Summit hopes Rob & Kristen Reconcile

Summit Entertainment are allegedly putting off organising promotions for the final Twilight Saga movie Breaking Dawn Part 2 as they wait to see whether or not Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are able to salvage their off screen relationship despite their recent highly publicised troubles.

The New York Post published these comments from an alleged studio insider:

“The Studio’s holding out to see if they get back together. But I don’t think anyone is banking on that happening. At this point, the press strategy would have been mapped out. It’s usually very organised, but at this time it’s undecided.”

But Summit has continued to issue positive statement through a spokesperson

“We’re moving full steam ahead. We are confident the film delivers amazing entertainment for our passionate fans and general audience alike.”

The trailer below for the final installment of the Twilight Saga, which will arrive in cinemas November 16th:

Joss Whedon Writing New S.H.I.E.L.D. TV Series

ABC have officially greenlit a pilot for a new live-action Avengers spin-off series based on Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D. with Joss Whedon co-writing the script with his brother Jed and sister –in-law Maurissa Tancharoen.

It remains to be seen if Avengers director and fan favourite Joss Whedon will also take over directing responsibilities for the new series, for the pilot or beyond. But production is due to start immediately. It marks Whedon’s return to the small screen following in the proud footsteps of Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse.

It’s also unclear which of the many Marvel superhero characters would feature in the series and exactly how it would integrate with the existing movie franchise.

Star Wars Episode II & III 3D Both Released 2013

George Lucas is one again bringing an updated version of his ever changing Star Wars Saga back to the big screen. Having seen the 3D re-release of Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace take over $44 million in cinemas worldwide it’s now been announced that Attack of The Clones and Revenge of The Sith 3D versions will both arrive in cinemas next year.

Episode II will arrive on 20 September 2013, followed less than a month later by Episode III on 11 October. Lucasfilm had previously announced that the each of the six Star Wars films would be re-released over six years. However they’ve now accelerated that schedule by putting the remaining prequels out at the same time.

However you feel about the Jedi wisdom of putting Jar Jar Binks and Hayden Christensen’s acting in 3D, at least this means that fans will have at a year less to wait before seeing the original trilogy make a triumphant return to cinemas.

Morgan Freeman & Elizabeth Banks for Lego Movie

Morgan Freeman will be lending his instantly recognisable vocal talents and considerable gravitas to an animated adventure about Lego. He’s reportedly now playing a lead role in Lego: The Piece of Resistance, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The directing duo were previously responsible for 21 Jump Street and the more child friendly animated hit Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.

In a slight change from his usual roles as God or Batman’s Gadget maker Freeman will apparently be playing a Lego character named Vitruvius. While the precise details of his character are yet to be revealed the film does have an interesting official synopsis:

An ordinary Lego mini-figure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary MasterBuilder, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil Lego tyrant from gluing the universe together.

Sounding appealingly like a cross between Toy Story and Lord Of the Rings, the film already has Will Arnett cast as Lego Batman and Channing Tatum as Lego Superman. American TV star Chris Pratt is voicing Emmet the ordinary lego guy mistaken for the mythical MasterBuilder.

It’s also reported that Elizabeth Banks has now joined the growing cast, bringing a much needed piece of girl shaped Lego to our current toy box of pint size plaything heroes.

Michael Bay’s Ninja Turtles Cancelled Indefinitely

Fans of the much beloved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise mostly let out a collective sigh of relief when Paramount shut down pre-production of their much debated big screen re-imagining of the familiar 1980s comicbook characters. Wrath of The Titans Director Jonathan Liebesman was set to direct with Michael Bay producing, but Paramount has officially put an ‘indefinite’ stop to the project, thanks to an apparently lacklustre script.

Initial comments from Michael Bay that the new film would re-create the characters as tough, edgy, funny and completely loveable aliens drew a firestorm of internet criticisms. This fire of fanboy rage was only further fuelled when the name for the new project was changed to Ninja Turtles, seemingly confirming that our half shell heroes would no longer be mutants or teenage.

In the latest developments Paramount has apparently taken legal action against a blog which claimed to publish a leaked first draft of the abandoned Ninja Turtles script. The alleged script appeared to stick closely to the lucrative but ill-conceived Transformers formula.

The supposed draft had our alien turtle warriors befriending an adolescent small town security guard/hockey player named Casey Jones and his wannabe reporter girlfriend April O’Neal. It also dramatically re-imagined the Turtles familiar nemesis the metal masked Shredder as an evil military colonel Schrader with an army of ‘Foot’ soldiers. The leaked script apparently contained plots points such as mystical prophecies and alternate dimensions, alongside dialogue crammed with frequent self-aware pop culture references.

The script was quickly removed online, reportedly at the request of the studio. Seemingly giving validity to the claim it may have been real. It wouldn’t be the first time an ill-conceived early draft or studio treatment has found its way embarrassingly onto the internet. Though to the studio’s credit at least this is one occasion where a bad script definitely won’t be becoming an actual awful film.

Link below to the blog which originally published the script, now providing an account of why it has been removed.

http://tmntnottant.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-script-and-review-takedown-proof-of.html

Check out our own video interview with Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman discussing the then proposed Michael Bay Ninja Turtles movie and praising the ‘amazing’ ideas of production team; defending the new ‘alien’ angle as something which had always been a part his original vision of the characters…