DwayneJohnson Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Fans of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and haters of Will Smith may have cause to rejoice. Production Weekly is reporting that Johnson will be taking the helm of the Nautilus as Captain Nemo for McG's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea reboot/prequel. As Disney appears to own Johnson's soul, this does have the ring of truth to it, and it's also the proof you need that this will be a shameless popcorn prequel, not a Pirates sort of risk that could launch a guy like Naveen Andrews, Oded Fehr, or Alexander Siddig into becoming a household name. (See, I read the comments!)

However, I do like Johnson and I have shared the dismay of action fans everywhere by his startling addiction to kiddie fare and tutus. It would be nice to see him kick ass again, and he certainly has the charisma and swashbuckle to play the Captain. Complexity probably isn't going to be an issue, especially given the official PW synopsis: "A fugitive whaler teams up with a naturalist, a mysterious woman and a captain of a futuristic submarine, to search for a lost underwater civilization that holds libraries of vast knowledge and a weapon with the power to destroy mankind."

Production is set to begin in Australia later this year and with McG set to do the final round of Terminator: Salvation press, maybe we'll get an official cast update. It has potential to be something fun if they get a good ensemble, but your cynicism may vary.

Ah, another week, another jumble to the calendar -- specifically, to 20th Century Fox's release slate.

According to Box Office Mojo, the studio has moved The Tooth Fairy back from November 13th to next January (because where else are you going to stick a Dwayne-Johnson-as-hockey-player-as-tooth-fairy outing?), and Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox has moved back a week from 11/6 to 11/13 as their choice contender for the family dollar. This now places it right after Disney and Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol (really, the first week of November?) and just before Warners' Cats & Dogs sequel (really, the second movie of Cats & Dogs?).

I'm not sure how much Johnson's recent Race to Witch Mountain cost, but I can't help but think that he'd like to outperform that film's good-not-great $60-ish million gross, and January could be just the grounds to do that in. (Paul Blart: Mall Cop opened within a week of the proposed new date and has raked in... almost $144 million? Yep, over $140 million.) Mr. Fox, on the other hand, is a mainstream proving ground for the ever-quirky Anderson, and with a voice cast that includes George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, and Anjelica Huston, let's hope it has reason to top the $28 million gross of that last animated adaptation of a Roald Dahl book, 1996's James and the Giant Peach.

But of course, none of that matters, because the real news is that Sandra Bullock's apparent psychological thriller rom-com All About Steve has found itself a home on September 4th. Sure, it's a little early in the awards season to stake a claim, but I'll leave the for-your-consideration campaign in their hands...

In fulfillment of the prophecy that Disney will eventually remake every single one of its live-action movies, here is Race to Witch Mountain. It bears a passing resemblance to 1975's Escape to Witch Mountain, but it's more reminiscent of a tiresome carnival ride whose operator abandoned it and left it to run for 90 minutes. Whatever fun there is in it quickly gives way to tedium.

Appropriately, it's set in loud, gaudy Las Vegas, where Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) works as a cab driver. In the past he has freelanced his services for one Mr. Wolf, a shady underworld figure whose goons regularly visit Jack trying to re-enlist him. Maybe I shouldn't bother mentioning that, though, because it ultimately has nothing to do with the story. For that reason, I'm also not going to mention Jack's lifelong desire to own a particular Ford Mustang, since that detail was clearly added only after someone read a screenwriting book and paused at the chapter that talked about giving your characters hopes and dreams. It's extraneous.

But back to the actual story. Jack encounters two strange preteens, a brother and sister named Seth (Alexander Ludwig) and Sara (AnnaSophia Robb). They are extraterrestrials whose spaceship crashed in the desert when they came to Earth in search of a MacGuffin, and now they must get the item and return to the ship -- which is problematic, because the U.S. government, led by heartless Henry Burke (Ciarán Hinds), has recovered the craft and hidden it away somewhere. There's also an alien assassin pursuing the kids, though that's another thing that's ultimately not particularly relevant.

The world of Jonny Quest was never typical -- How many young tykes go on hair-raising adventures unless they're The Venture Brothers? -- but the casting for this sucker sure is.

Word of a Jonny Quest movie first hit back in August of 2007, and in his post, Erik said: "will Zac Efron dye his hair blonde and play Jonny?!" Then Peter Segal was talking up the project, and musing that The Rock should place Race Bannon. Now, Moviehole reports that Dwayne Johnson is definitely Bannon, and Efron is in line to play Jonny, although he's not a lock due to Efron's advanced, 17-year-old age. While I can see the allure, that's a big change to add into the mix.

Then again, I'm sure there are a lot of changes to be made. I mean, they can't talk about the productive perks of hallucinogenic drugs these days, and it wouldn't be very PC to keep Hadji as the turbaned magic kid. This all just leads me to the same conclusion: The Rock might be a good choice for Bannon, but they might as well go for a newer project, one that takes the ideas of Quest and morphs it for a modern audience. Oh right, that's already been done.

So remember that whole Shazam! movie, with John August writing, Peter Segal (Get Smart) directing and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson starring as the villain, Black Adam? Last year we talked about this project a lot, wondering which actor would eventually play Captain Marvel, as well as teenager Billy Batson. In fact, as recently as November of 2008, Variety had reported that Shazam! was part of Segal's first-look deal with Warner Brothers. (The project was originally set up at New Line, but moved to Warners when they went under.)

However, over on his blog, August says the project is now dead in the water after several re-writes, most of which came about after the studio wanted him to take the film from a lighter action-comedy to something much darker (a la The Dark Knight). And regarding the recent news that Segal would be directing, August notes that "press releases often have little relationship to reality." He does admit, though, that the movie may still happen ... just not with him onboard and not anytime soon. Which is a shame, because this pitch -- "Like Big, but with superpowers ..." -- definitely had potential.

Were you looking forward to Shazam!?

So Erik-with-a-k covered the coming comedies of 2009, Scott was all over the horror picks (though his inclusion of Race to Witch Mountain still boggles my mind), Eric-with-a-c nabbed the family-friendly fare, and Elisabeth went over the geek fodder that awaits. But while I respect their calendar years and made-up math alike, I've opted to divide my list of 2009's action and adventure flicks into four categories: Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About, Action Flicks I Couldn't Care Less About, Action Flicks That I Hope Surprise Me, and Those Which Fell In Between. Enjoy!

Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About: First and foremost -- Watchmen (March 6th). It's one hell of a graphic novel and looks to be one hell of an adaptation (with or without the Giant Blank), but the only problem is it may not hit theaters on time if 20th Century Fox has anything to say about it. Both Fox and Warner Brothers are fighting over who actually owns the rights, and if a judge favors Fox comes January 20th (when the court date is set), we're looking at a delayed release and a whole ton of angry fans. Then there's Public Enemies (July 1st), which has me sold on not the subject matter, but sheer pedigree: Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp and Christian Bale as '30s gangsters. (It doesn't hurt that the earliest word ranges from damn good to great.) On the skimpier side, I can only hope that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17th) streamlines its source material as the previous one had, and I can only hope that Crank 2: High Voltage (April 17th) lives up/down to the depravity of its predecessor. There's one last action movie that I couldn't care more about because, well, I've already seen a version of it. The international cut of Taken (January 30th, though reportedly opening with some R-dodging trims) is about as brisk and butt-kicking as one might hope out of a man-on-a-mission kidnapping thriller, and if you disagree, I'll send Liam Neeson to change your mind.

Gallery: Watchmen

I almost called this a 'Watch This' post, and then a 'Fan Rant', but either way, the general idea is that I'd recommend all of you to tune in or at least record PBS tonight for the broadcast premiere of Nina Davenport's terrific documentary, Operation Filmmaker, in which a young Iraqi film student is invited to work on the set of Liev Schreiber's Everything is Illuminated and how that experience begins to unravel for all involved -- Davenport included (and that's not to mention appearances from Elijah Wood and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as themselves!).

It's fascinating in the purest trainwreck sense, and deserves to be paired up with Overnight and shown to all fledgling filmmakers as a guide for what NOT to do when all manner of opportunities are offered to you in the field. Davenport's correlations to the Iraqi conflict as her subject becomes less and less cooperative are still shaky at best, but that doesn't stop this doc from making my Top Twenty of the year.

And nothing against Dear Zachary..., but I'm pretty sure that this doc won't have you in tears by the end. Check your local listings, though: some have said 10 PM EST, others 11 PM.

A week ago, I finally tore through Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' acclaimed graphic novel, Watchmen, which I'd only recently prompted myself to make the time for after years of recommendations (the recurring threat of ending spoilers for a movie that I'd inevitably see was a catalyst unto itself).

It really is a tremendous work, and I'm as curious as anyone else to see how Zack Snyder's film turns out, but the one comparison that I kept coming back to was how much Watchmen reminded me of Richard Kelly's much-maligned Southland Tales, with each being a sprawling tale of an alternate reality in which several narrative threads are building towards the threat of a looming apocalypse.

Between that and the news of Kelly's latest being pushed back, I find myself tempted to give it another look-see -- especially since my first viewing wasn't exactly held in the most proper of environments. I'm sure that there's a method to Kelly's madness, but it's an indulgent, unpredictable film whose very story density I enjoyed more in and of itself. I doubt that I'd share those sentiments if instead first subjected to the three-hour Cannes cut, but if that version were ever released, I wouldn't be against giving it a spin. (My overall sentiments fall closer to Jette's.)

So, what say you, the readers? Did you see it? Did you finish it? Love it? Hate it? Or maybe, just maybe, did some of you land somewhere in between? (And for bonus points, what don't pimps do?)

The Captain Marvel film seems to finally be moving forward again, if this Variety item is anything to go by. Get Smart's Peter Segal has set a first-look deal at Warner Bros., and as part of the deal the studio acquired the John August-scripted Captain Marvel which Segel is still in line to direct.

The film was originally set up at New Line, but we all remember what happened there, so Marvel fans will be relieved to know he's got a new studio to call home -- and one that all his DC friends are at. I'm curious about the title switch ... are they going to retitle it Captain Marvel, and risk everyone being confused as to which comic brand he belongs to?

The last word we had on the project was precisely a year ago, when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to play the villainous Black Adam. Variety makes no mention as to whether he's still attached. I hope he is, the fans chose him! You can't recast after a stunt like that.

Considering it has a script, a director, a villain, and a studio, all Shazam/Marvel needs is its hero, and it could be on the big screen before Warner Bros decides what to do with Superman. I'm not the biggest fan of the character, but he's a perfect one for the kids, especially in this era of dark and gritty superheroes.

From the star, director and studio behind The Game Plan comes... another movie pairing up Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson with kids! Okay, this one -- Race to Witch Mountain, a remake of Disney's own Escape to Witch Mountain from 1975 -- seems a fair bit more tolerable than that one was, as cab driver Johnson is forced to team up with UFO expert Carla Gugino on an unexpected mission to get two unique children (AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig) to the above-mentioned location of their spaceship.

A couple of things should be said for the trailer, which we've included after the jump.

1. There is an unavoidable watermark on it, but other than that, it seems to be a fully digital trailer and not bootlegged from sneaks of Bolt this past Saturday. (Okay, I get it: Star Trek is Star Trek... and you know who else pulls a very similar 'letting a vehicle crumple around you' trick? Bolt does.)
2. Said watermark and the YouTube premiere suggests that this hasn't been officially released by the studio yet, so I'd be willing to bet that this trailer gets taken down by the end of the day. Good luck!
3. More power to Johnson for throwing himself wholly into work like this, even if we can already see his character growing out of skepticism and towards accountability over the course of these two minutes. (Besides, Brendan Fraser can't hold a monopoly on all the family adventure hero roles.)

With that said, thanks to Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel for digging this up, and onto the trailer! Race to Witch Mountain opens next March.