Joel Silver thinks he will, and he would probably know. Silver gave a long interview with Moriarty over at AICN, where the long and torturous road of Sgt. Rock was brought up. And the answer was surprisingly optimistic: "I'm going to make that. I'm going to make that very soon. With Guy Ritchie, I think." When pressed for more details, Silver would only reply with, "I hope so."

First, does anyone else think it's crazy that DC Comics would deliver a movie about a humble soldier on-screen faster than the Green Lantern or Wonder Woman? When I think of must-see DC properties, Sgt. Rock doesn't come to mind -- but that might just be me.

And if you're unfamiliar with Sgt. Rock, Wikipedia has his long and glorious WWII history. The short answer is that he is the WW2 soldier to end all soldiers, having fought in every campaign there was. Depending on who you talk to, he either died in the war or lived on to perform covert operations for the United States.

According to the tabloid rags, Guy Ritchie has his hands full with his marriage to Madonna, but he's also been busy trying to reinvigorate his career. We've got RocknRolla on the way, the story of a Russian mobster doing shady land deals and attracting the attention of London's crime world, and it stars Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Ludacris, and Idris Elba. But before we even see if that helps rip him from the sinking world of Swept Away, Thandie tells MTV that the new film will be one of three.

The actress says: "RocknRolla is one of three films and Guy's keen to get going on that straight away." It will include Newton, who makes it through this first film, but she says many others have not, and that the sequel "will follow whoever's left." Apparently the shoot was swift, with only three weeks of pre-production, so Ritchie could get going on this at any time.

That being said, since this is a story where only some survive for the sequel, Ritchie might want to wait for 2 and 3 until after the first one premieres, to prevent potential spoilers and all. But maybe he just wants to get these in the bag before the verdict lands on the first. It could go either way, but since Tom Wilkinson has been on a hotter than hot roll lately, I'm hoping for good things. How about you?

Variety reports that Virgin Comics will partner with Jonathan Mostow for a feature film version of his just-published comic, The Megas. Based off an idea from Mostow about a group of elites, it is part of Virgin's Directors Cut line of comics. Mostow is perhaps best known as the director of Terminator 3, but he is in good company at Virgin. Other directors who have signed up include John Woo, Guy Ritchie, Ed Burns, and Terry Gilliam.

The story "revolves around Detective Jack Madison and his race-against-the-clock investigation to uncover secrets behind the mysterious sex-fueled suicide of a Prince in The Megas royal family. Meanwhile, the King is on his deathbed at The White Palace (yes, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!), and society is bracing for the inevitable chaos that will surely ensue once he dies." Basically, it seems to be about a corrupted ruling class and the everyman who is forced to bring them down.

There is no word yet on whether Mostow will be involved with writing the script, or directing it for that matter. Mostow already has a remake of The Swiss Family Robinson, and the sci-fi thriller The Surrogates, with Bruce Willis, lined up for 2009. If Virgin wants to get this production going any time soon, they might have to start looking for someone else to take over. The original model for the Director's Cut series was to create comics that were tailor-made for film adaptations, so I would assume that we are going to start to see a lot of Virgin comic book movies in the near future.

The release dates, they are a-changing! Universal just moved the release of the action flick Wanted, which stars Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy, from March to June 27th, 2008. That June release date was also held by Pixar's new one, WALL-E, and the Tom Cruise "Hitler assassination plot" flick -- Valkyrie. According to Coming Soon, Valkyrie has officially budged (though I think it would have absolutely crushed Wanted and it's courting a different audience than Wall-E). United Artists will now release the film on October 3rd of 2008 -- a date also held by less intense competition -- Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Guy Ritchie's Gerald Butler drama RocknRolla.

Valkyrie is directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Nathan Alexander. Tom Cruise has become everyone's favorite punching bag lately, and reaction to the trailer, particularly Cruise's lack of a German accent, was pretty hostile. (Although probably not as hostile as it would have been had he...attempted a German accent!) But the plot sounds awesome, Singer is a great director (Superman Returns aside), and it's got a hell of a cast -- including Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Fry, Eddie lzzard, Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson, and Black Book's stunning Carice Van Houton. How bad could it be? It's got to be better than Wanted -- have you seen the trailer for that thing? Haven't I seen that movie, oh, a thousand times already?

Once you get mega-famous farting around with guns and people who talk funny, it's got to be tough to see your career get Swept Away in one fell swoop. Since then, Guy Ritchie has tried to go back to what he does best -- tough guys and crime. Although he's currently filming RocknRolla, his flick about London's criminal underworld, he had already returned to form a while ago with Revolver. It debuted at TIFF two years ago, and is finally hitting North American theaters in limited release this December. The delay could be due to rumors of its crappiness, although IMDb has it resting at 6.2/10, which isn't great, but isn't terrible.

Now we've got a trailer to check out, courtesy of Yahoo. While it starts off looking like this tough-guy chess movie, with dark, pouring rain and sliding chess pieces, it then jumps into typical criminal territory: the games, cons, and fun of Las Vegas. There's piles of money, bets, scantily-clad women, murder, and everything else you could imagine. Jason Statham stars, sporting lots of distracting facial hair, with the likes of Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore, and André Benjamin. The trailer looks like your typical bright-lights crime caper, which should work well for it. That being said, I'm kind of wishing it was all about the dangerous life of chess players. That would be cool.

With his first feature, Guy Ritchie made one heck of a name for himself amongst moviegoers itching for crime, action, and lots of testosterone. In the late '90s, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was the quintessential guy movie -- every man I knew raved about it with the passion usually saved for religious zealots. Many of those same moviegoers followed along with Snatch, but then slammed into the cinematic wall with his Swept Away. One might think this had something to do with Ritchie's attempt to have a female lead, and that he wouldn't dare enter those waters again. Nevertheless, he has with RocknRolla, which found its deal in May, and was cast in June.

If co-star Thandie Newton is to be believed, we shouldn't worry about her presence in the crime feature. She recently talked to MTV and said: "I was the only girl for miles around. I thought I'd have to struggle to be a woman in that scenario. [But] Guy was so open to me having ideas." Perhaps because of his inexperience writing ones that live up to the male characters he creates? Her character, Stella, is an "accountant who becomes more and more cooked as the story goes on. I think [Guy] was surprised at how dirty I played this character. I just kept pushing it and he loved it. He loves surprises." Maybe this will be the big breakthough for Ritchie -- female characters that don't have sap that dies on the big screen, but rather, sass that rivals his memorable male characters. What do you think? Will RocknRolla re-inspire the admiration of his old fanbase with a lead like Newton and much less romance?

CHUD is reporting that Michael C. Hall (star of Six Feet Under and Dexter) has signed to play the bad guy in the techno-thriller, Game, for Crank creators Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. The film is "set in a dystopian future of implanted nano-devices, where the ultimate online simulation environment is humans remote-controlling other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online gaming. The lead character, played by Butler, is a worldwide sensation, and the top-ranked warrior in a game called "Slayers." With his every move tracked by millions, he battles to regain his identity and bring down the entire system". Hall will play the game's creator and head honcho and is described as the "guy pulling the strings". Now it could just be me, but that sounds like one heck of a cheesy premise -- yet the addition of Butler and Hall could maybe help raise the quality of the material, if only slightly.

Neveldine and Taylor are also behind the upcoming thriller Pathology starring Milo Ventimiglia from NBC's Heroes, headed for theaters on November 30th. Plus, there is still the promise of a sequel to Crank -- although it seems there has been more talk than actual progress on that particular project. Butler had signed on for the film back in May, and he is currently working on Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla and the fantasy film, Nim's Island -- followed by a role in the Untouchables prequel, Capone Rising, so there is no shortage of work coming his way. Hall is still hard at work on Showtime's Dexter, but I would guess he has plenty of time since that's what a season hiatus is for. Game will be produced by Lakeshore and is tentatively scheduled to begin shooting this January.

In case you didn't know, Virgin has a series of comics that they publish. Instead of the usual geek fare, it seems to be the place where high-profile names can dip their toes into the comic world -- titles come from the likes of John Woo, Nicholas Cage, Terry Gilliam, Ed Burns and yes, Guy Ritchie. Mr. Madonna's comic offering is Gamekeeper -- Ritchie came up with the concept, and Andy Diggle pens it. Not surprisingly, the director is now getting a chance to bring it to the big screen with Warner Brothers and Joel Silver.

The story is about a reclusive estate caretaker in Scotland who is extremely well-versed in animal behavior in all species. "When the alleged killer of his son surfaces, the caretaker finds that Europe's urban jungle is not so unlike that of the natural landscape to which he's accustomed." Tough guys, murder and animalistic behavior? Sounds like Ritchie to me. WB prexy Jeff Robinov says: "After reading Guy's comics, we knew instantly that the action-packed story and complex characters would resonate with film audiences." I wonder how much of the story Ritchie actually came up with -- whether it's just the base, or a whole character and plot outline. If it is the former, Diggle is totally going to get some "inker" type of anger. Gamekeeper will mark Ritchie's second film this year alone -- he's currently filming RocknRolla. Is he primed for a comeback, finally, after the flop that was Swept Away?

If I really scour my memory, I can vaguely remember the excitement that Guy Ritchie used to incite with his films. God, it has been seven years since I last went to the theater to see one of his movies -- Snatch. Yet no matter what cinematic pitfalls he has suffered since then, he's got one heck of a cast lined up for his next film -- RocknRolla. Variety has just announced the cast, which consists of Gerard Butler (300), Tom Wilkinson (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Thandie Newton (Crash), Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges (Hustle & Flow) and Idris Elba (The Reaping). (No, surprisingly, there's no Jason Statham anywhere to be seen.) Not only is this cast much better than Madonna, but it's pretty great in its own regard!

Erik Davis first posted about RocknRolla last month, when word hit that Ritchie was writing and directing another feature in the vein of his big successes -- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. The film is about a Russian mobster who coordinates "a crooked land deal, putting millions of dollars up for grabs and attracting all of London's criminal underworld." If this cast is the collection of criminals, this is looking to be a group reminiscent of the pirate kings in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, but with much more recognizable faces. The budget on this puppy is under $20 million, it has already started production and will be done in his classic "fast-paced, low-budget style." Now, will it sweep away that really bad offering and get him back on track as the guru of bad arses, or will Dark Castle Entertainment and Warner Bros. have a stinker on their hands?

Although he already staged one triumphant return after shelling out that abysmal love letter to his wife (the only thing swept away in, well, Swept Away was the career of its director), Guy Ritchie is attempting to make another comeback; this time, he's going to stick to what made him famous in the first place. The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Ritchie will direct RocknRolla for Joel Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment. And, contrary to what you might think based on that title, it will not be some '70s-style rollerskating-themed musical comedy. Oh no, this pic is said to be in the same vein as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. So, basically, they'll be a bunch of British gangsters fighting over a missing bag of drugs while singing show tunes on roller skates. I dig it!

Ritchie, who also penned the script, plans to begin shooting the film this summer. With casting currently underway, me wonders whether Ritchie is still hot enough to land some big-name talent. Right off the bat, I think it's pretty safe to assume Jason Statham will make an appearance, as he's starred in three of Ritchie's four films. Apart from him, this puppy is way up in the air. If he's reaching into a hot British talent pool, perhaps we'll see Daniel Craig or Simon Pegg show up. Or how about Clive Owen? The dude starred in that Ritchie-directed BMW short film; maybe he'll be down for a little smash and grab action? However, the fact that Dark Castle Entertainment is producing doesn't exactly sit right with me. Should I even go near the last seven films they churned out? Let's see, amongst that lot we have gems like Return to House on Haunted Hill, The Reaping, House of Wax and Ghost Ship. Now I know why it's called Dark Castle -- that's the place Joel Silver dumps all the crappy films no one wants to go near.

Now we've got further news to solidify Guy Ritchie's professional plunge into the crapper. Last year, Martha Fischer posted that the director was slated to re-write and direct the feature, Static, which has been in development for eons over at Original Film (a Sony-based company). Now, what a surprise, Ritchie is out, and Sylvain White has taken over the directorial chair. This could either be a crappy turn for the director, who went from the straight-to-DVD I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer to the popular Stomp the Yard, or a great turn in finally getting this movie out. Either this will be a kink in the director's upward trajectory, or the fresh name needed to get this picture off the ground.

To recap, the film is about a gang leader in L.A. who, along with the help of his gang, has to fight off rival gangs and bad cops to get his butt in the witness chair and testify against some corrupt L.A.P.D. officers. White's thoughts "I am grateful to be working again with the studio that gave me my start," (I assume he means successful film.), "Static offers me the exciting opportunity to paint an innovative near-future youthful reality within a high action-packed framework." It sounds a bit too PR for me, but the guy is still learning. Now we'll have to give the project another year, and see if this actually becomes something, or if the feature continues to cycle through directors and stay firmly planted in Development Hell.

Chewy movie morsels for Tuesday:

• Nick Films has decided to go back to one of the oldies but goodies of classic children's entertainment: the unicorn. With producer John Jacobs, the company has nabbed rights to Joe Aucoin's fantasy comedy spec, which is simply named ... Unicorn. The tale is about a single, over-worked father in Manhattan whose 5-year-old daughter really wants one of those fantastical creatures of her own. That's great and all, but are unicorns really the way to reach the kids these days? Let's just hope they don't widen appeal by placing pictures of them on the seat of sweatpants.
• Recently, Scott Weinberg brought us word that David Cronenberg, Howard Shore and Placido Domingo were going to adapt The Fly into an opera. Now, we've got rumors by way of Film-Ick that the non-Cronenberg movie remake is gearing up. According to the Canadian director, Nicolas Cage is itching to be in it. He reportedly told E!: "From what I hear, Nic Cage wants the part." Sure, the Jeff Goldblum hit was a remake itself, but do we really need to re-visit the topic every 20-30 years?
• After his crappy, crappy love-collaboration, Swept Away, Guy Ritchie has not only directed Revolver, but is gearing up for an ABC crime series, Suspect. Yes, another one, but to be extra-super different, this one looks at all of the suspects in a crime. Variety has now reported that Carrie-Anne Moss will play a "smart, plain-speaking cop" in the drama, joining Charles S. Dutton, Michael Ealy and Kathleen Munroe. Is Moss taking this role for some extra cash? Her career is still going strong, although I'm sure that her recent roles don't bring in half the money that The Matrix brought her.

Virgin Comics is relatively new to the comic book game. The brainchild of Richard Branson, Deepak Chopra and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth), they have a unique vision of bringing comic books with Asian myths and mystical folklore to a growing Indian youth market -- and with the typical Branson flair for business, these comics are custom made with adaptations into other mediums (film, TV, etc.) in mind. The Director's Cut series is one of Virgin's new ideas to get movie directors to create comic books; one of their first will be the John Woo series 7 Brothers, and now Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) is next on board.

There was an announcement on comic book writer Andy Diggle's blog that he will be writing Ritchie's 10-part series The Gamekeeper for Virgin. Diggle is based in the UK and has written for Batman Confidential and Green Arrow. The series, conceived by Ritchie, is about a nature-loving killer. Sounds fun, I wonder if it will be chock full of Kabballah and Cockney thugs? There aren't many publishing details yet, but considering that Ritchie will not be writing or storyboarding the illustrations, you have to wonder why they even bothered calling it a Guy Ritchie comic in the first place. I guess they'll give him a call when they do the movie version.

[via Film Ick]

Related Ritchie:

Guy Ritchie's Career Not Dead Yet

Despite the fact that not a single person (I heard even Madonna thought it was crap) will confess to liking his more recent gangster flick, Revolver, Guy Ritchie is still getting jobs based on the success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch (Yeah I know -- I forget they were two different movies, too.). This time, his employer is Columbia Pictures, which has hired Ritchie to rewrite and direct a movie called Static. One guess what it's about: Yes, more gangsters for Guy.

The central figure in Static is a gangster who has been unjustly imprisoned, and is on his way to testify against the bad cops that put him away. Problematically, there are a lot of other bad cops and rival gangsters trying to keep him from doing so. Thus, it's up to the poor, misunderstood gangster and his "loyal posse" to get to the courthouse on their own. So, basically, it's 16 Blocks, except with a posse instead of Bruce Willis, and without Mos Def. Super.

Static has been on the books at Original Film (a Sony-based company that is supervising the film) for years, and has been set up in the past with both Stephen Kay and Chris Robinson (not the Black Crowe, the guy who made ATL) at the helm.

Now that it's obvious British filmmaker Guy Ritchie can't keep remaking Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels forever, and it is clear he can't do anything else (or, at least, not remakes of Italian films, anyway), what is the poor Mr. Madonna to do? Well, he could probably live off his wife, for one. Or, he can make a documentary about his favorite pop religion, Kabbalah. Last weekend he was at a service at the New York Kabbalah Centre telling people of his plans for this doc, which will include the parallels between Kabbalah and Freemasonry, which were written about in the 1871 book Morals and Dogma, by Albert Pike.

As far as paying tribute to one's religious roots goes, Ritchie should take note of John Travolta's travesty, Battlefield Earth. Sure, that movie wasn't about Scientology, but it didn't help the public perception of L. Ron Hubbard, or the religion he founded. You might argue that Mel Gibson did more than okay with his religious pet project, The Passion of the Christ, but then Christianity has a much greater following than Kabbalah. I just don't have much faith in Ritchie's documentarian skills to think this film will do much good for the Centre. Though it shouldn't be any worse than Britney Spears' bandwagon membership giving Kabbalah embarrassing exposure throughout last year, either.