Theater Trip

It’s common knowledge right now that M. Night Shyamalan is far past his prime and his work is now routinely panned by critics. But somehow, he miraculously keeps landing big projects and somehow, there’s always a big star wanting to work with him. This time Night nabbed the biggest star of them all. Will Smith and his son Jaden have signed on to star in a Shyamalan written and directed untitled sci-fi film. The project used to be called “One Thousand A.E.” The story takes place far in the future where a young boy has to navigate an abandoned planet on a space ship that has crashed. On board is his estranged father.

Pappa Smith will produce through his Overbrook banner. He’s currently filming the second half to “Men in Black 3”. The father and son duo last shared the screen in 2006’s “The Pursuit of Happyness”.

Source: Deadline

Vanilla Ice, Leighton Meester, and James Caan are joining the cast of the funny sounding I Hate You, Dad. The David Wain/Ken Marino scripted comedy stars Adam Sandler as a father who moves in with his son (Andy Samberg) and his fiancee and begins feuding with his daughter-to-be. Leighton Meester will play the bride, James Caan will play her father. Vanilla Ice will play a gay wedding coordinator.

I’m a fan of Adam Sandler, but will admit all his comedies except Funny People that he’s thrown out in recent years aren’t exactly of the highest quality. What makes me excited for this film is the writing team. If this is an R-rated comedy, this could actually be a bright spot on Sandler’s resume and a star-making turn for Samberg. Actually it doesn’t haven’t to be rated R, it just has to be good. But at this point I have hopes that it will be. I Hate You, Dad hits theaters June 15, 2012

Colombia Picture’s remake of the film Total Recall is heating up in the casting department. The Len Wiseman directed film already has Colin Farrell in the lead role, replacing Arnold Schwarzenegger. They also have a list of actresses lined up to play two female leads. And now the film has it’s villain. Bryan Cranston has landed the role, and I say it’s about damn time. He’s brilliant in Breaking Bad, but you don’t have to take my word for it. He’s won three Emmy’s for the part. I’m certainly interested in this project. Even if it ends up being a dud, it’ll be nice seeing Malcolm’s former dad chewing up the big screen as a villain.

Source: Variety

CinemaCon is going down right now and Cinema Blend captured a slew of first look images from a variety of upcoming films. Above is Matt Damon in the Cameron Crowe directed We Bought a Zoo. Hit the jump for first looks at Now, What’s Your Number?, The Big Year, The Sitter, and Rise of the Apes.

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Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch was released yesterday amidst a storm of bad buzz and even worse reviews. It seems like a game for critics at this point to see who can write up the most hilariously brutal things they can think of. I’m not going to sit here and argue that everyone should like this film because taste differs and it would get me and the film nowhere. What I will do however is defend the film in hopes that people turned off by the negative reviews will give it a shot. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

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Relativity and Universal Studios are in the midst of a battle between Snow White movies. They both started putting their own version of the classic tale together. Relativity got Tarsem Singh to direct their take, The Brothers Grimm: Snow White and cast Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen. That pic is set for June 2012, giving it a six month lead on Universal’s take, Snow White and the Huntsman. Charlize Theron is the Evil Queen in this pic, and Kristen Stewart is set for the title role. Viggo Mortensen had signed on to play the Huntsman, giving this pic a stellar cast and many people’s pick for the best of the adaptations. But now Aragorn has dropped out and Relativity has swooped in with new casting info for their film. They just nabbed Armie Hammer (The Social Network) to play Prince Andrew Alcott and Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, Hanna) is in talks for the title Snow White role.

Viggo Mortensen is a huge casting blow, in my opinion, to Universal’s pic as I was greatly anticipating his work there. And I’m a fan of Hammer and Ronan, so that’s a plus for Relativity. Which of these Snow White projects are you looking forward to the most?

The Amazing Spider-Man is still shooting right now with Andrew Garfield in the titular role, but Colombia Pictures is already moving forward with the sequel. They’re bringing back James Vanderbilt, who wrote the currently shooting Spidy pic, to write the sequel script. Sequel scripts are a common thing, and not a guarantee the film will happen. The only way it can move forward is if Amazing can make bank. Will it? We’ll find out when it hits theaters July 3, 2012