DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 150

It’s certainly a unique evolution of Mel Brooks’ fantastic original, and TheProducers should become a huge success given its unfailing pedigree, when ithits theatres in December.

The one-sheet poster has just been released (see right).

CASINO ROYALE’Empire Online’ spoke to director Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, The Mask Of Zorro) aboutthe status of the next Bond movie, Casino Royale.

He said that there are more than the rumoured four contenders (Daniel Craig,Henry Cavill, Sam Worthington, Goran Visnjic), adding: “we’re still workingon the script, we’re casting. We’ve tested actors and we’re looking at teststo see how they come out, doing all that. As yet, nobody; we haven’t decidedon anybody – and I don’t think anybody is the front-runner. I think we’relooking at the tests very objectively, and taking our time with it becausethe point is that whoever plays it has to do three movies, it’s a hugecommitment.”

He added that the list of names is probably more like 8 or 10 right now, andthat they are searching for an actor at the age of “about 28, 30-31”.Campbell was also asked why Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby) was brought onboard to rewrite the script.

“If you read the book, the relationship between Bond and Vespa was a verycomplicated one. The idea was to get some character into her, to make her avery strong girl so she stands up to Bond; she’s his sort of equal.Certainly, psychologically speaking – and it needs someone like Paul to pullthat off. To bring out genuine character – and also to bring the humour.Gone will be the awful one-line clunkers. Hopefully there will be a littlebit of wit in this one.”

Campbell also confirmed that Casino Royale would be grittier and morerealistic than Die Another Day.

HALOThe movie adaptation of the hit XBOX video-game seems to be picking up somedecent pedigree, with news that director Peter Jackson (The Lord Of TheRings) will serve as producer on the movie alongside his partner Fran Walsh! HALLOWEENThe ‘New York Times’ reports that The Weinstein Company is expected to makeits biggest profits with two Michael Moore films in the next two years.

Fahrenheit 9/11.5 is a sequel to last year’s blockbuster and would examinethe run-up to the 2004 presidential election and is projected to deliver $47million in profit; while Sicko, about the health care industry and healthmaintenance organizations, is projected to deliver $52 million to the bottomline.

The newspaper also adds that the Weinsteins took with them rights to variousfranchises after separating from ‘Disney’ on 30 September, where they ran’Miramax Films’.

Under the separation agreement between the Weinsteins and ‘Disney’, thebrothers were given sequel rights to 15 franchise or potentially franchiseprojects, including a remake of Halloween.

They also took 13 TV projects from Disney, including future seasons ofProject Greenlight and Project Runway; a pilot called Emergency Sex, onUnited Nations aid workers; a potential reality series based on the movieRounders; and Dangerous Company, a series for ‘NBC’ based on a novel byPeter Bart, the editor of the trade publication ‘Variety’.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE IIIBritish actor Simon Pegg (Shaun Of The Dead, and Doctor Who, right) has landed himself a role indirector J.J Abrams’ Mission Impossible III, playing a colleague of TomCruise’s Ethan Hunt.

Abrams himself is clearly a British comedy fan, as he already cast TheOffice’s Ricky Gervais in Alias and Gervais was also set to star in M:I-3(in Pegg’s role?) Maybe John Cleese will show up in Lost?

All figures are weekend box-office gross.

• 1. Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of The Were-Rabbit ($16.0m)
• 2. Flightplan ($10.8m)
• 3. In Her Shoes ($10.0m)
• 4. Two For The Money ($8.7m)
• 5. The Gospel ($7.52m)
• 6. Corpse Bride ($6.51m)
• 7. Waiting… ($6.02m)
• 8. Serenity ($5.35m)
• 9. A History of Violence ($5.07m)
• 10. Into The Blue ($4.83m)

UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)

• 1. Serenity (£0.95m)
• 2. Pride and Prejudice (2005) (£0.90m)
• 3. Oliver Twist (2005) (£0.69m)
• 4. A History of Violence (£0.66m)
• 5. Kinky Boots (£0.62m)
• 6. Four Brothers (£0.46m)
• 7. Goal! (£0.39m)
• 8. Nochnoy dozor (£0.27m)
• 9. The 40 Year Old Virgin (£0.18m)
• 10. Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (£0.16m)

All the following are U.K. release dates, and are subject to change.

• 14th October 2005: Wallace & Gromit Movie: Curse of the Wererabbit, Lord of War, Out on a Limb, Domino (right)
• 21st October 2005: Nanny McPhee, Broken Flowers, Corpse Bride, Cry Wolf, Sky High, Into the Blue
• 28th October 2005: Doom, Flightplan, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Saw II, Thumbsucker, The Legend of Zorro
• 4th November 2005: Murderball, Elizabeth Town, Brothers Grimm, The Exorcism of Emily Rose
• 11th November 2005: The Constant Gardener, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Hustle & Flow, In Her Shoes
• 18th November 2005: Transporter 2, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Rize
• 25th November 2005: White Countess, Mad Hot Ballroom, The Matador, Mrs Henderson Presents, The Libertine, The Proposition, Just Like Heaven, Bee Season
• 2nd December 2005: Tickets, Keeping Mum, Ice Harvest, Where The Truth Lies, Family Stone
• 9th December 2005: Everything is Illuminated, The Chronicles of Narnia: Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Shopgirl
• 14th December 2005: King Kong (2005), Joyeux Noel
• 16th December 2005: Lassie (2005)
• 30th December 2005: Stray Dogs, Brokeback Mountain, Proof

Page Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2005.