Filed under: Drama, Independent, Deals, Distribution

Last January, Chen Shi-Zheng’s Dark Matter premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. But that wasn’t enough to get it a sweet deal, or any normal deal for that matter. It took a year, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, the film finally has a North American distributor in First Independent Pictures. Now the award-winner will get an April release, which will be followed by a DVD release, the details of which are currently being finalized.

The film, which stars Liu Ye, Aidan Quinn (who replaced Val Kilmer), and Meryl Streep, is based on a true story of a Chinese student in 1991 whose mental stability unravels when his hopes for scientific greatness are dashed due to his school’s internal politics. Ye plays the student, Liu Xing, Quinn plays his cosmology professor who brings the international student onto his research team, and Streep plays Xing’s other mentor, a patron of the university. The twist — his mentally-unraveled state leads him to extreme violence.

If you’re curious about the real story, and don’t want to be surprised, you can google “Gang Lu” and get the details of his story. Of course, this film is only based on the events, so it’s sure to have its own twists, turns, and Dark Matter. (Pun alert!) In the meantime, check out the trailer here.

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Filed under: Action, Foreign Language, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Tech Stuff

He created a cult following with Kung Fu Hustle, he might play Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid remake, and now, along with Kung Fu Hustle 2, Stephen Chow has another big flick on the way — CJ7. If his descriptions are anything to go by, this should be one heck of a movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Chow had great things to say about the movie at a press conference yesterday, claiming that the film’s locally-produced state-of-the-art digital effects are “up to international standards that will withstand comparison.” Of course, such effects are pretty pricey, and Chow says the flick “the most expensive in my career.” While he won’t give an exact number, the budget is rumored to be about $20 million.

This is a pretty big deal for both Chow and China — CJ7 will have the country’s first cinematic creature that is completely digitally produced. What sort of creature? The flick is a “sci-fi comedy about how the sudden arrival of a strange new pet shakes the lives of a poor laborer father and his young son.” Apparently, this creature is some sort of alien in the shape of a dog. If you think this has a bit of an ET feel to it, you’d be right. The director has admitted that Steven Spielberg’s alien heavily inspired the story, being a favorite film of the actor/director.

While it is hitting Chinese screens at the end of the month, we won’t have very much longer to wait — the film is set to be released in the US on March 7.

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Filed under: Fandom, Exhibition, From the Editor’s Desk

Tonight is a really big night for Paramount and Cloverfield? Why? Well, in just a few hours Cloverfield will be screening for critics across the country. Additionally, a number of private sneak previews are being held in various cities. If I can get out of my apartment in time, I’ll be attending one of those sneak preview screenings, because I’d rather watch a film like this amongst fans over watching it with the press. There’s just a different vibe when you’re with the fans, and I want to swallow that in. If critics and fans alike walk away from tonight’s screenings all jazzed up (as Harry Knowles was recently), then you can bet your ass the buzz could potentially carry this film a very long way. When it’s all said and done, will Cloverfield become the highest grossing January release in history?

Sounds crazy, I know, but it doesn’t have go too far to take that coveted spot (if we’re talking films that were specifically released in January). You’ve got A Beautiful Mind which racked up roughly $170 million, but that was technically released in December, as were a bunch of other high grossing films like Traffic and Black Hawk Down. The online buzz did practically nothing for last year’s Snakes on a Plane, but that movie sucked. If Cloverfield is half as good as some people are making it out to be, the buzz from this week could provide that much-needed jolt the film will need in order to cross over into $100 million territory. It’s cold. There’s nothing else out right now that could damage this film box office-wise, so if it rocks, the people will come. If I make it to the screening tonight, I’ll definitely let you know my initial reactions before we present you with our official review later this week. Big night tonight. And by tomorrow morning, after all the internet writers run home and write something up, we’ll finally know whether Cloverfield was well worth the wait.

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Filed under: Action, Drama, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek

I recently attended a press junket for Sylvester Stallone’s amazingly violent new Rambo (in theaters January 25th). There, he was asked about his plans to remake the 1974 Charles Bronson classic Death Wish. Peter told you a bit about the new Death Wish in November, when Variety announced that Stallone would direct and star. The film will be scripted by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato (The Net, The Game, T3: Rise of the Machines). Stallone says he thinks Death Wish, done today “would be volcanic.” And despite the lack of success for recent revenge thrillers like Death Sentence and The Brave One, I think he might be right. Below is what Stallone had to say about his take on the material:

The idea in the original of Jeff Goldblum as a mugger who breaks into an apartment seems very simplistic. It gives you an idea of how bad the elevation of violence has become. I want to focus on defense attorneys, on the people who are really allowing this crap to happen. Not so much the guy out in the street, but who permits it? What if it happened to you? What if your daughter down the hall was grabbed and her eyes were put out, would you want to defend that guy? There’s moral questions here that are being presented that have not been asked in 30 years. So it’s not the pacifist. This fella I see, and I’m giving you a little hint here, he was a very violent human being. An ex-convict who walked the walk, was accepted back into society, did everything he could to be clean. When the incident happens, he reverts back, and it’s like “My God.” Now you’ve unleashed a man who really understands the world of violence. He isn’t burdened with this passive-aggressive conscientious objector thing that’s been done. It’s really what happens when the wolf in sheep’s clothing goes back to the wolf.

What do you think? Does Stallone’s Death Wish sound like something you Wish you could see?

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Filed under: Action, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Images

Lucasfilm has released a brand new photo from the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. From the looks of it, that’s Indy himself (Harrison Ford), Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) and I believe that’s Mac (Ray Winstone) in the background. All three seem to have stumbled into an ancient temple of some sort, with statues and cobwebs galore. I don’t know about you, but that set is definitely vintage Indy — right down to the fire torch in Indy’s hand. Why are they there? What’s in front of them? And will LaBeouf wear that cruddy leather jacket for the entire film? All of these questions (and more) will be answered when the much-anticipated sequel arrives in theaters on May 22.

Note: Shia Labeouf’s name in the film is apparently Mutt Williams. Do you get it? Mutt? Like his father, who was named after the dog. Cute, huh?

[via MTV Movies Blog]

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Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Newsstand

You better start getting used to a new Smith family member showing up in huge, big-budgeted flicks. The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Jaden Smith (who plays Will Smith’s son in real life) has signed on to co-star in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still for 20th Century Fox. And yes, he’ll be doing so without Pops in the scenes with him, as we saw last year when both Smith family members starred opposite one another in The Pursuit of Happyness. This time, Jaden Smith will play the 8-year-old stepson of scientist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly). HR confirms that Kathy Bates and Jon Hamm will also star off a script written by David Scarpa, while Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) directs.

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a remake of the 1951 flick carrying the same name, and it revolves around an alien who arrives on Earth with a giant robot to learn about the planet and spread a message. In a part that suits him more than perfectly, Keanu Reeves will be playing the alien (who goes by the name of Klaatu), while Connelly will play the woman who first comes into contact with the extraterrestrial. As HR points out, “Smith’s Jacob and stepmother Helen get caught up in Klaatu’s mission, coming to understand the ramifications of his being a self-described “friend to the Earth.” Fox will shovel this one out on December 12, making it this year’s big flick to see while struggling to afford Christmas presents. Anyone else think Keanu Reeves is actually an alien in real life? Dude is so … odd. Perfect role for him, and I’m looking forward to this one.

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