Movie News Mash 15

"Family Guy"

According to Wired, "At a special event this week to celebrate the 100th episode of American Dad, Seth MacFarlane said he’s moving ahead with plans for a Family Guy movie.

'We want to do it,' MacFarlane told Wired. It wasn’t a grand, official announcement, but it was clear it’s more than a passing whim.

'Fox wants it. We know what we want to do with it. It’s just a question of finding the time,' he said. 'That’s why 'The Simpsons' took so many years to do theirs. It wasn’t because they didn’t know what they wanted to do with it. They just couldn’t fit it into the schedule.

'There’s so much to do for a weekly animated series — twice as much as you have to do for a live-action show. So, we’re finding time where we can. We’re in the early stages right now.'”

It is still probably a long ways off until this movie gets made, but would it work? While "The Simpsons Movie" ended up bringing in $183 million on a budget of $75 million, it has been around for a long time and has created a large fanbase. "Family Guy" has fabs too, but are they willing to see a feature-length film of the show?

"The Wheelman"

According to Variety, "Paramount Pictures is accelerating its efforts to put 'Fast and Furious' star Vin Diesel back behind the wheel of a fast car.

Studio has set John Singleton to direct and Lorenzo di Bonaventura to produce 'The Wheelman,' a live-action adaptation of the Ubisoft vidgame "Wheelman." The videogame launched last month, with Diesel as its main character and the game's producer.

Diesel will play an expert driver who comes out of retirement to protect a woman from his past.

Paramount first got involved in the project in 2006; at the time, the partnership was hailed as one of the biggest between a vidgame publisher and a studio. Sumner Redstone owned both Midway Games and Paramount, and the plan was to launch the 'Wheelman' game and movie in close proximity. Redstone unloaded his 87% stake in Midway late last year in a debt restructuring move, and the vidgame moved to Ubisoft.

Singleton knows his way around a car chase, having directed '2 Fast 2 Furious,' the sequel that Diesel skipped."

So is this something like the "Transporter" films except with just another bald guy playing the part? I haven't played the game, so if you have, do you think this can work as a film too?

"Jekyll"

Universal is in development on a modern retelling of the classic story "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," with Keanu Reeves attached to star. "Revolutionary Road" screenwriter Justin Haythe is penning the script, and "Pusher" trilogy director Nicolas Winding Refn is in negotiations to direct the project, which will be simply titled "Jekyll." This project is separate from the Guillermo del Toro version of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," which is reportedly vastly different and quite a few years (because of his busy schedule on "The Hobbit") out.

Robert Louis Stevenson's tale (written in 1886) about a doctor who scientifically develops an evil self has become so pervasive in popular culture that the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" conjures the idea of a split personality.

Can Keanu Reeves act his way as a gentleman and a monster? It will be interesting to see him perform two different sides of a character in the same movie since, well, we usually get what we get from his acting.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, First Showing
More news to come! Catch ya' later!