Andy Serkis will direct The Jungle Book reboot

Warner Bros. has hired Andy Serkis to direct the upcoming live-action version of The Jungle Book. Serkis is already on board to produce the film alongside Steve Kloves and Jonathan Cavendish. This is Warner Bros. attempt to compete with the Disney produced Jungle Book adaptation to be directed by Jon Favreau.

You might recognize Serkis' voice more than him in person. He provided motion capture and voice work to Peter Jackson as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong as well as lending his body once again to motion capture as Caesar for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He is also reprising the role of Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Despite being a second unit director for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, this will be Serkis' directorial debut.

The Hobbit extended edition hits in October

An extended edition of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be digitally released by Warner Bros. on October 22nd, as if it needed even more footage. The edition features 13min of additional footage along with 9 hours of bonus features. On November 5th the extended edition will hit 3-disc Blu-ray ($35.99), 5-disc DVD ($34.99), and 3D Blu-ray ($54.98). Each format will also include an Ultraviolet digital copy.
The new special features include a commentary track with Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens, a chronological history of filming The Hobbit trilogy, and more on creating Middle Earth.

Personally, I think this is a massive waste of money. You might as well just wait until the extended edition box set comes out like it did with Lord of the Rings. I remember watching my brother and my dad buy each Lord of the Rings movie and then the single extended editions and then the big box set. It is such a waste and I laugh at people who do it.

First poster for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The trailer is apparently coming out next week. The poster doesn't really intrigue me.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is set to come out on December 13, 2013.

Kick-Ass 2 and The Hobbit 2 both pushed back

Well this is sad news.

Kick-Ass 2 and The Hobbit: There and Back Again have had their release dates pushed back. Kick-Ass was originally slated for June 28, 2013 and will now be released on August 16, 2013. The Hobbit's original release was set to be July 18, 2014 but it will now be released on December 17, 2014.
The moves seem to be all about competition. It appears they didn't want The Hobbit in direct competition with X-Men: Days of Future Past and Guardians of the Galaxy so they moved it. However there are three big name movies that are set for December 2014 like Tomorrowland, the new Annie remake, Night at the Museum 3, and Minions.
The shift of Kick-Ass 2 now puts it on the same weekend as Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and The To-Do List. Previously it was set to compete against The Heat and White House Down.


Personally, I am sick of all these release date shifts. I already got shit on by Hollywood when they moved Carrie and The Great Gatsby.

72 original songs eligible for Oscars

We have the list of songs that have made the first cut in eligibility for Best Original Song for the 2013 Academy Awards. Included on the list are:

Skyfall (Skyfall)
Touch the Sky (Brave)
Ancora Qui (Django Unchained)
Strange Love (Frankenweenie)
Song of the Lonely Mountain (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
Abraham's Daughter (The Hunger Games)
Wide Awake (Katy Perry: Part of Me)
Ladies of Tampa (Magic Mike)
Breath of Life (Snow White and the Huntsman)
When Can I See You Again? (Wreck-It Ralph)

The full list can be seen here. Also available as of right now are the 104 original scores eligible for Best Original Score.


As far as Original Song, I am rooting for "Skyfall" by Adele to take home the Oscar. That is the best movie song I have heard in years. I would also take "Breath of Life" by Florence + The Machine, but that wouldn't be as satisfying.

Man of Steel trailer will play before The Hobbit

A brand new, full trailer for Man of Steel has been confirmed to screen before The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This trailer joins a new trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness along with a 9-minute extended preview for IMAX screens. This is similar to what they did for The Dark Knight Rises before Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

Anyway... everyone who goes to see The Hobbit should let me know how that one is.

Peter Jackson to release The Hobbit as a trilogy

I called this last week when I heard a rumor about it. Peter Jackson is in negotiations with Warner Bros. to make The Hobbit into not two movies but a trilogy. Jackson is doing what he does best. He is dragging things out that don't need to be and is looking to make as much money in the process. He's like James Cameron for fucks sake. This is ridiculous.

How Peter Jackson could turn The Hobbit into a trilogy

According to the good people spreading the news and hearsay from Comic-Con, apparently Peter Jackson went on record saying that he wants to shoot more footage for The Hobbit.

If you didn't know, there is a movie called The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey set to be released this December and yes, it is yet another JRR Tolkien adaptation. If you have no clue about Lord of the Rings... The Hobbit is basically a prequel to Fellowship of the Ring. We saw Bilbo Baggins as an old Hobbit in Fellowship of the Ring and now we will see Bilbo as a young Hobbit in An Unexpected Journey.

HOWEVER... this is already split into two parts. An Unexpected Journey comes out this December and the second part, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is set for release in December 2013. If Peter Jackson rounds everyone up again and films more footage this could mean one of two things, as Collider predicts:

1. One or both films will have extended cuts for DVD/Blu-Ray release or will be released extended theatrically.
2. He will tweak the editing and release a third Hobbit film making one book an entire trilogy.

Now, I have read all the Lord of the Rings books including The Hobbit. I did a book project on this book when I was in 6th grade including making a model of Smaug to go along with my book report. Not only is it the shortest book of them all but it doesn't really need to be expanded this much, imo. Seeing that Peter Jackson completed three books in three movies already (Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King) I don't see why he has to make three more movies out of one book. But of course we all know the real reason; Peter Jackson wants all the money he can get out of the LOTR nerds of the world. All the money, merchandise, and Academy Awards he got from the first trilogy wasn't enough.

I disagree with this prediction in the sense of not wanting it to happen. I am honestly expecting this to happen and it pisses me off. I don't want to deal with three more LOTR movies that are, no doubt, going to be just as boring as the previous three were.

12 most anticipated films of 2012

According to Rotten Tomatoes...


http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/marvels_the_avengers/news/1924217/2012s_12_highly_anticipated_movies/

12. Underworld: Awakening 3D [January 20th]
11. The Hunger Games [March 23rd]
10. The Avengers [May 4th]
09. Men in Black 3 [May 25th]
08. Snow White and the Huntsman [June 1st]
07. Prometheus [June 8th]
06. Brave [June 22nd]
05. The Amazing Spiderman [July 3rd]
04. The Dark Knight Rises [July 20th]
03. The Expendables 2 [August 17th]
02. The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn - Part 2 [November 12th]
01. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [December 14th]


Everything but Men in Black 3, The Amazing Spiderman, The Expendables 2, Breaking Dawn Part 2, and The Hobbit for me. Those five I could honestly care less about.
Ones I am excited about, including all of the above minus #09, 05, 03, 02, and 01: Chronicle [February 3rd], American Reunion [April 6th], Dark Shadows [May 11th], Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter [June 22nd], Frankenweenie [October 5th], and World War Z [December 12th]. Hell yeah.