Fox2000 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Wimpy Kid is gaining some muscle! Jeff Kenney's bestselling series was optioned by Fox 2000 last year, and they put Thor Freudenthal in the director's chair this past December.

But just who is going to play the title Wimpy? It's not as big of a casting announcement as, say, Captain America but Greg Heffley has his fans and they want to know! According to The Hollywood Reporter, it's Zachary Gordon, a young up and comer who has been looking for his first major leading role. While a lot of sites (I'm looking at you Wikipedia) portray Greg as an unpleasant sort of fellow, his various schemes (haunted houses, giant snowmen) towards popularity sound pretty hilarious.

He may be the title character, but Gordon won't be playing the movie solo. He'll have the friendship of Chloe Moretz (currently the talk of geekdom with her gun-wielding, sword-swinging ways in Kick-Ass), who'll be playing the class Daria, a student with a penchant for black and "a wry sense of humor." Naturally, he also needs a mommy, and that role will be filled by Rachael Harris, who has just the right glasses for the part. It should be a fun, snarky movie for the younger set -- and given how many adults are reading the series, one that could cross over well if handled right. 16 million readers can't be wrong, can they?

The disappointment of X-Men Origins: Wolverine may actually have been worth it if its $85 million debut gives Hugh Jackman the industry cred he's always seemed to lack. It's difficult to believe such a perfect guy isn't considered A-List, but even as recently as Australia, Fox was still trying to sell him as an A Manly Actor You Could Cast In Stuff. Well, Australia didn't convince anyone (though I think he was the one of the standouts of the film), but apparently Wolverine did.

According to Variety Jackman is just lining up projects right and left, all under his Seed Productions banner that he shares with his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness and producer John Palermo. Yesterday's Ghostopolis was just the tip of the iceberg. Now he's actively planning Wolverine's Japan sequel for Fox. The studio has also bought Matt Lieberman's spec script Personal Security for him. Jackman will play a "tough Gotham police detective" forced to play bodyguard to a spoiled heiress. Sounds fluffy, but Jackman really does do comedy well, so it could be fun.

It's a strange thing to live in a world where Dan Brown became a franchise before Patricia Cornwell. The rights to the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series have been languishing at Columbia (the very home of Robert Langdon) since 1992, but now the series has been dusted off, sold to Fox 2000, and assigned to Angelina Jolie.

According to Variety, Fox has won rights to all 16 of the Scarpetta books, and is eying it as a potential franchise along the lines of the Jason Bourne films. They're developing the first thriller now, which won't be tied to any one book, but will probably cherry-pick out of all Scarpetta's gruesome cases. The plan has met with approval from Cornwell, who discussed the idea personally with Jolie and her manager, Geyer Kosinski before handing over the rights.

I'm not an avid reader of Cornwell's books, but Jolie seems like a good fit for the sophisticated Scarpetta. While the coloring's different, Scarpetta's a workaholic who dresses well, drives a Mercedes, attracts handsome guys, and handmakes Italian food. She's kind of perfect, just like Jolie. But hardcore fans (and I know they're out there) may have other ideas.

Regardless of what you might think of the casting, I think it's pretty cool that we may get a female-led franchise, and one based around the cool, rational science of forensic pathology. It's the closest thing to a Bones movie that I'll ever get, so I'm all for it.

I might not be the biggest fan of prison movies (well, except Cool Hand Luke), but anything that could keep Francis Lawrence busy and away from an I Am Legend prequel is all right by me. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Lawrence has just signed to helm the story of the 1987 Atlanta Prison Riots for Warner Brothers. Black Hawk Down writer Mark Bowden came across the still-untitled project while researching Black Hawk, but did not have the time or resources to devote to the story. So here we are eight years later, and Bowden has enlisted the help of his brother, Aaron, to produce the film under the Wild Eyes banner.

For those of you who are a little fuzzy on their penal history, here's a primer on what Lawrence will be working with: In 1987, the Atlanta State Medium Security Prison was one of the dumping grounds for Cuban refugees from the Mariel Boatlift who were ineligible to be released. When Cuba later agreed to repatriate 2500 inmates currently being held -- well, to be blunt, all holy hell broke loose. The ensuing riot lasted over 10 days with more than 100 hostages involved -- heck, inmates even burned down a substantial portion of the facility itself. In the end, it took the intervention of the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta to end the siege. Sounds pretty exciting, doesn't it?

But the bad news is that before Lawrence can get to work in the big house, he still has to finish developing Sara Gruen's historical novel, Water for Elephants for Fox 2000. Now if we could just do something about that Legend prequel ...

The bidding war is over, and Fox 2000 has emerged triumphant, clutching the rights to Sara Gruen's bestseller Water for Elephants, which they are promptly putting on the fast track. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Francis Lawrence is attached to direct, and Richard LaGravenese is adapting it for the big screen.

I'll be honest and admit I haven't read the book -- I'm always behind when it comes to bestsellers because I tend to haunt the nonfiction and classic shelves. The book is the recollections of a 90-year-old man, who, in his youth, ran away and joined a B-level circus during the Depression. It's a job rife with animal and human cruelty. He falls in love with the wife of an abusive and mentally-ill animal trainer. While all of this suggests it is depressing as hell and ends badly, a glance through Amazon.com's reviews suggest otherwise.

Fox 2000 president Elizabeth Gabler acknowledges the riskiness of the subject matter, but is confident that the adaptation will attract "a lot of talented people," particuarly with LaGravenese's reputation as a solid "adapter". Here I want to say that an adaptation of a heart-wrenching and dramatic novel can't go wrong -- but it can. I can't really think of many New York Times bestsellers not named Cormac McCarthy or J.K. Rowling who end up with really solid and popular films. Otherwise, they tend to end up like Angela's Ashes and White Oleander which, while not terrible films, fell rather flat for most critics and fans of the material, and have largely been forgotten. Let's hope Water for Elephants will be one of the lucky ones -- and if you're a fan of the book, here's your chance to tell me what you hope they get right.

The word 'goth' can be very confusing these days, especially when talking about 'gothic' stories. For example, when Variety mentions that something is a 'gothic love story', is it referring to gothic in the sense of late-18th century British literature? Or is it referring to the current subculture of people who wear dark clothing, listen to bands like Bauhaus and have an interest in macabre subject matter? At first I thought it meant the former in its report that JT Petty was signed on to helm an adaptation of a Japanese novel -- and manga -- titled Goth. But now that I've read about the novel, it is clear to me that this is all about the subculture. The novel, written by Otsu-ichi, is about two teens, both of whom are obsessed with death, one with a fetish of standing in locations a body has been, who end up solving a number of murder mysteries and taking on the serial killer responsible.

Petty has written and/or directed a few horror features, including the straight-to-video Mimic: Sentinel (aka Mimic 3), but he may be best known as the writer of Batman Begins ... the video game. He has also scripted the Tom Clancy-created Splinter Cell games and is set to write the screenplay for a Splinter Cell film. Next up, though, he's got a horror-western titled The Burrowers, which has just recently finished shooting. Goth will be produced by Lauren C. Weissman, Jennie Lew Tugend and Shinya Egawa, all of whom worked on the movie Dance with Me, as well as on Norio Tsuruta's Masters of Horror episode "Dream Cruise".

Considering how popular the gothic subculture continues to be (if it had a tagline, it'd be something like "keeping Hot Topic in business since 1990"), Petty would be smart to up the influence on this adaptation. Obviously he'll be wanting to feature a hot goth-rock soundtrack and a lot of hot goth-chicks, who have always been able to transcend the subculture and appeal to non-goths, boys and girls alike, with their distinct, hyper-sexualized fashions.

Fox 2000 and Ridley Scott's production company have snagged the (pricey) rights to Jordan Ainsley's as-yet-unpublished vampire trilogy -- but the concept sounds pretty dang cool. Described by Variety as a cross between 28 Weeks Later and The Stand, Ainsley's The Passage won't hit book stores until next year -- but that hasn't stopped the studios from mounting a hefty bidding war for the three-part property.

Seems that Mr. Ainsley (who is actually the award-winning author Justin Cronin) received about $3.5 million for film rights on his three books. And get this: That paycheck was based only on a partial manuscript and an outline! Here's how the trade paper describes the story: "When terminally ill cancer patients get healthy after being bitten by bats in South America, the government conducts secret tests with human subjects to see if a virus can cure illness. Instead, it unleashes a swarm of bloodthirsty vampires out of the test subjects, which include death row inmates."

Awww yeahhh. Now that sounds like a book I'll want to read before seeing the movie. (Usually I wait till after. I know. I'm weird that way.) Although the project will be guided to the screen by Fox 2K and Scott Free Productions, it's not yet clear if Ridley (or Tony) will direct the first film. Although as a huge Ridley Scott fan, I really hope he does. That way it'll be a hardcore horror epic that's made for grown-ups. Plus it'll look real neat. Sir Ridley's good that way. As mentioned earlier, The Passage won't hit book stores until next summer ... but I'll be waiting.

John Carney has been actively pursued by Fox 2000 to direct their upcoming comedy Town House. The director of Once -- that Sundance mega hit (and winner of the Audience Award) which tells the love story of two musicians in Dublin -- has said yes to helm the film, written by Doug Wright (Quills). Carney's current repertoire of work is both self-written and directed, so this will be his first directorial project penned by another writer.

Town House is a comedy that, according to Variety, centers itself around a man who is the son of a deceased rock legend. The man is a recluse who maintains his social anonymity by selling his father's mementos and eventually their home -- the town house in which he lives after running out of things to pawn off. This catapults the character into a life altering self-realization, all while attempting to be funny at the same time. The screenplay is based on the novel of the same name by author Tish Cohen. The book itself has received rave reviews and is said to have been "film ready" for quite some time. Lots of books are "film ready;" it's just a matter of finding someone who's ready to actually make the film. Shooting will begin in January, but the cast has yet to be announced. I'd love to see the sequestered main character as Ryan Gosling (a spin off of his character in Half Nelson?), or maybe Clive Owen -- since I wouldn't mind seeing him in everything.

He may have been the least inspired director involved with the Harry Potter franchise, but Chris Columbus was at least sufficient a talent for the task. He adequately set up the series with the first two movies, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, so that Alfonso Cuarón could come in and comparatively deliver a masterpiece with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. While the idea continues to be tossed around regarding Columbus' possibility of returning to the Potter movies, the director, whose last film was Rent in 2005, has also been offered the chance to start up another franchise by directing Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

The movie will be adapted from the first book in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The plot involves a 12-year old boy who discovers that he is a demigod, the offspring of Poseidon and a mortal woman, and follows him in his adventures through Hades and Olympus in order to save the world from an apocalyptic war among the gods. The most interesting, albeit traditionally unfaithful, thing about the books is that they place the entrance to Hades in Los Angeles and they feature Olympus floating above New York City. As an enthusiast of Greek mythology, I am curiously looking forward to the movies (I'd pick up the first book if it wasn't intended for such young readers). Hopefully once Columbus finishes his set-up duties with this series, either after Lightning or the expected sequel, Percy Jackson and the Sea Monsters, Fox 2000 will hire a filmmaker with more talent and more style in order to continue the franchise.

While it might be a little too early to begin talking about a follow-up to Eragon, Fox 2000 originally dove into this fantasy novel with the intentions of turning it into a franchise -- one that would hopefully garner the attention from the teens who love Lord of the Rings and the pre-teens who love Harry Potter. Unfortunately, Eragon ran into Will Smith and his kid on the way to the office, and fell short of taking the weekend's top spot at the box office; it finished with $23 million. However, Eragon did manage to kick Casino Royale to the curb and take number one overseas with an estimated $30 million.

Yet, those numbers were nothing compared to The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring ($47 million domestically in its opening weekend) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ($90 million domestically in its opening weekend). Seeing as its $23 million will probably be Eragon's largest take in one weekend (especially with films like Dreamgirls, Rocky Balboa and Night at the Museum heading our way), will its final numbers (let's say $54 million domestically) be enough to warrant a sequel? Keep in mind, Eragon's budget was somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million. So, what does Fox 2000 do with Eldest, Christopher Paolini's follow-up to Eragon and the second book in his Inheritance trilogy?

Based on some reviews, folks aren't too keen on Eldest (which is essentially The Empire Strikes Back of Paolini's trilogy). Add that to the critical lashing Eragon has received over at Rotten Tomatoes (13%???) and Fox 2000 will have a very difficult decision to make, one that could ultimately tarnish Elizabeth Gabler's (President of Fox 2000) fantastic record (Unfaithful, Walk the Line and The Devil Wears Prada to name a few). With every passion project that succeeds, there's one that fails -- where does Eragon fit in?

So, I ask you: Should Fox 2000 cash in its chips and forget about Eldest? For those that have seen Eragon and read Eldest, would you be interested in seeing the follow-up make it to the big screen? Or not so much?