Martin Freeman Will Go Saving Santa

Martin Freeman Will Go Saving Santa
In a new 'toon

Source: Variety

An elf helps to save Santa’s reputation when something goes badly wrong at the North Pole... No, we haven’t been watching ace Aardman comedy Arthur Christmas in a desperate attempt to recreate the festive season. That’s the plot for Saving Santa, a new ‘toon set to feature the voices of Martin Freeman, Noel Clarke, Joan Collins and Tim Curry.

While you might wonder why someone else wants to tackle a Christmas cartoon so soon after Aardman’s effort, that doesn’t seem to be bothering the team from Adulthood / Shank producers Gateway Films, which is using the new movie to launch its animated output.

Freeman will be playing a clumsy elf who has to rescue Santa’s HQ when its location is discovered by a nasty villain. Ricky Roxburgh has written the script and Leon Joosen is directing.

The voice cast also boasts the likes of Pam Ferris, Craig Fairbass and Chris Barrie, and Gateway is now looking for a studio partner to take on the world distribution rights. There’s no word on when it’ll be ready for release.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Mirror Mirror Trailer Online

New Mirror Mirror Trailer Online
Tarsem Singh's take has a new promo

Source: YouTube

When the first trailer for Snow White tale Mirror Mirror arrived, it’s fair to say that we weren’t exactly knocked off our feet. And though some of the comic tone still comes across as a little too wacky here, this second promo is a definite improvement. Take a look below.



Directed by Immortals’ Tarsem Singh, Mirror Mirror is aiming to be the light, bubbly, family-friendly alternative to the doom-laden action of Snow White And The Huntsman. The plot here follows more along the familiar lines of the Grimm brothers’ fairy tale, with Snow (Lily Collins) as the young princess whose claim to the throne is usurped by the evil enchantress Queen (Julia Roberts).

Things definitely take a turn for the worse when Snow catches the eye of the handsome Prince Andrew Alcott (Armie Hammer), and the Queen banishes her to the forest, where a nasty beast awaits. But our heroine discovers that all is not quite what it seems, and she’s befriended by seven resourceful, pint-sized rebels (led by Danny Woodburn and Martin Klebba) who agree to help her retake her kingdom.

With Singh giving everything his typically stylistic sheen, there are moments that still feel a little bit too much like a panto (but then it is Snow White) and we could do without the comedy sound effects / Three Stooges slapstick. We're still not convinced by the “puppy love” scene, though full marks to Roberts and Hammer for commitment to the idea. Overall, though, we’re much more confident about the movie’s chances after this. Mirror Mirror was set to arrive on March 16, though the US release date was recently pushed back to March 30…

Source: EmpireOnline

Disney Buys Max Landis' Latest

Disney Buys Max Landis' Latest
Chronicle writer sells adventure pic

Source: Variety

It must feel pretty good to be Max Landis right about now. Not only does he have buzzed-about script Chronicle set to hit cinemas next month, but he’s been winning one high profile writing job after another and selling pitches like they come with coupons for world domination attached. Now Disney is the latest studio to snap up one of his ideas, nabbing a new adventure pic.

While the title remains a mystery (or has yet to be decided, at least), what we know of the basic plot finds a brother and sister setting out on an epic adventure.

Landis has script pitches sitting at several studios, including a Frankenstein tale and a new take on the Pied Piper at Fox (which is releasing Chronicle) and adventure thriller Amnesty at Universal, which Ron Howard is attached to direct once he’s finished working on Rush. Then there’s action comedy Good Time Gang, which has Mark Wahlberg and Jonah Hill on board to play mercenaries.

As we mentioned above, he’s been drawing plenty of acclaim for super-powered teen drama Chronicle, which will touch down here on February 1.

Source: EmpireOnline

Another Lock-Out Trailer Escapes

Another Lock-Out Trailer Escapes
A simple thank you is enough

Source: IGN

Just before Christmas we saw the international trailer, in which the film was going by the moniker of MS One: Maximum Security. And now here's the "domestic" trailer, where the title is Lock-Out. Back when we first reported on its development in February 2010, it was called Section Eight. But whatever the name, it stars Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace, and looks like a blast.

Grace is the daughter of president Peter Stormare, who's on some sort of diplomatic visit to a maximum security space prison for dangerous lunatics, orbiting miles above the Earth. Unluckily for her, she's the catalyst for a mass break-out, despite the fortress' whole suposed "impregnable" thing. And the only man who can get her to safety? Pearce's wise-ass badass Snake Plissken Snow, that's who.

"Don't get me wrong," he says. "It's a dream vacation. I go into space, I get inside the maximum security nuthouse, get past all the psychos, save the president's daughter if she's not dead already... I'm thrilled that you would think of me."

The last clip was big on the action inside the prison, but this one gives more of a glimpse of the carnage outside, with space battles and a destructive-looking bike / car freeway chase.

Lock-Out, as it shall henceforth be known here, is co-written by Luc Besson, and reaches us through his Europacorp (Taken, the Transporter films, last year's Colombiana). The directors are James Mather and Stephen St Leger. If you've not yet seen their fantastic short film Prey Alone, now would be the time, ahead of Lock-Out's UK release (a week earlier than the States) on April 13.

Source: EmpireOnline

Trailer For The Blind Man Online

Trailer For The Blind Man Online
A Besson mystery starring Lambert Wilson

Source: Dread Central

While we're bringing you Luc Besson / Europacorp trailers, here's another one, although it might be slightly further below your radar than Lock-Out. This one's for the French-language À l'aveugle (The Blind Man), starring Lambert Wilson and Jacques Gamblin, and directed by Xavier Palud.

Need a translation? We think we can just about cope. Gamblin is detective Lassalle, who's investigating a cold case that doesn't seem quite so cold anymore. There's been a new murder, and the killer always uses the same method, which is to cut his victim into small pieces. The police bring in everyone who appeared on surveillance cameras in the time preceding the murder, among whom is Wilson's blind Narvik. He's asked if he saw anything when he was with the murdered woman. He says he saw nothing. Well duh.

Lassalle has unshakeable faith that Narvik is the killer, but can't prove it. Narvik says he's flattered that most people consider him an invalid but Lassalle thinks he's a criminal: "It's a promotion!". In the courtroom at the end of the trailer, Lassalle asks "Why are you doing this?", and Narvik says he and the detective have more in common than Lassalle would like to admit. There's the sense of a bigger conspiracy afoot, and the tag-line is "Sometimes appearances can be deceptive."

There's a definite flavour of giallo about all this, by which we mean the slasher-whodunnit genre, not the hapless Dario Argento farrago from a couple of years ago. Palud directed the excellent Ils (Them) in 2006, and then decamped to Hollywood to remake The Eye. On this evidence, it's good to see him back on home turf. And it's also always a pleasure to see The Merovingian.

Besson, natch, wrote the screenplay, and the French release date is March 7. There are no dates so far for the UK or elsewhere. We're liking that tagline too: "In the kingdom of the killers, the blind man is king."

Source: EmpireOnline

Spielberg Close To Gods And Kings

Spielberg Close To Gods And Kings
Saving Private Moses?

Source: Deadline

You just know that the second they hear that Steven Spielberg has so much as looked at their script, all the studio executives involved in a project find their hearts beating faster and their wallets getting itchy. But he’s always so busy and has the absolute power to choose whatever he works on. So you can imagine the scene at Warner Bros. now as the studio creeps closer to locking the director in to make Gods And Kings, a new take on the story of Moses.

Aside from that slightly popular book starting with the letter B, many people know Moses’ story from Cecile B DeMille’s epic The Ten Commandments, which saw Charlton Heston as the main man. Sent off as baby in a basket down the Nile, adopted, leads the Jews out of slavery in Egypt, forms an army, receives the Ten Commandments and parts the Red Sea on his journey towards the Promised Land. Yeah, that old yarn.

According to Deadline’s sources, the plan is for Spielberg to apply his Saving Private Ryan aesthetic to the story: ”There have been glossy versions of the Moses story but this would be a real warrior story,” an “insider” tells Deadline.

The original idea for the current version of the film was born in a treatment, and since then Exam writer/director Stuart Hazeldine (who has also worked on Paradise Lost) and Green Lantern co-writer Michael Green have worked it up into a script. Warners showed it to The Beard in September and now talks have reached the point where he’s about ready to agree. Of course, he still has to get through post-production on Lincoln and make Robopocalypse, but if he does grab Gods, it will likely start filming in early 2013.

And it wouldn’t be the only Moses tale in development – Chernin Entertainment also has a Braveheart-style take on the story bubbling on the burners. You’ve got to think, though, that if they have to compete with Spielberg, the competition might just quietly slink away…

Source: EmpireOnline

Russell Brand Will Be The Hauntrepreneur

Russell Brand Will Be The Hauntrepreneur
Rent a ghost house...

Source: Variety

Russell Brand has a thing for spirits. And no, not the kind he used to have a thing for… We mean ghosts. After his unsuccessful attempt to resurrect Rentaghost (which since moved on to waft around Ben Stiller), he’s now switched to a new spooky project, jumping aboard The Hauntrepreneur for Paramount.

If this one makes it to the screen with Brand still attached, he’ll play the titular weirdo, who helps a family adjust to a new town (and settle their differences) by creating a haunted house filled with unusual characters. Sounds a little like Beetlejuice crossed with Willy Wonka.

Con Air / High Fidelity scribe Scott Rosenberg, who last dabbled in out-and-out comedy with (shudder) Kangaroo Jack, sold the idea to the studio as a spec script in October. Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes team, which usually specialises in pure horror, is on board to help shepherd it.

Hauntrepreneur is now scouring the streets of Hollywood and beyond, looking for a director.

Brand, meanwhile, will next crop up in Rock Of Ages and has been setting up a new series on US cable channel FX. He’ll also co-star in Diablo Cody’s as-yet-untitled directorial debut, which will see him appear alongside Octavia Spencer and Julianne Hough.

Source: EmpireOnline