Damon Houx
From the opening frames of the trailer for 'The Butler,' it's as if you can hear everyone involved saying one word. That word? Oscar. Academy award-nominated director Lee Daniels leads Oscar winning actor Forest Whitaker in this tour of race relations in America as told through the perspective of a White House butler.
In one of the most public contract negotiations of the modern era, Robert Downey Jr. has let it be known that he finished his contractual obligations to Marvel and to playing Tony Stark and Iron Man. Which means his future involvement with both 'The Avengers' and 'Iron Man' will depend on how much Marvel is willing to pony up.
When New Line tried to bring 'Dungeons and Dragons' to the big screen in 2000, it was coming a year after 'Star Wars: The Phantom Menace' and a year before 'The Lord of the Rings,' and was done on a budget. Basically, it came at the right time and place to be totally forgotten and dismissed. But now, according to Warner Brothers, the time couldn't be more right for a reboot.
Ewan McGregor is in negotiations to join the cast of Gavin O'Connor's 'Jane Got a Gun,' which would (hopefully) put an end to the production's endless troubles. He would be starring with his former 'Star Wars' castmate Natalie Portman.
With shooting right around the corner, Michael Bay's 'Transformers 4' is rounding out its primary cast. We know it will star Mark Wahlberg, Kelsey Grammer, and a number of vehicles that will transform into robots, but now Sophia Myles has joined the cast.
Though Tom Cruise may have gone through a rough patch in his career, that's now completely over as he's being brought back to star in 'Mission: Impossible 5' for Paramount. This has been rumored for a while, but it was confirmed today.
In one of the strangest exits in recent memory, Al Pacino has left the production of 'Despicable Me 2,' which is set to hit theaters July 3. But it was just announced that Benjamin Bratt is replacing him. They'll have to work pretty quick if they want to hit theaters exactly two months from today.
When Brett Ratner took over the 'X-Men' franchise from Bryan Singer, he was tasked with adding new mutants to the steady roster of actors who were in the previous two films. One was Ellen Page, who Singer has brought back for 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' to reprise her role as Kitty Pride. Page recently turned up on set, and Bryan Singer took a picture.
Before they decided to get in the film business for themselves, Marvel used to license out their characters to different studios. And those studios can continue making movies about those characters as long as they have a film (or sequel or reboot) in production in the allotted amount of time. If they don't, the rights revert back to Marvel. With no sequels or reboots in active development, the rights to Blade and Ghost Rider have reverted back to Marvel.
Two-time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain has now entered into discussions to join Christopher Nolan's next picture 'Interstellar.' If she takes the part she'll join Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in this secretive science fiction film.