OK, I know what you're going to say before you even say it: "Dude, it's a big guy in a hockey mask. Don't exactly need a snapshot to envision a big guy in a hockey mask." And that's a fair comment, but I work for this blog and weekends are really slow so here we go:

Our first look at the new Jason Voorhees! A big bulky guy in torn clothes and a hockey mask: Yep! Snark aside, the big guy looks pretty solid. No silly changes or anything, although his NECK sure does look sort of extra-thick. It's the close-up shot of horror-dom's supreme stalker that the fans want to see, but I'm quite a bit more impressed by the "far off" shot. The lake is a grungy shade of green and the shadows are trickling through the forest quite creatively. Anyway, the new Jason will be played by Derek Mears, who's played more crazies, creeps and killers than just about anyone.

The pics come from a recent EW article that Erik covered right here, but it took the hardcore horror fans to get a bigger shot of the serial stalker. Expect a lot more Friday freakiness once Comic-Con starts next week. And if director Marcus Nispel can do as good as job as he did with the Texas Chainsaw remake, that'll be good enough for me. (Yes, I quite like the Chainsaw remake. A hell of a lot more than any of the TCM sequels, anyway.) The next Friday the 13th arrives in February of next year.

[ Thanks: BD.com ]

Producer Scott Faye is keeping the faith -- but fans of the Electronic Arts video game American McGee's Alice will have to wait an indeterminate amount of time to see a movie version. According to McGee's own blog (and thanks to Shock for the tip), Mr. Faye has announced that Universal has placed the project into turnaround -- which essentially means it's comatose until another backer snags the property. (IF another backer snags the property.)

Here's what the producer had to say: "Jon and Erich Hoeber have written a very compelling feature film screenplay adaptation of the Alice game. Their screenplay will certainly serve as a jumping off point as we find a new studio home for the project. In terms of the realistic chances of seeing the Alice project being produced, all I can say is that I have invested (along with Julie Yorn and Karen Lauder, my producing partners on the project) a lot of time and effort in this project. We will get it made." Just not at Universal, unfortunately. Earlier reports indicated that actress Sarah Michelle Gellar and director Marcus Nispel were attached to the project, but as Inspector Clouseau used to say "Notennymore."

For those who are unfamiliar with American McGee's Alice (I really should play this game already), it's sort of a dark semi-sequel to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (or Alice in Wonderland, if you prefer). Filmmakers previously (and temporarily?) attached to the project include director Wes Craven, screenwriter John August, and actress Jean Marsh. (Thanks to Wiki for the reminders.) So to those who've played (and hopefully enjoyed) this video game, here's my question: Who should direct the thing?

Just when we thought we knew who would be battling Jason Voorhees, along comes a new female foe for the hockey-masked serial killer. Recently we reported that Amanda Righetti was in "final negotations" to star in the new version of Friday the 13th, to be directed by Marcus Nispel. Well, something went awry in those negotiations, because The Hollywood Reporter now says that Danielle Panabaker has been cast as the female lead.

Your first reaction might be, "Who is Danielle Panabaker?" (OK, that's what I said.) She's been appearing on the TV show Shark opposite James Woods and has also been featured in several movies that I haven't seen (Mr. Brooks, Yours, Mine and Ours, Sky High). Have you seen her? Does she have the right stuff to go toe to toe with Jason?

Jared Padalecki is still set to play a leading role as someone who investigates the murderous activities at Crystal Lake. THR adds that Jonathan Sadowski, Travis van Winkle and Aaron Yoo have also been cast, and notes that Panabaker "is playing the adventurous, athletic girlfriend of van Winkle, who plays a rich alpha male type that gathers everyone together. Yoo, who was Shia's buddy in Disturbia and is one of the college card sharks in 21, will play a "quirky" guy. Sadowski plays "a techie who knows the horrific history of Camp Crystal Lake," which means, I guess, that's he's seen the other movies? Filming is scheduled to start very soon in Austin, Texas.

For every beast you need a beauty, right? We just heard from Scott Weinberg that the very cool "giant guy" Derek Mears has been cast as Jason Voorhees in the upcoming new version of Friday the 13th. Before that, Jared Padalecki was selected to play a leading role as someone who investigates the murderous activities at Crystal Lake. But to really jump start the franchise, the movie badly needs a hot chick talented actress to amp up the action. Will Amanda Righetti fit the bill?

Variety is reporting that Righetti is in "final negotiations" to play the female lead. Will she play the "final girl"? That would fit the pattern of the female leads in the other Friday the 13th movies. She could join a small, illustrious list that includes Adrienne King, Amy Steel, Dana Kimmell, Kimberly Beck, etc. Righetti has been steadily building her career, mostly in glossy TV shows (The O.C., North Shore). She has the good looks and steely thesping ability that "final girl" requires. To see more of Righetti, in more ways than one, check out the awesome cheese that is Angel Blade.

Production company Platinum Dunes has signed Marcus Nispel to direct, and I join Scott W. in his minority opinion regarding Nispel's work on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake -- that flick freaked me out for reasons I don't really want to explore too deeply. Filming on Friday the 13th begins on April 21 in Austin, Texas.

After doing a surprisingly good job on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake -- and then taking five steps back with the misguided Pathfinder -- it looks like Marcus Nispel has been signed to direct the Friday the 13th remake for Platinum Dunes, Paramount, and New Line Warner Bros. Not only that, but actor Jared Padalecki has been signed for a lead role. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "the remake will focus on the serial killer, who will wear his now-iconic hockey mask. Padalecki will play the lead, who investigates what happened up at Crystal Lake."

Seems like a strange direction for a "remake" to take, but obviously I'm more than happy to see the flick before I get all excited or all furious. We'll be waiting until February 13 of next year (yes, it's a Friday) to see what Nispel and screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon have in store for us. More casting news as it comes in -- and if the Dunes guys opt to go PG-13 on this project, I may just lose my mind.

The Sundance Flu, The Sundance Cold, The Sundance Fever ... how about The Sundance I Feel Like Complete Sh*t ...

Looks like J.J. Abrams does plan to go all Wonder Years for his Star Trek flick! Coming Soon reports that 11-year-old (about to be 12) Jimmy Bennett has landed a role as Young Kirk in Abrams' upcoming Star Trek film, due out at Christmas. Bennett has played a little kid in films like Hostage, Firewall, Poseidon and Evan Almighty. A young Spock will also be featured, leading this writer to believe both characters will appear in the film and talk about how much they "like, like" Winnie Cooper. Fingers crossed.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed (what was already previously reported) that New Line is in talks with Platinum Dunes to re-launch the franchise that helped secure their name as one of the big players in town, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Dunes partners Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form will produce, and a writer will be hired once the strike comes to an end. Since it's a full-out re-do, expect Robert Englund to not play Freddy Krueger, though we imagine he'll still have a role in the film (perhaps as part of Freddy's family). God bless the guy they get to fill his shoes; he'll have to convince tons of hardcore fans that he's the real deal. Dunes and New Line are also prepping a re-launch of the Friday the 13th franchise, with Marcus Nispel directing.

And finally, though it's not really a fanboy film (but I needed one more thing to throw in here, so cut me some slack), Moviehole reports that director Phillip Noyce has officially dropped out of that planned Amelia Earhart biopic starring Hilary Swank. MH spoke with Noyce, who gave the following reason for his departure: "I had worked on Amelia for 5 months from July to end of December 2007, finding all the locations and extensively storyboarding the flying sequences - When it didn't appear that the film was going ahead, I had to make a painful decision to move on and returned to a project that had long fascinated me... Mary Queen of Scots. Scarlett Johansson will play Mary in a film to be shot on location in Scotland, England and Ireland during 2008." Apparently Swank is still attached to the film, which we all thought was moving ahead as planned (script issues, maybe), so we'll keep you updated and let you know what happens.

Before I get started, I should probably warn you: I have a big soft-spot for Sarah Michelle Gellar. I'm a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer nerd; I've even started buying the comics for season eight, for goodness sake. So I am a little predisposed to defend her choices -- and let me tell you, it hasn't always been easy. In an interview with RadioFree.com Gellar confirmed that she is still in the lead role for the big screen version of American McGee's Alice. Gellar told RadioFree, "unfortunately, it was the victim of regime change in the studio. And I'm not getting out. And contrary to what you may have read, it's still my project."

The film will be based on Rogue Entertainment's third-person shooter set in the world of Alice in Wonderland. The story centers on a pretty twisted incarnation of Alice -- her parents are killed in a fire, and after slipping into a catatonic state, she is institutionalized. "Years later, the White Rabbit summons Alice to aid a radically altered Wonderland, now under the despotic rule of the Queen of Hearts" (played by Jean Marsh). Marcus Nispel is attached to direct -- he is also at the helm for the Friday the 13th update slated for 2009. The Alice script has undergone a few re-writes over the years, but it looks like the final version is going to be the one written by Jon and Erich Hoeber (Whiteout).

Back in December, rumors began to surface that Maggie Grace (LOST) had taken over the role, but it would seem that maybe the gossips confused it with Grace's other project with Gellar, The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Alice has been kicking around since 2000, back when Wes Craven was attached, and hopefully this time around, Nispel and company will be able to make it into a reality. But fans need not worry; Gellar tells RadioFree: "...I'm not giving up. Because I believe there is such a beautiful, crazy, cool, twisted story to be told there. [jokes] And if I have to get down and write it myself one of these day [sic], I may have to..."

[via ComingSoon.net]

Depending on your point of view, this is either very good or very bad news. Shock Til You Drop is reporting that the much-discussed Friday the 13th update will not be a remake of the classic 1980 flick. According to sources, writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason) will not be re-writing the original story. Going one step further, Shock reports that the flick would not be an origin story of any kind. Instead, Shock reports that the film will take place, "somewhere between parts two and four". As any horror fan knows, the story of Jason Voorhees and his reign of terror at Camp Crystal Lake is one of the cornerstones of 80's horror, and the thought of a remake had plenty of fans all up in arms. Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Marcus Nispel hopped onboard a few weeks ago to direct.

Just last week Scott had reported that there were still some details to iron out with the script; mainly how they were going to work around the fact that Jason did not really appear in the films until Part 2. As we all know, it was good old Mommy dearest doing the dispatching in the first film. If Shock's sources can be trusted then this means Nispel won't have to worry about how to work in the big daddy of slashers and his trusty goalie mask and they can just start fresh. Stay tuned for any official word on whether or not we will be seeing a "stronger, faster, better" Jason headed our way. Friday the 13th is set for release February 13, 2009.

A few days back when Monika shared the news that Marcus Nispel had signed on for Platinum Dunes' Friday the 13th remake, she was met by one wise-ass commenter who actually made a good point: How can the remake have Jason as the hockey-masked killer -- if Jason didn't start slashing until Part 2 and didn't locate a hockey mask until the third act of Part 3? (Such are the things that ravenous horror nerds worry about.)

Luckily we have a semi-spoilery little report from Devin at CHUD.com, and let's just say that screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon are not exactly looking to re-invent the wheel. Which is good news for me, because it's the formulaic simplicity of the original Friday the 13th that I dig so much. (Yes, I really believe the original is a damn fine horror film. Cheap, choppy and all but completely plagiarized, but still grim, atmospheric and graphically effective.) Swift and Shannon also provided the screenplay for Freddy vs. Jason, but I'm hoping this new project is a little darker (and quite a bit more ... decipherable) than FvJ was.

Anyway, rest assured that I'll be watching this project with both eyeballs. And since they're planning to shoot in Austin early next year, hell, maybe I'll even get to visit the set. Click right here for Devin's notes from a discussion with the Platinum Dunes partners, and then click right here for some (also semi-spoilery) character descriptions at Bloody-Disgusting.com. But really, who's worried about spoilers at this point? It's not like you haven't seen Friday the 13th at least four times. (Special note to the Dunesmen: Good job on giving Nispel the job. I may be in the minority, but I really dug his take on Leatherface. Looking forward to his interpretation of ol' Jason, which will hit theaters on February 13, 2009. Yes, that's a Friday.)

Special note to me fellow Friday freaks: I was overseas recently and I picked up this very awesome Friday the 13th book AND the unrated Warner Bros. Region 2 DVD that has the nine extra seconds of gore! Whoo!

Ah, Friday the 13th... One of these days, I'm really going to have to watch it again, but for a while, it was vehemently banned from my house. You see, at the ripe old age of 5 or 6, I had a friend with an older brother and sister who liked it, so every time I went over there, we'd sneak and watch that, as well as the other flicks we weren't supposed to (Squeeze Play). Not surprisingly, I'd come home and have crazy nightmares. However, I better get on reorienting myself with the original soon, because as you might remember, it' s getting a remake.

Instead of adding to the neverending franchise, writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift have penned the redo, and The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Marcus Nispel is in final negotiations to direct it. (It looks like Jonathan Liebesman has gone bye-bye!) After directing music videos for the super-varied group of artists like Faith No More, Amy Grant, Billy Joel, and Bone Thugs n Harmony, he turned to television and film. There was a TV version of Frankenstein, and then he helmed Pathfinder, the weird viking/Native American action thriller. Oh yeah, he also helmed that little remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which you might remember.

The plan is to start the film this winter, so it looks like he's going to tackle Jason before going to work on Sarah Michelle Gellar's action thriller Alice. This also means that we should get casting news really soon. Now, this isn't some plain-Jane remake, but a redo. THR says: "While Jason made only a brief appearance in the final frames of the first movie in 1980, and didn't even don his famous mask until the third movie, the new movie will focus on Jason -- who will wear the mask and kill -- and keep the famous setting of Crystal Lake." I wonder if this will confuse future horror fans who then go back and watch Scream...

Finally, no post like this is complete without input from resident horror expert, Scott Weinberg: "Good lord, would Nispel be a large improvement over Liebesman. Sure, Pathfinder kinda stunk, but if we can get a Friday the 13th remake that's as bleak and ferocious and Nispel's TCM re-do, then that'll be good enough for me."