Fox orders pilot for Lucifer

Fox has officially ordered a pilot commitment based on Lucifer, a character in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comics. The character is based on the fallen angel, Lucifer, and he did later spawn into his own comic series.

Total Recall director Len Wiseman is on board to direct and Jerry Bruckheimer is producing. Reports so far insist that the show will focus on the ruler of Hell as he becomes bored of his post and resigns his position. He rises into Los Angeles where he assists the LAPD in capturing and torturing criminals. Lucifer will join a lineup of two more similar adaptations (Sleepy Hollow and Gotham).

National Treasure 3 is still happening

Or so they say.

The third installment of National Treasure, starring Nicolas Cage, was rumored to be released in December 2011. That obviously didn't happen and the expected release was shifted to December 2013. It is already nearing the end of October and we still have no National Treasure 3. It hasn't even entered full pre-production yet. So what is going on with this movie?

Well, director Joe Turteltaub is insistent that a script is being worked on. He and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are still hopeful that the film will happen by 2015. Turteltaub cites the difficulty of creating a great mystery that is based on historical fact. Not to mention the difficulty of not just recreating the previous two movies. Everyone wants the movie to happen, but no one can seem to get a legitimate script put together. It was already two years ago that Brian Koppelman and David Levien were hired to write the script for National Treasure 3 and we still have nothing.

Maybe this would be the appropriate time to hang it up and just leave it alone. I personally am not a fan of the National Treasure movies, so I wouldn't really care if the third one never happened.

Disney and Bruckheimer part ways

Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have decided to part ways. The two have decided to not renew their contract once it expires next year.

This partnership has been one of the most successful in Hollywood since the 1990's. By ending this partnership Disney will be able to focus more on bigger franchises and sub-divisions such as Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar. It also allows Bruckheimer to produce more adult themed films. However, the partnership will continue for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales as well as a third National Treasure.The fifth Pirates film was recently delayed by Disney in an attempt to lower the insane budget.

Oddly enough it also arrives just months after the Disney/Bruckheimer film The Lone Ranger was one of the biggest financial disasters in Disney history. Fairly recent flops from Bruckheimer also include G-Force, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Jerry Bruckheimer released this statement:

“I am very appreciative of the wonderful collaboration and support I have had at the Walt Disney Company for over twenty years and the 27 movies we have made together. The good news is we will continue working together on Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure, and other projects we have developed together at the studio. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to work with these amazing people at The Walt Disney Studios, many of whom have become my good friends. As we continue to make adventure films, we look forward to returning to films like Black Hawk Down, Enemy of the State, Beverly Hills Cop, and The Rock.”

I personally see Jerry Bruckheimer as another Michael Bay at this point. Give him $200 million and all you'll get is a disaster with a bunch of crazy stunts and explosions. Adios, Jerry. I don't think Disney will miss you much. 

Disney to cut Pirates of the Caribbean budget

It appears that Disney might have finally learned a lesson on their latest box office failure, The Lone Ranger. It has been a month after The Lone Ranger's release and the film has only hit $175 million at the box office. And that includes the international sales they were hoping to bank on. The film came with a hefty, and expensive, advertising campaign that didn't help the film one bit.
Now with that said, rumor has it that Disney is looking to significantly reduce the budget of the announced fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The current budget sits at $250 million and they are looking to shave off at least $50 million. They also are looking to deprive producer Jerry Bruckheimer of the final cut he enjoyed from the previous four Pirates movies.

In addition to the failure of The Lone Ranger, Disney also had a huge embarrassment with John Carter back in 2012. The film had a budget of $250 million and only raked in $73 million in the domestic box office. Disney is apparently trying to avoid yet another box office failure and doesn't want this to become a trend. Although it seems they are already ignoring the obvious loss of interest in the Pirates franchise as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides brought in just $241 million compared to the average of over $300 million the first three made. However, the international box office always messes everything up so it gives them a false sense of security and makes them think people want more movies.

Along with cutting the budget, Disney has brought in new directors for the fifth Pirates. Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg (Kon Tiki) were hired and are hoping to give some fresh light to the franchise.

The Lone Ranger gets destroyed at the box office

As if the reviews weren't bad enough, the opening box office numbers for The Lone Ranger have completely removed the landing pad for the $225 million dollar movie.

The film has been destroyed at the box office by none other than Despicable Me 2. The animated flick made over $34 million on opening day alone while The Lone Ranger failed to make $10 million. Yes, you read that right. It couldn't even break $10 million on opening day. The 5-day projection for The Lone Ranger is below $50 million while the projection for Despicable Me 2 is at $125 million.
In other words, The Lone Ranger won't even make back 25% of what it cost to make the film and that doesn't even include all the money put into marketing. At least not domestically. They are hoping that the international viewers will boost the box office revenue seeing that Johnny Depp is still pretty popular overseas. But let's face it... a bad movie is a bad movie. It doesn't matter where it's released.

It appears that Disney has yet another John Carter on their hands and it only proves one thing; they need original ideas and fast. Not to mention the fact that they need to tell Jerry Bruckheimer that you can't put Johnny Depp as a variation of Jack Sparrow in every Disney funded movie. I sure hope the rumors of them placing The Lone Ranger into the Disney Parks was just a rumor. This is just embarrassing.