DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 187

The WWII-set movie revolves around U.S Army Ranger B.J Blazkowicz, wholeads a team of agents into Castle Wolfenstein to investigate the Nazi SSParanormal Division.

Avary himself commented: “I’ve been playing the character of B.J.Blazkowicz since the epic Wolfenstein 3D first bruised my brain and have eversince wanted to bring his adventures to life on the big screen. It’s time tobust some dams, storm some bunkers and blow up some bridges.”

AVATAR

Sigourney Weaver has spoken about her role in James Cameron’s highly-anticipatedreturn to movies following Titanic in 1997. She will star in Avatar,a 3D sci-fi epic due for release on 22 May 2009.

Weaver: “It’s a fantastic movie. So ambitious. So romantic and sweeping. Ican’t wait to get back [to continue shooting].”

DEATH RACEDirector Paul W.S Anderson has signed Tyrese Gibson (Transformers) and JoanAllen (The Bourne Ultimatum) to star in his remake of Death Race 2000.

Those actors join stars Jason Statham in this sci-fi action movie about aviolent car race, now set in 2020.

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORKLen Wiseman (Die Hard 4.0) has been confirmed as directing the remake ofJohn Carpenter’s classic movie, with Gerard Butler (300) taking the role ofSnake Plissken. THE GREEN HORNETSeth Roger (Knocked Up) is writing the script for a movie based on theradio/comic-book superhero The Green Hornet, with his Superbad co-writerEvan Goldberg. JUSTICE LEAGUEDirector George Miller (Happy Feet) is interested in helming this WarnerBrothers superhero movie, based on the long-running comic.

The movie would be likely to involve a mix of heroes, such as: Superman,Batman, The Flash, Wonder Woman and The Green Lantern.

SPIDER-MAN 4Sam Raimi is looking for a writer to pen Spider-Man 4, despite probably notdirecting the next movie. Raimi confirmed this, saying: “I want to helpcontribute to the production. I don’t know if I’ll just be a producer on itbut if I can work with the writer in such a way so that directing would beright for me, I don’t know. We’ve had our first meeting on Spider-Man 4 andwe’re looking for the writer.”

THE LOST ADVENTURES OF STONE PERLMUTTER, JRJack Black (right) will star and produce this faux documentary, to be directed byPeter Huyk.

The story concerns recently discovered 1979 footage chronicling the disastrousjourney of an adventurer (Black), who travelled the world to find the Yeti,El Dorado, the lost tomb of Jesus and other mysteries.

SPIRITGabriel Macht (The Good Shepherd) has been signed to star in Spirit, thelatest comic-book adaptation from Frank Miller (Sin City/300). Macht willplay the eponymous character, a man who faked his own death so he can battlecrime in Central City.

A studio source said: “We think Gabriel has a devilishly charming quality,and the dry wit that embodies the Spirit, and we wanted to do this withsomeone who can embody this character for the next few years, because weanticipate we’ll be making more than one Spirit movie.”

Villains include The Octopus, a man intent on wiping out the entire city andwho kills anyone who sees his face. Samuel L. Jackson has been rumoured forthis part.

Shooting begins in October for a 2009 release.

All figures are weekend box-office gross:

• 1. The Bourne Ultimatum ($69.3m)
• 2. The Simpsons Movie ($25.1m) (total to date: $128m)
• 3. Underdog ($11.6m)
• 4. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry ($10.6m)
• 5. Harry Potter and the Inverted Pyramid of Piffle ($9.52m) (total to date: $261m)
• 6. Hairspray (2007) ($9.23m)
• 7. No Reservations ($6.59m)
• 8. Transformers (2007) ($6.02m) (total to date: $296m)
• 9. Hot Rod ($5.31m)
• 10. Bratz ($4.21m)

UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)

• 1. The Simpsons Movie (£4.02m) (total to date: £24.1m)
• 2. Transformers (2007) (£2.33m) (total to date: £14.5m)
• 3. Harry Potter and the Inverted Pyramid of Piffle (£1.47m) (total to date: £41.5m)
• 4. Evan Almighty (£1.15m)
• 5. Hairspray (2007) (£0.86m) (total to date: £7.86m)
• 6. Shrek the Third (£0.31m) (total to date: £36.7m)
• 7. Die Hard 4.0 (£0.24m) (total to date: £13.3m)
• 8. The Hoax (£0.09m)
• 9. Happily N’Ever After (£0.06m)
• 10. Cash (£0.05m)

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

• 10th August 2007: Licence To Wed, Waitress, Transylvania, The Walker, Surf’s Up, Rush Hour 3
• 17th August 2007: The Bourne Ultimatum, Left Holding Baby, Copying Beethoven, Hot Rod, Sparkle, Marigold, Bratz: The Movie
• 24th August 2007: Knocked Up, Lady Chatterley (2006), Shrooms, Seraphim Falls, Weirdsville, Sugarhouse, Wrong Turn 2, Pig Tale
• 31st August 2007: Hallem Foe, 2 Days in Paris, Rise of the Footsoldier, Death Sentence, 1408, Year of the Dog, No Reservations, Breach
• 7th September 2007: Distubia, Opera Jawa (2006), Run Fat Boy Run, Small Engine Repair, Atonement, The Lookout
• 14th September 2007: December Boys, In the Hands of the Gods, Superbad, A Few Days in September, 3:10 to Yuma, Shoot ‘Em Up, True North
• 21st September 2007: Mr Woodcock, Evening, Shine a Light, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, A Mighty Heart, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, The Brave One, As You Like It (2006), Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof
• 28th September 2007: Across the Universe, War, Michael Clayton, Rocket Science, When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan, Mrs Ratcliffe’s Revolution, Hatchet, Kenny

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