another night Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Yesterday we told you that Ricky Gervais was in talks to reprise his character from the first Night at the Museum for its sequel, now titled Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian, and that whether or not he joined the film depended upon his very busy upcoming schedule. I told him he has to do it (seeing as he was the best part of the first film), and he definitely wants to do it, but we'll see. Now Variety tells us today that Night 2 will take Avatar's release date of May 22, 2009, with the highly-anticipated James Cameron 3D film shifting over to a December 18, 2009 release. This kinda sucks, as I'm sure a lot of you were looking forward to Avatar kicking off the summer of 2009 with a bang. Instead, it will arrive shortly before Santa does. (Am I the only one who would rather the big films come in summer? December is always so ... hectic. Shopping, lists, fat men in suits ... I could go on.) Then again, Avatar will now be released on the same weekend that saw Titanic back in 1997. So perhaps it's a lucky weekend for Cameron.

Now that Night at the Museum 2 is swapping locations, they can also include some more historical figures. Variety tells us that Reese Witherspoon has been approached to play Amelia Earhart. The trade also indicates that other cast members from the first film might return (like Gervais), but we won't hear about those moves for another few weeks. Ben Stiller is already attached to reprise his role from the first film. As a straight-up kids film, I kinda enjoyed the first Night at the Museum. While the plot was cruddy, and the bad guys weren't all that scary, the flick was very alive and entertaining ... for kids. I'm curious to see what they do with the sequel. On another front, Fox also announced that it will release Ice Age 3 in digital 3D on July 1, 2009.

Today, I'm happy to say I achieved one of my many many goals in life: To meet Ricky Gervais and geek out with him over The Office. I couldn't help myself, and when we first sat down for our exclusive interview on the set of his new film Ghost Town, the first thing I said to him was something along the lines of: "I'm such a nerd when it comes to your version of The Office; I could talk to you for three days about that." Thinking Gervais would nod, smile and contemplate stabbing me for bringing up The Office when the guy's been there and done that ages ago, he was surprisingly open and, well, we geeked out ... just a bit. In fact, he said "No worries, I'd talk about that work till the cows come home; I'm very proud of it." I'll have my full interview with Gervais as we get closer to Ghost Town's release date, but I wanted to share just a tiny bit of casting news regarding the highly-anticipated sequel to one of last year's most successful holiday films.

Yes, I'm talking Night at the Museum, and its sequel Another Night, currently scheduled for a 2009 release. Since Gervais was such a big part of the success of that movie (his small role stole the entire show), we were wondering whether he'd show up in part two. According to Gervais, he's (kind of) involved; he said, "Yes, if I can. I've got the script and I really want to do it." We asked if his character is in the script, to which he replied, "Yeah yeah, and I really want to do it. I can't promise yet, because there might be a bit of overlap ... but I really want to do it. I love working with Ben, and I really really enjoyed working with Shawn Levy. He cares about the comedy ... and I want to do it. The answer's yes ... but I'm filming this, then I'm in post-production, then I'm on tour. The answer's yes, though."

Additionally, the series finale for Gervais' successful HBO show Extras airs this Sunday, and when asked why we should watch it, Gervais joked that, because of the writer's strike, it's the only original programming airing on Sunday night. So go watch it! (I guess it's funnier if you're there and listening to his sarcastic British accent ... but try your best to see the humor. Oh, and watch Extras -- it's a blast.)

As it stands right now, the end of the world as we know it (aka the potential Hollywood strike) is eying a June, 2008 release date. However, when it comes to the WGA (Writer's Guild of America), their contract is up on October 31, 2007. Yup, that's in a month from now. According to a New York Times article, the WGA could one-up their pals from SAG (Screen Actor's Guild) and DGA (Director's Guild of America) and strike early -- leaving some scripts, which aren't finished yet, in limbo. And if the NY Times is correct, one of those scripts includes Justice League of America. While the current draft, penned by Kieran and Michele Mulroney, was thought to have been handed in already, the NY Times claims it "still does not have a so-called green light to begin production." If more work needs to be done, and the writer's strike next month, it could seriously damage the status of those projects (like Justice League) that still need a bit more work.

And guild leaders are eying projects like Justice League, as well as the highly-anticipated follow-up to Night at the Museum, tentatively titled Another Night, because those are the movies studio's care about the most. But they're also the ones that need more work; projects that, if a strike were to happen, could be seriously delayed and/or shelved indefinitely. It's a smart move by the WGA; I mean, why strike in June when studios have already managed to stockpile enough canned beans to last a year or two? Strike now while they're still rushing to secure casts, and budgets and rewrites. Strike now when they need you the most. Personally, I'd be very surprised if Justice League of America actually makes it into production by early next year. Even if the writer's don't strike next month, casting has been one helluva uphill climb.

Rumors have been flying all over the place, with every other website claiming to have the exclusive on another name added to the film's potential roster. (I'm still game for Fred Savage to play Batman and Ralph Maccio as Superman , but that's me.) The way I see it, anyone who is not working early next year could be up for a role. Pick a name, any name, and write the following sentence: "We've been told by a super secret inside source that (insert actor) is being looked at to play (insert superhero)." Publish post. Congrats, you have an exclusive!