Thompson on Hollywood

Superman Faceoff: Bryan Singer vs. Brandon Routh

As the latest Superman reboot gets underway, two folks who have no say in the Chris Nolan/Zack Snyder version, Superman Returns director Byran Singer and star Brandon Routh, face off against each other, Jeanne Wolf reports: When Bryan Singer makes a public statement that sounds like he was sorry he picked Brandon Routh to be Superman in the 2006 Superman Returns, you’d think that the former superhero’s feelings would be wounded.

By Jeanne Wolf
|
April 22, 2011 8:07 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Shannon Joins Superman: Man of Steel as Supervillain Zod

Superman: Man of Steel has found its villain in character actor Michael Shannon, who will play General Zod in Zack Snyder’s reboot of the Warner Bros. franchise. Shannon joins Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent, Amy Adams as reporter Lois Lane, and Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as the Krypton native's adoptive parents.

By Anne Thompson
|
April 10, 2011 11:30 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

In The Works: Nolan Helps Snyder with Superman; Working Title's Trash; Flight of Conchords's Hobbit

- Zack Snyder is under pressure. Empire talks with the Sucker Punch and Superman: Man Of Steel director, who is confronting skepticism following Punch's critical beating. Producer Christopher Nolan, thankfully, is offering plenty of help for the Superman reboot. No surprise, with people asking questions like, "Does Sucker Punch Spell Doom For Superman: Man of Steel?" Says Snyder, "Chris has been amazingly generous with me [with the Superman storyline]…He's making [The Dark Knight Rises] but he takes time if we're knocking around ideas for the script." And why wouldn't he? "Honestly," adds Snyder, "he wants us to make the best movie we can and he's just interested in helping with that without messing up the process. I think it's amazingly generous of him."

By Sophia Savage
|
April 5, 2011 5:09 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Superman News: Amy Adams Lands Lois Lane Opposite Henry Cavill's Man of Steel

Zack Snyder, whose Sucker Punch disappointed at the weekend box office, called Amy Adams Sunday from Paris with the news that she has landed the role of Metropolis newspaper reporter Lois Lane in the latest reboot of Superman, reports the LAT's Hero Complex. While Adams, 36, earned her third Oscar nomination for The Fighter (TOH interview here), this marks her first major studio franchise. She will star opposite Henry Cavill as fellow reporter Clark Kent and love interest the Man of Steel; Diane Lane and Kevin Costner will play the Krypton superhero's adoptive parents. Snyder told the LAT:“There was a big, giant search for Lois,” Snyder said. “For us it was a big thing and obviously a really important role. We did a lot of auditioning but we had this meeting with Amy Adams and after that I just felt she was perfect for it.”

By Anne Thompson
|
March 27, 2011 6:54 AM
|
3 Comments

More:

Hollywood Produces More of Same as Box Office Dwindles

"It's content," says Warner Bros. distribution chief Dan Fellman of the continuing downward trend at the box office in 2011. What that means is that the movies being churned out by the studios during the first quarter are not connecting with audiences. Fellman denies that the young male demo has departed the multiplex: just wait until Hangover 2, he says, along with all the commercial films coming this summer. Warners will present a show reel of their upcoming product to exhibitors at the new NATO-controlled CinemaCon next week, where Paramount is expected to screen 22 minutes of J.J. Abrams' Super 8, among other reels.

By Anne Thompson
|
March 25, 2011 9:46 AM
|
4 Comments

More:

Chasing Fan Boys, from Sucker Punch and Wanted to Superman and The Dark Knight Rises

With the annual box office at $1.93 billion, down 21% from last year, the film industry is holding out for a hero. Many were looking for succor from this weekend's Sucker Punch, the latest offering by director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen), a visually gifted fanboy who knows what guys want. Anthony D'Alessandro examines the film's assets and liabilities and reports on why Hollywood likes to target the fanboy demo, from Wanted to Superman and The Dark Knight Rises. Inspired by Japanese Anime and the adult cartoon Heavy Metal, Sucker Punch, co-written by Snyder and his college buddy Steve Shibuya, follows a band of female mental patients who retreat into their own hyper-violent fantasy world as they plot to break out of a 60s insane asylum. Going into the weekend, Sucker Punch's tracking drew well ahead of Fox’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, a family sequel that should score in the high teens over three days. But with current estimates pegging the film at a low $20-million bow, Sucker Punch is looking to be a gamble stateside for distributor/co-financier Warner Bros. Here’s what Sucker Punch faces at the box office:

By Anthony D'Alessandro
|
March 25, 2011 6:35 AM
|
6 Comments

More:

Old School Action Stars: Few Replacements, Not Expendable

Action heroes come in two categories: New School and Old School. Just last weekend, Liam Neeson, 58, led the box office pack with Unknown, showing 16-year old Justin Bieber and I Am Number Four's 20-year old Alex Pettyfer who's Daddy. Neeson isn't the first, nor will he be the last, older man showing the world how a Hollywood action star should perform, both on screen and in the charts.

By Sophia Savage
|
February 22, 2011 8:39 AM
|
8 Comments

Weekly Wrap: Sundance, SXSW, SBIFF, Oscar Watch, Kings Speech vs. Social Network, In Production

FESTIVALS

By Anne Thompson & Sophia Savage
|
February 5, 2011 11:18 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Burton's Dark Shadows Gets Green, Winterbottom's Hardy Trishna Reinterpretation

- Tim Burton's reworking of 60s gothic soap opera Dark Shadows centers on vampire Barnabas Collins (to be played by Johnny Depp) and his escapades with witches, monsters, ghosts and the like. Eva Green will play the powerful witch Angelique, with whom Collins enjoys a love/hate relationship. Since her breakout role in Casino Royale, the French actress has gone somewhat unnoticed (she had a supporting role in 2007's The Golden Compass). Now, she has Perfect Sense (see trailer below), boarding school drama Cracks (March 18), a Maria Callas TV biopic and more to come. Vampire expert Seth Grahame-Smith adapted Dark Shadows; he also wrote Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (fitting, since he wrote the novel).

By Sophia Savage
|
February 4, 2011 9:28 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

Vote: Superman's Woman Not Lois Lane; Alice Eve, Diane Kruger or Rosamund Pike?

Move over, Lois Lane. American actresses, you can move over too. Warner Bros.' Superman, with Brit Henry Cavill set to star, is eyeing three women to co-star in a role not based on Lois Lane.