Moore To Make FAHRENHEIT 9/11 Sequel

Never one to shy away from stirring up people's emotions, Michael Moore is planning a sequel to his biggest and most controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.

Paramount Vantage and Overture Films have announced today that they are going to co-finance and co-distribute the as-yet-untitled film. This marks a change for Moore, whose last two films were produced with the Weinstein Company.

Anyone who is even vaguely aware of Moore's political leanings can probably guess what direction the film will take. But with the film not going to debut until sometime next year, long after President Bush has handed over the Oval Office to whomever wins this November’s election, will people still be interested?

Vantage’s head honcho Nick Meyer, seems to think so, being quoted in today’s Variety as saying, "Clearly, we have a movie of global appeal here. Michael Moore is a very talented filmmaker, and this is a branded property."

Moore has directed three of the five top grossing documentaries of all time, so it is safe to say that he definitely carries a certain amount of cache, and baggage, when it comes to getting butts into theater seats. But part of me sort of stiffens at the idea of a "branded property." It sounds as if it is being reduced down to the level of a franchise film like the Batman or James Bond series. (And yes, I’m not forgetting Michael Apted’s Up series of documentaries, but that’s something completely different.)

Look for Moore's film to debut sometime next spring or summer. Look for the Right Wing's repudiation of it to start long before any public screenings of it are ever held.

A STAR IS BORN Heads For Broadway, Jackman In Tow

Hugh Jackman, who has trod the boards of Broadway before, is in talks to head back to Manhattan's Great White Way to headline a stage adaptation of the 1954 Warner Brothers movie musical A Star Is Born.

Jackman is lining up to play the role of Norman Maine, an alcoholic movie star whose career is on the decline. James Mason played the part in the original film opposite Judy Garland.

According to a report in the New York Post, the new stage version will feature all of the Harold Arlen-Ira Gershwin songs from the original film. Michael John La Chuisa, who scripted the play The Wild Party, is adapting the film’s Academy Award winning screenplay by Moss Hart and Dorothy Parker. He is also serving as the show’s musical supervisor. The producers hope to workshop the show later this year and then open on Broadway in 2009 or 2010.

Previously, Jackman won a Tony award in 2004 for starring in the musical The Boy From Oz. He is also lined up for a possible new film version of the musical Carousel.

Two Pictures From Soderbergh's Epic CHE Bio Pic

Here is a pair of pictures from Steven Soderbergh's upcoming two-part bio-pic Che, starring Benico del Toro as the South American Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The first of the films, The Argentine, covers the controversial figure's life up through the Cuban Revolution, while Guerrilla will cover Guevara's post-Cuban Revolution life as a leader of various third world Marxist uprisings.



Based on my own sketchy knowledge of Guevara’s life, I would hazard a guess that we’re looking at one picture from each of the two films.

Oddly enough, though, Focus Features has only picked up The Argentine for US distribution. Guerrilla is still looking for a distributor, though that could change after both films screen back-to-back at the Cannes Festival later this week.

New QUANTUM OF SOLACE Photos

Daniel Craig's iteration of James Bond may be a little rougher hewn than his predecessors, but he's certainly quick on the uptake on how to look suave under the most trying circumstances. Take this photo, one of a number of new images from the still in production upcoming Bond adventure Quantum Of Solace, that appeared over at Cinematical. Here, he looks as if he's just out for a Sunday stroll instead of having just crossed some dessert after fighting off who knows how many bad guys.

To get the full context of how this picture fits in with Bond's continuing mission to uncover the terrorist organization hinted at in 2006's Casino Royale, we will have to wait until November 7.

SGT. ROCK Close To Getting Director

If the box office returns on Iron Man aren't enough to convince you, you'll just have to take our word for it that comic book films are a hot ticket right now. (Just look at the number of stories we've run over the past several months.)

But not every comic book adaptation will feature a hero armed with fantastic powers or gadgets or clad in spandex or armor. One upcoming film will feature a group of heroes dressed in camouflage greens- Sgt. Rock.

Based on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock And Easy Company, who appeared in various DC war comics since their creation in 1959, producer Joel Silver is hoping to bring the World War Two-era characters to the big screen. It is a project that Silver has been developing for almost two decades, with both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis having been attached to it at various points. Now it appears as if he may have a director lined up for the film.

In an interview with AintItCool’s Moriarty that published this morning, Silver stated that he is close to getting British director Guy Ritchie to helm the film.

So, you know, this ROCKNROLLA movie I just did with Guy Ritchie is fantastic. It is raw, it is funny, it is dark, it is great. It is great. And I liked his first movie, LOCK STOCK, and I liked SNATCH, and I think it’s the best movie he’s ever made. I’ve always wanted to do a movie with him.

Silver didn’t elaborate further on the specifics of the film, presumably as they would be up to the vision that Ritchie, or whomever else who may eventually be brought onboard, may have for it. With the exception of a few stories, DC kept Sgt Rock and his crew isolated from their superhero line, even though there were superheroes active during World War Two in their universe’s fictional history. It should be interesting to see if Ritchie brings the highly stylized look of his British crime thrillers to this project or if opts to good with the look of a more traditional war film.

X-FILES 2 Trailer Is Here

Although the plot is still mostly underwraps, you can bet that when FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovney) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) reunite later this summer on the big screen, they will probably be investigating something spooky and/or supernatural. But that's what they did for almost ten years on their Fox TV series. But after watching the trailer below I do know one one thing- I hope that they packed some woolen underware for those snow scenes.

Glibness aside, the trailer (courtesy of the folks at IGN) does what a good teaser trailer should do- tease folks with what they movie is about without actually giving away a majority of its plot points. While I have been at best a casual fan of the series, I am interested in seeing what series creator Chris Carter and company can bring to the table after the show having been off the air for seven years. (And I'm not just talking about getting Mulder and Scully out of their fugitive status that the series ended them with.)



You can read about our recent chat with X-Files creator Chris Carter and producer Fank Spotnitz at April's New York Comic Con here.

X-Files: I Want To Believe hits theaters in July.

This Week's Theatrical Releases

1. Speed Racer (3,606 Theaters, 129 Minutes, Rated PG): I was never truly a fan of the original Speed Racer cartoon. It was a little before my time. So I really don't have that big of an emotional investment in the movie. If they change things around totally, I wouldn't know. If they do well or not so good, for me, it wouldn't depend on my memories of the original cartoon.

That being said, I have to admire what the Wachowskis did with the look of the movie. They tried to make it look and feel like a live action cartoon—a big anime fest with neon and speed lines. Bold, bright colors rule the day, a tactic that hasn't really been employed since Dick Tracy. But now it's updated for the 21st century.

But will this go over with regular audiences? Or an even tougher audience—fans of the original series? Who knows. But Warner Brothers can’t be that concerned. The Dark Knight is their lynch pin movie of the summer. I’m sure they’d like a return on their investment with this one, but if it tanks, it won’t be fatal.



2. What Happens in Vegas (3,215 Theaters, 99 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Speaking of tanking, we come to this one. No matter how bad Speed Racer does, it still will run circles around this one.

Why do I think that is this a bad movie? Let me count the ways. First, the derivative, hackneyed plot. It’s a combo of a “Drew Carey Show” episode (the one with Nicole Sullivan), meets It Could Happen to You, meets War of the Roses, meets just about every other romantic comedy made in the last twenty years.

Next is the pairing of Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. I really can’t stand Kutcher as a film actor. I can barely tolerate him on That 70s Show. And Diaz is hit or miss. For every The Mask, There’s Something About Mary, and Charlie’s Angels, there’s a The Sweetest Thing, In Her Shoes, and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

Finally, even though Diaz is older than Kutcher by only 6 years, on screen it looks like 20. During the trailer, I keep saying to myself, “She much to old to be acting this silly.” So, needless to say, I will not be seeing this one this week.