hollywood attribute that to the appeal of the franchise itself and the toys it’s based on.
“Public Enemies” star Johnny Depp came in at No. 2 on Quigley’s top 10 list, followed by Matt Damon, George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf and Denzel Washington. [THR]

Sandra Bullock is so thoroughly unspectacular that you couldn’t possibly have an opinion about this.  Remember that South Park episode where the boys get diagnosed with ADHD and put on Ritalin, and the next thing you know they’re at a Phil Collins concert?  Sandra Bullock’s movies are like that.

Hey, gang, here’s a new segment in which I review movies you might see on an airplane. Because that’s where I saw them, get it? And just in time for the holidays, right? I thought so.

Even on Virgin America, the selection of films available on the plane isn’t always that great.  And once I was finished with 500 Days of Summer, that was pretty much it for movies I was actually interested in seeing.  The next best thing was The Proposal, which I always thought looked like a terrible rom-com, but made a ton of money, got decent reviews (especially from Pete Hammond) and even garnered a Golden Globe nomination for Sandra Bullock.  Maybe I was wrong?

So Sandra Bullock is Ryan Reynolds’ boss, a powerful New York book editor.  Of course she’s not just a bitch, she’s a caricature of “the bitch.”  She never smiles, she’s mean to everyone, and she hates puppy dogs.  (I’m not exaggerating that last part for effect, her character actually hates puppy dogs, even ones that looks like this.  Because subtlety is for fags.)  She’s Canadian (really? a super bitchy Canadian?), and just when she’s about to score a huge promotion, her Visa gets denied and she’s about to get deported.   She’s on the verge of losing the position she’s sacrificed friends, family, and a social life for (*RECORD SCRATCH*) unless, she can strongarm her assistant into this sham marriage thing.  And that is, as they say, The Proposal.

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