Finally! I know there's a ton of you waiting patiently for release dates on Street Fighter and Alvin and the Chipmunks II -- and after spending all night making phone calls, while watching the wire, Cinematical can confirm that the new live-action Street Fighter flick will debut on February 27, 2009. But that's not all! (I know, it was a busy night at headquarters; the boss had us all working double shifts.) 20th Century Fox has also scheduled Alvin and the Chipmunks II for release on March 19, 2010. There's no script yet, and Jason Lee is not signed on to star, but the first one took in a ridiculous $358.4 million worldwide -- so, I mean, they could have these little guys talking Yiddish for a couple hours in part two and the thing would still make over $100 million.

Other announcements in Release Date Land include Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa going day-and-date on November 7, and Universal has taken Wild Child off its calendar. That film, starring Emma Roberts as a rebellious Malibu teenager who gets shipped off to a British boarding school and learns that afternoon tea is the answer to all of life's problems, was originally scheduled for August 22. No word on why it was yanked, but I'm sure you folks could come up with several positive reasons. To make up for the removal, however, Universal has moved Paul W.S. Anderson's Death Race up from September 26 to August 22. Good thing, too, because I like my death races at the end of summer and not at the beginning of fall.

[via Variety and Box Office Mojo]

Sorry, Jason Statham fans. He's not going to be your "Real American Hero." Statham had been rumored as the likely choice to play Action Man in the upcoming G.I. Joe flick, but Statham insists he has nothing to do with the film. "The old Internet can be quite misleading at times," he tell MTV Movies Blog. "I don't know where that came from." Statham is keeping busy without Joe though, bro. The Bank Job is due out in 2008, and he's currently on the set of Death Race with a surprisingly excellent cast that includes Ian McShane and Joan Allen. That film is being directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (the terrible Soldier and the almost-terrible Alien Vs. Predator). I always wondered why that guy didn't change his name. You'd think years of people being disappointed when he's not Paul Thomas Anderson would get to the guy.

In addition to those projects, the ass-kicking Statham is lining up some sequels that will bring him back to some of his more popular roles. For starters, there's Crank 2, which Statham promises will be "effing ridiculous." "If you thought the first one was crazy, this is ridiculous. It's mad," he says. "I couldn't resist working with those chaps again. It gives me a chance to go wild in the aisles." For more on the Crank sequel, check Scott's report here. And yet another Statham sequel is in the works -- Transporter 3. "I have a massive yearning to do Part 3 with Luc (Besson). I think it will happen (soon)," says Statham. I haven't seen the Transporter films, though I hear great things. I do happen to think Crank is one of the finest pure action films in years. I'm dying for a sequel, if only to see how they make up for the fact that it sure looked like Statham's character -- spoiler warning -- died in the original. Oh, and bring Dwight Yoakam back! Man, I love that guy.

Since most people expect don't expect much from video game flicks, it can't come as much as a surprise that the big screen version of Castlevania has already been sent back to the drawing board. Back in 2005, Paul W.S. Anderson had signed on to write and direct, and up until January 2007 he was still committed to the project; promising a spring start date for production. But the lure of Anderson's next project, Death Race, must have been strong, since he dropped Castlevania to work on it full time.

Bloody Disgusting is reporting that Rogue Pictures has hired Ian Jeffers to completely re-work the script and Sylvain White to helm the flick. White was the director behind the straight-to-video horror I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, and the teen dance flick Stomp The Yard. Jeffers is relative newcomer, and Death Sentence was his screen writing debut.

For those not familiar with the best-selling Konami game series, Castlevania focused on The Belmonts, a family sworn to protect the human race from Dracula. The game has evolved over the years, but the producer for the film, Jeremy Bolt, told IGN back in June that the film has "a fair amount of references. We always try to give the fans something that respects their love of the game but also give them something completely new. So we've added a whole new spin to Castlevania". According to Bloody Disgusting, the addition of Jeffers means that Anderson's original script for the project has probably been scrapped -- which might come as a relief to die-hard fans out there. Castlevania is set for release in late 2008.

There's nothing like mowing over some pedestrians to get the blood pumping. Way back in 1975, Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine starred in Death Race 2000, a B-movie where drivers ran over people for points. While many never saw and have no idea about the film, I think we've all talked about accruing points by hitting random things with cars. It would've been cool to re-visit the story for the actual year, but a few more have passed and we're now getting the sequel -- Death Race. As we've told you -- Paul W.S. Anderson is writing and directing the film, Jason Statham is starring and Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane and Joan Allen of all people have also signed on to the cast. What else is there? A love interest, of course.

The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Natalie Martinez, a relative unknown who has only modeled for J-Lo's clothing line and done a slew of episodes over the last few years on TV's Fashion House and Saints & Sinners, is negotiating to co-star. This incarnation sees a future where prison inmates in America are forced to complete in death races. (This is reminding me of that one Angel episode...) Statham only has a few weeks left on his sentence when he's got to take the wheel. Martinez would play a gal named Case, who is his navigator and helps him plan a prison escape. I'm guessing he'd rather escape than plow down people, otherwise the dude is quite dense to try and escape right before he'd be legally released. And it's definitely a good cast for Martinez to hop onto. Where will the Death Race take her?

It's been a while since I've seen Paul Bartel's Death Race 2000, but I do remember that it's the movie that created the whole "hit that pedestrian with your automobile and you get 15 points" joke that people still (somehow) think is funny -- plus I remember it being a whole lot of grungy, campy, R-rated fun. (Most people seem to think mega-producer Roger Corman directed this particular flick, but nope. It was actually the admirably weird actor / filmmaker Paul Bartel, who'd also go on to direct Eating Raoul, Lust in the Dust and Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. So credit where it's due.)

Plus it's probably the only movie you'll ever see that has characters named Frankenstein, Calamity Jane, Matilda the Hun, Nero the Hero and Machine Gun Joe Viterbo. The futuristic action satire is about a cross-country car race that awards points for pedestrians slaughtered. Fun stuff indeed, but did you know that "fan favorite" filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson is about to start shooting a remake for Universal? (Well, you should if you're a regular reader. Previous reports on this project can be enjoyed here, here and here.)

Jason Statham has been cast in the lead of Death Race for a little while now, but The Hollywood Reporter indicates that a few cool names have joined the fray. In addition to the also-previously-announced Tyrese Gibson, the producers will now cut paychecks for not only the fantastic Joan Allen, but also the perpetually amusing Ian McShane. (Unless I'm insane, IGN Movies broke the Allen news at Comic Con last week.) Ms. Allen will play an evil warden; Statham the reluctant prisoner forced to participate in the race; McShane a racing coach; and Gibson will play "Machine Gun," the role originally played by Sly Stallone in the 1975 original.

As you're no doubt aware, Paul W.S. Anderson is the man who brought you Shopping, Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Soldier, Resident Evil and Alien vs. Predator. Some movie fans see this guy as the ruiner of all things potentially cool, but I see a guy who's directed six films -- two of which I really enjoy watching. In baseball that batting average gets you a new contract. (Can you guess which two flicks they are?)

I'm actually fine with this, because who cares about Spy Hunter? Yes, I hung around enough bowling alleys when I was a kid to have played Spy Hunter many times. I remember the oil slick, the smokescreen, and that's pretty much it. It seems almost appropriate that the only person they could find to turn that into a movie is the auteur who brought us Alien vs. Predator and Resident Evil. Variety reports that in addition to directing the re-launched project for Universal, Paul Anderson will also be tackling writing duties along with another scribe. This move comes after many bumps in the road for the property -- among the writers who have already come and gone from Spy Hunter are Zak Penn, Derek Haas, Stuart Beattie and Michael Brandt. Director John Woo was also set to make a Spy Hunter film in 2004, but that deal fell through. The Rock has long been attached to play the lead role in the film, but there's currently no word on whether or not he's still on board.

Up next for Anderson is Death Race, a remake of the 1975 film Death Race 2000, starring Sylvester Stallone as Machine Gun Joe and David Carradine as Frankstein. Jason Stratham is currently attached to that one. Anderson is also attached to direct Man With the Football, a film about a group of terrorists who steal the President's nuclear football -- a briefcase he can use to send nukes wherever. That one actually sounds more promising to me than this Spy Hunter business -- maybe Anderson will be too busy with Spy Hunter and a good director will take over the Football project.

It's taken quite some time for me to wrap my head around a remake of the Roger Corman classic Death Race 2000. But, now that the Hollywood Reporter tells us that action stud Jason Statham is in negotiations to star, I can kind of see where they're going with this. Though it was originally being called Death Race 3000, it seems they've since shortened it to Death Race and, instead of Paramount overseeing the project with Tom Cruise (imagine that one!) in the starring role, pic has since moved to Universal (following the Par/Cruise fallout) with Paul W.S. Anderson attached to write and direct.

For those not familiar with the original (and I don't blame you), Death Race 2000 starred David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone as two guys who race across the country in their heavily armed cars, scoring points by mowing down innocent bystanders. In true Corman fashion, it was classic B-movie, drive-in type fare -- and, seeing how well Grindhouse did at the box office, something tells me Death Race will make a killing (pun intended). Will it be The Transporter meets Alien vs. Predator? Ya know, part of me really hopes so. I've always been a fan of those warped futuristic gaming movies (remember The Running Man?), and so I do think the project has potential. Will it resemble Corman's 1975 version in any way, shape or form? Probably not. After all, they do want some people to show up and buy tickets for this thing. Studio is currently eying a late summer/early fall production start and, though no one else has been cast, is it wrong of me to suggest The Rock to star alongside Statham?

In case this is the first time you've heard of such a thing, let me clear it up for you: Yes, someone is creating a remake of Death Race 2000 -- although thanks to the changing times, it will actually be called Death Race 3000. Yeah, I know it is weird, but you're going to have to believe me on this one. If you are sadly uneducated, Death Race is mostly just a story about guys in the future who kill pedestrians with their vehicles to score points in this game they play. It is easily one of the most classic B-movies of all time.

The story has been put into the very willing hands of director Paul W.S. Anderson, who will both write and direct the remake. Roger Corman, the producer of the original and a longtime genre geek favorite, recently took a few minutes to discuss the update with Sci Fi Wire. Sadly, Corman is mostly uninvolved in Anderson's film, although he does have a contract which calls him "executive producer." According to Corman, this means he gets to read and comment on all versions of the script -- but he said he doesn't spend much time on it because "I don't believe I will have that much influence."

I still have trouble wrapping my brain around someone bringing Death Race 2000 back to life, mostly because it is such a standard in the B-movie world these days. It is sad the Corman isn't going to be involved, but I guess it gives him an out if the film disappoints. So in order to succeed, does it need to be a fantastic movie ... or a self-aware, cheesy, tongue-in-cheek sorta flick? I'm not really sure, to be honest.