I hate to spread totally speculative bad buzz, but if any advance development merits the term "not a good sign," it's a movie getting its release date pushed back seven months to early September, the year's most notorious dumping ground. Yep -- Richard Kelly's The Box is now scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. on September 11, 2009.

Now, to be clear, its original February release date wasn't exactly a plum spot either. But occasionally something sneaks through early in the year -- think Cloverfield. The few weeks around Labor Day are where movies go to die. The only recent exception I can think of is 3:10 to Yuma.

I'm hoping against hope that the switch isn't actually a vote of no confidence, since a Twilight Zone-style sci-fi film from the director of Donnie Darko sounds fantastic. If it is a low-confidence move, I'm hoping it's a case of a studio not knowing a good movie from a hole in the wall. That happens a fair amount, don't you know. Richard Kelly could use a boost after Southland Tales sank last year.

The Box is about a suburban couple who receive a mysterious wooden box with a single button. The box comes with a promise that if one of them presses the button in the next 24 hours, they will get a million dollars -- but somewhere in the world, someone will die. The film stars James Marsden, Cameron Diaz and Frank Langella.

[hat tip: Cinema Blend]

I guess members of Arcade Fire like to keep an eye on their online reputation, because it took a total of eight days for the band to reduce a popular rumor to rubble. A little over a week ago, Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) had posted that, "a very famous band who is honoring us with being the first filmmakers they've ever scored a film with" had signed up to score his upcoming thriller, The Box. Before you knew it, Pitchfork had picked up the story and was reporting that Arcade Fire was that "famous band".

Cut to one week later and Arcade's co-founder, Win Butler, posted the following message on his blog (through the band's official site): "Arcade Fire is NOT doing the soundtrack to any film. We are all off for the summer, writing songs, reading books and keeping our plants alive" -- although he did concede that he might compose some original music for the film along with band mate Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy).

The Box takes place in 1976, where an unhappily married couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) receive a mysterious box from a stranger (Frank Langella). The box will reward the couple with a massive payday, but only on the condition that a complete stranger dies in return. Erik gave us the heads up on some production photos back in February, but so far there is no release date. Hopefully the 'stink' of Southland Tales has finally worn off, and Kelly will be able to secure an official date soon.

Here's where I get confused: If you knew a pair of people like the characters played by Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher in the new feature-length sitcom pilot What Happens in Vegas, you'd probably hate them. Undoubtedly, in real life, you'd want to punch / mock / immediately walk away from people so outrageously stupid, selfish, and insufferable. So here's my question: Why would you actually PAY for the experience of meeting two such woeful and worthless people? It's not like there's much upside for you...

Pre-packaged movie star detritus of the most inane order, What Happens in Vegas offers an I Love Lucy premise, an Odd Couple leading duo, and a Three's Company screenplay. (I mean, like, season five Three's Company, when you could spot the flaccid punch-lines the split-second the set-up is delivered.) It's not like I went in gunning for the flick, because I happen to think that A) Ashton Kutcher is a fairly funny guy, B) Cameron Diaz is still (often) a generally appealing movie star, and C) "high concept" comedy can sometimes make for one colorful and energetic night at the cinema -- but I've been to writing seminars that offer more humor, creativity, and cleverness than what's on display here. And trust me, writing seminars have none of those things.

The pounding beat of a headache, or the sear of a migraine, is something I rarely have to face. That makes me lucky, for the most part, but it also means that when one hits, like today, all I can think of is heads and brains like a zombie in training. Naturally, this has me thinking of movies that focus on the stories of the noggin. Should I go for The Man with Two Brains or other similar brainy fare? Nah.

Instead, I'm going to focus on a man behind the camera, one who brought us two of the best stories of the mind to date: Mr. Charlie Kaufman. It all started with a little Malkovich Malkovich, and then continued with the overwhelming urge to erase love from the mind -- two stories that make a little headache seem like nothing. On this warm Friday, I give you: Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ...

I will totally admit to bashing this movie when I first heard about it, but I have to say it has some pretty funny jokes. I LOL'd at least four times during this latest trailer (just released by Moviefone) for What Happens in Vegas, and I can't remember the last time I LOL'd at anything starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. See, it's all about Rob Corddry. Put that guy in anything and you're guaranteed a few funny bits. I love the part where Kutcher finds a bunch of hot girls in his living room, and he calls Corddry to tell him there's a hot girl party at his house. The exchange between the two earned bonus laugh points from me. And the trailer is cut together pretty well, with the laughs increasing as it plays out. Kudos to whoever put it together.

What Happens in Vegas stars Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher as two random strangers who meet one night in Vegas, get wasted and subsequently get married by drunken mistake. However, while they're parting ways the next morning -- admitting their stupid mistakes -- both wind up winning a three million dollar jackpot. It was her quarter, but he put it in. When a judge sentences them to "six months of hard marriage" these two strangers -- who now despise one another -- will have to find a way to make it work. Think The Break-Up meets War of the Roses. I dunno, looks kinda cute.

What Happens in Vegas hits theaters on May 9 (my birthday!). Check out the trailer above, or head over to Moviefone to watch it in glorious HD.

That picture up there is the official one-sheet for the upcoming romcom What Happens in Vegas. If we went by this poster, the movie looks like one of those cheek-pinchingly happy romcoms full of Vegas weddings and matrimonial bliss. But this is the movie where Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher fall to the huge Las Vegas cliche -- hitting Sin City to forget their problems, while getting drunk and getting married.

The twist -- they play a slot machine as they decide to dissolve the marriage and win $3 million, so splitting up isn't so easy. They're sentenced to 6 months of "hard marriage" by a judge who freezes their winnings. It's just so romantic! Both of them act like asses to the other, and then, oh my god, they realize that they're meant to be! They fall for each other! Yeah, I'm being really hard on this, but c'mon -- Ashton is notorious for his bad romcoms, and the trailer is just a melange of stereotypes and over-done jokes that doesn't seem to offer anything fresh. Cameron and Ashton get hitched on May 9.

What do you think?

Just after Christmas last year, Erik Davis threw up a still from What Happens in Vegas, the new movie starring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. The romcom is about two people who fall into the typical cliche -- they've both had some problems in their lives, so they go to Las Vegas to blow off steam. There, they meet, get trashed, and get married. However, this time around, there's a big catch. Just as they're about to part ways and hunt down someone who can get them an annulment, they win $3 million. A judge then freezes their money and sentences them to, well, their marriage. Following the usual romcom rules, the two despise and torment each other, yet grow to love one another.

I'm betting this isn't one of those films that's going to go very far. (Because I Said So!) It will probably pull in a decent chunk of change right away and then fizzle off quickly, unless the big laughs aren't being shown in the trailer, which was just posted on the film's official website.

The one bit of this that I actually enjoyed -- a scene of Kutcher urinating into a sink. However, my appreciation of that scene wasn't because it was funny, but because I once knew a guy who would relieve himself in basement utility sinks rather than use the bathroom in the middle of the night and risk waking anyone up. But that's just my experience...I hope.

[via JoBlo]

Remember that mushy-sounding, Irreconcilable Differences-esque movie starring the Fanning sisters that's in the works? About a little girl who sues her parents for divorce after finding out she only exists to serve as a genetic match for her dying sis? It's called My Sister's Keeper, and it just got a whole lot better-sounding. According to Variety, Alec Baldwin has joined the cast, which also includes Cameron Diaz as the mother of Dakota and Elle Fanning. Baldwin fortunately won't be playing the girls' daddy; instead he's set for the role of an attorney representing the younger, wrongfully-conceived sister. He will be going up against Diaz, whose mom character is also a former trial lawyer and will be defending herself. It's still unclear if the father role will be significant, or if the parents are now divorced, separated or simply not cinematic equals. Of course, the production has until its February start date to let us know the actor for that part.

Baldwin, who previously worked with Dakota Fanning on The Cat in the Hat, was able to sign on to My Sister's Keeper thanks in part to the writer's strike, which has halted the shooting of Baldwin's hit TV series 30 Rock (though Variety points out he is contractually allowed to schedule a movie, who's to say it would have happened with this, at this time?). I've just recently become addicted to the show specifically because of him, and hope his attorney character is close in tone to his NBC executive character, Jack Donaghy. Yet something -- perhaps the subject matter of the film -- tells me that won't be the case. Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) will be directing from a script by Jeremy Leven (The Notebook), which was adapted from the novel by Jodi Picoult, while Mark Johnson (The Notebook) produces.

If it wasn't for those Shiny Happy Fabio followers, comedian Zach Galifianakis would've stopped Bubble Boy before his journey even began. (He was the ankle-weight-wearing bus dude who wouldn't give the kid a nice, cheap discount.) Since then, he's been a hacker, a homeless man, Santa, a friend of time-traveling Tru, and taught a certain kid about hunting Into the Wild -- just to name a few. Now he's got two more roles on the way, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

One of the roles will be in Tom Vaughn's What Happens in Vegas. He's going to play "Dave the Bear," Jack's (Ashton Kutcher) anti-marriage best friend who is less than happy when Jack marries Joy (Cameron Diaz) during a drunken night in Vegas. As I told you when news broke on the project, the pair get hitched and then undermine each other to get the big payout they win in Vegas. I imagine the Bear will plot against the aptly-named Joy, as THR says he's playing her nemesis.

For role number two, Galifianakis is going to get scientific by starring in the Disney/Bruckheimer flick, G-Force. His role is that of "the lead government scientist in charge of a guinea pig commando program, helping [to] send the highly trained elite agents on a dangerous mission." Elite animal agents, that is. Sounds like appropriate wacky-scientist casting to me. But for now, we've got Largo, Visioneers, and Little Fish, Strange Pond on the way -- all of which are in post-production.

Oh, how I used to wish for a future with funky, memorable, wonderful, and cultish Richard Kelly movies for years to come. Unfortunately, I've lost my faith. I loved Donnie Darko -- it was random, entertaining, and it merged actors from all different periods of my moviegoing life. Then I saw the director's cut, which was too over-explained for me, although I'm still eternally grateful for the Darkomentary. Now Southland Tales. I waited ages for that sucker, checking the ultra-vague website often; waiting. Then it came out to boos, got revamped, and now I'm hearing from some sources that it didn't help.

My future Kelly hopes seem dashed, but even after the flop that was Domino, and the Southland troubles, Kelly is gearing up for his third feature, The Box. Cameron Diaz signed on to star in June, then Frank Langella joined her in October. Now The Hollywood Reporter has posted that James Marsden is in final negotiations to play Diaz's husband in the horror film. The film is about: "an unhappily married couple who receive a box from a stranger (Langella) who tells them that if they push a button on the box, they'll receive a hefty amount of cash -- and someone they don't know will die." If it was as simple as that, there wouldn't be a movie, so I imagine those cash-givers are tricky and will make it someone connected to a future boss, family member, or something to throw a wrench in their already-crappy lives.