universal Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Carl Rinsch is a name perhaps best known to those in the advertisement world, but the commercial director has been poised to break into the feature film world for some time now. His name had been attached to direct Fox's reboot/prequel to Ridley Scott's Alien, until it became apparent that Scott wanted to direct as well as produce. All is not lost, however, as now Rinsch has been tapped to turn Keanu Reeves into a Samurai in 47 Ronin.

The project is being set up at Universal with a script from Chris Morgan, who has been earning the studio hand over fist lately with his scripts for the last two Fast & Furious movies as well as Wanted. Currently the immortal Keanu Reeves is the only actor attached to the project, meaning he's most likely to command the presumably effects-heavy film, something Reeves hasn't really done since 2005's Constantine. It's unclear precisely who he'll be playing in the story, but The Hollywood Reporter explains the script "centers on a group of 18th century samurai who set out to avenge the death of their master."

Aside from the above, details are rather vague, as always, in these early stages, but in my experience, samurai make everything better, so news on 47 Ronin is worth keeping an eye out for on their focal inclusion alone. Plus, it's nice to see Rinsch have a firm project to be attached to. You may not recognize his name, but you've probably seen a few of his commercials. His most visible job was probably creating the robotic Heineken keg commercial, but his most impressive is a brilliant Evolution of Technology spot. Check them both out below (plus another of his); and believe me, you'll want to see the Evolution of Tech one, it's a stunner.

The future Faceman may have lost the chance to fly as the Emerald Knight, but DC isn't the only place you can gain superpowers. You can also score them from top secret pharmaceuticals! (Don't try this at home, kids.) According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bradley Cooper is set to star in Dark Fields, a thriller directed by Neil Burger and based on the book by Alan Glynn.

Cooper will play a writer down on his luck who manages to get his poor paws on a secret drug that promises to make one smarter. He doesn't go ask Alice before popping them, and finds that it's a wonder drug. He enjoys writing success, wealth and women until the side effects kick in. They're long lasting, potentially lethal, and have the extra kick of making time appear as a stop-motion movie. As if that doesn't suck enough, mysterious and unpleasant men begin pursuing him. Do they look like Shia LaBeouf, who was originally set to star? Hopefully not.

The screenplay was penned by Leslie Dixon, and is said to be similar to Fight Club and The Game, which might be a big spoiler as to the nature of those mysterious antagonists, which is why you shouldn't think about it too much. There's no start date, but hopefully he has no time between The A-Team and Dark Fields to squish in another frightening romantic comedy.

I am appalled this awesome little news item slipped past my radar, and even more upset that I am just now hearing that Rashida Jones has a comic book called Frenemy of the State at Oni Press. As if that isn't neat enough, Variety reports that Frenemy has just been optioned by Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. I mean, a comic book that's not only penned by a woman, but stars a young woman is actually being optioned. It's the stuff geek girl dreams are made of.

But I'm jumping the gun a little here, because if you're as out of the loop as I was, you don't know what Frenemy of the State is about. It stars a young heiress who works undercover for the CIA, and was described at ComicCon as "What if Paris Hilton was a spy?" But Jones describes the heroine as being a little classier than that: "She has lived a life of privilege, attended the best schools and learned every language, but her obsession with spying on exes gets her into trouble and she is recruited to be a spy in exchange for not going to prison. There is a comic element to it, this girl who is so conscious of social standing and wearing the right shoes, suddenly becoming responsible for these dangerous, life-threatening missions." If that sounds a bit drippy, remember that Lara Croft started off as a careless young heiress too, until she discovered the thrill of artifacts and firearms.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant has the unfortunate fate of arriving at the height of the vampire resurgence. I fear a lot of potential movie goers will dismiss it as part of the wave, as a major studio (Universal) trying to rush an adaptation of a very popular young-adult book franchise in an attempt to capitalize on the Twilight demographic. And while I understand that sentiment, in this particular case it's a shame, because Paul Weitz' film stands tall whether it was made inside or outside this temporary rise in the vamp popularity. Remove the cynical marketing climate and The Vampire's Assistant is a charming, imaginative, and most importantly, very entertaining film for children, teens and adults alike.

Having not read any of the 12 books comprising author Darren Shan's young-adult Cirque Du Freak saga, I can't attest as to how faithful an adaptation it is, but the macabre world About a Boy director Paul Weitz has brought to life on film feels like the kind of mysterious wonderland I could have easily lost myself in as a child. That's not to say that The Vampire's Assistant is a children's film, far from it, but it's the kind of film that's full of content that's simultaneously adult and juvenile, the breed of subtle scripting that provides eye candy for teenagers and nostalgic mind candy for adults.

The casting call will be very specific: "Seeking young blonde woman, 6' tall, measurements 39-19-33. Must wear high heels and be able to drive sports car. Math skills not necessary."

Variety reports that Universal, emerging triumphant after months of negotiations, has wrangled the rights to make a live-action Barbie movie. Mattel has a long history of holding a very tight rein on the image of their premier money-earner, so you can bet that there's enough clauses and caveats attached to keep a dozen lawyers in custom suits.

"Barbie is the most famous doll in history, a unique cultural icon in the world of brands," Universal Pictures chairman Marc Shmuger told Variety, and Mattel claims the doll has a staggering 99 percent brand awareness. The audience for a Barbie movie is as established as that of, well, the enormously successful Disney princesses. As Mattel licenses the rights from Disney to make the princess dolls and accessories, it can't have escaped their notice that there's big bucks to be earned by tying products to movies that little girls love.

It's as inevitable as the tides. Once something becomes a genuine industry to the tune of a $4 billion dollar marriage, the lawsuits quickly follow. On the heels of the Siegel and Shuster lawsuits that dismantled the world of Clark Kent comes a lawsuit from the estate of Jack Kirby that targets all things Marvel. According to The New York Times, the Kirby heirs have sent 45 notices of copyright infringement to Marvel, Disney, Paramount, Fox, Sony, Universal, Hasbro, and just about everyone else in the world. Kirby created (or co-created alongside Stan Lee) just about all the big Marvel characters so anyone using them must now face the the Kirbys and Toberoff & Associates. (The same law firm that handled the Siegel and Shuster lawsuits, which is no coincidence.)

The Kirbys seek to win the copyrights back to Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc., and claim some (or all) of the profits. If they win back the copyright, it wouldn't kick in until 2014 so presumably they wouldn't be able to claim the "back profits" the characters have made, but anything going forward would be a problem. As Bleeding Cool notes, Disney and Marvel will always own the trademarks, and the movie studios would probably also be safe in their acquisitions, but continuing to publish anything Kirby created would be problematic.

The attorney Marc Toberoff declined to comment on the case, but Disney released an official statement that shrugged off the lawsuit, noting "the notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights 7 to 10 years from now, and involve claims that were fully considered in the acquisition." This will undoubtedly be a case fraught with as many tangles as the Siegel and Shuster suit was. Will Marvel end up owning Iron Man's armor, but the Kirbys will own Tony Stark and Pepper Potts? Will it create problems for Marvel Studios down the line? We shall watch and see.

Those of you planning a night out at the movies this weekend with Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart might want to do some extra finger crossing because there's a small chance love might not happen if two jaded screenwriters get their way. According to TMZ, screenwriters Greg Crowder and Tony Freitas are attempting to block the release of Universal's Love Happens this weekend because they feel the script for the film was stolen from them. That's right -- if Crowder and Freitas are to be believed, love already happened a few years ago when they handed the VP of Production for Universal a script called The Truth, which, we imagine, was a love story about love happening and then not happening, but thankfully happening again right before the end.

At the time Universal said the script needed a rewrite, but both writers wanted to be paid for said rewrite and that's when the deal fell apart. Then, earlier this year the duo submitted the script to another company, who then turned around and accused the writers of stealing the script from the upcoming Aniston/Eckhart vehicle. One imagines Greg and Tony then turned around, looked at each other and said something like, "Wait, did that just happen?"

So, now, these writers want to either block the release of Love Happens this weekend or receive a piece of its profits, which they hilariously estimate at more than $100 million. May as well demand the film's future Oscar while they're at it ...

Update: According to a studio source, Love Happens will still arrive in theaters this weekend as planned.

Last year, lovers of good cinema worldwide were baffled by what seemed to be a sign of the end times, as Hasbro and Universal teamed up to develop movies from popular board games and lured directors like Ridley Scott in to helm them. Now, Variety reports that Battleship moves closer to production with director Peter Berg at the helm, and is aiming for a release date of July 1, 2011.

Berg describes Battleship as "a contemporary story of an international five-ship fleet engaged in a very dynamic, violent and intense battle" but wouldn't name what country is supplying the enemies of the piece. He's very enthusiastic about the project, noting that he's always wanted to pit ship against ship, navy against navy. "I've been consumed with doing one of these since I tried to convince Tom Rothman at Fox to make a film about John Paul Jones, the founder of the American Navy. As a kid, I was dragged from Navy museum to museum, and spent so much time on ships, listening to my father talk about the great battles of WWII, I did my high school thesis on the Battle of Midway. When this came up, it didn't take me long to find a take for a film that is filled with raucous action-packed naval battles."

If you happen to be a handsome ex-CIA agent who out of a rabid sense of patriotism let the US government turn you into a tech-savvy killing machine with no memories and a penchant for throat chopping people in all manner of office building and slum around the world, Matt Damon would like you to call Universal Studios and give them a heads up as to what your life is like. See, Universal wants to make a fourth Bourne film, as does series star Damon, but they currently have no idea how to plausibly bring the guaranteed money maker back to the big screen.

Damon explained to Empire in a recent interview the holding pattern America's new favorite ex-spy is in, "you can't see the guy saying "I don't remember" any more, because he's lost and regained his memory three times already! And he's not like Bond, who goes on individual missions. I mean, you could make Bond movies forever, because you'd start each film at the beginning of a new mission. But Bourne isn't built that way, unfortunately."

If your first thought is to somehow have Bourne go back to working as a G-man, toss it out right now; that's already been considered and dismissed by Damon and co. However, I'm pretty confident they haven't thought of the following. If they had, Revenge is Bourne would already have a trailer.

Redbox continues to frighten other established movie-rental venues, as two new studies indicate that the kiosks are having a huge impact on the home video industry. Last week, Variety reported that a study by the research company NPD estimates that Redbox, who plan to add to their over 15,000 kiosks with additional boxes in grocery and convenience stores, will own 30 percent of the rental market by the end of next year. Currently, mail-order services like Netflix control 36 percent of the market, while traditional video chains like Blockbuster still drive the market with a 45 percent share.

The fast growth of the company, which is owned jointly by Coinstar Inc. and a subsidiary of McDonalds, is making the studios very nervous. As reported here previously, Lionsgate, Sony, Disney and Paramount have all cut deals with Redbox, but the company was forced to sue Universal and 20th Century Fox when those studios attempted to strong-arm Redbox into signing a deal that would limit the rental company's distribution and kick profits back to the studios.