Damon Houx
It's been almost a decade since Keanu Reeves wrapped up 'The Matrix' trilogy, and over five years since his 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' remake, and in the interim Reeves has kept quiet. Sure, he's done some indie films, and produced a documentary, but he's been off the big screen for a while. But now he's signed on to star in 'Passengers,' which will return him to science fiction.
Though this was rumored last year, it looks like a sequel to 2012's '21 Jump Street' is moving forward. Sony has confirmed that they're going to make the film and that it will have a release sometime in 2014.
Though DreamWorks Animation has had some hits ('Shrek 2,' believe it or not, is one of the top ten highest grossing films of all time), their last film at Paramount ,'Rise of the Guardians,' was such a flop that it caused the studio to reduce ranks. Fortunately that may have just been some bad luck as their most recent film 'The Croods' is so successful that the studio has just announced a sequel.
The internet has shown that filmmakers can act directly with fans, and circumvent the official marketing machine. 'Kick-Ass 2' director Jeff Wadlow has shown how far you can go by uploading a clip from his upcoming movie. It offers Aaron Johnson and Chloe Grace Moretz starting a fight with Christopher Mintz-Plasse and his gang.
You might think Zack Snyder is keeping busy, what with post-production on 'Man of Steel' and the latest trailer hitting today, but he broke a near six-month Twitter silence to tweet the debut of the first poster for '300: Rise of an Empire.' And the image definitely makes it look like the last movie, and that it is proud of its producer.
When 20th Century Fox was founded in 1935 (the combination of Fox Films Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures) it's possible that the founders of the company may have joked that their name could become obsolete in sixty five years, but it seems unlikely they were thinking that far ahead. Now -- seventy-eight years later -- the company's name has been changed to reflect the times and updated to 21st Century Fox for everything but the movie side of their business.
Michael Bay is scheduled to start shooting 'Transformers 4' in the next couple weeks, so the final casting announcements should be hitting shortly. the latest addition to the cast is 'The Hunger Games's Stanley Tucci. .
Teenage girl cat burglars... Interested yet? That's the set up of 'The Bling Ring,' Sofia Coppola's latest film (which is based on a true story) about a group of girls who decided to rip off celebrities when they know they're not home. Now there's a new clip that features 'Harry Potter' star Emma Watson pole dancing.
'The Hunger Games' proved adept at keeping audiences excited by offering brief glimpses at the movie, and letting everyone know about every casting decision, so it's no surprise that the follow-up 'Catching Fire' is using a similar strategy. We're still more than seven months out from 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,' but it's just released two new images.
'The Way, Way Back' premiered at Sundance and will be released by Fox Searchlight later this year. That's been a winning proposition for many films, including 'Juno,' '(500) Days of Summer' and 'Little Miss Sunshine,' which this most resembled. Or maybe it comes across that way because both star Steve Carell. Now there's a trailer for the film.