DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 62

HELLBOYMore images from Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy movie have been released (belowand below-right),and all look very promising for fans of the comic-book series my Mike Mignol. ALEXANDERVal Kilmer has joined the cast of Alexander, effectively leaving MichaelMann’s Collateral in doing so. Collateral stars Tom Cruise as a contractkiller who takes a cab driver (Jamie Foxx) hostage and forces him todrive him around town on a series of hits.

ALIEN 5Ridley Scott was interviewed by ‘DVD Rama’ and stated he has been incontact with ‘Fox’ about returning for Alien 5: “‘Fox’ and SigourneyWeaver have contacted me; they want to conclude this series with the onewho has begun it. But there are not even serious talks.”

“I don’t really know what I could do… unless I go back to thequestions stated in the first episode. Where does the crashed ship onthe planet with this mysterious extra-terrestrial come from? We couldwonder whether massive destruction weapons, which could threaten theEarth, had been used or not. I could be inspired by The War Of TheWorlds…”

ALIEN VS PREDATOR’Variety’ reports that actor Lance Henriksen has signed onto thecrossover movie, to be directed by Paul W.S Anderson (Resident Evil).Henriksen will play an evil billionaire industrialist – but it’s notknown if there will be a link to his role as android Bishop in Aliensand Alien 3. BEWITCHED’Upcoming Movies’ received word on the plotline for the movie adaptationof TV series Bewitched. The movie, written by Nora Ephron, has Samantha(Nicole Kidman) as a witch from a magical world arriving on Earth toescape the bother of her family. Once there, she’s hired as an actressin a TV sitcom about a witch who falls in love with a mortal man calledDarrin Stephens. BLADE – TRINITYActress Parker Posey (Scream 3) has joined the cast of Blade Trinity asa vampire. David Goyer – writer of the first two films – will write anddirect this final instalment of the vampire action series starringWesley Snipes. THE BROTHERS GRIMMMonica Bellucci (The Matrix Reloaded) has signed to play the Evil Queenin Terry Gilliam’s whimsical The Brothers Grimm, now shooting in Prague.

CATWOMANThe first image of Halle Berry in the new Catwoman suit has beenrevealed and it looks, er, ridiculously dated, frankly! But we’ll seehow it looks onscreen… (see right) DIE HARD 4’The Z Review’ suggests that Vin Diesel is being considered as thevillain in the fourth Die Hard movie with Bruce Willis. THE FANTASTIC FOUR’Upcoming Movies’ reports that the character of Johnny Storm (a.k.a TheHuman Torch) in the Fantastic Four movie – now due for release in 2005 -will only “flame on” his hands to keep the budget down! LOGAN’S RUNDirector Bryan Singer (X-Men 2) is apparently involved with a plannedremake of classic ’70s sci-fi adventure Logan’s Run… MAGNUM, P.IThat’s right; the ’80s series starring Tom Selleck is to be adapted intoa movie by Austin Powers co-writer Michael McCullers. The film willfocus on “a former Naval intelligence officer hired to head security atthe estate of wealthy absentee owner Robin Masters. Magnum uses themansion as a base to work his own detective cases, employing theresources of the estate owner that included the signature red 308 GTSFerrari.”

THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS’The Maverick Records’ soundtrack to The Matrix Revolutions will bereleased on 4 November – one day before the movie’s release. Thesoundtrack comprises over an hour of music, including “In My Head” byPale 3, which plays in the Merovingian’s Hell Club (3:46), two cues thatfeature Don Davis’ collaboration with Juno Reactor, a 9 minute endcredit re-mix of Don Davis’ “Super Burly Brawl” music by Juno Reactor,and 45 minutes of orchestral underscore by Don Davis.

In related news, The Matrix Revolutions will premiere around the worldat exactly the same time! 5 November – 6 a.m. in Los Angeles, 9 a.m. inNew York, 2 p.m. in London, 5 p.m. in Moscow, 11 p.m. in Tokyo, etc.

The Matrix Revolutions: The IMAX Experience will also debut at IMAXTheatres in the U.S on 5 November. This is the first time a majorHollywood movie has been released on 35mm and IMAX’s revolutionary 15/70format simultaneously.

SHANGHAI DAWNA sequel to Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights – entitled Shanghai Dawn(clever, see?) – will definitely happen, according to star Jackie Chan.Supposedly this new film will feature Egypt. SUPERMAN’Superman-V’ spoke exclusively with producer Dan Henderson about how thetroublesome production on the new Superman movie is going. Hendersonsaid: “No casting is taking place… [Charlie’s Angels director] McGhasn’t signed… Jon Peters is one of the producers and J.J. Abrams is[still] the writer.”

Owen Paterson is still the movie’s Production Designer and Kym Barrettthe Costume Designer. At present Henderson says the project is indevelopment and that they are working closely on improving thescreenplay.

TENACIOUS Dwww.tenaciousd.com reports that Jack Black’s movie based on his bandTenacious D has been written and will begin production for a late-2004release. The movie is currently entitled Tenacious D: In The Pick OfDestiny.

SPY HUNTERWWE superstar The Rock will indeed take the lead in a movie adaptationof video-game series Spy Hunter.

The Rock will play an ex-jet jockey who now uses his high-tech vehicleto track down an outfit of nefarious former espionage agents.

‘Universal’ wants the film to start shooting in 2004 for a summer 2005release – to contend with Star Wars Episode III and Indiana Jones 4.

THE THREE STOOGESThe Farrelly Brothers will definitely write and direct a movie based onThe Three Stooges for ‘Warner Brothers’.

‘Sony’ originally held the movie rights to the project but let themexpire, allowing ‘Warner Brothers’ to step in. The Farrelly’s apparentlyspent last winter and spring writing a a contemporized script with MikeCerrone featuring the Moe, Larry and Curly characters.

UNDERWORLD II & IIIDespite mixed reviews, Underworld has done enough business to ensure asequel and a prequel – are under serious consideration.

Director Len Wiseman confirmed, saying: “There’s actually a sequel and aprequel that was mapped out when we sold this film. [Co-writer] DannyMcBride and myself – there was so much that we wanted to tell in thisstory that it was getting a bit confusing for us to map out all thehistory and the wars. We said, ‘You know what? Let’s map out a longstory that would maybe span out three films and let’s then be able totell our film in the middle.'”

“But we had to kind of map out the whole thing to get to the point wherewe are now because it does have a lot of layers in it. But we do want totell a lot of that back story and I’m obsessed with going back to theDark Ages and showing the war when it was legions of werewolves fightingan army of vampires on horseback, invading their castle.”

“I think that would be insane visuals! So that’s a bit of what thesequel is. We are already in the deal for the sequel and the studiosincredibly excited about it. I think the 15 minutes [of the sequel] willbe a prequel for the sequel, much like an ‘Indiana Jones & the LastCrusade’ type of situation.”

X-MEN 3’Fox’ are trying to sign Hugh Jackman to a two-picture deal for theactor to continue playing Wolverine in their X-Men franchise. JamesMarsden (Cyclops) and Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler) have already signedfor X-Men 3.

Jackman is rumoured to net $20 million to reprise his role in anothersequel, and a possible spin-off movie that will feature Kelly Hu (LadyDeathstrike) and Tyler Mane (Sabretooth).

A source from ‘Fox’ has said: “X3, right now is quiet. No meetings havetaken place, regarding the third film, but may begin in 2004. AWolverine film, is also on our to-do list, but is in the same boat asX3.”

The Matrix Revolutions – Full Theatrical Trailer

The final trailer for the final chapter of The Matrix Trilogy has beenreleased on the official website. As expected, the trailer is absolutelyfantastic, giving some truly remarkable glimpses at the action (withalmost no bullet-time, but serious amounts of sci-fi hardware!)

Most interestingly are: glimpses of a blue sky with a crescent moon, Neodestroying Sentinels while blindfolded, huge armoured “power suits” wornby the people of Zion as 250,000 Sentinels attack their city, hundredsof Agent Smith clones lining a rain-soaked street, and Neo addressing aspherical A.I in the machine city of Zero One!

Even for those somewhat deflated by Reloaded this summer, Revolutionslooks like a truly amazing conclusion to an impressive movie trilogy.

All figures are weekend box-office gross.

• 1. The Rundown ($18.5m)
• 2. Under the Tuscan Sun ($9.7m)
• 3. Underworld ($9.4m)
• 4. Secondhand Lions ($8.2m)
• 5. The Fighting Temptations ($6.3m)
• 6. Once Upon a Time in Mexico ($5.0m)
• 7. Duplex ($4.6m)
• 8. Cold Creek Manor ($4.4m)
• 9. Matchstick Men ($4.3m)
• 10. Lost in Translation ($3.6m)

UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)

• 1. Calendar Girls (£1.76m)
• 2. The Italian Job (2003) (£1.47m)
• 3. Underworld (£0.86m)
• 4. Once Upon a Time in Mexico (£0.84m)
• 5. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (£0.77m)
• 6. Matchstick Men (£0.56m)
• 7. American Pie 3: The Wedding (£0.26m)
• 8. Young Adam (£0.22m)
• 9. Ned Kelly (£0.21m)
• 10. Spy Kids 3D: Game Over (£0.17m)
• ??. Gigli (£0.01m) !

Note that these are UK release dates.